The Primal Blood Demonic Dragon
Chapter 81: Cht 81: Echoes Beneath The Quiet

Chapter 81: Cht 81: Echoes Beneath The Quiet

The twilight bled into dusk.

The once-violent clearing now lay hushed, save for the occasional crackle of dying embers from the remnants of corrupted beast flesh. A low mist began to crawl along the forest floor, born not of unusual, but of natural breath returning to a land briefly stolen by chaos.

Gin lay still.

His body, a silver-blue blur in the grass, barely moved save for the slow rise and fall of his breath. Each inhalation was labored, and each exhale held the sharp edge of exhaustion. Mira’s healing mist had done what it could. But deep wounds, mentally exhaust ones never closed so easily.

His memories inside rewind memory fragment was hazy after coming out. But they are slowly getting clearer. Maybe because of his this new soul transfer his memory was hazy or maybe from his consciousness, soul going through so much differentiates.

After all, though his mind was clear about who he was, what was happening with him. Still it wasn’t in his control to experience such situation.

’If only not for that newly grown tree. Who knows, would i have even be able leave that place?

And how long would that even had taken me to. Many things have changed already for don’t know how long it had been before coming out.’

Yet he still also have no idea how long have he been experiencing the memory.

’This tree really grew up plenty big. Still did it really absorb necessary energy from the memory?’ Gin really is puzzled, at where did that memory really even come from. It definitely didn’t belong to either of both lives.

In grey space. Silent, quiet like nothing should exist here. A odd looking tree floated with nothing as support.

Middle branch with silver leaves with two branch on both sides with blue-green leaves and pure dark-golden light respectively.

Below middle root same with silver mini tumor roots but on both side’s roots are on opposite side of the branches.

Like Upper portion and lower portion are in mirror of each other yet both are like resided in different dimentions.

’This thing merged with me so i can understand what four colours on both sides can represent. But what is in the middle? silver? is it because of this silver-blue wolf body?’

looking at the tree inside his soul consciousness, he is confused yet like pieces of puzzle are in right place after thinking for a while.

’And that woman’

That darkness incarnated woman.

’She had small horns on her head’

The man in that memory might have been focusing on meeting someone like her for the first time.

But Gin, who was also feeling intense attraction towards her was focusing on something else.

Her aspects. Why was he even greeting that kind of feeling toward her despite not knowing her. This question haunted him in earlier memory rewinds than the situation of that man.

With close observation through that man’s vision Gin spotted two small horns on that woman’s head. After all he was seeing what that man was seeing. He didn’t have his own vision, different from that man.

’That kind of feeling was like immediate attraction toward own kind and intense impulsive desire to mate with opposite gender of same race.’

He vividly remember that feeling.

If he had an actual body at that time, it definitely had been hard to control that kind of primal instinct to conquer.

Maybe not even he would have the desire to restrict that side.

’Either it was because of my void demon trait or the dragon side...

And her race absolutely was one of them.’

Now with that memory loop no more he carefully processed the encounters more thoroughly, thought in more depth.

A light breeze stirred the tips of his fur. He didn’t raise his head.

He wasn’t alone.

Alice sat quietly at his side, knees drawn to her chest, arms around them. Her gaze stayed locked on the trees now, though Gin could tell by the subtle shifts in her aura that she still watched him through the corner of her eye.

She hadn’t spoken since she whispered, "I missed you."

That single sentence still echoed within him louder than the clash of fangs and claws from earlier.

’I also missed you, ...everyone’

He couldn’t answer. Not properly. Not the way he wanted. So in the silence, he let himself remain beside her. Close. Present. He could feel from their emotional wave length only Alice and Jean truly accepted that the wolf is him. Maybe beacuse they still have their soul connection but more of a one-sided.

He definitely can’t feel anything from them, not even with only her beside him.

Behind them, further up the slope, the others had begun preparing a temporary camp. It wasn’t comfortable. It wasn’t safe. But it was shelter for the moment. Saira and Xingning worked silently to secure the perimeter with barriers. Saira’s water threads strung across trees like glass-thin tripwires and Xingning’s wind carrying faint vibrations outward to detect any movement.

