Iss stood at the top of the stairs for a moment. He realized that his hand gripping the railing was trembling slightly, and he couldn't help but feel a little angry and disgusted with himself—he wasn't calm enough, he wasn't smart enough, he wasn't strong enough...... After struggling for so long, he still didn't look like a dragon or a man.

He used to think that he had accepted himself, but that kind of self-deception would be exposed sooner or later. And at the moment, he didn't know how to pretend to be casual in front of his friends.

...... What's the point of pretending for him? He's already made a promise.

He walked down the stairs, and two lines of sight immediately shot at him. Ed only showed concern with his eyes, and Naria asked bluntly, "What trouble did Scott get into again?...... What the hell is going on?"

There was a slight irritation in his words, but he quickly softened when he noticed Is's unusual lowness.

"It's not him. Isis shook his head, "It's me." ”

"What trouble can you get into?" Naria blurted out.

Ed looked at her secretly, and didn't dare to make any comments on such a reasonable protector - a dragon can cause a lot of trouble!

"Keller Brian said I would destroy everything. Isis said.

He looked so calm that it sounded like a joke. But there was nothing on his mind...... I also think about it for a moment and can't say anything.

The name that she hadn't heard for a long time made Narya stunned for a moment before she reacted, then raised her eyebrows and asked a series of questions: "When did you say that? Where is he? Is he still alive?"

She paused, and was menacing: "And...... Why did he say that? Did he say yes?!"

But Iss could see her faint unease. After all...... That's Kelle Brian.

"What if it's true?" he asked, his voice ringing softly and hollowly.

“...... Then beat you up and pull you back. Naria stubbornly lifted her chin firmly, "What's the big deal!

"I agree. Ed cracked his mouth and couldn't help but laugh, "Uh...... Not including the first sentence?"

Beat a dragon...... He still felt a little tingling when he thought about it.

For a moment, Iss was speechless. He floated blankly in the air, and his soul, which had nothing to rely on, fell, as if he had found the land that could accept him, allow him to take root, and strive to grow.

He was actually very calm from beginning to end, but the trace of despair that lingered under the calmness almost suffocated him...... It wasn't until this moment that I was finally able to breathe in.

The tense body softened. He unconsciously stretched out his arms and hugged both people in front of him almost greedily, before he realized in a trance that this seemed to be the first time he had taken the initiative to hug someone other than Scott after knowing that he was not human.

It was in his nature to love the snow and ice in the mountains of the Far North...... But he also covets the warmth of the human body.

Ed patted his arm, and Nalya reached for a hug, even touching his head soothingly—she hadn't done that in a long time.

Is's face suddenly heated. He let go of his hand a little awkwardly, his gaze drifting to the side.

"I have to ...... Leave for a while. He said, "I have to go...... Find something. ”

"No problem. Naria readily agreed, "I'm going with you—I haven't ridden a dragon in a long time!"

“...... I'll be back soon. ”

"That's even better. "If I leave now, maybe I'll be able to come back and make dinner?"

.

No one could say no to Naria Kavo, and when she insisted on doing something—and few could resist Ed's pitiful eyes like a puppy who feared being abandoned.

Eventually, they threw down a table full of maps, and with the help of Ed's spell, they instantly appeared on the edge of the almost round icy lake at the top of Mount Estero.

The lake is not yet frozen, but the black rocks are covered with snow. The cold wind swept through her bare skin like a knife, and Nalya shivered twice in a row, but before she could speak, Ed had already quickly let a layer of air warm enough cover her like fur.

Naturally, Isis is not afraid of the cold. He stood by the lake, staring in amazement at his vague reflection in the ripples. He had stood here a few years ago when he had just turned back into an ice dragon, the shadow of the white dragon familiar and unfamiliar...... Just like this human form today.

He probably never really saw himself.

"I'm going to the bottom of the lake. He said, "Just wait here." ”

Nalya opened her mouth and didn't say anything—she could hear that this time, he couldn't refuse.

Isis sank into the water like a fish, swimming far enough distance to allow himself to sink slowly to the bottom of the lake.

He didn't have to be here...... What he was looking for was in his deliberately sealed memory, in the depths of his soul. He just needed a place that was quiet enough and far enough away...... Far away from it, even if something really happens, there will be no room for recovery.

In fact, he probably shouldn't have had Ed and Nalya with him at all—but he knew he needed them by his side at this moment.

The water of the lake is as clear as a giant crystal. The sunlight swayed and fell on the white sand at the bottom of the lake, and the bright spots of light shimmered one after another, like the dazzling scales of the ice dragon imprinted with snow.

That's one of the reasons Ankramaaras Bingman chose this small glacial lake as a place to live - it's so lonely that loneliness can be a soluge for it.

Dragons have always lived alone. Each of them is too powerful, too powerful to coexist in a realm. Even if it is a giant dragon that conceives offspring together, the male dragon will leave after the female dragon lays the dragon egg. The love that humans have been striving for is a dispensable thing for dragons. Ankramaraz never loved Is's father, the ancient ice dragon known as Crystal Crown, and there was no love in Crystal Crown's withered and dying soul.

They just flew across the continent, met by chance, and suddenly discovered that they might be the last two ice dragons still alive.

Instinct makes them realize that they have to keep an offspring – but they can't care so much about how that offspring survives.

When Salsto Crystal Crown flew to the island of dragonbones and chose eternal sleep, a small soul fire had already ignited in the body of the last ice dragon that had not yet broken out of its shell.

However, even for ice dragons, hatching requires a long period of warmth—something that Isis had never received before he was born.

But he wanted to live...... Even if it was just instinct, in the first chaos and darkness, it was his only desire.

.