"Affection says to just keep flying in that direction. Eventually we will come upon land. And there is some tunnel system that you can fly down into and through and eventually you will reach the dragons lair."

  "Okay."

  Ever since the night was over, Rou wasn't sure what it was, but he noticed a slight difference between his father and grandmother. They were cordial before, but he couldn't help but notice Dana looked a bit awful. The only thing he heard? 'Could not sleep well.' While Rou didn't quite believe it, he also didn't push the topic. Instead he simply hugged her and stayed on her lap for the trip.

  It was quite a long ways too, to the island in question. Apparently the world they were on was simply that much larger than his old world. Enough so that simply flying in a straight line for days and days at seemingly a very quick pace, judging by how quickly they passed certain things he saw at times - a ship here or there in the distance at least while they were near the mainland, or a random large creature surfacing now and then. Even birds became scarce they further they went out.

  Day and night passed and Dana used light magic to keep herself awake as they traveled with no land to rest on and eventually they did see an island.

  'This one?'

  "The one right past it. This is a chain of volcanic islands that the dragon made forever ago. He caused a few eruptions way deep down and these eventually formed."

  'Impressive.'

  They all sat down and Dana took the time to have a nap - they all did as Affection mentioned it was safe there. And after one more night, they were all awake and ventured to the next island by air. And indeed, the three floated high up and saw there looked to be a slight overhang in a mountain that fed into a tunnel that went down, probably further than any of them knew.

  "Are you two ready?" Dana asked, mostly towards Rou as she assumed him to be the weak point of them all. After all he was still in a childs body.

  "She's right. You ready? You can stay here if you want." Dominic tried to doublecheck.

  "Mmm. I am coming too. I like soft, fluffy things the most but I still want to see the dragon." Dominic chuckled and picked him up before nodding at Dana - the Archmage not making eye contact as they descended.

  –

  The shield stayed up the entire trip as they got lower and lower into the earth. By this point, none of them knew how far down they'd gone, only that the entire cave and pathway was illuminated by glowing, phosphorescent lichens that seemed to have fully colonized it. Quite alien in nature, Rou was rather a wonder about it all as he'd never seen anything so magical despite seemingly knowing a bit of dark magic.

  Eventually though the pathway turned and went in a straight line and they came to land on a floor. The shield stayed up of course as the three looked around, the entire area currently only lit up by plants.

  'Are we safe down here without a shield, or should she keep it up?'

  "I can't make any claims, but…"

  A while ago Affection stared sharing his senses and had never stopped, so she could see things he couldn't. "The entire area is covered in magic, walls and rocks and everything. But given this place is for a dragon and not mortals, I can't imagine he would have catered it in any way to make it more accommodating for those such as yourself."

  'Right. Thank you dear.'

  "Affection seems to not know the details here too well though from what she gathers, it's probably not suited to us. Best to keep the shield up until we can ask the owner directly."

  "Right. I guess we should go in."

  "Mmm. Grandma, lean down?"

  Confused, Dana leaned down in the shield in front of Rou only to let out a squeak as Rou casually thumped her nose. "How would you feel if someone just walked into your estate and demanded to speak to you."

  "I would be quite upset."

  Dominic actually laughed at this, finding it nostalgic. Despite never having seen Rou smack someone on the head like that, he got the feeling that perhaps in another life he might have.

  "So we should knock. But how do you suggest we do that?"

  They all looked around before Rou rather simply turned and shouted,

  "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" Just as loudly as they could. Both Dominic and Shiela covered their faces and groaned slightly, the fairly childish method of announcing themselves quite possibly being the most direct.

  "Rou, I don't think–"

  –

  The entire world began to shake, thanks to the shield that was around them the falling debris of the cavern's roof didn't damage them. Small rock shards, and even some large ones, shook off the ceiling and crashed down causing quite the show, stalactites falling off and piercing into the stone below. In the distance, several hundred yards ahead, a deep, dark orange red glow began to illuminate the area and outlined the jowls and cheeks of the massive creature - but also illuminated just how much larger the cavern was than they initially thought. The cavern was probably half as big around as the capital itself, but only bits and pieces here at the entrance were smaller.

  The shield started to crack and Dana quickly began to apply layer after layer of magic to prevent the clearly ambient roiling aether from bursting through the shield, the ancient being glowing hotter and hotter before the dragon belched - not fire, but a burp.

  "..."

  "..."

  "..."

  The three visitors were rather unimpressed as the being that was clearly so massive somehow managed to nearly break through a couple of layers of shields simply with a stretch and a burp.

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  But it wasn't much longer before in the empty darkness ahead, that was only illuminated by the glowing jowls of the dragon that slowly dimmed, was a pair of eyes that opened and stared at them.

  –

  "How did you even get down here? Begone while I am being kind. …if you even can get back." The dragon's voice echoed in the darkness, throaty, powerful, even his speaking causing the shields to shake a little.

  "We came to speak with you, why would we leave?"

