CH 44
For humans, 25 years is like a hole life time! Spending it in one place doing nothing is the exact meaning of stupidity
Yet, that was the exact thing the dragon did, he stuck to Alpha's side for the whole time
Carefully watching him, and patiently waiting for him to wake up, while taking care of as much of his needs as possible
When ever it was summer time, he would dip him in the nearby lake to cool him down
When ever it was winter, he would light a bonfire next to him to warm him up
He would even feed him if he could ! But unfortunately, there's just so many things the huge dragon claws can do
Then after a long long time, Alpha finally woke up, and what a refreshing feeling he had!
The gloomy dead eyes that were covering his face are no more, instead, he had an amazing bright smile on him
And all the fatigue and stress that were weighing on his shoulders are gone
And what made his morning even better, was the voice of his new friend calling him from the back
"You finally awake, I hope you weren't trying to cross the border to the afterlife and leaving me behind"
"Dragon !"
Alpha replied with a voice full of excitement and quickly turned around! Happy for no longer being alone
But what he saw, wasn't happy
The once powerful ancient dragon that could effortlessly ignite powerful flames was no more
The deep red scales he was proud of, are now pale
The mighty aura he always emitted, is now weak
The tremendous amount of strength and vitality he had, are now gone
The dragon, has become too weak, He can't move anymore, and even lifting his head up is impossible, he's already on his death bed
Because of that, all of Alpha's happiness and excitement disappeared, now his face shows only fear and worry
Which the dragon noticed
"heh, my friend, don't show me that face, I've only waited for 25 years, can't we just smile instead"
Easier said than done, even if that's what the dragon said, his words had no power to them, and Alpha's worries increased
His eyes began to tear, his voice unstable, and his hands shaking
"n-no... Why... Why are you like this? w-what happened to you?"
Said Alpha while slowly approaching the dragon, with his hands reaching forward, shaking!
After seeing the friend he was guarding for 25 years act like that, the dragon felt like he had to say something
" Please don't be like that my friend, this is completely normal, I am an ancient dragon, remember? And you don't become an ancient dragon by being supper strong, you become an ancient dragon by being supper old, I was already nearing my end when we met, and now I'm on my death bed, so can you please send me off with a smile"
But those words were not convincing, and Alpha did not want to believe them
"no *hic* Please don't say that *snif* there must be another way *snif* YOU CAN'T JUST DIE !"
Alpha was clinging to the dragon, not willing to accept reality, making it even more difficult for him to leave peacefully
At this point, the dragon had no other choice but to change the subject
"sigh, you know, when we first met, and you told me how you don't know the name of your best friend, I thought it was very weird, but then, after some time from you going to sleep, I realized, I don't know your name. I've spent 25 years next to you, and still don't know it, so can you tell me?"
After hearing the dragon's request, Alpha stood up, wiped his tears, and cleared his nose, then said with a straight face
"I'm Alpha, Alpha the nameless"
After hearing his name, the dragon chuckled
"hehe, such a unique name, but I don't hate it. And I hope you can forgive me, although I would love to introduce myself next, but we monsters don't have names, if you may, would you please give me one"
"give you... A name? Me?"
Alpha was caught off guard, he was not expecting to be asked such a request, he was not expecting to be given such a responsibility
But he had to do it, it was the first ever request he received from his only friend, he can't let him down
So he began to think, what would be a good name, drago, dragoon? No! He can't just give him a name based on his race, he must give him a name that fits him. but, what would fit him?
And then he remembered! when he first met the dragon, his appearance and stats didn't faze Alpha, but what caught his attention, was the powerful flames he ignited around him
As such, he desided to use the word 'ignite' to name him
" How about, Igneel. Do you... Like it?"
Alpha was nervous, he had no prior experience naming people, he was worried the dragon wouldn't like the name
But he was worried about the wrong thing
"Igneel, such a wonderful name, I can tell you put so much thought into it, but my friend, Igneel is a man's name, I'm a woman"
" w...w-w-w-WOMAN !? ARE YOU TELLING ME I SPENT 25 YEARS SLEEPING NEXT TO A WOMAN !? AND I'M STILL A VIRGIN TOO !?"
"My friend, I don't think that's the problem here"
"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ? I'M STILL A VIRGIN GOD DAMNIT ! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME"
At this point, the dragon was getting annoyed at Alpha's yelling, so she took a deep breath, then exhaled a breeze of warm air at him, preventing him from talking any further
"Alpha, focus! You've already came up with a wonderful name, it was just the wrong gender, I'm sure you can come up with a proper one this time"
With the warm breeze and the dragon's words, Alpha quickly regained his cool and realized how embarrassing his actions was
"Sorry, I don't know what happened to me"
"Nevermind, just stay focused"
Is what the dragon said, but, after doing something so embarrassing, Alpha completely lost his ability to think
It was impossible for him to come up with anything in his current state, as such, he had no other choice but to just take the first name and tweak it
"Since you liked the first name so much, then how about I give you a similar one, how about... Ignell?"
Alpha was so unsure about that name, he was so expecting the dragon to fly into rage for his lousy choice, but instead, she laughed
"Pff, such a name. Alpha, I lived my hole life as a nameless dragon, and today, I shall die as Ignell ! Thank you"
The dragon's words were so touching, and Alpha instantly felt relieved, but before he could say anything in return, the dragon's body began to glow
A thick fog emitting from the dragon's own body filled the entire cave, making it impossible to see
And Alpha who can no longer tell left from right completely lost the dragon's body
No matter how much he walked, no matter how much he reached, no matter how much he screamed, he could find nothing
The huge dragon.... is now gone
And yet again, Alpha lost another friend, just like the mask, the dragon's gone, Ignell's gone !
Thus, all the memories from the death of the mask are back, all the feelings he spent five years to suppress are back
And they didn't just return to say hi, they returned even more powerful than before
And Alpha no longer have just one lost friend, he now have two, and if loosing the mask alone was enough to push him into isolation, loosing both of them destroyed him
Alpha who lost the will to live, lost the ability to think, he couldn't think of anything, he couldn't do anything, he just fell on his knees and screamed
With every scream, he cursed his life, he cursed this world, he cursed the thing that brought him to this world
And because of his poor mental state, he lost control of his Mana, and it went on a rampage pushing everything out of the way
The fog was pushed away, the stones and pebbles were pushed away.... and a woman's body was pushed away