18.1
Ephinelyth had herself wrapped up in a fuzzy blanket as she stared out of the cave, floating in the air in her human form.
“Ufufu…” she giggled to herself as she felt a chilly breeze against her cheeks, sipping on a warm cup of tea as she slowly got used to her human form. “It sure is nice having all this to myself.”
Though she had always resonated with that notion, now that her senses were toned down in her human form, she was able to fully enjoy the simple pleasures of life.
It was liberating.
At this moment, all the thoughts and burden she felt she had being an Elder Dragon vanished.
Only now that she truly felt that she needed not to walk on eggshells around others, fearing that their thoughts might pour into hers. Or even worse, having erased their minds because she could not control her powers.
It was not that Ephinelyth was an advocate of an ironclad ideal that drove her to ‘unwillingly’ delete the thoughts of others.
In all honesty, she did not care for what they thought.
But whenever cannonballs of foreign thoughts launched into hers, it felt as the foundation columns of her mind was under siege by their selfish indignant thoughts.
Therefore, it was natural for her to retaliate out of instinct—in her case, automatically terminate the thoughts of others who differed to hers.
It was not that she wished for those things to happen to others.
But for Ephinelyth, other than her parents, there was no point in interacting with others.
Therefore, if their thoughts to intrude her mind, it was her duty to eliminate them. And it made sense for Ephinelyth to care so little for strangers who cared not for her.
If they cared little about her, she would do the same.
Call it her immaturity, name it her arrogance, but for someone like her who was born with everything, there virtually was nothing she needed them for.
Glory? Riches? Power? Approval?
She could easily have those, but to what end these fictitious things would bring her?
Joy? Sadness? Fulfillment?
She was an Elder Dragon, she was born in glory, bathed in riches, gifted with power, attained approval before she was even born.
These things simply meant nothing to her.
She never wanted them, and she will never understood the need for them.
“Sigh…”
Ephinelyth rocked her body in the air she was floating on, contemplating on her own thoughts for the thousandth time.
Something was amiss.
Unlike her father, Kharston who had a strong sense to aid others and help people discover their calling, Ephinelyth herself could not be bothered with relations with others.
Perhaps she was more like her own mother, Synthia, who like herself was kept most things to herself, but, Ephinelyth was not as charitable as to lend her sympathy nor efforts to anyone.
She barely did the bare necessities to keep up with the other dragons—back before her mind reading abilities manifested in her.
If she were to put it in words, she was a boring girl.
She had the potential to achieve many things, yet, none of them interested her.
Somehow…this made her feel...odd, it was as though she knew idly sitting about like she always had been, was not enough for her.
“My, my, you’ve adapted quickly in such a short time,” Synthia’s voice entered Ephinelyth’s ear, not a moment sooner, her mother floated from above and came her view. “How was the week? Still disgusted with your frail body?”
“I…” Ephinelyth turned her head away, “...was wrong.”
“There’s no need to be shy. I used to change into this form back when I was your age, ufufu. I kept seeing visions of my d— Whoops, almost spoke too much. Point is, this form helped.”
Sensing her mother was about to lecture her more on her past, Ephinelyth quickly returned to the ground and moved the pot of tea that she had brewing at the hearth of the cave with mellow, glowing coal.
Placing her own cup aside as she reached for a clean one before pouring a fresh cup of tea for her mother.
“My only complaint now is the hunger pangs that this body has. I know I need not to consume, yet…” passing the cup of tea to Synthia, who floated down to where Ephinelyth was. “...it’s as if I am a glutton.”
Her mother received the tea politely but her amused smile had yet to fall from her face.
“That might not be as much of your human form’s problem than it is your own.”
“I don’t understand, mother, what are you…”
“You’re growing up Ephinelyth, though you need no substance to live on, your body still craves for nourishments.”
“!!!” Ephinelyth’s eyes grew wide, face reddened, “And why do I need—”
“I am getting close!!! Soon I can ascertain whether—”
A foreign thought entered her mind. Causing Ephinelyth to jolt up straight.
