Chapter 67: Chapter 67

JONEA

“As you said, there is a strange man who is threatening us,” Arabel said. “He even took one of L’s hands as collateral.”

“No wonder,” Daran muttered.

“Please, do something for him!” Arabel pleaded, kneeling at Daran’s feet.

“What’s in it for me?”

“He already has a chimera running around,” Arabel continued. “The corpse over there and his wounds were all caused by his chimera.”

“You mean Owen was injured?” Daran looked at Owen and me alternately. “Is that true?” Then I nodded in agreement.

“I got a mission to get the black dog guarding the tomb, but it seems the black dog is your friend.”

“He’s my nephew!” Daran said.

“Well, you’ve indirectly involved yourself with the guard dog. So, the girl’s life could be in danger.”

“Okay, I don’t mind! I’ll help you.”

“Huh?” Arabel was shocked and confused.

“Why are you so surprised?” Daran asked casually.

“Oh, no, I just didn’t expect you to agree so quickly.”

“Everything happened before my eyes, even involving my family. If I just let it be, the auctioneer would definitely complain to me. Because what the auctioneer really wanted to catch was the chimera that caused the chaos here. They misunderstood and thought it was Owen’s doing as the tomb guard. Then this man, what is he like?” Daran asked curiously.

Arabel lowered her head. “I don’t really know either. His appearance is like a young man the same age as your nephew. He is also handsome and has a pair of bright blue eyes. There is something strange about his hair. Sometimes it is dark, but more often it appears with a silvery blonde color. And there are some things that feel odd. He is strange,” Arabel continued.

Arabel had not finished her story, but Owen, sitting beside me, immediately stood up straight with an alert position and attitude.

“What’s wrong?” Arabel asked in fear.

I could also feel the presence of a powerful magical energy. Reflexively, I pushed Arabel until we fell to the ground.

“You’re hit--” Arabel shouted angrily because I pushed her hard.

A long claw stabbed right into my heart. It felt like I had just been hit by a sharp concrete stake. Then I couldn’t feel anything anymore.

***

ARABEL

“Jonea!” Daran shouted.

He ran and hugged Jonea’s body. Jonea’s chest was full of holes and bleeding quite a lot. She passed out and fell into Daran’s lap.

I was still shocked and couldn’t believe what I had just witnessed. Jonea pushed me to the ground to protect me from the attack. Why?

Someone came over and spoke so calmly. As if what he had just done was not a problem.

“Miller’s puppy wasn’t trained properly. She leaked everything,” the man said while staring coldly at me. As if he was blaming me.

“You bastard!” I shouted angrily and in a position ready to attack.

The man appeared out of nowhere. He was the man who had been intimidating L and ordering him to do unreasonable tasks. He was the man who controlled us--the dragon riders.

He glanced at Jonea, who was unconscious with her body covered in blood. I saw a flash of anger in his eyes, but then he seemed to try to cover it up.

“Wow, I missed the target, huh?” he muttered, sounding bitter. “But it doesn’t matter, right? Lycan king, how about you hand the girl over to me? She’s no longer useful to you if she dies.”

I was scared and couldn’t do anything. I just glanced at Daran, who was still silent while hugging the injured Jonea. On the other hand, the tombkeeper looked so filled with anger. I could hardly believe all of this.

“Besides, you’re just going to use that weak girl as a guinea pig, right? Because you can’t possibly be attached to a human. A lycan king like you, why would you keep a human child? You’d better give her to me.”

At that moment, I realized that behind the silver-haired man stood a shadowy figure of a giant black dragon. When I glanced at Daran for the first time, I saw him take off his mask.

I was really shocked when I found out his natural face. Without making a sound, Daran Carver opened his mouth wide. White smoke seemed to come out of it. His face looked so cold and scary. His body slowly grew bigger and bigger. His clothes slowly tore along with the changes in his body size.

I crawled backward to avoid him. Owen, the tomb guard, did the same. The silver-haired man who came carrying the shadow of a dragon on his back seemed to smile coldly, seeing Daran’s changes.

