~ 47 ~

The Stories Inside the Tears

“Am I, like, the fated one or some bullshit?” I couldn't help but ask as my tolerance for bullshit had reached its limit again. “Or can anyone kill you?”

Val tucked his lips into his maw and looked to the sky for guidance. Thinking about the question for a moment, it seemed there were more things I was unaware of, which he had to factor into his answer. “I suppose anyone, if they were strong enough, might be able to do the deed.”

“And how about yourself?” I couldn't help but ask. “If you really want to go, couldn't you, y'know...”

Val raised an eyebrow. “Kill myself?”

I shrugged. “Let's pretend I put it into kinder terms.”

He considered it. “The problem is that such is currently an impossibility.” He gestured a claw to the people frozen around us. “They have tried to kill me. First, with swords that passed through me like they would a waterfall. Magic, they tried next, and all they could do was freeze the tiniest part of me.”

“Why were they trying to kill you?” I couldn't help but venture. “Was it for the obvious? Or did everyone get sick of you leeching off tears?”

“You could say that it's both.” Val nodded. “Those who tried to kill me suffered their greatest fears, the kinds either selfish or selfless. They would be too weak to fight as they broke down. My strength, size, and knowledge grew from their tears.”

I looked over my shoulder at Astria and Sebal, both seeming weaker without tears. What came of them after they were stolen? Were they without their fears? Or did he take away some of their life?

“And why are you searching for a way to die?”

Val looked at me again with great confusion that nearly hurt me to see. It was an expression I could almost see making myself. There was something about him that was familiar. A deep familiarity that swam beneath my consciousness.

“As if you don't already know?”

It was an accusation without basis, yet somehow, I couldn't refute it.

“I can tell you, however, the reason for why you will need to kill me.” Val held up a claw that bubbled, a whirlpool forming in his palm. “Because this form cannot be sustained by others' previous misery.” His head lowered. “Before, the tears of one could keep me alive for a time. Now, a crowd barely sees me through the day.”

Something dark entered his voice. “Do you know how it feels to have to drown yourself in the agony of others? To see the deepest fear to their being, that which makes up some of it? To have to drink and feel that as I do? I have no previous memories. Only the odd sensation of who I once was is buried beneath the ocean of baggage that is not my own.”

His eyes rose to glare at me. “This world will drown not before long. I... don't wish to die. But I also know that I do not wish to live like this. And there can be no clearing to the kind of existence that I was brought into. My consciousness was shackled into this cell, and my only escape is death.”

Then he looked to the sea behind us. “Soon, if I grow big enough, I can collect the tears of a nation in an instant. Then I'll grow until my existence drowns the world. And it'll happen. It's only horrible things that usually feel true.”

Val nodded to Astria, but I blocked his path, unsure of his intent. He didn't advance but kept his distance. “She swallows our kind. Us... new dragons. Her father could take the essence of the ones that were born here. But she's not strong enough to claim my essence—but less how to handle it.”

Val looked into the street of the city before us, the southern kingdom of the Mainland, where a castle and courtyard loomed in the distance, perched on the side of a mountain. He nodded toward there. “Find entry there. The king can speak to you about the legend of the sword. Some of this land are in battle against each other for it. The blade that can cut through any kind of dragon.”

I spoke. “Humans really hate dragons here as well?”

Val shook his head. “No. They believe a sword strong enough to kill a dragon must be strong enough to kill anything.” He snarled. “The fools.” Then looked back at me. “Find that sword. Either wield it yourself, or have your princess do it. Then kill me.”

He lost his form upon splashing into the ground, leaking back into the water, becoming one with the sea.

“Be warned,” his voice echoed into the air. “That, even with the sword, the feat won't be easy.”