The next morning, before the sun had even risen. Bathed in the darkness of the night, Esme suddenly woke up to a shuffling sound.
She had been given a room on the second floor of the mansion, right next to Daphne and Freya's rooms.
Just as she was rubbing the grogginess out of her eyes, once again, Esme heard the same shuffling sound coming from somewhere downstairs.
'An intruder?'
It was highly unlikely since this was the house of a dragon and according to Wise, the dragonoids guarded the outer perimeter of the house as well.
'What is that sound then?'
Walking nimbly to the door, dressed in only her silky sleeping gown, Esme pried the door open, careful to not make a single sound as she sneaked past.
But to her dismay her footsteps sounded odiously loud.
It was as though every step echoed through the walls, bouncing past them and increasing in intensity.
'Why is it so loud?'
Esme quickly hurried to the steps and finally descended to the living room. There, she took a deep breath.
At least she could not wake anyone here, no one would hear her noisy steps.
When Esme glanced around the room, she noticed something odd. The living room door was wide open and once again, she heard that same shuffling sound.
'Could it be a monster? Or worse a demon?'
The bulk of demons dwelled in the demonic continent, but it was not rare to see large groups of them even in other regions.
Especially in isolated forests such as this. If a demon was present, then it would most likely be far too much for the dragonoids to handle.
If that was the case, then she would have to inform Wise.
Shuffleshuffle
Esme took a moment to think about how foolish she was being. She knew the dangers, but that cat-like curiosity of hers got her legs moving up until she found herself at the front door peeking through.
'If anything happens I can always create a barrier!' She deceived herself.
Once she looked through the door—
There was nothing.
She stepped outside and began to walk through the darkness… it was almost impossible to see anything in the dimness of the night.
Esme walked for a few more seconds before she bumped into something rather rough and hard.
She fell to her butt and looked up only to see the darkness suddenly shift. A colossal figure, one large enough to crush their house suddenly swerved.
Then a large head pushed forward, staring her face to face— just a few centimeters away from her nose.
Intense blue eyes observed her with scrutiny before widening in recognition.
At this point, Esme was already paralyzed with fear. Her hands were twitching by her sides, trying to form a barrier against the beast but it was impossible to concentrate.
"Um… Err… cough."
Esme felt like melting up until she heard a beautiful voice call out to her. A voice she recognized—
Wise's voice.
"Esme? What are you doing out here?"
It was his voice and yet it was different, it sounded more primal and it was as though the world was speaking to her instead of the dragon that stood in front of her.
"Wise??"
The dragon slowly nodded its large head.
"I heard a sound and came out to investigate."
Wise gave her a look which she interpreted as. "Really? That was dumb…"
"What are you doing out here? And why are you in your dragon form?" Esme asked, trying to redirect the attention from herself.
Wise raised his head back to its normal position, making it more difficult for Esme to see his face clearly.
The sun was still yet to rise but the world was slowly getting brighter so it was not as hard as earlier.
"I'm here to perform a ritual…"
Esme cocked her head to the side. "What kind of ritual?"
It took a second before Wise spoke.
"It's a SkyFire ritual, I think…"
His words only confused her the more. "Okay, what is this ritual for?"
Esme could see the silhouette of his head swaying in the air. "I… I can't remember."
There was a certain sadness that crept into his voice as he spoke, a longing for something he could not even remember.
Esme got up to her feet and walked a little closer to Wise.
"SkyFire is your dragon race right? Can't you get the other Skyfires to tell you?"
There was another pause.
"There are no SkyFires left."
Esme froze. 'Does he mean…'
As though to confirm her words, Wise then said:
"All the other SkyFires are dead, I'm the only one."
Esme had no words to offer and yet she felt like saying nothing would be worse.
"I'm sorry…"
The world was bright enough for her to see him clearly now. Wise stared down at her before looking back eastwards.
"Don't be. I don't remember much of what happened after all."
Esme anxiously held onto her dress and stepped forward.
"Even still!" Her voice then reduced to almost a whisper. "It must be lonely."
"Perhaps…" Wise said, not sparing her a glance. "Please be silent. The ritual has begun."
Suddenly, the sun rose from above the horizon, bathing the world in its bright glow.
Immediately the pristine white light of the sun made contact with Wise's scales, he burst into flames, causing Esme to stumble back.
It started as a small blue spark, right before it erupted, spreading through his body like a wildfire.
The word suddenly felt far hotter in his presence.
Esme gasped at the sight, it was beautiful and yet terrifying at the same time.
Wise opened his massive maw and let out a flood of blue flames right up into the sky.
The world became intensely bright.
It was as though he was resonating with the sun and skies themselves.
'SkyFire…'
It reminded Esme of another animal with a similar behavior. Wolves often came out at a full moon to howl at the moon, wasn't this similar?
It was something that was meant to be done as a pack, but at the last SkyFire Wise had to do it alone.
The beautiful scene suddenly felt very sad.
Although Wise could no longer remember, his body remembered enough, his inner feelings were expressed through his flames.
The pain he felt, the loss, the longing—
Somehow, Esme could feel it too, and it was overwhelming.
She felt a tear trickling down her cheek.
Up on the second floor balcony, Daphne and Freya stood side by side, leaning on the railings as they watched Wise.
They had seen this countless times already and yet, it was just as beautiful and sad each time.
Only when the sun fully revealed itself did Wise stop breathing fire.
The flames surrounding him quenched and his scales began to glimmer like sapphires.
When he transformed, his hair shimmered with an unnatural sheen and his eyes—
It was as though liquid fire was encapsulated within them.
He stood there bathing in the silence for sometime before heaving a sigh.