The Regressed NoBody

My heart seemed to pound irregularly faster the longer I looked up at the majestic form of the mighty winged beast whose slender neck gently lifted upwards with poise and unbelievable grace and elegance—something hardly expected of a beast, or any beast which I had seen until now—as if it was a creature that embodied perfection, whom sat at the pinnacle of all life forms, as its enchanting, wisdomous golden eyes radiated ostentatiously with power and authority, which made me wary of merely of its gaze.

My heart beat so fast that I felt like it could jump right out of my chest at any given moment, as the heavy sound of its beating, akin to like a war drum was carried vividly to my ears. My breathing seem to grow heavy and uneven as I saw the dragon incline its head slightly in question.

My eyes were fixed upon the dragon which comfortably laid on the ground of this cavern without any care for the world or its surroundings. As if it merely didn’t care, or rather deemed those matters unnecessary or not worthy of its attention.

The dragon stirred slightly as the heavy clanking and jingling of chains reverberated through the cavern, and for the first time I tore my gaze away from the dragon and saw that its gigantic body was being imprisoned by heavy and sturdy shackles which were firm around its neck, arms and back, which were attached to the ethereal crystals around us, but with the chain around its back and underbelly attached with the ceiling and stuck to the stalactites.

I had read several stories, myths and legends—some even read to me by Fujimoto as bed time stories as a child—about these mystical winged beasts who soared through the skies and were the mightiest and ancient race of monsters, who also supposedly sat above their gigantic stash of gold, jewels and rare items which were considered priceless, but here in this place, I noticed that the dragon didn’t have a mountain worth of gold sitting beneath it but only the lush grass land which released a sweet-sour odour which stimulated the nose and filled the cavern with a refreshing fragrance.

“I asked who is there?” The dragon probed with a stern and forceful tone, the depth of power profoundly lacing its words was something I couldn’t seem to gauge—the aura of ostentation and the calm of it demeanour made me extremely wary of this beast—, making a shiver to run through my body as I forcefully calmed my breathing and heart.

‘It can speak.’ I thought inwardly. But dropped the thought right after, when I remembered about my interactions with the Thalassalithion tribe.

I mean, they were a race of monsters who could speak as well. I think I’ve become biased.

If I had been found out, then there is nothing I can do about this matter. And it doesn’t seem like this dragon is eager enough to hunt or eat me. The chains seem to be restraining it in that one spot and had a firm hold over its huge form.

Because, if this beast had not been, then there most probably should’ve been foot prints left on the moist ground. And by its sheer size and mass, I didn’t see a single foot print before finding out the dragon itself, so this dragon was most probably restrained in this specific area of the cavern.

I cleared my throat with a dry cough as I slowly stood, putting great effort and fighting against the pain searing at my body and warily walked closer to the dragon, each foot fall seemed to grow heavier as I swallowed hard and lifted my head to gaze straight into the beast’s sublime eyes. I maintained a ten meter distance from it, my mana had recovered enough for me to use Leap once or twice if I needed to escape and rush back to the narrow opening in the cavern wall, because in my current condition I wouldn’t even have a chance of taking a single strike from any strong monster, much less from a dragon, whom were rumoured to be the king of all beasts.

But with a calm and rational expression over my face as I steadied my body, I brought my left hand—my right hand had regenerated a little bit to the elbow but the process was taking longer than I had expected—closer to my chest and slightly bowed my head to a certain degree to seem respectful, as I spoke.

“I humbly apologise, Great Dragon. I didn’t mean to intrude on your sleep or cognition, neither am I here to steal any riches which might belong to you. It is with no ill-intentions that I stumbled upon your lair rather coincidentally and came across your Majesty by pure chance. I hope you are generous enough to forgive my unannounced intrusion.” I bent a little more to show the sincerity in my words.

The best I could do was entice the dragon with mere words right now, to not antagonise it in any way. Because currently, I had no idea on how to getting out of this place and I remembered after my mind had cleared that I had been expelled to this place as a penalty for not being able to clear the previous trial.

