Apollo, along with Kyra searched the library for any mention of the name Xoiza. Yet they found nothing. If it weren't for the gigantic chains they found they would think there was nothing or no one with that name. A stack of books lay all around them, huge bags adorned their eyes, they were very close to just giving up when Maxwell placed his head on Apollo's shoulder and looked at what he was reading.
"Whatcha doing?"
Kyra and Apollo sighed in unison as Apollo responded tiredly.
"Looking for some dude named Xoiza, ever heard him?"
"Yes, actually."
For a moment neither of the duo moved, like their brains hadn't quite processed what was just said to them. Then Kyra raised her tired golden eyes to Maxwell and asked, for clarification.
"Wait... you know who Xoiza is?"
"Yeah, he's one of the only if not the only living dragon left."
"Dragon?!"
Kyra and Apollo nearly tackled Maxwell as they begged for more information.
"How do you know that?"
Kyra asked and immediately after that came Apollo.
"He's a dragon? Wait, one of the only ones left? What happened to the dragons?"
Both of them spewed out questions too quickly for Maxwell to answer one much less the dozens they were throwing his way. Maxwell held up both hands to silence them and they grew quiet, waiting about as patient as a dog waits for his food.
"I know that because I want to be a Draconian, I know all about the history of dragons. And to answer your question Apollo most of them were killed off during the trials."
"That's one of the trials?"
"Not exactly, the trial that involved dragons simply involved getting a dragon's eye. Unfortunately most of the Testers assumed that meant killing the dragon and taking it. But not all Testers took this method, which is why Xoiza's still alive and why he only has one eye."
"Who took his eye?"
"Sol, of course."
Kyra butted in with another question.
"You said he might be the only dragon left alive, right?"
"It's very possible, no one's seen a dragon in a very long time. He's at the very least the only known dragon left alive, why?"
"The trials! You've heard the rumors, haven't you? Someone's trying to ascend and if they need a dragon's eye like you said that may be what's beneath the school!"
Kyra was no longer talking to Maxwell but instead was pondering with Apollo, Apollo continued off of her.
"That explains why Ms. Alby is wandering around, maybe Cydney was right! She's the new Tester!"
Maxwell intervened.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on. Ms. Alby, as in the principal? You think she's the new Tester?"
"Maybe, we don't know the whole situation yet, right now it's just a theory."
"A pretty good theory! Why else would she be lurking around in that creepy old dungeon? She's looking for Xoiza to take his other eye!"
"I don't know Kyra... I mean yeah it is suspicious but we shouldn't say it's her without a doubt before we have evidence."
"Fine, fine."
"What creepy old dungeon?"
Maxwell seemed about as lost as a deer stuck in headlights, he took a seat next to Apollo and Apollo told him about the whole thing that happened with Cydney.
"You just left him there? Well no wonder he's been in a bad mood, I'd be a little mad too."
"I know! I know, I made a big mistake and I need to make up for it, but right now we have this whole Tester thing to figure out. I'll find a way to make it up to Cydney later."
"So... You two went into this creepy old dungeon..."
"And we found some big chains with the name Xoiza on them and an inscription that said, He who makes the ground crack and the thunder rumble. He who brings winter wherever he goes, beware for he is a frozen threat who destroys everything in his path."
"Well ground crack and thunder rumble has to do with he's a powerful dragon, they always write inscriptions like that. And the winter and frozen threat parts have to do with the fact that he's an ice dragon."
"That explains the cold."
"And the closer you get to him the colder it gets, the only reason why Sol was able to take his eye was because he studied fire magic."
"Well the cold won't be a problem for me, but Apollo on the other hand... Guess we'll have to teach you some fire magic then."
Kyra said as she moved her pile of books over and as if they knew she was done with them began re-shelving themselves. She then up and left, presumably to find some fire spell books. Maxwell nudged Apollo with his elbow and asked.
"So how exactly do you plan on making it up to Cydney?"
Apollo's shoulders slumped as he placed the side of his head on the table, he looked up at Maxwell.
"I don't really know, I tried apologizing to him and explaining my thought process but he was right... Whatever excuse I come up with the truth is, is that I was too scared and so I just ran away like I always do. Nelle gave me this second chance at life and I'm just fucking it up all over again."
Maxwell placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder.
"If Nelle really gave you a second chance it was because she saw potential in you. She isn't a cruel or sadistic Goddess, she wouldn't just bring you here to continue your suffering. She gave you a second chance because she thought that you could make the most of it, and so I believe you can. It's all up to you, and how you choose to take this second chance."
Maxwell paused for a moment and then slowly a smile formed across his face.
"How about I help you come out of your shell a bit? Help you get a little braver?"
"Me? Brave?"
Apollo laughed weakly.
"I think that's impossible."
"Nothing's impossible! Come on, you won't know until you try!"
"And how exactly are you going to teach me to become braver?"
His smile grew into a grin as he patted Apollo on the back rather roughly.
"You'll see, you in?"
"Might as well, I don't have much to lose after all."
"That's the spirit, now... what should I make you do first?"
"I'm already starting to regret this."
"Nah, nah it'll be fine."
Kyra returned with a stack of spell books in her arms and put them on the table with a loud thud.
"You've got some studying to do Mister."
Maxwell got to his feet and pulled Kyra to the side.
"I've got a plan for Apollo."
