Crystal stood in the snow, the last of the shimmering dust still dissolving into her skin. The chill in the air no longer bit at her the way it used to. It felt like the world had shifted around her, like the winds now recognized her as something else, something more.
She looked up at the Dragon God again. It hadn’t moved. The creature stood like a monument carved from time itself, wings folded with elegance, expression unreadable.
But now that her fear had faded, something else was beginning to bloom inside her. Curiosity. Respect. Maybe even something bordering on reverence.
"I don’t understand," she said, stepping forward with slow, uncertain steps. "If I had the blood all along... Why didn’t I feel it? Why didn’t I know?"
The Dragon God watched her, silent for a moment. Then it finally spoke, voice calm and cold, like the ocean in winter.
"Because most do not survive the awakening. The blood sleeps until called. Few ever hear it. Fewer still answer."
Crystal tilted her head, still frowning. "But... you said it was already flowing in me. That you just awakened it. So why me? Was it by chance?"
The Dragon God closed its eyes for a long second, as if listening to something only it could hear. Then it opened them again and spoke without turning away.
"You are not yet ready to know the truth of your question. Once you have truly become strong, the answer shall come to you naturally."
Crystal couldn’t help but feel unsatisfied with that answer. How could she not? That was the same as answering a question with a question. Yet she could tell that she would get nothing more from arguing with it.
So instead, she turned to something else that was bothering her. She looked into its eyes and asked.
"I have watched mortals rise and fall for longer than your kind has words for. Every age burns bright and then vanishes, leaving only ruins behind. Yet emotions scatter like dust, leaving no trace."
Crystal’s breath caught. The answer was not cold. It was apathetic
"You...Do you not understand emotions? It feels like you want to but don’t know how to..."
The Dragon God did not confirm her words, but something in the line of its posture softened. Just barely.
She stepped closer still, until the space between them was filled only by falling snow. Her voice was quiet now, barely more than breath as she looked up, her eyes steady.
"Then I’ll show you. If you’re really curious... Come see the world for yourself."
The Dragon God’s gaze did not waver. There was no shift in expression, no gesture of agreement. Just stillness.
Like a ripple across a still pond. A pressure behind her eyes. Not painful. Just... vast. Icy. A second awareness brushing against her own.
Her mouth opened slightly. "Wait. Are you—?"
A voice, without volume yet perfectly clear, replied from within.
"Physical presence is inefficient. I will remain here. This structure allows for constant observation."
Crystal blinked, trying to steady herself. The weight of the Dragon God’s mind was nothing like a human thought. It sat in her head like a mountain beneath the ocean.
"You could’ve asked."
"I do not request what is already available. You offered."
She closed her eyes for a moment. Her heartbeat was calm, but her thoughts were racing.
"So you’re just going to live in my mind now? Comment on everything I do?"
There was a pause. Then, flatly:
"Only when it is relevant."
"That’s not reassuring."
"No emotion detected. Recalibrating expectations."
A snort escaped her before she could stop it.
"You really have no idea how people work, do you?"
"That is why I am here."
She didn’t answer right away. The snow kept falling, slow and silent, the cold cradling her without biting.
"Just try not to narrate everything I’m doing like some ancient ghost roommate."
A flicker of something touched her mind. Not quite amusement. Not quite approval. But there.
"Request has been noted."
She looked up at the massive physical body of the Dragon God and was stunned as she watched it slowly melting into the snow, disappearing right before her very eyes
"So what is your name? I can’t keep calling you Dragon God all the time, right?"
The snow swallowed the last of the Dragon God’s towering form, leaving only a smooth circle of undisturbed frost where it had stood. For a moment, Crystal wondered if she had imagined the whole thing. But the presence in her mind remained. Vast. Silent. Watching.
She wrapped her arms around herself and repeated the question.
"So? Do you have a name?"
A pause stretched between them. Then the voice echoed once more, calm and emotionless.
"Names are tools for those who fear being forgotten. I have no use for them."
Crystal raised an eyebrow.
"Okay. That’s dramatic. But kind of a pain."
Another quiet beat. Then, as if processing her objection:
"If one is necessary, you may assign one. I will respond if it proves efficient."
She frowned, shifting her weight in the snow. "You’re really letting me name you?"
"Yes. The designation holds no inherent value."
Crystal watched as the last traces of the Dragon God faded into the snow, its massive form dissolving like a dream slipping away. Silence settled between them again, but this time it felt different. Lighter, less empty.
She smiled softly and whispered,
"Eisvir or Eis for short. That feels right."
The name hung in the cold air, crisp and clear like the frozen lake at dawn. Eisvir. It sounded like stillness and frost wrapped in a single word. A name that carried the weight of endless winter and quiet strength.
The presence inside her mind shifted, no longer distant but closer somehow, as if acknowledging the name with a subtle pulse of cold awareness.
"Then, Eis" Crystal said, turning away from the spot where the Dragon God had stood, "let’s see what the world has to show you."
Crystal slowly closed her eyes as the world around her began to crack and splinter. With the sound of shattering glass echoing in her ears, she once again opened her eyes to find herself in the very same church she had initially logged out in before.
She was now back in the game, but there was now another passenger in her mind.