Draimon: Fracture: Erasend- Book 1: Deascension

Chapter 5: Remembrance

The weight of my mother's body was excruciating, and I had only just walked a couple of steps, but looking up, I saw Baragon pushing himself towards us with his massive arms.

Upon reaching me, he lowered his head and shook it. He formed a vessel of bark from the ground. "Put them in here," he said.

"Right," I replied, but I still want to help. It is the least I can do.

"Of course," Baragon replied, "I struggle with carrying, so thank you."

"You are welcome," I replied quietly. We continued through the battlefield. I was not the only one who had lost someone because, as I looked around, I saw countless bodies scattered throughout, emitting a stench of rot and decay, though the ground was still as green as our home.

"Sister," I heard my brother say as he landed before us.

"You fool, I was worried about you," I said, raising my voice, him, his claws.

"Just doing my duty," he said.

"Yes, Drydra, Livigon, Tenolgon, I know this all must be overwhelming for you, especially considering your ages," Baragon said in a firm tone. "I am sorry if this sounds blunt, but this is the world that we live in. We are at war, and our kind are going to die. That is just the way it is."

Livigon raised his head, "is this how it is going to be forever?"

"You are asking questions that we have not the answers for," he replied.

"Have we ever pushed deeper into their side?"

"The Elemontols besides plant and the other two are far weaker, but they always manage to push us back. As for our kingdom, we have been stuck in the middle my whole life. Sometimes we push further, and sometimes they push us back, but we always come back to the middle.

I heard Livigon snort at the response. "I will just have to wipe them all out myself."

"Have you lost anyone close to you?" I asked Baragon.

"Questions that I have the answers to. Not before today," he said, "I have always been alone; I never knew my parents, I was just an egg when the battle started again, so I presume they died. When your father died, however, I saw the effect that his death had on her. She was pregnant at the time with you two and your siblings. She was scared that her hatchlings would not survive, or she would die and be unable to teach them." He swayed his neck towards us, "or worse, she died while pregnant, taking all of you with her.

So I gave her my word that I would train those who lived when she was gone. Teach them everything I know and that they will be the strongest plant Dragons around. When she heard that, I think it gave her comfort, so here is the plan. We will take your mother and your siblings home where we will then bury her, you will then sleep, and I shall then train you; there so much for you to learn. And I will teach you bark magic if any of you wish to learn."

"Baragon," I said.

"Yes, Drydra."

"Thank you for saying that to her; I think that is the reason why she passed peacefully." My voice became full of rage, "I will kill that Monster which killed my mother."

"It is good to have a goal to strive towards Drydra and a reason to improve yourself and get stronger, but never let that control you."

"I will try."

"Besides," he said again, "if it was able to kill her alone, it must be an Empowered." We moved as fast as we could to leave the battlefield.

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We arrived at the wall and walked to my home. Collapsed. I stopped in front of it, "Damn that, Elemontol," I snarled.

"Your memories of the lore talk and her will remain forever," he said.

"I know."

"Speaking of that, we should bury them soon," he mentioned; I looked at the bodies; they had already lost their colour. I walked in front of the decaying vines.

"How about here?" I asked.

"Good choice," he said, lowered her on the spot, "anything you wish to say."

"No." I answered, "we talked. Before she died."

"Lucky," he said, "most of us die instantly when our core shatters. But in all seriousness, I will keep my promise, Visoldra; I will train your children to be the strongest they can be. I may not have vine or solar magic, but I will teach them bark magic, though roots and vines are similar," he said, rubbing his face along an arm.

"Not me," Livigon said.

"What, why? Baragon asked, with my brother walking away.

"You said yourself; you do not even have our elements, and I know that if I learned bark magic, it would make my born elements weaker." He gazed back at us with rage in his eyes, "sister. You want to kill one, but that is far too narrow. If we do not destroy them all, then this world will never change. The world became separated with their arrival, so removing them must rectify what they did." He swayed his neck forward, "I am sorry, but I feel that training with you will not make me strong enough for that to happen, so goodbye." His voice hard as a rock, Baragon paused and held his head down before replying.

"I will honour your choice, so long as it is your own."

"I assure you it is," my brother flew off, and I felt Baragon's core still.

"Well, I am not going anywhere," I said.

"Thank you," he said, his voice low, "right now we really do need to bury her," he said, his voice returning to normal.

"I will make the pit," I said.

"Why, thank you," he answered, "yours will be far better than mine." I focused on a patch of earth slightly larger than her, then rose and lowered the vines to form a hole in the centre.

"Can you do it?" I asked, "I do not think that I am strong enough."

"Of course," he answered, gently pushing her body in the hole which I sealed. I watched over the patch and rubbed my eyes.

"She died to protect us. She was going to destroy herself to take that Empowered with her," I sobbed, "but she knocked me back, and that forced her to act as she did!" I yelled, "if she had not, she could have flown away, and I would have followed her. Then we could have destroyed it as a family."

"But what if you died and she lived? He asked; I thought about for only a second, the thought of my immortal life. Ending. "She made her choice, and you need to respect that," I looked at him with tears in my eyes.

"I killed her; I made this happen." No, if I had just seen it as a threat, I would have flown away, then we would have all lived." Baragon drove me into his chest.

"No, you did not," he said, "I know almost nothing that I say can change your mind, but she just wanted you all to live." I forced myself from his arms and rubbed my body against the ground before standing; I saw that Baragon was also crying.

"I know," I sighed, "and that is why that thing needs to die."

"You are so brave, sister," I heard Tenolgon say, "you, able to perform her final wish."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"I did not want to say anything with Livigon near, but I can not do this anymore," he sobbed.

"It is alright; you can fight when you are older," Baragon said.

"No," he replied.

"But it is your duty," he snarled.

"I can not go there again," he answered, "I do not want to die. Or do anything," he said, sinking into the ground.

"Well, now I have to destroy it," I said.

"Indeed, but for not, you must rest," he sighed.

"Right," I said, as my eyes closed and I felt my body fall.

"I will stay with you," he said.

"Thank you," I replied sleepily.
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Livigon scanned the Dragons.

"Hey," Drabalash said, the same one who fought the bark Scyclaw, with him remaining focused, "not answering, fine by me," she said, propped against a tree.

"What do you want?" He asked when she would not leave.

"Want, no," she said, her hand on her chest, "it is what I can do for you," standing and waving a finger towards him.

"Well, tell me," he snarled.

"Someone told me that you are, per se," she said, waving her fingers displeased with how this earth's state."

"How do you know my thoughts?" He asked with her grinning back.

"O, you will meet him soon enough, but come with me if you truly want all of them dead."

"Very well," he said, following her as she walked away from the world-wall.

"A, though I must ask," she said once they were far away and leaned in, "what are you willing to sacrifice to change the world?"

"Anything," he replied, "with how many of us die every battle, any sacrifice shall be worth it for our kind to progress."

"Perfect," she said, holding her hand out to him, "welcome aboard," she said, with Livigon staring at her blankly.

"By Ominomgon, what are you doing?" He asked, with her wiping her palm on a leg-thorn, "bad habit, sorry, but I assure you we shall go beyond levels you never even thought possible."