Chapter 5: Chapter 5

I had cast away my armor in exchange for a change of clothes—when the Dwarf Glorifrir taught me how to do this, I think I must have teleported my armor on and off of myself two to three dozen times in a row. With this spell, there’s no more need for packs—you can just summon it.

Now this is an older outfit, I’m not entirely sure how long ago it’s from, but I do know it was from a time when Kikimaru was only Wyverns, not Birdfolk—it’s a black sleeveless vest with a set of white loose-fit pants, black slide-on shoes, and of course, my mask—there’s also a black scarf that I use to wrap around my head since the vest is unfortunately hoodless.

*

“SO YOU CAN TURN INTO A DRAGON!” Varin’s voice echoed with her excitement and when I replied, her sigh was almost strong enough to sway the ship.

“No, I can’t do that, not anymore, it's been a few million years since then.”

I could see Varin was no longer ready to ask questions, but instead, ready to listen. We had made our way back to our beds to converse, but Varin had been standing most of the time, switching between sitting in her bunk or pacing back and forth in excitement while I took out some of the Mana Crystals from the goblet—slightly slowing our pace.

“Just like Nymphs and Elves who live for hundreds or even thousands of years, Dragons live for millions and Highers live for billions if not forever and I know you heard what they said, but,” I held up two fingers. “I had two mothers, one was an Ancient Dragon, and the other a Higher.”

*

Demis—the offspring of a Higher or Dragon and another. The gender of the other being doesn’t matter as it does for most other inhabitants of Arrithia. When you are a Dragon or a Higher—life finds a way. Amongst the two species you were allowed to do whatever, with whoever apart from one exception. There was a strict rule throughout The Burned Cosmos, no mixing between Dragon and Higher, but we see how that went.

I didn’t know my Higher mother, she disappeared for my safety before I hatched and my Dragon mother didn’t speak of her much, if at all. She only ever wanted to train me and I would come to learn that the reason she spent so much time trying to train me was so that one day; I can fight a war that she cannot.

I don’t know how, but my Dragon mother knew they would come for us, she knew that The Highers saw us as a threat and no longer as an equal—long before even The Higher themselves knew. She trained me every day for two thousand years, in my Humanoid and my Dragon form, and when The Highers; Agni, Nix, Zypr, and Protus began arriving at The Five Dragon Houses and slaughtering everyone—she began the last phase of her plan.

My Dragon mother was going to hide me away on Ayce with The Alakonpatu Dark Elves until she and the others escaped, but Protus; The Higher of Time found me first. They used some sort of enchantment on me that locked me in my Humanoid form. The enchantment was cast just as I was passing through the portal to Ayce and Protus had been one step ahead of us the entire time. 

Protus had rigged the portal to send me to Sidra instead of Ayce and had Agni take care of The Alakonpatu sometime before. That was the last time I saw my mother and the Dragons who weren’t at The Five Houses that cycle—only The Highers know what happened to them. I like to think that they are thriving beyond The Outer Realms, but I know The Highers’ grasp reaches all across Arrithia, if any are left, they are hiding.

*

“So you’ve been lying to me this entire time?” Varin had been quietly listening and throughout my talking, I could tell she was restraining herself from interrupting.

“I mean, yeah, I guess you can say that, but I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you that I’m a forbidden love child that is at war with the Gods and Goddesses of this entire world and they keep resetting me every time I make it home.”

Varin looked at me for a moment then lowered her head; “You’ve made it back home before? That’s awesome.” Her words were soft-spoken but full of weight.

I stood up from my bunk and took a seat next to Varin, wrapping my arm around her.

“You’re making me feel bad for snapping like that, but no, technically I didn’t make it home, Protus has an enchantment over the entire Burned Cosmos and every time I try to cross it, I wake up in The East Forest on Sidra, one hundred and fifty years later.”

Varin looked up at me, her eyes filling with tears. “So you’ve lost every friend you ever made?”

*

Varin has had me questioning a lot lately, almost all of it has been silly things that I should have done already, but honestly, I never thought of it—this right here though, cut me to my core and made me truly realize how far from myself I had fallen. I’ve had to start over so many times that I stopped bothering with friends and began working solely on myself—it doesn’t help that Protus and the other Highers think I lose most of my memories each time, I almost have to play dumb, but something was different about this reset.

