2.5

Two chilled breaths fogged the air in the snow filled scenery of Reperane Woods.

Keeping a distance behind Alwin, John trudged through the layers of uneven snowy ground, keeping his eyes on his feet as he navigated. It had been hours since he left the grounds of A’vetheas, the only thing that filled the gaps of silence between him and Alwin were the irregular stumping that their feet made.

The two of them had not said a single word throughout their journey.

“H-hey, Al,” John decided to break the silence long. “This is all a misunderstanding, right? There is no logical way that the queen would just e-exile me, right?”

“…”

“You believe me don’t you? About how I have always been someone who tried to serve A’vetheas with all he can. I wouldn’t dare to lay a hand on Raina, let alone use ‘that’ kind of magic. The whole thing just happened in front of my eyes, I can’t even remember everything, all I knew at that moment was what I need to save her from harm. B-but…”

“...”

She didn’t even call out my name one last time.

When John had been trialed before all of A’vetheas, the Elven Princess remained still by the throne leaking tears, her expression remained unchanged throughout the ceremony, pursed lips and eyes full of restraint, she resembled nothing of the Raina that he knew.

Raina Valindra Eridi, a girl so sweet that would stay up all night in front of his room to apologize to him. Someone who even with all her cheekiness, was able to keep track with his ramblings, did not care for him.

“...Why? Why won’t she address me…? Even you Al...I don’t understand. I kept my honor as a citizen of A’vetheas and protected the Princess with my life…”

“…”

“I don’t get it… It’s not like any of you to be…” John knew it was futile to speak to this ‘friend’ of his but willingly let his voice reach Alwin’s ears. “You were just putting up an act from before weren’t you? Al…”

Alwin’s face twitched in annoyance.

“Just how selfish are you, traitor? You committed the highest crime of all and betrayed all of us, and you dare have your filthy mouth spout such lies. For the sake of A’vetheas? To protect the Princess? Was that how you fooled Princess Raina, to tell such lies of you saving her from danger? Don’t joke with me John, you were never a part of us ever since you entered A’vetheas.”

“W-what are you talking about? I did just as much as any elf could.”

“Huh?!” Alwin’s tone of voice was hostile. “Don’t give me that crap, Sarvod. You have always been under the care of the queen, even the Princess herself, who warmed up to you. Yet you showed no signs of gratitude and kept going on and on about how you are innocent in front all of A’vetheas. Do you have any idea how much of a pain you are, Johnny?

“You! Someone who belongs to the Lower Races, have the nerve to think you were part of us! I should have never treated you as a friend, if you weren’t close to the Princess herself, I would have never gotten close to you,” the elf with all his distinct features were crinkled under the hostility was directed to John.

“Al, please, I—”

“You shut your mouth for one damned second! You always talk about yourself, all you ever do is brag about how well things are going on with you and Princess Raina! Princess Raina of all elves! You! You who can only use a single magic spell, you who are leagues below me, someone who is the elites among elves, and somehow, somehow the Princess decided that you are her partner!”

“…”

“And the worse of all is that you wanted stay by her side after you have rejected her proposal. Haha…” Alwin started to cackle as he spoke, a hand found on the elf’s forehead. “I am glad I did it,” the smile of a lunatic slowly found its way on his face

“What?”

“Hahaha… You don’t know anything, don’t you Johnny? About the recording.”

The hairs behind John’s neck stood up in unison. The recording that was the catalyst for the crowd, for his unfair judgment.

“It was me! I was the one who secretly filmed you when you revealed your true self! Hahaha! You should have seen everyone’s faces when they received that recording of you screaming soooooo loudly. None of them questioned the validity of the recording, everyone made their opinions about you, they dubbed you the demon than you are.

“Hahaha! I bet even the Princess was the same when she saw that recording. Even the queen who was most calm about about your transformation to the dark side have to send you into exile!”

Alwin removed his armor and dropped them to the ground, raising his muscular arms to his face and stepped closer to John who was still in disbelief.

“Al—”

“You cursed being! Fight me!” Alwin taunted. “Do you have any idea how I have felt all this time? You keep monopolizing Princess Raina all to yourself, giving no regard to what the people around you felt!” Alwin didn’t wait for John to reply and drove a hard punch into John’s jaw.

Steaming blood splattered across the snowy grounds, John’s was sent into a tree nearby.

“I didn’t know that you felt that way… I didn’t monopolize her…she had taken a liking onto me long before I knew… [Heal]...”

