Chương 1355: 1385 - Secrets

Almost like he was marching off to war, Leon strode through the halls of his palace, accompanied by only a couple Tempest Knights. His Paladins had been by his side long enough that he thought to give them a few nights off since he wasn't planning on leaving Westmount, anyway. His eyes stared in front of him, but his magic senses were focused entirely on a wing of his expansive palace that rested on a higher terrace, close to his family's private halls.

There, the dragons had largely holed up after celebrating Serana's transformation. A quick scan of the palace told him that Veles and the Ancestral Harts had left Westmount, and while he wasn't sure where they had gone, he was at least mollified that he could speak relatively freely, now. Now that the crises his Kingdom faced were, at least as far as he could tell, over, he now had time to start delving into everything that he'd learned over the past few weeks.

He entered the dragons' commandeered wing alone, leaving his Tempest Knights outside. The dragon warriors parted before him, unwilling to interdict him as he made his way toward the bearers of the Great Dragon Inherited Bloodlines. He had no doubt that even though it was his palace, they'd still try and stop him if he wasn't Serana's son. Serana, Ouros, Rayos, Fargrim, Jennifyr, and Nyra had holed up in a chamber that had a projected window looking out over the southern valley.

It was richly, though sparsely, appointed, allowing them to be both comfortable and have room to move around if they wanted. As Leon opened the door and entered, he found them trying to use as much of that space as possible, with Ouros and Rayos on their own, silently meditating in the chamber's open areas, while Fargrim sat alone, his golden eyes briefly glancing at Leon before returning to the floor. Serana, Nyra, and Jennifyr were sitting with each other, all but ignoring their respective fathers.

"Leon!" Serana called out, her human face lighting up with joy as he closed the door behind him.

"My boy! Come over here!" She waved him over excitedly, while Jennifyr and Nyra's greetings were far quieter and more subdued.

"Mother," Leon greeted.

"Jennifyr. Nyra."

"It's going to take a while to drill the proper forms of address into you, isn't it, my everdark nephew?" Jennifyr remarked, her lips quirking up in amusement.

"I've been trying for years!" Nyra complained.

"I think there's something broken in his brain that prevents him from saying the word 'aunt', and he stubbornly refuses to get it fixed!"" My boy isn't broken!" Serana countered as Leon took a seat on the sofa next to her.

"He's perfect!"

"You spoil me," Leon stated without much inflection.

"How was your first transformation? I apologize for not staying with you longer, but something came up relating to this city's reconstruction…"

"No need to apologize," Serana dismissed." I should apologize for not waking sooner! I should've been there with you for your fight against Triton and Alderion!"

"I find that easy to forgive," Leon replied with a smile.

"Given what his weapon did, I'm not surprised it took so long. I even suspect the Great Black Dragon might have had a hand in keeping you unconscious for longer than needed…"

"A man shouldn't cast aspersions upon his hallowed Ancestors," Jennifyr sternly said as she gave Leon the stoniest, least amused expression that Leon had ever seen on her.

"A man has the duty to be honest," Leon riposted.

"The Great Black Dragon admitted that you could've woken several days ago had he not intervened. Given the magnitude of what he had you working on, I think that's reasonable, but how long was it really? It's a fair question to ask."

"He was truthful," Serana interjected before anyone else could argue with Leon. Given the way that Jennifyr and Nyra looked ready to launch into castigations, Leon knew that she'd likely just saved him quite a bit of arguing.

"He even accelerated my waking to order me to adapt your transformation enchantment to his specifications. It took those few days to get it right."

"Does it work for any other of the Great Dragon bloodlines?" Leon asked, his eyes flickering to Ouros and Rayos.

"Our fathers are going to check it once they're done inscribing it in their soul realms," Jennifyr stated.

"If it works for them, then it will propagate through the rest of the Clans. If not…" She didn't finish the thought, nor did Leon press her on it. Leon again noted that Fargrim didn't seem to be participating, and he briefly connected mentally with his mother. [Is he not taking part?] Serana visibly suppressed a grimace. [Our Ancestor forbade him from taking draconic form. His 'punishment' for imprisoning me.] Leon hummed in thought.

