Dray opened his eyes slowly as a beam of light struck his eyelids from the sun. He squinted slightly in annoyance as he shook his head from side to side and finally sat up. There was grass under him and he gently ran his fingers through it in confusion. What was he doing outside? And how was he even sitting on grass? Dray doesn't remember any grass near the church. The church was located on rocky ground, so there shouldn't be a valley or meadow around at all.
Dray was leaning against a tree in the middle of the meadow and when he turned and looked at the horizon, he felt his breath hitch! There was a beautiful sunset on the horizon with a large field of flowers below it. The orange glow bathed the field in orange and made them look even more exotic.
Dray slowly got up and squinted his eyes while thinking. Doesn't he know this place? It seems so familiar to him. Yes! He knew a place like this!
"Dray!!"
Dray turned around sharply when he heard a voice scream his name! There was a figure running towards him with a wide smile and Dray also smiled when he saw Willow waving at him from a distance while running towards him! Now he remembers this place! This was the meadow in Aquinas that they always came to together! He and Willow would visit this meadow whenever they wanted to meet up in secret!
But why am I here? Don't tell me that it was all a dream. This was the first thing that entered Dray's mind. And he hoped desperately that he was right! He hoped that the past year was only a dream! Maybe Willow was never killed! Maybe he was never recruited by Elias and maybe he never had to suffer all that pain! Maybe all of that was a dream and he was just sleeping here all this time.
"Dray!"
Dray wanted to take a step forward when he heard Willow's voice again, but he stopped dead in his tracks! Was he an idiot!? What sort of foolish wishful thinking was going through his mind? Hoping that the whole thing was a dream was like hoping that the world would stop moving just for you! Dray knew that he was only fooling himself!
"Dray!!"
"Dray!!"
"Dray!!!!"
The voice was now getting closer and louder and Dray started to take steps back as he saw the grass under his feet melting away! The sun disappeared and it was replaced by a fire that burnt across the entire field of flowers and reduced them to ash! Dray turned to Willow and his eyes widened in shock when he saw that Willow was no longer there! Instead, she was replaced by Pyra who had her mace pulled back with that same stoic look on her face!
Dray screamed as he stumbled back and fell on his behind!
"Arrghhhhhhh!!!"
Dray bolted off his bed screaming like a madman and he started looking around frantically! There was sweat pouring from his forehead and his heart rate was so fast that you would think he just ran a marathon! Dray looked to the side and he saw a nun standing away from his bed with her hands on her chest and a scared expression on her face.
Dray didn't recognize this nun because she wasn't the one that has been taking care of him with ice magic. He noticed that she must've jumped back in fright once she suddenly saw him sit up so quickly. Dray groaned in tiredness as he put his head in his hands. What the hell was that? Another nightmare!? This was the worst one that he has had so far.
Dray has been having these nightmares about Pyra for the past year, but this was the first one that actually seemed real for a moment, Dray almost believed that he was actually in the real world! He almost fell for his own dream!
Dray turned to the nun beside his bed and silently apologized to her. The nun was a pretty little woman that shouldn't be anything more than twenty. She had a sash around her waist that had the symbol of a bishop on it and Dray wondered how this little girl became a bishop. It wasn't simple to become a bishop, rook, or knight in the church and only some of the strongest could be chosen for those roles. The girl in front of Dray didn't look like she could hurt a dying fly!
Dray knew that she was definitely older than him, but for some reason, he couldn't treat her like she was older at all. Dray has been through too much for him to still act like a little child of eighteen. He might be eighteen years old, but he felt like he was thirty!
"I-Its fine. Uhm... Dray, right?"
The girls spoke softly and Dray nodded as he rolled his left shoulder around a little and looked down at his chest. There was a distinctly red glow from his chest and now that Dray was focusing on it, he could feel some pain coursing through that part of his body. But for some reason, he couldn't feel the pain in all the other parts of his chest. It felt like the pain was only concentrated in that small ball in one part of him. Dray turned to the woman at his side curiously.
"What did you do to me?"
The nun swallowed nervously at the intimidating tone that Dray used and Dray saw her retreat even more from him. The nun had a mousy face and blonde hair that she let down in a long wave. Her breasts and hips were moderately sized and she was also quite short. Basically, she looked like someone who was easily intimidated by anything.
Dray sighed and then he tried to ask her the question again. This time, he used a calmer tone to talk to her so that she wouldn't be scared of him. He needed to know what happened to him.
"Please, what happened? I'm supposed to be dead, aren't I?"
"Yes, you are supposed to be dead. If not for the king you would have died a hundred times over already."
Dray blinked a little in surprise and then looked down again. The head of the church helped him. Why? There was no reason for the king to help him because they never even met before. Dray doesn't even know what the king looks like! He turned to the girl again and asked her how the king helped him. Dray could still feel pain, but for some reason, it was isolated in just a small part of his chest.
"The dragon's mana was tearing through your heart and you would've burnt to death if you stayed the way you were. Even your affinity for fire wouldn't have saved you for long. So I isolated the mana inside your body and placed a seal on it. You will be feeling that pain for the rest of your life and it will be a little difficult for you to use any mana at all but at least it won't kill you,"
The more Dray listened, the angrier he got! He was angry at the church, he was angry at Elias and he was also angry at his stupidity! This wasn't their deal from the fucking start! This isn't what Elias told him would happen!
