Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own LOD. I may put Dart's life through
hell, but I don't own him or anyone else.
//Ragnarok// /Dart/
It was a couple months after the mercenary incident. Skipping the Evergreen Forest, I had started to wander again; right now I was drawing close to Lohan. I know that a commercial city probably doesn't sound like the best place to hide, but in Lohan it's easy to lose your identity and hide in the crowd.
Passing the signpost that marks the border between Tiberoa and Serdio, I turned south. Lohan was across the plains near the foot of the western mountain range. Not too far away was the ocean; Rogue was only a couple hours flight from there. I frowned. I could just as well go to Rogue instead of Lohan. In Rogue I would be recognized for sure, even if Haschel weren't there, but no one would turn me in. People from Rogue don't tend to argue if they know you can beat them in a fair fight.
//Did I just detect a change in plans?//
/We're going to head to Rogue instead/
Ragnarok didn't seem surprised. //Any particular reasons?//
/Not really. I just have this feeling that I should be there, that's all/
//Suit yourself//
I kept walking until we reached the coast sometime the next afternoon. Just as we arrived the sky opened up and it began to rain, lightly at first, and then coming down in a great torrent. Swearing, I took cover under a rock overhang.
//Where did this sudden burst of bad temper come from?//
/I hate flying in the rain. Do you know how uncomfortable that armor is while it's wet?/
//No, because the last time I recall having a body of my own, I was the dragon, not the dragoon //
/Shut up/
Stepping out into the rain, I walked down to the shoreline and activated the dragoon stone. There's a major difference between having the dragoon stone in your body and holding it normally. When you hold it normally you get a charge out of whatever element is powering it, but since it's outside, you don't really feel it. When it's inside you the power rush is enough to send you to your knees, depending on how much time you have to prepare. If I changed with little or no time to think about it, I probably would go to my knees.
The flight over the ocean was more than a little difficult. The winds from the storm created sudden down drafts or cross currents that made it difficult to stay in the air. The sea below was like molten lead; dark waves broke upon one another, sending off showers of foam whenever they struck a protruding part of the coral reef that lie just beneath the surface. Purplish bolts of lightning flickered from horizon to horizon, accompanied by deafening rolls of thunder.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I caught sight of Rogue. Amid the turbulent seas it was a wonder that the low-lying island wasn't swamped by now. Landing on the north side of the island, I reverted to human and walked the short distance to the village.
The lights were out in all of the huts but one. I found it hard to believe that anyone could sleep through a storm like this, but I was thankful that no one would be around to see me. The villagers wouldn't say anything if they did, but I couldn't say the same for any travelers that happened to be passing through. Rogue was a far cry from being a seaport, but sailors always would head for the nearest sheltered cove when a storm came. Currently Rogue's small cove was packed with ships of every imaginable shape and size.
Avoiding the lights from the small inn, I passed through the village and headed for the sparring platform. Haschel's hut was built at the edge of it where he could watch his disciples while they trained. As I drew closer I could see that the door of the hut was open, banging loosely in the wind. Haschel wouldn't be in there; he liked storms.
I found him sitting at the edge of the platform under the look out tower, staring out at the ocean. He didn't glance over as I joined him. We sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the waves break on the base of the cliff below. I frowned. It wasn't like Haschel to be so quiet. I was about to say something when he finally spoke.
"I was wondering if you'd come."
I glanced over at him. Even at his age he still cut an impressive figure, despite the gray in his hair and oversized moustache. Haschel still wore the same fighting robes he had the last time I had seen him several years ago; I wouldn't be surprised if he could still fight someone half his age and still win. "What do you mean?"
He ignored my question. "How old do you think I am?"
His question caught me off guard. " I don't know. Seventy?"
"Try eighty."
"Has it been that long already?" If he was eighty, that would make me forty-three. I blinked. Wearing Rose's choker had already made me begin to lose perspective of time. "You don't look it."
