The hero is now gone, but I’m still here, now what? (Undergoing editing)

“It is our honor to have someone as esteemed and powerful as you walking through our stables Lady Neophyte,” I only smiled in response to the pleasantries of the stable hand, everyone says that no matter where I go so at this point, I just nod and smile.

The stable hand gestured all around us, “This stable is the only one present in the entirety of Everlast, as no other place has the capacity, manpower, and resources for the upkeep of raising multiple Dragons at the same time,”

Nod and smile.

He chuckled, “Well I say multiple but-” he chuckled as if it was some sort of inside joke, I forced myself to chuckle as well or else things would just feel awkward, “there are only 5 for now but the King is hoping that a new batch would come from the South soon,”

We both turned a corner, “as most of the current batch has been generously gifted to multiple allied Kingdoms in order to bolster their forces and hinder the Demons from continuing forward, and not to mention, helping in the defense of the Omega Faunas as well,”

Something struck me just then and I ignored his words as a frown grew on my face, I was focused on a certain part of his sentence, specifically, the number of Dragons here in the stables- 5? I thought there are only 4 at the start of the game that the player can buy? And it's not like anyone else in Everlast had a Dragon to themselves so who could possibly the last one be?

Well… if I follow the timeline- including the Hero's Death, - there should be 5 Dragons here but… I thought it would only happen during the Player's second playthrough?
A creeping feeling crawled down my gut and made my stomach churn and I started to jog my memory for the fifth Dragon in Everlast, and one that is owned by someone else inside the game.

As I mulled over my thoughts, the stable hand continued, “and though I am sure that someone of your stature would prefer the strongest Dragon that we have, I’m afraid that simply isn’t possible as that one is already an adolescent and thus is smart enough to not forge an unbreakable pact with humans, and, even when he was young, for some reason has always refused to do make one no matter what.”

An adolescent?.. I bit my lip, the timeline checked out, and it wasn't the timeline that I want.

“We did our best to take care of him-” translation: it is not our fault, that things ended up the way they did, “- but for some reason, no matter how many bribes we offered, he just wouldn’t allow anyone to take him,”

“Uhuh,” I said, I wanna ignore the possibility of that for now- I didn't want to think about possibly abandoning an intelligent child and leaving them alone for 16 years, “and, if you said that there are only 4 Dragons left here, between all of them, which is the strongest?”

“Well… we have given the strongest from their batch away and thus most of them are currently weak- but- BUT! I assure you that with your pact, they would have the potential to grow into a menacing beast of extreme violence,” wow, that’s so reassuring, extreme violence, can’t wait, I thought sarcastically as the stable boy rubbed his forehead, “so I hope that you find them satisfactory-”

I sighed, might as well face the music.

“I want to see this adolescent Dragon of yours,” I didn’t wait for the guy to reply and simply walked forward.

Ingame, there were 4 Dragons in total that the Player character can purchase or get in the royal stables at the start of the game: and they are color coded to show their elements. Said colors are as follows: Blue for water, Grey for wind, and two Reds for fire.

That makes four in total and that should've been the number of the Dragons at this very moment- however, if the player buys the game as a pack (or later purchases the extra content at the shop,) after they beat it the first time- they would be gifted with a black dragon at the start of their journey.

And that Dragon, in lore, should come from the Everlast Castle, in this very same stable but was taken away to be given to the Hero as a child and that Dragon would've been with him until this point but…

If the hero died then…

I took a turn, these stables were easy to navigate for me, I’ve played through the games so many times already that I know this place by heart-

I stopped walking from the sheer shock of the sight in front of me and it wasn't because I was scared of the 20 foot long, 10 foot tall, dragon with glistening black scales that look like the night sky…

“...Fafnir.” I spoke out loud, the guilt of the Hero's death rushing to the surface-

“MURDERER!”

“HOW COULD YOU!”

“YOU HAVE DOOMED ALL OF US!”

“HANG HER!”

- Oh. What have I done?

The Dragon’s eyes snapped open and glared at me like I was its lifelong enemy.

I couldn’t say anything as it stood up and lumbered forward, the stable hand, who has been trying his best to get me to turn back and go to the other Dragons instead now has abandoned that plan entirely and simply ran away the moment that Fafnir started walking towards me while I…

… stood in place, I couldn’t move- It’s all so wrong- I fucked up so badly. I-

“I didn’t know.” I said with a cracked voice, making the Dragon pause for a split second but he soon resumed his stride, a hollow laugh escaped my throat- “all this time you were at the back of my mind- and- and-” my eyes started to blur and something warm ran down my face, “I thought this was supposed to be the first run-”

Idiot, why would there be a first run?

“- and I thought that you didn’t exist-” Fafnir growled and I collapsed on my knees, not out of fear, but out of guilt, I wiped my eyes and stared at the towering form of The Dragon, “I- I’m sorry!” I wailed.

