125 | fear; a little exposure

Kaden waited outside the towering tree trunk, a wide force of nature that rooted into the ground and branched out all over the domain, like a beacon of life.

Deep within the oaken walls lay an ancient, trembling power. A fading power.

Kaden could feel it.

Wisteria and Noah had entered alone. Disturbing a dying elder was already taboo—Noah was the exception as the ideal successor to the domain.

He'd been hesitant, still, Kaden knew from the way the dragon's straight eyebrows knitted and grimaced. The daunting reality of becoming feared and worshiped was not one Noah craved.

And yet he entered that tree pulsing with life, ready to claim his birth-given responsibility.

Had Kaden not dragged Noah into his mess, perhaps the dragon would've roamed free for a while longer. Unbound, able to live among the humans or other species without judgment.

He resisted the thought that pulsed through his veins like a constant reminder.

He resisted all the darkness that swarmed, taunting in his mind. Because he was standing there, wasn't he? And a life without Noah was not one he wanted to live.

Noah, an Elder of one of the dragon domains. A creature carved of power from birth.

And what was he?

Niklas came beside him, chewing loudly on an apple-like fruit. In these lands, it was unknown what one could be eating. The chewing was so loud that it made Kaden unable to think.

He looked sideways, seeing the chewed-up food in his friend's mouth. "...there's a thing called manners."

"And there's a thing called not over-thinking, but you don't seem to be aware of it." Niklas gulped noisily, consuming the rest of the fruit within seconds. He grinned. "I feel like it'll be the end of everything soon. What will you do after?"

It was a thing they'd spoken about before, but never had it been so near, at the tips of his fingers.

This final collision against Reed and everything would end.

"I'll follow Noah." Kaden's voice was quiet, barely daring to dream of something so beautiful. "Whatever he wants to do."

"That's one thing, and your aspirations are another. His dreams, I hate to say it, aren't yours. You're not Noah and Kaden, you're Noah and Kaden."

"You just repeated the same thing twice."

"It's a matter of emphasis! Point is," exasperated Niklas, a scolding hitch to his tone. "You're individuals, no matter how reliant you may be on one another."

His words drifted, and he plopped onto a large, protruding root that ran along the scope of the ground. Kaden stared and walked over to sit beside him.

Niklas sighed into his hands. "I made a mistake, Kaden. Seriously. I'm... sorry. For bringing you back. I thought I was saving you when I was really saving myself."

The guilt and horror still throbbed in the depths of his mind, the torrent of emotions when he discovered the truth of Kaden's identity.

His mother's last wish whispered like a faint taunting.

The justification that they were doing everything for Kaden's sake—that was wrong. They wanted to remedy their regrets and guilt for all they were unable to do.

When the deceased in question, as he had for his entire life, was pulled in the flowing waters of others' intentions.

"I can't turn back time again and I don't want you dead either, Kaden. It's selfish of me even to ask, but I'd really like you to find something you want to do."

Kaden's gaze was slightly cold. "Is that to satisfy your feelings of guilt?"

"Yes." Niklas looked up without hesitation, sighing helplessly before he cracked an uneasy smile. "I can't say it isn't. But I do want your happiness—it is technically an excuse, but it's true. I wouldn't have done anything I did if your misery had been guaranteed again."

He had the option of giving up.

Without a blessing, without ability, and few leads to the uncertainty of Kaden's future—how could somebody so useless alter the course of fate?

But if he did nothing, that weathered soul he'd forced into existence again would be alone.

The only thing that kept Niklas was giving up after waking to a newfound weakness and nobody by his side was the happiness of Kaden Chauvet.

Whether it was right or wrong, whether he sinned turning back time, this was an absolute fact.

Niklas truly desired Kaden's happiness.

Kaden couldn't pretend to be angry for too long—he had been during their scuffle, but the feelings slowly dissipated.

Perhaps there would always be a bitter resentment in having to repeat everything when death would've come easier: a faster relief, a satisfaction in an end.

His eyes closed, memories flickering behind his eyelids. All the memories he made, all the experiences and people he'd seen. He could not deny that he owed much of his present reality to Niklas.

The silly friend of his that always had something to say, knew when to be quiet and when to be loud.

Every action and word carefully thought out. In the past years, how much of Niklas' life had been lived for Kaden's sake?

