Suma's POV
"What? Change your name? Why?" I asked. "Is there something wrong with Jake? Do you want to start going by Sentinel fully?"
He shook his head, "No. A new name. I think maybe… well, I had a long talk with an old friend who went through all this too. He suggested it might help me 'find myself'."
"I would remind you both of the situation and the presence we are all in." Captain Gigoales said impatiently.
"Ah, our apologies, your Majesty." I said. Jake and I both bowed, and the guards relaxed, however slightly.
"Sentinel… I wish to hear of the report about the Chaos Dragon directly from you. Please explain everything you can. Spare no details." Queen Ompera ordered. Jake spent a rather long time going into her vision, the spell, his conversation with Zachariah, and then he explained why I had difficulty summoning him.
"And that's when I saw Nidhögg." He said.
"The Founder Dragon?" I asked, confused. "But he died." Everyone in Ambos knows the story. He was the only dragon to fight against the Chaos Dragon and survive. Not only that, he drove him away from Yggdrasil. And gave Ambos the guidance needed to found this country after the Ravaging.
"It is impossible." Svend said. "His body withered and became the very heart of this castle. Every hatchling has heard that story."
"Explain yourself, Sentinel. How do you claim to speak with the dead?" Queen Ompera asked. But she did not sound mad. Instead, it felt like she was more concerned about something.
"I remember the dragons telling me, long ago, about what happened to them after death." Jake started.
"You mean Zachariah?" I pointed out.
Jake nodded, but continued. "When they die, and they knew it was coming, some would choose to cast a spell on their souls, binding it to the Aether between realms, in hopes of… ascending."
"Ascending?" The Queen asked.
Jake rubbed the back of his long hair, which hung down to his shoulder these days. He had stopped cutting it with his weapons months ago. "It had something to do with their people's gods, or that they wanted to become gods. I did not really understand at the time. But now, I think they wanted to enter a higher dimension… or something." He shrugged, leaving us confused.
"A what?" I asked.
"It's hard to explain. And not really important right now. Basically, he stuck his soul there to grow stronger after dying."
The Queen stayed silent, her eyes closed and seemingly in deep thought. Finally, she opened them. "I believe you, Sentinel."
"My Queen?" Svend asked, hesitant.
"His accounts line up reasonably well with my family's records of the Founder Dragon's last days. Though most of what happened during that time was kept from public records. So, I order everyone in this room to keep what you have just heard a secret." Everyone in the room bowed and agreed to obey. "On to other matters. Sentinel, do you know where the Chaos Dragon is going to arrive?"
"Your Majesty, if I may." One of the guards spoke up. He seemed higher ranked than the others, perhaps their leader? He has an upside-down golden triangle pin, marking him as a Major, second-class. "This familiar," he said with some distain, "has presented no proof of his claims. He has been allowed access to the royal family's records before. What if he simply memorized the record then and presented it to bolster a false claim?"
"For what purpose?" Captain Gigoales asked.
"To accrue her Majesty's favor. Or to gather all our kingdom's forces to a single area, and leave us weak to a separate attack. He entered the mind of a filthy Southern Union member. Who knows what that did to him."
"Though there is no way he memorized the record from his previous time in the castle, Major Nidix bares an excellent point, at least in some sense. Have you any proof of your claims, Sentinel?" The Queen asked.
"I don't." Jake shook his head. "Queen Ompera, please believe me when I say that none of your people understand how dangerous Deyja is." Some of the guards scoffed, other glanced at one another.
"Yes, we have all heard the stories, Sentinel. And even to this day the continent still bares scars from his rampage. We know very well-"
"You know nothing!" Jake snapped.
"You dare?!" Svend shouted, appalled that Jake interrupted her Majesty. Honestly, the moment he did it, I felt my breath, and perhaps my very soul, leave my body for a moment.
"Look!" Jake said, and faster than I had ever seen him do so, he cast a spell. No chanting, no warning, barely even a waver in his mana, and I was overcome by the spell's effects. Instantly, images of battle flooded my mind, as if I were seeing through another's eyes. There, on the horizon, was a dragon. Not much larger than a dot. But the moment he came into view, everyone and everything around me in the vision began to suffer and die. Neame fell from the air. Familiars went mad as their masters died on their backs, and attacked one another. Those who survived the first spell, took to the sky. I watched as they grew closer to the dragon, only to overwhelmed by the pure mana radiating off his body. Some, the dragon attacked, others he did not need to. And the spells it cast were powerful, legions of Neame died in a single cast. By the time the dragon landed and the fighting began on the ground between, whom I believe to be, Zachariah and the Dragon, nearly all the Neame were dead. The ground shook with the force of their spells. I watched through his eyes as Zachariah inflicted fatal blows on the dragon again and again, to no effect. And the dragon used its spells to inflict all manner of torment upon Zachariah, though thankfully I was spared from feeling it. His flesh boiled away, only to regrow in the same manner Jake's hand did. He rotted to the bone, and still renewed himself. The dragon's wings were clipped, severed entirely in fact by Zachariah's spells and weapons, but it did not even slow him down. They tormented one another endlessly until more Neame arrived, only to become fodder for the dragon and Zachariah's crossfire.
