Chương 131: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 131 - Dream (2) — Tears Unshed

"I hereby declare that from this day forward, Anna Hathaway and her relatives are to be expelled from the core district and relocated to the outskirts of the Emerald Forest."

"I expect each of you to understand what that means."

"Our resources are finite. We do not cultivate dead weight."

"Human mages and knights grow weaker by the year. Their power thins and fades. This is our moment, the era of the elves ascending."

"Study hard. Seek comprehension. Strive."

"That is what earns you a place in the core district. Not comfort. Not entitlement." The elder's words were pointed. Her gaze drove into Anna's face like a nail, and the poor Half-Elf girl flinched from it, a full-body shudder moving through her. She had always worked hard. Always. And hadn't those resources been given to her willingly? The elves had practically forced them on her even when she'd tried to refuse. So how had everything become her fault?

Anna's heart was a knot of confusion and wounded pride, but the stares pressing in from every direction...

"Mockery."

"Ridicule."

"Contempt."

"Disgust." They sealed her mouth shut like strips of tape, one after another, until she couldn't speak at all. All she could do was hug her knees and her tail, make herself as small as possible, and wait for the verdict to be finished.......

"Anna Hathaway. You wasted an enormous amount of our resources."

"Shouldn't you compensate us for that?" A Half-Elf with wolf ears and a wolf tail stepped into Anna's path. A moment later, seven or eight more Half-Elves came giggling out of the undergrowth on either side. Every one of them had failed her awakening. Without the gift of beauty, each had been allowed only three awakening attempts. Three chances, against Anna's ten. They had every reason to resent it. Why her? Why did Anna get ten? Weren't they all Half-Elves?

"Exactly. If we'd had ten chances too, we'd have awakened a long time ago."

"It's because of you. All of it."

"You stole our resources! You owe us. You're going to pay for it!" They shouted over each other, cracking their knuckles, moving in on the trembling girl. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"I'm... I'm sorry..."

"I..." Anna pressed her back against a tree. Nowhere left to go. She sank down, curling her small body in on itself.

"You're sorry? You're what?" The wolf-eared Half-Elf let out a cold laugh. Her hands were rough from years of hard work, and they grabbed Anna's fox ears with no care at all. Then she clenched her fist.

"Ah!" The cry tore out of Anna before she could stop it, tears flooding her eyes. Fox ears were acutely sensitive. The pain was a lance driving straight to her core.

"You have nothing left now anyway."

"Might as well let us blow off some steam."

"Maybe we start by cutting off those ears. And that tail. What do you say?"

"No, please, no —" Anna had fallen to her knees, her pretty face streaked with tears. She was sobbing, voice fracturing.

"Please, please, I'm begging you, don't cut Anna's ears, don't cut her tail, please, don't,""Ha. Hahahaha."

"We're cutting them. It's because of those snow-white ears and that tail that you soaked up so many of our resources. And that face too. All of it." The wolf-eared Half-Elf smiled wide and slow, savoring it. There was nothing but satisfaction on her face. Elves. Half-Elves, tree elves, all of them. A race that had once championed peace. That had cherished its own kin. The Elven Court's twisted politics had ground all of that away, slowly and thoroughly. Though perhaps there were other reasons too. Deeper ones.

"Someone bring me a machete!"

"Stop." The voice cracked through the air. At the far end of the forest path, Anya stood with her sword drawn and her eyes like ice....

"Sister."

"Hmm?"

"Is Anna really... trash?"

"Of course not." Anya's eyes softened, and the corner of her mouth twitched faintly.

"Anna isn't trash. Anna has the most powerful talent in this world. For an elf, for a mage, any measure you like."

"But..."

"Shh. Don't think about it so much." Anya's voice was gentle.

"Father and Mother won't blame you. And we can build a good life on the outskirts just as well." Anna nodded. She didn't fully understand why her sister said the things she said. But Anya had always been so much more certain of the world than she was. With Anya beside her, Anna felt like she had solid ground to stand on.

"Hey, Anna?" The figure ahead stopped walking. The hand holding Anna's squeezed a little tighter.

"What's wrong, sister?"

"I want to ask you something..."

"If one day... sister took away the talent you have — would you blame her?" Anya's voice came out low and strange, drifting through the dim forest like smoke. Something cold crept up Anna's spine.

"I... probably not..." Anna mumbled. She was just trash. What talent did she even have? Sister's earlier words had been meant to comfort her, surely, just as this question was probably meant to tease.

"That's good." Then the laugh came.

"Heh... heh-heh-heh..." A sound that didn't belong to Anya at all. Under Anna's terrified, widening eyes, Anya turned her head. That face. Every trace of the warmth Anna knew was gone. The skin had peeled back. Gums lay bare and glistening. Crimson eyeballs bulged from the sockets, blood-bright and wrong. And behind Anya, behind what had been Anya, fleshy demon wings spread wide, releasing a wave of suffocating, rotten power that snuffed out the last pale thread of light between the trees.

"Si — sister?!"

"You already agreed." The voice was a ruin of what it had been.

"So give it all to me. Heh-heh-heh..." Anna's hand flew to her chest. Something lodged in her throat, a stone, heavy and immovable, and she couldn't make a sound. Her whole body shook. Her legs buckled. She hit the ground and scrabbled backward on her hands, but the cold face of a rock stopped her. She couldn't understand it. Her sister. Her gentle, warm, steady sister. The demon's claws came closer. Despair swallowed her whole. Anyone... anyone at all... who will save Anna... I... Brother...

"Brother!" She remembered.

"ROAR," A dragon's cry split the world open, vast and blazing and real. Fiery golden dragon eyes opened inside Anna's own, overlapping perfectly, two pairs becoming one. Scorching flames devoured everything.. ps: This dream is only half true. Don't take it as fact, some of it doesn't match what actually happened before, because that's how dreams work. Pure association. Keep those support tickets coming, everyone. The updates keep flowing. ➤ Next: Ritual Complete