Chapter 343 - One Dragon To Save Them All
Nothing but these few words were needed for Edmund to recognize this voice. Memories of his oddly talented and cunning student made their way into his mind one after the other, but would not stay long.
He immediately sprung up on his feet, and after noticing Daniel stand right behind him, while hoping that he was not the first member of their group that he had found, said, "Daniel! Is my family with you?" In his mind there wasn't enough room for thoughts regarding whether Daniel was truly back to his older self or not, all he really wanted was to find his family.
He then looked around in anxiousness, but aside from the wolf cub, nobody else was present. That, paired with Daniel's expression, made him realize that that day was not the day he would be able to reunite with his family.
"I'm sorry.." muttered Daniel, clearly as unhappy about it as his third teacher was.
Edmund was clearly dejected about this, but then he quickly composed himself. He was able to at least feel a little reassurance in being back to the stable space, and not separated by his family by a whole different dimension. "Have you heard anything about them?" he asked in the hope of at least receiving good news.
He was disappointed once again, but what Daniel said made him feel reassured. "I haven't.. But as long as I am alive, nothing too bad will ever happen to them. I promise." His tone was confident, and for some reason, removed every doubt that his family could have been in danger from Edmund's mind.
Almost as if reacting to this weight being taken off of his chest, Edmund felt his power suddenly increase beyond what were the limitations of his cultivation. At the same time, for the first time in years, he was able to feel calm.
Daniel would never tell him that, in that moment, he had used a bit of his mental power to calm Edmund's weak mind power. Instead, he turned towards the passed out dragon, and asked, "Can you tell me how in the world did you end up with him?"
"Do you know him?" Edmund asked back in confusion. The absurdity of finding an acquaintance of Daniel in the stomach of a random monster that floated around a random portion of the void, was beyond what one could process.
"We both know him.. But you never had the pleasure of talking to him." Said Daniel while picking the wolf cub that was chewing on his shoelaces from the ground, and holding him in his arms. He then raised his arm in the dragon's direction, and said, "I hope you didn't get too close to him.. Because he killed both of us once before."
Edmund did not react to Daniel's words, and instead looked as a sphere of darkness that formed at the tip of Daniel's index.. But just as this nail sized sphere was about to be thrown in the dragon's direction, a voice was heard coming from the distance.
"NO! STOP!!" shouted Xargy, who approached Daniel's position while in his draconic form. Next to him was Aeron, who followed him quietly.
"Do you know him?" Asked Daniel as the sphere of darkness dissipated.
Xargy landed heavily on a large patch of dirt, raising a cloud of dust tall enough to cover his entire body, but when he came out of it, he was in his humanoid form. "I do know him, that damn idiot." He then kept walking towards the massive body of the unconscious dragon before raising his hand, and slapping the hard scales of the black dragon's head with enough power to wake him up violently, but without actually hurting him.
The dragon woke up immediately, the pain he was feeling in his head was making his massive yellow eyes tear up, as well as causing him to feel quite a bit of anger. "Who the hell was that?!" He shouted before gritting his teeth, and letting out hot fumes from in between them.
While having just woken up with a powerful blow just moments before, the dragon's anger did not last long, and was replaced by a deep confusion. He could feel multiple smells which he had encountered before, as well as one to which he was extremely familiar with. It was only after calming himself down, that he noticed Xargy, who was standing right in front of him.
"Uncle?" Asked the dragon with a dumbfounded expression which could be read on his scaly face despite his draconic semblances. "Unce!! It really is you! It's so great to see you! Haha!" He added as his body turned from that of a dragon, into that of a human who approached Xargy with opened arms.
"Dorgeo.." muttered Xargy while almost unable to keep a straight face. He was glad to see a member of his family, but he knew that this niece of his was not exactly the young dragon that used to bother him with questions regarding the royal library of the draconic's faction.
Nevertheless, he allowed for Dorgeo to place both of his arms on his shoulder in salutation.
"I can't believe I am in front of you, uncle Xargy! It's been what.. Four thousand years?! Did you finally change your mind about joining master's army?" He said with a bright smile on his face. It was clear that his feelings of happiness towards Xargy were not feigned, but also that at the core of every single one of his thoughts, was always his master, the tamer.
Xargy ignored the last part of the question, and instead placed his hands above Dorgeo's shoulders, and said "It is nice to see that you are okay."
Daniel, who was standing on the side, immediately understood why this dragon who had successfully killed him in the past had been, in a sense, rescued by Edmund. What had caused that action, was the fact that Xargy was part of his group, and while he looked at the tamer as his biggest enemy, the fact that he still cared about his family could not be denied.
By being part of Daniel's group, Xargy had entered into the halo of luck that surrounded him. To lose a member of his family would have hurt Xargy deeply, and since the last thing that Daniel wanted was for his friends to have to grieve the loss of a family member, Dorgeo had received a third-hand protection from 'Karma X Luck'.
