POV: Rygar Adoldia
Currently, we were all gathered atop Ezkalor, flying over a Mountain Range that was extremely familiar to me.
But the flight was calmer than it should have been due to my interference with Magic.
While the others chatted among themselves or tended to the children, I remained silent, watching the horizon and breathing deeply the pure air that filled my lungs.
It was cold, biting, and at the same time invigorating — the kind of air found only at great heights.
Many years ago, when I first set foot in the Blue Dragon Mountain Range, I did not see just a hostile and dangerous chain of mountains, as most did.
Where others saw only deadly peaks and Dragons lurking, I saw something else. I saw the beauty of a landscape untouched by civilization.
The Great Forest, with its rivers, jungles and animals, had its own charm.
Civilizations, like the ancient Holy City of Milis or the ever-developing Tinaver, also had their own allure — full of buildings, culture and movement.
But for me, nothing compared to the feeling those mountains stirred in me.
Leaping over snowy peaks, exploring territories where no man dared to walk, breathing the rarefied air that seemed to burn the lungs… all of that gave me an infinite sense of freedom.
A pure and unrestricted freedom.
As time passed, as I grew older, I understood more about life — and I understood more about this world.
If I were to add up the experiences of my two lives, it was almost thirty-nine years lived.
Eighteen of them in this world. I was about to surpass all the time I had spent on Earth.
And I still remembered the people from that past life: friends, family… I remember the faces, the voices. I still keep them with me.
But, little by little, they became just that: distant memories, pleasant recollections of my previous life, where I was dead.
Those people were not part of my current life. The ones at my side in this moment were more important.
In this life, I desired many things.
And living in a world where it was possible to reach such absurd levels of power completely changed my perspective on many things.
Just being immersed in a society of so many varied races had already transformed me.
Each people, each cultural and physical difference — everything put into perspective things I would never have considered before.
For example: relationships. On Earth, a relationship was something relatively simple in terms of expected lifespan.
But here? The very passage of time was already an obstacle.
The Beast Race, on average, lives around two hundred years.
Perhaps that rule did not fully apply to me, since my body was… unique, but even so, that was the baseline for comparison.
Verdia, being an elf, would still have over five hundred years of life ahead of her. Eris, being human, might only have fifty or seventy.
The same went for my disciple, Aisha.
That disparity worried me.
I had not yet shared these concerns with anyone, because there were so many urgent things to solve, so much to be done, that I wouldn't even know where to start.
But the fact is that the difference in life expectancy, by itself, already completely changed the way romantic relationships were lived here.
And if this single detail was enough to turn someone's world upside down, what could be said of everything else?
Literal gods walking around and manipulating mortals.
Millennial demons, driven by their own codes and wills.
Races and peoples with ideologies formed randomly and ingrained within them.
From the moment I arrived here and understood the reality of my race, what I wanted, above all, was a single thing: freedom.
Freedom to travel the world, without being chained like a slave.
Freedom to walk without fear of seeing those I love being massacred because of my weakness.
Freedom to breathe the pure mountain air and feel the world not as a prison, but as a home.
Along the way, I formed many bonds. Some strong, others unbreakable.
Some fleeting, others I knew would last a lifetime. I gained new dreams, new desires. I changed.
It was not hard to notice that.
Each battle, each meal, each victory or defeat left a mark.
Be it through magic, swordsmanship, beastly instincts, or even encounters with literal monsters or those monsters disguised in human skin within the Church of Milis… at some point in that journey, the man I once was ceased to exist.
But I did not feel bad about that. On the contrary.
Thinking it over, I realize that my previous self would never have survived for so long. Would never have protected those who mattered to him.
The man I was would have been crushed by the harshness of this world.
It was precisely because I had changed that I can now be here, flying, free, alongside those I love.
While I was immersed in my thoughts, a familiar, excited voice suddenly called to me:
"Rygar! Wasn't this where we first met?"
It was Eris's voice.
She looked around with eyes shining with excitement. Her energy seemed to infect the air around her, as it always did.
I looked at the group accompanying me on that flight over Ezkalor. Not everyone could come, but many were present.
Up front were Eris, Ghislaine and Verdia. The latter two each carried one of our children: Ghislaine held Perseu, while Verdia had Diana in her arms, rested against her chest with her usual calm.
Right beside them was Leo, the Sacred Beast with white fur. Skoll was next to him.
A little further back, Aisha and Lilia were talking with Hontar and Selene.
In Selene's lap was little Ruby.
I looked at the gathered group and smiled, answering Eris calmly:
"It's right here, Eris."
The landscape before us was full of memories.
Of course, due to my regular hunting of Blue Dragons, the overall population had decreased considerably, but there were still some sprinkled across the Range.
Especially that cave… the same where I first met Eris and Ghislaine. I had left it particularly intact.
Even though both had long since moved past that event and grown immensely in power, I knew there was still a scar, however small.
For Eris, because she had been just a helpless child at the time.
For Ghislaine, for having failed to protect someone she had sworn to care for.
As I recalled that, Selene raised her voice, drawing my attention:
"Son, is it really safe to have a picnic here?"
