Drifting Embers
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[MGM]: 13 - Friends, Maybe?
🕑 Added 2025-01-17 11:37:39 +0000 UTCI knew I shouldn't have doubted her, but only now did I fully understand how wrong I had been.
SSS-Rank.
What exactly did that symbolize? Where did these behemoths stand compared to others? To what extent did their strength reach?
Despite having met a dragon in person, it was only after seeing Amara in action that I realized the massive gulf that divided the masses from these unfathomable existences.
All around the cavern, the goblins shrieked and wailed and swarmed us wholesale. Red blood dyed the rocky surface a dirty crimson, while green body parts were scattered every which way. We stood in the middle, right in the thick of it, and eradicated any monster to come our way.
Amara cleaved her sword with all the grace of an expert swordsman. Not a drop of blood touched the blade or even the hem of her clothes for that matter. In comparison, I had added another messy sludge to my filthy ensemble. Even my hair, crummy and disheveled, looked more like a bird's nest than anything resembling a human extension.
I saw her leap high and descend among a group near the back. Panic erupted, and the monsters scrambled to escape. They didn't have the chance to run away, though.
Amara bent her back forward, the sword held in a ready posture. All around the blood scattered rose to her call, my new talent providing me with knowledge of the inner workings. The blood rushed to her attention, waving and winding around her blade, like threads of slaughter ready to cleave the world in half.
"Crimson Moon Slash."
Her soft voice rang in the cavern, and her sword swung in a crescent arc. The bloody threads unwound, radiating about haphazardly and taking every goblin head closer to the vampire.
I stared at her in awe, finding her cold, immortal visage the most charming thing in the world. If only I wasn't in the center of the bloody shower that erupted and drenched me in gore.
"Fuck...!" I murmured a low curse and shook the blood off my arms. My face thankfully only got hit by splatters, rather than a fountain that burst near my chest.
"A little warning would've been nice." I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
Amara smiled. "Aren't you a summoner? Shouldn't you, like, stand in the back and let your summons do your work for you?"
Her words stopped me dead in my tracks. While reasonable, I couldn't help feel a smidgen of rage take root in my heart. Years of standing in the back had bred feelings of mediocrity. I didn't want to spend another day living like that. I wasn't willing!
"I won't stand on the sidelines and let you have all the fun!" I replied with a snarl.
Amara raised a brow, taken aback by my attitude. She wasn't the only one, though. I took a step back and put a palm near my heart.
Again?!
Once more my emotions had gotten out of hand, like something was influencing them. I did not like having my thoughts and feelings tempered.
Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself down.
"Sorry," I uttered in a low voice.
"It's your heart, isn't it?" She asked rhetorically.
I shrugged. "Not sure. Maybe?"
By now the remaining goblins had fled the chamber, and the system notified me of another level up.
Amara sheathed her sword and arrived before me. Her eyes were locked onto mine as if studying something. Being the sole target of her attention, I couldn't help but feel my heart beat increase slightly.
She stepped closer, the proximity making it difficult to ignore her enchanting red eyes and supple pink lips. I felt my body heat up and saw her lips stretch into a thin smile.
"What are you feeling?" She asked.
I hesitated for a moment before replying, "Nothing. Slight excitement maybe?"
"Understandable." She nodded. "Dragons are creatures of Mana. The world is open to them as they are to the world. Everything they experience is heightened to an unnatural degree, and that mostly comes out in the form of arrogance or pride, and sometimes greed and lust."
I had speculated that much, but having it confirmed birthed feelings of complexity within my heart.
"The dragon said I have to wait for the compatibility to hit 100% before further options will be made available."
Amara nodded at my words. "That's correct. You'll be granted race evolution choices, which are beneficial down the line."
"Would these feelings also go away?" I asked.
"Nope." She replied curtly. "If anything, they would grow even more. That's the price of being a dragon."
A pit formed in my stomach. All this while I had prided myself on being patient and cool-headed. But if that was taken away from me, was it really worth some extra attributes and mana?
