Chapter 112: The slayer

I don’t know how long I stayed in that state. My mind a muddled mess between exhaustion and excitement. After a time, I am snapped out of my confused state.

I hear a startled yelp; before words. “I will be damned; you did it!”

Turning my gaze to the side, I see Flore, excitement buzzing through him. He is currently dancing in the ashes of the dragon. Steading my mind, focusing. I slowly walk towards him.

He sees me stand up, rushing over to me with surprising agility. With a surprising show of appreciation, he tackles me into a bear hug.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you. I thought I would die here; you saved me! I am sorry for not giving you any faith, truly.”

Returning the slightly awkward hug, “it’s fine; we can leave now.”

Looking over his shoulder, I see Eric’s eyes widened. Mouth agape as he looks between me and the shadowy mess, shaped like a dragon.

I separate from the man, pushing his shoulder towards the portal. “Let’s go.”

Beckoning Eric, we walk towards the portal. Flor immediately spots the egg. “Is that a dragon egg?”

“Yes, yes it is,” I say, grabbing it and placing It in my bag of holding.

“You can't take that?” He says almost like a question. Face scrunched up slightly in a frown.

“Yeah, I can. I killed the damn thing; get your own.” Pointing towards the dragon, tapping my foot slightly.

We are now at the edge of the portal. The black starry abyss was replaced with a watery membrane. The end portal room on the other side, like the reflection in the pond.

“Go on then,” I say to Flor.

He hesitantly looks at me before jumping. I watch as he simply falls through and lands onto the platform. He looks around quickly before returning his gaze to the portal. Waving at me from the other side. The brightest smile I’ve ever seen.

Eric’s face is expressionless as he gazes at the portal. He turns to me, a single tear drips from his eye. He nods at me, stepping through the portal. I’ve got some exploring to do, so I mark the portal as my end teleport.

Stepping through the portal, I hear a loud ‘ding.’ “Congratulations, quest complete: Reward, Kontron crystal x1.” I watch in surprise and job as the blue crystal appears in my hand. Eric spots it, but for obvious reasons, does not comment. Pocketing the gem, I walk towards Flor.

He is positively beaming with joy. “I see you are happy.”

“Of course, this is monumental. We can now safely enter the End. Thank you so much; allow me to bring you back to the town.”

Do I teleport us back to the town to save myself the arse ache? Or suck it up and keep my ability to teleport under wraps?

Damnit, “Okay, that would be wonderful. Thank you.”

He hastily guides us 3 towards the cart system. With a sigh of resignation, I sit up the horrible thing. Moments later, I, Flor, and Eric are off.

“How did you kill it?” Flor asks.

“It wasn’t easy, let me tell you. First, it was fast, terrifyingly fast. So I had to use every trick in the book to dodge its attacks while destroying crystals one by one. Its claws hit like a truck, the bite was instant death, and its fire breath ate armor like candy. I managed to avoid most blows, got clipped a few times.” Wincing as my achy side makes its self known. “After the crystals were destroyed, a large part of the fight was lots of paper cuts. After that, it slowed enough for me to mount its neck and sever its spine.”

He claps with force, “Impressive. Wish I could have witnessed it.”

Eric adds his agreement by nodding and tapping the edge of my cart. Me being between the 2.

“It was best you didn’t; I likely looked like a coward. And, the crossfire; you would have been at risk, not something I wanted.”

He nods in agreement. “Yeah, I don’t like the idea of dying.”

Eric is just sat back with a look of contentment on his face. “Bonus, we saved Eric.” Which got a quick glance; as he heard his name.

“Yeah, it’s good we saved him. Once he starts talking, he will be a gold mine of information.”

Eric shot Flor the look, which he ignored.

Flor continues, “The family is going to love this. A whole, untouched dimension at our disposal.”

“I don’t think you should monopolize it” you will have massive backlash. Add an access fee, maybe take a cut or resources secured. If you are the only people able to access it, many things could go wrong.”

“I will tell the family your words. Whether they listen? I do not know.”

“Thanks anyway.”

He nods.

Flor starts berating Eric with questions to ease the boredom of the journey. I was impressed with Eric's capacity to mime things.

“What did you eat?” To which he generates a chorus fruit and piece of half-eaten bone from his pocket.

Flor winced at the sight. “Is that even edible?”

Eric just shrugs.

“What was the dragon-like?” He asks both me and Eric. Eric animated a clawed and fanged beasty with wings.

“It was black, purple spikes, purple eyes, boney bat wings.

I go into more detail, having his complete focus. He soaks up the details like a sponge, asking intelligent questions.

“How agile was it with those wings?”

“Could turn on a dime, terrifying air agility. Poor ground agility.”

“What do you think the flame was made out of?”

“I would assume some kind of corrosive.”

“Acid dragon, sweet.” He says like a child. He scribbles in his notepad. Writing, “New species of dragon discovered.”

I just sigh at his antics.

And his questions continue like a wave.

“Max speed?”

“At least Mach 1.”

“Mach?”

