The temperature of the place suddenly dropped, as if the room had completely separated from the world, filled with a heavy dread resembling the void before the birth of stars.
Ren stood in a human shape, but his aura was not human at all—rather something that surpassed the perception of anyone capable of sensing power.
One single word… Die…
It wasn't a scream, nor even a fully spoken expression of anger; it was a cold whisper, yet it carried enough power to make Elnais's heart crack from fear.
And the moment Ren spoke the word, the air around them exploded with invisible energy, as if the air itself bowed to his command.
Elnais felt his soul being pulled out of his body, darkness swallowing him without mercy. He couldn't move, couldn't scream, frozen in a moment between life and death. He was completely convinced he would die, that he had committed a foolish act that would cost him his life.
Suddenly…
The aura vanished.
It disappeared as quickly as it came, as if someone had shut the gates of hell in an instant.
Ren's real voice rang out, his natural childish voice slightly annoyed:
"Ugh! This is annoying! I can't control that!"
Elnais stared ahead in disbelief… Ren… was no longer that terrifying entity from seconds earlier. The coldness was gone, the arrogant gaze, the steps that shook the soul. Now he was just a dragon child, pouting, shaking his hand, and complaining like any other child.
He said in fear as he crawled backward:
"W-What… what happened to you? A moment ago… you were…"
Ren cut him off, pounding his chest with exaggerated pride:
"Ohhh, that? Just some silly thing from my father's heritage. It appears when I get angry or stressed or… I don't know. It acts on its own mostly. But don't worry, I didn't mean to kill you!"
Elnais did not feel reassured at all.
"You didn't mean to?! You almost killed me! I felt my soul being ripped out! And also—what do you mean your father's heritage? You said he disappeared completely!"
Ren blinked in confusion:
"Really? Weird… usually nothing happens unless I want it to. I thought it disappeared—seems like I still have some of his heritage left inside me."
Elnais quickly approached him, grabbed Ren's shoulders, and shook him:
"Please! Please, if you ever feel like you're going to say 'die' again… just bite your tongue! Or swallow the word! Or do anything!"
Ren laughed lightly and freed himself from Elnais's grip.
"Okay, okay! I won't say it to you. You're really funny when you're scared."
Elnais sat on the ground, breathing deeply as he tried to regain his composure.
He couldn't stop thinking: how could all of that coexist in one creature?
A side bearing the majesty of the Dragon Emperor… and another side, a silly cute child who only cared about food and playing.
One of the elves entered the room after sensing the disturbance in the magical aura:
"Lord Elnais! Are you alri—"
He froze immediately when he saw Ren.
His body trembled at once, and he bowed quickly as if death itself was staring at him.
"Son of the Dragon Emperor…! Please forgive my intrusion!"
Ren raised an eyebrow and said:
"What's this? Why is everyone bowing to me? It's annoying being on top!"
Elnais whispered:
"You… you're the son of Nitharion! That's extremely normal…"
Ren turned his face away and said with coldness resembling the earlier one but without that terrifying power:
"That's strange. When I was on the human continent no one treated me with the same importance you all do."
Elnais froze.
"Yes, that's normal. Actually, when Nitharion invaded the human world, humans did not exist at that time!"
Ren was confused:
"What do you mean?"
Elnais, still in a bowing position, whispered:
"Humans are one of the reasons all dragons in the universe were killed.
They are one of the mistakes Nitharion created.
Long ago, when Nitharion invaded the human world…
Back then, humans didn't exist—or rather, they hadn't been created yet…
The human world at that time was a world inhabited by elves, vampires, demi-humans, mermaids, jinn, and every creature humans now think is a myth.
But after the Dragon Emperor reached our world, he waged war against us, and in the end, he defeated us.
He gathered all of us in this continent and the rest of the world became empty.
After several years, Nitharion created humans and made them inhabit the entire world, but they were a failed experiment. So he sent someone to rule them and created that island floating in the middle of the sky.
Anyone who enters it becomes able to rule the world—it is the successful experiment for the entire human race.
And now humans are under the rule of Thanis, who is considered Nitharion's most successful creation of life.
That is why he was granted authority over all the heavens and the earth.
And he usually comes every year to observe the humans and check on them.
Humans are not forced to obey Nitharion; he did not make them servants. He made them merely experiments."
