Chapter 134 - My Dragon Wife is Overprotective
I updated Cylla on everything that had happened to me in the Royal Capital, and we chatted for a while. She mentioned that someone had brought her food that week, but as usual, the person had run away in fear.
“I told you not to scare them. Are you sure you're not doing it on purpose?” I asked.
“I’m not,” she replied indifferently. “It’s their fault for being scared. I even tried saying a few words, but all they heard were growls and roars... Not that I care to talk to anyone, but I was curious if someone else could hear me besides you.”
Cylla was still adapting to her new form, which shifted between the characteristics of her progenitors, and she was practicing her abilities in that state.
“So, is this beast form from the Aspect of Body going to be your permanent form? You've been in it for a while now, and you just keep growing,” I commented, eyeing the towering red dragon before me.
Cylla was a phoenix, but her beast form had become this massive red dragon.
“It seems like it,” she responded. “But I might evolve a bit more in this form, and it could change. I can’t fuse the traits of the progenitors anymore from here. It looks like there’s really that barrier of Inheritance my adult version mentioned to you. That same barrier also blocks the use of other Celestial Aspects... if I even have them,” Cylla mused, reflecting on her limitations.
Over the last four years of training, Cylla had also been honing her skills with the Celestial Eyes. She retained fragments of knowledge stored in her mind. Not every member of her race possessed all six Celestial Aspects, and even those who did rarely had equal power in each Aspect. What she knew for sure was that the only power every phoenix had from the Celestial Eyes was the Aspect of Body; the other Aspects were reserved for the most gifted. Among the phoenixes that had more than one Aspect, few had more than two, and those individuals were considered extremely powerful and special.
I, on the other hand, possessed the Celestial Eyes with all six Aspects, in addition to hidden secrets and powers that the eyes concealed, guarded by an immense creature residing within me. This monster rarely stirred; most of the time, it slumbered in the shadows of my mind.
The creature was a massive serpent. Its face resembled that of a dragon, but unlike dragons, it had no wings. Still, its presence was as formidable as any winged dragon. Its size was beyond anything I could comprehend. From the few glimpses I had, it always seemed close, but in reality, its colossal size created that illusion. It was much farther away than it appeared, its serpentine body stretching across an unimaginable expanse. Cylla’s current massive size didn’t even compare to the length of one of this creature’s teeth.
“Have you been practicing these days?” she asked.
I shook my head.
“I couldn’t risk making my mana even more unpredictable before the exam. But I did use the eyes for a brief moment... For now, the only side effect is losing control over my elements when trying to combine them. Other than that, I’m fine.”
“That’s good. I’d hate to see you defenseless.”
“No need to worry, no one would dare harm me.”
I was still struggling with the side effects of using both pairs of eyes. I had two sets of eyes that I was still learning to control, and the biggest challenge was activating both at the same time. When I did, my mana became chaotic, and I hadn’t mastered the technique yet.
Cylla stretched and stood, watching me with concern.
“People are greedy. You’re already in danger just for having your Special Eyes, which makes you a target. If they find out your eyes surpass everyone else’s... I can’t even imagine what they’d do to you.”
I patted her tough scales, trying to reassure her.
"Don't worry about that, Cylla. No one would dare harm me. Adrihna also has a special eye, and nothing happened to her. Maybe if they found out about my eyes, they'd just try to buy me off or something, but nothing more. Humans are greedy, sure, but they still follow the laws and are civilized,"
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I said, trying to sound confident.
But Adrihna is from another kingdom... I’m not sure what the human royal family would do if they discovered my eyes. Better to keep quiet about that with her.
Cylla stared at me with her glowing eyes and replied bitterly.
"For the sake of the humans, they'd better not try anything," she said, her tone sharp.
Here we go again with that promise...
"What did I tell you about this? No more saying you'll do those things. I don't want you being violent towards people," I replied, trying to calm her down.
"Then they just shouldn't do anything. Because if anything ever happens to you, I'll kill everyone and burn this world to ashes until all life is extinct."
I scratched my head, a bit worried about her intensity.
"And my family?"
"There would be no reason for this world to continue existing without you," she replied, lying down again, completely indifferent.
