He has this carefree att.i.tude to life that just makes me want to envy him. The first time we met, Bayo had called himself an Unfortunate Special Creature.

Like Special and Unfortunate ever go together, heh!

And he does have some rather strange terms too.

Imagine, he asked me about s.e.xual orientation?

Like what does that mean?

Does he mean what my s.e.x is or gender? Why would he ask that? Can"t he see that I am male?

Whatever, he"s fun to be with anyways.

We"ve been talking about things. Bayo doesn"t really know much about where he is. Well, I don"t blame him. He is pretty new here.

And that brings me to wonder why there"s always battles around his location, especially since he mentions the Vampires.

Just what is he, actually? I have to ask.

As expected, he is rather dodgy with my questions but I"ll push through anyways. Turns out he is some sort of demon being or something.

But I am scared.

I don"t want to lose him. Really scared because he knows nothing about where he is and yet he has gotten a fugitive mark on him.

Honestly, I"m worried and thankfully, I came prepared. Hmm...

I really hope he can make it to Magmor. If he does, there"s a chance of him surviving this, even if I"ll miss him.

But what if, I can make some sort of arrangements to have him stay secure?

No... don"t think like that. Don"t be selfish. Sometimes, you have to let what you love go for it to live. Mum did the same for me too.

Besides, there is really little I can do to protect Bayo. I"m not that strong myself.

Hmmm...

THUD!

Uh... No... What is she doing here? That... She"s a dragon warrior but why would she be here?

I gasp when I hear what she says for me to step aside.

I"m scared. Really, I am.

She"s way powerful, plus, she somehow studied the law of sickness. I can sense the energy in here. It"s really dreadful to fight anyone like that.

We need to escape her.

Wait... what is Bayo doing?

Howling? No, we will only attract more attention here. He seems rather confident but sometimes, you just have to follow the first thing your instincts say, that is, run.

No... I shouldn"t think so.

Mum didn"t run, did she?

Oh mum... I miss you. I can feel tears trickling down my face but I don"t react to it. I remember what happened that day...

When mum was a.s.sa.s.sinated.

I remember...

If I had done something then, perhaps she would still be alive now.

We were walking down the streets then and we pa.s.sed through an alley. Suddenly, the a.s.sa.s.sins dropped down on us, ten of them, dressed in white cast, head to toe with only their eyes open to the air.

The aura they unleashed was Lord Cla.s.s. But Mum was higher, she was Omega Cla.s.s. She could take them out if they attacked one by one. But no. Still mum was brave.

"Stay behind me." Those were Mum"s words. She wore an evening gown of red with a silver tiara coating her Elemental gem on her head.

A burst of cool air had exploded as Mum drew upon her dragon soul as she was coated for a brief second with the ethereal form of her dragon.

She was an Aventaria Drakon, which meant her dragon soul half was an ice dragon.

Aventaria dragons were special not because of their freeze capability but because they could deal ice damage and also had nature Elemental ability.

They freeze their target and they explode the ice, freeing the target but inadvertently, taking off a large chunk of their energy away.

With her summoned dragon soul, it meant she could use 1/3rd of her dragon abilities without having to transform because being in our dragon forms take our rationality away.

Even now, I can"t do that, only to transform partially or fully.

Mum fought fiercely.

But before that, she had pushed me to the corner so I don"t get in the way and so that her fire doesn"t hurt me because I hadn"t awakened my dragon half so I wasn"t impervious to Fire.

And so, the messenger with us had already run off, to call Father for help then.

I guess that was what mum was counting on when she begun the fight. She slashed here with her ice damage, shooting freezing airs with one hand while using the other hand to explode the ice all the while, turning around in circles as the a.s.sasins slashed her with their swords round about her.

I can"t remember what law they used but their swords emitted dangerous power. And mum, she could freeze about two or three at a time and before she exploded the ice, the other seven would have slashed her from behind

Eventually, she had to use her flame breath. It gave her some respite as the a.s.sasins backed away but she wasn"t reckless with it because of me me in the corner.

Meanwhile, I stood there, shaking like a leaf in the wind. I should have done something. Maybe smash one with a stone or anything but no, Mum died because of me.

Just then, the messenger returned and said Dad was busy and needed a few more minutes before coming.

He didn"t even send any back up or anything. I watched in horror as the messenger was split into half, head to toe by one a.s.sasin.

Enraged, Mum increased the intensity of the fire circle around her and the grounds it covered, repelling the a.s.sasins for her to deal long distance damage but also isolating her from me.

An a.s.sasin grabbed me, a knife to my neck, looking at mum to compromise but Mum used vines to separate us, creating a web of strong vines to isolate me from them.

But that was just what the a.s.ssains were waiting for as they, together, unleashed a technique that teleported Mum Fire Circle over to the vines that surrounded me and replace the fire around Mum with the a.s.sa.s.sins.

I screamed as the fire consumed the vines and started scorching me. Distracted, mum turned wringing her hands. I think she was trying to quench her fire but she was not a Fire Elemental.

Only Fire Elemental drakons could control Fire.

No... I think Mum was panicking. Otherwise she could have frozen the fire.

And she was distracted.

Because of me. Stupid me.

My scream was replaced by mum"s own as several blades plunged into her torso.

Ten of them. Ten blades.

She exploded immediately, into energy. Ususllay when people die, it takes some time for their corpse to dissipate but whatever the blades were coated with made it immediate even if she was Omega Cla.s.sed.

"Jaspar... Survive for me." Those were her last words before she faded off and before the fire scorching me began to burn me.

I closed my eyes, waiting for the death awaiting.

Waiting...

Waiting...

But the death never came. Instead, I feel a palm on my shoulder.

It was Father.

He was somehow coating me in a sheath of Agbara. His eyes were sad as he roared into the air.

But what use was the roar for now?

He had failed.

Failed to value what was more important.

Failed to protect the one he claimed to love.

He always said Mum was his best friend. But, he left his friend to die.

Dad failed Mum.

I failed her too.

But I won"t do the same mistake again. I won"t seat in the corner and shake because I am scared.

I won"t fail you, Bayo.

No...

I will fight like mum because even when she was fighting, she was still trying to protect me.

Always.

I"ll do the same for my friend now.

Even though I am scared. To fight a user of the Law of Sickness means you stand the risk of suffering a curse from the Principle of Affliction or even the Principle of Decay although decay is more immediate.

Left to Bayo, he has no chance to live. If I help, he will survive better and finally understand the lot of things he has yet to know.

Like what Ascenders are really meant for? And why I always wished to be a Hadjan and the taste of spicy fried noodles and hehe...

Why am I thinking about food now?

I can hear distant howls and see the flooding of Ironspike Tailed Dogs in the plains. They look confused and are gazing at Bayo.

Wait... was that why he had howled then? To call these creatures?

I can even see some wolf species among them.

Now, I know why he appeared confident.

But still, they won"t be enough, Bayo.

I"ll buy you the time, Bayo, even if I may get cursed.

With that, I prepare myself to transform partially to my dragon half. I wish I could just summon my dragon soul instead but I haven"t learnt that yet.

This feels like sucide but it is worth it.

Because when someone is really important, you do whatever it takes for them to survive.