Enji appeared in Deningrad just as the dragon struck the castle. Seeing the wondrous shards sparkle as they fell to the earth, he felt responsible. It was his fault that the dragon was loose. He saw a burst of energy that he could only assume was the signet within breaking.
Why would it attack one of the signets? Is it because of the energy coming from it? Is this a part of that winglie's plan with the moon objects? That would make sense but what would be the point? The god of destruction remains sealed by these signets but releasing it and awakening it are two different things. In order to take full advantage you'd have to use the moon child to awaken it.
Impossible. Rose has seen to that. She has gone around hunting down the moon children and destroying the keys to that abomination's return. Enji is a winglie and even he thought that that thing was a monster. The symbol of winglie superiority and power, the god of destruction as some call it, was sealed away one hundred thousand years ago at the end of the dragon campaign.
Melbu had spoken of a way to take complete control of that power. Could this winglie be working for Melbu? But Melbu was dead. There was no denying this fact. Even if he had survived the war, he should have died of complications by now.
No, he was still alive. Enji could feel Melbu's tug on the fabric of reality. Somehow that villain had held onto his miserable life. Enji had been at the funeral though. How had he slipped past? Was it a ruse?
Enji began towards the north. Even if the winglie was out to release the god of destruction Enji would be waiting at the next signet. It would take time for the winglie, was he called Lloyd, to get to the next object and to clean up Enji's mess. While he was going north, he could go to the old training grounds. A walk through memory lane might be just what Enji needed right now.
As he started to leave out north, a man began walking with him. Enji turned towards the man and asked, "What's your name and why, prêt ell, are you going to the frozen north?"
The man gave Enji a strange sidelong glance and answered with measured words, "My name is my business as is my reason. Tell me your own and we will have something to talk about."
Enji gave him a roguish smile and said, "Now where's the fun in telling you my life story when yours is obviously more interesting? Why the secrets?" Enji wasn't expecting an answer. It would take a bit of probing to get his name. "Well, we're both going the same direction so why don't we travel together for the time being?"
The man raised an eyebrow at Enji and stated quite coldly, "How do you expect me to work with you when I don't know your name?"
Enji raised his eyebrows and chuckled, "You noticed that, eh? I haven't that much to hide unless you do. I'm Enji, a bounty hunter and thief. One day I may be hired to hunt myself down but I'm craftier than I think I am." Suddenly more serious he said, "I also have my own reasons for going north but that's why I won't bug you. We all have our own demons."
The man looked at the ground and stated, "The name is Davis, Davis Alistair. I am traveling to an old coliseum. I heard a few rumors that I wanted to clarify. Now that we know each other slightly, shall we go?"
Enji seemed a bit caught off guard. That was the name of a scholar during the first campaign and he had read it in a few different history books but that name was common in certain parts of the land considering the fame behind the first Davis Alistair. He was supposed to have been the one who had initially made peace with the winglies before they took over. A bad move that now left humans with no will for a peaceful solution. He had both made and destroyed peace on that day.
But this guy isn't the same one. He looked too young to have been around for that long. Even Enji only has an extended lifespan. The fact that he was a winglie made it longer but not immortal. That domain is one he hopes never to cross into. To live long enough to see everything as he knew it crumble and disappear seemed to be a fate worse than any death.
It had already happened, the evil new voice in his head chimed in. That was from inaction, he forced back. The voice was getting more powerful. It refused to cease. Time changes all things whether you act or not, all things die, the voice asserted. On that we agree, Enji mused, nothing lives forever and all things must come to an end. At this point Enji remembered what his father used to say. No matter how big a ripple you cause it'll eventually come to a stop.
Davis seemed to have noticed Enji's minor mental struggle with himself and commented, "You shouldn't be traveling anywhere if you can't be decisive about it." It was right about now that Enji noticed this man had the same face as the one he had met so long ago. Same manner of speaking as well.
"Are you the Davis Alistair?" this question threw the man for a loop, the man's black hair bounced into his face. He did have something to hide. The only question is how such a man was still so young and exuberant.
Davis merely walked down the path silently. He stopped after a few steps and asked Enji, "You are coming aren't you?" Enji followed silently and as they left earshot of the people back in the village he said, "How do you know me? Have we met before dragoon?"
That was the last term Enji was expecting to hear. How did this man know he was a dragoon? The stone in his glove was embedded in such a way where it could have just been a warrior's decoration. Many used to do this on the battle field as a taunt to their opponent as well as a battlefield ID. Soldiers counting the dead could tell if that was the soldier even if he had been torn to bits and burned.
