Dragonlord

Ep 43. Do You Know My Name? (8)

Beyond the clutter of items on the old wooden table, Serenis could spot a peculiar black cloth, hiding the item beneath. It was what she’d been looking for ever since coming into this lab – a faint, familiar feeling tugging on her senses, as if a fragment of herself was standing before her.

But before unveiling its identity, the dragonlord spared a brief glance over to the others.

“Ilias. Take Light and the animals with you outside. And the men that have turned back.”

“Outside? What about you?”

“There are things I must still see to here. But with all the animals retrieved, you and your sister have no reason to remain.”

“…Light?”

When the red dragon turned to the half girl, Light turned to the animals at her feet. Many of them were rubbing their heads against her legs, and even more were softly pushing her towards the exit.

‘…I came so late, didn’t I. Even though I knew you guys were still here all along…’

For years, Light had pretended that this place did not exist. She’d cut her ties and suppressed the memories, pretending to be a normal girl like any other. If she hadn’t seen what her friends had turned into, and if Ilias hadn’t been with her to accompany the half girl here, maybe she never would’ve mustered the courage to return.

But despite the half girl’s guilt, the animals seemed to pay it no mind. Children from all sorts of species whimpered at their parents, simply eager to leave the foul lab with their families.

“…Yeah. We should go. I’m sure there’ll be people to help us outside.”

When Light rose back up, all the lab animals excitedly ran towards the exit, waiting for the half girl to lead them outside. She spared the dragonlord a curt grin.

“…Should I be worried about leaving you here?”

“I’d be more worried about where to take your friends.”

“Pft…don’t blame me if you get lost on the way out.”

Given her friend’s identity, their occasional jerk-like behavior was starting to make sense to Light. It was the epitome of those cranky dragons that appeared in storybooks.

And Serenis was right; this isn’t where Light wanted to be. With everyone to accompany her outside, it was no longer where she needed to be. They’d saved what animals they could, and other enforcers would eventually reach this place to apprehend the doctor and retrieve Iris.

Ilias made an apologetic smile to Serenis as she quickly picked up the three unconscious men in her arms.

“Lord Serenis, I…would stay, but…”

“Go with your sister. I’ll be along shortly with our enforcer here; her wounds will need tending before she’s moved.”

The red dragon spared a brief glance towards the unconscious mage on the chair, then towards the doctor. His sullen eyes resentfully stared at the animals leaving the lab with Light, but his broken legs didn’t allow him to do much other than claw at the floor. And even if he could move, there didn’t seem to be anything he could do to threaten the dragonlord.

“…Alright. See you soon.”

After the brief goodbye, Ilias quickly followed her little sister outside as her footsteps grew further and further.

The doctor desperately began to crawl across the floor. His legs dragged behind him as he crudely made his way towards the door.

“W, w, w, wait! D, daughter! My children…!”

Another small crunching noise reverberated throughout the lab as a metal rod formed out of thin air and slammed into the doctor’s skull, knocking him out cold. Serenis couldn’t be bothered to elect a nicer way to silence him.

“Sleep. It’ll be over when you’re awake.”

The dragonlord finally returned her gaze to the cloth. She swiftly uncovered it, and the dim light of the candle illuminated what had been hidden beneath.

The removed fabric revealed a pendant, embedded with a blue jewel that was cracked all over – as if it had been pieced together after shattering. Parts of it were chipped at, likely by the doctor himself who’d sampled small pieces to mix into his concoctions.

It was the kirium pendant the institution used for their mock duels. A used one at that.

Serenis briefly recalled her duel with Gio, but she failed to recall any moment where she’d used a star-aspected spell. In fact, the headmaster had shattered the pendant himself before the stone had collected any of her mana at all.

‘When did this…?’

Then, her memory flashed a little further back – to the day she had awoken in this body, being assaulted by a human child holding a twig. At the end of that duel, the dragonlord had blasted the child with rays of light to scare him.