Who is that?
She jerked her body around, but only found only her mother standing besides her.
No one is here!
“—Elder Dragons exist!”
“Intruder!”
With great fervor, Ephinelyth flew into the skies outwards, granting herself a bird's-eye view as to locate the source of the foreign person who was within her telepathy range.
In the tall mountains that she was in, her eyes spotted an individual with a great sword attached to their back, head turning about the surroundings as to look for their target.
No other races had ever entered the territory of the dragons, let alone stray animals. The dragon’s territory under her father’s watch was impenetrable.
There was only one thing she needed to do.
Sprouting wings on her back, Ephinelyth swoop down to the individual with the great sword to deal a swift and lethal blow.
Boom!!!
The mountains terrain rumbled when Ephinelyth’s attack struck.
“Owwww!!! That hurt!!!”
Ephinelyth’s eye grew wide when the individual she launched herself spoke in her mind.
Who is this person…
In the rubble that she created, laid a dwarf woman who was in her early twenties, grunting in pain as she could barely move from Ephinelyth’s assault.
Ephinelyth raised her fist.
In that case, I’ll just…
“EPHINELYTH!!! WHERE ARE YOUR MANNERS!?”
Her mother’s voice boomed in her mind, the feedback was so strong strong that it her entire being vibrating, causing her to lose her grip on her consciousness before dropping on the spot.
“I am terribly sorry!!!” a shaky voice pleaded, “I did not know this was the wrong path!!!”
Ephinelyth who had passed out moments ago slowly awakened from her mother’s rude scolding, finding herself on the ground of her abode.
“The fault is mine. I did not give you specific instructions. I apologize for my daughter’s rude welcoming act, she is in that age where…” Synthia paused when she noticed Ephinelyth was glaring at her.
“What gives, mother!?”
Ephinelyth’s mouth was sealed, but her voice was heard in the minds of both Synthia and the woman with the greatsword.
“I could have died from that earlier!!! Moreover why is she in my quarters???”
“And so would our guest here.” Synthia spoke normally in reply to Ephinelyth. “Your actions might have as well eliminated her too. That is only an adequate punishment for your recklessness. Now, let me introduce you to Celian Agnes, the dwarven hero who serves as the mediator between the Empire and—”
Fwooom!!!
A gust of wind blasted from within the cave as Ephinelyth took off in anger.
“I...should not have come…” Celian lowered her head in shame, “She’s right, any dragon would be angry if their territory were to be trespassed. Let alone an Elder Dragon.”
Synthia shrugged at Celian’s words, “You merely wanted to learn of our existence, chosen of the Archangel of Love. I do welcome someone as pure-hearted as you are.”
“How did you—”
“The same way I know my daughter will be fine.” Synthia gazed at the clear skies that her daughter had taken off into with her golden eyes. “Everything is in motion as they are…such is the will of this world.”
Ephinelyth zoomed across the skies, eyes wet from what she just experienced. Her own mother had wrongfully reprimanded her for something she was in the right to do so.
Her cave was within the territory belonging to her father’s rule, not only she was given the place by her father so that she would have home away from the overwhelming thoughts of her fellow kind, it was only reasonable that she defended her home from any foreign intruders.
And for her mother to punish her when she did nothing wrong, in her very own quarters…
Ephinelyth would have accepted her punishment had she done something like erasing the memories of others out of spite.
But it was her home, she had the right to defend it, whether if it was her mother’s guests nor anyone of any social standing for that matter. Ephinelyth had a strong disdain towards having her world ripped from her bare hands—in this case, her world was the cave where she had isolated herself into.
The winds rustled at her girlish body, Ephinelyth’s silver hair flapped in the air as she allowed her rustled emotions to bring her away, away from her home, what she used to think to be her safe haven.
Flap, flap, flap!
“Ah…” at the sound of her clothes being damaged by her tremendous flight speed, Ephinelyth came to a halt in the air as she placed one of her hands as she focused her mana onto her linens, repairing her simple dress.
“Ugh!!! Why are you even talking!?”
