Chapter 30: The House of a Dragon

The tent slowly warmed up for a few hours after Nic had entered it. Even wrapping himself up in bedding did little to help with the cold. All of this resulted in him waking up much more tired than everyone else in the group.

“You look horrible.”

“Are you sure you got enough sleep?”

“Not sick, are you?”

Everyone had something to say about Nic’s appearance. And yet all he did was simply wave them away.

“I’m fine, really. Just a bit tired, but I’ll make it.” The monotone, apathetic way that he responded did little to relieve his companions. Yet none of them could argue with him. They had a limited amount of time to head up the mountain, and leaving someone behind alone was dangerous. Even if they hadn’t seen many animals or monsters, they couldn’t guarantee that there were none.

With all of this in their minds, they reluctantly erased as much of their campsite as they could. The brisk, cold morning air bit into any exposed skin that they had. The only person seemingly unperturbed by the coldness was Yuuki.

Two hours after dawn, the group finally continued their trek up the mountain. The ground crunched beneath their feet as snow soon began to cover the dirt and grass that they had been climbing the past two days.

The rest of the mountain’s peaks were covered in the white powder. And it showed just how cold the air had gotten around them. Nic had put on extra layers that morning, and it still wasn’t enough.

Kiara tried to start a fire, but was quickly told off for doing so. While it would have provided the group with heat, it would have used up some of the already thinning air that they were dealing with.

The group trudged on. Through the freezing cold and the building snow. A single trail up the mountain’s side.

They barely stopped to eat lunch. Just a minute to grab preserved jerky out of one of the bags.

“Hmmm?” One of the two villagers guiding the group up held up a hand, signaling for the group to stop.

“What is it?” Nic spoke up from the back of the group.

“Quiet.” The villager shushed the rest of the group as well. His eyes were locked onto a calm segment of snow not that far away from the group.

With slow, methodical movements, the villager slowly put down his bag and reached in. He pulled out multiple pieces of jerky that he still had. Taking one he threw it high into the air to the side of the group, right next to the segment of snow that he had been looking at.

“Run!” The villager shouted as a number of white-haired creatures burst out from the snow. They were all jumping towards the piece of thrown jerky. They were like giant rats, except that their front paws held webbed hands. And the fact that each one was half the height of an average human.

The entire group ran upon seeing the creatures. The Villager let everyone pass him. He took Nic’s spot in the rear as he continued to toss pieces of jerky behind him.

“What’re those!?” Nic shouted to the villager as they ran.

“Snow Moles! They hide in powder snow, waiting to prey on others as they pass near them.” The villager yelled back and continued to chuck the strips of jerky behind him. “Usually the Dragon keeps them in check. I guess it’s our lucky day!”

Nic laughed in his own head. Their trip up the mountain had gone relatively uninterrupted the entire time. And right before they reached their goal, this happened.

How much longer till they reached the house? Nic had felt like they hadn’t slowed down that much compared to the previous days. But the house they were going to wasn’t even in sight. All that they could see ahead of them was the blinding white of the snow.

Looking back, the Snow Moles were still chasing after them. Some had dropped out of the chase as they had gotten their fill on the jerky, but the rest were ravenously chasing them. And they were beginning to catch up.

The snow may have been beautiful to look at from a distance, but it was beginning to slow the group down. None of them could run properly in it, even the villagers.

“We’re going to have to fight them!” Nic made the proclamation as he put a hand on one of his swords.

“We can’t! There are too many for us to fight at once!”

“Are they monsters? Or just normal beasts?” If they were monsters created through Irradiation, Nic could easily take care of them. But that was a big “if”.

One that turned out to be false as the villager shook his head.

“They’re normal animals.” The villager seemed to know what Nic had been thinking and had quickly shut his idea down.

Nic was about to turn around and fight anyways when his face was quickly heated by a passing lance made of flames. As it hit the snow behind the villager, it burst into a large explosion of flames. The entire thing went downhill, and the little bit of explosion that tried to go back towards Nic and the villager were blocked by an invisible wall.

Looking up the mountain, Nic finally saw them. In the middle of the snow, running down it towards them, was Sarman. His large frame was impossible to miss against the backdrop of pure white that was the snow. And being carried on his back was Aria.

