What happened?
I'd regained my consciousness but my eyes were still sealed tightly. I can tell I'm lay on a hard, wet floor with my arm rested on a nearby rock. Wait? there's no pain, my muscles and joints just feel sore though. I felt a pang on the side of my head and the familiar, mocking voice shot straight into my ears.
'Boy, what happened to using the seal on your hand if you're in trouble'.
The voice sounded furious.
'So, was it you that helped me then'.
'Of course not, stupid boy. I'm talking into your head because I'm not near you, are you really that dense?'.
Great now I'm being mocked inside my own head.
'Can I sever this connection myself', I asked. Despite my eyes being closed I was gritting my teeth, begging for this voice to go away.
'No, you can't you're too weak', the voice mocked, laughing hysterically.
'Great … so you can hear all my thoughts huh?'. Really wanting to let out a sigh, I still couldn't open my mouth.
'Pretty much, anyway I'm leaving, your thoughts are annoying, just don't forget about that seal'.
My head cleared up and just like that, the voice was gone.
Focusing my attention back on my surroundings, I was welcomed by a drop of water landing on my forehead. My eyes slowly began opening, only to reveal a high rock ceiling. Tilting my head side to side, it was clear someone had dragged me into the cave.
Sitting up, I felt sharp bursts of pain all over my body, only to hear an unfamiliar, sweet voice, "Lie back down child, your wounds have been healed but your body has taken on a lot of stress, especially your muscles and joints".
The voice was soothing and soft, I could already picture it. I had been saved by a beauty and she was now caring for me. Looking in the direction the voice was coming from, sat a black cat with yellow eyes. I scanned around, nobody could be seen.
The cat stared at me licking its paws, "Child that voice was me".
My jaw dropped, "A talking cat, so I died after all didn't I", closing my eyes I was ready to drift away to a more peaceful place. That's when it hit me, wasn't there a dragon here.
I broke out into a cold sweat and glanced toward the cat, "Um, what about the dragon?".
The Cat broke into a toothy grin, "That's me!".
I was confused, stunned, every emotion possible was swirling. Clearly it was written all over my face as the cat jumped down, "Of course with my original size there's no way I'd fit in here. I used an illusion to scare of the pesky lizard and transformation to swap into this cat form. I'm really quite cuddly you know".
Her adorable voice certainly was not matching the weight of her words.
Fighting through the pain, I managed to sit up, "Transformation and Illusion, I've never been told of a dragon that can use these, can you explain?".
The cat strolled past me wagging its tail, "Of course not. I stole those powers from other creatures".
Stole! Sweat trickled down my face. I found myself instinctively lowering myself in an attempt not to be seen as hostile, the immediate threat from the single word 'Stole' made me cower in a way not even Azz could do.
"So you must be".
With its back still to me, the cats tone grew grave, "Erebus".
Fantastic, I'd barely survived a bear never mind that lizard creature and now I'm face to face with the strongest of the dragons. I didn't move, I couldn't move, it felt like any move I tried to make I'd be killed in an instant, all I could do was wait for Erebus to speak.
"Child", Erebus turned around and I instinctively flinched.
"There's no need to be so tense, I'm curious about your power, you're a mere mortal yet wield lightning. How did this come to be?", Erebus asked, seeming genuinely curious.
I began explaining everything, from sitting in the classroom, to the white crystal, meeting Azz and training also how I managed to end up here. Erebus' eyes sparkled and she hung on every word like a child being told a bedtime story. It was hard to believe this little fur ball was perhaps the strongest being in existence.
After listening, Erebus began pacing around, "Fascinating! so you were forcefully awakened, but you managed to control the power with the help of this Azz … but why does he seem so familiar".
I had a few questions of my own, "Excuse me, what do I call you?".
Not even batting an eye, the cat kept pondering, "Erebus is fine".
"Um … Erebus, why are there only five dragons in total?". The question had been bugging me since Azz's explanation.
Erebus' pacing halted, "Because we split from the primordial dragon, there were more, however their powers have not been passed on, they became lesser as a result".
Interesting, so the dragons can pass on their power.
"Are you immortal?", I pushed for more."No, our life span is long, but we aren't immortal, that's why we pass on powers", Erebus sat down on a rock in the corner and stared at me. Out of thin air, a dragon head appeared.
It was the same one I saw at the entrance but this time it had four horns on the side of its head.
I flinched back, the size of its jaws could eat a mansion, hell maybe more, "is that what your actual form looks like?".
"Yes, you see I was once a demon who inherited the past Erebus' powers, I used to be what demons and gods called a beast kin, a wolf with humanoid features to be exact. I never expected to fully turn into a dragon, my master the previous Erebus said it wouldn't happen", there was faint traces of sadness lining the corners of her eyes as she spoke.
