Magnus and I followed this woman through the castle, the way we were taking it was clear we were heading uphill, but she didn't say a word about where we were going.
This woman appears to be around 40 years old, but her tone of speech seems like that of an elderly woman, her hair is green and her body is in shape, in fact, I had difficulty identifying her as someone in middle age, that's because her beauty does not can be argued, she is undeniably beautiful.
She has short light green hair, dark green eyes, pale white skin, and doesn't have any Dragon features, no matter how I look at her now, I see nothing but a Human woman.
Even though the claws on her hand that I saw being used to make my miniature wood carving were no longer present, her hands were completely normal, and her control of the Human transformation is impressive.
I can't feel her Aura either, it seems that our difference in strength or control over our Auras is too great, maybe I could figure something out if I was more rude in pushing my Aura towards her.
Of course, I'm not foolish enough to offend a stranger by doing something rude like that for no reason just out of curiosity, but given everything Magnus had said, it was impossible not to be curious about her.
"You need not worry about me Rhaegal boy, I would never blame a child for a father's mistakes." (Zadiris)
"Your changes from her are great to the point that even other Elder Dragons won't recognize her identity, so rest assured." (Zadiris)
I turned my eyes to Magnus beside me, so focused on her that I didn't notice Magnus' panic that still hadn't subsided.
"If what you say is true, then how did you find out about him?" (I)
"I must say that the changes in him are more than extreme, his body, Aura, and even his Soul are very different to the point of being unrecognizable, even his light power has been transformed into something else." (Zadiris)
She stops walking and turns calmly, pointing at Magnus.
"But his posture, the way he walks, the way he talks, and the way he carries himself, it's all still the same, but I only confirmed who he was when he recognized me, not many can do that in the shape I'm in now." (Zadiris)
"I see... you'll have to be more careful from now on, Magnus." (I)
"I'll do my best." (Magnus)
After finishing talking, he was silent once more when I realized we were going up a spiral staircase and I looked through the nearest window, we were in the highest part of the castle, on top of the mountain.
When we go through the door at the top we are outside the castle and on the highest part of this mountain, the old woman points in a direction and the space starts to undulate before transparent stairs form from the solidified space.
"Come." (Zadiris)
I keep walking without hesitation, Magnus follows me without thinking twice as we keep going after her until we feel like we pass through a barrier, and a door of silver bones suddenly appears in front of us, I can feel countless True Dragons Auras from that door.
The Ancient One walks through the door without slowing down as I was surprised by the condensed Aura of countless Dragons coming out of the door, it only took me half a second to recover from this surprise before continuing, but Magnus was not as well as I was.
The Aura was powerful, but it wasn't hostile, it didn't press against us at any moment, but it was terrifying like being in the presence of countless Dragons looking at you, you could say it was psychological or mental pressure, I could bear it easily and that's why I used my tail to grab Magnus's wrist as I pulled him toward the door with me.
When I entered I saw the Elder again, she was standing looking at me with a slight smile of approval, but I soon diverted my attention to the surroundings.
We were in what looked like a large hall, but there were no walls, just crystal columns with bookcases carved into them, where various books could be seen from top to bottom.
Other than that the sky was interesting because I could see the stars as if I were outside the planet's orbit, I soon realized that it could be more than that when I saw a very large planet rising on the horizon.
"Where are we?" (I)
"Ancestral Shrine, cradle of all origin and land of the Primordials." (Magnus)
"..." (I)
"As the boy said, this is where your ceremony will be held in a few days, son of the Blood Goddess." (Zadiris)
"This is the Holy Land of Dragons, each of these crystal columns was made from the power of a Dragon Emperor, and the books represent the entire history of that Dragon Emperor." (Zadiris)
"Below us are the monuments of the Primordials, containing their Blessings and Wills for eternity, each one of them today a lesser God in the service of the Dragon God, the first of all existence and father of all Dragons." (Zadiris)
"Welcome to the Ancestral Shrine of Dragons." (Zadiris)
With everything I just heard, I couldn't help but look at each of the crystal columns and the books contained in each one in a different way, now knowing why we are here.
I also couldn't stop looking down for the first time, the floor was made of transparent crystal, I realized that there was another room below, this one without a column, in its place, there were crystal walls containing Runes, but they were not Spiritual Runes, in fact, it could even be a language I don't know, what really caught my attention was the perception that these Runes were moving through their monuments, it made it impossible to distinguish anything.
I tried to send my Aura down but I couldn't, it was completely blocked, I didn't try to force it, in fact, I avoided trying to do anything so there would be no misunderstandings later on since this was a place of great importance for Dragons.
I looked down one more time and for some reason, I felt watched, but I couldn't see anyone else down there or around us.
"Why did you bring us here?" (I)
"Arash should have done that, but that boy prefers to spend his time with his daughter, I can't blame him for that, so I've come to do what should be his duty." (Zadiris)
"In your ceremony must be all your children, not just those who carry your Dragon power, also bring those who received your Blessing, I can feel their connection with you." (Zadiris)
"I feel naked like this, you can see so much about me, and I don't know anything about you." (I)
"If you don't like it, get stronger, there's little I can't see about you, but not everything I can understand." (Zadiris)
It seems like she doesn't mind being rude to me, in fact, she might be doing it to encourage me to get stronger, but maybe it's just to let me know that there are those who can easily discover my secrets.
"Do I need to know anything else about the Ceremony?" (I)
"Yes, your ceremony will not be that of a Dragon King, that's because you are more than that as the boy told you before." (Zadiris)
"You will undergo a Ceremony as a Dragon Progenitor, as the one who brought a new type of Dragon into existence your name shall be engraved alongside your equals." (Zadiris)
He finished the last part by pointing downwards, but this time I couldn't see anything, the Hall below was obscured to me, if I hadn't seen it before I would have thought it was an illusion.
"Be prepared with your willpower at the ready, you're going to need it." (Zadiris)
"Any details on how this is going to happen?" (I)
"I don't know myself, I've never seen one of these ceremonies happen in my lifetime, so I couldn't help wanting to see you in person." (Zadiris)
So she was curious about me, I can understand that, she must be very old by the way she talks, also I can't deny that my situation is peculiar even for someone like her.
"I have one last question if you will." (I)
"Ask, no need to worry about anything." (Zadiris)
"Where exactly is this place?" (I)
She smiles at my question.
"You might have noticed by now, we're on one of the moons outside our world." (Zadiris)
She says this by pointing to the giant world I saw rising over the horizon, enough of her hint for me to confirm that that was the world we were in a few minutes ago.
"Now let's go back, it's not your time yet, wait for Arash's call." (Zadiris)
"Yes." (I)
With that we went back the same way we took to get there, but this time the old woman separated from us as soon as we reached the top of the castle, leaving only Magnus and I standing there looking around not knowing where she went.
"How do you feel, Magnus?" (I)
"Honestly? I can't say..." (Magnus)
I looked at him realizing that it had been a lot for him to take in, so I was talking to him as we walked back to our quarters, it seems I need to call the others inside the Dungeon.
On the way back I tried to get Magnus to put his mind right when talking about Mabel, I also wanted to plant a seed in his mind, something I'm sure Mabel is hoping too.
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