The entire group of travelers bunched up as the two finally reached them.

“You okay?” Sarman bent down as he let Aria slide off of his back.

“Yea.” Aria tried to stand up as she talked, but instantly grimaced in pain. Nic tried to reach out to her but was stopped when she took a step towards him. Then another. A third. All accompanied by the slight sound of pain. Finally she stopped right in front of Nic.

Nic reached out to her shoulders, still shaking in pain. The moment he touched her, Aria seemed to fall into his chest, letting his arms wrap around her and support her. Nic looked up at Sarman.

“What happened to her?” The urgency in his voice caused Sarman to smile slightly as he looked at the two of them.

“She’ll be fine. M’kara accidentally broke a number of our bones when she grabbed us in front of the village. Aria here only just woke up and is still sore, but she jumped out of bed the moment she heard that everyone was being chased on the mountain.”

“I’m sorry…” Aria whispered a soft apology as she buried her head in Nic’s chest.

“There’s no need to apologize!”

“Yea!”
“Right, Nic?”
Yuuki, Sarah and Kiara all spoke up before Nic could even comprehend that Aria had been apologizing for what she had done.

“They’re right. No apologies.” Nic patted her head softly as he told her that he didn’t need an apology from her. In response she simply clinged to his shirt harder.

“How did you know that we were being chased?” Yuuki spoke up as she walked over to Sarman, her face getting awfully close to his.

“Ah, that-”

“-would be me.” Sarman was cut off by a low rumbling voice from above. The group looked up and found a dragon flying down from the sky. With a quick twirl of its body, and a mighty flap of its wings, the dragon gracefully landed in the snow next to the group. “Welcome, Verilo’s inheritor and the Heir of the East.”

The dragon only welcomed two people in the group specifically. Nic was quick to realize who the two people were. It was clear that he himself was “Verilo’s inheritor”, but he was confused why the dragon had called Yuuki the “Heir of the East” and not acknowledge her title as the Queen of Crystallia.

Something that was not lost on Yuuki either.

“Heir to the East?” Yuuki audibly questioned the title herself.

“Hmmm? Oh, have you not realized it yourself yet? Surely you have noticed the changes already…” The dragon mused under its breath quietly. Yet quiet for a being of that size didn’t help much as everyone in the group heard what it had said clearly.

Yuuki looked at her own hands, looking for anything different.

“I haven’t felt anything different with my body?”

The dragon looked at the Cat-Person carefully. Nic meanwhile thought that he knew what the dragon was talking about. He was sure that Yuuki had felt different the night before. She hadn’t been affected by the cold like the rest of them had. Was that the change that the dragon was talking about?

“Ah, we can figure this out later. You must be quite cold out here. Let’s retreat back to the cabin for now.” The dragon leaned her neck down; an invitation for those there to get on her back.

Sarman was the first person to take up the dragon’s offer. It seemed he had a trust in the dragon that not even Aria had. Yuuki, trusting Sarman fully, was the second person who got on.

One by one the rest of the group got on, leaving just Nic and Aria off of the dragon. Nic helped Aria up first before getting onto the dragon’s back himself. As he got onto it, Nic felt a tug in his body. His ability to absorb irradiation was pulling at something within the dragon.

He focused his eyes on the core of the dragon. As he did, he spotted the mass of Irradiation welling up within it. But it wasn’t leaking at all.

“What…? Is this…?” As Nic muttered to himself, the dragon gave a mighty thrust with its wings and took to the skies. Flying above the snow was a much faster way to get to their destination.

With the dragon's flight, the cabin near the summit of the mountain quickly came into view. It was a simple wooden cabin really, but it was quite large and managed to take up most of the flat area near the top of the mountain. Alongside the decent sized clearing in front of the cabin, the mountain quickly began to rise to its uppermost point. Near the top, there was a seemingly cutout section of the mountain.

A large stone overhang.

The dragon flew past the cabin and landed in the overhang. It was the best place to land as it gave the group the most space to disembark from the dragons back. The ride hadn’t been long, less than a minute in fact.

“Hey,” Nic looked up at the dragon as Sarman and Yuuki slid off of its back. “You’re a demi-human, right?”

