Final Task
He awoke to find cold snow drifting down slowly from the sky. The smell of fire and death was overpowering, but what alarmed him the most was the stone cold figure behind him.
For a moment, he simply sat, confused.
What had happened?
He vaguely remembered fighting the Black Mage together with Mercedes. The two of them had made a great pair, but the Black Mage still managed to tip the battle in his favor. At least he had managed to set the foundation for the sealing spell, which Luminous had hopefully used to seal the Black Mage away.
He wondered how the other two heroes, Phantom and Aran, had fared. He was currently alone except for the huge unmoving dragon behind him...
Afrien! He suddenly remembered. In order to protect him, the brave dragon had thrown himself in the path of the oncoming curse.
He coughed out a mouthful of blood. Ignoring the blood that dripped from his head, threatening to blur his eyesight, he summoned up a huge amount of energy in order to cast a protective spell around Afrien. Black spots danced in front of his eyes and threatened to send him to unconsciousness, but he simply grit his teeth and held on through sheer willpower. Finally, he cast the spell. His mind immediately went blank. If not for Afrien's tail in front of him, he would have certainly fallen face first into the ground.
Master...you don't have to worry...about me...
Even in his weakened condition, the scholar managed a pain-filled smile.
"Very funny, Afrien. Without the help of my spell, there would be no way for even an Onyx dragon to survive the Black Mage's curse..."
Suddenly, he was interrupted by a dizzy spell and an agonizing pain that threatened to consume him. The places where the Black Mage's magic had struck felt like they were on fire.
Master... The big dragon whimpered. He hated seeing his master in pain, yet he could not do anything for him.
The scholar smiled sadly. They both knew what would happen. Although Afrien had taken the brunt of the curse, the man could not escape it entirely, not to mention both dragon and human had been seriously injured during the fighting. Somehow, he managed to stagger to his feet once more. He could not go yet, there was still something left for him to do.
O.o.O
With trembling hands, he passed the last Onyx dragon egg to the adventurer. He knew he had made the right choice. There was something about the adventurer that was strange, but it made him seem trustworthy.
The future...somehow he knew that this person was from the future. Perhaps it was just a wild guess from a delirious man, or an instinct he somehow acquired from the contract with Afrien.
The adventurer accepted the egg and made no effort to conceal his look of absolute surprise. The man could only smile sadly. The adventurer had probably never seen an Onyx dragon egg before, as the curse was sure to doom the noble race to extinction.
With that, he collapsed to the ground. Conflicting emotions flickered through the adventurer's eyes. For a moment he just stood still, staring at the fallen scholar, but eventually he set off with a determined look on his face.
This was the end.
Finally, his last task was complete. He could try to find some comfort in the last moments of his life. He looked at the surrounding scenery for the last time. The cold smooth icicles melt into soft snow as they gently drift down from the sky, only to be engulfed upon contact with the palms of the dancing fire.
With a gentle sigh, Freud closed his eyes, forever.
...
Fin