Flashback
(Five and a Half Years Ago)
(Afterlife — The White Mist)
.
.
Leo (8 years old) collapsed onto his knees.
His small hands struck the pale ground that did not feel real.
His chest rose and fell violently as sobs tore out of him like broken glass.
"Mother…"
His voice trembled. Cracked. Shattered.
"Please forgive me… I couldn't save you… I failed…"
Tears streamed down his face, falling into the mist and disappearing as if his grief itself was being erased from existence.
Behind him…
Goddess Liora.
She watched the child silently — her eyes unreadable.
Then—
The mist moved.
It parted like a curtain being drawn.
And from within that pale infinity…
Eva appeared.
She was walking.
Slow.
Peaceful.
Unaware.
Her black hair flowed gently despite the absence of wind.
Her face held no pain… no fear… only quiet acceptance.
Ahead of her stood the Gate of Heaven.
A vast luminous archway floating in eternity.
Leo's eyes widened.
For a moment he could not breathe.
Then suddenly—
He shot to his feet and began to run.
"MOTHER!!"
His cry echoed endlessly through the white void.
But she did not turn.
She kept walking.
Each step took her farther away from him…
farther from the world…
farther from life.
Leo's legs trembled as he ran harder.
"Mother… don't go inside… please… don't…"
Eva finally stopped. She stood before the radiant threshold. Her hand slowly lifted… reaching forward…
Just one step more and she would be gone forever.
Then—
The air vibrated.
The mist shuddered violently. A deep humming sound filled existence itself.
And suddenly—
The entire afterlife turned blue.
Time stopped. Movement ceased. Sound died.
Eva froze mid-step… her fingers inches from crossing the sacred boundary.
Then…
A soft laugh echoed.
Goddess Liora smiled.
"Now you are exceeding your authority, Zeradros."
Leo blinked rapidly.
"Goddess… I… I didn't do anything…"
Her gaze lowered to him with faint amusement.
"I was not addressing you, my child."
The mist twisted again. This time it did not part gently. It ripped open.
Reality itself cracked like fragile glass.
The white void was replaced by a vast ruined battlefield —
broken mountains… shattered bones… remnants of forgotten wars scattered across endless land.
And there—
Towering over death itself…
Stood the Dragon King.
Zeradros.
His colossal form radiated ancient power. Blue flames burned within his eyes like stars collapsing into fury....he had forced his will into the realm of souls.
Leo's breath caught.
"…Zeradros…"
Goddess Liora stepped forward gracefully, leaving the mist behind as if she were walking out of a dream.
Her voice was calm.
"Dragon King Zeradros. Explain your actions."
The dragon's wings trembled.
His glowing gaze remained fixed on the frozen figure of Eva.
"I will not permit her to pass."
Liora's expression did not change.
"You understand the gravity of interfering with the cycle of life and death."
A low growl rumbled through the ruined field.
"I understand."
"Then clarify your desperation," she continued, her tone like polished steel. "For what reason do you defy divine law for a mortal woman?"
The Dragon's eyes burned brighter.
His voice, when he spoke, carried both thunder… and unbearable sorrow.
"Because she is my—"
Liora tilted her head slightly.
"She is your…?"
Silence fell.
Even eternity seemed to wait.
Then—
Tears began to fall from the Dragon King's eyes.
Great luminous drops that shattered into blue sparks upon touching the ruined earth.
"…Mother."
Leo froze.
The word struck him harder than any weapon.
Liora smiled.
Not cruelly.
Not kindly.
But knowingly.
"You have finally acknowledged the truth, Zeradros. You understand what that declaration signifies."
The dragon slowly lowered his head. His wings folded. His immense pride… ancient and invincible… bent for the first time.
"Yes."
His voice became quiet.
Heavy.
Defeated.
"I have lost, Goddess....And you have won."
Liora smiled softly.
"You have finally accepted it… it took you a very long time, Zeradros."
The Dragon King lowered his colossal head.
"…Yes."
The white mist trembled once more.
Time itself began to flow backward.
Memories reversed.
Light folded.
Existence bent like glass under divine fingers.
Leo felt the ground vanish beneath him.
The battlefield… the Gate of Heaven… Eva's frozen form… everything dissolved into spiraling blue fragments.
When reality settled again—
They were no longer in the afterlife.
Time — One Thousand Years Ago
Broken ruins stretched endlessly under a grey sky.
Burnt pillars.
Collapsed temples.
Ash carried by a lonely wind.
Leo looked around in confusion.
"Goddess… what is this place? Why did you bring us here?"
Liora stood beside him, her expression formal… distant… like someone observing history rather than living it."You will understand," she replied calmly. "Both of you will understand. Now… watch."