“Disgusting~”
“Come on, no one cares what you are talking about, just shut up and give us...”
Voices entered her head before she could make sense of how far she traveled.
Ephinelyth was still in her human form, hence the effects of the thoughts of others only affected her so slightly than she had been in her dragon form.
Instead of receiving everything that came from other people’s subconscious minds, in her human form, only unspoken words appeared to her.
Though the unwanted thoughts were annoying, but the lessened intensity in her human form made it manageable.
From a few hundred meters below her, figures of four girls came to her sight. The three voices came from the group that stood opposite of the lone girl.
Children? What are they doing here, away from…
A mansion laid half a kilometer away from these children, basing the extravagant fluffy yet colorful linens that they wore. No doubt these were people from ‘high society’, it made no sense for them to stray far from the confines of—
Pomfp!!!
A loud recoil entered her ears.
Even with her high in the sky, the visual face slapping of the lonesome girl was shown to her as though she was witnessing a performance.
This is a meaningless squabble. I should leave…
“What do you mean you won’t do it?!” the one who slapped the lone child spoke.
“Not only is she dumb, she has no respect too.”
“We gave another chance just because your pitiful father works for mine!” the child spoke as the other two behind her snickered.
“No… I know what you all want.”
What could children want? They all are from rich and powerful families. What else do they need?
Casting perception distortion magic on herself, she floated down until she was 20 meters away from the scene to get a closer look at the children.
The lone girl who had her green eyes cast on the ground as her pointy tangerine ears and striped tail curled inwards.
A beastkin among human society?
It was not rare for beastkin to appear in human society but for a beastkin to have seemingly equal if not, high status among human societies was almost unheard of from where she was from.
This place was as foreign as it could get from where she lived.
“What will you do?
“Do you want your father to suffer?”
“Or will you follow your mother’s footsteps?”
“Mama…”
Ephinelyth’s mind flashed at the lone girl’s voice.
A same set of rounded ears, striped tail, visions of a woman bearing similar features to the child sprouted in Ephinelyth’s mind.
Scenes of the woman gently caressing the beastkin girl, teaching her various skills, talked to her about things…
Splat!
A scene of crimson muddled her mind’s eye.
Tears muddled her as the very same beastkin woman bleed lifelessly on the ground, with a ball sized cavity in her chest...all the while a boy with dark hair was escorted away by the authorities.
No, no, I don’t want to see this, it’s not my memories! I don’t care. This has nothing to do with me.
The beastkin girl’s thoughts of her deceased mother flowed into the Elder Dragon’s mind, overloading Ephinelyth—
“Hah? Is that it!?” a loud boyish voice rang out from the distance severing the visions to Ephinelyth’s mind. “Ahahahaha, I don’t think that’s possible!!!”
Along with it, the thoughts of a fearful girl had now turned into…
Relief, joy, shame, apprehension and even hope.
Ephinelyth blinked as the new surge of emotions emanated from the beastkin girl.
Her green eyes sparkled, her striped tangerine tail wagged ever slightly at the voice of a haughty boy.
“No, I swear, you have to believe me!”
At the voice of a second boy, the spines of the three human girls tightened.
Their insufferable attitude prior was nowhere to be seen and was replaced by a sense of urgency.
An urgency to please. To curry favor and maintain the image of an elegant girl.
Then, all voices that appeared to Ephinelyth disappeared.
Like an ocean’s wave washing away the cluster of footprints along the shore, she became connected with the thoughts of a singular individual.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, I was right! This is where the Serene had gone to. I knew something was wrong when she disappeared suddenly.”
The racing thoughts of the first boy flowed into Ephinelyth’s mind, commanding her attention with absolute vigor and focus. When his voice appeared to her mind, all the other minds that plagued her became white noise, rendered to irrelevancy to favor him.
“The other three must be doing something again, I need to get her—”
“Hey, John, let’s go explore there shall we? I’ve heard from the maids here that there are ghosts at the edge of the compound, let’s not go near the woods,” the second boy interrupted John’s thoughts, doing his best to deter young John away from heading towards where the group of girls were.
