Dragon's Pride 15
#16 of Dragon's Pride
Walking into the Fire
Heeding Koruskin's direction the day before, the group followed where he last found the anti-dragon's movements, hoping to at least warn any kingdoms about their march. They only had five days before the army reached Xici kingdom. In the way, the group found a desert settlement, warning them about the coming threat. Of course, since the place was a neutral place, they didn't care about the outcome of the war, except when Seraphor said the marching army didn't care on anything at their path, where they evacuated to the dragon settlement of Qeveriyt. With only four days remaining, they managed to convinced small settlements to evacuate and convinced bigger places to join their causes.
As they rallied the troop to Xici kingdom, Seraphor felt something weird when they had left the desert plains and reached the green plains, an indication that they were near to the kingdom they wanted to protect. He felt as if something was wrong with Koruskin's condition after they left him. A day after taking a rest, Koruskin had gradually become more and more unwell when they parted ways, and of course it was too late to check on his condition with this much of human troops, around a thousand men soldiers with adequate war machines. The silver red was also concerned that his running power could cause more harm than good.
"What's wrong, bud?"
Shyplis, who changed with Spyro for a while when the younger dragon got exhausted carrying Seraphor on his back, saw Seraphor's draconic expression, where he knew it was when the silver red was concerned on something. Spyro sometimes sensed something wrong on Seraphor since he was his parallel, but the lack of feeling cause him to be a little ignorant despite of them being the same.
"I, uh...worried on Koroskin. He looks ill..."
"He has died."
This truth didn't shock Seraphor too much since he had feared the worst, but still, in reflex, he said, "No way..."
"I'm sorry, Sera. I know you're close to him. I heard this from Terrador. He lagged behind to tend on Koroskin with the reason of waiting for the dragon to leave. Koroskin was too weak to fly properly, and of course Terra that was experienced in healing knew he wouldn't last. Well, he wanted to tell you sooner or later, but it's better if he told me to relay it to you."
"Goddamn it...those anti-dragons are persistent."
"That magic was the magic of aging. It is one of the worst dark arts and of course only dragons can help a human for giving the necessary magic, much like those healers back in the settlement. Sera, we won't be able to hold if they reached that pleasant kingdom of yours. Dragon-amplified dark magic is not to be trifled with."
"I know that already. I've heard many shits about it."
"I let you think while we are flying back to Xici kingdom."
Now since Shyplis had given him the time to think, he wanted to get away from the group for a while and took the time to think, and so late at night, Seraphor talked for a while to Shyplis to give him the time to think, in which the dark purple dragon let him, but still being accompanied by the purple dragon. After talking a while to Terrador, he agreed to tell the others when it was morning.
Morning came after quicker than the two dragons expected. Seraphor directed Shyplis to carry him to a place inside a forest, where from there they found out of an old home too small for dragons to get in, as it was intended only for a human. From Shyplis, Seraphor knew a dragon used to live here for a while. Nearby, Shyplis saw a mound of dirt with a neatly cut cubical rock with a big urn on it.
"Seraphor, is that..."
"Normally dragons scatter the ashes of the dead so they could bring a better life to those after," said Seraphor. "On this occasion, though, a dragon's ashes were inside that big urn."
"Someone living here really respect that dragon to make a place for it. But by the looks of it the human living here might have died a very long time ago."
"Richard used to live here when he was still a dragon-morph," said Seraphor while examining the house. The simple house was now half-destroyed by nature, with the inside now overgrown with trees and such. Yet, Seraphor still could see many appliances inside, left out after Richard moved to Dracokin before its downfall.
"Oh...and this dragon is...his friend?"
"No, it's another dragon he befriended to. I don't know what happened to Ray's body, actually."
"But then...this forest is not that tranquil enough to think. I can sense darkness tainting this place for a long time, and it has been crawling to the trees here to make them so wicked. I don't think having to think in this place is a good idea, Seraphor. There is a possibility you will be tainted by the foulness of this place."
"Dude, I'm not from a world with distinct dark-light condition, okay? In this world, it doesn't matter if you possess dark powers. Look at Bartoz. Does he want to kill you in your sleep? He's my friend and from the first time I knew him I had sensed darkness in him, but he's alright with me."
"Not alright if you don't talk about that 'alright' with honest expression. He betrayed you once, isn't it?"
"Wait, how did you...?"
"Talking while watching the ground won't make that statement an honest one, Seraphor. Well, scrap that. I know you'll explain about that past and make us lose our time. Just talk to me when you really want it. I wanted to take a walk around this...weird forest."
Seraphor made a low growl before walking near the dragon's urn to lay about and started to think. Thinking about what Koroskin had said before, he knew the anti-dragon force would reach the kingdom in no time and without adequate help, the place would go down with no defenses at all. Based on Shyplis' command, Terrador might had helped the troops to go to Xici kingdom while ignoring the decreased size of the dragon horde, but of course most of them were convinced to follow after they saw Seraphor. Though he didn't like the idea one bit, he became like a hope to them, despite of being a dragon. All of his past and his scale color had sparked a belief on both the humans and the dragons that his coming would be the end of the enemy forces to bring peace to the humans.
