"Haa... Va, Varen...."
But something was strange. That familiar face felt unfamiliar.
The unusually large, vivid blue eyes were trembling, narrowing and widening over and over again.
Shimmering scales had appeared across his perfectly pale face, which had always been flawless.
Varen, while still in human form, was showing the physical traits of his dragon body.
I could not understand the change, but I felt a powerful premonition that I had to stop him.
But the moment I opened my mouth, pillars of fire began to surge up around Varen and me as well.
"Ugh...."
Flames rose up around us, forming a ring roughly two meters away. The temperature was far higher than the fire Varen usually breathed, and I instinctively curled in on myself.
There was nowhere else to escape, so I pressed tightly against Varen’s chest, but the dragon’s body heat against my skin was just as scorching as the towering pillars of fire.
Varen was burning the flames with the intent to incinerate the entire world.
"Haa... ugh, Varen...."
"Shh, it’s alright. Ceryl, I will never lose you."
Even the hand cradling my head while telling me everything was fine was sizzling with heat.
The air around us, dried completely by the flames, made breathing impossible again.
Instinctively I searched for moisture, but there was none anywhere around me. Even the saliva and blood that had smeared my face had dried instantly in the dragon’s heat.
"Kyaaah! Save us!!"
"Run! Get far away!!!"
The pillars of fire roared like a storm. Beyond them came the Rebels’ screams, sharp and tearing.
"Screee! Scree!!"
"Mooohhh!"
Behind them, the monsters that had all been given water and barely freed from their cages by Drunkard raised their voices together.
The chaos created by hundreds of cries and the towering crimson pillars of flame burning without limit looked like a painting of hell itself.
At the center of that entire scene, the one who had created it all, Varen, was as calm as the eye of a storm. Holding me in his arms, he simply murmured the same words again and again.
"I’ll kill them.... I’ll kill them all...."
Struggling against the suffocating heat and lack of breath, I forced my wavering gaze upward.
The flames he had created reflected in the eyes that had once been as clear and blue as the sea. The fire of vengeance flickered in those pure eyes. Yet his gaze was directed nowhere.
The faded focus was consumed entirely by a blind urge to burn and kill everything.
With a voice cracked dry, I barely managed to speak.
"Varen, I... I’m fine... haa, stop...."
I struggled to raise my broken wrist toward Varen, who gave no answer to my words.
What I wanted was to touch his face and comfort him. But the most I could do was brush his cheek lightly with my forearm.
Fortunately, even that faint contact made Varen’s eyes shift toward me.
"Ceryl...."
"I... I’m fine... stop...."
My stiff tongue refused to move properly. But right now I had to calm Varen somehow.
The flames Varen unleashed in rage would burn forever unless he extinguished them himself. In the original story, Varen had burned half the world with those flames of vengeance.
So that the dragon holding me would not be devoured by his own fury, I forced a smile at him.
My exhausted face throbbed even from the small effort of moving my facial muscles, but I managed to lift the corners of my lips.
Then Varen slowly raised his burning hand. With extreme care, he stroked my hair with the tips of his fingers.
His body was so hot that the moment his fingertips touched my hair, it sizzled and singed. The smell of burning hair filled my nose.
Unaware of just how high his body temperature had become, the dragon gently brushed his fingers across my cheek as well.
Each touch felt as if the delicate skin of my face was burning away, but I bit my teeth together to keep from flinching.
"I’m sorry, Ceryl. I hurt you."
"...No, I’m fine...."
"I never wanted to... hurt you again...."
He murmured blankly, as though possessed by something.
Even while emitting such terrifying heat, his blue eyes were brimming with tears.
My heart grew anxious as I realized he was no longer truly hearing me. Even now, beyond the pillars of fire, the screams of the Rebels and the monsters had not stopped.
If this continued, everyone would burn to death at the hands of a dragon who had lost his reason.
I had to say something—anything—to bring Varen ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) back to himself. But my exhausted mind could not find any words other than telling him I was fine.
"Ceryl, I’ll give you everything I have...."
And Varen’s face slowly lowered.
The kiss I had grown used to from him now felt frightening for the first time in a long while.
