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Trust

An hour passed before Avet walked out of the portal. It barely held on its structure and the moment Avet cleared the portal, Avila stopped Emero Carought and fell to her side, very exhausted.

"Never...ask me...to do that...again," said Avila in between her pant. Xiciro took that to the heart. He did not want to see his daughter be killed because of using an ability to imprison him, right?

"So, tell me," said Xiciro after Avet stopped rubbing his front leg. "What do you feel?"

"I feel so...empty. I never thought an Awakened can use that ability," said Avet. "And I think it goes on forever, like a pocket dimension or something."

"Imagine living in there for a hundred years."

"Wait, you're stranded in there?" asked Avet with a shudder. Xiciro only replied with a smile. But then, he realized that Xiciro had proven a point. The dark dimension was clearly unlimited in scope and had no stimulation inside. It felt like a dark cave with no lights in the end, but unlike a regular, damp dark cave with occasional trickle of water and stream noises (including bat noises and damp cave wall), there was nothing of sorts like that. There was nothing inside. Nothing. The moment Avet went in, it felt like a dreamless sleep: all dark, pitch black, and nothing. Not even a breeze of wind or any noise. The silence could kill, but then, without any sense of touch, how could you kill yourself. He did not think Xiciro could stay sane living in there for a hundred years.

"What formidable companions I have," thought Avet. "Seeing these two western Argoons, I feel like my world is smaller than I thought."

But his moment of awe was replaced by awareness when he heard the beatings of a pair of wings. Avet became aware all of the sudden, followed by Xiciro and Avila when they finally hear it.

In just a minute, the full body of the dragon, and its features, were apparent to them. It had red scales and looked as big as Avet. Unlike some of the dragons in the West, however, this one had fur on top of its head, covering the black, curved horns it possessed. It looked like one of those Eastern dragon, but it wasn't covered in fur, not did it had a slightly mammalian face. It looked like a hybrid.

It noticed the three Argoons, but instead of attacking, he said, "Oi, you lost?"

This took Avet off-guard, but the dragon did not attack. The Argoon said, "Yes. Do you happen to know a settlement?"

"A human one. Charlestown, I think. I just got there myself. Go southeast and you got it. Careful of skags!"

Upon hearing the word 'skag', Avila relaxed. If the dragon was acting, he would hesitate to say that word. Avet had explained to her that a 'skag' is the slang for the Dragonsbane, and its original meaning was 'bitch'. Avila did not think it was appropriate, but knowing some of the Southern people, especially the Argoons, hated Dragonsbane like her hatred for them, she could relate.

Charlestown was not as far as they thought, but its size made it hard to see from afar. It was a small village near the edge of a lake, and unlike the walled cities in the West, the village looked vulnerable. It would be vulnerable if not for some dragons sleeping near the village. Their size was big enough to level a two-story house, but not gigantic like some old mountain dragons.

The humans had mostly went to sleep, but upon their arrival, some guards started to touch their hilts. He approached Avet without fear, as if knowing that he would be saved by any of the dragons sleeping near him. Avila could not sense any foul aura coming out from his sword, meaning that it was a regular sword. That was one of her criteria to trust a human swordsman. Dragon slayer or not, the moment she felt that foul aura, even the slightest, she would slaughter them like pigs.

Of course, this also applied for attempted attacks. She knew how to make a difference between those with foul aura or not, due to her training with Iltael on how to detect dark magic, back when the Nightmare Crisis was eventually revealed to be a disgruntled demon dragon. She knew the dragon slayers wouldn't stand a chance, but knowing how they could even make Argoons in such a pinch, they would have a different kind of killing method she did not already know.

The people of Charlestown either did not care or did not want to be associated with the dragons, possibly to stay away from trouble. Avila could not blame them, either, a sentiment her companions agreed on. Instead, they provided them food and a bathing lake in return of security and guarding the unprotected village.

They were, in many ways, oblivious of the great conflict, or was fully aware but chose not to be associated. Either way, they did not care.

