Chapter 908 Drake's Trial
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(Drake's POV)
When I entered the room, I quickly found someone standing in front of me. It was someone I couldn't even recognized. I knew that this trial would show someone that was somehow our "weakness", but the person in front of me… I really couldn't tell who he was for a while. He seemed to look at me with as much surprise as I did.
"So you're me… Wow."
"What?"
The man spoke with a voice I once had. This man was… myself. This human in front of me, which I couldn't even recognize anymore even though my life in Earth wasn't even that long ago, it was me. The one that had yet to reincarnate, a man filled with insecurities and fears inside of his heart, a man that was afraid of walking outside of his room, someone that was afraid of interacting with an unforgiving world.
I didn't really felt sad when I looked at this man because I knew I once was him. I didn't felt any sorrow either, but it was just, some sort of nostalgic, bitter feeling inside of my heart. Did he appear here because I am afraid of my own past self?
Perhaps… something that I've always been afraid was my past. I simply embraced my entire identity as the dragon I am now, completely forgetting about my past as someone else, as this man. I guess through the Dreams I had, I thought I had gotten over it, with Benladann's help and everything else… but even now, I suppose I have yet to truly get over this entire problem.
"Yeah, I'm you." I sighed with a smile.
"This feels weird, isn't it? Am I even real? Why am I here if I have become you?" Wondered my other self.
"You're… self-aware?" I asked.
"Yeah? It appears to be… Maybe this Tower has some sort of special magic artifact, or something that deals with the recreation of memories into some sort of alter ego of their own original source. Or well, it might even be dealing with souls altogether. Who knows?" Wondered my other self.
"You're incredible at deductions, I guess you're truly me." I sighed.
"Haha, I guess… Being praised by myself is weird though." My other self said.
"I suppose… If your deduction is right, then you're truly a creation of my own memories…" I sighed. "I've been escaping from my former self for a while, haven't I?"
"I can't blame you; it is not as if I am anything memorial at all. I have never done anything special, and lived my entire life afraid of everything surrounding me… In exchange, you've become someone incredible, you have a family, and you're even the Dragon King… What else can you ask for?" My other self sighed.
"Hey, don't talk like that…" I said.
"Well, but isn't it true? It would be better if I just.. disappeared. It is not as if you'll ever miss anything if the memories of having been me are gone, right? You're just… someone completely different than me. I even died pathetically in an Avalanche." He said.
"No… I mean yeah we died in an avalanche but… We are still one and the same. Don't talk like that about us, I am still getting offended…" I sighed.
This was hard to deal with, my other self despite how he spoke before, was completely depressed. I can already remember that he is just like how I was before reincarnating. I was trying my best to get over my fears, as I grew older, I always thought it would only get worse. But every time I tried, it got harder, and more stressful, I really didn't even knew what I could even do with everything. I was always afraid of people and the outside world.
Because of the things I experienced, and the things I did… Because I killed my uncle. Maybe I always saw myself as someone dangerous. Surrounded by people that loved me, perhaps deep down, I never thought I truly deserved such amazing people.
But without them, what would had been of me? What would I had become instead?
Maybe a criminal? Someone even more desolate than I was before?
…Or perhaps I would had ended killing myself because I wouldn't had been able to handle everything.
"You're thinking, right?" My other self asked.
"I… Yeah." I sighed. "There is a lot to think, seeing you really made me think stuff. I never thought this trial would involve this level of thinking. I thought you were going to fight me and try to kill me."
"This trial is probably designed to be harsher than a mere fight, it hits right in the feels." Said my other self.
"I wonder how everybody else is handling the trials. If things are as peaceful as this, they should be alright, right?" I wondered.
"You're overly protective as always, aren't you? I suppose that now that you have such a big amount of friends, you don't want to lose them." He said.
"I really don't… They're the most important thing in my life, I guess. I never thought that having so many friends and a big family would be one of the things that keep me moving." I sighed.
"You would think that just being a dragon would be enough…"
"It is cool but… After a while of just trying to survive in this damn world, I ended up changing a bit. I just wanted someone to be at my side. I guess I always wanted that."
"Yeah, back then, with the family and everybody else… I suppose the only part of that life that really mattered was when we were with all of them… They are good people, maybe too good for me."
Certainly, one of the things that I always appreciated was to be with them. They were the pillars of my life. Without them, I would had gone insane. I am rather thankful that they were with me all that time, even in my last moments of life in Earth, I still could remember my sister's cry.
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