Chapter 27: The dragon
Being a Stringer was never his desire. It was not his choice to be born into the most politically powerful family in the Kingdom of Maeg. And yet, here he stood, leaning onto the brightly decorated wall of the large royal ballroom, as an apparent heir to the Stringer family. Apparently he would need to assume the leadership of the family soon enough since rumors about his father's deteriorating health had always been the hot topic of conversation for the citizens living in the capital. Being crammed with all the intensive practical training required for the Stringer family's heir after he graduated from the Royal Academy, he barely even had time to check on his father at their villa outside the capital. Each time he expressed such intention, he was quickly deterred by his own father, who insisted the fourteen years old to focus on his education instead of wasting time visiting the villa. Without his family, Jayden was alone and isolated in this large, crowded capital. At least, that was then. He had made a friend while staying in the care of the Royal family: Lance Atkinsor, the sixth prince. Ever since meeting one another, the two teenagers had always been inseparable. At least, that was until now.
「Damn you, Lance!」Jayden muttered under his breath. 「I knew you pretended to be sick to get out of this party… Why do I have to be here, attending your fiance introduction party while you're off somewhere...」
「What is it, son?」a figure approached Jayden.
「Huh?」Jayden turned to his side, only to see the one person he least expected. 「Your Majesty?? Why are you here? Shouldn't you be talking to the ambassadors?」
「Hahaha!」The king ruffled Jayden's head. 「Nah, they just keep talking politics. I'm so tired of such talk. This is not a political party! I just want to introduce the girl who will marry our Lance and have fun with everyone. Too bad Lance caught a severe cold and cant be here in person though.」
Well, to be honest, any party held by the Royal family would be considered political . Jayden thought to himself. And also, Lance is freaking lying to you, Your Majesty. I bet he's totally fine.
「So, Jayden. I heard your father's health is getting worse?」
「... That's what I heard too. He would not let me visit but insisted that I continued my training instead.」
「That's no good!」The king declared. 「If you want to visit him, then you should visit him. How about this? You can accompany me to your family villa tomorrow. That way your father will not scold you since you're part of my entourage.」
「Really?」
「Of course!」
「Thank you, Your Majesty!」
「No problem at all, son!」Again, the king patted his head. Usually, he would hate anyone who did this to him, but the King was an exception. After all, he was just like another father figure for the young Jayden.
「Now, I gotta talk to these people. Please excuse me!」Jayden nodded and smiled as he watched the King clumsily make his way to another group. Both the King and Lance have always been nice to the young man. And to be honest, thanks to them that he could continue to endure the harsh training he received, knowing that one day, he would be able to use all the knowledge he acquired to help the Royal family governing the land.
「What are you smiling at?」another figure had approached the teenager, without him realizing it.
「Nothing?」answered Jayden before he realized who he was talking to. The girl, donning an impressive golden dress and a large ribbon on her back, was the star of today's party.「Oh, Lady Reena! Please excuse my rudeness.」Jayden bowed at the girl.
「... Hmm, you're speaking much more formally with me than with the King, huh?」Pointed out by Reena. 「Shouldn't it be the other way around? After all, I'm just around your age. Let me guess, you're fourteen, right?」
「... Yes, how do you know?」
「mmm….Hahahahaha!」Reena bursted out laughing. 「I was just pretending to guess. Of course I know your age. Everyone here does. After all, you're the famous Jayden Stringer, who graduated top of the class at the Royal Academy at the age of 10… and that was four years ago!」
「I see.」Jayden nodded.
「You know, my parents always compare me to you.」Reena pouted 「Because of you, nothing I do can be considered 'impressive' in their eyes anymore.」
「...Is that so? I'm sorry? 」Jayden scratched his head.
「Well, dont worry, it's not your fault. Though, just between me and you, can you tell me something that you're not good at? That way, I can at least try to surpass you at something.」Reena leaned onto Jayden, causing the young teenager to briefly blush red once he took a sniff of her intoxicating perfume.
「Uhmmm… I guess dancing?」Jayden discreetly inched away from her.
「Really???」Reen was surprised. After all, dancing was the one thing all the aristocrats would be proficient at. 「I dont believe you!」
「Really… Trust me.」Jayden insisted.
