Chapter 8 – Convincing him to destroy

Bel vastly approached his tainted lair with Leo’s body strongly held. He flashed into the lair within the blink of one’s eyes and dropped Leo’s body on the ground before transforming into his humanoid figure.

“Leo!” The short word escaped his breath as he continuously repeated the name as if it would revive the latter’s limp body.

“Leo, don’t die.” He shouted at the limp body while he stood some meter away from it. All he could do now was watch the young man lying limp as he wasn’t aware of any skills, or rather action that would be effective for reviving him.

Suddenly, an uncertain ideas struck him like a bolt of lightning and he immediately walked into the further part of the cave, only returning with a small and empty drum some seconds later. He rushed towards the waterfall in front of the lair and fetched until his drum was full.

He hastily rushed back to Leo’s limp body and immediately dumped half of the liquid on him. Bel stood still for a minute as he waited patiently for the slightest movement from Leo, but unfortunately, the latter remained stiff.

“Don’t do this Leo!” A normal dragon could only careless for the death of their wyrmling, but yet, Bel’s eyes began to gather tears, not because of Leo’s death but however, the achievement that could have came through him. He dumped the last drop of water on the Leo with a bold look of frustration, and proceeded to walk into the dark part of the lair.

After some minutes, Leo’s eyes that were tightly closed immediately flickered opened, rhythmically to his body that sat upright.

Loud sound of breathing clouded the room as thick sweat appeared on his forehead.

He looked around the lair with confusion and began to scan himself by placing his palm on his body.

“Am I still alive?” Leo could only mutter under his breath in agape as he stared at the puddle of water underneath his clothes. “Bel!”

He jumped up from the ground and vastly headed into the further and dark part of the lair that he’d been restricted from entering since childhood. But unfortunately, since this was Bel’s popular spot he had no choice but to ignore the restriction.

When Leo found himself in the darkness, he stretched his palm forward and over a dozen of small-glowing and golden worms appeared few inches off his palm, serving as a means of light for the darkened place.

“Bel?” He shouted in the cave with a look that revealed true remorse for his intruding, and curiosity that longed to explore the secret underneath this restricted area.

“Leo, Is it really you?” A loud voice resounded in Leo’s head and he subconsciously turned around with his glow-worms that revealed a gigantic black creature, whose head was hidden was hidden in the darkness as the glow from the worms couldn’t comprehend its height.

Leo looked startled with the unusual and huger appearance of Bel in his dragon form. Furthermore, there were multiple reddish-brown object that looked similar to a huge stone, with their form picking an exception with its flawless oval shape.

“I’ll meet you outside once I’m done with this. Come out now!”

Bel’s voice resounded in Leo’s head and he quickly left the dark part into the lit cave that oddly looked smaller in size compared to the other one.

After a lengthy period of complete silence, Bel finally came out of the cave in his humanoid form.

“Leo! Can you believe that I cried because of you? I just realized that you mean a lot to me.” Leo looked pleased as Bel expressed his feelings with a sincere face. Although his eyes weren’t teary to the least, there was a rush of remorse flooding his outspoken voice.

Leo however, had a bittersweet smile that was quickly noticed by Bel.

“I know how you feel Leo, sometimes you have to let things go…”

“But it can’t be my born right as the elder, it’s my father legacy I’m…”

“Your father?” Bel’s face looked displeased with the blubbering words from Leo. He walked towards the latter with a frown and rested his palms unto his shoulders.

“I raised you Leo. In fact, you are suppose to acknowledge me as your one and only true father… why didn’t your so called father save you and instead proclaimed you as dead to the villagers. Then what about your so-called brother, he might be aware of who you are, yet, he wanted you..”

“Stop!” Leo’s eyes reddened with anger and frustration as his mind already knew where Bel was taking the conversation to and he wanted it interrupted.

The cave turned silent immediately, with only the sound of creeping small insect resounding in the room. Some seconds later, Bel mustered a word.

“Leo, I can help you to achieve your goal in benefit for both of us. I will support you in reclaiming your title as an elder.”

Leo’s face fell directly into the eyes of Bel who had a somewhat demonic smile.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that, you could reclaim your title as the elder..”

“Well, that is too irrelevant right now. Who want to title as a mere elder anyways.” He sneered in anger and then bent his head to the ground as if he was trying to hid his facial expression.

“You’re thinking big ehnn. Now which one is it, destroying the kingdom, or seizing the throne.”

A long silence engulfed the room after the statement and Leo finally raised his head upright with a sarcastic grin, “Seizing the kingdom will be too difficult, so I think you now know my answer.”

“What’s the first step? Killing that betrayal of a brother.”

“I would have, but unfortunately, I’m too weak…”

“You’re too weak and yet you’re aiming to destroy the kingdom as a whole.” Bel laughed in bewilderment.

“Lucky for you, I have a solution!”

As soon as Bel was done speaking, he quickly transformed into his magnificent and true form, although in a smaller version of fit the size of the cave. Leo looked impressed with the sudden statement, but yet he was still left in curiosity to wonder about the unspoken solution.

Before he could project any thoughts, a burst of rainbow flames engulfed his within an instant. Luckily, the flames weren’t hurtful but rather tingle.

But after a couple of minutes, the sensation drastically changed into a body stinging pain that made him burst into tears.