"Yes, the beach sounds really nice." Skylark chirped immediately after his brother, wondering who exactly was older. His brother? Or him? Humming pleasantly, he laced his fingers with Leo's and Sleipnir's as they traversed together across the ashes and rubble of what was once civilization. Except this time' he didn't have any wooly socks to keep him warm, only Leo and his twin.
"Leo? Why does everyone talk about what the earth was like before? If it got ruined, can't you guys just bring it back to life?" Sometimes, Leo didn't seem like he knew much, but Skylark believed otherwise. He had heard the lazy Hydra's name before. Leo, along with Beelzebub and Noire, had taken charge while their king was absent. So he knew Leo had it in him to be ultimately powerful in his own way.
"Leo? Can you make us a shelter somehow? I... think you're really powerful' right?"
Seeing Ferrum's panic, Terra also followed suit. "Ferrum, I can't say I disagree. I'd like to tell you a story, if that's alright. No, no need to stop. I can... multitask." Looking around at the paintings on the walls, Terra paused to admire the brushwork and strokes. Someone was painting the ocean, and other paintings were of the hydra. Strangely, the way they were portrayed made them seem like they had souls. Did one of the hydra do this?
And then... there was a a giant portrait of a boy at the end of the hall. She had seen his face millions of times before, in warnings and on wanted posters. This boy was the king of the hydra, Edge. But... no, this was a photograph. He wasn't wearing any regal clothes and appeared human. But he had wounds everywhere. In his eyes wasn't anger or despair. A smile of understanding graced the boy's features, as if he really was divine. Just then she heard a shout. Though she didn't know it, it was Charon.
"Edge will free them all! And you know that, don't you? You're scared of him, of his power!"
"F-Free them? Impossible." She mused, though began her story. "Back when I was still growing up, a hydra was spotted somewhere in our territory. It was enough to have the local wood dragon clan attack our village, trying to smoke her out. When they couldn't find her, they started slaughtering us, threatening to kill all of our eggs and young. But then, when they went to carry out their threat, none could be found. Mysteriously, the wood dragons all fainted, and we were able to place them far away from our village. At least, that's what I was told. I wasn't there."
She cleared her throat. "I was only a mere child then, and I didn't know what was going on. I do know that a pretty dragoness with violet eyes led all us children to a safe place under a waterfall, and told us all to keep quiet so we shouldn't be seen. She carried my little sister's egg, and kept whispering to it. When my sister was born, she was wiser than most dragons. I didn't realize the girl who helped us was a hydra until I grew up. But the hydra have done so much to not only dragon kind, but to the world, I had almost forgotten about that... Ferrum, what do you say? I say that the Hydra are our key to reviving the earth. Why do we fight them even now? The damage is done. If we kill them all, eventually the humans will kill us."
Edge's eyes burned as he listened with great care to the dirty dragon. That's right... he was divine, but this creature lied to him. Edge... what he had done, why he had done it, how he had lost his mind. "I'm not the one at fault here... I'm just... the victim of a power that I can't help." He murmured, with tears to the dragon he didn't even recognize anymore.
When Edge absorbed a person's negative feelings, his own got messed up. It made it hard to think straight. That was why he had the hydra. By giving the awful emotions to them, Edge was freed of them and in turn' the hydras became more powerful. Though he had a rocky relationship with Beelzebub, he was positive that the others liked him at least a little bit. "I didn't make the humans. I just showed them knowledge." The hydra corrected.
"Please, tell me something nice, I know Path is in there. I... I'm sure now, I'm sure I love him! Path, I'm sorry! I never meant to hurt you or our kids! But... I'm not dying yet! I have to know what it's like, living with a light heart! I did it only once before, when I was human, you-you don't understand how hard it is to not lash out...! I... I have a plan! I can get rid of all this... darkness inside me and restore the earth at the same time, I swear!"
Edge bit his lip nervously. Right now, his body was human. "Tell me how you feel! Please! I need to know!"