Holding his mouth, Talon looked away as he struggled not to laugh. For some reason, the sight of the water spike turning into normal water and falling to the ground like that was rather amusing.
He expected to see a brutal attack that made him move away immediately but ended up watching a comical scene unfold before his eyes.
'No, Talon, this isn't the time to laugh. It's not good.' Shaking his head as he coughed, he turned around to the young boy.
The latter cowered away under Talon's gaze as he hugged his legs. He looked like a scared chick seeing a monster right in front of it.
"Hey, I'm not a threat, ok? Relax. I'm not here to attack you."
"AAAAA!!"
Even though Talon said that, the boy didn't seem to be convinced or that he didn't even understand what Talon said.
"Does he even understand any word coming out of my mouth?" Raising an eyebrow, he rubbed the back of his head.
"No, probably not. He doesn't speak your language. Here, let me help." Acrypha replied as she suddenly waved her hand gently.
Instantly, Talon felt something weird happen within his head. However, it vanished as quickly as it appeared.
"What was that?"
"You should be able to understand him now. Try to speak."
"Just like that?"
"Yeah, I will explain why I can do this later."
"Hmm, ok..." Talon was certainly curious about what Acrypha just did since this was a first for him. But, for now, he decided to focus on the creature in front of him.
"Do you understand me now?" When Talon spoke, he was still saying familiar words in Korean. But, on the boy's end, his eyes widened as he stared at Talon dazedly. For a few seconds, he almost seemed like he was frozen in his place.
"Y-You... Why can you speak my language?!" He eventually yelled with a terrified look on his face as he lifted his arms again. "Who are you?!"
"I said calm down. If you keep your guard up, we can't have a normal conversation. I am not a threat to you."
"But... You're a human! My father told me that every human is bad! I can't trust you..." The boy retorted as he kept his guard up and perhaps grew even more wary than before.
'Humans? So, he knows about humans?' That small detail made Talon even more curious about this creature. He was now suspecting that the human race does exist on this planet as odd as it sounds.
Acrypha had told him before that humans are quite common in most dimensions so finding them here wasn't that surprising. The more important part was that this creature saw humans as monsters.
"Well, I don't know about other humans. But I like to believe that I'm not a bad person... For the most part."
For a moment, Talon was very confident about calling himself a good person, 'kind' even. But, after the last two months, that confidence slowly waned. Talon had killed people, many people. He had done things that were immoral by modern society standards and had no hesitation about it.
He didn't know if after that he could still be considered kind or good. But, he didn't care what answer he had to that as he wasn't going to change his methods anytime soon. He had done everything he had to do to survive and protect the people he cared for.
"... G-Good? R-Really?" The boy asked hesitantly with a low voice.
Sucking in a deep breath, the boy closed his eyes. "I... I think I was training near the valley. It's a usual thing for me. But, then, everything suddenly blacked out and I found myself on the ground. I don't know how I have fallen."
"Fallen? Fallen from where exactly?" Talon asked.
"The Divine Piercer. That's where my homeland is."
"..." Talon blinked silently at Arryn as if his brain froze for a second before he pointed up. "By the 'Divine Piercer', you mean the bird that just passed above my head?" He asked.
"Yes, it's our divine bird that we lived on top of for the past thousand years." Arryn smiled. "It's our greatest pride and our protector from all harm that humans and other creatures could do to us."
"Wait, so let me get this straight, an entire race of people is living on top of a giant, flying bird?"
"Yes!"
"..."
Talon opened and closed his mouth speechlessly before he looked down. "That sounds so cool. What the heck?!"
'No, really! This sounds like a fantasy story! Hahaha, why am I getting excited?'
With how many books he read when he was younger, Talon's imagination of a fantasy world was naturally vast, fueled by his father's ambition. Hearing about a mystical story of this sort was simply a mind-blowing experience.
'Wait till dad hears about it!'
"Right! It is pretty nice!" Arryn nodded his head. "We take pride in that as we were chosen by that bird to live there. We haven't left ever since."
"Why did it choose you out of all races on this planet, though?" Talon asked curiously.
"Well, I'm still learning the history of my kind, haha. But, from what I know, a thousand years ago, our race was facing extinction. Humans hunted us down and used us for their benefit. We tried to fight for our survival and yet all we could do was end up as mere slaves for them.
When hope was all lost, the Divine Piercer appeared in front of us and allowed the last few survivors of our kind to get on top of it before it flew to the sky, away from the hands of those greedy monsters!" The boy's tone gradually turned stronger as he spoke those words. It was as if he was carrying something on his shoulder that he can't formulate into words yet.
"... Oh, I didn't know the Azurians' had been through this in the past. I'm sorry to hear that." Talon said with a rather dejected expression.
"It's fine, we have carried that pain with us to our very current generation. But, we are grateful that we are still alive and well to this day." Arryn replied with a smile.
'For an innocent kid, he definitely seems to be very mature. I wonder what his background is.' Talon thought to himself.
The way Arryn carried himself and even the way he speaks doesn't fit his age at all. It was as if Talon was talking to someone his age or even older which made him curious where he learned to be this mature.
"So, that is why you were wary of me. Because I'm a human?"
"Yes, my parents had always warned me about humans and what they're capable of doing. I have never met a human before in my life till I met you, Talon!"
"Well, I can't agree more with you, Arryn. Humans are kinda shitty."
"But, you don't seem like a bad person, Talon! I wonder how right my dad was?"
"..." Talon's mouth hung open for a moment before he smiled wryly. "You should probably still listen to your dad's words. He knows better."
A//N: If you enjoyed reading, don't forget to support the book with GT and PS. Thank you!