Without a warning, Dalyx pushes his throne with much ease. The two of us watching as it topples to the side. Its bang echoing loudly, just as much as his desperate footsteps.
"What are you doing?" I ask, following Dalyx as he leads me down a very deep and dark tunnel from where the throne once was.
"We are a party, now. And I understand as a party, we must build trust. But my situation is far too complicated to explain. So I hope you understand and can still tag along with me." He says. Allowing his tail to guide me in front of himself before planting his hand against my back while we walked, guiding me forth until the shine from the main room has disappeared. Almost like a setting sun.
"Okay." I say hesitantly. Now that I think about it, the way he replies to my question seems off, somehow. Like he is guessing my words. "Do you need my help?"
Why do I offer help if I do not trust him fully yet? I only just met him and he's a dragon. Dragons have a deep history in this world. Much deeper than I could imagine. Perhaps like a version of the devil in many religions from my world. A reputation far greater, maybe the same. I suppose in any world, hate always manages to ignite the hearts of sentient beings far more than anything else. And besides, what can I possibly do to help? I'm just a human. Well, a human that's been through a lot of weird shit.
"How nice of you to offer, but you don't have to. The only thing I want is for us to make it out alive."
"Alive?" I pause. Beware of the dragon. But when I paused, Dalyx continued push on my back, making me fall forward.
"Don't worry," Dalyx apologies, standing over me with his hand stretched out. His glowing eyes allowing me to take it. And as I do, he immediately brushes past me to walk ahead. "We need to be fast."
"Oh, uh, okay." I breathe, jogging after him. It's somehow harder to think about anything as we walk. Because I'm struggling to catch up with my new dragon companion. Focusing on our loud footsteps mixed with the soft howling of the wind.
Just by looking at how Dalyx's exceedingly fancy cape and how it drifted behind him, it makes me feel like I'm not going to get any closer.
Until I'm left behind.
"Dalyx?" I peep, slowing my speed. There's no way he's already gone. We've only gotten in about a minute ago. Maybe it's just my age. Physically, since Attam looked older than me despite being younger.
"....andus...." A tiny voice whispers into my ear, making me jump.
"What!?" I sharply gasp, turning my body towards its direction. "I have to get out..."
Taking a few steps back as my eyes scavenge the dark, I realize that I am utterly afraid. Who wouldn't be? This world isn't what I'm used to. Every nibble from the air I feel and every fluctuation of my energy is making me think that my every life is being taken from me. Like I'm not allowed to live. Even the slight shift of the blanket of darkness is making me feel unwelcome.
"I. Smell. Death. On you..." The voice whispers again, this time with a gush of coldness against the back of my neck.
"Get back!!" I snap, swiping at the air behind me with all my might until I end up tripping over my feet. Eventually dropping with my back colliding against the stone cold wall.
Everything turns dark. And what seems like many minutes passing by, narcolepsy settles in. Controlling my body as sudden sleep forces my eyes shut. And I allow it to, wishing per chance that I stay asleep.
None of this is worth it.
"You're sleeping, again?? What a fucking useless brat." A bodiless voice echoes from above me.
"I'm not..." I gasp. The voice forcing me out of sleep. Pain thumps through me as fear forces my body to pick itself up again.
"How do you know you're not dreaming?"
I shake my head again and again, pressing my back against the walls with my ears cupped. Forcing myself to hear nothing but my own racing heart and the slight growing sting in my one eye.
The madness.
The same sting I'd feel every time I thought about the Mad Star or had my eyes fall upon it.
Then the world turns a deep red with every edge a certain blue. Transforming everything in front of me into something else. Something more corrupt. Every time I look to one side, the red and blue follow my eyes like glitched smudges burning into my sight.
A harsh kick to my foot makes me jump.
But when I look up, I don't see a normal being. I see a dark body with the same blue around the edges but also these complex horns on top of its bed of dark hair, close to resembling a complex crown. Its body covered in all sorts of magical circles and runes I can't seem to comprehend or even fathom to describe. Looking at it only brings dull pain. Even the odd white spear tunneled through its chest. My eyes can't describe it other than as a spear.
