Darkness encased everything. Then, a faint light appeared in the middle of the darkness, shining brightly before groaning a little bit.

  “What… happened..?”

  A voice from the light stated.

  “Where…. Where am I? Why - why can’t I feel my body…”

  The voice exclaimed confused, while it drifted through the suffocating, pitch black darkness surrounding it. Then, a loud growl shook the entire darkness, causing the light to falter a bit and darken, letting out a small, light shriek.

  “Wha-what was that…?!”

  “Now this is a curious situation - I didn’t expect a rogue soul to find themselves within a place like this.”

  A loud, roaring voice stated - continuing to shake the entire dark void. The light shrieked even more loudly, now trembling and flickering.

  “Who..who said th..that?”

  “My apologies - I suppose it is quite difficult to see anything going on while we’re both in our current forms. Allow me to make our communication a bit easier…”

  The loud voice stated, before the entire dark void began to rush around the light - freaking it out for a second as it shrieked in fear again, flickering and trembling. The darkness enveloped the light fully and after a few seconds, began to slowly morph around it into a sort of temple like space.

  The light then morphed itself, reforming into the shape of Iyka - shaping fully into her appearance, down to the very last detail. Iyka opened her eyes as soon as she felt her feet touch the ground, before her eyes widened in surprise. The woman looked around flabbergasted, a bit lost for her words.

  “What is…”

  “Please, do try to not ignore other individuals within the room with you.”

  Iyka turned around immediately as soon as she heard the voice from behind her, her eyes widening as soon as she saw who the voice belonged to. In front of her stood a large, large dragon, with six wings on his back and imposing dark purple eyes. His arms were crossed, as well as his legs quite fat and large - bent over as if he was sitting down on the ground that she was herself standing upon. If that was all, she wouldn’t be as shocked or intimidated as she currently was, however the aura and magic she felt leak off of the creature, was the real frightening thing.

  The creature was like a dark figure made up from pitch black flames, with shining bright purple eyes - it was as if she was looking directly into a void. Iyka wanted to run as fast as she could, however her body was paralysed from the immense energy she felt leaking off of the dragon - her body shivering heavily from her sheer fear.

  “Wh…Who are y-you…?”

  “Strange, do you not recognise me? I was under the impression that the mortals of the world hadn’t forgotten me yet…”

  The dragon scratched his chin, before exhaling and shaking his head lightly, before looking back down at her.

  “Well, I suppose it isn’t too big of a surprise. I have been sealed away for a long, long time.”

  The dragon then lowered its arms to its sides, before expanding its wings out, standing up - the simple movement being enough to shake the entire area that Iyka was in. The woman was absolutely paralysed from fear as she watched the giant beast rise up to his feet, staring down at her with an intimidating stare.

  “Allow me to introduce myself then, member of the Kitsune bloodline. I am Arabor the Abyss, one of the Primal Dragons.”

  As Arabors words left his mouth, the Kitsune just stared up at him, her eyes widening even more as soon as he introduced himself. Then, the woman simply fainted, falling down onto her back. Once she was on the ground, Arabor just stared down at her, before exhaling heavily and shaking his head, sitting back down and retracting his wings.

  “It appears that meeting a Primal Dragon is still too shocking for the mortals… Still, I would have expected a member of the noble kitsune bloodline to have a less intense reaction, considering who they live with.”

  Arabor sighed heavily, before looking down at the fainted kitsune with a slightly disappointed gaze. Afterwards, the dragon moved his tail over to her, picking her body up with it, before lifting it up to his eye level. Then, he shook the woman lightly, causing Iyka to wake up again, shaking her head, before looking immediately down at the ground.

  As soon as she saw how high she was, the woman let out a loud yell, squirming around in Arabors grip.

  “Careful now little one, otherwise I will drop you.”

  Iyka looked at Arabor, shedding a slight sweat, before shakily putting her hands together into a praying position.

  “Ex-excuse me Al-almighty Arabor… would y-you kindly put me d-down..?”

  “Sure, I just wanted to get you back up. I can’t exactly have someone dying for a second time, especially right after making contact with them.”

  Arabor lowered Iyka down into his arms palms, allowing for a much more stable surface for Iyka to stand up. The kitsune brushed off her clothes, before examining it more closely - looking for any tears and wounds.

  “That’s strange… I could have sworn I was heavily damaged and my clothes were torn…”

  “You were - However, considering that technically you are nothing more than a projection of your soul, your appearance has reverted back to what it should be.”

