Within an immense hall, mountain-sized piles of stone tablets, ancient tomes and weathered papyruses laid all around, usually, the place would be swarming with small figures walking upon two legs, but now, as night had settled in, the room with an open roof was flooded with darkness, an optimal environment for the mighty dragon at the center of it all to learn the secrets held within old scrolls, the ambient dark did not bother this one.
Dark of scales, thorn-like protrusions growing over the long and slender nape, upon the back and tail, with six limbs, four legs and two wings, this dragon was of a rather common shape otherwise, using the nimbleness granted by the two foremost limbs, carefully unrolling rolled-up piece of papers, flipping pages from books often meant to be put to use by beings much less voluminous as her.
This was one of the few hobbies this dragon had.
"Ariespes, still crawling under paper?" having landed remarkably softly, perched upon the wall right at the edge of this room's open roof, like a flame, Solast shone brightly against the dark of the night, his scales producing their own shine at all times, looking at the dark dragon, his tone warm.
"Solast… Have you already finished with your visit to the continents?" Ariespes only turned her neck to face him, not willing to move anything else as she had already found the perfect position to chain-read a bunch of things.
"I certainly did, but- Hum, I am not actually here for anything relating to that" the three-headed dragon twisted his necks into a knot.
I don't often receive any visitors here" Ariespes had indeed decided to establish her place of lecture and dwelling a bit further than most, choosing the side of a tall mountain, this place nearly always covered by the shadow of the natural formation, except during the warmest days of summer, perfect for a gloomy dragon such as herself, her last improvised voyage outside had been because Solast had come to ask for expertise concerning the undead, before that, she would only go and stretch her wings to gather more things to read, or to try and investigate the mysteries of the breath she was graced with.
Solast fidgeted around, looking in three different directions.
"Well… Do you- You do know what time of the year this is, right?" the sun dragon had not expected to have to spell it out, this was not something one was supposed to forget about.
"Mmh? Well, it is just mating season, or am I missing something?" Ariespes was not at all making it easier.
"Ariespes, I meant to ask you, if… Huh… You know, you wanted to be my mate this season? It is important to… Mate when this season comes, Dragonlord Ronarkatast said so…" he felt like silencing the head that was speaking using the other two, he was making a fool out of himself with nothing but words.
The dark dragoness tilted her head.
"Really? That's meaningless, there are much better choices you know? As Dragonlord Ronarkatast's closest confidant, you have a wide array to choose from, you could even pick more than one…"
"Oh, I don't think it's a good idea to pick more than one, I have too many responsibilities to take care of more than one brood…" he shuddered at the thought, Solast had never actually fathered any dragonling, usually skipping on the mating season in favour of other tasks, so him bringing it up was a little suspicious.
"But Solast, my eggs have never even developed at all, they all rot without fail, I can't have babies" she shook her head, there had been many interested in producing offsprings mixing their own breath with hers, this was always the first thought put into whether or not one should mate with another, what the result could end up being.
The bringing of Solast's sun breath and Ariespes's necromantic breath could certainly end up as something very interesting, but the bet was far from worth it, a dragon's breath was at the core of their being, often influencing all other aspects of their beings and their relation to the world, as such, the dragons whose breath was aligned with death, necromancy and other things relatings to decay were often incapable of producing offsprings, which was why they were so rare in the first place, only rare mutations could bring them about.
"That's fine Ariespes, dragonlings is not what I want from you, I was thinking… For you and me to be more than just mating partners, just something I was thinking about- You'll tell me what you think of it later, alright?" fleeing the scene with a flap of his wings, Solast disappeared from view.
She looked down at the small book held just under one of her claws, the expression of a great dragon utterly unreadable, Ariespes did not even possess the necessary facial tools to make any expressions.
"I guess… I wouldn't mind…" that was a first for the necromantic dragon, Solast had definitely just asked if she would like to be his partner, already not expecting anyone to want to be her mate, that proposal came as a surprise, but if it had to come from anyone, then the sun dragon made the most sense, it was often him that passed by and tried to get her to see the light of day.
Sighing, she shook her head, diving back into reading, that was all making her heart beat a little too fast, if this went on, it might just throw one of the piles of balance and create a mess, even if she had plenty of her corpse puppets to help clean up, that would be a bother.
"The decaying of your eggs, It is because of life" a voice reached out from the side, from a small figure standing atop a smaller pile of stone tablets, arms held behind their back, drenched in darkness that was somehow darker than what typically filled this room.
"Who- What do you mean it is because of life?" her interest was picked.
"The association of life and death, it is possible theoretically, but life is firmly against it, what holds traces of death is to be denied right that life has claimed as its own"
"Life is finite, and can thus procreate"
"Death is eternal, and can thus, not procreate"
"When both dare to exist into one, death tries to meld everything together, for it refuses nothing, even what is contrary to its core nature"
"Life on the other hand, is strongly attached to what it has created, it does not find death doing the same to be a good thing, therefore, a clash occurs, and your eggs end up rotten"
"...I already knew that it was because of this opposing nature between the two, but you claim that it is solely life that is to be blamed?"
"The conflict would not occur otherwise, necromancers who practise arts of death often find themselves wasting away early, it is not the effect of death solely, but also the life within which strongly reject"
The figure presented an oval shape, pale and covered with cracks that let a pinkish glow escape.
"This will solve the issue, I will give it to you, at a small price"
"All that you need to do, is make a promise with me"