I sighed and muttered, "I’ll change your way of thinking one day..."
I've had the same thought in another life.
I sat back down next to the phoenix—or the dragon, as I wasn’t sure anymore—trying to console her by saying I was fine. I still didn’t fully understand what she was. What I learned was that her phoenix form was her juvenile stage until she finished processing her progenitors' traits and unleashed her bestial form. Cylla was nearing the end of that process, turning into a dragon, but there was a barrier preventing her full evolution. A part of me was worried about what she would finally become—she was already terrifying enough as a dragon.
She's a bit like Kinue in that sense. If her race is phoenix, would that make her equivalent to a demi-human? Cylla has her bestial form and was born as a bird, while Sisika was in her human version. Just like Kinue, who was born as a small fox, then became human, grew, and unlocked her bestial form.
Cylla's species doesn't seem to belong to the normal society of this world. She definitely comes from a place even the people here know nothing about.
Over the past few years, Cylla and I have tried to figure out where she came from. I searched through many ancient books, but none offered any clues about her race. There was only one possible answer.
The enchanted metal used to forge the Cursed Blade, the enchanted relics scattered throughout this world—no one knows where these relics came from or who made certain constructions. Everything points to the ancient civilization. At least, that’s where I believe we might find a clue.
"I think I’ll get used to this size soon. I've grown a bit, and soon, I’ll revert back to my phoenix form once the effects of this bestial form wear off."
Over the last two years, she sometimes had long periods of transformation where she preferred to isolate herself in this lair due to her unstable size. In the past, she evolved from a phoenix to a large, four-legged phoenix that occupied my bed, but now her new size prevents her from staying in the castle when she loses control of the Aspect of the Body and shifts into her bestial form.
"This phase is passing, and I’ll regain control of the Aspect of the Body again, and then I can return to the castle. I want to be with you at the academy too," she said.
"We’ve already talked about this… It’s better for you to stay here in Evenhart territory. My aunt even said you could roam the forbidden forests. There’s no one there, and you could be free."
Cylla stood up, irritated.
"No! I want to go with you."
I sighed.
"If you say so, I won't start another argument."
"And what about your Aspect of the Body?" she asked me.
"It still works the same, but I’ve managed to improve a bit. Too bad I can’t turn into something like you."
He looked at me, smiling.
"Why? Do you want to become a creature to get more romantically close to me?" she asked, bringing her large face closer and rubbing her head against mine.
"That’s not what I meant..." I said, embarrassed.
She chuckled.
"You don’t have the genes of the progenitors, so you can't use the Aspect of the Body to become a creature. But even so, what you’ve achieved makes you something special."
"Does your theory say that my Aspect of the Body works like the others? Or maybe it’s an exclusive ability?"
Cylla seemed to think for a moment.
"I don’t have the memories of what the previous wielder of your eyes did, but from what I know, the Aspect can awaken different abilities in the user. Someone with the Aspect of Space won’t always have the same ability as another user of the Aspect of Space. The problem is that your eyes are the pinnacle of my species. Normally, the Aspect of the Body just allows us to control our physical forms, but maybe your eyes give that ability you gained... or it’s the World Destroyer’s soul sleeping within you."
I began to ponder. I had spent time trying to uncover the secret of my Celestial Eyes, but the guardian remained asleep in the darkness, showing no intention of waking up. Unlike my Special Eyes, which I awakened with knowledge, with these eyes, everything was trial and error for me.
"The little we know doesn’t apply to your eyes. My Celestial Eyes are a genetic inheritance from my ancestors that I awakened, but you carry what remains of one of their souls. Your powers will be different from mine... and possibly even more powerful."
We spent some time talking while I practiced the Celestial Aspects. This was the only place where I could do so without the risk of being interrupted.
After all, only my mother, Aunt Margie, and Chloe usually entered here. Kinue had left to live with Adrihna two years ago. She was studying in Apsalon, and even during the holidays, she didn’t return, as she was undergoing her magical training as the professor’s apprentice, along with her bestial form training. Kinue never got to see the changes in Cylla.
I have the advantage of being able to master all six Celestial Aspects, but it’s not easy. Out of all of them, I’ve only managed to use the Aspect of the Body better, and even then, with limitations.