"This isn't what we agreed on! You people said you had a way of getting the mana out of me!"
"Don't be a fool,"
Dray was shocked by the girl's sudden insult and it seemed she was also shocked by it because she immediately put her hand to her mouth with wide eyes! She turned away from Dray for a moment and closed her eyes tightly to take a calming breath. She only looked back at him after a few moments before she continued.
"There aren't many methods for removing Mana from the body without killing the person who held the mana. You should know this since you were the one that took the mana from the hero. The dragon's mana has mixed with your regular Mana and made your entire core weaker than it should be. Unless you want us to use [Mana Drain] on you until you faint and die from Mana depletion then this is your life now,"
The girl said all this in such a calm and smooth voice that you would think she was talking about the weather! Her hand was still held up to her chest and she still had that mellow look in her eyes that told Dray that she was a very gentle person. But Dray had no idea how she was able to talk about something so morbid with such a shy look on her face.
Dray grit his teeth in anger before he fell back to his bed and sighed! He didn't have anything to even say anymore. He was a fool that was tricked and used, and once he outlived his use, he could have been discarded just as easily. For some reason, Dray was at least glad that he wasn't dead.
Dray's mind immediately went towards Elias and the wave of anger that roared inside him was intense! Where the hell is that bastard!? He looked up to talk to the nun that was there to ask her where Elias was, but surprisingly, she was no longer around! The door was open and it seems that she left the room while he was in the middle of brooding. What a fucking strange woman.
The woman that was with Dray walked through the halls of the church at a quick pace as she made her way towards King Arthur's chambers. As she walked, small whispers escaped from her lips and if you listened close enough, you will be able to tell that she was having a conversation with herself.
"Why did you have to insult him like that?"
"He's a fool, that's why. And you shouldn't be a fool either. Do you think that boy deserves to live? He went around believing whatever anyone told him and that is what landed him in this situation,"
"But you could've said it nicer. He was so shocked. I thought he would hurt us,"
"We would've killed him if he tried it. His Mana core is fucked and his magic won't settle down for at least six months. He's a fucking timebomb right now. Do you think someone like that can kill a bishop from the church?"
"But... I-I was scared,"
"Bitch, shut the fuck up. You're scared of everything. We're here already so get back inside and let me talk to the king. It's my turn this time,"
The nun opened the door to King Arthur's room and she saw him kneeling in front of an image of the holy priestess. The holy priestess was the symbol of their church and she was the messenger responsible for carrying their messages to the lord. The church did not recognize any other priestess other than the holy priestess herself.
When they heard about what happened to Aquinas, the church was extremely pleased that the demon lord destroyed that kingdom of heretics. They always knew that Aquinas would end up being destroyed by the wrath of the lord. They dared to exalt another priestess that wasn't the holt priestess herself and that is the punishment they deserved.
As the nun entered the room, she went and knelt down on the pier behind Arthur. The both of them were silent for some time and they simply prayed together. then after he was done, Arthur spoke.
"Is the boy alive, Argo?"
Argo nodded with a small sigh of annoyance. She really didn't understand what Arthur was thinking when he asked her to save Dray. What use could Dray have for the church?
"Yes, we saved him. But I don't know what you fucking want him for. He's as useless as a piece of rock right now and a fucking wind can blow him down if he tries to get into a fight,"
Arthur smiled. It seems that it was the second personality that was talking today. He didn't like how Argo split her personality, especially since he knew her before the personality split. She was one of the people he saved from the streets a long time ago. But he couldn't deny that he liked how straightforward this second personality was. It allowed him to talk to her freely.
"He'll be of some use to me. The priestess had revealed the truth to me and I would be a fool to not heed her advice. You, on the other hand, do not need to know. Simply watch over him and make sure that the seal you placed on him doesn't break before he has time to stabilize. That would be detrimental to the healing."
Argo nodded her head with an annoyed look and she accepted Arthur's reasoning. He was the head of the church and she trusted him, so even if she didn't understand what he was doing, her only job was to do whatever he wanted from her.
"If that's all then I'll be leaving now. It's not like I want to stay with you for any more time than this,"
Argo said the second part of her sentence in a whisper and she blushed a little as she glanced at Arthur from the side. Arthur just smiled. He could literally hear the blush in her words.
Arthur told her that she could leave if she was finished and Argo frowned before getting up angrily. She wanted him to tell her to stay, but it seem he didn't want her here!
"Fine! I'll leave then!"
"... And, Argo,"
Argo turned back around at the door when Arthur spoke and she hummed slightly.
"Thank you for your help. Both of you,"
Argo's face blew up in a huge blush once she heard Arthur say this and she slapped her hands on her cheeks before muttering out a quick 'You're welcome' and leaving the room immediately! Once she was outside, she bent low while putting her hands over her face! Her red face could be seen clearly from between her fingers!
"Dammit! Dammit! I made it so obvious that I wanted to stay! What the hell was I thinking!?"
"Y-You could try to be a little more forward with our feelings. You're such a tsundere,"
"Shut up, you bitch!!"
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