Nic’s question stopped the rest of the group in their tracks. A dragon based demi-human had never been heard of. And the villagers at the base of the mountain believed that the Dragon and the old woman on top of the mountain were two separate beings.

“Oh? And what makes you think that, Verilo?” The dragon snorted as they lowered their head to be on level with Nic.

“I can see Irradiation, even in living beings. You clearly have a lot within your body, and yet you haven’t been turned into a monster or have signs of Irradiation sickness like other living beings. In fact, the Irradiation within you is calm. Just like it is in Demi-Humans when there isn’t enough to make them have Irradiation sickness.”

“Bwahahaha!” The dragon let out a long burst of laughter. Its body glowed a bright white and in the blink of an eye, standing before the group was a simple old woman. The cane she used to help her stand properly shook with each fit of laughter that came over the old woman. “You’re quite right. I’m indeed a demi-human.”

Sarman and Nic were the only two who didn’t show an outburst of surprise after hearing the truth. The two villagers that had come with them were easily more confused than surprised, but their voices only served to add to the commotion of everyone else's surprise.

“I’ve never heard of a Demi-Human being able to switch between forms.” As the person closest to the old lady, Nic tried to get more info then and there.

“Let’s head back to the warmth of my cabin. I’ll explain more there.” The old woman said before beginning the trek down.

Nic’s first impression of the dragon’s human form was that it looked frail and weak. Yet the strength of her voice and the way she moved while leading the group down from the overhang proved that she was anything but.

The cabin already had a small fire going when the group walked in. This fire had kept the cabin warm, which was a wonderful delight to the group that had spent the past three days climbing the mountain.

Most of the group huddled around the fire, taking the opportunity to warm themselves up. Only two people from that group didn’t try to join the huddle. Yuuki stayed near Sarman, almost glued to his side. When asked why she wasn’t going to join the rest, she simply stated that she was warm enough with him. The other was Nic, who had taken a seat on a small couch in the center room.

“Mind if I rest here?” Aria sat down next to him. Knowing that Nic was fine with it, she quickly used his body as something to lean against, letting her body finally continue to recover from the soreness that came from healing multiple broken bones in a single day. Her eyes quickly closed, and her breathing slowed down.

“She is very relaxed with you.” Kara nodded towards Aria as she spoke to Nic.

“She is.” Nic responded softly. He laid his hand over one of hers and gently squeezed it. Inside, he was relieved to have her next to him again. It was only once she sat down next to him that Nic had realized just how lonely he had felt the past few days. Even though he had been surrounded by friends and allies, he had felt isolated without Aria.

“Well, I guess it’s time for me to come clean?” Kara joked before finally looking serious.

“How can you change forms?” Sarman was the one who asked this time. He and Yuuki were standing behind the couch. Unlike Nic and Aria, the two of them were themselves Demi-Humans. They had the biggest stake in learning how Kara was able to switch forms.

“Honestly, I’m not a ‘normal’ demi-human. When the Irradiated Winter began and Irradiation flooded the world, I happened to be in the middle of looking at someone’s future. The Irradiation merged our two souls, like it did for a lot of the first generation demi-humans. When the soul of a Human and an Animal merge, which one becomes the dominant personality?

Almost everyone believed it to be the human soul for a long time. But, as some have recently learned, it is a bit more complicated than that. The actual answer to that question is that the stronger soul becomes the dominant personality. The body then gains features of the weaker soul's original body. And so, Demi-Humans were made.

When I merged with that woman three hundred years ago, my soul was the stronger one. And so my body should’ve taken the characteristics of a human. What is there that a Human can give to a Dragon? Hands? I could already pick stuff up with my claws. Speech? We Dragons have long been able to speak the human tongues. The only thing that Humans have that the Dragons did not is the ability to walk around human settlements as a human.

That is what was given to me. The ability to turn into a human so that I could interact with human settlements.”

As Kara finished her explanation, the cabin fell silent. All twelve of her listeners had become fascinated by the tale as she spun it. The creation of Demi-Humans was a hotly debated topic. The intricate details unknown to so many.

Yet Kara had revealed everything in a matter of seconds.

“So it is because your dominant soul is the dragon soul?” Sarman was stunned as he tripped over his own words. His hand hovered over his own chest, which was covered with phoenix feathers underneath his clothes. If Kara was telling the truth, then Ordwell’s soul had been stronger than the soul of the mythical Phoenix.

