Chapter #66

After leaving Daevon Zeno stuck to the main roads that went through the forest. It was the same road Geralt took alongside Ciri and Yarpen Zigrin during Blood of the Elves.

Naturally the war was still a century away and the road didn't teem with squirrels ready to put an arrow in his body.

Still, Zeno didn't feel at ease and the source of it was Ouryuu...

'You want to visit Shaerrawedd don't you?' Zeno asked with a sigh.

{Yeah... Praying for them might be beneficial too, also I feel a pull towards that place.} Ouryuu explained.

Zeno didn't have a reason to refuse him and steered Jean off course in accordance with Ouryuu guidance.

Soon the former palace was in his sights.

Shaerrawedd,was an ancient elven palace which lay in the forests of Kaedwen, before it was destroyed more than a hundred years ago.

Elven elders, remembering the cruelties of the wars with humans, destroyed the palace to prevent invaders from building a city on the foundations as they had with so many other cities.

The elven youth objected to this solution. In 1060s, despite the warnings of previous generations, young Aelirenn led her peers into a final suicidal assault against the humans, which resulted in her and her army's noble death--and the future downfall of elven race, as only the young elves are able to reproduce.

"So much death... So many unresolved regrets, pain and suffering." Zeno sighed and as he held his hand on his heart.

He could see them, hear them, feel their pain and suffering. It was nothing compared to his two thousand years of suffering but it still stifled his heart.

Zeno suppressed his raging heart and no longer allowed the dead to influence him and moved further.

At the heart of the granite and marble palace was a fountain and a rose bush covered with beautiful white-lilied flowers, adorned with silver drops on the petals, a symbol of hope for the elves.

He looked at the flowers before plucking one of them and saving it for later. He planned on consuming it so he can reproduce it later but he had sensed some elves hiding and watching him amongst the shrubbery.

They were probably here to pay respects, Zeno didn't mind them watching him lay their ancestors to rest.

So he prayed as waves of Karmic Virtue flooded the palace, the amount was so much that even the elves hiding could see it.

Zeno felt a significant increase in his Karmic Virtue and felt like he could manifest it soon.

'Do you still feel the pull, Ouryuu?' Zeno asked.

{Yeah, now that the souls are at peace I can feel it better. There, on the left wall on the third tile, in it I can sense something calling out for us.} Ouryuu explained.

Zeno wordlessly went towards the wall, at that time his medallion vibrated signaling magic.

"An illusion? Well whatever." Zeno shrugged and shoved his hand in the third tile.

His hands passed through and he grabbed something like a box, at the touch Zeno's heart skipped a beat.

'It can't be...' He didn't want to believe it but he couldn't mistake the feeling.

Not wanting others to see, Zeno took the box and left without opening it. Singing "World So Cold" from 12 Stones on his way out to educate the ignorant masses listening.

The group of young elves hiding in the shrubbery didn't stop him as they were too busy gawking at him.

"Whatever he had done I don't know but, this place seems more peaceful." One of them said in astonishment.

"Yeah, it's like our people who died here are finally at peace." A she-elf said while wiping her tears.

"Do none of you care about the box he took?" The third one of the group asked.

"He found and took the box like he knew where it was, no one had managed it ever since that ashen haired girl asked the elves to hide it there." The first one in the group answered him.

"Still, we must speak with our elders. Box found its owner, we fulfilled our promise." The second one said.

They too have left the palace after paying respects, once they returned to their homes to their families they talked.

They talked of the Witcher who prayed for their dead and laid them to rest, they talked about how he found the box relieving many of the elders as they cared about that promise for some reason they could not understand.

Soon the rumours will spread all over Kaedwen and the rest of the north and people will look for the rumoured elven treasure.

Somehow the rumours had erased Zeno's description completely and the person who found the box and the Witcher who laid the dead to rest.

Zeno wouldn't learn about these rumours until much later but not about who gave the box to the elves...

_____

Going back to our protagonist, we can see him sitting on a rock beside a small lake gazing at the box with an almost crazy look.

The box itself wasn't anything special other than the spell that was put on it which dispersed once he took the box.

{...Open it.} Ouryuu said with resolution.

Zeno opened the box, inside there was one thing. A golden crest depicting a dragon. Zeno and Ouryuu were very familiar with it as they wore it for centuries.

'How did it end up here?' Zeno wondered but he didn't expect to find the answer anytime soon.

Still, he felt like for the first time Merlin wasn't behind this.

{...} Ouryuu remained silent.

He knew... He knew how the dragon crest ended up in the hands of the elves but he remained silent.

Zeno wore the crest with shaking hands and squeezed it, he didn't even notice his Witcher medallion melting and merging with it.

The dragon crest glowed with a gentle light like embracing it's lost child. Zeno indulged in the feeling as Ouryuu's memories flowed through him once again, stopping as he met Kaya once again.

Crest glowed once more, this time with such force that Zeno was thrown in the lake but he didn't even notice as he was seeing visions and hearing sounds.

He saw a green haired girl taking a strand of hair from a blonde man in a superhero costume, the vision switched to another world and he saw a white haired girl looking at the shattered moon with tears in her eyes, her right hand was that of a dragon's with white scales.

He saw a three year old girl with blue hair and yellow draconic eyes being kidnapped, only to be paralyzed by the girl's eyes. He saw a girl that looked like Yona going to school with Kuoh Academy uniform.

Zeno woke up in shock, he was still floating on the lake, water masking his tears as he muttered. "The dragon warriors and Hiryuu and Yona's reincarnation... They're alive."

{Do you recognize any of those worlds?} Ouryuu asked, his voice trembling.

'MHA, RWBY, Naruto and DxD...' Zeno replied.(AN: Dragon warriors have the hair colours of their respective dragons, just reminding. Also sorry not sorry!)

{I see, we must look for them. I know it is a burden for you but please, I must make sure they're alright.} Ouryuu pleaded.

'Stop it! We're nearly the same person, it is only a matter of time until we merge completely. I get what you're feeling and I agree. We must get to them before something happens to them.' Zeno agreed and got up, a small Igni drying his clothes.

[Have any of you noticed, the new generation are all female...] System said suddenly.

Zeno looked up from where he was sitting, he had spent a considerable time here and stars were already out. Unfortunately the usual night sky and its beautiful stars were replaced by Merlin's face winking at him.

'...' Zeno.

{...} Ouryuu.

<Woo Yeah Baby! That's What I've Been Waiting For! This is what's all about!> At least one of them was happy with the development.