Chester blinked in confusion. "Earth? What is that?" he asked.
Ryu bit tongue because of the accidental slip of. Then he replied calmly,
"It’s nothing. The important thing is she is evil."
"Yeah. That’s why the story paints her as a villain. But who knows what really happened? History tends to be written by the victors after all."
Ryu snorted softly. "True enough."
He shifted on his belly, then turned to Chester again.
"Anyway, Chester, do you have any idea where we are right now? What region or territory this is?"
Chester shook his head. "Not exactly. I was wandering aimlessly after my town got destroyed. I passed a lot of ruins, so camps, and forested zones. But if I had to guess, I’d say we’re sowhere in the outer region of what used to be the Eastern Continent. Now it is know as Monos Continent."
"Used to be?" Ryu raised an eye ridge.
"Yeah... After the Hollow Gates appeared, the continents began to change. So split. So rged. Strange dungeons and forbidden zones appeared all over the world. The geography is all ssed up now. Maps are nearly useless unless they’re System-linked."
"System-linked maps?" Ryu asked, his curiosity piqued.
"Yeah, certain awakened people with Cartographer-type systems can update world data in real ti. They’re rare, but their info is worth gold." Chester explained, his voice tinged with frustration. "But I never t one personally."
Ryu nodded slowly, processing the information.
"So the world really is on the edge of collapse... Sounds like this isn’t just survival anymore. It’s evolution."
Chester chuckled, his white pearly teeth gleaming faintly under the dim moonlight.
"You could be right as well, My Lord. Evolution has always co at a price, after all."
Ryu face twitched by the cringe title.
"Hey. Why are you calling ’Lord’?" he asked, raising a scaly eyebrow in objection.
Chester smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, you did give a second chance at life. Power beyond my dreams. It feels wrong not to show respect. Isn’t that what people are supposed to do to their benefactors?"
Ryu sighed, laying his head on his forelimbs. "That sounds too heavy. I didn’t do it for praise. I did it because... you reminded of soone."
Chester blinked. "Soone important?"
"Yeah," Yuki said softly. "She was the only light in my life."
Silence fell between them for a mont, only the faint crackle of wind in the trees outside echoing in the cave.
Chester didn’t know what this mysterious baby dragon had gone through in life.
But he didn’t press further. Instead, he leaned back, gazing up at the cracked ceiling where moonlight poured through like silver threads, a quiet gratitude in his heart.
"Anyway," Chester said suddenly, "I can’t just call my benefactor by na. Should I call you Master, or maybe Excellency instead?"
’Cringe!’ Ryu felt a jolt of secondhand embarrassnt ripple through his scales. "Please, don’t! Those titles are worse than the first one," he snapped.
Chester blinked. "Then what should I address you as?"
"Sigh..." Ryu sighed and curled his tail, trying not to look bothered. Truth was, he didn’t have a proper answer to that either.
"Fine," he finally muttered. "Let’s go with Lord. But rember this—I’m not taking in any followers. So don’t get the wrong idea."
Chester smirked, eyes gleaming. "Of course, of course. Lord want to be a lone majestic dragon, with absolutely no followers at all. I understand."
Ryu squinted at him, but deep down, he couldn’t help but smile too.
---
Afterward, as the night deepened, both of them gradually fell asleep. The cave remained silent, with only faint echoes of the howling wind and drifting dust.
Ryu’s eyes stayed closed, his snow-white body curled into a ball, breathing slow and steady.
But then, sothing changed. The air inside the cave suddenly grew heavy. A sinister crimson aura began seeping in, coating the darkness with a chilling presence.
"Puchi!"
A piercing sound echoed.
"Cough!"
Ryu’s eyes snapped open, pain exploding from his stomach. He looked up and saw Chester above him, grinning wickedly with a small rusty knife in hand. His eyes had turned hollow, lifeless, just like the berserk beasts they had fled from.
"Swishh!"
Another strike ca down. Ryu didn’t hesitate.
With a sharp breath, he vanished. He used Fusion Lab to escape in the nick of ti.
The mont he disappeared, Chester let out a mad, feral scream. "Argh!!!"
"Gone! Gone! My chance to beco stronger is gone! Argh! How did he escape? Why did he escape? I wanted his powers. I want his life!"
His shouts filled the cave as he began clawing at his own scalp. In seconds, blood trickled down his forehead, matting his hair in a chaotic ss of red and flesh. His fingers trembled, and his eyes rolled around violently.
On the other hand:
The mont Ryu stabilized himself inside the [Fusion Lab], he collapsed onto the glowing floor, panting. His breathing was heavy. Cold sweat stread down his snowy-white scales as his claws pressed over the wound on his belly.
He had barely frozen the gash shut with his frost breath, and though the bleeding had stopped, the pain remained sharp and haunting.
Inside the safety of the Fusion Lab, Ryu stood frozen, watching the projection of Chester’s descent into madness.
That look in Chester’s eyes—it wasn’t the sa young man who had pledged loyalty and called him "Lord" just hours ago. No. Those were the empty, deranged eyes of sothing far worse. Sothing hollow.
"Could it be... he’s beco a target of the Hollows?" Ryu muttered, his voice low and uncertain. "But then, why wasn’t I affected?"
"Do you have any answers, Dracina?"
The familiar chi rang in his mind.
[ System doesn’t have enough data to co to any conclusion, Host ]
"I see... but it couldn’t because I was lucky right?" he said, finding it unbelievable.
[ There’s a possibility ]
Ryu felt a cold sweat running down his spine. "That’s sounds so scarry."
"But is there really no way to save him, Dracina? He’s really pitiful. He had nothing left, and just when he gained hope, he was taken by madness."
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