Beyond Cloudfall - Chapter 3

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On that night, the dragon settled me on the highest level of his cave, alongside all of the treasures he had amassed, as if I were just another one of them.

This place seems to have everything, but all I can have is the moonlight spilling in from the cave opening high above.

At night, as soon as I close my eyes, the sound of the wind circling through the cave causes me to see that blood-red valley and hear the dragon’s cries.

The moment the blade pierces his chest, the same pain and rage tears through me as well.

Perhaps… a piece of the dragon’s soul really did enter my body at the moment the greatsword was pulled out.

At the time, I had no idea what that meant.

I also didn’t know that this was the beginning of all the curses.

---

— Day 2

At dawn’s first light, I lie on the pile of gold coins, squinting at those mediocre jewels. The Demon Sealing Blade traces its third flourish across my palm.

MC: (Fattening me up before killing me…. But just letting him manipulate me like this, I’m being too passive…)

MC: (His power seems to come from his right eye. If I can possess that eye…)

After thinking about it for an entire night, I decide I must have it.

Perhaps if I can obtain that eye, I can escape from the dragon’s side and avoid the ending where my soul is devoured.

So this also means… I must make a move against the dragon.

MC: (One attempt certainly won’t be successful. I might not be able to hurt him at all, but there’s nothing wrong with testing him.)

MC: (He covets my soul, so naturally, he won’t kill me that easily.)

MC: (Besides… since he’s treating me like a pet cat, he shouldn’t be surprised if he’s scratched by a cat.)

Descending the stone steps, I don’t know how many circles I make around the central broken pillar…

The steps gradually merge with the ground, extending underground in a steep arc. Below is where the dragon dwells.

MC: (Found him.)

Kindled

MC: Hmph… As expected, I can’t hide from you.

Dragon: Your footsteps are too loud, your breathing is too heavy.

Dragon: But it just so happens that I’m quite bored right now.

MC: But, don’t think I only brought one dagger!

MC: You…!

Dragon: A trivial trick. But, somewhat clever.

Dragon: What other tricks do you have? Don’t hesitate to show me so that I can stretch my muscles.

MC: (Force won’t work, I can only try a softer approach…)

MC: Now I really don’t have anything left… I was only too bored, so I wanted to play a prank on you. Why don’t you let me go?

Dragon: Before coming to kill me, you didn’t think this would be the outcome?

Dragon: So, you were overconfident, thinking I would be merciful.

Dragon: Remember your heartbeat right now.

Dragon: Remember that right now, I only need to apply the slightest force....and cause this heart to never be able to beat again.

Dragon: Do you want to be such a weakling forever?

Dragon: This is the first time.

Dragon: Before the mark disappears, you still have two more chances to kill me.

Dragon: Let me see what you look like when you become stronger.

The first hunting game ends with me being branded with the dragon’s mark.

Besides the dragon below, the other thing that requires spending effort is the gap in the cave’s ceiling where light spills through.

Even if the dragon temporarily won’t harm me, I can’t let myself be trapped in this opulent cage with no way out.

I unravel the gold silk carpets from the dragon’s cave to braid into a rope, and also use weapons the dragon had amassed to carve footholds in the wall.

Over and over, I throw the rope upward. Every wound sustained from falling closes the distance between myself and freedom on the next attempt.

The dragon is very aware of my escape plan. A few times, he even sits on his pile of gold coins with his head propped up with one hand, watching me do all this—he neither helps nor stops me. Later, I realize he isn’t simply watching. It seems more like a kind of bored observation.

It’s just like when I lived in the Sanctuary, observing a cat that could never jump over the walls.

MC: (I finally got to the top…)

---

Five days later, at the moment when the first rays of sunlight spill in, I finally climb out of the hole at the top of the dragon’s cave.

But once outside, I discover that while this leads to freedom, it’s also another dead end—

Outside the lair is a bottomless drop. It only overlooks a black city—the infamous demon-occupied “Tarus City.”

Endless red mountains, desolate and covered in scorched forests, surround this lonely city. One look and I know there’s no way out.

And behind me, there’s only a narrow mountain path that descends like a dragon’s segmented spine.

Between these segments lies a bottomless abyss.

Dragon: If you can’t make the jump, you’ll die.

As I prepare to make a running jump, the dragon silently descends behind me.

MC: You won’t let me die. If I die, you won’t be able to devour my soul.

MC: Though, you don’t seem worried about me running away.

Dragon: As long as you can make it down, do as you please.

Dragon: Besides, I also want to see where a “sorceress” who consorts with a demon can go after leaving this place.

He crosses his arms across his chest and floats before me. I cast a single glance at his dragon horns and tail.

MC: You’re very good at annoying people.

Dragon: Thanks for the compliment. This is one of my few virtues.

MC: I still haven’t found the Judicator’s Oracle who condemned me. My revenge isn’t over.

MC: Even going looking for him is better than staying here.

Dragon: Then, there’s no need to waste your energy.