Rays of light, raining down from…

“…”

‘It made sense that star-aspected mana would meet the conditions for this supposed ‘mana evolution’. I was curious where a human would’ve obtained it, but…to think someone would piece a used spell back together…’

Serenis scoffed at the sight; she wasn’t sure whether to call the doctor’s efforts diligent or stubborn. She didn’t even know how the pendant had ended up in his hands, but as far as she was concerned, he could’ve dug it out of a trash can.

The dragon snatched the pendant into her hand, this time incinerating it to dust within her grasp. Not a single fragment remained as the mana scattered into the air, diluting into a pure, natural state.

‘Now, with that aside…’

When Serenis turned her gaze to Iris, she could see Iris’ pale red eyes silently studying the dragonlord.

And when their eyes met, the enforcer finally elected to open her mouth.

“…Zion.”

“Were you awake? One moment.”

The dragon nonchalantly approached the enforcer to stand behind their chair, physically undoing the ropes keeping Iris in place. Once the bindings were undone, Serenis examined the wounds on Iris’ body, only to find them rapidly healing back on their own. The injuries regenerated at unnatural speeds while emitting a faint blue light from the enforcer’s magic, soon disappearing without a trace.

“It seems you don’t require aid?”

“…Not at the moment. Were you planning to use a healing spell? Your duel with Gio was a sight to behold, but I didn’t think you’d also be versed with recovery magic.”

“I do not know how to heal your wounds, I only meant to prevent them from worsening. Also…were you present during that event? I do not recall seeing you.”

“I was. But that matters little right now.”

‘Does it? I’d rather like to know why you remained silent all along when you were perfectly capable of intervening.’

Serenis swallowed the words as Iris confirmed her body to be functionally normal, rising to her feet. Her usual workface returned, along with her stern, questioning eyes – and they were staring right into the dragonlord beside her.

“Zion. I realize we’ve already gone through necessary procedures, but I must ask you again. Are you really…human?”

Serenis indifferently stared back at Iris. The enforcer had tested this before, and there was nothing that should be giving her identity away in appearance. Even Ilias had struggled to ascertain the dragonlord’s identity with her tied hair and lack of draconic features.

“I am. As you’ve already proven.”

“…Before today, while your achievements have been extraordinary, they were still within the realms of a genius. I’d long committed myself to disregarding the strangeness of your aptitude in magic. However, the mana you seemed to absorb from the doctor’s beasts…and the fact that a dragon refers to you as ‘Lord Serenis.’ I cannot let these slide.”

The dragonlord slowly turned away, unable to meet the enforcer’s gaze. She’d thought Iris to be unconscious all along, but clearly, Iris had been long awake since their arrival.

‘A foolish mistake. I suppose it’s far too late to cover her eyes now…’

After a long pause followed by a sigh, Serenis turned to face Iris once more.

“My original name is Serenis.”

“And you’re a dragon. Correct?”

“…Yes, as you seem to be predicting, I am not truly a human. I am of the dragonkin.”

“Original name…is your human identity a stolen one? Where is the real Zion?”

“Before you. It is not one or the other; I am dragonlord Serenis, as I am a human named Zion.”

“…What?”

“I’m afraid I cannot tell you much more, for I simply do not know better. This is how it was when I came to.”

“…”

‘Zion’ was an individual confirmed to be human through a kirium spell check. At the same time, it was an individual with insensible amounts of mana, an unorthodox usage of magic for a human person, a calm demeanor unfitting of their age, and an appearance that continued to remain altered indefinitely in a rather feminine form.

‘Logically, it makes sense. It’s a logical explanation.’

But logically, a human person couldn’t simultaneously be a dragon.

“…Why…how come you’re disguised as a human student in the first place?”

“To learn about the divine and to meet these entities.”

“The divine?...The Twelve? There’s no guarantee that disguising yourself as a student will allow you to meet a deity.”

“Perhaps you have a better alternative in mind then?”

Iris shut her lips. A few ideas came to mind, none very practical.

“This disguise may be pointless, but hearing cursory knowledge and chasing fraudulent rumors are still a better alternative to doing nothing.”

“…Why do you want to meet the Twelve in the first place?”

“To liberate this star.”

“…Pardon?”

“I wish to liberate this star. I wish for a world without the divine to oppress others.”

