New Calendar 352, winter.
The rustling snowflakes fell from the gray sky, coating the towers, streets and squares of Crimson Flame Royal City with an ever-increasing layer of silver.
The wind blows from the wilderness in the north, picking up fine snow foam and hitting the rocks and metal, making a soft rustling sound.
Red Iron Dragon is perched on the top of a steep cliff.
He allowed the increasingly dense snowflakes to cling to his back and broad wing membranes. He slowly stretched out a front paw, spread out the thick palm pad, caught some falling snowflakes, and quietly watched them melt into water in his paws, and then quickly evaporate.
"Unknowingly, I am already one hundred and thirty-two years old."
Garos retracted his paws and looked towards the snowy distance.
The past years flowed through his mind like an endless river.
Judging from Dragonkin's long life span, he is undoubtedly still very young, and the chapter of dragon life has just begun.
However, the density and intensity of the battles, planning, construction and challenges he has experienced in these more than a hundred years are enough to dwarf many Ancient Dragons who have lived longer.
For example, White Dragon Beskar.
Although he is Ancient Dragon, he spent most of his long years in dormancy and forbearance. In addition to meeting the basic needs of survival, he hid in some unknown corner and watched the passage of time.
Amethyst Dragon Iseramathus's situation is slightly different, but essentially it's still far away from the hustle and bustle.
The thickness and breadth of this type of dragon life are far less solid and rich than Garos.
Red Iron Dragon stood on the top of the mountain, like a sculpture cast from steel, silently looking down at the kingdom that belonged to him below.
The outline of Crimson Flame Royal City is slightly blurred in the snow, but those flickering lights still penetrate the wind and snow, outlining the city's vigorous vitality.
A few seconds later, he broke through the roar of the wind and snow and accurately called out a name.
"Vera."
"Here!"
A circle of ripples appeared in the air, and the small figure of Fairy Dragon appeared in response.
She hovered on the side of Garos's huge head, her wings kept vibrating at a high frequency, her head held high, and she responded crisply, as usual.
Garos lowered his huge and majestic head, and his gaze fell steadily on Fairy Dragon.
He looked at Fairy Dragon carefully.
At first glance, the appearance of Vera seems to be the same as when we first saw it more than a hundred years ago.
It is still the same exquisite and petite body; the scales are bright and bright, reflecting the changing colors of the rainbow, as if a blurred glow is draped on the body.
However, if you observe long enough and carefully enough, you can still catch some subtle changes.
The edges of her wings, which are as thin as cicada wings, have some subtle wrinkles that did not exist before but are now difficult to detect; the originally bright and dazzling scale color shows faint traces of gray in a few places such as the neck and the joints of the wing roots.
Her eyes were still alert, but occasionally there was a hint of fatigue.
Moreover, Garos noticed changes in behavior early on.
Fairy Dragon sneaked in to watch him exercise less often, and the endless pranks she used to do were rare now. She began to become particularly lethargic, and she often spent most of the day huddled in her small attic room filled with clutter, or in a warm corner of the palace, snoring softly.
Red Iron Dragon leaned down.
His huge head almost touched the snow, and he looked level with the petite Fairy Dragon. In his eyes, the tiny gray marks on Vera's scales were reflected, like the ashes mixed in the fire in winter.
"Vera."
Red Iron Dragon asked, "How old are you this year?"
Fairy Dragon blinked her eyes and flapped her wings twice.
She tilted her head, looking like she was remembering, stretched out her little paws, and counted them one by one.
"One, two, three... Hmm, it seems to be one hundred and sixty-three? No, it should be one hundred and sixty-four?"
"Oops, I can't remember the exact year, but I must be over one hundred and sixty years old!"
After saying that, she laughed as usual.
But Garos didn't laugh.
He was a little silent, and there was only the sound of the wind and snow whizzing by on the mountain top.
"I remember."
After a few seconds, Red Iron Dragon slowly spoke with a heavy voice, "The lifespan of your Fairy Dragon family is probably two hundred years."
Fairy Dragon is one hundred and sixty years old... this means that she has entered the twilight of her life.
The recently observed changes, the wrinkles in the wing membranes, the dulling of the scales, lethargy and loss of energy, all have reasonable explanations.
The hands of the clock of her life are moving towards the end.
