Serpentine Night

…

"Aily, Pio, what are you two doing?" Marco asked as he stepped closer to the two girls. Soon, he noticed the man in front of them.

"I am utmost sorry. I do not mean to cause any disturbance here."

"Marco, this guy here… he's—

Recognizing the horns on the man's head, he quickly cuts Aily's words, "A dragon. Isn't that right, dragonian?" Marco said as he crossed his arms.

"Erm… y-yes, Istinggar," said Ognist confirming. He just finished sending a signal to his allies.

Hearing the dragonian mentioning his clan name, he replies, "Huh, even you know my surname? By hearing you say that, it is safe to say that you are 'their' friends, right?"

"'Their' friends?" Ognist wondered while slowly looking up to his face.

"No need to play dumb, man. The steam dragon and his other friend that has ice magic knew who I am. If you know me, then I suspect you are their friends."

Ognist realizes he has completely given away his identity. "Dang it, this boy is smarter than I thought. No wonder he could beat Zeugen in battle. I suppose I must proceed with the flow without compromising the Imperial soldiers. No, even though being compromised, I must prevent them from panicking!" he thought quickly.

"Yes, precisely as you said. I apologize on behalf of my juniors for causing you so much of trouble, Istinggar," Ognist replied in a careful yet assuring voice.

"Juniors?" Marco asked.

"Yes, they are my juniors. I am the one who was responsible for their actions even until now."

"Huh, well, I don't care who they are to you, though. Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Ognist tries to control the heat in his body to prevent sweating. The human is appearing to be unfriendly. Carefully, he introduces himself.

"This might be late of time to introduce myself, but very well. I am Xregan Ognist, a fellow dragonian."

"Are… are all dragonians can morph into human like you?" Aily asked stressfully.

"Yes, but not 'all' of us are capable of doing that," Ognist replied composedly.

"Then, what are you doing here, big guy? Is the steam dragon with ya?" Marco asked in a much relieved voice. Ognist noticed this and took it as a hint for his next line of words to pick.

"Beforehand, I want to confirm something. I pose no threat to any of you. I also don't want to view you as an opponent to be wary of."

Marco thinks about it, "Hmm… This dude here sounds like he is cornered, even though he is a dragonian. I mean, seriously, he must've had those extremely powerful set of powers that could obliterate people. With that, he could've overrun us and leave without problem. What is he up to?"

Beside him, Aily says, "Having unimaginable powers, isn't that alone must be wary of?"

Marco continues thinking while staring at the dragonian, "Well, I don't want to fight another dragonian, to be honest. They're one of a hellish troublesome to deal with. If he says that he doesn't want to think that I am his enemy, then I suppose it's a good thing."

"Alright, then, old man, I will not see you as an enemy. But I can't guarantee that everyone in here will think the same," Marco stated clearly.

"M-Marco! A-Are you sure?" Aily asked. Pio straightforwardly watches in Aily's cuddle.

"Of course, Aily," Marco answered reassuringly. "We don't want any troubles, not after all of the messy problems we've gone through just now."

Ognist chuckles a bit, believing that he has succeeded, "Fair enough, I highly appreciate your decision, Istinggar."

"Argh, stop calling me by my surname, dude. Just call me Marco."

"V-Very well, then, Marco. I will not forget this kindness of yours."

Waving his hands in the air, Marco says, "Enough of the chatter, now what's your deal in here?"

Ognist fully realizes that his position is slowly rising into a safe point. He can't mess it up.

Looking at him and expands a faked smile, he thinks, "I must be careful to this young man. But still, I can feel safe speaking to him. The only spine in the way now is this young lady with the little kid. She's completely not welcome for any sort of friendliness to me."

Ognist proceeds to explain his presence in the village outskirts, "I am here, 'alone'. I heard the people of Yugos are endangered of a curse that befalls upon them. For that, I am here to destroy the curse."

"Whoa, you're so late, dude," said Marco casually.

"H-Huh?" Ognist retorted in confusion.

"It's the curse that has been casted unto this village, right? There's also a group of demons that attacked us, but gladly, we managed to defeat them all," said Marco with ease.

Surprised, in Ognist's thoughts he screams, "D-DEFEAT?!"

"We've cleared it already, err… Shu-Shure… gan…?" said Marco, while hardly trying to pronounce Xregan Ognist's name.

"'O-Ognist' will do."