L once told me that Daran Carver was a lycan king and a wizard from a fairy tale. He said Daran had lived in this world for thousands of years. Sometimes, he would help, and sometimes, he would show his fangs to anyone he wanted.

I trembled in fear seeing Daran Carver’s proper form. I had never seen a creature like this before. True, he was like the legend said. He was an imperfect creature who pretended to be human, sometimes pretended to be a werewolf, and even became whatever creature he wanted.

“No, Daran Carver is not a werewolf. He can never be human.”

He transformed from a human into a massive wolf with thick black fur and scary claws and fangs. He stood on his two muscular hind legs. His eyes were blood red. His entire body was covered in black smoke and long magic tendrils. All the plants that were touched by him withered and burned.

“Is this what the lycan king really looks like? Is this when anger turns someone into such a terrifying creature?”

Daran seemed to have forgotten himself. With his heavy giant body, he started walking towards the silver-haired man. Jonea, previously on Daran’s lap, fell and was dragged.

“Jonea,” I muttered in panic. She could be trampled to death.

“Uncle, wake up!” Owen shouted. “You’ve gone too far!”

He jumped and approached Jonea. Owen pulled Jonea’s body just before Daran stepped on her.

“Daran Carver, control yourself!” Owen shouted.

“Sorry I’ve disturbed your experiment. But, to you, that girl is just a small creature, right? From the start, I told you to hand her over to me. You can get many more humans out there,” said the silver-haired man.

With uncontrollable anger, Daran charged at the man. However, the shadow dragon standing behind his back struck Daran’s body first. A fight broke out between the two wizards.

***

OWEN

I hugged Jonea with both of my hands. Her body was covered in blood. I kept hugging her so desperately. Seeing Jonea like this reminded me of my mother before she died.

“Jonea, please wake up. Open your eyes!”

That day was like any other day. We lived an everyday life in Black Rivers. Mother was attending a banquet with her friends at the palace. While my father and I went horseback riding to check the farm.

From the direction of the palace, we heard a massive explosion. Black smoke billowed thickly. My father and I ran to check the condition of the palace.

“There's been an attack from the dragon army!” shouted the guards.

“The palace has been destroyed!”

All the people of Black Rivers ran away from their respective homes. While I ran towards the palace to look for my mother. And my father went to mobilize the troops because this attack was completely unexpected.

Then, Black Rivers became a land of fire. No one survived the disaster. The dragon army burned all the residents’ houses and even the palace.

The next day, I found my mother under the rubble in a dying state. She asked me to go as far as possible and save myself. She asked me to go to Blackton and find my uncle, Daran Carver, who had been in exile for hundreds of years.

“Wake the lycan king from his long sleep! He is our last hope,” my mother begged before she breathed.

I couldn’t leave. For days, I dug graves for my entire family and people who died. This was the last respect I could give. With my own two hands, I buried them in this cemetery beneath the ruins of Black Rivers castle.

***

JONEA

My chest hurt so much. I felt drops of water wet my cheeks. Slowly, I opened my eyes and found Owen sobbing on top of me. I reached out to touch his cheek and wiped his tears.

“What makes you sad? It's okay, I'm awake,” I said to calm him down.

“I’m so scared,” Owen said in a trembling voice. He hugged me tighter and held my hand. “I’m afraid I’ll have to dig another grave for someone else.”

I was silent. I don’t know what sadness he has been harboring all this time.

“That night, after days of digging for food for the entire Black Rivers kingdom, I was exhausted and almost died here. He came to see me and saved me. Uncle took me away from this cemetery. For the first time he left his nest.”

Owen wiped away the tears that were pouring out. At that moment, I heard the sound of punches and a deafening roar. When I turned around, I saw a vast and terrifying creature fighting a shadow dragon. But that wasn’t what surprised me, but a silver-haired figure standing not far away.

I freed myself from Owen’s embrace. While holding my chest, which was full of holes and kept bleeding, I started crawling towards the man.

“Aland… Aland…”