Felix's mind was racing. He immediately thought of the only two dragons he had ever heard of, Arboro and Azula, who's corpses supposedly formed the mountain chains by the same name that made up the borders of the Aurul kingdom. Unfortunately, he didn't really know anything else about them, save that they were lovers when they were alive. But just how long ago were they alive? It had to have been ages ago, several millennia at the very least. He didn't know how long a spirit could stay in the world, but surely, even for a dragon, multiple millennia of hanging around without entering the afterlife or dissipating was way too much, right?
Felix did his best to continue absorbing the darkness around him. No matter how much of it he took in, more of it came from the hole in the ground on the other side of the cave, as if it were an infinite wellspring of dark element. Felix was curious about the hole, but he decided he needed to focus on the spirit within him, because, well, it was within him. The longer he had to wait to figure out what the deal was with this spirit, the more uncomfortable he would get, due to his lack of knowledge about the being that had entered his spell space, which until this point, Felix had considered to be almost like a second imaginary space, separate from his head.
After what felt like roughly eight solid hours of focusing on absorbing the darkness around him, the dragon spirit seemed to be fully formed, and the flow of darkness slowed to a passive trickle, seeming to be slowly nourishing the spirit. It seemed Felix did not need to actively assist it any more. This was a good thing, because frankly, he was exhausted at this point. He carved out a small niche and stone pillow on the floor, and went to sleep. Between his ordeal with the demon mage, the river, casting spells all day to dig, and now the dragon spirit, he was extremely tired. He fell asleep near instantly, despite the cold dark surrounding him.
As he slept, the dark element danced around Felix, shrouding him and covering him, and replenishing his spirit. He did not dream, and he awoke 10 hours later, rather groggily. He was thirsty, and he remembered the river. He cursed himself for not bringing some of it's water with him, and he headed to his makeshift mineshaft. Unfortunately the darkness still shrouded the exit, seemingly unwilling to let him pass.
This greatly annoyed Felix.
"Hey! You wanted me to save this spirit, right? Well I saved it! It's in me now. Now if you don't want me to die, and that spirit with me, I'm going to need water!" He yelled out in annoyance to the darkness.
To his surprise, the darkness began to react. It started bubbling and swirling around him, and some of it seeped into his mouth, much to his shock and surprise, and suddenly, his mouth was full of water. It was a very uncomfortable thing to have water magically form in his mouth, so he spluttered a bit, nearly choking, but he quickly got the memo as more of it formed, and he began to swallow it. Eventually, he was satisfied, and he spluttered out "No more!", and the darkness ceased to form water in his mouth.
This series of events shocked Felix. He had never heard of darkness forming water, much less darkness acting on it's own accord without the mana manipulation of a mage. But, after he sat down and the shock wore off, he realized he didn't know what to do at this point. The dragon spirit was still there, resting in his spell space. It looked a lot better after he spent 10 hours sleeping, and seemed to be recovering it's vitality. He tried to see if he could actively assist it by rotating his dark shroud and actively drawing in darkness into his spell space like before, but it didn't seem to have any effect.
So, all Felix could do was wait. He couldn't leave the cave, he couldn't make his way to the surface, and he unfortunately couldn't construct any spells, since he had lost the book the military had given him, along with his backpack. He briefly explored the cave, but it was rather small, and completely barren, save for the hole in the ground on the other side of the cave, which Felix was absolutely determined to avoid.
So he sat there, and quickly grew bored. He also began to grow hungry, but he had long accepted that was going to happen. He wasn't expecting to eat again for at least a week even before he came to the cave, now he was expecting to look like a skeleton if he made back to the surface. A few hours passed, and Felix could do nothing but stare at the dragon spirit.
Luckily, Felix didn't have to wait too long. Spirits weren't made of flesh, and reconstructing and repairing them seemed to be much easier, especially when aided by incredibly pure darkness, which was the element of spirituality. The dragon spirit started to stir, and eventually, it opened it's eyes. It looked at him.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"Thank you." It said simply. But not verbally, it spoke directly to his mind.
"You're welcome? I think?" Felix said out loud, not really sure how he was supposed to talk to the spirit. The spirit gave a mirth-filled snort.
"I was lucky to have been felt by a dark Yang spirit such as yourself. Umm... This is a bit awkward, but, I had to attach myself to your soul..." The dragon shifted it's eyes around, looking like it felt guilty.
"And what a mangy soul it is." The dragon snorted. "Your Yang spirit looks like it was beaten up and chewed on by a dog." It said with derision.
