"So many souls," fretted Persephone. "More of them each day. I'm afraid the humans have gotten into another one of their wars."
Kuro glanced up, leaning against one of the outer spires in the City of Souls. He refused to go much further. He didn't like this place. Persephone stared up at the stream of souls, recently slowed, which was beginning to swell again.
"If they have, it's none of our business," said Kuro. "Let Palutena worry about peace, if she even thinks she has to meddle with human wars."
"I suppose," murmured Persephone. "I just hope it's not enough to throw the world out of balance."
Kuro smoothed dust off the Persephone Blade. "We'll worry about that when we get to it," he muttered.
The Dragon soared in between the spires, loosing plumes of fire that brightened the crystal they touched. It landed beside them, peering up at the stream of souls. Kuro noticed a few last drops of black ichor dripping from its maw. "Been hunting?" he asked it, patting the side of its head. It licked its lips, clearing away the black drops from its dappled muzzle.
"What do you think, great one?" Persephone asked the Dragon, turning to it. The dragon snuffed, eyeing first her, then the stream of souls spiraling high above. Its eyes softened, gleamed with a slow progression of silver shades, dark to light, white and shades of Underworld-blue. It shuffled, eyes fixed thoughtfully on the stream.
"Helpful," muttered Kuro dully, and Persephone shushed him. The Dragon made one of its scratching, squeaking noises, this one like a purr. It turned its head to bump Persephone's torso with its snout and flicked its eyes and head downwards, scratching at the ground.
"We'll wait here," said Persephone. The Dragon nodded and launched off with a clack of claws on the dark stone beneath them.
The Dragon approached the stream of souls, a speck next to the size of it. It hovered near the stream, flapping heavily with its wings before loosing fire at it. The souls it touched turned white, and a strand of the stream spiraled down faster, brighter. The Dragon stopped its fire and dove through the stream. Both Kuro and Persephone stiffened, uncertain of the effect it would have on the Dragon.
It emerged trailing the clear-blue haze of souls on its wings that shook off as it snapped them open. It came back in to land, trailing something in its teeth.
It was a black soul. Persephone had evidently never seen its like either, just like Kuro, but she seemed to understand what it was. "Evil," she said. "I've never seen such an evil soul. Someone dark has died this day." She looked up at the Dragon. "Do I redeem it, as with all other souls?"
The Dragon shook its head, and suddenly released the soul. It attacked and tore it to pieces, to Persephone's horrified gasp.
"A soul like that doesn't deserve to be reborn," said Kuro. "It would have made one huge fiend down here all on its own." The Dragon nodded. "But that's not all you got out of that, right?" he asked it.
The Dragon arched its back, shuddering as its pupils narrowed to slices of black. It opened its mouth and breathed out- breathed, gently, unlike how it blew fire- a ball of light. Persephone touched it.
She stiffened, looking stricken, cried out. A moment before Kuro could knock her away from it, she released on her own and stumbled away. "Touch it, Kuro," she breathed. He eyed her, then reached out for it.
A succession of images flashed through his mind. An overwhelming tangle of vines breaking through a wall. A strangle of thorns taking hold of a desperately escaping human. Creatures of wood and stone and plant attacking. There was Pit, above, blown back and prevented from helping. His shots rebounded off the wind. And a vengeful goddess with long blond hair, her image imprinted on the sky.
All the images were from ground level. They were imprints, gathered from souls by the Dragon. The memories of humans who were now dead.
Kuro stumbled back from the light. The Dragon, satisfied, crushed it aggressively beneath a paw.
"Viridi is exterminating the humans," said Kuro. "Pit can't stop her."
"The Cloud Dragon is dead, and my sister has the wind," said Persephone.
Kuro stared at her, the power in his wings humming.
"How did the Cloud Dragon die?" murmured Persephone. "This WILL upset the balance, if it continues..."
His chest felt tight. The Spirit Dragon eyed him knowingly. It knew. He couldn't breathe.
"Kuro?" asked Persephone, looking at him curiously.
The winds were calling around his wings, on their own, it seemed. He took off, away, out of the City of Souls and- he didn't know where. Away.
"Kuro!"