Chapter 88 We are on the same page of the story
He stopped for a while, but Orion was waiting for the next one; it seemed like he had started living in the past.
Was your wife unattractive? Orion asked and grabbed his attention.
He smiled and let out, she was the most beautiful woman of my kind, yet the most powerful one, that man looked engrossed in his thoughts.
Then what happened to you and her? Orion asked with interest.
"One day the King found out about me," he said, his voice tightening. "He flew into a fury, hunting for our tribe where we had been hiding ever since the betrayal began." He started to say more, but Orion cut him off.
"Which kind are you from?" Orion asked, his voice filled with a sudden, surging enthusiasm. He could feel an intense connection vibrating between them.
"You shouldn't be asking this, and I shouldn't be telling you. Perhaps at some point, I have hurt you or your loved ones," he said. Orion frowned and fell silent, letting the weight of the words settle.
"The King discovered my hiding place and killed my wife. He spared my young son, who was with his grandfather at the time, but in the final battle, he was also killed." His voice was dull, but Orion could feel the man’s breath beginning to quiver.
"I was oblivious to how my wife had been killed until Aerona, the most powerful ancient dragon who could see the illnesses of the past told me that my wife had been murdered by her own husband, Wayne," he said.
"The moment she told me, the King stormed the place. Aerona allowed me to take her powers so I could fight," he let out, and for Orion, everything he was hearing finally became clear.
"Aerona died, and the King dragged me away in chains. Years hollow, endless years have crawled by while I’ve been rotting here, the weight of it all crushing the life out of my chest," he confessed, his voice thinning into a fragile thread.
"Maybe I know you," Orion whispered, the words cutting through the gloom and pulling the man’s gaze back with a sudden, sharp intensity.
"I told you, you could never imagine the kind of monster I am," he murmured, a jagged smirk playing on his lips before he leaned forward. "Now, tell me what is your story?"
Orion let out a sharp, deep gasp, his chest tightening. "I do not think the way you think," he countered, his voice ringing with a sudden, fierce resolve. "I am going to get out of this place. I am no ordinary dragon; every soul in this kingdom should be trembling the moment they realize who they are truly fighting against."
"I don’t know why, but I think I should trust you. After being shackled here for so long, I would trust anything," the man admitted, his voice cracking with a weary vulnerability. Orion offered a small, knowing smile.
"My story is a bit heartbreaking," Orion began, his eyes darkening as the memories surfaced. "It’s a story of untamed revenge a fire that has been burning inside me since I was a child."
So, your only goal is revenge?" the man asked, his voice a low, testing rasp.
"Yes. That revenge was my entire world," Orion confessed, his voice tight with a sudden, aching honesty.
"Until I found her." At those words, the man let out a small, knowing sound—a smile that lived only in the tone of his voice.
"That’s something I really want to know," the man murmured, and Orion’s own lips curved into a sad, distant smile.
"It began in my childhood, when everything was banished and every soul close to me was dead," Orion started, the words caught in his throat.
He stopped for a long moment, the silence of the cell pressing in on them, before the memory forced its way out again.
"I found her sitting alone, draped in her own solace. I saw that smile, and I knew right then I wanted to see it every single day."
The man listened intently, though his eyes were wrapped in a thick, black cloth, leaving him unable to see the light or the flicker of hope on Orion's face.
"She was alone, and yet she still had the courage to smile. No one wanted to be near her, but she didn't care; she talked to the animals, the trees—everything that held a spark of life was her friend," Orion said, his voice softening with every word.
"And then there was me," he continued, the bitterness creeping back in. "I was just a shell of a person, drawing my only inspiration to live from her. I had lost everything and was raised by a man as heartless as stone someone who trained me only to devour my enemies and nothing else."
Orion paused, the memory of her light cutting through the darkness of his upbringing. "But seeing her smiling there, all by herself... it taught me a lesson I didn't know I needed. With every passing day, I fell harder for her."
"Finally, I got the chance to speak to her. She talked to me without a shred of judgment. I never imagined someone could treat me so well, and in the very prime of my youth, she took my heart." Orion smiled, a rare and genuine thing, and the man with the black cloth over his eyes let out a soft, knowing laugh.
"She thinks I fell in love with her at first sight," Orion breathed, a sharp gasp escaping him as the truth hit the air. "And I did."
"But I didn't just let it sit there; I let that love slowly grow inside me, anchoring itself to my very soul. That's the reason I’m demented for her now it’s not just a memory, it's a part of my madness."
The man in the shadows remained still, the black cloth over his eyes soaking up the heavy silence that followed.
"Demented," the man repeated softly, savoring the word. "A dangerous state for a dragon. It makes you powerful, but it also makes you fragile."
"I know exactly what it does to the mind and the soul, but I am still letting it happen," Orion replied. The man went still, visibly stunned by the raw, reckless honesty in Orion’s voice.
"Are you not afraid of being destroyed?" the man asked, the words barely whispered beneath the black cloth.
Orion smiled, a cold, weary expression. "I have been destroyed for years, but this pain... finally found me. I don't want to lose her. My revenge is my purpose, but she is my life. She lives inside my soul; she runs through my veins like blood. How could I be afraid of being destroyed when she is the only thing keeping the pieces together?"
"You are destroyed already," the man answered, his voice heavy with a grim, hollow certainty.
"Have you told her?" the man asked, his head tilting behind the black cloth.
"About what?" Orion retorted.
"That you are in love with her?"
"I did," Orion replied, his voice softening to a mere whisper.
"Then what happened? Did she say yes?" the man pressed, leaning closer.
"My story has turned just like yours; we are on the same page of the story," Orion answered, the warmth vanishing from his tone.
"You mean... the matter of the King?" the man asked, his voice thick with a dark, engrossed intensity.
"Yes," Orion spat, the word dripping with venom. "That vile King."