Haschel laughed, but it wasn't his usual one. Instead, this one almost seemed self-mocking. "Of course I do. And even if I don't look it, I still feel it." He looked at me for the first time, an amused expression on his face. "You're the one who hasn't aged. I have a suspicion that Rose had some hand in it?"
Wordlessly I pulled down the neck of my shirt. The stone in Rose's 'gift' shone wetly in the faint light. I allowed him to examine it for a moment before covering it back up again.
He nodded. "I thought so." He muttered, and looked back out at the storm. "What happened to your spirit?"
"I keep it safe. What about yours? Is it still in the Indolas castle?" After the Cygnet War, as it had come to be called, the Serdians had set to work re-building Bale. The other dragoons had been keeping their spirits in a safe there.
"No. After you lost it, Albert returned our spirits to us incase you tried anything again."
"Figures," I said. Another pause. "Do you hate me?"
"Of course not. None of us do. We just don't agree with what you're doing."
"Is that why I was tried as being insane?"
Haschel scratched his beard. "Partly. Look at it from our point of view. You were a survivor of Neet. After that you spent years trying to find the monster that did this to your home. And now, after seeing all of the pain that Rose caused, you're taking her place?" He shook his head. "The fact that you were insane was the only reason we could think of to explain what you did. The cycle of the Moon Child died with Melbu Framah twenty years ago."
Now it was my turn to disagree. "That's where you're wrong. Haschel, the moon is back in the sky and the divine tree is slowly healing itself. If it was really Soa's will that this Virage Embryo 'cleanse the earth', do you think that the cycle would stop when one failed?
I know how crazy it sounds, but the Moon Children are still out there, waiting to be born. The whole cycle will continue to repeat itself, and if someone doesn't do something, the Virage Embryo will return. I fought him once, and I really don't want to have to do the same thing all over again."
"But how do you know this for sure?"
I took a breath. If this came out wrong, Haschel was going to really think I was insane. "Haschel, how much were you able to do with your dragoon spirit?"
He shivered, but didn't move. "Turn into a dragoon, obviously."
"Was that all?"
"Of course. Were they supposed to do anything else?"
"I think so." After a sharp correction from Ragnarok I smiled grimly. "Actually, I know so."
Haschel shivered again, more violently this time. "Oh? What else can they do?"
"Keeping in mind that they are the spirits of dragons themselves, would it surprise you if you could use them to talk to those dragons?"
He thought about it for a moment. "I guess that makes sense," he conceded.
"Ordinary dragons aren't the most intelligent creatures in the world, so I don't know how much you'd learn from talking with them. They probably don't feel like talking anyhow, so it's understandable that none of us could do this before." I took a breath. "The divine dragon is different. I know he caused a lot of damage before, but he's more directly involved with this world and its matters then the other dragons are. He doesn't like the way the world turned out perhaps, but he doesn't want to be destroyed any more than we do."
Haschel raised an eyebrow. "Dart, the divine dragon has been dead longer than Melbu."
"Try telling him that. The other dragons died too. But you've summoned yours before in battle; how dead would you say he was?"
Remembering the vast destruction his dragon had caused during battles, Haschel laughed. " Not very."
"It's the same for the divine dragon. He's hanging around, but he's minus a body at the moment. But he's still rather vocal."
"So you're saying that he's the one who told you to do all this?"
"Yes."
"And you believe him?"
"Dragon's can't lie Haschel. They can do just about everything a human can't, but they are incapable of lying."
Haschel sighed and stood. Once he started to move, his age began to show. Despite his posture while he sat, when he walked he stooped his shoulders and limped slightly. Getting to my feet, I followed him back to his hut.
Once inside, he shut the door and opened a box that sat on the table. Inside, resting in an indent in the hard black stone was the dragoon spirit of the violet dragon. Haschel took it out and tossed it to me. "Catch."
I caught it. Haschel must have seen the expression on my face because he started to laugh. The laugh, however, swiftly turned to a fit of coughing. He made his way to the bed and lie down. When he finished coughing, he turned his head to look at me. "What do you look so surprised about?"
"You believed me."
