Chapter 18: Persistent History
18.0
A void
An empty world, filled with nought for existence.
Nothing of substance. Nothing to perceive, nothing to be understood.
It is, as it is.
Null.
Not light nor darkness could make their way into existence in this realm.
For all that was to be, shall cease to become.
All that is known…
All that is understood…
All that is of existence…
Shall inevitably become the victims of its grasp.
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
Gasp!!!
John’s chest arched upwards the moment his lungs jolted him awake from his unconsciousness.
His heart raced as though he was just revived from the brink of death. His bloodshot and swollen eyes almost burst from his sockets.
“A-Aurelius!!! Aurelius!!!”
His screams filled the space he was in his he frantically searched for his the wolfkin’s body that he hand been holding in his hands moments ago.
“Aurelius!!! Where are you!!!???”
His breath was rapid, hands trembling in fear as he clawed with his modest hands in at his own legs as tears swelled in his eyes.
“No, no, no…”
Bit by bit, as his heart slowed,
John recalled what transpired.
“I...I…” John croaked, his eyes wet without realizing it. “I… I…” as he held his head in his own hand, stared at the white sheet that was draped over him as a blanket.
…
The white sheet, though thin and poorly made, reminded him of something, something familiar that he could not quite place his finger on something—
“John! What’s wrong!!!”
The door to the room swung open, interrupting his fraying thoughts as his attention focused onto the person who barged into the rustic, simple, space that he was in.
A girl of long silver hair and azure blue eyes barged in meeting his gaze, eyes filled with concern as she fixated her gaze on him.
Ephinelyth was her name.
John knew that well.
She was the person who warned him of the dangers of the Empire.
John knew that well.
She was the Elder Dragon that he thought of time to time during when he needed guidance in Meastes the most.
John knew that well.
But his brows converged on his nose bridge he saw the familiar face of Ephinelyth.
His heartstrings felt though they were about to break down to the last thread when he saw her face.
Like the time he spoke to her through the hologram device, he was not joyful, he was not thankful, he was not appreciative.
He was in pain.
John knew that well.
After all that he’s been through. After the entire ordeal with Prishine, with the Empire, with the Harvests, with his exile, with his surfacing memories, he was truly, truly—
“Are you fine?” Ephinelyth asked, readying her hand to place on his forehead. “I was—”
Slap!
Her hand was swatted away by John.
His fists curled as he left the bed that he was on, turning his back away from her.
“Please John, I need you to tell me what’s going in your mind.”
Ephinelyth pleaded, moving across the bed to get closer to him.
What was the rapid breathing from John earlier had now altered into slow, deep forceful breaths.
“Why?”
Seemingly sensed what emotions that was stirring in his mind, Ephinelyth sat quietly.
She had yet to use her mind reading abilities on John ever since she found him in Meastes, she knew John had just suffered a terrible loss and needed time to process things. To intrude upon his mind when he was most vulnerable would only hurt him further.
Even then, she knew he felt. She was keenly aware of his sorrows.
“Why are you here? Why here…why now, Evie?”
She had no words. She could not justify herself.
The last time the spoke, John told her to leave his life, he berated her for playing with him, that she misled him into thinking their connection was possible.
All John could see in Ephinelyth was the Elven Princess who banished him from A’vetheas.
John gotten to his feet as he proceeded to walk across the room he found himself in. With his fingertips running across the walls of the humble building he was in, John shook his head, holding his breath in as he felt the familiar grainy wall texture of the Harvest Residence running on his fingers.
“TELL ME!!!”
Unfilted anger erupted from him, though his words were directed at Ephinelyth herself, the Elder Dragon did not take it at face value, for she knew how he felt.
With or without her abilities, she understood John enough to know he was in pain, confused, crying out for help
He turned to face the Elder Dragon girl who was on the bed, his face red and flowed with tears.
“WHY HAVE YOU COME NOW!!! WHY!!! WHY!!! WHY ARE YOU HERE, WHY WEREN’T YOU THERE LIKE YOU PROMISED, HUH!!!???”
“…”
“WHY WEREN’T YOU THERE LIKE YOU PROMISED!!!”
“…”
“Why didn’t you come sooner…? Why didn’t you help me when I had no one…?”