"W-wait... Varen, wait...."
The breath spilling from between Varen’s lips was far too hot. Even from a hand’s breadth away, it felt like boiling steam.
He was always hotter than a human when he grew excited, but this temperature was on another level entirely.
My hair was already singeing just from his proximity. If that scorching flesh touched the soft tissue inside my mouth, my tongue would roast instantly—and the heat drawn into my throat would burn my airway and organs.
My face went pale as I tried to lean away, but his thick arm supported the back of my neck, leaving me nowhere to escape.
"Varen, get a hold of yourself. Varen, hey...."
In the end, when his lips came right before mine, I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my head aside.
I knew it was meaningless, but at the very least I could not die like this—by Varen’s own hands.
"......"
Yet perhaps my resistance had worked.
Varen’s lips did not touch my face.
Even the suffocating heat of his breath vanished in an instant.
My heart trembling with unease, I slowly opened my eyes.
Someone’s hand was covering Varen’s mouth.
"Tch. I believe I told you not to forget that Ceryl is human."
The tone was unmistakable, even if the appearance was different each time—irritating, sharp, and dry.
All the tension drained from my body as I lifted my gaze.
Behind Varen stood a man who looked to be in his thirties, with an air that naturally inspired trust.
He narrowed his eyes while examining my battered state.
"My. What a mess you’re in, Ceryl."
"Hh... hhuk... Morpha...."
Relief flooded me so suddenly that tears burst out again.
But Morpha looked away from me and used his other hand to cover Varen’s eyes as well.
For some reason, with both his eyes and mouth blocked by Morpha, Varen became quiet.
"Lord Varen. Please extinguish the flames now and rest for a moment."
Morpha spoke almost like a whisper, and a faint light glowed from his palm.
As if placed under sleep magic, Varen closed his eyes and collapsed quietly.
Morpha caught the dragon’s enormous body without difficulty and laid him gently on the ground.
I stared back and forth between Varen and Morpha in confusion.
I had known Morpha’s magic was powerful, but I had not expected it to be strong enough to put Dravergh to sleep instantly.
Noticing my puzzled look, Morpha knelt beside me on one knee and answered.
"Because Lord Varen shared his blood with me. Our souls are connected, which makes such things possible."
Only then did I nod stupidly.
Then, with my body swaying, I forced myself into a seated position. My wrists and ankles were broken, so it was difficult to keep my balance, but I managed to stretch my legs out and sit upright.
As Varen fell asleep, the towering pillars of fire around us faded away.
But thick smoke rising from the ground made it impossible to see anything.
Morpha waved his hand several times as if brushing something aside, and a gust of wind swept through, carrying the smoke away.
"Ah...."
A low groan slipped from my cracked voice.
Where the dragon’s flames had passed, there was nothing but black ash.
Even the surrounding trees had burned away completely, and the tent that had served as the Rebels’ base was torn in places like paper, exposing everything inside.
The few remaining embers that had not yet died out moved restlessly, searching for anything that could burn—dry branches, scraps of old cloth.
I could not even tell who had died and who had survived.
But there was only one person left in my mind.
Lifting my face, still scorched by Varen’s touch, I looked at Morpha.
"S-save... him...."
"Your condition appears quite serious. First we should treat—"
"Mar... gon.... please...."
If my limbs had still been whole, I would have knelt and bowed before Morpha.
I would have grabbed his pant leg and begged with both hands pressed together.
But with a body that could not move even a finger, all I could do was let tears fall endlessly.
Morpha looked at me silently while I could do nothing but cry.
Then he snorted lightly and shrugged.
"Your companion is alive, so there’s no need to worry. I was late because I moved him somewhere safe first."
"...Alive?"
"Yes. A human with quite a strong will to live. I’ve sealed the wound, so he can be treated slowly."
Only after hearing that Margon was alive did I finally manage to breathe again.
Those insects had nearly crushed the breath out of me, and the firestorm had almost suffocated me, but now I could finally breathe again.
And then, a moment later, the face of another precious companion surfaced in my mind.
"Hh... Ka, Kallen... what about Kallen?"