It seemed like an incredibly deep insult, and he wondered just how much the Great Black Dragon could actually enforce that decision. If Fargrim got a hold of the enchantment at some point—trivial given his power with the Great Dragon Clans—then he should be able to take that form as he pleased. The bloodlines were inherited, after all, and not fully controlled by their Ancestors, even if those Ancestors had some small influence in the expression of that inherited power within their descendants.

But he doubted that Fargrim would go against his Ancestor. He looked defeated to the point that even Leon thought it was a bit excessive. [He looks like a beaten dog,] Leon observed. [Our Ancestor was… cruel with his words,] Serana stated. [My father… didn't argue…] Leon nodded slowly, letting the matter rest. Fargrim could do as he wished, but Leon had other business with his draconic Ancestor.

"Where is the Great Black Dragon, by the way?" he asked.

"He should still be here; the Ancestor Gem is still functioning…"

"I believe he wanted to explore some of the mountain," Serana said.

"Why are you looking for him?" Leon scowled.

"I've been made privy to certain… theories … regarding the universe that he can help answer. I'll speak more about that when I can. For now, I should go find him before he runs out of time, and I have to wait weeks for him to recover enough just to appear in my soul realm. Mother. Ladies."

"We'll be waiting for that explanation," Serana said.

"Indeed," Jennifyr added.

"It sounds wonderfully mysterious…"

"We'll see," Leon responded.

"I might not get any answers at all, and come away with more questions, or he'll refuse to even speak on the subject and give me nothing. We'll see…" He nodded to all three as he rose, his magic senses sweeping over Westmount's nine peaks in fine detail. As he turned to the door, however, Nyra jumped to her feet and loudly declared, "Aunt! Aureate aunt! Just say it once!" Leon glanced at her, and then his eyes slid to Jennifyr, who looked slyly hopeful, too.

He gave them both a crafty grin and then continued walking toward the door.

"You'll say it eventually!" Nyra shouted after him. His smile lingered as he made his way to the nearest courtyard. He silently dismissed his waiting Tempest Knights as he took to the sky, his smile fading once he firmly located the Great Black Dragon—both where he was and who he was with. Leon moved quickly, his concern rising, until he landed in the valley between Westmount's nine peaks, where the Stormborn sapling was growing taller seemingly with every passing day.

Crimson lightning flickered amidst its leaves, some of which Leon could sense radiating notable amounts of magic. They weren't yet the same portals that the parent Stormborn Oak had in lieu of leaves, but he could sense that they had taken a step or two in that direction over the past year. The Great Black Dragon stood close to the tree, silently watching the tree's crimson lightning flash between its branches.

Beside him stood Nestor, his arms crossed, and something about how he held his head gave him a subtly exasperated air despite his lack of facial muscles or even much recognizable facial features. Neither apparently said a word as Leon approached, to each other or to him, until he landed next to his mechanical Clanmate. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

"Leon," Nestor said, his voice echoing through his golem frame.

"Nestor. Odd seeing you two here."

"Odder still, what he's asked of me," Nestor replied.

"I doubt he'd admit it, but you might be influencing him…"

"I can hear you, shadow," the Great Black Dragon growled as he turned around.

"It is not the dead's place to question the living."

"Is it the living's place to question the dead?" Leon asked.

"Also, I'd argue that Nestor is more alive than you are. Relatively speaking." The dragon scoffed as he sauntered closer.

"This tree is a treasure. My aureate brother would've annihilated planes to get his claws on it." Leon's eyebrow rose slightly, but as much as he would've liked to speak about that, there was another topic he had to broach.

"What is death?" he asked. Silence was his answer. He'd expected it, but it was still deafening.

"I have two people here with me who are, in some way, dead. And neither of you can so much as grunt in response?"

"Death is the cessation of life," Nestor said, jumping in the moment he realized that Leon was serious.

"And more than that. It is another step in the journey of existence."

"A reunion with dead Ancestors?" Leon asked, and the dead man nodded slowly.

"I am not truly dead," Nestor said.

