Chapter 107 - The Things Left Unsaid (2)

[To None Except Arina and I]

Untold Self Reflection #3:

Arina.

In the more than six months I had known her as a nine and a half year old child, we were together almost every single day.

I followed her around with my blank and unsmiling face.

“You should smile sometime,” she would say to me while we were walking along the streets of the markets that would have the smell of fish and crowds

“I do not know how to,” I would always reply.

On another day, when we were getting into brawls with other kids her age, she would say with a bright laugh and a bruise on her cheek, “Come on, Alan. Don't tell me that's all you got?”

I would reply, “A childish brawl.”

“Yet you still joined,” Arina would retort.

Thus, the days passed as Arina dragged me along, and I followed willfully along. I would never admit it to myself, but even if she had not forcefully dragged me along, I would have still followed her.

She was a beacon, a strong fire which I chased after, a wonder for me at how she could be so intense.

I was different from her.

If she was an intense fire, I was a cold, barren cave.

I did not tell her these words of mine, but she still somehow knew with those eyes of her.

“You only need a good fire going, Alan.”

Then the fateful day happened when she tried to save a poor man from a dark alleyway. There were no city guards patrolling this section here at the time of the day, and the bodyguard who always followed me in the shadows was nowhere to be seen.

Arina, the fire blazing inside her, yelled at the larger man to stop beating the poor man in the dark alleyway.

She aimed a kick at his groin, but it was a mistake.

The large man instantly grabbed her arm and she could no longer do anything back, despite her above average physical prowess as a child.

By that time, I was already running toward her.

The only thing that saved me was the victimized man suddenly finding his backbone. The small man charged at the larger man's back, knocking him off-balance.

With a sneer and anger on his face, the large man quickly regained his balance and drew his knife, and instantly stabbed the smaller man in his chest. He had done all of this while still holding Arina's arm with one large meaty hand.

I knew that this was the only chance I would find the large man with his guard down. I punched at his groin, giving me a few seconds during which the large man keeled over.

Then I jabbed my fingers into his eyes without hesitation.

Time slowed to a crawl. The man bellowed as he dropped his knife, his arms swinging wildly around in the narrow alleyway.

I took the knife he dropped and stabbed at his stomach, leaving the hilt of the small knife jammed inside. Arina, who had been shouting for some time now, turned quiet upon seeing the blood on my hands.

Thus, it was on this day that I took a human life and rationally escaped while destroying any evidence such as the blood on my clothes.

And a few days afterward, I left the city without saying one word of farewell to Arina, whom I had sworn a secret with.

I do not know why I never did say farewell to Arina. Perhaps it was out of some small guilt, or perhaps it was out of some mixed emotions, which I could not tell. Or perhaps it was due to the tiny fire she had started inside the cold, barren cave.

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A growl resounded from the very depths of her throat. It was a growl which was closer to that of a beast than that of a human. It was a growl that came from the Black Serpent of the East, the Devourer of Dragons.

“Dragon,” said the chained, dirt-covered female that looked entirely like a human. Her hair was black, and her eyes were pools of darkness. And her voice—it was a voice full of enmity, an ancient hatred that cut through your very heart, running a jagged tear through it.

“I will kill you, if it is the last thing I do,” she said, continuing in the words of a time-forgotten language, so decrepit and old that it dated back to when the Gods first walked the world. The language was so ancient and time-forgotten that even my dragon's gift for languages and communication took a while to understand the words.

Uraza, the Black Serpent of the East, ignored everything and everyone else in the room. She only had eyes for Navra, the target of her resentment.

“Ah, how I have missed your words and voice which cut to my very bones,” Navra replied with a small smile as he walked up to the chained female. He moved a hand toward her dirt-covered face, gently caressing her right cheek.

The look of hatred in her eyes turned even more intense at his slight touch. But Uraza could do nothing to remove his hand. She could barely speak, let alone move. Her whole body, from neck to feet, were bounded by black chains, each link of the chain marked by a blood-red, softly-glowing seal. And as if that wasn't enough, even upon her body were multiple blood-red seals drawn.

Navra only chuckled upon seeing her hateful expression. There was even a slight hint of affection in his chuckle, though I could not tell whether it was genuine or fake.

No, I was too busy suppressing the cold shivers. It felt as if my whole body, and all of my instincts were screaming at me to flee from the predator chained a small distance in front of me. Chained though she was, I could feel my dragon body responding to her presence, the presence of the Devourer of Dragons. Or it could be that my body was only recognizing its mother.

A long stretch of moment passed by as Uraza glared at Navra with eternal hatred before she finally noticed my presence, her dark eyes swiveling toward me ever so slowly. “You,” she said in a voice that was hatred given sound. “Abomination. I will kill you.”

