Beyond Cloudfall - Chapter 8
Night mist fills the air. It’s like I’m trapped in a long, chaotic nightmare.
When I wake, I am surrounded by a red valley filled with blooming datura flowers.
Something feels heavy in my arms. Looking down, I only see a massive horned creature breathing its last breaths, nestled in my embrace.
I don’t know why I am here. I only vaguely remember that in a pitch black chapel, I once had a dragon.
I desperately try to remember, but the clearest memories of the dragon end on that night drenched in blood and moonlight.
The memories that follow are like torn fragments—shattered and incomplete.
It’s like a chord that’s meant to be played with both hands, but only half the chord remains.
Or like a single person dancing what should’ve been a dance for two.
I don’t know if it’s my imagination, but after exchanging souls with the dragon, I begin to dream of him frequently, even while I’m awake.
Whenever I’m alone, I can always see him beside me.
Those scenes—, nor can I determine if they are my fantasies or the dragon’s.
Or perhaps what I see… is the other half of his soul within my body.
Sylus: What are you so nervous about? I just want to sleep for a little while. It’s not like I’m going to die.
MC: But you’re so gravely injured—if you sleep, you might never wake up…!
Sylus: …
Sylus: Oh right, that song from before—I want to hear you play it once more.
MC: …
The black chapel feels like a dark illusion. I can’t remember if I ever finished playing that song.
But it is a requiem—a song for the dead.
Sometimes I believe that we never left the chapel after that night.
The dragon and I live there together, keeping each other company. We hide from everyone’s sight and live a peaceful life.
During the days we spend together recovering from our wounds, we’ll go hunting in the forest, or disguise ourselves to shop at the market.
Little by little, traces of ourselves fill the chapel—on the bench is the medicine I had prepared for him the night before, and by the stained glass window, hangs a scabbard he had made for me.
Gradually… it seems as if I truly have a home with him.
MC: This one needs to be hung higher, and be careful with that one—don’t let your horns catch on it—hey!
My body suddenly feels weightless as Sylus wraps an arm around my waist, lifts me up, and easily raises me onto his shoulder.
My field of vision suddenly rises higher and I widen my eyes, looking down to meet his gaze.
Sylus: What? Didn’t you say it needed to be hung in a higher place?
His eyes sparkle with mirth. I lower my gaze, unable to hold back a smile.
Our coordination is even better than I had imagined. As soon as I raise my hand, he moves along with me, holding my waist steady with one hand, without the slightest wobble.
One by one, we hang the decorations piled on the bench on the wall. Reaching my hand out, I feel for the last ornament.
MC: There’s still one left—but, this one is a little special.
I turn my head and lift my chin toward Sylus.
MC: Close your eyes.
Sylus: Hmm?
He looks up at me somewhat suspiciously, but doesn’t ask anything, and obediently closes his eyes at my words.
Sunlight spills through his hair, soft and fluffy. Suppressing a smile, I place the flower crown I had prepared onto his head.
MC: Who would’ve thought… this actually suits you quite well.
Sylus opens his eyes and hesitantly touches the upturned flower petals, his movements very gentle.
Sylus: So, you stayed up the because you were busy making this?
MC: … Were you not sleeping either?
He laughs without answering, but reaches out to pluck a tiny petal from my hair.
Sylus: You like flowers?
MC: They’re alright. But Tarus City really doesn’t have many flowers. In order to weave this, I practically had to search the entire forest.
Sylus: It’s just the forest that doesn’t have many flowers.
MC: What do you mean…
Sylus: Hold on tight.
Before he finishes speaking, Sylus has already wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me up in a bridal carry.
As the air currents rush past, he lets out a soft laugh the moment he spreads his wings.
Kindled
Sylus: Now it’s time to return the gift.
Sylus: Your Excellency the Sorceress, we’ve arrived.
MC: I thought Tarus City wouldn’t have a place like this.
Sylus: What is the Tarus City in your mind like?
MC: Like its master—besides desire and blood, there’s nothing else.
Sylus: You should have a new impression now.
Sylus: Just because you haven’t seen certain things doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
MC: Then I’ll have to look carefully to see what I haven’t seen before.