“Liar!” Alwin rushed to John and attempted a roundhouse kick, aiming for John’s recovering wound but John had anticipated this and ducked to a side causing Alwin to scrape the bark of the trunk.

“Stop! Moving! Like! A! Coward! And! Fight! Me!”

Splash!

A heap of snow flew and blinded Alwin. A cold burn seeped his eyes and followed by a punch to his pretty face.

No sooner after that assault, a massive object slammed into Alwin’s abdomen sending him flying meters backwards, his back gave out a loud crack, blood gushed out of him as he suffered the second wave of retaliation from John.

“Y-you monster. You have that h-healing magic on you don’t you? Ack...ack...f-fight me hand to hand, without your...ack...cursed magic. T-that’s why I took my gear off, idiot demon.”

“A-Alwin, t-that wasn’t me, I o-only t-threw the snow, it...it’s…” John gulped nervously. His body sent out a shiver, a shiver stronger than anything he had ever experienced before.

His experience of how was it like to have a hole in his throat despaired him, but the overwhelming presence of the creature before him right spat the words ‘doom’ to his face.

If John made a single mistake right here, something told him that he wasn’t going to be revived like when he was in the human settlement with Raina.

John can only cast his healing magic on the elf and hoped that it was enough that they will both survive this encounter from…

When Alwin opened his eyes, the image of a formidable creature had it’s magnificent frame bore clearly before him, blocking the sun’s rays with its body. In front of him, the creature’s fangs bared at his face, almost resembling a smile when the elf had cast his gaze on it.

“A dragon...”

The creature loomed itself towards the stunned duo. Dark, sharp, red scales covered all over its body, the visible cracks between its rough skin brimmed with a liquid-like substance that resembled lava. The hot air from its nostrils ran through John’s chilled body as it set its yellow eyes set on him, freezing John from where he stood with its stationary gaze.

The dragon then turned its head away from the him then set it sights on its true target of interest, Alwin Zinrelle.

The soles of Alwin’s feet curled as he watched the dragon stared down at him like a broken toy. His pulse increased as the vertical slits of the dragon’s eye minimized themselves as they peered deep within him. Alwin could feel the sharp ends of the dragon’s eye slits slowly insert themselves into his fleshy heart like over-sized javelins.

“Elves. Even after half a millennium, you lot are still as proud as ever, despite being nothing more than worms yourselves,” a great pressure pressed onto Alwin’s shoulders as the deep voice spoke, his eardrums trembled, on the verge of perforating themselves. The dragon then looked at John, “And you human, you—” it stopped mid sentence, a grin appeared on its long snout. “Oh I see, I see now, how amusing. They were hiding one of you here in this place. That explains my mistake.” the dragon said sounding amused.

Alwin’s body reacted quicker than ever, the elf swung his long sword in an arc, letting it fly towards the dragon before him.

“Die!!!”

Without a glancing at the projectile, Alwin Zinrelle ran as fast as he could, hoping that his action was enough to for them to escape.

“Run, John! Run, now!”

Provoking his former friend was one thing, his life was never in danger despite John being a demon. John may be resolute when it came to matters that concerned himself, but whenever the elves are added into the mix, the guy would be as docile as a lamb.

That was why Alwin did not hesitate in unleashing his unreasonable anger onto John. As much as his hatred boiled whenever he was reminded that John was a demon, Alwin was a soldier first and foremost.

He would give his best to uphold the orders given to him by Queen Veissa.

Dragons were creatures as dangerous as demons, if not even more so. Alwin wanted to stand his ground and fight the dragon, he wanted to bring its head down while John stared at him in awe.

Such was this elf’s ambition, he wanted to be revered the hero among the elves, as someone to have even empathy for John Sarvod the demon. And if what that elf said to him was true, their collaborated efforts of exploiting John’s true nature to all of A’vetheas would have the Elven Princess end up in his arms.

Even so… His gut tossed and turned, it knew something was wrong with the situation that he was in, this was no ordinary dragon. His years of combat training begged for him to run the other way.

Alwin had a plan, once the long sword that he threw at the dragon gets within range, he would leap to it and use it to behead the dragon.

But the elf was slow.

The dragon already had its claw around his body

“Gak!”

Alwin choked as a sharp claw found its way from his chest. His torso ripped wide the moment he was about to make his leap.

A metallic clang then followed as the sword bounced of the dragon’s skin.

Impossible...it did not make so much of a dent to his skin...

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, is that the best you can do little elf? You have to try harder for your life when going up against an Elder Dragon like me.”

The dragon wriggled its claw out from the cavity it created, snorted to itself as the elf writhed with bloodshot eyes slowly became limp.

