< 4.Unexpected guests (2) >
“And my special ability is ‘foresight.’ I can’t see everything, but I can glimpse fragments of fated futures in my dreams.”
Elaine looked slightly surprised when she heard about Thalia’s abilities.
“You’re telling us this now… Does that mean the future you saw is related to us?”
“That’s right. I’ve known a little about your future since around six hundred years ago.”
Then Sergey furrowed his brow.
“You knew our future? The one where that damn Red Dragon screwed us over?”
“Hahah! I didn’t expect Malek to torment you that much. But in the end, it was all necessary for the ‘present’ you enjoy now, so don’t be too angry.”
Piquero, standing beside her, chimed in.
“If it weren’t for Malek, the Elder Council would have come down to destroy you, so be thankful to him.”
“Thankful? Thaaankfullll?”
Sergey’s mood quickly turned ominous.
“Why should I listen to you guys in the first place? You were the ones who abandoned me, saying I was deformed and wouldn’t be born properly! If you really wanted to take me, shouldn’t you have apologized first?”
Piquero remained silent at his protest.
Sergey decided to ask since the subject had already come up.
“And the parents who abandoned me… I doubt they ever wished for my return.”
Then, Thalia and Piquero’s expressions wavered simultaneously.
But Sergey, unable to suppress the resentment that had built up inside him, continued.
“Even if I returned to dragon society after being abandoned by my birth mother, would they have accepted me as one of their own?”
“Rabes.”
“Just looking at the ones who came to retrieve me told me everything! They looked down on me simply because I wasn’t born in their society. And in the end, the real reason they wanted me back was just to ease their own conscience!”
“Rabes….”
“A being that maintains the balance of the world? Ha! You are just as delusional as Malek, thinking of yourselves as gods!”
Thalia called out softly to Sergey, whose breathing was ragged as he poured out his anger.
“Rabes. I’m sorry.”
“……”
“You’re right. We are an arrogant race.”
“Oh, so you do realize that?”
“And perhaps because of that… it wasn’t us, who played god, that was fated to save the world—but you, the one abandoned to the land below.”
Sergey’s brow furrowed further.
“What does that mean?”
“In the future I saw, you were the one who completely annihilated the Ether of the earth.”
Thalia thought quietly about the dream she had once had.
A pitch-black sky. Lava flowing across the ground. Flames drifting in the air. Screams echoing from all directions…
In the middle of that hellish place, Rabes stood.
[Evil… will… dominate… the… world…!]
The declaration, which seemed to be made by an evil being imitating the language of living things, shook the heavens and the earth.
However, Rabes smiled with an unfeared expression on his face and fired his black flames toward the bright red flames that were growing in size.
The two red and black flames swirled and tossed around violently in the air.
The red flames swept over him as if to swallow him for a moment, but after a while, the flames spread in all directions violently and dissipated.
The moment Rabes appeared, safely protecting himself in the tidal wave of red flames, Thalia witnessed a beautiful aura floating around him.
It was far weaker than a dragon’s aura, yet it shimmered brilliantly, enveloping Rabes as if protecting him.
‘So that was that human’s aura….’
Thalia smiled again as she looked at Elaine, who stood beside Sergey, worried for him.
“I have foresight, but I cannot change the future that has been decided. I am merely a prophet. And you are the revolutionary who will make the future that I saw come true.”
“So basically, you tormented me so that I’d fulfill the future where I destroy Malek?”
“You can interpret it however you like. And I apologize for how the dragons treated you. But…”
Sergey was about to get angry again when he realized that an apology with the word ‘But’ attached to it was not an apology at all.
“Don’t blame your mother, Rabes. No matter what.”
Sergey’s fingertips twitched.
“Why……?”
It was a question loaded with many meanings.
Thalia let out a deep sigh as she thought about the excellent companion, Ratel, and her kind partner, Katan.
“Your mother, Ratel, risked everything to create you. You are the child who proves her and Katan’s love, and their existence.”
She then calmly explained why Ratel’s egg was deformed and why he shouldn’t blame his mother.
She spoke about Ratel and Katan’s true love, Katan’s death, and Ratel’s desperate desire to leave proof that Katan existed, pouring all her magic into creating the egg and her eventual disappearance.
Even after hearing the whole story, Sergey remained silent for a long time.
Then, he laughed bitterly and muttered,
“So… I have no mother or father, then?”
He had always resented them, but he had thought that, maybe, one day, he could meet them.
He had planned to yell at them, asking if they had abandoned their child to live well, but at least he had hoped to see their faces.
“I regret having to tell you this, Rabes.”
