A moment of fear engulfed Alan as the fire consumed him like a hungry dragon, his entire body was covered in it, slowly going to be devoured in agonizing pain.
At least, that was what he thought would happen. The moment of fear went away, like dust on a windy evening.
â⊠Eh?â
A strange sound escaped his mouth, one of relief, confusion, and hidden dread. He was relieved that he wasnât hurtâŠconfused as to why he wasnât hurt, and dreaded the fact that maybe this flame had other, strange but terrible properties.
But nothing truly happened to him.
ââŠEhh?â
The strange sound escaped his lips once more, this time it stretched for a bit, creating a comical sight. Unfortunately, no one was here to witness and laugh at it, At Alanâs confused face as he opened his eyes to see vast destruction near him, and then realized that nothing truly happened to him.
The cityâŠor the camp as the Celestials called it, was burnt to ashes, but he was relatively unharmed.
âCrack!â
He heard a cracking sound, naturally, his eyes darted to where it originated from, and he looked at his lower body. The black ice that had covered him, or imprisoned him, was starting to crack and fall to the ground.
âOhâŠâ
A hint of guilt appeared in his heart, and an apologetic expression emerged on his face. He realized too late that perhaps the black ice was not meant to restrain him, but rather protect him from the strange fire. He realized it a bit too late.
âSorry⊠Lanesha.â
He apologized, knowing that the dragon was surely watching him. Just for confirmation, however, he turned around and was relieved when he saw the familiar blue light of the obsidian lantern, and Laneshaâs figure, veiled in the darkness but clear for him to see, standing there.
She was laughingâŠthat was evident.
In an instant, she appeared in front of him, the flames, still raging around the camp, died down as she appeared, and the air turned colder. Her face, however, was in stark contrast to a laughâŠor any emotion at all. There was nothing on it, leading Alan to believe that he saw an illusion previously.
âThere is still one more thing for you to do.â
Alan turned around and stared at a building in the far distance, where the fire did not approach at all. In fact, it even seemed to form a protective barrier around it. The building was like a cube, a cube made with metals of unknown origin to him and other such materials.
All of them could easily withstand a full power breath from him many times. It was quite shocking, to be honest.
âThatâs one sturdy blockâŠâ
Although the architectural beauty of that thing was nonexistent, he knew it served a purpose. It blocked out the power of his Dragon Eyes, so Alan had no choice but to go near it and discover what was hidden inside.
Lanesha stayed where she was, coldly looking at his back, she turned around to see the devastation, and the cold look on her face deepened, if that was even possible⊠Alan couldnât see it, but she had a look of disappointment on her face. It was hidden behind the cold facade, but clear as day to any sensible viewer.
Alan got close to the strange white cube, and when he found something that resembled a door, he pushed it open. A strange fragrance of flowers, multiple of them, struck his nose.
The most iconic one, to him, was of Lavender, Sabrina mostly smelled like that so he recognized it first. Inside, he found a strange metallicâŠcoffin? No, it was not a coffin but rather a sarcophagus. Although much smaller than those that held the corpses of decaying pharaohs. It also didnât have a lid, if that was what it was called.
The floor beneath had lines carved into them, within those lines was a green fluid that flowed into the sarcophagus from somewhere unknown. Alan walked towards the sarcophagus and peered at what was inside.
His face fell when he looked at the body of a celestial child, as small as a human baby with six small wings erupting from his back, He appeared to be sleeping, unaware of the massacre and destruction that had happened outside.
He was absorbing the energy that the green fluid possessed, and a hint of flora also seemed to grow on his body.
He summoned his spear, and raised it up. But in the end, that same feeling took over. The feeling of regret, disgust over his actions, and sorrow. Like he was a traitor. frŃewebnoŃ”el.Æoàč
He couldnât even go to the state where he let his body do the work instead⊠After all, that one was reactive. It worked previously because there were celestials attacking him and deemed him a threat, to which he subconsciously responded but the childâŠwas no threat.
Neither did the child consider him a threat. So that couldnât work. Nevertheless, he
He dismissed his spear, and raised his hands, he was intending to end it in one simple strike with his own hands. He could feel the Ame-no-Sakahoko resisting his attempts as well, That darn spear refused to speak to him at all, and wouldnât even listen during this.
He didnât blame it, thoughâŠ
He lowered his handsâŠbut the child woke up, and began to cry. The noise was irritating to his ears, but it awakened something else inside of him. The feeling was intensified and instead of killing the boy, Alan picked him up and tried to pacify him.
âWhat am I even doingâŠâ
He questioned as he tried to think of ways to try to calm a baby down⊠He knew of none.
But he didnât need to, as soon as he picked the baby up, he calmed down, and started to smile, as if it was held by its own motherâŠor father, instead. He tried to poke his chin with his small fingers, and even tried grabbing his face.
AlanâŠfelt happy when the baby did that, he didnât know why, but a part of him was glad the baby was happy and not crying now.
As he was drowned in his thoughts, and avoiding the baby trying to grab his face, Lanesha appeared behind him and said in a somber tone.
âYou canât bring yourself to do it.â
âŠ
He, looking at the emerald eyes of the child, responded and sighed.
âYeah⊠I donât know whatâs wrong with meâŠâ
He knew he would fail the questâŠand as a confirmation, the System spoke in his mind.
[You have failed Laneshaâs quest.]