The three Argoons settled near a dark green dragon. He noticed them and walked towards them. Avet became tense, but Xiciro stopped him before his aggression became apparent.

"Quite a rare sight around this part, you three," said the dragon. "In fact, I've never seen an Argoon, not to mention three, flying around skag territory."

"We know our way around," said Xiciro. He then looked towards the village. "What a quaint little human village."

"Aye, it is. They don't like Dragonsbane like us, but they don't want to associate with us about all this. How can I blame them? This war is ours to blame."

"But it is sad. They cannot protect themselves."

"They are, and they know it pretty well. They thought that the magic used to enhance the dragon slayer's weapons were foul and evil, so they did not use it. They rely on us for protection. Anyway, are you going back to the settlement?"

"It's not as easy as you think."

"Ah, I see.... Well, let me tell you something. The Argoons are a strong race, but they are smarter than most. I must say, they are smart enough to be able to act as if they are our enemies."

"But you know they are not."

"Vile they may be, but never a traitor. But when you find one...make sure you finish the job."

Avila nodded in approval, but Xiciro was uncomfortable with this, because of his own past.

"How often is this place attacked?" asked Avet.

"No, this place is never attacked, at least to the point where the humans are forced to fight. But if you are asking about _attempted_attacks...well, there are three attempts this month already, two with dragons, and one with slayers. They are resilient, but we wonder how they got so many armies in such a short time."

"I think the answer lies in the dragon prison many dragons are talking about."

"Aye. No one, not even the dragons, dared to get close to that place. It's as if the place has a hex put on it to discourage anyone. Yet we know what's inside, but we don't want to imagine what those dragons are being put through. Word of advice. Go to the settlement first before you attempt anything stupid. The three of you seems strong, especially you and that female."

"We won't do anything stupid. But I think there are some insanely strong dragons that would be crazy enough to get there and get out fine."

The dragon smiled. "If you know him or her, I think we'll win this war in no time. Hmm...but missy...your accent seems Western."

"Yeah, we came from the West."

"No wonder," said the dragon. "Those Westerns are insane. In good terms, I mean. No dragons there are cowards, unlike the skags here. Ah, but I've talked too much. I need to go back to my cave."

The dragon opened his wings, flew away amidst the sunset, opposite the light. Avila, seeing the sight, felt sad. It was as if it was the last time they would see him, which was the case in the land where everything was trying to kill them (yes, even the wind).

They rested there for a day, after Avet assured that they did not need to rush. The night became darker as the hours went by. Charlestown had closed its doors to travellers, leaving some to be forced to stay outside with the dragons, noticeably uncomfortable with the volunteered scaly defenders. Avila did not care about their concerns. All she wanted was to get to the settlement and savor her need for knowledge, and to know her own heritage, and possibly her parents.

Little did she know that her living parent was beside her all the time. Xiciro was trying to find a good time to talk to her about this revelation, but it did not seem to be any. The only one he could relate to was Avet. They were getting closer and closer each day passed to the point they could depend on each other. Despite of Avet not wanting to be involved with the convoluted condition Xiciro was in, he was happy to help his travelling companion lift some emotional burden, in return of gaining trust from his former enemies that just some days ago were trying to kill him and traumatized his contact.

"I don't know how to talk to you about this since I never had a youngling, but I know how to approach them like you're trying to mate them."

"Do you realize what did you just say?"

Avet thought about it and suddenly felt embarrassed.

"No! I do not think about it, okay?! I mean, how about if you approach her like you are in love with her?"

"No, that won't happen. She already has a mate."

"Why don't you talk to her and tell her the truth? I'm sure she won't be shocked?"

"That's out of option. Definitely out of option," said Xiciro. "I've said this to you many times, Avet. It's far more complicated than you think."

"Do you have something about her that makes you hesitant?"

"I..." Xiciro gulped and looked towards Avila. She was dozing off and was quite far from them. He then whispered and said, 'I was...one of the Defilers."

