Arthur Leywin POV
"COUGH!! COUGH!"
I opened my eyes again, with towering trees and dangling vines filling my vision as I lay on my back.
Where was I?
How was I alive?
I tried to getting up, but my body doesn't listen. The only thing I was able to manage was turn my head, and even that involved a series of throbbing pains in my neck.
I lay for an hour before standing. Gathering what can still be used on our broken carriage. After rummaging the carriage I found a dagger with it's sheath that was given to me by jasmine, a dried food that my mother pack for me, and a knapsack.
While I was preparing to leave a voice rang.
'oh, you're awake'
I instantly got into fighting stance with my dagger unsheathed.
"Who are you? Are you the one that save me?" I ask, still looking around finding where the source of the voice came from.
' Yes, for your second question. As for the first you will soon find out when you arrive on my dwelling '
The voice seems awfully sure that I would try to find it.
As if reading my mind, the voice spoke once again.
' I'm the only one that will be able to make you home from this place, so I advise you to make haste'
That jerk some sense into me. That's right! I had to get back home! Mother! Father! The Twin Horns! My baby sibling! Are they alright? did they reach Xyrus safely?
If the voice could really take me back home then I don't have any other choice than to find it.
"Ahem. Ah..... Mr.Voice. may I ask for the direction of your location so that you may bless me with your presence?"
The voice let out another soft chuckle before replying with, "Don't you think it's a little rude to call a lady 'Mister'? And yes, I'll show you the way."
Ahh... so it was a lady.
Immediately, my vision shifted into a bird's-eye view. Zooming out, a location that was roughly around a day's trip to the east came into sight and lighted up before my vision shifted back to normal.
"I recommend departing immediately. It will be a lot safer traveling during the day than when it gets dark." Gently chided the voice.
"Yes Ma'am!" I quickly picked up my knapsack before trotting towards my destination.
~~Time skip~~
I reached the area where the Voice directed me towards, but I was unable to see anything besides a cluster of rocks surrounded by a cluster of trees.
'I'm glad you were able to make it here safely,' the Voice echoed confidently, as if it already knew I would.
"Nice to meet you uhh... Ma'am? Miss. Rocks?
'I'm not a rock, nor a cluster of them. There is a crevice between the back of the adjacent rocks. That's where I'll be,' the Voice chuckled.
Looking around, I managed to spot the small gap, about the width of an adult, between two of the larger rocks that were leaning against each other. The slight breeze coming out from the crevice told me I had found what I was looking for. If it weren't for the Voice directing me to this exact location, I would never have even noticed the small fissure.
'Child. Go on and enter through the crevice, but strengthen yourself with mana before you do.'
I can finally meet Mother and Father soon!
Without a second's hesitation, I slipped in through the gap easily while willing the mana to strengthen my body.
I had expected a platform to step on but instead, I immediately plummeted down the dark hole.
The voice had failed to warn me that I was going to be doing a vertical fall.
'I guess that was why she mentioned using mana to me' was the thought that ran through my head as I descended, screaming at the top of my four-year-old lungs.
Rubbing my butt, groaning, I slowly supported myself up.
"We finally meet child."
I felt the blood drain from my face as my mouth gape open and eyes bulge. Feeling lightheaded as my legs failed to support me, I crumbled back onto my aching butt, staring at the one who's been helping me this whole time.
"W-What are you?" I managed to stammer out.
Despite having lived two lives, what my eyes saw, my brain refused to believe. A monster, for a lack of a better word, which easily towered over ten meters high, was seated cross-legged, on a crudely carved throne of jagged stone with an arm lazily supporting its head. With petrifying red eyes that gazed down at me, while menacing, carried an oddly tranquil quality. Two massive horns protruded out the of sides of its head, arched down and around it's skull, curving up to a point near the front, reminding me of something almost akin to a crown. It had a mouth with two fangs peeking out of its lips and while its body was adorned in a sleek black armor that had neither decorations nor embellishments, it still glowed with the quality of a priceless treasure.
