Finding my Parents in Another World-Chapter 73: (Raorka) What Do You Know About Dragons?

It had been a tumultous couple of weeks, for Temuril in general and Raorka specifically. He was continuously impressed by the resourcefulness of the local residents, who had managed to construct a makeshift manor over the ruins of Rokar’s castle in a matter of days. It was in this makeshift manor where General Hoit had set up his temporary government, while he made the necessary preparations for the next elections.

"So, Raorka what can I do for you?" General Hoit asked, swamped in paperwork at his desk.

"I was wondering whether you might have more information about Old Gotuj."

"The dragon?"

"The very same."

General Hoit looked up from his pile of papers. "And why do you want to know that?"

"Well I’ll be leaving tomorrow, and the dragon is one part of Temuril I don’t have much information regarding."

"And why are you asking me?"

"Well normally I would ask Lucerne or Rowena or even Drisnen, but all three of them have already left for the Capital."

"What about your teacher, the famed Witch of the Woods?"

Raorka bit his lip. This was the part of the conversation he want to avoid. "Well I will eventually ask Miss Artemis, I just wanted to check if there’s anything in Temuril’s history regarding him. I understand there’s a theory that he was actually a human transformed by the Wizard of Reknown?"

General Hoit scoffed. "Hardly. That’s a fantasy concocted by people because they thought the Wizard of Reknown was an all powerful mage who could do anything. Maybe he could, but in this case he was not involved."

"How do you know?"

"I’m sure you would have heard that Old Gotuj precedes Temuril by millenia. He precedes even the Wizard of Reknown. No one knows why he is trapped in the forest, or when exactly he came to be trapped in there. We just count our blessings that he is not free."

Raorka pondered over it for a minute before asking again, "Have you seen him? From up close I mean?" 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"The dragon? Yeah, only once though. Each member of the Mayor’s troops had to go to the Forest of Old Gotuj, straight upto the dragon himself and return in one piece. Kind of a trial you know, to ensure that you are capable of surviving."

"And you saw him? Old Gotuj?"

General Hoit nodded gravely. Raorka waited patiently for a while, but when th General showed no signs of restarting the conversation, he prodded it a bit.

"What did he look like?"

General Hoit sighed. "I knew this question would be asked next. It’s hard for me to describe to be honest. The first thing that struck me about Old Gotuj was just how massive he was. I mean of course I had heard stories about how the entirety of Temuril would be covered entirely by a single wing of the beast, but I never really comprehended what it meant, you know. Until that night.

He was awake. But he was so huge that I was the equivalent of an ant in his eyes. As previous people have reported, there’s no physical restrain or signs of injury on the dragon’s body. Whatever was holding the dragon captive inside the forest was using magik or some other way to achieve the same."

Raorka realized he was listening to this story in rapt attention, and was therefore suddenly taken out of it when General Hoit stopped and began to arrange the papers on his desk. Once done, after five excruciating minutes, he began again.

"Of course size wasn’t the only thing , or even the most terrifying thing, about that monster. It was the feeling of existential dread on seeing Old Gotuj that is the scariest, much more than its size. I couldn’t see his eyes or his face from down there obviously, but Old Gotuj felt more like a force of nature than a living thing."

"If he is so huge why isnt he visible from outside?"

"I don’t know. I assume the trees around him are much larger than even the huge trees on the outskirts of the forest."

And Artemis is planning to fight that thing. Again.

.XX.

Raorka was in a sort of daze as he walked back from the makeshift Mayor’s office. He had never really given much attention to Old Gotuj, even though his roars accentuated much of his time in Temuril. The dragon was like a background to his life in Temuril, always there in the distance, something not to be worried about.

But he knew one person who did worry about him.

Almost involuntarily Raorka found himself out of Temuril, in front of the hut of Artemis. He hadn’t visited the elf since she had made the proclamation about fighting Old Gotuj.

Warily he went up and gently knocked on the door. Within minutes Artemis opened the door.

"Raorka! What a surprise." She said with a smile.

Raorka returned her smile, nodded and then walked inside.

"What can I do for you?" She asked as she returned to her chair, and then sat on it crossing her legs.

"You didn’t come to see off Drisnen, Lucerne and Rowena last week?"

Artemis shrugged. "Well it was inside the town, and despite everything that happened I don’t think the townspeople trust me fully. I didn’t want to ruin the farewell."

"Come on, you know the townspeople trust you a lot more after you fought against the Demon."

Artemis gave a wry smile. "I know humans for a long time, Raorka. I know how their minds work, how opinions are formed in them. A single fight doesn’t erase centuries of propaganda that the term ’Witch’ invokes. Yes, maybe outwardly the townspeople are more friendly to me. But nothing has changed on the inside. I am not, and will never be, one of them."

Raorka didn’t know how to respond to this, so he kept quiet. Artemis was right, of course. Even people like Lumina retained her suspicion of Artemis to some degree, even though she and the other townspeople would probably be dead if not for her. Raorka remembered how Lucerne and him had tried to assuage those suspicions before the former left, all in vain. Outwardly she would never admit it, but it was clear to Lucerne and Raorka that Lumina would never fully trust the elf.

"Well then? Surely you didn’t come here to ask me why I was absent in the farewell of Drisnen, Lucerne and Rowena?" Artemis asked, causing Raorka to jolt in surprise.

"Well that was part of it....."

"And what’s the other part?"

Raorka sighed. "The other part is about Old Gotuj."

Artemis stiffened. She stood up and walked over to the window.

"I told you Raorka, it’s useless to try and convince me otherwise. I will not rest till I kill that dragon. I cannot. The blood coursing through my veins won’t allow it."

"I know, I know. I am not asking you to give up on killing the dragon."

"Then what?"

"Delay it."

Artemis whirled around. Now her expression was more curious than angry.

"Delay it?" she asked in a bewildered tone. "But why?"

"Because you still don’t know much about Old Gotuj do you? Where did he come from? How is he trapped inside the forest? More importantly who trapped him in the forest? Even when you fought him the first time, you didn’t know these answers, and even know when you are planning to go and fight him, you don’t know these answers."

Artemis shrugged. "That’s not relevant. Yes, I don’t know how or who trapped Old Gotuj in this forest. It won’t matter when I have killed him."

"It will matter, because you will lose again."

"What did you say?" The anger was back, and Raorka could see the fire smoldering in Artemis’ eyes. The elf was usually such a calm presence, that this anger unsettled him much more than usual.

No, I have to continue. This is for her own good. I can’t let my teacher march to her death.

"You can’t beat him." Raorka repeated, hastily adding, "At least not in the way you are now."

"What do you mean? You better be clear Raorka."

Raorka gulped before steeling himself and continuing, "The surest sign of madness is doing something repeatedly and expecting the outcome to change. You are going again to fight Old Gotuj, just like last time, without properly researching on him, just because of the hate you feel in your blood. Now you are right, I won’t understand that. I don’t know what it is like to be in a blood war for survival against another species. But I do know that you have to learn the basics of Old Gotuj before you take him on again."

Artemis didn’t answer, though the fury was obvious in her eyes. Raorka knew he was taking a risk, he didn’t know the depth or intensity of the hatred that Artemis felt for the dragon. But he did know the teacher who taught him magik patiently, and he believed that that person would listen to reason.

Artemis walked over to the window and slammed her fist on the wall, roaring in anger. This was the first time Raorka had ever seen the elf raise her voice.

Finally she turned around, and Raorka saw that she was much calmer.

"So what do you suggest?"