The train ride was one that left her feeling torn, as though something did not sit right for her.

She couldn’t explain what it was, or why it was that she wasn’t feeling right, but it was as though as soon as the train docked and she got on, there was immediately felt a feeling of nausea. It wasn’t like anything that she had experienced before, nor something that she would hope to repeat. She had ridden trains before, and never before were there ever feelings like this, never did she feel as though she was going to vomit, nor did it perpetually remain.

It therefore made the trip all the more difficult and unbearable, and now it didn’t become a feeling as if she had to get out of Crocus, but now it was becoming that she had to get off the train, the next stop be damned. It would have been easier, but at the same time too, this was foreign land to her. It was the first time that she had ever really ventured out well beyond that of Hargeon Town, and as such, there was a level of uneasiness about everything. Across from her, in the small little car that she had gotten for herself, there sat Geth, the loyal companion who she had come across, who even though the circumstances of how she had come across it to be lost, she couldn’t help but admire and appreciate the fact that it was here. Somehow or another, she wasn’t sure of how exactly, but the thought went through her head that it would have been that much more difficult to endure this trip had it not been for it.

“You know Geth, I think the next time we travel, we rethink the idea of taking the train. Don’t you agree?”

No speak, but rather the slightly odd sound which emanated ffrom Geth every so often was heard, and Leyaria simply took this to be an agreement. If she had to guess, that was the reality, that this was actually a scenario in which it would agree. Geth was pretty agreeable on these types of matters, didn’t really oppose the suggestions of Leyaria, nor ever really seemed to have any issue with the suggestions that were actually offered by her. It seemed that whatever it was, it could find some manner of enjoying the whole thing. Even on the train right now, while Leyaria suffered what seemed like an agonizing moment and period of sickness and sudden illness, instead Geth was having the time off its life it seemed, lightly rocking back and forth as the train continued along the track.

Every so often, the golem-like creature would look up to the window, a sound of apparent excitement was echoed through it, though rarely did Leyaria actually manage to see what it was, as every time she lifted her head she found herself lowering it against lest there be a situation of her vomiting again. Affter a short period, the train started to slow itself down, much to the delight of Leyaria who was ready to get off the train from the moment the trip arrived. As such too, because of how miserable it had been ffor her, she couldn’t help but feel that the trip lasted for hours, though if you had asked anyone else who had been seated in one of the other cabins on the train, they would probably have told a person that the trip lasted for barely over an hour, if even that.

The slight chit-chat off the passerbys to Leyaria’s cabin drowned out the noise of the young woman struggling to regain herself and establish some level of composure, rather than appear as though she were someone who had been drunk or something to that degree. With a trip like that, she almost hoped that that might have been the case, that there was a possibility that as soon as she got off the train and out of the station that there would be a bar or something there for her to drown out her sorrows, to better prepare herself for what it would be like in Era.

Era, that was going to be something interesting to be located within, especially after her experiences in Crocus. Crocus had been a mixed experience, greatly dispelling the supposed rumors that she had heard of the apparent Capital of Fiore. Many had lauded it as being one of the truly great locations within the country, a place that everyone owed to themselves to visit at least once, and yet in reality, the only thing that Leyaria found herself wanting was to get out. To leave there as soon as possible, to find someone, anywhere else to go to. It did not help that even in circumstances, in places where one would be able to escape or hide from their troubles, in particular the bars and taverns that littered the area, the tragic truth was that she was not welcome there.

Much in part of that rejection, of the reasons that she was considered an outcast, even against those off the drunkards and less than ideal cretins that often had the luxury and priveldge of parading around bars, the grotesque black scars that had at one point marred her body, particularly her upper body, they gave the illusion that she was someone who bore a terrible disease. On one hand, that was what she believed, and for the longest time, it rang true, that she was diseased, that she was cursed. It wasn’t until much later, at what may have been the lowest point of her entire time in Crocus, did she realize that she wasn’t in fact cursed, or at least, not in the respect that she had originally been led to believe. Thanks to the man who identified himself as Hikaru, the man, perhaps the only person who she had ever encountered who bore the same affliction as her, or at least, that she used to possess, it was from him that she learned just what it was that had been affecting her.