If Legendary Realm cannot break through, Fairy Dragon can theoretically live to be two hundred years old.
But this is only a theoretical limit.
In fact, most Fairy Dragon will come to an end much earlier, around the age of one hundred, seventeen or eighty.
When the lively and naughty nature of Fairy Dragon completely disappears, completely loses interest in pranks and fun, becomes silent, dull, and sleepy all day long, it often means that the last moment is approaching.
Perhaps after a seemingly ordinary nap, he could never wake up again.
The state of Vera has begun to approach this stage.
"Yes, yes."
Fairy Dragon seems completely unaware of the weight of Garos.
She flew forward lightly, landed on one of his huge front paws, and found a comfortable position to sit on the relatively flat wrist scales, her tail wagging behind her.
"I can't compare with you guys who can easily live for thousands of years."
"In human terms, I am now the old lady in Fairy Dragon."
She spoke very calmly, even casually scratching a slightly dull scale on her lower chin with her hind paws.
Garos fell into deeper silence.
Garos was slightly silent, and the lights of the royal city under the cliff were as hazy as stars in the thickening snow.
Memories came flooding back uncontrollably.
When he was still Hatchling Dragon, struggling for survival on the crisis-ridden Ser Wilderness, he had already gotten to know this Fairy Dragon.
The initial encounter was full of deception and minor misunderstandings, and the process was not a wonderful one.
But after that, the joyful mood in Vera did provide him with rare relief and adjustment amid the ubiquitous crises and pressures in the wilderness, preventing him from being as tense as a bow full of strings all the time.
Almost every step of his rise was witnessed by this Fairy Dragon.
Unknowingly, he himself had grown into a powerful Legendary Realm dragon, and the little troublemaker with excess energy back then had quietly passed into the twilight years of his life.
Fairy Dragon aging, death... this thought makes Garos feel a strange sluggishness.
He was not used to thinking about the death of things around him, especially an existence that had long been integrated into his life.
"Is there a way? A way to extend life."
Red Iron Dragon asked.
As for relying on one's own breakthrough Legendary Realm to obtain a life transition... the hope is even slimmer.
The level of Fairy Dragon itself is not low, but when the dragon begins to decline, its growth rate will decrease sharply. It is extremely unlikely to break through the already extremely difficult Legendary Realm pass.
Vera stopped wagging its tail.
"Yes."
She used a tone that told a secret, lowering her already small voice.
"Legend has it that if we Fairy Dragon can return to the original Ancestral Land, be recognized by Ancestral Spirit, and accept the baptism of Primal Breath, we may be able to reshape the foundation of life. If we are lucky enough, we may even break through the shackles in one fell swoop and become Legendary Realm life..."
She paused and folded her wings a little.
"But, this is just a possibility."
"This is what the old stories say. Who knows if it is true or not, and how many of them have actually succeeded?"
Fey Wilds.
Garos knows this place. It is one of many Outer Planess. It is a country where mini ethnic gods live. It is also the main habitat of various Fae creatures and natural spirits. It is a world full of magic, wonders and unpredictability.
"I'll take you to Fey Wilds."
Red Iron Dragon made a decision and said.
"Since there is an opportunity, you should not give up trying. Besides, I have never set foot in Outer Planes. There is no harm in taking this opportunity to see a different world."
Outer Planes, that is the real land of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, connected with endless possibilities and dangers.
The ancient ancestor whose surname Garos belongs to, the powerful dragon named Ignas, if he had not died, would most likely be hiding deep in a certain Outer Planes.
Fairy Dragon raised his head with a proud expression on his face.
"Don't forget, Your Majesty, I am Planar Dragon."
She puffed up her little chest and said, "Actually, I have long been able to open the passage to Fey Wilds by myself and return to my hometown."
Red Iron Dragon was startled when he heard this, and then asked, "I have never heard you mention this. Don't you want to go back to the hometown where you were born?"
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, have you forgotten something?"
Fairy Dragon laughed out loud, flapped its wings and flew up, hovering in front of Garos's huge eyes, its wings vibrating at a high frequency.
She made an exaggerated look of fear and pointed at her heart with her little paw.
"I have your contract with me! That terrifying and powerful Enslavement Contract."
"If I secretly run to Fey Wilds, so far away from you, what if the contract breaks out halfway and wipes me out? I don't dare to take this risk."
Enslavement Contract?
Garos A trace of doubt flashed across his eyes, and then the corner of his memory was lit up.
He remembered what Fairy Dragon was referring to.
That was a past event that he had almost completely forgotten.
In the beginning, in order to keep this useful but troublesome little guy, but he lacked effective means of control, he casually frightened her into signing a contract with the fictitious Enslavement Contract.
"That contract," Garos stared at Fairy Dragon and said, "It's fake."
The mountain wind blew through, blowing the snow like smoke.
Vera was quiet for about two or three seconds.
Then, the fearful expression on her face disappeared instantly.
She stretched out her little paws and pointed directly at the tip of Red Iron Dragon's huge nose, and then burst into a series of crisp and loud laughter.
"Keke... ahha! Cunning Evil Dragon, I actually knew it a long time ago!"
"That lie of yours was not well crafted at all!"
She laughed so much that she turned somersaults in the air, "You don't think that the extremely smart Lord Vera can't see such a lame lie, do you? I, I have always been cooperating with you in acting!"
"You..."
Rarely, Red Iron Dragon was at a loss for words.
"I just want to see when you will expose it yourself."
Vera finally stopped laughing, but the curvature of the corners of his eyes did not change, and said, "It turns out that it will take a hundred years to wait, and you are too good at holding it back, but... this is good. With the contract, I can justifiably rely on Material Plane."
"It's so fun here. You can tease those Dire Bear who look fierce and silly."
"There are countless interesting creatures in the royal city, including humans, Goblin, Ogre... each of them can play with me, listen to my stories, or be teased by me; there are so many novel things happening constantly..."
"So, it's not that you can't go, but you don't want to go Fey Wilds?"
Garos asked.
"It's not entirely because I don't want to."
Fairy Dragon stretched out, revealing the lighter-colored scales on his belly.
"At first, I thought it was fun, like a long-lasting adventure game. Later, I got used to the life here, and then... I also wanted to see how far Hatchling Dragon, who scared me at the beginning, could grow, and whether he could stand in the sky and fulfill his dream."
She flew up, approached Garos's huge visor, and put her small forehead against it.
"But," she continued in a whisper, "I feel really tired now."
"The flapping of my wings is not as brisk and powerful as before, and the wonderful inspirations for mischief in my mind seem to be less frequent. I can no longer play tirelessly all day long like before."
After saying that, she fell into the dragon's claws again, and then yawned, feeling a little sleepy.
Garos stares at Fairy Dragon.
"I will send you to Fey Wilds."
He repeated, with a tone that left no room for doubt.
Vera rubbed it into his warm palm.
"That won't work. Fey Wilds is full of little cuties like me. If you, a big Evil Dragon, go there, you will scare the aborigines inside and trigger a crusade."
"Don't underestimate us little ones, there are Deity among us."
"Besides, they live in Fey Wilds and will not allow a big Evil Dragon like you to wreak havoc."
Fairy Dragon said happily.
Garos said, "Are you worried that I will cause trouble if I go to Fey Wilds? No, I have a sense of proportion, and compared with the planes of Abyss and Hell, Fey Wilds is basically harmless, and the Legendary Realm dragon is enough to fly in them."
In fact, Legendary Realm is not a weakling anywhere.
In addition, there is Deity inside Fey Wilds, but the gods live in their own kingdoms and will not pay attention to a Legendary Realm life unless there is a huge movement that makes them aware.
Fairy Dragon blinked.
"Yeah, if it's you, it must be fine."
"You can go to the wilderness with me, but not now."
She said, "I have to wait for spring. I hate going out in winter. It's too cold, there are no beautiful flowers and plants, and there are few small animals. I want to see Material Plane's spring again, and then return to Pixies's hometown."
Garos nodded slightly.
"Okay, wait for spring."
"Then it's settled, my dear Majesty Ignas."
Vera's voice gradually became lower and lower with deep tiredness, "Spring is here, you will go with me Fey Wilds... Now, I will sleep for a while... Remember to wake me up to watch the sunrise..."
Her breathing became even and long, and she fell asleep in Red Iron Dragon's claws.
Garos closed his claws to block all the cold wind for Fairy Dragon.
He did not exercise any more today, but just sat on the high ground on the cliff, closed his eyes and took a nap.