“I’m not going back anymore. Hurry, and make the most out of this day.” Nathan followed me again. “Aren’t you going to spend your final hours with someone else?”
“And who would that be?” Nathan faintly smiled. “All of our family members are dead. You’re my only family and my only friend left,” he replied before he motioned his hands. In an instant, the three white horses which were pulling the carriage started running.
“I’m sorry, Alex,” he said in a broken voice. “I’m so sorry I failed you.”
My eyes watered once more. More than eight years had passed since he failed to pass through the portal by himself. His body couldn’t handle his new powers. We planned everything carefully but he didn’t listen to me. I told him not to rush going back, to give the dragons some time to get used to him, but he returned earlier than planned.
I was fortunate before that the dragons seemed to favor me. They didn’t give me a hard time but that was not the case for Nathan. The dragons were in chaos when I transferred my powers to him. All of them resisted to be transferred. It took me weeks to finally be able to transfer the three dragons successfully.
That was one of the spells I did before I proposed to Alison. But to be able to do that, I had to link my body with Nathan. That was the only way to calm the dragons, to still allow them to feel my presence. Because for some reason, they seemed to be against their new master.
My plan was to remove the link after they were used to being around Nathan.
But he broke his promise and went to the portal without informing me. According to him, he received a report that Arnav’s brothers were furious about what I did to him. They retaliated and chose to kill our relatives in the prison and they threatened to keep killing Armethians if I wouldn’t show up before them.
I may have been banished, but I had the access to the key towards the portal. Nathan stole that key from Arnav’s men that’s why they knew I could return if I want to.
The Chandler siblings had taken people’s lives so lightly. They killed people as if they were only killing insects. That’s why Nathan who was burning from so much hatred at that time, tried crossing the portal. When I found out, I wanted to sever our links before he could step in but the second I held Nathan, the portal swallowed us both back to Arameth.
When I opened my eyes, he and I were already lying on the shore but I couldn’t find the portal back to the human realm anymore.
I could still remember how the bell rang when the people had sensed our arrival. I heard screams.
“Alexandros Sormont is back! Alert the king! Alert everyone!”
And as if on cue, the Chandlers came rushing along with their hundreds of soldiers. And since Nathan couldn’t handle the dragons, I had no other choice, but to transfer all the dragons back to myself. It was painful as if somebody was cutting my body in half but I endured it.
“We don’t need to fight the Chandlers, Nathan,” I whispered. “We just need to get out of this place, find our parents as quickly and as quietly as possible, and bury their bodies so their souls can rest in peace. And then we’ll create a plan to open the portal. We can’t stay long in this place, Nate.
“This kingdom has become too dark and too violent. In our quest to bring back the light in Arameth, we could end up swallowing all of its darkness. I know you and our family believed in me so much, but you, guys, have been wrong all this time. I may have the elemental power, but I can’t change everything. I can’t do things on my own. Change has to be the citizens choice. But obviously, to change for the better was not included in their options. Look, I know you’re grieving but so am I, Nathan.”
I didn’t give my cousin the time to think. When the enemies’ horses started running towards us, I grabbed Nathan’s hand and teleported. But there were entrapment spells all over the area as if they had already guessed what we were planning.
I was forced to appear in the middle of the road where several guards were already waiting. The Chandler brothers were also there.
We were surrounded by blue stones, all of those were enchanted stones. They were used against people who could teleport. The funny thing was, I was the one who taught the guards about those stones because I created them myself. I didn’t know that there were some stones left.
Not long after, the council arrived.
All of them raised their hands. In a blink of an eye, the road was destroyed. They didn’t care even if there were civilians and soldiers who were hurt during the process.
“You all had a choice. But why… why do you still serve these kinds of rulers?” I asked them, disbelief was all over my eyes. I suddenly felt sorry for myself. I shouldn’t have wasted my time and energy trying to save these people before.
And then the realization hit me. These people will keep waging war unless one of us dies. Even if I had dragons, they were confident to fight me because I was still a half-human unlike them who were immortals.
“We prepared for your return because we know you would not be able to refuse our invitation. When did Alexandros Sormont ever refused a challenge anyway? Besides, we know you would want to see your family’s corpses,” Ranavus said, Arnav’s eldest brother. “We still haven’t buried them because we were waiting to bury you along with them. What do you think about that? Isn’t it a nice idea?"