Dragonlord

Ep 94. Confessions of the Historian: Ruler of the Seas

The ocean’s strongest creature?

A large shark, perhaps. Or an enormous whale. Or perhaps a titanic, eight-legged monster residing within the water’s depths.

Once upon a time, however, this question was not worthy of discussion. The ruler of the seas was far beyond the might of such insignificant creatures; through his sheer size alone, he could flood the continents and trample its mountains.

Admittedly, he did no such thing. He could, but he did not – for fear he’d incur the wrath of his dear friend.

Though, they never were more than that.

✧ ✧ ✧

“Excuse my intrusion, Lord Serenis! Urgent news!”

“…Hm?”

The discussion halted midway as Serenis, alongside numerous elders, fixed their attention on the man who’d just burst into the lair. His heavy breathing was a telltale sign that something had happened – enough to intrude upon an elders’ meeting.

“What’s the matter, child? Are you alright?”

“I…I’m fine, my lord. But Eden, she’s…she’s disappeared.”

“…Disappeared?”

An audible gasp swept across the gathered dragons at the news. Serenis rose to her feet, briskly making her way over to the news’ bearer. A heavy frown crossed her face, her expression ridden with disbelief.

“What do you mean? She’s still a mere hatchling, dozens were looking after her. How could she have disappeared?”

“W, we’re not sure…she was there one moment, but somehow she was gone the next. We’ve looked everywhere, but…”

“…”

The dragonlord silently walked past the man, leaving the gathered elders behind her. Nobody dared to stop their king as a pair of white wings spread forth, taking her into the air.

And soon after, a second dragon rose to their feet. After glancing around the other elders who were fidgeting in place, she began to shout with a displeased look.

“Are you all just going to sit there and idle by?! A child’s gone missing!”

“…Settle, Arkrana. We don’t even know where she’s gone to.”

“That’s right. And we still haven’t finished discussing what to do about the behemoths.”

The steel dragon gritted her teeth. She smashed the stone table they were gathered around, glaring at the other dragons around it.

“Is that what you’re all going to do when your own children go missing?! Sit here and talk about other tribes?!”

“Well…that child’s just a half.”

“…What?”

“Eden may be the lord’s child, but she’s a mere half. She couldn’t have left the nest of her own accord, someone must’ve taken her on purpose. And if that’s the case, then she’s likely already…”

An unsettling silence settled amongst the dragons. A few quietly nodded in agreement as they added their own thoughts.

“If anything, this is all the more reason to discuss what we’ll do and move together as kin. Surely it’s the behemoths behind this incident as well.”

“I agree. Searching for that little child will only be a waste of precious time.”

“That does seem to be the wisest choice.”

“…”

When Eden was born, everyone had celebrated the birth of the dragonlord’s heir – but in truth, many had worried that the half child would one day inherit Serenis’ role as dragonlord. A half rising to the position of their ruler was unimaginable amongst numerous dragons.

And, quite frankly, a significant portion of the kin had wished for something like this: for the child to simply ‘disappear’ before growing to age. Even though they had no particularly ill feelings for Eden herself, it was thought that the child’s death would best serve the kin’s future down the road.

Outright weaklings – such as humans – were far easier to spare compassion for. A missing human child would better motivate these dragons to get up. Eden had been in an odd limbo given her race and position as heir.

‘And that’s why all of you are disgusting.’

Arkrana turned to follow her lord and join the search. She spared a brief glare at the dragons behind her before taking into the skies.

“…At least the behemoths aren’t hypocrites. You lot are so much worse.”

✧ ✧ ✧

A long, long time ago, there existed a demon tribe known as the velks. They were the only tribe whose homes lied underwater, and also the largest among demonkind as whole: an average velk rivalled the size of a small mountain. With four short limbs, a body-encasing shell and a jagged head bearing dozens of gigantic teeth, the tribe was the ocean’s most horrifying terror…at least in appearance.

Though, their namesake was far smaller compared to their actual terror, and the tribe cared little for fame. They were the only intelligent creatures within the ocean, and being famous amongst landwalkers did little to serve them when they spent most of their time underwater.