I was stranded in this unknown place, left in a crippled state.

I took a deep breath as I looked at the dragon looking down at me with a certain gaze of intrigue and curiosity, but laced with boredom and a keen sense of standoffish demeanour.

The dragon took a breath, its nostrils flared as a heavy gust of its breath slightly fluttered my hair and clothes away as I saw the dragon wearing an impatient expression as its exquisite brows knitted for the slightest bit.

“That doesn’t answer my previous question; of who you are?” The dragon remarked with a subtle quality of annoyance felt in its tone. Its ancient scales glimmered under the bright illumination of the stalactites as it shifted the position of its arms and leaned its snout over them.

Well, I was glad that Gabriel had taught me many things, not just the use of mana but several useful social skills as well—such as smooth talking—which might have come in handy one day—and it already was—, and among them was the skill and deductive capability for choosing the right words against a certain type of person after reading the flow and atmosphere around them.

Certainly a helpful skill. I guess that quake-head wasn’t all that bad that I made him to be.

“Ahh, yes! My humble name is Seo Jiwoo. And I came across your lair by pure coincidence as I mentioned earlier.” I said respectfully as I straightened, but secretly the mana inside my body was working and ready to be used any second. “When I came to be, I realized that I was falling through a narrow opening in the cavern wall, and then came into contact with you.”

The dragon moved its head as if nodding in understanding and coming to a conclusion of its own in its head and opened its big mouth to speak.

“I understand. Then how did you get here? What happened before that you arrived here, huh human?” The dragon ushered with a subtle amount of impatience palpable in its eyes. “Could it be that you escaped to here after you were defeated, through the use of a ‘Compass’?”

“Eh, human? How do you know I am a human?” I asked the dragon almost immediately as I was caught of guard, confusion creasing my brows as I tried to form some answers in my mind.

And what is this compass thing it mentioned? Some device maybe...??

“Answer my question first, then I shall do the same for you?” The dragon jabbed almost immediately.

I corrected my posture and took a moment to consider what to tell the dragon, and what not to. But there was nothing much to hide anyways. Even if I told the dragon a few details about myself, I don’t think it would decide to kill me at the spur of the moment—maybe, I wasn’t hundred percent sure—and this guys doesn’t look irrational to me as it has been listening to me and not trying to kill me after finding out my existence. It certainly was an intellectual being. And its honestly true that I was defeated and then expelled to this place.

I slowly told the dragon that I was from a place called ‘Earth’ and how I had acquired my system randomly on a Tuesday, and omitted a few things in between—such as the part of me being a regressor and some other important stuff which might concur the dragon amd make it suspicious—and told it that the system helped me grow stronger through the use of a levelling system and gave me quests and trials to clear, while also having the ability to open portal like gates to help me travel to different places aside from my own world. I omitted a few things here and there and also the part of meeting the basilisk remnant—omitting the parts of me gaining the keystones—and then went on to tell about my defeat at the hands of the Guardian as it silently listened with curios eyes. But it looked like it didn’t seem to fully trust my words as a glint of suspicious skepticism was palpable in its eyes.

“So in short, I came from above after I fell into the void below the platform and as penalty I was forced to this place,” I pointed with my finger upward.

“So what you’re saying is that, you were defeated by this supposed armoured Guardian in a floating platform area which was supposedly cut off from the outside world, and after your defeat, you fell into the void below the platform and found yourself here, correct?” The dragon repeated, its voice graceful and calculative.

I nodded my head in reply as the dragon sighed.

"That seems to be it.”

“Do you take me for a fool? It is certainly hard to believe that you have this mysterious system—that you like to call it—and have this surreal power to move through to the different worlds without even having access to a compass—or knowing what it is. But the wounds you have indeed hint on to some parts of your explanation being true. But even in my entire long life, I haven’t heard about this kind of absurd phenomenon, but I can’t perfectly tell if what you just told is entirely a lie or the truth. But well, I have no reason to do so. I am sure you can’t trust me enough to tell me every single detail when we have only just met each other several minutes ago.”