“…”
“You knew didn’t you… From when we first we met... You knew I was a demon, you knew fair well that I am a monster, a being of chaos. YOU KNEW I WAS A MONSTER AND YOU KEPT IT TO YOURSELF!!!”
Ephinelyth bit her lip. John was perceptive.
She knew he was perceptive, but when he phrased it as such…
A part of her regretted for not telling him everything when they first met.
But even with all that talk of what might have happened had she done things differently, John might have dismissed her as a malicious being if she simply showed him her memories of him upon their first meeting after so long.
There was no certainty that any of her words would make sense for John had she explained it herself.
Those memories would mean nothing to John, who had no memories of their time seven years ago.
She had no right to do that to him.
Telepath or not, Ephinelyth was not in the position force John’s old life onto him.
She was not to disrespect his wishes of not wanting to know the past.
She loved him.
That’s why, she could not bear the thought of burdening him with his past.
“Why, why…. WHY!!! All my fucking of life, all my godforsaken pathetic excuse of a miserable being, I knew something was wrong with me. Of the people I wish to be with, they never stay, of the love that I wanted, I never received, of my intelligence, I never understood.”
“…”
“Everything!!!! OF EVERY FUCKING THING I EVER HELD IN MY HANDS… they… vanish.”
John pulled at his messy hair, choking on his own thoughts as he sobbed like a child who only knew despair.
“The women in my life, never destined to be with me… My friends, I shall never see. I have lost the Harvests... Now Aurelius… And after all of that….I’ve become…this...”
John, out of energy sat on the ground, shaking his head as he moped.
“I…am demon… I am a monster, a monster who takes away all that is good, a monster that knows no bounds to suffering… You of all people should know that, from the very day we met… T-that’s why, please… Please get out of my life. I don’t want your pity, not now, not ever.”
Evie moved and sat before him, “That won’t do, John. I have made that mistake far too many times. I understand—”
At her words, a vein on John’s head popped, moving at the speed of light, John pushed Evie towards the ground, teeth clenched as hot forceful breath expelled from John.
His handsome face scrunched, his eyes sharp as he stared straight into Evie’s beautiful eyes like a wrathful god imposing judgement upon its creation.
“WHAT DO YOU KNOW!!!” his voice boomed, “DO YOU WISH TO BE WITH A DEMON THAT BADLY!!!??? IF THAT’S THE CASE, THEN I’LL MAKE YOU REGRET YOUR CHOICES!!!”
With no hesitation, John grabbed a hold of Evie’s clothes as dark aura surged in his arms, strengthening him to pin the Elder Dragon girl against the ground as he tore away her clothes.
Rippp…
The fabrics went away as John’s hands moved as though a sexually deprived criminal would to his victims, fully intending to force Ephinelyth’s disgust onto him for the demon he was.
“This is not how I wished for things to be between us… But if it it ever so lightens the weight in your heart.”
Ephinelyth spoke to John in his mind, showing no fear of him nor what was about to happen to her.
“I will let you take my maidenhood.”
John was about to rape her, yet, yet...the Elder Dragon girl made no attempts to resist him, she simply raised her body upwards to aid him in tearing her clothes away from her.
Her expression towards him, like the maid that spoke to him in his surfacing memories, was just as caring and gentle, but her sorrow was just as strong.
…
…
...
Wham!!!
“Why!!!”
John pounded his fists on the wooden planks besides Evie.
Drip…drip…drip…
Warm liquid fell upon Ephinelyth’s neck as she placed her soft hand on his cheeks.
“Why!!! Why...aren’t you disgusted with me!? Why won’t you leave me!!! I-I...am an abomination!!! Yet, yet….yet… I...hic...I...hic…”
John lowered his head as he sobbed uncontrollably before Evie, whom he pushed against the ground.
“W-why…”
These were the pleads of a broken man. A man who knew a curse that was bound to him and those who cared for him.
Without another word, Evie placed her arms around John’s neck, pulling him close to her as she initiated a hug.
“You are right. I have not a clue of what you’ve been through. I do not pretend to know a thing of your pain, your suffering, nor what goes on in your thoughts.”
Her soft soothing voice entered his ear as Evie moved her hands towards John’s wide back tightening her embrace as to assure him with her presence.
“All I could ever do, was sympathize with you, to read your mind, even with what I have, I can never truly understand the source of your w-wails. Pathetic is it not? To be bestowed the power to read minds, yet, the only mind that I so desperately want to be o-one with is the one that is furthest for me to r-reach.”
