NOVEL NEXT Chapter 17
Chapter 17: End of the Age of Dragons (1)
The other kids turned back into natural phenomena, and even Erebus ran away.
In that situation, I stared at the other dragons.
Dragons that had morphed from dinosaurs thanks to scales. The kids born from those dragons had flourished and were born as dragons.
There were so many dragons that they practically covered the land.
Most of those dragons had their heads bowed before me.
“Do you even realize what you’ve done wrong?”
I said in a low voice.
But, crickets. Not a single response.
Even if they had thousands of mouths, no answers were coming.
If they knew they were wrong, they should’ve stopped. Why keep making the same mess?
Is it because they’re living beings? Would they really be happy if they shed their biological shells and ditched emotions to become these perfect, emotionless beings?
Then they wouldn’t even be considered living!
I looked at the dragons with sad eyes.
“What on earth should I do with you? How can I accept your wrongdoing? Honestly, I have no clue. What the heck do you want to rot my insides like this?”
If I don’t understand myself, how can I even begin to understand others?
As I was looking down at the dragons, one brave dragon in the front lifted its head.
It was the old blue dragon—the first one to get Thetis’s scales.
“I’m sorry, Creator Dragon.”
“I wasn’t asking for an apology. What on earth did you want that led you to wage such wars?”
Killing them all wouldn’t be tough.
But I didn’t want that.
They were my kids’ creations! They were the offspring of my offspring!
I definitely didn’t want to take their lives.
“We want to become complete beings.”
“Complete beings?”
The blue dragon suddenly dropped this bizarre bomb.
“What exactly do you mean by complete beings? Are you saying you guys are incomplete right now?”
“Shamefully… yes.”
“Huh…”
That body? The one that flies freely, is strong, uses magic like a tap, and breathes fire like a champ?
That’s incomplete?
“So, why do you think you’re incomplete?”
“Even though the Creator Dragon has given us a touch of completeness, we’re still shackled by our bodies and can’t achieve perfect completeness. Our parents said that if they won the war, they’d help us with that.”
“Shackles? The body?”
The blue dragon quietly bowed its head again.
“How can a being that gets hungry, can’t hang on through sleep, and has to mate just to see its offspring be seen as complete? Isn’t being complete about needing nothing at all?”
So, being able to exist all alone—without needing anything—means you’re complete?
“Just like the Creator Dragon, we wish for such completeness too.”
“Is that what you thought was completeness?”
What a bunch of dummies.
Claiming biological instincts are incomplete?
“Do you even know what happens if you give up those things?”
“We think we’d become beings that rely on nothing, existing solely on our own.”
I turned my gaze from the blue dragon and looked around.
“Do you all think the same way?”
To my shock, a large number of dragons nodded in agreement with the old blue dragon.
Seriously? Did they actually believe that?
That being without food, never sleeping, and not seeing kids was completeness?
In what those dragons were calling completeness, I felt a familiar vibe.
If that’s completeness, then I, and my seven kids, are indeed complete.
Oh… is that what this is? These kids want to be like their parents.
They wished to become just like their parents.
It looks like they wanted to transcend and become beings beyond creatures.
I nodded slightly.
So that’s what these kids really wanted, huh?
“Then, what do you actually want to become?”
“Just as the Creator Dragon transformed us, we want to be transformed into even more perfect beings.”
So, when I say “transformed,” am I talking about adjusting their magic ratios?
Right now, the dragons are about 80% natural phenomenon.
Do they want to change that to 100% natural phenomenon?
Do they even know what that means?
Are they seriously saying they want to give up being creatures?
I felt a wave of sadness wash over me.
“Do all of you think the same?”
Many dragons nodded again.
“Are there any of you who don’t want this? Raise your hands.”
A few dragons hesitantly raised their hands.
Actually, some were scolded by their nearby buddies and lowered their hands again.
This is just so sad.
“I see. If that’s your wish.”
