What an incredible sight! Apollyon thought as he witnessed the miraculous spectacle of the lush vegetation filling almost the whole room. His eyes wandered excitedly around the appetizing familiar vegetables that were growing unperturbed from their natural enemies, as well as the bizarre, colorful flowers that their pleasant scent was wafting inside the room. And while he continued to explore the place, at some moments, he would stop to try out some of the delectable vivid red tomatoes which were growing inside the surprisingly well-kept soil, and at others, he would pick up any strange looking flower that caught his eye and sniff at it.
He kept on examining his surroundings in this way until his leg touched some kind of solid substance hidden under the thick greenery of the plants, making him turn his attention towards the ground.
A human figure was lying down on the dirt, a skeleton that had been abandoned for who knows of how many years in this room. See
"I don't blame neither of them, though. Nor do I look down on them. Even if I was in their position, I doubt I could fair better with the trial. I would probably have given up," the dragon remarked while shaking its head. Even for a creature like itself that had experienced almost everything this world had to offer, lacked the wisdom and the intelligence to find the answer to the trial that its God assigned to it with its charge. It often wondered that maybe the Gods created the trial only because they just wanted to pull pranks on the mortals. To teach them about despair, about the helplessness when acting against fate."Even my age-long life can't exist forever. Noone can't trick death forever, even if it's me. So as my end is finally coming closer, I hope I can witness a one of a kind miracle before I close my eyes for the last time."That was the deepest and only wish of the creature that had spent the biggest part of its life playing the guard's role i
"For you right now, the present is the most important thing to you. Emotions have the biggest priority regarding the process of your actions. Acting true to your heart is not necessarily bad, but it is not necessarily a good thing either. The most important thing you should bear in mind if you survive this place is always to be aware of the consequences. You might think you are invincible because of your young age, but a person who can't restrain his rage is not strong. He is a fragile person instead."Apollyon pretended to listen to the creature's advice carefully. Its words, though, went in his one ear and out the other. He couldn't help it, though. The dragon's babbling seemed nothing more than lecturing to the boy."I was once like you," the dragon suddenly said, having realized that the boy was not paying attention to it."You? No way!" Apollyon, whose interest was sparked, shouted, surprised, not believing what he had just heard.
"Your revenge was aimless and chaotic. You recklessly began murdering people, and in the end, you even lost your sole family. You and I are vastly different. You had a choice to live a peaceful life. Your mother had already taken care of your enemies, as well as the reason for your hatred. But you were arrogant. You couldn't endure that those weak humans managed to slay someone from your race. You had to teach them a lesson. Unlike you, though, my enemy is still alive. Μy parents are dead, and my few remaining relatives who are still alive, as well as my friends, all betrayed me. You had a future. You had a choice. However, I have nothing!" Apollyon fearlessly said, even raising his voice to the terrifying creature in front of him."Don't try to justify your hatred. You might think that your emotions have greater importance than mine, but like you, the same way you regard my old hatred as a joke, I also consider the reason for your revenge pointless. Ultimately, you
"I am not sure. Wouldn't you say I have a serious reason to harbor resentment towards you?" "Of course not!" The Dragon God replied immediately, expecting to hear that particular answer from the boy. "Certainly, I ordered the tribe to kill you, but let me ask you instead... If I asked you to commit suicide, would you do it?" "I would not, but someone from the tribe might have done it." "Then, supposing I order a man to commit suicide, and he actually does it, who is the one to blame for his death? Me or him?" Apollyon didn't grimace upon hearing that absurd question but closed his eyes instead for a few seconds in thought before opening them again to glare at the dragon. "That's sophistry. You can't deceive me with such a ridiculous argument, but I'll admit that your words contain some truth inside them. The people from the tribe are deeply faithful to you to the point that their belief is making them fanatics. Although I dislike you, strangely enough, I can't say that my feeling
"Halt! Stop! Stop, bastards!"The surprising sudden curses forced the crowd to cease their actions temporarily. The excited mob, as well as Apollyon, turned their attention, baffled, towards the two newcomers that had just rushed here with flushed faces."What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to destroy the village's reputation?" The Chief began shouting, enraged, upon witnessing the spectacle occurring in front of his eyes. He and the Great Shaman came to check the reason for the disturbance happening in the island's sacred place, only to see that his people were about to lynch a boy in public near their deity's home! The Chief thought he would go mad. If other tribes learned about this embarrassing incident, the Dragon Village would definitely become the topic of ridicule during the gatherings between the four tribes."Are you mad? Do you know where we are? Do you want to provoke the Dragon God's wrath? And what's the matter with this situati
"You must be cursed; I can't think of another explanation," Nerida sighed as she saw the pathetic state the bedridden Sirius was in. The continuous dangerous situations he kept falling in had given a permanent pale color on the boy's drawn face that made him look even more unhealthy compared to back when he was skinny.He was definitely the unluckiest person she had ever known; Nerida had never heard about anyone else who had to fight for his life whenever he walked away from the village. He was certainly a difficult person to befriend as he seemed to have a natural gift of worrying the people who cared about him."It is one thing to encounter a demonic beast, but you even met an exiled person that we hadn't had news for years. We didn't even know whether he was alive or not. What's next? Do you plan to challenge Chief for his position?""Have mercy on me. It is already hard for me to endure the pain of my injuries. I can't handle your mockery too. W
"So that's why the demonic bear came so close to the village. How strange? Why didn't it take the stone and return to the mountains but stayed to protect it here? Even if the magic stone attracted other beasts, I dare to say they would be less dangerous than some of the warriors of the tribe; no need to mention the Chief and the Great Shaman," the boy wondered aloud. Was it because of the beast's low intelligence, or there was still something in the cave that discouraged the bear from leaving the area?"You have to thank Ajamu and his gang for that," the girl who was listening to him with amusement gave him suddenly an unexpected answer that crashed all the possible scenarios that had began to formulate in his mind."Ajamu? That's not a name I expected to hear," the boy remarked, surprised."Do you recall if anything unusual happened that day? Before the fight with the demonic bear, I mean," Nerida didn't proceed to explain immediately but addr
"Him?" the boy was genuinely surprised upon hearing the girl's answer. Sirius still remembered the Great Shaman's firm refusal to teach him anything relating to magic when he asked him once more the day he woke up from the coma.Did the man begin having second thoughts because of what happened later on that day? The two of them had an argument when the Great Shaman told the boy about Apollyon's past, and since then, they hadn't reconciled yet. Naturally, the reason Sirius was sulking hadn't been because he was angry for his enemy's sake. Although he felt some pity for him, he still hadn't forgotten how cruelly Apollyon had treated him on their first encounter. He had almost killed him. The boy was just afraid. Afraid that the coming awakening day could make him the next Apollyon. Afraid of losing the family and friends he had managed to acquire.No, if it was anything else, that geezer really might have changed his mind, but it's a different story when we are