Chương 94: Book 3; Chapter 93; Gone with black dust

After all was finished, all the surroundings were checked and cleared, the commanding officer of the King's Army returned to the pavilion to enquire about what had happened before they had come. The villagers were very eager to tell the story. They interrupted each other, some trying to be accurate in telling the story, others exaggerating to make it more horrifying. This was unnecessary, as it already was the most horrible thing they had seen and experienced so far in the years they had lived.

More officers arrived at the pavilion. They looked around the mess and damage that had been done during the attack. The medical team had already finished looking for the living among the casualties and was putting dead locals on one side and dead intruders on the other. There was no need for any medical help for those who had survived. At least, not the kind of help that front-line medics could provide. An unconscious woman was in a chair next to the wall, and the nurse turned to her to see how she could be helped.

In the middle of broken furniture and pieces of a half-collapsed roof stood a young boy, apparently unharmed physically, but he must be in deep shock, as his spaced-out gaze was staring at nothing, or rather something that only he could see. A massive black dog was sitting next to him. When the nurse tried to get the boy's attention, he abruptly pushed her away. As he wasn't injured, the nurse just stroked his head and let him be. No one else approached the boy.

Maybe because there was nothing they could do to help him, or maybe because they were a bit afraid of that big animal sitting next to the boy and closely observing everyone who would came any closer.

"There was a gust of wind, and in a moment, everything around had turned into black dust, including the girl." One of the villagers was finishing a report about what had happened.

"Then a big bird appeared out of nowhere on the floor. He flapped his wings, scattering all the dust around, and flew away. Straight after that, you guys came. That's all, god's honest truth. All the rest you have seen yourselves."

"No!" There was a sharp objection to this. Everyone turned around to look at who was talking. The boy in the middle of the room seemed to have finally come out of his frozen state and was staring angrily at them.

"No?" the villager asked in a confused voice.

"What do you mean by 'no'?"

"No, what you said is not god's honest truth!" the boy shouted in a deep voice.

"Why would you say that at all? Why would you say that she turned into dust?!!! How dare you say that she got dusted the same as these evil creatures?!!!" Now, the boy was standing facing them with his fists clenched tightly at the sides, leaning in the direction of the others. His whole body radiated living anger, eyebrows knitted, body shaking. But his voice, slightly raised, was still very calm, very deep, and didn't sound like a boy's voice. That was even scarier than if he had been shouting and kicking.

He even looked a bit taller than before. The black dog, which until now had been sitting at his side, had also risen to his feet, staring at everyone with hostility. The picture of these two standing now could have been described as a rising danger, and no one dared to say anything more. Suddenly, the woman's voice came from the side:"Blake. What are you saying, and who made you so angry?" It was his mother asking.

She had regained consciousness only moments ago and was surprised to see her usually timid son standing in the middle of the room, all by himself, in such an angry and aggressive posture.

"I am sorry, mum, but I will not allow anyone to blemish her name," he replied slowly.

"Not after all that she has done for me, for what she has done for us." He turned back to the villagers.

"How dare you say that she has turned into dust! Doesn't that imply that she was one of them? How dare you have even a trace of thought about it, after all she has done for us?"

"I didn't blemish her, and I didn't say she was one of them, and obviously, she wasn't, but that doesn't change the fact that she disappeared together with the others." Poor Blake's neighbour was doing his best to justify himself, turning around for help to the others, but suddenly, there was no one who wanted to back him up or speak in his place. No one wanted to say anything bad about the girl, but there also wasn't anything else to say.

The tension in the pavilion was at its peak, and people were slowly moving back to shield themselves behind the officers. The picture was peculiar: there was one angry boy, and a bunch of armed adults were backing off in fear. But who would blame them, remembering how that black furry devil, standing at the boy's side just a few minutes ago, had been biting the heads off anyone who dared to approach this boy?

"Blake, please calm down. You are making everyone nervous," his mother pleaded apprehensively.

"But they are telling lies!!!" Blake's voice trembled, and he finally broke into tears and fell down to his knees.

