Chapter 17: End of the Age of Dragons (1)

The other children returned to natural phenomena, and even Erebus ran away.

In such a situation, I looked at the other dragons.

Dragons that had transformed from dinosaurs upon receiving the scales. The children born from those dragons pairing up prospered and were born as dragons.

There were so many dragons that they covered the land.

The majority of those dragons were bowing their heads in front of me.

"Do you understand your wrongdoing?"

I spoke in a low voice.

But no answer came back.

Even if there were thousands of mouths, no answer would come out.

Is it because they are living beings? Would they be satisfied if they shed their biological shell and abandoned the seven emotions to become beings without them?

Then they could no longer be called living.

I looked at the dragons with sad eyes.

"What should I do with you? How should I accept your wrongdoing? I truly do not know. What exactly do you desire, to rot my insides like this?"

If I don't understand myself, how can I understand others?

As I looked down at the dragons, one dragon in the front raised its head.

It was the old blue dragon that first received Thetis's scale.

"I'm sorry, Creator Dragon."

"I didn't ask for an apology. What did you desire that you waged such wars?"

Killing them all wouldn't be difficult.

But I didn't want to.

They were the children that my children made. The children that stemmed from those children.

I didn't want to take their lives.

"We want to become complete beings."

"Complete beings?"

The blue dragon suddenly brought up a strange topic.

"What do you mean by complete beings? Are you saying that you are incomplete beings now?"

"Shamefully... yes."

"Huh..."

That body? The body that flies freely, is strong and uses magic at will, and breathes powerful breaths?

Is that incomplete?

"Why do you say it's incomplete?"

"Although the Creator Dragon has enchanted us to a certain degree of completeness, we are trapped in the shackles of the body and have not achieved perfect completeness. Our parents said that if they won the war, they would fulfill such a wish."

"Shackles? The body?"

The blue dragon quietly bowed its head.

"How can a being that gets hungry over time, cannot resist sleep be considered complete? Isn't completeness being in a state where nothing else is needed?"

Is completeness being able to exist alone without needing anything?

"Just as the Creator Dragon, we too wish for such completeness."

"You thought that was completeness?"

How foolish.

To say that biological instincts are incomplete.

"Do you know what happens if you give up those things?"

"We think we will become beings that rely on nothing, existing solely on our own."

I took my eyes off the blue dragon, looked around, and spoke.

"Do the rest of you think the same?"

Surprisingly, a significant number of dragons agreed with the old blue dragon's words.

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Being without food, not sleeping, not seeing offspring is completeness?

In the completeness that those dragons spoke of, I felt dj vu.

If that's completeness, then I, and my seven children, are complete.

Ah... is that so. These children saw their parents.

They wished to become like their parents.

They wanted to transcend and become beings beyond creatures.

I nodded slightly.

Was that the wish of these children?

"Then, what do you wish to become?"

"Just as the Creator Dragon transformed us, we wish to be transformed into even more perfect beings."

Me transforming them... does that mean adjusting the ratio so that dragons can exist through magic?

The current dragons are about 80% composed of natural phenomena.

Are they asking to adjust that ratio to 100% natural phenomena?

Do they understand what that means?

Are they saying they want to give up being creatures?

I became profoundly sad.

"Do all of you think the same?"

Then, a significant number of dragons nodded their heads.

"Are there any among you who do not wish for this? Raise your hand."

Then, a few dragons raised their hands.

No, some were scolded by nearby dragons and lowered their hands again.

How sad, and yet again, sad.

"I understand. If that is your wish."

I spoke without showing my sadness.

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"Those who do not wish for this, come behind me. There. Do not oppress another child. This choice must be one's own. It should not be swayed by the will of others."

Thus, a few dragons came behind me.

Young dragons. Dragons that had just emerged from being hatchlings.

"It's only you guys."

I said with sad eyes.

"Why are you so sad?"

"How could I not be sad?"

The completeness these children speak of. It's entirely different from what they imagine.

How could I not be sad seeing them make a foolish choice without knowing that.

If they had listened to me, there wouldn't have been wars in the first place.

"Then, Let's begin."

After sending the young dragons behind me, I used magic on the dragons that were bowing their heads.

I changed the ratio of natural phenomena and biological aspects inherent in the dragons, raising the ratio of natural phenomena from 80% to 100%.

Then, the bodies of the dragons lying on the ground began to move this way and that.

"Argh...!"

"Cough! Kuhuk...!"

"Kahak! Stop...!"

The dragons screamed in pain.

But what can I do?

It's about detaching the soul and mind entangled in the body. It wouldn't be painless.

That's the price of leaving the body.

The dragons clawed at the ground. Their brightly colored scales became dirty with dust and dirt.

Yet, the magic does not stop.

When the heart stops, the flowing blood stops, and the body stops, then.

The dragons were reborn as beings with only natural phenomena and spirit, leaving their bodies behind.

[Is this... completeness...]

[What is this omnipotence... It feels like I can do anything now...]

The dragons, freed from their bodies, were momentarily intoxicated by that power.

Perhaps it's the feeling of being freed from a heavy and bothersome body.

How do they not realize that it was armor protecting their soul and spirit?

The anomaly began small.

[Hmm?]

The bodies of the dragons transformed into various natural phenomena began to lose their form gradually.

[Creator Dragon! Something is wrong!]

[My body is scattering...!]

I could only speak in a sad voice.

"Did you not know how fragile a soul and spirit are without the armor called a body?"

The body and spirit, the soul, are inseparably linked.

If they were forcibly separated, what would happen?

[Creator Dragon!!!! Please help us!!!!]

[I didn't wish for this!!!!]

[I don't want this... I don't want to die!!!]

"It's not about dying."

I said with a voice soaked in sadness.

"It's about transforming into a form that your souls can handle."

Though my children received scales and gained power, that was based on their original bodies that were once dinosaurs.

Once they left those strong bodies, they couldn't maintain that power.

The spiritual bodies of the dragons transformed into natural phenomena began to shrink to a suitable size.

As time passed and all the power drained away, the dragons as natural phenomena became... small beings imbued with the pure energy of nature.

Their appearance resembled their parents... almost like spirits.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Goddess of Life said to the foolish ones.

"Do you truly think that by shedding that life, you will become complete?"

To which the foolish one replied.

"Indeed, we believe that by escaping the prison of the body, we will become whole beings."

"Do you truly think so?"

"Without a shred of falsehood, that is what we believe."

The Goddess of Life, with sadness, took the hands of the foolish ones and asked again.

"That body, that life, is not a prison that confines you but an armor that protects you, how can you reject it?"

"How can armor evoke meaningless desires? By escaping this prison of the body, can we not free ourselves from all meaningless desires and become complete beings?"

Realizing the foolish ones' resolution was firm, the Goddess of Life understood she could no longer sway their will.

"Does everyone think this way?"

There was no answer.

"Truly, does everyone think this way?"

Again, there was no answer.

"One last time, I ask. Is this the will of all?"

Then, among the foolish ones, twelve raised their hands. The Goddess of Life gathered them.

And the Goddess of Life said.

"Come behind me. Watch the outcome of their foolishness."

And with tears in her eyes looking at the foolish ones, the Goddess of Life took the life from their bodies.

- Excerpt from the Church of Life.

Chapter end