But every now and then, some would climb unto land to bathe in sunlight. Though, because their emergence from the ocean often resulted in tidal waves flooding the land, the tribe had heard centuries of complaints from others. Eventually, their lord had compromised: that his tribe would to reduce their forms to a human-like appearance on land.

All of that is to say…should one spot a peculiar individual bathing in the sun by the seashores, it was often best not to interrupt their rest. For they could potentially be giant tortoises that could stomp a village underfoot.

Unfortunately, the little half girl didn’t know any of that.

“Wooooah, this lake is so big! I can’t see the other side!”

Eden happily ran about the sandy beaches, running towards the wavy waters. The glimmering ocean was so mesmerizing that she failed to notice the brown-scaled figure, half-buried in the sand…until she trampled over their face. Accidentally.

“…Bgh!”

After feeling something squishy beneath her feet, only then did Eden turn around to check the source of the sudden grunt. The man she’d stepped on was now sitting upright, painfully rubbing his nose while glaring at the little girl before him.

“You little runt…are you blind?”

“Eh?”

Eden dismissed the fury in the stranger’s eyes, instead focusing on studying his odd features. He was in a humanoid form, but he clearly wasn’t human – though, he wasn’t exactly a dragon either. His scaled tail was much thicker than the dragon tails she’d see at her nest, and his arms were similarly covered in scales. His shriveled brown hair was in a wavy mess, though that may have just been because Eden had just stepped on his face.

But most importantly…while he fortunately had a pair of pants over his legs, he had no clothes from the waist up. And nobody in the nest had ever walked around like that. At least not in front of Eden.

“Woah! You’re naked!”

“What?! No I’m not!”

“But you’re not wearing anything! I can see your chest!”

“…Listen here, you little runt. I’m a velk, I don’t need to follow your stupid human customs. The only reason I’m even wearing anything at all is because a friend keeps yapping at me to wear clothes.”

“What’s a velk?”

“You’ve never heard of velks?...At all?”

“Nope!”

“…Well, I’ll be damned.”

After stretching his neck a few times and dusting off the sand from his body, the man finally gave the little girl a proper scan. Only then did he notice the two black horns protruding from her head – though he didn’t see any other non-human features on her besides that.

“Wait a minute.”

He took a step closer, lifting Eden by the back of her dress like a fish he’d just caught. He spun her left and right, but he couldn’t find any telltale signs of her tribe beside the horns.

“No wings, no tail, no weird skin color…the hell are you?”

“My name’s Eden!”

“Not that. What tribe are you? You’re not human.”

“I’m a dragon!”

“…No you’re not.”

“Yes I am!”

“Uh, no you’re not. I know what dragons look like. I don’t see any wings or tail on you, and a runt like you couldn’t possibly have learned how to hide them already.”

“I’m not a runt! I’m Eden!”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.”

Even now, the velk was pondering whether he should simply swallow the little girl whole before continuing his nap. The beach they were on was in an extremely remote location, and little girl or not, he despised the thought of others intruding his private cove.

But then again, it’d be pretty troublesome if her parents were to start complaining…especially when he wasn’t even sure what tribe the girl was even from.

‘Meh. Can’t hurt to ask.’

If she turned out to be some inconsequential lost orphan, he could always return to his initial idea then.

“Where’s your mom and dad?”

“Mom told me dad’s somewhere far away. Mom is…”

Eden looked around innocently, checking if her mother was anywhere nearby. When she found no one else in the vicinity, she beamed an innocent smile at the man holding her in the air.

“Somewhere!”

“…Somewhere where?”

“I don’t know! But she’ll be here soon, she always finds me!”

“As if. I don’t know how you got here, but I doubt your mom will find you. Nobody knows about this place but me…and you, I guess.”

“Don’t say that! Mom can do anything!”

“Anything? Pft. What, is your mom a demonlord?”

“Uh huh! She’s a dragonlord!”

“ …?”

The velk furrowed his brows. He carefully lowered the little girl back unto the ground, bending down slightly to look into her eyes.

Deep blue. Sure, maybe not all that rare of a color, but still a frightening similarity when put to perspective.