They fell silent.
Before them—
A small boy was running through the ruins. He could not have been older than eight.
His clothes were torn.
His feet bled against the shattered stones. Tears blurred his vision as he ran desperately.
"Mother… don't worry… I will save you…!"
He ran harder. Then suddenly he stopped.
His chest heaved violently as he lifted his head toward the sky.
"…Where did he go…?"
Fear gripped his small face. Then he screamed with everything he had—
"Dragon King!! I have a wish to make!!"
The sky tore open. Blue light poured down like a descending ocean.
And from that celestial wound— A young dragon emerged. Not the massive being Leo knew.
This one was smaller.
Younger. Yet his eyes still burned with ancient blue flames.
Zeradros — eight years old.
He hovered before the crying boy, studying him with cold curiosity.
"What is your wish?" he asked formally.
The boy dropped to his knees.
"My mother… she is very sick… please cure her illness… make her healthy again…"
The young Dragon King tilted his head slightly.
"And what will you offer as sacrifice?"
The boy did not hesitate.
"My life… I will sacrifice my life."
Zeradros suddenly laughed.
A sharp, echoing sound that did not belong to a child.
"Why would you sacrifice your life for her?"
He descended closer, his glowing eyes staring straight into the boy's soul.
"She is going to die anyway. Why not sacrifice her life… and ask for power and fortune for yourself?"
The boy's eyes widened in horror.
"How can you say that…?! She is my mother… she gave birth to me…"
Zeradros' expression remained indifferent.
"So what if she gave birth to you? Forget about her. Live your own life."
The boy clenched his fists, trembling.
"How can you be so cruel…? Don't you have a mother?"
Silence.
For the first time…
The young dragon's gaze flickered.
"No. I do not."
The boy shook his head slowly, tears falling again.
"…Then you cannot understand this…"
Zeradros' voice hardened.
"Stop speaking nonsense. Tell me again — what is your wish now?"
The boy lifted his tear-filled eyes and looked directly at the Dragon King.
His voice did not shake this time.
"Cure my mother's illness… and take my life."
The blue flames in Zeradros' eyes flared.
"…Your wish shall be granted."
Light exploded.
A divine contract was fulfilled.
In the next instant—
The boy's small body collapsed onto the ruined ground.
Zeradros looked down at the boy's lifeless body.
For a brief moment… there was silence. Then he laughed.
"Foolish mortal child…" his young voice carried cruel indifference.
"You have lost your life for nothing."
He spread his wings and began to rise toward the torn sky.
But then—
A scream pierced the ruins.
"My child…!!"
Zeradros turned.
A woman came running, stumbling over broken stones, her frail body shaking as she reached the fallen boy. She pulled his lifeless form into her arms, rocking him desperately.
"My child… what happened… what happened to my son…?!"
Her tears soaked his hair.
The young Dragon King watched with distant curiosity.
"He made a wish," Zeradros replied formally. "He sacrificed his life to cure your illness."
The woman froze.
Then her face collapsed in unbearable grief.
"…Why… why would you do that…?" she sobbed, clutching the boy closer. "Your mother cannot live without you…"
Slowly… she lifted her tear-filled eyes toward the dragon.
"I want to make a wish too."
Zeradros hovered lower.
"Speak."
Her voice trembled… but her resolve did not.
"Bring my child back to life… and I will offer my own life."
For the third time that day—
Zeradros laughed.
"Very well. Your wish shall be granted."
Blue light burst across the ruined land. The woman's body fell still.
And the boy's chest suddenly rose with breath.
He opened his eyes.
"…Mother?"
He shook her gently.Then harder.
"Mother…! Wake Up…!"
Zeradros sighed with annoyance.
"Go home, child. Your mother has sacrificed her life for you. Live the rest of yours."
But the boy lifted his tear-streaked face again.
"…No. I want to make another wish."
Something snapped inside the young dragon.
"ENOUGH."
His eyes burned with anger.
"I do not have time for your foolish requests."
He descended sharply until he was face-to-face with the trembling child.
"Why are you so desperate to save her?"
The boy's answer came instantly.
"Because… she is my mother."
Zeradros' expression darkened.
"Mother… mother… mother…"
He leaned even closer.
"What is so valuable about having a mother?"
A soft voice answered from behind.
"A mother is the being who creates life."
Both the boy and the dragon turned.
A radiant woman stood among the ruins as if time itself bowed to her presence.
Zeradros narrowed his glowing eyes. "And who might you be?"
She answered with calm authority.
"I am Liora — Goddess of Time and Keeper of All Timelines."
The young Dragon King studied her carefully.
"…A goddess. What do you want?"
She tilted her head slightly.
