“Of course,” Miss Seventh acknowledged.
“The past is the past and cannot be changed. The Black Dragon has always been capable of destructive savagery and wrath.”
“I’m fine now, Benjamin,” Ere said, holding his gaze.
“I found Sorin. He was just sleeping. Everything will be all right now. I’ll try not to scare you all like that in the future. Unless, of course, I’m fighting bad guys and need to bring out my freak.”
He quirked his lips at that.
“I kinda like my freak. He’s fucking badass. Like Kazuya Mishima inTekkenturning into Devil Kazuya. I can shoot lightning from my eyes and entire body without being in dragon form!”
Leave it to Ere to compare a pivotal event in his life with a video game, Ben thought with a bemused shake of his head.
It never ceased to amaze him, proven over and over again, that between the two of them,hewas the more mature one.
“As much as I enjoy your company,” Seventh Sister cut into his thoughts once more, “it is time to part ways. I am amazed papa hasn’t incarcerated you, Black Dragon, for disturbing the peace.”
“Oh, he tried,” Ere quipped, bouncing on his feet again.
“But I broke out. I’m sneaky that way.”
“Hmm,” Miss Seventh murmured, both amused and reproving.
“You may step into the Mirror Pond to return home.”
“See you on the other side, Benjamin!” Ere called out before he jumped in with both feet, dragging Sorin along with him, bucket of stolen Celestial peaches and all.
Ben turned to Zai, who had been silently observing all this time.
“Well, that’s my sire and his Mate you just met,” he explained. “That’s why I traveled to your realm. To help them find each other in the present.”
Zai inclined his head slowly, considering.
“I can see Sol in this Sorin,” he mused. “Their spirit is the same, but their bodies are not. I am glad we saved him.”
“I owe you, big guy,” Ben said.
“You and Sin both.”
At the mention of Sin, Zai’s eyes blazed bright, and his fists clenched at his sides with clear determination.
“Will you stay, warrior?” Miss Seventh interjected.
“This is your home. This is where you were created. This is your Forgotten Truth. You have never belonged in that world. You felt it, didn’t you?”
Zai looked the mysterious woman in the eyes and replied:
“This used to be my home, but no longer. This is where I was created, but not where I belong. I might have forgotten the dragon within, but that is not my only truth. The truth that matters more than any other across the whole of my existence is the Truth of my Mate.”
He added solemnly, like a vow, “My Sin.”
She smiled that unknowable smile, as if she expected his answer all along.
“I suppose it will not matter when I tell you that the rules forbid you from returning to the past. That you have fulfilled your dragon duty and must stay in this realm.”
She said the words in a statement, not a question, as if it was a foregone conclusion.
And so it was.