Draconia Offline vol. 1

60.1. In Mourning - Part 1

I think my heart just skipped a beat. Dead? And not only that but murdered? How? Why? When? A million questions go through my head at once. When I start consciously breathing again, the air around me gets chilly. My emotional state right now is so bewildered that my enormous mana began leaking.

"Who did it?" I ask and my voice breaks.

"Ryuu...," Erik tries to comfort me but I don't let him.

"Did they catch those you did it? Was it humans? Some personal vendetta against me?" I keep asking and lighter objects in the lobby start trembling menacingly.

We weren't at the greatest terms with Grandma but she was still the person who provided roof above my head. I didn't end up in an orphanage only thanks to her. She wasn't a particularly kind person but she didn't deserve to die like that.

"Not good!" Liana panics. "Erik, Gotrid, do something or he'll shatter the building!"

She's not exaggerating, I'd be able to do it. My mana capacity grew tenfold since I stopped keeping it bottled inside. I don't feel like smashing anything but my mana circuit reacts to my jarred emotions and is leaking out like a wild fire.

Gotrid wraps me into his wings and lets Erik under them as well. My partners do their best to comfort me and it does work to a certain degree—the trembling stops at least. For a moment I think I might cry but tears don't come out. I'm more angry than sad. I'm angry that someone dared to hurt the only member of my family I knew and grew up with.

"I should have given her some protection, hire human bodyguards," I lament.

"She wouldn't let you," Erik shakes his head and kisses me gently. "You know how she was."

"Let's get you into our apartment, hon," Gotrid tries to manoeuvre me into the elevator. "You need to calm down."

My surroundings get a bit hazy. I try to find refuge in the minds of my partners and I don't care what's happening around me. I guess Celestials are horrified, humans are freaking out that I'm bringing so many of them with me but all I can focus on are Erik and Gotrid.

I partly snap out of it only when I realise they're taking my robe off and Cien with Ayala are hastily preparing a bath. Hot water is pleasant but I can't really relax. My head is full of scenarios, one more catastrophic than the other—it was our most heated hater, it was some secret governmental agency, it was my father, it was possibly even a Draconian.

There're a lot of reasons why somebody would want to see my Grandma dead. She's my only known relative so they could mean to hurt me with her murder. Or made me so furious I'd break the agreement between us and humans. She was also quite outspoken about her antipathy whenever she gave an interview for the media.

"Ryuu," Erik sighs sadly while soaping my wings. He can feel what's going through my head right now.

When my wings are snow-white again, Gotrid wraps me into a huge towel and with Ayala's and Cien's assistance starts drying my feathers with warm air. Erik helps with a hair dryer. Nobody's saying anything, they're letting me think. When I'm dry, they dress me into a new robe and comb my hair. Everything is done in stifling silence.

"Aefener," Liana is waiting for me in the living room, nervously stepping in one place. "We started investigating immediately, I have people on the job already."

I nod and let Erik seat my on the sofa.

"I'm not hungry," I shake my head because someone brings me a meal.

"Yes, you are," Gotrid says softly but uncompromisingly. "We were flying back for more than two hours, that sandwich must be fully digested by now. I'm sorry, love, but we have to insist. You can't lose even a pound."