「Hmm… Okay, then, let's prove it!」Reena held onto Jayden's hand, then led him to the balcony outside the ballroom. 「Let's dance!」
「What? Here?」
「Yeah! If you're really bad at dancing, it'd be bad if I make you dance in there in front of hundreds of people, right?」Reena grinned. 「Out here, it's just you and me!」
And so, under the moonlight, orchestrated by the humming sounds of insects in the garden, Jayden was forced to awkwardly dance with the girl. "Dance" was probably not the right word, since all the future Prime Minister did was awkwardly moving around, being led by the skillful redhead girl. Yet, in that very moment, within Jayden, he could feel his first "doki doki" moment… An unfamiliar and endearing feeling washed over him as he watched his dance partner, her hands held tightly onto his, her face brightened up by the moonlight reflection from her two crystal earrings…
「Yo Jay!」a voice whispered. 「What are you doing, dancing out here?」
And so, the brief dance session between the two came to an abrupt end as they directed their attention at the garden where the voice originated, only to be scared by what appeared as a head that popped through the thick shrub.
「Ahh!」Both screamed out until Jayden recognized the face. 「Wait, Lance? What are you doing there?」
「I just want to swing by to check out the party.」
「... You know that you should be in the party, right?」
「Ara ara!」Reena intensely glared at Lance. 「So this is the 'charming' prince Lance that left me alone in our party?」
「... Shit… Busted...」
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Am I dead? Jayden weakly opened his eyes. The man could barely move a muscle as the intense pain had already eclipsed all of his five senses. He could not feel anything but the piercing aching in his muscles and body. As his blurry vision started to focus more and more, the Prime Minister finally realized he was laying on the ground, his body seemed to be covered in a faint blue flame. Strangely, it was not burning him at all. On the contrary, the pain and aching he was experiencing had been alleviated as he could feel many of his wounds were beginning to heal up. Next to him was the teenager named Rowan, an attendant of Kibadios. Jayden could see droplets of sweat rolling from the healer's forehead down onto his cheek as he tried his best to maintain his Flame of Restoration on him. Thanks to the flame, the fatal wound he sustained when crashing into the side of the cliff was closing off.
「You're finally awake?」Rowan asked.
「Why … are you… helping me?」Jayden asked.
「It's not like I want to do it… Not after you tricked us like that. But it's our master's order to keep you alive.」Rowan explained. Though, he really just meant "keep you alive" and not "restore you to full health." That's why I have to maintain and control the output of my Flame of Restoration like this… such a pain! 「I'm just doing what he told me to do.」
「... Where's… Kibadios?」Jayden tried to sit up, which thoroughly surprised Rowan. Judging from the severity of his wounds, it's a miracle he was even alive before Rowan got a chance to tend his wounds.
「Dont move!」Advised Rowan. 「Our master is dealing with Ryujin now.」
「What?... How could he...」A loud rumble abruptly interrupted Jayden before he could finish his sentence.
「How's master doing, Maia?」Rowan loudly asked the girl, who was intensely watching Kibadios fight on the side of the cliff.
「... Incredible...」The girl muttered as her attention was absorbed in the intense fight.
「MAIA!」Rowan screamed out anxiously.
「I'm sorry Rowan!」answered the girl. 「He's fine. He's actually doing much better than I would have thought.」
Just as Maia had observed, unlike the previous fight between Ryujin and Jayden, in which the dragon easily dominated the match, Ryujin unexpectedly found Kibadios, an individual who should be much weaker than Jayden in terms of raw power, an extremely difficult opponent to deal with. What set Kibadios and Jayden apart was experience and knowledge, both of which Kibadios had clearly surpassed the Prime Minister: Having raised a primal dragon from birth during his first reincarnation, the hybrid was exceptionally knowledgeable about the dragon's strong and weak points. Being such a large creature in his dragon form, the Ryujin he was facing right now had one problem: extremely wide blindspots. That was why, instead of keeping his distance from the raging dragon like Jayden did, Kibadios decided to close in on the dragon as much as possible. With the six incubus wings flapping behind his back, the hybrid was no less agile than Jayden before as he easily glided around right from under Ryujin's belly, preventing the dragon from spotting him, to the dragon's head.
「Here we go!」Kibadios yelled as he thrust his hand, along with his five sharp orge nails straight into the dragon's head, cracking through its protective scales and penetrating deep into its flesh. Such an attack caused the dragon to growl and thrash violently around at first, but it strangely calmed down within a few seconds. 「The primordial flames, I call upon thy power to burn down the
A small ember slowly grew from the hybrid's shoulder and traveled down his arm and hand before bursting out in full force and almost enveloped the dragon's whole head and Kibadios along with it. Still, there was no pain. Just like the Flame of Restoration by Rowan, HaoS' flame did not burn either the hybrid or Ryujin. In fact, once the hybrid pulled his nails from Ryujin's flesh, the wound closed up at an abnormal speed. The dragon's unpredictable rage subsided without any notice, surprised all the witnesses from the cliff nearby.
「... That man… Did he just destroy the
「「... Master?」」
From the dragon's head, the hybrid flew straight toward where his two slaves were waiting for him, leaving behind the dragon, who had started to coil around itself as if it was resting. Its eyes, which were filled with nothing but darkness like a bottomless abyss, had begun to clear up, revealing a clear blue color like a calm ocean.