Evie spoke, with John’s trembling body against hers, she wanted to sob alongside with him, her heart wavered with each word that came out of her mouth. Her love was hurting, and so was she.
She wanted nothing more than to tell him she knew what he felt, to know his life fully as though it was her own.
But those would be empty words to not only John, but herself, too.
“If my actions are not clear e-enough, l-let me declare them in w-words. I, Ephinelyth, have not once pitied you, not once I have thought of you as disposable, not once I thought of you as pathetic, repulsive, nor the slightest hint dislike. Whatever negative impressions you have of me, I a-assure you that is far from the truth.”
“Those are just words.” John said weakly in his mind. “Empty words for an empty man.”
“From the very first day we met, the very f-first moment I learned of your existence.”
Evie raised John’s head and looked at him with earnest eyes.
Her lips had stopped moving, but she continued to speak with him in his head, placing her forehead against his.
“Please, allow me to demonstrate.”
Ephinelyth opened her eyes, finding herself in a lonely cave as the cool rocks chilled her dainty dragon body.
Her eyes turned towards her surroundings only to find that in this cave that she had resigned herself into had naught for décor nor any furnishing that would aid her living.
That’s right...I moved here…
She said to herself in a stale tone.
Though to anyone, the lone cave she was in would be a horrible place to call her abdoe, but to Ephinelyth the daughter of Synthia and Kharston, the two surviving Elder Dragons left after the Great War, the solitude the cave provided her was all that she needed to live.
Elder Dragons, like herself, needed not many substances to keep themselves alive.
By absorbing the excess flow of energy in their surroundings, they could practically live on forever without nourishments—though that was not exactly an ideal nor healthy lifestyle to pursue.
For Ephinelyth who wanted only to distance herself away from people, it was all she needed.
Even at the young age of 11, her maturity had far surpassed most of the dragons that were decades into their life span.
All thanks to the ‘gifts’ she had.
“Khars… Are you sure?”
“Definitely, I am as worried as you are, but I think it’s best for you to help her, I don’t want her to...be overwhelmed by my thoughts.”
The voices of her parents entered her mind, though they were a long distance away from where her cave was and far from her hearing range, she was able to pick up their conversation.
Because of her telepathic abilities.
Shroom!!! Swing!!! Splat!!!
Visions of flesh splitting before her very eyes, explosions far beyond imagination all at once, came flashing in her mind as Ephinelyth held her head in agony from the visions that she unwillingly absorbed.
“Grk…” she tensed her body hoping that visions would soon fade from her.
“I apologize my daughter, I shall leave you to be…” her father’s thoughts flowed to her ending as swiftly as he spoke.
Along with Kharston’s departure, the visions of the horrible sights vanished in Ephinelyth’s mind, allowing her to ease up before the cold sweat drenched her dragon body.
Not a moment after Ephinelyth recovered from her father’s memories of the Great War, her mother, Synthia, arrived at the entrance of her cave with her white wings flapping as she gracefully landed.
“May I enter?” Synthia spoke to Ephinelyth in her mind, knowing full well that her daughter would hear her.
“Yes…”
Given the permission, Synthia morphed into a human form before she casually made her way to where Ephinelyth the dragon had curled up in.
“Why are you—”
“...in your human form?” Synthia completed Ephinelyth’s question for her. “It is easier for me to approach you in this form. Besides, this form was how I end up meeting your father.”
“Right...why do I even ask?”
“Who knows, perhaps your future might hold the same thing for you, ufufu,” Synthia giggled as she pet Ephinelyth’s tail before taking a seat beside her daughter.
“That is...if I learn to not hurt anyone with…” Ephinelyth ended her sentence, knowing that her mother would understand her regardless if she completed it.
“You’ll get there. Don’t fret too much, Ephinelyth. I can attest to it, though I won’t be telling you how, ufufu.” Her mother giggled cheerfully, her silver hair jiggled as she relished in the various events that would come to her daughter.
“Can you foretell when will I learn to control my powers, mother?” Ephinelyth spoke in a sad tone. “I don’t dislike speaking to you because I can’t read your mind, but I want to know when will I stop hearing everyone’s thoughts. I want to speak to father without…”
“Ephinelyth…” Synthia spoke gently, “Soon. Very soon when you’ve found the purpose you live for. Your telepathy is a gift far compared to mine, ufufu. Perhaps I shall tell you how it was for me when I was your age someday, but for now, you have to wait.”
