Chapter 648: Burial
Watching the ring that Astrid gently pushed toward her, Theresa froze for a moment. The band, set with tiny diamonds, reflected in her blue irises and sparkled like a jewel.
"A space ring... for me?" Theresa repeated in a low voice, but did not immediately reach out.
This thing... was far too precious...
Like the human Empire’s attitude toward such spatial storage devices, because the magic involved is tightly bound to space and cannot be replicated in an age when no sentient being has reached the level of a spell-forger, dragons regard such containers, items with their own independent space that can store all manner of things, as treasures.
Even proud silver dragons seldom owned such relics. Theresa never imagined that her trip to the human Empire would yield such a rich reward.
"Take it, Theresa."
The silver-haired beauty across the table spoke softly. The two black-stockinged legs crossed elegantly under the table made a faint rustling as they brushed together; the sharp clicks of heels tapping the tiles accompanied the sound, composing an exquisitely pleasant symphony.
"This is not a gift, but a necessity for our cooperation."
"You can’t have Theresa reveal her true form and fly about the imperial sky carrying vast amounts of goods."
After all, Theresa was a dragon race that had been without contact with the human Empire for thousands of years. Her sudden appearance could very well cause unnecessary panic and trouble.
Who knew if some nobles might seize on the opportunity to make a fuss.
At Astrid’s words, Theresa lowered her eyes to the space ring. Warm sunlight spilled across the table, making the wood grain vivid and lengthening the shadow the ring cast.
"But..." Theresa hesitated.
So far she had only enjoyed the conveniences the human Empire offered, and had yet to give anything in return. Any talk of cooperation was a promise in name only until the magic crystals were actually delivered.
If she were a greedier blue dragon, she could study the spatial array, take Astrid’s ring, and leave. With the current strength of the Empire, it was impossible to cross the frozen wasteland and reach the northernmost dragon lairs; in lands swarming with dangerous beasts, no one could hold a dragon accountable.
In short, if she left, Astrid might never catch her again.
Though the urge to claim it and flaunt the treasure to the younger dragons was strong, out of regard for a new friend and for possible future cooperation, Theresa finally parted her lips.
"...It’s too valuable."
She feared she would be unable to resist the dragonborn instinct to possess anything shining.
Hearing Theresa, Astrid smiled faintly, her crimson pupils bright with mirth.
"Don’t be so nervous, Theresa."
"As I said, this space ring is just a tool for our convenience; officially it still belongs to me and the Empire."
"When future trade between you and the Empire reaches a certain amount, or once we establish a long-term, reliable mercantile relationship..."
"Then you may buy it for yourself, consider it a token of our friendship."
Astrid was not so generous as to give away space rings the way she might give a keepsake; even her little aunt had only one. Yet she had offered this to Theresa after only half a month of acquaintance.
She took a sip of tea and continued, "From what I’ve learned recently, I trust you, Theresa."
Their upcoming deals were large affairs. If Theresa proved untrustworthy, this precious ring would serve as a test.
Perceiving the trust in Astrid’s words, Theresa pursed her lips and slowly took the ring.
"...I will not betray a friend’s trust, Astrid."
With those words, she slid the ring onto her slender index finger. Astrid’s lips curved as she spoke on.
"When you return to your original form, the ring won’t be lost, will it?"
She was genuinely curious about the magic behind Theresa assuming humanoid form.
Theresa shook her head and explained gently, "You needn’t worry about that. Nothing so undignified will happen."
"The form you see now is a mimetic spell that compresses my body and presence. The clothes, shoes, and stockings are illusions formed from arcane factors."
"Before I revert to dragon form, I will put away anything not part of the mimicry; once the transformation is complete, I’ll put them on again in dragon shape."
Astrid nodded slightly at Theresa’s answer, then heard her add:
"It’s strange... why are most space storage devices so small...?"
"You’ve seen others?"
"Yes. My mother has one, a crystal orb about the size of a human well opening."
Theresa stared at the ring on her finger and spoke in a deeper tone, "A few elders close to me have similar devices; mostly small rings or gems. Compared to a dragon’s size, they’re not even big enough to serve as a claw buckle."
She paused and looked at Astrid. "Those designs feel more human than dragon-made."
That posed a question: the northern lands have long been dragon territory. Why do their spatial devices not fit dragon proportions at all?
"And the mimicry spell used for transformation only adopts a human likeness." Theresa waved her hand lightly; arcane particles in the air trembled. "I’ve always wondered about that."
It wasn’t goblins, sirens, or elves; the only beings resembling their mimicry were humans, who lived far from dragon lands and barely crossed paths.
Faced with the blue-haired young woman’s curiosity, Astrid thought for a moment and soon inferred an answer.
Perhaps the transformation magic Theresa spoke of did not target humans per se, but gods or divine races very similar in appearance to humans.
Whether it was the memory-phantom of Gemini in the Amalia emperor’s scepter, or the black-eyed girl Brennild who attacked her and Lyra in the beast-mountains, none bore the conspicuous features of other sentient races, no serrated teeth, elf ears, or mer-tails.
In sheer similarity, these so-called deities looked most like humans.
