The Path Back Home

A month… maybe two? I don’t know. I stopped counting after the tenth time I slept. Regardless, I spent a considerable amount of time within Arjen’s space.

“Arjen.”

‘Yes?’

“How long have we been here?”

‘In your world’s time, forty-three days. In this space, one week.’

I looked back. Kallios was holding his sword again. Only now did it occur to me that if not for this dome, I would have been split from the crown of my head down by Kallios’s blade of flame.

“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

Arjen laughed and urged me forward. I wore a dissatisfied expression, but I didn’t stop walking. The end of this long journey was right before my eyes.

When I first saw them, I thought they were beautiful, but Arjen’s remains no longer looked merely mysterious or lovely to me. I had experienced enough of his personality to lose that sense of wonder. Still, I felt like I could understand why he was so headstrong. If I were this magnificent and this immense, humans might seem insignificant and laughable to me as well. I touched the face of the dragon, which lay as if in a deep slumber. It felt cool and smooth, like well-forged metal.

‘Kaian.’

“Yeah.”

‘Return me to the earth.’

I looked at Arjen. He was sitting between the horns of the black dragon’s massive head, looking down at me.

“How?”

‘With that thing we kept doing inside.’

Arjen’s voice was tinged with amusement. By “that thing,” did he mean the destruction play? I tapped Arjen’s hard outer shell as if knocking on a door. It made a dull thud. I wondered if my arrows could even pierce this. Even in death, he was still a dragon.

At that moment, one of the black dragon’s horns snapped off. I quickly pulled my hand away. Instead of falling to the ground, the broken horn was absorbed directly into the translucent Arjen. For a second, I thought I’d broken it just by knocking…

Whether I was surprised or not, the translucent Arjen and the horn merged, twisted, and shifted their form. I took a step back and watched. The black, glossy mass stretched out and curved like a crescent moon. It floated toward me, and I caught it. I let out a hollow laugh.

“Hey, you could have made it a bit prettier.”

‘Is it not to your taste?’

I held the bow that looked exactly like a black pipe.

“Not at all.”

I have no talent for drawing and lack imagination, but thanks to living surrounded by precious and beautiful things for over ten years, my aesthetic sense was second to none. I swung the pipe through the air a couple of times. It felt weightless and strangely comfortable in my hand, but still…

Arjen did not grant my request for a design change. He claimed it was impossible because he had no strength left. This is driving me crazy. I’m not some construction worker. A Grand Duke holding a pipe—is this for real?

“Seriously… you are so annoying.”

I heard Arjen’s laughter. Gripping the utterly uncool pipe, I moved away from the dragon’s remains. I’d shove this pipe under my bed the moment I got home. But to do that, I had to fulfill his request first.

Once I was far enough away that the debris wouldn’t hit me when the remains exploded, I gripped the pipe with my right hand. I began to draw the bowstring but then stopped.

“Ah.”

‘Yes?’

“Did you say goodbye to Loti?”

‘Pardon?’

“Loti. Your son.”

I let go of the string. The fire arrow I had conjured flickered out. I looked back and forth between the pipe and the dragon’s remains, waiting for an answer. He remained silent for a long time, only answering after I lowered the bow.

‘I don’t need to.’

“Why?”

I swung the pipe around. Arjen stammered out an excuse. Unlike humans, the relationship between parent and child is meaningless to dragons. He didn’t want to burden the boy. He had already stayed in this world for too long. He needed to disappear quietly now…

“What kind of bullsh*t is that?”

I threw the pipe away in frustration. Instead of falling, it floated and drifted back to me.

‘Kaian.’

“You stayed behind all this time to protect your child. How can you say it’s meaningless? Even if it means nothing to him, it must mean something to you.”

‘…’

“Bring him here. Otherwise, I won’t do it.”

I ignored the pipe swaying in front of me, as if urging me to grab it, and looked back. I could see a small silhouette of Kallios standing beyond the dome, watching me. Beside him was Lamiere, crouching down. Right, Lamiere must have been very scared too. Well, I’ll finish this and go out to comfort them.

Staring at my kids in the distance, I sat on the ground. The pipe that had been floating in the air dropped onto my lap. I pushed it off.

I sat there for a while, and since they didn’t come after a long wait, I lay down and took a nap. It was Loti who woke me. Little Loti poked my cheek and then climbed onto my stomach to lie down. Half-asleep, I pulled Loti into an embrace, only opening my eyes when I heard his giggling. Loti smiled brightly and rested his chin on my chest.

“Did you call for me?”

“Yeah.”

“Ian. I became friends with Her Highness Sierra.”

“Is that so?”

“Princess Sierra is pretty. I like her.”

“Our Sierra is pretty. But you’re not allowed to fall in love with her.”

“Huh?”

Your parents had the romance of the century and ended up ruining an empire. I swallowed those words, as they weren’t for a child’s ears, and stroked the boy’s hair.

Arjen, who usually wasn’t quiet, was strangely silent. I felt around my side and grabbed the pipe. Loti’s eyes widened.

“Oh! That’s Daddy’s horn!”

“Do you want to touch it?”

Loti happily pulled the pipe into a hug. I heard Arjen sigh.

