Mid Morning - Mid Winter : Atlas, Bahamut

-----

"Wait… Are you trying to suppress your dragon sleep?" Mother's voice echoed down the halls like a voice in the catacombs. Instantly wrapping us in a shroud of silence.

*plop* *drip* It was so quiet that the only noise in the air was the sound of blood dripping onto the metal tray from the chunk of fish in my mouth.

Everyone seemed frozen in place, both physically and mentally.. myself included. -I.. didn't think about that...-

Over the past few months, the thought of my inevitable dragon sleep would periodically surface. Considering I had already well-exceeded the regular upper size limit for the adult stage at just over 38 meters tall, it was something to give thought to, but at the same time, my age made it impossible. -Based on my younger years, I should be growing at about 5 times the rate of a normal dragon, but even by that insane standard, my next sleep shouldn't be until I'm almost 40... Surely, this is too soon...- "Ack..."

At the time, it didn't seem too crazy to assume my body was simply in some sort of shock after being so starved of mana, but while I was still trying to push through my daze and think about it, Mother walked up and started poking her claw around my side, somehow tapping all the places I had taken damage before giving me an odd look.

Her gaze held a mixt of annoyance and concern. "Haah... If you took care of your body like you should have, having another dragon sleep already would be impossible.. even for you... But..." She paused before gently grazing her claw against my underbelly, where it was slashed open. "Your body tends to grow in bursts whenever you get injured as if it were simply waiting for an opportunity to reconstruct your body... The more damage you took, the more you would grow..."

Her voice grew soft, a whisper of worry coloring her words before she motioned away the onlookers in the hall.

"But this time.. despite the grievous injuries you sustained.. you barely grew." She looked up at me with a mix of pride and worry before lowering her gaze and pressing the top of her head into my side.

She was right, to the point that even if my mind wasn't in a fog, I wouldn't have been able to refute it, but while I wanted to continue to deny it, my gut told me to accept it. "So.. if this really is my sleep, what am I supposed to do?" Without thinking, I leaned down and removed another massive chunk of meat from the fish, glancing at Grace to bring another while she closed the door. *Crunch-Click*

"It's rare for one to awaken right at the onset like you did..." She eyed the door as she spoke. "Looking at Chloe's condition, it looks like you might have woken up after it started and just somehow pulled things back under control... So, I don't know."

Slowly looking up at Ilios, happily wagging his tail while sitting on my head, the image of his cold stare down at me flashed in the back of my mind. -Right... He must've made that look because he was getting ready to stop me.. right?-

But I didn't have time to think about it. "You probably have a few days at most."

-Huh?- Hearing the voice, I looked up toward the door to see it swing open and reveal a massive, four-winged blue dragon. -What is she doing here?-

It was Amphitrite. "I apologize for the intrusion, Miss Ragnarok. Vasilias," She politely lowered her head to both of us right away, "but I felt that this was an urgent matter. About half an hour ago, someone attempted to burn those 'records' we were supplied with a few days ago, and the people are demanding an explanation for the scene that was caused. If we don't address it now, it'll spread like a wildfire."

Mother's expression quickly darkened even further before she looked up at Amphitrite with a serious expression. "Let's follow the plan we discussed yesterday..." Slowly turning back to me, worry quickly reappeared on her face. "While you're here though, do you know what we should do?"

As Mother motioned toward me, Amphitrite shot me an odd look as if Mother's question were rhetorical. "We managed to quell some of the rumors around the city, but he still needs to lay low. Having his dragon sleep in Atlas right now would ruin everything we have done thus far. As for his condition, like I said earlier, he probably only has a few days before his hunger makes him go feral. It's not too abnormal for later sleep stages to start while you are awake, but people will typically eat their fill and find a good place for it before it gets bad."

-Shit...- It wasn't what I wanted to hear, especially with Krystallo's birthday being right around the corner, "But with only a few days, where could I go?"

She hesitated for a moment before speaking, "If your aura is any indicator, it will probably be on a similar scale to an ancient's dragon sleep, meaning Central and Eastern Bahamut is a no-go. We cannot afford your sleep interfering with Myles."

-That doesn't leave me with many options...- To my knowledge, the best place would have been one of our old estates, but the area was off-limits with Myles having his sleep not far from there. -I can't do it near Hera either since she is healing... Maybe I could ask Amara or her mother to have it in the southeastern mountains?-

"If you don't have anywhere in mind, you could go to the Forgotten Islands. My estate in Rematra would welcome you. If you wish, my daughter can guide you and help make sure the servants know to take care of your needs."