"You're one to talk. I couldn't even recognize you as a dragon when I found you. I don't know how my own soul looks like, but surely no matter how bad it is, it can't be worse than how you were." Felix said out loud, feeling mildly offended that the spirit had called his soul mangy.
"Eh?" The dragon said, looking very puzzled all of a sudden. "What do you mean you don't know how your soul looks? Aren't you a dark mage?" It asked him, clearly confused. By what, Felix wasn't yet sure.
"Yeah, a dark mage of all of like one week. Also, since you're somehow in my spell space, look around. The only darkness spell I even have so far is Night Eye. I don't know the first thing about souls." Felix said in an irritated tone.
The dragon's eyes went wide and it looked around his spell space. Sure enough, it only saw Night Eye, in addition to the earth element spells he had constructed.
"But, that doesn't make any sense. If you don't know any other darkness spells, where is your Yin spirit? I assumed you were some kind of idiot novice dark mage who split their own soul in order to be in two places at once, but damaged yourself in the process, and that's why your Yang spirit was damaged." The dragon said, clearly looking befuddled.
"How the hell should I know?" Felix grumbled, really annoyed by the spirit.
"No, really, this shouldn't be possible. Every soul in this world is a combination of Yin and Yang in one body. Only dark mages should be able to split their own souls. Were you cursed or something?" The dragon asked.
"Well, I was planning on keeping this a secret, but, considering you're clearly some kind of great dark spirit, you will probably figure it out eventually anyway. My soul isn't from this world. It contains memories of another world." Felix said. The darkness around him seemed to shudder at his words.
The dragon spirit gaped, and closed it's eyes, seeming to ponder what he said. "I see. That's bad. That's really bad." It said, muttering to itself.
"What's bad?" Felix asked, hoping to get more information about the state of his soul.
The dragon sighed. "Since I'm stuck with you, I guess I need to explain everything to you. I am Arboro, the great dragon. Ruler of the skies, with wings made of darkness, progenitor of trees, and grand spirit of the dark element." The spirit said proudly.
"I don't believe you." Felix said instantly. The dragon immediately looked annoyed.
"First off, Arboro lived a long time ago. Millenia ago. You mean to tell me you stuck around all this time without entering the afterlife as a grand dragon spirit, and let yourself get turned into that sad strip of ghost leather I saw when I first got here? Secondly, I'm pretty sure Arboro was male, while Azula was female, but you're clearly a Yin spirit, meaning you're female." Felix stated sardonically.
The dragon spirit roared in annoyance, making Felix a bit nervous, but he didn't retract his statements. After a bit the spirit began addressing his criticisms.
"It seems you're an idiot. Yes, in life I was male, but like I told you before, every soul in this world is made of Yin and Yang, meaning every soul has a male and a female aspect. Except for weirdos like you. It's just that one aspect is the greater, and one is the lesser. My greater Yang spirit entered the Well of Souls and was reincarnated a long, long time ago." Arboro said wistfully.
"A-as for my state when you got here...." The dragon said, lowering her head shamefully. "That's...a long story." she said, not looking directly at Felix.
"We are MILES underground, and I'm only a baby earth mage, at best. Even if you don't consider the fact the darkness won't let me go in the first place, it would take me at least a week to reach the surface again. Trust me, we have plenty of time for chit-chat." Felix said in annoyance.
Arboro nodded glumly. She then began to speak.
"I wasn't lying about anything I said before. I am a grand nature spirit of darkness. No, rather I am THE grand nature spirit of darkness. But..." She hesitated, clearly not wanting to continue.
"Listen, I spilled my beans to you about being from another world. If I saved your life, and you decided to start living rent free in my spell space, the least you can do is tell me what the hell is going on." Felix jabbed.
Arboro snarled in annoyance and bared her fangs. She then somehow bit into the spell space itself, tearing into the void. Felix doubled over in pain, as it felt like he just got stabbed in the chest.
"Damnable mortal! Since it seems no one else taught you manners, I clearly will have to!" Arboro snarled, chewing on the void with her razor sharp dark fangs.
Felix remained doubled over, but he kept silent. Eventually, Arboro got bored with chewing his spell space, and let go of the void, which quickly mended.
"I take it back, I believe you now when you say you're female." Felix muttered, commenting on Arboro's spitefulness. Arboro merely snorted in response.
They sat in silence for a few moments. Arboro sighed.
"I guess I have no choice, I'm bound to you now, so you would learn all of this eventually, and I need your help." she muttered.
"I was in that poor state because I was betrayed by Azula."