"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"
"I don't know. But why are you giving me this?"
Haschel sighed. "I'm not sticking around much longer. This world doesn't hold much interest in an old man like me."
"Don't say things like that!"
"Don't yell." He blinked sleepily. "I will say this: I don't envy you. You have a very long road ahead of you, and a lot of unpleasant things to do. If what you say is true, then the fate of the world still hangs in the balance. But I feel better knowing that the one balancing our side is you."
"I didn't want to do this, Haschel."
"I know you didn't. Nobody in their right mind would." He looked at me again before closing his eyes. Then he said something I never expected to hear him say. "You have your mother's eyes."
/What?/ I came over and kneeled beside the bed.
"Claire always used to dream about having a son like you. Even after all you've done and all you're about to do, I know that she'd be very proud of you."
He drifted off to sleep. A few minutes later, his breathing stopped.
I stayed there for the remainder of the night. The storm had passed and the sun was just starting to show over the horizon when someone from the village came to check on Haschel.
He opened the door and froze. A boy of about seven, he'd probably never seen me before. I got to my feet and brushed past him. Once I was outside I took a couple of breaths of fresh air to steady myself.
"What's the matter with Master Haschel?"
I turned to face the boy. "Master Haschel has left us," I told him in as gentle a voice as I could manage. "Would you please inform the mayor?"
The boy swallowed before nodding. I turned to leave.
"Wait! Who are you?"
I didn't stop. "Master Haschel's grandson."
Heading back over the hill to where I had landed the night before, I prepared to leave. Ragnarok had been silent the whole night; he may have been a dragon, but he knew when to leave me alone. The full impact of what Rose had gone through finally had struck me. I had immortality, but it was coming at a very high price. One by one the people I knew and cared about would die, until I was alone. This was a price that I would have given anything not to have to pay.
Unfortunately, the choice to pay it was no longer mine.
There! Another one!
**sniffs** I didn't want to kill Haschel, but I didn't have much choice. .
After a complaint or so, I'm dropping the review threat. I'm sorry if I offended anyone else by it. Hit me with a tick mallet. ^^
It was a couple months after the mercenary incident. Skipping the Evergreen Forest, I had started to wander again; right now I was drawing close to Lohan. I know that a commercial city probably doesn't sound like the best place to hide, but in Lohan it's easy to lose your identity and hide in the crowd.
Passing the signpost that marks the border between Tiberoa and Serdio, I turned south. Lohan was across the plains near the foot of the western mountain range. Not too far away was the ocean; Rogue was only a couple hours flight from there. I frowned. I could just as well go to Rogue instead of Lohan. In Rogue I would be recognized for sure, even if Haschel weren't there, but no one would turn me in. People from Rogue don't tend to argue if they know you can beat them in a fair fight.
//Did I just detect a change in plans?//
/We're going to head to Rogue instead/
Ragnarok didn't seem surprised. //Any particular reasons?//
/Not really. I just have this feeling that I should be there, that's all/
//Suit yourself//
I kept walking until we reached the coast sometime the next afternoon. Just as we arrived the sky opened up and it began to rain, lightly at first, and then coming down in a great torrent. Swearing, I took cover under a rock overhang.
//Where did this sudden burst of bad temper come from?//
/I hate flying in the rain. Do you know how uncomfortable that armor is while it's wet?/
//No, because the last time I recall having a body of my own, I was the dragon, not the dragoon //
/Shut up/
Stepping out into the rain, I walked down to the shoreline and activated the dragoon stone. There's a major difference between having the dragoon stone in your body and holding it normally. When you hold it normally you get a charge out of whatever element is powering it, but since it's outside, you don't really feel it. When it's inside you the power rush is enough to send you to your knees, depending on how much time you have to prepare. If I changed with little or no time to think about it, I probably would go to my knees.