-That.. isn't a bad idea...- However, upon further reflection, I reconsidered. "Without magic, I'm not sure where I would be able to fly to, but I think Siratha is my best bet regardless. If the gods find out I'm sleeping, they will undoubtedly try to kill or cripple me, and The Tree of Prayer will be able to protect me from them while also supplying me with plenty of mana."

Mother's worry deepened instantly while uncertainty clouded Amphitrite's voice. "If you are sure you can have a sleep there, I will trust your judgment, but you may want to also consider how much food they can supply you with."

-Right...- "I think I have a workaround for that." Although not a perfect plan, the idea was to create heavy metals with space mana and drop them into my stomach, where they'd be broken down into some base elements usable by my body. -The issue is that it uses mana, so it will be false satiation; as long as I eat a lot today though, I should be able to use it to tide myself over...-

But Mother seemed to have other worries, "Sweetie, the Tree of Prayer has a long reputation of killing dragons. Are you sure that you'll be safe?"

I immediately nodded while trying to put on a reassuring smile. "I've been there before. Although its reputation is justified, I don't have much to worry about..."

Lowering my head by hers, she quickly rubbed her cheek against mine. "Just.. make sure you come back safe..."

Feeling her trembling slightly, I pulled her closer with my wing and sat down. "I will... I promise."

The next 30 minutes quickly ticked by after that. While I held Mother, we discussed the plans they had come up with to clean up my mess before ironing out the final details of my dragon sleep.

In short, I was going to eat my fill for the rest of the day and make any final rounds I needed to since once the sun set, I would go to the space rune and head to Siratha.

But I quickly ran into a problem. My appetite was insatiable.

After several hours of stuffing my face with food and, after a while, solid blocks of iron and bismuth, rather than satiating my hunger, it worsened.

-Shit...- The thought of starting my dragon sleep while still near Krystallo was like a haunting nightmare. I knew she wouldn't know to stay away from me once it started, even if I told her to, so my biggest priority was getting out of Atlas.

But as I tidied up some of the items in my room, like the railgun and the Acardi artifact, getting ready to leave, she woke up.

"Brother?" She spoke with lethargy. "Are you.. going somewhere?" She had been sleeping since before I woke up, but the constant flow of people through the halls outside her room had woken her up.

"Ah," -Shit.. why now...- "It looks like it's time for my dragon sleep, and since it would be bad to have it here, I'm going to Siratha."

Her face paled in an instant before she ran up to me. "But! But-"

"I know..." I spoke as softly as I could before lowering my head pressing it against hers. "I wanted to be around so we could celebrate our birthday like we used to more than anything, but.. it's not something I can postpone. If I stay here, I won't only be ruining all of Mom's hard work, I'll be putting you all in danger..."

The air around her started to fog as distraught washed over her face. "T-Then I can go with you!"

"No, Krystallo," I began gently, "you can't." I paused, trying to think of how to word it, but nothing came to mind.

Standing on her hind legs, she pressed her paws into my chest and looked up at me with wetted eyes, desperately searching mine for any hint that I was just playing some cruel joke. "But.. why? You know I can take care of myself..."

"It's not that simple..." I hesitated for a moment as I thought of what to say. "Since I woke up before it started, at any moment, I could simply snap and..." My body tensed as a horrifying thought filled my stomach with nausea. "Just.. you can't..."

She seemed to search my eyes, looking for answers as confusion and frustration mixed into tears.

"I'm.. sorry..."

But rather than breaking down and crying, she lowered her gaze and whispered with a heavy tone. "Brother... Just like the other night, I have had a lot of.. nightmares over the past few days... Each time I see something different, and it never makes any sense... But every time I see you in them, I see this.. shadow next to you, a cloud of darkness that.. gives me a really bad feeling... Like it's trying to take you away from us."

I tensed up instantly, her words weighing a mountain of uncertainty in my mind. "It'll be okay... Just like last time, right?"

But she just leaned into me, shaking slightly. "I.. hope so..."

Feeling frosted tears filled with fear and worry drip onto my chest, I tried to lean down and embrace her. I wanted to reassure her that everything would be alright.

But somehow, I wasn't sure if I could even reassure myself...

-----

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read up to 5 chapters ahead of schedule, and get early access to artwork on My Patreon!

(In case Embedded Link doesn't work: https://www.patreon.com/TDOD )

-------------

Also, please feel free to check out our new discord! https://discord.gg/Dv7G5bQD4v

All are welcome!