The last memory I had was the moment my chest was pierced for the second time by Night Bringer.
Dusk Bringar calmly explained what had happened after that.
With her support, I stood up and looked around blankly.
"...So, you came all the way here to find me yourself?"
A world within the ice.
Inside the [Light and Shadow] section of Nightmare Slayer... the Taxidermied Repository.
Did she come all the way here to find me?
"Only you."
Dusk Bringar extended her cold fingertips to gently caress my forehead.
"You are the only one who can bring light back to this world. The only one I can entrust my flame to for that purpose.""..."
I carefully spoke after a moment of silence.
"Your Grace. I am not the Ash you cherished."
"..."
"That Ash is already dead. I am just a backup... a clone preserving Ash's memories."
A self-deprecating laugh escaped me.
"Since Ash was a clone to begin with, I am a clone of a clone, an imitation of an imitation, a replica of a replica. I am nothing but a fake among fakes. How could someone like me..."
"It's okay."
My trembling voice stopped at Dusk Bringar's resolute words.
She smiled with her lips that were frozen white.
"Because it's still you."
"..."
"Because it's still your life."
Slowly, she extended both hands to hold mine.
"And your life is beautiful."
She spoke sincerely.
I was at a loss for words and bit my lip.
"Ash. You have the strongest heart in this world... the courage not to hate."
I blinked at the unfamiliar expression.
"The courage not to hate...?"
"Yes. The ability to embrace others instead of harboring hatred and anger. To accept a divided world and soothe others' wounds. True strength... benevolence."
"..."
"As long as you have that benevolence, no matter how many times you are cloned, you are still you."
Dusk Bringar continued speaking to me, who stood dazed.
"My mother, Day Bringar, said I had that courage too. That's why she trusted me and passed the throne to me... but as I got swept away by the world's storms, that courage inside me withered away."
"..."
"During my reign, my country became soaked in blood and ash. I killed many, hated many, and was hated in return."
A bitter light shone on Dusk Bringar's face.
"I never lived as my mother had hoped. I survived as just another common, cowardly, shameless king."
Her grip on my hands tightened.
"Then I met you. Someone who never let go of the courage I had lost."
"..."
"It's easy to fight and kill your opponents. Conversely, it's difficult to communicate and understand. But even while you struggled, you willingly chose the hard and exhausting path. That's why your journey was great."
I had just staggered along, stumbling and crawling to reach this place.
Losing and losing again, and now the world was on the brink of destruction. I had been repeatedly defeated and fallen, and if you hadn't come, I would have been frozen here forever.
"Believe in me, Ash. This is the word of someone who once shared your dream but eventually gave up in the face of harsh reality."
Why do you look at me so preciously, as if I am the last remaining candle in this world?
"You can bring light to this world."
Dusk Bringar slowly let go of my hands and brought her hands together in front of her chest, then took out a flickering red flame from inside.
After silently gazing at the flame for a while, Dusk Bringar slowly extended her hands forward.
"Will you accept it?"
"..."
As I hesitated, Dusk Bringar's voice trembled.
"I know. This flame is not pure. I couldn't uphold the nobility that my predecessors protected."
Her cheeks flushed red.
"This flame bears my flaws. The noble will of my ancestors was stained, corrupted, and became ugly because of my shortcomings."
"..."
"But this is all I can give you."
Sincerely, she was ashamed.
As if thinking that her tainted life had contaminated the pure flame passed down from her ancestors.
"Is the flame too ugly for you to accept it?"
Dusk Bringar's gaze, voice, and the flame in her hand all trembled weakly.
"..."
In the silence, I slowly opened my mouth.
"It's okay if it's ugly, Your Grace."
I smiled warmly at her wide eyes.
"Living a life where you inevitably hate someone, sometimes causing harm and being harmed, getting covered in soot as you go... we call that an ordinary life."
Where in this world could you find perfect goodness?
Like my banner, stained with blood and ash as I crossed the battlefield.
Suppressing inevitable hatred, anger, resentment, and enmity, yet still struggling to live as a normal person rather than a monster...
Those soiled days are the great battles everyone in this world fights every day.
"Sometimes, we make mistakes. Sometimes, we hurt others. We leave blemishes in moments of error, and scars remain as flaws. Looking back, you might find only wounds and soot all over your body."
"..."
"But it's okay. Because in the end, Your Grace never forgot what was important."
Because you remained a person.
Even while living in the mire of governance, you were always looking at the stars.
"I won't forgive your mistakes. I won't pretend your blemishes don't exist. But I will embrace your ugliness."
I slowly pulled Dusk Bringar's small shoulders into a hug once more.
Tears fell from her amber eyes as she was held in my arms. I whispered sincerely into her ear.
"Thank you, Your Grace. For coming to save me. For telling me my life has value."
"Ash..."
"Now I will inherit everything. Your ugliness, your wounds, your karma, and your regrets."
What made me hesitate wasn't the ugliness of her life.
