Chapter 14

“Do whatever it tells…ugh,” blood erupted to the roof of his mouth as he spoke. “You…”

“Oh, Calvin,” she said.

“Go!” Calvin shouted. “You…ugh…want to see me survive…”

More blood rushed to his mouth as his wound was so deep it was bubbling up like a red fountain. Yui took the knife into her hands and rushed to the front of the monument. However, just as she was about to slide the knife into the indention, a great roaring appeared out from beyond them.

Calvin leaned forward as Yui turned around for them to both scream in horror. A very irritated collection of red horned heads rose from the other side of the edge of the soil. It crawled on its clawed legs towards them, rushing as fast as an overgrown reptile could.

“You thought you could march into my new domain without me noticing?!” he shouted from his centermost head. “I’ll rip you into little pieces in front of one another and torture those fragments alive!”

However, just as he neared Yui, a bright flash of gold jettisoned to his right. Calvin looked to see Trap had tackled him in the side and flung the dragon over quite a distance. As the dragon roared in pain. Trap then flew in front of Calvin and leaned over him, licking the young man fervently.

Calvin could see the dog had patches of skin removed from his body, many scar marks and the gold robe covering his body was covered in his own blood. Calvin smoothed his hand over the dog’s head, smiling at him as best he could in agony. He laughed a little as Trap licked his neck.

“I’m glad to know you’ll be the last thing I see before I die,” he said. “It’s only fair.”

“Touch my garment.”

Calvin’s eyes went wide at the sound of his dog speaking to him, the sound so shocking it almost made him ignore the fact he was bleeding to death.

“What?” he asked.

“My cloth of sunlight,” Trap said. “You’ll be rejuvenated.”

Calvin reached forward and grasped the garment that looked like it was woven from sunlight. Immediately, flesh grew over Calvin’s wound. He was even able to immediately sit up, feeling as though he had no injury once-so-ever. If anything, he felt like he had greater strength and energy than before.

“Wh-What was that?” he asked.

“Kindness,” Trap said. “Just like you showed me in my first life. And you intended to sacrifice yourself for the betterment of others. You have truly broken the curse of the sacrifice of power that mankind’s freewill was tainted with. Now…the knife’s true power can be released.”

He looked back at Trap to find him turning to Yui.

“Insert the knife now,” he said. “Awaken it’s true power and create the prince that shall end the dragon’s life and reign over the mortal world.”

“A prince?” Yui asked.

“Yes,” Trap said. “One that shall be made of the blood of you and Calvin.”

Yui nodded before inserting the knife slick with blood into the indention. Calvin stood up to find a satisfying click could be heard upon entering. A bright flash of light followed that the stone monument became bathed in. However, a roar could be heard from behind them.

“Insects!” the dragon shouted. “You think you’re on par with the newly crowned king of this universe?!”

“Hurry!” the dog shouted. “Create the new guardian of the heavens!”

They all turned to see the dragon rushing towards them, all of his legs like blood red blurs he was moving so fast. Trap sprung into action, flying forward before latching a hold of his centermost neck and slammed the central head into the ground. However, just as he wrestled the dragon to the ground a head to the right jabbed at him with its horn.

Trap was flung backward, fresh blood splattering across the dry soil. Calvin attempted to race forward but Trap looked back and shook his head. He turned back to growl at the dragon, the serpent hissing in anger before Trap lunged forward, his fangs bared. Calvin turned to Yui as she was being bathed in light.

“Calvin!” Yui said. “The knife…it tells me we must hold hands!”

“Right,” he said.

He rushed forward to the other side of the monument and grasped Yui’s outstretched hands. The light emanating from the stone then surrounded Yui. Similar to Trap’s robe of sunlight, the young woman became dressed in pure, golden light. Yui’s hair became encircled with twelve twinkling crystals that frantically twirled around her head.

And then her stomach grew bigger. Both of them cried in surprise as her belly engorged until it reached the stone monument. Her white dress stretched to the point of almost tearing, squeezing Calvin’s hands in desperation.

“C-C-Calvin I-” she said.

“I know,” he answered. “When he said…create a new life…he meant to literally create a life that shall challenge the serpent.”

Yui collapsed onto the ground, screaming and writhing in pain.

“Oh it hurts!” she cried. “I-It hurts!”

“What’s wrong?” Calvin asked.

He raced over to and laid his hands on Yui’s expanded stomach to find she was gasping for air.

“It’s already coming!” Yui cried. “I’m–I’m about to give birth at this very moment!”

“What?!” Calvin shouted.

“I think I remember this–” Yui said. “Ugh! From the time…I was dead…!”

She shut her eyes as she was crying, tears flowing down her face. She rolled over in pain as Yui continued to scream in agony. Calvin began running his hands through his hair in nervousness, nearly tearing it out in panic.

“The grand star…” she said. “Told me…I was…going to give birth to the savior of this universe!”

“What-what-?!” Calvin shouted. “What should I do?!”