Devil Slayer Magic. Demon Slayer Magic in other cases, though in whichever context you spoke of it, the meaning was the same regardless. It was a powerful Magic, one that was often lost, that few if any are capable of utilizing at this point. How she had come across it, it was one that she had forgotten, or rather one that she wished to forget, no matter how much and greatly she wished that the things and instances of her life could have been changed. There was very little chance off that happening now, as the only thing left for her, especially after her encounter with Hikaru, was to live on. How ready she was to end her own life, how on one hand she was actually going as far as to hope that the man would end her life, and at the moment, while she wished that she would have been killed by him, looking back on it now, she was grateful that things did not play out that way.

At some point, it seemed like everything went blank, as though there were huge chunks of time that Leyaria completely and utterly lost. Among them were the inciting moments of her acquiring Geth as a companion, and unfortunately, the inability of it to speak has proven that that was perhaps one of the more complicated mysteries that she may not ever fully understand. However, and while she did worry about how she got Geth – particularly in the respect of what did she perhaps surrender to acquire the lovable little guy – what really had her worried was actually that the Devil Slayer Magic that she had, the Magic which had also cursed her with the terrible scars, it was gone. As were the scars. On one hand, she was very pleased with that, but on the other hand, she wished she knew how it happened, or even what happened.

Everything was a complete blank, and the only thing that she was absolutely sure of was the fact that the scars, the black marks which had as much damned her, condemning her to be less than a person, they were gone. The very faintest aspects of it remained, though it was difficult, if not even impossible ffor her to see plainly that they were there. What was there instead was actually something perhaps more terrifying in the form of what looked like a surgery scar, right above her breast but at the same time, out of the line of sight for whatever article of clothing that she might have preferred to wear. The skin all around it was sensitive, soft to the touch, and tender at points as well. She couldn’t understand what happened, and the only sort of cognative answer that she had been able to get was that it was some sort of lacrima surgery, one that would normally require extensive and costly surgery to implement, especially depending on what sort of lacrima it was.

Upon hearing that it was a lacrima, her whole mind went blank, the reality that she felt like she was living the life that her sister had lived, the same instance and circumstance that had befallen her sister, and because of that, the only thing that she could worry and wonder was that she was going to end up like her, eventually dying. “Am I going to die,” the thought ran through her head in the immediate aftermath, but at the same time, she was almost ready to do just that. She was ready to just accept the fact that very likely, she was going to die, be it either from this lacrima, or whatever the hell it was that was inside of her body, or if it was by whatever happened, the end result of the very lacrima that was inserted. She had to believe that it was a magical lacrima of some sort, but the question was, what sort of thing was it going to be, what sort of power and abilities was it going to provide her? But would she even be able to control, could she ever hope to harness the power? If it was anything like Devil Slayer Magic, there wasn’t much of a shot of that happening.

Even when she was in Crocus, when she tried as hard as she possibly could have to stop herself from losing control, it felt as though that was impossible, that there was always some sort of circumstance that was eventually going to lead her to become unable to prevent her from being able to keep control. Remarkably enough, there were no such instances like that off Hargeon, when she actually did lose control on a number of occasions, in almost every instance being that it resulted in the loss of some sort of life, along with the reality every single instance led to a level of destruction that she could not have wished in her wildest dream. It was a harsh sentence, a harsh set of circumstances that she did not wish to happen, but at the same time, one that she felt she had no way off being able to control or otherwise prevent. How else was it going to be, that she would be able to keep going on, and how could she ever believe that she was going to parade herself through Crocus knowing that at any moment that there could have been an instance o her losing control and then something happening, something that would eventually lead to her being captured or otherwise get herself killed.