  Iykas ears perked up as the dragon spoke, before she looked at him a bit confused.

  “A projection…? Wait - actually, now that I think about it… How am I alive..”

  “Technically, you aren’t alive - not physically, at least.”

  “Wh-what does that mean…?”

  The Dragon exhaled, before lowering the woman down to the ground, allowing her to step off of his giant claws palm, before he scratched his chin. He remained silent for a second, as if thinking of the best way to explain it to her, before exhaling.

  “I suppose you could say that you aren’t alive physically any more. You did die in the world outside.”

  “I… did? But then…”

  She looked around confused, examining the area around her. It was like she was at some temple ground, with large pillars surrounding her and the dragon - beyond them, a dark pitch black void.

  “Where am I…?”

  “It is kind of difficult to explain… However, I suppose you could say that you are within a foreign soul.”

  Iyka raised an eyebrow towards the dragon, very much confused by his choice of words. Seeing her confusion, the Dragon exhaled, before gesturing to her to sit down. A moment later, Iyka looked down at the ‘ground’ below her, before sitting down onto it and looking back up to the dragon. Then, Arabor crossed his arms, exhaling heavily.

  “Listen carefully now. This will be a long explanation.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Souls are a strange phenomenon in this world.

  While the majority of the world is based on the Magical Energy that flows through it, connecting back to the primordial elements which are the base of all life - ‘Soul’ and the primordial element linked to it is the strangest element of this world.

  In essential detail, ‘Soul’ represents all of life as well the individuals in this world, as well as serves as the proof of something having life.

  Without a soul, a creature cannot be considered ‘alive’.

  However, ‘Souls’ are strange in another way – mainly, their connection to other souls. You may be aware of the fact that it is possible to create ‘Soul Pacts’ between two or more individuals, in which a promise is engraved into the very literal essence of the individuals making the pact - creating a connection as well as a bond which cannot be ignored or broken until it is completed, or the one who initiated the pact breaks it.

  There is also another part to the Soul Pacts, which is a little less known.

  The ability to retain souls inside of a body.

  Iyka looked at the dragon confused, tilting her head to the left side.

  “Retain souls? What does that mean?”

  “In short, it is possible for two or more souls to exist within a single body through soul pacts. For example, if two individuals were to create a soul pact and one of them was to die, it is possible for the still alive individual who was also part of the pact to retain the soul of the deceased individual inside their body - Think of it as essentially accepting the soul of the deceased into your body for the purpose of protecting it.”

  Arabor looked down at the Kitsune, before placing his arms onto his thighs.

  “Does it make more sense now?”

  Iyka remained silent for a bit, processing the information dump she just received, before shaking her head and nodding lightly in response to the dragon.

  “A bit more, yeah…”

  Arabor stared down at the kitsune with a slightly disappointed expression, before exhaling and crossing his arms once more, closing his eyes afterwards as he lowered his head a bit down.

  “I suppose as long as you understand even a little bit of it, then it’s fine.”

  Iyka shed a sweat, before exhaling.

  “Anyways… I don’t see how that explanation about souls and soul pacts was supposed to answer my question on what this place is…”

  “My apologies - I will get to that. It was simply important you understood how souls and soul pacts worked first.”

  The dragon cleared his throat before looking up towards the ‘ceiling’ of the area they were inside of.

  “See that above us?”

  Iyka raised an eyebrow, before looking directly above her.

  Directly above them, high, high up in the ‘air’ was a large, large glimmering light which illuminated the area they were in. Iyka once again shed a sweat, before looking at the Dragon again.

  “What is..?”

  “That is the soul of the individual we both are currently inside of right now.”

  The dragon explained before tilting his head to the right.

  “Basically, you are currently inside of the soul and body of another being that you have made a soul pact with - simple as that.”

  Iykas expression remained that of surprise and she was in a state of speechlessness. Inside of the body and soul of an individual she had made a soul pact with… Did she find herself inside of the small snake that she had fought before her death?

  But… She didn’t remember creating any soul pacts with the serpent, so how did she get here? Surely she didn’t enter this ‘place’ - if you can call it that - by accident. The woman looked at the dragon in utter confusion, crossing her arms as well.

