Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 823: Enough Time ()

Verothrax looked as pale as one dead. Laid on the altar like a sacrifice that was yet to be concluded.

His skin was cold to touch and his muscles stiff.

He hadn’t shown any signs of waking up in hours now and Estelle could not help the unsettling thought that he never would.

From the expression on her face, and how she repeatedly glanced over at him, Dante could read her dismaying thoughts.

Ida sat by Verothrax on the other side. She had said nothing since she came, just sat quietly by his side, stroking his hair.

Dante found it hard to reconcile the depth of this sudden concern and the fact that while he and Estelle could hardly dream of sleeping, she had.

The ever present mask on her face was jarring. Estelle had asked about it once and her response had been, her face was terribly scarred from an event she couldn’t remember and so she never took it off.

The tone of her voice... Dante still couldn’t shake off the chills it stirred in him. Was he just overthinking it because of the circumstances?

Xenon had warned him, to keep an eye on the woman of questionable identity. Something wasn’t right about her. He felt it too.

But Verothrax was enamored by her and if Xenon couldn’t dissuade him, Dante didn’t stand much of a chance.

"Do you think...he might never wake up?" Estelle asked in a tone audible to them alone.

Dante met her gaze. It was the first time she would look directly at him or speak to him since Lady Melissa said those words.

He could tell she was bothered by it. But she withheld her thoughts. She had been doing a lot of that lately since their fight in Scabbard.

Dante wished she wouldn’t. There was nothing he looked forward to more than hearing her speak to him. Her voice soothed him, eased the hollowness that just wouldn’t fade.

"He will." Dante replied with certainty.

Estelle’s gaze fell away from his, and that hollowness felt suddenly larger. More distinct.

Lady Melissa was not entirely wrong, he realized. The severing...it was not the kind of pain that could be fully overcome.

Surviving the split was one thing... living with the numbing feeling that followed, it was another thing entirely.

Two hours later, the warmth began returning to Verothrax’s tone, and he stirred awake.

His gaze quickly scanned his surroundings, lingering on Ida and then Dante before he sat up. His expression was as flat as always and he didn’t speak, just ran a hand through his hair and grunted lowly in displeasure.

When he stepped down from the altar and strode past them, not bothering to grab his robes or boots, Dante let him.

They looked the same age because Verothrax had gone into slumber in his youth. But Verothrax had seen the uprising, fought in it... and Dante hadn’t.

They were of different generations, and dragon lords who had lived through the uprising commanded an unspoken respect. As pioneers of the new world.

"Where is he going?" Estelle asked. She looked uncertain as Ida hurried after Verothrax.

"To the void." Dante replied. "To know if it worked."

Estelle hesitated for a moment. "And if it didn’t?"

"Perhaps he might still be able to banish it." Dante murmured, "Perhaps not, and it grows beyond his control, breaking the world a second time."

Dante stood up first and offered Estelle a hand. Together, they made their way out of the hall. Just in time to see a small crowd of nymphs gathered.

They all stared at the sky, where Verothrax’s ashen scales gleamed in the moonlight. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

He flew straight for the void and the shadowy abyss swallowed him up. Verothrax wasn’t seen in the skies and Dante knew the unease Estelle had long been feeling for a moment.

But then, he emerged sometime later. And the sky had returned to its normal state. The tear in the sky was gone in such silence and stillness, it did not seem like the danger had ever existed.

Estelle exhaled audibly. "He did it. He actually did it."

Verothrax shifted mid air, landing some distance from the crowd of awed nymphs who stared at the barefooted dragon lord like they had never seen one before.

Maybe they hadn’t. There was no other dragon lord quite like Verothrax. The closest would be the Dragon King himself.

Verothrax didn’t seem to notice the stares as he walked over to Dante. "We’re leaving for the Dunes in an hour."

He said it so simply, like he hadn’t been the same reason for over a week of delay here in Forest Tajmaé.

Dante pursed his lips, but nodded once.

Verothrax brushed past, heading back into Lady Melissa’s hall.

"I’ll say my goodbyes and be with you shortly." Estelle said.

---

Forest Tajmaé was somewhat familiar to Estelle now, and it didn’t take her too long to find Lady Melissa. She sat on a rock by a shallow pool and the moment Estelle stepped into the clearing, she turned, like she expected her to come.

"The Lady Starron." She said, a mirthless smile on her lips.

Estelle hesitated for a moment. "We will be leaving soon."

Lady Melissa nodded. "I can see he made it through."

"He did. And it’s thanks to your efforts. I came to say that."

A beat of silence passed between them.

"I also want you to know, I’m sorry. I know what it feels like to be deceived and while you were not in the right either, I see now that you genuinely care for Dante."

Lady Melissa shrugged casually. "It’s not everyday my guards abduct a dragon lord."

Estelle smiled despite herself. "It doesn’t matter..."

Lady Melissa raised a brow in question.

"If Dante never comes to love me as I do him, I mean."

"I’m happy enough, for each day he gets to live when fate has tried to snatch him."

"A lifetime...is enough time." She grinned. "A lot can happen in that time. And if it never does, I will have no regrets."