This event opened Daniel's eyes to the magnitude of danger that Karma X Luck could bring him, and the rest of the universe. For example, if Xargy's hopes were for Dorgeo's dreams to be fulfilled, then, the Tamer would have already arrived, and he would have been captured right away. That would have been because Dorgeo's unhappiness would have caused Xargy's sadness, and Xargy's sadness would have caused Daniel's.
The more Daniel discovered about his power, the more worried he became. Every single effect had the potential of being a double edged sword with catastrophic consequences, and if he didn't start to think three steps ahead when usin them, he would sooner or later end up on the wrong side of the blade.
Back to the couple of relatives, Dorgeo had lost his smile. After seeing Xargy's expression, he had understood immediately that he was mistaken. His uncle was still a fugitive.
The humanoid being with black scales took a step back, and started looking at his surroundings. Before his eyes could even land on Daniel's body, he recognized him through smell. "You are that human.." His eyes opened to the size of two perfectly spherical golden gems, as he muttered, "How can you have grown this powerful? How long have I been sleeping?.."
The reason why Dorgeo remembered about Daniel, was not only due to his smell, but also because he was the first human he had seen after being pushed into hibernation as a result of a battle right outside Daniel's home planet, as well as the last person who he had seen before a massive monster had come out of a rift, and pulled him into the void.
"You have to stop.. Can you hear what you are saying?" Asked Xargy with disappointment. He then added with a proud and powerful tone, "You are a dragon! Dragons never bowed to anyone but their king!"
Dorgeo took another step back, and shook his head while smiling. He then said as if trying to explain something to a kid who had yet to understand anything of life, "Uncle, you just don't understand. We are happy with our master.. She is brutal at times, and does not care if we die for her goals, but we belong to her. To serve her is the only true honor in the universe."
While speaking, Dorgeo kept walking backwards, and at the same time, used his fingers to create a formation which would be able to make his position clear to the Tamer. Unfortunately, both Aeron and Daniel had read through his schemes by reading his mind.
An invisible and impenetrable barrier of spatial essence had formed around Dorgeo's body, isolating him in the same way he had been while in the void. To be able to send his message through Daniel's barrier, he would have required to have enough spatial comprehension to feel it, as well as a higher level of cultivation higher than his.
After seeing that Dorgeo seemed to have lost his reason, Xargy turned to look at Aeron, and with pleading eyes, asked, "Is there something you can do? He wasn't like this before.. He was stubborn, unruly.. He never even obeyed his mother."
In responses to Xargy's request, Aeron's eyes began to glow with a bright green color, which shone through the holes of his mask like two green torchlights. In his mind, the entire history of this dragon passed by like a series of images and feelings. He searched his mind for anything that would help him remove this mind control of sorts that appeared to have been rooted into the deepest parts of Dorgeo's mind, but no matter how deep he looked, he found nothing.
In the memories that depicted Dorgeo's encounter with the Tamer, he had felt his emotions of admiration grow disproportionately every time they met. No matter for how long, or even if she spoke directly to him. The sheer sight of her caused his admiration to become deeper and stronger. Unfortunately, this effect did not appear to have been applied by another person's action, but Dorgeo's true feelings.
Whatever it was that had convinced these inhuman beings to idolize her, it had nothing to do with mental power.
There was no need for Aeron to speak for Xargy to know the result. He then tightened his fists in an anger that he had buried under old feelings of fear, and said to himself, "Even if I have to kill you.."
Daniel looked as Xargy steeled his mind into killing the tamer, and said, "Say goodbye to him."
"Why?" Asked Xargy after suddenly turn to look at Daniel. For a moment, he thought that Daniel had the intention of killing his nephew.
"He cannot stay here. He has been trying to call his master ever since he woke up. I have no intention of babysitting him until we are strong enough to face her." Said Daniel with a matter-of-fact tone.
Once he understood the meaning of Daniel's words, Xargy breathed out in relief. He then turned to look at the dejected dragon, which was still trying to open the formation that would summon his master, and said "I will teach a lesson to your master, and then I will free our people. I promise."
Clearly offended by Xargy's words, Dorgeo stopped his action, and took a step forward with the intention of fighting his uncle to the death, but before he could utter a single word through his tightly gritted teeth, Daniel snapped his fingers, and caused him to be teleported on an empty astheorid that was shooting through space in the opposite direction of Daniel's planet.
The moment Dorgeo disappeared, Xargy turned towards the direction he had just come from, and left with eyes filled with resentment directed at the individual who had done nothing but ruin his life.
After Xargy left, Daniel turned to look at the mannequin-like body of the spatial elemental, which finally began to move. However, instead of standing up from his lying position, he dissolved into a blob of essence, and reformed into his standing position.
From his shapeless lips, the spatial elemental said "What is this? Where are we?"