The Dragon huffed as it shook its head.
{Unbelievable. The amount of disrespect you show is unimaginable. Child, I am not an 'it'. I am a sentient being with her own thoughts and feelings.}
Saying so, it lowered its head until its eyes were leveled with Arthur's. And a deep rumble, growled within its chest.
{My name is, Meliotrix. The Dragon of Death. The last of my kind. You may call me Mel, if that is easy. But from now on, you will add the prefix, Ms, before you call my name. Before I discuss further, I first need to teach you manners. Do you understand, Arthur?}
Arthur's jaw froze midway before he spoke and nodded his head, 'Yes, Ms. Meliotrix.'
The dragon's lip curled with amusement.
{Please, call me Mel.}
She said with a deep chuckle.
{Good, now child. Let's continue from where we left off. And DO NOT interrupt me this time. Are we clear?}
Arthur once again nodded his.
{Seems you understand well. Alright, so lets first discuss the beings considered Reincarnators.}
{First of all, Reincarnators are beings usually from outside Elatria who have been brought to our world by either a stroke of luck, or because the gods have noticed you. For better, or worse.}
{Now, Reincarnators who come from another world usually keep their memories from their past lives. The worlds they come from are bizzare compared to our own. Some have living contraptions as beings, others, steam as their magic. Some of these places don't even have magic and are considered dead worlds. You seem to come from one of these worlds.}
Arthur's flame snapped as he listened.
'So I'm not the first one! Nice!'
Meliotrix paused as she looked at his reaction.
'He is like a child...' Meliotrix thought with slight pity.
Nodding her head, she continued.
{Of course, Arthur. But that is not the end of it. Reincarnators usually live blessed lives with all of their previous world's knowledge and unique abilities, as you were destined to. Which unfortunately you didn't, and were instead transformed into a rotten undead. Your destiny being forever marred by the breath of undeath.}
Meliotrix curled her lips in disgust at even the notion of 'undead'.
{Remember this one thing, child. Your undeath is not a second chance at life, but instead a constant cycle of your last breath being taken. You are now 'cursed' with undeath. Not blessed. Keep that in mind as you travel through this world.}
Seeing Meliotrix's adamant disgust of his being, Arthur laughed nervously.
'Haha... I see,' his voice cracked somehow even without vocal cords.
But before Meliotrix could continue...
Crack!
Suddenly, the roof split apart, where a sharp dangling stalactite broke off and hurled towards the violet gem on her forehead.
Arthur's metaphorical eyes widened in panic.
'Ms. Mel! Above you-'
Before his thoughts even reached the dragon, Meliotrix let the stalactite fall and break against her gem.
As dust fell off her head onto the ground, Mel growled at the cave.
{I am not amused...}
She seemed like she was discussing with the cave when suddenly, she felt an energy of a 5th evolution monster in the vicinity.
'Tch, it's a sentient monster,' Meliotrix thought as she now took stock of the burnt corpses, blood and flesh around her.
'Can't be bothered explaining Arthur's presence and the crater. Might as well send him away,' She thought.
Not letting Arthur think about the upcoming situation would probably better for him. Especially since his soul was probably still in shock from his race change- or evolution.
Meliotrix snorted as she raised her claw.
{Well, at least your bearable compared to the rest of your kind, child. You do have the blessing of our Goddess, so the least I can do is treat you as one of our own.}
Meliotrix saying so, rested her middle claw and dragged it across Arthur's body. Cutting a hole through him like paper.
With the clawed void in his chest, Arthur's body was erased from the area where Meliotrix had clawed.
Arthur frantically moved his arms in panic, 'wait! Please don't kill me! I'm literally too young to-'
Seeing so Meliotrix snorted and tapped Arthur's hollow skull.
{Don't worry, child. I'm just teleporting you to my abode. Take a seat and make yourself comfy. I'm going to have a little talk with someone before catching up.}
As she said this, Arthur's vision was slowly overtaken by blue flames. Transported somewhere outside the world's dimension and space time.
