"You all must leave the Duchy!"

We were inside the throne room when the person shouting those words suddenly barged in and interrupted our discussion.

"What do you mean by" We must leave the duchy! "?"

"Yes, and immediately."

"What do you mean by that?"

"We don’t have time for that. We must leave!" shouted Grandfather.

That same grandfather, who had been missing for several months after being summoned by the Church.

"Father, please explain yourself; you disappeared for several months, then reappeared one day expecting us to leave the duchy; how are we supposed to accept that?"

Father and I were talking in the throne room when Grandfather barged in, with no explanation, but urging us to leave the duchy, as he had said earlier.

Regardless of whatever was behind the reason for which he expected us to do that, The idea that I, this duchy’s duke, was to run away was completely absurd.

"Did something happen, Lord Grandfather?" I asked my wife, since she too was with us.

My wife, father, and I were discussing details concerning my son’s engagement with his fiance, who just happened to have left the duchy a few days prior, before Grandfather suddenly interrupted us.

I could tell from his composure that this was something serious, but how am I supposed to comply without even giving any explanations whatsoever?

"We really don’t have time for this." He sighed, but seeing how adamant we were, he at least tried to explain.

If I were to guess, I was certain that this, with how long he had been away, had most likely something to do with the Church.

The Church

It’s always the church.

His eyes nervously scanned each one of us, and only those were the words he mumbled, "Five months ago, I was..."

"You what?" I asked, getting exhasperated with all of this.

"I was tasked by the church along with several other men to investigate the dragons behind the calamities."

"You mean..."

"I was sent to the Iharana Greatforest. I went there... I saw them... They are coming for us, if they aren’t already here. Which is why we must leave. "

"Who are "they"?"

He stiffened at this question and starred at me,

"They are-"

He was interrupted by an explosion that occurred right in the corner of the room, or to be exact, two, since the same way a projectile would, the thing that exploded not only blasted a corner of the room, but also caused another explosion upon crashing onto the ceiling.

"What was that?"

The room was flooded with a smoke screen, but on what was once a wall, I instead saw a giant hole. Shrapnels were failling from the ceiling where whatever was that thing crashed.

Amidst the fog, a silhouette appeared,

"Who goes there?" I shouted at the intruder.

Each one of us sheathed our mana out, ready to fight back if needed.

Nothing else but a strange sound came from the silhouette.

As the smoke started dissipating, the person behind the fog was finally unraveled.

It was a man.

A guard to be exact.

I did not know his name, but I knew he was generally tasked with guarding the castle entrance.

Looking at the father, grandfather whose expression was the stiffest of the rooù, and Renata, the three of them were as confused as I was.

The man, as if to check his whole body was still there, was touching himself thoroughly.

"How is this possible, man?" mumbled.

It was only a short while after that, after realizing that he was okay, that he noticed our presence.

"My Lords?" The man asked with a voice of utter confusion.

"What happened?" were the only things that I could find myself to say.

"I... I was guarding the castle entrance like I always do, when a young woman insisted on having something to do here. "

"A young woman?"

The man vigiourously nodded,

She said,"... that her arrival was supposed to be unannounced when I told her that if she had no invitation or official token that could justify her presence, she would not be allowed. Since she would not listen to a word, I tried to restrain her... and..."

The man looked at the hole and the ceiling from which he appeared to have been blasted through and landed. reached out tenderly for his neck.

"I don’t know how I am still alive." The man seemed genuinely confused.

Still, in the middle of all the confusion, a voice that was neither of ours nor the guard said, "I tried to make my entrance somewhat noble-like. I guess that’s a miss. "

"That’s her!" The man shouted, upon hearing that voice, before running for the exit.

To be honest, I couldn’t help but understand his reaction upon seeing what emerged from the hole made by the blast was a floating golden and sky blue orb.

"It’s a shame, but I’ll do with it."

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"This voice..." Grandfather said in a tone I never heard him speaking in.

The same way a flower would bloom, the orb split orbs split open, revealing behind them a young woman of golden and blue chevelure.

Glancing at Grandfather, I saw him trembling, clenching his fist, with a clear expression of dread painted all over his face.

"Greetings, Gentlemen of the house Aubrecht."

"Who are you?" I shouted.

"I suppose a proper introduction should go first."

"You..."

"My name is Nia, but you can call me Rena, and I am the tenth and sole primordial dragon, the daughter of Raissa and Mon, the Ninth Dragon, also known as Solomon the Loner." She presented herself.

Upon noticing our stiff reaction to the mention of Dragon amidst her other inepty, furthered, "I have come, albeit rather belatedly, at the behest of Ronandt, also known rather sadly as The Faceless One."

My heart skipped at the mention of that name and that cursed nickname.

"Now, first thing first,... to avoid things from further escalating."

Snapping fingers from her, a wave rippled across the room. Its speed was such that none of us were capable of reacting to it in any sort of way.

I was for a moment wondering what that thing was about since I barely felt any change in myself, but then I noticed I couldn’t use magic. I could still feel the mana running through me, but still, for some reason, I could feel it to the bone, I couldn’t summon magic to any form at all.

"Hum? I see. It seems that Mister Great-grandfather went on his own then..." The girl mumbled to herself. "And him, he isn't,... in the castle."

For some reason, she seemed to have done something that allowed her to know who was in the castle and who wasn't.

