- Episode 24
Dominic nodded several times.
"Yes. Yes. It's me. It's okay..."
"It is. The Dragon's Heart."
The Dragon's Heart.
Dominic jumped up and took his coat. He took it off and covered Adelheid.
And he ran toward the dragon's corpse. With every breath he took and exhaled, all sorts of thoughts mingled.
Among them, the thought that flashed most intensely through his mind was by far only one. 'If I shatter the dragon's heart like this, what comes next?' He knew the answer to that.
It was okay even if Adelheid could never be by his side again.
It was okay even if she reached the death she wanted.
However, what breaks his heart is that there was nothing he could do, absolutely nothing he could do.
He knew that Adelheid wanted eternal rest. He knew that this was the only way.
However, knowing that reason and feeling were separate stories.
Regardless of his emotions, Dominic ran.
It is better for his heart to ache and his mind to be hurt.
Even if he's held captive by this memory for the rest of his life and has a leash tied to this emotion, he would rather that be.
Even if it seems unbearable, that is better. It is a consolation for her life, a shallow understanding of the long years, and an apology for his mistakes.
It is merely a small gesture that one can offer.
Dominic ran.
Werner, the Dragon of the Curtain, was asleep beneath a tree; Reginus, the Dragon of the Morning, was asleep at the edge of a cliff; Agalé, the Dragon of the Ancestors, was asleep inside a cave; and Callesius, the Dragon of the Nine Heavens, was asleep with his heart torn out from his split chest. It was the trace of Dominic.
And the master of the mountain, the red dragon, Calecresaol, who governs the times, was asleep on the highest rock at the summit.
Even in his eyes, Adelheid was living at the tail end of her life.
If Adelheid breathes her last before dragon heart is shattered, she returns to the beginning with all these memories, and Dominic returns to the beginning having forgotten all these memories.
It was the thing he feared the most.
He had to do it before that.
After a few jumps, Dominic grabbed a branch and leaped onto the rock.
Grabbed again, jumped up, leaped, ran, and took a step.
He climbed the rocks layer by layer. Before long, he finally reached the highest point. Then, he drew his sword right before the dragon's coiled eyes.
His biggest fear is that he might forget all of this.
Dominic walked toward the dragon's heart. He adjusted his body spacing and positioned himself. He was imposing and sharp-edged.
He was afraid that he would forget all of Adelheid's words, expressions, and emotions, and hurt her again.
And he thrust the sword into the dragon's chest.
He's afraid of repeating the same mistake.
He put strength into his arm and slashed straight to the right.
He was so scared of it that he couldn't bear it.
Because he's so afraid of that.
Blood soaked in warmth in the face and body. It jumped out loud.
The time of the dragon that died a thousand years ago had stopped at that moment, so although it was dead, it seemed as though it were alive.
Dominic slashed the dragon's chest several times. As he grabbed the long wound with one hand and pulled it open, blood gushed out.
He thrust the sword into it, cutting the muscles and severing the blood vessels.
He stepped on the torn skin and pushed his upper body inside.
He severed and cut off everything that wrapped the dragon's heart, and at the end of the countless knife cuts, he finally witnessed a red heart.
Dominic thrust the sword in just as it was. Blood gushed out mercilessly.
He stabbed him time and time again. Swallowing the screams buried deep in his throat, he stabbed and stabbed until his heart was torn to shreds.
His tightly clenched jaw trembled.
His throat tightened. It felt like his heart was pounding inside his head. His eyes stung, so he squeezed them shut.
Blood covered his whole body; he didn't know if it was because of the dragon or his aching heart.
He didn't know if what was flowing down his face was blood or something else. Ah, he couldn't tell anything.
Dominic thrust the sword back in and tore out the nearly shattered heart with both hands.
A huge heart fell out halfway. It was a blood-red color that hurt his eyes.
He clutched it tightly, lifted his head, took a long breath, and soon walked down under the rock.
With every step, the dragon's blood dripped down.
The long, weary walk came to a halt about ten steps away from Adelheid.
Dominic wiped the blood from his eyes with his sleeve.
Her gray hair swayed in the fairly rough wind.
"... Ugh."