Reiterating the fact that I was once a king, still, this being that stood before me now made me embarrassed of even having the nerve to call myself one. No, the one sitting on that giant throne was a being that would make even the most unfaithful heretics bow down in submission.
Yet here it was, in all of its glory... with its head resting on its arm, while its other hand nonchalantly scratched its nose.
What I had failed to notice until now, though, because of the dim lighting in the cave and its body being completely black, was that this being had a gaping hole in the side of it's chest, blood continuously oozing out.
"We finally meet," it repeated with a lazy half smile that revealed a row of pointed teeth.
I tried getting up, but failed halfway and end up back on my butt, my face still slack from the shock of what my eyes were seeing.
"Bugs will fly into your mouth if you keep it open that wide."
Great. At least it has a sense of humor.
"As for what I am, I won't say anything more than what you can see from looking," the horned humanoid monster said with its eyes seeming to gaze straight through me.
"..."
"It is going to take to a while for me to open a dimensional rift that will transport you to your house, so until then, just be patient and wait here. There are special roots that grow here. You will be able to live off those until I finish," it sighed.
That's right. That's what I was here to do. I managed to regain a bit of my composure and I stood up, walking a little closer to the being.
Giving a courteous bow, I replied, "Thank you for everything you've done for me and what you will do. If there is any way I can repay you, I will do for you whatever is in my power."
"Such good manners for a child. Do not worry; I am expecting neither a favor nor your gratitude. I am simply doing this for my own amusement. Come! Sit here closer to me and keep me company. I haven't talked to anyone in a while," the being laughed, patting an area of its throne for me to sit on.
Then we begin to talk about ourselves.
I ask Sylvia about where we are? where she came from? and where did she get her wound? And why did she save me? Which she answered all patiently.
Then she started questioning me. On how I know how to use techniques, which she's referring to mana rotation and mirage walk. Which I answered by saying.
"My father was the one who taught me how use this techniques"
And then she just smile and nod understand at me.
~~Time Skip~~
Sylvia let out a deep breath, knowing that I had realized what was going on. Managing a sheepish smile, Sylvia whispered, "Art. Yes I am dying. But I will get angry if you blame yourself, thinking that you are causing this. I have been dying for quite a while now. You are doing me a favor by allowing me to leave this forsaken cave a bit faster."
As soon as she finished speaking, a bright golden glow radiated out of her body. Shielding my eyes from going blind, I tried to focus on the shape forming from where Sylvia once sat. In place of the ten-meter titan-like figure was a dragon even larger. From her snout to the end of her tail, she was a clad in a pearl white coat of shimmering scales. Beneath her iridescent lavender eyes were glowing golden runes that marked her neck and ran down to spread around her body and tail like a sacred engravings. These markings reminded me of a very elegant, almost celestial, tribal pattern, branching out harmoniously and with purpose like carefully placed vines. The dragon's wings were pure white adorned with white bladed feathers so fine and sharp that they could put swords forged by master smiths to shame.
The golden light enveloping the dragon dimmed until it fully replaced the once titan-shaped being.
"There now... Do I look a bit more like a Sylvia?" Sylvia let out a toothy smirk.
"S-Sylvia?? Y..you're a dragon?" I said.
"Now that I'm in this form, we don't have much time. Yes, I am human refer to as 'Dragons'. The reason I'm dying is because I had been inflicted with this wound after narrowly escaping from my captors. I had sensed one of them approaching dangerously close a few days ago, so I feel that my time of hiding is drawing to an end. This form will alert them of my location, which is why I only have time to explain what is necessary. I am giving you this to take care of from now on."
One of her bladed wings unfolded and revealed a translucent, rainbow-colored stone the size of two fists. With a myriad of colors and shades,
Without waiting for me to respond, she continued, "Everything will reveal itself when the time comes so just hold onto this and do not let anyone know that you have this. Most will not know what it is but everyone will be attracted by the aura it emits."
