Ep 65. Get A Life, Will You? (5)

 

Raizel trudged alongside the flowing river as Eterra Lake once again came to view.

“Tch. Damned mages, telling a dragon what to do…”

Admittedly, the steel dragon could care less about what a human told her – heck, she hardly cared what elder dragons told her. But when it came down to Serenis, she found it strangely difficult to decline or ignore.

The dragon came to a stop before the edge of the lake. Otoka had told her that this ‘alem dust’ was found in discolored portions of the lake’s floors – along with instructions on how to get them without damaging their quality. All she had to do was dive in, grab them, and return.

‘Yeah, return. Easier said than done.’

Raizel did not know how to swim.

Swimming necessitated one to stay afloat, at least to some degree. But with a majority of her body comprised of metal, all Raizel was capable of was sinking to the bottom. Floating back up was out of the question, and so she’d always chosen to walk her way back ashore from bodies of water.

“Well, better get it done and over with…”

After lowering her stance, Raizel kicked herself off the ground as she leapt across the water. Her fall refused to break for quite some time as she soared across the lake’s length – when the dragon eventually did crash into the water’s surface, the land behind her had become tiny.

Raizel kept her eyes wide open as she rapidly sunk into the water. Darkness welcomed her from below like the gaping maw of a giant monster, but even with minimal amounts of light, the dragon could make out the details beneath her feet – and sinking quickly was rather helpful when she could hold only her breath for so long.

When her feet touched solid surface, Raizel began to drag her heavy body across the lake’s floors. The huge pressure was making her abysmally slow, but she had little time to spare idling around in this airless environment.

As soon as she spotted a discolored location, the dragon drove her claws into the ground itself. She could care less about the archmage’s careful instructions on how to pick up some mounds of dust.

When Raizel lifted her arms, a giant chunk of the ground lifted itself in entirety.

‘Now, to get back up there…’

Raizel slowly turned her head upwards. She couldn’t even see the surface anymore.

“…”

The dragon then turned around, taking a step back towards the direction she’d jumped from: an abysmally slow step that would likely take her days, if not weeks, to carry her back ashore. Unlike other streams and lakes, this particular lake was significantly deeper, the pressure unexpectantly – and exponentially – stronger.

She’d initially planned to run the way back in an instant. That was obviously out of the question now.

“…”

Clusters of air bubbled out of the dragon’s mouth. Raizel considered herself relatively good at holding her breath, but she was far from living with the fishes; being a dragon didn’t exactly come with superb lung capacities.

‘Fuck.’

 

✧   ✧   ✧

 

Serenis quietly sighed as she took Aldrid’s worry into account. It’d been quite some time since her awakening – it wouldn’t have surprised her if a deity of death had become aware of the dragonlord’s renewed presence.

“…I suppose it’s only natural that a deity of death would know. I’ve defied death, after all.”

“That’s…not true!...He couldn’t have known, or else he would’ve come to you the moment you awoke. Even I didn’t know you’d returned to life.”

Aldrid began to course through her memories of the other deities – specifically the ones that could’ve recognized Serenis’ return. Truth be told, most of them couldn’t possibly have known.

“The only one that could’ve sensed that something was amiss is Lady Felicis, and only because you carry so much mana. The others couldn’t have…”

The deity trailed off her words as she belatedly remembered who was standing before her.

Serenis. Lord of dragons, commonly referred to as ‘Starchild’ by the people of their era.

“…Lord Serenis, did you use star-aspected magic since your return?”

“On occasion, yes. Why?”

A dreadful look washed over Aldrid’s face as she heard the answer. Besides the deity of mana, there was, in fact, one other that would recognize that something was amiss. A peculiar deity that hardly anyone ever saw, one that would’ve been forgotten had they not seemed to share the dragonlord’s affinity.

“…Oh, dear. There…might be another one…”

 

✧   ✧   ✧

 

A black tear ripped through the darkness of the frozen cavern. Two men stepped out of the dimensional gate, their breaths letting out chilled steam in the immense cold surrounding them.

One of them wrapped his feathered wings around his body, studying the icy hall. At the edge of the cavern’s depth was a small, horned silhouette sitting on its glimmering floors, staring into a frozen dead end. She seemed rather reluctant to turn around and face her guests.

The winged figure slowly approached the girl ahead, waving his hand in greeting. He cared little if she could see him or not.

“Aymeia, you could do better than to ignore me like that – especially when you’re the one who asked for my presence.”

However, a dry response was all that was returned to him.

“Don’t come near me, Felicir. I’ll kill you.”

The winged figure halted his steps as he remained standing some distance away. A thin smile curved his lips.

“Not the friendliest greeting I’ve heard, but not the worst. I’ll take it.”

Silence ensued as neither of them spoke a word. When it stretched on, the other, elven figure who’d tore open the gate began to shiver, impatiently tapping his cane on the cavern’s icy floors.

“You two wouldn’t happen to mind continuing your conversation, yes? I’m eager to leave as soon as I can. Might I remind you both that I’m not too fond of ice and cold.”

Felicir smirked at the remark, shrugging back at the complaining elf. There wasn’t much he could do other than urging Aymeia to speak.

“You heard him. We’ve been kind enough to come to your dreaded lair – state your business, Aymeia.”

The girl still refused to move, nor turn to face the two men. However, she did return an answer, this time in a less hostile voice.

“…Something’s wrong. There’s another being that the star is responding to.”

“Could be just another peculiar manaspawn, no?”

“Not possible. I can’t interfere. They’re more attuned than I am.”

Felicir snorted at the explanation, soon bursting into laughter.

“YOU can’t interfere? Did someone pickpocket your divinity? I worked hard to get you that, you know.”

When the girl finally turned her head, a menacing red glow illuminated her eyes. A tiny orb of fire formed above the two men, which soon expanded into a small replica of the sun. The burning sphere sizzled against the cavern’s surface, threatening to descend on the visitors’ heads.

Droplets of heated water began to drop down, melting away at the cavern’s floors. The deity of death defensively raised his hands.

“It was just a joke. No need to be so unfriendly.”

“I don’t understand jokes.”

“I’d tell you that it only makes it better, but you probably won’t get that either, will you?”

When the miniature star blinked out of existence, Felicir lowered his hands, widening the grin on his face.

“That’s a good girl. Location?”

“Southern edge of Wayla. Partivine.”

“Partivine? Why, that’s wonderful. It’s been a while since I’ve seen my dear sister.”

“She hates you.”

“Oh, it’s just her way of showing affection.”

The winged figure turned to leave, beckoning over his friend. The elf readily nodded towards Felicir, tearing open a new gate before hurriedly throwing himself across the portal first.

The deity of death spared one last glance towards the girl before leaving.

“Aymeia, this may sound odd coming from me, but get a life, will you? You don’t have to follow the dragonlord THAT closely.”

“Get out.”

“Haha. Alright.”