A hovel made of roots that came out of the ground. Two long-ears guarded the hovel. The wind blew from the front of him. He saw the long-ears stare at Ashia. When they craned their neck to Nolan they flinched. The grip on their spears tightened. Their spears were made of intertwined roots.

Ashia entered the hovel with Nolan. Nolan saw three robed Alfs who sat on root-like chairs. He recalled that the Alfs was perpetually young and only when they are close to death that they wither. They have flesh but the way their flesh rots was different. Nolan shook his head. He looked at the elders without any greetings whatever. The elders didn’t react to his actions. Except for the young Alf whose face went red. The young Alf tried to open his mouth. But one of the elders raised a hand.

“Stop,” the elder said. “This man is far older than anyone of us here. The dragon respects, and we too shall do so. You will not do anything. Not in front of the hero and this being.”

“But elder this man might turn evil!”

“Cease,” said Ashia. “Good and evil are in the eye of the beholder. Elder, why take someone so young?”

“We want to teach him. Nolan was it?”

“Yes.”

“Please teach this man who you are.”

“What do you expect from me?”

“Just think of something. This will also allow us to peer through your soul.”

Nolan cupped his chin. He scanned the hovel and said. “I will try to make you see what I see.”

*****

When Nolan said those words Ashia saw his eyes turned bloody red. A hawk came out of his eyes that soon circled them. The flapping of the wings of the hawk created a familiarity of dread. The world seems to disappear. She saw the elders panicked at this black void they were in. They heard the screams. Oh, the screams! The anguish! The pain of millions upon millions of souls screeching at him to save them. The people inside the hovel groaned. One of the elders went weak in the knees and the young man screamed. His eyes glowed red. The shouting of the souls didn’t stop. She saw the hands of the screamers come at them. One of the elders raised a hand weakly, telling, “Stop.”

Nolan closed his eyes. The world returned. Ashia’s hand shook. Nolan’s face remained like a stone as Nolan explained.

“What you saw is how I see the world when I don’t suppress my curse. I have an ability that I got from a friend that turned me into this. What you saw is my curse and you might misunderstand this curse as corrupting darkness. I thought about it. If I should let you people seal this power. But I will defend myself if any of you try to seal mine. It is because it is mine that I won’t give up on it so easily.”

The elder shook his head. The young man who held his head took a long horrified look at Nolan. He looked down. He went out of the room without any noise.

“We ask that you forgive his rudeness. He is young and he will lead us. This too will wake him and make him realize that there are things that he must not provoke. We have thought madly of you and we wish that you do not upset the peace that our dearest Ashia had achieved.”

“I will not. I’ll try my best. I like this peace,” he said with an almost trembling voice. The elders looked at each other. They spoke on their mother tongue.

Ashia smiled at Nolan as she drags him out of the house. She looked at him.

“You are free of them.”

“Is that so?” Nolan said half-heartedly. “I thought they’d be demanding.”

“Well, you have Dalia to thank. She has been resting your case and had been explaining. Really, what did you do to make her so protective of you?”

Nolan shook his head. The wind brushed his hair.

“I don’t know. All I know is that she took me on her island without anything. But I guess she’s just overprotective. What a mom, really.”

“Indeed,” Ashia smiled at that. “When I was a fledgling she won’t let me leave the island unless I could destroy one of her puppets. She may not look like it but she is the sweetest dragon you can find. The rest of the ancient dragons aren’t as friendly. Maybe because they fear us who have grown strong. But Lady Dalia knows no fear. In fact. She’s one of the living storms. None can contest against her. She might be sweet but she had drowned an entire race for a crime. Only because she had tamed her demons. I wouldn’t want to see her angry…Nolan?”

“I expected a lot worse,” he said to her. “I expected fighting but we only talked. That’s good but now I’m even more afraid that this is a lie. Tell me, this isn’t some lie, right? Some dream? Because this peace scares me more than a demigod staring down at me.”

His eyes quivered. His lower lips trembled. He smiled as if despairing at the thought. Here he was a man who had faced gods and demons yet so afraid of the days of peace he was given. He was so afraid that this was all a lie conjured to hurt him. He’s strong yet fragile at the thought that this was all a brilliant lie conjured. She didn’t know why she understands. She didn’t know why her heart skipped and why she wanted to get closed. Or are these memories inside her interfering?

Fear came strutting in her heart. She moved her hands away from him and watched as Nolan continued looking at the horizon. She wondered if he usually does that.

“Oh God, please don’t let this be a cruel dream,” he prayed.

Ashia couldn’t say anything. Yes, there was peace in the upper surface, but in exchange for the peace, they have made here…she had done something that she was not proud of.