Shifter - Infinite Transformation-Chapter 67: Searching Fault

I went on to tell them about everything that happened. Clove and Fern didn’t care about the soldiers I’d dispatched, which did not particularly surprise me, but they were incredibly sympathetic toward the Juvenile Nature Dragon.

"The dragon was a mother. A young one." Tears welled up in Fern’s eyes. "She was angry about the loss of her child. Understandably so, but...why us?"

She suppressed the tears with a shake of her head and retained her composure.

Clove remained silent in the meantime, but his ears perked up when I continued.

"You killed the young dragon?" His eyes grew wide. "Does that mean you can transform into a dragon?"

I nodded but added yet another important point. "They tortured it. It was suffering...and it wanted to die, but couldn’t. The soldiers used an alarm that rang as soon as the Juvenile Nature Dragon tore itself free of the tubes. They...They would have preserved its life and continued torturing it."

I also mentioned that the dragon was wingless, but that didn’t seem to matter all that much to the fae. They kept listening with occasional comments.

"You killed its child, and it...it just let you be?" Fern’s eyes grew wide as well.

I could only respond to that with a shrug. Honestly, I didn’t know why she let me live either. Maybe it was because of the promise I made with her child. The memories I saw when I transformed into the Juvenile Nature Dragon were the mother’s, so...if she saw the same, that would explain how she knew of the juvenile’s request. She may have known that I never really wanted to kill her child either.

But for her to be this rational...does that make any sense?

It didn’t. Not when she was angry enough to burn the Eserian Grove to cinder when the fae had nothing to do with her loss. A dragon who couldn’t even differentiate between friend, foe, and neutral forces should not possess the rationality needed to forgive her child’s killer—reasoning put aside.

My story did not end even after I told them about the dragon’s attack on Camp Ashborn. It only became more interesting when the Forest Knight, a name I picked myself, appeared.

What happened after that, I did not know. For all I knew, the Nature Dragon could be dead already. Or the Forest Knight. Possibly the soldiers of Camp Ashborn as well. Heck, everyone could be dead at this point.

The fights of Greater Beings were certainly not something I wanted to be part of. I wanted to be nowhere near them. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

If there was one thing I never planned for, it was to see a Greater Being’s fight to the death. Nor to reach that level myself. When I thought about adventuring and roaming the realms, I never saw myself surpassing the 3rd Tier. Now...I didn’t know any more.

"It’s all the humans’ fault!" Fern hissed, the hatred in her voice taking me by surprise.

I glanced at her, lips pressed to a flat line.

"The Zetrian Empire, you mean." Clove intercepted, staring intently at her. Fern realized her mistake immediately. Her cheeks burned red as she blurted out, "I didn’t mean to say that. I meant the Zetrian Empire. Not you. You know that I didn’t mean you, right? This is not your fault or anything."

Fern inched closer to me, raising her hand to hold on to my arm’s sleeve. It clearly hurt her, yet she held on anyway.

I thought about agreeing with her, but was it really not my mistake? Was I really not at fault? Elder Taria clearly mentioned that Black Powers were bearers of misfortune. Of chaos and destruction.

How exactly that worked, I never understood, but it stuck with me.

A heavy sigh escaped my lips.

"This was not your fault!" Fern exclaimed louder this time.

I did not capture the Juvenile Nature Dragon. I did not torture it for years either. That was not my fault.

Everything that happened would have happened even if I hadn’t been in or near the Eserian either.

That was right. The events would have occurred one way or another. I was not at fault.

"I guess you’re right."

"There is no guessing it. You are not at fault!" Fern pulled on my sleeve. She leaned forward, her vibrant golden eyes burning in mine.

Then she planted a kiss on my lips. Her full lips melted against mine. They were as soft as ever, yet it was almost like they carried a meaning unlike anything before.

When our lips finally parted, our eyes met again.

"This connect—" I was just about to ask Fern about the bond that connected us—the same connection that flared like a blazing star at this very moment—when the young fae stepped forward. He cleared his throat, trying to garner our attention.

"You can be all lovey-dovey later. I think we have something more important to talk about."

"The grove’s no more," Fern muttered, her ears burning red.

"That too, but there’s something even more pressing." Clove shook his head, ignoring our embarrassment. Sizing the young fae up for the first time, I had to acknowledge that he was doing much better than expected. The dragon’s attack left him unfazed.

Well, almost.

"The dungeon entrance." I glanced at the Trickster Demon, who hadn’t stopped playing with the enchanted bracelet. "It’s probably connected to the Great Depths."

"I don’t know about that." Clove shrugged like it didn’t matter. "All I know is that the Zetrian Empire will definitely find out about it. If they do not already know about the dungeon entrance, that is."

I was fairly sure the Zetrian Empire knew about it already, which was indeed bad. Not only would the Essence in the entire Eserian continue to increase as more time passed, but the Zetrian Empire would be able to use the dungeon entrance to strengthen its forces and amass unfathomable wealth and various other treasures.

The Trickster Demon’s egg may be valuable to them, for whatever reason, but it was nothing compared to the wealth a monopoly over a dungeon entrance can earn over the course of months, years, if not decades.

"We have to stop the Zetrian Empire." Fern agreed wholeheartedly.

"’We’ cannot do anything once the Zetrian Empire’s stronger forces arrive." I shook my head.

There was no way the empire would leave something of this importance to weaker forces. Now that they had been found out, their little secret exposed, they would rally their forces and gather armies of soldiers to secure the dungeon entrance. To conquer the Eserian once and for all.

"I agree with Xavier." Clove nodded, although he did not seem to like it. "We cannot do much here."

"Does that mean what I think it means?" I asked, looking at my mate and fae friend.

"I think so." Clove let out a resigned sigh. "We have to warn the Forea Alliance."

That much was obvious. If we didn’t, the Zetrian Empire would gain a lead against its enemies. It’d have the resources needed to empower its Chosen. The Eserian would also be destroyed in the process, removing one of the few things that had stopped the empire from invading and conquering the Forea Alliance.

If they didn’t receive a warning, the power scale of the entire realm would shift.

But even if we told the Forea Alliance, one thing was clear; the Eserian would transform into a bloody battlefield. The Forea Alliance and the Zetrian Empire would clash one way or another.