“A what now?” Yuki asked. 

“A dragon,” Sophie repeated.

The word dragon conjured up images of that majestic golden dragon she had seen when she first met Sophie and had the history of Ethros explained to her. That dragon with lightning flickering about it. Then Sophie herself, when she became that massive earth dragon with those warm brown scales. She compared herself with that.

“There seems to be some inconsistencies here,” Yuki said, tapping her cheek. “For one, I don’t have scales.”

Sophie laughed, her sharp fangs flashing in the light. 

“Oh my,” she gasped out, wiping her eyes. “No, of course you don’t have scales. You’re in a elven form, hatchling.”

“If I’m a hatchling, then shouldn’t I have come from an egg and therefore start out in a little baby dragon form?” Yuki asked.

“Well, yes,” Sophie nodded. “That’s why I was confused at first. Then I started putting things together. I’m confident that you’re a dragon. I can see it.”

“What do you mean, see?”

“Yuki, do you know how dragons are created?” Sophie asked. 

“Normally, I would say the normal way, but your wording makes me think that isn’t the case,” she replied.

“And your thinking would be right,” Sophie said. “Dragons don’t procreate through sex. The act does nothing. Dragons are created from cores. Elemental cores.”

“But can dragons still do the act?” Yuki asked, tilting her head.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t we?” 

“I see. So that means the possibility that I’m a dragon is still on the table.”

“It’s not a possibility, Yuki,” Sophie sighed. “It’s a fact.”

“Maybe. What are these cores?”

Sophie cupped her hands and created a projection that hovered above her palms. It was a spherical object with a multitude of facets cut into it.

“They look like this,” Sophie said. “Before I continue though, you need to swear never to talk about this with anyone that isn’t a dragon or hasn’t taken this same oath as you. Can you do that?”

“Why? Is this information that important?” Yuki asked.

“It’s information pertaining to my species and could threaten it as a whole.”

“That’s quite important.”

“Then do you swear it?” Sophie said, her words coming out in the language of magic. Yuki felt the mana within those words. This was a true oath.

“I do,” Yuki replied, feeling an intangible knot get tightened. 

“Good. Then let me tell you how a dragon is created.”

 

The orb hovered higher into the air, an aura forming around it.

“This is an elemental core. It’s not the skill,” Sophie clarified. “It’s a physical object. Essentially, they’re special elemental jewels that we prepare with spells. When a family wants to have a child, they’ll go in search of one of these, and prepare it.”

The aura surrounding the orb was sucked in.

“When it’s been prepared, the next step is for the parents to imbue their own magic into the core. The spells that have been placed on it will use the mana as fuel to create an egg with the core at its center.”

Layers upon layers began to form around the projection of the core until it became an egg-like shape. 

“The baby will remain in the egg until it develops. It will only hatch when the spells on the egg deem it safe. And when they do, out comes a cute little hatchling.”

The egg cracked open and a small baby dragon crawled out. Sophie tickled it with a finger and giggled to herself softly as it rubbed against her.

“Sophie?” Yuki said.

“Ah, sorry. I like babies,” Sophie shrugged. “Bye little hatchling.”

She waved her hands and the projection disappeared. 

“Anyway. All dragons have the core that they were made from within themselves,” she said, putting a hand to the center of her chest. “But people can’t touch it. No one can touch. Only yourself. And do you know where it is?”

“Where?” 

“Right outside,” Sophie smiled. 

A window appeared in the library, giving Yuki a clear view of the field outside. In the center of the view was the glowing crystal orb that hovered above its ring of turquoise flowers. The thing Akira had called Yuki’s Jewel of Life.

“That? That’s my core?” Yuki asked.

“It is. You didn’t know since you haven’t been raised with us,” Sophie replied. The window disappeared. “It’s also not talked about in any of these books since it’s hidden by an oath. But since you’ve taken that oath, you’ll start seeing books and manuscripts on this topic.”

“I see.”

‘How did Akira know about that jewel? Or did she? I’ll have to ask,’ Yuki thought. Then she bit her lip when she remembered where she was. ‘I’ll have to ask when I come back.’

“Now. The second part about our Dragon Cores is the most important and the most dangerous to us,” Sophie said. “It’s the reason why the oath is said in the first place. When a dragon dies, be it from natural causes or not, their core doesn’t die with them. It materialises into the physical world. The core itself is already prepared to create another dragon, but there is one thing that is unique about cores from fallen dragons. The soul of the dragon still lives on.”

“How does that work?” Yuki frowned. “And what would happen if you used that core to make an egg?”

“The core records everything about the being it is in,” Sophie replied. “That’s how it works since it’s the center of life for us dragons. As for what happens when you use the core to make an egg, you don’t. Cores of fallen dragons cannot create eggs, but they can create another dragon. Depending on the amount of mana given to the core, the dragon that it comes from becomes reborn at different stages in life. With enough mana, you can resurrect a dragon back into its adult form.”