"What do you want of us?" grandfather shouted.

"I might have allowed you to run away last time, but don’t expect things to go your way again." These words were said plainly, but one could feel the underlying threat they contained.

To whom it was directed exactly, I immediately could tell, by just a glance, at Grandfather, whose face’s expression was beyond simply grim.

"Where is he?!" shouted Grandfather.

Looked at him, I saw him, for the first, trembling and displaying what I knew was fear.

This time, being done with all of this, I stepped forward to speak up. Yet the moment I did, I was shouted at by none other than my grandfather.

"You three, don’t do or try anything." Grandfather shouted at us.

The girl smiled, seemingly satisfied of Grandfather words.

Who was this girl? I wondered for a moment before it was drowned out by another question that came back to me from a name she had mentionned earlier.

Despite the incomprehensible and nonsense-like sounding things she earlier mentioned, I couldn’t help but ask,

"What do you mean at the behest of..." That name? Ronandt? Why? "Where do you know it from?"

The girl looked in my direction and simply smiled.

It was her name that haunted me till this day.

"What happened, my lords? We heard a noise then..." I heard the guard's voice say, amidst a commotion beyond the door, before barging into the room.

The moment they did barge into the room, the girl, rose her hand toward them, and the next instant, each of them were trapped inside a bubble-like matter.

"Leave them be. You are here for me, aren’t you? They had nothing to do with this. " Grandfather said to the girl.

But the girl pretended to be deaf and heard nothing of his words.

"I am here to answer his wish. I cannot afford having anyone getting in the way. Which is why I apologize for this, but it is for your own good. Please do not resist. "

Spreading her arm, in a split second, everyone present who were trapped inside her bubble-like things simply vanished away, leaving only around the five of us, me, Elliel, my wife, Father, Grandfather, and of course her.

Before any of us could ask what she did to them,

She reassured, "You don’t need to worry. I just sent them somewhere else where they wouldn’t bother."

"What do you want?!" asked Renata.

"As I said, nothing. I’m just here to help him finish what he couldn’t."

"What’s that supposed to-"

Lifting her finger in front of her mouth, she said, "Patience. You’ll have the answer to your question soon enough. Until then, each one of you is encouraged to take and wait, "to which, she added, upon noticing that neither of us were about to accept that. "In silence please."

I think I, under normal circumstances, would’ve at least to an extent fought back, but right now, seeing Grandfather's stiff expression and the sense of helplessness I felt being stripped of magic, I complied.

Patience, she said, but for what exactly, I wondered.

It was the second time this castle was taken in a situation like this. I thought that things had changed, but now that it happened again, I was put under the same circumstance as I was that night.

Soon came nightfall, and yet still here we were.

It was then that from the room entrance, I heard footsteps approaching. I saw, unravelling from the door twilight, a young boy.

"Elliel." called my wife and so I was about to call out, but then my eyes stumbled upon the person following him close behind.

Taller than Elliel by just a bit, and they both shared the same red-eyed jewels.

"You...?" I only found myself mumbling, approaching the person.

"Luke." I heard my wife and father call but still, I walked, went past Elliel, who called "Father" onto me, but still ignored, for I wanted to see closer for myself.

"You... Is that really you?" I asked.

He was nothing like the boy I remembered.

The one I remembered was still a child and hasn’t grown ever since in my mind.

Subconsiouly, I reached out for his face to see if this was just an illusion, which it, by the touch, felt it wasn’t.

"Yes, father." It has been a while. He said in a voice I no longer recognized.

Yet, I knew it was him.

I took him in my arms, which I had only done three times before.

The day he was born.

That day, we met again.

And finally today.

"How… how is this possible? … I was told you were

"Yes, I know. I will explain that later. But right there is something more urgent."

"Hum?"

"I want you to take me to him."

"Him?"

Looking at me straigth in the eyes, and said, "You know who am talking about."

***

Walking through a long hall, we reached a large golden door situated on the lowest floor of the castle.

The door was adorned with several motif which the Aubrecht family’s emblem being the most proeminent one.

The sheer size, height and lengh of the door was such that one would hardly imagine at least a good two dozens of people to be able to even bulge it, yet the moment I, with a mere nudge of both both hand, I was able to allow a open the door widely for us to pass through.

The entire room being covered on its entirety by a crystal-like matter was shining in a blue radiance from the floors, the walls and the grounds, and seemed that spread endlessly, that was how large it was.

"This is where our Aubrect’s family forefathers rest their in their eternal slumber."

Neatly lined on both side were hundred of altar monuments.

Those monuments were where the remnants of the members of the Aubrecht lay.

We walked for some distance, and with each step I took, my heart felt heavier and heavier than it already was, to, after a while, ultimately reach an altar on the corner.

There was something different with this one compared to the others, this one was smaller size-wise compared to the others.

"This is where I made him rest after that day."

Being this close of the altar, we saw, past through the cristal-like matter the altar was made of, laying there as if he were asleep and were about to wake up from slumber at any moment, the remnant of a new born child, my chld, the child I had 18 years ago with Barbara.

"For years, he rested with your Granfather’s Edouard family, but after that night, I made him move here along with his ancestor." I explained.

"I know. Thank you."

"Can you please leave us on our own please?"

"But-"

Maybe sensing the reticence I harbored, he insisted,

"Please."

"I understand." I conceded as I took my leave.