The 11th God

Something Volatile II

Dragons are believed to be extinct creatures that existed years ago. Before they became completely forgotten, extinct and nothing but a myth, people had told several stories and reasons behind it.

One of them is the war between dragons and beaus. The beaus thought that dragons are a major threat against humanity which is why they decided to slay each and every one of them. Of course the dragons will take note of this and won’t just ignore the fact that many of their co-races had died before they realized that the beaus are slowly killing them.

At first they thought that the killings are just nothing but accidents – or so they thought. The dragons fight back against the beaus to end the killing and nothing more but that reason. However, as long as the war goes, the dragons had thought of a new reason in order to win the said war: they think just like how beaus think in that that time, that the beaus are a major threat to the dragons. Which is factually true though, beaus killing dragons is enough reason for the dragons to think that beaus are a major threat to their race.

However, the war didn’t end up in the dragons’ favor. They all were finished and died during the said war and no dragon was ever seen that time.

But I don’t know what can possibly be the explanation of what I am seeing right now.

“Run.”

“A dragon’s egg?” Diether says with stuttering.

“Impossible.” Elio said.

The egg is not bigger than us, wider it definitely is but generally speaking; it’s not bigger than us. The dragon’s egg is covered with white marks and blue patterns around it. We examine it carefully, checking every spot around it without thinking of touching it; we didn’t really touch it.

A few moments are checking the egg, a loud growl occurs from outside the silver linings cave. We immediately rush towards the entrance of the cave to see what’s happening outside. What we saw after we got out shakes the rest of our remaining souls inside us – that’s more like a truth though than a metaphor.

We saw a dragon flying around the cave and it’s purely black. It’s either we are seeing the shadow or what we are seeing is an actual dragon.

“Should we attack it?” Elio asks.

“We can’t risk our lives just to provoke it, idiot.” Diether replies.

“Then tell us, what should we do then?” Elio ask again.

“We stay calm and watch it closely.” I told them.

“Watching it closely won’t do anything good though.” Elio said.

“I know that, but we should still be careful about it.” I told him.

We watch it closely to check what it is about to do. For a whole minute of watching it, all it does is fly in circles and growl.

Then something flies towards the figure. It is something white, a projectile aimed towards the dragon. My eyes widened with the sudden action. I look at Diether to see if it came from him but he is just beside me wondering too on what should we do.

Then whose attack is that?

When the light reaches the image of the dragon it just passes right through it as if it is just some sort of illusion in the sky.

Then my eyes widened in shock.

It is an illusion. I feel it. I can sense it too. I see the image nothing but just an illusion because I can’t feel any magic energy coming from it but instead a flow of energy is coming right from the cave towards the sky.

“Elio?” I call.

“Hmm?” he replies.

“Are dragons suppose to create illusions?” I ask him.

“Not that I know of, no.” he replies.

“As far as I know, dragon eggs emit energies related to their affinities before they hatch and be an actual dragon.” Diether says.

“That explains it then.” I told them.

“The image we’re seeing is not an actual dragon, but an illusion of what the dragon will be like when it hatches.” I explain.

“What do you mean?” Elio asks.

“Are you really an i***t?” Diether told Elio.

“Just as how Diether explained it earlier, dragons are supposed emit magic energy varying from the affinity that they possess. This dragon emits off something fake, concealing and tricky.” I explain.

“It just means that this dragon possesses quite a peculiar affinity, at my wildest guess, the same affinity as mine.” I told them.

“Illusion?” Diether says with shock.

“Ok, first of all dragons are not supposed to exist in our current era and even if they were to exist they would’ve died years ago.” Elio says.

“But this one isn’t a dragon yet, Elio.”  I told him.

“It’s just an egg yet.” Diether explains along.

“Remember earlier when we saw that egg? There are marks around it, white if I’m not mistaken. Those marks aren’t just normal marks. If you have realized, they glow and are slowly moving from its position. I realized it after staying in my position for a few seconds while observing the egg. Normally if you’re looking around it you won’t be able to notice that small of a change because it doesn’t rotate really fast but if you’ll stay in one position, you’ll realize even the simplest changes it makes.” I explain to them.

“What exactly is that white mark then?” Elio asked.

“Holy Sealing.” Diether says.

We all look at Diether and clearly he had already deducted the situation.

“Exactly.” I told him.

“Holy Sealing is a binding art made for holy light affinity users to use. It is some sort of spell that seals and binds its target permanently even until the end of the world, no matter what happens it will remain sealed as long as the spell won’t be interfered by another magic as powerful as the spell is.” Diether explains.

I nodded in favor.

“Then that dragon is sealed by a holy light user so that it will remain like that forever?” Elio asked.

“Exactly.” I reply.

“But that wouldn’t make any sense.” Diether says.

“That’s what I’m thinking about too.” I reply.

“If the dragon egg is sealed, how come it’s emitting energy that is this frightening?” Elio says.

“Something touched the egg.” Percisca said.

They both look at Percisca while I remain in my position deducting the sequence of events.

“Something?” Diether asks.

“Yes, something.” Percisca replies.

“What is this something?” Elio asked.

“When we entered the cave, the interior is completely clear in every aspect. But after we reach the part where the cave is divided into three parts, I smelled something different from how the cave smells before in the entrance.” I said.

“That makes no sense.” Diether replied.

“It does. The thing is, whatever entered this cave is capable of providing light however after being totally confused on which of the entrances in the middle part does the dragon egg lies, I guess they ran out of energy. One of the paths must be long enough to drain magical energy which is why fire and gas reeks in the middle part.” Percisca continues to explain.

“If your senses are trained or used to changes, you will easily observe such thing.” Percisca said.

“But you use your power to enhance your senses though.” Elio says in a teasing manner.

“I can easily shoot you right now.” Percisca said.

“Chill!”

The dragon howled again and roamed around the cave for a few seconds before it vanishes completely. The last growl is different. It was longer and lower.

“What should we do about the egg then?” Diether asks.

“None of us must touch it.” I told them.

“If anyone of us touches it then the seal will completely break as it is already weakened therefore the required amount of energy to break the seal is already lower. We must lock down this place immediately before anyone else goes inside.” I continued.

“Got it.” they all said in synchronization.

They immediately roam around the cave thinking of how they can lock up the place. The cave is gigantic not only on the inside but also the outside. Running behind it will take time luckily we have the carriage lent to us by the king. All of them went to the carriage while I was left in front of the entrance of the cave.

I immediately sense another presence near me few minutes after the three of them left. It’s coming directly on my right side. I glance around me to make sure nobody’s on the other side; I immediately looked my right.

I see something lurking in the woods. A person? A monster? The figure is quite blended with the darkness in the depths of the wood which is why I find it hard figuring whatever’s in front of me through sight. I’m trying to sense it but the energy it emits doesn’t show any peculiarity. It’s a mixture of a person and that of a monster.

“Who’s right there?!” I shouted.

The figure flinched from its position. I see eyes though, dark green ones, sharp edged eyes glaring right at me as its body lies behind the stem of a tree. I called my edgelights from both of my eyes and did not hesitate throwing the one on my right hand towards the figure. My blade just passed right through the figure and the eyes vanished like dissipated energy being emitted into the air.

After the figure completely vanished – just like how the figure of the dragon vanished – a second humane figure appeared in front of me, but this time I can sense him physically. His head is covered with a hood while his body is wrapped with gray cloak, covering his whole body even his feet. The figure continues moving towards me and it faces right towards me. I see the green eyes that I saw earlier and this unique feeling of sensing a god like me near me.

“You’ve shown yourself.” I told him.

He grins at my face as he lowers down the hood of his cloak, his white hair spreading out into the air. His hair is not afro though, it’s more like spiky which is why it spreads out slowly unlike an afro whose hair will bounce out quickly.

He smiles at me and lends his hand, “So the legends are true after all.” he says.

“I never thought I’d be a legend right away.” I joke along with him.

He softly laughs and ceased his hand back inside his cloak.

“So you’re Aljinn, right?” he asks.

I nodded in his words and smiled at him, “Judging your look, I’ll guess you are-“

“Correct.”

“Such an honor to meet you then.” I told him.

“Stop with the flattering words, you’re no smaller than me in fact, you’re definitely stronger.” he told me.

“Stop with the words.”

We both laugh at each other’s exchange of praises and later on wind up to the main topic.

“So what gives you here?” I ask him.

“After the separation of every gods and goddesses, I end up leaving in discreet here in Zebulon. I decided to continue what I had strived for when I came into this world.” he told me.

“What exactly happened?” I ask.

“A dispute, a misunderstanding and definitely betrayal.” he says in a serious tone.

“Betrayal?” I ask him.

Something in his hand – a mark presumably – glows before he could even speak.

“Well you know what that means.” he told me.

“Is that Diether?” I ask.

“He’s my only disciple. The one and only I entrusted with the Mark of Light.” he explains.

“I have to go, I have a lot of stuff to do. I won’t get myself exposed again this time. Just like you I have a mission too Al, and I have to pursue it.” he told me.

“But wait-!”

Before I could even ask him more about this world, he faded into the air as some sort of light grabbed by the moon.

I hear the carriage coming towards me after a few seconds, and I see all three of them sitting together.

“How is it?” I ask them.

“It’s fine.” Elio replies.

“We were able to put some marks around the whole cave although it really take some time, we were able to finish it as quickly as possible.” he continues.

Elio looks around me.

“Were you with anyone else, Al?” he asks.

I can’t tell him about Suthain yet, just not yet.

“I doubt that, I’ve been here guarding the entrance while waiting for you guys.” I told them.

“Is that so? I feel like I’ve sensed something familiar.” he replies.

“Anyways, since you’re done should we seal it now?” I told them.

“Diether, will you do the honor?” I ask him.

He nodded in my favor.

“Oh God of Light which reigns against the darkness, I call upon thee to bestow your servant your powers with no discreet. Entirely, with all my holy intentions, I ask for power, strength and resolve in exchange for my never-ending faith as your servant. Trust upon me your gift, let me use it to reign against my foes and do what I was tasked to do. I open the gate of life, connections between the gods, Mark of Life!”

“Holy Sealing!” Diether casted.

The whole cave is covered in a magic circle that is modified by Diether.

“That should be good.” he told us.

“Should we go then?” Elio ask.

“We should go, nobody should be able to step inside the cave now.” I told them.

We all called for the royal carriage to drive us back to the mansion of the king. When we arrived there, we see the king waiting for us.

“It looks like you have finished the job.” the king greeted us with a smile.

He shakes our hands one by one with tears and smile on his face.

“You should take some rest, I’m sorry for being like this. It’s already late, your room is already prepared by Tobien.” he says.

He takes us to our room and we took a rest.

As soon as the sun shines blindly upon us, we all readied ourselves to go back to Hergrinct. Everyone prepared their bags and went out of the room immediately. I walk out last.

Before I walk down the stairs, I stare thoughtfully at the door where I saw Suthain last night hoping that he is right there watching us leave the mansion but the front door of the room where I saw him is completely neat – except for the antiques placed in front of it.

“You don’t want to look at my room while walking at the stairs.” someone whispers in my ears.

“Telepathy?” I asks.

“First time?” the voice replies.

“Maybe, maybe not but where are you?” I ask him.

I immediately realize that the voice is from Suthain and that he’s somewhere near me but rather than showing up speaking directly to me he decided to use telepathy.

“I might be in the room, or maybe not. But the important thing is we’re talking.” he told me.

“Is there something I should know?” I ask him.

“The thing is, you are exposed about your identity. The peculiarity in your capabilities is already heard throughout the whole world of Ylgaea. You must be cautious always in your adventures, especially when doing your mission because there is a possibility someone will interfere.” he reminds me.

“Who will interfere exactly?”

“A spy, a traitor, someone in the council that is tasked to eliminate all of us.” he replies.

“You see, all of us deities are separated from each other so that the infiltrator from our group will have a hard time finding us all and kill us. He’s a witch, or a demon I assume. He’s someone stronger that he is able to manipulate people’s memories and thoughts. My light affinity is not strong enough to extinguish his affinity.” he explains.

“Shouldn’t you be able to distinguish who it is exactly?” I ask him.

“It might sound very easy yes but it’s not easy as how you think it is. He manipulated memories of everyone in the group even mine; luckily I was able to protect myself from being completely manipulated.” he explains.

“That’s absurd.” I explicably answered.

“If I am not mistaken, Mera wasn’t able to completely tell you everything.” he told me.

“How did you know about that?”

When I reach the outside of the mansion, the telepathy is being distorted and can’t be heard clearly which is why a few minutes it stopped.

I didn’t insist going back to the mansion to hear Suthain’s message again, I immediately went to the carriage along with the rest of my team.

I have already heard enough of what I need to hear although there may be more; I have to discover the rest on my own. They have already had enough rough time to figure this out on my own. I have to carry this mission on my own now. I need to do what exactly I’m tasked to do without asking for their help. I need to be independent.

“Are you ready now?” Diether asks.

I nodded at him and sat inside the carriage. My body still fills kind of stiff and tired from what happened last night and not to mention the sleep I took isn’t enough because we have to get up early to go back to Hergrinct.

Inside the carriage lies a huge pouch from the king that consists of the rewards given to us before we get out of the mansion. The king stands in front of his house waiving his hands towards us. Elio waves back while the rest of us close our eyes to take more rest.

I lie beside me and felt something big and kind of hard that moved along with the direction I lie my body at.

I saw the dragon’s egg.

“What?!” I shouted inside the carriage.