~ Chapter 6: Dragon tears ~

When Alutras heard that name, the one he was called by in his past life, the crickets in his skull stopped hopping and stumbled on their own feet. The expression of surprise and astonishment on his face told the charming Ryuciel that he wasn't expecting to hear it.

Still, although the man had become a Legend in the eyes of many, there was no reason for anyone to be so surprised by this small piece of information. The young girl was expecting to be met with some sort of surprise, but not like this. It was almost as though she had broken the mind of the young boy.

“You are THAT dragon?!” Alutras suddenly shouted, stumbling back and nearly falling on his bottom.

Furrowing her brow, Ryuciel looked at him as though he said something rude.

“What do you mean by 'THAT dragon'? she politely questioned him.

“But back then, my lifetime pal was a MAN not a WOMAN! You were a MAN back then, weren't you?” he asked with a complicated look on his face as he looked at Ryuciel from head to toe.

No matter from what angle Alutras gazed upon the form of this lovely 12 year old girl, there was no way he could see a man in her. There wasn't even one drop of manliness in her. By all means, Ryuciel was as she appeared to be: a lovely young lady.

Noticing his questioning gaze but also the tone of surprise in his voice, she knew that by no means the young boy was faking it. He really did believe what he just said.

The Legendary Dragon wasn't a male. Even the legends say so. The only one who thought otherwise was... young Ryuciel thought and then remembered the face of that old fool.

“Shengo?” she asked.

“Huh? What?” Alutras replied absentmindedly.

Looking into his eyes filled with disbelief, the young girl understood who was behind the seemingly innocent expression. The old Master who captured her soul and heart, the idiot who had no shame, the walking the disaster against whom she battled for more than 48 days...

Inside Alutras was the one and only soul of the Legendary Master Shengo.

“Die!” she shouted in anger.

In her right palm, a sphere of white energy was formed and then swiftly released at the boy in front of her.

Alutras sensed the Divine Energy and ducked for cover. The sphere flew past his head and flew out of the city at an incredible speed. Luckily, there was nothing in its path, otherwise it would have blown it apart. It was that sort of reckless attack, but the sphere didn't touch anything living or inanimate. It had a clear straight path through the sky, which eventually led to it running out of energy and vanishing in the air without causing any harm.

“Are you crazy, woman?!” shouted Alutras as he checked to see if he still had his head on.

“Crazy? No! I'm only furious, you wretched old man! I should have you skinned alive for the shame and sadness you brought me in our past lives!” Ryuciel screamed at him.

Her face was red from anger, but her eyes were filled with tears. After reincarnating, she thought she was finally free of this idiot, but once more he appeared before her. All of her painful memories resurfaced from the moment he first appeared before her on top of that snowy mountain to the moment when he made that ridiculous wish and left her behind alone and devastated. All of their battles, all of their conversations, all of their adventures together resurfaced, everything was as clear and vivid as a freshly made memory.

It was said that the elephant never forgets, but a dragon was the same. Their memories were the sharpest and most rich in details, second only to gods while being the same or better even that those of other legendary beasts.

Alutras may have been a bit slow when it came to many things, but being an absolute idiot wasn't a trait of his. Just by seeing the now weeping Ryuciel, he understood the grave mistake he made in his past.

Falling on his knees and sticking his forehead to the floor, the old master prostrated himself in front of her and shouted “I'm sorry!”

“What?” Ryuciel stopped and looked at him surprised.

“I'm in the wrong! In my past life as Shengo, I honestly and totally believed that you were a man! In that life, I saw you as my best friend and brother, whom I could trust with my very life!” he declared.

“If that's true then how... HOW could you have possibly thought I was a man?! All the legends about me said I was a beautiful woman! The big statue in my human form wore a dress and had BREASTS!” Ryuciel shouted at him.

“I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I wasn't paying attention!”

“You stayed in that village for two whole months! The statue was right in the middle of it! How is it possible you didn't figure it out, especially when you stayed during the Festival of the Dragon, when they were parading my legend?!” Ryuciel was simply astonished by this old reincarnated fool.

