Arc | Chapter. 93: Rejection

Chapter. 93: Rejection

That night things devolved.

The Hero of Necromancy spent his time gathering an army only to realize the intruders upon his domain had left, and yet was too skeptical to act upon his plans. Something was brewing and he didn’t know what, his favorite lich had died at the hands of the white-woman. He didn’t see her fight, he didn’t monitor his domain, all because he had been preparing for their impending assault upon his lair.

But that never happened. Instead the intruders had vanished without a trace, and he was left to figure out why. Something was coming and he wasn’t sure what it was yet, but one thing was for certain. He had to keep preparing for a battle between heroes so that he could come out on top from this.

He had been saving his resources and mana for a long time, but now it seemed that he had to use it. As for future hero battles? He didn’t have the headspace to worry about things.

Still… The Hero of Necromancy didn’t think this was a bad thing. He just had to make them suffer…

Perhaps if he gained enough experience from killing another hero he could use it to grow his army…

That at least was a hope of his, but that remained to be seen. For now, he had to focus on using his resources to create more undead. Undead capable of hindering a hero, and that was tedious, but he was going to see to it.

He didn’t know what the intruders were planning, and it didn’t matter. He just had to prepare for the battle of his life, and that he would do.

* * * * *

Elsewhere a bloodied battle came to an end, one that would have easily destroyed multiple countries but it occurred in the middle of the ocean, and the victor was none other than the Dragon of Nature.

“Any last words?” he asked.

The sea had been split, all the water surrounding them was elsewhere as they stood in dry land. The Dragon of Earth groveled, bleeding on the ground as a cacophony of roars echoed through the air. Flying figures loomed over him, and looking down was the traitor.

The Dragon of Earth couldn’t believe the insanity of what he was witnessing, but it didn’t matter. He would never understand the wretched or unstable mind of the Dragon of Nature or why he was going to such lengths, but deep down he knew that this wouldn’t be the end of things.

That unhinged plan was going to backfire and with it the dragons could potentially come to an end. As kind as that woman was, something like this certainly wouldn’t be tolerated, not from the entire race.

Gritting his teeth he hissed.

“You really are signing up for a death sentence…”

The Dragon of Nature sneered in response, speaking coldly. “She may be a hero, but regardless of her strength, the might of our race is nothing to be taken lightly. She will fall, and she will regret her actions.”

The Dragon of Earth inwardly shook his head. The Dragon of Nature was foolish, but for now he had to leave and escape; and more than anything he had to warn Arc.

“Well, not like it concerns you.” The Dragon of Nature narrowed his eyes. “You won’t be here for much longer; that I’m sure of.”

The Dragon of Earth let out a small sigh as mana gathered at the maw of the Dragon of Nature shone in a green light.

This was it.

This would be their last encounter.

The Dragon of Earth began to chant his skill as the bells of death echoed ever closer. Finally, the Dragon of Nature spoke.

“Goodbye.”

And it fired.

“[From The Earth I Was Born, & To It I Shall Return].”

At that moment, the Dragon of Earth exploded into thousands of rocks, and just like that a silence swept over the land. The dust scattered like ash, and yet no system notification came. It didn’t take long for the Dragon of Nature to realize what had happened.

Gritting his teeth he turned to the dragons in the sky.

“Find him and finish him!” he commanded.

The dragons heeded the command and soon set off to find the traitor. And just like that, a silence descended as the waves began to rescind back to where they once were. All while a single dragon stood there.

It was the Dragon of Nature, and there was nothing but anger and frustration in his mind. He had been foolish; he should’ve finished him off without words, he should’ve been cold, but instead the Dragon of Earth had used a skill he himself had never seen before.

And now it was only a matter of time before his plans went south.

He turned to the sky and gritted his teeth as he himself too took flight.

The Dragon of Earth had to die before the news got out…

* * * * *

That night, Ila bid farewell after we forced more food upon her. All to do her report towards the relevant authorities of the Adventurer’s Guild. Though she did warn us that we shouldn’t take too long with our plan, due to the fact that more people would get involved in about three days' time.

I appreciated her words, and she had promised to not say anything. But as far as whether that would be upheld or not, I didn’t know and to some extent I didn’t care too much. All she knew was that Faral was a dragon, and I guess my name.

But the fact that I was a hero or other stuff was unknown knowledge, so I didn’t worry too much. Well if a memory crystal was used it would be a different story… But I didn’t think that would happen. And then, there was what happened over at Miri-Sunre, which hopefully wouldn’t make it out of the country.

At least not past vague rumors anyway. There were rumors of the Hero of Frost already, so perhaps things would be mostly fine in the long term. At least that’s what I hoped.