Sylvia then proceeded to pluck a feather from her wings with her claw and hand it to me. "Wrap the stone in this to conceal it."
Sylvia then proceeded to pluck a feather from her wings with her claw and hand it to me. "Wrap the stone in this to conceal it."
After doing as told, the once divine radiant stone merely appeared to be a smooth white rock, pretty, but ordinary.
While I was studying the feather-encased stone, I was suddenly pushed back as Sylvia's snout gently brushed against my chest where my mana core was.
Taken aback, I looked up to see Sylvia's purple eyes and the gold markings blaze brighter than they had when she first transformed. As the markings grew dimmer and then disappeared, Sylvia pierced her tongue into my core and wisped out a golden smoke that crackled in sparks of purple.
A sharp yelp escaped my mouth as I blinked, confused and surprised. I continued to just stare at her as she moved her head back, leaving a trail of blood from a hole in my worn down shirt. My sternum had bled, but when I ran my hand through the area, there was no wound.
Sylvia's expression had grown visibly pained and weak; it was apparent even for a mighty dragon that was even bigger than her previous illusion. What caught my attention, though, was that her once shimmering purple irises were now just a dim yellow with the beautiful runes that flowed across her face and body now gone.
She then told me to use mirage walk to avoid being detected by our visitor.
Doing so I used the mirage Walk, that my father teach me hiding my presence.
Before I had the chance to ask questions about what she had done and who's coming. A giant explosion interrupted me.
Clad in sleek black armor and a blood red cape that matched its eyes. The figure's pale grey skin matched the clouded sky in the background. The horns were different, though, as this entity had two horns that curled down and under its ears, lining its chin.
Sylvia immediately covered me with one of her wings in time to protect me from the falling debris and probably keep me hidden from our visitor.
"Lady Sylvia! I advise you to stop your stubbornness and hand it over. You've already caused us quite the trouble after hiding yourself! If you submit, the Lord may even heal your wound," the entity reasoned impatiently.
Immediately after he had finished speaking, the world around me seemed to pause. Everything but Sylvia and myself, the colors of the world were as though it was being seen through an inverted lense. What surprised me the most was that everything was still. The entity, the clouds behind him, and even the falling debris of the ceiling.
Ignoring the enemy, Sylvie casually peeked underneath her wing. "I'll open the portal now. I didn't have the time to make it go directly to your home but it should take you to a place with humans nearby. Do not let him see you and do not look back," she whispered, her eyes solemn.
I ignored Sylvia's instructions after I heard what the entity had promised. "Sylvia! Is what he said true? If you turn yourself over, will you be able to live?"
"Do not trust his honey-coated words. It will be worse off for you if you are found right now. As for me, I would rather die than go back to where he is," Sylvia said, impatience and anger mixed in her voice.
"No! I won't let you die here. If you refuse to go with him, then please, just come with me!" I begged.
"Unfortunately I cannot go with you. You will forever be in danger if any one of them finds out you have had contact with me. I need to stay here."
Sylvia gently wiped my cheeks with a claw, her draconic eyes lined with what I saw as tears.
"You asked me once, why I chose to save you. The truth was to satisfy my own greed. I wanted to keep you as my own child even for just a little bit. I intentionally prolonged the transportation spell because I wished to spend more time with you, but it seems I didn't even have the chance to finish it. I'm sorry, little Art, for my selfishness but I have one last request to make... can you be my son and call me mother just this once?"
"NOO! I don't care about all of that! I'll say it as much as you want if you come with me! Mother! Mother! You can't! Not like this!"
"I-I-I... Please, I'm begging you, just come with me. I-I don't know what you did but everything is frozen right now; we can escape! Please, Grandmother, don't go. Not like this!" I held on to Sylvia's claw, desperately trying to pull her away with me.
In my last moment with her, Sylvia's face blossomed into such a beautiful smile that I swear I thought I saw a human.
I could barely make out the words she said, before she pushed me into the portal.
"Thank you my child."