Seeing the stark contrasts between the information upon the Palantír made TCF!Eruhaben and Sherritt feel a little surprised. On one hand a dragon, a dear and close friend to Eruhaben, has been murdered, while on the other hand a new one was growing and following his path to become an even greater and mightier existence.
Olienne's death and Raon's growth phase were contrasting events that had given the grieving and angry Ancient Gold Dragon something to focus on besides his anger toward the Fake Dragon Slayer and Olienne's demise.
However, there was nothing to divert TBOAH!Eruhaben's attention like that right now, so Grigori offered him comfort and used large amounts of her magic to suppress his urges for violent destruction and rage.
A few minutes of silence passed before Grigori decided that everyone else, except for the dragons and Cale, should take a break. She sent the rest of the guests away, giving them another free period to roam around her halls.
Mairon who had been sitting silent and docile in the hall, escorted the guests out with a bow and a polite smile of understanding, just like the Goddess she served, Mairon also had a soft spot for dragons and her heart hurt terribly as she felt their pain and grief with her empathy skills.
This was because TCF!Eruhaben had asked her to do this - he didn't want the other humans or the other races ogling at the rotting remains of his friend. TBOAH!Eruhaben - when he learned that Grigori intended to show them that, agreed with his counterpart. Raon quietly made a request to his own counterpart, asking him to sit with TBOAH!Eruhaben and comfort him.
Although he was quite comfortable in his mother's arms, the TBOAH!Black Dragon was practically the same as Raon and understood the comfort his presence could bring to the distressed Ancient Dragon, so he did as Raon requested.
Flying over and then curling up in TBOAH!Eruhaben's lap.
"What are you doing, little kid?" TBOAH!Eruhaben asked him in his mind.
"Nothing, I just want to sit with you for a while. Why? You got a problem with it or something?" was the TBOAH!Black Dragon's snarky reply.
At this point, when only the dragons from the two timelines, Grigori, and Cale left in the Palantír Hall, Naur continued the record with a new chapter.
<Chapter 251: 3 Days (2)>
Cale closed his eyes as his surroundings blurred. He felt his body teleport before hearing the ancient Dragon’s voice.
“We will teleport to that Dragon, to Olienne’s lair.”
The former oldest Dragon in the Eastern continent. Cale had teleported to his lair.
TBOAH!Eruhaben grimaced. His mind was conflicted. A greater part of his heart did not want to see this. It ached and filled with pain and sorrow, but there was also a part of him that needed to know.
Likewise the other dragons from the TBOAH!World did not know whether they were ready to see this either - because they knew that the terrible thing which had been done to the Green Dragon Olienne, had been done to them as well.
While they wrestled with their thoughts, the TCF!World dragons gravitated around Cale, seeking reassurance and courage, it was because they sensed that they were about to see something that Cale's mere existence in their TCF!World had allowed them to escape.
He could see the mess of a lair the moment he opened his eyes. The lair that probably once had a lot of beautiful sculptures was full of dust and was also destroyed in multiple places.
TBOAH!Rasheel and TBOAH!Mila groaned and trembled. They could hear their own battles against that thing that came for them, that thing that had hunted them and killed them so cruelly. TBOAH!Rasheel was unconsciously scratching his forearm as the phantom memory of the feeling of dead mana crawling along his skin haunted him. TBOAH!Mila clutched onto TBOAH!Dodori and allowed him to tremble in her embrace without saying a word to him.
Nobody would think that this used to be a Dragon’s lair. However, Cale could tell that it was a Dragon’s lair as soon as he got there. Eruhaben’s bitter voice could be heard.
“This is what happens to a Dragon that does not die a natural death.”
A heavy feeling of dread and despair stagnated the air of the hall and Grigori inhaled deeply, sucking in the terrible bitterness and negative emotions swallowing it down and allowing her mana and her power instead to fill the hall and replace what she had devoured.
A Dragon that did not die a natural death. Whether it is from suicide or murder, a Dragon who dies without living out its full lifespan looks different from Dragons that live for their full thousand years.
This was something all the dragons in the Palantír Hall knew, except perhaps the TBOAH!Black Dragon who had not been taught and therefore did not know. He looked up at TBOAH!Eruhaben and then toward his counterpart and then finally his mother. A thought occurred to him, but he kept it to himself for now.
Cale could see the rotting Dragon corpse from on the side.
"Oh my god!" TCF!Mila choked and covered her mouth with one hand, the other she used to grab TCF!Dodori and drag his head into her chest - hugging him to herself so that like TBOAH!Dodori, he also could not see this.
Sherritt, even as old as she was, looked like she was going to be sick. Meanwhile, TCF!Eruhaben covered Raon's eyes - luckily, Raon did not want to see and allowed TCF!Eruhaben to obscure his sight wothout protest or resistance. The TBOAH!Black Dragon wanted to look, but Cale had reached across and covered his eyes - until TBOAH!Eruhaben got the message and used his hands to replace Cale's. This terrible sight was something the young dragons definitely did not need to see. Grigori remained silent while Naur continued the record. They could still hear it all, even though their eyes were shielded, so that was enough.
A Dragon who finishes its thousand years of life would shine brightly and turn into dust as they become part of the earth. However, just like the Dragon skeleton in the black swamp in the Forest of Darkness, a Dragon that does not live out its entire life starts to rot, just like any other lifeform. It rots into the ground extremely slowly.
It was the worst, the most unpleasant and vilest thing that could ever happen to a great and mighty being that possesses the dignity and pride of their race. Cale could understand many things better now and cured White Star, Syrem, and even the Dragon Half-blood for his part in doing this to Olienne and all the other unknown dragons throughout their world.
“The rotting usually finishes within a hundred years, but this guy…” Eruhaben stopped to sigh before continuing to speak.
“It ended up being delayed for this guy because he died in his lair. He was in a really good area, so his rotting speed was slowed. That is why he looks like this right now.”
"F**k..." TCF!Rasheel swore. He couldn't hold it in. This was definitely too much. He then turned his head toward his counterpart and frowned deeply before reaching out in a flash and grabbing TBOAH!Rasheel's hands.
"Stop that! Why are you doing that to yourself?!" He quietly demanded an explanation for the bloody scratches TBOAH!Rasheel had unconsciously dug into his own forearms. However, TBOAH!Rasheel didn't want to answer his blissfully ignorant counterpart. This is the reason that none of the TBOAH!World Dragons has openly spoken about their fate to their TCF!World counterparts - they wanted their counterparts to remain innocent and ignorant.
Cale could not say anything. He could tell why Eruhaben had been angry. A portion of the dead Dragon’s body was dug into with the heart at the center.
TBOAH!Mila whimpered in distress and turned to look at Grigori, who met her gaze and offered her more comfort, Grigori used an enormous portion of her mist-like mana to spread and seep around all of them. It surrounded them all, taking the form a strange, fluffy cloud-like blanket.
It was fitting to say that someone had eaten him, well, someone had taken a few bites out of him, as the heart and the surrounding flesh were gone.
Cale's Dominating Aura soon seeped outward and surrounded the dragons too - forcefully replacing their fears and despair with ciurage and hope. Cale had done this of his own accord - Grigori had not asked him to do this for them, but she was pleased that he did. The dragons surrounding Cale and the Goddess gulped and found the strength to continue watching these painful scenes.
“Olienne was a Green Dragon. He was a complete asshole who always talked back to you, but he was still a decent guy, just like the little kid.”
Eruhaben did not share any more of his past memories as he started to walk.
TBOAH!Eruhaben nodded, he agreed with his counterpart, the Olienne of their TBOAH!World was the same. The scene changed as Cale and TCF!Eruhaben moved away from the corpse. The eyes of all the young dragons were unshielded at that point, and the emotionally burnt out TBOAH!Eruhaben buried his face into his hands.
“Follow me. I will show you the traces of the water.”
His lips twitched for a bit before he added on. “I will take care of him once the truth is revealed and I figure out all of the necessary information. I will return him to nature. Definitely.”
Cale had a terrible thought at that moment. He thought about all the bodies of the TBOAH!Dragons who were part of his family, he knew they too had died and he was already sure that those heartless bastards would have left their corpses in their lairs too.
However, a new and even more terrible thought came into his mind. Cale thought about the White Radish's sky attribute Ancient Power and those monster stone statues that needed dead mana, and then he thought about the dead dragons of the TBOAH!World. Cale got terrible chills just thinking about it.
Eruhaben could see Cale walking next to him.
“Let us move quickly then.”
He laughed after seeing Cale who was more action than words walking in front of him. Eruhaben stepped back in front of Cale, who did not know where they were going, and guided him to a secret area.
The Palantír continued to show how Cale following Eruhaben entered Olienne's secret area. The TBOAH!Black Dragon and Raon were learning now too, this was something neither of them had seen with their own eyes, so they were eager to learn about it.