“Run with the baby!” Trap shouted.

He saw the dog cored in the stomach by one of the dragon’s horns before being thrown to the side. He collapsed to the ground, too tired to continue running. Calvin nearly screamed in horror, only to find to his relief the stab wound was already closing over. Calvin realized that Trap’s robe of gold probably had regenerative properties. However, he did not get up immediately, as rising to his feet became more and more difficult.

If Yui’s wearing the same thing…He thought. Then that means any wound she has after giving birth will be healed. However…it looks like this battle has thoroughly worn Trap out.

“Die you worms!” the dragon shouted. “I won’t allow any rival for my dominion to be born!”

The large red reptile raced towards them after goring Trap. Not knowing what else to do, Calvin grabbed Yui so that she was scooped in his arms. He was glad to know the robe of sunlight increased his strength to lift her without any trouble. Calvin raced towards the edge of the flat plain of dirt with Yui in his arms. Once he reached the edge of the plain he jumped as far as he could. The last thing he saw before he jumped was Trap weakly lunging at the dragon only for the larger of the two creatures to headbutt him away.

Hoping to land on the golden layer below, Calvin plummeted further and further down, closing his eyes in fear before feeling himself crash into something rocky. Calvin looked down to see he landed feet first into the surface of the moon below, the strength he received from Trap preventing him from dying upon impact. His shoes looked relatively undamaged as well.

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The moment of relief that he did not die was followed by an awareness of Yui’s shrieking combined with the roaring of the dragon above mixed with Trap’s barking. He kneeled down in front of Yui to hold her hand as she gritted her teeth to prevent her from screaming. This did not prevent her from making noise but merely caused her to bottle her yelling inside before shouting so loudly it hurt Calvin’s ears.

“What should I do?” Calvin asked.

“Aaaaahhhhh!” Yui yelled.

The young woman was clearly unable to not express her pain in anything but garbled shouts. She was beyond coherent words and was screaming in agony. And it mixed with the dragon’s roars and Trap’s barking. A tense moment filled the air where the screaming of everyone fell almost silent to Calvin.

It was as though his ears no longer registered the noise because that was all it was. Noise. Nothing but nonsense information that happened to have a high decibel. There was no reason to believe these sounds had any real meaning behind them but simply bore the frustration of everyone else that he could do nothing about. Listening would not prevent Yui from feeling pain, it would not slay or help the dragon above or help Trap win the fight.

No one would be aided or impeded by Calvin listening intently. He would only be hurting himself by trying to find meaning in unreasoned, clanging sounds. So the world fell strangely silent as the background intensified with senseless murmuring. It was almost peaceful the way he learned to tune out sounds he didn’t like. Calvin almost wished he’d discovered this ability sooner.

There was a certain pausing Yui’s screams had. Growing so desensitized to noise he almost didn’t notice it but her shouting seemed to stop. Looking closely, Calvin saw that her gold dress was ripping open as something emerged from her body. And he was surprised to see it was the arms of a fully grown man.

It was at that moment that the dragon slammed onto the ground of the moon in front of them. Calvin’s sense of peace was gone as the slit eyes stared him down, hissing in anger. Calvin looked out of the corner of his eye to see Trap plummeting to the ground and landing on his back. The dog slowly stood back up but he was so matted in his own blood it was clear that he had no more fight left in him.

“Time to devour the child!” the dragon roared.

Calvin stood between the dragon’s centermost head and Yui. The dragon lunged one of its heads forward only for Calvin to punch at it. That was a mistake.

His fist seemed to shatter into dozens of pieces, causing him to go limp. The scales of the dragon felt as solid as rock. He was pretty sure he had broken his hand and possibly his arm.

After damaging his right hand with a simple headbutt, the dragon then bit Calvin with his leftmost head along the waist. He screamed in pain as fresh blood flowed from his stomach as he was enveloped in its jaws. He struggled for freedom but it only drove the fangs deeper into his flesh.

“You could have just stayed out of this, Calvin,” the centermost head said. “You had everything you wanted. Your lost love, your pet…you could have even slept with Yui if you commanded her with the knife.”

Calvin groaned in pain, the jaws of the dragon acting as a vice to his body. The dragon then held an adjacent head up to his face. The slit eyes filled him with fear.

“But you instead chose to meddle with concerns not your own,” the dragon said. “And now you shall die for mingling with that which wasn’t your business.”

Calvin shouted in pain as the dragon laughed. He could feel his body slump down as he felt his life fading. The dragon continued laughing as he drove his fangs deeper into Calvin until it stopped abruptly. His eyes went wide in horror.

Calvin turned to see someone new standing in front of Yui. He helped the young woman to her feet where she stood behind him, cowering. He was the bravest looking person Calvin had ever seen.

His wooly hair was as white as snow and his skin was like glowing bronze straight out of the furnace. His eyes were like the blaze of a fire, burning red with passion. He wore a simple white robe and purple sash and his face glowed like the sun. He waved his hand in front of Calvin, a thin light showering him from above.