"However," Amara added, "there are ways to train your soul, which inevitably cultivates peace and patience."
I heaved a sigh of relief at that. At least I wasn't a lost cause; there were still ways for me to retain my former self.
"That said," she flashed me a mischievous grin, "you feel excited from my closeness, is that right?"
"Uh..." I opened my mouth to speak but didn't get the chance before she put a finger on lips to silence me.
"Save it." She adopted a languid expression. "I don't want to hear it anyway."
I was taken aback. Startled at the turn of events. What exactly did she mean by that? Was she just teasing me?
I groaned when I realized she really was teasing me!
Goddamn it!
I only had my teenage hormones and my nonhuman heart to blame for falling into her trap. I did notice the increase in Favorability from 12 to 18%. I wondered if it would change from Friendly to something else at that. I certainly wasn't trying to distract myself in hopes of calming the blood rush. No, sir!
After my recent level up, my stats were looking absolutely monstrous for someone at level 3. However, Amara's eclipsed even that.
There was another reason why I was positively beaming at my increasing Intelligence resting at 70. With that much mana, I should finally be able to use my new talent.
Before I could focus on that, though, Amara hollered from where she stood atop the blood-drenched altar.
"What are you waiting for? If you don't come, I'm leaving."
I bit back my annoyance and the growing feelings of irritation. Especially when they were being empowered by dragon emotion juice.
Amara struck me as a laid-back and lazy vampire, who probably sought peace more than anyone else. How she had attained such a high rank with that attitude was a mystery and would probably remain one forever. That said, she did seem particularly motivated to achieve that peace by whatever means necessary.
On one hand, I was thankful for getting a summon who seemed more determined toward her single goal and readily accepting all the oddities. On the other hand, the lack of motivation might prove a hurdle in the foreseeable future.
I arrived before the altar and found the crystals still embedded and glowing.
"This altar opens the gate to that chamber we just left," I pointed at the open gates behind us. "I placed those crystals to open the door in hopes of running away, and you know the rest of the story."
Amara stared at me, slack-jawed. "What the fuck are you talking about? This is a teleportation rune."
"The what?"
"A teleportation rune disk idiot, powered by the Void Mana Crystals."
"It doesn't... Open the gate?"
"It opens nothing."
I stared, astonished; she stared, deadpanning.
Goddamn it!
I had to go and run my mouth without listening first. And now I had to endure that mocking glare from my summon.
"How did the gate open then?" I asked, trying to wash over the bitter taste in my mouth.
"How did you think?" Amara crossed her arms and stared back.
Ah yes, the dragon.
Fuck!
"Let's just leave." I wasn't in the mood to converse anymore. I didn't even want to ask the questions I had about Blood Monarch. I was just... forlorn.
Amara sighed and put her hands in the air. "Ok, my mistake. I should've known you wouldn't know about things like these. I shouldn't have been so blunt."
"It's fine." I waved her off.
"No, it's not." She cut me off. "Listen, you said you want us to be friends. It's just that I found it funny because I understand the true implications behind our bond."
That intrigued me. I asked, "And what are those?"
"I'm not as real as you're."
"You look pretty real to me."
She shook her head. "No, that's not what I meant. Soul bond is a serious concern, and the one we have between us is something that even I can't understand properly."
I frowned, feeling confused.
Amara continued. "Basically, my soul depends on yours. You die, I die. But more than that, we are essentially a singular existence, and that has consequences."
"Like what?" I pressed.
"Like we would never be able to separate from each other. And I won't get to voice my concerns, and they wouldn't matter. So when you said we should be friends, I found it funny because it felt forced. That's all."
While that was a lot to unpack, I still wanted a confirmation from her.
"So, do you want to be friends?"
A part of me found her antics annoying; another part of me tried to be understanding. And I could no longer feel any resentment or anger.
Amara avoided my eyes and shrugged, and that drew a smile from me.
Noting the increase from 18 to 26% only made my grin wider.
Maybe today hadn't turned out so bad after all.
