In Conclusion, I Can't Do Anything

In Conclusion, I Can't Do Anything (But I Can Show You That I Really Am A Dragon

Two pairs of feet walking together as they step side by side in sync. Beneath them, the leaves and twigs under the soles of their feet crunch. Solfrid walks barefoot; the hard soil and the thick mud doesn't faze him at all. In their moment of silence, songbirds sing beautiful melodies and crickets chirp.

"Say, Solfrid... I've been wondering... Where were you before you found me, floating in the middle of Hartlake?" asks Siegfried out of nowhere. He swats a bug away with his hand. He clicks his tongue.

Solfrid adjusts the straps of Siegfried's "backpack" (a satchel to him, since he doesn't know what a backpack is) over his shoulders. He ponders about Siegfried's question. "Good question, kid. Where was I? Now you've got me wondering."

The boy snickers again. "You're a kid, too, remember? You act so grown up like you've lived for so long. Have you really?"

"Of course I have! Can you not explain dragons? We are legendary beings capable of living up to a million years! Even I'm considered young for a dragon. 2000 years for us dragons is close to 20 years old for you pathetic humans." Solfrid lashes out again. "How come you still haven't had that drilled into your head, boy?"

"Maybe it's because it's unbelievable. But, if you ask me to, I'll listen."

"Then, will you listen?"

Siegfried smiles warmly. "Sure. Now, what'chu got in store for me, Sol? A crazy story about how you were reincarnated in this world after death? Or maybe you're a runaway chuunibyou, just like me? Exclude the chuunibyou part, though." I also still don't have my crystal... he thinks.

"Please don't call me Sol," he groans. "Now that I think about it, my current situation could be the former half."

The boy stares at Solfrid, astounded. "Ehh...? Wait, really? Are you sure? You didn't hit your head when you went to save me, right? Wait, maybe I'm the one who hit my head... Well, anyways! What happened?"

Solfrid stares up at the canopy overhead. The sky is beginning to darken. "Hmmm... Where should I start... Well, the last thing I remember was my long time nemesis looming over me as I breathed my last dying breath. I'll never forget the sight of him walking away from my dying body towards the blood red moon." He clenches his fist in anger. "I swear I'll get that wretched tree bark back.... Speaking about vengeance, I wonder where my power level is currently at?"

"Erm... Well... I guess you really are a dragon?"

"Does it really take recounting my past experiences to finally convince you? Honestly..."

A lightbulb clicks in Siegfried's mind, and his face lights up. "Oh! I've got an idea! Hey, Solfrid, you told me you were a 'legendary sun dragon,' right? Why don't you try testing out your legendary sun dragon powers on this tree here?" He points to a random tree. It has green, healthy leaves that sway in the wind. It would be a waste if you ever burnt a perfectly fine, good, and healthy tree like that.

"Good idea, Siegfried. It looks like you finally managed to use that half-empty noggin of yours. I wonder if you lost some of your intelligence from nearly drowning."

Siegfried fake-groans in pain. "Ouch... That hurts, you know."

Solfrid walks over to the tree that the boy had pointed at, running his finger across the ridges of the tree bark. Then, he unclasps his left hand then— crackle! A fire emerges from the palm of his hand. The thing is, the fire is only very small. Too small than what he was used to before. He urges the fire to grow bigger, but it doesn't. The dragon-kid-thing-whatever clicks his tongue in annoyance. He presses his palm against the bark of the tree; it leaves only a very small patch of black, charred, and burnt tree bark. The patch reminds him of Caraluna. He hates it.

Thus, out of anger and frustration, Solfried punches the tree. Unfortunately, it did not tip over like he expected, and all that it had done was give him a painful feeling in his knuckles. "What the hell... Why isn't my power working?! I could've— would've— used to knock down a tree with just a step of my foot years ago!"

Siegfried merely watches from afar as the other boy vents out his irritation by stomping on bugs, leaves, and the like. A while later, he finishes up his tantrum and walks back to Siegfried. "So, how is it?" Siegfried says, pretending that he didn't just notice the ball of flame, albeit small, was in Solfrid's palm just a few minutes ago.

Solfrid takes in a deep breath and: "After assessing my power level by testing it out on a tree, I've figured out that my power is only at just a hundredth of my fullest extent. If you're wondering what the most I could do with my full power, I could bring down a whole clan if I wanted. I could excavate this whole forest right now, at full power. Hell, I could even take down my long-time archrival, Caraluna, if I had full power! But, after testing out the extent of the power that's been blessed to me by the sun, I see now how much it's been downgraded over the years. If I were to start conserving my power and drawing in energy from the surroundings around me, it'd still take another thousand years just to reach half of my potential. So..."

The boy stares, smiling without a clue of anything Solfrid had just said right now. "Go on."

He exhales. "In conclusion, I can't do anything."