The dragon let go of Calvin, the young man plummeting to the ground with a grunt of pain. The dragon staggered backward as he shook in horror, the strange yet powerful man quietly following him. Calvin watched as he held out his right hand for seven twinkling crystals to appear from his palm. As he watched, Yui rushed over to him and held him.

“Are you okay?” Yui asked.

“My stomach,” Calvin said. “I’ve been bitten.”

“I don’t see anything,” she said.

“Well I-” he said.

He gestured to his wounds to find they were gone. He wasn’t even bleeding. Calvin touched his bare skin where the dragon had gnawed on him to find no blood painted his hands. He thoroughly examined himself before looking back at the man the dragon cowered in front of.

“Did-?” Calvin asked. “Did he…heal me?”

The dragon roared at the man with all seven of his heads before the seven crystals twirling in his right hand shot toward the serpent. Upon impact the stars burst into flame where they touched the scales of the reptilian creature. The dragon screamed in pain as fire engulfed it, thrashing its head about in pain.

“No!” he shouted. “No, no, no! This will not be the way it ends!”

It lurched forward toward the strange man, only for the man to open his mouth wide. A sword handle appeared from inside his jaw he then grabbed and whipped at the creature. The blade was unsheathed from his throat where it was hidden, the dragon cut in two by the blade. His burning body further crumbled into ashes once his body was severed. In a moment, his two haves burned into nothing so that nothing remained.

He then turned to Yui and Calvin, the two of them unable to stand still. Yui pressed herself into Calvin’s bosom as he wrapped her in his right arm and clasped his left hand with her’s. The two of them were afraid to say anything.

The man looked away to find that Trap was walking toward them, so wounded he was almost about to fall over. The glowing man knelt down and let one of the seven stars hovering in his hand float toward the dog. All of Trap’s wounds closed over and he was cleaned of all bloodstains. The dog barked energetically, clearly overjoyed.

“You have all done well,” the glowing man said. “You have helped defeat the black serpent once and for all, at the risk to both of your lives. And for that…I thank you.”

“Thanks but…” Calvin said. “I could have never done it without Yui. In fact…I’m only here because I murdered my own brother. I…I deserve death for my deed.”

He only smiled warmly.

“Such wounds can be mended with time,” the glowing man said. “Besides…I’m sure your brother is doing better already.”

“What do you mean?” Calvin asked.

Nathan gagged as blood rushed down his throat as he reached toward the white, stone-like pavement in front of him. He dragged himself onto the pavement before standing up on it. As Nathan was soaked in blood, he could see others walking down the narrow way to be seated in the black sky like the stars were. He forced himself to march forward behind a woman, careful not to fall off the pavement.

“He’s taken the narrow way?” Yui asked.

“Quite,” the glowing man said. “He is on his way to living in peace and comfort for all of eternity. So…his death may not be as bad for him as you would believe.”

Calvin sighed, turning away.

“Still,” he said. “It doesn’t make what I did right.”

The glowing man looked to his side to see Trap walking beside him, barking happily.

“Calvin?” the glowing man said. “Do you mind if I take Trap with me? I wish him to be my partner as we descend to the Earth.”

“For what?” he asked.

“I am the savior of this accursed realm,” he said. “Mankind has committed great evil since its fall and I would like to show them a creature they can model themselves after. One obedient and full of love. Under my reign there shall be no wars or crime. The weak will not be stepped on or sacrificed for the ambition of the strong.”

He opened his mouth again and plunged the sword’s blade into his mouth, the entire weapon disappearing down his throat. In its place an iron scepter appeared in the glowing man’s left hand. Testingly, he swung the rod of metal once before looking back up.

“And I have a final purpose for the both of you,” he said.

“What?” Yui asked.

“Cultivate a new Earth,” the glowing man said.

“What?” they both asked.

“As I go down to Earth to bring order to the nations and be the one true king to their world,” he said. “I want someone to live on a fragment of the Earth where it can be what it once was. A cornucopia of abundant and delicate life.”

“You mean…?” Yui asked. “Like it was intended.”

“Of course,” he said. “With the knife of choice put in its proper place you can now make new lifeforms. New humans, new plants, new animals. It is all in your hands.”

“Really?” Yui asked. “You would give two humans that much responsibility after they gave into the black serpent’s temptation?”

“You proved yourselves loyal by being willing to sacrifice yourself for the greater good,” he said. “When the first humans were tested like that, they failed. But you did not.”

He then turned and looked up at the sky. Suddenly, the sky above them was no longer a foggy white. It began to light up with golden light. The world around them was bathed in the shining of the sun, a nice warmth flooding Calvin.

“Oh, wow,” he said. “It’s daytime.”

“The grand star has returned,” he said. “The star guardians and treasured people slain by the dragon and his pawns shall be revived. And his light shall nourish the world to a new era of peace.”