Odeara - The Era Of Embers

Chapter 20 - Duiava

Vasa : W-where am I? It's just dark! What's going on?!

Duiava : Silence.

Vasa chokes on his words, and they can't leave his mouth.

Duiava : Is this my fate? To be stuck with the son of my murderer? You sit before the White Dragon, Duiava, child.

The dragon emerges from the dark, and into Vasa's view. His heartbeat drums like an earthquake.

Duiava : That on your hip. A trophy he made of my nail, isn't it? Speak.

Vasa : Y-yes.

Duiava : There is no escaping this then. I am dead. My soul has been merged with yours. Know this, boy. I am not male nor female. Both. You will wake up a hermaphrodite. A consequence of taking my soul.

Vasa : T-then I can't be a warrior!

Duiava : Then prove your kin wrong. It seems as if it were a mere moment here, but a week has already passed.

Vasa : A w-week?!

Duiava : Your consciousness is numb. When it will wake is unknown.

Vasa : I'm in a coma...

Duiava : We have time to spare until then. Your name.

Vasa : Vasa.

Duiava : Your father was a good warrior. Hopefully you will live up to him, soon. As I flew in the skies high above the land, I could see an island of people. Laminated armor, folded steel. They are preparing for some kind of war, an invasion perhaps.

Vasa : There's more people out there?

Duiava : Your kind dot every continent. The one is spoke of was a jungle. There are two that resemble plains and plateaus. Far east there is a vast desert. They interest me the most. Curved blades, excessive use of soft metals such as gold and silver. Ornate, sometimes functionless. I have seen what this world has to show since human kind were nothing but thoughtless apes. To be felled by one, disgraceful.

Vasa : My father is strong!

Duiava : I don't deny that. He bit my neck, crushed my scales. Pried a talon from my hand, and finally consumed my flesh. Had he not transformed, I'd have ripped him apart with that swing. He understood how to fight, adapting his strategy. I assume he is no longer part of this world.

Vasa : No, he isn't. He died of sickness.

Duiava : Ha. Then you carry the torch from where he left off. I've faced against a formidable opponent, about two thousand three hundred years ago. A man named Garrius, from one of the other continents I spoke of. Your father crushed my scales, but this man sliced through them. Like raw flesh with a calloused crust. It stung, and that feeling hadn't been felt until your father fought me.

Vasa : What happened to Garrius?

Duiava : I let him live. I granted him a country. What he has done with it now? I am unsure. The country located on that continent may be what he started, and his descendants were successful.

Vasa : This is interesting and all but... I need to wake up.

Duiava : Hm. Perhaps. A month has passed now.

Vasa : I don't understand, why can't I just wake up?

Duiava : Hermaphrodite. Your body might need to heal. The changes might have taken its toll. Just understand, we will both be in your body. It's as much as it's mine as it is yours.

Vasa and Duiava sit in silence. Duiava holds Vasa's face, inspecting him.

Duiava : It will fit you. You already look like a middle ground between the two sexes.

Vasa : Doesn't mean I like it. Not like I have a choice though.

Duiava : Fair enough, boy.

They sit in silence, occasionally Duiava tells stories of their life. Months begin to pass, and years by the hour. Duiava keeps count, and watches as Vasa sleeps. As the fifth year looms, Vasa begins to have a seizure. Duiava watches as the child is dissipating and he completely merges with Duiava.

Duiava : It seems I shall lead our life. Fret not, Vasa.