Maybe that was the one thing that she was looking forward to now, knowing that maybe, at least just maybe, she wouldn’t have to endure living with a type of Magic such as that that literally made her a target, iff not for the Magic than just for the scars that littered her body, of so much hate and revilement. And that was in the city of Crocus, which at least people were led to believe that the most educated and brightest people would congregate at, though Leyaria saw little to none of that. Instead, all she saw was racism, sexism, and other instances of general vile and hate that otherwise defined and shaped her opinion of not just the people, but also off herself. Of what her Magic amounted to, of what it defined to her be. Now, ironically enough, she was walking into a completely new set of circumstances, knowing even less about who she was now than what it was before. Instead of having an identity, even as cruel and disgusting as what it was when she had Devil Slayer Magic, now she was to some degree a blank slate.

She didn’t have a clear identity anymore, she was able to now live a life without having to endure and suffer through the tragic pitfalls that was the Magic that had in essence plagued her and forced her to unbearably suffer. But at the same time, it wasn’t all good for her, as there was still the ever constant question of the Lacrima that was infused within her body, what it was, why it was there, who had implanted it into her, where did Geth come from, could the two of them have been tied together? Was Geth a reward to her for having the lacrima infused within her? Were the two even related at all? How much time too had elapsed since everything like that had happened? It wasn’t clear to her why or how it all was seeming to happen, and unfortunately, much to Leyaria’s utter fear, she doubted that she would be able to truly and completely know either.

She got off the train and took a deep breath, noticing immediately that her sense of smell seemed to be stronger. She was picking up scents that well exceeded what she expected she could have, most notably being that of the vomit that she had left in the cabin on the train. Smelling it, she couldn’t believe that she was smelling it, even from outside of the train, and the fact that was the case was both surprising and a bit scary. It shocked her that she could smell that, and was it a matter of her having a greater perception of smell, or was it instead a reflection of how bad the virus she seemed to have on the train really was. And similarly, was it a case that the people who were around her, could they smell it too? Was it in her head that she was able to pick up smells that seemed to pick up her sense of smell? She shook her head, wanting to believe that that wasn’t the case, and looking around, it did not seem at least that the people who were walking around seemed to pick up on it either.

Nodding her head towards the apparent exit of the area, Leyaria began to walk away as Geth followed behind her, gently nudging itself past the crowd off the people that as much turned their heads in curiosity as it was in intrigue of the creature that was following. Clearly, the people of Era, or at the very least, those who were in the train station, quite possibly people who had never ventured into Era before or had seen creatures like Geth before, were not ready for that. Leyaria smiled slightly as she heard a couple of children who were clearly delighted by the sight of Geth, some of them demanding and begging their parents to go near Geth, but Leyaria worried Geth may not take too kindly to that. Granted, it was a creature that loved to experience new things, the greater likelihood was that it would feel overwhelmed, and as such, it may do something that both it and Leyaria would end up regretting. Hearing the parents deny the request to the children brought out a faint shy of relief from the woman as she continued on out of the station and into the streets of Era for the first time.

The streets were packed, far more than what she probably expected or would have even believed at first. People of all types were walking about, far more than there were in Crocus. That was not to say that there weren’t a lot of people in the city as there were a huge quantity of people all throughout both cities, but there was something far different about Era than it was about Crocus. Era had a far more natural flow to it, as if there was a far greater degree of structure and order to everything that was going on within the city. She wondered why it was, though there was certainly a likelihood, if not a very likely chance, that it was heavily structured around the fact that the Magic Council was located within Era as well. Had it not been for that, it’s possible that it could have been as freely active like that of Crocus, and as she thought back to the numerous incidents that took place within Crocus, the likelihood that she would be able to get much done, or even be able to do perhaps even a small fraction of what happened in Hargeon, the order and presence of the guards here would make that utterly impossible.

“It’s probaby for the best,” she said to herself, quiet enough so that few if anyone would be able to hear her, but at the same time loud enough so that she could at least herself. That was perhaps due much in part to the loud sounds and commotion that was going on. It was difficult to believe, but just having a conversation amongst to someone right next to a person could prove to be challenging, and it wasn’t even noon. It was still early in the morning, so much of what was going looking relatively light, but once it came to them arriving in the markets perhaps around noontime, it would have been a challenge strickly for the purposes of Leyaria to keep track of where Geth was. She grabbed a hold of the companion and held it closer to him, as that was the last thing she wanted to lose. Geth had proven to be a reliable companion, and without having the luxury of a Bianca or LeeAnn there to console and otherwise be a vessel for her to communicate and confide in, Geth was the next best thing. In fact, it was probably THE best thing, as it wouldn’t doubt Leyaria’s feelings or her mentality. It wouldn’t judge her. And she could interpret whatever it communicated to her as easily and reliably as she wanted.

The markets were heavy, they were even worse than what Leyaria had initially predicted it to have been. Hundreds of people crowded around stand upon stand, markets and businesses alike, small and large, utterly packed as jewels aplenty were being tossed around. Pickpockets thrived in the environment and many escaped with their loot before being caught, though some were not. In a few rare set of circumstances, there were a plentiful amount of those that were caught, and their punishments varied. In some cases, they were aggressively pursued, sometimes by guards or by employees of the store that they had tried to rob. In at least one or two instances, Leyaria happened to witness a physical altercation against the pickpockets, though generally speaking, they were attributed to and committed by the guards, and remarkably enough, nobody seemed to be shocked by that. “That’s how order is here in Era it seems. Nobody is above the law. Nobody.”

She couldn’t help but feel much better about the fact that she no longer had her Devil Slayer Magic, as if this level of violence and aggression could be applied to something as minor as a pickpocket, what would possibly happen if it were found out that she was actually an arsonist, whether or not it was an appropriate title to refer to her as, or even if it was or wasn’t her intent. Or even worse, if it had turned out that there were those who would lose their lives like how it had happened within Hargeon Town, then there was no reason to believe that Leyaria would ever be able to get out of Era in anything other than a cart delivering her corpse to the nearest graveyard. If that was even something to consider. A place as large as this, with as military of a religion and ideology, it would be hard to imagine that they would entertain the possibility that there could at any point there be huge amounts of body. To save time and to save face, it’d be far more likely that instead they would use something like a large furnace, cremate the bodies, as a far more effective means of cleaning up the city and keeping it clean.

Wandering through the markets, Leyaria was impressed by what she saw, though at the same time, she was as much repulsed by how much everything seemed to cost. There were hardly an item in whih she could hope to buy herself, nor were there any possibility that she could reasonably acquire that kind of money to purchase these items either. The greater probability that she had of obtaining most, if not all of those items, would be her mirroring the actions of the pickpockets she had seen earlier, hoping to steal one of the items and get away without being caught. Though the greater risk was the fact that she had no idea where she was in Era, she had no idea where to go and reasonably it was possible that the majority of the shop owners in this area all knew about the numerous pathways, shortcuts, and dead ends in the city, and if it were a situation that she was chased, there was no way that Leyaria could reasonably expect to get away. To make the matter even more difficult and complicated, the fact that Geth was with her meant that it was very unlikely that she’d be actually able to escape. Even if she could disappear, it would be near impossible to hide Geth, lest it were a situation like those her hiding within one of the dead ends, and even then, the greater likelihood would be that she was caught before being able to actually get away.

She ignored the ideas that went through her head, those that were encouraging her to try to steal some of those items, for as nice as they appeared to be. It wasn’t worth it, she knew. She hoped though that eventually there may have been a scenario in which she could have afforded one of the nicer trinkets, or even just one of the normal ones, the ones that were less valuable, but even then, she knew that it was very likely that it wasn’t going to be even those items were going to be utter challenges to acquire. As she even walked around, trying her best to avoid the stores that were explicitly selling valuable items, it seemed like all throughout there were expensive goods all throughout. All services seemed to be expensive, whether it was an item that was being sold, some sort of training or other type of intellectual value, whatever it was, it was something that Leyaria knew that she could not afford.

