Chapter 194: A Girl (Ch.194)
"Elle...it is not that I do not want to take you, it is that I cannot." Dante revealed.
"You cannot?"Elle repeated slowly, unsure that she fully understood Dante’s aning.
"Why is that? You are a dragon." Elle said in bafflent.
Dante pursed his lips, his expression revealing a little hesitation before he finally spoke.
"After... that.." Dante began, pausing briefly.
Estelle furrowed her brows slightly, she knew what Dante ant by ’that’. The only thing he would be so reluctant to speak of was the severing.
"I haven’t been able to take dragon form." Dante finally completed.
"What?!" Estelle exclaid with wide eyes.
Dante frowned at Estelle’s reaction and Estelle was quick to adjust her expression.
"What does that an?" Estelle asked in a lower tone, still shocked by Dante’s revelation.
"I do not rember much of it, truly. Only that mont when I felt the bond breaking... like a part of
was being ripped out."
" My father says I was in pain for days, screaming till I could not scream anymore..." Dante began, his gaze dazed and haunted.
"I blocked everything and everyone out, day after day... I slowly drowned in the pain. Father says he watched , helpless and unable to pull
back to reality."
"He understood then... why a severing could claim a dragon’s life. It would have taken mine too but sohow, I got through it." Dante said with a heavy sigh.
"I... I don’t know what to say..." Estelle stuttered, her heart aching terribly to hear all that Dante had gone through.
Dante smiled slightly at Estelle’s words, a smile that did not quite reach his eyes.
"I realized later that I had blocked off my dragon side in a bid to numb the pain. I created so form of ntal block between my dragon side and I..." Dante continued in a baffled tone.
"I do not even know how I did it... I guess I couldn’t handle the pain, or perhaps I knew it would kill
and I was not ready to die yet." Dante continued.
"To protect yourself, it was your protective instincts rising in your ti of weakness to keep you safe... and the only way to do that was cutting off the side that brought you pain." Estelle murmured in understanding.
Dante shrugged casually, he did not have his own words to explain it.
"Father says I will be able to shift again if I can truly get over my severed bond...form a new bond with soone I care about."
"And that is most likely why he chose you for ...he knows no one else." Dante said with a shake of his head.
"Because you care about ?" Estelle asked with a small smile, she had never doubted for a second that Dante cared for her.
They had grown up together and had been inseparable till Estelle’s mother had passed on.
Dante lifted his gaze to Estelle for a mont and then rolled his eyes.
"As annoying and loud as you always are... and unreasonable too. You are my best friend. I do care about you." Dante admitted.
"And so... I am glad my father did make such an absurd move. Only because of that could I arrive in ti to ensure your safety..."
"And even if I am displeased and angered at every turn by you to the extent that I am tempted to leave you to your fate,"
"I will keep you safe and get you back to your father and Fort Blazed in one piece." Dante vowed solemnly.
"I will take you to Keep Skies, Elle. I cannot fly you there but there are other ans of travel aside flight."
"It will take a much longer journey, an ardous one too...devoid of the privileges you are accustod to."
"But I can get you there safely...if we leave now, we should arrive Keep Skies in two months. Will you still go South?" Dante asked with a raised brow.
"If it ans saving my father and Fort Blazed...no matter how long it takes, I must go." Estelle replied without hesitation.
Dante already expected these words and so he nodded in response.
"Very well... co, I will find us horses and provisions for the journey." Dante said, offering a hand to Estelle.
Estelle glanced back at what was left of what used to be Fort Blazed and her eyes narrowed in determination.
"Just you wait... I will return with an army of dragons and bring down the flas of hell on all who had a hand in this."
"Fort Blazed will be gone for just a ti...but the Black Network will be wiped from existence for all eternity." Estelle vowed as she took Dante’s offered hand and the two took the first steps of a long and dangerous path ahead.
___________________
The winged man sat at his cliff, just as he always did, watching the skies with a serene expression.
But as always, his peaceful state was interrupted by Celeste’s arrival.
"My Lord. Azkar has moved the Black Network without word." Celeste reported in a grim tone.
"Ah...has he now?" The winged man asked in a low tone as he pulled out a map, rolled it open and slowly struck out the territory representing Fort Blazed.
"You do not sound surprised. You gave those orders?" Celeste realized.
The winged man did not respond, neither admitting nor denying.
"This is a chance to wipe out one of the twelve great fortresses, it is a blow King Jian will never recover from. Why chose this instead?" Celeste asked in confusion.
"Wipe out? If we wipe out the world, what would be left of it to rule? A King should be benevolent to his own people." The winged man admonished, clicking his tongue in disappointnt.
"Forgive , My Lord. I thought too simply. The world will be yours soon, not a broken world...but the supre empire just as it it." Celeste said in understanding.
"But of course, so sacrifices must still be made...in whose hands is the treasure?" The winged man asked.
"A girl...Lord Starron’s daughter." Celeste reported.
"A girl...will have to join her mother much earlier. Poor little thing..." The winged man humd to himself.
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