The wind blew stronger, characteristic of the sea. What more, because of the released of condensed magic, a storm was brewing above them.

Just when Velridar had lost all hope on recovering, an opportunity showed itself.

"You? An idea?"

Monolavir said with a tone full of surprise.

"It would not be the first time this little monster came up with an improbable idea, isn't it, Mono?"

But Ruminona reminded him of who was next to him.

"Tell me, what could a small being like you do for me? I do not wish to belittle you in the slightest, but I am still a Remnant."

Orion looked at Deveralna.

"Can you stand next to me?"

"Sure."

Releasing her tail gripping around his waist, she stood straight again.

'It's a little cold now that I'm out of his arms.'

She felt regret and reluctance separating herself from him.

"Thank you."

He smiled, before looking at Velridar, a serious expression on his face.

"Only Tiohr-nam is able to look into people's soul, I believe?"

Velridar wasn't expecting to hear this familiar name. The Remnant of Life, naming herself the Tree of Life because of her constitution. A being that sometimes talked to him because of her location. She was at the center of the place the dragons chose to nest at, before moving somewhere else.

Of course he would now about her.

"The ability to look into the soul is indeed the property of the Remnant of Life. I am unable to notice anything else than my own connection to my children as a whole."

"Then I will tell you without hiding anything. Tiohr-nam said that most of you Remnant were amicable by nature, and I began to believe it too, which led me to give you this information."

'Learning about the Remnant is also something that I want to do, and I can have him indebted to me at the same time. I don't know if I'll ever need something from him in the future, but we better be prepared than not.'

Orion thought that this was a really good thing to have the Remnant of Strength on his side. It was a way to ensure he wouldn't have to worry about making an enemy of the giant dragon.

'That beam... Just as I thought, nothing would be left of a good part of Triazils if it was released toward me. I wouldn't be here to think about all of this.'

Just remembering it, Orion shuddered.

"I have a connection built between me and Tiohr-nam. She needed magic energy to recover for life threatening injuries capable of definitely killing a Remnant."

"!"

Just that information gave a bad taste in Velridar's mouth.

'A Remnant? Close to permanent death? This would have been a first.'

"The connection follow a pretty simple rule. I give my excess magic to her, that is supposed to be destroyed, and heal her previous injuries while filling her magic storage."

Ruminona intervened.

"I apologize, but isn't that something a Remnant of Life can do?"

There was logic in thinking like that, but.

"It should be possible for every Remnant, isn't it?"

Orion shrugged while looking at the white dragon, before continuing.

"Are the links built between the creator and the creations not proof of the possibility? It just means that Tiohr-nam was more predisposed to find it than the others."

"Oh. Now that you say that."

The green dragon stopped asking questions.

"Maybe, just maybe, you could form a soul link between us, and use my expelled overflow of magic to recover? Tiohr-nam as already mostly filled her tanks of magic."

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But the moment this idea came in Orion's mind, he shuddered.

'I-I don't want to eat another weird thing. I would never drink dragon saliva!'

Seeing the frown on his face, Monolavir thought about something

"Isn't it dangerous for you? The amount our father requires might be too heavy for you to bear alone. It could leave you dry in no time, and that would-"

"Kill me? I know."

Orion cut him off. He already knew the consequences behind his previous words.

"But that is the least I can do. If it works for one, it should work for two. He just have to show restraints and not kill me, or else he won't even recover at all."

"Ghh!"

Velridar wanted to comment on it, but he knew that it was true.

"You kill him, and all the lamias will turn against you with one of my word."

With a face that showed her anger, Deveralna stood proud next to Orion.

"You would go that far?"

Said Ruminona in an impressed voice.

"We just only felt our creator. The lamias don't have that closeness that you dragons have with him. It would change nothing for us even if we denied everything."

"..."

More words kept piling on the dragon's peace of mind. He was supposed to avoid killing one man, or else, a part of his creations would instantly turn against him.

"Fine. I will do my utmost to only take the bare minimum. That is, if all of this plan works."

Velridar closed his eyes, and tried to form a new link with the man that offered help.

He focused on the little existence in front of him, but since it wasn't his forte, it took him some time. Finding Orion's magic signature wasn't that easy, for him who could only feel his own overwhelming presence.

But since Orion was still releasing his full magic capacity, he finally found it. A three layered magic aura that almost felt threatening to him.