The flight over the ocean was more than a little difficult. The winds from the storm created sudden down drafts or cross currents that made it difficult to stay in the air. The sea below was like molten lead; dark waves broke upon one another, sending off showers of foam whenever they struck a protruding part of the coral reef that lie just beneath the surface. Purplish bolts of lightning flickered from horizon to horizon, accompanied by deafening rolls of thunder.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I caught sight of Rogue. Amid the turbulent seas it was a wonder that the low-lying island wasn't swamped by now. Landing on the north side of the island, I reverted to human and walked the short distance to the village.
The lights were out in all of the huts but one. I found it hard to believe that anyone could sleep through a storm like this, but I was thankful that no one would be around to see me. The villagers wouldn't say anything if they did, but I couldn't say the same for any travelers that happened to be passing through. Rogue was a far cry from being a seaport, but sailors always would head for the nearest sheltered cove when a storm came. Currently Rogue's small cove was packed with ships of every imaginable shape and size.
Avoiding the lights from the small inn, I passed through the village and headed for the sparring platform. Haschel's hut was built at the edge of it where he could watch his disciples while they trained. As I drew closer I could see that the door of the hut was open, banging loosely in the wind. Haschel wouldn't be in there; he liked storms.
I found him sitting at the edge of the platform under the look out tower, staring out at the ocean. He didn't glance over as I joined him. We sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the waves break on the base of the cliff below. I frowned. It wasn't like Haschel to be so quiet. I was about to say something when he finally spoke.
"I was wondering if you'd come."
I glanced over at him. Even at his age he still cut an impressive figure, despite the gray in his hair and oversized moustache. Haschel still wore the same fighting robes he had the last time I had seen him several years ago; I wouldn't be surprised if he could still fight someone half his age and still win. "What do you mean?"
He ignored my question. "How old do you think I am?"
His question caught me off guard. " I don't know. Seventy?"
"Try eighty."
"Has it been that long already?" If he was eighty, that would make me forty-three. I blinked. Wearing Rose's choker had already made me begin to lose perspective of time. "You don't look it."
Haschel laughed, but it wasn't his usual one. Instead, this one almost seemed self-mocking. "Of course I do. And even if I don't look it, I still feel it." He looked at me for the first time, an amused expression on his face. "You're the one who hasn't aged. I have a suspicion that Rose had some hand in it?"
Wordlessly I pulled down the neck of my shirt. The stone in Rose's 'gift' shone wetly in the faint light. I allowed him to examine it for a moment before covering it back up again.
He nodded. "I thought so." He muttered, and looked back out at the storm. "What happened to your spirit?"
"I keep it safe. What about yours? Is it still in the Indolas castle?" After the Cygnet War, as it had come to be called, the Serdians had set to work re-building Bale. The other dragoons had been keeping their spirits in a safe there.
"No. After you lost it, Albert returned our spirits to us incase you tried anything again."
"Figures," I said. Another pause. "Do you hate me?"
"Of course not. None of us do. We just don't agree with what you're doing."
"Is that why I was tried as being insane?"
Haschel scratched his beard. "Partly. Look at it from our point of view. You were a survivor of Neet. After that you spent years trying to find the monster that did this to your home. And now, after seeing all of the pain that Rose caused, you're taking her place?" He shook his head. "The fact that you were insane was the only reason we could think of to explain what you did. The cycle of the Moon Child died with Melbu Framah twenty years ago."
Now it was my turn to disagree. "That's where you're wrong. Haschel, the moon is back in the sky and the divine tree is slowly healing itself. If it was really Soa's will that this Virage Embryo 'cleanse the earth', do you think that the cycle would stop when one failed?
I know how crazy it sounds, but the Moon Children are still out there, waiting to be born. The whole cycle will continue to repeat itself, and if someone doesn't do something, the Virage Embryo will return. I fought him once, and I really don't want to have to do the same thing all over again."
"But how do you know this for sure?"
I took a breath. If this came out wrong, Haschel was going to really think I was insane. "Haschel, how much were you able to do with your dragoon spirit?"
He shivered, but didn't move. "Turn into a dragoon, obviously."
"Was that all?"
"Of course. Were they supposed to do anything else?"
