TEB Ch 42

An old memory of when Liev left him behind and an unfamiliar voice echoed in his mind. A solemn voice spoke to Renard as he sat down and sobbed, unable to follow Liev.

“You are the son of Eris.” 

Renard, startled by the voice, stopped crying. Who am I a son of? No one had ever called him such a title before. 

“Do you know me?” 

As Renard hesitated, gasping for breath, the voice in his head answered,  

“We” all know each other.” 

The word ‘we’ somehow felt familiar yet chilling, digging into Renard’s mind. 

“I… I don’t know you!” 

As Renard stumbled backward without knowing where to escape, the loud voice echoed again. 

“Of course you don’t, since you didn’t receive the care you deserved from your mother.” 

“……” 

“To think that Eris’s child is such a weakling, truly, it’s something you need to live to see.” 

During the dragon’s taunts, Renard, forgetting his fear, shouted,  

“I’m not weak!” 

In an instant, he threw off his human shell, revealing his true form as a dragon. Renard, with a sense of pride, revealed a body that was enormous by human standards. However, what appeared before him was a gigantic rock terrain, as vast and imposing as a mountain, far surpassing the young dragon. 

“Child, you still don’t know your strength. You don’t know what you can do or what powers you possess.” 

This was a fact. However, when Renard resisted his unwillingness to admit it, a tremendous sense of oppression weighed on him. 

“Ugh…” 

As if an intangible boulder had been placed on his head, his body didn’t move. It felt suffocating. A sense of powerlessness engulfed him, as if he had become insignificant in front of an opponent he could never face. When Renard finally gave up struggling and lay down on the ground, the dragon’s voice rang out again. 

“You must learn how to control your power. If you don’t want to walk the same path as your mother”.

What happened to my mom? Renard was completely confused. Before he knew it, the wound on his forearm had been forgotten in his mind. 

Liev had mentioned that family didn’t just mean blood relations, but a group of people who chose to eat, sleep, and live together. However, in the book Liev read as a reference, most families were a couple, their children, and the elderly people who gave birth to those couples. 

Renard harbored curiosity deep within. Where is the being who gave birth to me, and what are they doing? Liev claimed that the Count had kidnapped Renard from his real parents. However, the question remained unresolved. Dragons are majestic and omnipotent beings, so why hasn’t the dragon, meant to be Renard’s parent, come to find him? when he is weak at a young age? Was he not kidnapped but just abandoned? Was it because he was not good enough? 

Liev’s parents also abandoned him. He hadn’t said so, he had picked up on the insults that the Count and Lady Priscilla uttered from time to time. 

“Didn’t your parents sell you for a small amount of money?” 

Could that be true of my parents too? Maybe they sold me to the Count because they didn’t want to see me? Although the anxiety was soon overshadowed by Liev’s overflowing affection, it remained deep in Renard’s chest, ready to resurface at any moment. 

“What happened to my mom!?” 

As Renard barely raised his head and asked, the voice in his mind replied. 

“Eris was the bravest and strongest dragon among us. There was nothing her flames couldn’t burn. She didn’t know that she would end up devouring herself.” 

At the same time, the scenery in front of him changed in an instant. The forest that surrounded Renard a while ago was now entirely engulfed in flames. People screamed and fled, and huge fireballs poured from the sky like rain. Those hit directly by the fireballs rolled to death on the ground, screaming, while the cries of children echoed through the sky. 

“This was your mother’s last day. Humans make stupid mistakes over and over again. Even though there were no survivors who could survive the civilization that tried to use dragons, they did not stop trying to conquer dragons. 

The flames, spreading endlessly from the sky, incinerated the life of the entire continent. Only when every ounce of life had been consumed did the flames finally cease. Raindrops began to fall from the sky, and all that remained on the scorched earth was a woman whose entire body was covered in ash. Her wild jet-black hair and bright red eyes, which looked more like an animal than a person, stared at the place where a man’s corpse lay. 

“Humans took away your mother’s most precious existence to control your mother as they wished. She was quite wise. Eris chose to kill herself so that she would not be swayed by the wishes of humans.” 

After losing her lover, the dragon, blinded by rage, disregarded reason and annihilated all humans living on that land. In the end, when the dragon had exhausted all its strength, what was left behind was a heart that was a hardened mass that was her heart. 

“This is your birth.” 

Following that, Mahatra showed Renard the changed landscape of the land over hundreds and thousands of years. The once fiery land, now soaked in rain, turned into fertile soil as the ashes became fertilizer. Plants began to cover the ruins, and what remained on the land was a heart that looked as if it were exquisitely carved out of smooth jewels. 

“We are beings with a cycle of beginning and ending. When one of our kin breathes their last, a new kin is born from the remaining heart.” 

The fundamental reason dragons did not like to increase their numbers through breeding as they are strong forces that eat away at the energy of the stars. Since dragons have their numbers through the cycle of death and rebirth, when two entities join forces to create a new being, it is akin to sharing their power. Dragons born through reproduction were fated to be weaker than their parents. 

Renard was born not through reproduction but through death. Despite being a young individual, he possessed potential that could rival ancient dragons. 

“So, you must learn how to control yourself. As you grow, you will become the strongest dragon among us, and uncontrollable power will lead you to your destruction.” 

With that, Mahatra accepted the young dragon as his disciple. Although he was a strange one who preferred existing in human form rather than in dragon form, his temperament was talented and intelligent, so he quickly accepted his own position. 

“When I can control my power, I will go to meet Liev myself.” 

Once he had a goal, Renard couldn’t continue sitting still. He needed to learn how to control his power from Mahatra so as not to accidentally harm Liev. Training was hard, but it was better than nothing. If it hadn’t been as exhausting as it was, Renard might have rushed beyond the vast forest to find Liev. 

As time passed, it was only seven years later that Renard received permission from his mentor to go out. Meanwhile, Count Vasil initiated a rebellion, and warriors gathered to prevent the destruction of Airen. They sought Mahatra to defeat Count Vasil, who had unrivaled power. Mahatra sent his disciple, who had shown the most growth he had ever seen, to the group of heroes. 

“If you help them in their crisis, you can decide your own path in the future.” 

Having fulfilled his role, Renard, now freed from the reins, would first attempt what he had decided from the beginning. 

*** 

Renard, who woke up from a long sleep for the first time in a long time, opened his eyes in Liev’s arms. No matter how many times he blinks and closes his ruby-like eyes, Liev is still in the same place. Renard looked at the sleeping Liev with satisfied eyes and suddenly felt a tickling impulse in his heart. 

“I want to bite.” 

When he was young and bitten in the form of a dragon, Liev scolded him for the pain. Renard, with lips almost touching Liev’s cheek, lightly nibbled, and Liev groaned, turned over, and twisted, talking in his sleep.