“I- I didn’t know-” why am I repeating myself?

“Your potential got wasted because of me-”

Something pushed against my chest and I looked down to see Fafnir’s nose pressed against it, ‘Foolish.’ His words were garbled, a small sign that he has never practiced the telepathy that was solely unique to him before this, ‘Why?’

“I’m an idiot.” I answered, “and you’re right… I’m foolish,” I grabbed his snout and leaned forward, “you… probably were waiting for him huh?”

He nodded, ‘Gone.’

“No. I killed him.” Fafnir shook his head.

‘No.’ He said, ‘Strayed.’

Strayed? What? “What are you talking about?”

‘Fate.’ He said, ‘cruel.’

That is the vaguest description that I have ever gotten so I tried to guess, “are you saying that somehow, he wasn’t discovered?” A nod, “but- but I told people about him! Everyone- he should’ve been found out sooner- I can’t-”

‘Belief?’ I tried to parse what he was saying, ‘Young Princess.’

I thought those two words through- “so no one believed me because I was a child huh?” I chuckled painfully, “wow that’s… and I guess that’s why he wasn’t discovered early to be trained too right? Because no one wanted to believe that some farm boy is the Hero of Legend.” I laughed, “so it wasn't just my fault that he died to begin with because I sent him on a death quest that he should’ve beaten but was also the reason he died in the first place.” Just how many times did I fuck up? “If he had been trained as a child, then he… probably would’ve been fine.”

‘Fine.’ He said, ‘chance,’ he added, ‘Demons lose.’

“They will?” A shrug. “Wait… sorry, let me reiterate, you said that things are fine,” he reluctantly nodded, “that there’s a chance,” another nod, this time more energetic, “that the demons will lose.”

He chuckled heartily, ‘Spoke.’

I giggled, “I- I guess you’re right, you did say it yourself didn’t you?”

He nodded and it was then that I felt something tug at the back of my mind, ‘Pact?’

“You want to make a Pact with me?” A nod and I decided to study the offered contract, it was… my eyes widened, “a lifelong one?”

‘Death.’ He lifted his head and gave me a feral grin, ‘Apart.’

Well if that’s what he’s saying then, sure, I smiled and accepted the Pact, “Till death do us part. Fafnir.”

Fafnir’s power enveloped me and I felt the world turn-

A memory, one that I had long since forgotten about. Computers didn’t exist in this world and yet even after living here for 16 years, I still recognized the one in front of me, how could I not? I built the thing myself, did jobs to pay for the materials, and spent so much time in front of it that it’s forever stuck in my mind.

It was a humble little thing- a beige screen on top of a maroon wooden desk, a rainbow keyboard and an ‘EAT. SLEEP. PLAY. REPEAT.’ mousepad.

My memory cleared and I saw what was written on the screen: A description, it was nothing more than flavor text back then, background lore that the player can read on the many easter eggs throughout the game and this one can be found on a cave, written over on the stony wall is-

Legend has it that when a Pledge Bearer makes a Pact with a magical creature of extreme might, their powers converge and mix before erupting into new heights. This process not only makes them more powerful, it also increases their overall potential.

A nigh ethereal voice that I could no longer recognize came from somewhere in the room, and I felt myself choke on my non-existent tears-

“So this is Everlast? Do you think you can let your brother play with you *&!@@**&?”

But the process of Pact binding isn’t always so easy, because painful memories connected to the concept of binding would resurface, a reminder of what was once lost and the suffering will have to endure because of that lost but-

“Sit down, it’s about time I act as the teacher damn it!”

Something warm pressed against my sides, then a chuckle made the vision ripple, “well, teach me,”

I smiled. God… everything is such a jumbled fucking mess and I wonder just how long has it been since I’ve left? How much time has passed for everyone back on earth? I wonder if they’ve finished building that moonbase…

- the memory is also a reminder that although the the binder has lost a piece of themselves, it wasn’t always all bad and they should encourage themselves to move forward, time waits for no mortal, after all.

As my vision ended, I found myself staring at the ceiling, now broken apart from the pressure that exploded out of my and Fafnir’s body as we made the Pact.
I stared at the open blue sky, then groaned before sitting up. The sounds of chains snapping apart got me to turn my head to the sound and there, I saw an armored guard dangling from Fafnir’s neck.

I giggled, “wow. How effective. The Omega Faunas better watch out-” I wheezed when something hard bumped into me. Turning my head again led me to see my mom’s hair, what is she even doing he- oh, “how long was I out?”

“Two hours.” Igneous, the King of Everlast walked forward and the guards standing between me (well, Fafnir, I don’t think they consider me a threat,) and him split apart to let Igneous pass, he chuckled and eyed the powerful Dragon, then back to me, “you really don’t do things halfway, huh? Dear daughter?”