"You what?!" said Avet, almost raising his voice if not for Xiciro stopping him. He then looked around, making sure not even humans could hear them, and he said, "You mean...you were one of the five dragons that were willing to abandon the humans and create a utopia for dragons? You know how crazy that sounds, right?"

"If you want to compare me with that megalomaniac, oversized and obnoxious lizard, I'm fine with that, but do not ever think for once that my philosophy is the same with them. I...lost my memories before I met her, and I remembered the part where I almost killed her."

"That's...heavy. But how come does she trust you now?"

"Because I'm not with them, or your faction, any longer, yet just like me, she knows how to keep a distance with dragons. If she knew her father is one of the worst traitors in the history of the West, she's not only feeling betrayed, but will feel like she has been taken upon as a foolish dragon that do not even realize that the dragon she was trying to kill was her father."

"But she doesn't know that! You didn't know! And I'm sure she will forgive you. I mean, it's a hundred years since then."

"For me, the dark dimension does not have a passage of time. A hundred years feels like a month when you are used to the numb feeling in there. For her, it's only a mere 10 years."

"I'm...not going to ask about why her time is shorter than the rest of us. You Western dragons are one big pile of fucking monsters."

"I'll take that as a compliment. We are...monsters, both physical and mental. It's best if you don't take our way of thinking and our way of life, especially during the war. Countless of horrible deeds had been done by both sides, and one of them is our race's exile to the South, leaving only a handful to live in a world clinging on hope."

Xiciro scoffed. "I'll tell her someday...but not now. I want her to know that I'm her father by her own. In fact, I don't feel like having a clichéd 'I am your father' moment. Besides, I have all the time I need."

Avet kept silent all the time Xiciro talked about his reluctance to talk to Avila about all this. He wanted to help him, but hearing how he was one of the Defilers made him doubt his own attempt to help, especially since his companion was a distinguished hero.

Avet may not be well-versed with the history from the West, but he knew the monument erected in the small town of Pol Hain celebrating a duo of young dragons that opened the trade to another continent by winning the Siege of Pol Hain with a handful of dragons and their riders. He knew her reason for this journey was to find a way to attack the prison where her mate and partner, Seraphor, was supposed to be held.

Even then, he knew the conflict the two dragons were facing right now. Avila had become suspicious with him and Xiciro because of their reluctance to talk to her, with different, personal reasons. Avet wasn't ready to talk to her yet due to her role in traumatizing the red dragon he grew close with. It pained his heart, even though that red dragon was an enemy. Xiciro...well, he was conflicted to tell her the truth.

These conflicts were oblivious to Avila. She wasn't even aware that the two male Argoons were trying to find a way to get close to her without triggering her survival instinct. Even though both could negate her darkness, they knew better not to fight against a dragon that had won Pol Hain to the Pro-dragons.

As the night went on, Avet decided to go to sleep when he noticed something beside him. It was glowing brighter as it went closer to him. The Argoon though it was a firefly, knowing that Southern Fireflies were bigger than in the West and could hurt humans. He wanted to look through the light, but then he realized it too late that it was a trap.

It grew brighter and brighter. As it started to scorch his scales did he realized that he fell into a trap.

"Xiciro! Avila!" exclaimed Avet before the big ball of light rapidly expanded and _exploded_near his eyes. His roar of pain woke Avila and she quickly rush towards the dragon's body, writhing and bloodied by the explosion.

"Your face blew off?!" said Avila while touching his face. "How?! There's no way an Argoon like you can be attacked with..."

She noticed the same ball that attacked Avet, but unlike him, she was ready to intercept ball. She wanted to use her darkness to swat that thing away, but as she touched it, Xiciro exclaimed, "Get away from that thing!"

It was too late, and it blew in front of her. Xiciro saw what happened and exclaimed, "Avila!" with a strong tone resembling a roar. But to his relief, Avila got out of the smoke unscathed.

"That was..."

"Light magic. A sorcerer is attacking us," said Xiciro looking around.

"So it's a human."

