"You ask us to believe in you, and in the failure you trust."
The Crystal Dragon's tone held no mockery. It never ridiculed anything, but doubt was a frequent presence in its life. "Your soul is pure enough. But that does not mean you have-ability."
Its tone was tactful, but its wording was not. "I can see that you are confident enough, but sometimes blindness brings confidence too.
"What will you use to prove it? Magic? Force?"
The Crystal Dragon slowly rose, lifting its mountainlike bulk until the mortal before it was almost a drop in the ocean to its eyes. "Even if you possessed the power to slay dragons, I doubt that would make me trust your confidence."
Tang Qi understood that the Giant Dragon before him, this ancient elder, was no longer someone he could fool with a few jokes and enchantment spells.
It could see the underlying nature of a soul. Any magical concealment would undermine the confidence he was displaying.
Yet he needed to offer something to prove that confidence.
To prove that, amid the Time Dragon's countless cycles, that destined ending would change because of him.
To prove that the failure he believed in could earn their costly trust once more.
To prove that abandoning the path back into the past could win a bright tomorrow for their descendants.
But what did he have that could prove all of that?
What could make the ancient dragon before him believe his confidence had a trustworthy foundation?
A mouth blessed with Silver Tongue?
Spells as "high" as the fourth circle?
The attention of three gods?
Or even a Journal that granted rewards?
No. None of that could convince anyone. It could not even convince him.
This world would not change even at the will of the gods.