「Phew! That was tough.」Kibadios said.
「What did you do, Master?」Maia asked.
「What else? I burned away the source of its rage. The dragon so called Ryujin should be more reasonable now...」said Kibadios 「Though if it still wants to fight and continue its rampage, then I have to call forth
「...How did you do it?」asked Jayden.
「There's nothing that
「THAT???」The dragon finally spoke his first word ever since being released from the seal, his fins stood erected, shivering in excitement. 「THAT SPIRIT!」It was the clear, youthful male voice that escaped its mouth. 「... Zaeryn sama??」
What did he just say?
Before the hybrid could react, Ryujin sprung himself toward the cliff where everyone was at. Caught surprised by the familiar name, by the time the hybrid realized what had happened, the dragon was already flying too close for him to dodge it in time. Strangely, the closer he got to the hybrid, Ryujin shrunk down smaller and smaller. As his size changed, so was his form. The creature, initially taking the form of a giant asian dragon, had now transformed into a man, wearing a japanese style clothing. His blue hair was tied up in a ponytail by a golden string. His eyebrows were thick, yet short. In place of a human ear, the man had two large fins, tugged behind his hair. Even after the transformation, his dragon tail still did not disappear. It protruded out of his pants, wagging around as he closed in and hugged the hybrid warmly.
「You're...」The hybrid was still stunned after hearing his name when he was first reincarnated into this world thousands of years ago.
「You've finally come back to us, Zaeryn sama!!!」
「You're… 」
「I know this day would come!」Ryujin was crying his tears of happiness.
「... Who the hell are you!!!」The hybrid yelled out, trying to detach himself from the teenage dragon's clingy embrace, only to find the dragon's snots had been sticking onto his clothes. By this time, Kibadios had already dismissed
「My name is Ryuu!」the dragon knelt down and bowed at the hybrid. 「I am the third head of the Ryujin clan and also its sole survivor. I have been waiting for your return for thousands of years, Zaeryn sama!」
「... The Ryujin clan? Dont tell me...」
「Yes, I am the grandson of Ryujin, the primal dragon who served you during your first reincarnation.」
「How did you know who I was?」
「Who else but Zaeryn sama that can command the primordial fire spirit?」Ryuu excitedly answered. 「I was told of your power ever since I was young by my father. We have always believed you would one day come back to this world. Besides, when you were burning away the
「... I see...」Kibadios nodded. Glimpses of my memories, huh? Must have been HaoS' doing . He was hesitant for a moment, but decided to continue on.「... and what happened to Ryujin after my passing?」
「Ryujin sama was killed by the Astral shortly after you passed away.」Ryuu clenched his fist. 「Our clan was able to hide from them for some thousands of years, patiently waiting for your return. But around two thousands years ago, they found out our location, my father was killed then.」
「I'm sorry, Ryuu-kun.」Kibadios patted the head of the kneeling dragon before pulling him up. 「Because of the connection with me, your whole family was eradicated.」
「Please, Zaeryn sama! It's not your fault! It's the Astrals that need to atone for the sins!」
Standing besides the hybrid, both Maia and Rowan were dumbfounded by the conversation. Although they could not get the whole picture, they clearly could tell there was an animosity between their master and the Astrals, the gods of this world. Before they could interrupt the conversation, it was the weakened Jayden that raised his voice first.
「Zaeryn? You're Zaeryn, the Great Calamity that shook the world more than 10000 years ago?」A hint of dread could clearly be detected in the Prime Minister's question.
「... Was that how history was written?」Kibadios turned toward Jayden. 「... Hmm… You know why I wanted to keep you alive? It's because you and I were the same: being used and toyed with my Adela and the Astrals. I was hoping that you would understand, at least partially, my pain and hatred for the Astrals and help assist me in my fight against them. I will show you the real history behind the event you called "Great Calamity," or what I would consider the "Void Century" equivalent of this world. Once you learn the truth about this world and understand the meaning of your existence, I wonder if you will stand with me, or against me.」
Kibadios' claws were now firmly embedded into the Prime Minister's skull before he directly injected the fragments of his past lives into Jayden's brain through the flow of his Haki.
「AHHHHH!!!!」Jayden could only screamed out as tears flowed uncontrollably from his eyes the moment he experienced the hybrid's past lives.
I just realized I did not post their sketches:
Ryuu Sketch: https://imgur.com/jbwKRcV
Rowan Sketch: https://i.imgur.com/7W4eqFS.jpg
Ryan Sketch: https://i.imgur.com/5smwtW1.jpg
Maia Sketch: https://i.imgur.com/onzOgF0.jpg (I'm worse at drawing girls than guys.)