The white space slowly began to change as Maria walked towards Crystal. A beautiful grassland emerged. Butterflies began flying everywhere, a wonderful forest erected behind Crystal, mountains, a blue sky, and a shining sun. The dragoness never felt this good before… So free and so calm. Her emotions were finally finding some time to arrange themselves, as all negative emotions were purified, she felt at ease.
"Am I… in heaven?" Wondered Crystal, looking around. "If I am here… perhaps my children…"
As she was about to try to find them, a group of people quickly reached her, appearing behind her.
"Sadly, this is not really heaven… I was told that the souls of dragons go to Valhalla though, a beautiful garden maintained by Yggdrasil itself, where all souls can rest in tranquility." Maria said with a smile, Crystal meet her at long last.
"Ah… You are- Eh? And everyone here… W-What's going on? This is not… it's not heaven nor hell? What is this place?" Asked Crystal, confused out of her mind.
"Explaining everything would be a waste of time, but let's call this a Temporary Soul Scape Time Bubble, a unique space I was able to make by combining my power over the Dungeon, and a series of specific materials, all for this moment. It can stop time within this area for one minute, but the interior of this time bubble's time goes slower, a minute becomes an hour." Maria said. "Hello, Crystal, it is nice to meet you at long last, even if you are only a piece of your original soul."
"Maria… Ah! How do I know your name?" Crystal seemed to not completely recall her time as a Zombie Dragon. But perhaps… that was for the best.
"I guess we had a little talk. I saw through everything you went through… I couldn't simply let it end like that. Maybe I could had used these items differently, but I think you deserved them." I sighed.
"Crystal…" Lucifer slowly transformed into his dragon form, but way smaller, only as big as five meters, the same compact size that Crystal had.
"Lucifer? Lucifer! Dear!" Crystal ran towards Lucifer, hugging him with her wings and her front arms.
"Oof!" Lucifer exclaimed, Crystal's weight threw him into the grass, as the two dragons rolled down the grasslands, reaching the end of the small hill.
"Lucifer! I've missed you so much!" Crystal began crying, licking Lucifer all over his face.
"Crystal… Agh! Me too… Ahh, you still have that habit of licking me so much when you're happy…" Sighed Lucifer, as he licked her back. "I've missed you every day since I lost you."
The two dragons sat down, looking at one another.
"What happened?" Wondered Crystal.
"It's a long story… But you're…" Lucifer muttered.
"Yeah… I figured it out." Sighed Crystal. "I'm dead, right?"
Lucifer seemed to struggle to accept such a harsh reality, yet this has been a fact for thousands of years now. He nodded, faintly. His eyes filled with sorrow.
"I see…" Crystal sighed, looking into the blue sky. "I think I recall something… Lingering emotions… darkness… all of it gathered together into my own decaying body… Am I even… the Crystal you know?"
"You sure are." Lucifer said. "Without a doubt."
"I was… confined into a dungeon, right? I was a monster… that attacked you…" Crystal slowly began to regain her memories, at the same time as Maria and the rest of the group made their way near the two dragons.
"But then… Them." Crystal looked back at Maria and company. "All of you freed me from that horrid cage… Thank you."
"It's… nothing. Don't ever mind it." Emeraldine said with a gentle smile.
"You're so beautiful…" Laura said.
"Are you made of jewels?" Wondered Takeshi.
"Fufu…" Crystal giggled, finding the two children cute. "You two slightly remind me of our children… It could be said my body is covered in them."
"Oooh! Wagon?" Nyx flew towards her, flapping her tiny black wings.
Crystal tilted her head, looking at this humanoid dragon girl for a bit, and then, she touched her head.
And out of nowhere, Nyx suddenly changed, she turned into an adorable tiny, black-scaled dragon! And her scales… they were like Crystal; they were shiny black jewels. Maria couldn't believe it.
"Oh my god, she's so cute!" Maria said while smiling.
"Wagon?! I am wagon?!" Asked Nyx while looking around. "Woow!"
"I knew it…" Crystal said, tears flowing through my eyes. "My child… the unhatched egg- Brunhild! You survived and protected it…"
Brunhild nodded at the sides.
"It is the least I could had done, your spell maintained her alive for thousands of years. By fate, Lucifer was revived by Maria, and we found one another some time ago in another dungeon." Said Brunhild.
"Yeah, she's our daughter." Lucifer said.
"Our daughter…" Crystal said. "D-Dear, may I… may I hug you?"
"Huh?" Nyx seemed confused; she couldn't really recognize Crystal as her biological mother.
However, she saw how she was being so close with her father that she happily agreed, nodding.
"Haahh~ What a bliss…"
Crystal gently hugged Nyx, rubbing her nose into her own head, and licking her all over.
"My little baby… My little treasure… you're alive… you're really alive! Ah… I am so happy…!"
Crystal was so moved she continued crying, while embracing Nyx.
The little Nyx was confused, but let Crystal give her affection, because she really didn't mind.
As this happened, Maria quickly took out several things from her inventory, bringing out even food.
"Let's have a meal before we depart… We have a lot to tell you, Crystal…"
Like that, Maria decided to prepare Crystal a quick meal of roasted meat, with stew she already had prepared, and even other delicious flavors. She knew Crystal liked flavorful meals, according to what Lucifer sometimes told him about.
And as Crystal enjoyed these delicious meals, everyone quickly explained everything to her. They couldn't go into many details, but they made sure she learned about the most important things…