"Why would they even say that?! … Why would they? …" All aggression was gone, and he was sobbing now from pain that no one else could understand. One of the officers couldn't watch it anymore and came forward. Without paying any attention to the dog, he picked up the crying boy from the floor and, while holding him in a tender embrace, walked across the room, where he put Blake on the table and sat down next to him. Deamon quietly followed them and quietly lay down.

"Would you like to tell your own version of the story?" the officer asked.

"Did you see it differently?" The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Of course, I saw it differently," Blake replied, "Why would anyone even say that this is what happened?"

"Because the world is a mysterious place, and what is obvious to one, another might not understand or, in some cases, not even hear or see." After this reply, Blake's eyes widened as he remembered someone else, not so long ago, saying something to him very similar. Seeing his reaction, the officer asked:"I see it is not the first time you have heard this phrase. Did she tell you that before?" Blake nodded his head.

"Then, please, can you tell me what happened to that girl?"

"The King took her." Blake said. All around became quiet. A simple answer to a simple question… But the simplicity of the words and the weight of those same words didn't seem to match.

"How do you know it was the King?" the officer kept questioning.

"It was obvious."

"Have you seen King before?"

"No, never."

"Then how do you know it was King? Did anything happen to make you think this way?"

"No, nothing happened to make me think that way; it was just obvious. When you look at the King, you know it is the King. I didn't understand it before, but I understand it now. But I cannot explain it." The officers exchanged looks with each other. People started to murmur among themselves in disapproval, but were silenced with a hand gesture from the head officer.

"Would you like to tell us in detail how it happened?" the questioning man turned back to the child. His face didn't show any disapproval, and his eyes were full of encouragement and interest.

"Yes, I can," Blake said, happy that someone wanted to hear what really happened.

"After Rainee threw her sword to save my mum, she got stabbed in the back by a four-armed monster's sword..." He choked on his own tears, remembering that terrifying moment.

"Then he lifted that sword with Rainee and swung his axe towards her head with the other hand. But he was very, very slow at doing it, and at that moment, King came riding his dragon. He swung his sword once, and every single monster turned into dust at once. He caught Rainee in mid-air and turned around to leave. Then he looked at me, straight into my eyes, and flew away. Then you all came. I don't know if she is still alive, if she survived that stabbing, but she didn't turn into dust...

She is not made of dust... There was so much blood after she got stabbed... I..." but he could not finish, as tears were again rolling down his face and choking his throat, making him stop in the middle of a sentence. The officer embraced him around his shoulders and pressed him down to his chest, holding him close until Blake could speak again.

"She asked for help... I asked for help... But no one came, just some troublemakers who could not help even themselves... She said if you ask for help, then help will always come. But no one came..."

"The King came," the officer replied quietly.

"I am not sure he came in time... But I was here, I could save her... I should have saved her... I... I just didn't think, didn't realise that it was me who was that help she was asking for, that help that we were asking for... I just thought I was the one who was supposed to be saved… And instead of seeing what I could do, I was hiding all this time..."

"It is not your fault," the officer replied. Hearing that, Blake pushed himself free of his hug.

"But how is it not my fault? I was here! I didn't need to come, I was already here. I could have just done something... How is it not my fault?" After a moment of silence, he continued,"No one else but King came, and even King himself might have been late... Does it mean that there is no one else on earth to save her when she is in need but King? Not a single soul?"

"That is not how it works," the officer replied, but his voice wasn't overly confident. The head officer approached them.

"There is no such thing as King coming too late. King either comes on time, or he doesn't come," he said in an indisputable voice.

"From what you say, it is obvious he came for the girl. What was her name?"

"Ren," Blake replied his eyes full of renewed hope.

"Do you think he saved her?"

"I have no doubt that he saved her. Otherwise, why would he come? Did you see King's dragon? Can you describe him?"

"Yes, like a colourless, sleek lizard with two small arms and no legs. He was greenish, but not as green as he was supposed to be. It is difficult to describe the colour, as it was shimmering like water and seemed more colourless than green. I have seen paintings of the King, and his dragon doesn't look anything like he does in those paintings." The officers exchanged looks again.

