Dragonlord

Ep 158. I’ve Been Here Before. (4)

Ep 158. I’ve Been Here Before. (4)

Light internally grumbled as she trailed after the structure’s supposed owner.

‘Temple? More like ruins.’

The half’s eyes darted from corner to corner, but no matter where she looked, varying shades of ice comprised most of her vision. The only exceptions were bits of chipped marble and rusted metals jutting out of the temple’s frozen surfaces. The occasional metal holders on the sides hinted that the hallways were once lit with numerous torches, but not a single one was alit; if not for the rays of sunlight leaking through broken bits of the ceiling, they likely would’ve been walking through the dark.

Unlike Light however, the structure came as little surprise for the dragonlord.

The surrounding landscape was hardly befitting of a temple, yes – but she’d already been to an extremely similar structure that was likewise a failure of its purpose.

‘Vulka’s grave was like this…’

Bleak, frozen, and left to rot in an unremarkable location. Despite not being that far from civilization, both structures had been abandoned for centuries through the will of their owners.

Though, the owner of this particular temple seemed to be quite regretful of their past choices.

“…Haah…”

Aymeia clasped her hands in front of her mouth, breathing out a visible puff of warm air into her palms as she led the two behind her. If it hadn’t been for the dragonlord’s ember still tailing along at her side, she just may have wound up as a frozen treat for some passing predator.

…Or so Light thought.

No matter how much she studied the former deity from head to toe, their changed features were still puzzling for the cat half.

And soon enough, she turned to the only person that could answer her curiosity.

“Hey, Serenis?”

“Yes?”

“How did you exactly turn her back? Is it like that time you turned everyone back at the doctor’s lab?”

“…”

Hearing the half’s question, Serenis also fixed her gaze upon the leading human girl in front of them.

Even from a mere glance, the disappearance of the orange hue in Aymeia’s hair and the absence of their dragon horns were all too evident.

“At the time, it was only possible because your siblings were afflicted with my own mana.”

“What about this time then? I mean, it was you who turned her back, right?”

“…I’m not too certain myself.”

Truth be told, Serenis had only meant to calm Aymeia’s rampant flames. The former deity’s return to their human self was not an intended outcome, nor an expected one.

Serenis spared a brief glance at her heart, beaming a faint smile before raising her gaze again.

“…Perhaps he just wanted to come home.”

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“Huh? Who’s he?”

“Nothing. Don’t mind it.”

Even as Light grumbled at the dragonlord’s amused expression, the half knew better than to press them for answers. Unlike her professor who often gave in when pressured to respond, questioning Serenis often just complicated things further.

Instead, Light faced forward to call the group’s leading figure.

“Aymeia, where exactly are we going?”

Hearing the question, Aymeia glanced back at the half girl with narrowed, twitching eyes.

“…You’re…just gonna call me by name?”

“Why not? You’re not even a deity anymore. I call Serenis by her name, and she’s a dragonlord.”

“…”

After centuries of having commoners refer to her in higher titles, having a non-deity calling her by name was…jarring, to say the least.

But then again, she couldn’t really argue against the last statement. Not when Serenis was literally right there, and especially not after what she’d done to Raizel.

Sighing, Aymeia pointed forward towards the stretching hallway of ice.

“We can decide where to go once we’re fully inside. We’re almost through the entrance halls.”

“We’re STILL only at the entrance? But we’ve been walking for like, half an hour?”

“…It’s a big temple. We’re almost there.”

“Meh…”

Light pursed her lips, taking in the surrounding scenery once more.

So far, the entire place had just looked like a large, abandoned ice cave – the sort that barbarians might’ve lived in centuries ago.

But her opinion quickly shifted as Aymeia’s steps came to a halt.

The frozen hallway came to an abrupt end, opening into a much, much larger clearing. The walls and floor were still coated with sheets of ice, but the frozen surfaces were noticeably thinner, making the architecture much more visible.

Marbled pillars circled around the large sanctum. Beneath the thin layers of ice were intricately designed shapes woven into the stone surface, clearly of ancient design.

And on the other side of the sanctum were three towering gates, each one adorned in what seemed to be gold-encrusted depictions of the night sky’s constellations. A marble pediment rested upon each one, with a large gem embedded into their centre.

‘Interesting.’

Serenis was first to step forward to properly take in the sanctum’s design.

Compared to structures of worship humans had built during her own time, this one far surpassed them in scale – though perhaps it was only natural, given that there weren’t any behemoths or griffins to reduce them to dust. After all, civilization in general had vastly improved.

However, the dragonlord was the only one who seemed to be amazed by mankind’s improvement.

“And I thought it’d be warmer inside…blegh.”

Unlike her, Light didn’t seem all too surprised by the temple’s design or scale – only at how cold and unattended the entire structure was.

Serenis turned her attention towards the complaining half, noting how much standards had changed over the years.