When I get reset, the last thing I see is Protus’ smug face smirking at me, and every time Fontaine is standing behind them, but this last time, Fontaine wasn’t there—then, when I woke up on Sidra, a voice echoed through my head; “Become an Immortal.”. It’s been a little over two centuries and I still don’t know what an Immortal is. I haven’t found the faintest trace of someone who even knows where I could start to look, it’s been troubling. Varin’s words sparked something in me just now though. I can’t tell her about everything just yet, but I don’t think I have to keep doing this alone anymore—I think this time is finally different.

*

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“IT’S ABOUT TIME XAYDDRYRTH.” 

A tremendously overwhelming voice echoed into my head, causing the world to spin, and as I looked at Varin her movements were beginning to slow. I looked around the ship, watching as the ship swayed and it too began to slow until it and Varin were frozen in time.

“Protus,” I stated, making my way to the top deck.

“YES BOY.”

I slowly walked up the stairs, turning my attention to the ocean waves around us, all locked in a standstill—it’s almost soothing. I looked to where the Suns should lie to find Protus standing in their place, his bodily glow keeping the day shining.

“Come to reset me again, because honestly FU—.”

“SILENCE.”

I curled my lips, letting out a frustrated sigh from my nose. “Don’t interrupt me telling you off.” I said.

Protus tilted his head ever so slightly to the right then moved through the air to the deck so quickly it left a line of afterimages behind him. He positioned himself right in front of me, displaying his towering stature.

Just like the others, Protus stood over seven feet tall and had a white glow around their body. Protus did not wear a shirt, their all-black body was instead covered in tattoos that held a blue glow and weaved around them like the gears of a clock. Their face had no features, just a blank slate—which was surprising given how many times I’ve seen that smug expression. Their pants were a matching blue, loose fitting like mine with gold cuffs around their wrists and ankles. 

“Do you have another form, or are you all humanoid looking…or wait, an I Higher looking? I guess the Nymphs and Elves walk on hind legs, oh and the Sunborne walk on two legs a lot of the time too…maybe bipedal really is the best, all these free limbs…oh, that’s why those guys have six arms, I wonder how Klasu—.”

“XAYDDRYRTH!”

I looked back up at Protus, their blue eyes had appeared and they looked frustrated more than angered—still no mouth though, just telepathic nonsense.

“Where’s your mouth?” I asked.

Protus let out an audible sigh, muttering what I thought was; “Why does it have to be him?”, but he could have been saying; “Why do I love him?”, never know. They closed their eyes and their cheeks began to wiggle as their mouth took form.

“Yeah, there we go, now you’re a looker, now how about this!” I lifted my hand into the air and twelve purple magical circles erupted over Protus’ head, each over a hundred meters in diameter. The clouds shifted as the circles parted their way through them, sending out a pulse of red light with each one that appeared after the fourth. “I’ve been waiting for this a long time, just never had the chance.” I used my free hand to cast another spell, this one summoning magical chains from the deck of the ship that wrapped around his body, locking him in place. “Again, I’d just like to say; GO FU–.” Protus suddenly disappeared and I was back on the bed beside Varin, with her mid-sentence about something and by the looks of it, she didn’t even know I left.

“...it’s probably why The Dryad Empire had switched over to using technology, though, I’m not sure how they were getting it onto the island unless they made another entrance, I guess that’s possible, but you know…”

Varin continued, it was like this entire time we had just been talking, but I think that was a message, one that changes everything about what’s been going on. I snapped my attention back to Varin, trying to rally myself together to jump into this conversation we were supposedly having, but I just couldn’t. My mind was wandering, I needed to know; which Highers are my allies and which are my enemies? Before today, I thought they all were, but now, I’m not so sure.

“You’re learning, good, now, go, become an Immortal.”

Protus’ voice echoed through my head, again, the mention of the Immortal, but this wasn’t the voice who told me about it the first time, that voice, it must have been Fontaine, which means—I looked to Varin and again she was slowing down, but this time, I was also beginning to pass out. 

I tried to fight it, but I knew what was happening, it was a reset, but this time, when I woke up, it was different—there was a familiar voice, a woman's, she was repeating herself and when I finally came to my senses, I was able to understand what she was saying.

“Next applicant please.”

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