Chương 113: Earning His Keep

Argaon spread his wings. One wing remained in the border sky, and the end of the other caught in the gap where Kichan was being pushed away. Golden cracks spread between his scales. The world pulled Argaon in both directions as well.

"Don't." Kichan said. Argaon did not listen. Riphiel was dragged to her knees while still holding Kichan's arm. Batu's teeth tore Kichan's coat, and Valkyrie spread its body wider, fighting to keep hold of Kichan's chest. Dust's body, wrapped around Kichan's wrist, stretched long. Argaon opened his mouth. No ordinary voice came out. A sound that shook mountains and changed the depth of the sky settled over the ruins. People understood its meaning not through their ears, but through their bones and the ground.

It was closer to a request than an order. Let them stay together. Do not send Kichan back alone. Send Riphiel, Batu, Valkyrie, Dust, and finally Argaon himself--all five who held on to him--down the same road. The dragon's word did not repair the ruins. The collapsed walls and the severed bridge remained as they were. Argaon demanded nothing else. Dust's body around Kichan's wrist was the first to return to its original length.

Valkyrie pressed itself to Kichan's chest, and Batu's forepaws stepped onto the same golden ground. The blood running from Riphiel's hand no longer crossed the empty air; it fell onto Kichan's sleeve. Argaon put his own foot inside the circle last. Riphiel's unnaturally stretched arm returned to its normal length. The force dragging Batu's body changed direction. Valkyrie and Dust were pulled in against Kichan. Argaon's own huge body entered the same current.

One golden circle formed beneath Kichan and the five companions holding on to him. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The angel of light looked at Riphiel. It looked at Batu, Valkyrie, and Dust in turn. Finally it looked up at Argaon. It did not stop them. The gold light went out inside Argaon's throat. The voice that had touched the world closed one layer at a time.

The ancient letters floating between his scales vanished, and the sky that had held up the tips of his wings grew heavy. Argaon ordered the collapsed wall to mend. The stones did not move at all. When he snapped his fingers, one ordinary spark formed. But that spark could not seal even a single crack in the wall. He shouted at the gap pushing Kichan away and told it to stop again. Only a hoarse voice scattered on the wind. The angel's words reached only Argaon. One hundred years. Argaon's pupils thinned.

For a while he could not open his mouth. Kichan opened his mouth. Space folded again. There was not much time left for their voices to reach each other. In his true form, Argaon filled the space before Kichan. There was no trace of the expression he had worn moments earlier while complaining that the sack of meat was too small.

"For all the meals." Kichan could not ask more. Riphiel was pulled to Kichan's side. Her hand still had not let go of his arm.

"I never agreed to this."

"To what?"

"Going to another world like this."

"Want to go back now?" Riphiel looked behind her. The ground of the other world was already far away.

"If I could, I would have gone already." Batu released the coat and stood beside Kichan. Valkyrie shrank back to its small form and pressed against his chest. Dust climbed from his wrist to his shoulder. Argaon also shrank into human form inside the light. Six beings were bound into one current. From the ruins, Seria called Kichan's name. This time, her voice came out.

"Kichan!" Theor stretched out his unbroken arm too. Marten and Grad pulled themselves up from beneath the stones. Marten gripped a medicine pouch, and Grad used torn cloth to bind the wound of the person beside him. Marena barely stood, holding the fallen tent pole. People moved between her and Kichan. Marena looked at the proposal knot tied to the wake-up rod. She took one step toward Kichan. Her strength left her legs, and her knees buckled. Seria caught Marena. Marena did not push Seria's arm away.

She simply kept her eyes on the wake-up rod. Kichan opened his mouth. The words--that he had come back, that he still had not answered, that there should have been a next winter--never became sound. The light folded once. Seria's hand brushed empty air. Kichan, Riphiel, Argaon, Valkyrie, Batu, and Dust were swept up in the same light. To the very end, the white and red knot on the wake-up rod was visible. Then there was nothing. The angel's outline also dissolved into the white powder of the Fragment of God's Word.

The powder vanished before it touched the ground. At the border, the people who had come back to life and the collapsed fortress remained. No footprint of Kichan was left where the light had been. Only one drop of Riphiel's blood stained Seria's palm, and a short length of thread left from twisting the knot remained around Marena's wrist. The echo of Argaon's last word lingered in the sky before fading.