“Dragon boyyy, it’s been so long.”
Out in the yard of Asylum is a small storage shed which door now opens to a woman with snow white, who gives a plastic smile to Shiryu, as he sat in silent brood…
“What is it Fuyu?” he looks up at her
“You ask that as if you’re busy, we both know that you’ve nothing to do out here,
It must be a shame looking like a monster,” she says dryly
“If I were you, I would have broken that man’s arm and asserted myself as a person not to be messed with,”
“Well I don’t want to do that.”
“Why not? It’s not like you will get respect any other way, even I see as a beast so does my siblings, it’s only because you are weaker than me I treat the same as any other person,”
“I know that already, the supreme leader does it as well, because he is powerful compared to all humans, we all feel like equals under him.”
“Who is this supreme leader?
I would like to have a spar with him.”
“He lives extremely far away from here, and would obliterate you without trying.”
“I firmly doubt that… but.” Fuyu edges near to Shiryu staring him directly in the eyes
“I talked to Claude, and he said you have a way to return people’s strength here…”
“Is that what you came here to see me for?”
“Why else would I care about you Shiryu?” Fuyu smiles again
“I think you’re very interesting, in a useful sort of way,
Now will you share your secret with me?”
(At least she is honest about it….)
“I suppose I’ll try with you.” Sighs Shiryu getting up from his crouched position
“Will you allow me to hug you?”
“…. What does an embrace have to do with strength, isn’t that counter productive?”
“It is not about the hug itself it’s the way it makes you feel.”
“Well I have not done it before and I don’t suppose something like that evokes any feeling.” Fuyu opens her arms awkwardly for the embrace
….
….
…..
(Feel the same like with Aki, it’s warm, it makes me feel human)
“Awww,
You’re really like pet.” Exhales Fuyu not sharing his sentiment
She squeezes her arms around him now,
“I do not feel any strength,
Were you lying to me?
Is that you want to be my pet?”
“What pet? Nooo.” Shiryu pulls away immediately
“I was not lying, we’re supposed to feel the same for my ability to work, that’s what happens when I do it Aki,”
“How does it feel?” Fuyu quizzes
“It is something I am unable to describe,”
“Now I know that one was a lie.”
“If you have want to know ask your sister, I don’t want to say.”
“The chief? Ugh no, I’m not talking to her.”
“Why the animosity towards your sister?”
“There isn’t any, we just don’t talk it’s that simple, I don’t hate her, she is just a competitor to me, that’s how we four remain strong, getting too close jeopardizes strength growth.”
“So you have never spoken?”
“Not any long conversations, just a few words ever so often.”
“You do realize that it’s been many months since we got dragged into this city, have you even asked her how she’s been?”
“Obviously well I can see that for myself,”
“hhhhhh” sighs Shiryu
“You two are so similar yet so distant, I don’t understand it,”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“……
Goodbye.” Fuyu abruptly leaves
(????)
“What did I say?” he calls behind the closing door
(Why are these siblings so weird man, I can’t ever understand them….)
….
….
After sitting in bewildered thought for a moment Shiryu getss up and exits the shed back into the yard,
Still as foggy as usual, you can barely tell when it’s day or night
….!
A bright light shines from the asylum onto Shiryu
(They’re still monitoring me.)
Ignoring it Shiryu takes a walk around the building to explore,
Given the type of place this is the inner walls are as fortified as outside to prevent the ‘insane’ from escaping, though at this time no one was being held at asylum given the dire circumstances
….
….
Shiryu goes along the edges of the brown bricked building, on the lower floors the windows are all barred and curtained…
….
“I heard that short woman who came yesterday is the one going to defeat the dragon,”
Some chatters seeps through the walls,
“She doesn’t look that powerful to me,”
“Pinoki doesn’t either, but he is the only one of us that can use magic without having it drained like us…”
…
…
Shiryu keeps walking leaving the talks behind….
The back side of the asylum hosts more yard but this one filled with crops and trees being grown, giant crystals producing light and periodically water bathe the greens,
….
In the middle of crops a familiar face,
His normally shaved head now a blonde tuft, but everything else remains the same,
“Bane?” Shiryu calls out but he ignores still searching through the crops,
The young man makes his way to him
….
….
“Bane, it’s been a–”
“–Shhh,” You’re interrupting my thinking
“Huh?”
“I am trying to decide which peppers to use for my next dish,
Scotch bonnet or scorpion?”
“…..
Scorpion…?”
“No that might be too sharp.”
“The scotch?”
“Green or yellow?”
(What are these questions?)
“Umm, green”
“No, that might be too mild, yellow might do it though…” Bane picks two
(What’s was the point of asking me then?)
“I see you are surviving here pretty well Bane.”
“No, I am not, I am weak, otherwise we would’ve killed the dragon by now, instead of being stuck here for over half a year now.”
“Your still able to track it, even I lost count how long due to this dense atmosphere.”
“I can’t Bane shakes his head,” walking out the crop area to the building.
“You can tell we have been here long from the soil, the crops, we are well into summer year now which means at least seven months,
It annoys me that I’ve missed most of spring until the next two-three years.”
“Well if it makes you feel any better, I have missed all the seasonal years my entire life so far,”
“It does not make me feel better,” Bane monotones
“….”
“Shiryu!” a a voice echoes before the conversation could continue
“It seems the chief is looking for you,” Bane gestures to his sister coming round the corner,
“I’ll leave you to it.” He nods off not at all wanting to talk with his sibling
(Why are they all like this?)
…
“Over here Aki!”
“Gah!
I tell you stay put, for a moment and you go off!”
….
….
….