Jean stood watch at the edge of the forest. Her moss-covered wooden body blended in with the nearby trees now, rooted in place, unmoving.

Lucy stood in the center of it all, arms crossed on her bosom, gazing everything and sometimes redirecting.

Gin didn’t need to see her face to know she was thinking.

Always calculating. Always watching.

And yet, even she had paused when Alice called him by name.

Even she had said, "You’re safe. For now." Even though not sure inside, she choose to trust and accept him for now.

Gin’s ears flicked slightly.

Footsteps approached.

Light. Controlled. Mira.

She stopped just a few paces behind Alice and looked at Gin. No longer wary just curious.

"We won’t move camp tonight," she said softly. "Everyone wounded. You especially."

Alice didn’t turn around, but she answered, "He needs rest."

Mira agreed by nodding. "We’ll stand watch in shifts."

Gin lowered his gaze. The weight in his limbs wasn’t just from injury. It was from realization.

He didn’t know how long he’d been gone.

He didn’t know what happened to the world, to them, to himself.

But they had moved forward without him. Grown. Changed. Become something more than the memories he had clung to in the silence of wherever he had been.

’And I... came back like this.

A demon beast. Voiceless. Broken. Half-lost.

Mira took another step forward and sat down beside Alice.

"He’s watching us," she said. Her tone was calm, but her voice betrayed the same fragile edge Alice’s had.

"Let him," Alice replied. "He’s been alone enough."

Gin’s heart twisted.

He wanted to tell them.

That he’d tried to return.

That the broken memories of rewind world had shattered his sense of time.

That his consciousness had wandered or maybe was always trapped, maybe just drifting until something called him back. Their voices, maybe. Their memories. Or on realistic side the tree transfered his soul to save him.

He had no proper vocal cords. Now it would be like learning to talk again from baby phase.

But he leaned slightly toward them. Just a little. Just enough that his shoulder brushed against Alice’s side.

She flinched barely and then relaxed.

Her arm came to rest gently across his back, her hand moving through his fur with slow, careful strokes.

"He’s warmer than I expected," she murmured.

"Still himself" Mira added. "Even like this."

The wind rustled the leaves.

Gin closed his eyes.

He let their warmth, their presence, fill the spaces that had been empty for too long. The ache in his body dulled just a little. He wasn’t fully at peace, he couldn’t be. But for the first time since awakening from the memory land, he wasn’t alone in the quiet. Just watching silently like before. Unable move, trapped as only a consciousness watching everything in repeat.

Across the clearing, Xingning approached Lucy.

They stood in silence for a moment, then Xingning whispered "What do we do now?"

Lucy didn’t look at her. "We wait."

"For what?"

"For him to convey his words. For us to understand."

Xingning’s eyes moved toward Gin.

"He’s different."

"So are we," Lucy said quietly.

So are we...

Gin opened his eyes again.

Alice had fallen into a light doze beside him, her arm still draped across his back. Mira was whispering something to herself, maybe a planning, maybe just tired thoughts.

In the distance, the forest pulsed with quiet.

No beasts. No growls. No screams. Just the slow breath of a world recovering.

And yet...

Gin’s spiritual sense stirred. His injured soul sparked in warning.

Something... still lingers.

He didn’t know what.

But even now, in this brief moment of peace, something waited beyond the trees.

Not another wave. Not a mindless attack.

Something with intention.

He growled softly.

Mira immediately looked up. "What is it?"

Gin stood, shakily but with resolve. His paws pressed into the moss, and though his flank trembled with strain, he faced the edge of the clearing.

There’s more.

The others noticed.

Jean’s mossy head turned. Lucy’s eyes sharpened. Xingning’s hand hovered near her blade.

The peace was fleeting. He knew it. They all did.

But for a brief moment, amidst the stillness before the next storm...

Gin was no longer a shadow of consciousness.

No longer a lost soul.

He was with them.

And this time, even voiceless, even changed...

He would not let himself be taken like that again.

_________________________________________

To Be Continued.

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