Chapter 256 - 255. The Silent Hunt (2)
I approached the sleeping child slowly, my steps soft against the cool marble floor. The room was bathed in shadows, with only the faintest sliver of moonlight cutting through the curtains. He lay curled into himself on the armchair, his small frame trembling with each shallow breath. His arms were wrapped tightly around his knees, as though seeking comfort from a world that had offered him none.
His face, pale and drawn, was twisted in anguish. Even in sleep, he couldn’t escape his torment. The soft rise and fall of his chest was punctuated by quiet, broken whimpers that tore at something deep inside me.
I crouched beside him, watching, listening. His lips moved, forming words too faint to hear at first. Then, like a whisper carried on the wind, his voice reached me.
"Help me... Help me... Lord Dragon... Please..."
My breath caught. A single tear welled in the corner of his eye, sliding down his cheek and vanishing into the folds of his robe. The sight of it made the ground feel as if it had shifted beneath me.
Those words. The same ones that had haunted my nights, echoing in my dreams. The desperate cries that had followed me, tugging at my soul with each passing moment.
"No way..." The words slipped from my lips, unbidden, as realization dawned. This child... this frail, trembling boy... was the very voice that had been calling out to me in my dreams.
His soft, strangled cries pulled me from my thoughts.
"No... No... Please..." he whimpered, his body tightening further, as though trying to fold into himself and disappear from the world.
A surge of rage flooded through me, sharp and hot like molten fire. My dragon’s presence unfurled in response, a primal force that answered my fury. The air grew heavy, vibrating with the weight of my power. Glass objects around the room shattered, their shards scattering like fallen stars. The sheer force of the energy sent chairs skidding across the floor, the wooden legs scraping against the stone.
The child jerked awake with a start, his eyes wide with panic. He gasped, his small hands flying up in a futile attempt to shield himself. His gaze darted around the room, wild and terrified, until it landed on me.