"Was King's dragon moving fast?" the head officer asked again.

"Not overly," the boy replied.

"Good thing the monster froze, otherwise King would have nothing to save..." Everyone was silent for a while, then the villagers started whispering to each other:"Have you seen any of it?" but everyone just shook their heads. Before the boy became angry again, the head officer raised his hand, and everyone fell silent again. Then he explained in a quiet voice.

"When King's Dragon turns this liquid green, it is not easy to see him. In fact, only a few people have had the privilege of ever seeing him throughout history." Then he turned back to Blake.

"It is not that the monster froze in his movements, but 'Flash of Lightning', as King's Dragon is called in this form, moves too fast for anyone to see. To see him, one needs either the King's permission or special abilities, which can rarely be obtained even through lifetime training." He waited a bit until the weight of his words had sunk into people before continuing.

"The fact that you have seen him means either one or the other: either King wanted you to see him, or you have these special abilities. One way or the other, I think it is a sign that you have a talent that has now been recognised. Would you like to come to Royal City with us so you could undergo proper training and choose the way of life that would suit the abilities you have?" No one expected such a twist to this event.

After a short silence, a woman's voice sounded:"Officer, I don't want to object to you, but there must be a mistake. Blake doesn't have such remarkable abilities. He is a very good and kind-hearted child, maybe even too kind. He is very timid; he doesn't like to be around other people. If you took him to Royal City, where it is so busy all the time, he would not feel comfortable."

"I do understand your concerns about my offer to your son, but I can reassure you that it wasn't made lightly. Evidence speak for itself, and as my friend told me before, the world is a mysterious place. Sometimes, the most ordinary people appear to be the most extraordinary, and for their closest family and friends, it is the most difficult to recognise it. My offer for your boy remains valid, and it is entirely up to him alone to accept it or to decline it."

"I will go." This reply came from Blake and was unexpected for everyone who knew him.

"I will go. I want to learn to be useful. I want to find out what I am good at. I want to learn to fight, so no one ever has to save me again."

"That's the spirit," the head officer smiled.

"If you want to learn combat skills, it is even better, as with the attitude you demonstrated earlier, it would do you good to undergo full training. Would you like to go now with us or to arrive later?"

"I will go with you now. I have nothing to wait for."

"Very good!" the head officer praised with an even bigger smile.

"Off you go to pack your things, then. We will be leaving very shortly." Blake jumped to his feet and ran out of the pavilion without a second thought. His mum got up too and wanted to follow, but nearly fell down as she was still too dizzy. The head officer supported her just in time.

"Don't worry," he said.

"There is no danger around any more, and with so much eagerness, he will be ready and back in no time. I am sure he lived here long enough to find his way back." he added as a joke while seating Blake's mum at the table for a short chat. But his joke proved to be very untimely, as Blake never found his way back. After he failed to return, a proper search was conducted, but with no results. People saw him leaving the pavilion and dashing down the street, and that was the last time he was ever seen for many years.

This mystery still lingers among people, as with the King's Army surrounding the village, it was not possible for him to leave it unseen, and with so many trained officers around, he could not have been harmed without anyone noticing. This event was so peculiar that even General Jason was called in for help, but even he could not resolve this mystery. After all attempts failed, everybody's eyes turned to King, but he never helped with this issue.

To Blake's mum's direct letter pleading for help, he answered that he could not help with this issue, as the path Blake had chosen had little to do with him or with her, and only The One himself could provide her with a more accurate answer. With that, nothing else could be done. Blake's mum tried to learn communication with The One, but was not accepted to School, and she didn't dare to ask for King's help to get into it.

When you don't dare to do something, your journey in that direction is over until you dare again, or find another way to reach your goal. It never happened in this story, and Blake's mum gave up her search. King's letter indirectly implied that Blake was still alive, and she lived in hope that he would return one day, but years were passing, and he was not returning.

"Until one day he did," Anniet said.