New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Chapter 600 Negotiating With Dragons

Slinking into the corner of the grotto, the green dragon watched as the reason for all this destruction walked towards him.

'Human. The corruption is gone. You can stop now.'

But Phoenix sneered at it.

"I'm not stopping until you apologize for trying to eat me."

Saying this, she shot another gout of blue flames directly into the dragon's side.

Many scorch marks were already adorning its scales, and the hide under it, where no scales remained. But Phoenix seemed unsatisfied.

'I already thanked you for getting rid of the corruption in my mind. What more do you want from me?' the dragon whined, as the flames licked its flank.

"I want you to apologize! Is it that hard to understand?"

'You are asking for too much, Human girl! I am a prideful dragon. Why would I apologize to an insect, like you?'

Phoenix added her second hand to the flame pillar, making it twice as big and much hotter.

The dragon roared in pain. Its stupid pride was what put it in this situation, but it was refusing to abandon it.

'If you hadn't attacked me like this, I might have rewarded you for helping me. But now all you get is the knowledge I will never apologize to you!'

As the dragon's voice resounded in Phoenix's head, she felt a tug on her mind. She winced at the little pain it inflicted on her.

But when she opened her eyes, she was back in the mage's room.

Phoenix took a second to realize it had just taunted her before kicking her out, and her anger peaked once more. Roaring furiously, she vowed to herself to make the dragon bend to her.

No matter the cost.

***

Meanwhile, inside the black dragon's soul domain, Astaroth stood before the proprietor.

"I don't want what you offer, dragon. It doesn't interest me."

The black mist was nowhere to be seen, and apparently, Astaroth had elected to negotiate his reward with the dragon directly. But negotiations weren't going smoothly.

The dragon huffed, a hint of anger flashing in its eyes.

It had tried kicking out this stranger from inside its soul a few times already, but the dark elf wasn't disappearing.

'What else could you want of me, mortal? I offered you an artifact. I offered the bloodline of the prideful dragon before you and even offered you to change your very race. Yet you still obstinately refuse my gifts. What is it you want?' it asked, annoyance clear in its tone.

"What I want, you haven't offered yet. And I can't ask it of you. It needs to be consensual. So I will stay here until you reach the right conclusion."

Astaroth was aware the dragon had tried ejecting him from inside its soul many times. But his affinity for soul magic had allowed him to anchor himself to the soul temporarily.

So he couldn't be pushed out without his say-so.

The dragon looked about him, its patience running out.

'What is more precious to you than the power I have already offered? What is it that you consider is worth more than an artifact, or a bloodline so powerful, others would kill to get their hands on it?'

Astaroth smirked.

"Your offers were all tempting. But what I want is much more personal. And also much closer to the root of your power. I think you already know what I want. You just don't want to share it."

The dragon's eye turned to slits.

It lowered its head to Astaroth's height.

'Are you aware of what you are asking of me? Of the toll it would take? Of the enemies you will make, just because you have it?'

Astaroth grinned. Now their thoughts aligned.

He snapped his fingers, making all his soul companions appear. Yes, most of them might not be impressive, considering they were still lower grade and or level, but it immediately pushed the point across.

"I already wield so much of this power, I have a target painted on my back bigger than your body."

Pointing at the little angel boy, he kept speaking.

"This one alone. If I were to invoke its full power outside this dungeon we are in, I would immediately alarm a god. Do you think a simple dragon soul, added to this collection, can put me in an even more dangerous position?"

The dragon raised its head back.

'Soulmancer. I should have sniffed you out the moment you stepped into my domain. Your kind are a fearful bunch. Can you even hold all this power at bay, boy?'

Astaroth burst out laughing.

"This, and so much more. Just give it to me, already. I know you don't want me to stay here much, any more than I want to stay. Let's strike this deal, and be out of each other's hair."

But they both knew it wasn't as simple as striking a deal. And the dragon didn't want to part with a piece of itself.

Especially since it would make it weaker than its companions for a while.

'I have a condition. If you can honour this condition, I will accept your request,' it finally said, with a sigh.

An enormous grin spread across Astaroth's lips.

"Tell me what your condition is. I'm sure we can come to this agreement, as long as it's nothing too ridiculous."

***

Outside this soul space, Astaroth finally re-opened his eyes. And as he did, he flashed a toothy grin.

He turned his head toward the cacophonous battle happening mere metres away from him and stretched his limbs.

Cracking his fingers, he leaned forward.

"Alright. Let's test out this recent addition to my roster. Come on out, Shegror, the black scourge."