However though, there was something else that she happened to notice as she was walking around the markets. The fact that there was someone who apparently was following her, or at the very least, someone who seemed to have been near her all since the time that she had gotten off the train; there was a familiar scent from even when she was on the train, someone who apparently had followed her or was happening to be on the same route as Leyaria. But Leyaria had no idea where she was going, so it was far more likely that this was a woman who was either lost herself, or otherwise was following Leyaria. She was leaning that this woman was more the latter than it was the former. She turned around suddenly, unable to notice anyone, her eyes quickly darting around, hoping to find someone who appeared to have frantically run away, something to give the indication that there might have been someone who appeared to be trying to escape or otherwise conceal themselves from Leyaria. After scanning the crowd for a few moments, she finally conceded and gave up on the effort, turning around and finding herself jump in shock as there appeared an old woman who was standing right before her, her eyes gazing every so often back and forth between Leyaria and Geth.

“Gah!” She yelled out in shock, unaware that it had been a woman who had been following her, let alone an old woman or one that had been able to move quickly enough to get around Leyaria before she noticed herself. Hell, even the fact that this woman was able to deduce that Leyaria was onto her was impressive enough. While a part of Leyaria was a bit concerned, a part of her was at the same time a bit interested in what, who, and why this woman was seemingly so interested in Leyaria. “Who are you?” Leyaria asked, curious as to what this woman’s deal was. The woman said nothing at first, instead only choosing to smirk slightly, her eyes glaring up at Leyaria, the former Devil Slayer having close to six inches on this woman’s height. “Tell me,” Leyaria barked out again, fear and concern now starting to overwhelm her feelings of intrigue and curousity.

“It took you longer than I figured it would,” the woman spoke, her voice hoarse, easily one that should have been lost amongst the busy marketplace that they stood within, yet Leyaria was able to clearly hear it, much to her own surprise. “It had been close to an hour that I had been following you, even before the train docked within this city. I would have figured that my scent would have been picked up well before then.” It seemed like this woman knew that Leyaria had smelt her, which now had Leyaria concerned, especially at the possibility that this woman knew entirely who and what Leyaria was while she didn’t even seem to know herself.

“What are you talking about? What do you mean?” She played ignorance, hoping to not show her hand, nor did she want to either say one way or the other that this woman may have known what Leyaria was and that she did not herself. However, the fact that this woman seemed to know about her strange, enhanced level of smell certainly did not forebode well for Leyaria. For each step that the woman took, Leyaria found herself taking a step back, the distance between the two closing all the same, especially in the situations where Leyaria was finding herself being pushed forward by the rest of the traffic. The old woman did not seem to be phased at all by the traffic.

“You don’t know, do you?” The woman asked, her voice still as hoarse, if not more snide and decisive than it was anything else, certainly far more than it was in Leyaria’s voice. As Leyaria struggled to create distance between the two of them, the woman continued to move closer, the faint smile on her face growing wider and wider. Eventually, Leyaria found herself being pushed forward, to the point where there was nothing more than that she could do, the reality that she was unable to move in any direction in an effort to escape now fully setting in. The woman realized this as well, extending her hand out and very quickly reaching for Leyaria’s top, pulling it slightly, not enough to reveal enough to be considered inappropriate, but just enough to show the scar of her lacrima surgery. “I see,” she quietly said, her voice sounding calmer than it did before. “When did it happen?”

Leyaria said nothing, preferring to feign ignorance, though it was clear that even her best efforts were not going to be believed by the woman. After a moment, while the woman kept her grip upon Leyaria’s clothes, the scar remaining in full view to anyone who may have happened by the two of them, the former Devil Slayer finally spoke again, sighing in defeat first. “I don’t know… I just… I don’t know…”

The old woman, having previously looked confident, if not even a little bit cocky, was now in a great deal of surprise. It was as though the news that Leyaria confided to her had just hit her like a ton of bricks, as though she suffered a strong punch to the gut and completely and utterly winded her. “You don’t know?” She wanted to think that Leyaria was misleading her, preferring to simply detract this woman away. However though, judging by Leyaria’s face it was very clear to the woman that the former Devil Slayer was telling truth. “How is that possible? How could someone… What were….” It seemed like there were a number of things that she was wondering and wanted to say but otherwise couldn’t. Whatever it was that this woman wanted to get out, whatever she thought Leyaria was, the fact that it seemingly happened for no reason, that was the most shocking thing of it all.