‘Ahh, damn. This guy is pretty smart.’ I remarked inwardly averting my gaze awkwardly without letting the dragon know.

“What I told you is the truth.” Well indeed only some parts of it. “I don’t have a way to show you, because exclusively only I can see and interact with the system.” I said, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

“Well, it doesn’t matter.” The dragon said as it shook its head. “If you do have this ability to move through the dimensions and go to the other worlds, then get out of here at once, there is no reason for you to stay in this place any longer.”

“Ahem...that is something I can’t seem to do right now.” I said with sudden awkwardness. “I was expelled here after I failed the trial the system had given me, and there is no response from the system since then. So I guess I’m pretty much stuck here for the time being, heh.”

The dragon sighed again, as it laid its snout in a more comfortable position. “Fine. You can leave once this ‘SYSTEM’ of yours is able to conjure a portal out of here.” The dragon greatly placed emphasis over the words system as if mocking me, which in response I scoffed, frowning.

“But I guess you can also take your time to recover—seeing that the injuries you have sustained from your battle will indeed take some time to heal.” The dragon added nonchalantly as if it wasn’t his problem, which it wasn't. “Just make sure not to disturb me in your unannounced stay here. Understood?”

Well it really wasn’t. I nodded back.

“But the price you had to pay for challenging that adversary was an arm. And from the amount of mana I can feel inside you and the strength of your physique you already seem to have reached the threshold and getting nearer the intervening assimilation of the ‘Enlightenment Stage’. Be grateful that what you lost was only an arm—huh?”

The dragon suddenly stopped as its eyes peered over my arm and with knitted brows observed it with curiosity and skeptical intrigue.

My mana had started to recover faster now that my body had healed a little and now the bone had started to reconstruct as the muscles and nerves coiled around it as skin grew over it once again.

“Interesting. Perhaps, do you humans have the natural ability to heal even severed limbs? “The dragon inquired curiously as its head drew closer to me. “But so do demons and their bonded individuals, don’t they?” The dragon’s tone turned stern and malevolent suddenly.

Involuntarily, I took a step back, and the dragon stopped before withdrawing its head back. “I apologise. It seems my curiosity got the better of me.” It said.

“Its fine.” I exclaimed. “And as for your question, I don’t think human can grow back severed limbs as far as I know—but well, ahh...we can heal minor wounds naturally through the use of our mana. But I just found out a little while ago that I'm able to heal even severed parts of my body or even if they are raptured or destroyed entirely. And among my race, I think only I have this ability. And I assure that I am not bonded to a demon.”

“I see. No, I can tell at least that much even in this restrained state with my mana sealed, that there is no demonic energy intermingled inside your body and moving with your mana.” The dragon nodded in understanding as its deep voice turned serene and contemplative. “It seems like your physical body has this special trait, which the people of any other race lack in their biological heritage, even I of the dragon race don't have the ability to grow back lost limbs and organs. But it doesn’t explain how? I guess there are all kinds of creatures in this vast universe which even I am not fully aware of. The Pantheon Elder did used to say: The vastness of this universe could never be grasped into the confinement of a single mind, but yet, the peculiarities exist creating such anomalies.”

What? So far the dragon had mentioned several things which I didn’t fully understand. The Compass, Enlightenment stage and Pantheon?

These words or what they implied to were alien to me.

I looked above at the dragon and finally decided to ask. “If you don't mind, can I ask you some things which I have been curious about since the start of our conversation?”

“Go ahead.” The dragon allowed with a wave of its scaly arm.

“I only want to ask three questions.” I said, careful of the implications of my questions and filtering and organising the information in my mind to sound more rhetorical. “How were you able to tell that I was a human and how do you know who we are?”