“Wait a second. Your mom is…Serenis? You’re her daughter?”

“Uh huh!”

“…”

The man scratched his head in annoyance. Eating her was now off the table.

‘Damnit, that’s right, I think I did hear that her daughter was a half…’

He then looked off to the surrounding cliff behind them. The rocky structure was towering above them, surrounding the entire cove; there was no way to Eden could’ve gotten here by foot without plummeting to her death.

“Hey, runt, how’d you get here? Did you fly?”

“I’m not runt!”

“Fine, Eden. Did you fly?”

“Nope!”

“Did you swim?”

“Nope!”

“How the hell did you get here then?”

“I dunno!”

“…”

“Mister, you look angry. What’s wrong?”

“YOU! You’re what’s wrong, damnit!”

“Eh…is it because I stepped on you? I’m sorry…”

“…”

He couldn’t just eat Serenis’ daughter and pretend nothing had happened. If she were to find out, that’d probably be the day a new velklord came to power. And even if she never did find out, he’d probably die of guilt.

“You’re lucky I like your mother.”

“You do? Are you going to marry her?”

“…A little late for that, don’t you think?”

“I dunno!”

“…”

The velk let out a long sigh, placing his hands by his waist. He could move fast within the waters, but he was abysmally slow on land – taking Eden back to the dragons’ nest would take days on foot, if not weeks. But he couldn’t take Eden into the water either, else she’d drown.

“…Guess you’re stuck here for a while.”

“Don’t worry, mom will find us soon! She’ll rescue you too!”

“I don’t need rescuing! Who do you think I am?!”

“A homeless person?”

“What?! How?”

“Well, you only have half your clothes…and you were sleeping in dirt.”

“Listen, I’m a velk. The ocean IS our home. You see all that water in front of you? That’s where we live. That’s all my territory.”

“But people can’t breathe in water! I tried!”

“Yeah, YOU can’t. Not even your mother can breathe underwater. That’s OUR thing.”

“Hrmm…then why were you sleeping in dirt?”

“…It’s called sunbathing.”

“Sunbaiting?”

“Here. Lie down.”

The velk sat back down onto the sand, tapping the spot next to him. Eden plopped down onto the ground herself, rolling around in the strange, shiny dirt. Which is called sand, but she didn’t know that.

“It’s warm! This feels nice!”

“Exactly. It’s nice to be somewhere warm when you spend most of your time in water. It gets cold every now and then, you know?”

“Aww…you don’t have blankets at home?”

“…No.”

“No wonder you’re cold.”

“…”

There were lots of things to say, but nothing Eden would really understand. So the velk instead kept his mouth shut, lying back down beside the little girl himself.

“Just sleep. Maybe your mother will find you by the time you wake up.”

“But I already napped today.”

“Nap again.”

“But that’s bad! Mom told me sleeping too much is bad for your health!”

“…Seriously? She used to sleep the most among all of us. Times have changed, huh.”

“Who’s all of us?”

“The lords. You know, tribe leaders. Like your mother.”

“I dunno what that means. I only know dragonlord.”

“…We’re kings. Your mother is the king of dragons. I’m the king of velks.”

“Mom’s a king?”

“Queen, then. Whatever you wanna say. They’re human words, anyways.”

“Does that make me a princess?”

“Huh? Uh…yeah, I guess it does.”

“Oohhh.”

The little girl giggled at her newfound knowledge. She’d only read about kings and queens in storybooks, but they’d always appeared as wealthy, powerful figures. Their sons and daughters were often heroes and the main focus in various stories.

And apparently, she’s one of them!

“Thanks, mister! You taught me something!”

“You’re welcome.”

“But you haven’t taught me the important thing yet!”

“…Great. Now what?”

“You still haven’t told me your name.”

“My name?”

The velk opened his eyes and glanced at the little girl to find her on her side, staring intently into his figure. He snorted in amusement at the little girl’s audacity – he couldn’t even remember the last time someone had demanded a name from him.

“My name’s Kelador. Velklord Kelador.”

“Kell-la-door.”

“That’s right. Remember it well, princess. There aren’t many who can call me by name.”