"You asked what is so precious about a mother. Would you like me to show you?"
Zeradros scoffed.
"Show me? And how exactly will you—"
Before he could finish—
Liora raised her hand and gently touched his forehead.
The Future
Time shattered. Visions flooded his mind like a violent storm.
Rebirth....Pain....Love he did not understand.
And finally—
A woman standing at the Gate of Heaven.
Himself — the mighty Dragon King — using every fragment of his divine power to stop her from crossing.
The vision ended.
Zeradros roared.
"IMPOSSIBLE!!"
His wings slammed against the sky in fury.
"I — Zeradros, Dragon King of Eternity — would never stoop so low as to defy the heavens for a foolish mortal woman!"
Liora's voice remained calm.
"You will not?"
"…Then what is this?"
She lifted her hand.
The veil separating timelines shattered like glass.
Before the young dragon now stood—
Himself.
A thousand years older.
Overwhelmingly powerful.
Desperately trying to stop Eva from crossing.
Beside him stood his human rebirth — Leo.
Three versions of one truth… facing each other.
Liora spoke.
"This is you, Zeradros — one thousand years from now. The invincible Dragon King exhausting his power… to save a mortal woman."
The young dragon stared in disbelief.
"Have you lost your mind?" he spat at his future self. "Why are you saving such a worthless being?"
Leo suddenly shouted.
"She is not worthless! She is my mother! She gave birth to me!"
The young Zeradros looked at him with cold disgust.
"I cannot believe I would be reborn into something so… pathetic."
Liora's gaze sharpened.
"Leo is not pathetic. He is trying to save his mother."
Her next words fell like destiny.
"She is your mother too, Zeradros."
Time began to move again.
Slowly.
Very slowly.
Eva — frozen near the Gate — turned her head.
Her gentle eyes met the young dragon's.
And she smiled.
"Leo… live a long life...my son."
Something inside Zeradros cracked.
Warmth.
Pain.
A feeling he had never known.
Tears began to fall from his cold blue eyes. He stared at the drops in shock.
"…What is this…?"
Liora answered softly.
"These are tears. You are crying, Zeradros… because your mother is dying."
"No," he whispered hoarsely.
"Why would I cry for a worthless mortal…?"
"Because you love her."
The word struck him harder than thunder.
"…Love…"
He looked at Eva again. "…What will happen to her?"
"She will die," Liora said simply.
"She will go to Heaven… and never return."
Zeradros forced out a hollow laugh.
"Oh. Then I do not care...i will not let that happened, i will change the future."
Liora smiled faintly. "Let us make a deal."
She pointed toward Eva.
"If one thousand years from now you come to me… begging to save this 'worthless mortal' — what will you do?"
The young dragon met her divine gaze without hesitation.
"Then I will kneel before you."
"Very well," Liora said.
"Let us meet again… Zeradros."
Reality shattered. Timelines sealed. The ruins vanished.
Once more, the battlefield of the afterlife returned.
Only three figures remained.
Liora.
Leo.
And the ancient Dragon King.
Liora looked at him quietly.
"Now, Zeradros… what do you have to say?"
For the first time in a thousand years—
The Dragon King lowered his head. Then he bent his knee before the Goddess of Time.
"I have lost."
His voice was heavy… but peaceful.
"And you have won, Goddess Liora."
A slow smile spread across her timeless face.
"…That is what I have waited a thousand years to hear."
Liora looked at the kneeling Dragon King.
Her voice was calm… but there was a softness in it now that had not existed before.
"Zeradros… do you finally understand what a mother is?"
Zeradros did not raise his head.
"…Yes," he whispered.
"I finally understand… Goddess."
Silence lingered between them like a wound that refused to close.
Liora spoke again.
"You did not merely break the laws of timelines for your mother… you created an entirely new one."
Her gaze slowly shifted to Leo.
Her divine eyes softened.
"And you… did something even I did not foresee."
"You tried to end your own life… just to save your mother's."
Leo's throat tightened, tears filled his eyes.
Liora continued quietly.
"You were the one who sent that man — Velco — into the new timeline… were you not?"
Zeradros answered without hesitation.
"Yes."
His claws tightened against the ground.
"When she fell into the execution pool and died… I was afraid."
His voice trembled.
"And when I learned that Leo was poisoning himself to destroy me… I became furious."
A bitter smile touched his lips.
"I gave Velco the potion to accelerate my growth… the magic that could bind the King of Velmoria… the sword meant to slaughter the Therald bloodline… and even the wolves that i gifted them."
Liora watched him silently.
"You were desperate."
Then she asked the question that mattered most.
"Tell me, Zeradros… why are you stopping her now?"
