The Dragon Lord's Aide Wants to Quit [BL] Chapter 470: Behind those Doors

Technically, this could still be something else.

That was what Riley tried to tell himself as he carefully continued forward, doing his best to avoid the flames licking across the walls and floor.

After all, dragonkind had existed for an absurdly long time, and considering the number of beings who could’ve possibly hated them throughout that ridiculously extensive history, the likelihood of them having other enemies and experiencing similar disasters really wasn’t that low.

So technically, this could’ve been an entirely different burning dragon estate.

One that had absolutely nothing to do with his mate.

Unfortunately, despite that perfectly reasonable attempt at calming himself down, Riley’s steps only grew faster until he was practically sprinting through the burning corridors.

Because real or not, he wasn’t about to take any chances.

Especially when he started seeing the bodies.

Riley’s breath caught as he passed one after another, some collapsed along the corridors while others lay against the walls, their bodies so badly burned that he could barely make out what they might’ve looked like before the flames reached them. Their skin and scales had cracked apart like shattered glass, while some had been burned so severely that only blackened, ashen shapes remained.

Exactly like Kael had described.

Something immediately lodged itself in Riley’s throat.

He’d imagined this before. Of course he had. How could he not after sitting there and listening to the golden dragon tell him what happened on the day Riley had supposedly died?

He’d imagined the burning estate and the collapsed halls. He’d pictured those strange cursed flames eating through everything despite the estate being specifically built to withstand elemental attacks, along with the servants who’d died trying to protect one little egg while a young Kael desperately forced his way through all of it.

But hearing about it and seeing it with his own two eyes were apparently two very different things.

Whatever hope the worried Iltheran heir had of being wrong rapidly disappeared, and his steps only grew faster as he continued deeper into the estate.

By the time Riley reached one particular corridor, there was hardly any denial left to cling to.

He stopped, his breath catching as the scenes he’d once been forced to imagine suddenly seemed to materialize right in front of him.

Several bodies were piled around a nearly unrecognizable door, their positions suggesting they’d desperately tried to stop something from getting through.

The black dragon’s blood ran cold as he stared beyond them.

The cursed fire was still crawling over the walls and ruined stone, but unlike everywhere else he’d passed, something was steadily keeping it from spreading any farther.

Blue flames.

Riley’s eyes widened.

Unlike the Forbidden Flames that seemed intent on consuming anything they could reach, however, these didn’t appear particularly interested in venturing beyond the doorway. They flickered along the entrance, pushing against the cursed fire whenever it drew too close, but otherwise remained stubbornly concentrated around that particular space.

Almost as though, much like the loyal servants who’d died outside that door, their only purpose was to keep whatever remained inside safe.

"Oh, god."

Just what had they done in some distant past that could ever warrant an experience like this?

He didn’t know exactly how these strange memories worked or whether anything inside them could actually hurt him, but Kael had already told him enough about what happened inside that room.

A pitiful but still considerably nasty someone had been in there with him.

And knowing what Riley knew now about the Wyvern Queen, there was no way he was walking in completely defenseless.

Dream or no dream.

So the black dragon burst through the doorway with his runes already raring to go, only to freeze the moment he saw what was waiting for him.

Even more blue flames.

This time, that description felt like an extreme understatement. Unlike the modest flames he’d seen guarding the entrance, the ones inside had practically engulfed the entire room.

The Forbidden Flames that had consumed almost everything outside were nowhere to be seen. Instead, Kael’s blue fire crawled across the shattered walls and broken stone, filling nearly every available space with such overwhelming intensity that Riley almost took a step back on instinct, as though he’d actually encountered the enemy he’d been expecting.

Except there was no Wyvern Queen waiting for him.

There wasn’t even anyone standing.

Instead, right in the middle of that raging sea of blue was a small lump hunched on the ruined floor.

A child.

One whose little wings were curled protectively around something black as night peeking out from beneath them.

Broken pieces of a black dragon’s eggshell.

Oh no.

Riley’s heart throbbed so painfully that one trembling hand immediately went to his chest.

