Dragonlord

Ep 90. What Is It That You Truly Desire? (4)

Demonlord: an arbitrary title commonly perceived as a myth. Despite its former reputation, many perceived the very word as a childish concept in the present.

Why? Because it was ridiculous.

Non-divinities wielding powers rivalling, or surpassing that of present deities – the very concept was nonsensical in the contemporary era ruled by mankind. To believe in the existence of such beings was no different from believing in fairy tales.

But here they were, forced to believe it before the reality unfolding in their eyes.

Crack!

The very earth began to crack and shatter from the flood of prismatic lights seeping into its surface. Serenis’ figure had long become blurred out in blinding radiance, turning her into a shimmering, luminous sphere.

For the first time, Raizel found herself struggling to even approach an individual before her. She instead shot her glare towards the child deity standing behind.

“The hell did you do?!”

“I’ve merely drawn out their true desires! This is-“

Slap!

Rozerre’s response came to a premature end with a stinging pain on his cheek. Even Raizel widened her eyes at the unexpected sight.

And beside the boy was his mother, glaring at Rozerre with a conflicted, miserable gaze

“What have I told you, Rozerre?! I told you to stop!”

“But mother, leaving a danger like that unaddressed is-“

Raizel interjected before their conversation could continue much longer, frowning as she pointed at the growing sphere of light before them.

“Talk later. Do something about that first.”

Even while they conversed, the light surrounding the dragonlord was swallowing more and more of the area, spilling further and further unto its surroundings.

But Rozerre merely dodged the steel dragon’s gaze, stammering in his answer.

“That’s…well…”

“Well what?”

“You see, to undo it, I…need to look into their eyes again…”

“…”

Serenis’ body was completely encased within a blinding light. The three could barely make out the dragonlord’s silhouette, much less her eyes.

And after a heavy sigh, Aldrid stepped forward with a deepening frown.

Even her divinity of life offered little protection against the dragonlord’s deluge of radiant destruction. But she nonetheless stood her ground, using her divinity to regenerate the skin constantly dissolving from her flesh.

“…I will do what I can. Rozerre, make sure the villagers don’t come near.”

“Do what, mother?! That’s a living disaster! Even you couldn’t-“

“BECAUSE WE HAVE TO! Do you hear me, Rozerre?! We’re deities, now act like it!”

✧ ✧ ✧

“Mom!”

“…Mm…”

When Serenis opened her eyes, a pair of blue eyes similar to her own were looking down at the waking dragonlord. Strands of brown hair were streaking down from her grinning observer, lightly caressing her cheeks.

“…Eden?”

Serenis bolted awake, raising herself to take in her surroundings. And when she did so, an all-too-familiar scenery revealed itself before her.

The dragonlord was above an ornate bed of feather and stone, far too large to be of human make; surrounding her was a vibrant valley of humans and dragons alike, going about their lives as one people. And most importantly, sitting beside her on the oversized bed was her daughter, studying their mother ever so casually.

“Eden? How…? Where are we?”

“What are you talking about? We’re at home.”

“…Home?”

“The valley, mother! The dragonkin’s nest! Where else would we be?”

“…”

Once again, the dragonlord took in her surroundings. True to her daughter’s words, the landscape in her eyes was indeed the home of her own kin.

And it wasn’t the nest she’d seen last with Raizel and Ilias, comprising only of a few dozen dragons. Hundreds and thousands of dragonkin were here, filling the valley with vibrance and laughter – it was the true ‘home’ that she so fondly remembered.

Everything seemed to be at peace. Reincarnation, the Twelve…the end of demonkind, the First’s betrayal…and even her daughter’s departure. It was as if none of it had ever happened.

‘But then, all of that was…’

When Serenis’ eyes began to well up with concern, Eden abruptly clasped the dragonlord’s face with a hand on each cheek, forcibly turning her mother’s gaze towards her.

“Mother, stop!”

“…Huh?”

“You’re thinking ill thoughts, aren’t you? I don’t know why no one else can read your face. You may as well have it written on your forehead.”

“No, that’s…”

With a delightful smile, Eden held her mother in a loving embrace. The girl’s hands were gently caressing her mother’s back in a warm, consoling touch.

“What’s wrong? Did you have a bad dream?”

“…”

‘A dream?’

