Chapter 435: He is awake

Kael quickly landed on the ground, his boots sinking in the snow with a soft crunch.

The moment he landed, all the fear and panic that had been driving him and pushing him to his limits drained away. Relief hit him so hard his legs almost gave out. His chest felt heavy, his breath came fast, and for a moment he just stood there, shaking.

Ahead of him was a wide, gray ocean. Waves rolled and broke against the ice, cold mist was formed near the edges,

And there, sitting near the edge, was Igni.

The Primordial Fire Dragon looked like a living flame trapped in winter.

Snow clung to his wings and back, melting into steam, then freezing again in small white crystals. His long tail was curled close, leaving a deep path in the snow behind him. He stared out over the endless water, completely motionless.

Kael’s heart ached at the sight.

Igni’s ember eyes were fixed on the horizon, bright but heavy, filled with something Kael had never seen in them before—deep sadness and… pain.

“…Igni…”

Kael whispered softly.

The sight nearly broke him.

For a moment, the image of current Igni overlapped with the time when he first saw him coming out of his Egg. He recalled how he promised himself he would protect the precious little thing from everything in this world no matter what it took, how he would never let him feel any sadness or pain and yet…

To think he was the reason Igni was like that…

Kael’s eyes turned moist, his body felt weak, empty after the chase. It was to the point that if he fell, he would lose consciousness, but even then, something inside him kept him going. He moved—no, dragged himself forward through the snow.

His steps felt slow, his legs trembled, more than once he lost his balance, but he kept going forward, alone.

Yes, Cirri, Imperia, and Vitaria had already returned to the Sanctuary. They knew this moment belonged only to Kael and Igni.

And as much as they envied the attention Igni was receiving, none of them were ungrateful enough to forget everything their elder brother had done for them.

When Kael got closer, he felt a soft wave of heat touch his face. His body moved on its own as he extended his hands toward his firstborn despite still being a few steps away.

And finally, Igni moved.

The dragon turned his massive head, snow sliding off his horns in a quiet hiss. His ember eyes met Kael’s—and in that instant, the fierce light inside them changed.

The sadness remained, but now there was worry, and a deep, sharp guilt.

Kael’s body felt even weaker, almost on the brink of collapse.

“Father…”

Igni called out in a low, worried voice. The Dragon slowly lowered his head until his snout nearly touched Kael’s face.

Kael saw his ember eyes filled with guilt and shame, a sight that made Kael’s throat tight. He gently placed his hand on his snout,

And only after he finally got to touch his firstborn did all the fear of losing him rush out of his body, leaving him with endless relief and love.

“…I found you.”

He spoke in a rough, hoarse voice.

Igni closed his eyes, his body felt much smaller than before.

“…sorry, Father.”

He spoke in a low voice, much different than the dominant, oppressive voice he showed back in the Hall.

“I failed to control myself, I shouldn’t have done what I did—”

The Dragon spoke as a drop of tear rolled down his eye, but then suddenly, Kael hugged his snout, not letting him speak.

The hopeless Father finally closed his eyes, his shaking, erratic heart finally calmed down and as he held his firstborn tightly—

“You are perfect.”

He muttered softly, gently kissing Igni’s snout.

Kael couldn’t even count the number of times he had repeated this entire situation in his mind. His Igni was completely innocent, he held back for days and even today, before taking action, he warned Draksis.

If anything, it was his fault. He let Draksis walk over him time and time again. There were only so many times a child could watch someone disrespect his Father in such a manner, especially when his Father was just trying to help.

Unlike the Father, the child would never consider the possible reason as to why that man was doing what he was doing. Heck, Kael wasn’t even sure if he himself would have reacted any better if anyone treated his Igni badly, if anything, he might have done something far worse.

Thinking from that perspective, his Igni did well.

His Igni held back.

What else could he possibly do?

His Igni was absolutely perfect and did nothing wrong.

