Souhait should be happy that there was a guest in the Contract Room. He was, but he was more upset. It wasn’t because of a bias towards his guest. He liked all of his guests, but the reason for his rather disgruntled demeanor was because of who his guest was.
In his dragon form, he was looking down at a man who was looking up at him. Taking a good look at him, he saw that he was a rather haggard looking man with gray eyes and shoulder length wavy platinum blond hair. He was dressed in wrinkled pajamas with a large gash on the torso. If he had fuller cheeks, he would look like a male version of Asteria. A sense of caution came to Souhait. He knew why this man resembled Asteria and a part of his own memories had seen him before.
Unlike himself, the man had looked at him with fascination. He hummed. “So, that man in green was telling the truth. There is a dragon here.”
Souhait hummed. “You are Ras Leonis, correct? Father of Asteria and Bellatrix Leonis and husband of Mebsuta Leonis.”
Ras gave a confused, but curious glance at Souhait. “How do you know who I am? Have we met somewhere?” He had a soft, quivering voice that matched his rather frail appearance.
“I am the wish-granting dragon who dwells within Nova, the man who was accused of killing your wife Mesbuta. He is often referred to as the Charlatan.”
Ras furrowed his eyebrows, changing his expression from confused to disgruntled. “Oh, him.” He emphasized the last word with utter annoyance. His eyes widened as realization came to him. He started mumbling to himself, which Souhait could hear: “Wait, did he say dwell? He said that he’s a wish-granting dragon, so does that mean the Charlatan’s powers come from the dragon?”
Souhait interrupted his solo conversation, “So, how did you die? Illness?”
His question caused Ras to look down. He gathered his hands together and had them rest on his lap. “I wish it was from illness, but it wasn’t. My daughter, Asteria, killed me.”
This came as a surprise for Souhait. “Asteria did?”
“If you inhabit the Charlatan, that probably means you see through his eyes. If you do, then you probably saw what my wife Mebsuta was like. She was power-hungry, cruel, selfish, but I loved her regardless. She was the only person who accepted me for who I was.”
Souhait could tell Ras was telling the truth with his feelings as Ras’s expression became soft when talking about her.
His expression hardened once he continued his story, “I knew she loved me back, but when it came to our daughters, it was a different story. She had them train excessively so that they could become her successors. Being mayor in Sirius means that you have to have power and charisma to lead the city. Since the position is passed down through bloodline, Mebsuta trained my daughters so rigorously to the point that both of them became rather warped.”
Remembering what he had seen through Arcturus’s eyes, ‘warped’ would be an understatement. It did make him wonder how twisted she became to the point that she killed her own biological father.
“Why did Asteria kill you?”
“Because it’s her goal: to kill every member of her family. Once she kills her immediate family, she’ll move onto her extended family.”
“Why is she doing that?”
“It’s due to resentment. She hated how Mebsuta treated her so cruelly during her childhood that she wanted to fight back. However, when the Charlatan killed Mebsuta, she felt disappointed because she wanted to do it.”
“And how does that equate to her wanting to kill her family?”
“Let’s just say that she has a rather warped savior complex. She believes killing her family is equivalent to saving them. Her admiration for the Charlatan stems from him believing he saved her from the cruelty of her mother. That’s why she decided to do the same. She believes that her family is suffering from the repercussions of Mebsuta’s ideals. For me, she believed that my illness was caused by her and it’d be best to end my suffering now than to keep on living. Since I had no more reason to live after my wife died, I let her kill me.”
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Souhait knew that Arcturus already cooperated with Asteria for her goal to kill her sister. He couldn’t talk him into backing out now. He decided to keep watch of her and observe her every move to see if she was trustworthy enough as a companion.
Ras took a good look at his hands. “That man, Polaris, was it? He told me that my soul was in a place called the Spirit Realm where passing souls go after death. He said that passing souls are orbs and that manifesting them back into their physical selves is rare. I am the first, apparently.” He looked rather fascinated. “Does that mean Bellatrix has died too? I wonder how far Asteria has gone. I know that she’s not stopping at her sister–she’d go to both sides of her extended family too.”
“Bellatrix is not dead. She is currently mayor of Sirius.”
Ras looked surprised. “Bellatrix? Mayor…?”
Souhait noticed his lips stretching out and his eyebrows gathering. The corner of his eyes curved as he did his best to cover his mouth and looked away. He took a deep breath in order to suppress his laughter. Ras then turned back to stare at the dragon straight in the eye in a serious manner.
“That’s a funny joke.”
Souhait had found it shocking how little he trusted his own daughter. A normal father would be happy his daughter took over the position. However, the Leonis family was hardly a normal family at all.
“Are you not close with Bellatrix?”
“If Asteria is warped, then I’d consider Bellatrix twisted. She had a rather unusual attachment with Mebsuta growing up. However, she was also unusual in that she had zero talent in everything she did. Of our two daughters, Mebsuta treated her worse as she couldn’t and didn’t want to understand why she was talentless. It did cause a rift in our family because of it. She was treated harshly, but no one was there to defend her, not even me. She has her own set of issues…”
Bellatrix did not seem like a talentless woman to Souhait. From what he had seen on the news broadcast, she seemed composed and serious. For all he could know, the woman on that broadcast could be an act. However, what intrigued him was the fact that she had been a woman with zero talents. Despite being born into a prestigious family, it felt unusual for her to be an underperformer. It also made him wonder if her being mayor was mainly due to Asteria being out of the picture and she was the only candidate. His thoughts were put on hold when Ras was trying to catch his attention.
“Mr. Dragon…”
“My name is Souhait.”
“Souhait, may I ask why I am here? Why is everything in this room so white?”
“The fact that your soul has manifested into the form that you were before your death means that you have a wish you want granted. Tell me, Ras. Do you have a wish?”
“I guess…?”
“I see. My duty is to search through your memories to find your wish through your uncertainty. See that door behind you? Go through it and wait until I show up in a different form.”
“Okay…?” While Ras seemed doubtful, he had no other choice but to trust Souhait, so he got up from the chair to open the gray door behind him. Once he entered and closed the door, Souhait changed into his human form.
He was in deep thought. He felt concerned for what Ras’s wish could be. He sensed strong love whenever he spoke about his late wife, but that feeling of love was weak when the topic came to his two daughters. He needed to look through his memories thoroughly. All he hoped was that his wish was something he could grant; he didn’t want to grant wishes he himself couldn’t grant.
He started thinking about Arcturus and wondered what he was doing in reality. When he manifested a hologram screen that was showing him what was happening through Arcturus’s eyes, he was surprised to see the sight of another Shiftie staring straight at him. Worry came to him. He felt like he should help out, but granting wishes was also important.
“Wishes always come first, but…”
He noticed Arcturus’s scarlet red door manifesting in front of him. His duty was important, but helping Arcturus was too. He took a deep breath as he closed his eyes and plucked a strand of his hair that changed into a glowing lavender scale. He opened his eyes and the door and tossed the scale inside before closing it. The door shone a radiant glow before it disappeared.
“This is all I can do for you right now…”
He knew Arcturus would understand. He just hoped he and the others were strong enough to take down that Shiftie. Taking a deep breath, he sat down on the white chair and activated a pillar of hologram screens that all showed different aspects of Ras’s memories.