Kael was luckier. Although the dragon's fire had evaporated all the water in the pond, his hiding spot was far enough from the direct sweep of the flames, so he wasn't severely harmed.
Trembling in the mud, Kael prayed for his life. After what felt like an eternity, when he could no longer hear anything above, he finally crawled out of the mud. The world around him had changed—most of the trees were down, the pond had dried up, and nearby on the clearing lay the corpse of a demon creature.
In a more distant location, to the east of the Black Forest, flames were blazing fiercely, turning half the sky a vivid red.
"My lord, my lord?" Kael pulled his body out of the mud, stumbling as he climbed ashore, looking around for Ronan. "My lord? Are you still here? Are you still alive?"
He called out cautiously, afraid of attracting any danger.
"My lord?"
In the bushes, the ears of the demon dog twitched.
Kael was standing right in front of the bushes. Since he had hidden before Ronan did, he hadn't seen where Ronan was hiding.
"My lord?" Kael feared the worst.
The demon dog slowly lifted its head, staring at Kael through the bushes.
Kael remained unaware, taking a few steps forward. He covered his mouth with one hand and called out softly, "My lord? Where are you? The dragon has flown away!"
Ronan was dumbfounded. He twitched his ears again.
...Twitching ears? Yes, his ears moved again.
Ears...and vision...
The demon dog's eyes widened, revealing an oddly human-like expression of emotion.
"My lord?" Kael turned around in circles, feeling tempted to leave. After searching for so long, if his lord was dead, he probably wouldn't be blamed for leaving, right?
Just as the yellow-haired demon was about to slip away, the demon dog finally stood up.
The sound startled Kael, and he immediately became alert, raising his hands in defense. "Who's there?"
The bushes rustled again, and soon, the brownish-yellow demon dog emerged from the foliage.
"A dog?" Kael hesitated.
The demon dog took a step forward, then...because its hind paws got tangled, it stumbled awkwardly, nearly falling flat.
"..." Kael's serious expression faltered. A dog that trips while walking? Had he ever heard of such a thing?
...
Ronan couldn't make any sense of it, but the fact remained: somehow, that gust of wind had blown his soul into this demon dog's body.
"Woof!"
Ronan was stunned.
Kael who are filled with confusion, didn't dare make a move.
"Woof, woof!"
Ronan: "..."
Kael's confusion deepened.
Ronan was dumbfounded for a couple of seconds, his mind utterly overwhelmed by a barrage of his own curses.
Seriously, what the *&%#@￥!@
"M-My lord?" A sudden realization flashed through Kael's mind, but he was too scared to fully believe it.
"Woof, woof, woof."
"M-My lord, is that you? My lord?" Kael dropped to his knees, staring into the eyes of the demon dog in front of him, tentatively asking, "Is it really you?"
"..."
Ronan was tired of barking already.
"What happened, my lord?"
Ronan wished he knew.
"How did you end up turning into a dog?"
If it weren't for the genuine concern in Kael's eyes, Ronan would've thought he was being insulted. Although, to be fair, in the demon race culture, being called a dog wasn't necessarily an insult.
"This is so strange..." Kael felt like his brain just couldn't keep up.
It really was baffling. Ronan had tried, but he couldn't leave the body of this demon dog.
"Can you not speak anymore, my lord?"
He could, but as soon as he opened his mouth, it just came out as "woof." Probably some kind of bodily instinct.
"Your demonic aura..." After observing closely, it was clear that this was exactly the kind of aura a demon dog would emit.
"Woof... that... dragon..." Ronan suppressed his instincts, working hard to string together his words. "Why?"
"Huh?" Kael was stunned for a moment, then burst into joy. "You can talk!"
"Why did it burn the Black Forest?" Ronan's second sentence came out much more smoothly.
"Why?" Kael didn't quite understand. He answered matter-of-factly, "Dragons don't need a reason to kill us."
"..." Ronan recalled how humans, giants, dwarves, and elves once banded together to massacre the demon race, and Kael had said they didn't need a reason back then either. Now, it seemed they had the dragons to deal with too.
When Ronan first saw the enormous red dragon, he was so stunned that he couldn't even find the words to express his amazement.
Then again, in a world that had elves and demons, it wasn't exactly surprising that there were dragons. However, this dragon looked like a Western dragon. Ronan couldn't help but wonder what the Eastern dragons from legend might look like.
Of course, it would be nice if these dragons were friendly, but judging by the recent disaster, that didn't seem to be the case.
The sheer power of the red dragon, whose origin was unknown, was terrifying. Just one breath of its dragon flames had scorched and cracked the land. Its claws were razor-sharp, and Ronan was certain it could shred a mountain to pieces with ease.
"Do you know that dragon?" Ronan asked.
"No, I don't!" Kael shook his head vigorously. How could he possibly know a dragon?
"Have you ever seen it before?" Ronan asked, wanting to know if the dragon would return to the Black Forest. They had been lucky not to be discovered today, but next time they might not be so fortunate.
"No," Kael shook his head again, his face looking woeful. "But I've seen other dragons fly over the Black Forest. Whenever they come, we're doomed."
"We demons..." Ronan felt a chill in his heart. "Are we at the bottom of the food chain?"
It seemed like every other race could come and pick on them. Of all things to reincarnate into, why did he have to become a demon? The future looked bleak!