Chapter 21

When I woke up the first thing I thought was that everything had been a dream. I started to sit up. Then something slashed through my chest. Pain filled me for a brief moment and once again everything went dark.

The second time I jerked awake. And that time I actually got an eyeful of a huge brown drake as it came towards me. Before I could even think of what to do it tore me apart. Yet again everything went dark.

Surprisingly when I woke up the third time nothing happened. I cautiously opened my eyes. I nearly screamed when I saw the drake laying down staring at me. Yet it wasn’t attacking.

It opened its mouth and I couldn’t help but shudder as I noticed its massive teeth. “Let me go and I’ll spare your life, puny human.” The brown drake said.

That was when I finally realized that I was inside my universe. It was a little larger than before. Around fifty percent larger. I also couldn’t help but notice that I felt amazing. As if I hadn’t been burned to a crisp or mauled by the drake. In fact I felt like I had even recovered from my coma.

“Did you hear me human? Or has my mere visage rendered you speechless?” The drake said.

Knowing that I was in my universe gave me confidence I wouldn’t have had outside. “I heard you. But I don’t think I will be letting you go.” I said with a grin.

The dragon snarled and stood up. I couldn’t help but take a step back and look at it in fright. Then it seemed to calm itself and laid back down. “Surely we can come to some type of agreement. What do you want in return for releasing me.”

I was actually a bit shocked that the drake hadn’t tried to kill me again. I had already decided to transport myself out of my universe as soon as it moved. I almost decided to do so anyway. At any moment the drake could kill me. And although I had already cheated death three times I wasn’t sure if there was some type of limit.

Something stopped me though. There was something about the drakes tone of voice. A hint of desperation. There was almost something sad about realizing that such a mighty creature was in such a dire situation. Although mostly I was just overjoyed that the drake was in my universe and apparently couldn’t escape.

“There is no way I’m going to release you. No matter what you promised, if I did you could just kill me and leave.” I said ready to leave at a moment’s notice.

The dragon actually looked affronted at me saying that I couldn’t trust them. “I would keep any promise I gave you. It would be beneath me to resort to trickery and deceit.” The drake said.

I shrugged. “How could I possibly know that you aren’t lying when you say that.” I said.

The drake actually paused and seemed to think about what I was saying. Then it seemed even more depressed. “I have a great deal of treasure. I can give it to you. There are even rare potions and cultivation manuals. With them you could easily become a level eight cultivator. Even reaching level nine wouldn’t be beyond your reach.”

I shook my head and chuckled. “I have a shattered core. No amount of potions or cultivation manuals will ever fix that. And I don’t need treasure.” I said.

“What do you need then? Surely there is something you desire? Everyone has things they want. Even those that don’t want riches or power.” The drake said.

“I never said I didn’t want power. It’s just that I don’t get my power from cultivating. I get it by absorbing the life and death energy of anything that is in this space. You happen to be an excellent source of power for me.” I said.

The drake gave me what was clearly a shocked look. And then they seemed to almost collapse. “That explains a great deal. You can’t kill me with your strength. So you plan to let me die of dehydration instead. Surely there is a less painful way for you to kill me. I promise not to resist. Just go ahead and put me out of my misery.” The drake said mournfully and then laid back down.

I actually couldn’t help but feel a bit shocked at what the drake was saying. That definitely hadn’t been my intention. That would be like destroying all the herbs in the dryad grove for death energy. I’d be sacrificing long term gain for a much smaller short term gain.

Speaking of the herbs I grimaced as I looked around and realized that all of them were gone. “What happened to the plants?” I asked.

“On the second day I ate the birds and plants for what little sustenance they would give me. Earlier today I even resorted to digging up the worms and eating those. Besides us and dirt there is nothing left in this place.” The drake answered.

“How long has it been?” I asked in shock. For me it had felt like just a few minutes had passed. From what the drake was saying it had been days.

“It seems like it took you a day to recover each time I killed you. This place also shrunk about ten percent each time I killed you. That’s why I haven’t killed you again even though you plan to let me die of thirst. At least my last moments will be a tiny bit less cramped.” The drake said despondently.

“I’m not going to let you die of dehydration. Or starvation. It’s true I’d gain a lot of energy if you died. If you are alive I’ll gain even more energy though. It will just take a bit longer.” I said.

The drake turned and looked at me again. I could see a tiny trace of hope in its eyes. Then that disappeared. “So I'll remain your prisoner forever then. I suppose that’s a tiny bit better than dying of thirst. However, this space is far too tiny. I’ll never be able to fly again.”

“The space will grow as I gain more power. I’m sure you have realized that it’s already quite a bit larger than when I first sent you here.” I said.

The drake looked around and then nodded. They seemed a tiny bit less depressed. “That is true. Perhaps in a year or two it will even be large enough for me to fly again.”

Then the dragon looked at me intently. “Food will be easy. You can just transport a magic beast here every day or two. You will even gain death energy when I kill it. But how do you plan to get enough water here for me?”

I concentrated on part of my universe. A circle in the dirt was cleared. And then it filled up with water. In a flash the drake practically teleported next to the water. I was stunned as I watched them drink what was easily a fifty gallon pool of water. Grimacing, I filled it up again. This time they just drank a couple dozen gallons.

“Well I think it’s time for me to leave and see what happened to clan Ashton. I’ll try to get you something to eat when I get a chance.” I said.

“Wait.” The drake said quickly before I had a chance to transport myself.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Be careful. I was paid to destroy clan Ashton. Even though I failed I’m sure that I killed most of the clan. By now it’s likely that your clan’s enemies have taken advantage of this.” The drake said.

I couldn’t help but feel a bit of fear. I had hoped everything would be solved by capturing the drake. “Who hired you?” I asked.

“Clan Hill.” The drake said.

My fear turned to rage. It seemed like clan Hill was going to continue to cause problems for me and clan Ashton. Worry followed soon after. I wasn’t sure how strong clan Ashton was now. Numerous level eight cultivators had been killed by the drake. The gnolls and other monsters would have continued to fight, even after I captured the drake. My only comfort was that I didn’t think that elder Yui had been killed by the drake. Given some time he could probably fight back the entire beast surge by himself.

There was no need to say anything else to the drake. So I transported myself back. With a bit of relief I found myself back on the roof of the castle. A small part of me had been afraid dying would affect my ability to go back.

The first thing I noticed was the smell of smoke. Looking around I saw that most of the buildings surrounding the castle had been burned down. Considering they had almost all been on fire that wasn’t very surprising.

Looking into the courtyard of the castle I was surprised to see that it was full of guards. For a moment I felt relief. Clan Ashton had beaten back the beast surge. When I noticed the color of their uniforms that relief turned into dread. Clan Ashton’s guards wore blue. All of the guards in the courtyard were wearing red.