Tanah Agra (1)

"You still have the habit of wearing a mask." Alvi took the mask from Rihan's hand while observing the unique ornament on its surface. The bloodstains made the thing look scary.

"I just don't want you to see my other face." Rihan answered honestly. Even he himself was afraid of his cold-hearted personality.

"When you threatened Marc and gave Indra a tough choice, your eyes looked so bloodshot like you really wanted to take one of them's life." Alvi still got goosebumps when he remembered the incident.

"At that time I thought about killing them." Rihan didn't dodge.

"Then why not?" Alvi asked curiously.

Rihan pretended to think for a moment. "Suddenly remembered you were there."

"If it wasn't for us, wouldn't you hesitate to kill them?" In fact, Alvi was quite afraid to hear the answer to his own question.

"I already did it when I climbed to the top of Atlan," Rihan replied guiltily. "Veena, don't think I'm an innocent, innocent man like Indra, Gina, Andra and Raka. I am the man who once destroyed a Clan and slaughtered several families in the Dragon People," said Rihan.

That's right… Alvi almost forgot about this one fact.

"Don't worry too much. I'm not that crazy about blood." Rihan lightly patted Alvi's shoulder with a gentle smile.

"But after looking around this eel is quite big too," commented Rihan when he looked up and found the creature's diameter was almost three times its height.

Along with that, Rafl's flower children have grown up. The tendrils of the plant began to move around the giant body of the eel. Rafl's dominant black-red and ice-blue flowers bloom along the vines. Then not long after, bluish-white flames began to burn from the newly bloomed flowers.

The frozen flames created a chill around the giant eel's corpse. Slowly the giant's body burned like the edge of a black wrinkled paper. Luna Endley knew very well whose fire it was. But before he could mutter the name, a finger rose to point at the sparks.

"Ar… Ar… ken…." Luna heard a faint voice.

Without letting go of Rei Nathanael who had opened his eyes, Luna let out an 'aaa' sound at Rihan and Alvi.

"Auntie, what's wrong? Pa—Uncle…?" Rihan was half shocked mixed with joy. At first he didn't plan to mention the word 'uncle' because he thought Rei Nathanael was still unconscious. "Uncle are you awake?" This time Rihan's voice was more cheerful and relieved. He didn't hesitate to grab Rei's weakly raised hand.

Meanwhile, Alvi looks silent behind Rihan. His mouth opened slightly, but the two words 'mother' and 'father' felt very foreign on his tongue. He hated this rigidity. He really wanted to feel the closeness that Rihan showed to his mother and father.

Rei Nathanael took a deep look at Rihan's face. He tried to smile as his hand moved to stroke the top of the boy's head as he often did when Rihan was three years old.

Rei's eyes shifted to Alvi who was still standing on the spot. For a moment there were no words between them. Just looking at each other with a million unspoken feelings.

"Mother father…." Alvi knelt near Rei. Finally after a few minutes he managed to make the two calls.

Luna suddenly embraced Alvi and cried happily.

Unfortunately their little reunion had to be interrupted by the sound of footsteps. Luna made another 'aaa aaa' sound over and over again with sparkling eyes full of enthusiasm, hoping that they would soon understand what she meant.

"Maybe auntie wanted to say that dad was coming," said Rihan and was immediately followed by Luna Endley's quick nod.

"Uncle Arkin? Didn't uncle say he couldn't come?" Alvi wiped her tears while remembering Arken's words to her when they parted ways at Biika.

"Perhaps father was anxious from hearing Qiu-long's roar." Rihan answered while getting ready to stand up. He approached his father.

"Apparently you knew I was coming, Daniel. I was afraid that when I arrived, this place and its contents were destroyed by you. But, my coming seems to be in vain." Arken's voice sounded very relieved.

Rihan shook his head slowly. "No wasted arrival, father," he replied as he gave his father the way to where Luna Endley and Rei Nathanael were.