The hallway, office, study, and bedroom. Cale flinched once they walked past every room.
“…It’s in the restroom?”
“The tub to be specific. He really liked taking half-baths.”
“I see.”
The Dragon’s secret area was in the restroom.
"Quirky..." Sherritt mumbled, although she knew she should be the last person speaking since she had a secret tunnel from her old castle that led to the Dragon Slayer Village in the past - luckily now her castle became Raon's castle and Raon's home also ahared a lair underground known as the Super Rock Villa which ironically had a tunnel that led to the Eastern Continent.
"Haha, theybare just like me... these sons of mine!!" She distracted herself with happy thoughts like these. Grigori decided jot to call her out on her overreaching delusion, choosing to leave her be instead.
Eruhaben put his hand on the tub as Cale looked around with a shocked expression. It was at that moment.
– Are you trying to sacrifice yourself?
‘What?’
The Super Rock started to speak.
– Are we eating again?
The glutton priestess started to speak as well.
‘Why are the two of them being like this?’
TCF!Eruhaben and Raon frowned they had not known Cale's powers had sensed danger back then, TCF!Eruhaben shook hisbhead discreetly, reminding himself that even in that state of mind if anything had threatened to hurt Cale and Raon he would have ruthlessly dealt with it immediately - even if he had to destroy Olienne's lair in order to do so.
Cale frowned after seeing a bright light as his mind was becoming complicated. White gold mana was coming out of Eruhaben’s hand. The tub shined and let out a green magic circle once the mana touched the tub. That magic circle then covered the entire restroom.
Cale let out a gasp at that moment.
“…Wow.”
"Oh wow!!" Raon, TBOAH!Dodori, TCF!Dodori, and the TBOAH!Black Dragon all exclaimed in awe and wonder at the scene that the Palantír revealed: a forest had appeared. The Palantír showed how the average-looking restroom inside the cave turned into a beautiful forest.
“Olienne’s attribute was wood. He had created a forest in his area.”
TBOAH!Mila couldn't help but agree with TCF!Mila when she commented.
"Impressive!" As a farmer herself, TCF!Mila felt genuine appreciation toward this magnificent sight and TBOAH!Mila who had not forgotten her peaceful and carefree days before the end of it all, also felt her heart race at the mere recording of Olienne's forest in his secret area of his lair.
A tree had appeared where the tub used to be. It was a large tree with a round ditch dug underneath it. Inside the ditch was a diary. The diary was covered in regular leather, however, there were some small pieces of parchment on the inside as well. Eruhaben picked up the diary.
The TBOAH!Black Dragon got excited and curious again. He turned in TBOAH!Eruhaben's arms and then curled up a little closer to the Ancient Gold Dragon, clutching onto his arm with both his front paws as he continued to study the information coming from the Palantír.
“The most important treasure to a Dragon is its records. The record that it existed in this world. That is why the first thing they put in their secret areas are their records.”
The TBOAH!Black Dragon looked over to Raon, who was curled up in a similar position in TCF!Eruhaben's lap.
"Do you have a diary too?"
"Yes. I also have an album full of all sorts of pictures that things that everyone in our family do with me."
Raon conspiringly offered to show it to his counterpart during the next break. The TBOAH!Black Dragon eagerly agreed to see it.
He felt as if he said something useless to Raon and Cale as he quickly opened up the diary.
"Other Goldie Gramps... it's not useless. I'm learning from it because you said it!" The TBOAH!Black Dragon called out to TCF!Eruhaben with a cheeky pout. Raon and Cale chuckled similarly as they watched TCF!Eruhaben and TBOAH!Eruhaben share a perplexed look before TCF!Eruhaben nodded to the youngest dragon in the hall.
He stopped on a page with a parchment paper being used as a bookmark.
“This is the only page in the diary that talks about the Western continent instead of the Eastern continent.”
TCF!Eruhaben sobered up, his attention returning to the Palantír, he figured that given the pace of the records, he was about to learn why Cale had that strange mix of emotions on his face. He was still curious about it, but hadn't gotten the chance to ask Cale because of everything else that was going on around them at the time.
The only page with information about the Western continent. Eruhaben picked up the piece of parchment paper on that page.
“It is an old parchment paper that has had magic cast on it in order to let it last a long time. It seems to have been left behind a long time ago. I think it is possible that this is the trace- hmm? Why do you have such an expression on your face?”
Cale’s expression seemed like a mix of laughter and frown.
