[Edanian Journey] Markthanan

Chapter 8: The Flame That Would Not Die

I found the <b>Dragon's Breath</b> Agnete had told me about. It burned fiercely with the last of Markthanan's magic.

When I placed Markthanan's heart into the flames, they engulfed it, but nothing more happened. Even after waiting, there was no change.

The flint I had expected to form never appeared.

The Black Spirit fumed that Agnete must have deceived us again. There had not even been anywhere to use the key she gave me. Not a single door had been locked on the way up.

I returned to ask her why.

Brynhild was standing there. Behind her, I saw <b>Agnete's axe</b>.

I asked if she had killed Agnete. She said Agnete had already been like that when she arrived, and that she had assumed I was the one who stayed with her until the end.

Agnete, who had said she would meet her end beside the body of her nemesis, was gone.

Something felt strange about the way Brynhild spoke, as though she knew me. Then her form changed.

<b>Illezra</b> stood before me.

She explained that while refining the oil, she had sensed Grey's presence and realized he was headed my way. She had changed her appearance to interfere with his plan, taking the form my companion would hate most: a daughter of the Black Dragon.

Only then did Agnete's confession about the plan going awry in the mine fall into place.

But the flint was still incomplete.