Locked Legacies

Chapter XIX: Ignorance is bliss

 "The elements are what Greek philosophers explain as the components of the world," he paced across the room, reciting the words to Faylinn.

They were both in Mystichut, dismantling the newly acquired information from the cave. Faylinn was sitting on the chair, following his restless body with her eyes as she calmly laid back. "What you are trying to tell me is that there is a fifth element which is not quite an element? It's just... the world."

Augustus nodded furiously, fidgeting with the third key that was hanging around his neck, "Exactly, it's the combination of all the elements. But there is a dragon of... World. How can there be a dragon of World?"

The girl shrugged, laughing lightly at his desperation. "I'm just enjoying watching your brain being rattled."

"I don't understand how yours isn't!"

"Ah, sometimes it is better to know little."

"But knowledge is power."

"And ignorance is bliss," she said in satisfaction, "You are my first source of deep dragon knowledge, you see. Meanwhile, you... Your whole belief system is falling apart, Crown Prince," she sighed, staring at the paper he had handed her, on which all he had seen was written down. "Look, we'll figure it out eventually. In the meantime, let's pretend it is some sort of fifth element."

He hummed in approval, swishing his hand in the air, signaling that he was having trouble putting two and two together, so it was up to her to continue the conversation and figure something important out.

"You're annoying, you know that? Your coping mechanism is exasperating."

He scoffed, "Well, I apologize if my existential crisis is an inconvenience."

"Apology accepted," she replied cockily, yet the boy wasn't amused by her jokes this time, for his mind was on something else. "So, what's our conclusion from all this? Dragons, five elements, humans..."

"I don't know, that the world and humans come from dragons?"

"Wha—? How did you even think of that?" she stumbled over her words, a frown on her eyebrows as she tried to wrap her head around his way of thinking, "I... No. I was going for something way less chronological. I don't think it's telling the story of how humans came to be... Or whatever that idea was—"

"Ouch?"

"—I think it's trying to show more about the relationship between them and us."

His hand stopped toying with the piece of metal, now holding firmly onto it as he finally turned to look at her. She was onto something, he thought. "Meaning?"

"Maybe it symbolizes that the dragons communicate with us through the elements."

"But we already know that."

"Yeah, and I don't think that a person hundreds of years ago painted on the walls of an ancient cave based on what two people know now."

He groaned, theatrically letting himself fall onto the floor, first sitting down and then lying back. It was a slow and painful realization; his once thrilling discovery had provided more questions than answers. "That would have been optimal, though."

"Yes, it would have been," she chuckled, dropping the papers onto the desk after Augustus patted the spot next to him, inviting her to lie down. By that moment, it had become their signature position. It could even be considered, in a way, something similar to their love language; it was a way to share a small bubble of intimacy. No matter if it was the hundredth time they did it, they both felt certain warmth in their chests whenever they shared those moments.