She pointed toward Eva — frozen at the Gate of Heaven.
The Dragon King's glowing eyes shook.
"At first… when she wished for me to be born as her child… I believed she was doing it only to save The Emperor of Velmoria."
His voice grew hoarse.
"I thought she did not care about the child within her."
His claws trembled.
"But when Velco beat her… brutally… she covered her stomach with both hands."
A tear slid down his scaled cheek.
"She protected me."
His breathing grew uneven.
"And when she had to choose… between her own life and mine…"
Another tear fell.
"She chose me." He looked at Liora with broken eyes. "She died smiling."
His voice shattered.
"That is why… I cannot allow her to die like this, Goddess."
Liora closed her eyes briefly.
"But there is nothing you can't do, Zeradros. In that world… the Dragon King is already gone. She cannot be brought back."
Desperation flooded his voice.
"There must be a way."
For the first time — even the Goddess of Time began to think. Her gaze rested on Eva's fading soul.
Then she spoke.
"…Zeradros. Do you have a wish to make?"
A trembling smile appeared through his tears.
"Yes… Goddess."
"Then speak your wish."
He looked only at Eva.
"Bring my mother back to life."
Liora's expression became solemn.
"And what will you sacrifice?"
Without a moment's pause—
"My life."
"I will sacrifice my life."
Divine light ignited within her eyes.
"Your wish shall be granted."
Time resumed. The frozen world breathed again. And Eva's soul… standing before Heaven's gate…faded away.
Gone from death. Returned to life.
Zeradros laughed softly.
Not in cruelty.
But in relief.
Then he turned to Liora.
"Then… Goddess… it is time for me to bid farewell as well."
He lowered his head toward Leo.
"Come. Let us go together."
Leo smiled and climbed onto Zeradros' massive head.
Then he looked back one last time.
"Farewell, Goddess… and thank you… for everything."
A single tear slipped down Liora's cheek.
"…Farewell… my child."
—The Final Journey—
They moved slowly through the endless white light. It felt warm… peaceful… and unbearably final.
Leo sat on Zeradros' massive head, his small fingers clutching the cold scales.
After a long silence he muttered weakly,
"…Zeradros… why your head is so big?.."
The Dragon King snorted.
"And why you look so ugly… why must you resemble that mortal Emperor so much?"
Leo's brows furrowed.
He lifted his hand and hit the dragon's head.
"Don't call Father that!"
Zeradros winced dramatically.
"If you strike me again, we shall both fall into oblivion."
Leo let out a faint, broken laugh.
Then he slowly lay down… resting his cheek against the dragon's head. For the first time since everything began… he allowed himself to cry.
Warm tears slipped down… disappearing into blue scales.
"…Are you crying?" Zeradros asked quietly.
"Yes…"
Leo's voice trembled like a thread about to snap.
"I will never see Mother… or Father again…"
His fingers tightened.
"If we disappear… all our selves will vanish too…"
For once… Zeradros did not respond with pride or sarcasm.
His voice became gentle.
"Let us not be greedy."
"At least… we were able to save mother and father."
Leo gave a trembling smile through tears.
"…You called him Father."
A long pause followed.
Then Zeradros answered softly,
"Yes....He is Father."
Leo closed his eyes.
Live well… Mother… Father…
Grow old together…
Without me…
I love you both with my heart.
Light began to consume them.
Their bodies slowly dissolved into glowing fragments.
Leo whispered into the fading silence—
"…Goodbye…"
Then—
A voice called from behind.
"…Leo."
He turned.
Goddess Liora stood there.
For the first time… she did not look like an untouchable deity. Her eyes were wet.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
Leo blinked in confusion.
"…To the afterlife."
"Why would you go there?"
Leo and Zeradros exchanged puzzled looks.
"We made the wish…"
Leo spoke hesitantly.
"Our lives are connected… so all our forms will disappear…"
Liora smiled faintly.
"Who told you that?"
Leo froze.
"…What?"
She stepped forward and suddenly pulled him into her arms.
Her embrace was warm… real… motherly.
"Only your Dragon form will vanish.....Your human form… will remain."
Leo's breath stopped.
"…I… can stay?"
"Yes," she whispered.
"You may stay, my child."
Hope — cruel and beautiful — bloomed inside his shattered heart.
Behind him Zeradros laughed softly.
He looked at Leo one last time.
"…Then take care of our Mother… and Father."
Leo turned, tears streaming uncontrollably.
"I will… I promise…"
The Dragon King spread his wings. His body turned into blue starlight. And he flew upward… fading… fading… Until nothing remained.
Leo reached out into the empty sky.
"…Zeradros…"
Only silence answered him.
And in that silence—
A part of his soul was gone forever.