The night was eerily quiet. The kind of silence that doesn't mean peace... but anticipation. I was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, while Sylvia's words kept echoing in my mind.
"Even in your past life, you struggled to defeat him."
I smiled slightly. She doesn't understand. I'm no longer seeking victory. I'm searching for the key.
I got up slowly, put on my coat, and hid my presence as much as possible. The air around me responded with silence, as if it knew what I was about to do.
Outside the window, the palace gardens were shrouded in pale blue shadows. The marble statues stood like frozen guards across time, and the wind passed through them as if whispering something.
This land... hides something, something no one knows about, not even me. I've only heard about it from a demon.
Something no one has seen before, and a being that doesn't want humans to meet it.
The real reason I came here wasn't for training. It was for this.
I took a step into the darkness. And inside me, only one feeling felt steady:
If I make a mistake tonight... there won't be an academy.
Pffft, academy? I won't see daylight again.
"Hey Sylvia, it's time to go."
"What? Wait a minute! Were you serious?"
_Sigh_... didn't I tell you I found the key already?
"Are you sure it's the right key?"
... it is.
"You're pausing before answering, right?"
I didn't, anyway, let's hurry up.
We left the palace from the back, heading towards a small, ancient, and abandoned tomb. There was a worn-out stone sarcophagus, which might seem ordinary from the outside, but it's not. I wiped the dust off its surface and found an ancient, incomprehensible script, but I understood it. It was... the language of dragons.
Yes, we're going to meet a dragon.
I hesitated for a moment, because once we enter, there's no turning back.
I sighed and focused on relaxation, then began reading the inscription: "Grr'th… zzkaar… ul'naeth ommir ka'thal." Its meaning is "When the void speaks, existence bows, and the celestial awakens."
Every time I read this, I feel a chill.
My heart was beating at an abnormally slow pace... as if my body knew this could be my last night.
As soon as I finished speaking, we were transported. We found ourselves in a cave, a massive passageway that felt uncomfortably large. We moved forward, and with each step, the feeling of danger grew. Until we reached a giant door that shone with a blue light. But in front of it stood a dragon, a creature classified as a catastrophe. Not just any dragon, but the father of dragons, the "Sky Dragon." As we approached its aura, an overwhelming pressure exploded, making me kneel and spit blood.
"Mortal, do you know what you've done by coming here?"
The celestial creature spoke, its voice not just coming from its mouth but from the depths of the place itself. I looked at Sylvia, but she was in the same state as me. I wanted to speak, but I couldn't. I looked up at him with difficulty.
He was terrifying and majestic at the same time.
The giant black dragon with blood-red eyes and steel-like skin was "Agnos."
Suddenly, the pressure began to decrease slowly until it disappeared completely, and then he said:
"Mortal, you're not ordinary. There's something strange about you. You seem burdened by something immense, even with my grandeur and superiority, I couldn't have imagined it."
...
"Raise your head, mortal. Tell me why you've come."
I stood up slowly, looked at him for a moment, and thought. If I slipped up even slightly, I would meet my demise.
I pointed my hand towards the stone door and said, "There, I want to enter there."
... "Do you have the key?"
"Maybe."
As soon as I finished speaking, the overwhelming pressure returned, but it was stronger this time. Damn!
"Mortal! Do you dare to mock me? Tell me now, where is the key?"
Ugh, if you continue with this pressure, I'll die before I show it to you!
"So... you won't answer. Then... bear the consequences of your actions."
Agnos began gathering energy, opening his massive mouth and revealing his teeth, which were longer than me. And with that, he directed it towards us. We were about to die.
"Daniel! No-"
Sylvia screamed, trying to save me, but it was too late. I felt like the fires of hell were about to consume me. I felt my memories, my life. I wondered, would everything end like this? I felt something, this familiar feeling... it was death. And just as it was about to reach me, everything stopped.
"Mortal... you... you have the key."
His attack disappeared, and the pressure vanished with it, because at that moment, I activated the mark.
Agnos looked at me with a mix of astonishment and sudden nostalgia, then said:
"Why didn't you say you had it?"
"I tried, really."
Sylvia was looking at us with a stunned expression and her mouth wide open. She didn't understand anything. In fact, even I wasn't sure if the mark was the key. It was a risk, a damned risk.
Suddenly, a light burst from Agnos, and after it faded, Agnos's human form appeared. He was a young man with white skin and black hair, with red eyes.
When he transformed, I felt a sense of relief... or rather, a sense of danger that was more manageable, deeper.
"Now, key bearer, follow me."
... "Okay."
I signaled to Sylvia to follow us, and despite her hesitation, she did.
The stone door opened, and we entered the horizon I had been waiting for so long.