Chapter 316: A Lurking Horror
Mid Evening - Early Summer : Atlas | Bahamut
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- Krystallo Ragnarok ~
The moon, the brightest beacon of the night sky, and an object of ambiguity and wonder.
It was an object Brother always enjoyed talking about, saying that it was another world like ours with an unfathomably large expanse of unexplored land and incredible mysteries even he, the one who I believed knew everything in the world, could only speculate.
-But now I can't even look at it...- Walking out into the moonlit back garden of the estate, I glanced up toward it, its blurred, badly scarred surface looming overhead as if it were an eye watching over me, but rather than feeling curious like I did as a child, I felt my heart tighten. -How long has it been since that horrible day...-
Finally arriving at the center of the small field just beyond the garden, I sat down and simply looked up to the stars, its beautiful array of indescribable colors and formations bringing calm thoughts to my distraught mind.
But while the moon was at its highest point, shining as brightly and beautifully as it always had, no matter how much time passed, I couldn't bear to look at it.
*Click* Hearing the door to the estate unlock, I slowly glanced back and saw Mother walking out. After that day.. it had become our routine to stargaze each night like we would when I was a child.
"Where's Father?" I spoke softly, my voice carrying through the cold evening air with ease.
"He is still inside. With the coming-of-age festival in just a few years.. he can't avoid the paperwork anymore..." Her voice carried almost no energy at all, as if she was completely drained. "No matter how much we want it to, the world will never stop turning, so.. maybe it's time we finally move on..."
My expression quickly morphed into an agitated frown. "You know just as well as me that we have to trust him." Turning away from her, I finally mustered the courage to look up at the moon, staring at the colossal scar of shattered rock on its side with an inquiring gaze. "He said he would come back, so we should trust him."
But as she came up to my side, her grim expression and hunched stature remained. "Sweetie..." She stared at my face for a moment before finally looking away and sitting down. "The mana vortex we see on the moon is almost twelve thousand kilometers wide, if not wider... No ancient in the history of Bahamut has made a vortex like that while they were still alive..."
She was referring to something called reserve collapse, an event where when someone's reserve would rupture during their dragon sleep, it would trigger an unfathomable suction of mana that would reform the mana core even if the dragon had died. Typically, it led to the formation of a dungeon.
"But none of them were Brother." My tail flickered with determination as I lowered my gaze back to her.
"Sweetie, it's been almost-"
"His dragon sleeps have always been longer than normal for his stage." My tone was firm.
But Mother wasn't the same. She stared at me with a tense, contemplative look before reluctantly sighing and turning away to pick up a large and beautiful tool with her aura. "Haah..."
It was a telescope, Brother's final gift to me, a device that was meant to let me observe the stars and gaze up toward the moon with ease, but I hadn't mustered the courage to use it more than a few times over the years.
However, that was soon to change.
As Mother lifted up the telescope and held it to her eye, she simply froze, and by the time I noticed anything was wrong, she was faintly shivering, and the air around her had condensed into a fog.
-Huh?- Her expression was an unbridled mix of confusion and awe. "What's wrong?"
There was a long pause before she finally lowered the telescope from her eye and handed it to me. "The mana vortex... Am I seeing that right?"
-What?- Not understanding what she was referencing, I took the telescope from her and looked up myself, but it made me freeze as well. -It.. stopped?-
Typically, reserve collapse on larger scales, even much smaller than what we saw on the moon, would continue until the reserve itself exploded, but rather than the unfathomable cloud of mana on the moon being scattered, it sat still like the canopy of a tree.
"Am I.. seeing that right?" Mother's tone quivered with disbelief and uncertainty as tears started to well in her eyes.
But before I could respond, she jerked her head to the side and locked her eyes on the horizon as if she saw something. "My connection to him is.. back?" She paused as she turned to me with tears streaming down her cheeks and a look of disbelief on her face. "He's really alive... He's back!"
The next thing I knew, I had tears coming from my eyes as well.
Although I refused to admit it to myself, deep down, I believed his end was met on the moon as I watched its surface shatter all those years ago.
So, to hear that he was still alive... I can't even describe how I felt.
I was simply too happy to think straight.
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N/A - N/A : The Mallory Area | Lunar Derelict District
- Vasilias ~
"From the moon.. the world really does seem small, doesn't it?" Staring up at the unfathomably massive planet looming over the moon's horizon, I couldn't help but feel small. -Its almost like I could hold it with my paw from this far away...-
But alas, my body was still less than an ant in comparison. Even though I had power many leagues beyond my appearance, only so much could be done about my size. -But my growth does seem to be accelerating, if only slightly... Maybe it's just a matter of time...-
For now, though, it was nothing worth giving thought to.
Quickly glancing down at Ilios, I noticed that his aura had finally stabilized, and his condition seemed to have returned to normal. -That means it is finally time to go back home...-
While I wanted to stay and explore the moon some, especially to see if the structures I saw on its surface previously were more than just hallucinations, now wasn't the time. "You ready, Ilios?"