“That’s right. Though it makes sense. Am’Kara was quite the willful dragon. He was always seeing into the future, though even that didn’t save him from one man’s defiance of Kronus.”

“Wait,” Multiple things that Kara had just said had set off bells in Nic’s head. “You know about Kronus? And he was a willful dragon?”

“Of course I know about Kronus. I am an ancient dragon, you know. I was created alongside one of the Spirit Progenitors like the rest of the ancient dragons. Our duty is to protect them from humans who wish to do them harm.” Nic twisted his head to look at Sarman who simply nodded.

“Salamander confirms that she is telling the truth about that.”

“As for your other question; yes, I was once a male dragon. But that’s in the past. It doesn’t matter now.”

“Got it.” Nic nodded. It was just a phrase that he had been curious about since the person sitting before him was female. “So your name is…?”

“In my human form, I go by Kara. But when I revert back to my dragon form, it is M’kara. Though in recent years I have heard that people are beginning to call me ‘the Prophetic Dragon’ due to my ability to see into the future,”

Nic had definitely heard the moniker of “prophetic dragon” before. And judging by the looks of everyone in the room, they all had as well. It was a well known name. The dragon that held it was said to be able to clearly predict someone’s future, down to how long they had left to live.

If Kara was to be believed, that very same dragon was sitting right in front of them. The mere thought of it made Nic gulp in slight anticipation. Knowing if anything bad was going to happen on their journey into Kyoku would be valuable information.

“That’s… I think we’ve all heard of you before. But how can we verify that you are who you say you are?” Nic forced himself to be wary. Wary of the power that could be right in front of him.

“I think you already have your answer.” Kara looked behind Nic.

“She told me yesterday how today would go. She is the real deal.” Sarman spoke up. “But, I don’t think it would be wise for us to pry for information out of her.”

It was like he had read Nic’s mind and knew what he wanted. Sarman shut him down hard.

“Is there a reason why you think that?” While Nic wanted to say that, the voice that did came from right next to him. Nic had thought that Aria had been completely asleep, but in reality she had just been listening quietly with her eyes closed.

“I think that the temptation for us to change the future if we hear anything bad will be too great. And if we were to change the future…”

“Something far worse would happen.” Kara finished off Sarman’s statement for him. Nic thought that he was probably parroting something she had told him the day before either way. Even if he didn’t like their answer, Nic had to admit there was some merit to what they were saying.

If Nic learned that any of the others were going to die, he would do everything he could to stop it from happening. Just like what Sarman was saying, he knew he would try to change the future.

“I… understand.” Nic couldn’t mask the twinge of disappointment in his voice. Something that Kara did not miss.

She continued to tease him for the rest of the day about it. Much to the enjoyment of the rest of their group as they warmed up, had some nice warm food, and finally got assorted to different rooms for the night.

The delegation planned to pass across to the other side of the mountain the next day. Once they descended they would officially be in lands considered to be a part of Kyoku. Their journey was almost over.

The rest that Aria had been taking wasn’t nearly enough to rid her of her fatigue. Because of that, after they all shared a meal, Aria pointed out their room to Nic. She was currently resting her head against his chest as he carried her into the room and set her down on the bed.

“Stay with me.” After Nic closed the door, Aria whispered to him. He smiled and sat down on the bed next to her.

“I’m not going anywhere.” He stroked her head, watching her eyes flutter till they finally closed and her breathing slowed down. She had fallen back asleep.

The two’s room was on the left side of the cabin, near the entrance. Because of that, they had a window that overlooked the area in front of the cabin. Despite the sun having set, Nic could still see some of the area in front of the cabin. Sarman and Yuuki were sharing the room on the opposite side of the cabin, with much the same view.

“Who…?” As Nic looked out the window, he spotted someone hurrying across the area in front of the house. He couldn’t tell who it was because of the dark, but they were walking towards the path to the overhang.

After leaning over Aria to make sure she was asleep, Nic quietly got off the bed and left the room. The main room had quieted down. The fire was burning low and would eventually go out halfway through the night. It also provided the only light in the large room.

Using that light, Nic found a rather large jacket near the front door and threw it on. He needed some help against the biting cold as he opened the door and slipped out into the snowy mountain night.