‘And later, I wish to tell my brethren that our deaths weren’t in vain.’

It was impossible to tell if the enforcer was taking the remark seriously with her unchanging expression. She instead shook her head, denying the thought altogether.

“…The Twelve do not oppress us.”

“Is that an unwavering covenant? Or simply your wish?”

“…”

“All rulers are prone to corruption and depravity. A human king can at least be dealt by humans. If these deities were to suddenly decide that your species are to be eradicated, what can you lot possibly accomplish?”

“…That’s a pointless conjecture. Why would the divine suddenly decide to eradicate mankind? No such thing could happen.”

“I would love to agree.”

Another sigh escaped the dragon’s lips as she closed her eyes in reflection.

‘I, too, wish it was a pointless speculation. I wish there was a reason behind why the First deemed the demonkin unworthy to live. A reason…’

For what it was worth, dragons had survived through the millennium. Even though no other demon tribe had survived, Serenis’ own tribe had survived the bloodshed. It was their lord’s duty, then, to guarantee their survival – to care for her children, to eliminate even the smallest possibility of their dreaded history repeating again.

“I wish…there was a reason behind it all.”

Iris studied the dragonlord with a perplexed gaze. Her eyes were muddled with doubt, but given her position, she couldn’t bring herself to shrug off their words as a senseless fear.

“Then your status as a student…was solely to meet the deities? To eliminate them?”

“I cannot say. I do not know how these deities yet came to be, and what I do thereafter will be decided once I know of their origin. But to know, I must first meet them.”

The mage let out an empty laughter at the dragon’s remark.

Things were finally starting to make sense to her. Not much sense, but still some.

“…I’m still finding this hard to believe.”

“Then don’t. It’d be far more convenient if you chose not to.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that either…friendly or not, dragons are still a potential threat to us. Especially if it was their lord.”

“And what purpose would that serve? I do not oppose mankind.”

“…A questionable statement, but I’ll take it. If you’re not keen on destroying us, then could you lend a hand with cleaning up the mess here?”

“You won’t need it. You have plenty more hands on the way.”

“? More hands?”

Serenis glanced towards the open entrace of the lab. She could hear a series of footsteps rapidly growing closer; leading them a short distance away was a rather familiar presence.

“…They must’ve met halfway.”

✧ ✧ ✧

A few minutes ago…

“Uh…what is all this?”

“Um…you see…well…”

Rghf?

Nyan?

Chirp?

“…We’re…um…lost animal friends?...”

Light stammered to answer the enforcement sector’s agent who was curiously studying the group of animals behind the half girl. They’d only made it halfway out of the canals until they encountered the huge group of mages.

The agent slowly drifted his gaze from the half girl to the dragon following her. Three bodies were neatly piled on top of her shoulders.

“…Are those people you’re carrying, miss?”

Ilias darted her gaze from the questioning agent, then at Light, then back at the agent.

“Oh wait, you’re talking to me? Uh...yeah! They couldn’t walk, so I’m carrying them outside.”

The agent squinted his eyes as he noticed the familiarity of the people being carried by the red dragon. When he approached her to inspect them closer, the agent could make out their identities.

“Wait, this is…James Welsh? William Keller? These are people who’ve been missing for months!”

As the group of mages began to mutter amongst themselves, a peculiar enforcer pushed through their midst, walking up to the front. His hand was firmly gripping on his bandaged side, limping forward using his staff as a cane. He first confirmed the missing individuals being carried by the dragon, then the half girl who was worriedly looking at him.

“Move, let me see. What’s going on? How’re you guys coming from the inside? All the sewer gates should’ve been under surveillance.”

When the dragon found herself lost for words, Light began stammering out an answer in her stead.

“…Sorry, we…snuck in…”

“Snuck in? What happened in there?”

“Uh, everyone here had turned into monsters…but my friend turned them back using magic. He told us to leave first and that he’d be right along, so…”

“Friend? Friend who? What’s their name?”

“Zion. He’s my friend at the institute.”

“Zion?”

“Uh huh.”

“…My little brother Zion?”

“Uh…huh?”

“…”

“…?”

“…Where is he right now?”