"Still six months left? What does that mean?" Leon asked, a thread of panic in his voice. "What happens in six months?"
A terrible premonition settled in his gut. It wasn't just Aurora's words—it was everything. Since waking up, he hadn't seen Rossweise, Noah, or Muen. The Silver Dragon Temple behind him was a crumbling wreck, scarred by what looked like a fierce battle.
"My research. I have to finish it in six months now. No—I must finish it," Aurora stated. "But from the moment you disappeared, everything was set to change in six months."
Leon sat up straighter, tension coiling in his shoulders. "Does this involve your mother and sisters? Where are they? What happened? Are they still—"
Are they still alive? He couldn't bring himself to say it out loud. Twenty years was more than enough time for any tragedy to unfold. His wife and daughters were his primary concern, far outweighing the mystery of his own lost time.
Aurora offered a small smile. "They are all still alive."
Those four simple words made Leon slump in relief.
"Then where are they now?" he asked urgently.
"Well… it's hard to explain with words. So—"
Aurora stood and stepped into a clear space nearby. Leon watched, confused.
Then, she did something that stunned him completely.
She tilted her head back slightly, and with a powerful, silent motion, a pair of magnificent dragon wings erupted from her back. The wings wrapped around her form and, moments later, unfurled to reveal a massive silver dragon where his daughter had stood.
The old father was dumbstruck. The skewer he'd been holding fell to the ground, forgotten.
He stared. Aurora's dragon form was smaller than Rossweise's, but it was no less breathtaking. The sheer impossibility of it left him reeling. It was like leaving for work with a toddler at home and returning years later to find her pulling an AK-47 from behind her back, saying, "Dad, let's go plant a bomb at Point A!"
It was utterly insane.
Thud—Thud—
The great dragon walked gracefully over to her stunned father and nudged him gently with her head.
"Why haven't you transformed yet?"
General Leon blinked. "Huh? Me?"
"Yeah, hurry up and transform. Then we can go find Big Sister."
Transform? Does she think I'm a magical girl?
Leon scratched his head awkwardly. It seemed Rossweise had kept her word perfectly, hiding his human identity from their daughter for twenty years. He couldn't drop the ball now.
"Dad just came out of the rift… my body isn't feeling well yet. I can't transform."
"Oh~~ so it's because you're not feeling well~~" Aurora drew out the words, a hint of playful skepticism in her tone. "Well, then I guess I'll just have to carry you."
"Seems there's no other choice," Leon conceded, thinking wryly of the old tale of the crow feeding its mother. Now it was Little Light carrying her dad—a reversal of filial piety.
Aurora bent down, allowing Leon to climb onto her back.
"Hold on tight?"
"Mm."
"Then let's—take off."
The dragon beat her powerful wings, extinguishing the campfire in a gust of wind. Her silver form shot into the sky, quickly vanishing into the night.
"You said we're going to find Noah? Isn't she with Mom and Muen?"
"No. She's waiting for you in a very far place…"
"Waiting… for me?"
"Mm."
Leon opened his mouth to ask more, but his daughter's terse replies made it clear she wasn't ready to say much else. He understood and let the matter drop.
He sat cross-legged on Aurora's back. The sensation was exactly the same as riding on Rossweise—the unique, breathtaking speed of the Silver Dragon clan, the wind rushing past his ears. It was all so familiar.
He had never expected to survive the spatial rift. And now, even though a mountain of problems lay before him, leaving him feeling lost and disoriented, it was still better than being eternally separated from his family.
It's just—
Leon let out a heavy sigh and looked down at the passing landscape.
It feels like… I don't belong in this world twenty years later.
Was it the alienation brought by all the changes, or something else? Leon couldn't quite pinpoint it. He just wanted to see his wife and daughters as soon as possible.
"Speaking of which, I've never seen your dragon form," Aurora's voice cut through his thoughts.
He snapped back to attention and cleared his throat. "Ah, well… once Dad's body has recovered, I'll show you."
"Okay. But… it seems your health hasn't been very good for a while," Aurora noted. "I still remember when you had a cold as a child, and I made you that Dragon Power Pill. You were bouncing around the next day. Do you want me to make another one for you? It'll help you recover faster."
"No, no, no! That stuff has side effects if you take it too often. It's not suitable for frequent use." It's murder on the kidneys.
"Is that so? Fine, then."
Leon didn't realize he was casually discussing the effects of Dragon Power with a dragon scholar who had spent twenty years devouring every magical text she could find. In his subconscious, he still saw the giant dragon carrying him as the little girl who used to follow him around, asking endless questions.
And Aurora played along, never letting on. Was it to preserve her father's pride, or for some other reason? It was hard to say.
.
.
.
After several hours of flight, the father and daughter arrived at the border between the dragon clans and human territory. Leon recognized this place. Simultaneously, he guessed where Noah was waiting for him: the hidden cave behind a waterfall in a mountain gorge.
But just as he began to feel excited about seeing his eldest daughter, another realization hit him.
If Noah was really here, didn't that mean they all knew their old dad was human? After all, only he, Rossweise, his master, and Rebecca knew about that cave.
He had only asked Little Light about Rossweise and the others earlier, carefully avoiding mention of his master and Rebecca to avoid raising her suspicions. But if Little Light and the others already knew his identity, why did she just tell him to transform earlier?
Turning it over in his mind, Leon decided to keep quiet for now. As he had thought before, twenty years could bring any number of unexpected changes. Until he understood the full situation, silence was his best shield.