I said this without revealing my own sorrow.
“Those who don’t want this, come over here behind me. Over there! Don’t push other kids around. This choice must be yours and yours alone. You shouldn’t be swayed by others.”
So, a few dragons came to stand behind me.
Young dragons—fresh out of hatchlings.
“Looks like it’s just you kids.”
I said with sad eyes.
“Why are you so sad?”
“How can I not be sad?”
The kind of completeness these kids were yearning for. It’s nothing like what they envisioned.
How could I not be sad watching them walk blindly into a poor choice?
If they had bothered to listen to me, maybe there wouldn’t even be wars like this!
“All right then. Let’s get started.”
After sending the little dragons behind me, I cast magic on the bowed dragons.
I tweaked their internal ratios of natural phenomena and biological aspects, cranking up the natural phenomena ratio from 80% to 100%.
Then, the dragons lying on the ground started squirming this way and that.
“Gah…!”
“Cough! Huhck…!”
“Kahak! Stop…!”
The dragons let out cries of pain.
But what can I do about it?
It’s about peeling off souls and minds stuck in those bodies. It’s gotta hurt.
That’s the price of shedding the body.
The dragons dug their claws into the ground. Their vibrant scales got covered in dirt and grime.
Yet, the magic wouldn’t stop.
When their hearts stopped, and their blood ceased flowing, only then did it happen.
The dragons broke free from their bodies, and they were reborn as beings possessing only natural phenomena and spirit.
[Is this… completeness…?]
[What’s this power…? It feels like I can do anything now…]
The dragons, unraveled from their bodies, briefly got high on that power.
Maybe it felt good breaking free from heavy, annoying bodies?
How could they not realize that’s the armor that protects their spirit and soul?
The anomaly began quietly.
[Hmm?]
The bodies of the dragons turned into different natural phenomena gradually started losing shape.
[Creator Dragon! Something seems off!]
[My… my body is dissipating…!]
I could only speak in a sad tone.
“Did you not understand how fragile your soul and spirit are without the armor they call a body?”
Body and spirit, soul—they are inseparably linked!
If you forcefully pull them apart, what do you think happens?
[Creator Dragon!!!! Please help us!!!!]
[I did not mean for this!!!!]
[I don’t want this… I don’t want to die!!!]
“It’s not about dying.”
I said in a voice drenched in sorrow.
“It’s about transforming into shapes your souls can withstand.”
Even though my kids gained power from the scales, that came from their original bodies as dinosaurs.
Once they shed those strong bodies, they wouldn’t maintain the same power.
The spiritual bodies of the dragons that morphed into natural phenomena began to shrink down to a manageable size.
As time passed and all the energy drained out, the dragons transformed into… tiny beings filled with pure natural energy.
Their forms resembled their parents… almost like elements.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
The Goddess of Life spoke to the foolish ones.
“Do you truly believe that by casting off this life, you will achieve completeness?”
To which the foolish one replied.
“Yes, indeed. If we break free from the prison of the body, we’ll truly become whole beings.”
“Do you genuinely believe that?”
“Without a hint of falsehood, that is our belief.”
The Goddess of Life, saddened, held the foolish ones’ hands and questioned once more.
“That body, that life, isn’t a prison confining you, but an armor protecting you. How can you reject it?”
“How can armor incite meaningless desires? If we escape this prison, won’t we shed all those meaningless cravings and become whole?”
Realizing that the foolish ones were firm in their conviction, the Goddess of Life understood there was no swaying their will.
“Does everyone share this view?”
No answer.
“Truly, does every single one of you think the same?”
Again, silence.
“One last question. Is this the collective will of all?”
Then, twelve foolish beings among them raised their hands. The Goddess of Life gathered them.
And the Goddess of Life said.
“Come behind me. Witness what comes of their foolishness.”
With tears in her eyes, she glanced at the foolish ones and took the life from their bodies.
– An excerpt from the Church of Life.