Page 117

“What?” Aedan asked upon noticing Erin’s lingering stare.

“Didn’t think you were capable of sentiment,” she replied with a shrug. She turned her gaze away. “I’m even doubting my eyes.”

“Whatever gave you that idea. I’m not devoid of emotions. I just don’t bother with them much.”

“Just can’t imagine what kind of person he must be to be able to put up with you.”

“She,” Aedan corrected. “Izayl is a she.”

Suddenly, it clicked in Erin’s mind. “Ah, I see. So the two of you were an item, is that how it is?”

Aedan’s gaze narrowed against Erin’s smirking eyes.

“Am I wrong?”

“No, you’re not wrong.” Aedan admitted. “She was my best friend and she gradually became more than that. She was… different from most. She returned every jab I threw with her own but she was more prudent than me. Knew how to hold her tongue but when she unleashed it, there was no stopping her.”

“Sounds like you admired her too.”

“You would admire her too if you knew her. I’m sure the two of you would get along well. Too well, I dare add”

Erin noticed a drop of tear was forming in the corner of his eyes but she said nothing of it. It would be boorish to.

“It’s ironic. She’s the Abyss Dragon. She bore a pitch black color but she had a heart of gold.”

“What happened to her?”

“I don’t know,” Aedan said. “We didn’t part on good terms. It was during the reign of Zarkoth. Terrible time. We had conflicting ideas. She wanted to stay and help the war victims and refugees but I wanted to fight on the front lines. It was the angriest I have ever seen of her. We parted ways then and I never heard from her since. I thought she returned to her homeland. To think that she had met her demise here.”

Erin stepped closer to Aedan and placed her hand on his shoulder. She wanted to say some words of comfort but she realized this was the first time she was consoling someone not out of obligation. She couldn’t find any words to say.

“Do you think she was killed?” Erin asked but she immediately regretted it. “Wait, I didn’t mean—”

Aedan chuckled. “It’s alright. That was a good question. One that I don’t even have the answer to. She’s an Ancient Dragon. Even though she’s not a fighter, her natural prowess makes her a terror to be trifled with. Considering she met her demise in such a place, out of the sight of everyone, she might have fallen for some scheme that ended in her demise.”

“But if that’s the case, the clues would have already been washed away by time. There’s no telling what actually had transpired.”

“I am sure about one thing. The Singularity was a result of her death. This means that she may have died with a lot of negative emotions. Her death is not of her own accord.”

Erin flinched. It was only for a brief moment but she felt rage coming from him. That split second of wrath was enough to let her know that the pinnacle of his strength was something she could never comprehend. In her former world, such power was impossible. The magic advancement of this world made it possible. She doubted she could amount to much in this world even in her prime.

“Sorry,” Aedan apologized. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I was not scared,” Erin asserted. “Much.”

Aedan tittered behind his palm. “If you say so, missy.”

“And you’re back to being an arse.”

“It has its moments,” Aedan muttered. His gaze fell to the small body of water that separated them from Izayl’s corpse. Ripples appeared on the surface occasionally.

“There’s something in the water,” Erin said.

“Evidently.”

“You know what it is?”

“I do,” Aedan answered briefly. He then spoke in a language that Erin couldn’t understand even a single word of it. The speech had a certain tune but Erin was certain it was no song.

“What manner of speech is that?” she asked after he stopped.

“An ancient language. Dragon tongue, to put it simply.”

“I almost thought you were singing.”

“Trust me, you do not want to hear a Dragon sing, at least not in their own tongue.”

Ripples began to form incessantly on the small body of water. Bubbles also began to surface. Soon, a creature broke through the water surface.

Erin took a step back and put her hands on her sword. As she noticed the indifference in Aedan’s eyes, her grip loosened on her sword’s hilt. Nevertheless, she focused her sights on the creature that had just emerged from the depths.

The creature resembled a Dragon with one glaring difference, it was humanoid but only on the upper half of its body. The lower half was a snake’s. It was wielding a spear with an undulating-shaped tip. It slithered its way to land all the while maintaining its body upright.

“A Naga?” Erin blurted out her Appraisal result.

“Met one before?” Aedan asked.

“Campfire tales,” she answered. “But I don’t recall hearing about them having black scales and being creatures of dark nature.”

“Hmm, me neither,” Aedan said, curiously.

“There’s a lot of miasma inside its body.”

“I notice.”

“Are they even alive?”

“They look alive.”

The Naga looked at the two with a dubious glare. It raised its spear and pointed it at the two. It spoke with a melodious tongue that sounded soothing and threatening at the same time.