The elf whispered after Elnais finished speaking:
"My lord, should I inform all the villagers to show respect to him?"
Elnais sighed, looked at Ren, then said:
"Yes… that's best for everyone."
Ren responded with quiet anger:
"Why? Stop doing that!"
Elnais looked at him coldly this time:
"You are the son… of the Dragon Emperor walking and talking."
Ren grew angry:
"I don't need my father! I can be… an amazing dragon!"
"An amazing dragon?! You almost killed me!"
"I apologized! I didn't mean to!"
The elf nearly stopped breathing listening to their childish argument…
Was this really the relationship between the king and the son of Nitharion?!
---
Days passed after that incident, and Ren began to get used to life in the village.
But relationships were extremely tense…
No one approached him, and if he walked down the road, everyone either bowed or ran away.
And Ren kept complaining all the time:
"Why is everyone afraid of me? Do I look scary?"
Elnais, filling royal documents, answered:
"You are indescribably scary."
"Is it because of that thing that happens sometimes?"
"Yes. And because you talk about your father as if he's something simple, while your parents destroyed continents and ruled worlds hundreds of years ago."
"Ohhh… right… I forgot that."
Elnais suddenly raised his head:
"How do you forget your father destroyed continents?!"
Ren answered while eating an apple:
"Because I wasn't born then… and yes, I have my father's heritage, so I can see his memories, but I was dead for a long time, so my memory isn't very good."
Elnais didn't know how to respond to such nonsense.
But over time… the world calmed slightly around Ren, or rather… they got used to his presence without approaching him.
And Elnais was the only one who dared speak to him normally—well, somewhat normally.
…
On a quiet night, with a full moon reflecting its silver light on the white villages, a strange silence spread that the people of Arcadia were not used to.
Ren was sitting atop a tall tree, staring at the sky silently.
Elnais approached with cautious steps, afraid of falling from the tree:
"What are you doing here alone?"
Ren didn't look at him, but spoke in a low voice Elnais had never heard before:
"Sometimes… I feel like I don't belong anywhere."
Elnais froze.
"What do you mean?"
Ren answered:
"When I wake up… I feel a heaviness in my heart. My father's heritage is too strong… it follows me… reminding me of things I never lived… forcing me to live… making me scary. Everyone fears me… and maybe they're right."
Elnais approached and sat beside him on the branch:
"You are not your father, Ren."
"But my blood… it's his."
"And blood… is not a choice. You choose who you are… not your blood.
You can be scary or not—that's your choice. And surely, there must be someone who approaches you naturally… as a friend."
Ren remained silent, his eyes confused—like a child who didn't know where he belonged.
And he seemed to remember someone… someone who had been his friend since birth.
But his memory was blurry, forming only faint images.
Yet he remembered the name:
"Rio…?"
Elnais was confused:
"Who is Rio?"
Ren laughed for the first time in days, and the tension around him melted away.
"No one… just someone I know."
---
But that calm did not last long.
As the two sat on the tree, they heard in the distance a sound tearing through the sky—a sound Elnais had never heard before… but extremely familiar to Ren, one he recognized from his father's memories.
A roar… rough… deep… shaking the souls of everyone in the village.
A sound that warned something terrifying was approaching.
Ren stood up with sudden shock, eyes wide:
"That sound… impossible…!"
Elnais turned to him:
"What's wrong? What is that sound?"
Ren spoke in a trembling voice for the first time:
"That… that's the sound of a dragon…"
But not just any dragon.
He took a deep breath:
"It is from… from the highest rank in our lineage."
Elnais stepped back:
"Highest rank…? Could it be one of the Moons?!"
Ren didn't answer… his hands were shaking, his voice weak, like a little child afraid of the dark:
"It's… it's the voice of one of the Emperor's three Moons… the Emperor's Guardian…"
Something tore through the sky at that moment, approaching with terrifying speed.
The trees trembled from the force of its descent.
Ren spoke in fear:
"Why is he here? I thought he was dead…!"
Elnais stared at him, shocked:
"What is happening?!"
Ren answered with sadness, tension, and worry:
"What does he want… and how is he still alive…"
Elnais looked up at the sky…
A massive shadow approached…
Ren shouted:
"Elnais… run!"
But it was too late.
The dragon arrived.
To be continued…