Chp.32: Sacrifice

"Haku... what the heck are you saying?" Rhaegal whispered in a thin voice, hoping with all his heart that his brother didn't mean what he was thinking.

Haku inhaled deeply, closing his eyes a couple of times as if he were concentrating. When he opened them again, they were charged with determination. "Darbi and I have completely stripped the armor off a great basilisk. It's the one I threw in the hydra's mouth, it's the only thing I own that can resist against that poison" he said starting to rummage in his dimensional bag and extracting large bone plates. "We used vines to transform the various parts of the armor into protectors for us. I don't have many, but enough to cover me almost completely. All I need to do is pour the poison and the fire potion into the outer side of the protectors, and tie the inner side around me..."

"Haku, you're not thinking what I think, are you!?" Rhaegal exclaimed. "You don't want to use yourself as a weapon and go inside that hydra's body, right?"

Haku knew that would be his reaction. "There's no other way" he said starting to tie the armor around him. The pieces weren't very solid since they were only held together by vines, but they would be enough for the few seconds he would use it.

Rhaegal placed a paw on his, as if to stop him from continuing. "Haku, the hydra's blood contains the same substances that make its breath so poisonous! If you go in there you will be contaminated!"

"I'll hold my breath" Haku replied. "You know I'm good at managing my breathing"

"It doesn't matter to hold your breath if too much of that blood ends up on you! Just a drop that enters your eyes or nostrils is enough to contaminate you!" Rhaegal exclaimed. "Haku, you can't do that!"

"We have no other choice, Rhaegal!" Haku yelled. "I don't like it either, but one of us has to do it! We have no other way to reach the brain, and if we don't destroy the brain that monster will kill us! So we have to... sacrifice someone. Sacriface one to save all the others". His face darkened. "And is better that that someone is me"

"It better be you!?" Rhaegal looked furious. "Why would sacrificing you be the right choice!?"

"Don't you see it yourself?" Haku snapped pointing to his brother's right cheek, the same point where he hit him. "It's my fault we're here now. I messed up. If I disappear, then the family will come back together. This was how it was supposed to go from the beginning… you all should have gone and left me alone. This was your plan. This is no different"

"Of course it's different, you idiot!" Rhaegal cried furiously. "You will die, Haku! None of us ever wanted you dead!"

Those words deeply affected Haku. "Really? Not even you?" he asked him.

Rhaegal shook his head vehemently. "I tried to hate you after what you did, believe me, but I can't. You're my brother, I can't help but love you. I'm afraid of you, and I have a long line of unkind epithets that I could give you... but I don't want to see you dead. If you want this family to be united again, then don't do it!"

Haku bit his lip. He looked down, not having the courage to look his brother in the eye. "Rhaegal… I'm sorry. About everything" he said. "I've made a string of bad decisions…and this is the result. I should have been a better brother. I wished I could prove to you and everyone else that I could change… but I'm running out of time at this point". He watched as the huge hydra kept trying to bite his sisters, while they deftly dodged his attacks by jumping from tree to tree. "There's no other way. Someone has to do it. The alternative is for that monster to kill us all. So I'm sorry, even for this further pain I'm inflicting on you... but I have to do it"

"You don't have to! We can find another way!" Rhaegal yelled as tears began to fall from his eyes. "You don't have to prove anything!"

"I don't want to prove anything, brother. I'm doing it for a very specific reason" Haku replied. "Simply, if I let you or anyone else die, I would no longer be able to live"

"What about me? What about all of us? Don't you think what we'll feel if we let you die!?" Rhaegal exclaimed.

"I know I'm inflicting great pain on you, but I prefer it to seeing any of you die" Haku replied, who was shaking slightly. "Rhaegal... please. You know we have no other choice"

Rhaegal grit his teeth furiously, and angrily dug his claws into the wood. "This isn't right" he whispered. "It's not right!"