Compared to what she was currently seeing, the dragonlord’s fading memories were nothing short of a nightmare.

And soon, Serenis likewise embraced her daughter. A warmth she thought she’d never feel was coursing through her hands once more.

“…I suppose…it was just a horrid dream.”

“Mother? Are you crying?”

“…It’s nothing to be concerned of.”

“Pft. Lying to me again? What’s wrong? What kind dream was it?”

“…”

When Eden pulled back to look at Serenis in the eyes, the dragonlord only dropped her gaze. She couldn’t bear to meet her daughter’s eyes right now.

Too many things had happened. And while she didn’t want to remember a single one, if she were to pick the worst of them all…

“…A dream…where you left. And never returned home.”

“Ehh? Why would I do that?”

“Because…I failed to protect you. That’s why…”

When the dragonlord failed to continue her words, Eden remained silent for a moment longer. But soon, the silence was replaced with an ominous, distorted voice.

“Failed? Don’t lie, mother.”

Sernenis hurriedly raised her gaze upon hearing Eden’s distorted voice, but the warmth in Eden’s eyes were long gone. Amidst the strands of her daughter’s blood-soaked hair, the only thing she could see were two pitch black hollows leaking in tears of blood.

“YoU kNeW I wOuLd DiE. YoU kIlLeD mE.”

“…Eden.”

Sunlight waned, and the sky darkened into crimson above. The vibrance of the surrounding valley all but disappeared; the world was instead filled with old friends and allies drenched in blood.

This, too, was a familiar scenery.

In the sea of blood where their final battle had taken place, demonkind resentfully cursed the dragon that had caused their death.

“Do you even deserve to dream?”

“Sinner. Sinner. Sinner. Sinner.”

“If only you’d listened, we wouldn’t have died like this.”

“It’s your fault, dragonlord. You’re the reason we all died here.”

“Why do you get to live? Why are you the only one alive?”

“…”

Her breaths grew sparse, and Serenis’ gaze fell to the ground once more to avoid their condemning eyes. But even then, her own, bloody reflection began to speak from the sea of blood beneath.

“Do you still wish to liberate this star? Even though it no longer belongs to us?”

“…”

“You’ve actually been jealous, have you not? Of the vile insects infesting the world you’ve lost.”

“…No, that’s…not…”

“Duty? Demonkind’s quest? Rubbish. What you’re doing is enacting petty vengeance, nothing more than comforting your sorry self. And you will never find comfort until every life around you perishes.”

“No…that’s not true. That cannot be true. I’d never-!”

The reflection beneath smirked back at Serenis, fading away thereafter. The world itself followed suit, melting away into nothingness – and soon, Serenis found herself alone in the darkness of an endless void.

There was nothing to see here. Nor anything to hear. Nor anything to feel.

But even so, she didn’t feel particularly saddened or lost. No, what she felt was relief – that the world surrounding her was gone, and her nightmare had come to an end.

“…”

‘What I truly desire, is…’

✧ ✧ ✧

The deity of life stood her ground, sweating profusely with her hand held against the lights rushing out from her lord. She was using every ounce of divinity she could muster to suppress the growing mass of light flooding out of Serenis, but Aldrid’s abilities proved to be of little use.

It was never a very combative divinity to begin with. No matter what Aldrid summoned to encase the dragonlord – trees or vines or otherwise – the prismatic lights melted through every single one before they could so much as touch Serenis.

“Stop. Just get out.”

Unable to continue remaining idle before the deity’s futile efforts, Raizel gripped Aldrid’s shoulder, forcibly pulling them back.

The steel dragon gritted her teeth. She forced herself to then take a step forward, using her arm to cover her eyes from the blinding rays.

“Lord, calm down!...Can you hear me?!”

“…”

‘Fucking hell. I guess not.’

When Raizel took another step forward, the dragonlord’s magic began to seep directly into her skin. With a violent sizzling noise, even the steel dragon’s body began to rapidly melt and rot away.

“Lord!...Lord Serenis!”

“…Wh…”

The silhouette up ahead slowly began to turn towards the steel dragon’s voice. Despite the light obscuring most of the dragonlord’s features, Raizel could at least make out Serenis’ contorted expression.

Streaks of tears were falling from a pair of murky eyes. The ringing voice was devoid of hope, lost in its own longing and sorrow.

”…What meaning is there to any of this?”