It was knowing that the moment I accepted it, I would have to say goodbye to her.
But if I truly cared for this person... I had to accept it.
Her will.
And our farewell.
Shaa...
The flame in her hand slowly began to be absorbed into my chest.
As she carefully pushed the flame into me with her small hands, Dusk Bringar whispered.
"People call things they don't understand or fear a dragon. Now, you will be beyond their understanding, revered, and pointed at. That's the fate of a dragon."
"..."
"But love, Ash."
Tears continuously streamed down Dusk Bringar's cheeks as she tried to smile.
"I'll give you all the love I received from my ancestors and all the love I have left. So please, love."
"I will love."
I smiled warmly.
"Just as you did, Your Grace."
The flame completely transferred into my chest.
"My successor."
Dusk Bringar's body rapidly lost strength. I held her tighter to prevent her from collapsing.
"My flame, my will, my name to be inherited... my child."
And, the name passed down through generations.
That repeated and continued name, she gave to me.
"Dawn Bringar."
At the moment I heard that name.
The flame transferred to my chest surged with heat, starting to melt the frozen world around us.
As the ice and snow melted away, the land, blackened with soot, was revealed. I instinctively realized that this soot-covered world belonged to Dusk Bringar.
And also,
In the center of this burnt, blackened world stretching to the horizon.
I discovered a small hill covered with green grass and wildflowers that she had carefully protected and nurtured.
It was where I stood.
All the ugliness, hatred, and corruption that cast shadows on her heart, the very small hope she ultimately preserved... that was me.
"When dusk falls, night descends..."
I slowly laid her down on the ground as she gradually collapsed.
Lying neatly on the wildflowers, Dusk Bringar faintly smiled.
"And after the long, long night, dawn will surely come."
"..."
"So, Dawn Bringar. Bring the sunlight back to your world. You can do it."
I whispered, holding back tears.
"...Your Grace's tomorrow will surely be bright."
Just because yesterday was ugly doesn't mean tomorrow has to be.
As she said, after dusk falls, after the night passes, surely-
Dawn will come again.
"...Yes. I've already found such a brilliant tomorrow..."
With a weak hand, she touched my cheek once more, and with eyes whose light had faded, she smiled brightly.
"According to the legend my mother told me, red dragons at the end of their life gather at the shores of the world's end... to wait for the last sunrise together."
"..."
"So, this isn't goodbye... We can meet again on that final morning."
Dusk Bringar's breathing suddenly ceased. She tried to smile at me until the very end.
"See you again, my..."
She couldn't finish her sentence.
I gently took her hand that fell to the ground, slowly lowered it, and then carefully closed her amber eyes, still filled with tears. I quietly kissed her fair and serene forehead.
"See you again, Your Grace. No."
I corrected myself immediately.
The title of the one who passed her blood and will to me, like this.
"...Mother."
Facing her deeply sleeping face, I whispered with all the affection I could muster.
"We will meet again, for sure."
After saying goodbye, I slowly stood up.
Roughly wiping my eyes with the back of my hand and pushing down the sobs that threatened to burst forth.
I turned around.
Her world, blackened and full of soot. The long path paved with flames.
Just as she had marched through the frozen world to find me, I too walked the long path she had lived with a willing heart.
***
At the end of a long, distant road.
The world had changed.
Standing at the boundary between worlds, I looked around.
"...This place."
It was an endless desert filled with white ash.
Everything that once was had burned and burned again, turning into white ash and scattering in the wind.
In this dying desert of ash, where only the sound of sand remained.
"Hey, friend."
A voice called out.
"Need some help?"
Turning around, there was a man sitting there.
Due to the shimmering heat haze, he looked like a sand pillar leaning against what seemed to be a sand temple.
Strangely, even in this mental world, the man couldn't maintain his original form.
His entire body was like shattered pottery, with pieces missing, revealing the empty space inside. Like the desert, his body was shedding white ash.
With a face cracked and full of holes, bearing an inexplicable relaxed smile. He gazed intently at me.
"...You seem to be the one needing help."
I let out a hollow laugh and called out to him.
"Born Hater."
The man - the 'real Ash' - chuckled.
"Let's just say we both need each other."
With a groan, the real Ash stood up. As he brushed off his body lightly, fine white ash scattered from his broken body like sand.
The real Ash pointed to his broken self with an awkward smile.
"Even in this state, I think I can still be of help to you..."
"..."
I quietly looked at him.
"All I have are fragmented memories of strategies and battle experiences... but isn't that better than nothing? What do you say?"
The real Ash extended his hand to me, the fake.
His hand, broken and crumbling, trembled with every dry gust of wind that swept through the desert.
"To save the world, how about we join forces, Dawn Bringar?"
"..."
I let out a low sigh.
Reaching out, I grasped his hand.
"When have we not?"
Our clasped hands moved up and down heavily.
In the next moment, the world of white ash and the world of black soot began to shake violently, mixing together.
--TL Notes--
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you want to support me or give me feedback, you can do it at /MattReading