“Stop.”
The dragon of living madra froze in midair. It trembled and shook as it clashed its will against Lindon’s, but Lindon looked back to Ziel and Orthos.
“So he’s self-aware. That’s unfortunate. We’ll have to persuade him to cooperate.”
“Whatever you wish!” the Remnant cried. “Please don’t punish me for what my former self did.”
“What did your former self do?” Lindon asked curiously.
“I don’t know, I don’t remember! Whatever he did, I’m sorry!”
Lindon shifted the debris over his head and created an exit in the levitating pieces of castle, showing Ziel the sky for the first time in what felt like a year.
“I’m not going to kill you, don’t worry,” Lindon assured him. “But you are coming with us.”
The ancient dragon Remnant bobbed his head like a puppy. “Sure, yes, whatever you say.”
Lindon’s perception swept them, and it was at the same time as vast as an ocean and gentle as a breeze. That scared Ziel. It didn’t feel like Lindon anymore.
“Good, you found more of Emala’s madra than I expected. I worried you wouldn’t have enough time.” Lindon looked off into the distance. “We should leave, though. The Monarchs might be coming for us.”
“Is that who pushed you so far?” Orthos asked. He was already floating up under Lindon’s power.
“That was the Silent King.”
“You survived, I see.”
“I did.”
[And guess who else survived?] Dross popped out in front of Orthos’ eye, and Orthos tried to swim backwards in midair.
“Gah! Get away!” Orthos shouted. “Are you trying to stop my heart?”
Dross spread his tentacles. [It was a surprise! It’s me! I’m back!]
Orthos eyed him suspiciously. “You’ve been back for weeks.”
[Yes, I guess…well, I guess that’s true. And in a sense, I was never gone, but in another sense…hm. It doesn’t have as much of an impact to say ‘I returned to my previous configuration,’ does it?]
Only then did Ziel realize that Dross’ pebbly skin was a lighter shade of purple than it had been before. He had noticed that Dross hadn’t made any reference to dying or ‘the inky oblivion of the grave’ or whatever else, but he had assumed it was only a matter of time.
“Does that mean you won’t sound like a death Remnant’s nephew anymore?” Orthos asked.
Dross covered his eye with one tendril. [If we could just…remove that memory, set it aside, and we could all pretend I was like this the entire time, I would be grateful.]
“Done,” Orthos rumbled. “So what do you mean by saying you’re back?”
[Nothing at all.] Dross brightened, meaning he literally started glowing. [Oh, but I can do this now!]
A purple-white halo appeared over Dross’ head.
Without expression, Ziel called up his Broken Crown. A black halo, split in the middle, hovered over his head. One of his prizes from the Uncrowned King tournament.
Lindon saw what he’d done and called up two white Broken Crowns of his own. They were stolen, but they worked well enough for this purpose.
Dross’ eye narrowed. [I see through you both. I know what you’re doing. Ha ha. The new guy doesn’t think it’s funny, do you?]
Noroloth’s Remnant had been trying to do his best impression of wind aura, fading into the background as though he didn’t exist. When Dross pointed him out, he flinched.
“I’m not…an expert on human humor,” the Remnant hedged.
Lindon looked to him with black-and-white eyes.
“…but that was such a witty joke that even I can appreciate it, with my limited experience.”
Ziel was pretty sure Lindon didn’t care one way or another, but Dross winked out of existence and reappeared an inch from the Remnant’s face.
[I’ll remember this, new guy.]
The dragon-spirit shuddered.
Ziel had reached ground level by that point and started walking toward the labyrinth entrance in the distance. Lindon walked next to him, letting Orthos down onto the sand.
His black-and-white eyes looked up to the sky and Lindon’s expression hardened. “We need to move.”
Ziel nodded in response and prepared an acceleration script.
Dross floated next to him, so Ziel turned to the spirit.
“Welcome back,” he said.
Dross beamed.
If Yerin hadn’t been prepared to catch a powerful blood-spirit, she wouldn’t have been able to carry the Blood Sage’s Remnant.