After moving into the Preateritum remnant, the dragon, Vissna, immediately made herself at home. It did not take her long to find the kitchen and begin eating enormous quantities of our food. Despite eating more than any normal human stomach could hold, Vissna seemed very dissatisfied with the quality of our food and complained about its flavor constantly. The only thing she actually enjoyed was the fresh meat we just bought in preparation for our journey south.

At least her hunger was limited to prepared food. She did not go out to slaughter cattle that survived outside the freeze, or worse the people. In fact, she was surprisingly mild-tempered and spoke very politely.

I approached Vissna full of questions. “If you want, I can provide you with golden fire to eat. Others I have raised enjoy it a lot.”

Vissna chuckled as she took another bite of meat. “It is taking all my effort the suppress the fire already in my system. Adding more would be disastrous for both me and everyone else around me.”

“Why is that?”

Vissna held out her hand expectantly and I knew what she wanted. She had probably heard the jangle in my pockets as I approached. I took out a small piece of gold I had ‘borrowed’ from Svend’s vault and placed it in the outstretched hand.

After taking the gold, Vissna paused for a moment as she struggled to put her thoughts into words. “Dragons are elements given flesh. We do not truly die as other creatures do. When our physical body can no longer maintain life, we return to the elements. Given enough time, a few tens of thousands of your years, a new body will be formed from the elements and we will be given new flesh. Your fire usurped that process, returning this body to life when it should not have. To prevent the balance from being broken, I returned to this discarded flesh before a new soul could be born. The others you have brought back need your fire to help stabilize their newly born soul but for me, the fire simply causes chaos when mixed with my natural element.”

“I think I understand,” I mumbled softly. I took out the rest of the gold in my pockets and placed it on the table. Vissna face lit up with a smile when she saw it. “I have several more questions if you are willing to answer.”

“So long as the price is paid, I will answer any question truthfully,” Vissna replied.

I spoke carefully making sure not to accidentally ask a thoughtless question. “Based on what you said before, you were alive during the time this place, Dragon’s Nest, roamed freely. I want to know about the girl that led it. Mare will not speak of her. Who was she?”

Vissna’s face immediately darkened upon hearing my question. “Of course, you would immediately ask a question worth more than any material.” She leaned back in her chair and sighed. “I made it a point to avoid the Preateritum. I never met the shadow personally and what I can tell you without upsetting the balance is limited but I will share what I can. Nobody knows where the shadow came from, or at the very least it was not a matter of public knowledge. Even her true name was said to only be known by a few. In the end, I guess it did not matter. She was wiped from every record that ever existed. Everything she ever touched was burned and everyone that was a known associate of hers was locked away forever.”

“Why would anyone go to such extremes?” I asked curiously.

“Because she crossed a line that even those you call Preateritum would never dare touch, a taboo that all life rebels against. The shadow tried to break time itself and rewrite the past into what she desired.”

“Is that even possible?” I asked in disbelief.

Vissna shook her head. “No, but that did not stop her from trying. Her actions threatened the realms in a way that no other had ever done before. It was agreed by all the great powers of the time that her legacy would forever be wiped from existence so that no one else would ever follow in her footsteps."

After she finished speaking, Vissna took three gold pieces from the table and added them to the one in her hand. I fell deep into thought as I considered all the actions Mare had taken since the remnant was awoken. On the surface, she legitimately appeared to wish for my victory against the Demons and seemed to be striving towards that goal but I could not help wondering if it was all towards some other, unknown objective. There were too many unknowns and I did not like it.

Vissna palmed the gold in her hand with a smile. “I will answer no more questions of the shadow but if there is something else you wish to know I am more than happy to answer to the best of my ability.”

I eyed the dragon curiously. “Why are you collecting gold and other valuables? Does it hold some sort of importance?”

Vissna chuckled as she collected two more pieces of gold and I cursed myself for not forming my words into a single question. Vissna’s answer was not even of any value.

“There is no mystical importance. I like shiny things. Everyone has their hobbies and this is mine.” She said simply.

Silently cursing the dragon, I tried to be careful with my next question. I only had two more pieces of gold left from what I stole from Svend’s vault. If I took any more than this, he would likely notice it was missing. I needed to ask questions that Mare would not answer, questions that mattered.

“Do you know of any way to defeat Demons and Demonkin besides just killing them through brute force?”

