Oh. My. Fate?! (BL, Volume 12, Part 2)

292 It Ended

Jing He felt as if his heart and soul would shatter if he had to continue watching powerlessly and yet, he couldn't extricate himself while the situation was still ongoing. Meanwhile, the people around could not see him and thus wouldn't think of sparing his feelings as they clearly wanted to do.

Qiu Ling obviously felt tired. Even looking at Jinde and saying those few sentences to him seemed to take up almost all of his strength. He turned his head and closed his eyes, taking a few shallow breaths as if to regain some of it. Well, clearly, it was too late for that. No matter how much he rested, it seemed unable to change his situation.

Jinde hung his head, not saying another word.

Leng Jin Yu watched quietly and finally stepped forward as well. He put a hand on Jinde's shoulder to support him but his gaze was fixed on Qiu Ling's face. "I'm sorry."

He didn't say what he was sorry for but Qiu Ling's lips curved in response. His lips moved but it took a moment before any actual sound emerged. "Being reincarnated ... without an intact soul ..." He paused again, his breath sounding even shallower compared to before.

Jinde's head sunk even lower and the hand holding Qiu Ling's trembled. Leng Jin Yu's brows also furrowed but neither of them said a word as if waiting with bated breaths for what Qiu Ling would say.

"It's unlikely to ... be a dragon again." The last few words were barely even audible and the silence in the room seemed to become even more oppressive.

For a long while, no sound could be heard, until Qiu Ling's hand in Jinde's moved, drawing back his attention.

"I'll go ... like my ancestors."

Jinde nodded and got to his feet again but he stumbled as soon as he stood.

Leng Jin Yu caught him and rubbed his back as if to reassure him but in this situation, it meant almost nothing. They both looked utterly defeated.

Finally, it was the young man accompanying both of them who stepped forward and reached out, carefully helping Qiu Ling up.

Jing He watched with trepidation, afraid that Qiu Ling would collapse the next moment. But surprisingly enough, even though the once strong man looked as if he could be blown away by the next gust of wind, he still held onto the other person tightly and forcefully opened his eyes, taking slow and trembling steps toward the door.

The advisers all hung their heads the same way Jinde had done but everyone slowly followed the two of them out of the room.

Jing He who could only watch from afar, also seemed as if he floated out of the room, always keeping the same distance from the person whose future he had wanted to see. Of course, he never would have thought it'd be one like this.

This was not just a bad outcome where Qiu Ling didn't find the happiness he deserved. No, this ... this was worse. He didn't even have the words to describe it.

The group slowly made their way from the room to the courtyard and Qiu Ling tiredly raised his head, staring at the sky. "This ... is it." He didn't say more and simply let go of the hand he was holding. Then, for the first time since Jing He had known him, Qiu Ling changed his form in front of his eyes, turning into a black dragon with red streaks running across his scales.

Jing He had seen dragons during his trial but never in this life and he certainly hadn't even come close to ever seeing Qiu Ling this way. But now, he wished that he didn't. He ... would rather not see and instead have him keep living without ever taking on this form. He didn't like what this change represented.

The giant dragon finally rose into the air, his movements only marginally faster than the ones of his other form before. Even though he was slow, he was clear on his destination and flew toward that place at a steady pace. When he finally reached it, all strength seemed to leave his body and he almost fell from the sky, barely stabilizing himself right before he crashed into the ground.

"Qiu Ling!" Jinde and Leng Jin Yu rushed after him with the young man in pursuit and his advisers didn't lag far behind.

Jing He also wanted to call but the words remained in his thoughts and he couldn't speak to the person at all, still only able to watch. And doing so, he only felt worse and worse. He did not know many places in the dragon realm but he saw the bones scattered throughout this field and he recognized it for what he had read about in books: This was a cemetery of the dragon race, the place where they went to die. Qiu Ling ... was indeed unable to hold on.

Everyone crowded around the head of the dragon who looked at them with that pair of blood-red eyes and huffed.

"The realm ..." He seemed to want to say more but, in the end, those words never came.

Tears trickled down Jinde's cheeks but he still reached out and rubbed the black scales in front. "Leave it to us."

Qiu Ling gave a hum but no additional words were spoken as if he did not have the strength left even for that. Those red eyes turned to look at the sky again, staring blankly before a low cry echoed from his throat.

The sound kept ringing in the empty field, more mournful than anything Jing He had ever heard in his life. Before he could make sense of it, the dragon closed its eyes and the vision ended just as Qiu Ling's life ran out, leaving him trembling and crying at the edge of the Spring of Fate.