The Path of Ruin

Kael had to follow the man in black out of the forest.

And if there was one thing he noticed, it was that this man had slowed down when he could have gone faster, just to keep the distance between them.

'He's really careful.'

He couldn't see a single gap to escape through.

'What now?'

Truth be told, he didn't think he would fail. He had thought that the forest was his territory, that he could always escape as long as he was here, but... he was wrong.

He had underestimated his opponents.

And now, he had been caught as punishment.

The question was... what now?

'I'm sure they don't know that I have the blessing of Arcanoa.'

No, their purpose in coming to this town was quite different. They were trying to catch a man named Tharon, and he was a variable that came up as a bonus.

But just because they hadn't yet found out he had the blessing didn't mean they never would.

Kael understood one thing. The senses of the carriers were far superior to those of normal humans, and at the same time... different. They could sense each other, how strong they were, simply by reflex.

With so many people around who could sense this, there was no guarantee that they would not be able to understand what his blessing... or rather his curse was.

'Though, what would have happened if this hadn't happened?'

That was another matter.

What did a bearer like him mean to the Empire? Was he important? Would they want to train and use him as Laen did?

Or would he be seen as a threat and killed for killing their men?

The questions were many, but the answers were few.

'For now-'

But Kael's thought was interrupted. As his eyes widened, he suddenly felt his whole body freeze. He just remained frozen in place as raindrops fell on him one after another.

They were finally out of the forest for real, heading towards the town.

But... Kael didn't care about the town anymore.

'W- what the...?'

He remembered the green eyes he had seen an hour ago, the way he had felt.

Now... he felt so much more.

No, there was no one looking at him. Not even anyone with hostile intentions towards him.

He could only feel... two presences. Two beings facing each other, right in the middle of town... and the pressure he could feel, even though he was not their target.

"Oh, right..."

The man in black paused when he noticed Kael had paused.

But instead of thinking of it as a plan to escape, he simply approached him and gave him a quick flick on the forehead.

"Get a hold of yourself. This kind of pressure is a bit much for the likes of you, I know. But it won't take you long to get used to it."

Kael couldn't help blinking his eyes a few times at the flick.

He did indeed feel a little better. But... those pressures were still there. He still felt like they were crushing his whole being.

He couldn't help swallowing. He wasn't sure he wanted to go any closer to the town anymore. But...

"Try to endure, but don't leave my side."

He had no other choice when he was around this man.

'Damn it... just let me go!'

Kael had no idea why they had gone into town.

This man was strong, yes... but he was nothing against those two monsters in town! He knew that for sure.

So why was he trying to get so close to the town? What was his purpose?! Why was he dragging himself along with him...?

"Hey, I'm not really trying to escape, but... should we really get any closer?"

His answer was very short.

"Don't worry, you won't die. At least if you're careful..."

But he was just as unreliable!

'What do you mean if I'm at least careful? So I could literally die!'

Nevertheless, they kept approaching the town.

*******

As Kael approached one of the entrances to the town, he realized that soldiers were everywhere. They were all holding weapons of various kinds, their eyes squinted as they stared into the center of the town.

He could see some of them trembling with fear. As if... they were being held here by force.

He was not so different from them, really.

But that was not what caught his attention. On the contrary...

'How many... bearers are there here?'

He couldn't be sure of the exact number, but... for every nine or ten people he saw, one was a bearer.

'All this... to catch this Tharon guy?'

"What's the situation?"

He paused for a moment as he saw the man in black approach another one, a bearer like himself, then focused on what was being said.

"They're talking, neither has attacked the other yet."

The man's eyes shifted to Kael for a moment. His brow furrowed as if he was trying to figure out who he was and failing.

The man in black noticed it, of course.

"Keep an eye on him, this is the guy the general said could be a 'problem' in the jungle. I brought him with me so he wouldn't escape."

"Oh, he doesn't look like a problem to me..."

"Believe me, he is. Just-"

But before he could continue, though, his eyes widened. Not only his eyes, but the eyes of almost everyone in the area widened.

