Chapter 2: Forsaken Was He

The Sunken Statue of Ægir, Under the Azazelean Sea, Galia

In tropical places, the Sea underneath the surface has a lighter, brighter tint, for the sun's rays penetrate stronger, the concentration more, compared to the places like Galia, which has had perpetual snowstorms and dark gray clouds looming over for the past hundred years.

Azazel, the very heart of Galia was not an exception. With frozen layers of water and frost covering most of the sea's surface, the area under could be imagined as a place eclipsed entirely by darkness.

In theory, one's naked eyes cannot pass the hurdle of this darkness, rendering anyone relatively normal blind, should they ever be foolish enough to traverse the waters of Azazel.

However, Aegir was no normal entity. His eyes glowed of unknown emotions looking at his own moldy, rotting and abandoned  deity statue at the lowest of the low place in Azazel, at the bottom of the Azazelean Sea.  It used to be held high, but now, not even a speck of what it once was could be seen.

Azazel used to be his own empire; Galia, his own territory.

But now, who remembers a deity forsaken even by the heaven? By his people?

He remembered once, he'd read. A book he'd burnt the first he saw the words contained; "Azazel, a word of abandonment."

But he took it no more than the words of an inciting devil, trying to stir the him back then. He was foolish for not believing, now that he's realized.

Aegir clutched at his chest, reeling in the feeling of it empty; devoid of the necklace which had meant promises, and a future of brightness.

False and hard to fathom hope, taken away by that man's hands ever so gently that it hurts.

"Ae.." Miyu called.

But Aegir did not look at him , instead forced his own tail to swim faster and deeper down under, until only he was at arms width away from the once majestic sculpture of himself—no, of the former deity of the Sea.

"Wasn't I so handsome back then?" He'd tried to lighten Miyu's frown, smiling crackedly, but looking far worse than crying.

Miyu silently regarded his friend's words. Humming a small bubble from his mouth, ultrasonic waves bringing the meaning to the siren. "As handsome as me."

Aegir grinned and turned around. Touching the cracked cheeks of the statue, tracing the lines of  the ragged down stone. The moss in between soft and slimy on his hands.

The extravagance put on to it by his people had long been eroded by time. Even in the statue, the imitation of his necklace pleroma, a symbol of a deity's godhood had been chipped away.

"Where..", he'd started to hesitate. "Where is his exuviae?"

Miyu didn't talk, didn't move for a while until Aegir turned towards him with an indescribably pitiful expression. He can only swallow the words threathening to spill from his throat. Stupid. Stupid idiot.

With a tired expression, the kraken led the siren. Acting like a light in the dark depths of Azazel.

The water gushed and formed bubbles as the two made their way to the only place with visible light, like a lone star in an ocean of darkness.

Abandoned, like he was, was the man's exuviae, a shed skin. So carelessly thrown away like a patch of dirt on his person.

Aegir swam towards the large glowing thing, getting close enough to get a glimpse of the giant's whole form.

The so called Exuviae was actually a dragon bereft of life. Or should Aegir say, A Dragon's skin left abandoned by the owner. Like a clothing that the man

Had longed grown tired of wearing, hence, he threw it away.

Was..is that also his fate?

But it is what it is. He figured.

Aegir looked at the dragon skin at a distance, his now mortal physique can no longer bear the mana that it still lets off, although the light it gives exclude was dimmer than he'd remember because the exuviae had been leaking the mana for millenias, making it less potent but still much destructive to the current him.

He swam familiarly to the side of the dragon, seeing the also familiar glowing pearl underneath one of the dragon's paws.

The pearl was empty, as expected.

He thought of something absentmindedly.

For so many thousands of years, legends has it that the dragons, before the said extinction of the race, was extremely protective of their pearl.

The reasons were not known, not even by the smartest of wizards nor the dragons themselves.

As the legend goes, before the Dragons all fell one by one–before their bodies perished with a sweep of air, turning to mere dust, there was one brave wizard whom dared the waves of the Azazelean sea, dared the might of the dragons and befriended and loved one of them.

Friends for millenias, lovers for decades, the dragon let the brave wizard keep his own pearl with the words spoken from his last breath.

And dust he turned into, for dust he came from.

Later on, the brave and smart wizard found out one thing...that the pearl his beloved so dearly protected contained a body resembling a human male, but with the might of a dragon.

The old fool had not realized so, because he only knew to keep the damned pearl in his mouth, not bothering to look closely.

Too late her regrets, she blackened, for she knew, that if the old foolish dragon had let her, she could've transferred his own soul to the body inside the pearl, prolonging his life.

The legend ended with the wizard become a wretched—a wizard that practices dark magic.

Aegir thought that this legend was mere fantasy, for mere words spread without inhibition, without proof.

Dragons were but a myth, he once believed.

But he was proven wrong when he met a dragon cub.

A cub who had streaks of black shades along his golden, scaly body– a clear sign of dark magic infection.

He pitied the cub, gave it shelter, gave it warmth. Aegir loved the cub as a father would to as son, loved him like his own family.

But in the end, foolishness was foolishness, the bitter thought invaded his mind. Teal eyes rolling down to his arms, seeing the strips of black–the very same the dragon cub used to have– on the pale, milky skin. He could not help the bitter emotions from gripping at his heart.

"Miyu,"  he croaked.  "I want to get stronger. I want to live. "

He did not notice when Miyu had come closer, but he felt the kraken patting his back.

"Let's go ashore. I know of someone who may help."