Navra suddenly let out a loud laughter that resounded throughout the underground place. “Why would you kill him? This abomination, at least the body, is our son.” Turning his head a little, Navra's calculating eyes of deep, dark brown met my own pair of red eye and green eye. “How would you like to take a bite of your mother, Verath.”

Only silence met his question, and a small in-drawn gasp of surprise from Aqua beside me.

Mother. The word brought up memories of my human life.

“Would it not be the greatest irony? The Devourer of Dragons devoured by a dragon? Ah, such amusement. I cannot even imagine the result of that.”

“I will kill you if it is the last thing I do!”

“So you say, my dear, yet here you are, still bound up and locked in this place for centuries of countless years. I admire your tenacity.”

“I live only to one day break free and kill you, red dragon.”

“I look forward to it,” Navra said, caressing her right cheek with a soft brush of the back of his hand.

He moved away from Uraza, walking for a few feet to stand before us. “I trust you both will keep this a secret?”

The tone of his voice was casual, yet there was no mistaking the underlying threat. Aqua instantly flew behind me, her small body shivering in fear.

“Who would we tell?”

Navra only stared at us in response. “Let us go back.”

All the while, Uraza's murderous eyes were trained upon us and if glares could have killed, no doubt, all of us would have already died more than a thousand deaths.

With not even a warning, the three of us were back in Navra's chambers, Aqua and I standing before Navra who was sitting on the black throne.

I could not predict as to what Navra was feeling at the moment. There was only an impassive smile that told nothing. Inside my mind was a question that I dare not ask—

What happened to the other two Great Beasts. Were they dead, or were they trapped in prisons fashioned from Navra's magic? And if the other two Great Beasts were female, could there be hidden children?

The image of Navra jokingly saying that he had other children flashed into my mind, but I dare not bring it up. The force of the mood in the chambers silenced me, allowing none to speak.

From his throne, Navra started speaking. “You will go train for six months with Elder Kronos, along with Kiara and Eden. Then all three of you will participate in the Inter-clan Tournament of Dominance that is held every two decades, where the dragons of your generation will participate. You will learn from Elder Kronos the language of the Ancients and hone your earth and fire magic. As for blood magic, you will have to train that by yourself, since none except you can use it.”

“What will you be doing then?” I asked. The Eldest, after all, was my broodkeeper, and was suppose to be the one training me.

A slight curve of his lips—a mysterious smile. “I have unfinished business in Nilfloria. You could say it is a duty I must attend to as the Astlan Dragon King.”

From what Navra had told me, Nilfloria was a realm that was connected to this world. As for what Nilfloria was, I had not the slightest bit of clue. “What will you be doing there?” I said.

“You need not know, young Verath. This world is full of secrets, secrets that should not be known...yet.”

Secrets...There were already far too many secrets, their whispers like a soft and dangerous caress, ever so out of reach.

“Ah right, I almost forgot. Elder Kronos will be waiting for you at the Amphitheater tomorrow afternoon. Also, the winners of the Inter-clan Tournament will participate in another tournament where they will fight the children from the other Greater Races. Do not disappoint me, Verath, for I have made a small bet with the leaders of the Greater Races.”

Saying that, Navra disappeared from his throne in the blink of an eye, teleporting to some god-forsaken, unknown place.

I thought to myself.

The Greater Races...In all the historical texts and from the scholars I have met as a merchant, there were only vague mentions of dragons and a small allusion to powerful races, their description never given. Records of them were obscure.

“I am beginning to think you are an unfortunate dragon,” Aqua spoke up with a grave voice, breaking the silence of the chambers. The voice did not match her usual, cheerful self.

“So do I. So do I...”

Those were the words I could only use as a reply to her grave comment.

“It's alright, though! You have me to take care of you!” Aqua said with a cheer, her seriousness quickly transformed into lightheartedness.

I showed a small smile toward Aqua. It was a genuine smile, so quick to form and so quick to disappear, as to be almost unnoticeable.

Aqua stopped beating her wings for a moment, dropping more than one foot toward the ground, before she finally realized her surprise. Her face became flushed, turning slightly red. “No way. Did you just smile?” she said in a wondrous voice.

“No,” I only replied with an indifferent voice.

“Hehe,” Aqua said, slightly giggling to herself. “Hehe. Stop being so shy.”

I ignored the small Asrai then, slowly walking toward the exit entrance, a black gate which could only be opened by dragon fire.

Behind me, I could hear Aqua still laughing to herself, no doubt a smile hidden by one hand on her mouth.

Perhaps it was due to the series of revelations and unfortunate incidents I had gone through.

Perhaps it was due to the cheerful infectiousness of Aqua.

Perhaps it was due to the new bond I had with a Lesser Fire Elemental.

Perhaps it was due to the memories brought up from seeing the chained female.

Or perhaps it was some other entirely new thing.

It did not matter.

I was a deceiver, a liar, and as always, I would continue walking my own path.

As a child, as an adult, as a human, as a dragon.