A groan bordering on pain escaped her lips involuntarily. Then, she groaned as if being strangled.
It seemed like her consciousness was flickering on and off.
Dominic clutched the heavy dragon's heart tightly and moved on again.
The Mountain of Time was such a place. Making time flow, making time stop, showing time, turning time back...
Make time stop.
Dominic, holding the dragon's heart, had seen his years almost come to a standstill. However, Adelheid's time flowed. It flowed without stopping.
Like a child, like a young woman, like a middle-aged woman, she had the appearance of a complete old woman.
The difference was that she was no longer an old woman facing death. It was after that.
The years slowly turned back, starting from Adelheid's toes.
A halo of light wandering the mountains of time concentrated on her and scattered with the wind.
All the years of the world, except for her and Dominic, were going back.
It was too late. Before Dominic could plunge his sword into the heart of the Dragon of Ages, she passed away.
The thing he feared most was happening.
Adelheid returns to the beginning with all these memories, while Dominic returns to the beginning having forgotten all these memories.
He tightened her grip on the dragon's heart. What would happen if I let go of this? If I let go, would I forget everything?
It is only now that I have looked you straight in the eye. It is only now that I stand at the exit, reaching out my hand to you, and finally opening my mouth.
Dominic slowly knelt down.
And with his remaining hand, he held Adelheid's hand as she faded away, met her gaze in her blue eyes behind her closed eyelids, and whispered softly.
“...I was foolish.”
The halo of light had already risen to the upper half of Adelheid's body.
Dominic continued speaking with difficulty in a trembling voice.
"I have sinned against you. I could not speak. Adelheid"
A streak of warmth flows over the blood-stained cheek.
He hesitated for a long time, and after hesitating again, when he could no longer bear it, he spat out the words that had risen to the top of his throat.
"...I don't want to forget."
None of that...
At first glance, he wondered if it was a dream. But as he spoke it aloud, reality blinded him to a cruel degree.
Will I forget her expression, her voice, and the conversation we shared?
I will come to forget the world I came to know, even if only partially. Will I forget my mistake?
Will I ever forget this feeling? Will I ever forget even this aching heart, just like this?
How many times has Adelheid been forgotten, forgotten, and forgotten?
For him, it would end with forgetting, but for Adelheid, it was not.
She will likely go on living with all her forgotten memories. It felt as if his insides had been ripped apart haphazardly.
The wind blows without ceasing. Suppressing a groan, he took in the final moments of her life with his two eyes.
He captured it again and again as if he would never forget it.
Dominic bent down and brought his lips close to the back of Adelheid's hand, hesitated briefly, and finally pulled away without touching her. She did not allow it.
Adelheid's fingertips were slowly fading away. In the form of an old woman who had lived countless years and received them back, she flew away ceaselessly and vanished.
Before long, his grip on the growing hand became empty.
Dominic stared at the scene to the very end without moving.
He kept watching until every single strand of hair was gone.
Finally, the cluster of light that had been tangled around Adelheid scattered in all directions.
Only Dominic's clothes that had covered her remained on the floor.
Dominic knelt down, tilted his head back, and covered his face with his blood-stained hands.
"... Ugh."
A muffled sound burst out from his palm.
His throat tightened to the point of despair. How could things be this, so tragic? How could it be this painful?
The debris clinging to the heart painfully scraped against the entire body.
He felt like his neck had been snapped.
Dominic straightened his head and composed his ragged breathing.
He gently stroked the empty ground. With trembling hands, he picked up her clothes.
There wasn't a shred of warmth. He forced his limp body to move and staggered to his feet.
Looking around, the heart of the Dragon of the Nine Heavens, which had been torn out to seize the victory in the previous war, was slowly regenerating.
Even the years of the dragon were returning.
It felt like his mind was going completely blank.
Dominic looked down at his body. It was fading away just as slowly, but clearly.
He couldn't breathe. From his clenched hand, Calecresaol's shattered heart was pounding.
The master of this mountain, the dragon that governs the passage of time.
That heart was turning back the years of the world.
He felt like he vaguely understood. The reason why the mountain, which had been quiet during Dominic's time, made time flow, stopped time, showed time, and returned time.
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