FSE

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"W-what? What is this? Why am I doing this? My light...my light...my light.... Where is it? No no no no no no NO! Where is my light!!"

Avila was surprised on how the human in front of her behaved. It was as if he was seeing something horrible that he forgot something and suddenly snapped.

"The light...has betrayed me! The light HAS BETRAYED ME!" exclaimed the human. "No, this is impossible. There is no way the light has betrayed me! Why is this happening to me? What is wrong with killing a person with light! It's not that it's intentional, right?! That beam was not supposed to burn him into crisp!!!"

His ranting caught Xiciro's attention, and he noticed a human that also decloaked because of shock. Avila was confused as to what was happening. Avet, barely conscious looked at the dragon, then the human, and said, "That's pretty fucked up. What did Avila do?"

"Whatever she's doing, it's far more effective...terrifyingly effective, to that human. Are you okay?"

"I... don't think I can see my right side anymore...," said Avet trying to move.

"Want me to be blunt?"

"Be my guest."

"Your right eye was blown off."

"Oh...buggers."

The human was ranting and quickly ran towards Avila. He pounded on the dragon like crazy, but of course it was useless. She was even more confused when she saw him say, "The light...I've been fooled all this time! They are an enemy! But...that means I'm...no, I refuse to believe it. I must snuff up the light. I must!"

It was at this moment Avila realized that she unintentionally went too far. The human pulled out a dagger and was pointing it to his face.

"Wait, human! Stop it!"

"Darkness is the only one I can trust! I must snuff the light even if I must lose my eyes. I can't...there's no hope for me..."

A blood-curling scream came out as he jammed the knife into one of his eyes and pull it out. His scream caused the nearby sorcerer to fell to the floor in fear. He then looked towards the human and said, "Hector...I never thought you've betrayed me by thinking that light is the source of hope. No... there's only despair by meddling with the laws of nature. Nothing is certain now..."

Without warning, he cut off his other eye and pull it out, accompanied by a scream. Blood splattered around him as he waved around in pain, but then he suddenly laughed hysterically.

"What a sight! Darkness is nothingness! Darkness is silence! There's nothing that I cannot do! Don't you agree, Hector? This is a new kind of high!"

"B-Bufford...what the hell is happening to you?"

"Pain! Such pain! Such miserable pain it is! Such euphoric pain! Come on, Hector, give me more pain!"

"You are not making any sense! Snap out of..."

Bufford was not able to finish his sentence, nor did Hector see what happened to him.

Xiciro used his claws to crush the human's head. He then looked towards the crazed human and said, "Avila...it is best if you kill him now."

The female Argoon did not know what to say, but she did just that. With controlled air, she made a small slash that formed into a sharp wind that decapitated the human. He fell, lifeless, with a menacing and twisted grin on his face.

"What...did I just do?" said Avila, confused and shaken.

"That's what your ability can do to a single human being. Such concentrated fear is the source of despair."

"Despair? You mean, he wasn't..."

"What he saw when you used that ability...was far more than what he could take. The moment he saw the nightmare...his hope was shattered...and turned into despair. Fueled by it, he tried to find a twisted sense of hope...and cut his eyes out to feel the darkness...which is the opposite of light."

"You mean, my ability is..."

"Your ability caused him to lose hope on what he believes in. I guess...it's poetic, isn't it? There's no hope...when you are facing death. All you can do is embrace it and become its friend. The fear of nothingness, devoid of individuality, is the worst fear of them all, as do the fear of the unknown."

After the whole commotion, the other sorcerers willingly surrendered the moment they saw Avila, and ran away to the wilderness. Xiciro sighed and tend towards Avet, but the injured Argoon said, "I think...we are no longer welcome here. Let's continue the journey."

True to what Avet said, the dragons eyed them suspiciously. The whole commotion had started to wake the Charlestown's residents. Of course, seeing the corpses of the sorcerers would make an impression that they had successfully defended the town, but then, when one of them died horribly, it would be fear that came out. That was when they decided to fly away, without giving any reasons for them.