And its eyes--large with these small, black pupils and a tiny slit of blue within its core. Piercing right through me as if I'm in the way. But then it opens its mouth, small black strings snapping as it lets out a soft exhale.
"You....why do you hide instead of walking? We have to move."
I shake my head, standing up on my own.
"I can't." I respond and wince at my eye pain. The colors suddenly turning off and on. I immediately cover it in hopes the pain goes away. Soon revealing a normal world and a normal Dalyx. "I haven't escaped it entirely. Now I feel it holding me back."
"What are you talking about?"
"I-"
"Close your eyes." Dalyx places his own hand over the one I have on my eye. Slipping into deep silence. With the deep focus, I can't help but turn to the throbbing pain all over me, wondering what I get out of discovering the truth to Sin's deception and turmoil. Why is he doing this? What could be possibly achieve from all the harm he did to me? Even if I find the truth, what then?
A cold thing stops on top of my closed eye, causing me to freeze in question.
"What are you doing?" I ask but I think I know once I feel his tongue make it to the end of my eye.
"I put a spell on it with my tongue to ease the pain and other wonderful side effects. It won't last long but it should help. Don't wipe it off."
I sigh, my hand itching to wipe off the saliva but resist. "Should have given me a heads up."
"Hey, I got to do what I got to do."
"Do you know what it is hurting me?"
"For that I fear our bond must be deeper to where my touch doesn't make you squirm for me to figure it out."
"Can't wait to personally thank that damn prince for his little present." I huff, allowing myself to be helped up to my feet.
We walk in silence until a soft light appears ahead of us.
"Ah, there it is." Dalyx breathes, balling his hands into fists. Either out of excitement, or anger. I can't tell but I can tell he has long awaited for freedom.
As the light grows more, we stop.
"A rune?" I question.
"A sealed gate." He answers, reaching out towards the light. Seemingly wiping it away with ease to reveal a gate covered in some type of black ore. "Obsidian."
No more words come out of him as his eyes stay glued to the gate. Only has this deep scowl on his face and a careful distance. Through this alone I know that the obsidian is dangerous. Perhaps like silver to a vampire. That or he has some trauma attached to it.
"Do you need...?"
"Yes." He immediately answers without listening to my entire sentence. Then turns to me, his expression calm. "Would you kindly open the gate? The handle is right there..."
I nod and turn to where he pointed. A lock. Fear envelopes my mind as soon as I take a closer look.
"This is..." I turn the metal lock over and shudder. It's my lock. The lock has a deep engraving of the letter 'S' near the keyhole. The same S I carved one cold night when I was out of my mind. But what's it doing here?
"Something wrong?"
I immediately shake my head. Somehow unable to take my eyes off. "No. It's just...weird to see this type of lock in a world full of magic and what not..."
"So can you open it?"
"Yeah. Give me a second." I look around in hopes of finding at least some type of needle or pin. Until I reach into my pockets and find a rusty key. Odd.
"Oh, looks like you have an omnikey. How lucky." Dalyx notes. Somehow making me feel less miserable with his soft smile.
With a sharp breath, I push the key into the lock and turn until I hear the click. And use all my might to push open the gate. The cold winter wind already eager to greet us.
"I can't tell if it's day." I mumble, my eyes locked to the sky while holding open the gate with my entire body. Waiting for Dalyx as he walks out.
"Ahh..." He sighs, outstretching his hands with his head slightly tilted back. Taking in profound breaths. Not caring if the snow melts on his body. "I haven't seen snow over a thousand years. It's just as beautiful as I remember."
That's not hard for me to believe that. To be imprisoned for more than a dozen human lives can handle. Seeing only metal and accompanied by only your own self. It's like Plato's cave, where those people did not know anything of the outside world until one picked up the courage to look outside whereas the other stayed behind.