'What is... that thing?'

While his mind was exploring Orion, in reality, a small thread of magic formed from the tip of his nose, and slowly, very slowly, floated toward him.

Halfway through, the thread stopped and stayed there.

"Ag-"

The next moment, Orion grabbed his chest in what felt like a stab in his ribcage, where his heart was. He bit his lower lip to avoid making a sound.

Same as Velridar, a small thread of magic formed, and joined the one waiting, coming from the white dragon.

Deveralna, Monolavir, and Ruminona all stared at this scene breathtakingly. Nothing like this ever happened before, to their knowledge.

The threads touched each other, before violently merging together, and vanishing as if nothing ever happened.

"I don't... feel any different."

Orion looked at his hands and chest, and inspected his own soul to find any problems.

'No problems. The draining is... not that much. A little heavy.'

'...'

'A little?!'

Orion found himself in a dark place, darker than his own soul.

There, in the middle of the space, a massive spiral of colorless magic was, with the seed Tiohr-nam had gifted him, siphoning his magic.

Above the spiral, two glowing serpent eyes were staring at this scene, and he truly felt what having a link to the Remnant of Power meant.

Just looking in his glowing eyes, Orion understood how immature in his path to strengthening his self, body and mind.

The difference between him and the dragon only now registered. The magic beam was terrifying, but the dragon himself could pulverize the continent in half a day.

Why he didn't do that? Simply because he had no reason to, and because his children lived on it. He had perfect control over his power, compared to Orion.

"You have something very interesting in you."

Those words forced him back to reality.

"W-What?"

With astonishment, Orion looked at Velridar.

"Do not mind the words of an old dragon. I would get the ire of that tree if I spoke more on this topic. She seems quite protective, and got flustered when I appeared in your soul."

Orion could imagine Tiohr-nam getting agitated right now. He thanked the world knowing that the sisters where with her at this very moment.

But this 'interesting' thing inside of him bothered him a little. Her and Velridar knew something he didn't about himself, and that bothered him greatly.

"That 'soul' connection you talked about, I can definitely feel it now. I never knew out power were capable of such developments. There is a lot we have to learn about ourselves yet."

"I will closely watch the amount of magic you release. That tree will be acting as a dispenser too it seems, so you shouldn't worry about dying anytime soon."

He looked at the lamia woman, who had come to help him.

"You won't have to worry like this, young lamia. I wish you children would one day forgive this fool for not noticing your suffering."

Closing his eyes, and pushing his nose in the ground, he appeared seriously apologetic to her, and her ancestors.

"I will discuss about it with the lamias faction later. Many will mostly reject you, let's be honest."

"Yes."

She was the Queen, even if it had only been a few months. It didn't change the fact that she knew the factions like the palm of her hand.

"But I will do my utmost to make it right. What happened might have been something out of the control a Remnant."

'But that 'something'... to manipulate a bond for so many years. I cannot imagine such a Remnant falling for the corruption like this without being corrupted itself. Maybe Velridar was too powerful to be corrupted, or the Miasma had something to do about it, I have no idea.'

While Orion closely listened to Deveralna, he already tried to understand what could have happened at the same time.

'Maybe Remnant themselves are hard to corrupt? That's why Tiohr-nam was on the brink of death? That would make sense for why she wasn't being corrupted to begin with.'

While thinking, the whole ordeal came to an end, with Orion happily nodding about the fact that he didn't swallow any weird item.

"Alright, I'll lead everyone back home safely. What are you going to do?"

He turned to Velridar, and asked him, curious.

"I will rest in the sea until I have enough strength to move again. I am an easy target on land for that matter."

"Right."

Having obtained his answer, Orion opened a portal.

"Then, I'll return to my mission after that. There is still somewhere I have to go to."

Slowly, the dragon's body returned to the sea. His body got submerged in a matter of second, as his head scraped the sand of the beach, before also disappearing in the sea.

"Thank you helping an old Remnant."

The voice died down, with no follow-up.

'Do not mention it.'

Orion smiled, taking everyone back to the dragon's den first, and then Deveralna back to her palace, unscathed.

It took a whole afternoon for her to describe what happened to her mother, and began preparing a speech for her citizens about Velridar, their creator.

While Orion finally managed to find Bandir, a few kilometers south of his previous stop.