Dragon: Even if you jump down these twenty-one spine segments, there’s no one left in your hometown waiting for your return.

I stop in my tracks.

MC: What are you trying to say?

The dragon tosses over a bloodstained cloth bundle.

MC: …What’s inside this?

Dragon: Eyes, from the person you’re looking for. Pecked out by crows.

Instinct tells me the dragon didn’t do any of this.

MC: What happened?!

Dragon: You brought me to destroy a Sanctuary, but the Legion of Justitia, under the banner of “Doomsday is coming,” destroyed an entire city.

The dragon lazily floats before me, and in the midst of what can only be called a wicked smile, his right eye once again swirls with a blood red vortex.

Dragon: Right now, Ivory City is a purgatory—such a rare sight that comes only once in a century. Shall I take you back to appreciate it?

At the highest point of the dragon’s spine, surging crimson clouds suddenly rise, sweeping me into raging flames.

After a moment of dizziness, I feel like I myself am spreading my wings midair, a massive shadow passing over the burning Ivory City below.

The clash of weapons continuously rises from the blood-stained streets into my ears, while the wind stirred by my wings is thick with the smell of blood and acrid burning.

I know that scenes once seen by the dragon’s eyes are currently replaying before me through the fragment of soul hidden within my body.

Dragon: There’s no need for the Evil Demon to act—humanity’s own can bring about Doomsday.

As if this farce of the same species destroying each other isn’t entertaining enough, my field of view suddenly plunges toward the ground—

My soul trembles with immense joy as I soar through the boiling flames, even as warm liquid splashes into my eyes.

MC: Enough!

I forcefully shove away the , and the air turns bone-piercingly cold once more. My foot slips, and I fall backwards. Above me, the newborn sunlight of the day pierces through the gathered clouds, but the sky grows more and more distant from me.

The dragon, who had been gloating just a moment ago, suddenly changes his expression and spreads his wings, flying toward me.

The air stops flowing, and a searing embrace envelops me.

The fall hasn’t stopped, but I’m wrapped inside a safe cocoon.

From the day the dragon and I joined hands to destroy the Sanctuary, the Doomsday War began.

I never thought a peace that had lasted for over 1,600 years could be shattered so easily.

For three days straight, thunderstorms rain down onto Tarus City. I sit in the dragon’s cave, receiving small, shiny trinkets every day. One night, even a small mountain cat wanders in to play with me.

It’s not until later that I realize, given the location of the dragon’s cave, how could a mountain cat possibly enter on its own?

Could it be… that a dragon even knows how to comfort someone?

After the torrential rain stops, the sky above the dragon’s nest remains shrouded in dark clouds, with storms churning into a maelstrom.

From here, I can see Tarus City—a “Black City” completely different from my hometown, Ivory City.”

That is a place of chaos, wickedness, and a place where all who are not accepted gather. It’s a completely different world.

However, when night falls, its contours look so similar to Ivory City.

Dragon: What is this sound?

A faint breeze blows past me from behind—it’s the dragon folding his wings as he lands three steps away.

After singing the final note, I close my mouth, still gazing at the distant lights of Tarus City.

MC: A requiem. It’s sung for the dead.

Dragon: Sing it again.

MC: You’ve never heard anyone sing before?

Dragon: I’ve never heard you sing before.

He sits down next to me, his tail coiling behind my back.

Tarus City’s nights are always brightly lit, but unlike the flames of war in Ivory City, the fires that burn here are those of desire and revelry.

Dragon: I heard you were Ivory City’s princess.

I smile stiffly.

MC: And also a weapon meant to slay dragons. They said I could kill dragons—so, that’s why they told me so much about dragons.

MC: But, when they condemned me to death, they also said that I was a dragon.

MC: Humanity is like that—they fear the existence of anything that is unlike themselves.

The night wind rolls across the ground, carrying the scent of burning wood. Perhaps a forest fire has once again started somewhere.

Dragon: So, a place like that—what is there worth longing for?

I shield the flickering white candle before me which is on the verge of going out.

MC: I’m not longing for it, but I lived there for a very long time.

Dragon: Oh, so you consider that place “home.”

MC: …Maybe I’m just remembering the cats, dogs, and little birds in the city.

Dragon: Admit it. A home is exactly that kind of place—no matter how much you hate it, no matter how much you want to escape, it still makes up a part of your soul.

Dragon: The more you try to pull out that thorn, the harder it is to forget who you really are.

Seeing that I don’t reply, he changes the topic back to my crime again.

Dragon: However, do you have anything in common with dragons?

MC: Nothing. I just broke the rules by secretly keeping a golden lamp carved with a little dragon.

MC: Apart from “Painting of a Heavenly God Slaying the Evil Demon”, the Sanctuary didn’t permit the presence of any evil dragons. But, that little dragon was the only thing that could listen to me.

MC: Once, while I was talking to it, I was caught.

