Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 838 - 837 - Divine Haven

The interior of the temple was simple and open. There were wide passages well lit by windows and shafts letting light in from outside. Lind could see a few light crystals that were found anywhere in the realms.

The contrast from the trial and the feeling he had even now of being in a Divine Inheritance was so stark that he wondered if his senses were wrong. The people in the robes like the acolyte jumped but there were only a dozen or so in his sight.

Some carried a few obvious scrolls and jade slips they were studying but most kept their head down and moved steadily about their business. It was much like any temple or hub of people would be, yet the feeling of being in an Inheritance did not fade at all.

The trio came to another set of stairs made of slick black stone and began to ascend but the simple decorations and minimal additions actually made it more impressive to his mind.

After moving up 5 floors, they came to the first ornate door in the entire structure he had seen. It was made from some kind of wood but it had clearly been treated by dragon fire. It held the intricate pattern of a formation as well but it was burnt into it rather than using claws or tools.

"This is as far as I can guide you. The rest is up to you." The wording was odd but the acolyte bowed and left. He felt she was almost afraid of the door.

"The door says I cannot follow. It is a meanie!" Lind smirked at Hope but did not understand her reasoning. It was likely a defense or locking formation.

He approached it but once more, a feeling of wrongness came over him. No matter how many steps he took, he could not advance any closer than an arm's length.

There was no feeling of testing, it was more like it wanted him to touch the door in a specific way.

"Games and tricks not befitting an Inheritance." Compared to anything he had encountered, this place was petty, but he did not understand why. It was too simple so what was the point?

He took his left hand and tried to touch the door but it was repelled. It was only a test but it confirmed enough for him. His right hand had no issue and the instant it touched the formation lit up.

A dragon took shape that he recognized very well. It was his own body!

"Ah, I see." It was not a trial at all. It was confirming what he was. It was not a test of worthiness but of identity.

The door vanished into motes of Qi before the world shifted and he found himself in a large but simple room. There was a massive balcony that could easily allow him to fly out in his dragon form looking out on the community.

He could see the shimmer of Qi falling from the sky but unlike the wall he knew, this one also seemed to hum with Laws.

The room was massive inside as well but there was no obvious lightsource for when the sun set as it was right then. The gold, orange, and red was beautiful but the stark dead world beyond the wall marred the beauty of twilight.

He saw a human sized desk along one wall with shelves for scrolls and jade slips but there were barely any present. He saw no bed but he suspected the occupant had no need of any.

[You scare my little acolytes, young man. Try not to do that.] An ancient voice filled his head as he realized there was a wizened dragon blending into the dark stone! Her dark scales were cracked and shedding in some places but the rise and fall of her hide showed she lived.

Her aura was still strong but subtle unless he looked for it. Peak Shard Tier!

"Junior greets senior." He bowed low but she hardly moved. Her dark eyes looked at him carefully before she seemed to make a decision.

[The reaction of you and our temple shows you are indeed a candidate. You have many questions, I am sure, but there are rules we must follow. The reasons will become clear but there are a few things I can say because free will matters to us vitally so.] A fogginess came across her before a hunched old woman with a solid black cane and robes stood before him.

She had hardly any hair and her dark eyes were milky in human form.

"I find human bodies so limiting but you are a strange one. I will start with the most obvious question any blind fool would want to know. Why are we alive when all else died?" She walked slowly to stand before him and even leaning over, she was at his eye level.

"I was told in detail what happened that day. It was the near refinement of the realm but something stopped it at a certain distance from its origin. It also only goes so far into the sky. Yet here this place stands as if a pocket of the world was untouched." He felt full Laws and Immortal Qi as it should be but saw her shake her head.

"We have lost much. You have noticed this place was meant to hold far more. Many died before that terrible day but since the Cataclysm, our birth rate, already low, became nothing. No new generations have been born and many have died trying to find a way out of this hell." She spoke with pain.

"All of them were lost?" She nodded. He had been careful but it was confirmation the refinement continued.

If he stayed connected, it would reach back and take him completely.

"This temple is why we survive at all. As you have felt, it is part of a Divine Inheritance, although I suppose its time is coming to an end too. The territory you see now was much larger long ago. It is collapsing on us." Lind bowed low.

The world was dying and all knew it. Even such a paradise could not endure.

"How long?" His question made her wheeze a laugh as she settled onto a chair. It was a simple wooden chair with no decoration or even inscriptions.

"Might as well as when the crumbling will reach the wall. I suspect we all die when that happens. Could be another million years or it could be tomorrow." Her words were true. The crumbling dictated the fate of all.

It made him nervous as any fool could speed it up if they were truly foolish.

"Now, this haven of ours is not alone. I can at least confirm one more besides us but how they are doing is anyone's guess as they are at least 4 years journey across the Celestial Fields back then." He was shocked but then realized something.

"Another Divine Inheritance related to the dragons?" She nodded but then shook her head.

"It is not impossible there are other dragon Inheritances that protected locations but so far as Divine Inheritances go, I can only think of 3 I knew of before the Cataclysm." She then summoned a map from her ring. "There is 1 I know for sure related to us but there were 2 more held by humans and demons, but I am unsure if they protected the area around them like ours would."

Lind found it suspicious that the Divine Inheritance would protect so much but she seemed quite sure.

"So what am I?" He cut to the heart of the matter. The old woman narrowed her eyes at him and smirked.

"Impatient. I cannot answer what you like, but this is the 2nd part of a trial you have already started. The dragon soul you met wherever you did was part one. We thought it was lost, but you found it." Lind felt a smile tug at his face.

"Senior Dragon Soul was a precious friend. I miss her." He saw the elder dragon smile sadly at him. She then waved him over to her chair and he then had his head pat!

"You are a good junior no matter what." She seemed happy with his words.

"So what is it that is expected of me then?" Lind tried a different tack but she smiled at him and shook her head.

"It is not so easy. Good try though." Lind smirked at her response. "You will face the 2nd trial here. You cannot take anything but the ring in also. Its spirit will have to abide by the trial as well."

That last part surprised Lind. The Inheritance would restrict his ring?

[Master, I will not be able to help you aside from being a storage ring. That is mostly what she means.] Haro spoke up but he did not understand. How would that be different from normal?

"You do not understand what that ring does for you? Heh! Just how much power do you think you have on your own? How much stunning progress have you had that you cannot explain since you got it?" Her words made him think but aside from the current location, had Haro helped him that much?

He recalled his progress inside the Law Binding and other things and began to frown. How much was him and how much was Haro?

[Master, I have helped you recover but you have tapped very little into my capacity.] He found Haro was flattering him too much, but then he considered something.

"Was the ring ever made to help a 6 elemental?" He saw the old woman shake her head.

"I will admit you are unique for that for certain. While some dragons have all 6 elements, we never dealt with that harmony issue humans had." He began to build a better picture.

"So this place is a trial for me but is it more important than death hanging over us?" It was a question of priorities but the old woman straightened up and for a moment he felt her majestic power in that moment.

"It could be more important than you imagine, child. More important than anything we currently face. That is all I can say." He doubted her words but he needed their help. If it meant getting their aid for his plans, he would face whatever was required.

"Then tell me, what do I need to do to face the trial?" He awaited her words and hoped to get a better shape of what the dragons wanted from him.

She smiled before the staff was all he saw before the world went dark.