Capítulo 31: Shopkeeper

In all his two lives, the last Amadeus could remember screaming this girlishly was when he stubbed a toe at the corner of a table back in his first life. He could never forget that, so this scream brought along with it some unfortunate memories. Now, in his second life, whenever he stubbed his toe, he would feel the impact, but it would be the table's leg to break. He remembered that day, how Lily found all the table's corner legs within the palace smashed. Well most of them, when he tried doing it to his father's desk, it actually hurt him. When Lily found the culprit, she found him crouched while holding his toes and tearful eyes.

Those eyes melted her heart and she couldn't bring herself to scold him. Now, Amadeus instinctively activated his powers as the man who scared him also screamed,

"Aaaaaaaaggggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!! Whaaaaaat aaaaaare yoooooooou doooooooing?"

Running away from the flames, the man started to quickly pour water over the fire, yet when it reached the fire, it would evaporate. He then tried to do something about the ice, but he would get frost bite just stepping into that area. Now half his shop was full of ice and the other of ash. Somehow the man was still unharmed as the damages he received were never long lasting. The frost bite would recover, and it was the same for any burns. Even his clothes got the same treatment.

Finally calming down, Amadeus looked at the being that scared him. From his perspective, the latter looked in no way different to a human, yet, it smelled different to him. Narrowing his eyes, the being in front had a helpless smile on his slightly tanned skin while his silver hair reached down towards his waist and his bangs covered his eyes. He wore tattered, loose grey robes and, all in all, looked like a social recluse.

While Amadeus carefully inspected the being in front of him, the same could be said for the being as his covered eyes narrowed slightly.

'So, this is…'

Feeling something, the being turned around and saw what was happening outside the shop,

'As expected of the blades, they've already found this place.'

Amadeus didn't know of this as he kept silent and tried to think of way out of this. The atmosphere descended into a suffocating awkwardness as the two never talked. Sweat dripped down their faces while the two just continued to look at each other.

Outside, Eras and the blades had surrounded the shop and tried to make their way into it but found that they would just end up walking away from it. Eras was holding a strange circular device that had an arrow pointing at the shop while having a nervous expression. Erika and Velia also had the same expression as they stood behind him.

With no other options, they considered using force, but whenever they tried, they just couldn't muster their strength. They didn't want to do something they will end up regretting. Plus, they were sure that the emperor had some sort of protective mechanism to protect him in case something went wrong.

Sadly, this wasn't the truth due to what was happening within Amadeus' head,

'That damn old man…'

Remembering what his grandfather said left him helpless.

- Flashback -

"What you're a dragon, why the hell do you want a protective equipment?"

- Present -

Caesar didn't even allow anyone else to give him any sort of protective equipment. Shaking himself out of these thoughts, Amadeus looked at the being in front of him who seemed to even be stronger than him. Yet, he didn't act like that, Amadeus noticed the faint tremble and the countless droplets of sweat pouring down his face. He had seen the man open his mouth but failed to get any sort of words out.

He never sensed any bad intentions from his eyes of truth but there was also something that bothered him. He sensed nothing. There was no colour no bad feeling, no good feeling, nothing. It was just blank. That was what made him vigilant, a being that he didn't know their intentions of was someone that he couldn't underestimate.

However, without even needing them, he could tell one thing, the guy was a shut in.

Relaxing his guard, Amadeus stood up straight and saw the man relax slightly. Seeing the man stop trembling,

*Bam*

The man was sent flying back with a swift punch to the stomach. Amadeus just looked up when the man was already in front of him,

"Why are you hitting me for?!"

Strangely, despite Amadeus using all his strength, the man was completely unharmed. Amadeus kept a stoic face while the man's rambling continued on. It wasn't a short while later when the man calmed down and noticed all his previous nervousness gone. Coming to a realisation, the smile returned to his face as he made his way behind the half-frozen counter.

"So, young one, what is your desire?"

With a confident posture, the man leaned forward while leaning his chin on one of his hands. Amadeus just stared at the man causing the previous atmosphere to be back. The man returned to sweating and a panicked look returned to his face. Sighing to himself, Amadeus thought,

'What sort of character have I encountered?'

