Huh? What the … what does he mean? Barry's … blood, that's impossible.

Dragon: "I guess I never really told you, did I? I know your brother."

Oh … you do. So what? It doesn't matter. He's … well, he's … dead, right?

Dragon: "Hey, you okay?"

No, he's not … he's dead, but he's not … gone. He's a …

Kais: "Ghost."

My thoughts come to a sudden halt as a question comes to mind.

Dragon: "Huh?"

The dragon looks at me in confusion.

Kais: "How can a ghost … bleed?"

Ghosts should not be able to bleed. It just doesn't make any sense for them to bleed when they don't even have a physical body where blood is present.

Dragon: "You think ghosts don't bleed?"

Yet the dragon asks me as if I am having some grave misunderstanding. There's no mistaking it though, ghosts can't bleed. I am sure of it.

Kais: "It just doesn't make any sense for them to bleed. They are spiritual energy, d.a.m.n it!"

Right, this isn't Barry's blood. He's lying … he's lying … he's lying … but why's he lying?

Dragon: "Allow me to correct that misunderstanding you are carrying around."

Kais: "Misunderstanding? Don't screw with me. There's no misunderstanding here. Ghosts can't bleed. I don't know why you would try to deceive me like this but you should know that I have always been suspicious of everyone here. I have placed no trust in any of you that you'll ever be able to take advantage of."

The dragon stands in his place calmly listening to me express my anxiety out loud without even realizing I am doing so.

Dragon: "Are you done?"

The dragon sighs and looks at me as he says that. Keeping his eyes focused on me, he points his finger at the blood trail.

Dragon: "Ghosts have the ability to possess others. However, when they possess someone, they almost become human again."

Kais: "Almost?"

That's the key word – is what my instincts tell me.

Dragon: "If the body they have possessed gets destroyed, it won't mean any actual harm to them. That said, as long as they have that body, the pain felt by the body or the blood spilled by it or even the simple feeling of hot or cold will be felt by then in full."

So, he is trying to say that Barry possessed someone, that someone is the one this blood really belongs to.

Kais: "You are telling me Barry is here. That's absurd even if you are talking about his ghost."

In truth, I just don't want to accept a situation like that.

Kais: "And then you add to that he possessed someone on this island; well, who?"

Dragon: "A corpse of a psychic who came here before you."

Wait! Seriously!? That doesn't not make sense but still,

Dragon: "Anyway, I followed this blood trail and I saw Barry, or the corpse he had possessed, out there bleeding. If you still don't want to believe me, that's fine. Go check for yourself."

Barry … is here? He is on this island? Why? I still think the dragon is lying to me for some reason. Is that just because I don't want to face Barry? Am I just trying to run away from reality and there's nothing to be suspicious of?

No. That's not it.

Kais: "Didn't you hear me when I said I have placed no trust in you."

Dragon: "Yeah, so what?"

Kais: "How can I be sure I'll be safe if I go in the direction you are pointing?"

I remind him how less I trust him. If I were to measure the amount of trust he has earned from me on a scale, it would undoubtedly be at 0.

Dragon: "I see. You are even suspicious of that, huh?"

The dragon looks down acting like that depressed him. I can read your aura so there's no point in acting. I thought I would say that but no point.

Kais: "No way am I letting my guard down."

Dragon: "Yes, I see that. Well, I guess that's a good trait in this situation. There is no guarantee who might be an enemy and who might be an ally at this point."

The dragon nods telling me that. I can tell from his aura he is at least genuine about that. He really does think being suspicious is the right way to go about things, in which case, something pretty important must be happening.

Kais: "What are you talking about?"

Dragon: "You know full-well what I am talking about."

I do? What do I know about … that can make this dragon take up a suspicious att.i.tude? Wait, is it the …

Kais: "War."

The war that Vermillion is waging, the one that they want me to join from their side so badly they needed to kidnap me and throw me at this island – that's the only thing that comes to mind. I recently also found out that ghosts exist. They could be involved in this too.

Dragon: "So my expectations weren't misplaced. You really do know the mess we are in."

The dragon is relieved to hear that for some reason, though something about his words just now bothers me.

Kais: "We? How are you in involved in this war?"

I suppose I could take into account how Vermillion is constantly sending psychics here to this guy, so I know for a fact he isn't completely uninvolved in the war. But I can't really see how he has anything to do with it past that point.

