Dragon Deep

Chapter 22 - Renevyere

Ren’s posture seemed to straighten and he looked up at me. I thought about the times when I just fell apart in face of conflicts and I steeled myself.

“I honestly didn’t think I could trick you for this long, Aria.”

“What?” I couldn’t. I couldn’t panic. I had to be calm.

“So naïve.” I controlled my breaths.

“Your name isn’t Ren, is it not?” How could he do this to me? We were supposed to trust each other. We were familiar and owner. We were supposed to be… I squashed those feelings mercilessly. Weakness was unacceptable. Especially since I cried because Bain said nasty things to me.

“No…It is not.”

“Who are you then? Why did you do it then?” Ren, always advising me on what to do, subtle or not. Even the time when I scolded him for being cocky, was he pretending? Was it all just an act?

“This is unlike you. You would usually be freaking out by now.” He mused out loud. I would not deny that actually. Breathe. Be calm.

“I trusted you.” I couldn’t help but let anger seep into my voice.

“Like I said, naïve.” This creature in front of me was not Ren. He was just somebody I didn’t even know. How could I have been so absorbed by the idea of the strong relationship between familiars and owners!? It was like saying love in reality would be a typical fairy tale. He was right, he was always right.

“Who are you?”

“There is no reason to give you my name, but I can tell you I represent the only thing that makes utter despair possible.” I could figure that out some other time. Now, I had more important things to do.

“You’re not really a chinchilla, are you?” I asked suspiciously.

“No, I am not. I’m an illusionist which means I can make illusions.”

“Why have you been…tricking me?” Just saying that out loud tore my heart inside. I believed him! I trusted him and he dar- Stop. I had to stop. Think this out rationally.

“Do you really want to hear this? Considering your matur-”

“Quit it. You deceived me enough!” I snapped.

“If you are hoping for me to tell you that you are special, you are so gravely mistaken. You are the most average girl I could ever think of. Very mediocre, in fact, considering you really don’t have a familiar.”

The shock of that somehow didn’t hit me. Maybe somewhere deep down, my instincts told me that Ren hadn’t been my real familiar.

“So what are you doing here, spending your time with a weak, helpless girl?” I spat out.

“You see, part of my job is ensuring miracles continue to exist, even in the face of all perils and challenges. And I will-”

“Get to the point.”

“Renevyere Luminova Stellaruis is a Mirror dragon, still in an egg. His real owner was, very unfortunately, murdered by Faris. So I was tasked to find a replacement. You have no idea how hard it is to find somebody that doesn’t even have a familiar to be a foster owner. I mean, do you know how insanely difficult it is not to have a familiar? It was really just finding the most pathetic individual in this world. It was an unimaginably difficult task…surprisingly. But I succeeded anyway.” He smirked. Do not to let his words affect me, I firmly told myself.  

“So you chose me.” I said, as a-matter-of-factly.

“Strange you used the word ‘choose’. That would imply that I had more than one alternative to pick from.”