Chapter: 56. Can’t Go Back (5K)
Whether through provocation or heartfelt words, it no longer mattered to Timani.
What echoed in her ears were harsh words like “homeless,” “cold and hungry,” and “on the streets.”
These words seemed to clash with the proud nature of her kind.
But this was the reality of Timani’s life for these past few years.
The dragon girl slowly raised her head and gazed at the magnificent door illuminated by candlelight.
Inside the door lay leisure for communication with others, the warmth of a well-lit home.
Outside the door was the desolation of a thousand miles devoid of people, the chilling threat of the biting wind.
The proud daughter of the Fire Dragon Clan was unafraid of the cold or swayed by vanity.
— But she feared that after stepping beyond that door, she would continue to carry the weight of the sun, moon, and stars, yet find herself empty-handed on an uncertain path to the future.
The most terrifying thing was the unknown.
An unknown road ahead, with no destination to strive for, could make dying on the streets seem inconsequential.
She feared that version of herself.
Timani’s eyes gradually became hollow and soulless, even her naturally high-temperature body was shivering. She wrapped her trembling arms around herself, trying to comfort herself as she always did, saying that tomorrow she would find a chance to go home.
But it was ineffective.
She had walked this aimless road for many years…
And now she had arrived here.
It was the first time someone had asked her where she came from and where she was going.
She herself didn’t know.
“I don’t know… I can’t go back…
Even if I told you, I still can’t go back…”
“But why must you go back?”
“Do you have a home and wouldn’t return?!” Timani suddenly widened her eyes and shouted, not questioning Xue Fei but her own suddenly wavering self. “There are people waiting for me at home! I’ve come this far just to go back! I’m just one step away, but…!”
“But you have already walked further and further away, haven’t you? Besides…”
Xue Fei’s eyes, which could see through lies, sparkled with a faint purple light.
Within that gaze was Timani’s true heart.
“And… there is no one at home waiting for you.”
“……”
“You want to go back, it’s merely an excuse you created to prove something, isn’t it? Even if you truly returned to the Northern Region, to the territory of the Fire Dragon Clan, no one would welcome you there. Everything you did would be futile. Well… although I don’t want to say this, your inner thoughts are telling me just that.”
This time, Timani did not refute.
She wanted to refute.
But she lacked the grounds to do so.
She had fantasized countless times about returning to the territory of the Fire Dragon Clan, imagining everyone releasing Flame Magic into the sky to welcome her.
But each time she awoke from that fantasy, she found it was just a dream.
What the Demon Princess said was true…
The saddest part was not being unable to go home no matter what.
— But even if she returned home, no one would be waiting for her there.
And the source of all this sorrow lay in her left hand covering her ear, hidden beneath her hair.
Wanting to go home — this was just an excuse Timani had come up with over the years to keep herself from collapsing.
She was afraid of that door.
Because beyond that door lay an endless world.
The home that once welcomed her was long gone.
……………………………..
Xiya and Xue Fei sat around the dining table, watching as Timani slowly lifted her red hair.
She had just said that she was speaking these words for the first time since leaving the Fire Dragon Clan, and hoped that Xue Fei and Xiya could help keep her secret.
She actually didn’t need to state this condition, because it was Xue Fei who had first told her a secret. This was merely an exchange of equal information, and both sides needed to keep it confidential.
Timani’s fingers moved slowly to part her long hair.
Between each smile, there was a mix of fear, resistance, and inexplicable entanglement.
But Xue Fei and Xiya’s expressions contained no mockery or other emotions, this purity gave Timani the confidence to show her ears for the first time before others.
These two… were really something else…
After brushing her hair back, it was like clearing clouds to see the sun.
Unlike the pointed ears of humans or even the Fire Dragon Clan, what appeared in Xue Fei and Xiya’s eyes were distinctly different.
“Miss Timani…? Your ears… this is from the Elf Race…?”
Unlike Xue Fei’s calm demeanor as if she had expected it, Xiya’s eyes widened in surprise at this unexpected revelation.
Timani hurriedly dropped her hands, and strands of her red hair fell back to cover her ears.
“That should… be enough! You’ve seen it… that’s how it is…!”
“……”
Is this… the end of the reveal?
Xiya struggled with her comprehension and quietly sought Xue Fei’s help.
“No… Xue Fei? What does she mean by ‘that’s how it is’? I saw her ears seem a bit different, and then…?”
“Xiya… perhaps I should just smack your head.”
“I’m not asking anymore; you two talk.”
Xiya, your wisdom is truly on par with Timani, it’s like a match of wits between equals.
Xue Fei held a fork in her hand, tapping the bottom on the table in a rhythmic two beats.
She leaned back against the chair’s backrest, her next words aimed at Timani, which could also answer Xiya’s earlier question.
“So, you were expelled from the Fire Dragon Clan because of impure bloodline? You are a half-breed of the Elf Race and Fire Dragon Clan… no wonder all the magic you cast feels unstable. By the way, are half-breeds not welcomed in the Fire Dragon Clan?”
