Ep 18. Dear. Be Quiet. (2)

Ep 18. Dear. Be Quiet. (2)

Ep 18. Dear. Be Quiet. (2)

It didn’t take very long for the dragons to make out the source of the glimmer.

“Wha-“

Serenis softly landed, folding her wings back as she began to take in the scenery. She walked along the river of shining metals, noting the size of the chamber they’d landed in.

“Hm. Is this all of it? I thought there’d be more.”

A huge corridor that stretched far further than the chamber that held the dragon heart. Rivers of gold and silver stretched from one end to the other, and piled on top were mountains of various jewelry and coins.

“Gold!!”

Ilias failed to hide their surprise and excitement at the discovery of the river of treasure. Bruton and Raizel landed soon after as they both found themselves at a loss of words.

“This is...”

“Huh.”

Ilias dove head-first into the river of gold. When she resurfaced, a handful of gold was within each of her fists.

“Father, look! We’re rich!!”

“Ilias, we...don’t even need gold...”

“You can stay poor then! I want it!”

Bruton turned to Serenis for an explanation as his daughter began to swim through their discovery.

“What...is all this?”

The dragonlord shrugged back.

“Can’t you tell? Treasure.”

“No, but...where is it all from? Did our kin deal with treasures in the past? Or, were tales of gold dragons actually true?”

“Gold dragons? No such things exist. The closest kin we have to a gold dragon is right here with us, and I don’t believe she can spit out even an ounce of silver.”

Serenis pointed her finger at the steel dragon who was squatting down, twiddling a gold coin between her fingers.

“What? Did you say something?”

“Then...wouldn’t it be an extreme act of dishonor to...well...”

“Blast holes and loot their treasures?”

“Raizel, I don’t think you were supposed to say that.”

“Pft, sure. Sorry for saying what everyone’s thinking.”

The three dragons once again looked to Serenis in unison. She’d practically become their go-to answer box.

Serenis forced a confident smile, crossing her arms.

“The legacy he left is not his corpse, but the contents within it. The dragonlord’s heart has returned to its rightful owner, and treasures are better in the hands of the living than the stomach of the dead.”

“Hm...that is true. I apologize for asking such a foolish question.”

“No, I’m glad you asked; it was a respectful gesture, Bruton. Now, if you children are done having fun, let us be off.”

Serenis briskly turned around and unfolded her wings, taking off towards the sky. Ilias hopped out of Bruton’s embrace as she took flight – albeit much more difficult than before, with all the weight she now carried. Bruton grunted as he took flight with Raizel in tow, realizing just how heavy it must’ve been for his daughter to carry the metal dragon before.

The dragonlord flew ever so slightly faster than she normally would. But it definitely wasn’t out of guilt. Of course not. Nope.

When they were finally outside, the dragons realized they’d come out of the hollow that was the corpse’s left eye – though they could swear the hollow wasn’t there before.

“...Wait, does that mean we could’ve gone in through the eye this entire time?”

With Bruton struggling to even keep up, it was Serenis who explained for the red dragon this time.

“There was likely a barrier in place. One that both hid the path, and repelled intruders.”

“A barrier? But I didn’t feel anything just now.”

“With the heart reclaimed, any device that depended on it as a source of mana would be rendered ineffective, barrier or otherwise. Only when the heart was claimed would the eye serve as an exit."

“Aha...”

From here, Serenis could see the huge hole that she herself had ordered Raizel to plow through at Vulka’s stomach. Another pang of guilt gnawed at her as she pointed her finger towards the hole, drawing a swift circle in the air.

Following suit, a circle of ice froze over the hole once more, hiding the path they’d paved behind it. Thankfully, none of the other dragons seemed to take notice; Ilias quickly took lead, beckoning towards the dragonlord.

“Come on, let’s go eat something! After all that’s happened, we might as well have a meal together!”

As the dragons all began to head back towards the valley, Serenis’ eyes were focused on the clouds. Somehow, she felt as if her son was watching her from somewhere above. If she died and met him there, no doubt he’d be lecturing into her ears for days on end for breaking into his corpse like that.

‘I hope I don’t die anytime soon. Again.’