Sarman moved through the cold darkness without creating a single flame to guide him. He had burned the path to the overhang in his mind the day before. Even if the moon wasn’t shining at all, he would be able to find his way through the dark.

He refused to create a flame in order to stop anyone who could’ve possibly still been up that late from seeing him through a window. Sarman didn’t want to be followed.

He couldn’t afford to have this conversation overheard.

Sarman’s legs quickly took him up the small passageway to the empty overhang. Once he was near the middle, a flaming lizard came to life on his shoulder.

“What’re we doing here so late?”

“I needed to talk to you privately.”

Salamander listened to Sarman and jumped onto the ground in front of him in answer. If his contractor wanted to talk, there was no reason for him to deny him. It was a bit weird that Sarman wanted to do this verbally. The two had the ability to communicate in Sarman’s mind.

“Is this about what M’kara said? You can ignor-”

“It is,” Sarman cut off the Spirit Progenitor. “I need you to promise me.”

“Ah,” Salamander clicked his tongue. “Let me guess; don’t tell anyone what I heard?”

“That would be nice, but that isn’t it. Salamander, after it happens… Can you promise me that you will look after and protect Yuuki? Oh, and make sure she knows that it isn’t her fault.” Sarman added the last part onto the question in a hurried way before Salamander could respond.

“I… You really are just like her…” Salamander hung his head low.

“Her?”

“Sarman, you know our meeting wasn't a coincidence, right?”

Salamander suddenly bringing up the past caught Sarman off guard. Their meeting? Sarman couldn’t remember it. How could he, it happened when he was still a baby. Salamander had always been there. That much Sarman knew.

“Of course it wasn’t. You’ve always been with me.”

The lizard let out a sigh, a quick stream of flames accompanying it. “And why do you think that a spirit progenitor created a contract with a baby?”

Sarman’s mind went blank. What Salamander was saying was showing the cracks in his own logic. Why would a spirit progenitor make a contract with someone who wasn’t even six months old?

“Why… why did you choose me…?”

“My last contractor, in their dying breaths, made me promise to protect you and guide you.”

“Ma…ma…” Sarman uttered a single word. No matter how many times he said it, it felt alien on his lips. An unknown word to describe someone he couldn’t remember.

“The person who I had contracted with before you was Lily Chapman… you’re mother.”

Sarman fell to his knees. His heartbeat was getting faster and faster. It threatened to destroy his chest as his eyes fought back the water welling within them.

He couldn’t remember her. He couldn’t remember his own mother. And yet she had given him everything. Salamander had been such a big part of Sarman’s life, and it was thanks to his mother’s request.

“Her last request, I remember it clearly to this day. ‘Salamander, please protect Sarman, no matter what happens.’ And now you… you’re asking me, Salamander, to protect Yuuki, no matter what happens.”

Sarman had never heard Salamander crack. He showed emotions often, yet it was always Salamander in control of them. He was steadfast.

Yet now his voice was cracking.

Sarman’s own eyes were watering, so he couldn’t see the lizard anymore, but he was sure that the lizard was also trying to hold them back.

“I’m sorry… It’s cruel of me to ask this of you…” Sarman was stopped by the heat of flames licking his face. The spirit didn’t have physical hands. This was the best that it could do to comfort its contractor.

“Sarman, don’t feel bad… I’m still a spirit, progenitor or no. I must uphold my end of the contract.” Flames flew to life around the two of them as Salamander spoke. They twisted and entwined with each other, creating a blazing cage. A cage where their promise would be made.

The cage of binding.

Sarman had seen it before, though he only knew he had. He couldn’t remember it. The last time that Sarman had seen the cage was when he was a baby. It was the same cage that had been made when the two had made their initial contract.

“I Salamander,”

“I Sarman,”

The two spoke in sync. Sarman spoke on instinct. He didn’t think about what he was saying, he just began to talk.

“Hereby promise to fulfill this request of Sarman,”

“Hereby request fulfillment of this request by Salamander,”

A new portion of the contract was being made in that instant. An amendment to the end of their contract.

“That I will forever protect Yuuki once he has passed away.”

“That he forever protects Yuuki once I have passed away.”