He’d already felt like someone was stabbing him when Kael first told him this story, especially when he’d been forced to imagine what his mate must’ve gone through as a child. But now that Riley was actually seeing that little figure hunched in the middle of the ruined room with his own two eyes, he couldn’t even begin to explain just how broken he felt.

That was Kael.

His Kael.

Only so much smaller.

Riley didn’t stay where he was for long.

Maybe this was only a memory, and maybe he had absolutely no business being seen by a young Kael who wouldn’t even know who he was, but the much bigger and older black dragon felt like he personally wouldn’t make it out of there if he didn’t at least do something.

So with trembling hands and every intention of not spooking the already devastated child, Riley slowly made his way forward.

Except he barely managed a few steps before something immediately felt wrong.

The blue flames directly in front of him disappeared.

Riley stopped, startled by the unexpected experience.

His blood runes were still revolving protectively around his body, automatically extinguishing the fire whenever it came too close, and for a moment, the black dragon could only stare at the empty space he’d accidentally created.

Then the flames surged back.

Riley’s eyes widened as even more mana suddenly flooded the room, the blue fire rushing into the space his runes had just cleared as though whoever controlled it had instinctively noticed that something was missing.

Except the child in the middle of the room hadn’t moved.

Kael remained hunched with his head lowered, seemingly unaware of Riley’s presence, but the mana pouring from that tiny body continued increasing as Riley’s blood runes extinguished more of his flames.

And every time the black dragon took another step, the same thing happened.

His runes destroyed the fire.

Kael produced more.

Riley stopped again.

His expression crumpled as he finally understood what was happening.

Kael wasn’t consciously attacking him.

The child probably didn’t even know he was there.

He was simply reacting.

Something was taking away the flames surrounding him, so his body instinctively poured out even more mana to replace them.

And knowing what Riley already knew about what had happened after this...

"No, no, no."

His mate had nearly destroyed his own dragon heart doing exactly this.

Riley immediately looked down at the blood runes surrounding him before glancing toward the small figure several steps away.

This was insane.

Then again, when had that ever stopped him?

With a shaky breath, Riley readjusted his hand.

Then the blood runes protecting him disappeared.

Almost immediately, flames crashed against him from every direction with enough intensity that every sensible instinct he possessed screamed at him to put his protection back up. For some inexplicable reason, it almost felt as though he’d returned to being human again, suddenly afraid of getting burned.

Or worse, getting rejected.

But despite a fear of flames and the pain he really shouldn’t have been experiencing anymore, the black dragon refused to bring his runes back.

Maybe this was only a memory.

Maybe none of this was actually happening anymore, and technically speaking, wasn’t Riley practically an intruding ghost right now?

Ghosts couldn’t burn.

Probably.

Riley grimaced.

Okay, that was admittedly a terrible justification, especially when he wasn’t even sure whether he was a ghost, dreaming, hallucinating, or experiencing whatever other ridiculous thing Eryndra had decided to throw at him today.

But Riley trusted Kael.

More importantly, he trusted their bond.

And even if that somehow wasn’t enough...

His gaze returned to the little golden dragon surrounded by his own flames.

Even if he burned, he’d still risk it.

He couldn’t just stand there and watch Kael destroy himself all over again because Riley was too afraid to get close enough to comfort him. To somehow let him know that it was over, or at the very least, that they would see each other again.

He owed him that much.

So Riley continued forward.

This time, nothing disappeared.

There was no additional surge of mana from the child either. But the fire still raged around him, scorching Riley’s skin and filling his lungs with searing heat as he carefully pushed through it. Every step sent pain tearing through him, and more than once, his knees nearly buckled beneath him.

So much for ghosts not burning.

Still, the determined black dragon kept moving.

One agonizing step after another, he forced himself forward until he finally reached the little golden dragon and knelt in front of him.

Then Riley saw his face properly.

He gasped.

Those golden eyes he’d become so familiar with were open, but there was practically nothing inside them. They weren’t filled with the rage Riley would’ve expected after hearing Kael’s story, nor could he see the overwhelming grief that had nearly destroyed his mate’s core.

They were simply empty.

Almost dead.

And suddenly, Riley understood why the flames hadn’t recognized him.

Because the child who owned them seemed to have already lost all hope in their bond.