THAT DAY I BECAME A STAR

'Isn't your role to help me and guide me?' 

'It is but right now, there are three things you have to know.' 

'I don't want to. Just give me your power.' 

'I will not.'

'Okay. And why is that?' 

"What are you doing there? I told you to finish me off!!" 

"Shut up, Thando. I don't have time for you right now." 

'The first reason is because my power has been corrupted.. In order to break off the goddess's curse placed on us dragons, my son has tried way too much methods and as a result, my power isn't one proper enough to be offered to you. The second thing is your current condition. In your state, you wouldn't be able to assimilate whatever I would give you. As for the third reason…' 

'Wait, what do you mean I can't assimilate it?' 

'You can ask the boy with you.' 

"Eh, Thando. Is my body weird anywhere?" 

"Fuck off!!" 

I go to him and step on his hand. 

"Argh!" 

"So?" 

"I said fuck off!!" 

"Urgh…Where…Where is he?" Finally, Willhem wakes up. 

"You should lie down. I have defeated him already." 

"Damn, you took all the glory again." He sits and uses his left knee as a support for his head by raising it up.

"Eh, I could have never done it without you so leave it at that, okay?" 

"Tch." He closes his eyes and starts breathing more and more calmly. "Now only Tatiana remains, right?" 

"Not really, this guy is still here after all." I point at Thando and Willhem opens his eyes back.

"Oh, you really were alive. I thought he threw you into that pool." 

"Hmph!! I would have preferred that to being here with you!" 

"Right. You were begging for help back then like a scared child. Anyway, I think those guys did something to you." 

"Tch." Thando clicks his tongue with such anger I can guess what Willhem is about to say is important.

"And what is it?" 

"Well, I didn't get all the details but-"

"There is a crystal inside your head." 

"Eh?" 

Thando speaks all of sudden and the dragon confirms the information immediately. 

'Indeed. I believe it is something like that.' 

"A crystal in my head. Who…Ah, Tatiana…" That bitch!! I knew it. It could have only been her!! Oh, how will I enjoy it when I will blow her in the nothingness!! There won't be even a speck of her left! 

"Those crystals are normally implanted in order to control the victim and turn it into an obedient slave. But I don't know why or what they were trying to achieve in your case. Whatever it is, it didn't work so." 

"You are awfully cooperative now. What are you planning?" 

"I don't need to plan anything. In order to remove the crystal, you will have to either drill a hole through your head or explode it since it is near the middle. Either case you will die so it is my win." 

"Is that so." 

"That crystal is preventing your draconic power from flowing freely. Your dragon heart may be a regulator but it cannot do anything about what isn't flowing into it.'

'I understood that. So, anyway, if I remove it, you will help me.' 

'There is a third reason I have yet to tell you.'

'Come on, really?!'

'I am sorry It's just…If you really do take my power, then my son will die. I wish for his life to be sparred.' 

'I won't and we both know it.' 

'Indeed. I understand your point of view and your feelings. But I cannot just let you kill him like that. I think he can be guided back to the right path.' 

'I don't care about any path he has chosen to take, he has hurt those I loved. That's the only thing that matters to me.' 

'…'

'Anyway, whether you accept or not, I will take your power. It is your choice to help me or not.' 

'No, I know that I have to help you for it is my duty. But that child was like you. He was never loved as he wanted and-'

'No, you listen. I have had enough of this. Everyone always want me to take pity on people but who ever did it for me?'

'The heroes, for one.' 

'Then let the heroes take pity on him. I won't.' 

I go to the pool and enter it. Even though the Angas pool is filled with liquid Angas, it really does feel just like water to me. At least now it does.

"Where are you going?" 

"If what Thando said is true then I need to remove that crystal while I am inside the pool. It should allow me to survive." 

"You will die. No matter what you do." 

"We will see, Thando. Just be there to see me emerged victorious, again." 

I enter the pool until only my head is outside of it. 

'Before you do that, Dragonroad. Before you do this, tell me why do you fight?'

'You would ask me that of all things?'

'I wish to know. That's all.' 

'I wonder as well.' 

'What?'

'I mean… in the beginning, I just wanted revenge on those who made me suffer, whoever they were. Then I discovered love and started to be happy. But even though I was happy, I could feel it. I could feel something eating me away. The feeling that something was not right was… is destroying me even now.' 

'Then why do you not under-'

'I would never intentionally kill people because of that. And that's what I cannot forgive. Anyway, if you really want to know why I am fighting then my answer is simple.' 

I place my fingers on my head, behind the ears. It must be somewhere around there, just like we saw on those skeletons before. Then I press and my fingers enters my head with a weird and uncomfortable sound. My vision gradually fades and so does my hearing.

'I simply want a better tomorrow for them.'