"Maybe, long ago, dragons and humans sat at the same table and conversed, just like you and I now."
Astrid’s train of thought led her to a question she’d been mulling over.
"Theresa, have the dragon clans experienced language shifts?"
"Language... shifts?"
"Yes. Humans now chant spells in modern common speech, while dragons intone in Draconic."
Astrid leaned forward slightly; the azure brooch at her throat glittered. "In human history there was once a language more directly in tune with the nature of magic, what modern linguists and magical scholars call the Elders speech."
"I wonder if dragons had a similar experience."
Although Astrid had already deduced that the language she once knew was actually the tongue of the gods, not humans, she couldn’t yet share such a significant revelation with Theresa.
Theresa thought briefly and shook her head. "Not in the histories I know."
Where the present draconic language originated, when it was born, no one could trace it, not even the eldest dragons approaching a thousand years. "At least I haven’t heard of any so-called Ancient Draconic."
"I used the same tongue as my kin when I was born, and I studied draconic magic based on it."
Astrid blinked, her finger brushing her lips, and asked, "Have you heard of the Cataclysm?"
At the mention of that word, Theresa’s brows furrowed. After a few seconds she answered with a deep, grave tone.
"The disaster that’s said to have wiped life from the land?"
"Yes. It seems you know it."
"Of course. It’s a mysterious era no learned scholar can avoid."
Recollections of the white-boned burial grounds passed like a shadow across Theresa’s eyes. "When I was young, my mother took me to see countless lairs where my kin slept."
"Those are the nests where dragons lie in death. Their mighty bodies leave bones that do not decay for millennia. Coupled with special barriers and the suffusion of arcane particles, at the very bottom you can even find some kin who lived before the Cataclysm."
Noticing Astrid’s fixed gaze, Theresa hastily clarified, "Only dragons on the verge of death may enter the burial grounds. I only stood outside the barrier and saw from afar, I never went in."
"The burial grounds are a one-way rule."
Astrid relaxed slightly. She had thought, perhaps, to learn secrets of the past from dragons who had lived through the Cataclysm, if only in small details. That knowledge could help her in her future conflict with Brenice.
But according to Theresa’s description, the burial grounds are the final resting place for all dragons. Investigating them would be akin to trespassing and grave-robbing in the human Empire, an act that would be condemned even if performed by the oldest of dragons.
Theresa held a silver spoon and, mimicking Astrid, swirled her tea. A thin veil of steam rose from the cup as she spoke softly, "What I mean is, the Cataclysm leaves traces. It’s not as doubtful a thing as human chronicles sometimes suggest."
She’d spent these days in the imperial library. Translating human texts into Draconic was clumsier than reading them in human script, but Theresa had patience.
Besides learning spatial arrays, she had devoted most of her time to human history and Valeria customs, including the odd human practice of gifting a ring, an action Theresa only vaguely understood; she knew Astrid didn’t mean anything indecent.
"It seems you and I think alike..."
Astrid’s line of conversation changed abruptly: she glanced at Theresa’s teacup and asked, "Would you like milk and sugar?"
Startled by the sudden jump in topic, Theresa blinked and then gave a small, "Oh... yes."
After instructing Elise to add them, Astrid sipped her tea and resumed, "That disaster not only destroyed the once-mighty ancient human empires but also planted the seeds of weakness for the later Lorraine Empire."
Endless clouds, overflowing rivers, and vast tracts of land turned barren and unfit for cultivation, the recorded history the Lorraine Empire could trace back mostly describes a desolation of that sort.
"I can’t imagine how many humans perished in that catastrophe."
Unlike dragons, who have dedicated burial grounds, the bodies of ancient humans have long since been decomposed and weathered away; aside from what remains within spatial arrays, there is little left to find.
Astrid watched Theresa’s blue hair and, thinking of the information the brooch contained, about the fight between frost dragons and the gods, she murmured, "You said blue dragons excel at water magic..."
"Do you have sub-branches among you that specialize in ice magic, frost blue dragons?"
Theresa narrowed her eyes in puzzlement, studied Astrid for a moment, and shook her head. "No. Only this single branch of blue dragons."
"As for specialization in ice magic, some of my kin fit your description."
Water and ice elements are closely related, much like lightning and fire in certain traits, so a blue dragon might, by affinity, also be adept at ice magic.
Theresa saw no reason to lie about such matters.
If so, those dragons who had charged at Grace and roared were most likely all doomed. Even the few frost blue dragons among them might have left no pure-blood descendants; they could have been swept into oblivion.
"What is it, Astrid?"
"Nothing." Astrid simply felt her understanding of the past deepen and a new idea forming. Humans might not have stood entirely alone in resisting the gods.
Not revealing the brooch’s full secrets or the truth about the frost dragons to Theresa, Astrid finished her tea, glanced at the clock on the wall, and gently reminded, "It’s almost nine. If you want to visit the exhibit, you should go soon."
Sensing Astrid meant to end their conversation, Theresa nodded and replied softly, "Then I won’t keep you any longer."
"I’ll tell you more about the cooperation details before I leave."
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