“Teacher, what does it mean to die?”

A raspy voiced youth asked, his dazzling grey eyes shining with excitement and curiosity, as his large bodied teacher turned to him. The teacher’s body was covered in emerald scales and stood at eight feet of height, but even still the flesh covered boy of around three feet wasn’t scared.

“Death? Why death is the act of losing oneself and joining with the great stream.”

The emerald teacher softly spoke with a smile, as his sharp claws noisily scratched at his maw.

“What is the great stream? And what do you mean by lose oneself? How can one not be themselves and if they are not themselves then who are they?”

The youth asked, clenching his bronze colored fist as he shock with expectation.

“You truly are one who is full of questions and must I say you exceed all the youngsters I’ve taught before. Never before have I seen one as young as yourself articulate the way you do.”

A deep grin grew on his face, bleeding the sight of his stained teeth as he held back laughter. His jade ice eyes staring wide eyed at the young boys, while his sharp claws wrestled in his suit pocket for his handkerchief. All the while his long tail of around one and a half feet lightly waggled in a mysterious tempo.

“That is because I’m not from this world teacher. Nor am I actually as young as I appeared and am believed to be. I am in fact an interdimensional being that has come to this world in order to construct the greatest empire this world has ever seen. I should also mention that I have died before, and as such I have lived one life already and am at least thirty years of age now. Though fear not, for you as a loyal subject and as my kind teacher who has gifted me with information, in the form of lessons, will be dually rewarded after I claim power.”

Scratching his maw in silence the large being contemplated.

‘Is he telling the truth? I would like to believe no, for it seems to me that believing yes is not only highly unlikely but also any belief will be seen as a negative by peers and even him if he is merely messing with me. Though his long display is hard to ignore as well, and I have a hard time believing a mere five-year-old could not only say all of that but also think it up. I will choose to probe instead and examine his defense of this claim. Then I will feel confident making a decision.’

Nodding his head in approval the emerald draconic calmly questioned the boy.

“If you have, as you say, been born before I ask what level of proof you possess; I would also like to ask what an interdimensional being is? Take this as an exercise of rhetoric, for there are many ways to convince another and witnessing your current abilities pleases my soul.”

A deep grin etched across the youth’s fat cheeks as clenched his fist tightly.

“Rhetoric huh…that isn’t my strong point sadly, but I will give you my best attempt.”

He then opened his palms and rose his left index finger to his lips, before shifting his grin to an uneven smile, that pronounced only his left facial muscles, and moving his gaze to the ground.

“Well I should first start out with the claim that no one my age could speak the way I do, as well as the claim that I have an understanding of varies concepts which shows experience. An experience is something earned with age, so it wouldn’t make much sense for me to possess this level of experience if I were simply a genius or well developed child.”

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When he finished his arms twisted together across his chest and he stared back into his teacher’s eyes. A stern expression formed on his face, and his pulse began to race as he stood in expectation.

The giant that was his teacher simply began to pace in a circle around his pupil, his eyes focused on his pupils as well.

“I will accept the fact that you possess a rational far surpassing the normal capability of a youth, but I am still not convinced that you have lived before. This brings me to my main disagreement with your statement. You have stated that your understanding of varies ‘concepts’ shows that you possess experience far past that of what can be obtained by one of your age, but I can’t agree with that statement. My reason for disagreement lay primarily with my understanding of knowledge. In that it isn’t the product of experience but rather the understanding of information. Though the process of understanding requires one to experience, so as to obtain the information that is to be understood. Its rather what we do with the information that is experienced that is important. This is because with only experience one will know what will happen in a situation, but with knowledge one will know why something will happen.”

The youth’s foot began to tap as his body twitched from excitement. His previous stern look melted away as his old grin returned.

“I don’t see much room for disagreement then, as both my claim and your own are compatible teacher. Your understanding of knowledge requires experience as a base as you say, and that base is something I lack wouldn’t you say? I make this claim by calling attention to the fact that I am but a mere five-year-old, and of that I haven’t been able to fully utilize all that time due to time required learning the language of this world, as well as forming the foundation of thought. That is of course only true if we reject the claim that I am in fact a being from a different world who has lived before.”

“Be that as it may I still haven’t seen you prove anything, but rather it seems your focus is merely to attack other possibilities. I respect this tactic, as it is effective for putting an opponent on the defensive but do not forget that the burden of proof is upon you.”

Looking down over his nose the teacher scoffed before extending his hand as if to signal the boy.

The boy made an exaggerated bow to his teacher before replying.

“Proof, I believe that this conversation till now is enough proof wouldn’t you say? Though I am sure that it may not fit a picky person’s standards of proof, I still believe that you can’t think of another possibility that is more likely than the one that I have stated. As such I feel that I should end this discussion now as I see little of how I could possibly convince you with further words at the moment. I will instead switch to actions, for as we both know they speak louder than words as well for themselves.”

When the boy finished he repeated his exaggerated bow before waiting for his teacher’s response in silent.

“Hahahaha, truly you must be from another world. To tell you the truth I thought you were telling the truth when you first said it but I was a little hesitant on whether to believe you or not. Though you really should work on your debate skills, there were all sorts of angles and conversation topics you could’ve used to put me on the defensive. Not to mention you even submitted to me, but I guess you did well for one as ‘young’ as yourself, after all be it thirty or five you are but a pup to me hahaha.”

“You are correct; I really need to work on my debate skills but I couldn’t think of any good methods to prove this topic. I usually prefer to attack what my opponents claim, and therefore am more of a defensive player but I didn’t see any areas in your argument to exploit.”

The boy said laying his gaze to the ground as he ruffled his milky brown hair.

“Well we can work on it during your lessons, rhetoric is an important skill to master. Especially for one such as yourself.”

He said calling attention to the boy’s position.

“Haha, you are correct. What is a prince without a tongue, but a shepherd without a cane.”

The boy said, before a quizzical expression came onto his face.

“Does that make sense…kinda?”

He then looked to his teacher, but his teacher wasn’t facing him anymore and was instead walking away out of the room.

“Well, I have to tell your father about this immediately. I am sure he will be most pleased at the news of your origin, but I’m sure he and the others will require proof. So prepare yourself for another debate haha.”

The jolly green dragon said as he marched out of the room leaving the boy alone to ponder.

“Does that line work or not?”