Kael had long made up his mind, it wasn’t Igni that needed to feel guilty, it was him.

He was the one who needed to change.

“You did nothing wrong.

You only did what you had to in order to protect your Father.”

Kael spoke as he opened his eyes. The worry, panic, and relief in them had now disappeared and were replaced with determination and resolve.

He stared at his firstborn as he constantly patted his snout and wiped the tear marks—

“All this happened because your Father was weak,

But not anymore.”

Kael spoke, his voice became much heavier than before,

“You will no longer have to retaliate in such a manner because I will not give you the chance to.”

“Father…?”

Igni opened his eyes, staring at his Father, somewhat confused.

Kael, however, had already made up his mind—

“Shhh.”

He shushed his child as he made him close his eyes again and hugged him.

“I need you to stay like this.

Please.”

Hearing those words, Igni instantly threw away all the thoughts in his mind and stayed still, feeling his Father’s embrace, just like how he did back when he was young and couldn’t even walk properly.

The Father and Son stayed like this for minutes. The calm sounds of waves only added to the peace the two were feeling.

There were no more words needed, even though the two of them had a lot to say. For now, all they needed was silence.

Just like that, hours passed by.

Kael and Igni slept together in front of the ocean waves, just the two of them. The weather was still harsh, the snowstorm hadn’t ended, but Igni made sure the storm didn’t bother them.

The heat he released turned the little space they were in into a warm heaven in the middle of the cold, snowy, and stormy hell.

‘Father…’

Five hours later, when Imperia finally called out in a low voice, did Kael finally move away from Igni.

“Hmm?”

He tilted his head lightly.

‘He is awake.’

Imperia informed.

Hearing those words, Kael’s expression changed. He stared at Igni, who nodded and stood up, then slowly lowered his head, signaling Kael to climb.

Kael grinned, he quickly climbed on the top and just like that,

Flap

The Primordial Fire Dragon pushed himself into the air.

Kael didn’t even bother asking Imperia everything that happened in the mainland while he and Igni were asleep. He was still spending time with his son and he didn’t want to waste it by talking about such insignificant matters.

He would deal with all this once he returned. For now, he just lazily rested his body on top of Igni, completely trusting his firstborn without a care in the world.

Igni too, grinned at that. It had been a while since he and his Father rode together, so just this time, instead of returning directly, the Dragon took a ten minute long detour.

Something that everyone, Cirri, Vitaria, and Imperia noticed, but none said anything. They just shook their heads as they thought how hopelessly foolish and easy to please their brother was.

…

On the other side of the Heights, the unconscious Draksis, who was taken to his house, was lying on his bed. Korvath had cleaned his charred arm to the best of his abilities. As a man who had seen thousands of deaths, wounds, no matter how fatal, barely fazed him at this point.

This one however… was different.

Even now, as he stood beside Draksis, watching him sleep, he couldn’t move his gaze away from his charred arm that was completely unusable now.

“He’s awake…”

Suddenly, Aelindra spoke up, noticing how Draksis’s eyelids were fluttering.

Slowly, the Leader of the Forge opened his eyes. At first everything felt heavy, his head was foggy from the pain he had endured before. Soon, his eyes fell on the ‘shapes’ surrounding his bed, making him realize that he wasn’t alone.

As his vision cleared, Draksis realized the Council Elders, the Patriarch, and… the Seventh Vein were here, looking at him with grim looks on their faces, some even had pitiful, uneasy looks on their faces, looks that made his stomach knot.

He tried to push himself up with a frown but then…

He felt something was missing.

The Leader of the Forge finally looked down.

His right sleeve had been cut away.

Below his shoulder, his arm hung like dead wood—black, cracked, and twisted. The skin looked like burned leather, split open in places where dull bone could be seen.

There was no movement, no feeling.

Not even a spark of pain.

Draksis flexed, or so he tried to but…

Nothing.

He… He couldn’t feel his arm at all.

And when he realized it…

“My… arm…”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep