Dragon Genesis: I Can Create Dragons

Chapter 599: People are not fools.

Night of the Fifth day, when all the tribes had settled in, the dinner was distributed in form of the Divine Food, and most people other than those who were on night duty had gone to sleep.

Kael and Lavinia walked towards the City Centre.

The wind today was calmer than usual, the skies had shown mercy too, so the snow had stopped too, but the cold was still there.

Snow still sat on rooftops and stone paths in uneven patches and as Kael got closer to the centre, he could hear it.

The voices of the people, praying to... him.

He clenched his fists.

He hated every second of what was happening, he never liked it from the beginning, but now that it was growing at such a strong rate, his feelings were even more complicated.

In the end, Kael closed his eyes for a few seconds, as if he was preparing himself and when he opened his eyes again, all the emotions in them... disappeared.

Lavinia noticed that change, but she didn’t comment on it.

She knew what Kael felt on the matter and knew he had his own way of dealing with it. So she just tightened her grip on his hand and walked with him.

When they turned the corner, their eyes fell on the so called ’Divine Tree’.

For a moment, they paused.

The Tree still looked as beautiful as it was, just that its branches was now covered with snow and the space beneath it was crowded, too crowded to call it a... ’slot.’

People stood shoulder to shoulder and right in the middle of the crowd was her.

Vandra.

According to Kael’s ant, the woman had been here for the entire day, continuously preaching Kael’s name to the new badged of people who had flocked towards them.

Her hair had frost in it, her cheeks were pale from cold and exhaustion, her lips had cracked, at this point, she looked no different than a dead body that has been left in cold for too long.

That was, until one looked into their eyes.

Her eyes were bright, almost burning with determination.

When Kael stepped into the space, the crowd reacted instantly, heads turned, bodies stiffened, some people’s faces lit up like children’s does when they see a parent return.

A few Stonefangs who were still... new to the ’faith’ looked at him with curious looks on their faces.

"Lord Kael..."

That was when someone spoke up and that call alone started a chain reaction.

"Dragon God..."

"Flying man..."

"He’s here!"

"He came..."

A few almost knelt, some placed their hands on their chests.

Kael observed the crowd for a moment, then—

"Enough."

He spoke in a quiet, but an authoritative voice.

And in an instant, the crowd turned silent.

Then, the entire crowd, even those who weren’t truly part of the Dawn of Dragon yet, moved together, created a path for him without him having to say anything.

What they wanted was clear, they wanted Kael to join them, to be present as they talked about him but—

"Go home."

He commanded as he pointed at the lanes.

People looked at him, they were unconvinced, most of them didn’t wish to leave but...

These were the people who believed every single thing Kael said or commanded, no matter whether they agreed with it or not.

So the moment the command was given, the people moved. And maybe because it was Kael was present, but even as this many people moved, everyone moved in order.

Some bowed their heads at Kael before leaving, others glanced back time to time, as if they were afraid Kael would say something they might miss.

But in the end, within five minutes, the people walked away.

"Look at you, commanding your loyal cult followers."

Lavinia commented with a chuckle.

Kael completely ignored her words, as if afraid that the moment he turned to her, this ’character’ he had built up would disappear.

Lavinia knew that and she chuckled, enjoying the power she held over him.

Kael kept walking, Lavinia followed and the two appeared right in front of Vandra, who was waiting for them obediently, as if she already knew they were coming for her.

She didn’t look like a worshipper seeing her god, she looked more like a soldier who had been holding a line all day and refused to drop it.

Kael stopped in front of her, he looked at her face, her frost covered hair, her cracked lips, then he looked at her hands, they were red, as if her blood was working overtime to keep her alive, there was dried blood under her nails.

"You skipped work today."

He commented, looking at her with a strict look on his face.

Vandra didn’t look back, after all, Kael did not lie, she had skipped worked today because she had spent the entire day here but she didn’t regret it. She looked as if she was ready to face whatever punishment she had to for what she did.

But Kael wasn’t done.

"And you didn’t eat."

He spoke.

Vandra blinked once, wondering how he knew, but then she laughed inwardly, wondering why she would even think that.

"Yes."

She nodded.

There was no way she would lie to him.

"Why?"

Kael questioned directly.

"It was my way to punish myself."

"To... starve yourself?"

Kael raised his eyebrow.

"That was the only way I could think of while doing what I was supposed to do."

Kael looked at her, for a moment, he didn’t know what he was supposed to say.

"You didn’t have to starve yourself."

That was the only thing he could say.

"I had no other way to punish myself."

"You did not have to punish yourself."

"I did.

What I did went against what you want people to do.

I had to punish myself for doing that."

"Then you didn’t have to do it."

Kael tried to reason.

"No."

Vandra, however, shook her head.

"It was important too.

More important than work today."

"You think work does not matter?"

Kael narrowed his eyes.

"No."

Vandra shook her head again.

"What every person in the city does keeps the Wall alive and I understand what important the Wall is."

Vandra then paused for a moment, then—

"But Wall is not the only thing keeping us alive."

She commented.

Kael narrowed his eyes even further, Lavinia, on the other hand, smiled lightly while Vandra looked back at the Divine Tree and—

"Faith does it as well.

Because when the Wall shakes, people don’t run to stone.

They run to meaning.

You understand it more than I do, do you not?"

Vandra looked at Kael and his expression turned grim.

Kael’s expression turned grim.

He hated how... true those words were.

"The meaning you cling to is false.

I have said it before, I will say it again.

I am not a God."

Kael spoke in a sharper voice, his distaste was clear, from the beginning, Kael did not like being called a God. He hated the false narrative it set.

Vandra, however, just smiled lightly.

Kael frowned when he saw that but Vandra did not flinch, surprisingly, she had become one of the few people who could look into Kael’s eyes and say what she wants to.

"It is funny you say that."

She commented.

"Most of your believers do not actually believe you are a God."

Kael raised his eyebrows, he did not know that and that was surprising, after all, Imperia’s presence alone made it difficult for him to... not know things.

Vandra’s smile deepened.

"People are not fools, Lord Kael. They know you bleed, they know you get tired, they understand that while you have abilities most of us cannot comprehend, you do not control everything."

"Then why—"

Kael wanted to ask why they still believed him, but before he could even complete his question, Vandra already had the answer.

"Because you are greater than any god they ever prayed to."

"What...?"

Kael’s frown deepened while Vandra’s eyes shined with the same determined fire.

"They have prayed plenty, Lord Kael.

God never answered them.

God never fed them, God never stood between enemies, God never came running when children screamed."

Vandra then looked right into Kael’s eyes and—

"You did.

And this is why they choose to follow you."

"..."

Kael turned silent, not knowing what he was supposed to say. At some level, learning that people aren’t believing in the false narrative that is being spread made him feel good, but at the same time—

Greater than a God...?

That, for some reason, seemed like a far scarier than any narrative.

Lavinia, on the other hand, was different.

The moment Vandra said those words, she just smiled faintly in satisfaction, almost as if... this was exactly what she was hoping for from the very beginning.

Kael caught that smile in the corner of his eye and his mouth twitched.

He could already see what was going to happen.

And just as he expected—

Lavinia stepped forward and walked towards Vandra with a bowl of soup in her hand.

"Eat."

She ordered.