On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human

The Dragons Emerge (2)

Since Genelos—Aurelia, as she likes to be called, told me the story would be long, I expected her to tell me about her past before giving me her reason for hiding her identity. She does the opposite as she tells me what she is.

"I am a Dragon…well, a fallen Dragon."

My response to the revelation is a quirked eyebrow and it prompts her to sigh bitterly. I didn't expect such a reaction—I didn't expect her to react.

"I know. You must wonder how such a pathetic Dragon like myself who must pretend to be a Wyvern to survive can survive the Ancient Gods Era."

"You are not a new generation Dragon?" I blink my eyes at the baffling revelation.

"Wait, you didn't know? I wouldn't have told you if knew you didn't!" Aurelia looks like she is going to cry, probably afraid that I am going to look down on her.

"Go on. You know I don't value my friends by the power they have."

Exhaling heavily, Aurelia calms down. She looks at me cautiously, probably judging if I will be able to accept her after what she says later. Her eyes contain the same emotion that Millonia's did back then at the cave. To assure her, I ruffle her hair as if she is a child.

That seems to work since her body immediately relaxes. Unlike Millonia, she doesn't even try to look mad for what I did. She opens her mouth after a few seconds and tells me about her past. She is the daughter of a Demon and a Dragon. She is the first-ever Demonic Dragon and will remain the only natural Demonic Dragon for quite some time if not forever.

Her father was a not-so-renowned Dragon named Genelos. I have never heard about his name until she told me, but Aurelia proudly claims her father could beat Fafnir without breaking a sweat in his prime. Fafnir is said to live in magma and spew lava, so I can say he lived up to his daughter's claim. That is if Aurelia doesn't exaggerate things.

"I watched him defeat tens of our traitorous kin who teamed up with Gods alone, you know?" probably sensing my skepticism, Aurelia justifies. "That was the last time I saw him since he fell in the battle, but he won it. He gave my mother and me enough time to live as a mother and daughter. He was my hero. He was the person whom I look up to until now."

I was just joking when I entertained the thought of Aurelia exaggerating about her father. I didn't expect her to be emotional about it, so I am quite floored about what to do. In the end, I nod my head with a small reassuring smile on my face. Fortunately, it works as she smiles back and blushes slightly for a reason I don't care.

She resumes her story and I get to know that Cursed Creations who were also governed by Demons were the only party that could accept her father after marrying her mother. Humans the forever sheep followed the Gods earnestly and hunted her father as if the fate of the world depended on her father's death.

Dragons' defiance already put Gods on edge at that time. Hearing a Dragon marrying a Demon must have set their beard on fire. Genelos, Aurelia's father, had made sure to declare he remained neutral. Cursed Creations left him alone and Dragons remained aloof. However, the prejudicial Gods couldn't believe them, so he became their most wanted creature.

He didn't ask for the Demons' help, but he did entrust Aurelia and her mother to the Demons. The Demons took care of them well, honoring the wish of her father.

"The Ancient Gods Era was a nasty period. I could only spend one hundred years with my mother before I had to indulge myself in battles. An unlucky event happened not long after and my mother was killed by a human whose flesh couldn't even withstand the might of my roar."

"Was your mother…?" I trail off, wondering how such a weak bastard could kill the mother of a supposedly mighty Dragon.

"Yes, my mother was a civilian Demon. She only used Magic to help her do chores and her strongest power was her kindness," Aurelia recounts fondly. "When it comes to her kindness, I am torn between admiring her and berating her for it. After all, the reason why that human could kill her was her kindness."

Aurelia's mother saved a dying human soldier from the battlefield. She couldn't help but pity the young man who was buried under the bodies of his comrades with a haunted look on his face. Her decision came back to bite her, but she didn't regret her choice even so. She believed she wasn't strong enough to take the young man out of his dark mind.

Aurelia's mother was an endearing idiot, but I make sure to not tell her. No matter how true it is, I would also get mad if someone called my mother that.

Putting the bitter story aside, Aurelia tells me about how vigorously she exterminated humans after her mother's death. Her activity alerted some of the Gods, so she had the chance of fighting some of them. Though, she couldn't kill any one of them because they knew when to quit. She was too young to have the expertise of chasing after a fleeing God.

Ragnarök occurred not long after. The Gods' attention was solely on the Demons, so Dragons were put aside. She could have backed out of the war and lived leisurely, but she didn't. The Demons had done a lot for her, so she felt obliged to help. The intensity of the war exceeded her expectation. It overwhelmed her so much that she almost died on the first day.

"Old man Quetzalcoatl was the one who saved me from the battlefield. He is a good friend of my father. He took me to the world he created and I stayed there for hundreds of years with the other Dragons. The Great Reset didn't affect us in the slightest."

The information makes me quirk an eyebrow. "Are there any renowned Dragons there?"

Humming to herself for a few seconds, Aurelia shakes her head faintly. "Many of them are strong enough to match me in my prime, but none of them is renowned. Most of the renowned Dragons are prideful, you know? They wouldn't want to be under another Dragon's protection. I am sure they didn't want to hide, so most of them must have died."

Quetzalcoatl is mentioned in the books of Legendary Beasts. Not much is known about him, but many believe his appearance can mean the end of the world. It is hyperbole, for sure, since he was too afraid to face the Gods, but he is still a fearsome powerhouse. Creating a subdimension is not that hard once you understand Space Magic, but creating a new world is another thing.

"Why did you leave the world?"

"I want freedom. The old man is a worrywart. He kept saying it was not the time to emerge, so I fled the world one day."

Aurelia doesn't seem to be a sneaky individual, so I come up with two possibilities of why it happened. First, I underestimated her sneakiness; and second, Quetzalcoatl turned a blind eye to her action because he realized he couldn't hold her back forever.

"Though, I got caught when I was just about to exit the world."

I was wrong.

"Hmph! That old man. If it wasn't because of him, I wouldn't have ended up like this," Aurelia harrumphs with a scowl on her face.

"What did he do to you?" I ask curiously.

"He sealed my power. I must pretend I am a Wyvern because I don't have enough power to assume my True Form!"

Her backstory is full of plot twists. I expected her situation to be caused by her crippling injuries, but it wasn't. She ended up like this because of her worrywart grandfather's punishment for her defiance. Her grandfather must have thought she would realize how harsh it is life outside, but she didn't. Her sheer tenacity managed to bring her this far.

"How long have you roamed the world as a Wyvern?"

"Probably, a hundred years. I am not too sure." Aurelia shrugs. "I get tired quickly in my Wyvern form, so I slept most of the time. Decades went by in the blink of an eye that way."

"Why do you not want to return?"

"Because I don't want to lose my freedom. That world is peaceful and beautiful but it is not as wondrous as the outside world. You may argue with me once you go there, but I can guarantee you won't think the same after spending decades staying there. It is boring."

I don't want to argue with Aurelia's statement. A golden cage is still a golden cage. Freedom is a priceless possession. Though, I have something to ask her. I am fine with her current state, but I prefer her to be stronger.

"If we visit Quetzalcoatl, will he unseal your power?"

"No, but if you can beat his ass, I don't see why not," Aurelia answers nonchalantly, snickering as she does.

"We'll be departing in a week. I will kick that old fart's ass to reclaim what is rightfully yours," I reply in humor before blinking my eyes when she blushes.

"W-Will you?"

"Why not?"

Aurelia looks even more flushed. Before I can ask what is wrong with her, someone contacts me through my Sound Crystal. It is Shanifa, my puppet in Cresundia. She informs me that Luxibrae has agreed to help the Light Elf overtake Lysimork. Every race will be involved in this one and I can't help but click my tongue bitterly.