"No thank you."

There was awkward silence between the two, but Felix was the one to bear the most of the feelings.

The void dragon eased his back a little. It was clear that he was disappointed at the knight's swift rejection.

"Why not? According to your human standards, every single one of my female subjects would be near the top, no?

Or perhaps, you prefer males?"

That's not it, seriously! Felix screamed at the dragon, but no one heard it other than himself.

Acting quickly, Felix pulled something out from his mouth. "As a knight loyal to the prophecy, I have better things to do. Please understand."

The dragon king pressed forward, interlocking his fingers over the table. "Wouldn't making a hybrid dragon be useful for this world? Our studies have shown that the few hybrid dragons that currently exist are actually immune to the serpent's disease."

...Damnit, why is he so persistent? Felix began to worry. Maybe this wouldn't have happened if I switched out with Yaromech.

Wait... that might be a worse scenario. Felix imagined a potential scandal that he did not want to be associated with.

Finally, to Felix's relief, the king of dragons, Sagittarius, halted his Cupid role. "That's unfortunate, but very well."

Strangely enough, Felix could feel the dragon sulking in silence. Or perhaps his mind was tricking him into believing so.

But regardless, Felix felt displeased with his blunt rejection. Maybe if he dragged it on and on, the void dragon would feel less sad and annoyed.

Not wanting to leave the dragon in silence, Felix decided to amend his social mistake. "Is there a problem?"

"...Do you think dragons are more superior to humans, or the other lesser species?" he suddenly asked.

This question was quite off from what Felix expected, but he remained thoughtful about what he was about to say next.

"I don't think so, but in certain scenarios, a dragon would fare better," Felix answered.

"You're right. We have our own strengths and weaknesses. As for us, I believe that our weakness is our closeness to animals. As intelligent as we may be, our instincts have a stronger grip on us compared to your people. That's why I asked if you wanted to have a mate with one of us."

Instincts?

The need to spread one's genes, propagate, and continue living on in the form of your children.

Is their population crisis that bad? Have the dragons fallen this low already?

Sagittarius continued on, his voice echoing a deep feeling of sorrow and existential dread.

"Now that all of the elder dragons are dead, there's really nothing that can stop me from changing our culture. We have shed every last drop of our pride ever since the plague decimated us. I have nothing else to wish for other than my people's survival, one way or another."

Felix remained quiet throughout the dragon's rant. The least he could do was simply be there for him and listen to the dragon's topics that kept changing in all sorts of ways.

"Do you know how we take care of our children? We use the remains of our dead as feeding material when they're still in their eggs. But due to the plague, our one and only source of feed has been poisoned. And now, a lot of the kids are too weak and too small considering their age."

Sagittarius dropped his elbow onto the table and looked at the orange-lined clouds cast by the setting sun.

"I've also grown too weak. I'll die in a few decades. However,

I shall choose how I die.

That's why I'll personally lead the push deeper into the cocoon, along with my ill brethren."

Felix stood up and placed his hand on his chest. "That's honorable. I can speak for all the knights of this world.

Thank you, with our deepest hearts."

. . .

King Sagittarius nodded gratefully before standing up himself and handed over an open palm. "When the dragons joined the alliance many years ago, my predecessor did this to your king, right?"

Felix was taken aback, but there was no way he'd refuse this one. "It's an honor." Felix met the open palm with his and shook it.

After that was done, the two silently watched the sunset disappear from the horizon.

I've never seen such a beautiful sunset in my entire life. Felix was genuinely surprised at the view, that he couldn't help but remember his duty.

If I fail as a knight of prophecy, this beautiful sunset will never be experienced by anyone again.

After a while, the constellations and celestial bodies began to appear in the thousands, the majority forming one river made from twinkling light that stretched over the skyline.

While observing the stars, the dragon spoke with a heartfelt tone. "Do you know that each one of those stars represents a world completely different from ours?"

What? Felix became confused. He had never heard of such a theory, but since it came from the king of dragons himself, he had no choice but to take it at face value.

"T-that many? There must be millions!" Felix couldn't comprehend the scale of the universe; he actually broke his knightly character.

And you're telling me that Jörmungandr will eventually consume all life? That's a bit hard to believe now...

"Could that serpent eat even a thousand worlds?" Felix asked out of nowhere, but then shook his head.

"It seems the details of the prophecy have been bloated out of proportion—

"That's not the case," Sagittarius cut in with a serious tone. "That old god will eat everything and snuff out the skies from light."

