Chapter 39 - A New Beginning (2)

I will say nothing more about Rhea, my guest, other than that she came from a far-away desert and is the last of her tribe. Her story is not mine to tell. Her scars are not mine to tell. Instead, I will tell you about the relationship between her and I.

As I said before, our relationship was almost akin to that of a student and a teacher, she the teacher, and I the student. I learned much about her customs and her language. Rhea was, for a greater part of two years of my life, a mystery for my curiosity to unravel.

And though I felt a small spark of attraction for her, and she felt love—Rhea had admitted this after a year of being my “slave”—we had a platonic relationship. Naturally, she was the first woman to ever know so much about my dampened emotional capacity and my inability to feel love. This was the main reason she held back her love.

It had taken many months of observations for me to figure out her feelings, but in the end, I did. I only remained silent on this topic, however, choosing not to do anything about it. I, quite honestly, did not feel much for her. She was, if best put, like a friend.

Time slowly trickled away with her following me in my travels along with father and in my travels by myself to visit towns and cities.

All things must comes to an end, however. And this end came in my sixteenth year.

Rhea and I were in one of the larger cities, which mainly sold goods such as clothing and spices. We, as usual, split the necessary tasks up. She went to the inn we had decided upon, while I went to buy some necessary items and meet up with my contacts.

When I went to meet up with her back at the inn, I asked the people around for her whereabouts, even giving them her precise appearance, but none of them had seen her.

I searched the city for long hours, and frustration even trickled into my mind, so long did I search for her.

In the end, I found her in an alley of the poorer section of the city, but it was not her I found, just her corpse.

She had been stabbed in her guts multiple times before succumbing to her heavy wounds. Observing the blood stains, I could tell that there had not been a struggle, and that her body had just been dumped here to quickly hide it.

She had been robbed, bereft of everything, even her clothing. There was also a heavy cut at her slavery mark and bruises on her body, which suggested to me that her killers had forgo raping her after seeing that mark, most likely thinking her beneath their dignities.

I quickly left the alley, not wanting to be caught by the city watch, though I was sure that the city watch consisted of just crude, inefficient men.

Inside the inn's lowest floor where the dining and music took place, I sat alone in a silent corner. A few happy-looking men and women, mostly the latter, came up toward me for conversation, but left when they finally noticed that they were not welcome.

There was a dark mood upon me. It was the first time I ever felt such a feeling. Was it rage? No, it couldn't be. That emotion would have been too strong for my dampened emotional capacity. Anger? Yes, that was most likely it.

I felt anger, a cold, indifferent anger.

I had not known it back then, but this rare anger of mine and the chain of events my vengeance caused would lead to my death as a human, and my reincarnation into a dragon. But more about that later.

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The ceremony for crowning the dragon-king, Navra Bloodseeker, did not take very long. Dragons and wyrms, especially the younger ones, were not very patient creatures. Most of us were ruled by our emotions, rather than logic.

The ceremony only consisted of a speech from the six other eldests, whose united voice dominated our bodies and were like a compulsion on us. After the speech, all of the dragons and the younger new-born wyrms were restless. Looking at them, I had no doubts that the eldest's name would now be on the tongues of every dragon; his name would now be known across all corners of the dragon world.

Observing a few of the older and larger dragons greet each other, I was interrupted by Eden from beside me with a kick to my ankle.

And in case I did not mention this, my guest, but almost every dragon who could and was transformed into a human, were entirely naked. We, after all, had no obligation nor the patience to cover ourselves with human clothing every time we transformed. They were useless requisites and were just human common senses, which we need not follow.

Another kick to my ankle finally forced me to turn around to face Eden.

She hissed her question at me, further reinforcing my belief that she was short-tempered and belligerent. “What will happen to you now, jester?”

I paid her insult no mind, only answering her question indifferently. “I do not know. The eldest—Navra, I mean—only told me to meet him later after this.” I quickly sent my black-colored magic toward the back of my shoulders and sprouted black wings, causing Eden to dodge one of them. Then I shot forth into the air with a great jump, before calling out, “Which reminds me, I should get going.”

I nodded toward Kiara, the white colored wyrm I had met after my first tribulation, and left Eden trailing after my flying form, surprise and anger on her face as her eyes trailed after my receding behind.