“What!? What happened to me? What did they do to me?” Leyaria found herself essentially pleading with the woman now, ironically enough the woman who only moments ago she had wanted to get away from as quickly and as far away from as possible. Now she wanted to know just what was going on, and just who it was that this woman was, and what she knew. As she pleaded, Leyaria realized that she didn’t even know who it was that she was referring to. Was it a person? An organization? Some shady group? It was impossible to tell, but it was clear, or at least it seemed, that this woman had an idea of what happened. She found herself taking hold of the woman’s hand that still gripped her top, her fingers gripping tighter and tighter into the skin as it seemed Leyaria wished to put even greater emphasis onto the lacrima scar. “What is this? Why do I have this?”

The old woman was silent for a moment, before taking a breath herself. To some degree, it was clear that she suspected that Leyaria was aware of what had happened to her. As such, the revelation of what she was going to reveal to this woman was no doubt going to be a very big shocker, perhaps one that she wasn’t going to be able to wholly comprehend or otherwise appreciate. Maybe she could, but who was to tell? “That scar, that is a scar from a lacrima, as you seem to recognize. How do you know that?” It was an earnest question as lacrima surgeries were fairly uncommon, especially due to the expensive price that was generally associated with the surgery, some of it just being a natural cost of dealing with a medical procedure like that, but also greater costs when it comes to not just being a lacrima, but also that of it having magical properties, so as a collective whole it would be a difficult thing for most to have. If it had not been for Leyaria’s sister, it would have been very likely that the woman would never have seen it before, that she would have no idea whatsoever of what it was that had happened to her. She might have instead thought that someone might have taken one of her organs or something like that, a terrifying scenario for many, many people.

“My sister… She had a lacrima… Before she….” She couldn’t even finish it, and she didn’t even bother making an effort to try to finish the thought, as the look upon the woman’s face told enough of a story that it was clear that this old woman who apparently was wise and knowledgeable, far beyond that of her time, told enough of a story. Leyaria felt that there was no more need to say anything else beyond that, and the woman did not further pry or inquire for more knowledge.

“I see. No need to say any more,” the woman’s words were quiet again, quickly hoping to move the conversation along, perhaps out of necessity, otherwise perhaps out of hoping to prevent that Leyaria have to fully remember those negative memories, as that was clearly not the best case scenario and certainly could impair one’s ability to fully comprehend what they were to be told. “Well, that lacrima, or really, all of this. Everything that has been affecting you. Your new improved sense of smell, that you were able to track me, that you were able to recall your, how should we say this? Your eventful trip from Crocus to here, all of it is tied together. And add in that little lacrima of yours, and it all makes very clear sense. Do you know what I am getting at?” Leyaria shook her head, in a bit of disbelief herself at the fact that this very well may have all been tied together, the random nuisea that she had felt when she went onto the train, the fact that she was seeming to smell better, as well as track, far better than what she could have ever done before. That this lacrima was tied to it, she began to process through her head, trying to figure out what it was that this all meant, but before she could come to a conclusion herself, the woman nodded her head slightly. “That lacrima, it’s a Magic one. Possessing a form of Magic within it.”

Leyaria’s eyes widened at hearing this. She thought that after having lost Devil Slayer Magic, things would have been better, but now here she was again, again forced to live with the fact that she was very likely going to have to endure with another form of Magic, one in which she never wanted, one in which she never consented to having. She wanted to cry, even before knowing what type of Magic it was, Leyaria was ready to just give up. Magic had done nothing for her benefit, instead only being that of agony and pain, one that made her feel worse and worse than anything else. She couldn’t even bring herself to ask what sort of Magic it was that the lacrima contained, as she hoped that the woman would just continue on on her own.

“That Magic that you have, the nausea, the symptoms are synanamous with one another. What you have right there,” the old woman said as she point to the scar on Leyaria’s chest, “Is Dragon Slayer Magic.”

