Awaiting The Dawn

33: The Agony of Stagnation

It was happening again.

Hisa's leg was on fire, and all she could do was claw at her aching foot. The new pain made it momentarily bearable, until someone pried the fingers off and trapped them.

Her fingers

            Her leg

                      Her heart

It hurt. It all hurt.

Like with the white dragon, she heard the distant, indistinguishable voice, reciting the ancient pact.

From this day forward, you shall act as our avatars.

He heard it too. She could feel Jae-ha's shock, fear, rejection.

His writhing rebellion was her own, revolted by the idea of being trapped to a duty against his will.

We have granted you our power so you may protect the crimson dragon.

It is your duty to defend him with your lives.

        Your brother? Me? Don't make me puke. We're nothing but strangers who happened to drink some blood.

Visions crashing together simultaneously—

        This creepy leg. With its monstrous scales. Even our own people act like we're diseased.

The burning of her blood won't go away.

        I'd always hoped that the crimson dragon would come for me one day. But that hope vanished long ago. When I was finally free, all I could think was, "Ah. I see. I truly am...unwanted."

'Stop it.' Through the haze of agony, Hisa's anger towards the crimson dragon renewed in all its glory, hiding the despair of how unfair their lives were. 'Stop it!'

But the visions continued, flooding her mind.

        A little newborn laying on a bed, blissfully sleeping. Touching the baby's scaled foot, he could feel tears swell in his eyes. "His dragon leg is so small."

'Take him away! Please! Please!' She wanted to scream, hug them, rip apart the metal wrapped around his feet. Anything. Anything but watch.

        "—Shu-Ten! Help me out with sparring."

        A little boy hugging his knees in a dark room, hands and feet chained, eyes strong and defiant despite it all.

        "Let's go. Come with me, Garou. Into the sky. Fly with me."

        "If you saw this, you'd probably be upset, wouldn't you Shu-ten? How stupid, to keep the green dragon on the ground. That's not something anyone can do."

Ah. It was that gentle voice again. Warm, like the sun.

.

.

Yona had a good idea of what was happening. It wasn't that hard to tell since Hisa dropped to her feet at the same time this stranger started looking unwell.

Of course, Yoon seemed to notice before she did. He was at her side within seconds.

There's not much Yona—or anyone else really—could do for their friend. Not until she wakes up, at least.

To get to this state, digging her nails so tightly into her leg that Yona had to wince, she wondered what kind of things Hisa was experiencing.

Can she feel pain while going through visions? If so, why hurt herself like this?