"I'm still absorbing everything. Give me time, Niklas."

Niklas let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He examined Kaden's micro-expressions, he was good at that after all, and sighed.

Because Kaden wasn't lying. And Niklas didn't know if he was relieved or guilty. Knowing the reasons why Kaden couldn't hate him—was it out of obligation or friendship or both?

"We all think too much, I think." Kaden took the opportunity to get revenge, flicking Niklas' smooth forehead with the quirk of a mischievous smile. "And we get so little out of it."

Niklas clasped his hand over his head, aghast. "You're damaging a national treasure."

"How unfortunate. I suppose that downgrades you into national trash."

"There's no trash that sparkles like I do."

"I can name one."

"Go on, then."

"Something called Niklas Astors?"

"You cheeky little..."

The wonderful twist of Niklas' expression made Kaden laugh out loud, a bright and short sound that seemed to linger in the air.

Niklas fell silent for a second before he frowned and lunged forward, aggressively ruffling Kaden's bed of hair in vengeance. Kaden stiffened slightly and scoffed, shoving the other man off him.

High above, a flock of small birds soared across the skies, the aurora glow reflecting off their wings.

Their bodies were small against the endless expanse, but their fluffy wings batted powerfully, carrying them far away, to a land unknown.

Holly's head of golden hair appeared around the corner as she dangled a helpless rabbit by the ears, grinning.

Arlo followed behind her and was both delighted and exhausted. Upon seeing Kaden, he was fueled with energy in moments and waved eagerly. Kaden thought his arm might fall off with the vigor he was waving.

Niklas and Kaden shared a glance.

Niklas hesitated. "What do you think she plans to do with that rabbit?"

Kaden blinked. "Eat it?"

"No, no, no. There's no way. I'm not cooking that! These are also sacred lands, who in the right mind would—"

"It's Holly."

The two words explained everything and Niklas' eyes rounded in terror at the approaching woman and dangling rabbit as if seeing a terrible future in his eyes.

Holly recognized it in moments, and it didn't help that Niklas exaggerated his expressions for dramatic effect.

She rolled her eyes. "One. Whisper-shouting is essentially just shouting. Two. I am not eating it, I just befriended it."

Kaden met the frightened and helpless black pupils of the plump rabbit that looked at him pleadingly, a round tail drooping and short legs swaying in the air.

He thought he imagined a tear dripping down its fur in a human-like fashion. Perhaps that wasn't a simple rabbit at all.

He looked away, feeling as if his soul was being warped into those black pupils. And there was only one black gaze he wanted to be trapped by—the rabbit's was certainly not the one.

Holly leaped up on the uneven ground, landing before where they sat. She peered over at the gaping entrance of the tree, a darkness that seemed to have no end.

"How long has he been in there?"

Niklas yawned, reaching out to neatly grab the rabbit from Holly's hands as he distracted her with conversation. It ended up sitting on his lap, large and round eyes blinking warily. Niklas poked its wet nose.

"It's been a couple of hours now. You don't suppose we can pop our head in and tell him we're getting bored?"

Holly snickered. "I'd like to see you try."

Niklas raised his eyebrows, feigning offense. "You're looking to see me get beaten."

Kaden scoffed, his eyes wandering as Arlo happily sat beside him, stealing glances. "Why waste Bellamy's time when I'm all too willing to help you out?"

"Unfortunately, dear little and cute brother, that isn't my inclination."

Kaden grimaced and Arlo, after observing Kaden's expression, quickly put on a scowl and glared at Niklas. "Why do you have to twist things to have that implication?"

Niklas stared at the teenager who was copying Kaden's mood and shook his head.

"Why do you have to abuse my tender heart as you do?"

"It slips from my mind sometimes."

"What does?"

"That you have one." Kaden looked over, eyes gazing as if the person reflected in them was a fish. "A heart."

"I'm very full of heart, I'll have you know!"

"Full of yourself, that's for certain."

Holly cheered Kaden on from the sidelines and Arlo's fierce devotion to Kaden was displayed for everyone to see. Even the rabbit in Niklas' lap blinked and hopped onto the other man's lap.

Niklas fell silent. "Hey now..."

The ground rumbled, a low growl coming from the center of the landscape and tearing into the air. All four froze.