“What??? Are you scared? I want to explore further.”
“What is the point of going into the woods anyways, we are better off getting back to the ceremony, there’s nothing important here, John.”
It was as if…
“John, can you do what I say for once!? I am your ONLY friend for crying out loud!!!”
Ephinelyth’s eyes widened at the other boy’s inner voice.
“No, hang on, I think I heard voices over…” oblivious to the second boy’s inner thoughts, John raised a hand as his ears twitched slightly, “...there!”
Without waiting for his friend, John dashed towards the direction of where the four girls were.
“This busybody dumbasss…” John’s friend cursed in his head as the boy followed after.
“Hah...hah...hah… w-what’s...w-what’s going on h-here…”
Not even allowing the three human girls to react to his sudden appearance, John had placed himself between the beastkin girl and the three human girls.
“A-are you all lost? B-because that’s where everyone else is s-supposed to be,” panting from his lack of breath, John pointed towards the mansion that he came from.
“We, uhhh…” the human girls stuttered at his sudden question.
“Shit, this moron again?”
“How did he even know where we brought her to?”
“Ew, it’s John…”
“John! Why did you run suddenly…” John’s friend caught up to him only to have his face turned into a frown upon seeing John’s interference with between the beastkin and the three human girls.
“He always picks her over me!!!”
The boy, whilst complaining to himself about John made a quiet click with his tongue.
Hiding his disdainful persona with a neutral voice as he spoke aloud to everyone in the politest voice.
“What’s happening here, girls?”
“We got lost~”
“We were talking to Serene here and had suddenly forgotten where we were.”
“Thank the heavens you found usss~”
The three human girls quickly got close to the boy, fawning over John’s ‘friend’ as they pretended their interaction with the beastkin girl did not happen.
To them, there were no witnesses to the blackmailing of the beastkin girl.
With the words of three against one, who would doubt them?
“Is that so?” John scratched his head with a goofy grin, “I must be lucky to have found you all here, now everyone can go back safely, right?”
His comment immediately drew the hostility of the three human girls.
“Ewww, what is this pig saying?”
“He dares speak in such a tone? To me?”
“Do us a favor, kill yourself and stop talking.”
Of which, he had no idea of.
For unlike Ephinelyth who was watching from above and hearing the thoughts of the three human girls, John was a mere boy who had neither merit nor talent to these girls.
Unlike his friend who garnered respect from the others, in everyone else’s eyes he was meddlesome, annoying, arrogant and a waste of space.
“Do you mind escorting them back?” John asked his friend. “You know, because they don’t seem to like me as much as…” his hands gestured towards the other boy.
“Me? Oh right, sure thing and what about, her?” the boy gestured towards the beastkin girl that had her head turned away from everyone. “Doesn’t she...kind of…” his friend no longer spoke and mouthed the words ‘hate you’ at John.
“Nah,” John swatted his hand at his friend. “It’s fine, I have to take care of her on behalf of my family.”
Shrugging his shoulders as if he had no choice, John’s friend was finally convinced and decided to leave John with the beastkin girl.
“See you, tomorrow?” the boy asked John before being pestered by the girls to leave as quickly as possible.
“Yeah, the usual.”
With those words, John stood silently as he watched his friend walked away with the three human girls, eyes locked onto the backs of the four figures until they completely vanished into the distant view of the mansion.
Sigh…
“This is tiring. How long do I have to keep up this appearance in front of everyone?”
John’s spoke clearly in his head when he was certain his friend and the three girls was no longer within his range.
“I wonder if he knew they were picking on Serene… Sometimes it feels like he hates her, but sometimes he doesn’t. Maybe he ordered them to bully her because he is jealous…”
As his eyes dropped, John suddenly jolted his boyish frame as he finally remembered something.
“Right, Serene! I almost forgot!”
He turned towards the beastkin girl who still hid her face from him, despite having stood in silence with John for a long time.