“Far from being welcomed… half-breeds are seen as a symbol of impurity and evil in the dragon race, representing betrayal against the bloodline of the strong. They are all… expelled.”
“Then, does that mean you’re not the only one who was expelled?”
“There are other half-breeds, but I am the only one who was exiled.”
“Ha? Why were you given harsher punishment?”
“It wasn’t my punishment that was harsher.” A grayish shadow flickered in Timani’s eyes, “But everyone else who was a half-breed dragon… was executed, and I was the only one who managed to leave the territory alive.”
“……”
The story Timani was recounting.
Was far removed from the present.
Back in the year she was born, the story still had rainbows and laughter.
“I didn’t know anything during my childhood… In my understanding, my parents were both from the Fire Dragon Clan. My father was an official who assisted in ceremonial tasks in the Dragon God Temple, while my mother was just an ordinary Fire Dragon Clan commoner. Our family lived a comfortable life; they taught me magic, took me flying around the Fire Dragon Realm, and said that when I grew up, they would take me to see the outside world. I was truly happy then… I didn’t have to think about anything, and had nothing to worry about.”
This was due to the overall strength of the Fire Dragon Clan as a high-level race.
There were no enemies around their territory daring to covet their land; in fact, they even had to pay them for protection. Life was naturally prosperous, with no need to consider warfare or other issues, living in peace became inevitable.
Timani could still hear the laughter and joy from her childhood, with the sound of family banter filling the air every day when her father returned from the Dragon God Temple just before sunset.
Timani still remembered the dandelions in front of their little house; every spring, she would take her parents to see them blown away by the wind. She would laugh, spreading her wings and flying up, drifting away with the dandelion fluff, returning home before sunset to happily recount the mountains and rivers she had seen to her parents.
Even now, recalling these moments still brings a faint smile to Timani’s face.
“My parents were always good to me; they respected my thoughts. But there was one thing I didn’t understand at the time. They wanted me to keep my hair very long since childhood and told me never to let my ears show. They even used disguise magic to cover my ears’ true appearance. When I was little, I didn’t understand, but as I grew older, I slowly noticed… the ears of the clan were different from mine.”
“I asked my parents why, and they answered with a smile. They said it was because my magic talent was particularly outstanding. Outstanding individuals naturally have something different, and my difference was my ears, so I must hide them. Otherwise, if others saw them, especially kids around my age, they would be jealous, so I must be very careful.”
A kind lie had buried such subconsciousness deep in Timani’s heart.
Can’t say… can’t say… can’t let the little dragons see my ears.
Hehe… since my parents said so, they would never lie to me, so it must be true.
And indeed, as her parents claimed, Timani’s magical talent was exceptional, even among the strong high-level races; even the clan elders often said she had a bright future and might become an important figure in the Fire Dragon Clan one day.
The phrase “all stars hold up the moon,” to describe that period of Timani’s life could not be more fitting.
But…
There are no impenetrable walls in this world.
As Timani grew older, the strength of her magic increased.
But her control over magic remained at the childhood level.
This phenomenon caught the attention of her neighbors.
The parent of that neighbor was also a priest in the Dragon God Temple and had a competitive relationship with Timani’s father.
He had long been looking for dirt on his rival to strike him down right before the promotion he was expecting, even if it wouldn’t ruin him entirely, he needed him to vacate that only promotion position so he could take that opportunity for himself.
So, a few days before the position of High Priest was basically assured, this neighbor began to follow Timani’s father, searching for usable intelligence.
The results after several days turned out to be meaningless.
Timani’s father went to work at sunrise and came back home at sunset; his life was so regular that it was alarming.
At this point, the neighbor began to think there was little chance for him.
Just as he was about to give up tracking…
— On that last night, he truly discovered the secret.
Timani’s father left the house late at night, sneaking out. The neighbor just happened to see this, and upon witnessing this, he quietly followed after him, soaring through multiple mountain ranges until dawn, reaching the border of the Fire Dragon Realm.
There, he was astonished to see an elf girl emerge from the mist.
Timani’s father had come to this far-off place for a secret meeting with a long-eared elf girl!
This was big news…
Although the two didn’t speak much, the elf girl turned and left, and due to the distance, her features were indistinguishable. However, in that morning fog, the neighbor had already grasped a method to take down his rival.
This guy seemed honest… didn’t expect him to be secretly meeting with someone from the Elf Race without anyone knowing?
Considering Timani’s poor control over magic, the neighbor formed a rather bold guess.
He had no evidence, but even if this wasn’t true, it wouldn’t be a loss for him.
Thus, the neighbor reported to the Elders of the Fire Dragon Clan, suspecting that Timani’s father was having an affair with an elf, and that Timani was a half-breed of the Fire Dragon Clan and the Elf Race.
At first, the Elders didn’t believe it, but according to protocol, the neighbor was at least a member of the priest temple, and his report warranted attention. They needed to summon Timani’s family for confrontation at the Dragon God Temple.
Without alarming the snakes in the grass, while Timani’s parents were away, the Elder Council summoned Timani alone.
The method of verification was simple.
Since the neighbor said she was a half-breed of the Elf Race, all they needed to do was part her hair and check if her ears had elf-like features.
Timani had no idea of the seriousness of the situation; she had never realized what her ears meant to her.
So, at that time, she just felt this was an ordinary magic test like any other.
The elders of the council were her teachers, and the priests around were friendly neighbors. They wouldn’t harm her because she believed the world was that wonderful.
However, with a single thunderous sound, her beautiful vision of the world as a child was shattered.
Disguise magic was meaningless before the Elder Council.
The moment Timani’s pointed ears became visible, all the kind smiles and expectations turned into vapor.
Shock and gasps of anger filled the air.
Timani was captured.
In a single night, she was taken from a warm home to a cold prison.
And was told she would be executed the next morning.
Everything came too suddenly.
She didn’t even have time to say goodbye to her parents.
In a damp prison that suppressed her magic, she learned that long ears were a symbol of being a half-breed, not a sign of high magical talent.
Furthermore, this meant her mother might not have been her true mother, but rather she was the product of her father’s indulgent sins.
The rules of the Fire Dragon Clan strictly forbade any impurity in bloodlines; the pure blood carried on for generations must not become tainted by outside races. Anyone carrying non-Fire Dragon blood would be executed to ensure that filthy blood would not continue.
On that day, the colors of Timani’s world changed.
Laughter vanished, and the looks people gave her were filled with hatred and disdain. The dandelions in front of her house she could no longer find were replaced by cold shackles and dark iron bars.
But… why?
I clearly did nothing… why must I die tomorrow?
The girl who once laughed loudly at the world and looked down upon all things could not understand the reason even until she was led to the execution platform in the morning’s mist.
Only the still-fresh “filthy blood” on the execution platform reminded her — this world was not filled with flowers everywhere.
Vivid red, in addition to flowers, was blood.
“But I couldn’t die…”
Timani whispered, each character striking the blade of execution beneath the cloud cover of her past.
Before the blade fell.
Two gigantic dragons transformed from the air rushed in, overturned the platform, and grabbed Timani, flying straight towards the edge of the sky.
As she spoke, Xiya’s voice, filled with sympathy, was tinged with sadness.
“Your parents came to rescue you, right…”
“Yes…” Timani leaned back against her chair, letting out a long sigh, “That was the first time I ever saw my father outside of work hours, and it was the first time my mother traveled so far from home.”
They had promised that once she grew up, they would take her out to see the world.
Unbeknownst to her, this promise would be fulfilled in such a manner.
Soaring across mountains, flying over oceans, crossing the borders of the Fire Dragon Realm, they struck at the apex of the world.
Her parents kept their promise, in their final moments, taking Timani to see the beauty of the world.
But throughout this entire process… the shadows of the Fire Dragon Clan were in pursuit.
“My parents, exhausted… landed on a snowy mountain, surrounded by pursuers from the Fire Dragon Clan, and were killed.”
“And you?”
“Before they died… they used all their strength to exhale, carving a path among the snow-capped mountains, telling me to run in that direction… just run, don’t look back, just keep running.”
Running might give her a chance to live.
But the efficiency of the Fire Dragon Clan’s pursuit was no joke; given Timani’s abilities, she would likely be caught and killed within a few hours.
As she mentioned this, Timani already didn’t know what words to use to depict her helpless mindset.
“Haah… I don’t understand why I survived. Only I made it out… When I was discovered by the pursuers, the clan leader appeared.”
That leader known as the “Dragon God,” the strongest of the Fire Dragon Clan.
He quietly watched the two giant dragon corpses buried in the snowstorm from a distance.
He actually shed tears.
His deep voice could move the heavens and the earth.
【Thus, it is enough, my clansmen, selfless and fearless, protect the child, through thousands of mountains and rivers, perishing herein. Let her live, and hurry far away, never to return to the clan!】
The transcendent Dragon God, with a host of clansmen, flew over the snowy mountains and left.
Only Timani was left, lost and alone.
Timani returned to the place where her parents had perished.
But she could no longer find any trace of them.
The noise of the Fire Dragon Clan’s pursuit had triggered an avalanche, forever burying their bodies beneath the ice.
Just like a dining table where a family could no longer return.
The dandelions could no longer be counted.
At the table, Timani had started to cry uncontrollably, as if she were on that ice layer, helplessly calling out, reflecting a face full of despair while still having to carry the burden of “living on,” embarking on an endless journey lost in a foreign land.
Xiya’s eyes turned red as she gently patted Xue Fei’s back.
Because…
Even Xue Fei, who usually loved to joke around, couldn’t hold back this time and turned away, shedding a tear.
Because Timani had already said from the very beginning.
She had no home anymore.
Even if she did have a home.
There was no one waiting for her to return.