My thoughts had wandered off for the dinner and soon we found ourselves in our respective rooms. Malz had insisted on sleeping with Ceylon and I but had been denied. In the end, Faral and Malz shared a room along with Meika, while the old man stayed alone. Jake stayed with Giselle elsewhere.

And now, I was alone with Ceylon who just turned to me.

“Are you alright?”

“I think so,” I said after a moment. “I’m just slightly worried about the fact that I’ve been drawing so much attention, and admittedly don’t seem to care?”

I hesitated.

“I feel like this might come back to bite me.” A sigh left me.

“You mean, Ila seeing us for example?” Ceylon asked curiously.

“Yeah I guess so,” I agreed. “I feel like I’ve been very relaxed about all of that lately. I mean, I even said I was the Heroine of Frost over at the Miri-Sunre Republic…”

“You did what?” Ceylon paused.

“I fought in the arena, did I tell you that?” I asked massaging my head.

“No you did not…” Ceylon said with a weird tone.

“Right… Sorry I didn’t tell you,” I meekly apologized.

“It’s fine…” She breathed. “So I guess you became a bit of an urban legend.”

There was some silence in the room before I just nodded.

“I guess so…”

And then, there was only silence. We sat across one another, both of us looking at the ground. I felt awkward and admittedly somewhat uncomfortable. I wasn’t good at socializing, that was no secret, and while I felt closer than ever to Ceylon to some extent I felt shame. Shame due to the fact that I hadn’t told her the whole story perhaps…

“Arc…” Ceylon began. “I don’t think you should worry too much, but if the worst comes to worst then you should be more than strong enough to defend yourself.”

“I guess so, but the problem is them coming for you,” I said, shaking my head.

“Well that’s why we are trying to make me stronger.” Ceylon smiled. “So that that isn’t a problem.”

I smiled lightly. “I hope that it isn’t in the future, but yeah I guess I can’t help but worry.”

And then, the conversation stopped. A few seconds ticked by as I saw Ceylon thinking about saying something, before she spoke in a whisper.

“Well we can always elope…”

“You mean like to marry?” I raised my brow⁠—

“No!” She stuttered. “I-I meant like run away you know? Not something romantic, I mean I think I feel very affectionate towards you Arc…” She trailed off and met my gaze. “I mean, I think you’re very good looking but I could never really see you that way or stuff…”

I blinked.

Did Ceylon just reject me…?

“D-Don’t get me wrong!” She stuttered. “I really really like you Arc, just not like that⁠—”

And I couldn’t keep it to myself any longer as I just began to laugh. It was silly, there was no way Ceylon had just rejected me⁠— the notion was so ridiculous! I didn’t even have any kind of those feelings for her or anyone in that matter.

“Arc?” Ceylon asked in shock.

I wiped a tear from my eye. “It’s just…” and I chuckled. “If anything I should be the one rejecting you…”

And I started to laugh again as Ceylon just stared at me weirdly. A few seconds passed as I realized  her face was somewhat red with embarrassment.

“Sorry, I guess I misunderstood…” she said in a whisper.

“It’s fine,” I smiled. “It was pretty funny, and don’t worry Ceylon.”

She blinked. “R-Right…”

Somehow she was still embarrassed but I didn’t mention it. It was just a funny thing and that was all. The thought of asking someone out had never even crossed my mind in all my years alive, but then again, I guess I had never been in the right space of mind to do so.

It was just a peculiar and funny thing that happened.

“Well, ignoring that,” I said with a smile. “I guess I’ll just deal with things adequately regardless of what happens.”

Ceylon nodded. “And hopefully I’ll be able to help you along the way,” she added.

I smiled at her. “I hope so too.”

“Yeah…”

And then there was silence as I decided to lie down on the bed. Ceylon followed suit and we both just stared at the ceiling. Seconds and minutes passed as I just relaxed, before finally there was a shuffling of the bed sheets.

“Hey um…” Ceylon called out to me.

“Yeah?”

“I hope I can stay around you for a very long time, Arc.” Ceylon said in a heartfelt manner. “As weird and clingy as that sounds…”

“I hope so too, it too would make me happy.” I smiled.

I really enjoyed the sweet and rather bubbly atmosphere going on. It was something that rarely happened, so the times that it did it was… enjoyable to say the least.

“I think we should sleep…” Ceylon interrupted my thoughts. “Thank you again Arc.”

“Yeah, you’re welcome.” I smiled as I shifted on the bed. Then after a brief moment I spoke. “Goodnight Ceylon.”

She smiled at me. “Goodnight Arc.”

And just like that my odd night came to an end, and soon after I fell asleep. Except, instead of a dream I couldn’t remember, I dreamt of a dreary and rainy night. One of the moments that marked me back on Earth…

The day in which my family disowned me.