And then, the vision ended, and I was left in shock. It took me a moment to realize what I had seen, and what was happening around me. Jake's spell had affected everyone in the room. We all saw the vision, and were all reeling equally. The higher ranks handled it well, as did the royal guards, who had managed to collect themselves. But the Queen, she was in a far worse state than even I was. Svend, who mere moments earlier had been in a heap on the ground himself, began to tend to her Majesty.
A familiar of the royal guards launched itself at him. However, it was intercepted by Jake's personal barrier spell, never even getting close. Faster than I could even register Jake's question or the familiar's attack, every guard in the room all cast attack magic targeting Jake. To my horror, I watched as dozens of spells all impacted the shield, stirring a cloud of smoke, fire, lightning, dust, gravel, and wood so thick I was forced to back up or get caught in it myself.
"JAKE!" I yelled, mortified at what was happening. But then, the cloud faded as the spells ended, and there stood Jake, unfazed and unharmed by the attacks. The lightning and fire from the spells circled around his barrier, outlining it like two hatchlings drawing in the dirt might outline a rock pretending it was some vast fortress they must conquer. The barrier glowed faintly as the fire and lightning slowly disappeared.
"Queen Ompera, are you alright?" Jake asked, and a second round of spells was launched at him. This time though, they were stopped halfway through.
"Enough! Enough!" Queen Ompera shouted, finally recomposed from the vision. The cloud faded once more, and still Jake was unharmed.
"Do you understand?" Jake asked. "I couldn't beat him. That battle ended with an entire city of Neame slaughtered, the land scorched and poisoned forever, and everyone but me and Ambos dead. Deyja left and did the same thing again a week later, except there was no one to defend the city the next time! There were over fifty of that era's finest mages, and they died first!" He yelled.
"Then what do you suggest we do, familiar Sentinel? Lay down in the dirt and let him trample us?" Major Nidix asked, still clearly uneasy from the vison.
"No. But you can't fight him. We knew that last time too."
"Then what do you suggest?" Queen Ompera asked.
"He's stuck in the Aether. The only reason for that is because Zachariah is there, holding him inside. But once he is dead, Deyja can walk right out… more or less." Jake said.
"So, we need to keep him inside?" Captain Gigoales asked.
"How?" I asked.
"That… I don't know." Jake answered.
The meeting went on for some time. The Queen brought in Generals to discuss the updates from our mission on the island, and to hear what Jake had to say about the Chaos Dragon. He spent hours answering questions. In the end however, nothing was really decided, and they needed time to prepare. At some point, one of the Generals suggested bringing in an expert on the Chaos Dragon and the Ravaging, but that idea was dismissed. It was determined that Jake was most likely now the land's greatest expert on the dragon, so others would only complicate matters. And they wanted to keep what was happening a secret for now. The meeting about how to keep the dragon sealed away went late into the night. Captain Gigoales must have seen how exhausted he and I were getting, because he eventually requested that the meeting be put on hold until tomorrow. We bid her Majesty farewell, and she was escorted out by her guards.
Our squadron members were escorted out soon after, and told to return tomorrow at noon. The Captain and Lieutenant flew to their rooms, leaving Jake and I alone outside the entrance of the castle. It was in that moment that the events of the last few hours suddenly began to truly set in.
"Jake…" I said, half stunned.
"Yeah?" He asked, summoning Chariot, his flying magic tool.
"You and I meet the Queen and her guards a lot lately, do we not?"
"Umm… yes?"
"You cast a spell that affected the Queen."
"Uh huh."
"All of her royal guards attacked you. For a long time."
"I remember." He said, nodding his head and sitting on Chariot as if I had not just said the impossible; as if it were not a minor miracle that we are not still-smoldering piles of ashes, let alone that we are both alive.
"You cast that spell, both of them, faster than I have ever seen you do so before. How?" I asked.
"I could cast like that before. Just not in this lifetime."
"Jake, or… do I still call you Jake?"
"Uh, yeah. I haven't chosen a new name yet, so still Jake for now."
"Why this sudden change? I know you said something about an old friend, a dragon. But I do not understand. And in that meeting, you talked about Zachariah as if he were you." I said, confused.
"Nidhögg was like me. He had lived as multiple people and had his soul merged so many times that I wonder if he even knew the number. He told me that having something definite to call myself would help. As for the other stuff… I don't feel like Zachariah, or Jake. Neither name feels right anymore, not really. But I do feel like I was them." He explained.
I did not really understand what he meant and was concerned for him. But I let the matter roost there, and we flew back to our room for the night. The flight was silent, neither one of us spoke. I was too preoccupied worrying about Jake and what he was going through, and I assume he was deep in thought about it as well. Once we landed however, Jake asked a question. Perhaps to break the tense silence, or perhaps it was simple curiosity.
