The Dragon Lord's Aide Wants to Quit [BL] Chapter 466: The Long-Awaited Reunion

It would’ve been nice to say that during that short but rather untimely slumber, Riley, the last remaining black dragon of the Iltheran clan, had achieved some sort of nirvana, enlightenment, or at the very least discovered the secrets of heaven and hell.

That during the time he remained completely unaware of the disasters unfolding so physically close yet mentally so far away, he might’ve glimpsed the future.

Or maybe even the past, like most times he’d found himself unable to control his own body and consciousness.

However, much to his surprise and maybe unexpected relief, none of that actually happened.

Instead, Riley found himself far too tired to move, think, or even open his eyes as he lay curled in a fetal position somewhere so quiet he could’ve heard himself think, had he not been so absolutely lethargic.

Strangely enough, it was comfortable. Certainly a far cry from everything he’d been experiencing throughout the entire day, and Riley simply couldn’t bring himself to leave whatever place he was currently nestled in.

In fact, maybe it would be better if he just stayed perfectly still.

Maybe if he rested long enough, he’d eventually remember what it was he needed to do.

Where he’d been going in the first place.

And who he’d been doing all of it for.

But right now, the curled-up black dragon really needed a good, long rest.

Riley pulled his knees in farther, his bare skin instinctively seeking warmth as he hugged himself closer.

He remained completely unaware that what felt so comfortable against his skin were actually thick, pale roots crawling silently up his legs and torso, tightening their grip inch by inch.

His eyes drifted shut again, leaving him with nothing but an indistinct haze.

Originally, Riley could hear nothing except the steady rhythm of his own breathing.

Then came the faint splash of approaching footsteps through water.

His eyelids fluttered.

He managed to catch only brief, distorted glimpses of something approaching before he lost the strength to keep his eyes open again.

Then, without warning, Riley felt himself being dragged out from wherever he’d been so comfortably nestled.

A low, discontented groan escaped him.

His limbs felt far too heavy to do anything, and being forcibly pried away from that comfortable place was so agonizingly unpleasant that he wanted nothing more than to crawl straight back.

Yet Riley couldn’t even summon enough energy to resist.

Then something cool touched his forehead.

And he heard words that shouldn’t have been familiar to him, but somehow were.

"Not yet."

Huh?

Another incomprehensible sound echoed through the void.

Riley shouldn’t have understood the language.

And yet somehow, his mind processed the meaning with perfect clarity.

As though his body had been compelled by that single command, Riley suddenly felt his bare feet touch cool, shallow water.

His eyes snapped open.

But there was no one there.

Despite clearly having felt and heard another presence only moments ago, Riley found himself completely alone.

At this, he immediately turned around, searching for whoever had pulled him away and only belatedly realizing that he could move his body much more easily now.

But even after turning, Riley still found no one else.

Instead, he came face-to-face with a ginormous, towering tree.

It stretched so impossibly high into the luminous sky that Riley couldn’t even begin to make out where it ended, its sheer scale so daunting that he felt utterly insignificant standing beneath it.

For a moment, none of it registered.

Everything around the tree was simply too bright.

Riley squinted.

Then he realized what he was actually looking at.

Every glowing fiber making up that colossal trunk was pulsing with energy.

Leylines.

Countless leylines, woven together into something so impossibly vast that Riley could barely comprehend the structure standing before him.

A short moment passed.

Then everything finally clicked.

"Oh."

His voice sounded strangely small in that enormous space.

"Azh’Kareth," Riley uttered quietly.

The name became the only sound in existence.

Even the faint ripples spreading through the shallow water beneath his feet seemed to stop the moment he spoke something carrying so much weight.

Then, as though that realization had unlocked everything he’d nearly forgotten, Riley’s memories came rushing back all at once.

Wyrmfall.

The ruined cavern.

The Wyvern King.

Their desperate agreement.

And finally—

Kael.

Riley gasped.