Yet he was still decisive on the thing that he was thinking. Was it the real thing to do? Was it worth it? Would he, a dragon, risk the hope both races had gained from the past century? Was he really as willing as a human would do?
"It's not that I didn't care about them," thought Seraphor with doubts. "I just don't want to make them suffer from a false hope to a wingless dragon. It's better if I..."
"Damn it, Sera, why are you so willing to kill yourself?"
He heard the voice, but he didn't know where it originated. It was as if the voice was talking inside his head. The voice was clear and everywhere, surrounding him like an entity.
"Who are you? Friend or foe?" said Seraphor replying it.
"I'm your conscience," said the voice. "This forest lets me talk to you."
"Then why did you tell me to stop if you're my conscience?"
"My form is full of doubts, and it was mainly because of you, Seraphor. I have known there will be a day where you will be given a choice on a very serious matter. Deciding is not as easy as picking things up from scratch, especially that you're a dragon. Humans have better point in decision, while you pick from your instinct."
"So what do you want to tell me, my conscience? You gave me my decision."
"Seriously speaking, you're a special dragon, Seraphor," said the voice. "You never care about the decision made or the decision picked. You just take the extreme case that could risk your life and your comrades, yet you succeed, both because of the help of your friends, or because of your own power. Your conscience is speaking to you not because of the doubts you got, but because of fear."
"Fear?"
"You don't fear death. You are ready and willing to sacrifice yourself for the good of this realm," he said. "You fear that the hope they all gathered will crumble like old crippled masonry, and that hope depends on you. That's the fear that has been haunting your mind. The true fear that manifested into me."
"Yes...I know. That's what they really want from me. But without support, both decisions will end up the same. The dragons and the humans believe in change, while I believe everyone is the hope to win this war. Just tell me. You're the voice of my conscience. You must know something. Please, just...tell me what to decide."
"Like I said earlier, Seraphor, you don't need decisions. There's time when that decision will come to you and give you strength for the choice you have. Deep in your heart, Sera, you know this is true, and you believe the hope they gathered will be stronger."
"No, they won't understand...."
"There are no friends who don't believe their best friend, including dragons, too. Though we're the beast, we are reliable, and we rely on the pride we trust to ourselves. All dragons, whether it is old, young, crippled, strong, and weak, know that to rely to themselves are one of the most basic thing in the world."
Seraphor didn't know what to say anymore as the conscience didn't talk for a while, and the silver red realized he had been standing in the forest for more than half the day, and return to their meeting point to find Shyplis.
That night, not only did he had a trouble resting, he also wondered where Shyplis, or Spyro, had gone. The night grew older and of course until midnight they hadn't come, and Seraphor started to worry that they lost their way back to the meeting point. Thinking that it was true, he wanted to stand to find them when the voice of four legs running filled his head, and then the next moment Seraphor felt him being lighter as a figure hit him at the face, tripping both of them down to the leafy floor. After making a grunt akin to a dragon, he saw that he was face to face with Spyro, seen from his unique golden horns.
"Hey, man...will you get off from me? You look like a first sight lover finding his first love!"
"Oh, fuck you! I'm not that gay!"
When they got separated from each other, Seraphor cleaned his scales and said, "Now, why are you running like crazy, huh? If you ram me with those horns I can't guarantee my safety."
"It's not me who's running! It's Shyplis. After hearing the voice of his inner conscience he ran like crazy. He lost his concentration and I was forced to take his place running and believe me, I wanna stop but ended up head-butting you! Sorry, man. Did something get ripped?"
"Stop talking about that, man. Why is he that scared? I talked to mine and we could get along fine. And, because of it, I managed to take on a decision."
"A decision for...?"
Spyro was forced to change to Shyplis, where he was still shocked but of course regained his composure over time. He then said, "You finally decide what you really feel right, Sera? Tell both of us, then."
"I just feel I need to tell you both. I...heard my conscience talking to me about indecision instead of decision. I was so damn surprised my own self talk like that. I mean, look at what I've done for the past years, Shyplis. Do I look like I'm an extreme dragon? But, after waiting for you past midnight I understand something from what it said. It is me, after all. That voice is the voice I have long forgotten, and chose to forget. As a dragon, I knew many things we must do, or we must not. But, well, as it said, I'm an extreme type."
Shyplis then made a smile. "So, you have come to a decision?"
"Yeah."
Seraphor walked to a tree and rest under it, saying, "Let's rest for a while. If Koroskin is right, the group will reach Xici kingdom in three days. We'll intercept them before that and we can just hope the ancestors will guide us home."
"Hey, that's a..."
"Nope, not what you're both thinking about. Just sleep...."