12 – Moving on… with a necklace

My heart was broken. However I had to give Olivia a proper funeral ceremony. I prayed for her soul for almost a week. After that, I eventually brought myself and incinerated her body. In dragon culture, leaving your body to be pillaged for scales, teeth, claws and other stuff is a bad omen. Your soul won't find rest.

Same thing if you bury it. The soul can't rest. I respected the dragon ways. But I feel that a part of me also burned alongside Olivia. Who will I turn to now? Mother told me not to be sad for too long, but I can't help it. But for her sake, I have to continue my life.

It's obvious that another dragon killed her. Olivia had a large gold pile, and that was gone too. A dragon is the only thing that could hurt her and take away all that gold. I swear that one day I will find the culprit and kill him. But I can't do it sitting in this nest.

"Mother, I'll be going soon. But don't worry. I won't let your home gather dust. I'll come back and take care of it from time to time."

But before I go, there is one more thing I need to check. All the gold may be gone, but there was a secret room that Olivia forbade me and her daughters from entering. Maybe there's something in there I can use. So I put my back into it and moved the giant boulder that was masking the entrance.

Inside it was just a damp and wet room, however there was a hole in the wall with a weird necklace. A gold necklace with a large purple jewel on it. Weird. Olivia never wears jewelry. What's so special about this one? She went out of her way to put it separately. A family heirloom maybe?

Regardless, I should take it with me. As soon as I placed my hand on it, the jewel emitted a bright light for a few seconds… and that's about it. Nothing happened.

"Darn it. It didn't work."

A voice?

"Who's speaking?"

"Oh. So you can hear me. Not everyone that touches this necklace can hear me. You must be special. Anyway, where's Olivia? She wouldn't send in some strange woman in here."

"I don't know what you're talking about. Olivia… is dead. Who the hell are you?"

"Dead!!? That has to be a joke. There's no way that monster can die."

For a few minutes I ended up talking to the necklace. Sharing my thoughts with someone after 1 week of silence felt reassuring a bit. As for this necklace…

"I understand. My sincere condolences."

"Anyway, mind telling me what you are?"

"I'm not a thing. My name is Luvia, former great general of the Demon King, and his top war counselor. Surely you must know the name Luvia Lazuli Catastrophe!!"

"Never heard of you."

Silence for a few moments.

"How can this be!!? I was one of the most feared beings in history. Sure, my strength wasn't on par with the Demon King, but my knowledge and thought process was second to none. You're hurting my pride, miss…"

"Yufine. And since when is a talking necklace a great general and war counselor?"

"I wasn't always like this. Long story short… the Demon King from 300 years ago was scared of me. Basically, I've been handling every decision for him, to the point people respected me more than him. And out of fear of losing his throne, he tried to kill me.

Technically he did. My body was shattered. With the last ounce of my powers I managed to save my soul by inserting it in this jewel. And ever since… Olivia found me and put me in here."

"So you're saying you're stuck? Should I break this jewel to free you?"

I squeezed it just a bit but…

"Ouch, ouch, ouch!! Don't you dare! I'm serious!! If you break it I'll seriously die. The only way to escape this… is to find a vessel in which I can put my soul."

"Then that light earlier…"

"Yeah… I was trying to possess you. Sorry about that. No hard feelings, okay?"

I squeezed the jewel again.

"Awwaaaawaaa!! Stop that! I'm really sorry. Please forgive me!"

I let out a long sigh. What am I supposed to do with this now? Why did mother keep her to begin with? I can't just go and sell it either.

"Maybe I should just put you back."

"Wait! If Olivia's gone and you leave me here I'll be forgotten for eternity! That's a fate too cruel for anyone. Please… take me with you! I'm sure my knowledge would prove valuable to you."

"Knowledge from 300 years ago? That doesn't sound useful. You probably are not up to date with anything."

"How rude. I'll have you know that Olivia often shared stories from the outside world with me. Have a little faith."

Says the woman that tried to take over my body. Thank God for my status immunity.

"And I suppose for you to be able to properly teach me anything…"

"You're sharp. But basically, yeah. You'll need to provide me with a vessel."

Ugh… What am I supposed to do at this point? Possessing a body… that’s almost the same as murder. And this woman did try that on me too. Yeah, right. Like I am just gonna be ok with giving her what she needs. Making deals with demons is never a good thing. But, Olivia did keep this necklace. She could easily have destroyed this thing herself. She might actually prove useful to me. Heck, I have no clue what I want to do in this world. And right now… I don’t think I want to be alone. I need someone to talk to.

“Alright, Lu-chan. For now, I’ll keep you with me.”

“Splendid. I knew you were a reasonable… wait. Did you just call me… Lu-chan?”

“Yeah. With that cute voice of yours it fits. And it’s too long to say your full name, so I’ll shorten it to Lu-chan. You can call me Yufi too.”

“I… have never been so insulted in my entire life, but given the current situation, I will allow it. I look forward to working with you.”

For the time being, I put the necklace around my neck. She can’t control me anyway, so it’s the safest place to put. And if I am not in direct contact with it I can’t hear her voice. At least for now I have a goal… sort off.

Well, with this, there’s nothing else left for me in here. Mother, watch over me. I will make you proud and find something worth living for. And you too, will always live in my heart.