Capítulo 49: Chapter 48
Kaelarys stood in the middle of the charred clearing, the heat of the fire he had just unleashed still lingering in the air. Seraphine and Lysandra landed their dragons nearby, their eyes wide with wonder. As they dismounted from their dragons, Seraphine could no longer contain her curiosity.
"How?" she asked as she walked towards Kaelarys, her voice still full of disbelief.
Kaelarys grinned mischievously, an expression that gave him the air of innocence he usually rarely showed. "I'm just awesome," he joked.
Seraphine and Lysandra exchanged a look and rolled their eyes in sync. "No, seriously, Kaelarys," Lysandra then said, her voice demanding but not without affection. She wanted an honest answer.
The grin disappeared from Kaelarys' face, and he sighed softly. "I'd love to explain it to you, but... I honestly can't." He paused, looking around at what he just did. "I've had this talent since I was a child. It was always there, deep inside me, as if it was just waiting to be unleashed. With time and training, it only got stronger."
"Any other surprises we should expect?" Lysandra asked, her voice solemn as she eyed him intently.
Kaelarys shook his head slightly. "Not really," he replied, his voice calm. "You two are important to me, and I felt that the mothers of my future children," his gaze drifted briefly to Seraphine, who was touching her stomach, lost in thought, "should know. I've carried this secret with me for a long time, and few know it, but I didn't want to keep you in the dark any longer."
Seraphine paused, her hand still resting on her stomach as she looked Kaelarys in the eye. "Rather late, don't you think?" Her voice was calm, but there was an undertone to it.
"I understand how you feel, Sera, but that wouldn't have changed anything."
"Changed nothing? It looks like it's changing a lot right now!" she replied heatedly.
Kaelarys took a deep breath, searching for the right words. "I'm sorry that I hurt you. But I didn't really understand that myself, so I didn't think of telling you about it."
Seraphine glared at him, tears welling up in her eyes. "We shouldn't keep secrets from each other, Kael. We've always been honest with each other, and now this"
Kaelarys sighed softly. He could understand her pain. They had never kept secrets from each other, had always been close, and now, in her eyes, he had broken that trust by keeping such a big secret from her. And he even admitted that others knew, but she didn't. The fact that she was pregnant only made the situation more difficult and emotional.
He took a step towards her, his arms already half outstretched to embrace her, but before he could reach her, Seraphine turned abruptly and ran.
Without another word, she climbed on top of Ruby and flew off.
Kaelarys wanted to go after her, but before he could take a single step, he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Let me handle this, love," Lysandra said softly, giving him a reassuring smile. "You haven't done anything wrong. Well, not really, but you know what I mean. She's just confused and unsure how to handle a situation like this. I'll talk to her."
He nodded, albeit reluctantly, and lowered his hand as he watched Lysandra walk towards Gleamdros. Without further hesitation, she climbed onto the back of her dragon and flew after Seraphine, who had already risen into the sky far away.
He took a deep breath and exhaled again. "Well, that turned out just great," he muttered to himself, the frustration clearly audible in his voice.
Looking to the side, he noticed Ancalagon, who had just returned and landed softly in the clearing. The dragon looked at him with its deep, piercing eyes, as if he could read his thoughts.
Kaelarys frowned and asked, more to himself than to the giant dragon, "What?"
Ancalagon let out a low, deep growl, as if answering the question. Kaelarys couldn't help but give a weak smile. "Yeah, I know. I could have done better."
He was just about to mount Ancalagon when he suddenly felt it.
He paused, his eyes narrowing as he looked in the opposite direction from which they had come.
There was something... Something that pulled, or rather whispered to him. He could feel it, deep in his core, but it was unlike anything he had experienced so far.
He had grown to recognize the magic of the Children of the Forest, the icy presence of the Night King, and the powerful Valyrian magic. But this was different, strange, and yet undeniably powerful. It was weird to describe it. It felt kind of...wet?
"Perhaps the day is not yet completely lost," he murmured to Ancalagon, descending the wings once more.
Kaelarys walked in the direction from where he sensed the strange magic. After a few minutes, he discovered something that piqued his curiosity - a hidden passageway leading downwards.
It was as if nature itself avoided this structure; no plants grew nearby.
At the entrance stood small, waist-high statues representing grotesque, fish-like creatures. Their bodies were human, but they had gills on the sides of their necks, and their heads were pure nightmare material.
The faces were distorted, the eyes blank and fixed, as if they had been brought forth from some long-forgotten depth of the earth.
Kaelarys paused for a moment and surveyed the staircase that led into the darkness. His instincts told him to be wary, but his reckless impulse for adventure won out.
In the end, he moved forward.
He placed his hand on the wall of the corridor and felt how the black stones felt surprisingly slippery, almost as if they were coated with some kind of slimy substance. He withdrew his hand and rubbed his fingers together.
"Strange," he muttered quietly to himself. A thread stretched between his fingers.
His gaze turned back to the corridor.
An idea popped into his head. He produced a small flame in the palm of his hand and pressed it carefully against the wall. The warmth of the flame flickered gently on the black stones.
Kaelarys held the flame to the surface for a moment before pulling it back.
He reached out again and touched the spot where the strange, slippery feeling had been before. This time the stone felt completely normal - cold, firm and without the unpleasant, slimy feeling from before.
"Better," he mused to himself.
Kaelarys wanted to take another step, but his instincts suddenly screamed at him to stop. A cold feeling crawled up his spine, and the slight tingling that had warned him before had now become a searing alarm.
Something down there was dangerous, and it seems he had awoken it.
He knew it was wiser to turn back now than to get himself into a situation he could not control.
Reluctantly, he decided to make his way home. This place held secrets to be discovered, but he would return well prepared - with an army of Warborn at his heels, ready to face any trouble, no matter how grave.
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Short chapter with 1.2k words, but I didn't feel like stretching it for no reason.
Little bit of drama here and there dont hurt.
Yours,
Jasonenrick!
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