  "Rou!" Dana tried to discourage him before the dragon began to laugh rather raucously, once again causing the earth there itself to shake. His jowls once again began to light up with draconic fire inside his body only for him to lob a small ball of congealed dragons fire in their general direction. Both Dominic and Dana covered instinctively, but Rou just… stared.

  Why?

  Well, he trusted Affection. She'd suggested to come here, so fully expected he'd be safe no matter what.

  "Oh, look at you. Barely bigger than a pebble but you didn't hide. Very well…" The dragon promptly stood up and shook a bit like a dog, stretching and straining as it popped its back before shrinking a bit and walking into the tunnel properly until it was - while still impossibly massive - able to fit in the entryway. "I can't even imagine you knowing I was here enough to come speak to me, so what is it?"

  Dana and Dominic both started to speak before the dragon barked loudly in their direction, warning, "I gave him permission to speak. I do not humor cowards."

  The irony being that Rou was the largest coward here by a large distinction.

  "Can I step out of this shield safely?"

  "...that is a good question." The dragon looked around before the area lit up with magic. "Go on then."

  Rou stepped out, looking at his frozen grandmother and father before sighing and approaching the dragon. Seeing the small child motion for him to lean down, he did, only to find himself touched on the nose. Rou closed his eyes, letting Affection and whoever the other voice was in his soul reach out and share a bit of his memories, a bit of his soul, with the dragon.

  The recent memories Rou experienced while flying over the forest, of the black spore infestation and how deep he understood it to be.

  "Affection mentioned Dragons Fire would be useful. But are you capable of doing all that on your own? It is quite… widespread from what I could feel."

  The dragon's eyes opened and he stared down at Rou after raising his neck and head back up. Couldn't quite figure out what was up with the child, but transformed again, from dragon into a slightly strange-looking body. Somewhat reptilian, somewhat humanoid, two legs, two arms, two wings, upright, scales and spines and spikes and certainly not one of the normal types in this world.

  "It is the duty of us dragons to deal with things like that, but to think it got that advanced, that is a wonder. I cannot say there has been an infestation so bad in even the age of a dragon. However can you… how did you…"

  Rou smiled and casually shared his screen with the dragon.

  Status Screen 1.03

  Name: Rou Erial(???)(???)

  Titles:[Beloved of the Gods] [Affection's Betrothed]

  "Huh. I guess that would explain a little. Very well, I will do my duty. Anything else you would ask of me?"

  Rou thought about it, looked up while idly talking with Affection, then reached out his hand again. The dragon touched his hand with his own and heard a voice in his head.

  "This is Affection, you might have put two and two together. Do your job, and if you somehow gain the attention of Creation… do not mention Rou to him. Make up an excuse. You discovered this on your own somehow. Claim you had an urge to wander or something, I care not. Don't ask why. Not to me, not to anyone. You might eventually learn, but for now… it is best avoided. Do you agree?"

  "A strange request, given he is beloved, but very well. I suppose I will be off."

  "Wait. Take the boy with you, but keep him safe, and… hidden as best you can. I don't know how well you can sense the stuff, but Rou… can. Work with him to try and make sure it is all gone?"

  "Hmm. Very well."

  And with that the connection was cut. Rou stepped back and the dragon shook his head and looked down at him, and his father and grandmother both of whom were able to move now. Rou trotted over to give them each a hug in turn before saying, "I think it's taken care of. I'll have to go with him, but if it's the three of us it might be a problem." then looked towards the dragon. "You can fly us faster back home, yes? Could you safely drop grandma and dad off first?"

  "...do I look like a boat to you?" The dragon sighed, "Very well."

  Rou smiled and held his family's hands, one hand for Dana, who was a bit lost by how fast this all went, and Dominic, who by this point was simply amused and going with the flow.

  What Rou hadn't expected, though, was they were in the cave, and then they weren't.

  "Teleportation?"

  Apparently they were back above the ocean again on the top of the island, the dragon saying simply, "Light Mage, toss up a shield and all of you get in." Dana nodded and found herself picked up as the humanoid-formed dragon transitioned back into his small form and grew and grew until he was back to his full, natural size. Easily longer than any of them could see, four legs and a long tail - a bit more 'western' in design from Rou's original world.

  The shielded three when held in the dragon's claws? They were the size of a jewelry bead in comparison at best. It was really quite amazing to Rou just how large the dragon really was all said.

  What was even more amazing to all three was just how fast the dragon flew. What took them a week or so of straight flying and a couple days rest? The dragon covered in a few hours. With simple directions from Rou, and the dragon even using magic to make itself unnoticed by those below. It flew high over the capital before stopping, causing those below in the capital to be a bit confused why everything seemed shady suddenly on the otherwise sunny day.

  He dropped the shield and Dana flew around a bit to get out of the way, before flying up and unwillingly letting Rou up onto the top of the dragon's head, behind one of his horns.

  "Are you sure about this Rou? We can stay with you!" Naturally Dana was far more worried than not, Dominic, however, at this point he was so… 'used' to the strangeness that he'd just relented into things. Not happy about it, but equally trusting Rou because of the past lives, and Affection being involved. Rou simply hugged his grandmother, then father and insisted he was fine. Soon it was just Rou and the dragon as he watched the two descend in the shield.