Even now, I can still laugh when I recall the look on the Judicator’s Oracle’s face when he saw that little obsidian dragon coiled around the lamp.

MC: A dragon-slaying weapon that was cultivated with the utmost care unexpectedly treated a dragon like a treasure.

MC: The Judicator’s Oracle’s face looked just like it had been fiercely clawed by a dragon. He hysterically ordered me to destroy my dragon.

MC: I knew it was just an inanimate object. Destroying it would have been easy.

I was cornered while clutching the little dragon as the shadows of people surged around me like a tide to drown me.

MC: …But on that day, I just didn’t want to.

Life in Ivory City was just like the city itself—the people had pristine clothing, graceful manners, and unblemished souls.

The Judicator’s Oracle said desire is the root of all disasters, and excessive happiness would only allow this type of disease to silently spread amongst the people.

So, I had no choice but to learn how to be like everyone else—doing things by the book, saying words that weren’t wrong, binding my hands and feet with invisible pure white threads, turning myself into a heartless puppet.

But…they still destroyed my dragon.

In order to kill my dragon, they fabricated the gravest crime against me, and condemned a puppet to death for merely having a selfish desire.

MC: Since I have to bear the evil title of “sorceress”.... Fine, how can I not do what a sorceress is supposed to do?

My hair is blown across my eyes as I look at the dragon beside me.

MC: Since they destroyed what was most precious to me, then they will need to hand over what is most important to them. This is only fair.

MC: Every person wearing holy robes should have their chests cut open and clearly see their truest selves.

Those threads that had bound me are severed one by one. I clench my fists and finally clearly see what’s wrapped inside, a heart that still beats—

MC: Revenge and plunder—this is what I desire. If you can fulfill it, I’ll give you my soul.

The night gradually grows colder and the candlelight finally goes out.

The dragon doesn’t answer whether or not he will accept this “demon’s deal.” He only leans over.

Dragon: Know what you look like right now?

MC: What?

Dragon: A little dragon that has only just grown its horns.

Imagining such an scene, I lower my head and start to laugh.

Perhaps it’s just like he says—after my little dragon was destroyed, it became the horns growing out of my heart.

Dragon: Growing dragon horns signifies the second rebirth. It’s a good thing.

MC: Then, what about you? You also had a time when you first grew in your horns. What was the situation like at the time?

Dragon: … a very normal situation.

The dragon sits down again, avoiding my gaze.

Dragon: It only hurt a bit.

MC: Then, are you actually a dragon or a human?

Perhaps he didn’t hear this question, and just lets out a single scoff.

MC: …My request just now was a bit arrogant. It’s normal if you can’t do it.

Dragon: If your desire is to resurrect the people of Ivory City, maybe even I can do it.

MC: What is this, a demon’s benevolence?

Dragon: The living are far more interesting than the dead.

Dragon: If you truly want revenge on someone, the best way is to let them keep living.

Dragon: What other place can be more like hell than this planet?

Dragon: Only by staying alive can you continue to feel pain.

While he speaks, his expression reveals ill intentions, but his eyes are as bright as gemstones.

I think of the dragon in the valley that was stabbed in the chest.

MC: Is this your dragon’s life wisdom?

Dragon: You’re also someone who’s died once. You should know the answer.

MC: Then guess, between the two of us, in the end, will you first devour my soul, or will I first gouge out your eye?

The dragon ignores my malicious question and simply looks in the direction of a place even further than Tarus City.

Dragon: That song from , sing it again.

I know that tonight we can only talk up to this point.

MC: There’s no point in singing it a capella. It needs to be accompanied by a pipe organ to sound good. Can you manage that?

Dragon: That’s easy.

He stands as if to leave and I grab his tail.

MC: By the way, do you have a name?

Dragon: Is that important.

MC: You can’t devour me and I’m not leaving anytime soon. We’ll still have to get along for a little while longer.

MC: In the future, how should I address you? Could it be that I should call you… Demon? Evil Dragon? Dragonie—

The demon raises his eyes and stares at me coldly.

Feeling a little bored, I close my mouth, and then hear two indistinct syllables from his throat.

MC: …. ?

Dragon: It’s ancient Philosian. Since you can’t read the words, now that I think of it, you probably can’t understand it either.

MC: Then how about—I’ll use a homophone. In the future, I’ll call you “Sylus (Qīn Chè),” okay?

Dragon: Call me whatever you want. I might not respond.

The dragon stands and the formless wings on his back stir up tiny whirlwinds in the air.

MC: Sylus, where are you going?

He takes half a step back and drops off the edge of the cliff.

Sylus: To rest.

That night after learning the dragon’s name, I once again see him in my dreams.

He falls into the valley as countless soldiers from the Legion of Justitia wielding spears drive their blades into his chest.

He slides down, jagged rocks cutting open his body. The dragon’s roar echoes through the valley and then gradually falls silent.

But at the bottom of the valley, it isn’t a dragon lying there, but a young man

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