ZOAH'S POV
We had succeeded in obtaining Herb D.
But victory had come at a devastating cost.
We had lost one of our own.
A woman who meant more to me than I had ever dared to admit.
The woman who cared for me when I wandered the Earth in my dragon form.
The woman who accepted me when everyone else feared or rejected me. The woman who never looked at me differently after discovering I was the Dragon God.
She had shown me a version of myself I never knew existed.
She had taught me what love truly meant.
Yes...
I was in love with Silver.
If I wasn't, I wouldn't have done all those strange things that once confused even me.
I wouldn't have held her hand. I wouldn't have taken her on that date. I wouldn't have kissed her cheek or called her Pumpkin.
I didn't know when my feelings began.
I didn't know how they had taken root.
But I knew one thing with absolute certainty.
I loved her.
And I couldn't bear the thought of losing her.
It was only now that I realized I would trade my immortal life for hers without hesitation.
Natasha was right.
Men became fools when they fell in love.
Perhaps I had become one too.
But for Silver...
I welcomed that foolishness.
Even if I didn't survive, I would gladly give everything if it meant saving her.
This was all my fault.
The least I could do was fix it and send that innocent girl back to the life she deserved.
No matter what it took...
I would save Silver.
Perhaps fate would show me mercy. Perhaps I would manage to rescue her without being discovered.
If that miracle happened...
I would take her home.
Then I would erase every memory she had of us.
Of dragons.
Of gods.
Of this endless nightmare.
She would never become involved with us again.
Only then...
Only then would she truly be safe.
I knew the cannibal tribe wouldn't kill her immediately.
Before escaping, I had deliberately left behind traces that would reveal Silver hadn't acted alone.
Sooner or later, they would discover them.
And once they did...
They would keep her alive.
They would use her as bait to lure the rest of us back.
That was exactly what I wanted.
The moment they lowered their guard...
I would strike.
Whether I survived didn't matter anymore.
Saving Silver was all that mattered.
I couldn't stop wondering...
How was she now?
Was she injured?
Was she frightened?
Or was she somehow forcing herself to stay strong?
A quiet sob shattered my thoughts.
"We shouldn't have left her there," Natasha cried, tears streaming down her face.
"We shouldn't have escaped without her."
Her words pierced deeper than any blade.
She was right.
We should never have left.
Even if Silver had been the one who told us to run...
She had sacrificed herself to save us.
The shame was unbearable.
How had I allowed a human, a woman I had sworn to protect, to be captured while I fled?
How had I abandoned her to the mercy of an extinct race of cannibals?
I was the Dragon God.
A being feared across countless realms.
Yet I had committed the most disgraceful act imaginable.
I had turned my back on the woman I was meant to protect.
I could have used my divine power to disable the laser prison trapping Silver.
I was capable of doing it.
But the cannibals were already closing in.
There was only enough time for one choice.
Save Silver...
Or escape with Natasha and Herb D.
I chose the latter.
Not because Herb D mattered more than Silver.
Never.
I chose it because I believed I could return unnoticed and rescue her later.
That was why I hid my footprints behind the sacred curtain near the carnivorous plant.
Once the tribe discovered them, they would realize Silver had accomplices.
And as long as they believed others would come for her...
They would keep her alive.
That single hope became the foundation of my plan.
I would return.
Either I would rescue Silver...
Or I would walk straight into their trap.
I knew there was a chance I would never leave that place alive.
It didn't matter.
If exchanging my immortality for Silver's freedom was the price...
Then I would pay it without regret.
Perhaps that decision would doom Violet.
Without me, obtaining the remaining herb would become nearly impossible.
She might die.
But I was tired of sacrificing innocent lives for the sake of another.
There was one life...
One precious life...
That I refused to lose.
Silver had once accused me of growing soft.
She wasn't wrong.
But what she never realized...
Was that I had only grown soft for her.
"You left as three... yet returned as two. That's surprising."
The male captive's voice cut through the heavy silence.
For a brief moment, I had almost forgotten he was still there.