“What did it say?” Erin asked.

“The usual, “who are we”, “what do we want”, those kinds of questions.”

“Aren’t you going to answer it back before… you know, it starts to attack us.”

“It won’t attack us. See how his hands are trembling? It knows what I am.”

“Wait, he?”

“Yes, he. It’s a male. See that tiny hole under his belly. When a male Naga gets aroused, their—”

“Continue that sentence and I’ll make a hole under your belly.”

Aedan laughed. “Well, you get the point.”

The Naga, seemingly offended by the fact he was ignored, began raising his voice.

Aedan answered his question with a few lines of words. The Naga immediately lowered his spear and stared at Aedan, unmoving.

“What did you just say to him?”

“I told him my name and that I’m an acquaintance of Izayl.”

Erin looked at him doubtfully but she understood there was no reason for Aedan to lie.

The Naga turned to the water and began uttering words that could only be interpreted as a call to others. Not a few seconds passed, more Nagas emerged from the water.

“There are dozens of them…” Erin gasped. “How did I not sense them?”

“They’re aquatic creatures. They excel in the water. Unless you’re really concentrating, you could not perceive them from above while they are underwater.”

The Naga looked towards Aedan and began telling him something.

Aedan’s brows furrowed as he listened to what the Naga was saying.

Erin was dying to know the contents of the conversation but she remained prudent and waited for them to finish. The conversation went on for quite some time before it ended. Aedan had a look of astonishment and relief.

“Interesting… but as expected of Izayl,” Aedan mused.

“Come on, don’t keep me waiting.” Erin urged. “What did he tell you?”

“He was very descriptive and poetic about his story so I’ll just summarize it. They belong to a tribe that was attacked by Zarkoth’s forces. Izayl saved the whole tribe and brought them to safety but she exhausted almost the entirety of her strength and the Demons hunted them down without rest. She lured the Demons down here where she fought them to her last breath.”

“She died fighting the Demons?”

Aedan nodded. “To show their gratitude, these Nagas volunteered to stay and guard her corpse for they knew a Dragon’s corpse would become the greed of many unsavoury individuals.”

“But how did that lead... to this?”

“A warlock came.”

“A warlock?”

“Mages who had reached the epitome of magic and somehow managed to turn themselves into magic too. Magic zealots of the highest order, that’s one way to describe them. They’re no longer beings of flesh and blood but of magic. Anyways, a warlock found Izayl’s corpse with his magic and began conducting all manners of unsightly experiments. Of course, the Nagas tried to fend the warlock off but they were all defeated.”

Erin’s eyes widened.

“The Warlock found a way to harness Izayl’s powers but the Nagas managed to steal the power from the Warlock when he wasn’t looking and used it on themselves. They killed the warlock with that newfound power and they became beings that are neither living nor dead.”

“Just like the monsters of The Singularity… but they are still sane.”

“By staying close to Izayl’s corpse. Her dying will was so strong that it remained even after her death. This dying will of hers helped the Nagas retain their sanity. And they have been defending Izayl’s corpse ever since.”

“What about Ba’al? Did he not try to obtain Izayl’s powers?”

“According to our friends here, Ba’al didn’t seem to know how to harness Izayl’s power. They fought but… there was victor or loser on either side. Ba’al gave up but I’m pretty sure it was only for the time being.”

Erin arched an eyebrow. “He gave up a Dragon’s power? Can’t imagine a person like him would give up.”

“There’s a misconception that the larger a Dragon is, the more powerful they are. Most likely, Ba’al didn’t know Izayl was an Ancient Dragon. He thought it was just a Dragon and if I had to venture a guess, he probably thinks his divine gifts were inarguably better and decided it wasn’t worth the trouble with his current strength.”

“I see...”

“Although, what’s interesting is that Izayl had told them much about me.”

“Well, that explains it,” Erin nodded.

“She wasn’t just telling my tale,” Aedan said, his voice turning soft. “She was singing praises of me endlessly. She told them nothing but my good sides...” His voice was trembling.

“Sounds like she has forgiven you.”

Aedan was silent. He shed a tear but he wiped it off before Erin could notice. Little did he know, Erin already had noticed.

The Nagas gathered in a circle and began whispering to one another.

“What are they saying?” Erin asked.

“You want me to eavesdrop on them? Oh my, Erin. How boorish of you.”

Erin rolled her eyes. She began counting one to ten in her head. Otherwise, she would sock him right here and now.