“When is that?!” running out of patience Ephinelyth unknowingly raised her voice. “I have been here for close to half a year after wiping the mind of other dragons when I—”
“Of the effects which I have all undone, ufufu. You have nothing to fear, my daughter.”
“Mother, please… I just wish to go out and be on my own without interference, I don’t care about the other dragons. I don’t want to deal with anyone especially not when I read all their thoughts. They are all so sinister, self-serving, selfish, cruel… ”
Ephinelyth complained like the child she was.
She knew if she were to go out with in her current state, she would end up reading too much of someone’s thoughts and end up wiping their minds in a fit of childish rage.
She could not control her abilities to perceive other’s thoughts.
If things was not bad enough for her already, on whims of her emotions if she so disliked someone, her riled up emotions would cause her to unwillingly wipe someone’s mind clean.
Aside from her father Kharston and mother Synthia, virtually everyone else was vulnerable to her abilities.
Not even her brother, an Elder Dragon who was centuries older than her was immune to it.
“First, change to your human form.”
“Mother…”
“Trust me, Ephinelyth. It will help.”
Reluctantly, Ephinelyth channeled her body and morphed into the body of a young girl that well represented her age. A dainty female girl with silver hair and electric blue eyes.
“I hate this form. It is small, constricting, and why can’t I make myself look past my actual age.”
“Ufufu, it is exactly those features why this form is best suited to help you. When you put physical restraints on your form, you can hone your attention towards the things that needed be fine-tuned. For example, your abilities.”
“My...telepathy?”
“Mmm hmm. That is why your father mandated for most of the dragons to live in this form when they are in the community. That’s why when you first gained your powers, only a few are affected by it. It is precisely because of the human form, we can limit our output. Imagine how many more minds you would wipe instead—”
“Alright, I understood.”
“You were never a fan of the human form, it’s very amusing, ufufu.”
“Mother, do I need to tell you…”
Synthia interrupted her daughter, “It’s the 47th time actually. You forgot to add that time when your brother fell into the volcano.”
Ephinelyth made a face as though she wanted nothing to do with that memory. Her mother, unlike her could not read minds. But Synthia could see the future, and sometimes, she could foresee what Ephinelyth could say, hence interrupting her sentences as though she had read her daugther’s mind.
“That aside, mother. The past few settlements that you have been bringing me to get used to…” Ephinelyth pointed to her head. “Humans are the ones that have the worst thoughts.”
“I agree.” Synthia nodded. “I think you were closer to destroying human minds more than the other races. There were a few close calls even for me, ufufu.”
For the past few months, Synthia had been repeatedly coming here to pick up Ephinelyth, bringing her daughter to visit various societies—to be more accurately have Ephinelyth just fly a few hundred kilometers above said societies due to how sensitive her telepathy was. Allowing her to get used to the abundance of thoughts in the case her daughter never learned to control herself.
“That said, I would not worry if I were you.” Synthia comforted her daughter, placing a hand on Ephinelyth’s head as she spoke.
Ephinelyth got to her feet, let out a sigh as she prepared to change back to her dragon form before leaving for yet another visit to yet another community where she would end up—
“Oh, we aren’t doing the training today,” Synthia spoke.
“We aren’t?”
“Nope. For today, I have just one task for you, stay in your human form for one week. You wanted to learn to control your powers—”
“One week!? In this form? Mother, I’ll—”
“You won’t freeze to death,” already know what her daughter would say Synthia interjected with a smile.
“But—”
“No, you won’t starve to death. No, you won’t become weakened. No, no harm would come to you.”
“That’s—”
With Ephinelyth’s each attempt at rebutting her mother, Synthia replied before her daughter could make the argument.
“Just learn to be in this form of yours, I’ll bring you the necessities to get you started.”
Ephinelyth could only stare at her mother wide eye, unable to believe that she have to suffer one gruesome week being in her feeble human form.
Synthia sprouted her wings from her back ready to leave.
“Oh, and you can’t sleep throughout the week. I am certain you have plenty of energy reserves stored up with all your lazing around here.”
As Synthia flapped her wings and took off into the air, a loud groan could be heard reverberating through the cave.
