Ep 15. Pay Your Respects. (10)
The light that filled the chamber began to slowly dissipate.
Ilias was first to lower her arms blocking her vision as the light faded. She noticed something pressing her hips and turned her head to find that her tail had returned, alongside her horns and wings. It was the same for Bruton.
The three then turned their eyes to see what the orb had done to the dragonlord.
However, standing in the distance was no longer the human boy they’d traveled with. In his place stood someone else entirely – an unmistakable dragonkin, gazing off into the chamber’s walls with her solemn eyes.
In the far side of the chamber’s walls were barely readable inscriptions. Without prior knowledge of its existence, one could easily mistake them for mere cracks along the icy surface.
‘’May the kin forever endure’…were those your final thoughts?’
Her son had always been the wiser. His thoughtfulness often caught her by surprise, and Serenis looked to her son for guidance more than she would’ve liked to admit after his growth.
And it was that very son who had sealed his mother’s heart into the depths of his own corpse, ridden with traps and barriers to prevent any dragonkin from ever reaching it.
‘What made you like this, Vulka? You could’ve…’
Lived on.
With her heart, Vulka, too, could have lived on. Indefinitely.
So why was he here as a frozen corpse?
Why did the kin remember him as a tyrant?
Serenis brought one hand towards her chest. She could feel her former heart within her, once more providing the mana befitting that of the lord of dragons.
She knew her son better than any other. With his astute abilities and love for the kin, there was no doubt Vulka would’ve made a fine lord. With Serenis’ heart in his possession, there shouldn’t have been any question of succession either.
The dragonlord closed her eyes.
There must’ve been a reason. One that she would likely never know of. The only thing she knew was that the resolve she could feel resonating within her heart was a testament to her son’s love for the kin.
“…Bruton. Ilias. Raizel. Come.”
Finally at her calling, the three dragons carefully made their way back to her side. It was Ilias who first spoke up.
“Lord…Serenis? It’s you, right?”
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The dragonlord nodded at the youngling’s question.
“It is. Albeit temporary.”
“Temporary?”
Bruton studied the dragonlord carefully at her remark. He could see what she meant by temporary.
“You’re using…a spell. To be in that form.”
“Indeed. My true flesh is still that of a human child’s.”
Raizel scoffed at the questions being asked, kicking her tongue.
“Shouldn’t you be asking if they’re okay first? He…or, she was kinda dying a minute ago.”
A soft smile curved the dragonlord’s lips. Despite the annoyance in the youngling’s voice, she now knew that Raizel only meant well.
“I’m alright, thanks to all of you. Especially you, Raizel.”
“…Good, because it was a pain pulling you out of there.”
Bruton gazed into Serenis’ eyes. Before, he felt it pointless to try and read the little child’s shallow eyes – but now he found it impossible due to their depth. Despite her relatively young physical appearance, Bruton felt as if he were a child once again before her presence.
After watching the relic readily sinking into her body, there was no point doubting her anymore.
“…You really were who you claimed to be.”
“Doubted my words, did you?”
“Admittedly…yes.”
A soft chuckle came from the elder dragon as his daughter budged in.
“I didn’t! I believed it!”
“You believe children all the time, Ilias. You don’t count.”
“Hey, they’re all nice! Unlike you, Raizel!”
“Says the most violent hatchling ever. I lost count of how many times you kicked me when you were little.”
“That’s your fault. You kept picking on me.”
“Sure, that’s why you burnt down Erikale’s nest.”
“That was an accident…”
“Ilias, Raizel, stop your bickering. If the lord is our distant elder, then one should exercise utmost respect, and…”
While the three bickered, Serenis closed her eyes once more as she focused her senses outwards.
The atmosphere’s dense mana that denied the usage of sensory spells had disappeared when Serenis absorbed her heart. Now with her former reserve returned, tapping into the star’s deepest veins for a cursory read of the demonkin’s trails was once again a trivial task. She may not be able to pinpoint their locations, but a mere confirmation of their survival was all she sought. However…
“…”
Nothing.
Serenis couldn’t find a single trace of her old brethren.
What she instead found were fragmented traces of the First scattered throughout the star, still persevering to this day.
The First’s legacy had endured. Split into pieces, but nonetheless persevering.
‘…We've lost.’
Her brethren died at the summit, and in the end, they’d accomplished nothing. None of them had returned besides herself, and their war had ended in bitter defeat.
‘Vulka.’
My dear child.
To tell you the truth, I wanted to believe otherwise.
Even though my eyes still remember their deaths, I wanted to believe that they were still alive.
I wanted to believe that barely any time had passed. That it couldn’t possibly have been a thousand years.
That somewhere on this star, they were all still alive and well.
That this corpse couldn’t possibly be you. That’s what I wanted to believe.
But I was wrong. I was dearly wrong.
Blinded by an imprudent vision, I drove the demonkin to a pointless demise.
The divine still occupy this star, and I’ve accomplished nothing. But…
Serenis opened her eyes to gaze upon her kin once more. An elder dragon reprimanding the younglings, just as their kin always have.
‘We’re still here.’
Their kin was still here.
While her present was now a distant past, standing with her was the future she and her son had sought to protect. Surely, Vulka, too, would smile if he were able to see them.
“Ilias. Raizel. Bruton.”
“That’s why you shouldn’t…yes, my lord?”
Bruton stopped himself mid-lecture as the dragonlord called their names. Raizel and Ilias turned to face her too, though their mouths were tightly shut from Bruton’s lecturing.
Serenis met their gaze with a saddened smile, kneeling down on one knee as she motioned for the three dragons to do the same.
“…Pay your respects.”
The three dragons hurriedly followed suit in confusion. Unlike at the valley, no spell was binding them to listen this time – but they simply felt that they should.
Serenis returned her gaze forward. It was just a hollow, empty chamber now.
But it was also the last remains of their legacy.
Of their second, and final, dragonlord.