She had lived for countless decades together with the idiot before her, thinking that he never took interest in women, but not even once did the thought cross her mind that maybe he simply didn't know her gender. The proud dragoness couldn't help but cry when she thought about it.

This sort of situation was beyond ridiculous.

“Why?” she asked as crystal clear tears flowed down her cheeks and splashed on Alutras' hands.

When he felt the warm, salty liquid, he flinched and looked up.

The scene shocked him to his very core. The beautiful girl was crying like she had been drowned in a river of pain.

“Why did you take me with you? Was it only for battle? For my strength? Did you not even listen to the legends? Did you not listen to my request?” she asked.

Inside, Alutras' soul was shriveling with guilt and confusion. He couldn't believe he made such a beautiful and innocent girl cry, but more than that, he didn't know why she was shedding tears like so, why she was hurt so much.

“N-No... I didn't.” he replied and clenched his jaw like a man about to get whipped.

“You are a stupid, irresponsible... selfish idiot!” she sniffled “All those years by your side... all those yours as your soul, and I was left with my heart broken, empty... You saw yourself as a great Master, but you couldn't even fulfill my one and only wish... So many souls you helped. So many forces you defeated, but not even once did you stop to ask me what I want... No, this isn't your fault.” she shook her head “When I became your soul, I knew that I could receive such treatment, I simply...” she looked into his eyes “I simply didn't think you were the same as everyone else...” she wiped her tears and walked back to her mirror.

These words of hers, the look in her eyes, they stabbed Alutras more than real spears could. It shattered him inside and drowned him with guilt.

“Ryuciel... I...” Alutras tried to speak, but with a sad voice filled with pain, she stopped him.

“Please, Shengo... leave me alone... Our past matters not now. I won't hold you responsible for it, but please... never come see me again. If you do, I will run away. If you chase me, I will ask the gods to kill me before you catch me... And if you stop the gods, I will destroy my own soul.”

Her words were like poisonous arrows with jagged tips. They pierced his heart and rubbed against his flesh, ripping him to shreds and sending him down a whirlpool of suffering.

For her to declare she will destroy her own soul could only mean that he did an unspeakable evil to her, but certainly it wasn't something like ignoring her gender. In his eyes, she was just a big lizard friend with phenomenal power... and maybe that was his mistake.

“Ryuciel... you can't mean that? Surely...” he tried to speak, but she sent a weak sphere of Divine Energy at him.

He jumped back to avoid the attack, but it only went 'poof' when it touched the floor.

“You... you don't even remember my name, do you?” she asked and Alutras couldn't reply “Get out. NOW!” she shouted.

Clenching his fists, he walked over to the edge of the balcony and said “I'll fix this... somehow.”

Those were his last words before he jumped out and ran off into the night. He was so distracted by this, he even forgot to keep his shroud on. Luckily for him, there was no one around who kept an eye out for intruders or unknown Divine Energy signatures, and those that did were looking in another direction. But even if by some chance someone spotted him, he could easily outrun them or defeat them.

Meanwhile, the guards finally realized something was wrong from that last shout of hers and ran up to her room to make sure she was safe. An attack from another family wasn't completely out of the question, although, they felt a bit ashamed that they didn't run the first moment they heard the commotion.

“Lady Ryuciel! We heard you shout! Are you alright?” one of them asked from the other side of the door.

“I-I'm alright. Go back to your posts.” she ordered them.

The two looked at each other, but didn't wish to bring down her wrath upon them if they persisted.

“Very well. Good night, lady Ryuciel.” they said and left.

The young dragoness walked over to her seat in front of her mirror and saw her cheeks wet from the many tears she had shed and still was. The pain and sadness in her heart were terrible to bare, and in a way, she didn't want to let him go. She didn't want to chase him away... but Shengo was an idiot, and she didn't wish to suffer another life chasing after his shadow.

That night, she cried herself to sleep. All because of the foolish actions of one man so many centuries ago.