They Called Me Forsaken, Not Knowing I Was the Dragon God

CHAPTER Five

“Leave him alone.”

Aeron’s voice was not loud, but it was enough to make the men turn.

The elderly man was still being held by the front of his clothes. His face was bruised, and blood stained the corner of his mouth.

The five men slowly looked Aeron up and down. They exchanged glances and then one of them laughed.

“And who are you?"

Aeron walked closer. For some reason, the hugeness of the men didn't intimidate him like it should have.

“I said, leave him alone.”

The man holding the old man shoved him aside, focusing on Aeron with a deadly glare. “He owes us money.”

The elderly man nearly fell. “I already paid you!” he shouted. “I gave you almost everything I had!”

One of the men kicked the ground beside him, scratches around his body. “You paid what you wanted to pay. We told you the amount changed.”

“The amount keeps changing every time I come here!” the old man cried. “How am I supposed to pay you?”

“That isn’t our problem.”

Aeron studied the five men.

Their clothes were rough, weapons hung from their waists, and a small emblem was stitched onto one man’s shoulder. They were members of a local gang, and judging by the way people passing through the street avoided looking at them, they were not people ordinary citizens wanted trouble with.

Aeron looked at the elderly man. “How much do you owe them?”

The old man immediately frowned. His response took Aeron aback. “That has nothing to do with you.”

One of the gang members laughed scornfully. “You heard him. Keep walking.”

Aeron looked at him. “I wasn’t talking to you.”

The laughter stopped for a moment. He studied Aeron with a stare so intense he might have seen his soul.

Then his gaze fell to the little serpent and recognition flashed in his face. He immediately burst into laughter.

"Well, well... If it's not the Forsaken." Recognition sparked in the faces of the rest of his gang members. "And he has an attitude.”

Aeron’s eyes narrowed slightly.

The man pointed at him. “You should be careful. You nearly died today, didn’t you?"

One of the goons looked at the snake. “Wait. Is that his Guardian Beast?”

The others stared, while oen of them bent forward, squinting.

“That little thing?”

Everyone burst into provocative laughter.

Aeron remained calm and unshaken by their mockery. He looked down at Valeor. The tiny snake remained completely still.

“Five years,” one of the men said between laughs. “Five whole years without a beast, and this is what he finally awakened?”

“Maybe the gods felt sorry for him.”

“Don’t insult the snake. It might cry.”

Another man chuckled. “Forget the snake. Look at the man. He is even weaker than it is.”

One of them stepped closer and deliberately looked him over.

“So you, a Forsaken with a tiny snake, came here to play the hero?”

Ignoring his question, Aeron’s eyes moved toward the elderly man. “Leave him.”

The gang member laughed in his face. “Or what?”

Aeron did not answer.

The man spread his arms with a snide smile. “What are you going to do? Bite us with that snake?”

The others laughed again.

One even made a silly hissing sound and pretended to be frightened.

“Please, don’t hurt me, Great Snake Master.”

Aeron’s jaw tightened.

He had spent five years being laughed at.

Five years being called useless.

Five years hearing people discuss him as if he were less than human.

He had no interest in proving himself to these men.

But he was not going to stand there forever either. “Move.”

The man looked at him in disbelief. "You’re ordering me?”

Aeron stepped forward, eyes cold as ice. “I’m giving you one chance.”

The gang member’s smile disappeared. Suddenly, he shoved Aeron in the chest.

But Aeron barely moved. He stood strong like someone held by an unseen force.

The man frowned. Then, he pushed him again. “You’re a Forsaken. Know your place.”

Aeron looked down at the hand on his chest and slowly raised his eyes. “Take your hand off me.”

The man laughed. “Or what?”

Before Aeron could respond, the elderly man suddenly shouted.

“Stop!”

Everyone turned to him. The old man pushed himself against the wall.

“Just go!” he yelled at Aeron.

Aeron stared at him , confusion filling him. “What?”

“I said go!” The old man’s voice became harsher. “You are making things worse!”

Aeron’s face hardened. The nerve of this man! “I was trying to help you.”

The old man pointed at him angrily. “I didn’t ask you to! I was handling this before you came here! Now they are angry because you decided to act like some hero!”

Aeron stared at him in disbelief. “You were being beaten.”

“That is my problem!” The old man spat the words out. “You think you're some kind of hero? Look at yourself first!”

The gang members laughed.

The old man’s fear had turned into anger, and now he seemed more interested in blaming Aeron than the men who had beaten him.

“You have nothing!” he yelled, “You’re a Forsaken! You only survived because the king decided to spare you. You don’t even have a proper Guardian Beast!”

Aeron’s eyes became colder but the old man continued. “You should have kept walking when you saw us!”

Aeron looked at him for a long moment before nodding. “You’re right.”

The old man blinked.

Aeron turned around. “It is your problem.”

He began walking away.

But Aeron had taken only a few steps when the same man who had pushed him called out. “Hey, Forsaken!”

