CHAPTER 115: VAGUE TRUTH

SERENA MAIZONO

1 DAY AGO

After recovering Xenon from the remains of the Vanilla City, we immediately delivered him to the hospital on the military city of Stonehill. Xenon is destined to have a lot of medical tests to see if he is still doing fine. His heart has been tremendously weakened compared to the last six months, and there are a lot of internal wounds as the diagnosis told. It gave off an idea that Xenon died a couple of times but miraculously revived by the Necross healing factor and immortality. But now that I have sealed all his powers, only destiny will tell if he can still last long. 

His heart is fated to stop after one month, and the weakening of his heartbeats are the proof of that. It pains me in the heart that we only have a few more days together and we are spending it without talking to each other. He’s still asleep for the past twenty-four hours, and his magical energy has yet to return.

I have spent the same number of hours worrying, sitting beside his body in this hospital room. I don’t want to miss a second. We’ve been separated for almost a year, and now that he’s terminal, I need to make up for the times that I have lost. I want to apologize for what I have done to him, for betraying him. I want him to understand that everything about me marrying Eldritch is a lie. I don’t want us to have this bad atmosphere, especially that his days are numbered.

It’s now noon, and I haven’t gotten any sleep. I haven’t eaten either. I think my eye bags would make me look like a panda once Xenon wakes up. I’ll be glad if he ends up laughing at my face.

The hospital door opened, revealing a man in his late forties. He has black hair, green eyes, and a dark beard and mustache that makes him look like an older version of Xenon. Of course, they would look similar, for he is Professor Wilmar Wingate; Xenon’s father. He is wearing an old gray trench coat and a brown fedora on top of his head. He has come here to Alterra all the way from Elysia just to check on his son, and he’s been here in this hospital for the past four hours.

“Serena, you need to sleep. I’ll keep watching on your behalf, and I’ll wake you up once Xenon wakes up.” The middle-aged man said.

I shook my head and smiled. “I-I’m sorry, Professor Wingate. I need to be here once Xen wakes up. I need to enlighten him, to clear my name in his heart.”

Professor Wingate sat beside me and gazed at his son who is still not on the verge of regaining consciousness. Then he looked at me with a satisfied smile.

“You really love my son, don’t you?” Professor Wingate muttered. “I am truly grateful that he has met you, a fine beautiful lady that would care for him until his last breath.”

“I don’t deserve your gratitude, Professor Wingate.” I bowed. “Xen has saved my life and my soul multiple times. I was able to become what I am and maintain it because of him. It’s only natural for me to love him even more than myself.”

“Man…” Professor Wingate scratched his head while chuckling.  “My son is really a queen killer. His ex-girlfriend is an empress of Elysia, and now his girlfriend is the Dragon Queen. I know he always brags about his good looks, but I never knew that he’s quite telling the truth.”

I made a forced smile at the professor. There’s a lot of fallacies on his statements. First, I did not love Xenon because of his looks. Second, Xenon is a queen killer, literally, as he’s one of the primary suspects in burning Empress Marisse Trystgade alive. And third… I am not a Dragon Queen. The rumors spread out fast, but I am sure that I’m not playing the part of being royalty.

Suddenly, Professor Wingate’s smile transformed into a frown as it seems that he remembered something. “Serena… I have to tell you a secret.”

“What is it, professor?” I tilted my head.

“You’ve met one of the Thirteen Heretics, right? You should be familiar with her. The girl with the crimson eyes with black sclera, that dragonoid who always tags along with Eldritch.”

“Sakuradrop,” I muttered.

“Yes. I have met him a long time ago, maybe about sixteen years into the past. But I have a vague memory of her. All I can remember is that Xenon and Eldritch used to play with her when they were a child. That dragonoid did not grow an inch, nor her skin wrinkled. She seems to be not aging at all since my blurry memory tells me that she looks the same way as she was a long time ago.”

I am not surprised to hear about Sakuradrop’s immortality. We have fought and defeated her already, and she revealed herself to be the ancient Orochi Dragon that predates the origins of Vesryn Pulse itself.

However, the fact that Xenon and Eldritch met Sakuradrop a long time ago makes a different story. It makes what Sakuradrop told me about Xenon’s and Eldritch’s plans of dominating the world a little bit credible, and I’m now scared to learn the whole truth about the man I love. 

“Tell me more information about Sakuradrop, Xenon, and Eldritch, Professor!” I asked. I know I’m going to regret this, but I still have to clarify my doubts.