“It looks like despite only having access to mana for just a few decades, you’re not completely oblivious of your surroundings and what is happening in the outside territories, except for your now.” The dragon smiled wryly. “The last time we came into contact with the human race was several millennials ago. And what we had found out when we had interacted with them, honestly left us quite disappointed. Your race was overly arrogant,” the dragon snorted, “,so were they ignorant of their surroundings and in their stature of knowledge and strength. They lacked in almost all the aspects on which the other races stood upon, and we deemed them simply unnecessary and insignificant for their uselessness and pathetic behaviour.”

I frowned listening to the dragon as its barrage of insults continued. But what it said was right. It did take my people to break free of their rudimentary rules which didn’t apply to all in society. Which were still applicable, but in subtle ways in this day and age.

“Then as you said, the myths surroundings the human world of spotting several mythical beasts such as dragons and basilisks were all true.” I said in flabbergast.

“Indeed. From time to time we secretly tried making contact with your race and the others from the shadows, and helped in prospering your lands and lives and trying to teach your kind to use magic even when mana was still weak in your world, but still developing. But as stupid as your kind displayed to be, they executed the mages nurtured specifically by the dragons, who we had taught to manipulate the ambient elements in the atmosphere and taught artificery, astrology and other complex subjects such as the arts of war, apothecary and medicine and the healing arts, and the study of life forms and different creatures, but they labelled them as a catastrophe to the world and its people for their knowledge and power, either as devils disguised in human skin or witches whom worshipped such devils, who could perform such supernatural acts which other weren’t able to fathom. That’s why they say that ignorance is the greatest sin.”

“But after a certain period of time, the Leaders of the ancient races came to a very tough decision after much consideration and on which more than half agreed on, to disclose our existence to the humans and try to help build a civilization of strong mages and people we could call allies. Your kind did show promise in the stature of using mana in ways that even we dragons or any others never would have come to think of. But as time went on, your forefathers witnessed our absolute might which had been nurtured for several centuries and millennials and grew fearful of us. Some started thinking of us as threats and stopped trusting us entirely as their wariness grew each day, while others remained neutral and still continued receiving our help, while a majority made us the subject of their worship, treating us as their gods and deities.”

I silently listened to the dragon as my brows knitted in thought. So the rumours of such creatures existing in our world even before mana became a preeminent force were true. And there were even stories of people—whom others called witches and wizards back in the medieval days—who could manipulate nature and conjure magic.

So the dragon and these other ancient races have been the ones who helped the humans prosper in their dark ages.

“But...”the dragon’s voice turned bleak suddenly as its eyes turned ablaze with anger and some old loss. “After some unfortunate happenstances, we had to leave the world of the humans and haven’t since visited, which was several millennials ago.”

“Because of the war,” I pointed out, coming to a quick realization. Its seems that the scope of this war was far greater than I could have ever thought, or wrapped my head around.

The dragon looked at me for a moment as the fierce emotion from over its face smothered and its face aged back to its wisdomous one as I blinked.

“Yes.” The dragon answered simply with stoic eyes.

“Now, go ahead and ask your second question.”

I nodded back as I immediately thought of the second question ready in my mind.

“Who are these ancient races...” after a moment of contemplation, I decided to disclose this piece of information.

“So far, I’m only aware of the existence of the Daemon Exciduim race and the Basilisk race—plus having fought a Basilisk on my own.”

“Ahm, that’s news to my ears.” The dragon said wryly. “Fine, I will answer. You have indulged and entertained me after a very long time. And its been centuries since I spoke with someone—anyone. And I suppose answering some questions wouldn’t be of any harm.”

I smiled awkwardly as I placed my hand on the back of my head from the dragon’s sudden antics and weird humour.

“The way the mana is clinging to your body and how your biology and characteristic are different from the other races such as: the Orcs, the Dwarfs, or the Elves. So I came to deduce that you’re a human, apart from the other races.” The dragon’s heavy voice filled the air as it gave me a knowing look. “And despite your perfect and impeccable attempt at hiding it, I can feel that the mana inside of you is subtlety working to be used at any moment.” The dragon added with a slight smirk as it snorted.

