Dawn- An age of Darkness

"Oh Biteria, my love!" I hugged my little bunny rabbit.

It didn't take long to reach this place, after starting the journey by crow. We were in an open field just about a hundred meters away from the city walls. 

It was weird but I liked flying around. Although in my case, I was just barely clinging on and the crow was doing all the flying. Lianne seemed to be a natural and Veni just sat behind me with his eyes closed. 

But me? I was just clinging to life as it was. I never screamed so damn much in my life. 

But it was all worth it. Cause, now after so long, I finally get to see my little bunny-wunny. 

Except there was a problem. My little bunny rabbit wasn't so little anymore.

"Biteria. You've grown!" I hugged her even tighter and she just purred. 

It was a miracle she didn't bite. 

"How the hell can you tell? Even I can't." Alisa stared at me. More like glared.

The demons had left as fast as they came. But they left three crows for us. Or at least that's what Dick told me. I didn't ask about Susan. I didn't feel like talking about it.

"But look, look at all this growth! She has grown by a full centimeter!" I could tell. Of course, I could. She was my love!

"I don't know why, but I feel like that's a very insignificant amount," Alisa murmured. 

"Enough with the bunny." Dick's eyes were covered by his bangs. He had his head down. He walked close. "How the hell did you end up being the duke and even marrying her? Did you bang her too!?" He held my shoulder and shook me.

I went back and forth. "I don't know what I should tell you. I'm getting the feeling that no matter what I say, you won't believe me." 

Lianne cleared her throat. 

Dick sniffed. "You've reached adulthood before me. And I thought- sniff* we had a bond." His teary face seemed to be like straight out of a cartoon. Honestly, what was wrong with this guy?

  "You're overreacting. We're just engaged. Nothing more." I tried to calm him down. 

"Seriously? So you didn't do it?" he said, pleading with his hands on mine.

I stared at him, unable to respond. I didn't feel like continuing this bullshit any longer. 

"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves." Lianne placed a sword right next to Dick's neck. The blade was literally touching his skin.

Droplets of sweat gathered on his face and he looked like he just came back from a sauna. He gulped "Un-understood." He moved like a badly oiled machine.

"Good." Lianne flashed her smile and looked at me. I got the feeling, next time I won't get out so easy. Her gaze was almost screaming, 'you better watch what you say.'

"Alright, pervs. Let's try to sort things out. And who the hell is that?" Alisa said, pointing at Veni.

"That's Ven. He's a dragon."

"Hey! Didn't I tell you to remember my name! How many times do I have to tell you it's Veniolor Xerces," Veni cried. We all ignored his pleas. "And you shortened it even more!"

"Wait, what?" Dick said, utterly confused as usual.

"I kind of figured." I hadn't told Lianne, so of course, she didn't know either. But she was quick on the uptake.

"I see. Good and-"Alisa's face was very close to mine. "I've been hearing a lot of things like you being a Duke and her betrothed and now a dragon and stuff. What the hell did you do?" She was smiling but I could feel the gravity of what terrors lay ahead.

I couldn't even look at Alisa's eyes let alone say anything.

Lianne sighed. "Let's get the fire going first. I don't know about you, but I'm feeling cold. And we'll get to the explanation part shortly."

The sun had set and it was getting cooler. But if she hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have been able to notice.

"Actually I'm not feeling all that cold." 

Maybe it's because this is made from dragon scales? 

The armor was really comfortable. I should have thanked those guys at the guild. But then Jori's face came to mind and my body shivered. 

I'm glad I didn't go back.

"I'm resistant to ice," Veni said.

Dick pitched in. "Same here."

"I'm immune to ice. Since I'm a demigod and all." Alisa joined the madness too. But her level was above ours.

"I-I am cold-resistant too." Even Servesta tried to join in on the fun. But he looked awfully depressed. Poor guy. To think all this time he was just trying to join us but couldn't. Did he just have a severe case of social awkwardness? I kind of had similar issues in the past, so I could relate, albeit, painfully.

"I don't know what kind of monsters you guys are, but I'm normal so I'd like to rest by a fire now," Lianne said. She gathered some firewood and lighted them up right away. I didn't know why but hearing the word normal from a half-dead, cursed elf, almost made me chuckle. I had to hold it in since I didn't want any new wounds.

***

We all huddled by the fire and then I began to explain as we sipped on some kind of meaty soup.

"SO basically you turned into a girl and seduced the duke?" Alisa asked.

"I can't really deny it. I guess you're more or less right to assume that." It was too late anyway.

"How could you! Even though you promised to kiss me! Oh, that's right! Kiss me!" Dick yelled. 