I noted the surprise on her face and wondered why she was so shocked at my leaving. Was it because I had only partly transformed? Or was it because of how immediate the magic occurred?

I shook my head free. There would be enough time for contemplation later on. For now, I would have to meet up with the eldest soon. Many questions were on my mind, all of them clamoring to be the first one answered.

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“Did you know, Verath, that this title of Astlan dragon-king is just a mere honorary title. True, it grants you respect and names you as the oldest and most powerful dragon, but in the end, it is just a mere label. Flattering, but useless,” the eldest said in his ancient, rumbling, dragonic voice. “It is not as powerful as in the past, where the title would grant you the obeisance of every dragon.”

Navra Bloodseeker gave me a small smile. “I had not expected this ceremony to come so soon, so I shall have to quit being your brood-keeper. Temporarily, of course. About less than a year.”

“What will I do in that year then?”

“You should be happy, Verath. I will grant you free reign for a whole year. You may do whatever you like, kill anything you like even.” The eldest gave a small laugh. “Though I suggest you do not kill other dragons, as that would only lead to complications.” Navra paused for a while, contemplating on what to say. “You also need not worry about your training, for the third tribulation is a matter of determination, persuasion and the will to survive. Look forward to it, because I certainly will. After all, even I failed this task.”

Doubts about the eldest failing something seeped into me. What could have been so hard that even he failed it? And now he was giving his failed task as my third tribulation? I felt a little curious and excited about that. Still, it would be a long time before my third tribulation, two and a half years in fact.

“I may do whatever I want?” I asked, still feeling disbelief, even though the ceremony had been long over and the eldest had teleported us both back into his chamber in the mountain.

“Indeed. I will be busy visiting the other clans and displaying myself before them like a trussed up whore. Quite boring, and I would have declined this position if I could have.” Navra looked down at me in my human form. “I shall give you the night to decide, and teleport you to your desired place come morning.”

The eldest moved a clawed hand toward my stomach and I could feel his sharp, dense magic on my stomach. “Here, I have renewed the blood mark. You may call upon me when you wish to return or I shall call upon you once I am free.”

“Good night, Navra,” I said hesitantly, unsure if I was allowed to call the eldest by his name.

“No need to worry, dear Verath. You can call me my name even though you are not yet a full dragon. After all, what's to stop you other than pain of death?” the eldest said, his towering dragon form lumbering toward the throne, before instantly transforming into a human to sit on it. The eldest waved a hand at me, an obvious sign of dismissal.

I quickly left, not wanting to disrupt him any longer. The subtle threat at the end made me all the more motivated.

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After a night of practicing my magic and an hour of sleep, I felt fully rested in the morning. There had also been a long moment of contemplation before I finally decided what to do with the given year.

I stood facing the eldest on his throne and he looked back at me, a slight, curious look on his face. I was vigilant and guarded against saying anything that would give the eldest hints that I was a human in my past life.

“If you would allow me, eldest, I wish to go to Shail Kingdom. It seems to be a very interesting place when I saw it on a map in my second tribulation.” The last part was a lie, but I knew that the eldest would not be able to tell from my indifferent voice and demeanor.

“I do not know of this place, Verath. You must describe the location to me.”

Sifting through my memories as a former human, I described to the eldest the location of the kingdom where I was born in. To my relief, there was not a hint of suspicion on the eldest's face as I gave him some vague details, just specific enough for him to teleport me there.

“Very well, dear Verath. Be very careful not to die. You would not, after all, want to leave me alone in my boredom. I shall even make you some clothes to cover your nudity.”

From his throne, the eldest shot forth his red-colored magic at me, enveloping me as I felt the first signs of disorientation hit me. The last thing I heard was his fainting laughter as I was teleported toward my home kingdom.

I thought upon the filial relationship between myself and my human father. I thought upon the death of my two year slave, Rhea of the Wanderers. And I thought of my death as a human.

I gave a cursory glance at my new surroundings.

I had decided.

It was time to end all unfinished businesses. It was time for a reckoning, time to repay the filial bond I had with my father.

Two and a half long years had passed since my human death and my curiosity and anger was tugging at me to find out the suspicious cause of it.

It was time for vengeance.