Seeing the child sigh, the man got more nervous, it was clear that he wasn't used to this.

"You tell me, what do you think my desires are. Someone as strong as you should already know my identity…"

The more Amadeus spoke the more the man sweated…

"A weapon?"

"I'm about to have my own made by the current generation's best blacksmith with materials that only appear in legends."

"A steed?"

"I have a horse reared by the god of war himself."

"…"

Collapsing in defeat, the shopkeeper crouched down at the corner of the burnt side of the shop with a depressing aura.

Amadeus seemed to ignore this as he started speaking,

"Anyway, I've heard rumours of this place. The shop that exists yet it doesn't, only individuals with strong desires are attracted to this place, it has many names, yet we dragons call it one name, Quitem."

Hearing the original name of the shop being called out, the man got up, his previous aura vanished.

"Quitem, the shop of dreams, run by none other than the god of dreams himself."

The man smiled as his identity was revealed.

"According to Granny, you are quite the difficult person to get a hold off."

"That little dragon actually mentioned me."

The god of dreams was the most mysterious of all the gods that overlooked Orbis. He had no followers, no churches of his own but ruled over things like Illusions and dreams. He was so mysterious that barely anyone knew his name. Yet he did know one thing, the god of dreams was a god that supported the dragon god.

Amadeus bowed slightly to show his respects, but that was it. The man didn't mind as he looked carefully at Amadeus. A short while later, the man finally opened his mouth and gave out a slight laugh,

"You are an extraordinary one no wonder my daughter can't stop thinking about you…"

'Daughter?'

Amadeus saw the man smiling lightly and felt a trepidation, but it was all too late, he couldn't move.

"…So, take this as a small present…"

The god of dream's smile turned a little evil as he tapped his finger on Amadeus' forehead. Instantly innumerable pictures and visions filled Amadeus' head while it was accompanied by a heart-ripping pain. Amadeus grit his teeth as he saw a dark gloomy battlefield, one where corpses were littered across it. The sky was a dull grey, yet it seemed that the world was abandoned by its very sun. A cold feeling crept up within Amadeus as he floated overlooking this personification of hell.

This wasn't different from any other battlefield, but it was the sheer volume of the corpses that stuck out from the rest. River of blood were created while the very ground had turned to a dark shade of red. The bodies consisted of a variety races, some known and some unknown, there were even dragons. Apart from them were creature that looked like they were from another world.

Amadeus instinctively felt the rejection targeted at them from the world. Slowly, the deep rumble of thunder originated from the clouds as rain started pouring down onto the battlefield. It was like world was weeping for the departure.

There was no battle, it was just the aftermath of one. In the middle of the sea of corpses were a special group, they were none other than his fellow classmates, all donned in armour and weapons. Floating up to them, he saw the rain hit their lifeless bodies and cleanse their amours, showing the scars that they accumulated overtime. Next to them was an older looking Arius while a figure stood over his lifeless body. The figure didn't mind the rain pelting him and stood there under the rain. Amadeus couldn't see the armour or weapon the figure had but he knew deep within that he was looking at his own back.

Suddenly, he felt a tug and he was suddenly pulled back. Right before leaving, Amadeus saw the figure turn around and mouth a few words. However, he couldn't further think about the words he saw as the same pain returned and assaulted him. Amadeus knew that he was back in the shop, as he used his utmost effort into not collapsing. He was barely able to stand as he looked up with great difficulty,

"H…how…i-is…that…a…pres-ent?"

"It isn't."

"Eh?"

The pain suddenly disappeared as Amadeus barely kept himself from falling. His clothes were drenched in sweat, and exhaustion was present on his face.

"That was merely one of the many futures. This is your present."

A crow flew out from nowhere and rammed straight into Amadeus face. This caused Amadeus to be suddenly thrown out of the shop while a small voice entered his ear,

"…thinking of taking my daughter…"

Amadeus didn't know what to say of this as he felt his conscious slipping,

'I don't want to make a habit of fainting like this.'

Hearing the shouts from Erika, Velia and the blades, Amadeus fainted.