"I think so." After a sharp correction from Ragnarok I smiled grimly. "Actually, I know so."
Haschel shivered again, more violently this time. "Oh? What else can they do?"
"Keeping in mind that they are the spirits of dragons themselves, would it surprise you if you could use them to talk to those dragons?"
He thought about it for a moment. "I guess that makes sense," he conceded.
"Ordinary dragons aren't the most intelligent creatures in the world, so I don't know how much you'd learn from talking with them. They probably don't feel like talking anyhow, so it's understandable that none of us could do this before." I took a breath. "The divine dragon is different. I know he caused a lot of damage before, but he's more directly involved with this world and its matters then the other dragons are. He doesn't like the way the world turned out perhaps, but he doesn't want to be destroyed any more than we do."
Haschel raised an eyebrow. "Dart, the divine dragon has been dead longer than Melbu."
"Try telling him that. The other dragons died too. But you've summoned yours before in battle; how dead would you say he was?"
Remembering the vast destruction his dragon had caused during battles, Haschel laughed. " Not very."
"It's the same for the divine dragon. He's hanging around, but he's minus a body at the moment. But he's still rather vocal."
"So you're saying that he's the one who told you to do all this?"
"Yes."
"And you believe him?"
"Dragon's can't lie Haschel. They can do just about everything a human can't, but they are incapable of lying."
Haschel sighed and stood. Once he started to move, his age began to show. Despite his posture while he sat, when he walked he stooped his shoulders and limped slightly. Getting to my feet, I followed him back to his hut.
Once inside, he shut the door and opened a box that sat on the table. Inside, resting in an indent in the hard black stone was the dragoon spirit of the violet dragon. Haschel took it out and tossed it to me. "Catch."
I caught it. Haschel must have seen the expression on my face because he started to laugh. The laugh, however, swiftly turned to a fit of coughing. He made his way to the bed and lie down. When he finished coughing, he turned his head to look at me. "What do you look so surprised about?"
"You believed me."
"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"
"I don't know. But why are you giving me this?"
Haschel sighed. "I'm not sticking around much longer. This world doesn't hold much interest in an old man like me."
"Don't say things like that!"
"Don't yell." He blinked sleepily. "I will say this: I don't envy you. You have a very long road ahead of you, and a lot of unpleasant things to do. If what you say is true, then the fate of the world still hangs in the balance. But I feel better knowing that the one balancing our side is you."
"I didn't want to do this, Haschel."
"I know you didn't. Nobody in their right mind would." He looked at me again before closing his eyes. Then he said something I never expected to hear him say. "You have your mother's eyes."
/What?/ I came over and kneeled beside the bed.
"Claire always used to dream about having a son like you. Even after all you've done and all you're about to do, I know that she'd be very proud of you."
He drifted off to sleep. A few minutes later, his breathing stopped.
I stayed there for the remainder of the night. The storm had passed and the sun was just starting to show over the horizon when someone from the village came to check on Haschel.
He opened the door and froze. A boy of about seven, he'd probably never seen me before. I got to my feet and brushed past him. Once I was outside I took a couple of breaths of fresh air to steady myself.
"What's the matter with Master Haschel?"
I turned to face the boy. "Master Haschel has left us," I told him in as gentle a voice as I could manage. "Would you please inform the mayor?"
The boy swallowed before nodding. I turned to leave.
"Wait! Who are you?"
I didn't stop. "Master Haschel's grandson."
Heading back over the hill to where I had landed the night before, I prepared to leave. Ragnarok had been silent the whole night; he may have been a dragon, but he knew when to leave me alone. The full impact of what Rose had gone through finally had struck me. I had immortality, but it was coming at a very high price. One by one the people I knew and cared about would die, until I was alone. This was a price that I would have given anything not to have to pay.
Unfortunately, the choice to pay it was no longer mine.
There! Another one!
**sniffs** I didn't want to kill Haschel, but I didn't have much choice. .
After a complaint or so, I'm dropping the review threat. I'm sorry if I offended anyone else by it. Hit me with a tick mallet. ^^