Before Silver, Natasha, and I left for the Herb D mission, I had weakened the magic binding the ropes around him. He could have escaped at any time.
Yet...
He had chosen to stay.
"Yes, it is surprising,"
Natasha snapped, tears still streaming down her face.
"We came back without her.
Go ahead and mock us if you want, but we're going to bring her back!"
The captive tilted his head.
"I wasn't mocking you," he said calmly. "I was simply surprised that the two of you returned at all. To be honest, I expected none of you to make it back alive."
I narrowed my eyes.
"So you knew there was a chance one of us would return. That's why you didn't escape."
I stepped closer.
"You were waiting."
Natasha glared at him through tear-filled eyes.
"Do you enjoy watching people suffer?" she demanded. "Do you even have a heart?"
A faint smile crossed his lips.
"A sympathetic heart only gets people killed."
"You think everyone is either a predator or prey?" Natasha shot back. "Not everyone belongs to one of those two categories."
He chuckled.
"You can only be one, my dear."
His gaze darkened.
"And your friend..."
"...became prey."
"You're wrong."
My voice echoed through the room.
"She won't remain prey for long."
"I'll rescue her."
He laughed, not loudly, but enough for the mockery in his voice to be unmistakable.
"You believe you can defeat the entire Cannibal Tribe?"
"I believe Silver deserves none of the punishment your people have inflicted on her."
"He's right!" Natasha added immediately. "Silver is innocent. She doesn't deserve this."
"Innocent?"
The captive shook his head.
"The moment you trespassed into our sacred land, you ceased to be innocent."
His expression hardened.
"And she was caught stealing."
"That is a grave offense."
"We only needed the herb to save someone's life,"
Natasha argued. "We stole for a reason."
"The herb is why we entered your territory," I said firmly.
"We came to save a friend."
He laughed again.
"You honestly think anyone here would care about your reasons?"
"No outsider deserves such inhuman treatment,"
Natasha replied.
His smile disappeared.
"You speak as though outsiders are innocent."
His voice turned cold.
"Have you ever wondered why we hide ourselves from the rest of the world?"
Neither of us answered.
"You know nothing about what turned us into this."
He lowered his eyes.
"Your race..."
"...is filled with devils
wearing human faces."
"Not everyone is the same,"
Natasha whispered. "There are still good people."
He nodded slowly.
"You're right."
His eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
"That girl..."
"The one you call Silver..."
"She is different."
My heartbeat slowed.
"She has one of the purest auras I've ever seen."
He paused.
"And it is... remarkably powerful."
My thoughts froze.
Powerful?
That made no sense.
Humans weren't supposed to possess powerful auras.
Was it because of the ring I had given her after she saved me when I first arrived on Earth?
Had it unknowingly transferred a fraction of my divine power to her?
Or...
Was there something about Silver that even I didn't know?
The questions refused to leave my mind.
"She's the reason I chose not to escape," he continued quietly.
"I wanted to see her again."
His words unsettled me.
Why would a member of the Cannibal Tribe be interested in an ordinary human?
It couldn't simply be because she was beautiful.
No...
He had sensed something.
Something hidden within her.
Something I couldn't see.
"And because of her..."
"I'll help you rescue her."
Natasha exchanged a cautious glance with me.
"Can we trust you?" she asked.
He smiled faintly.
"There's only one way to find out."
"Then at least tell us your name."
He inclined his head.
"My name is Nicholas."
A brief silence followed.
"I am the guardian of the sacred temple you infiltrated."
A chill ran down my spine.
So...
We hadn't captured an ordinary member of the Cannibal Tribe.
We had captured the guardian of their sacred temple.
A man capable of sensing auras...
Perhaps even seeing fragments of fate itself.
But something still didn't add up.
Capturing him had been far too easy.
Had he truly been defeated...
Or had he allowed himself to be captured from the very beginning?
Just as he had willingly remained our prisoner...
Was helping us simply another move in a game only he understood?
Or...
Was there a far greater reason behind his determination to save Silver?