Leyaria was floored, unable to believe the fact that she had been told that she had Dragon Slayer Magic, a Magic that so many people had said was a rumor and a falsehood. It had been so long since it seemed that anyone had ever seen a Dragon Slayer but that didn’t stop their legends from becoming huge and beyond what most could ever hope to believe. However though, as true as it was for anyone else, the same could have been said for Devil Slayer Magic, but Leyaria had actually had that Magic, so it wasn’t as hard to believe that this Magic could exist too. However, it was hard for her to believe that she had gone from one ancient Magic to another, and in this case, what perhaps terrified her or otherwise shocked her today, was the fact that in both cases, the Magics had come to Leyaria in measures that nobody could have ever believed. She never wanted to have Magic. She never wanted to become a Devil Slayer, nor had she heard of it before she spoke to Hikaru on that fateful night, and now she was a Dragon Slayer, just like the legends and stories that she had heard so often before. It was all too intense for her to believe.

She felt sick, like she could barely keep herself steady and upright. It was like the world around her was completely shifting and the old woman, the one who so calmly a moment ago had said that she was a Dragon Slayer, she just stood there, watching as the woman struggled to comprehend everything that was going on. How could she have known this, did she know beforehand? What was Leyaria to do? Why was this happening to her? The whole thing was terrifying to her, much in part due to it being an unknown. That wasn’t to say that she enjoyed being a Devil Slayer either. In reality, she hated the Magic, the destructive element to it, and the fact that there was little that she could do to control it, to control the destructive power of it all, and because of that, perhaps it was what she was a little hopeful and praying that if she truly did have a Dragon Slayer Magic, that it wasn’t one that was as destructive as her Devil Slayer Magic was, that it would be something that she could actually control. That is the biggest question, and honestly, it was one that she wasn’t entirely sure if that would be at all possible, given her lack of success prior to with Devil Slayer Magic.


“You seem to be reacting to this far different than what I would have expected someone to. Especially when you consider what sort of Magic this is, how blessed and fortunate you are to have something that many Mages would utterly destroy countries over to acquire. Yet, here you are, with this Magic, and you seem so dejected by it, so disgusted by it all. Why is that?” The woman was curious and Leyaria’s dejection of the Magic was certainly odd for those who did not know her, who did not know her past, but the woman was curious nevertheless, both in respects to the fact that Leyaria did seem to reject the Magic, but also because compared to other people who she had revealed that they had acquired Magics, this was the only instance that she could remember that someone seemed to be actually dejected. “Why is it that the Magic seems to be so terrible for you? Why would you feel as though this is a curse rather than a gift?”

Leyaria began to cry as tears descended down her cheeks and as she sought to wipe them away, descretely as possible, though it was clear that she wasn’t going to be able to hide them from this woman, especially as she had failed to disguise everything else up to this point by this woman. Looking at the woman, the redness of it and the moisture of it all seeming to be an overwhelming thing that the woman could not believe. She thought that it was that the woman standing before her might be overwhelmed, but it was clear that there was something else that was underneath all of it, there was a greater reason why it was that the Magic seemed so toxic for her, that it seemed to be so terrible, or at the very least that this woman seemed to treat it as such. “I don’t know if you can see it,” Leyaria began as she slightly adjusted her top to show off her shoulder to the woman, the faintness of the black scar from the Devil Slayer Magic still present and visibly apparent, particularly at the close distance between the two of them. As the woman looked at the shoulder, her eyes widened even greater, far more than it had been than what she perhaps had ever expected it to have been, as though she were looking at a ghost, looking at something that should not have existed but at the same time, honestly did.

