The place where they stopped was the end of the corridor. The dead end that Neris had checked earlier and been disappointed by.
But when the dragon put her hand on the wall, Neris immediately realized that there was more to it than met the eye. The entire wall vibrated, emitting a green light.
Woo-woo-ong.
"Ah."
Neris slightly opened her mouth. The arch-shaped carving that filled the entire wall.
Everything except the edges of the carving had disappeared. All that remained was the arch-shaped passageway.
And beyond it lay the giant dragon, asleep.
A giant golden dragon, whose top could only be seen by craning one's neck, was curled up. Its eyes were closed, but the sight of its massive scales undulating and the veins slightly protruding on its eyelids were enough to overwhelm the viewer with awe.
Neris felt herself shrinking infinitely. And she felt small, realizing that she was intimidated by this being who had done nothing.
She understood that if this dragon had opened its eyes and roared, no living creature could have endured without prostrating themselves before it. And many of them would have hated themselves, and even the dragon.
"…It's blocked."
There was a thin, golden membrane-like thing between this side and the other side of the archway. It was transparent, but its presence was definitely felt. Cledwyn muttered as he touched it.
Neris asked the woman standing beside them.
"You're here, so who's inside?"
"That is my true form. The one you are seeing, well, in your terms, it would be called a 'dream'. It is my memories and thoughts briefly escaping the seal and wandering the earth. I will likely be absorbed back soon."
Cledwyn finally believed that she was the real dragon. Until now, it had been a dream-like feeling. Neris asked,
"Was it you who met me up there earlier?"
"I don't know. My dreams until now have been like ghosts, wandering without knowing what they are doing, then being absorbed back like a flow. But recently, the seal shook for a while, and I gained clear memories and a form like this for a short time."
Neris turned her gaze to the dragon's true form and whispered,
"If you dream, is the seal like sleep?"
"Similar. But it's more like being fixed. A kind of Palos's power, the power of time."
The power of time.
Hearing those words, Neris's hand instinctively stiffened. Cledwyn looked at her, not knowing what was going on.
"Why?"
"Nothing."
Not yet, not yet. She couldn't tell just from hearing the word 'time'.
"You said Palos was also sealed. Are you sure? What is Palos's power?"
Cledwyn asked accusingly. The dragon said sadly,
"It's not common, but there have been cases of interspecies hybrids between humans and other races, and some of them have uniquely inherited a lot of their interspecies ancestor's power. They inherit a strong power, almost the essence of each race, and when it manifests, a gem-eye awakens as proof. A hundred years, one would appear, a possessor of extraordinary talent. Amazingly, three of them appeared 600 years ago, as you call it. The brave Bisto, the power of giants."
Giants. An ancient race, as vast as a castle and as powerful as a storm.
"The honest Elandria had the power of the demons,"
Demons… beautiful beings who seduced humans and ruled over ugly monsters like kings, the wicked minions of magic. The concepts that Neris had thought of as mere fantasy in legends were now being struck down by a sharp sense of reality.
"The beautiful Palos had the power of fairies. Bisto was strong, and everyone believed Elandria's words. And Palos, he was of noble High Elf blood, and he was free from time."
High Elves.
It was the name of a very special Elf clan that rarely appeared even in stories.
"Only those who are free from time can manipulate time. If he used his power for evil, even the Great Dragon could be eternally stopped at that moment. He could be eternally trapped in his own worst nightmare, forgetting himself."
Neris's face hardened. Cledwyn did too.
The description was familiar. Wasn't that exactly what Neris had experienced recently?
"If that's Palos's power, why was Palos himself sealed?"
"I don't know exactly what happened after I fell asleep. I only felt the magic. As for what happened back then… it would be faster to show you. Children, put your hands on this wall. At the same time."
The couple exchanged glances. The dragon wasn't being rude to them, but there was no guarantee that she wouldn't harm them.
But after hesitating, Neris finally nodded slightly. She wanted to know a lot, and she felt like she would have a hard time finding the answer if she missed this opportunity.
Cledwyn seemed slightly surprised that his usually rational wife agreed to this, but he didn't object. He just smiled, as if it didn't matter to him, as long as his wife had decided.
A black flag embroidered with a white lynx fluttered in the wind.
The largest lynx flag, flying from a tent, stood on the highest point of the hill. Around the hill, knights with serious faces and their squires ran around.
Their movements stopped as they saw two groups of people approaching the hill.
The group in front consisted of about fifteen young and noble-looking people, and the group relatively behind them was two young women in plain clothes.
A modest entourage to find in the middle of a camp where hundreds of people were coming and going. But both groups walked confidently, not even glancing at their surroundings.
The people in the front group were all beautiful, and half of them had very long, pointed ears. Even those who didn't have such long ears had slightly pointed ends, unlike ordinary humans.
The young man at their center had shiny blue hair and dark gray gem-eyes. A playful smile played on his sculpted, handsome face, and he held a large staff in his hand, with a quiver of arrows and a bow with a black strap on his back.
One of the people in the group behind was a platinum blonde girl who looked about twelve years old. The girl, with deep violet eyes, occasionally blushed, glancing at the silver-haired woman walking with her.
