Dragonlord

Ep 161. I’ve Been Here Before. (7)

Ep 161. I’ve Been Here Before. (7)

“Interesting.”

Snap!

Immediately following the sound of the speaker’s snapping fingers, the Reaper’s body regained its freedom as he stumbled backwards to their side.

After rising to his feet to move away from the dragonlord’s trajectory, Felicir sighed in relief, smirking towards the speaker thereafter.

“Well now, that was close.”

“…Reaper.”

Acknowledging the possessed academic’s identity without a single hint, the speaker’s studious gaze scanned Felicir’s newly acquired body from head to toe.

“How intriguing. I oft wondered if this day would come.”

“…Good to see you too, Zenon.”

Despite the Reaper’s sarcastic reply, the deity showed no visible reaction.

He instead fixed his gaze onto the frozen dragonlord next – and the two beyond the broken doorway of his Archive.

He then made a brief bow before the dragon, proceeding to hold up a hand in a guarding manner.

“My apologies for the interruption, Serenis. I’m afraid I must ask you to hold your hand within the Archive.”

When he snapped his fingers next, Serenis regained her momentum, although her claws clashed against a seemingly invisible wall of nothing before her. She pushed off the hard surface and landed some distance behind, once again able to move her body to take in the surroundings.

But the dragonlord remained on one knee as how she’d landed. Her eyes emptily drifted from side to side, taking in the Archive’s appearance.

Befitting its name, the Archive was filled with rows of bookshelves, with the occasional antiques that seemed to decorate the stretching hallways. Although the space between each shelf was much too large, the immediate vicinity was quite similar to that of a library besides its spacious setup.

However, they were not indoors – they were on an endlessly stretching plain. Serenis could neither see nor sense the other end of this supposed Archive beyond the speaker.

When she looked upwards, there were no suns or moons or stars, or even a single candle to provide any semblance of light – and yet, the sky was painted completely in white. The area was perfectly illuminated as if there was some invisble sun above them, to which there was none.

Beneath them was not a typical floor made of wood or stone – or even soil, for that matter. As far as Serenis could tell, they were standing on nothing.

The ground beneath their feet was completely transparent. And further below the transparent floor, the dragonlord could make out puffs of white clouds, navigating their way through the blue, open skies.

To the oblivious, the entire space may have been seen as nothing more than an intricate illusion: a playground that the Twelve had toyed with of their own accord. In fact, that’s exactly whas was going through Light’s head as she took in their surroundings.

However, the dragonlord knew that this was natural for where they stood.

This place has always been this way.

“Serenis!”

When Serenis failed to rise back to her feet, Light rushed to her side to check on the dragonlord. The half lightly shook the dragon in an attempt to awake them.

Alas, there was no need to shake anyone awake.

Serenis was perfectly awake as is; she was merely dazed by the sight of the surrounding area.

“…Serenis? Are you okay?”

“I’ve been here before.”

“Huh? What??”

“I’ve…been here before.”

Light’s hands slipped away from Serenis’ shoulders as the dragonlord rose to her feet. However, her expression continued to remain dazed, as if she’d forgotten what she’d been doing mere moments ago.

Her eyes were fixed on the boundless white sky. Her feet felt heavier than they ever had since her awakening, and her entire body felt drained and exhausted. Despite Light’s worried voice, the world had fallen to a deathly silence for the dragonlord.

All hallucinations: nothing was actually happening, nor were the deities doing anything at all. The Reaper continued to stand idly behind the Archive’s resident, while the resident himself seemingly waited for Serenis to return to her senses.

Ever since Aymeia had described the Archive as a realm beyond their own, Serenis had drawn a vague guess of what this supposed ‘Archive’ may be.

A guess that she’d wished would prove itself wrong and untrue.

“…”

As the silence stretched on, Zenon’s eyes likewise closed in brief reflection. He quietly called out to the dragonlord, looking to bring her back.

“Serenis. Your brethren are no longer here.”

“…”

“This is no longer the place you remember it to be. This is the Archive.”

Finally, the dragonlord’s skyward gaze lowered itself to meet the deity’s.

“…So you know what it was, then.”

“I do.”

Light and Aymeia stared at the two in confusion – in fact, even the Reaper seemed confused. No one else seemed to understand what the two were referring to.

But clearly, it was important – enough to make the dragonlord forget that she’d been chasing the Reaper for a few minutes.

And, as much as Light wanted to run up to her professor and slap him awake, the act first required the Reaper to be dealt with: a task that she couldn’t possibly complete on her own.

With an apologetic expression, the half then pulled on the dragonlord’s sleeve.

“Sorry, but…what’s…going on? What are you talking about?”

“...”

 This time, Serenis did turn her eyes to meet Light’s. But no answer came out of her.

Instead, it was Zenon who’d fill the silence.

“This isn’t her first visit here. In the distant past, she’d frequented this location – and it’d been called differently at the time.”

Both Serenis and Light turned to face the speaking deity. One was evidently surprised at their knowledge, and somewhat curious to see just how much the deity seemed to know; the other simply wished to hear more.

“What does that even mean though? What was it before?”

“In the previous era – a time before the Twelve – the Archive served as home to a single divinity known as the First. This was their abode.”

“…And Serenis used to come here a lot?”

“Indeed. The Archive also served as the birthplace of all demonlords.”

“Serenis was born here?!”

As Zenon filled the half with a piece of ancient history, Serenis remained silent throughout. Even as the speaker continued on, she didn’t bother to interrupt or refute a single word of what was being said.

“That’s correct. Or, as Serenis would call it…”

The deity raised his gaze to lock eyes with the dragonlord’s. He didn’t seem particularly apologetic, but a pause nonetheless seemed appropriate to give room for interruption.

When there was none, he finished the dialogue, just as indifferent as before.

“…The world’s summit.”