  "Well then little one, where to?"

  "Mmm… can you feel me tapping your horn?"

  The dragon nodded gently to avoid disturbing the boy. Not that it hadn't used some magic to help keep in place but all the same, Rou was /tiny/ in comparison.

  "In that case, that way." Rou gently tapped on the dragons head or horn here and there to guide him in the right direction and once they got to the area, Rou shivered a tiny bit before saying, "Here, here. Can you sense it like I can?"

  Thoughtful, the dragon finally said, "A bit, but not much. I would have flown right past it without your saying."

  "In that case, let's mark a wide area around the outside of it based on what I feel and even some extra, and then let's assume everything inside?"

  "Smart."

  It took nearly three hours of exploration with a downsized dragon to try and build an outline around the giant area that was infected and both of them were quite surprised by just how badly it seemed. But Rou kept feeling it was worse than he thought.

  "Can I ask you to check something with me?"

  "I am already here, what is it?"

  "In your form closer to my height, can you make a hole straight down? I think we should check how deep it goes too. I can't shake the feeling that there's something else I don't know about. I'm sorry if I'm wasting your time, but something here… terrifies me and I can't figure out what it is. I don't think it's just the spores."

  A soft grunt of affirmation and the dragon transformed back into the humanoid-shape despite being a bit taller, then carefully held Rou with one arm and used magic to burrow straight down. They went for a quarter mile before Rou softly asked them to stop. His eyes closed and he just… tried to calm himself.

  "Have you ever burned stuff like this before?"

  "A few times, why?"

  "Are the spores alive?"

  "Oh, no child, slimes died ages and ages ago. The only things around now are descended from them. Why do you ask?"

  "I feel like it's alive, and it's… hungry."

  –

  ~Hey, Affy… it… it can't be alive, can it?~

  "Of course not, besides, we're in Rou's soul yeah? These worlds… are inside of him. How could he have a living slime in him?"

  ~Well, Astyss said he couldn't restore anything with a soul. But things without souls he could. If the slime doesn't have a soul, and was never destroyed originally…?~

  "It's not possible… surely."

  ~But who can we even ask? We're with Rou now. You can't go back again can you?~

  "I could but I have the feeling it wouldn't work out easily. It might mess up this life of his."

  ~Perhaps you cannot, but I am him. I'll go ask.~

  –

  "Mm… Laughter."

  The high-dimensional beings who were lazing half asleep, except Laughter, were surprised when the still body of Rou - which had been held and cuddled(and probably felt up now and then) by Laughter was suddenly moving and speaking.

  "Ah, what is it?"

  "Have you noticed anything strange in Rou's souls?"

  "No, but I haven't looked either, trusting you two on that one. Why?"

  "Mm. Astyss, you're still about, right? I was half asleep but I got the impression that you… were interested in knowing how things turned out."

  …

  Silence all around as Aether came up. "He left right after Rou passed out and…"

  "No, I do not think he did. I am a pretty good judge of character and I could not help but think he would never just leave after finding Rou and I. Our souls were too novel to him, he was too excited about it. Come on Astyss, I know you're here. Or at least you can hear and see what's going on."

  …

  "Well shit, guess I wasn't as hidden as I liked." Suddenly the gem-skinned Astyss appeared. "But whatever could you need?"

  The others present were quite surprised to know he was there and watching, but clearly not Celia.

  "When you restored the worlds, turned back time for them locally, for all the life without a soul… our world. Did you pay attention to the details, or just do it and forget?"

  "Oh, well, I can't say I paid much attention to what was on there at all. Just turned things back, put them into a dimensional pocket and pushed them into your body. Why?"

  "Is it possible that there was something on that world, without a soul but still alive, that either remained or was restored somehow throughout it all? Some kind of plant entity perhaps. A spore lifeform."

  Astyss seemed a bit surprised at how specific and detailed Celia was being before walking up to the body Rou and she shared and touching their chest. He seemed thoughtful, shaking his head a little here and there before he exclaimed slightly, "Sorry, too many world seeds in there for me to search quickly. But if you can guide me to a specific one I could try, but… you sure you want me to interrupt a growing world like that? Could cause problems."

  "Mmm… you know better than me the dangers. It's just Affection and I both feel like something is wrong. It feels like something… snuck in so to speak in the process. I can feel Rou's thoughts on the matter. It's the same as that pet of yours, the high-dimensional predator? Rou can feel something. He said it feels hungry."

  "Does he now?" Astyss summoned a chair and sat down, looking thoughtful as they floated in space, in a sort of void. "Well, he did seem to think the predator was hungry too, and it was looking at him. Wonder what's up with that. That said, I may not be able to reverse time, but I can certainly stop it for a while and snoop around. Consider it my treat for asking me something interesting."

  And then Astyss was gone. The high-dimensional beings were confused, but Celia could feel the extra-dimensional being inside of Rou's body. Thus she walked back over towards Laughter and hugged around him, giving him a gentle kiss and then curling up against him to fall unconscious again.

  https://www.patreon.com/c/happybunnywrites