"What did you call me, scholar? Dragoons disappeared after the first dragon campaign. What makes you think that they exist in the first place?" Enji wanted answers without giving away his hand. It was a delicate process with such a well learned man.
"Your questions," Davis informed, "tell all. You are indeed one. I've seen them and I know when someone is a dragoon." As he said this the gem in Enji's glove began to shine. Maybe it was Rose again. "That glow is a dead give away," he continued, "that they aren't completely dead. So, dragoon, how do we know each other?"
Enji was hesitant at first but realized that he couldn't have told this man anything he didn't already know. "You know me by my old name. You might remember a winglie by the name of Johi."
"Ah, yes, Melbu's friend. How is his plan going so far?" this statement was one of boredom but a spark of interest was in his eyes.
"You are the one who convinced him of that power hungry scheme?" Enji was ready to gut him right here. Before him lie the root of all the evil that tore his life apart. If the man said yes, he would be gutted and filleted like a fish after he told Enji how Melbu would do it and how to stop him.
The man gave a bloodthirsty smile and said, "Your anger is not wasted on me but I did not put him up to anything. He came to me looking for facts and I gave him my theories. He was the one initially looking for the power. I was merely looking for someone with the drive to change the world but I realized too late what he was. He was not the peacekeeper I sought. I want him just as dead as you, which is why I'm going to the old arena."
Enji laughed a chilling note, "I bring up my old name and you spill your life story. Isn't great how that works?"
"You give yourself way too much credit Johi," the man retorted. "It would take far too long for that but I will inform you that you are misinformed."
Enji tried not to bite his tongue clean off when he called him that. "I changed my name for a reason. My old life is behind me and I don't want to be connected to it any longer."
The man raised an eyebrow and asked, "Then why do you still wield a dragoon spirit?" When Enji failed to yield an answer, the man continued, "In any case, you have been convinced of lies. To clarify, Melbu has hijacked a barely alive body, the moon child lives, and he can become the god of destruction."
"How? I thought that only the moon child's soul would be accepted." This news shook Enji to the core. If a man like that got a hold of that much power…
"It's quite simple," Davis stated, "that if you switch places with the physical shell of the moon child then you could, in theory take its place. The only real difference between the two is that one will be entirely uncontrolled; the other would be a logically thinking being. Such a being could, in theory, bring about peace in all of the lands and races."
"So you wanted to play god? Do you know that that is what scientists have been doing?" attacked Enji. "What is with mortal beings and the incessant need to be able to explain and control all that goes on around them?"
"You're a mortal." Davis said matter-of-factly. "Why don't you tell me? I just wish to watch people survive. I stand back and watch as history is made and man slowly destroys himself and all those around him. I was a human once but now I see them as the reason we have war. The revolt was expected and necessary but the near eradication of the winglies was uncalled for. Once you have your rights, the only reason to fight is to preserve them."
"Well, scholar, some of us believe in preemptive strikes. You have to take care of them before they take care of you type stuff. The winglies were still hostile to the humans. They felt threatened and did the same thing you do when threatened by beasts, which is the impression they gave the humans with their brutality. You go out and wipe them out of existence."
As is the lot of all, the evil voice cut in. Why was it so persistent? It had no reason to do any of that. None of the other dragoons ever complained of this. The voice of a dragon that embodies death, forcing it's will into his head. He couldn't think alone. That is because we are now one, child. Clutching onto his head, which he knew did nothing, he mentally screamed. He knew it was true though, and not just in body. The dragon had also been outcast from its people, a monster because of what it would become. Enji remembered when he was first told what the lore said.
Tragedy and death follows the winglie with the red hair, hair that is stained with the blood he will shed. His father didn't like the wild road he was going down. Enji was so intent on proving his worth, living down the curse. The watch was to tell him when he had finished and done all he could.
Next thing he knew, Davis was in front of him, holding a sword, pointed at his neck. He also just realized he had changed forms. He didn't remember when but Davis then said, "Ah, so you are cursed in more than one way. You are not only the red winglie but are cursed with the darkest path of dragoon."
Enji's confused look forced Davis to elaborate, "Make peace with the voice in your head and your past and you shall gain immeasurable power for as long as you live."
"How can I make peace with that?" Enji argued, "All it ever talks about is that everything dies and that no matter what you do, it's pointless because they will still die. It makes it sound pointless to save the living."
Davis just smiled and said, "Make your peace with death, for we all must, sooner or later." Davis turned and kept walking, refusing to say anymore.