FOR THE WOMAN’S LOVE

Lynne stared up in silence, his brows furrowed, as atmosphere between the two grew heavier. Thinking about the question, he felt somewhat unsettled. Any favor constitutes and spans everything in the world; how could he agree so lightly on it? Sighing, he lowered his head and thought more as the Dragon awaited. Flames around them burned ceaselessly, as though nothing in the world was able to stop them.

“No way,” Lynne finally broke the silence after a few minutes. “It’s way too vague. What do you mean by favor and length of time? You could ask me to kill myself and say you’ll wait ten years to chime in on the favor. Only an idiot would agree to something so ill-defined.”

“Do you think I want you dead?” the Dragon asked.

“I don’t know. You might or you might not. I don’t want to risk my life on some guesswork, though.”

“… you do choose that option, though?”

“Yes.” Lynne nodded firmly.

“I’ll state the favor, then, but not when I’ll ask you to do it. If you agree, I’ll let you ride me. If you don’t, you may leave this place.” the Dragon said.

“What’s the favor?” Lynne asked, frowning.

“One day, you’ll hear my voice inside your mind,” the Dragon said in a solemn tone. “When you do, your task will be to find me… and to kill me. That is all.”

“… what the fuck?” Lynne blurted out. “That’s the, uh, ‘favor’?”

“Yes.”

“… do you, uh, wanna talk about it?” Lynne said, scratching his nose nervously.

“Talk about what?”

“Uh, I don’t know, the reason you want me to fucking kill you?”

“I said one day, haven’t I?”

“… yeah, but still. I get this foreboding that one day may come sooner than I expect.”

“You needn’t worry about it,” the Dragon said calmly. “You only need to agree or disagree.”

“I’ll agree,” Lynne said. “But, what if I can’t do it when the time comes?”

“You will.”

“You have an awful lot of faith in someone you just met.”

“I don’t need to know you for eons to see who you are,” the Dragon said. “You, humans, aren’t as complex as you’d like to think.”

“… wow, that hurt.” Lynne said, grimacing. “But, nothing is, really.”

“Indeed. So, you have agreed?”

“… aye,” Lynne nodded. “You’ll let me ride you once and, in turn, I’ll come to kill you when you summon me.”

“You certainly have given up quickly on asking ‘why’.” the Dragon added.

“… if you wanted to tell me, you would have,” Lynne said, shrugging his shoulders. “In the end, we’ve all got a sob story or two, don’t we? A reason or an excuse to waste ourselves away. I’d only like to know why wait, is all.”

“… to bear witness,” the Dragon said. “To how you inevitably fall apart.”

“Wow. That’s a shitty reason to prolong your life,” Lynne said, chuckling. “But, to each their own.”

“From today until the day of our departure, you shall train here with me,” the Dragon said. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“… nah,” Lynne said. “It will be far cooler that way when I suddenly appear on a Dragon.”

“… when I said that humans aren’t as complex as they think they are, I didn’t think it was this bad.”

“I sincerely apologize to the rest of mankind!”

“… your first step in training is to adapt to these flames,” the Dragon said. “To the point they no longer harm you.”

“Guide me well, Master!”

“… aah…”

“So I managed to make even a Dragon sigh in agony? That’s definitely going into my autobiography.”

“…”

* * *

Flowerbed coated earth in colors as gentle wind swayed it sideways for a moment. An empty patch of land stretched into a circular mountain, guarding this small paradise for all that may hinder it. There was nothing but colors and wind and clear sky above here, not a living soul to corrupt its purity.

The eternal peace was then disturbed by a blinding pillar of light that fell from the sky. It harmed nothing and destroyed nothing, but it shone with light that made all other colors dim in comparison. And, a moment another, another pillar fell from the sky, even brighter than the first. Both mingled silver and gold, gradient of the gods, as they swayed flowers with their beauty and sky with their eternity.

From within two pillars, two translucent figures appeared as the pillars themselves slowly faded into nothingness. One was a short, plump elderly man wearing a straw hat, his gray beard stretching down to his belly. He wore simple, plain pants and shirt and was barefoot. Across from him was a handsome-looking man with sharp features, golden, long hair and eyes as blue as the sky above them. He wore brilliant, black coat embroiled with golden threads across its edges, underneath it a leather vest and a white shirt. As wind blew, it caused man’s hair and coat to dance, making it seem almost as though he was sparkling in daylight.

“Long time no see, old man.” the handsome-looking man said in a calm, choir-like voice as he nodded gently. “I didn’t think you’d come.”

“I didn’t expect you to still be alive,” the plump, old man replied in a harsh tone. “’tis a sin against heavens, if you ask me.”

“I also see that you hatred for me hasn’t disappeared.”

“It never will.” the old man said. “Not until the day I die.”