Aeron kept walking.

The man yelled after him, cracking his knuckles. “You walked into our business, threatened us, insulted us, and then walked away like you were better than us.”

Aeron couldn't see as the man raised his hand. A ball of fire suddenly formed above his palm.

It grew larger and burned hotter.

Then the fireball shot toward Aeron.

"Look out!" A random voice shouted in terror.

Aeron turned just at the last second. The attack tore past his shoulder and exploded against the stone wall behind him.

BOOM!

Heat swept across his back and Aeron stumbled forward, looking at the burning wall.

His eyes slowly hardened.

The man who threw the fireball had a cold smirk. “Run. Maybe the snake can protect you!”

Aeron turned around. He was no longer smiling and everyone noticed. Something had changed about him.

The tiny snake around his wrist lifted its head. Valeor’s golden eyes opened and Aeron felt something move through the contract.

Not his own power. Something much older and heavier.

Aeron slowly clenched his fist.

The gang members laughter died slowly Then the wind stopped. A strange pressure spread through the street.

Rapidly, a cloud of dust rose from the ground, quenching the fire burning on the wall.

One of the men swallowed. “What is this?”

A golden light slowly appeared around Aeron’s body. His hair moved despite the absence of wind. His eyes became faintly golden.

The tiny snake remained wrapped around his wrist, but its presence was no longer small.

The five men suddenly felt something they could not explain.

Fear.

Pure instinctive fear.

The man who had attacked him took a step backward.

“What…"

Aeron raised his head. For a brief moment, he did not look like the powerless young man who had been mocked minutes ago.

The goons panicked. “Kill him!"

All five charged at once.

Aeron disappeared from where he stood, making them run into thin air.

Suddenly, the first man barely saw him before a fist crashed into his stomach.

BOOM!

He flew across the street and smashed through a wooden stall.

The second swung a weapon at Aeron’s head. But Aeron caught the blade with his bare hand.

The man’s face turned white. He pulled and yanked but the weapon did not move.

Aeron looked at him. “You should have walked away.”

He twisted his wrist.

CRACK!!!

The man’s weapon flew from his hand.

Aeron grabbed him by the collar and slammed him into the ground. The stone beneath him cracked.

Another attacker released a wind blade. Aeron raised one hand. The blade stopped in front of his palm.

For one second, everyone stared. Then Aeron flicked his wrist. The wind blade immediately reversed direction.

The man barely dodged before it sliced through the wooden post behind him.

He stumbled backward, groaning in pain. “What are you?!”

Without answering, Aeron moved again. He struck him across the face. The man spun and fell onto the dirt.

The remaining two men froze. One slowly dropped his weapon. “I don’t want to fight anymore.”

Aeron looked at him.

The man immediately ran. But Aeron did not chase him.

The last man, the one who had thrown the fireball, stood completely frozen.

His confidence was gone.

His Guardian Beast appeared beside him. A majestic lion. The moment it saw the golden aura around Aeron, it lowered its head.

The man stared in shock ….“No…”

He looked at his beast. “Get up.” he screamed repeatedly but it trembled like a pathetic cub.

Aeron walked toward him but he took steps backwards

. “Stay away!”

Aeron continued.

He tried to run but Aeron appeared in front of him. His face went pale.

Now, it was too late.

Aeron grabbed him by the throat and lifted him slightly from the ground.

The man kicked helplessly. “Please!”

Aeron stared into his eyes. “You threw that fireball at me.”

“I was stupid!” He cried, thrashing around like a small helpless child.

Aeron threw him to the ground. He hit the dirt and immediately crawled backward. “Please don’t kill me!”

He looked at him for a few seconds with a fierce intensity that the man couldn't hold his gaze, then pressed his forehead against the ground. “I won’t do it again!”

One of the unconscious men groaned from inside the broken stall. From different other places, the groans of the remaining goons filled the air.

Then Aeron breathed heavily. He staggered slightly as the power slowly ebbed away from him.

He looked at the destruction around him and slowly understood even without Valeor's explanation.

That power had been incredible but it was not his yet. He could not depend on it every time.

He needed to become strong enough to control power without destroying his own body.

Aeron picked up his bag, ignoring the trembling and groaning men.

The elderly man was still pressed against the wall. His face had gone pale.

He stared at Aeron like he had never seen him before but Aeron walked past him without saying anything.

The young man he had called useless only moments ago had just crushed five armed gang members.

"W-Who..."

But Aeron did not look back. He simply continued deeper into the city.

*

Far beyond the city walls, inside a hidden chamber, a small black crystal suddenly cracked.

A dark figure sitting before it slowly opened his eyes.

Golden light flickered inside the crystal and his expression changed.

For centuries, the Eclipsed Order had searched for one presence.

One power, one soul…..

Something ancient had just awakened. The crystal cracked again.

The man slowly stood. His eyes narrowed. “Dragon energy…”

The entire chamber trembled.