Legacy Dragons (Completed)

Chapter 13: Locked Soul Released

There wasn't even a chirp in the cold, freezing air. The birds have all disappeared to safer places, the sun's rays were refused entry by the thick branches of the cursed trees. Darkened vines stretched across the dry, parched ground, as if reaching out to grab the riders that were now heading their way.

"Man, this place is as spooky as my Grandma's hut." Rarreu shuddered, clinging to Blanche's cascading manes. The horse neighed, as if sighing. Syaoran glanced at his travel partner over his shoulder with a slight glare. "We're nearly there. We have to ride carefully over these damned tree roots, they might trip us. Heck, I want to bash that stupid bastard's head in as soon as I can, but we might get severely hurt here if were not a bit more cautious."

The Li prince scowled at another foot-thick tree root that Furrion almost tripped over. Rarreu shrugged helplessly. "The quicker we rescue Sakura-chan, the quicker I get to reunite with my family." Syaoran directed and threw daggers (not literally) to him. "How can you be so heartless to my Sakura?"

"You're getting obsessive." Rarreu said sternly, his eyebrows furrowing. Syaoran ignored him. "My late father… he was a scholar, you know." The blond boy whispered softly, trying to catch a glimpse of the blue sky amongst the criss-crossing network of black branches piling one top of one another above them. Syaoran stared at him for a minute, before forcing his eyes to the back of Zeko's neck again.

"He once said that when you really love someone… you're willing to let them be free. Or something like that. I don't quite understand it myself."

Syaoran couldn't ignore that comment. His eyes glazed over briefly. "I… I'm not…" A sigh, "I'm not trying to just keep her to myself… I guess… I guess I'm just being a bit overprotective… that's all."

"Then that's just brotherly love."

"It isn't!"

Rarreu scoffed. "Believe whatever you want. But I think you're emotions are like in the middle of a collapsing bridge. You don't know which side to head for to make it off the bridge in time."

Syaoran's shoulders slumped a bit. However ridiculous he sounded, Rarreu was right. "You're in a bind, I see." The other teenager murmured, loud enough for Syaoran to hear. The prince pulled on Furrion's fur, and the fire wolf howled to a halt. Rarreu, slightly surprised, stopped beside him. He looked into Syaoran's face and sighed in sympathy.

The prince had an almost pitiful look on his face. Sadness, confusion, depression, frustration… all fused into one gloomy expression. "It will all turn out okay. Someday that 'brotherly love' of yours will evolve into a much bigger emotion. You will know when that happens, trust me. I was once like you with Emillion."

Rarreu chuckled to himself and patted Syaoran's back.

Suddenly, rays of light appeared around them. The two riders surveyed their surroundings, panicking. The fragments of light collected into a ball, and the ball expanded into a shape.

A human shape, to be exact. A woman.

To Syaoran, she looked strangely familiar…

She wore a white robe that fluttered in the sudden breeze that had appeared the moment the ball formed. She had hazel-coloured hair and pale skin, so pale that it blended in with the colour of her white robe.

Her eyes were golden. She sprouted angelic wings, twice her own body size. She looked down upon the two teenagers with a slightly raised eyebrow.