The Ashen Keeper

Chapter 20

"So, even the keeper of the flame does not know why she has become the flame.", said the dragon in a resigned tone. The ancient one however, did not say a word as if she was never there. After all, this is not her affairs to meddle.

"May I know your name, mighty one?", asked the firekeeper. She did not want to address the representative of the everlasting as THE everlasting dragon.

"Alduin, I shall allow you to address me as Alduin. So, why did you visit your soul?", he asked.

"Am I not allowed to visit mine soul? But I shall state my reason. I am currently and wish to prolong my life."

"I don't see anything to burn here. Except us.", the dragon replied as thousands of everlasting dragons flared their might. Eternal, they may be, but not a single being would want to suffer by burning. Even if this was her own soul, thousands of dragons flaunting their inexhaustible powers at once, is sure to have consequences.

She could sense that the world in her soul was starting to crack. The seas were boiling and the stars falling.

The very land is being torn apart as they stood. The ancient one suddenly looked solemn as she formed shields of magic in her hands.

They were preparing for battle in case the firekeeper wanted to burn their souls for her to live.

"Hath no worries, mighty one for I have no desire to burn any being for my well-being."

"Is that pity I sense?", asked Alduin. Truly, he was a difficult dragon to appease.

"It was never my intention to pity you my dear Alduin." She tried changing her tone to make him feel closer. This seems to appease him.

"Very well, my 'friend', then how will you prolong your short life if you will not be burning anything else."

"Do not forget Alduin, that we are no longer in our world. There are sources of energy other than souls."

"Like the one beside you", asked the dragon as he looked straight into the eyes of the Ancient One. "She is not of our world but the thing on her chest holds great power."

"I hath no desire to take other people's belongings."

"Then, what? There are no other ways."

"I am willingly to offer you a new source of energy. An embryo to be exact. After all, it would not be right for me not to hold my end of the bargain."

"The one in the middle of the Earth?"

"Yes, it absorbs the energy of intelligent species to grow and will wake up once it had its fill and mature. Merely waking up spells' destruction for this world. It will wake up in a few decades at most.

You can get thousands of years' worth of life if you fully absorb it, but it is not a permanent solution. I first brought you into your soul so that you may burn them, but it seems you are not willing."

"Burn us? Your words sure are arrogant 'young lady'. Time is your biggest ally, but it is of no use to us. The power of darkness you rely on holds is of no threat to us.

Your make-shift dimension can be shattered by merely flaunting our power. Tell me, how do you propose to deal with me let alone my other kin?"

"You are right, I can't deal with you. But I can trap you in the flow of time, making it so that time is reversed every time I die. You are not a being affected by time. You will be locked into an eternal combat with me."

"Your wisdom is commendable, sorcerer, but you underestimate us. We are not merely beasts with brute strength. We are researchers. We will slowly unravel your spell as you keep dying for eternity.

The way you proposed may be able to deal with some lowly 'Lords', who became immortal through some means, but we are born eternal. Do not forget the fact that we were alone before creation itself."

Alduin and the Ancient One were clearly showing off their means to deal with each other. This allowed them to recognize each other.

The ancient one probably sees the everlasting dragons as immortal lizards that can fly while Alduin probably sees the Ancient One as a mere human sorcerer that doesn't belong to his world. This will allow them to respect each other as equals, she hopes.

"I shall take the energy from the embryo as thou suggested", she interrupted their squabble.

"I shall take a leave first then", said the Ancient one as she disappeared.

"May I know why thee survived the onslaught of the Lords?"

"Keeper, do you know the difference between immortal and eternal?"

"Forgive me Alduin, but I hath no knowledge of difference. I always assume it to be the same thing."

"I shall explain it in simple terms. Imagine a toad trying to reach its destination.

But that toad can only jump half its destination at once. It jumped once and now, its halfway to its dimension. It jumped another time and now it has completed three-fourth of its journey.

It can jump infinitely till the end of time, but it will never reach its destination or go beyond it as it can only jump halfway. No matter, how close, it will never truly reach it. It can never go beyond the limit of its destination, but it can continue jumping infinitely.

A cat however can go anywhere it pleases in one leap. It can choose to make two leaps if it wishes for it. It has no bounds. The only bound a cat have been its imagination. Immortal resembles the frog with bounds while eternal resembles the cat with no bounds.

There are many different types of immortality, but every immortal has to be born first. The moment they are born, they can be killed. An eternal being however has never been born.

It is simply there. It has never lived and therefore, will never die. You may be able to kill an immortal using curses or specific rituals, but you can't kill eternal beings.

How do you kill water or stone? You simply can't as it is neither alive nor death. We are the very nature of the world itself. Understand, keeper?

That is why I stated that we are BEYOND strength. I am sure there are many beings stronger than us in this new world, but we are eternal. Strength, no matter how powerful or strong will ever affect us.

You could crush our souls and bodies. You could erase us from existence and reality, but nothing can ever truly kill us. It is very much like the Ashen One you adore.

We always come back only with all our memories and sanity intact. Without side effects. That is why we are called eternal and not immortal.

Your immortal lords fear the end of the age of fire due to this. They know we will always come back. They could continue their luxurious lives even without their source of power.

They are plenty strong even without the flame, but they fear our retaliation. All everlasting dragons are what you call 'scientists'. They will become lab rats without a power source.

That is why Gwyn the most arrogant of them would rather die than bow their heads at the opponents he once defeated."