“Ohh…”

The velklord closed his eyes once again, sighing in satisfaction. His mind slowly began to wander off as sleep crept over his body once more.

Until Eden shook it off from him.

“Kelador. Kelador.”

“…Yes, that’s my name. You don’t have to keep repeating it. And stop shaking me.”

“Are you hungry?”

“No.”

“Really? I am.”

“…”

Kelador reluctantly opened his eyes. Though he’d never had a child of his own, he’d always wondered why the others complained about having one. It was slowly starting to make sense.

✧ ✧ ✧

After a few minutes, Kelador burst out of the water with a loud splash. He trudged back ashore, tail wrapped around copious amounts of fish that were dropped ashore in front of Eden.

“Here.”

“Ooh. What are these?”

“You’ve never seen fish before?”

“Nope!”

“Huh. Well, they’re called fish. Little critters who live in the water. Though, some grow pretty big.”

“Really? How big?”

“Big enough to fit you right in their mouth.”

“Wha?!”

Eden immediately backed off from the flopping fish on the sand. She eyed the creature warily, newfound fear in her eyes.

“…Fish are scary.”

“…Don’t worry, these ones don’t grow that big. You need to go pretty deep to find fish that size.”

“So they’re not going to eat me?”

“Of course not. They’re your food, not the other way around.”

“Aha…”

After hearing the velklord’s reassurance, Eden knelt down to grab the flopping fish. But her attempts were proven futile as their slippery bodies slithered out of her grasp each time, making it impossible to grab one.

Soon, the half girl turned over to face the velk with a teary expression. He was already lying back down on the sand, eyes closed in a likewise futile attempt to sleep.

“…Kelador…”

“…What is it now, princess.”

“They’re too slippery.”

“…Just wait for them to dry.”

“They’re also being covered in dirt.”

“It’s sand, not dirt. And what’s the problem with that?”

“Eating dirt makes you sick.”

“Wash them.”

“That’s going to make them slippery again though!”

“…”

The velklord raised himself back up with an audible groan. He stole several glances at the bundle of fish and Eden, rising to his feet afterwards.

“Fine. Gimme a minute.”

Kelador quickly made his way to the cliffside, chipping at the stone surface to tear out a long, flat piece of rock. He brought it to the half girl and set it down, proceeding to skewer one of the flopping critters with his finger by the head.

‘Halves and their picky eating…you owe me, Serenis.’

Once the fish was dead, the velklord swiftly sliced off their head and tail before proceeding to skin the meat. After shredding the flesh to little boneless slices on the stone surface, he finally invited the little girl back over to eat.

“Here. No problems now, right?”

“Eh…”

“…What now?”

“Mom told me not to eat raw meat.”

“That’s because she fed you land animals. Raw fish are fine.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. Trust me, I know better than your mom when it comes to ocean life.”

“Mm…okay, if you say so!”

It wasn’t long until Eden began nibbling on one of the slices. Soon, she pushed the whole slice into her mouth, chewing and swallowing with a delighted expression.

“Fish taste funny! They taste like wind!”

“What does that even mean…?”

“And they’re squishy!”

Kelador watched with crossed arms as the little girl continued to eat her meal. A thin smile curved his lips before he laid back onto the sand.

“…As long as you like it, princess.”

✧ ✧ ✧

Kelador enjoyed a moment’s respite as Eden ate. She woke him then and there out of boredom, dragging him along into the shallow waters to play with her – and fetch her while he was at it if she ever went too deep. It took quite some time before the half girl would tire herself out and return to the sand.

But once the sun began to set, a new problem arose. And, as per tradition, the velklord was shaken awake to address it.

“Kelador. Kelador.”

“…Yeah?”

“Are you cold?”

“No.”

“Really?...I am.”

When the velk opened his eyes, a shivering little girl came to sight. Her dress lightly fluttered about in the chilly night breeze, and the sun was no longer present to warm her back. Even the sand beneath their feet were ice cold now.

Of course, a velk hatchling would’ve been fine in Eden’s place. They spent their entire lives in cold water; a little night chill was nothing to them.

But Eden wasn’t a velk, and she wasn’t even a dragon. At least not in full.

