Chapter 78: A Dragon and His Phoenix (2)
[Shigaron watched the humans below with a wanderous glint with those cornflower blue eyes that only he possessed among his kind.
He was one of the guardians who was sent down to the middle realm by their beloved Goddess. Their mission was to simply watch over the life in this world and to protect it from any future harm. Because of that mission, Shigaron found himself watching the humans more and more as the days passed on. And he did that for hundreds of years.
Then one day, conversation of passing humans slipped by his ear. They were telling stories– rumors of how two of the Goddess’ guardian beasts had appeared on a far off Continent, ones who had once been hidden to the world as they silently watched over everything.
Shigaron had known of the existence of the other beasts, but he had been unaware of their locations since each beast had left the Goddess’ embrace during separate times. Though it was not as if they had had much contact with each other even in the upper realm since each one had their own jobs to do.
With a sudden urge, one so powerful that it could not be shaken, the Shadow Phoenix that was unlike the others of its kind, decided to fly to this other Continent.
Before leaving, Shigaron passed on his duty to another, giving them temporary command of their flock. It may have seemed selfish and foolhardy for the still young Shadow Phoenix to leave behind its flock, to abandon those who had spawned from his overwhelming power during his stay in the middle realm, but the years had chipped away at him. He had grown too curious at the growth of the human species while at the same time steadily feeling empty on the inside.]
Adrien turned the page. His eyes widened slightly as the point of view changed from Shigaron to Velron.
His legs bobbed in the water, floating high enough that they never touched the bottom of the tub. The water, which had been rather hot, had grown lukewarm.
[Soaring through the sky while ripping apart the harmless clouds with his size alone, flew a massive golden dragon whose scales shimmered white around the edges. His red eyes scanned over the vast green pastures below him, watching as sheep and cows alike bleated and mooed as they sensed his presence.
A frown tugged the corners of the dragon’s lips down. His eyes crinkled in annoyance. He was not reacting to the farm animals below him, but to the strange tugging sensation in his chestal region. He had been feeling it ever since he descended down into the middle realm but had never discovered why he had been feeling it.
Not until other dragons had been born from his mana.
He had learned that others of his kind would occasionally feel the same kind of sensation. The same urge that he was feeling. And they would feel it when they would come across another whose mana would connect with their own. It had been dubbed as a soulbond since the two with connected mana would always wind up as mates.
That was what had Velron, the great leader of the golden dragons, in a foul mood. After spending thousands of years in the upper realm, helping the Goddess send off souls of the departed for reincarnation, and another three-hundred years in the middle realm, he had never even dreamed that his soul would be tied to another. And one that he could not even go to.
The direction the pull in his heart was tugging towards led to the Continent where the Shadow Phoenix had settled. Velron personally never had any contact with the Shadow Phoenix and did not know of his nature, but he had vowed to himself to never go to the land that that creature had claimed.
And that was simply because of the job that the Shadow Phoenix had been given while in the upper realm.
While Velron was responsible for helping the souls that Ren had brought to reincarnate, the Shadow Phoenix had been responsible for destroying certain souls. Even if it was just a job, Velron still had a feeling that the Shadow Phoenix would possess an awful personality since each Divine Beast had been assigned a job that reflected their personality– their very essence. That was the true reason why Velron refused to travel to that Continent in search of his supposed mate, because he was afraid of running into the Shadow Phoenix.
Though afraid probably wasn’t the most accurate term to use.]
Adrien had been so focused on reading that he had not even registered the bathroom door opening and closing. His feet kicked the water which had now become cold, his eyes rapidly scanning the pages.
"Hmm. Is it that interesting?"
Adrien’s arm slipped and he nearly smacked his chin on the marble when he heard Mikyle’s voice. He quickly righted himself before placing the book out of reach from the water.
Looking to his side, Adrien was startled to find Mikyle sitting in a chair, watching him silently. "When did you come in?"
"Not that long ago." Mikyle’s eyes did a cursory glance of the book that Adrien had sat down. "Ah. The book that has vexed the royal family for years. My father never could figure out who the author was or how it wound up in the palace library."
Adrien scooted over to the side of the tub that was closer to where Mikyle was sitting. "How accurate is it? There was a lot of information in the auxiliary Chapter that isn’t in the history books."
Mikyle’s chin bobbed once. A smirk tugged at his lips as he peered down at Adrien, finding his thirst for knowledge amusing. "I’m assuming you’re curious about the Poison Element? There did in fact exist such an element at one point in time. All traces of Bella the Hydra and anyone possessing the Poison Element was destroyed during the Great Elemental War."
"Why was it destroyed?" Adrien could understand fearing the Poison Element, but wouldn’t it also be helpful? Weren’t most medicines made by using poisonous plants? Not that Adrien was an expert in that field.
"The Poison Element didn’t just cover poison, but also curses. It’s unclear what Bella the Hydra actually did during the Great War, but we do know she was responsible for killing off most of the Ancient Kings."
Adrien felt his shock grow upon hearing Mikyle’s words. This is definitely redacted information that one won’t easily find! But is it really okay for him to be telling me this?!
Mikyle stood and came closer to the tub. He crouched down on his knees until he was eye level with Adrien. "You’ve been in here long enough. I’m sure the water has long gone cold. Let’s get you out."