"No, it's not. But life isn't right after all. And sometimes it forces us to make choices we never want to make. It's not us who chose to live in this ruthless world after all" Haku muttered. A few tears were starting to fall from her eyes as well. "Rhaegal, please… help me do my last good deed for you all. And forgive me for being such an unreliable brother. And…". The tone of his voice trembled. "...promise me that when this story is over, you will take our family to the desert. You are close now. Go and reach the Thul Oasis. Grow all together... and never be separated again. Always be united. It doesn't matter however powerful our enemies are, we are stronger together. Promise me"

Rhaegal's mouth quivered. "Haku, I..."

"Promise me!" Haku growled.

Rhaegal was silent for a moment. "Okay, I'll take our family to the desert. You have my word" he whispered, and then he looked him straight in the eyes: "But you must promise me that you will do your best to survive, and that after you destroy the brain you will come right back, and that you won't stop until you're dead!"

Haku nodded. "You have my word" he replied, even though he knew his oath would be a useless oath. The odds of getting out of the hydra alive were less than zero. "I'm sorry. I didn't want it to end this way"

"End? Why are you giving up already?" Rhaegal snapped. "You just promised me you wouldn't give up until you died, so why are you talking as if your end is certain?"

"Rhaegal... please..." Haku tried to say, but his brother didn't listen at all.

"Let's go" Rhaegal growled. "When you're out of that monster, alive, we'll have a lot to discuss, me, you, and everyone else. So let's wrap this up here and now!". The dragon jumped into the nearby tree. "I'm going to communicate the plan to our sisters. You finish wearing that armor" and having said that he went away.

Haku watched Rhaegal walk away with a sigh. He knew his brother was just deluding himself, but he didn't have the courage to contradict him. Very reluctantly he continued to don the armor of the great basilisk, and although he knew it would be of little use he did his best to leave as few exposed spots as possible. As he did so, time seemed to slow down… perhaps because he was aware that these were the last minutes of his life.

When he was done, he poured the great basilisk poison and fire potion on himself. The two substances seemed to mix well and did not slide off his armor. After that Haku took more bone spines and poured the poison and potion on them.

Rhaegal returned shortly after. "Our sisters know what to do" he said flatly. Given how quickly he returned, Haku suspected that he only told their sisters the part of the plan that concerned them.

He passed him the bone spined. "Be careful to not touch the tip, it is imbued with the venom of the great basilisk. Bring five of them to our sisters and keep one for yourself. You will use them to destroy the heads"

"Don't worry. We know what to do" Rhaegal said as he grabbed the bone plugs and prepared to walk back, but then he stopped. Time seemed to slow even further as the two brothers had their backs to each other. Then Rhaegal whispered: "Haku... come back alive. This family will never be complete without you". And having said this, he leapt away.

Haku watched him go away. 'I wish I could, brother. I really wish' he thought, not voicing his thoughts.

After that, he sat in the tree and waited. The hydra and its roars seemed to disappear from his eyes and ears, giving way to many things he had taken for granted until then: the rustle of leaves, the sound of the wind, the smell of the forest, the stars in the sky. He wondered if he'd miss them when he died. What nonsense; if he died, then would he vanish… or maybe end up in an afterlife, like the newcomers believed in? Maybe he would have met the gods? Maybe it was better not, he doubted it would end up in the good part…

"You can still escape" his parents' voices whispered in his ears again. "Why do you have to die for them? They abandoned you first. Use the portable gate and leave. Rhaegal knows your plan, he will sacrifice someone else..."

'No' Haku answered firmly in his mind. 'I don't want to lose anyone. I can't lose anyone. I won't run away, not this time'. As he said those words in his head, he almost thought he saw his parents turning away in disdain, as if they were disappointed by his behavior.

Charged with determination, he watched his siblings as they began the plan. Her sisters caught the attention of five of the hydra's heads, which caught fire one by one and were corroded from within by the great basilisk's venom. In a short time, only the central head remained above the hydra's torso, surrounded by six stumps (one of which, the one that had been created by Haku, was already at a good regeneration point). At that point Rhaegal leapt onto the hydra's back; the central head turned and tried to bite, but Rhaegal dodged and the hydra tore off only a large piece of its own skin.

