I Raised A Black Dragon

“Noah, mother is sorry.”

Noah was being embraced tightly by someone. She blinked her eyes in confusion, and found people watching her from behind the door. It was her father and younger sister.

Ah, then the person hugging me now must be…

“Did you have a hard time? I know you always get through everything, so I thought you would be okay. I’m sorry mother didn’t know, but thank you for waking up.”

The woman stroked Noah’s back twice and put down the arms that had been embracing her. Noah looked at her dryly. Her mother’s face was hazy as though someone had erased it. She wasn’t sure if it was because it was a dream, or because she was someone insignificant to her. But one thing was sure, she had no reason to be here right now. She got up from her seat and went by the window, and below the window frame a black curly-haired little boy was seated with his legs hanging down. Noah turned her back to her mother and approached the window.

“Let’s go, Muell.”

“Noah? Where are you going?”

Her mother took a hold of her arm in surprise. Noah turned to look at her in reflex, and saw her younger sister looking at her with foreign eyes and her father’s back. She was their late daughter, whom they had a year after they adopted Noah. Her sister who was younger by nine years and had always found Noah difficult to approach.

Her parents had conceived their own child before they even had the chance to warm up to their adopted daughter. The only one who had loved them was Noah. She had tried to be a good daughter to her parents, a good sister to her younger sister, but Noah realized after twelve years of living in the same house that she would always be an outsider.

So, she left home once she was twenty, to which her family politely acted to be disappointed, but their happiness and relief were obvious. They had no interest in her even when they lived together, and now that she had left the house, they had truly lost Noah. Except for their occasional requests to look after the shop.

I should have just cut ties then. She had lingered around her perfect family’s side every weekend but ended up with a pitiful death in the end. Recalling those memories made her burn with rage, her mother adding fuel to her anger.

“Are you going back to that tiny hostel of yours? Mother and father will look for a better place, nearer to your workplace. Since it's only been a few days since you’ve regained consciousness, rest a little more…”

She found it ironic that she was only offering to help her get a house now, when all this while she knew that she was staying in a hostel, but what hurt her most was the fact that she never asked her to ‘come back home.’

“I don’t need a house. I can get by on my own. Like I always have.”

As she heard herself, she felt the coldness of her own voice. Noah pushed away her mother’s hand. She had to get away from this place as soon as possible. And never return.

Muell, who had been watching Noah, silently offered his hand. Just as she was about to accept his tiny hand, her mother stopped her with a shaky voice.

“Are… you going?”

“Yes, and we won’t be seeing each other again.”

“I’m sorry that I’ve not done anything for you until now, Noah.”

No matter how one perceived it, it was goodbye. Even till the end, she didn’t ask where she was going, or if she was coming back.

Noah knew her adoptive mother well and knew what this would mean to her. She had felt sorry to dissolute the adoption, but the daughter she raised with no love and one she had no affection for was offering to disappear from her life by her own will.

Maybe she felt like she was finally getting rid of an aching tooth? Noah breathed out loudly.

She bit her lip. She felt it was too unfair. She would live her whole life with memories of them while they lived on happily in her absence. She didn’t want to let them. Muell whispered to her in a small voice.

“Do you need my help, Noah?”

“No,” Noah refused the boy’s offer once more, “I’ll do it on my own.”

The imprint was finally completed as soon as she had found her body. A double-sided resonance. Her will would be realized in the power of the dragon. It wasn’t even a big deal to harm an ordinary human being now. Noah mumbled as she glanced at her father who was standing behind the door.

“You should have just dissoluted the adoption before. Then neither mother nor father would have had to live with the guilt. Isn’t that right?”

She never wanted them to forget her. She wanted them to feel sorry towards her for the rest of their selfish lives. Soon, a black energy containing Noah's wishes trickled down the floor and permeated their bodies. The brainwashing effect that caused confusion in one's mind started to manifest.

Noah emphasized each word as she spoke.

“I am dead.”

“No…”

“I didn’t leave you after coming back to life, I just died. So, don’t ever think you can comfortably forget me, and live the rest of your life feeling sorry for me.”

Noah stood on top of the window as she spoke her last words.

The medium that Muell brought, which was the entrance to the other dimension, started to gradually erase the words in the book as it flipped the pages. Noah did not turn back until the white light of the entrance engulfed her entirely.