Even with the Wind Barrier I maintained to contain the biting gusts at these heights, she was not used to flying so high, and seemed uneasy.
I smiled, responding naturally, to reassure her:
"It's 100% safe, mom! I can detect any presence within a radius of a few kilometers. There's nothing that threatens us here!"
Of course, I did not mention to her that dozens of Dragons still inhabited the Range, scattered across the mountains.
But that did not matter. If necessary, I could exterminate them all in a matter of minutes, without difficulty.
My eyes turned to my children.
I thought for a moment about raising an additional barrier around them, since they were so small. But I soon realized there was no need.
They were handling the cold surprisingly well… each in their own way.
In Ghislaine's lap, Perseu was absolutely focused on a mission: grabbing a silvery strand of his mother's hair.
Ghislaine, with a rare slight smile, moved her hair from side to side, deliberately diverting Perseu's small hands.
He, however, was determined, as if capturing that strand were the most important goal of his short life. His stubborn expression was amusing.
Meanwhile, in Verdia's arms, Diana seemed completely oblivious to everything.
She stared at the vastness of the Blue Dragon Mountain Range with an almost apathetic expression, as if flying atop a massive Dragon was ordinary, nothing impressive.
The difference between the two made me sigh.
'Seriously… is there no limit to this? How can these two be twins and still be so different…?' I thought to myself, unable to comprehend.
Then something caught my attention.
I looked at Diana more carefully, then at Ghislaine, and then back at the child.
I repeated the movement a few times, comparing unconsciously.
Until the idea struck me like lightning:
'…is she like a baby Ghislaine…?'
I was shocked by the realization. That was it.
It was as if Diana had been born already carrying that succinct, reserved, and serious aura of her mother.
As a child, Ghislaine had been wild and only later acquired discipline, shaped by years of conduct and fencing training.
But Diana seemed to have been born with that calm, as if she were a concentrated version of her mother.
The comparison was so unexpected that I began to laugh.
At first a low, restrained laugh, until I could no longer hold it.
The image of Diana as a "serious baby" version of Ghislaine replayed comically in my mind.
I soon realized that everyone was looking at me.
They all stared at me with confused expressions, not understanding why I had started laughing alone.
I shook my head, trying to contain the laughter, but to no avail.
----
After some time, we found a great spot to land and organize our picnic.
Lilia, Verdia and Selene took responsibility for the food.
Ruby proclaimed herself "assistant chef," running around trying to help the three.
Until Hontar managed to drag her off for some mountain training.
Aisha was put in charge of watching the twins, with Leo at her side.
Skoll, Eris, Ghislaine and I moved away a bit. We walked along a rocky trail through the mountains.
Eris and Ghislaine exchanged looks of anticipation. They had already understood my intention in bringing them here.
Both were eager for a fight.
Soon, we stood before the cave entrance.
The air there was impregnated with the characteristic smell of Blue Dragons. There was an odor that seemed like a mix of sulfur, iron and heat.
The stone walls of the mountain were covered with claw marks, signaling the Dragons' Territory.
Ghislaine and Eris paused for a moment; it was the first time in almost ten years they had returned so close to that place.
At that time, during the Fittoa Region Teleportation Incident, they had been thrown into the middle of a cave taken over by Blue Dragons.
Ghislaine back then was only a Sword King; strong, but far from what she is today.
Eris, then… was at the Elementary level, not even officially recognized as Intermediate.
And yet, the two survived.
Days on end resisting among monsters that could tear them apart and incinerate them in seconds.
Until I arrived and used the Mountain-Splitting Magic to split the mountain in half and open an escape route.
Even I, at the time, could not have faced so many Dragons head-on. It was the versatility of the magic that saved them.
Now, everything was different.
Even without considering myself, both were now Emperor-level fighters, with the experience and strength necessary to face several Dragons on equal footing.
Both had excellent blades, and impeccable coordination, built over years of fighting side by side.
The hardness of the Blue Dragons' scales was no longer so insurmountable.
Ghislaine almost completely mastered the Demon Eye she carried.
Her senses were capable of mapping numbers and movements within the darkness of the cave.
Both still carried Advanced Healing Magic Circles that I had prepared, ready to activate if necessary.
Skoll let out a bark as encouragement. I jumped onto him, mounting his back, and said with a calm smile:
"You are more than capable of handling everything on your own. I'll be there only to watch."
Before they advanced, I turned specifically to Eris.
"Eris, don't overdo it. Even if you are only at the beginning of your pregnancy and the Dragons are relatively easy to handle with your speed, I will not allow risks. If I notice you forcing yourself too much, I'll pull you out of the battle at once."
She nodded, but did so with a look of someone who felt wronged.
Ghislaine would be the one to face the strongest Dragons inside the cave.
Even if usual exercises did not harm the child at this stage — it would never be too much to be cautious.
With that thought in mind, I took a deep breath and simply watched.
The two looked at each other in silence, and then, side by side, the Red Lioness and the Black Wolf advanced.
Swords in hand and intentions sharp, they plunged into the darkness of the cave — to face head-on the ghosts of almost a decade ago.
Ready, at last, for their revenge.
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