TBOAH!Eruhaben corked his head, the young Black Dragon on his lap mimicked his expression as well. Both of them were now curious too.
"You Unlucky Punk... what did you plan on doing this time?" TBOAH!Eruhaben asked Cale with a mixture of apprehension and curiosity.
He could see the words written on top of the parchment. He had seen something similar before. He recalled the wooden plaque that he received from the Elf priestess in the Elf Village with the World Tree regarding the Water of Judgment. It also had the words, ‘letter of resignation,’ written on it.
"Oh?!" TCF!Eruhaben's eyes lit up, the mysteries of the Ancient Times were getting solved again right before his very eyes thanks to this extremely lucky Unlucky Bastard. Sherritt found TCF!Eruhaben and TBOAH!Eruhaben's reactions toward gaining knowledge to sate their insatiable curiosity adorably amusing.
However, the contents were a bit different. This was what was written on the wooden plaque.
<World Tree you stupid idiot! I am now free!>
<The Water of Judgment? I am a free spirit now!>
The tone made Cale certain that this ancient power was not normal as well. However, something different was written on this one.
<You evil bastards! You dare to push me out? You damn white snake bastards. I will shoot water cannons at you bastards!>
<I am free! Judgment over my dead body! I’m going to play!>
The words that were getting more intense made Cale’s mind devolve into a complicated mess. The dry lake in the Paerun Kingdom. It was said that they had pushed away the child that the god who was making the lake favoured, thus making the angry god take away the water.
"The plot thickens..." TCF!Dodori rumbled ominously, but he was squirming in his seat because these were mysterious stories that also occurred during the lifetime of his idol.
TCF!Mila wanted to swat her son on the back of his head, but then decides against it and instead just pinched his ear.
"Behave Dodori!" She ordered him using her 'mom' voice. TBOAH!Dodori and TCF!Dodori immediately settled down.
TBOAH!Mila gave her counterpart a thumbs-up and a nod of appreciation before turning her attention back to the record on the Palantír.
The ones to push that child away were the members of the Sekka household with the white snake as their house crest.
‘Perhaps? Was the child that the god favoured the owner of the ancient power?’
Cale read the final statement on the parchment.
<I will go cause trouble like the fiery thunderbolt cheapskate! Just watch!>
The fiery thunderbolt cheapskate. The Fire of Destruction.
"Haha, so that's what you meant when you asked Clopeh Sekka what legend he was trying to fabricate this time!!" TBOAH!Dodori exclaimed excitedly making the connection while the others around him were still questioning it that was correct or not.
"That's right..." Cale answered him with an approving nod - as if he were praising TBOAH!Dodori for paying attention.
The Palantír went on explaining how Cale had recalled one of the things that the owner of the ancient power that liked money had done. Cale had heard the story when he went to visit the World Tree about how the Fire of Destruction had covered the entire north with fire, making the World Tree sense danger to its life.
TCF!Eruhaben and all the other dragons knew this story, however the fact that it was a real event and not just a stroy shocked them a little. They looked at Cale with expressions that were a mix of mild horror to vivid respect and awe. And then just like Cale within the Palantír they also had the same question.
‘Who put out that fire?’
Cale was thinking that the person who put out that fire may have been the owner of this, ‘Water of Judgment.’
"It's a reasonable conclusion to think of if you take these all details and put them together like pieces of a puzzle." TCF!Eruhaben mused to himself pensively, while he unconsciously began to put Raon's head the same way he'd seen Cale do before.
“It’s written in the diary where he found the parchment. I think the ancient power may be at that location.”
Cale’s gaze headed toward the diary.
The Super Rock started to speak into Cale’s mind at that moment.
– The glutton, the cheapskate, the thief, the crybaby, and now-
The Indestructible Shield, the Fire of Destruction, the Sound of the Wind, and the Vitality of the Heart. He was listing the names of the owners of the ancient powers.
– This time, the crazy kid.
‘What kid?’
"Excuse me?! I'm sorry... the what now?!" TBOAH!Rasheel choked and after recovering from his coughing fit Cale casually informed him.
"My Sky-Eating Water Ancient Power, that one is called the 'Crazy Kid'." Cale stated with a smug grin.
He announced it so proudly that Grigori can not help by slap her hand to her forehead in exasperation. She knew this was something his Ancient Powers had told him to say, and Cale had said it because he didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
Grigori pitied the dragons who were growing grey hairs because of the stress and concern Cale was making them feel.