Chapter 221 - 216 - The golden light
The golden light had already disappeared.
But John was still staring at the eastern sky.
The others had noticed it too.
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Darius was the first to break the silence.
"That wasn’t normal, right?"
"No," Aerion answered.
John shook his head.
"It wasn’t a spell."
Lythriel looked at him.
"Then what was it?"
John didn’t answer immediately.
He could still feel a faint warmth inside his Dragon Core.
It wasn’t the same feeling as when the second fragment had resonated with him.
This was different.
Distant.
Almost like something had noticed his presence and responded.
Cael stepped beside him.
"My family records mention something similar."
John looked at him.
"Golden light?"
"Yes."
"What did they say?"
Cael frowned.
"Not much. There was a passage about the Legacy responding when another fragment awakened."
John’s eyes narrowed.
"Another fragment?"
Cael nodded.
"But it wasn’t clear whether it meant the fragment itself awakened or whether something around it did."
John looked toward the east again.
"Something awakened tonight."
Lythriel crossed her arms.
"And it’s probably waiting for us."
John nodded.
"That’s what I think."
Darius sighed.
"So we’re definitely going east."
"Yes."
"Of course we are."
Lythriel smiled.
"You sound surprised."
"I’m not surprised. I’m just accepting my fate."
That earned a quiet laugh from Sylvara.
Even Cael smiled slightly.
For a moment, things felt normal again.
Then John turned serious.
"We leave at first light."
Aerion nodded.
"We should also ask the guild about the eastern road."
"I’ll handle that," Cael said.
John looked at him.
"Don’t tell them everything."
Cael understood immediately.
"If the hunters have people inside the guild, we shouldn’t reveal that the third fragment is involved."
"Exactly."
The group returned to the inn.
That night, John barely slept.
He sat beside the window in his room, watching the town.
The streets gradually became empty.
Lanterns disappeared one by one.
Eventually, only the guards remained outside.
John closed his eyes.
He tried to sense the Legacy.
Nothing.
The connection was completely quiet.
He opened his status panel.
**[Status]**
**Name:** John
**Race:** Ancient Black Dragon
**Level:** 14
**Dragon Core:** Stable
**Dragon Form:** Available
**Humanoid Form:** Available
**Bloodline Awakening:** 12%
**Legacy Synchronization:** 9%
**Great Dragon Legacy:** Two Fragments Resonating
**Legacy Vessel:** Active
**Guardian Mark:** Active
**Legacy Echo:** Inactive
John stared at the last few lines.
Two fragments.
But the third was still somewhere ahead.
He wondered what would happen if he found it.
Would his synchronization increase?
Would another ability awaken?
Or would something else happen entirely?
The Legacy had already shown him that it wasn’t simply a source of power.
It had shown him possible futures.
It had tested his intentions.
And the First Guardian had warned him that the journey had only begun.
John closed the status panel.
He looked outside again.
Something moved.
John immediately focused.
A shadow stood across the street.
He couldn’t see its face.
The figure remained motionless for several seconds.
John stood.
The shadow disappeared.
He opened the window and looked down.
Nothing.
John frowned.
He hadn’t sensed anyone.
That bothered him more than the sight itself.
Someone had been close enough to watch him, yet had hidden their presence completely.
He remained at the window for another few minutes.
Nothing happened.
Eventually, he returned to his bed.
But he didn’t sleep.
---
Morning came quietly.
The group gathered outside the inn just after sunrise.
Aerion had already purchased supplies.
Darius checked his weapons.
Sylvara carried several bags of medicine.
Lythriel adjusted her cloak.
Cael approached John.
"I spoke with the guild."
"What did you learn?"
"The disappearances started three weeks ago."
John listened.
"The first two were merchants. Then adventurers began disappearing."
"Any pattern?"
"All of them were traveling east."
John frowned.
"How far?"
"Usually between one and three days from town."
That matched Arlen’s story.
"What about the survivors?"
"Arlen is the only one who returned."
"Any other witnesses?"
Cael shook his head.
"One merchant claims he saw a golden light in the forest two nights ago."
John looked at him.
"Two nights ago?"
"Yes."
The same night they had arrived.
John glanced east.
"What else?"
Cael lowered his voice.
"The guild received a request from a village farther east."
"What kind of request?"
"Missing people."
Again.
John sighed.
"How many?"
"Five."
Darius looked over.
"That’s a lot."
"And the guild hasn’t sent anyone?"
"They sent a party."
Cael paused.
"They never came back."
The group fell silent.
Aerion looked at John.
