"Azula? Your lover? Is she still running around as a spirit too?" Felix asked, surprised.

"Yes, unfortunately." Arboro muttered glumly. "Also, his remaining spirit is his male aspect, the reverse of mine. Only his lesser Yang spirit remains, Azula's greater Yin spirit reincarnated in the Well of Souls long ago." she continued, clearly depressed about this topic.

"So, what happened? Why did she, no, why did he betray you?" Felix asked.

"We died together, and our bodies became one with the earth. Because Azula was aspected with water and metal, she became the great southern mountains, full of metal and wellsprings. My body was aspected to darkness and wood, and so my body became the western mountains, cloaked in trees and spirits. Originally, when we died, we planned to enter the Well of Souls together, to be reincarnated at the same time, and hopefully be together in the next life as well." Arboro said wistfully.

"How romantic. But you're still here. Did something go wrong?" Felix asked, curiously.

"Yes and no. The reason we died was because there was a great war of the elements. You know how there is a race for every element, like you humans are the race of metal?" Azula asked.

Felix nodded.

"Well, let me ask you a question. Which race is the race of the dark element?" Arboro looked at him.

Felix pondered this for a moment, and realized he didn't actually know.

"Well, the dark element is associated with things like spirits, ghouls, and zombies really. Is it like, all of the undead, or something?" Felix asked.

Arboro sighed.

"No, child. The dark race is the race of dragons."

Felix's eyes went wide. He had never heard of this. It was especially surprising because dragons hadn't been seen or heard of in ages, and even the story of the great mountain chains was thought to be a myth.

"But...aren't dragons extinct? I've never heard of a living dragon at all." Felix mused, scratching his chin.

Arboro nodded. "Very nearly. In fact, I suspect there is only one living dragon today. Tell me, how is the dark element regarded today?" Arboro asked.

Felix thought for a second. "Poorly. It's only associated with thieves, robbers, slavers, and necromancers. The only reason the element has any real relevance is because the great undead hordes of the south are powerful, but only because of their great numbers." Felix answered.

Arboro nodded, as if she expected this response.

"The dark element has been suppressed greatly. It is supposed to be associated with spiritualism, reincarnation, time, and progress. Like light is the foundational element of Yang, so is dark the foundation of Yin. The other 7 elements have slowly been supplanting darkness for these few millennia." Arboro said glumly.

"But...how is that even possible?" Felix said, surprised.

"2 reasons mainly. Firstly, there is only one member of the dark race to channel the darkness of the world through. And secondly, the Well of Souls has been cut off from the physical world." Arboro said.

"How are you so sure there even is a living dragon today?" Felix asked.

"There must be. If there was not at least one, while I don't know exactly what would have happened, it would have been very bad. Darkness would quickly have disappeared from the land, the great cycle of reincarnation would break completely, and the great Yin would have fractured, if not outright shattered." she said in a very serious tone.

"Are dragons just super long-lived or something, then? This war you mentioned happened millennia ago, right? Because if there's only one dragon, you know... there's no way to make more dragons, then." Felix said, a bit disturbed by the thought of the elements breaking.

"Yes, we dragons are very long-lived. It's been ten thousand years since the great war of the elements. I suppose that could be considered middle-aged for a dragon." Arboro mused.

"Well, what do we do then? They'll die eventually, right? And then there won't be any members left of the dark race." Felix questioned, concerned.

"Well, we could fix this issue actually. If we find them, we can use dark magic to split their soul. We can just leave their greater Yang spirit in their body, which will be counteracted by their natural Yin composure as a member of the dark race, allowing them to stay alive and functioning, and we can attach a second Yang component to the other half of their soul, promoting it to a Greater Yin dragon spirit, which we can implant into a dragon vessel we construct, which would allow us to make a young female dragon for him to mate with. By the way, this is the same mechanism that has kept you alive this entire time with only your Yang spirit, it's because you're a member of the metal race, which is of a Yin composure." Arboro mused.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Felix's brain was fried. This was all way too advanced for him. He did catch a couple things though.

"Wait, you said they have a greater Yang spirit? So they're a male dragon? How do you know that? Do you know who this last dragon is?" Felix asked, surprised.

Arboro immediately looked depressed. "In a way, I suppose I do. Yes and no." She said, downcast.

"Well, tell me about them! This is really important!" Felix smacked the floor in annoyance.

Arboro sighed. "In a way, they're me. Or rather, he's the reincarnation of my Yang spirit, and Azula's Yin spirit." she said, with a hint of melancholy.

"How do you know that?" Felix pressed her for answers.

"I know that because I am THE great dragon spirit of darkness. I control the Well of Souls, I control the great cycle of reincarnation, and I control the deliverance of the dark element unto the world itself." Arboro said proudly, and smugly.

