Had Things Been Different

Allister ran behind me. Thankfully, while I was slightly weaker, I was slightly faster. The crowd desperately scattered in all directions as I barrelled through. Looks like they’d finally learned their lesson.

I was intentionally slaloming and making my run look erratic, to mask my true intentions. I turned my head. My physical strength wasn’t the only thing that had been boosted: the strength of my vision had quintupled. I turned my head and spotted an onlooker close to the castle. They certainly couldn’t make out the details on my face, but I could see straight into their eyes.

We switched places.

I sprinted straight at the castle for all I was worth. I leapt onto the side and ran up it. Where was I headed? Right towards a dragon.

Hup!

I leapt into the air and grabbed a dragon. The thing was ginormous. It was a greyish green monster, the size of a small grocery store. It honked so loudly, I felt the bass reverberate in my bones. I scrambled up the dragon, which began flailing wildly, trying its best to fling me off.

Fearing my sword would accidentally touch and kill it, I sheathed it. I raised my fists and proceeded to box the dragon over the head, like it owed me money. My punches hit like cannons, causing the dragon to shriek and prance around.

That was when I noticed something. The creature had a giant, rusty chain around its neck. A leash? I picked the thing up and yanked on it, like I was starting a horse. The dragon shrieked again and spread out its wings. Its wingspan stretched out to twice the length of the dragon itself. I was sure that from below, it must have cut a nightmarish figure in the mist.

We lift off.

My only goal was to kill Allister, and I didn’t care who got in the way. Somehow, I knew how to fly the dragon with ease. I guess I really was the hero of prophecy. As such, I knew exactly how to yank the chain to make it spit fire.

And fire it spat.

At this point, any onlooker who hadn’t sought refuge far, far away from Allister and I’s battle was not going to survive. The dragon roared out its flames, burning everything and everyone.

*BOOM!*

An earth-shattering sound. A barrel of explosives had just gone off. In my frenzy, I hadn’t considered such a thing. Was I even safe right now?

Regardless, I continued to force the dragon to spew its hateful fire. More explosions. Meanwhile, I scanned my surroundings with my eagle eyes, searching for Allister. I figured I knew exactly where to look.

There he is!

As predicted, Allister was chasing the remaining dragon, trying to mount it. Unfortunately for him, my activities had riled up his to-be stead. It flew around, crashing into walls and spitting fire of its own. The scene was total carnage.

I turned my dragon to face Allister’s general direction. We flew straight towards him. I know exactly what to do…

***

“Damnit!” Allister internally screamed. Even the Demon King had his limits, and calming a hysterical dragon down was apparently one of them. Frustratingly close to catching it, Allister took a leap of faith at the dragon.

…

“Got you!” he triumphantly roared, catching the dragon by its tail. The creature predictably began swinging its tail around. It swung it like a battering ram, slamming Allister into the side of the castle. Allister grunted from the impact, but he held firm. In fact, he used the hit he’d just taken to grab a better hold of the dragon’s tail.

However, just as he began climbing up it, a blazing inferno descended upon him, with the force of a thousand suns. The heat permeated through the slit in his visor, burning his face. His dragon shrieked so loudly, the castle windows shattered. Allister’s eardrums felt like they were about to burst. His vision started to lag. The world was muted.

Allister fell all the way down to the ground. Though he couldn’t hear the thud of his landing, he certainly felt it. Dazed and confused, the ferocious man stumbled to his feet.

Another wave of fire.

Allister bowed his head and brought his arms up. His armour may have been fireproofed, but nothing could ignore this kind of heat. Allister felt like he was in an iron bull.

He unsheathed his sword and blindly ran in the direction of Kugo’s dragon. He jumped.

*Swoosh!*

Allister managed to open one eye just enough to see his sword hit the dragon.

“What?”

Out of the dragon’s mouth and through the hellfire; a figure. It shot out like a missile.

***

I brought up my arms, like a double-handed volleyball serve.

*Bang!*

I knocked Allister’s helmet clean off his head.

All three of us hit the ground: the dragon’s corpse crashed, I landed semi-gracefully and Allister crash-landed.

I couldn’t afford to waste time. This ended now. I bolted straight at Allister. My eyes widened.

He’s already recovered enough to stand up? What a monster.

But that wasn’t going to stop me. I raised my sword above my head and gave a shrill war cry.

Allister swung his own sword from below, aimed straight at my head. He gave a war cry of his own; far more intimidating than mine.

Even the last dragon standing roared.

***

Everything was quiet…

Allister lay on his back.

I was still standing. My hands were shaking. In fact, my entire body was trembling.

I… I’m still alive.

I lowered my sword and turned to face Allister. His grey face was burned and charred. His lifeless, black eyes had a white tint to them. His purple armour had suffered more damage than I thought it could.

I had expected—no, hoped—for some final words, from the man who had plagued my life. Instead, I got nothing. He was simply dead. It was so unsatisfying, so frustrating, that I wanted to cry. But I didn’t.

“Sato Kugo…” a meek voice in my head said.

The king of Boria?

“Sure, if that’s what you insist on calling me. Listen, Sato… I don’t have much time…”

What? Are you dying? How?

“Well… you’ve just cut me in half… haven’t you? Could you survive if someone did the same to you?”

I didn’t answer.

“The Prophecy has been completed… Earth has been born… However, since I’m dying, well… you can’t exactly return, can you?”

What if I sign a contract and purposely fail it?

“No… you’d simply fade into nothingness.”

But weren’t you born from these contracts?

“In a way. But they were also born from me.”

What do you mean?

“It’s… a… paradox… I suppose. You solved one in the first trial, didn’t you?” this last phrase was gasped out in one exhale. I didn’t even bother responding. I knew it had been the king’s final breath.

I looked around at the carnage around me. Charred corpses, dead dragons and a partly destroyed castle.

I took one final glance at Allister. His glazed over eyes stared longingly at the sky, as if wondering what life could have been like, had none of this happened.

I walked away.