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Dragons who live for eternity.

Many mortal beings envied us.

They revered us as a race blessed with mana.

Whenever that happened, Volkid would grumble to himself, “Ignorance is bliss, isn’t it?”

Well, they didn’t know any better.

But now they will.

Even in the afterlife.

They will know just how cursed a race of dragons can be.

***

Pitter-patter-

The rain falls.

Yesterday, today, and probably tomorrow too.

The rain fell and will continue to fall.

It was nothing out of the ordinary.

“Ah.”

Volkid let out a hoarse voice as he looked up at the sky.

The sky.

The night sky.

It’s filled with stars.

In the midst of them, the once round and brilliant moon lay shattered, scattered like stars.

Volkid gazed at that moon.

The broken moon.

The lunar dragons did that.

Since the day the moon shattered, it rained every day in this world.

The climate changed, and the land became barren.

It became an environment where living beings could not survive.

“Moon.”

Volkid mumbled absentmindedly.

It wasn’t a conscious thought.

Just words.

Because it came to mind.

So, moving his lips to speak was more like letting out words.

It was inevitable.

This world had perished.

Perish meaning, there were no counterparts left there.

Existence tends to hold onto the mind.

And the mind only interacts through counterparts.

Conversation was a means to share that mind.

Words were the components of such conversations.

“….”

When was the last time he tried to have a conversation?

Volkid pondered, mumbling to himself.

Dragons have exceptional memories.

He could easily calculate how much time had passed since he shared his mind with someone.

Roughly, that was.

1027 years, 270 days, 17 hours, 48 minutes, and 37 seconds.

Whatever it was.

Things left behind decay.

Volkid’s mind, which could no longer interact with counterparts, was no exception.

So, instead of conversation, just words.

Even if he couldn’t exchange them back and forth. It was just a way to release his thoughts outward unilaterally.

For Volkid, talking to himself was exactly that act.

As he spent more time alone.

Volkid’s self-talk increased.

In this world, Volkid had no counterparts.

Because this world had perished.

“Perish….”

Volkid turned his head, scanning his surroundings.

He took in how this world came to be.

The world reflected in his eyes.

Whoosh–

Nothing was visible.

Volkid was the only living being in sight in all directions.

Just, he was there.

“Kwee-eek!”

Only the lunar dragons flying in the sky.

“And, dragons….”

Volkid spat out his hoarse voice once again.

Dragons….

A word that carried a special tone.

But in reality, they were not extraordinary beings.

Because, anyway, all dragons go mad as they age.

A dragon’s body lives eternally.

On the other hand, a dragon’s mind is finite.

Dragons.

Beings that absorb the mana of the world and live eternally.

They do not age, only repeating growth.

“Eternal…. Infinite….”

The mana of this world is infinite.

Thus, dragons are given infinite time.

On the other hand, their minds are expendable.

There is an end.

With wear and tear, they fade away.

A body with no mind goes mad, and they become lunar dragons.

Once they become lunar dragons, they lose their reason and only repeat destruction.

“Lunar…. Dragon.”

Volkid felt a sudden rush of fear.

All dragons eventually became lunar dragons, and that’s why they destroyed this world.

“Ah, uh, ugh.”

Memories flood in.

They tore apart Volkid’s younger sister.

To save him, his mother stood alone against the lunar dragons and burned to death.

Everyone did.

Everyone left Volkid behind.

Even his grandfather.

The grandfather, who had taken care of himself until the end, eventually left him.

About a thousand years ago.

-Krrrr…

The sound of a beast’s cry began to be heard from the grandfather, who always spoke in a dignified language.

It was the initial symptom of becoming a dragon.

-Volkid… Our last child. It seems like I was wrong too. Before I kill you, please leave quickly.

The grandfather ordered him to flee.

From that day on, Volkid had no one left.

He endured alone for a thousand years.

“Sigh.”

As he reminisced about the past.

A strange feeling came over him.

For some reason, a strange feeling.

Volkid couldn’t interpret what his emotions were.

Emotions, too, are beings that can be compared and interpreted because there is someone else.

Perhaps if Volkid had someone else.

If that were the case, he would have defined his emotions like this.

Loneliness.

The increasing pain of loneliness.

The unbearable pain that led to self-destruction.

Such complex yet consistent emotions.

But he had no one else.

His long years of solitude made his contemplation simple.

So, in the end, he could only express his emotions like this.

A strange feeling.

That’s right.

One thing was certain.

He didn’t want it anymore.

It was unbearable and he wanted to end it.

“Ha, grandfather. No, the last lord of the tribe. An unworthy descendant comes to you.”

Today.

Volkid decided to end it.

Because he felt like he might go crazy if he continued like this.

Volkid was a young dragon.

He wasn’t crazy yet.

But…

Just as there are variations among people.

Dragons are the same.

Some dragons are so weak that they can lose their minds early.

“Please, do not refuse.”

So, before he completely lost his mind.

Volkid decided to embrace the wind.

“Just once, allow me to see you again.”

Before he completely lost his mind.

Or before he was captured and killed by other dragons.

He would go see his only family, his grandfather.

Even if he was killed by his grandfather who had become a dragon, he was okay with it.

So, now.

He would go back to you.

That’s how he decided to face death.

Kwoong-! Kwoong-!

Dragons are huge.

Even Volkid, who was still a young dragon, was not much different.

Among dragons, he was small, but still boasted a body several times larger than a human.

Every step he took made a loud noise.