"No, don't go into conclusions. I know what you're thinking. 'One of those camping nearby is a Dragonsbane'. There's no way they'll attack us if they don't know if we are Argoon dragons."

"You mean..."

"That bomb is useless against normal dragons. I can't believe they actually used that bastard's magic..."

Now that Xiciro had mentioned it, Avila remembered the only dragon she knew that could use that kind of ability.

It was Ceroz, the same dragon that Seraphor personally killed after succumbing into rage of seeing her injured.

But then the past was the past. Right now, they were being attacked and they could not see where the attack came from. The only thing Avila could utilize during that fight was to find the attacker with her darkness aura. She used the same trick when she was trying to find the dragon hiding by refracting light from himself, rendering him invisible.

But just as she unleashed her aura, Xiciro stopped her.

"Don't. He's not invisible. There's no way he could be using a complex magic that can drain his mana in the middle of the night. He must be hidden somewhere in the plains."

"Like I said, he's in the human camp!"

"Stay calm and think through. The light bomb that attacked you just now looked a lot like a firefly's light. Normally, a human's spell won't be able to hurt dragons, but that was something far stronger than what a human can do. We can rule out dragons because what they'll do will be bigger.

"A human spell has area of effectiveness that can affect how much damage it can do to bigger being like us. If a light bomb that size can blow Avet's face off, then the caster must be close enough for Avet to be able to see him. But he did not see the human attacking him."

"He's using the same..."

"Like I said, it's impossible without external light source," said Xiciro. "If they can disguise themselves this close with, there can be two possibilities. One, he's an extremely powerful wizard, and two...he's not fighting alone."

"I'll bet on number two," said Avila. "Besides, there's no way the Dragonsbane wants to put out their best sorcerer just to kill us."

"Correct, Avila. Besides, look around you."

Avila took a glance on the scenery around her and gasped. The dragons, obviously woken up after hearing the commotion, could not stand and was struggling to move. With her inverted contrast eyes, she could see that they were being bounded with magical restrains to the ground.

"We won't get much help from them."

"I'd say the attack has started, and they are smart enough not to attack us directly with weak soldiers. They go all-out and attack us with a team of sorcerers. Now, Avila, what are you going to do?"

"What am I going to do? What are you going to do?"

"Think of a way to get to Avet and save us all. I'll give the killing to you."

Of course, Avila was trying to do that the moment she was attacked by the explosion, but she could not find the enemy. She never thought she would get such difficulty with humans, but she knew humans would adapt faster than dragons and surpass them, all because of a mistake of not destroying their culture and progress in the first place...

No, you can't say that, thought Avila. We are co-existing right now. This earth is not for dragons only.

Even then, she could not deny the fact that humans were not better than dragons, nor did dragons were better than humans. Pride had clouded the mind of so many powerful figures into making mistakes in judgement. But then, when her mind trailed into unrelated topic, she realized something.

Fear! Fear can cloud the mind!

She knew her only way to get out of this mess is to start using her fear ability, which had become so powerful after extensive use and her own emotions. Her desperate need to find Seraphor and reunite with him had caused her ability to become too powerful to handle. Knowing this fact presented another problem. If her ability could traumatize a dragon, what would it do to a human? Also, her ability could not affect an area more than 15 meters.

Just then she realized something. For the sorcerers to use an ability strong enough to blow Avet's face, they needed to be close enough. If they were disguising themselves with magic and attack the dragons at the same time, it would need a close distance. She may not be able to help the other dragons, but she could save herself first.

Betting on her theory, she unleashed the full might of her fear, which she did not intent to control. Such raw energy could cause severe nightmare, and she did not know what would it do for a human.

She hoped that the attackers were not 20 meters away from her, because if they did, it would be a problem. Her luck, however, was great enough that she got it.

A human appeared in front of her, decloaking from a magic done by someone. He was screaming like he had seen something horrible, and was in a tight situation. Her mind, however, was not to the human. She had a feeling that he was just a decoy, and the real attacker was out of her reach.

It was, however, proved to be unnecessary, as the horror she once faced unfolded in front of her.