"I cannot say for certain." Leon wasn't surprised with his Clanmate's answer, and he turned his golden gaze upon his Divine Beast Ancestor, a pale remnant of a creature that had been born at the start of the universe.

"What is death?" he repeated." You are the one who wields it," the Great Black Dragon shot back." You tell me."

"I ask because I wield it," Leon said as he turned his eyes from the dragon and began slowly pacing.

"And because… someone recently approached me. Someone who was… trapped … between life and death. I can see him, while most others can't. The Ancestral Harts can, too, somehow."

"Who is this person?" the Great Black Dragon asked.

"A survivor of the cult you claimed you destroyed," Leon honestly replied.

"In that last great act of cooperation amongst the Primal Beings before Khosrow's rise." The dragon's haughty glare turned downright murderous.

"If you see this survivor," he hissed, "finish what I started. The secrets they sought imperil the entire universe."" I wield some of those secrets," Leon hotly contested.

"And I need answers about it! A black Heartwood seed has taken root within me!"

"Has it grown any since that battle?" Nestor interjected.

"While still curious, I'm almost at the point of recommending that it be removed…"

"I… hesitate to give up the power it's giving me," Leon said as he halted his pacing and turned toward Nestor.

"That seed is likely why the Iron Needle gave me black lightning in the first place. Now… I don't know what it's doing to me, and before I do anything permanent, I want to understand what it is and what this power means for me." Once again, Leon turned his golden eyes upon the Great Black Dragon and asked, "What. Is death?" He gave the question a moment to simmer, and unfortunately, the dragon did not take the opportunity to immediately pass on all the secrets of life, the universe, and everything to him.

"Is it some 'realm'?" Leon pressed on.

"Something that might have been possible before the formation of the universe, and became impossible when the universe became what it is?"

"Watch your words," the Great Black Dragon snapped.

"Your question is dangerous. Even knowing enough to ask it… if I were yet flesh and blood, I would end you for daring to speak it." From within Leon's soul realm, he felt the Thunderbird's presence. [Let me out,] she asked, and after only a second's hesitation, he took out the Ancestor Gem. In a few more seconds, she was standing with them, dismissing Nestor's respectful greeting with a wave.

"You said that you would study the seed," she said to the dragon.

"Was that just for show? Or were your emphatic assertions that other realms do not exist all lies?"

"Much demands my attention," the dragon said.

"And it hasn't even been a month. Progress takes time."

"Or you're trying to cover up your lies," the Thunderbird suggested with a thin smile.

"I'll admit that I've been intrigued about this subject since my descendant first brought it up. Given how close we are to a final end, I believe it would be a good idea to get an idea of what we can expect when our end comes. Our true end…" She glared expectantly at the dragon, and he waited so long to reply that Leon thought that he wouldn't.

"Some knowledge shouldn't be sought. It leads to meddling with the fundamental nature of the universe, and all of existence begins to break down. The universe is the way it is, and all within it has adapted to it. Seek power within that structure; don't try to look outside of it."

"That is an answer, in and of itself." The Thunderbird's glare turned more vicious.

"Speak of it, or allow it to be investigated without you." She moved to stand next to Leon, showing her solidarity. Nestor then moved to stand on Leon's other side.

"Given what you asked of me, my kinsman is not the only one seeking fundamental knowledge…" Leon froze. In a stiff-jawed whisper, he inquired of the dead man, "What did he ask?"

"Questions related to your own about the 'One Rune'," Nestor said.

"The rune of infinite possibilities, of infinite simplicity. We came here because he wanted to speak in private and to study the tree."

"Did you come up with anything?"

"I could only repeat what I've already told you on the subject. I haven't prioritized that research given how… unpromising it is." Leon closed his eyes in disappointment before turning his focus back to the topic at hand.

"You've denied the existence of other realms within the universe. You've claimed that death is part of this universe's structure. You were lying." Leon didn't know how much the dragon lied, but he was certain of it now. The Great Black Dragon strode toward him until he towered over Leon, his eyes darkening from gold to orange, a hint of red tinge at the edges of his pupils.

"Stop asking," he growled.