A pulse of light throbbed from the root's interior, a surge of power cascading throughout the land. In the cracks of the old bark, light seeped in a dark purple. The colour of nightmares and illusion, of dreamers' slumbering delights.

Kaden stood, blinking rapidly as the light reflected into the haze of his green gaze. Niklas, similarly looked in bewilderment, turning his head towards the entrance of the trunk where the light gathered, condensing into an enveloping white.

The entire landscape flickered, ghosting in and out of existence, the roots rumbling and stretching further, deeper into the ground.

In the tree, hundreds of delicate white flowers unfurled, small buds awoken by a twist of time.

Kaden felt both there and not, his body hovering on a wavering line of past, present, and future. It was an odd sensation as if all his bodies in all the lives he'd lived merged, combined into one singular.

Then, a figure emerged from the center point of light, the light parting to reveal a darkness as if it were a drawn curtain.

A tall figure drenched in shadows and darkness stepped out with a withered body in his arms, carefully held. Long, white hair brushed the ground, and when the tips grazed the roots, they crumbled.

Piece by piece, the body fell to millions of delicate particles, drifting to the ground as the earth happily welcomed the pieces home.

Eventually, there was nothing held in the figure's arms.

Kaden's eyes were fixed on the crumbling body that returned to the earth before they flicked up and met a black gaze—no, eyes that stole away the stars in the sky and wove them into their curious darkness.

A shade closer to grey, if one looked closely enough.

There stood a being beyond human senses, a creature of myth and legend that even the Blessed were weary of.

Arlo had stiffened, his feet planted on the ground as if sensing danger and Holly had dashed to Niklas side, fear contorting her features despite her attempt to pretend otherwise. She trembled, unable to hide her fright and Niklas pursed his lips.

The powerful being frowned, lips twisted into disappointment as a gloom layered over his gaze. If a person looked closely, they would see the dragon had taken a step back in retreat.

Then, soft and bemused laughter shattered the tense atmosphere.

Kaden stalked up to the 'terrifying creature' and shamelessly looked him up and down. "Compared to the mythical creature I saw in the lake once, I'd say something is missing."

Noah gazed at him, raising an eyebrow as he recalled their adventure into the night during their stay at the mansion.

"And that is?"

His sharp nails curled in, his chest squeezing.

The dragon was all too aware of his appearance, and more than scaled skin and a pair of jagged wings, he knew how his disposition made one uncomfortable simply by being near.

By accepting who he was, did he ruin everything?

However, Kaden's shoulders relaxed and a glimpse of cheekiness that Noah missed flickered in his smile.

"Missing a little skin exposure."

The dragon snorted, the comment sending all his worries to ashes.

The foot that was retreating took a step closer, leaning in. He crooked a talon, tugging at his shirt—his clothes had been worn and ragged and there had been no time to change.

The light tug loosened his collar, two buttons opening. A prominent collarbone was revealed with a small beauty mark underneath. "Is this enough?"

Kaden refused to back down. He used to be the king of teasing and irritating the dragon—how could he continue to be flustered and awkward? The person best at pretending to be confident was him!

He smiled, tilting his head. "Unfortunately, Bellamy, there's nothing I haven't seen before—"

A hand smacked him in the back of his head that second and Kaden fell forward, colliding into Noah's chest. Behind him, Niklas raised his hand to cover his face with a space between his middle and forefinger.

"Come on, Kaden. There's an audience. Some of us are delicate, beautiful and shy princesses who can't handle watching such things!"

Kaden rubbed his head, frowning. "Where?"

Holly shook her head, mouthing 'please continue' with shining eyes while one hand covered Arlo's face securely. Wisteria had already fled the scene.

Niklas waved. "Right here. Me? Hello?"

"Oh." Kaden gazed at him impassively. "Sorry, princess."

Goosebumps chased up Niklas' arm and he shivered. "Hey, hey. Isn't the difference in treatment—look at your eyes! Your eyes! It's like I'm chopped liver—"

"You aren't?"

"...One of these days I'll cry."

"Go on. Cry."

Obediently, Niklas scrunched up his face and twisted his skin into an ugly wail, choked sobs that sounded like a dying animal coming from the back of his throat.

Holly shook her head with a wistful sigh. "What a waste of a handsome face."