The silver-haired woman looked to be in her early twenties, and she had the same violet eyes as the girl, but hers were gem-eyes, giving off a unique radiance. Her captivating appearance and lively demeanor made her a beauty that anyone would find hard to look away from.
When both groups were close enough, a man emerged from the tent with the large lynx flag.
The man was 20 to 30 percent larger than the people around him. Upwards and sideways. His sturdy physique was covered in dense muscles, even at a glance, and his dark gray hair stood out powerfully in all directions.
The man's azure gem-eyes scanned the surroundings. He, too, had a gem-eye.
The man with the gray gem-eye and the woman with the violet gem-eye who approached him smiled. But the man with the azure gem-eye just frowned.
The woman with the violet gem-eye seemed to bristle, opening her mouth to grumble something. The man with the gray gem-eye let out a lighthearted laugh, seemingly trying to soothe the woman with the violet gem-eye…
****
Inside the tent, the three people with gem-eyes continued to argue, their faces disgruntled. They seemed to be at odds. Finally, the woman with the violet gem-eye slammed her fist on the table where a map was spread out, and she stood up, leaving the tent.
The girl with platinum blonde hair and violet eyes continued to wait in front of the tent. The woman with the violet gem-eye changed her expression and smiled when she saw the girl. The girl, looking as if she had seen the sun, approached the woman with a reverent expression.
Not long after, the man with the gray gem-eye also emerged from the tent. The man with the gray gem-eye and the woman with the violet gem-eye exchanged a few words.
The two seemed quite close. The woman with the violet gem-eye, who had initially pursed her lips sullenly, as if still holding a grudge from inside the tent, soon broke into a bright smile.
The man with the gray gem-eye unfastened a large locket from his neck and showed it to the platinum blonde girl. The girl didn't take her hand off the robe the woman with the violet gem-eye was wearing, but she did look at the object inside the locket.
Inside the locket was a picture of a woman with black hair. The woman had round ears, like ordinary humans, but she was very lovely and had a happy smile.
A man standing next to the tent watched them intently. The man was wearing white clothes…
****
A tall woman with hair that shone like pure gold laughed as she conversed with the woman with the violet gem-eye. They were in a rugged mountain path, but they seemed unconcerned, as if they were out for a stroll.
Suddenly, the bushes rustled. The blonde woman narrowed her eyes and glared in that direction.
The man with the gray gem-eye emerged from the bushes. He raised both hands and smiled. The blonde woman's pupils stretched vertically.
The woman with the violet gem-eye shrugged and laughed. Soon, the three of them sat down and began to talk…
****
The magnificent stone building built in front of the giant cave collapsed. Lightning struck, and flames erupted everywhere.
All around were people with lynx symbols. They roared with bloodshot eyes, smashing everything in sight. Monsters, humans, elves, and everything else died together.
A young man with sky-blue hair and pointed ears appeared before a soldier. The soldier, without hesitation, swung his sword at him. The young man sat down in terror.
The moment the young man's vision went dark, the soldier's movement stopped. An arrowhead protruded from the soldier's chest.
The woman with the violet gem-eye ran to the young man. With a furious expression, she helped the young man up and looked in one direction.
At the one who was directing this slaughter and destruction.
The man with the azure gem-eye, standing under the lynx flag, looked down at them and smiled faintly. It was a proud and self-assured smile.
The man with the azure gem-eye gestured to his subordinate. The subordinate dragged the man with the gray gem-eye, who was tied behind him, to the front.
The woman with the violet gem-eye turned pale when she saw the man with the gray gem-eye.
You lost.
The man with the azure gem-eye's mouth shape was clear enough for anyone to read from afar. At that moment, something invisible from the cave literally 'burst out'.
The building in front of the cave, the forest around it, all swayed. The wave spread out in a circle, centered on the cave entrance.
Those who had been carrying out the slaughter so carelessly a moment ago were filled with terror. Most of them knelt, the rest pale as corpses.
From the cave, a dragon, covered in golden scales, slowly walked out.
A body that human eyes could not fully contain. Powerful movements that radiated strength. Breath that spat out flames.
It was not a being that humans could face. But the man with the azure gem-eye bared his teeth and tried to mock it.
The man knew. He knew that this being could not abandon his friends…
****
The man with the gray gem-eye's body was discarded like trash, anywhere. The man with the azure gem-eye watched the dragon's lair disappear with a face full of ecstasy.
As if something heavy was being sucked into the desert mirage, the lair, as vast as a palace, was gradually buried underground. Instead, the cliff behind it rose higher.
Red blood dripped from the pocket the man with the azure gem-eye held.
The woman with the violet gem-eye, watching from afar on top of the cliff, shed tears mixed with blood. She, too, looked as if she would die soon. She already had several arrows embedded in her body.
The platinum blonde girl, who was guarding her side, held the woman, her face a mess of blood, mud, and tears. The woman looked into the girl's face and spoke softly.
The woman was clearly preparing for her end. The girl cried at the long, kind words and shook her head several times.
But when the woman finally stopped moving.
The girl took a hesitant step. And finally, she ran away from that place.
The girl's eyes, filled with resentment, were now radiating light like jewels.