‘Why you gotta do this to me, Serenis…’

Once again, the velklord rose to his feet with an audible groan. He began walking towards the murky waters, stretching his neck left and right while more and more of his body gradually sank into the water.

“Wait here.”

✧ ✧ ✧

And another hour later…

“EDEN!!”

A gigantic thud shook the entire cove with a monstrous sound. Kelador jolted awake and looked up to find a white dragon standing before him, their figure lightly shimmering in the darkness of the night.

Soon after, their body briefly flashed in white before being reduced to a much smaller form. The panting dragonlord frantically looked left and right for her daughter which she could feel nearby, and when she couldn’t find her daughter, began glaring at the velklord before her.

“Where’s my daughter, Kelador?! If you did anything to her…!”

“Woah woah woah, calm down. She’s right over there.”

The velklord innocently pointed to a large clam off to his side, easily big enough to house a person or two inside. Serenis immediately made her way over and burst it open by tearing off the top half, waking up the girl soundly sleeping within.

“Mmh…mom…?”

“Eden!”

After embracing the little girl in her arms, Serenis once again began glaring at the velklord beside her. As far as she was concerned, there was no way in hell Eden could’ve ended up in a clam’s mouth at a lone cove like this. They weren’t even close to the dragonkin’s nest.

“Kelador, you better have an explanation for kidnapping my daughter.”

“…Ok, there’s a huge misunderstanding here. I didn’t do jack, your daughter just appeared out of nowhere! This place was supposed to be MY private resting spot, not hers!”

“Is that the best story you could come up with? After feeding her to some odd ocean creature?”

“I didn’t FEED her to the clam, your daughter was freezing so I tucked her inside somewhere warm! The hell was I supposed to do, dip her into the ocean? You know I can’t make fire!”

“…”

“Just ask her! She’s right there, you know!”

Serenis’ furious glare loosened into a distrustful stare. She then lowered her gaze to the half-asleep daughter in her arms, gently rubbing the little girl’s back.

“Are you alright, Eden? What happened?”

“Mmh?...Em…Kelador taught me sunbaiting.”

“…?”

“And I ate fish…it tasted like wind. And then I played in the big salty lake, and…I slept in a really weird bed…hehe…”

“It’s a clam. Both of you really need to work on your ocean knowledge.”

Despite the velklord’s pouting, Serenis completely dismissed his words. The smile on her daughter’s face was all she could see right now, their small laughter all she could hear.

“…Is that so? It sounds like you had a fun day.”

“Mhm!...”

Serenis cuddled the little girl a moment longer, letting her daughter fall back asleep in her arms. She then turned to Kelador, lowering her gaze apologetically.

“…I apologize for the misunderstanding. Thank you for taking care of her.”

“Just a thank-you? You owe me big time, Serenis.”

“…Of course. Would you like anything in return?”

“…”

Kelador also lowered his gaze to study the little girl in Serenis’ arms. A complicated mix of emotions welled up within, but he managed to grin back to the dragonlord – as he always have.

“Come with your daughter again sometime.”

“Here? To this shore?”

“Yeah. You both ought to know a little more about the ocean. Seriously, how do you not even know what a clam is?”

“…Is that what that bed is called?”

“It’s not a…you know what, sure, let’s go with that.”

Serenis blankly stared at the pouting velklord a while longer. A faint smile eventually curved her lips, and she nodded back to her old friend.

“…I’ll be sure to visit again soon, then.”

This was Eden’s first meeting with a demon outside of the dragonkin. It was also her first notable meeting with a demonlord other than her mother.

And it was also the day Kelador’s personal resting spot became a not-so-personal family picnic spot.

✧ ✧ ✧

You were a fool, velklord. You knew you could never stand at her side, and yet you strived for the impossible.

Had you given up on this futile prospect, perhaps the error wouldn’t have grown to what it was. Perhaps you’d still be alive, together with your beloved friend.

But you chose to support their growth. And you chose to risk your kin for the erroneous dreams you nurtured within them.

Surely, you knew your life would never amount to anything when making these choices – when you yourself volunteered to be their tool.

Perhaps the only difference now is that your wielders have changed to humans.