342 From Space to Void to Nothing (1/2)

”A dragon? What is a dragon doing here?” Asked Nova the spatial elemental with a curiosity masked by his expressionless face.

While the power of an elemental was shown by his ability in emulating complicated forms like the human form, Nova had chosen for his humanoid shape to resemble that of a faceless mannequin. That was part of a tradition adopted by the spatial elementals from the void, where the spatial elementals would assume that form, in order to avoid being confused with the void dwellers, whose gift made them extremely similar to spatial elemental themselves.

Without looking back at him, Edmund muttered through a confused expression, ”I have no idea.. Are there dragons that live in the void?”

”No. Especially at that level of power.. He is too weak to live in the void, and I have never heard of a dragon living within the territory of the Void Dwellers.” Responded Nova without thinking twice about it.

”His power feels somewhat familiar..” added Edmund in a low tone after observing the curled up dragon. He could not place the pieces together in his mind, but there was something inside the draconic essence of this dragon that told him that the two had been near each other at some point in the past. He simply could not remember when or where.

As soon as Nova heard Edmund's words, he turned to look back at the dragon, and asked, ”Really? Why don't we wake him up and ask him?”

”He seems to be in hibernation.” Responded Edmund right after.

”So? He might know something about this place than we need to know.. He might even know what that thing is.” Added Nova after pointing his finger at the pulsating yellow object that was assimilated within the wall of bright red flesh.

Edmund became pensive, and started to brush the badly cut beard which he had been forced to shorten by using knives made out of metal essence for the past two years. Then, after a few seconds spent considering their options, he said, ”I don't see why not. He does not have the power to threaten us anyway.”

The moment Edmund finished speaking, Nova once again turned to look at the curled up dragon, and after taking control over the space that surrounded it, he made it tremble in place like a leaf that was being ill-treated by powerful gusts of wind.

A few shakes in, and the body of the dragon began to move. His long tail unwrapped from around his body, and his massive head moved raised from above his thick legs. Still sleepy, the dragon stretched his neck, and tried to gather his thoughts. However, before he could do that, he felt two scents.. One that was unfamiliar, and one that he had smelled before.

He turned towards the two figures that floated a few meters away from him, and after looking at them with confusion, his eyes opened as wide as possible. He had clearly remembered something extremely important, and anything else was irrelevant in comparison.. So he looked around, and noticed that the boulder on which he had fallen asleep, as well as many others, were close to the massive lump of yellow tissue.

”HOW LONG BETWEEN PULSES?!” Yelled the dragon to the two, after turning to look at them in shock.

”What? What are you tal-”

Nova tried to inquire about the dragon's odd behaviour, but he was interrupted by the dragon who once again yelled, ”ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION!”

”A minute.” Responded Edmund, leaving Nova to look at this massive black-scaled dragon with curiosity. From the way he behaved, this dragon appeared to really be in possession of information about the place they were all in, and since he was not used to treating with people, he decided to stay quiet and let Edmund do the talk.

While still a dragon, one could notice an evident change in his expression, which was now one of anxiousness and horror. ”On no.. oh no damn it! I have slept for too long..” He said while looking at the pulsating yellow lump. He then turned around, and pushing with his legs with as much power as his massive body could muster, he took off in the opposite direction.

For as big and impressive this dragon was, the power that his body emanated could not stand up to par with Edmund's or Nova's. While comparable to the initial immortal stages of human cultivation, Edmund's cultivation was already at the late stages, while Nova could use his power to compete against high humans if he wanted to. For either of them, stopping this Dragon was not an issue, and so they did.

Nova immediately took control over the space which surrounded him, and shifted it with the empty space that was in front of them.

”What are you doing!?” Asked the dragon in a state of pure anxiousness after finding himself back where he had started. ”Let go of me! We have to get away from that thing! IT WILL HAPPEN ANY MOMENT NOW!!”

”CALM DOWN!” Shouted Nova in an attempt to help the dragon with recovering a portion of his sanity, he then said, ”Explain what you are talking about, and I will get you as far away from that thing as you want.”

”There is no time! One minute is already too late!.. It's..” The dragon's sentence trailed off as a crusty sound made its way into their ears. The two halves of this yellow protuberance had stopped beating, and were now beginning to part from one another. ”It's too late..” muttered the dragon in resignation.

The slit that was thinner than a strand of hair, was now becoming larger and larger, uncovering what was behind it.

Edmund and the dragon looked at what was uncovered with shock and terror, but the same was not for Nova, who finally understood not only what was about to happen, but had also uncovered the reason why the void was the way it was.

”What is that?!” Asked Edmund while looking at a vortex of darkness that attracted anything that floated in the vicinity of the now opened protuberance. He himself, along with the dragon, were feeling an unbearable suction force, pull them in.. but before they could be taken away by this power, a sphere of powerful spatial essence formed around them, separating them from the space that was under its influence.

”I finally understand now..” Said Nova while staring at the massive objects that were being swallowed by the massive vortex. He could feel what kind of power this vortex was made of, and the reason he was attracted by it before, was because it was nothing but pure spatial essence, a type which composed his very own body, but that he could not recognize due to the dormant state it was in before the two halves that protected it opened completely.

He could also feel how these objects were charging the power of the vortex. Each massive object was composed of numerous types of elements, and within these elements, were the correspondent types of natural essence.. After being absorbed, these essences would be turned into fuel for the vortex to rotate faster, and increase in power.

”GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF AND START EXPLAINING!” Shouted Edmund in exasperation. The situation appeared to be critical, and yet his companion did nothing but form two protections around his and the dragon's body, and spectate as these events unfurled in front of their eyes.

”Collapsed space.. A spatial sinkhole..” muttered Nova.