"Do you think Ceil is still awake? I wanted to talk with him soon, but the meeting went longer than I expected."
"The sun only recently set. But, he is older. He may have fallen asleep by now." I rested on Jake's shoulder as he walked us into the building. "What did you wish to ask him?"
"I wanted help making a weapon."
"Do you not have enough already?" I asked.
"This one is special. It's one I designed with Ambos during Deyja's rampage for killing familiars."
"What?! A weapon designed by Ambos? What is it?" I asked, shocked.
"An axe. Well, more accurately, it's a spell that I want to put on an axe. One that prevents healing magic from working."
"Can you not already do that with your Chaos Magic? Why do you need to attach it to a weapon?" I wondered.
"This one is meant to fight Deyja. Normally, I could just infuse my mana into someone, and then when they cast a healing spell, it turns into death magic. But he's a Chaos Magic user too, so he can invert the spell and produce the intended affect."
"Then how does the axe work, if not using Chaos Magic?"
"It doesn't. At least, not how it was originally designed. The spell we worked out probably wouldn't have been enough. But now I know about cells, and how they function. I can work directly on them by… oh, here we are." Jake said, just as we arrived at the room, cutting his explanation off. I opened the wall with a spell, and immediately heard the sounds of laughter. There, perched somewhat near one of the roosts, were my mother, Luna, and Ceil, laughing loudly.
"Oh! Suma, Jake!" Mom said. "You are safe!" She spread her wings, and I mine. We flew closer to one another, and placed our heads together. "I am so relieved."
"It is good to see you two are home." Ceil said, looking between us.
"It's good to be back." Jake said. "I hope we weren't interrupting something."
My mom's feathers ruffled slightly, embarrassed. "No, not at all. We were simply talking about…. we were simply talking."
Jake's eyes caught mine. We may have been different species, but I think he could understand what he was seeing just as well as I did. Then he made a face. While our connection only allowed us to project our thoughts, and only he could read my emotions, in that moment, I knew exactly what was going through his mind… because he told me.
"We definitely interrupted." He said though our private connection.
"Indeed. We should take our leave." I replied. "Mother certainly should have hardened the walls to prevent this. Everyone knows that." Jake chuckled.
"Well, pardon us. We forgot to get something to eat. We'll give you a bit of space for a bit."
"No. Please stay. How did your journey go? Are you injured?" Mom asked.
"Jake… your limb!" Ceil nearly shouted, finally noticing Jake's hand.
"What?" Mom wondered, then saw Jake's newly regrown hand. "Oh!"
"Yeah, it grew back on the island." Jake said.
"Island?" Ceil asked. I suddenly remembered we had not told them where we were going, as it was a secret. And we still could not tell them.
"Our group was sent to an island. That is all we may say." I said.
"Well, seeing this, your journey must have gone well then?" Mom asked.
"It had its ups and downs." Jake replied. "Saw some old friends, got my hand back, learned a few things. So, yeah. It went pretty well."
"I do not wish to ever go on a sea-flyer again, however." I stated flatly, remembering the violent back and forth waves, the horrible sickness, Nine's incessant moans, and worst of all, the fish Jake made me eat.
"Hey Ceil, do you have a minute. I had something I wanted to discuss." Jake said.
"Oh, an idea for a new creation?" He asked, his feather perking up a bit.
"You know it."
"It is about time for me to go home. Fly home with me and tell me on the way." Ceil said, and told my mother farewell. They left, already talking about whatever an axe was.
"I am sorry for interrupting, but you know you should harden the walls if you want-" I said, but she cut my joke off.
"None of that! You know very well that was not what was happening." She snapped. "We were only talking about our lives."
"You two do seem closer than when we left." I pointed out.
"Ah, yes. I suppose we are. He is a good listener."
"About?" I asked.
"Your father, and everything." She said. "He went through this as well, and was offering some advice."
"I did not know Ceil was married."
"No, not married. But his son's mother and Ceil were together for quite some time."
"What happened?"
"Time… Over a long while, they simply became different Neame than they were when they met, and the winds of life carried them apart. Not every couple that chooses to stay together ends up splitting like your father and I did. Sometimes they simply drift away slowly. And one day, you realize they left, and will not return."
It was quiet for a moment, and I thought. It had been a long time since I saw my mother as happy as when Jake and I walked in. Not just since she and my father's relationship ended, but before that. In fact, I may never have seen her so effortlessly joyful. Her besmears shined brighter in one moment, then they had my entire life.
"I am happy you have found a good 'friend' then." I said, teasing the word friend. She scoffed, and shook her head. We talked a while longer, and I fell asleep before Jake return from Ceil's. But before I did, all I could think about was what my mother had said… about people changing over time, and wondered if that was happening to Jake. I could only hope the two of us did not suffer the same fate as Ceil or Mom.