The torrential rain suddenly slowed down, the raindrops paused as if time had slowed down. But... time had not stopped.

'W- what's happening?'

Kael watched the raindrops move slowly towards the center of the town. He couldn't move a millimeter. His body didn't seem to listen to him. He could only... watch.

The others were no different.

And so... they watched as thousands of tiny, tiny raindrops rapidly coalesced into one big... thing... stretching across the sky.

First, the body formed, a really long body... a body that resembled a snake. Then, small limbs that couldn't belong to a snake... and a figure that none of them had ever wanted to see in their lives.

It... was a dragon. A dragon made of raindrops.

Kael swallowed.

There were really so many emotions he could feel as he looked up at the dragon made of raindrops above the town. But the most prominent one... was definitely fear. Even if the dragon wasn't looking at him, he was frightened. He was terrified even though he was just standing where he was.

But it was nothing.

Because after only a few seconds, the dragon made of raindrops opened its mouth, turned its face to the sky... and roared.

Its ear-splittingly loud voice echoed in the distance, lightning suddenly flashed above the dark clouds... and then the dragon was on the move.

First, it flew upwards. Then, it twisted its tens of meters long body into an inverted 'U' in the sky and... landed directly in the center of the town.

"W- watch out!"

That was the last thing Kael could hear before the flood that raged through the streets of the town piled up on hundreds of soldiers.

*******

When the flood first hit him, Kael was knocked off his feet.

He had nothing to hold on to, so he could not stop his body from being swept away. He just... drifted with the flood.

But he had no intention of being swept away.

He tried to find his way upwards as the warmth in his heart spread through his body as usual. Then, trying to turn his body in the water, he turned his feet to the ground and tried to regain his balance.

But, then... he suddenly hit something hard. His back slammed into something so suddenly that the breath he had been holding was knocked out of him. His lungs burned from the water coming in through his mouth, which reflexively opened, and he felt as if he was going to faint.

Soon, the flood waters dissipated and the relentless current receded. As the water level dropped rapidly, Kael could breathe again. But he couldn't even pay attention to it.

As he fell to his knees, he coughed as hard as he could, expelling the water from his lungs. His eyes were watery, but he didn't care, he pounded his fist against his chest and kept coughing. When he finally came to his senses, he first looked behind him to see what he had hit.

There was a tree leaning at an abnormal angle.

'D- damn it... fuck my luck...'

He took his eyes off the tree, this time in front of him.

He had been dragged almost twenty meters. It was much the same for the rest of the soldiers. There was no trace of the orderly scene of only a few seconds ago. The man in black and the other bearer he had spoken to were nowhere to be seen.

But when Kael moved his eyes just a little more, he suddenly froze.

'Ah...'

His eyes gradually widened, his mouth fell open. And... he could only stare at the scene before him.

There were dragons circling over the town.

Yes, not a dragon... but dragons.

They were all made of raindrops. Maybe not as big as the first one, but they had their own splendor. The rain kept falling in torrents, nourishing them, and they danced around, descending to a certain point in the town and attacking someone.

But some of them, just as they were about to attack... were strangely cut.

Literally, all of a sudden, cuts appeared on their bodies made of water. Really big cuts.

And the thing that caused these cuts was so powerful that it not only cut the dragons, but also caused ear-splitting sounds of explosions that almost reached the sky.

Lightning flashed every second, the rain sped up and slowed down, and new waves came, rising up to Kael's stomach.

'This...'

This was a battle of two powerful, truly powerful bearers.

And... it was spectacular.

Kael swallowed. Slowly rising to his feet, he stared, almost hypnotized, at the destruction unfolding before him.

'Wow...'

He moved cautiously, passed through the entrance of the town and entered its streets.

Dragons being cut down one after another, constantly regenerating, dancing, fighting...

It was a piece of art. For the view in front of him... he couldn't think of anything else.

And he wanted to see more of it.

There was a strange flame burning inside him. He wanted to see the two men who were causing all this, who were playing with nature as if they were mocking the world.

He didn't care about anything else.

He just… walked.