Two of Arken's old friends looked at him.

Ares Kennrich Vaiskyler stared in disbelief for a few seconds. If he only saw Luna Endley, he probably wouldn't be this surprised. But Rei… Rei Nathanael was also there. What sweet dreams did he have today? Arken wiped the tears that almost fell. He rearranged his overflowing pleasure before smiling broadly and rushing over to his two friends.

*****

That afternoon about 5 dragons appeared across the sky of Beta Urora. A heavy roar sounded tempestuous and suddenly attracted the attention of the land dwellers. The dragons flew high from the south to the north. One of them was the embodiment of the dragon Arken.

Arken's dragon form has thick, brick-red scales. A pair of horns loomed over the head and small, sharp, uneven teeth lined from the top of the head to the neck, back to ending at the tail. In addition, he also has a pair of hind limbs with strong muscles that can support his entire body weight. Then there are 2 forelegs which are sometimes used as hands or as forelegs.

It is a great honor when a dragon allows someone to climb on its back. This means that the dragon trusted the person so much that it gave its own back.

Arken believed in Rei Nathanael and Luna Endley. It's also not the first time he's allowed two of his best friends to ride on his back. But for Alvi and Ririn, maybe this is the first experience.

The view from up here is so amazing. Beta Urora looked very small as if she was under the grip of Arken's sturdy claws. The wind also felt warm against their faces.

"Rei, tell me what really happened that day." Arken suddenly spoke. His voice echoed inside the heads of Rei, Luna, Alvi and Ririn.

Mind communication is a special ability and is not only limited to communication between Dragons. A dragon can actually establish mind communication with non-Dragons. However, the condition is that both parties must have high mutual trust.

"Have you seen the broken gate of Atlan?" Rei Nathanael recalled the events of that day.

Arkin nodded. "Yes."

"There Nega and I fought. Our opponent is something unseen. A spirit without a body." Rei said.

"Is he that strong that you and big brother Nega lost?" Arken's voice faltered slightly at the mention of his older sister's name; Nega Vaiskyler.

Rei looked down in contemplation for a moment. His hand was squeezing Luna's fingers tightly. "Honestly, even now I don't know what power he used."

"His power is not as deadly as the fire of death. Not kill or damage like your fire or my electric power. His strength is very hidden," explained Rei.

"Could it be passive power? Like nullified Ryan." Alvi chimed in.

They began to consider Alvi's words.

Rei suddenly smiled to himself. "Arken, all this time I thought the Vaiskyler family had always had descendants with explosive fire powers. Luckily Daniel didn't inherit Nega's fire nature," he commented.

"I wish the fire could burn like Sis Nega's fire, Rei. But we both know. Daniel is different. He doesn't look like a Vaiskyler at all, like a Dragon," Arken said.

Arken's wings seemed to be flapping slightly faster than before. He and the other dragons soared upwards through the thick white clouds. Behind this thick cloud appeared another gray cloud that seemed very dangerous to approach. These odor clouds have a gradation of white at the top and dark gray at the bottom. People used to call this type of cloud cumulonimbus clouds.

Actually this cumulonimbus cloud is a type of low cloud that is formed not too high from sea level. But for some reason, this kind of cloud seemed to dominate Beta Urora's highest sky point. The diameter is very large and the width of the peak spreads out to nowhere.

Arken barged into this dangerous-looking cloud. Hurricane vortex mixed with strong winds seemed to collide wildly inside here. Plus a lightning strike that doesn't know enemies or friends at all. Alvi was forced to grab thorns, scales or anything that could be used as a grip on Arken's back. The shock he felt was too extreme.

After a few minutes of oscillation, these dragons finally managed to break through the cumulonimbus cloud layer. Behind it, a very familiar sight appeared. The land of Agra stands majestically full of sunshine. The holy land of the Dragons finally regained control of the sky after 17 years of sinking on the land of Beta Urora.