Sergey nodded slowly, and then, with a composed expression, asked,
“So, you came here to tell me about my parents?”
Thalia smiled brightly at those words.
“Yes, but I also came to perform the ritual for the dragonfolk to bond with their partner. You wouldn’t understand, though, Rabes.”
“Why would that be necessary? Elaine and I are already married!”
“That may be true in the human world. A useless piece of paper may bind you together.”
Seeing her smile, Sergey felt uneasy for some reason.
“You’re born a dragon and an immortal, while she is born a human, even if she inherited part of your lifespan. Doesn’t that make you uneasy?”
Sergey couldn’t say anything.
The unease had been growing ever since he had witnessed Lorina’s broken engagement and marriage.
Because it seems like there’s a time limit to human love.
Just imagining that Elaine’s love for him would one day end made his heart feel as though it was being torn apart.
‘Just give Elaine the best of whatever she wants, and never do anything she dislikes. That should work, right?’
But contrary to what he hoped, there were days when he felt a subtle disconnect with Elaine, which troubled him.
Of course, he couldn’t reveal those feelings in front of Elaine.
“What’s there to be uneasy about! I’m happy. I’d be happier if you guys just went back.”
Elaine stepped forward, holding Sergey’s hand tightly as she objected.
“Does performing the dragonfolk marriage ritual mean that such unease will disappear?” Sergey asked.
“That’s right. You will be bound together as one, and your souls will always resonate with each other.”
Then Piquero, next to Thalia, said:
“Dragon tribes perform a marriage ritual and share a portion of their magical power with each other. Through that magical power, they can understand each other’s hearts and become a part of each other.”
Thalia had earlier explained that Rabes’s mother, Ratel, had used Katan’s magic, which she received during their marriage ritual, along with her own magic, to create the egg.
Elaine, with a worried expression, asked,
“I don’t have as much magical power as dragons. Most of the magic I have now comes from the magic core that I received from Rabes.”
“No, even if it’s magic produced from the magic core that Rabes gave you, your soul is already engraved on it. Thanks to that core, you can live as long as Rabes, but that doesn’t mean the magic is the same as his.”
“Then what should I do….?”
Elaine felt both relieved and sorry to finally understand Sergey’s growing unease.
She had only thought about her own insecurities, but never considered the anxieties Sergey might have.
He, too, had fallen in love with and married someone from a different race, which meant there were many uncertainties for him as well.
“Don’t worry, Black Dragon’s Companion. We have come to consummate your marriage.”
“Do you really have to be here?”
Sergey asked rudely, but Thalia answered kindly.
“The authority and responsibility of the elders and deputy elders. Now, both of you, stand facing each other and hold hands.
Unlike Sergey, who was reluctant to follow her words, Elaine quickly stood up and pulled Sergey to his feet.
“Let’s try to be recognized as a couple in the Dragon Clan’s society. Isn’t that better?”
“That’s true…”
“Hold my hand, Sergey.”
Elaine smiled and extended her hand, and Serge, unable to refuse, stood up and took her hand.
It was a thin but warm hand.
“Then let’s begin the ritual.”
Thalia and Piquero stood on either side of Sergey and Elaine, and began chanting a spell in the language of the dragons.
Elaine had a strange experience where at first she had no idea what it meant, but as the ritual progressed, she gradually began to understand the meaning of the words.
[…An eternal soul bond will be formed through the exchange of magical powers that spread from your hearts.]
In fact, that wasn’t all.
Something warm and soothing seemed to pass through the hands that Sergey and Elaine were holding.
From the fingertips, it felt like she was slowly being touched by an energy that wasn’t her own, but it was a feeling so touching and affectionate that it almost brought tears to her eyes.
“Rabes.… I truly love you.”
Elaine couldn’t hold back her tears from the overwhelming emotion.
And at that moment, Sergey realized something.
He understood the very emotion that Elaine was feeling right then.
That it was the truth, and that it was a vow that wasn’t light.
‘Ah…! Elaine is me, and I am Elaine.’
Without needing to explain, he understood what it meant to be bound together as one, where their souls resonated.
Now he could accept everything about Elaine without any misunderstanding.
Accepting everything about another being as if it were your own—that is something that brings up a tremendous wave of affection.
“I love you. I love you, Elaine.”
Sergey was finally able to accept her confession with a sincere smile and confess his feelings. No, in fact, there was no need for words.
Because they already knew that.
“May you always be each other’s refuge, so that your eternal life will not become tiring.”
After completing the ritual, Thalia offered her blessings to the young dragon and his companion, smiling refreshingly as if a burden she had been carrying for a long time had been lifted.
* * *