The Nagas finished their discussion and turned back to the two. The one that had been leading the exchange approached Aedan with one knee on the ground and a hand on his left chest.

“Wow,” Erin exclaimed softly. “They knew how to do that?”

“Probably Izayl taught them.”

The Naga spoke solemnly and Aedan listened attentively.

“Ah, that’s… a little difficult,” Aedan muttered after the Naga finished.

“What did they ask?”

“To relieve them of their duty and make sure no one would ever get their hands on Izayl’s corpse.”

“I see… Can’t say I didn’t expect this. I would request the same thing too if I was in their position. So, how do you intend to go about this?”

Aedan stuck his hand inside the space beside him and pulled out a cyan gem. Erin could feel a great deal of energy emanating from the gem. Even the Nagas pulled away from the gem.

“Is that… some kind of explosive?” she asked.

“It’s a Spell Gem. There are many ways to house a spell. Magic Scroll is one of the ways and this is another one, using a Spell Gem. The Magic Scroll method is the most conventional but it has its limits. As for a Spell Gem, this manner of gem is rare but it could house spells that a scroll couldn’t.”

“And there’s an explosion spell inside this gem?”

“Essence Nova. It’s basically Essence Flare but on another magnitude. It will erase everything of dark nature in this network of underground tunnels.” Aedan explained. He also gave the Nagas the same explanation. The Nagas looked at each other before giving nods of approval to Aedan.

One of the Nagas dove back into the water and swam over to Izayl’s corpse. He plucked a few of the Mist Pearl flowers before diving back into the water and swam over to Erin. It got up close to her and kneeled on one of its knees, presenting her the Mist Pearl flowers in its palms.

“Umm...” Erin was hesitating. She was surprised that the Naga knew what she wanted but she reasoned that Aedan had most probably told them of their purpose of being here. She glanced towards Aedan who was gleefully smiling and enjoying her predicament. “A little assistance please?”

“She had already taken the trouble to pluck them for you. Just take them.”

Erin didn’t know how the Naga before her was a female but she didn’t dare to ask lest she got another picturesque explanation. “Y-you sure? Won’t that be… disrespectful? This is desecration, is it not?”

Aedan gave a smile, one that was formed naturally out of memory. “To save the life of a child, I’m sure Izayl would even give her life for it. She won’t mind.”

“Take,” the female Naga said, shocking Erin. “Please,” she added.

Hesitatingly, Erin graciously accepted the flowers. Only after she had taken it, she discovered she had no way of storing them. She did bring a pouch with her but she guessed it must have been left behind when the Wights came and dragged her into the tunnel when she was unconscious, or rather, when she was dead.

Seeing Aedan’s grin, she sighed and handed him the flowers, which he placed inside his subspace storage.

“I hate you,” Erin said.

“I know.”

“Should we take some of these Nightspring grasses too?”

“Don’t,” Aedan warned with a firm tone. “They are known to only grow in dark places which are extremely rich in miasma. Half a kilo can be sold for twenty gold. Surely I don’t need to tell you why you shouldn’t take them.”

With all those points listed out, Erin could only nod.

“I guess this concludes our business here...” Aedan said. He gave the Nagas the Spell Gem and instructed them on the usage.

“That’s all? You don’t want to stay longer and… mourn?”

“I may have only a few friends but I have a lot of them over the course of my unending memories. Never have I stopped mourning for those losses. Besides, I will be disrespecting her memories If I stay and mourn. And you, have a life to save.”

The Nagas said something in which Aedan frowned a little.

“I’m guessing it’s nothing good?” Erin asked.

“They’re giving us an hour to get out of here before they activate the Spell Gem.”

“It’s just Essence Flare, we should be fine, right?”

“The flame itself can’t hurt us but the force from the unleashing of the spell would definitely… crush us.”

“I’m guessing it’s too late to tell you that I do not know the way out?”

Aedan grunted and took out a scroll from his subspace. “This cost hundreds of gold,” he groaned.

Erin pretended like she heard nothing, though she couldn’t pretend his arm was coming her way. He was fast and strong. Even with her speed, she couldn’t avoid having his arm wrapping around her waist, pulling her close.

“Stay close. We’re teleporting,” said Aedan, almost as if he was whispering.

Erin tried to make some tiny space between them by pushing him away but to no avail. Once again, she was being reminded of the difference in their power. It felt like she was up against a giant stone wall embedded deeply to the ground.

The Magic Scroll glowed. Aedan waved the Nagas farewell and they returned the same gesture. Both sides exchanged one last smile before the space contorted and swallowed up the two.