"That changes things."
"It does."
John thought for a moment.
"How far is the village?"
"About two days."
"Then that’s our first destination."
Lythriel nodded.
"Agreed."
They left town shortly afterward.
The road was quiet.
For the first few hours, nothing unusual happened.
Fields gradually gave way to woodland.
The trees became thicker as they traveled.
John walked near the front with Aerion.
Lythriel stayed close behind.
Cael and Darius followed.
Sylvara stayed in the middle of the group.
After several hours, they reached a fork in the road.
One path continued east.
The other went northeast.
Aerion stopped.
"The village should be east."
John looked at both roads.
His Dragon Core suddenly pulsed.
He turned toward the northeast path.
Lythriel noticed.
"What is it?"
John stared into the trees.
"The Legacy."
Cael stepped forward.
"You can feel the fragment?"
"Not exactly."
John closed his eyes.
He focused.
There.
A faint sensation.
Almost impossible to notice.
But it was there.
The same warmth.
The same distant pull.
Except this time, it wasn’t coming from the east.
It was coming from the northeast.
John opened his eyes.
"The direction changed."
Cael frowned.
"That shouldn’t be possible."
"Why?"
"Because fragments don’t move."
John looked at him.
"You sure?"
"That’s what my family records say."
John considered that.
Then he looked into the forest.
"Maybe the fragment didn’t move."
Cael’s eyes widened.
"You think—"
"Something moved around it."
A sudden sound came from the trees.
Everyone reached for their weapons.
Branches shook.
Something ran through the bushes.
Darius raised his sword.
"Something’s coming."
A small creature burst from the trees.
It was a deer.
It ran across the road and disappeared into the opposite forest.
Everyone relaxed.
Darius lowered his sword.
"Great."
Lythriel laughed.
"You looked terrified."
"I wasn’t terrified."
"You were."
"I was prepared."
John smiled.
Then he noticed something.
The deer had been bleeding.
A thin trail of blood remained on the road.
John crouched.
He touched the blood.
Still warm.
"It was injured."
Sylvara approached.
"Maybe by a predator."
John shook his head.
"No."
He looked at the trees.
"There are no claw marks."
Aerion frowned.
"Then what hurt it?"
John stood.
"I don’t know."
He looked toward the direction the deer had come from.
"We should investigate."
They entered the forest.
After several minutes, they found the answer.
The deer hadn’t been attacked.
It had stepped on something.
A thin black vine was wrapped around its leg.
John crouched beside it.
The vine moved.
Everyone stepped back.
John grabbed it.
The moment he touched it, the vine reacted.
It tightened around his hand.
John’s expression changed.
A faint golden light appeared beneath the black surface.
The vine released him.
Then it crawled back into the soil.
Cael stared.
"That..."
John looked at his hand.
The Dragon Core was reacting.
"What is it?"
Cael shook his head.
"I don’t know."
He knelt and examined the ground.
Then his expression changed.
"Wait."
"What?"
Cael brushed away some dirt.
A small stone was buried underneath.
A symbol was carved into it.
A circle.
And inside the circle—
A dragon’s eye.
The same symbol Arlen had described.
John stared at it.
His pendant began glowing.
The Legacy had responded.
But there was something else.
A voice came from deeper within the forest.
"You found it."
Everyone froze.
John slowly stood.
"Who’s there?"
No answer.
Aerion drew his sword.
Darius moved beside him.
Lythriel prepared her magic.
Cael looked around nervously.
Then the voice spoke again.
"You shouldn’t have."
John stared into the trees.
"Show yourself."
A figure slowly stepped out from behind the trees.
It was the same cloaked person from the town.
John recognized him immediately.
The stranger stopped several meters away.
He lowered his hood.
A young man with dark hair looked back at them.
His eyes were strangely golden.
He looked directly at John.
"The third fragment has awakened."
John’s expression hardened.
"Who are you?"
The stranger smiled.
"My name doesn’t matter."
He looked at the stone beneath John’s feet.
"What matters is that you’re already too late."
John’s eyes narrowed.
"For what?"
The stranger’s smile disappeared.
"For the thing that was sealed with it."
The forest suddenly became silent.
Even the wind stopped.
John felt something beneath the ground.
Something massive.
Something alive.
And this time, the feeling wasn’t distant.
It was directly beneath them.
Then the ground cracked.
A deep roar came from underground.
The stranger stepped backward.
"The awakening has begun."
John’s Dragon Core surged.
The Guardian Mark on his body began to glow.
And beneath the forest floor, something opened its eyes.
---
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