“What?”

“Huh?”

“No, not you.”

Little Loti tilted his head and climbed off my stomach. I sat up.

Loti fiddled with the end of the pipe, hugged it tight, and stroked it while it sat on his knees, chattering away. I nodded as he talked about how amazing it was that the big horn had become so small and how he used to play on his father’s horns when he was even smaller. Then…

“Loti.”

“Yes, Ian.”

“I’m going to return your daddy to the earth.”

Loti stopped moving his hands and nodded. I felt a strange sensation and fell silent for a moment. Loti still had a smile on his face, but it wasn’t as bright as when he first saw the pipe. It might have been my imagination, but it looked like he was forcing the corners of his mouth up.

“So, I called you because I thought you might want to say goodbye first.”

“Yes.”

Loti nodded firmly and jumped up. After watching the boy run toward the black dragon, I looked beyond the dome.

Kallios was surrounded by people, giving orders; Lamiere was crouching and staring only at me; Sierra and Isaac were circling the dome, likely following Loti; and even the young Duke of Tephersa was there.

“I hate dying.”

I had been calm before, but the moment I said it out loud, my heart throbbed.

“I don’t want to leave anyone behind.”

‘I know.’

“You feel the same, don’t you?”

Arjen’s reply came very late.

‘Yes.’

I pulled my knees up and hugged them. I finally felt a bit of pity for the Arjen I had found so annoying.

Their farewell ended sooner than expected. Loti came bouncing back, placed the pipe on my knees, and threw his arms around my neck.

“Thank you.”

I held Loti and patted his back. He smiled with a clear face and then walked straight out of the dome. It seemed he didn’t intend to watch the black dragon return to the earth. Hm… yeah. Good choice. My fire arrows explode quite violently.

Loti waved both hands once he was outside the dome and walked away with Sierra.

‘Do it now.’

Arjen said. I stood up with a groan. This is really the end. My body felt heavy at the thought, and my shoulders slumped. I took a deep breath, exhaled, and forced strength into my sluggish limbs.

“Yeah. I’m doing it.”

I raised the pipe and aimed at the black dragon. As I drew out my power, the pipe caught fire and began to flicker. It actually looked a bit cool now. Smiling with satisfaction, I pulled the string.

I took the energy for eight arrows, merged them into four, then into two, and finally into a single arrow. This was easier than creating one massive one from the start. I held my breath as I felt the heat pouring onto the left side of my face. Three, two, one. I counted down in my head and released the string.

Silently and fast as a lightning bolt, the arrow pierced the center of the black dragon’s forehead. I squeezed my eyes shut as a blinding white light exploded the moment the arrow touched the dragon.

‘Thank you.’

Arjen whispered. Although I felt pity for him, he was still annoying and irritating, so I didn’t accept the thanks. I snorted, and Arjen laughed.

Before the light even faded, I felt someone wrap their arms around me from behind. The light slowly died away. The illusion created by Arjen’s power was crumbling. I looked up at the cave walls visible through the cracks in the sky and gripped the arms holding me tight.

“I’m back.”

He buried his face in my shoulder. I could feel his breath against my neck. I patted his arm to soothe him and tilted my head to lean against his.

“Were you worried?”

“Is that… even a question?”

He whispered. I wanted to laugh because he was so endearing, but I held it in. He was trembling. A sword master wouldn’t tremble from the cold, so this was a tremor caused by emotional distress. I debated whether to say I was sorry, thank him, or tell him it was okay, but I ended up just tapping his arm. Kallios, who had been holding me tight, sighed and loosened his grip. I turned around to face him.

His hands, which had been loosely encircling my upper body, dropped down. I looked at his face. He tried to say something but bit his lip instead. He seemed to be clenching his jaw so hard his cheek muscles stood out. I raised one hand to cup his cheek. He covered my hand with his own and pressed his lips to my palm.

“Do not go.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t go anywhere… just stay by my side. Stay with me.”

His voice was calm, but it sounded like a plea. No, it was a plea. I felt a little—no, a lot—strange. I felt sorry for making him anxious, thankful that he worried for me, and… happy at his heartfelt words. I blinked as I felt his breath and warmth against my palm. I shouldn’t be feeling this way considering he’d been waiting and worrying for me all this time. I cleared my throat and gave a deliberate laugh.

“You must have been really worried. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t go.”

“Kallios.”

“Brother.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck to comfort him. He hesitated for a moment before picking me up. I was briefly startled by being hoisted up, but since being carried wasn’t exactly a new experience, I quickly relaxed. He began to walk with long strides. I didn’t have to ask where we were going. Finally, we were going home.

“Brother!”

“Your Grace!”

My children, who hadn’t been able to approach because of Kallios, ran over and called out to me. Sierra looked healthy as if she’d eaten and played well in my absence, but Isaac’s face was pale as if he hadn’t slept at all, and Lamiere’s eyes were swollen like a goldfish’s from crying so much. I was about to call their names with a smile when Kallios covered my eyes with his hand.

“Wait?”

“We are going back.”

…Well, I suppose I can say my hellos later. I stayed quiet with my eyes closed and nodded.