Sylus: Have you seen enough?
MC: …!
Sylus: Isn’t this better so you can look more closely?
MC: Too bad it’s not the whole flower. However…
Sylus: … You’re quite bold.
MC: I can be even bolder.
MC: Compared to Tarus City, flowers suit you better.
Sylus: This is the first time anyone has said so.
Sylus: Only you and it can touch me here.
Sylus: Actually, Tarus City can also bloom full of flowers…
Sylus: But they only bloom for one person.
On the other side of the nightmare, the dragon never took me to the valley blooming with flowers.
On the night I exchanged souls with the dragon, the Sacred Judicator personally led the entire Legion of Justitia to surround the black chapel.
They in capturing the gravely wounded dragon, while the brand the dragon himself had left on my shoulder became indisputable evidence that I was a “sorceress.”
The day the news was released that “the Evil Demon is dead,” I was also taken back to Ivory City and charged with being a sorceress, then was imprisoned in the courtyard behind the abandoned Sanctuary, waiting to be sent to the Court of Justitia.
The Sanctuary is desolate and monotonous. The cat that could never climb over the courtyard wall has grown fatter by ten pounds, its limbs seem to have also been bound by silk threads, and grown accustomed to life within the walls.
Only I know that my dragon still lives.
On every moonlit night, he flies across the Abyss to find me—it’s a secret only I am able to see.
In the moonlit courtyard of the Sanctuary, Sylus sits on a crumbling dais between two statues.
Hearing footsteps stepping across the grass, he half-turns his head.
Sylus: Did you wake up, or did you not sleep?
Chains drag through the wild grass as I walk toward him and reach out my hand. He gently pulls me up and wraps me in his arms.
Sylus: Restless in the middle of the night, it must be that the other half of someone’s soul is causing mischief inside my body.
MC: Hmph, as it should.
Sylus wraps his legs together around me, restraining my movements.
Sylus: Don’t move.
He uses a silk handkerchief to dry my night dew-dampened hair little by little. His voice is deep, as if handling some kind of serious matter.
Unmoving, I remain leaning into his embrace. When I glance down, his curled tail comes into view.
The dragon’s tail gently coils around my ankle, the deepest wound at its tip nearly healed.
MC: The last few nights, I waited for you here until I fell asleep. Why didn’t you wake me up?
The silk handkerchief absorbs the last drops of moisture from the ends of my hair. Sylus lets me turn my head and smiles a little.
Sylus: constantly calling my name—
MC: Hey…!
I reach up to grasp his chin, carefully looking him over.
Sylus lazily curls up one corner of his mouth, brushing the tip of his nose against my fingertip.
Sylus: You really dreamed about me?
MC: …Have you never dreamed of me?
He doesn’t speak and only looks at me.
Sylus: Before I was sealed, I actually had already dreamed of you.
Sylus: It’s just that at the time, I never imagined that when I would dry this person’s hair.
MC: …I see you’re enjoying it quite a bit.
MC: So, what exactly did you dream about me? Was I pulling out the sword for you?
The candlelight flickers weakly and Sylus’s gaze seems to flicker along with it for a moment.
Sylus: What about you? What did you dream about me?
MC: I—
The image of the boy from my dreams appears before my eyes.
The horns and tail that symbolize the Evil Demon casts an ominous gleam in the moonlight as we gaze at each other for a moment in silence.
So many words surge into my throat, but catch at the tip of my tongue. In the dim night, I reach out and embrace him with all of my strength.
MC: As agreed, since you’ve taken half of my soul—
MC: Then even if the whole world abandons you, I will always, always stand by your side. Don’t even think of shaking me off.
The dull sound of heartbeats pound in my ears. Sylus lowers his head and slowly rests his chin in the hollow of my shoulder.
Sylus: Agreed.
The candlelight washes the moonlight into a warm color. I pillow my head in the crook of his arm and reach out to hook his fingers together with mine.
MC: Then, pinky swear.
Sylus: Hmm?
MC: To never betray each other.
Sylus: Our souls are bound, and will never betray the other—even if outside this Sanctuary is the end of the world, even if the .
MC: This promise is forbidden from being broken.
Sylus: This promise will never be broken.
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