"There are no answers for you. That universe is, and there are no'other realms'. To seek out what doesn't exist is to do damage to what does. I have seen the terrors wrought by those convinced otherwise. Accept what is. Reject what is not." Frustration bloomed within Leon, and he wanted to keep arguing, but the dragon's phrasing gave him pause, and it held his tongue for long enough that the Thunderbird spoke first.

"Telling a man not to seek knowledge is like trying to keep the starving from eating when brought before a banquet. You can't keep this a secret if you want any control over it." The dragon scoffed again.

"The old shall be ever cursed to be ignored by the young. Listen to me. I know better. Drop this line of questioning. Rely only on what you can feel." It was Leon's turn to scoff. He raised a hand and let black lightning shimmer around his fingers. He didn't have to say anything; his expectant glare communicated enough.

"I will not be party to the destruction of the universe," the Great Black Dragon replied.

"Seek your own answers, then, and learn what I had to long ago. Reject my words at your own peril." With that, he vanished in a flash of light, departing from the material world so quickly that none of the other three could even try to stop him.

"That was… unhelpful," Leon bitterly bemoaned.

"But more helpful than he might have intended," the Thunderbird said thoughtfully.

"His refusals confirmed enough."

"And it confirmed that he won't help," Nestor added.

"It was much the same when he asked about the One Rune. He only asked, he never answered." Leon held his face for a moment. He could feel the power of death ripple within him for a moment, ready for him to call upon it again. It was undeniable, inundating him beyond anyone's ability to take." Why, though?" he asked.

"If he doesn't want me investigating it, then why won't he be more detailed?"

"Pride," the Thunderbird immediately stated as fact.

"He doesn't have all the answers. He might just be covering up how little he knows. He might just be refusing your questions because he doesn't like your tone. Who can say? Maybe not even himself." Leon sighed.

"It only makes me more curious about the creation of the universe, honestly. When Veles was explaining his theories to me—""Who?" the Thunderbird asked.

"A man stuck between life and death," Leon repeated.

"He… helped me, sort of, I think, after the battle with Triton. Certainly gave me more answers than the Great Black Dragon did."

"Be wary of answers freely given," the Thunderbird cautioned.

"They're better than outright refusals, but that makes it easier to be misled."

"What were his theories?" Nestor asked, pushing ahead with what caught his interest rather than paying attention to the Thunderbird's warnings.

"He spoke about what was before the universe, and how that turned into the universe we now live in. There might be something that caused that change. Death, specifically, is a remnant of that time—or rather, the 'realm of death' that we all go to when we die, rather than simply ceasing to exist, as you said earlier."

"I know nothing about that," Nestor said, a subtle current of wonder running through his tone.

"I wonder if… no, no…"

"Something occur to you?" Leon asked.

"Just thinking about the One Rune again," Nestor said.

"Maybe I should prioritize it. But infinite simplicity requires infinite focus to get a desired result… hmm…" Leon turned from the dead man, leaving him to his musings. He'd speak again when he had something more concrete to share.

"It may be wise to tread lightly," the Thunderbird whispered.

"Though I support you investigating this, there is surely immense danger in it."

"I was going to be careful," Leon said.

"That's why I asked the Great Black Dragon first. But now I'll be relying on Veles and myself."

"And be careful of him, especially," the Thunderbird added.

"Whoever this person is… having anything to do with death makes him a threat." Leon sighed but nodded anyway.

"I'll be with you," she finished as she returned to his soul realm, not wanting to lose any more power remaining in the physical world.

"Thank you," he said, though whether she heard him or not was unclear.

"Come," Nestor said as he started walking back to toward the path that led down the mountain.

"Let us investigate this together. Also, have you contacted Xaphan yet?"

"Missing your friend?" Leon asked as he fell in beside Nestor.

"Hardly. But his perspective had some value. Get on it."

"The ritual is being prepared. He's still alive; our contract would be gone if he wasn't." Nestor just hummed quietly before launching into speculation that Leon was only partially paying attention to regarding the One Rune. Leon's mind was still stuck on death, and why the Great Black Dragon categorically refused to speak of it, or the possibility of death having its own realm…