Vissna shook her head as she slid another piece of gold across the table. “I do not know much about these... Demons. In my time, there were creature known as Vitiates but they were very rare. Vitiates are a corruption of life. Their very souls are tainted. There is no cure except through death. I have heard that those you call Preateritum had some way of controling them but I have never seen it for myself. I cannot verify if there was any truth to that rumor.”

I looked down at the last piece of gold resting on my side of the table. Vissna had answered all of my questions but none of her answers left me any better off than when I started. I only had more questions now than I did before.

I sighed as I slid the gold across the table to Vissna. “Do you know anything of the golden fire I used to revive you and how I might control it?”

“Combining two questions into a single sentence does not stop it from being two questions but I will let it slide this time,” Vissna replied as she palmed the last piece of gold. “Your flame reminds me of phoenix fire. It is a purifying flame of rebirth. How you might control it, I do not know. I have only met two phoenixes across my lifetimes and both of them were already very old. From what I know though, it is the actual process of rebirth that they value rather than the flame itself. The process is almost holy to them and they gift out the flame to others sparingly, if at all. If you truly wish to learn more of the golden fire that is where I would start.”

“Phoenixes are real?” I blurted out in surprise.

Vissna smiled as she tapped the table silently. I scowled in annoyance, knowing that I had no more gold to give her.

This greedy lizard could go choke on her gold. Every answer she gave me was infuriatingly open-ended. Vissna never answered anything fully. She just wanted me to come back with more gold.

I stormed out of the kitchen as I mulled over what little information I had gained. I had no idea where to even begin with the idea of phoenixes. They were just a myth in the Thirteen Divisions. There were no confirmed reports of anyone actually seeing one, just legends from some isolated groups of people that claimed their ancestors saw one. It did not help me control the golden flame at all but it did give me several ideas. If my flame did indeed resemble that of such a mythical creature, perhaps those myths could help inspire me and I could find the last piece I needed to truly make that fire mine.

I did not march very far out of the kitchen before I bumped into Svend. He was carrying a large crate twice his own massive size towards one of the storage rooms at the back of Dragon’s Nest.

“There you are, Wren. I was looking for you. I have finished setting up Sebastion’s prison on the top floor of the back left tower. All of the crystals Cyra created have also been moved to your training room. All that is left is for me to finish moving the corpses of well-known warriors my men could find in the catacombs to the cold room we set up. Unless something happens, we should be ready to set out first thing tomorrow morning.”

“We also need to restock food, plus plenty extra. The dragon ate almost everything we prepared.” I said gruffly.

Svend nodded with a grimace. “Do you really trust that thing here?”

“Do you want to be the one to tell it to leave?” I asked with one eyebrow raised.

Svend looked towards the kitchen and shook his head. “I will prepare the food but first, I think you have some explaining to do.”

“About what?”

Svend sat down the heavy crate he was carrying with a thud that practically shook the floor. “About this place. After everything I have seen, do you really expect me to believe that it is just a recreation of a Preateritum remnant?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” I replied innocently.

Svend scowled as he stepped closer. His massive frame towered over me. “I do not care if you are willing to admit it or not. I simply wish to know if you are willing to strike a deal with me.”

“What kind of deal?” I asked skeptically.

“Do not worry, I am not brave enough to attempt stealing this remnant from the Thirteenth Division, especially since it does not seem to be fully functional.

What I want is access to the labs inside as well as any equipment that still functions. In exchange, I can offer you and your family something I have been working on. It is not perfected yet but if i have a few week in a real Preateritum lab, it might be. It is a process to gift the Divine Body to someone as if they were a tenth-generation practitioner. The resources required are extremely rare and valuable, even by our standards, so, the supply will be limited to ten people maximum. Unlike if you tried to practice normally, these effects would be immediately noticeable with no severe side effects. It is a fair price, wouldn’t you agree?”

I did not even have time to speak before the disembodied voice of Mare answered for me. “We agree to your terms, big guy. The true labs are fully intact on the lower levels. Only I have access. I can let you in but in exchange, you must give one dose of this elixir to be stored in my vault. The rest may be used at Wren’s discretion.”

Svend blinked in surprise at Mare’s sudden reply. “It can decide and make decisions on its own?”

“Yes, she can,” Mare replied with a huff, followed by a zap of lighting from the ceiling.

Svend yelled in pain as the lightning struck him directly on his butt. “Right, right sorry.” He yelled out as the lightning threatened to strike again. under his breath, I heard him mumble. “Her temper is even worse than my wife’s. Speaking of which, Cyra has regained consciousness. She said something about someone breaking into our vault again. You wouldn’t know anything about that would you, Wren?”