Well, at least a pocket in space. True dimensional travel wasn't possible for Meliotrix yet. She would have to look into that branch of magic soon enough.
Arthur left, a monster indeed showed up on her entrance. Entering the dragon's lair with equal amounts fear and anger directed towards her.
"What have you done to my children!" A voice boomed out from the entrance.
A muscular humanoid walked into Meliotrix's lair. Tribal tattoos written all over his frame with a loincloth being the only thing protecting his family jewels from the elements.
Jewelry adorned the humanoid with gems and piercings all over their bulk. His skin was an olive green as he seemed to look both handsome, but monstrous at the same time.
It was the Goblin Ancestor.
{Hmm... and what do I owe the pleasure for a goblin to deign my lair}
Meliotrix grinned scornfully at the goblin standing before her.
The goblin took a huge breath before speaking, "I am here to ask about my chil-"
{First stop shaking like a leaf before you dare talk to me.}
The Dragon laid down lazily on the stack of corpses while picking her teeth.
Then she spat out a bone onto the goblin with the bone traveling at a high speed between the two, ingraining itself deep into the stone floor.
{Speak before I take your jewels with my next shot.}
Meliotrix cackled while fanning her wings.
The goblin spooked, finally begins to speak. This time, with a more measured tone.
"Lady Meliotrix, what has happened to my children? While I was meditating in my lair, I felt a thousand lives extinguished from this location. I came to ask what has become of them, and if there is any knowledge I can find out about this," The goblin said before giving a deep reverent bow.
Meliotrix scoffed at the respectful demeanor.
{You goblins, always seem to learn manners when they don't matter anymore. Your children were killed than risen as a necromancer's play toy. I granted them blessed death from their cursed existence and sent them to the Goddess' embrace.}
"May Ella have mercy on their souls," The goblin said with deep sorrow.
{Seeing as you cared about those children, I will give you one piece of info.}
{One of your children was a Reincarnator. He has also been dealt with and looks the same as all of these corpses strewn about. I will give you compensation for this child as he would've been an important asset if he was still alive.}
Saying this, she flicks her claw and whips another void into the dimension before dropping her hand, and taking out a ring.
{Here, some crystals that can help you meditate on your concepts.}
She dropped the ring on the floor between the burned carcasses. Planting the ring just deep enough for the goblin to have some difficulty getting it.
{There, now dig through your the trash to get your treasure and take your leave.}
Disinterested, she flapped her wings and chuckled scornfully as she saw the goblin dig through his own children. Just to get an Inspiration Crystal.
Indeed, this was amusing to watch. Especially after she was forced to use Soul Fire to kill a necromancer and their thrall of undead. Now that she thought about it, that could be why Arthur was still alive.
'Interesting... I might have to do some preliminary research on that child when I get back. Nothing should be able to survive Soul Fire. Least of all, an unevolved monster that hasn't even matured.' She though as she finally saw the goblin hold the golden ring with glee and slight madness in his eyes.
"Thank you for the opportunity O' Holy One! I will now leave as swift as the wind!" The goblin cackled.
And indeed he did. A swift current of wind enveloped his body before his olive green skin turn emerald, and his form changed into a current of wind itself. By the time Meliotrix took a breath, that annoying creature was already gone.
She snorted at the display, 'Reincarnators, always using magic whenever they get the chance...'
But now that she thought about it, her cave was still filled with the smell of decay and corpses.
With one huff, and puff, she sprayed gout of purple flames all over the cave until all the corpses were gone. The ashes gone to the wind. Possibly taking the same path the goblin took on his way out.
'Good, it is much cleaner now,' Meliotrix thought as she inspected the ground where not even a particle of dust was erased. Unfortunately, the crater was still there like an eyesore.
She shrugged her shoulders. Who knows, maybe the next wildlife that takes refuge in her cave would be able to use the crater for something. Maybe even make it look pretty. At least if would be better than another pack of goblins.
And with that, she clawed another hole into the fabric of reality, as large as her body. Then, she took a step where Arthur was waiting for her.
Back to her abode.