His chest heaved as awareness returned with such force that he nearly doubled over.

Then came the pain.

Blinding and sudden, it tore straight through him.

And through it all, that same incomprehensible voice echoed once more.

__

Meanwhile, back inside the cavern, the blinding light gradually faded, leaving behind a lingering glare that made it difficult to immediately understand much of what had happened during that brief span of time.

Entire sections of the cavern had completely disappeared, practically exposing parts of the once-enclosed space to the dark skies of Eryndra. What remained seemed significantly larger now, with massive chunks of the ground gouged out and entire sections of stone simply gone.

Amid all that destruction, Rhazira struggled to move.

She was honestly surprised she hadn’t disintegrated along with everything else, especially considering how badly her body had already been deteriorating even before an explosion she’d had no chance to prepare for.

But then she noticed something.

A barrier.

There was a barrier surrounding what remained of her body, its surface already covered in cracks that continued spreading right before her eyes.

Everything was still foggy, and Rhazira could barely make out anything through her damaged vision, but the realization nevertheless made her chest tighten.

Against a mana explosion like that, there could only be one being capable of protecting her.

The only one who probably still existed who would even be willing to do so.

Her mate.

Her Khan.

Sure enough.

He really did still love her.

Just as she’d thought, he would never abandon her.

"Khan...?"

Her voice came out painfully hoarse with so much of her throat partially burned.

There was no response.

But Rhazira’s own body was caught in violent spasms, forcing her to cough and choke as she slowly began crawling across the ruined ground toward her beloved.

It was fine.

Surely, she simply couldn’t hear him because of the mana burst.

She could barely see anything either, so she just needed to get closer.

It hurt.

Everything hurt.

From the bones now exposed through parts of her ruined flesh to everything else being held together by what little mana she had remaining, the pain was so excruciating that even the slightest movement sent another wave of agony through her.

But that pain meant she was alive.

And she was alive because of her beloved.

That was all that mattered.

Besides, now that the others surely couldn’t have survived something like that, she and Khan could finally be together.

Rhazira kept her eyes focused on her mate as she crawled.

With how badly her sight had been damaged, she could make out little more than the dark outline of his colossal figure.

But no matter.

Eventually, she reached him.

Still lying against the ground, Rhazira slowly raised what remained of her hand toward him.

And strangely enough, the gesture was gentle.

So gentle that for one brief moment, she looked almost like the girl she might’ve once been rather than the monster she’d eventually become.

"Thank you, my love..." she whispered softly.

For the first time in what felt like forever, the tension slowly left Rhazira’s body.

It was over.

After everything they’d endured, everything she’d sacrificed just to keep them together, she was finally standing before him again.

"Finally..."

A trembling smile touched her lips as she reached up, almost reverently, and rested one clawed fingertip against him.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then something gave way beneath her touch.

Rhazira froze.

A few tiny fragments slipped past her finger.

She stared at them without understanding.

Then more followed.

Fine gray particles trickled downward like sand, and the smile on Rhazira’s face slowly disappeared as her gaze lifted back toward the enormous figure before her.

"No..."

Her finger was still touching him.

Yet there was no resistance anymore.

No living warmth.

Nothing solid beneath her hand.

Only ash.

"No."

Rhazira tried to pull away.

She never got the chance.

The tiny disturbance seemed to be all it took.

A section of the ancient body suddenly gave way, collapsing inward before another followed. Then another. The destruction spread so quickly that Rhazira could do nothing but stand there, one hand still helplessly outstretched as the figure she’d mistaken for her long-awaited reunion began falling apart before her eyes.

Her beloved.

Her mate.

The man she’d spent countless years desperately trying to restore.

"Khan...?"

But there was no answer.

The Wyvern King’s colossal form crumbled all at once, dissolving into an enormous cloud of ash that swept around Rhazira before slowly settling across the ruined ground.

And when the dust finally thinned enough for her to see...

There was no one standing in front of her anymore.