  “But… How? I didn’t create any soul pacts with anyone…”

  The dragon let out a loud laugh, causing Iyka to throw her gaze around the place, confused about what the dragon found so amusing about what she had just said. Arabor laughed for a few moments, before shaking his head and looking at the kitsune with an amused expression.

  “Do you think you need to be aware for a soul pact to be initiated? Because that is utter nonsense.”

  “Utter…. Nonsense? What do you…”

  The dragon exhaled heavily.

  “Think about it for a second Member of the Kitsune kind - what did you do before you died out in the physical world?”

  What did she do?

  Iyka dove into her thoughts, recalling the final moments she could remember before her passing. She was talking to the serpent that she had faced, before asking him to promise her to find and get revenge on the man who had killed her sister…

  Then, it clicked for the Kitsune in her mind.

  Promise… She asked him to promise her. Was that… the moment that the ‘Soul Pact’ was initiated without her realising? That is the only logical moment it could have happened in. Iyka looked up at the dragon with a thoughtful and nervous expression, while Arabor had a small smile across his face.

  “...It was initiated when I asked him to make a promise to me, right?”

  “There we go, you hit the topic right in its weak spot. That is exactly the moment when the soul pact between you and Faofa was initiated.”

  ‘Faofa’? Was that the name of the serpent she had fought?

  Iyka exhaled heavily, looking down at her hands, with a slightly sad expression. It seemed as though despite her hopes of reuniting with her sister on the other side, she has accidentally gotten herself in a situation which could very much count as her still being alive in some way.

  “So much for my dramatic exit out of life…”

  “Is everything alright Miss Iyka?”

  The kitsune was brought straight out her thoughts, as she looked up at the dragon with a surprised expression.

  “How do you know my name-?”

  “I can read your soul like a book. It’s quite easy to learn the identities of other beings when you can easily look at their souls.”

  The dragon replied almost immediately.

  Iyka sighed heavily again - The dragon was so casual and friendly towards her, that she had almost forgotten that he was, in fact, one of the mighty Primal Dragons - the literal creators and gods of the world she lived in.

  Or at least - Had lived in.

  Silence between her and Arabor took place, before the dragon exhaled heavily.

  “Anyways - everything aside, it is nice to see a new face to keep me company. Being all alone inside of Faofas soul has made me a bit… lonely.”

  Iyka shed a slight sweat - not because of nervousness or fear, but simple… Surprise. The Mythical God of the Abyss as well as one of the creators of the world… Felt lonely inside of here?

  Iykas surprised nature then quickly turned into a thoughtful one, as she then thought back to her fight with the serpent. If the Mighty Arabor was inside of the serpent all this time - literally living inside his soul - then that would mean that when she felt that immense pressure after her skill failed….

  Her eyes widened as she looked up at the Dragon, who was staring up towards the bright light above them, shedding a sweat. No wonder ‘Beast Dominate’ had failed - how could a mere mortal like her ever even hope to cast a mind control spell over a Primordial Being…

  She laughed lightly to herself.

  “I should probably count myself lucky…”

  Afterwards, she shook her head lightly, her thoughts moving onto the next topic that came to her mind - that being, how Arabor was inside of a serpent's soul to begin with. From what she understood, the Primal Dragon of Abyss had been sealed away by individuals blessed by the Deities over three and a half thousand years ago, after he had gone on a wild rampage across the world.

  How was it that he was here inside the soul of a serpent when he should be sealed away? Something was strange here — either this wasn’t actually Arabor and instead just a dragon with immense power claiming to be him, or somehow, the Primal Dragon of Abyss had found a way to exit his seal…

  But the only question was - how?

  Iyka shed a cold sweat, before looking up at the dragon with a curious expression.

  “Almighty Arabor? May I ask a question?”

  The dragon looked back down at Iyka, before nodding lightly.

  “Of course – I’ll answer any questions you have to the best of my ability.”

  “Then…”

  Iyka felt her heart beat fast as stress set in. She was so unbelievably nervous about asking this question - unsure what kind of reaction the dragon would give. After a moment of hesitation, she exhaled.

  “Then could you tell me how you’re here…? From what I understand, shouldn’t you be sealed away?”

  Arabor went silent as soon as she asked the question - simply groaning a bit and looking around, tapping his left hand's index finger against his right arm. After a long bit of silence - Iyka began to worry that her question may have potentially annoyed the dragon, and so thought about apologising.

  However, the dragon then exhaled.

  “Listen carefully - it is a long story…”