A new promise made. A pact forged in the fires of a spirit progenitor and the phoenix. To protect the most important person to the Demi-Human.

Sarman stared in disbelief at the lizard in front of him. The flaming cage slowly disappeared, the heat giving way to the biting cold of the night.

“What did you just do!?” Sarman raised his voice, nearly shouting. He had wanted Salamander to promise, yet he somehow felt like what had just happened wasn’t what he asked for. It felt wrong.

“I simply made your request part of our contract. When Lily asked me to watch over you, it was in her dying breath so it couldn’t be added onto her contract. But you are not dying right now so it could be added.”

Salamander had seemingly regained control of their own emotions. They had gone so far as to speak monotonously to Sarman.

“I just asked you to make a promise! Not to modify our contract!” Sarman began to seethe as he shouted at the lizard.

“Think of it this way, now you can rest assured that I have no way to forgo that promise. Since it is a part of the contract, I must uphold it.”

Sarman reached out to strangle the lizard himself. How could he trust the lizard if he could only keep the promise by adding it to their contract.

“You know,” Sarman stopped as Nic spoke up. “If you keep talking this loud, you’ll wake up the rest of the cabin.”

Sarman quickly turned around. Nic was standing at the entrance to the path between the overhang and the cabin. His hair was a mess, like he had just gotten out of his bed before coming there. He had on an extra layer of clothing on top, something thick that Kara had kept lying around the cabin for any visitors of hers.

“How long have you been there? How much did you hear?” Sarman’s voice shook as he looked at his friend.

“Since the flames surrounded the two of you. I spotted you leaving the cabin and followed a bit behind. I only heard everything that happened after the flames disappeared though.”

Nic didn’t know the truth that Sarman knew. He only knew that the two were making some sort of promise.

“That’s good…” Sarman muttered quietly to himself.

“So what’s this promise?”

“When Sarman passes, I am to protect Yuuki for the rest of her life.”

Before Sarman could stop Salamander from talking, the lizard had blurted out the promise.

Confusion grew on Nic’s face as he listened to the promise. Sarman’s heart was racing again. He could feel beads of sweat growing on his forehead despite the sheer coldness of the air around them.

“Honestly Sarman, I get what you’re trying to do. But isn’t it a bit much to force Salamander to add it into your contract?”

“Huh?”

The two stared at each other as the awkward tension in the air quickly disappeared.

“That’s not what I was doing! I just wanted him to promise me, not add it to our contract. That was entirely because of Salamander. I don’t even know how to do what we just did.” Sarman quickly blurted out whatever he could think of. It was a desperate attempt to clear his own name to his friend.

Nic quickly moved up to Sarman, his hand hitting Sarman’s shoulder. A smirk crossed his face, forcing Sarman to stop talking.

“Yea yea yea. Just so you know some more people are coming. Want to head back before everyone finds out what you were doing up here?”

Nic was trying to help Sarman save face. It was natural. They were friends after all.

And now Sarman was hiding the truth from him. He was hiding it from everyone. Could he really be called a good friend at this point?

“Hey Nic?” Sarman spoke quietly as Nic was turning around.

“Something wrong?”

“No, just a question for you.” Sarman took a deep breath before looking at his friend. His face had gone stonelike compared to the amount of emotion he had been showing just a minute before. “If M’kara told you that you would be the first person to die, would you tell Aria? What about Yuuki and I? Would you tell us?”

Nic stopped. He was clearly pondering the question and thinking through his response before speaking up again.

“If this happened despite our agreement to not have her tell us the future, then I think I would definitely tell Aria. I think it would be better if she knew so that the pain wouldn’t hit her at the same time as my death. As for you and Yuuki, I think I would tell you a few days before.”

Nic’s response was the opposite of what Sarman was doing. And yet hearing it, Sarman knew that it was simply how Nic was. When it came to the three of them, he would want to make sure that they had the time to grieve beforehand so that his death wouldn’t affect them as much.

“That does sound like you. Thanks Nic.” Sarman was genuinely happy to hear what Nic said. But he would never be able to bring himself to do the same thing.

For Sarman, he couldn’t put that pressure on the three of them. And he knew that Yuuki would try to change the future that M’kara had seen. If that happened, Sarman couldn’t begin to fathom who would have to die in his stead.