“I’m sorry if I can remember it ambiguously, but there’s a thing that always troubles me about Sakuradrop. I remember her telling stories to the kids about saving the world, and once, he told Xenon and Michael Eldritch that they are the chosen ones for the task. Sakuradrop told them that they will create a magical tower that will make the whole world acknowledge their existence as a ruler in the future.”

“A tower?” I exclaimed. “Is that-”

“I’m sorry, Serena.” The professor shook his head in pain. “I can’t remember it clearly. I don’t think I’m telling the exact words, but those thoughts are the only ones that are left on my mind. I'm pretty sure Sakuradrop used his psychic powers to mess my mind.”

“Don’t stress it, Professor.” I gently patted the old guy’s back. “That was a useful discussion for me.” 

I indulge myself in deep thought. That tower Sakuradrop was mentioning… It must be a Psychic Amplifier. Sakuradrop’s statements about Xenon and Eldritch working together to dominate the world are coming more and more the truth now that I have heard the professor’s part of the story. 

It feels really odd now that Xenon was the one who’s in charge of retrieving Cheng Du’s dossier three years ago. The worse thing I can think of is that Xenon is planning to take the world for himself, just like Eldritch once did.

My thought circuits were interrupted when the professor talked again. “Miss Serena, can I ask a favor?”

“What is it, Prof?”

“I have seen you and your battles on some footages, and there is always something that I always wished to see in person. Say… Can you transform yourself into a full elf? That one with blonde hair, pointed ears, and wings?”

“Of course!” I smiled as I stood in front of the enthusiastic professor. 

I closed my eyes and inhaled a lot of air in a soft manner. Feeling the magical energy on the surroundings, I shifted myself to my Elform; long golden blonde hair, sword-shaped ears, and white wings on my back. A mark of V appeared on my chest, and my whole skin is covered in a thin tight bodysuit. An aura of light engulfs around me as I focus all my power on my appearance.

“Amazing… You are truly amazing…” Professor Wingate started to cry with tears of joy. “I’ve been looking for clues about the ancient one, and now I have found you. You must really be the Dragon Queen as the blood of Goddess Exceria flows in your veins… I’m so glad…” Professor Wingate genuflected on my presence as he gently held my hand.

Professor Wingate must be delighted to see my Elform. Being a historian means that he is passionate about ancient magical arts and traces of royal bloodlines. I know historians like him have a bucket list of discovering the ultimate humans, magic, weapons, and artifacts of the past, but this is way more than I can swallow.

“P-Prof… It is embarrassing. Please raise your head. I’m not a queen or goddess.” I made a fake laugh.

“If you decided to marry Xenon, I will give you all my blessing.”

“Fine! You can call me a goddess or queen as many times you want, Professor!” I automatically answered as I don’t want to waste this opportunity.

The professor then requested me to cast various kinds of magic, focusing on my upgraded Forge magic. My future father-in-law grabbed his notebook and pen in order to take all the notes and information he can extract about the mysterious power of Elform. He’s planning to publish a book, a PowerPoint, and a video about my bloodline abilities and magic, so his sole focus was on me the whole time.

In return, Professor Wingate exchanged stories with me about Xenon’s childhood life. My stay here in my lover’s hospital room did not have any speck of boredom in it for my father-in-law is a kind and entertaining man.

However, when we’re at the peak of our bonding as his daughter-in-law, somebody barged into this hospital room. It was my friends Alphonse, Z, and Danielle.

“Bad news, Serena!” Z exclaimed out loud. When she noticed that her voice is over the top, Z lowered her tone and repeated the same words. “I-I’m sorry for the intrusion. Serena, we have bad news.”

“Z?” I tilted my head. I approached my friends and looked at their worried faces. “What’s the matter?”

“The emperor now knows the fucking truth,” Alphonse answered. “They’re accusing Xenon as an accomplice of Eldritch. Apparently, one of the Pentagram Knights overheard our conversation with Sakuradrop about the Global Psychic Amplifier. There are rumors about Xenon being a traitor who is conducting his plans all in the dark, and now everybody’s paranoid and idiotic enough to fucking believe it.”

“T-That’s horrible!” I gasped.

“Oui, mademoiselle. The whole world is now against Senor Xenon’s head.” Danielle said. “What shall we do? Xenon is not safe here.”

I held my chest as I speak out my immediate grand decision.

“I… I will protect Xen at all costs… Running is not an option. I have to clear his name before the emperor.”

<>