Apollo pursed his lips, oh no, he thought. This was going to be disastrous. As they whispered about him just quiet enough for him not to hear his attention went elsewhere. Apollo's eyes caught something white at the end of the library. Like Alice following after the white rabbit he rose to his feet, ignoring his two friends plan making and chased after whatever that white thing was. Nearly tripping over a few cats he finally caught up with the white thing to find it too, was a cat. But this cat was nothing like the others.
This cat had perfectly groomed snow white fur and ruby red eyes. Around the cat's neck was a silver necklace with a crescent moon pendant dangling in front of her chest. The cat's tail waved gently as she strode gracefully over to Apollo. The other cats in the library avoided her, like she was the queen of cats and they dared not be in her vicinity. She rubbed herself affectionately against Apollo's legs and he kneeled down and picked her up. He examined her moon pendant, engraved on the back was the name Hikari.
"Hikari, that's your name?"
The cat nodded and purred once he scratched her head.
"You can understand me?"
She nodded again.
"Are all cats in this world like you?"
She shook her head, before Apollo could ask more questions her ruby eyes fixated on something ahead of them. Apollo went around a bookcase to find Cydney sitting down at a table. He was bent over the table, hugging himself, and shivering profusely. Apollo gulped, questioning whether or not he should go and get Maxwell. Before he could chicken out Hikari meowed loud enough for Cydney to hear and perk his head up towards the noise.
Cydney's steel blue eyes went from curious to furious in the span of a few seconds, he then said in almost a growl.
"What do you want? Leave me alone."
Apollo frowned, he really did want to leave and Cydney's murderous gaze was not helping but his feet stayed stuck like they were in cement.
"You don't look so good."
"I'm fine, leave me alone."
"B-But... You look like you need to go to the nurses' office. I can help-"
"No, I don't want your help. You've done enough already."
Cydney hissed as he attempted to get to his feet and hobble away but began falling forwards instead. Apollo, accidentally and completely on instinct dropped Hikari and lurched forward to catch Cydney in his arms. Hikari didn't seem to mind much though as she nudged Cydney's face, like she was trying to help him to his feet like Apollo.
"Don't touch me! What part of leave me alone don't you get?"
"Obviously the leave me alone part."
Cydney rolled his eyes.
"I don't need your help, I can get there myself."
"Look I get it, you hate me now and I understand wholeheartedly why you hate me. But I really am just trying to help, let me help you please?"
Cydney looked between Apollo's different colored eyes silently for a moment, he seemed skeptical like he didn't believe Apollo's intentions. He very clearly didn't want to cave in and wanted to stubbornly get there himself even if it meant crawling but he also looked tired as hell. Being this close to the boy Apollo saw, honestly how his decision affected the boy. Cydney seemed to still be healing from the snake's poison, his skin was almost paper colored, not it's usual grey. His eyes were dull and glazed over, like he was fighting off sleep, under his eyes was a sunken, bony face. As Apollo held him by his arms he noticed that Cydney's clothes hung off him strangely, like he had lost quite a bit of weight. Apollo swallowed thickly, and for the first time in his entire life he was acting stubborn. He swung Cydney's arm around his shoulders and placed a hand around the elf's waist and began dragging him there, despite his protests.
"Get off of me, Apollo. Apollo!"
"I'm not just gonna drop you in the middle of the hallway, I may be a coward but I'm not heartless. Just... Just shut up and help me a little, I don't have any muscle or anything and you're making this harder than it needs to be!"
Cydney was about as taken aback by Apollo's yelling as Apollo was. But this shock quickly faded as he sneered and looked away from Apollo. There were no other protests as Apollo helped him to the nurses' office and laid him down in an empty bed. The nurse appeared to be gone for the moment so Apollo took a seat next to the bed, much to Cydney's dismay.
"You can go now."
"I'll stay here until the nurse comes."
Apollo stated rather confidently and crossed his arms. That confidence was gone the moment it arrived as Cydney's cold eyes bore into his skull. Apollo dropped his arms and started picking at the skin around his nails, avoiding those piercing eyes.
"Look... I don't know what else to say other than I'm sorry. And I'm not looking to be forgiven or anything but I want you to know I do regret my decision, and I agree with you. I acted... I am a coward, and that's something I'm working on. I let my cowardice get you hurt and now you're suffering, I know I could have gone in there. I know I could have lured the snake away or something else, and while I was sitting in the principal's office bawling like a baby you were suffering and that's all on me. So I'm sorry, I just wanted you to know that."
Cydney didn't speak for a long while and Apollo didn't dare look up to read his reaction.
"Thank you for that... But you do understand that whatever trust I might of had for you is gone now, right? You'll have to build that trust up, and now that I know that you're willing to choose yourself over me that trust is going to be hard to build, right?"
"I understand."
"You wanna know the worst part about all of that was? It wasn't the snake, it was me sitting there waiting. Waiting for you to come help. Any second I thought, any second now he'll come up with some kind of plan to get me out of here. And for what seemed like an excruciating long time you didn't come. That's when it sank in. You weren't coming. You left me there to die. I was going to die, that was the worst part. That's why I can't trust you anymore, you let me think that you left me to die and that was far worse than what this poison is doing to me. Because I thought to myself, there's no way someone who's so nervous and awkward that he can't even finish a sentence without stammering cutely would leave me. Because after all who would understand how it feels to be afraid better than you... but I guess you were more afraid of dying, than of me dying."
Cydney turned over and laid down, his back facing Apollo and that was the end of the conversation.