“We dragons have always had the keenest of sense of being able to tell apart a race just by the way the mana cling to them and how their characteristics were determined by the inherent use of their mana and their physique. You could say, we are able to easily categorise a race just by sensing their mana. Because once mana is purified, it takes the form and changes and moulds itself appropriate to the one whom had absorbed and purified it to assimilate with their body. Becoming theirs and taking their shape and colour to accommodate them."

I frowned over the dragon’s explanation as I went into deep thought as I pursed my lips and held my chin with my left hand.

But what about these other races? Orcs, Dwarfs...and Elves? What are those? Are they also a part of the ancient races or something? Like a distinct race which are entirely different from us humans.

“If you don’t mind me asking you..” I said as I looked at the dragon without giving off any feeling of looking down on it or arrogance. “...can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.” The dragon said after a pause.

I thought about the thinks which I needed to put my focus on currently, as I organised my thoughts and only decided to ask about the thinks which held the most importance, the answers which I was unable to obtain from the basilisk remnant—Indra Arudecarus.

But I need to be careful of my words of just how much I can ask him without making him angry or wary.

Because curiosity can kill you as much as any stupid action.

I took a deep breath and with a determined expression decided to ask the dragon. “When you mentioned these other races, the Orcs, Dwarfs and Elves, can you kindly elaborate about who these people might be, of course if its something too bothersome you don’t have to.”

“For being a human, you’re quite well taught and well mannered on how to carry yourself even in the presence of a dragon and even speak in a way which doesn’t make you look arrogant, neither are your words indicating that you are ignorant of your situation and what these other races might be.”

“Kind of. I got to know vaguely about these other races from someone I met along my journey. Who told me that there exist several races in the worlds outside.”

“And...the one who told me about them was a remnant spirit of the progenitor of the basilisk race: Indra Arudecarus.”

I had only decided to tell this certain piece of information after I had made the decision that the dragon wasn’t some irrational creature, but rather one that was mindful of its speech and actions and from the way it carried itself, it gave off a grace of elegance and exquisite charm and reverent vibe.

The moment the name left my mouth, the dragon shot up and straightened in its position as the chains surrounding its body dangled furiously. Its eyes looked skeptical but a sudden realization had dawned upon it.

The dragon recomposed itself almost instantly and now sat straight on its hind legs. Its height reaching almost as high up as half of the cavern.

“Elaborate? How and where did you meet this remnant spirit of the ancient Elder of the Arudecarus?”

I thought for a long moment as the dragon impatiently looked at me with awaiting eyes for an answer. I took a breath and after thinking about it for a while and coming to a conclusion, I swiped my hand and withdrew the multifaceted keystone from inside the inventory and clenched it in my palm.

“Where did you get that object out of? I didn’t sense you empowering mana into any dimensional artifact, neither do I feel you possessing one. Could it be the system you mentioned earlier?” The dragon lifted its clawed hand and took a told of its snout and stroked it gently in thought.

“Yes, the system also provides me with a dimensional storage as one of its inherent features. And I don’t seem to need any mana to empower it to store my belongings inside it.”

“Truly peculiar,” the dragon marvelled.

I brought my hand forward and revealed the keystone to the dragon, which looked like any jewel one could find anywhere. “This is the object that I received from the remnant spirit. He called this object, the keystone.”

“They have a separate pocket space inside them, which can allow the mind of the challenger to cross into it, and this thing is supposed to have some kind of test or puzzle, once solved can give the one who cleared it some power or understanding and insight into some aspect of nature which creates reality—mentioned as time, space and life—or some information regarding some ancient war.”

The dragon’s brows knitted but it corrected its form and asked.

“Then have you been able to solve this puzzle, this keystone has?”

