He was woken by a snuffling, scratching noise. Kuro shifted, blinking slowly awake in the misty light of the Soul Garden. He got up, yawning his complaint, padding with bare feet and mussed hair to the entrance of his base.
The Dragon was poking its head up through the hole in the floor. Its huge claws held on to the edge, and it snaked its head up to nose him, nearly knocking him over. He stared at it sleepily, remaining unbothered even when it blew cool, glittering air over him.
"What?" he asked. "What do you want?"
It snorted and nosed him again.
"I'm not gonna follow you," Kuro said. "You woke me up."
It made a purring, squeaking noise. Again the glittering cloud.
"What's your deal, anyway?" asked Kuro sleepily. "Are you really made of souls?"
It went still, eyed him for a moment, then scratch-scratched with its claws on the floor and made pitiful eyes at him.
Kuro slowly returned to his room to pull on his sandals and fix his hair. He agonized for a few moments between his potent Wolf Claws and the new, shiny Persephone Blade, then took the Blade.
He came back out to see the Dragon still quietly sitting with its head on the floor. "All right, what do you want?" he demanded. It made the noise again, a scratching ruk-ruk.
"Fine, I'm coming."
It perked, looking pleased. It withdrew from the hole, and he called the winds around his wings and dove down after it.
It wiggled its body, then loped with giant, heavy strides out the front gate and leapt up into the air with powerful wings. Kuro followed it. "Where are we going?" he asked hopelessly. The Dragon merely glanced at him and led on.
They were sailing towards a rock wall, one of the Underworld borders. The Dragon dodged around it, tucking into a pocket he hadn't known existed. It widened inside, leading on, a canyon.
Until it reached a waterfall.
Clear silvery drops fell from a stream down past the floor. The Dragon tucked its wings in tight to dive past it. Kuro did the same, but didn't expect the strange quality of the water. It tingled on his skin and made him feel dizzy. He gasped with the cold sensation and shook his head on the other side.
The Dragon came back to fly beneath him. The dizziness only increased, and his wings started to fail. Through the fog, he felt an acute sense of alarm at his lack of control. He was following the Dragon beneath him, and its outline started to blur. Kuro fought for his consciousness, and wound up collapsing on the back of the Dragon.
He opened his eyes a few moments later to feel wind brushing past his face. His head was clearing. The Dragon circled slowly down to alight on the ground. It twisted its head around to puff sparkling mist over him. Strangely enough, it made him feel better. In its mouth it held the Persephone Blade, which he'd dropped.
After a minute, he held out his hand, and took the Blade back from the Dragon, who delicately reliquished it. Kuro rolled off the Dragon's back. "This had better be worth it," he growled.
Ruk-ruk.
"Right."
He turned around.
The waterfall stretched tall overhead. It fell, shimmering, into a pond glistening white and silver and black. Shimmering bubbles hung in the air. Kuro stood on a crescent of black soil, where spiny black trees grew dark red fruits Kuro recognized as pomegranates.
The Dragon moved forward to sip at the water. Raising its milk-flecked head, it tossed it in a motion for him to approach.
He was wary of the water, but came forward. It motioned him further, until he arrived at the water's edge and peered in.
Inside he saw his reflection. But it was perfect, impossible. Through some trick of the water, his wings were flecked in silver. His skin was translucent and swirled slightly with motes of dust. His clothes were black, dusted with silver stars, and at his side glowed Persephone.
He looked like... a king. An angel. Was this what his soul looked like? He felt he recognized this image, felt it was… part of him. That was... impossible. No way his soul could look so pure.
The Dragon dipped its head beside him, watching him closely. Kuro knelt, took a handful of water. He started to raise it to his lips, but the Dragon snorted, knocking it out of his hands with a whip of its tail. "Okay, fine, I get it," he snapped. "Don't drink the water."
The Dragon purred in its throat and raised its head to the blue depths of the hollow above. It puffed a glittering cloud of dust through its nose, then its great chest swelled. Its head reared back, mouth opening, and loosed a plume of fire that was almost made of living light. The fire licked at the sheer rock, danced around the bubbles, and at the top of its reach poured into the waterfall, which filled the pond with dancing white and rainbow light.
The Dragon ended its fire. The air was left filled with glittering dust. The bubbles were filled with white fire, the waterfall poured on, white and silver and blue, and the pond glowed with reflective light. He glanced around and saw that the pomegranate trees were delicately budding silver leaves.
Kuro stared at the Dragon. "You're definitely not just something made of souls."
The Dragon blinked, rumbled deep in its throat, lowering its head a little.
"So what ARE you?" he muttered. Another blink from the Dragon. He thought he saw motes of dust in its silver-white eyes, like the trailing filaments of souls. "Some sort of spirit beast, is that it?"
The Dragon perked a little, expectantly. "Sacred beast?" asked Kuro. "But there are only four..."
The Dragon made an exultant, excited noise all the same. "Sacred beast?" confirmed Kuro. "But of what?"
He scowled at it. "You're not the soul of the Cloud Dragon, right? Because you don't look similar." The Dragon shook its head and puffed glitter over him, appearing satisfied. Kuro sighed. "I don't get you."
Ruk-ruk, squeaked the Dragon.
"Why wake me up to show me this, anyways?" Kuro muttered. The Dragon rumbled lightly and snorted, spreading its wings and arching its head up to indicate it was time to go. Kuro glanced around one last time at the silver-leafed pomegranate trees, the glowing waterfall, and the fire-filled bubbles, then spread his wings and readied the Persephone Blade.
The Dragon leapt forward and sailed up around the cove, followed by Kuro. Silently he flew beneath and behind the Dragon. When it dove through the waterfall, he followed through in the space in the water that it left behind.
As they flew, he asked it, "The reflection in the water. Was that supposed to be... my soul?" The Dragon perked its head at him with open, intelligent eyes. "It was too bright," he muttered. "That can't be my soul. I'm dark."
The dragon's eyes softened, and it bumped him in midair, nearly knocking him out of the sky. "Watch it!" he snarled. The Dragon made a sound like laughing, repeated chuffs from its huge lungs.
He realized he hadn't seen its reflection in the water. All he'd seen was Persephone, standing with him, but on the wrong side... On his other side had been...
Just light. The Dragon had been with him, but it cast no reflection in the shimmering pond.
It didn't have a soul...?
Honestly, I don't know precisely where I'm going when I'm writing this story. It writes itself. The characters and the story want to do things. Even I'm not sure why they want that until later.
I'm a little further ahead already, next chapter is probably ready, and I'll post it tomorrow or something. The story is promising to pick up, but I'm not sure where it's going to go. It's just as much an adventure for me as for any readers!