Alwin was dropped to the ground, blood gushed from him as the elf rolled its eyes white.

“Alwin!”

John’s arms extended to reach the elf but he was too far.

“Come on! [Heal]!” John screamed mid way while running towards Alwin, hoping that his magic would reach the elf before he truly lost his soul.

One of the shortcomings of [Heal] was that John could not revive anyone who have lost their lives. This magic of his only reconstruct their bodies. Without a soul confined to it, the body was no more than a mere husk, empty and void.

Alwin Zinrelle was simply too far from his reach. Not only his magic did not reach the elf, Alwin’s body was completely drained by the time John slammed into an invisible barrier.

The creature that prevented John from using his healing magic then spoke.

“Why do you care so much for a being like him? You, a proud demon, was willing to let someone as childish as he is do what he likes to you. Like me, you are the apex to all life, you have the potential, yet you continue to play sad little games with beings like the elves.”

“What do you know about me, dragon? Do you think I want this? This is all a mistake! I am not a demon! I just want to live normally! Why do you keep accusing me as one!?”

The dragon let out long breath.

It opened its mouth and took a deep breath. Magic particles began to congregate into a single point. A fiery beam blasted from the dragon and headed straight towards Alwin’s unmoving body, bursting rendering the elf into ashes.

“Alwin! No!” John’s eyes widened.

“Not a demon? I, a true blooded Elder Dragon, have showed you mercy by letting you live in my presence. Not only you trample on it but have the nerve to lecture me?” the dragon snapped. “You shall know what’s in store for you if you have not been a demon.”

The ground rumbled at the dragon’s displeasure, fissures followed closely behind the tremors, steam with scalding heat arose from them.

Fluffy snow that once covered the plains all melted, revealing the thawed soil. Magma seeped from the cracks, rising rapidly from the depths and engulfed any thing that made contact with it.

The dragon snatched John from where he stood with its powerful tail, kicked its hind legs and soared to the heavens. The intense heat generated by the magma around was deflected with a flap of the dragon’s wings.

“Behold! This supreme power of mine!”

John was taken to the skies, in front of him, the forest within a mile of where they were was now drenched in magma. Trees, shrubs and bushes alike were all left ablaze, none of the flora survived the catastrophe that erupted beneath them. If they have not sizzled and melted to the ground, it was only a matter of time before the plants burst into flames from the blazing heat.

The dragon had destroyed the ecosystem with a single thought. If it had not brought John along with its gigantic wings, John too would have end up being a part of the scenery below.

A molten wasteland.

“You could achieve this power too, young demon. Your potential is evident, given that you were able to master that spell of yours at such a young age, despite being born a human. In fact…you just might be of use if trained properly,” the dragon tapped a claw to its chin.

“No, no, no! This is not what I want! Let go of me! I don’t want to be a monster like you!”

“A monster?” the dragon tightened its tail on John.

“Let… Me… Go…” John wriggled like a worm.

“A monster would go on a mindless bloodbath without regard for their prey, they are nothing more than mindless beasts that adhere to their instincts. I believe you are familiar with the dark beasts that live here? Right now, you and I are having an intelligible conversation. The reason I blasted off your ‘friend’ earlier was for his cowardice.”

“You’re wrong! Alwin, he was just trying to protect me!”

“How naive, young demon. Just because he told you to run moments before your death doesn’t excuse his nature. I have been watching you two ever since your fight started, the elf arrogantly laid the first punch on you. When you have avoided his attacks and countered, this Alwin demands a fair fight. Not to mention he took of his armor knowingly he was in Reperane Woods, one of the most dangerous—”

“[Execute]… [Defilement]…”

John tried calling out the spells that led to his exile, dumping all of the mana he could manage at once to call upon them, hoping to do something, if not anything against this colossal being.

The dark aura was no where to be seen, nor the spells activated.

The dragon dropped its amused face when its subject paid no heed to the conversation that he was making with him.

“Mumbling senseless words and trying to use your mana on them as though you would activate magic… There is a limit to your disrepect, demon!”

The dragon crushed John with a flex of its tail muscles, collapsing John’s lungs as the last of his breath came out in a soft whisper.

“[Heal]…”

“I shan’t waste anymore time with you, there are more crucial matters that needs my presence,” said the dragon angrily as its tail slowly loosened it’s coil around John. “If you wish to believe that you are a human, be my guest. You shall suffer along like all your kind.”

With a swift movement, the dragon flinged John into the dawn sky.

“Pray that we won’t meet again, ungrateful demon.”