Hot water touched my skin like a antiseptic. My wounds felt relief, my aching body finding peace in the soothing grasp of the swana.
Eyes blurred out as i let go into the water, body leaning on the rocky back that felt more comfortable than any bed I ever took a nap in.
For a moment, I could almost pretend this was a normal bath. A spa trip. Something Doraemon might have pulled out of his pocket to 'fix' me when I was a kid.
It was finally feeling normal and calming. Exactly how I like it.
"You seem to be finally relaxed."
Except for the dragon sitting in front of me.
"Yeah, well," I muttered, sinking a little lower so the water touched my chin. "The bar for 'relaxed' is pretty low when the alternative is screaming yourself unconscious."
The dragon didn't smile. Its great, golden eyes just watched me, and in them I didn't see a friend. Not one I was fond of at least.
"The respite is a gift," it rumbled, the sound making the water ripple. "But it is not a pardon. Your body is mended, Nobita-niyan. But your spirit is a shattered sword."
"Then let it stay shattered, I never asked to be a sword."
"We rarely ask for the burdens we must carry," it said, its voice dropping into a register that felt like the beginning of an earthquake.
I didn't feel like debating. But he continued regardless.
"We only choose what to do with their weight. And your war will not be won with a broken blade."
A cold dread, deeper than the hot water was warm, began to seep into my bones. This wasn't a social call.
"What are you going to do?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
"We both know what that is. In fact, you must know it better than I do."
Smartass dragon.... But he was right. I knew this bath isn't for free. In fact, I don't like being in debt.
"How.... Did this all occur?"
"Whatever are you talking about."
"I mean. He died, no? And, how did you all come to earth's mirror world? And why are you at war with metropolians?"
The dragon was silent for a long moment, its breath stirring the steam into phantom shapes.
"You ask of roots when the tree is already falling," it rumbled, a deep sorrow in its voice. "But you have earned the right to know the shape of the storm you stand in."
"The one you call Odorome did not 'die'. A being of such malice cannot be so easily erased. When you defeated him, you shattered his form and banished his spirit. But a shadow, cast by a great light, is long indeed. His essence fell through the cracks of reality, into this reflection of your world."
"Here, he found a kingdom recovering from its own wars, a people weary and vulnerable. He promised them strength, order, and revenge against the 'sky-demons' who had once abandoned them. He gave them a common enemy: the Metropians, whose migration to this world he painted as an invasion."
"The 'war' is a lie, Nobita-niyan. It is a slaughter, orchestrated by a ghost from your past, using old fears and new weapons. The Metropians came here for peace. Odorome convinced my people they came for conquest."
"And you..." The dragon's gaze held his, unblinking. "You are the linchpin. The legend. To Odorome, you are the ultimate prize—the one who humiliated him, whose death will cement his power. To the Metropians, you are the forgotten hero whose return is their last hope. And to my people... you are either the savior who will break the Dark King's lie, or the false champion whose failure proves we never had a chance at all."
Ok. Aside from the English premium accent. I'd say I do get some serious conformation about odorome being reborn and the one killing metropians. Still doesn't explain about mirror world though. Guess I won't get a conformation here. And without it I can't escape. So wha-
"You seem to have gone in deep thought, my friend."
'Friend' he said. Is he in a friendly mood now?
"Yeah. And as for it, let me tell you one thing. Which we're both aware of, obviously. I have no choice. So i will put an end to war."
Dragon smiled. Or did he? Hard to tell with that face. But I felt like he did.
"Then, I shall be at rest. I believe you'll actually keep your words."
"I mean no other choice... Wait, by rest you mean hybernation?"
The water around me began to grow warm. No, not warm. Hot. The soothing heat was transforming, becoming a searing energy that prickled against my skin.
"My people are fighting and dying in a war based on a lie, in a world that should not exist, for a king who is a phantom. This cannot stand."
The dragon began to glow, its scales shimmering with an inner light that dwarfed the cavern's crystals. The very air hummed, thick with power.
"A shattered sword cannot win this war. But a reforged one... a blade tempered in the fire of sacrifice and quenched in the waters of truth... can."
"Wait—" I choked out, trying to scramble back, but the water itself held me fast. It wasn't water anymore. It was liquid light, liquid pain.
"My life is the fuel. My will, the hammer. Your spirit, the steel."
"Hey hey HEY! CALM DOWN NOW! NO NEED FOR THIS! I GOT A PLAN!"
The dragon's form began to dissolve into a torrent of golden embers, swirling around me, into me.
"please be at ease, nobitania. I'm nearing my death anyway"
I rushed forth in the water, taking giant steps in desperation.
"NO.WAIT! THAT'S NOT FINE STILL. WAIT"
shit. I know this. No. No. No. No. Not again!
It wasn't a gentle infusion. It was a violation. A glorious, terrible violation. I felt my bones scream as they were remade, my blood ignite as it was replaced with fire.
"Finish it, Nobita-nia."
The voice was no longer in the cavern. It was inside my soul.
"Do not let my death be for nothing."
And then, there was only the light, the agony, and the crushing weight of a debt that could never, ever be repaid.
"Fuck it all."
A tear drop touched the swana.
"Just what the hell... Do you think gives you the right to always put me in this fucked up situations?! HUH?!"
My fist clenched until it no longer could.
"Damn it. Damn it ALL!"