I grinned, the feeling of solemnity that washed over me now gone, “Nope!”

Okay, so, pop quiz- So when you successfully make a Pact with a powerful Dragon that ignored all those that came before you and get a surge of power never seen on a regular, non-hero human for the last 100 years, how do you think will you get rewarded for it?

Food? Wrong answer. More power? Keep searching. Then what about medical attention and an entire afternoon of checkups?

If you guessed the 3rd one, then you'd be correct! Because that's exactly what happened to me after I made a Pact with Fafnir- it was all just… nonstop check ups and other shit related to my increased capacity for Light and how it affects the altered physical state of my body.

And like always; it was the usual result where I was considered as "prodigious” and with “an amazing body” that's far above the league of anyone else my age and even those slightly older than me.

Oh wow? Really? Who knew that after all my training, I've reached a level of power that's far above everyone else?

Now why is this important? Well, it isn't- not for me because it did nothing but get the doctors to do more tests to make sure that I was at peak capacity (I was,) and by the time we were done, it was around 3 o clock and I've missed 3 hours of my weekly scheduled aid to the people living below Everlast.

Nevertheless, I was considered perfectly fine now and what's more, the three hours that Fafnir spent away from me wasn't wasted because when we met up on the airstrip of the hospital, my own dragon (I cannot not feel happy whenever I say that,) now had a saddle strapped to its back as well as a layer of armor made from Holy Silver on his belly.

The guy looked badass and I couldn't have wished for anything more. He faced me with a sly grin, 'shall we leave?’

Huh, guess he practiced his telepathy in those three hours. Also, is it weird that he sounded feminine? Regardless-

I grinned, “YES!” And I was so over the moon that I hopped over to him before jumping high and landing on the saddle butt first, “this is gonna be so amazing,” I said as I placed my leg on the support of the saddle, I kicked it and whipped the reins, “Now! Up we go!”

Fafnir chuckled before taking to the skies.

So Griffons are usually considered fast, and so are Pegasi, but, somehow, those two flying species of creatures didn't have shit to the natural capabilities of a dragon- especially when said dragon is 20 feet long with a wingspan that's almost twice as large.

I had a feral grin when I looked down and saw that Fafnir's body cast a shadow over the city of Everlast, and I couldn’t help it, I tapped into our Pact and empowered him to make him go even faster, inciting a loud sonic boom to erupt when he flapped his wings again.

How many people in the city below us yelped from that? I wonder? Also- did I kill someone-

"Do you think we killed someone with a heart attack just now?” I asked my Dragon who shook his head, making me sigh in relief. “How do you know?”

‘Life Sense.’ He? She? She sounded feminine- replied, she is probably the right word to use, ‘a standard ability that comes naturally to us dragons, as without it we would have a hard time searching for prey,’

I smirked, “thanks for the trivia, but if you were gonna tell me stuff, at least tell me when we would leave the city of Everlast.”

‘When?..’ I felt Fafnir's smugness as she said that, ‘we're leaving now.’

And that was how I came face to face with a skyward view of an entire horizon of green, wherever I looked, there was nothing but grass, and I started to giggle at the sight, eventually turning it into joyous laughter that broke against the howling winds. I kept laughing and laughing at the absurdity of riding a Dragon before Fafnir decided to ruin everything by diving down to the ground and I went from laughing to screaming at the top of my lungs.

We broke past the clouds but I was too busy holding on for dear life to notice, I kept buffing myself over and over again as we continued our descent and I only ever really stopped when Fafnir straightened her body and slowed down.

‘And thus, we break past the clouds, and Neophyte?’ her giggles echoed inside my head, which only worsened when I glared at her. ‘Learn to have a bit of fun,’

“That was not my idea of fun!” I yelled, “I thought I was going to die!”

‘Do you really think I would allow that?’ She clicked her tongue, ‘give me that must trust or else I'll feel hurt.’

Ah. So she was still getting used to her telepathy. That's an opening if I've seen any, “That must trust?” I said with a grin, “what?”

She flicked her forked tongue and I felt something warm hit my face, I wiped it off my cheek and gagged, “did you just spit at me?”

‘Aih don gnhow? Dhid Ai?’ Each word spoken in telepathy were followed by her jaw unnecessarily moving and miming human speak, and with her tongue out no less!

She sent small droplets of saliva my way every time she spoke, I started to squirm and she had the audacity to ask- ‘Niyaphithe? Whutt ish hwong?’

"Stop! Stop!” I said once my face was finally clear, how is she so good at aiming? “you should be more tactful!”

‘I am a dragon, we do whatever we want.’ She smirked.

I held out my tongue, “Bleh.”