Haku took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Whole years passed in his head, time seemed to slow down so much. Then he opened them wide again and without looking back he rushed towards the wound which was already starting to regenerate. The last hydra head tried to stop him, but Rhaegal threw the last great basilisk thorn into his mouth which corroded it in seconds. Haku reached for the wound and sank with all his might into it. The great basilisk venom on his armor instantly melted the flesh, creating a chasm around him.

He began to descend rapidly, trying to follow a diagonal trajectory. He could smell the stench of burning flesh as he passed, and he knew that behind him the interior of the hydra was on fire. Some fragments of flesh and blood fell on him and from the first moments his vision seemed to blur. His senses became altered and he began to not quite understand what was going on around him, but still he didn't stop. His brain did its best to fight against the evil influence of the hydra's blood.

He knew that in reality everything was happening in a few moments, but his perception of time was so altered that it seemed to him that he was moving in slow motion. He began to see black spots around him, as if his eyes were getting ruined; the sounds faded, as if his ears had stopped working, and soon he was no longer able to sense what he was touching, as if his sense of touch had shut down. His sense of smell soon stopped working as well. His senses were leaving him one by one. But it was almost there now... the goal was right in front of him...

And finally it reached him. In front of his now almost totally blurred eyes the flesh of the hydra melted and revealed the white color of the brain. As soon as he saw it, Haku wasted no time and, although he knew that it would be enough for him to wait for the great basilisk poison to do its job, he couldn't repress his instinct, probably due to the mental upheaval caused by the evil influence of the hydra, and he opened his jaws and began to tear away large shreds of the brain.

Outside, the hydra began to move as if in convulsions. His paws gave out and his tail started flapping everywhere, and if he still had functioning heads he probably would have screamed. Haku didn't stop and continued to chew the hydra's brain until he had completely devoured it; it was not a long process, since the brain of the hydra despite the size of the body was quite small. When he was done, the hydra crashed to the ground with a loud crash and did not move again, and even its regeneration stopped, a sign that it was really dead. Seeing this, Rhaegal stared intently at the wound on his back. 'Come on, come on, come on…' he thought frantically.

Haku was now barely able to move at that point. His eyes had completely darkened and his senses had totally shut down; it was as if he was plunged into emptiness. He could feel his breathing getting slower and slower and his heart getting weaker. But even so, he turned around and began to ascend, relying solely on his memories to figure out where he was going since he no longer had any perception. 'I have to continue... I have to go out...' he thought. 'I promised Rhaegal... I can't give up...'

But Haku was on his last legs, and he couldn't take it anymore. He barely managed to drag himself out of the hole, and then his limbs gave out altogether. Rhaegal saw Haku's head emerge from the hydra's slashed back, and a glimmer of hope rekindled within him; but soon after, that glimmer was extinguished when he saw his brother roll off the monster's back without any control and fall to the ground, not moving anymore.

"NO!" he yelled, leaping over the hydra's back and running to where his brother had fallen. If she reached him, maybe she could… maybe…

"Rhaegal, no!" Sisna grabbed him by the shoulders. His sister had tears in her eyes. "There's still the poisonous vapor! You'll die too!"

"Let me go! I can still save him!" growled Rhaegal, thrashing furiously.

But Sisna squeezed him even tighter. "He's already gone!" she screamed, and her voice shook with sobs. "Think about what he would want!"

Rhaegal stopped as the words echoed in his head. Haku didn't want him to risk his life... he didn't want him to die too. Tears formed in her eyes. "He can't..." he whispered. "He can't... he said... he wouldn't give up..."

Sisna hugged him tightly, she too in tears. "He didn't" she said. "He tried to come back to us"

The two dragons collapsed on the dead body of the hydra, weeping profusely as they looked at the body of their brother, lying nearby lifeless. Their sisters joined them soon after and they too burst into tears at seeing him, and many tried to reach out to help him, but luckily there was always someone with the good sense to stop them before they leapt into the poisonous vapour. Very soon, the woods resounded with their sobs. The same thought rang in everyone's mind: Haku, their brother, was now dead.