The implications were clear to Yuki. What Sophie was describing was almost like immortality. 

“So dragons never truly die?” Yuki asked.

“They only suffer the loss of their body,” Sophie nodded. “Their soul is preserved. Only if you destroy the core will you then forever kill a dragon.”

“Dragons are basically immortal then.”

“It’s a kinder immortality,” Sophie smiled. “Should we want to die, we can. Though, it all depends on whether or not someone will be there to destroy our core. Or we can gift our core.”

“Gift them? Why?” Yuki said.

“Our cores come from elemental jewels. They can still be used like that. They’re much stronger than your usual jewel and have a bit of sentience to them. It’s also a bit like a memento of them. Speaking of which, your necklace. Can you take it out for me?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t have it with me right now,” Yuki sighed. “I left it before I was taken here.”

“I see,” Sophie said slowly, her expression falling for a split second. 

“Why do you want to see it?”

“It’s a core. Well. Part of a core,” Sophie replied. “I knew the woman it came from.”

“Who was it?” Yuki could hear the heaviness in her voice.

“My master. She lived for a long, long time,” Sophie said, her voice drifting off. “One day, she decided that she had lived long enough and announced that she will pass on.”

“And she gifted her core to you?” Yuki asked.

“No. No. Let me tell you exactly who she was. She was the most powerful dragon in Ethros. Her strength was massive and dwarved everyone else's. It didn’t matter that she only knew one element. Her name was Gaea. They called her the Goddess of the Earth.”

‘Gaea. That’s the name of the blessing I have,’ Yuki thought.

“Her core would overwhelm me if I ever handled it as a whole,” Sophie continued. “I’m an earth mage. That amount of earth magic might kill me. Temporarily.”

“So she told you to break her core into pieces so that you can hold a piece?”

“Well, no. Like I said, she didn’t gift it to me. She wanted her core destroyed.” Yuki blinked. “I know. I had the same reaction. ‘Why?’ But she explained that her core was too powerful. If someone got a hold of it, they would have power that rivaled that of a god. There was a small oversight on her part though.”

“The core was too strong to be destroyed,” Yuki assumed.

“Exactly. I tried everything,” Sophie said with a helpless shrug. “But the best I could do was shatter it into a few fragments. They could just be put together again.”

“So then what did you do?” 

“I scattered them. I kept a piece, gave one to a few of my friends to hide, and hid a few myself.”

“Then were my parents one of your friends?” Yuki asked, her hand going up to her neck before she remembered she wasn’t wearing the necklace. Then a thought struck her. “Wait. Who were my parents? The ones who raised me were elves, weren’t they?”

“That’s something I’m unclear on,” Sophie frowned. “You were raised by a elf couple, but are clearly a dragon. You also have a fragment that I gave to a dragon couple I knew. But I think I know where you came from.”

Yuki’s chest tightened at her words.

“Where?” she asked quietly, her eyes locking onto Sophie’s face.

“Let me ask you. You can use all the elements, can’t you,” Sophie said.

“That didn’t sound like a question, but yes.”

“I knew it,” Sophie said, pinching the bridge of her nose. “That makes this clearer.”

She looked right into Yuki’s eyes as she continued.

“Years ago, my friends wanted a child. They told me of their plans. After that, they disappeared for a bit as they went in search of a jewel that would be perfect for their child. When they came back, they had a core unlike any I had seen. One with an affinity to every element.”

“My core?” Yuki said.

“Maybe. Probably. But a problem occurred during that time. When the egg was created, the Demon War was starting. We were in Libra at that time.”

‘War.’

Her dream appeared in her mind again. The screams of anguish and cries of the suffering. The smell of smoke. 

“I lost contact with them during that war,” Sophie whispered. “I still don’t know what happened. But the jewel fragment I gave them survived at least. And their child. How? I don’t know.”

“Wait. The Demon War was more than two hundred years ago,” Yuki said slowly. “If I was created then, that means I didn’t hatch for two hundred years?”

“Well, yes.”

“Does that make me over two hundred years old?”

“No, no. Your age starts when you’ve hatched.”

“Oh. Good.” 

“But that’s all I know about that story,” Sophie said with an apologetic shrug. “The rest, I haven’t found out. At least you know a bit more about yourself now.”

“That’s true,” Yuki replied. “Thank you. It’s more than I knew before.”

“Let’s move on from this topic,” Sophie said, clapping her hands. “Let’s do something more fun. Since you hatched under odd circumstances, you never received a proper dragon’s education. Let me give you a little bit of that.”

Yuki tilted her head. 

“A dragon’s education?” she repeated. “What exactly are you going to teach me?”

“Well, let’s just say you can’t really be a dragon if you can’t become one,” Sophie grinned, a small glint in her eyes.