CHAPTER 11: FINAL PULSE

SERENA MAIZONO

3 YEARS AGO

“I’ll be coming back to you, I promise.”

Xenon-senpai’s words echoed in my mind as I wake up from a comfortable sleep. I find myself inside a locked room together with three dragonoids, who are two children and their mother. We stayed the night here and barricaded the entrance just to make sure nobody would barge in. We stacked supplies such as food, water, and hygiene stuff enough to last us a week.

One night has passed, and Xenon-senpai hasn’t been to the grocery store. I wonder if he forgot his pinky promise with me. He and his friends appear to be wearing Elysian White Ghost uniforms, which means that he is undergoing an operation during the war in this city. I wonder if they are working together with the dragonoid resistance group Arcadia? The empires of Alterra and Elysia are mortal enemies and rivals, and it wouldn’t be far fetched if Elysia sided with dragonoid terrorists who wanted to overthrow the government of Alterra.

The gunshots have stopped. I haven’t heard of any explosions lately. The ground is no longer shaking. Maybe the war has ended.

My fellow dragonoids are still sleeping. I stood up and removed the barricade we’ve worked hard on building. When I pushed the sofa that was blocking the door, the mother dragonoid woke up.

“What are you doing?” The mother dragonoid, Miss Lorelei asked.

“I’m going to check what’s happening outside,” I said.

“No! Don’t! You’re going to die!” Miss Lorelei looked terrified as she scolded me. “We still don’t know what’s outside!”

I shook my head. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll just take a peek.”

Then I opened the door.

The grocery store looked more ruined now that I saw it. Almost one-fourth of the building is gone, and there is a wide entrance leading me outside. The bright sunlight shoved upon my face, giving me a horrific view of what had happened to the city.

Debris. Junk. Scrap metals. Vanilla City which was once a prosperous place that is full of skyscrapers has been converted into a giant crater full of deformed buildings and melted steel. The smell of burning rubber, combined with the stench of rotting corpses and gunpowder made my nose ache. 

The ash-colored snow started to fall. Everything is silent. This scene of ruins full of bloodied snow will certainly give sorrow to anybody’s hearts. 

I went back inside and notified the mother and her two children. We decided to get out of our safe haven and wander around to look for help.

Along the way, we saw dead bodies. It was a horrifying sight to each of us. Most of the corpses we saw had their body parts burned or vaporized, making it impossible to distinguish the identity of the dead bodies.

This place is like we’re the only people alive here.

“Serena, at this rate, we need to get out of the city.” The mother dragonoid said. “I know someone in Brimstone City, which is about one hundred kilometers east from here. Walking on foot would take about five days. Let’s go.”

I shook my head with a smile. “I’m sorry, Miss Lorelei. You go on without me. I still have to check the place.”

“Are you sure about that?” The mother asked. 

“Yes.” I made a painful smile. “Take all the supplies we have stacked up and journey with your children. I’ll be staying here a while longer.”

“It seems that I cannot change your mind.” The mother said. “Fine. But be sure to follow us if you need help.”

“Will do. Thank you.” I bowed.

And then I ventured south with only myself. The nightmarish scenery didn’t change. The snowy ground’s color is either blood red or ash gray. Even if I’m walking in the snowy ground, I don’t feel cold. I think there is strong radiation in the air that is offsetting the low temperature.

I finally reached the collapsed iron wall. There are still parts of the wall that remained intact, but these things are already on the verge of crumbling. The upper parts shattered like icecaps, falling onto the thick snow. Having no obstacle in my way, I walked towards the outskirts of the ruined city.

Why am I walking south? There isn’t any reason why I’m going here. It’s like my body is on autopilot, and I just let myself go wherever my feet lead me. 

Pulsing. 

Pulsing.

My heart beats felt like sonar as if I’m sensing something I’m longing to see. I don’t know what it is. But it was something my heart desires. My very being tells me to go here, and even my brain couldn’t reason out what is happening to me.

I finally found myself walking in the thick snow. Unlike the snow inside the city, the snow here in the outskirts have more white in it. My feet sank in the fluffy ice and continued to walk aimlessly until I stumbled on something...or someone.

“...Sen...pai…” 

My heart stopped. My brain froze. I saw the man I was looking for. But he’s dead. Xenon Wingate is dead. His eyes are closed and are never meant to open again.

“Senpai! Senpai!” I cried as I clawed away the thick snow covering his body.

I saw several shallow wounds and slight bruises on his body, but none of those are fatal. There’s no evidence that he suffered from a critical wound. I checked his heart, and it’s no longer beating. From the looks of it, he may have died either of natural causes or by some extraordinarily powerful curse magic. I can sense a faint shadowy aura on his cadaver.

I don’t know what to do.

I’m so helpless that only I can do is to cry like a kid.

Suddenly, a faint voice entered my head. It was the voice of my mother, and her bedtime story about the romance of a human and a dragonoid echoed inside my brain.

‘A human and a dragonoids heartbeat can be synchronized. It is ancient magic that the ancient dragon knights use which was taught by the most powerful sorceress in existence. A human who has been chosen by a dragonoid can control the heartbeats of one another, and it is the most beautiful mystic of the world.’

“Synchronization of heartbeats?” I muttered to myself as I held my chest. 

I felt my own heartbeats punching harder as if it is angry and wanted to go out. I touched Xenon Wingate’ chest and felt his frozen heart. 

Pulsing. Pulsing. My heart is shouting. His heart is waiting. All I have to do is to give a little of my energy so that his heart will synchronize with mine. 

I closed my eyes and prayed to the depths of my heart. Warm energy flows from its arteries all the way down to my right palm which is touching senpai’s chest.

“Activating Final Pulse.”

In a millisecond, our bodies glowed. The heartbeats I’m sensing on my own and senpai’s heart are in perfect sync. Each and every pulse are identical to each other. I can hear our heart’s songs harmonizing.

And all of a sudden, Xenon Wingate’s eyes opened.