I shook my head in naught. “So far, I had no luck. I don’t even understand what this keystone is supposed to tell me—what insight it can give me. And the keystone realm in this one is something I couldn’t grasp when I went inside it. All I found was a wall, which obstructed my path.”

“I understand. But why were you given this keystone in the first place? And why did such an Elder of the basilisk race—who is respected even to this day and age among the ancient races—live as a remnant spirt just to give you this keystone?” The dragon suddenly asked. It looked peculiarly at me with its eyes narrowed.

“I don’t know. But Indra Arudecarus told me, that I play some kind of important role in this war. I’m not sure what I need to specifically do, or how I am connected to all this, but the things that are happening around me, simply can’t just be labelled as coincidences."

“You’re right. The ancient Elders have had a very peculiar way of making others understand their points and ideas. Even after their deaths, we are still trying to decipher the cryptic messages they left behind for the descendents to come. They were egnamtic folks who held enough power to reshape the worlds. And each ancient race possess some aspect which is different from one another but important and hints on the mysticism of this world, not straying too much away from the accepted criteria.”

The dragon cleared its throat and with its back straight and eyes serene, spoke. “You asked about the ancient races and who they are, correct? There exist quite a few of them whom have existed as long as time has as far as we know. But there is no way of knowing how far our roots stretch to.”

“The ones who formed the ancient races consist of several different races, such as: The Dragons, the Phoenixes, the Titans, the Pantheons, the Basilisks, the Fenrirs, the Leviathans, the Hamadryades and the last race which was banished from among the ancients, the Exciduims. They had existed since a very long time just like the other ancients so they were invited as allies."

‘A total of nine races, huh, with one banished from their ranks.’ I made a mental note as I organised the information I had acquired so far with what the dragon had just told me.

“Each ancient race signifies and reigns over some aspect and have a strength which only they excel in and are the best at. The dragons are known and hailed for their extreme knowledge, understanding and absolute hold over mana which is second to none. The phoenixes are known to be fierce warriors of the sky, bested by none in ariel combat, who even make look the rays of the sun dull in front of their burning manes. And what makes them an egnamtic existence are their arts of reincarnation and resurrection, through which they are able to be reborn from the dying flames of their heart.” I was left astound, no flabbergasted, with my mouth agape as I heard about the information of the dragons and phoenixes.

But what struck me more were the phoenixes ability to reincarnate themselves. The ability to rise back from the dead.

But then how does one regresses back in a specific period in time? Reincarnation and Regression are two different methods from escaping death, but were oddly similar, like the two side of a coin.The former allows someone to reincarnate their souls into the world again but in that same period of time or in the future, with the past not being an option.

While the latter makes the host destroy and leap through the literal bounds of time and resurrect themselves into the past. Which in my case was Jiwoo’s body. Tearing the delicate tapestry of time by their actions.

I bit the inside of my cheek as I tried to digest the information and try to think of some explanation which might cross with my own circumstances.

The dragon seemed to have noticed my frown as it looked at me for a moment before continuing.

“The titans are respected for their strong hold over the arts of creation, but they only claim to have understood the aspects of life and they are master craftsmen and artificers whom are greatly respected for their strength and capacity for creation.” The dragon took a breath as if having a slight recollection of some memory of its, then continued. “The one race whom are feared even amongst all the ancient races are the pantheon warriors who are the most adept at the arts of war and death. They are a race of individuals who train their own bodies to become a lethal weapon to be used in any form possible in the arts of combat. But the thing which makes them the most dangerous foe and a reliable ally are their secret arts of combat—which are a mystery to all the races—created by the first forefather of the pantheons.”

“The natural predators who have mastered their senses and instincts for survival and for hunting based purposes, and having a strong resilience and ferocity for battle are the race of Fenrirs.”

The dragon turned slightly as it got into a more comfortable position as the jangling of its chain reverberated in the cavern.