Felix unknowingly released his restrictions, as if he was prepared to battle an entire army.

For the first time in a while, he knew how terrifying that serpent could be.

"Don't be scared yet. Jörmungandr is still but a fetus," the dragon said, then darkly joked, "It's easy to kill a baby."

. . .

Fortunately, that dark humor shook Felix off from his fears. "That's true."

After watching and counting stars, Felix remembered something important he had to tell the king of dragons.

It wasn't about the prophecy, no.

The slash backed by dreams.

Felix recalled his actions to the dragon king, and Sagittarius listened to his story silently and with complete logic.

But logic had limits. "That's impossible. Were you under mental stress during that time?" Sagittarius tried confirming.

"You can ask Sir Yaromech. He was there, after all," Felix answered.

The dragon covered his mouth, still in disbelief. "You used no essence, and yet you were able to part the stars?" he muttered, but as a dragon, even mere muttering was followed by crushing essence.

Sagittarius looked up, recounting the constellations before the time Felix used his strange attack.

If such an event were to really occur, then it would leave lasting effects on the night sky.

"Maybe... it's a metaphor? Or a representation... hmm." The dragon growled slightly and clasped his hands together.

"Everything in this world is made up of essence, even our creations, as you know."

Rumble.

The entire den quaked as the void dragon manifested a miniature void that bent the space around it—a black hole.

"This is made up of my essence. Once I stop giving it its fuel..."

Fwooosh!

The black hole instantly disappeared, creating a near-perfect vacuum that caused an immense shockwave.

"You said you did not use essence, but... dreams? Or some other concept?" Sagittarius confirmed once more, still confused.

"I think so?" Felix answered, just as confused.

. . .

The dragon began speaking in a shaky tone. "To be frank, I don't believe in the existence of the Almighty.

However...

I'm starting to believe otherwise."

***

I made a good friendship with Lord Sagittarius back then. On the last day before his final assault, he gave me the responsibility to look after the young children as a guardian parent.

But do I really deserve that responsibility... Do I really?

Ferris watched as the wyvern opened the last vial of dragon dust and fed the egg with it.

A mother's instinct... Ferris started to feel torn on what to do now.

And to his nightmare, it became true as Artemis faced Ferris with a keen expression. "Good job, human, but you've outlived your worth. Prepare to—

"What the?! Hey!" she screamed.

Before Artemis could finish her sentence, Ferris weaved through the aisles.

While running for it, there was a sudden red flash from behind him, followed by a massive explosion.

Artemis transformed into her full-fledged wyvern form as she chased Ferris down like a rampaging beast.

"Come back here!" she roared, shaking the entire warehouse.

I have to bait her back to the egg! Ferris began his plan of attack, which started at that place.

But there's nothing I can do but run!

Unfortunately, the massive shelves that hosted the artifacts were not enough to stop or even slow down Artemis.

She'll expect to catch me easily, so she won't expect this.

Suddenly, Ferris turned around and charged at the wyvern.

For some reason, the sudden switch threw Artemis off for a split second, which gave Ferris enough time to slip under her massive body.

"Little rat!" she yelled.

Ferris instinctively covered himself with a piece of large cloth he stole from the messy floor, probably a cape for an expensive movie costume.

His instincts served him right, as instead of chasing Ferris down, Artemis charged her breath and blew it toward him.

The prop could only do so much as it burned away almost instantly, but it did its job.

My heart... Ferris felt the pain—the parasite stuck to him almost got burnt to a crisp.

Making his way back near the steel door, he froze, facing the wyvern. I need to distract her.

"Screw off, you fake-ass dragon! I bet your parents left a mutant like you behind!" Ferris screamed, though each word felt painful to say.

Artemis was left speechless.

And unfortunately, that worked a bit too well, as instead of killing him instantly, she used her massive claw to strike Ferris's chest, aiming to make his death painful and slow.

Ferris was almost knocked inside the massive cavern that housed the egg, but thanks to the fiery winds, it counteracted the momentum.

"I... needed that," he blurted out, struggling to breathe.

There was a pulsation in his throat, and soon after struggling a bit, Ferris vomited a milky-like substance, which he carefully cupped with his hands.

Sagittarius... tell me,

am I still worthy?

Even if I hurt your children?

Even if I desecrated your burials?

Ferris's eyes twitched from the shock of vomiting something so utterly blasphemous.

While that was happening, the milky white substance began to boil violently, burning his hands.

Artemis figured out what was going on, "What the fuck, have you done!"

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