I was stunned, they pass on power but won't turn into dragons, "Why are you telling me this? You seem awfully confident I won't talk about you, or the fact dragons inherit their powers".
Erebus turned away from me again, "Well reason one is you couldn't kill me even if there were millions of you. Reason two is that lightning, I want to train you".
Slumping back, despite how insulted I was, I held my frustration, the gap in strength was so clear you could physically feel it.
"Why do you want to train me though?", I was suspicious, the explanation Azz gave made dragons out to be incredibly hostile.
Erebus still didn't turn around, rather she curled into a ball, "It reminds me of my old student, thousands of years ago, curious and intelligent similar to you".
Standing up, I brushed myself off. I was not about to waste this opportunity, "Perfect, I'm ready to start whenever you are".
Ears perked up, Erebus hoped off the rock and tapped my ankle with her paw, the pain made my entire body jolt. She turned to walk away, "Sit back down child, we will begin in three days when your body has healed".
Sitting back down, I still didn't want to waste this time, it was too valuable, the strongest and one of the oldest creatures was in front of me but I couldn't think what to do. Then it clicked, she said she was a demon but a part wolf.
"Erebus, you mentioned you were a wolf with humanoid features, did you have a snout and whiskers with sharp claws then?".
I can learn more about demons and their structure from her, perfect.
Facing me, she vanished, a black cloud had completely enveloped Erebus. From behind the cloud walked a woman with pale skin, white hair but with pointy ears and a tail, not forgetting the four horns wrapping around her head almost like a crown, accompanied by incredible light blue eyes.
"This is what I looked like", Erebus spun as if in a fashion show.
Rubbing my eyes, I couldn't believe it, she's literally just a wolf-girl like you see on television, it was unbelievable. If people found out the all-powerful Erebus was just a cute girl there'd be instant uproar.
"Where I'm from we would call you a demi-human, do all demons look like this then?".
I just stole demi-human from shows but she doesn't need to know that.
"Not at all child. If you want me to explain in detail I can do so?", Erebus said swapping back into her cat form.
First and foremost, I had to decide what it was I wanted to learn about demons. Dare I say that the power system in this world seems like a fairly straightforward one, even despite the vast number of layers it seems to possess.
The part that even now I struggled to be able to fully comprehend was the fact that this world actually existed. It was something you don't really notice back on Earth, you know, the fact that everyone around you also has their own lives, problems, battles and achievements.
I wasn't so naïve as to believe that this world was all sunshine and rainbows, in all honesty, I half expected it to be a blood bath between the gods and demons, but evidently that wasn't the case.
A clang resounded that pulled me from my thoughts. Erebus was sat, perched atop a rock, running her claws across the damp surface. As soon as a nail snapped, it was swiftly replaced by another.
I wonder if all demons can do what she is doing.
Erebus herself was a weird one. She seemed, kind of empty headed at times, like she was just drifting around the cave without any idea what she was trying to accomplish. But she possessed a thick, terrifying aura that clung to her body at all times. I wanted to take the initiative and speak, but it felt as if there was some invisible wall between us, preventing me from advancing.
Our positions were just too different. Right now, I was nothing more than an ant in front of her. I hadn't felt this helpless since … well, I've never felt this helpless. Even against Azz, I couldn't beat him in a fight, but I felt like I could play mind games with him.
Erebus was different, no matter how much I looked, I couldn't find a way to penetrate that barrier between us.
She was unbeatable.
I clapped my hands, startling her, "THAT'S IT!".
Noticing the difference between us, I began to think of a new idea that I could utilise.
Protecting myself was my top priority of course, after all, I seriously didn't want to die before mastering my power. The fastest way for me to get killed was stepping on someone's toes that was of a much higher rank that I was.
To avoid this, I finally made my choice on what to ask her.
"If you could explain about the demons hierarchy, that would be great!", I was beaming, so much information in such a short amount of time was a goldmine.
Erebus crossed her legs, resting her chin on her hands, "That's a good choice boy, if you fall into the trap of annoying some like me, it wouldn't end well for you".
She mulled it over before hopping down from the rock, "Now then. Would you like to see something".
I nodded ecstatically as I watched her take a seat in the middle of the room. A thick, white glow that dwarfed my own lightning rippled across the surface of the floor; my own lightning sprung from my body in response.
As soon as the two tendrils collided, mine was instantly swallowed up as if it wasn't even a threat to her.
"W-What the hell?", I stammered out. Even Azz hadn't been able to dwarf me like this.
Erebus smirked back at me, her tail wagging with pride, "That's the main difference between the two of us. The one with a high rank will be able to completely subdue the one with a lower rank without any real issues".
"I-I … see", I was completely taken back by her brief display of power.
She's a monster.
"Now then!", she perched atop her favourite rock again, "I suppose I should start a small lecture for you, in order to better understand demons and their long history of manufacturing power from basically nothing".