“H-hey…”
John’s voice suddenly became meek, to the point where he seemed to have lost the brash boisterous persona he was pretending to have prior to coming to the girl, Serene.
“Did they do anything to you?”
“…”
While the girl was silent and pretended to not hear him.
John’s eyes darted towards his surroundings, checking his area for with the watchful eyes for no reason.
Then, his eyes locked onto where Ephinelyth was directly floating at.
“!!!”
John squinted his eyes as he stared at the space around Ephinelyth before reverting his gaze at Serene, his lips moved for a moment as he thought to himself.
“The girls from earlier might be watching or listening in, I’ll make our conversation private just in case…”
His fingers made a gentle snap, and a barrier made of faint dark aura appeared around him and the beastkin girl.
To any of the onlookers the aura was practically invisible, but for Ephinelyth, the Elder Dragon, even in her human form, such magic could be easily identified by her.
It was a mid-tier barrier magic, one that suppressed and disabled detection magic that came into contact with the barrier.
“Alright, this should be safe enough for her…” John thought to himself before moving his hands towards the shoulders of the beaskin girl.
“I just want to make sure you are fine.”
With his gentle touch, the girl willingly faced him, but one of her hands yet to remain at the cheek that she had been previously struck at.
Not understanding Serene’s attempts at concealing her cheek John jest in amusement, “Come on, I came in time nothing happened, you don’t have to be shy—”
John’s voice halted when Serene moved her hands from her cheeks, revealing a red hand mark that was left by the human girls earlier.
“What, did, they, do…”
John’s fist clenched, trembling as his calm tone turned heavy. His mind jumped from one thought to another, recalling the faces of the three girls prior.
“I’ll… I’ll get at them for you, since they like my best bud so much, I’ll ask—”
“No!” Serene stomped her feet. “Don’t tell him anything!!!”
“Why? They clearly hit you. I’ll just ask him a favor to keep them away from—”
Pang!!!
John’s cheek was struck by Serene, instantly paralyzing young John who know not of the beastkin girl’s intentions with his mouth agape.
His brows scrunched into a dumbfounded look.
“Don’t meddle! Keep your thoughts to yourself, I don’t need your help!”
“Meddling!? ME!?” John shouted, his boyish voice cracked amidst the blood pressure that surged in his veins. “You disappeared the moment my eyes looked away! Who knows what those girls had in plan for you!? What if they had a weapon!? What if that slap was just the beginning to something worse!?”
Whilst Ephinelyth was watching the Serene and John’s discourse unfold, visions started flooding in her once more. This time, the thoughts belonged to the young John.
A fine whip came slashing in John’s way, causing Ephinelyth to recoil from despite watching the scene herself. Following that were inaudible words from a moving mouth berating John for having done something he shouldn’t have.
Then the visions turned into the silhouette of two men whispering inaudible sentences to each other, discussing amongst themselves, plotting and hatching something sinister.
Then, there was running, there was John who was whisked away from his feet, shoved with a great force of from where he stood.
And finally...a body. A body of a dead woman with a hole in her chest.
The same woman who Ephinelyth saw in Serene’s mind.
“No… I…won’t let something like that happen to Serene. Aunt Dalene wouldn’t want that.”
“Something worse?” Serene looked at John, her eyes wet but scornful.
“Nothing compares to when the guy I thought I could rely on for the rest of my life, did not bother the slightest to attend my mother’s funeral.”
Serene’s words left the boy paralyzed as the girl with the striped tail left with heavy steps and a heavy heart.
“I’m sorry John. But I if you know what kind of people are truly in your life…” Serene shook her head and dismissed her thoughts as she departed from Ephinelyth’s telepathy range.
John had his two hands on his black hair, “I-I c-can’t… Serene, I tried… I...couldn’t have stopped them… It’s because of me…if she hadn’t saved me…”
The vision of Serene’s mother appeared in his mind, pushing him away from harm’s way as a horrible cloaked figure’s hand passed through the beastkins body, with her blood spraying in his every direction.
It was the last memory he had of the lady before she died.
“I am exactly the fool I pretend to be.”