"If you're such a great dark dragon, how did you end up as a sad strip of ghost-leather, again?" Felix asked, mauling her with his words.

After flinching like she took psychic damage from Felix, Arboro glumly continued: "I told you, I was betrayed by Azula." she muttered.

"Tell me what happened." Felix demanded.

Arboro sighed again. "The great war of the elements was absolutely devastating. All of the race of dragons were involved, and all died, including myself, and including the last great dragon spirit of darkness, who was forced to reincarnate by the other elemental spirits. We were never a race great in numbers in the first place, and our death as a whole broke the balance of the war, leading to the Yin elements to lose, and causing the rise of the Great Yang. Even so, the Yang elemental spirits knew they couldn't be too overbearing. They could suppress us, but they could not destroy us, without breaking the great balances and cycles of the world. The death of the dragons was already starting to cause issues due to a lack of darkness. So the 7 elemental spirits got together and they agreed to allow me to become the new great dragon spirit of the dark element, since I was dark aspected, and had the strongest dragon spirit because I was one of the last dragons to die. In order to resurrect the dragon species into the world and restore the balance, at least somewhat, I needed to use an exorbitant amount of dark element and the flesh of the slain dragons to construct a dragon vessel. We still needed a spirit to place in it though, so, my greater Yang spirit was processed with the full might of the Well of Souls... along with Azula's greater Yin spirit. It was reincarnated and placed in the young dragon vessel, thus bringing the return of the dragons to the world." Arboro explained.

"All right. I could plausibly believe all of that. But why did he betray you?" Felix asked.

"Because I did something I should not have done. I was prideful, as all dragons are. The young dragon vessel we created did not have a sex, it was nothing but the most basic embryo in an egg. It's sex would be determined by whether my Yang spirit or Azula's Yin spirit became the primary aspect of it's soul. But... I thought that since I was the great dragon of darkness, the controller of the cycle of reincarnation, why shouldn't the other half of my soul be the primary aspect of this new beginning of the dragon race? And so, I interfered in it's creation. I suppressed the Yin spirit slightly, and reinforced the Yang spirit, ensuring the new dragon would be male. Azula saw this as me betraying him, by suppressing his other half." Arboro said glumly.

"Well he was right, wasn't he?" Felix chided sharply.

"I.... I was inconsiderate. I let my pride take priority. And trust me, I've beat myself up about that decision a million times over these last millennia." Arboro said, looking depressed.

"So what happened next?" Felix asked.

"Well... the great Yang elemental spirits saw another opportunity to suppress the Yin faction, which they took gleefully. They contacted Azula, and they offered to make him the new great spirit of darkness if he betrayed me. They said that I betrayed him, and that I had proven myself unworthy to be the spirit of darkness by abusing the Well of Souls for my own personal wishes, when it's only supposed to be used for it's part in the great cycle of reincarnation. Azula was spiteful, but also prideful, and afraid. What dragon wouldn't want to become the grand spirit of an element? It would be a huge honor. And I had indeed betrayed him. And more than that... I was able to be kept alive, because the 8 great elemental spirits do not decay. Azula was not a great elemental spirit, merely a normal dragon spirit. Powerful, but eventually he would have been forced to reincarnate, because he was not bound to a corporeal entity, like a fleshly body. So for all these reasons, Azula entered the Well of Souls to find me one day, and using great Yang magics bestowed upon him by the 4 great Yang spirits, shattered my connection to the Well of Souls, thus also breaking my control over the dark element." Arboro recounted.

"So you sat here slowly decaying for thousands of years because your connection to this "Well of Souls" was broken? What even is the Well of Souls? And what even is an elemental spirit?" Felix asked.

"A great elemental spirit is the spirit in charge of the dispersion of an element across the whole world, and the aspects that element controls. Light controls order and justice. Wood controls growth and preservation. Earth controls heaviness, and the terrestrial plane. And so on, and so on. Dark controls spirituality and reincarnation. As the grand spirit of darkness, I had complete dominion over these aspects, which I could exercise through my control over the Well of Souls. The Well of Souls... I suppose it would be easiest if you thought of it as an elemental artifact. The greatest dark elemental artifact in the world. All spirits, when they die, will be drawn to it, and fall into the well. There, they will be processed, by which I mean stripped of their memories, and then they will be returned to the world to be placed in embryos to become the young of the new generations. Additionally, it is the source of all dark element in the world. Souls enter the Well, and darkness leaves it." Arboro explained.

"Well where is this Well of Souls?" Felix asked, hopeful to get his hands on such a powerful artifact.

"It's right over there." Arboro said, gesturing to the hole on the other side of the cave floor.