Avila felt uneasy during their continued travel. It was as if she was doing a horrible mistake that caused a horrible outcome. She could not stop thinking about it and what the human see. But then, her thinking and pondering gave her a clue to how it happened.

Some years ago, maybe around 4 years before Sannourah managed to find her universe and sustain a stable one, the dark Realm and the Light Realm were stuck with a nightmare that kept all dreaming creature awake. The dream was surreal and horrific at the same time, and some that could not stand this dream killed themselves. By time, however, with no way to understand its purpose, the dream became aggressive. Those who died in the nightmare world ended up dead in real life.

Ilnaet, the oldest of the four demon dragons, told Avila that to understand the dream, she must find the source. Her dream and Cynder's were similar, in which they were progressing through a series of landscapes and found the source was an imprisoned Sannourah, under the black lake. With the help of Yorloka, they managed to help him and defeat the dream master, but it also caused Sannourah to lose at least 400 years of his age, causing him to revert to an 80-years old young dragon (which, by a dragon's standard, is like a 12-year old child). Despite of this, however, Sannourah still had all the memories he had for almost 500 years, and through those knowledge, coupled with a child's imagination, helped Avila to return to her own universe.

What happened to the human was similar to what some of them experienced. Avila did not know what they experienced, but it was horrifying enough to scoop their eyes out to stop seeing at it. Was it because of her seeing fear and master it? Did she master 'Despair'?

Even then, her trail of thoughts and flashbacks was interrupted when Xiciro approached her and said, "Hey, why are you flying off 2 miles away? We are going to rest until the sun comes up."

"Eh? But, why? The night's still 3 hours away."

"Yes, but Avet's condition does not get better. His face...is falling apart." She realized she had forgotten about Avet. She just followed the two of them and flew away, without realizing Avet's condition due to her overwhelmed reaction to the despair she unintentionally gave to the human.

She turned around and saw Avet on the ground, not moving. Avila had feared the worst before Xiciro said, "No, don't worry. I won't let him die. He's our guide."

Avila nodded nervously and landed near Avet. After the fight, parts of his face were blown off by the light bomb, and it was getting worse. His skull was fine and his brain was undamaged, but part of his jaw and his eye got the worst damage. He had lost his eyes for a while, and it was still gushing blood. His jaw's flesh was exposed, leaving only bones underneath. If this was a human, it would be critical, but Avet could hold on due to solid darkness that he tried to hold on parts of his skull, which also enabled him to speak.

"I'm so sorry. I... feel like I'm the worst guide...ever," said Avet slowly.

"Do not talk again. Rest." After he saw Avet's eyes closed and making sure that he's still alive, Xiciro said, "Damn. If Bartoz is here with us he can fix this. His darkness manipulation is beyond my level."

"Are you implying he's better?"

"I've never seen a dark dragon that can fashion threads from darkness," said Xiciro holding back Avet's face. "Not to mention...he's an undead."

"And you were his boss..."

"I was his master...but now the slave is the master," said Xiciro with a scoff. "Ironic...isn't it."

Xiciro looked at Avet and said, "We need to find the settlement before his face comes off even more. The Argoons must have a way to treat him, which we obviously don't have."

"Yes, and we are in the open. Whatever or whoever is trying to attack us now is going all in on us."

"Which is what we are going to do," said Xiciro. "Avet can be our guide, but make sure he survives all the way to the settlement. Oh, and make sure we are not followed at least 10 miles before we reach the settlement. In short, kill and dispose of them before we get to the settlement."

"So how are we going to do this, then?"

"Avet must've known the riskier, but shorter, route that we can use. I know he has good intentions, but he did not think that this will happen. Right now, all we can do is rest."

Xiciro was right. Nothing could be gained if they were moving around without any way to find the settlement. Avila sighed, looked towards Avet, and walked towards Xiciro. The older Argoon was confused, but was even more confused when Avila slept by his side, over his body.