For the woman, it was something that was utterly impossible to believe, and as she looked at Leyaria, looking at her faintest scars, looking at the lacrima scar, looking at the difficult thing to believe that the woman before her had at one point had a different type of Slayer Magic, albeit one of them being far more ancient, if not unbelievable than the Dragon Slayer Magic that was just as difficult to believe as anything else it was that she had seen before. “A Demon Slayer… How… How is that possible?” Was all the woman was able to stammer out, and unfortunately too, even as she looked at the woman, struggling to admire the black scars that had at one point covered the entire shoulder and right arm of the woman, the old woman simply released her grip and pulled back slightly from Leyaria, acting and behaving like she had come across something special, something that should not have existed, with no disrespect intended towards Leyaria. “There were tales of them before, but never before had I seen them. There were always the tales of people, people who could use the Magic of Demons themselves, superior to that of the Gods, superior to that of the Dragons, and yet, here I am standing before a woman who once upon a time rivaled that. In my lifetime, I never expected to have seen something like this.”

“I don’t remember how it was that it had happened, but I had it. And… And everything around me just burned to the ground. I had no control, I couldn’t do a thing to stop it… to control it. I don’t know why, I don’t know how, but I never wanted it, I’m glad to be rid of it.” Leyaria hissed as she spoke of the Magic, having trouble and difficulty believing that the magic was truly gone, that she was forced to live through the memories of it again and relay them to someone else. It just felt wrong, for whatever reason it was that it did. “Then one day, it was gone… The scars, they were faded, like they no longer existed, and instead, there were these scars from this… Somehow, I don’t understand how, I went from a Slayer Magic to another one. I never wanted one, and now they’ve given me another…”

“You should be grateful for what you have been given, as there are most who would never get such an opportunity to experience one of those Magics, let alone two. You are unique, perhaps the only one who may ever have the chance to do that. You may never have another shot at Devil Slayer Magic, but you may. I cannot say with certainty one way or the other, but what I can say is that whether or not you wished to have had this Magic, you have it. You are a Dragon Slayer. You bear one of the greatest gifts that the world of Magic can gift upon a human being, the chance to be near that of the fabled Dragons. It will take you time to understand and master this Magic, though you will also find that it will be easier to tame the Dragon than it is to tame the Demons.” The woman spoke with a level of confidence which was surprising to Leyaria, especially given the fact that it was as though she spoke with experience. Leyaria desperately wanted to speak to this woman for a longer and more private setting than this, but she couldn’t help but believe that regardless of what she asked, it wasn’t going to happen, it wouldn’t be that she would be able to ask that. She could only imagine that this woman, at one point or another, may have had one of the Slayer Magics.

“Then what am I to do? How am I supposed to control this if I were unable to control the Devil Slayer Magic before? I was a monster then, and now I’m still a monster! Oh, a Dragon! A monster of legend, as opposed to a demon! What’s one evil to the other? I don’t’ want this… I never wanted this…” Leyaria weeped as people continued to walk around and move around them, surprisingly enough ignoring the greater extent of the conversation, perhaps glancing every so often to gaze at Leyaria or otherwise gaze at Geth as the Golett creature was one that the greater majority had ever seen. However though, when it came to the actual conversation, they ignored it, and in spite of Leyaria’s crying and pleas, the woman did not seem to hold that to too much regard.

“I understand that you believe this is wrong, that you are cursed. However, you must recognize that you are doing something special, that you have a very special position in the world and the power structure that is to come. You are a former Devil, but have ascended, regardless of how you might perceive it, to become a Dragon. History has lost them, but now they will remember you. They will remember you Leyaria. Become the Dragon. Become the White Dragon. What you believe, however you justify your existence, however you believe you need to do to survive, to set your mark upon history, that is what you must do.” The woman smiled and began to walk away, though before Leyaria was able to say anything else, it seemed that the woman had disappeared within the crowd, leaving her with so many questions though at the same time, recognizing that it was clear that this meeting was not by chance. This woman, whoever she was, had intended on this from the beginning, that she knew who she was, and now Leyaria had an idea of who she was too. The only question was what was she going to do now about it.

[Exit]

Word Count: 7702 Words
White Dragon's Roar: 1900/1900 (5% Intelligence)
White Dragon's Collapsing Heaven: 3800/3800 (5% Intelligence)
White Dragon's Wrath of God: 1900/1900 (5% Intelligence)
Words Used: 7600
Words Remaining: 102