“Seems this isn’t your first time visiting a deity’s temple, Light.”

“Eh? Of course not. We used to see one all the time, remember?”

“…We did?”

“Yeah. The Mage Association? In Partivine?”

“…?”

Serenis and Light stared at each other in confusion. But after a few brief seconds, the half quickly realized where the misunderstanding was.

“Wait, did no one tell you? The Mage Association is a temple too.”

“…A temple? I thought its purpose was to oversee users of magic?”

“It does that now, yeah. But it only ended up that way because a lot of mages go there. It’s always been the Magician’s temple.”

“…”

For a few seconds, Serenis pondered on the implications of the association being an actual temple.

For one, it was far more modern-looking than Aymeia’s; far more functional too, considering that it served as a workplace for dozens, or perhaps hundreds of people. Resultantly, the place was always well-maintained and saw tons of traffic on a daily basis.

But most importantly, it implied that Iris’ workplace was, in fact, her own place of worship.

‘Perhaps I’m just behind the times…?’

Although it was amusing to think about, Serenis quickly discarded the train of thought; she could come back to it once they were back in Partivine.

For now, she instead turned to Aymeia, returning the conversation back to the purpose of their visit.

“I suppose the Reaper would be behind one of these gates then?”

“Pro…bably, yes. But I’m not sure where Lord Felicir would exactly be at…”

“…”

Light crossed her arms at the reply – firstly because she didn’t like how Aymeia was referring to the stupid deity, and secondly because she didn’t like the answer in general.

“Hey Serenis, weren’t you able to sense mana? Can’t you like, scope him out?”

“I’ve tried a number of times already, but I haven’t been able to sense Karas’ mana anywhere near. If he is indeed here, then I suppose he’s hiding himself.”

“…What do we do, then? Should we guess?”

Instead of delivering the answer to Light, Serenis faced Aymeia as she made her response.

“The temple must provide some sort of advantage that would tip the scales in the Reaper’s favor; otherwise, he wouldn’t have bothered to invite me as such. Doubtless he would’ve devised a trap of sorts. Is there a location that could serve as one?”

‘…A trap…’

Aymeia glanced between the dragonlord and the three gates before them. After pondering over what could possibly tip the scales between Serenis and Felicir, her gaze fell to the floor, fixed onto the inner circle at the sanctum’s center.

“Then…he must be…”

“Seems like you do have an idea of where he may be.”

“…I do, but…”

Once again, the former deity trailed off in evident hesitation.

Truth be told, she didn’t even want to lead them in here: although she was well aware of what Felicir had done at this point, she still felt reluctant to bring the Reaper his own doom. Aymeia was his student, and bringing the dragonlord to him felt nothing short of betrayal.

After all, it didn’t take a genius to figure out what would happen should the Reaper confront Serenis again.

“…”

“…”

“…”

Ironically, Serenis didn’t seem too bothered by the prolonged silence. Not on the outside, anyways.

But it was the last straw to make Light snap.

“…You know what, that’s enough. We need to get something sorted out here.”

“…?”

While the former deity stood frozen in place, Light stomped her way towards them, gripping both their shoulders as if to shake them awake.

“For heaven’s sake, you’ve been a deity for a thousand years! Wake up!”

“Huh?...Huh??”

“Every single time! Like, make up your mind already! How are you THIS spineless? You’re Asarda’s guardian! You saw how many people he killed, and you still want to protect him? What’s wrong with you?!”

“…But, he’s…my teacher…”

“Teacher? That guy is your teacher?”

“In…in the past, he was the country’s only court mage! Being his student was an unimaginable honor, and I was lucky enough to be one of them. So, as his student, it’s…only right that I respect him, and…”

“Are you stupid? Why the heck would you respect a teacher who doesn’t give a crap about their student?”

“It, it’s not stupid! As a student, it’s only right that I treat those willing to impart their knowledge with trust and respect. I-“

“Teachers don’t experiment on their students.”

“…That’s…”

“Or manipulate their students.”

“…”

“Or kill everyone important to their students.”

Light let out a hollow laughter. Her hands lost their hold on Aymeia’s shoulders, eyes dropping onto the floor.

“A person like that doesn’t deserve to be your teacher. If he was really your teacher, then at the very least, he’d never take advantage of you.”

At this point, Light couldn’t tell if she was speaking to Aymeia, or to her own reflection in the temple’s frozen floor.

‘I’m sure you had your reasons too, professor. But…’

The Karas she knew wouldn’t even throw a stick her way, much less kill her.

So, surely, he’d have a good reason for attacking her.

One that even she could understand.

‘…But I need to hear it from your own mouth. I’m not going to believe a single thing that came out of that stupid Reaper.’

Forcing herself to raise her head, Light stared into Aymeia’s eyes with a pleading look.

“…Get it together already. Why would you protect someone who treats you like dirt?”

“…”

“If you’re really Asarda’s guardian, then…act like one.”