"Where to now?" I ask after a few minutes of admiring the scenery.
"Oh, yeah." Dalyx squeaks, turning to me with an even wider smile. "I actually need to take a quick pee break. Let's head down to those trees."
We make our way down towards a more wooded area until Dalyx stops to admire a white bird perched on the top of a tree, chirping quite sadly.
"Must be looking for a mate." I wonder aloud, to which Dalyx huffs at.
"Then it'll die alone." He mumbles. "It's an Uloxite bird. The very last of its kind."
I raise a questioning brow. "The last? How do you know that?"
"Because it's saying it. Its so called mating call is actually a mourning call. Singing about its fallen kind until it dies. I have seen thousands of them back when I was active on the surface. Commonly used for transportation of spells during desperate times. Anyway, enough about the world's loneliest bird. I have to peeeeee."
"Oh, okay." I breathe and begin to head a bit far from where he is, until he stops me.
"Um..." Dalyx hangs onto my shoulder, his finger trembling as he's lost in thought. "This is going to be embarrassing but...I need help."
"Help?" I pause. "Help you...pee???" I exclaim and he nods shamelessly.
"Yeah. You see, I don't really have a functioning part."
"What...?"
"Ever since that one law, all dragon-kind were required to be snipped down below. Making it impossible for us to pee without assistance."
I stay dead silent. How do I even react? What do I even say? I haven't helped anyone pee. I was mostly the one who received help, as embarrassing as it is to admit.
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding." He chuckles, letting go of me to lightly tap my forehead. "Well, not about the snipping part... But I did find a way to help myself when I was imprisoned. Took many failed attempts but I did it."
"You've been alone down there surrounded by a lot of treasures and your own mind. What did you eat?" I ask curiously. And I am curious. I did not see any trace of food or water down there unless he kept it preserved somewhere out of sight. Unless... My eyes wander onto his privates---NO! It's sick for me to think something like that!
"It took me a lot, and I mean a lot, of attempts to find my own source of food from the outside world. And it worked. Not whatever it was you were thinking of."
"Sorry." I turn around again and distance myself as he takes a few steps away to relieve himself. "So...were all dragons snipped?"
"Yes... All dragon kind, no matter their position, had to be snipped. It was done to prevent the incident with those hybrids from ever occurring. Ralzeoth really did us all a favor..."
"So, when you mean snip...?"
"Not the type you'd do for pets, no. The same type of mutilation beautiful peasant women had to endure as punishment for bewitching men. But that was long ago. The human race has been more kinder ever since."
Most of his words invoked this feeling of slight sarcasm and pain. I think, though I can't seem to pinpoint for sure. I just know that some of his words hang heavily with deep scars hidden from underneath. I have a deeper understanding of Dalyx now.
And we march on our way back on the path with Dalyx leading. Most of it we stayed in silence, until I have a funny thought.
"You ever..." My voice trails away as a voice of doubt rises from within.
"You don't have to be shy." Dalyx mumbles, standing still until I'm right next to him. I don't look, fearing he may be angry, and focus on rubbing warmth into my hands instead. "It was a common misconception that all dragons reproduced. When in reality, only a few select--mainly upper, royal-class-- dragons did. But the lesser dragons and the non-selected ones are unable to. It's all because of magical balance, if you believe that load of shit. It's mostly biological."
"Oh."
"We're here."
Just a few feet ahead of us stands a lively tavern and hotel. Lights on and voices rambling and signing joyfully. I can't believe this was here all along. Was it even close to where Attam was before he happened upon that family? I don't know but for some reason it makes the world even sadder.
Just one foot forward and Dalyx's outstretched hand stops me.
"Did you ever wonder where your people went after the merge happened?"
I pick up my head. "Hasn't crossed my mind." I reply softly. Now feeling terrible for never letting such a fact cross my mind. After all, it's what brought me here along with my family and friends. But why bring it up now?
"I see. Let this knowledge be a gift from my behalf on the truth of Sin's plan."