“It passed the sound barrier at one point.”

“I see.”

“Main weapons?

“How did the crystals heal it?”

And finally, “How do you know all this?”

“No comment.” Which got a pout from Flor.

With the rapid-fire questions, the time slips away. Finding myself back in town in no time. Stepping from my iron prison, I feel my achy body complain.

I hate how you have to naturally heal some wounds; nothing lethal, but I still despise it. Thanking my lucky stars for having avoided getting ill so far. Although, if I catch the flu? I might just burn the body where it stands. Screw suffering through the flu; I don’t think it’s worth it.

He walks us to the same guest room. “Head inside, you know the drill. I will get Eric to a medic.”

“Okay,” I say, heading into the guest room.

Sitting down with comfort, I enjoy a little peace. My sore body thanks me for it, at least. At some point falling asleep. Must have been more tired than I thought, only waking as I hear the door open.

Flor and 2 other people enter. A man and a woman. The woman clearly related to Flor, her Asian features immediately tell me. Black hair, brown eyes, and several other telling features.

They all sit on the sofa opposite me. Flor addresses me. “Sorry for the wait; let me introduce the matriarch of the family and her husband. This is Tilda and Reynold.”

“Hello, Madam,” I say to the woman, bowing my head to her.

She smiles back while her husband remains neutral. Maybe slightly bored, just a hunch.

Flor speaks again, “This is the dragon slayer, Aeternum.” He says with barely contained excitement. I only duck my head in embarrassment. Rubbing my hand over the sofa to calm myself.

She doesn’t immediately speak, looking me up and down.

“Interesting. “Hello, Aeternum, nice to meet you.” She says, giving me her hand to shake.

I accept politely.

I wait for a moment before she continues. “I at first; wish to congratulate you. Slaying a dragon is no easy feat, and by what Flor has said. It was no ordinary dragon. A shame I may never see it.”

“Don’t jinx yourself; I am sure someone is crazy enough it resurrect it.”

She just smiles back, a reptilian smile. “And we would call the dragon slayer to help us.” She says while straightening her robe.

“I take it, it's too late for me to keep this under wraps.”

“Of course.” She replies with a smirk.

I murmur, “I am going to be stuck with that nickname for the next decade. Could be worse, I guess.”

“Ideally not soon,” I say with the politest smile I can muster. It was a hard right, not in a mood for another for a while.

“I hope so too.” The man adds. A quiet and careful voice belongs to this man. And here I was thinking he was a muscle head. He is abosolutely ripped, damn; look at those biceps.

“And congratulations on saving Eric. He went inside over 2 decades ago, the poor soul.” She says in a solemn tone. Hugging her husband with one arm.

“I hope he regains the ability to speak.”

“All in time.” She removes her arm. “Be assured; he will have the best speech therapist we can find.” I mentally add, “because he is an informational gold mine.”

Still, he should get help. That must of scarred him; I hope he doesn’t have PTSD.

“Do you have anything of the dragon we can look at? It’s a beast of legends, after all. We would love to see something it dropped.”

I remove a single one of its scales from my bag of holding. Handing it to them to look at. I have over a hundred, so I don’t care too much about it.

She immediately grasps it. Haste in her movements as she brings it to her eye. Looking at the obsidian scale with care. “How beautiful.”

“I agree; the dragon was beautiful.”

“Flor told us an egg was found.” She looks at me with the side of her eye.

Just slip it in, hmm? They already know, I have to admit to it. I hate stuff like this. In fact, I hate anything involving nobles.

“Yes,” I say robotically.

Which got an odd look from her.

“How much for…”

“Not for sale.” I quickly interject with a strong tone. Placing my arms on the table and leveling my gaze.

“Fine.” She conceded.

“I understand your interest. I would be too. But it’s far too valuable to sell. I killed the beast after all; it’s rightfully mine.” I say while keeping eye contact.

She leans back, raising her arms in peace. “We are not disagreeing with your right to the egg. We just couldn’t allow it to slip through without at least trying.”

“I would be appreciative if you don’t spread the fact, I own the egg. I might even be inclined to sell you any future end dragon eggs I get.”

Which got a cocked eyebrow; while she ideally taps the table. “ Information spreads like water, through the thinnest cracks. I can assure you we won't speak of it, others? We cannot guarantee.”

“Thank you.”

Handing them an ender letter. “You know how to contact me if needed. I must be going. I am rather tired after the battle.”

“Of course, please take some time to rest.”

Excusing myself with a bow, I leave Tilda and Reynold.

Stepping outside the room and disappearing home. Instantly sinking into my bed. Bones aching, mind foggy and items damaged. “Ughh, what a day.” I lift my body enough to touch my alarm clock. Not setting an alarm in this case. Turning it off, I need to shut down. I want to sleep through the pain.

Scribbling my diary entries while I am still conscious. Chic climbs onto the bed, keeping me company. I appreciate the gesture, but I am too tired to show it. Collapsing into my bed, like a puppet with its string cut. “What a day.”