Chapter 527: Golden Realm (1/2)
"What are you doing?" Kamala asks when she finds Lucien and Mira on the stairs, sensually touching each other as they look at a mysterious door.
Mira is embarra.s.sed because her daughter sees her in such a situation and quickly leaves Lucien"s arms as she tries to explain. "Ah... we... it"s just..."
Despite wanting the best for her mother, Kamala also doesn"t know how to deal with that peculiar situation yet, so she tries to change the subject. "What"s behind that door?"
"I don"t know…" Lucien answers and then smiles before walking towards that door. "Let"s try to open it again."
Even l.u.s.t materializes her body beside him out of curiosity. Then they come in front of the mysterious door, and Lucien slowly moves his hand towards the door handle.
The other times he tried to open that door, the handle glowed with a golden light, and nothing happened. He also tried to force the door, and l.u.s.t tried to get through it in energy form, but nothing worked.
Then l.u.s.t looks closely at the handle as Lucien tries to turn it. Yet, that s.h.i.+nes again with the mysterious golden light, making her and Lucien disappointed.
"Huh??" Kamala makes a curious expression when she sees Lucien"s back start to glow along with the handle.
"Lucien, your back!" Mira exclaims.
"What?" He feels familiar powerful energy run through his entire body towards the handle, which glows brighter than ever.
He dematerializes his s.h.i.+rt while l.u.s.t quickly looks at his back and sees that mysterious dragon-symbol tattoo glowing golden.
"What does it mean??" l.u.s.t thinks aloud as she touches the tattoo on Lucien"s back.
At the same time, Lucien finally manages to turn the handle and starts opening the door. "Yeah, it"s working!"
Everyone looks at the door, and the more Lucien opens it, the more golden light appears, blinding them.
Well, the girls can"t look at that intense bright light, but Lucien doesn"t have any problem with that. In fact, that golden light is very familiar as he has seen it many times whenever he uses the golden naginata.
[Aylin!] He thinks as he is now sure that light is the light of her soul. And behind the door, Lucien sees something that shocks him to the core.
What he sees looks like a big wheat field; however, it looks like it"s made of gold. Yes, the wheat sways under a calm breeze as a simple plant, but it is made of gold, as are even the grains of sand in the ground.
"Amazing!" Lucien thinks aloud as he walks through the door, stepping into that golden wheat field.
There is a clear trail into the wheat field, and as Lucien walks over it, he looks up and notices that the sky and clouds are made of different shades of gold, just like the purple world. And the golden sun looks much more natural than the purple sun.
"A golden world..." l.u.s.t comments as she stands beside him. Her eyes slowly get used to the golden glow that is everywhere in that place.
"A golden world?" Lucien asks, but he also believes in that, which makes him doubt how that is possible. "Would it be..."
"The s.p.a.ce from the other dimension within Aylin"s soul." l.u.s.t completes Lucien"s thought. "I believe it"s here because her naginata is too... it must be part of the heritage she left you along with her soul."
"..." Lucien doesn"t know what to think about that.
He doesn"t know why Aylin left her naginata for him and not for her daughter. Yet, her soul power has been essential to him, and he can"t help but feel grateful even though he doesn"t know what her goal is with that.
Lucien knows that maybe people are manipulating him with that as the mysterious woman in his dreams spoke. In fact, every time he uses the golden naginata, he feels more like Aylin, which is worrying.
But at the same time, Lucien already knows Aylin well enough to understand that she wouldn"t do that sort of thing because of her pride. Also, he admires Aylin and can"t help but feel as great using her naginata as he feels at home in her golden world.
"It"s so beautiful…" Mira comments as she and Kamala reach Lucien"s side. They need a while to get used to that golden light, but nothing stops them from walking through that place.
"What place is this?" Kamala wonder.
Lucien smiles. "The golden world... It"s a gift from someone very special to me."
"Oh..." Mira and Kamala are really curious about that person.
"Let"s explore!" Lucien speaks before flapping his wings and flying over the wheat field to see how far it goes.
The golden wheat field seems to be tens of miles long, and there are some golden trees among it. But what strikes Lucien most is a big golden object on the horizon.
He flies towards that and quickly realizes that the mysterious object is actually a great throne, a throne made of gold, naturally.
"It"s golden, of course; hahaha..." Lucien chuckles as he flies up to Aylin"s throne.
"Only something like that would be worthy of the great Dragon Queen of War..." l.u.s.t comments while actually finding that a golden throne is exaggerated. However, she likes the idea of Lucien having a purple throne and that she sits in his lap there.
But Lucien really likes the golden throne. "Yes, it looks perfect for her..."
As he gets closer to the golden throne, he also sees that behind it are gigantic golden waterfalls, and even the water is golden.
Everything there looks so amazing and magical, but the golden world is much smaller than the purple world due to Aylin only having her soul power while Lucien has also help from l.u.s.t"s special ability.
Lucien lands in front of the great golden throne and quickly notices that there are some torn paper sheets in it. He gets curious and takes one of the sheets, where there are several lines written.
"It was difficult, but I managed to look even deeper into my soul... and although I don"t want to admit it, what motivates me most is self-pride and not any n.o.ble desire to protect my people..." He reads that out loud.
He looks at l.u.s.t with a surprised expression, but she has a really perplexed look. "Have you already mastered ancient draconic language?"
"Well..." Lucien didn"t even notice that those words are written in ancient draconic language as he just read them naturally. "I think I learned a lot in the visions of Aylin"s past."
"Indeed..." l.u.s.t makes a strange expression and then looks at the sheet in Lucien"s hand. "What else is written there?"
Lucien quickly starts reading that page from the top. "16th day of Month 5, year 4072 of the Golden Era."
"Today, I killed more G.o.ds in the morning; that"s the best way to start the day. But I still don"t feel any closer to the next golden gate... I think I"m doing something wrong..."
Lucien smiles as l.u.s.t makes a thoughtful expression and comments. "This looks like a diary..."
"It"s Aylin"s diary." He comments confidently as he already knows her well enough to recognize the way she writes and thinks.
He also doesn"t waste any more time and continues reading those words, excited for any new information about Aylin and her soul power.
"I got back from the battle, and I took a long bath... and then I had lunch with Garen and his son, as usual."
"After lunch, we talked a bit before I started training the special troops. Some of them are progressing fast like G.o.dric and a young girl named Emmeline; they have reached the second gate and experienced astonis.h.i.+ng improvements in their power."
After reading those words, Lucien can"t help but be shocked and, at the same time, happy. "So other people also have gates inside their souls..."
l.u.s.t is also surprised by that revelation. "So that"s not only Aylin"s ability but... maybe it"s something specific to dragons? I mean, they have the most powerful souls among all races."
"Well, whatever it is, maybe the answers are in these pages of Alyin"s diary..." Lucien thinks out loud.
So he continues reading those words. "I"m happy for G.o.dric and Emmeline, but the G.o.ds are getting stronger and stronger due to the power of faith, so if we want to keep this world, just us won"t be enough."
"I need to understand more about these soul gates and help my people to get that power too... But I can"t reach the third gate myself..."
"I have to keep doing my best… actually, I have to go beyond that and try even harder."
After those words, there"s a horizontal line on the page, demonstrating a pause, and then Lucien continues reading what was written below it.
"I meditated for two hours looking at my reflection of my naginata"s blade... I knew the answers were within my soul, but still, they seemed so far away... I wish someone could tell me what to do."
The next paragraph is the one Lucien read first; it"s when Aylin says that what motivates her the most is self-pride.
So he continues reading the next few lines. "That sounds bad, but I don"t see it that way. If I can satisfy my selfish desires and also make my people stronger, it will be good for everyone."
"And just as what excites my soul are my most intimate desires, I believe the same happens to other people..."
"I wonder what motivates G.o.dric and Emmeline... I shouldn"t ask other people something like that, but it"s necessary for us to understand more about that soul power..."
"Anyway, now I need to rest... looking at myself so much is somehow stressful and even disappointing... Tomorrow I will continue my work."
The words on that page end, and Lucien keeps looking at them with a thoughtful expression. "I understand how she felt... not only because I also feel confused about her soul power, but also because I"ve been inside her body, seeing the world through her eyes... she had friends, but she was alone."
"But you are not alone." l.u.s.t comments as he hugs Lucien. "You have a lot of people who love you, ready to help you with anything."
He smiles before kissing l.u.s.t"s lips, then sitting on the golden throne with her in his arms. He also puts the pages of Aylin"s diary on the arm of the throne.
Lucien doesn"t stop kissing l.u.s.t as he mentally talks to her. "And by having you by my side, I"m sure we can go even further than Aylin went…"
"Exactly." She answers.
"And our next step now is…" He starts to speak.
"Find your soul gates." She completes his thought.
Aylin"s words in that diary make it clear that other dragons also have soul gates, and so far, Lucien has only found the golden gates of Aylin"s soul inside the naginata and not his own soul gates.
Lucien and l.u.s.t stop kissing a bit as they are too curious to know what else is on those pages of Aylin"s diary.
But then he hears someone approaching the golden throne quickly.
*Whoosh*
"Lucien!!" Kamala flies straight into his arms as she giggles. Then she brings a golden apple to Lucien"s mouth. "You have to taste it!"
He looks at the golden apple with a curious expression. "Did you find it in one of those trees?"
"Yep!" She nods. "And it"s the best thing I"ve ever tasted!!"
Lucien wastes no time and bites a piece of the golden apple. That tastes like usual apples, but at the same time, it"s dozens of times better.
"It"s really delicious." He smiles at Kamala.
She smiles back too, but then l.u.s.t looks at her with a dubious expression. "Are you sure it"s the best thing you"ve ever tasted?"
Kamala thinks about that question and then looks at Lucien"s lips as she blushes. "Well... it"s the best fruit, but..."
Lucien can"t help but make a teasing expression before kissing Kamala"s lips, mixing the taste of their saliva together with the taste of the golden apple.
"MmmmmMMM~~!" Kamala can"t contain her moan. "It tastes so much better now!!"
Mira can"t help but blush as she looks at Lucien and Kamala with a thoughtful and jealous expression.