Gently opening his eyes and looking up at my draconic form, he nodded before hopping up onto my back and immediately falling back asleep.
-The lethargy is finally hitting him, huh...- Although we had both technically been asleep for over a century, for whatever reason, after our auras finally stabilized, a wave of drowsiness overtook us both. -But now isn't the time to nap...-
Finally standing up, I did a quick stretch, pushing my legs forward and extending my wings as far as I could before finally creating a gate around myself. -Alright... Let's go.-
*Vwoop* The gate formed and closed around us nearly instantaneously, swapping the lunar landscape around me with a beautiful view of the void before I could hardly react.
But before I could even think of a comment on how fast the gate was, Ilios jolted awake, and my instincts screamed at me.
"~H̴̷̷̵̶̴̘̾̊ơ̷̵̶̶̴̶̴̶͊̓͘͜w̴̷̷̵̸̮͌ ̷̴̷̷̶̷̶̴̵͈̰͖̞̓̊f̶̶̸̷̵̸̹͐̃ä̶̵̴̴̵̴̸̰̱́̇ŝ̴̶̷̵̷̷̸͕͉̟ç̵̴̴̷̶̷̵̵̷̴̴͖̖̠̊̅̏̍i̸̵̴̶̷̸̷̴̵̸̷̜̣͓͙̔̀̓̒n̷̷̴̷̵̵̸̷͖̯̪͓͊a̸̷̴̵̶̴̸̴̘̩̽͑͘t̴̷̷̷̸̸̴̰̑͆͝i̴̵̴̵̴̵̸̸̶̭͎̰̭̎̇ǹ̷̴̷̸̸̵̸̬̝̓ǵ̷̷̸̷̷̷̷̶̸͖̟̞̅͜...~" It was an indescribable series of sounds, deep and guttural, forming patterns between hums much like draconic to form a language.
But in my mind, all I felt was horror.
*VWOOP-GASP* Instantly leaping back out of the void, I instinctually gasped for air even though there was nothing but hydrogen on the moon. -W..WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!-
Just thinking about it gave me chills. In the place I believed to be truly desolate, a place where nothing but me could survive, I was spoken to. -What an arrogant fucking thought that was...-
Tensely looking around with uncertainty, I tried to see if anything followed me out of the void, but thankfully Ilios and I were still alone. -I really can't catch a fucking break...- Although I didn't have any clue as to what it was, at the time, I frankly didn't care. "All I know is the void is off limits for the time being..."
Looking up toward the planet, the distance was certainly intimidating, but anything was better than what I had just witnessed. -R..right... Maybe this is for the best. Maybe the world is just telling me I need to stretch my wings a bit...-
Trying not to think about it, I quickly formed a long strip of antimatter along the back of my wings and bolted off the moon's surface, unknowingly shattering several hundred kilometers of it as I leapt. *CRACKLE-WHAAAM* But I didn't think of looking behind myself for a single instant.
*RRRRUMBLE* With a steady flow of antimatter, I shortened the flight down to about ten minutes, but the entire time, I was on edge, feeling like I was being watched from every direction.
Thankfully, using The Scar as my landmark, it didn't take much thought to find my way to Bahamut, but once I got within the cloudy atmosphere, while it shook off my unease, it took a moment to find exactly where I was. -Ah, that must be Emporio way over there... So, I'm just over central Bahamut...-
At my current speed, it was just a few minutes from Atlas, but while that was far from a long time, as my nerves started to settle after being heightened in the void, those few minutes seemed to stretch forever.
But eventually, the outskirts of Atlas came into view, and as I recognized that nearly nothing had changed, a wave of relief passed over me. -Maybe.. it hasn't been too long...-
But as I got closer and closer to the heart of the city, that relief was flipped on its head.
The denser downtown area of the city was practically unrecognizable, with massive, towering structures of marble having been built all throughout it, particularly around where the academy used to be.
But while it all made me a bit worried, there was one thing that brought me the most relief in the world.
-Huh?- Pulling my eyes off the horizon, I looked down over countless massive estates, and immediately found ours, but rather than seeing the estate itself, I saw a large white dragon, coated in ice flying directly at me.
It was Mother, her metallic white scales glimmering beneath the moonlight.
*crackle-FWOOSH* Quickly slowing down I tried to ease my descent as much as I could, but Mother maintained full speed until she slammed straight into my chest, burying her face into my scales with tears streaming down her face before I could say anything.
But as I went to speak, someone else's voice met my ears.
"YOU DUMMY!" *CRRAACKKK* The next thing I knew, I felt a blow with the force of a thousand suns come slamming down on my head.
The unbridled might of an angry sister.
But more than anything, I felt relief. Krystallo, while she had clearly grown, was still young.
-Thank the heavens…- That sight alone lifted the weight of mountains of my mind instantly. -But I don't think an apology will save me this time…-
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