“Speaking of which,” the handsome-looking man said, still smiling. “Do you have any plans for it? I’d very much like it if you just died.”

“Not while you still breathe. Why did you call me? Speak. I have no time to muse your imagination.”

“You and your friends have been probing around,” the handsome-looking man said, his smile turning cold. “I thought I’d ask you to stop. It’s getting annoying.”

“… you sicken me.”

“Now, now, no need to be so harsh, Eloy, we’re old friends after all.” the handsome-looking man said, chuckling lightly.

“Who told you you can utter my name with that disgusting mouth of yours?!!” the old man roared out, causing his voice to echo throughout the flowerbed between the mountains.

“How’s the clan doing?” the handsome-looking man said, ignoring him. “I heard you’ve got a new member recently, a very talented one at that. Congratulations are in order, no? Should we toast to his success? His shine? No, I doubt you want to. He’s still so young, after all, chasing shadows that aren’t even there.”

“… another word, Ryon, and I’ll personally find you and behead you with my own two hands.” Eloy said in a lowered tone.

“… you must have come here to probe me, to see what are my plans,” Ryon said, chuckling. “I don’t mind telling you, if you truly want to know.”

“…”

“Ha ha, you’ve always been a stubborn, old fool. Can’t you at least be honest with yourself once? I was… even though it pushed me into depths of hell.” Ryon’s tone grew colder and colder the longer he spoke, and even his smile vanished from his face.

“… shut up.”

“… how is she, by the way? I’m still enough of a gentleman not to pry on my own.”

“SHUT UP!!! DON’T YOU EVER DARE MENTION HER!!” Eloy screamed, his olden voice cracking slightly.

“… I’ll take her back, Eloy,” Ryon said. “I’ll take her back, because she belongs with me and no place else. All I’m doing – all of this – is only for her. All these plans, these pointless, tasteless scuffles, all these battles, wars, games, all of it is because of her. Because you and your clan took her from me.”

“… I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you even if it’s the last thing I do!!”

“You’re welcome to try,” Ryon sneered. “I don’t care much for my life, Eloy. Back then, the only reason I even escaped was because she begged me to. I was ready to stand there and fight all of you, fight for her. But, she fell onto her knees and cried like a child, begging me to run away. You should have seen her, Eloy. It broke my heart. She never looked as broken… nor as beautiful as she did at that very moment. If time had only stopped, and we were frozen in that instant for all eternity… it would have been perfect. But… it didn’t. I had to go, leaving her behind, crying in her own solace. It wasn’t me who broke her, Eloy, it was you and you alone. She loved me!!”

“SHUT UP!! I’M TELLING YOU TO SHUT THE FUCK UP!!” Eloy roared out once again, tears trickling down, just as translucent as the rest of him. “You will never have her!! No matter how much you beg and whine, no matter how much you plan, how many children of mine you kill, how many wars you instigate, how many dead you leave in your wake!! I’d rather let the World itself collapse into entropy than commit such heresy!!”

“… that is why I will change it all,” Ryon said, smiling sadly. “I’ll carve open a path to the very Heart of the World, and I will rewrite everything!! I will change the Laws themselves, the order by which the World operates… I’ll change the very fabric of existence, Eloy, and I will hold her again. No matter what anyone else says, no matter what anyone else thinks or believes, we belong together!!”

“Y-you… you’ve found it?!!” Eloy exclaimed in shock. “The Gateway?!!”

“I have,” Ryon said, smiling. “I have found it, and I have found much more. I already told you, old man, nothing and no one will stop me. This is my resolve. My path. My fate.”

“… I was a fool to play it safe,” Eloy said as he took a deep breath, calming down. “In the end, you’re only just a child. Grasping at straws for the love of a woman. Doesn’t matter. I said it on that day, and I’ll say it again: a human… and a god… can never be, Ryon.”

“Ha ha ha, say it all you want, it won’t change the future, old man,” Ryon laughed, shaking his arm. “I swore on that day, when I saw her angelic beauty bestowed by utter despair, that her and I are meant to be. I may be childish, as you say, being willing to go to such measures only for the love of a woman. But, that love, Eloy, healed me. That smile of hers brought me back from agony no human has ever experienced. The moment she told me her name… the moment her voice found its way to my mind… all my pain ceased to matter… all my Kingdoms… all my hopes, dreams, fears… it all collapsed as though it was never there. Do you know what her first words to me were, Eloy? She crouched down, her silver hair gently swayed by the wind, and grabbed my hand, lifting my chin and looking me straight into the eyes and said: ‘Don’t you know you shouldn’t cry when surrounded by flowers? What’s your name? Ah, how rude of me. I’m Y’se. Y’se Iylox. Can you smile for me? I think you'd look quite handsome if you smiled.’. And thus, all colors of my world regained their hue… and at that moment, I was born anew…”