I ignored him as usual. "Afterwards, by the conspiracy of the guild and Susan, I ended up as the duke. But Lianne had the biggest part in it," I explained.

"Guess I was wrong to envy you. But that doesn't mean I will stop!" Dick continued with his stupidity and I continued to ignore him.

"But how did you meet the Ven girl here?" Alisa asked.

"Well, you see-"

"Hey didn't I say, it's Veniolor Xerces? Remember it already!" The guy stood up, glaring intently, at all of us. "And for the last time, I'm a guy!"

Dick almost cried when he heard that. 

I didn't pay any heed to Veni or rather Ven and went on explaining. 

Maybe I should call him Ve from now on?

Shortening his name was pissing him so much that I subconsciously started to enjoy it. But then again maybe it was because I still had some animosity towards dragons. Even I couldn't tell.

"I can't believe you actually managed to convince that muscle head," Alisa said. "And not to mention an apostle!" Alisa glared at me and almost hissed. 

Shouldn't I have been mad at her, rather than she at me?

Now that I thought about it, Xerphas had warned me not to rely too much on Trerortra's power. But I couldn't help it since my life depended on it. "Actually he conditioned me to not use mystic blade too often. Rather he told me to find the mythic blade. Any idea what that is?"

"I agree with not using Trerortra's sword too much as well. It's a powerful blade but it will attract too much attention and malice. It was forged before he went crazy so maybe it won't corrupt you but you shouldn't rely too much on it. As for the other sword, I think that one would be tricky."

"It would be trickier than jumping into the middle of the ocean, being devoured by a snake, and then battling through acid within? Did I forget to mention I had to figure out a way to get out and then survive the encounter underwater?" Just remembering made me shiver. "I did meet a geezer though." Though imagining what I went through, made me feel depressed all over again, I did have a lot of good memories too. I met a rowdy old man who I could trust. And he never let me down. I lived on an island and boarded a pirate ship. I even made new friends. But since death was involved it only made me ever so sad. But I was still glad I could take that journey. 

Dick and Lianne looked at me with terror in their eyes. Or was it pity?

"I'm surprised you're still alive but by tricky I didn't mean difficult. I meant genuinely complicated. You see mythic blade is the accepted name of a clone of the mystic blade." 

"You mean I have to search the clone of a sword I already possess." I squinted my eyes. The very idea seemed stupid to me. Not to mention pointless. 

"Not really. The sword you possess has an attribute of holy. Even if you don't have any magic, you can still use it to slice the undead and they'll stay dead: albeit, unless the sword chooses you, wielding it could be very difficult. But this clone doesn't have any attributes. But it was made by the god of swords. You may know him by the name Ashirnae." Alisa squinted her eyes as she glared at me. 

"How many frigging titles did that basta*d have anyway?" Just hearing his name made my skin crawl.

"Plenty. So this sword didn't have any attribute but ended up being sharper than any other sword in existence. The sword was said to be so sharp that even Ashirnae himself had trouble wielding it. No matter what he tried to cut, the sword would go right through. It was uncontrollable."

The God who forged it couldn't wield it? Then what was the point of going after it?

"What's an Ashirnae?" Dick asked, raising his hand. 

"The guy who nearly gutted you."

"But that's weird. I'd mastered using swords and yet he overpowered me with his swordplay in an instant. Are you saying even he had trouble using that sword?" Dick didn't seem to mind. I was being sarcastic but he went along the conversation like I'd just said facts. 

Wait, that was a fact!

"SO what's the point of ME getting it?" I said.

  "That's the thing I don't understand. Why would he tell you to get that sword when he knew you won't be able to wield it? Besides, it's the sacred treasure of humans and is located in the capital of Destoa." Alisa was kind of lost too. 

Well, I was supposed to go there anyway to bury these two corpses.

Come to think of it, Beatrine had told me to go to the capital too. 

Now I had all sorts of stuff to do. I had to go to the dwarven lands first, and then I wanted to visit Demonica but now the option of going to Destoa opened up too. 

Where the hell should I go first anyway?

I had no idea. 

"Maybe you can practice and get better?" Dick said.

"You really think so? Don't you think if that was the case then Ashirnae would have practiced as well?"

Dick scratched his head and chuckled. "Ahh…I don't get this stuff. Why make something you can't use?"

"I don't know. The god of the underworld, Ashirnae sure was one of the greatest mysteries of the divine realm," Alisa said. 

"I'm pretty sure he just made it to kill time. You sure seem to know a lot about him though. Isn't it time you explain why you're here and why you showed up?"