“And as you mentioned earlier of meeting the remnant spirit of Indra of clan Arudecarus—the progenitor of the basilisks. The basilisks are similar to dragons and are considered kin to another, but they were considered to be an inferior version of us—because our pride blinded us—, and because of that many wars were fought between the two of having prejudice and bias against each other. But in truth they are indeed a force to reckon with. With their decay type arts of mana, they were considered exceptional foes that not even the pantheons dared touch without consideration.”

Thinking about it, the potent poison which I had been attacked with could have almost killed me if I'd not gained resistance against it.

“The leviathan race are best known to understand the essence of life out of all other races, but their entire existence is shrouded by a veil of mysteriousness as they only keep to themselves and barley interact with the other races. And finally the last race among the ancients are of the Hamadryades. Having complete understanding of rejuvenation and nature itself.”

“We ancients were given many names as the era and times changed, but the only one title that triumphant among the many was ‘Ash’ari’.”

The ash’ari...

"No one knows where this title came from but it is being used for the longest of time to address us ancients, which means: the all powerful and knowledgeable."

“But you mentioned about the Elves and Dwarfs as well?” I suddenly asked to get a answer to quench my rising curiosity.

“Yes, just like the other races, there also exist races which are inferior to the ancient ones, in both the stature of knowledge and power. They are the: Eloquens Specious, also known as the Elves, the Firmus Sapiens, the Dwarfs, the Ferus Robustus, who are the Orcs and lastly the Avis Volucris who are a race of Avion creatures. And with you humans added as well.”

I took a moment and after much consideration I decided to ask out of curiosity after the dragon’s long and in-depth explanation about the other races, which I was seriously grateful for, because it had finally cleared a question inside my head. “Then, do there exist different clans among these races?”

The dragon nodded its head slightly as its chains dangled.

“Yes, you must have figured after meeting Indra Arudecarus's spirit. There exist different clans among the ancient races but the ones who reign over them as their leader clans are: the Phoenixes of clan Ignisheart. The Titans of clan Vivagrandus. The Pantheons of clan Aureliantheo. The Fenrirs of clan Embermaw. The Basilisks of clan Arudecarus. The Leviathans of clan Eccleivara. The Hamadryades of Clan Arborden.” The dragon finished with a breath as it straightened.

“Then what about the dragons? Which clan are you from?” I asked suddenly as a formal air of poise and authority rose around the dragon as its eyes seem to shimmer and radiate power.

“And the Dragons of clan Astrionyx.” The dragon said as its voice took an ancient and respectful tone.

“And I am from the ash’ari race and birthed from the proud and mighty Astrionyx clan of the dragon race. My name is Mordian Astrionyx, the last survivor of my blood and race and the lost prince of the dragons.”

What...last of the dragons? What does he mean by that?

“What—”

But suddenly I froze in my position as I felt a shiver run through my spine as I heard a very dim and ethereal voice which sounded like the muffled voice of a ghost, but familiar somehow, pass by my ear like a fleeting breeze.

I snapped my head back with my brows tightly knitted and saw there was nothing behind me. Only the empty air and bright crystals which filled the cavern.

I felt melancholy emerge in the pit of my stomach as I felt like I had lost something. The sombreness tightly gripped at my throat as I came past a lump stuck inside my throat.

Why was I feeling like this suddenly?

“What’s wrong?” Mordian asked, his deep voice shaking me out of my reverie as I turned around and looked at the dragon. “You suddenly snapped your head backward?"

“Its nothing. I just...I don’t know. I just felt this inexplicable urge to look back, but I guess I'm just too tried after my fight that its making me hallucinate from the fatigue."

“If you don’t mind can I rest while we continue our conversation huh...Lord Astrionyx?”

“You can just call me Mordian, I am no longer a lord or prince after my race was massacred by the demons in the war—no, by those cowards sudden ambush—which occurred almost a millennial ago. So Just Mordian is fine.”

I nodded back at the dragon and took a seat and leaned against a crystal stuck into the moist ground as my eyes grew heavy and body flailed from the fatigue. “Alright Mordian. Thanks.”