"Ah, sorry, mate. Your name is so hard to pronounce, hehe. Ahem! Ognist, as I've said earlier, we've dealt with the problem. So you don't have to worry about anything."

In Ognist's mind, he thinks rapidly, "The curse has been dealt with? Moreover, this man defeated the demon who casted the curse?! No-no-no, wait a second, if he is, in fact, the one who defeated Dantalion, then he is one of the strongest human out there. But judging by his looks… he didn't even share that look of being the strongest around here. Maybe it's just the cover. He must be extremely powerful."

Curious, Ognist asks, "Marco, are you really, REALLY was the one who defeated the demon?!"

"W-Wha? Are you silly? I told you that 'we' managed to defeat them. Well, to be honest, neither I nor my friends were able to land damage to them demons. But gladly, someone came and exterminated the demons. Which, I am very glad that 'she' came."

"O-oh… I see," Ognist replied short. "I thought this man is as powerful as his predecessor. Turns out to be a no, huh?" he thought disappointedly.

Slowly standing up, Ognist exhaled a warmer breath of relief, "Haah… very well, then, if the curse is out of the way, then I might proceed to—hm?"

Suddenly, his senses detected something passing by just now. Reflexively, he looks behind him and scans the entire area with his eyes. But nothing is caught by his eyes. However, his senses are still tingling.

"…What an oddity," he nagged.

"What's wrong?" Marco asked curiously.

Ognist shakes his head while saying, "No, it's nothing…"

And suddenly, his eyes caught sight of the bushes between two forests rustled. "…No, there is something. A monster…? No, it's not."

"What are you looking at?" Marco asked while trying to see as well.

"…I don't like the looks of this. Were the demons had been defeated for sure? My senses are telling me a dark energy as small as a dot is lurking nearby. But my eyes only saw a single oddity," Ognist thought seriously while his eyes kept rolling, trying to find something. "It seems that I cannot afford to stay here any longer."

"Marco, I will return back to where I came from. I highly suggest thee to be careful."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, dude, what's going on?" he asked rapidly in confusion.

"You will know pretty soon. Just be careful. We will save everyone in here!" Ognist stated while trotting outwards from the village.

Shortly, a shining light blasted the dragonian. After the light diminishes, the dragonian is no longer there. He's gone. Ognist has used the teleportation module once more.

…

Ognist reappears just behind the two dragonians, which are rallying the troops. The flash shocked everyone.

"That flash will surely alarm the villagers," said Ognist.

"Wha-haa! Herr Ognist, zee has returned," Zeugen greeted excitedly.

"Ognist, took you some time to—

In a quick yet decisive, Ognist commands, "Hurry! We must evacuate the entire village tonight!"

Without question, Taizun affirmed his order, knowing that something big has happened in the village. Zeugen switches into focus and rallies everyone quickly.

"Be ready men!"

"Yes, sir!"

…

Meanwhile, Marco, Aily, and Pio were stunned by the dragonian that's just disappeared.

"What was that all about anyway?" Marco wondered.

"Pio's eyes are hurt…" Pio wailed while rubbing her eyes.

"He's up to something, Marco! We must tell sister! And everyone, too!" Aily stated.

"Well, about telling anyone, that is unnecessary, though," said Marco casually.

"Why?" she asked in a hurried tone.

"Do you think a flash so bright it won't alarm the people in the village?" he replied while turning around towards the village. "I mean, you hear that?" Marco pointed with his thumb, "The music has stopped. Everyone must've been shocked, too. What we need to do now… is to prepare ourselves. That dragon just said 'we will save everyone!' that sentence alone is enough to say that he is absolutely not alone in here."

"Oh, gosh, you're right! I didn't pay attention."

"Come on! Let's go. If that dragonian intends to 'save everyone' then it is possible that there's a problem we overlooked here."

Pio stares quietly, yet retaining her want-to-know face. She is eager to tell something, but the tense communication between them and the dragonian made it impossible for her to give a word. "Oooh…" she pouted. In her mind speaks, "Aily is grumpy, don't want to hear Pio! Pio just want to say that Pio sensed the feeling of the mister horned guy. That guy isn't a meanie. But Aily thinks he's a bad guy. Why?" she pouted quietly.

--And with that, they returned to the village.

…

..

.

Somewhere, not far from the Imperial encampment, a boy observes the camp. He looks really interested in the rallying Imperial troops.

But before long, the kid runs away and headed back into the village.