It was noisy.

He didn’t know if he would be caught by the dragons if he made a mistake.

“Ah, aha. Ha.”

But what did it matter.

“Anyway… I’m going to die.”

He was going to his grandfather to die.

He was going towards death to see his beloved family.

Kwoong….

Kwoong….

It didn’t take long to reach his grandfather’s nest.

The rare dragon lord hidden in the rugged mountains.

He reached the entrance.

“…It’s been a thousand years.”

Volkid steeled himself.

He would be able to see his grandfather soon.

The insane him would greet him.

A dragon who had lost his reason and only had destruction left.

He wouldn’t recognize himself.

It didn’t matter.

Even if his grandfather didn’t recognize him.

He would recognize himself.

Driven mad by loneliness, just seeing his grandfather again would make him smile and die happily.

Thinking like that.

Volkid headed to the deepest part of the rare’s lair.

And.

What awaited Volkid was.

“…What is this?”

A giant magic circle was erected.

The complex and eerie patterns on the magic circle were so intricate that even the dragon Volkid had a hard time recognizing them properly.

It must be for a grand magic that corresponds to a miracle.

And at the center of such a magic circle, the core material for operation was placed.

It looked like a dazzling gem.

However, trembling and acting weak was also a part of life, indicating the flow of a massive mana in that movement…

It was the Dragon Heart.

[Volkid… you are a child of the beloved tribe.]

The moment he realized that, magic was activated.

A magic that showed a pre-recorded video.

In the video.

There was a dearly missed presence.

It was his grandfather.

[You coming back here means that you can no longer bear life. It also means that the destruction of this world is irreversible.]

“Grandfather….”

Volkid burst into tears unknowingly.

He couldn’t quite hear what his grandfather was saying.

He just blindly.

Looked at the figure of his dearly missed family.

He had lived alone for far too long.

Maybe that’s why.

Volkid’s mind wasn’t working properly.

He couldn’t understand why there was only a video recording magic instead of his grandfather, and why there was a magic circle composed of Dragon Hearts presumed to be his grandfather’s.

However, one thing seemed certain.

His grandfather was dead.

[After realizing that I was becoming a mad dragon… I pondered. What should I do to live without going crazy. I wished that only you, our last child, would not become a mad dragon.]

What should I do to not go crazy.

His grandfather repeated his agony.

[And I realized. We absorb mana to live forever. Living too long drives us mad. Then, wouldn’t it be better to go to a world without mana.]

If there is no mana in the world, dragons will not be able to live long enough to live forever.

From then on, his grandfather made efforts to find a world without mana.

Time was running out.

He wouldn’t last long and would become a mad dragon.

He devoted all his remaining time to exploring the world.

[And… finally found it. A world without mana.]

However, the magic to open the dimensional gate was too massive.

It required a sacrifice.

Fortunately, something suitable to sacrifice was in his grandfather’s possession.

His own Dragon Heart.

“……Ah, ah, ahh.”

Volkid, with trembling eyes.

And in a more dreadful feeling than ever before.

Saw the magic circle his grandfather had built with the remaining life.

…The traces of his grandfather’s suicide.

He saw it.

Twisting-

In the magic circle.

The dragon’s heart beating grotesquely.

His grandfather, with his bare hands. Tore out his own heart while alive.

What must he have felt.

No matter how much of a dragon he was.

A lord.

…Could that be possible, even in a sober state.

“Ah, ah,”

Volkid saw his grandfather in the video magic.

[Grr….]

His always kind grandfather’s eyes were filled with madness.

“….”

Perhaps, at that point, his grandfather didn’t even realize that he had already become a mad dragon.

Driven mad.

But because the lingering love for Volkid was so strong.

So, instead of being engulfed in destruction, he might not have realized that he was blindly obsessed with saving him.

[Grr…. Volkid…, my beloved child.]

His grandfather said to him.

[Go to a new world. Live there without going mad. As a final act on my way, I will pray to the cruel and abominable god. Please, you.]

With madness.

Praying even to the hateful god who created the dragon so contradictorily.

His grandfather conveyed his last wish to Volkid.

[Please, live a short life.]

To die early.

He left such a last wish to his grandson.

“….”

Volkid, looking at his grandfather like that.

Couldn’t say anything.

Because his heart was throbbing.

“….Ahh, ahh.”

For some reason, a strange feeling.

There was no one in this world like Volkid.

So he couldn’t interpret what his emotions were.

Volkid thought it was truly fortunate.

Interpreting this deep, sticky emotion. And so, if I were to discover the name of that emotion.

That’s when I felt an irreversible sense of something.

One thing was certain.

“Yes, my lord.”

Grandfather loved Volkid to the point of madness like this.

One more thing was certain.

“I will do as you wish.”

Volkid also loved Grandfather.

And that was because he was a dragon.

A dragon born to go mad.

He, too, carried a somewhat worn and twisted heart.

“I must, die early.”

Krrrr-!!

At that moment, the magic circle trembled.

Emitting a brilliant light, it opened a dimensional gate.

Kwooo-!

A deep and dark passage leading to another world.

“…….”

Volkid still didn’t understand his own emotions.

He was just following the will.

He would go to a new world.

He would live there.

And.

And…….

Shwack-!

Volkid spread his wings and flew up.

Leaving behind the ruined world.

He headed towards a new world.

A new world without mana.

What kind of place it would be.

Volkid didn’t know.

It didn’t matter.

But one thing was certain above all else.

He must die early.