"H-hey...what do you think you're..."

"We need to stay together, right? Don't worry, I won't make you uncomfortable."

What Avila did not know was Xiciro's conflicted feeling. He was ready to assume that Avila would need to try to find out about her own past herself, but then she was too straightforward without thinking about his feelings! It was as if he was trying to be a father for an unknown child, while in fact she is his daughter! This caused him to not be able to talk.

"Hey...Xiciro...have you ever felt love?"

This even made him confused. It was so random!

"You mean, like...love to a mate?"

"No... yes, it's like that, but it's like a bond, you know. Like... a family? Have you ever thought that for once...we will not be fighting again and all we do is lounging by the mouth of our caves, watching our kids hunt while we read books? It seems so human...but I can't think of a better way to explain it."

"I wish I know..." Xiciro never thought he would lie to his own daughter.

Avila made a small laugh. "Yeah, well...both of us are not a kind to start a family, huh?"

She then looked at the starless sky. "My attempt in starting a relationship always starts as way to communicate my sympathy. I mated with Seraphor because I killed his family...and I felt regret even though he had forgiven me. I helped Cynder because she lost her leg during a fight, and I became friends with Sannourah because he's a tortured soul. In the end...I also want to become your friend because I know you are not as bad as you were a hundred years ago, but...I guess we are not ready for it, huh?"

"But, I..."

"I understand, Xiciro. You need time. Enemies are hard to reconcile, but I'm okay with you. I mean, you haven't caused much despair aside from 'killing' Bartoz, but seeing him alive and well, and seeing you willing to help us convinced me that you are not as bad as anyone might think. I am ready to forgive your past atrocities. We are both redeeming villains, after all."

After a moment of silence, Xiciro then asked, "Have you...ever met your parents?"

"I don't really remember," said Avila. "I may have met them when I was barely hatched, but I never got their warmth. For years, I wandered aimlessly before I became that demon's slave, with Seraphor helping me get away from it all. But I wish I have good parents that will support me when I need them. I know parenthood is hard, but seeing how their younglings are such pure and innocent creatures...I feel like I want to be that dragon, even if for a moment.

"But, well...I can't return to that time, right? Both me and Seraphor have been caught in this never-ending war and our abilities strike fear to the enemy. I have friends, but Sera is the only dragon that understood me. That is why I am so desperate to find him."

"What if your parent is right here, right now?"

"I don't really know them much, but I can say that they are not villains. All I want to say to them is 'thank you', for making me into what I am now. I don't mean it sarcastically. I don't think this is a curse anymore. Whatever they are...they must have a reason. But...maybe for once...I want to be a spoiled dragoness begging for love...even if it is just a moment. Don't you think so?"

By this point Xiciro was holding in an urge to tell Avila the truth, without thinking on how it was going to be delivered. But of course, this moment could be ruined if Xiciro insisted on telling Avila that he is her father, even if she thought he's just fooling around or trying to make a joke. This caused noticeable expression to the dragon's face, especially to Avila. Her eyes could see if a dark dragon was uneasy based on how their aura behaved.

"Hey, Xiciro? Something's wrong? You seem anxious."

"A-about what?"

But after a while, Avila sighed and said, "It's okay. Avet's going to be fine. We just need to concentrate on getting to that settlement. But...thanks, for hearing me out."

Xiciro then said, "Avila...will there be a time...when we can talk to our heart's content?"

"Of course we have it, Xiciro. I no longer regarded you as a vile dragon anymore," said Avila nudging Xiciro. "I know...you feel uneasy around me, but I won't let this newfound trust be shattered...unless you chose to do it."

Hearing it coming from a dragon he once regarded as an enemy made him shiver inside, yet it wasn't because of power.

His darkness may be many times stronger than Avila's, but his emotion was not. The moment he betrayed Avila's trust, there may not be any way for them to return to this point of respect.

And that also mean her acceptance that he is her father.