Dragon: "Well, there's that troublesome group of psychics who keep sending people like you here. And then there's your late brother."

d.a.m.n it! Him again! I am surprised I don't lose my mind every time I hear his name. Well, I am also glad about it because his name keeps coming up again and again.

Dragon: "To put it simply, he is a ghost."

Regrettably I have to be glad to Ethan right now. This isn't the first time I am hearing about him being a ghost so I can think much clearly.

Kais: "I see. But I pretty much already figured that out."

I won't bother mentioning that I met Ethan and he told me that. It's better not to get off topic as much as possible.

Kais: "And that is where my question lies – how can I know he is really here?"

Dragon: "Hmm … I don't know. In order for me to prove it's your brother who is bleeding, I need you to go take a look for yourself, but you don't trust me enough to enter the woods, isn't that right?"

Kais: "That's the basic summary, yes."

My feelings at this point are in a whirlpool of sorts. My emotions keep changing from one point to another and I am not much affected my any single one of them, but I am suffocated by the combined brunt of these emotions. I can't even comprehend what my feelings are at this point in time.

Dragon: "So then, what will it take for you to start trusting me?"

What kind of ridiculous question is that? Well, at least it allows me to distract myself from the incomprehensibility within me.

Kais: "No idea. Don't ask such childish questions."

Dragon: "Childish?"

The dragon asks sincerely. Don't tell me he actually thought I will be able to give him an answer.

Kais: "There is no manual that you can follow to gain my trust and it's not like there's a condition which one needs to fulfill to gain it either."

Dragon: "Is that so?"

Kais: "Yes, that is so. Those who say trust can be gained by doing such things are either idiots or idealists."

There's no room for discussion there. I am neither an idiot nor an idealist and I have no intention of foolishly placing my trust in someone after they fulfill some preset condition or anything of sorts.

Dragon: "Now that puts us in a bind, doesn't it?"

The dragon says so with his hand on his chin. I see his point but I am not willing to drop my guard here of all places.

Dragon: "Well, I guess we only have one choice then."

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If you are the one coming up with it, I'll have to take it with a grain of salt, though it's better to not say that out loud even if it's true.

Kais: "What is this choice?"

Dragon: "Simply put, I'll go to the place where I want you to go and you can put an eye on me with your abilities. This way it will be like I am guiding you there but I wouldn't be able to harm you in any way."

So basically, you are telling me to use clairvoyance, huh? That's actually a pretty good way to go about things. Unfortunately, I still can't completely agree with you.

Kais: "Before I say yes or no to that, tell me something."

Dragon: "Ask away."

The dragon had turned towards the forest while speaking but gazes back at me when I ask this.

Kais: "Where are Sona and that girl?"

The question has been bugging me for a while now. That whole affair with blood and then talk of Barry led me astray from the point, but this is what I really want to ask right now.

Dragon: "Don't worry about them. They're safe. That said though, I have no clue where they are right now."

Kais: "Then how the h.e.l.l can you a.s.sure me that they're fine."

Dragon: "I know that girl is fine because I will get a warning if something happens to her. As for Sona, as long as she's co-operating and not trying to do something stupid, she should be fine. If she does try to do something stupid, I don't care what happens to her."

Harsh as that may sound, I am sure it's the truth. Well, from what he said just now, I can a.s.sume –

Kais: "So when something happened, you all ran into the forest. Then you departed with them and came back here, saw the blood trail and followed it. You found the corpse Barry was possessing – he was bleeding – and then came back here."

Obviously there are a lot of blanks in between, but that's the overview of the situation. At least, the overview of the situation he is trying to give.

Dragon: "More or less"

The dragon says so folding his arms as if to look serious.

Kais: "Go to h.e.l.l!"

Dragon: "What!?"

Kais: "I am not buying it, not for a second."

That's too inconsistent of a situation. No matter what happened here, I doubt the dragon would go in the forest along with the girl and Sona. He'll probably just send the girl and stay here.

Dragon: "d.a.m.n! You are one tough customer, aren't you?"

That almost sounds like he is admitting to lying about something.

Kais: "At least I would like to think so."

Dragon: "Fine, then all I can do here is …"

He stops and looks at me.

Dragon: "… tell you the truth about your brother."

Kais: "What?"

A smile would be creeping up his face right about now if he wasn't so good at suppressing his emotions.

Dragon: "Let me tell you the story of when your brother and I first met – story of a psychic-ghost working for vampires."

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