The red-haired man said, "I'm the Phoenix God, Xavier, and the person standing beside me is the Dragon God, Ace. Our essence what you humans call DNA was what was implanted into you."
"It feels so good talking to someone other than Ace," Xavier added.
"Where am I?" I interrupted.
Xavier paused for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter. "Hahaha! You've got some spunk, kid I think I like you. Interrupting the Phoenix God while he's speaking… most wouldn't even be able to stand in our presence."
"You're hiding your aura, you fool," Ace said. It was the first time he spoke.
"Oh, I know what to do," Xavier replied, snapping his fingers.
Immediately, I felt the gravity around me increase twenty times over. It slammed me down to the floor, completely immobilizing me. I couldn't move a muscle. My breath grew shallow, my body trembled with fear, and a dread deeper than death itself crept into me. I had no idea how he did it.
And then just as quickly it vanished.
"Sorry about that," Xavier said casually. "That was my aura at ten percent, if you're curious. And to answer your question, we're in your mind space. The form you see now is your astral projection not your real body."
"Now that everything is settled," Ace cut in, "we can get to the reason you're here and stop wasting our limited time, Xavier."
"Okay, okay," Xavier said, waving a hand. "We Phoenix and Dragons were the protectors of the Heart of the Universe something that can be said to be the source of all life, the true creator. We were born for one purpose: to fight any who sought to claim the Heart.
"Ygraid—now called Earth was the planet that held the Heart of the Universe, as well as the bridges connecting to all other worlds. Peace reigned for a billion years. Not even a dust particle breached Ygraid.
"But as the Phoenix God and Dragon God, Ace and I began to feud, always competing to see who was stronger which, in hindsight, I deeply regret."
"You mean you wanted to see how strong you were," Ace interrupted coldly.
"You enjoyed it just as much as I did back then, Ace. Maybe not now, but at that time come on."
"We Dragons do not take pleasure in trivial games."
"That's the Dragon pride talking, huh? Unlike you uptight lizards, we Phoenixes can get creative."
"We are prideful unlike you shameless Phoenixes and your underhanded methods."
"Alright, alright, let me finish before you go off on one of your usual rants." Xavier sighed. "Our fights continued for years. And in doing so, we lost our original purpose. We became beings of war and hatred. We abandoned our peaceful nature and turned against each other. So many of our brothers and sisters died in our endless battles. Their blood is on our hands.
"Then, during one particular war, when we had severely wounded each other, we felt it the presence of the vilest, most demonic entity. He was the first to breach the gate. And for the first time… we felt dread."
That made me pause.
Xavier felt dread?
Even though I hadn't known them long, I couldn't imagine anything powerful enough to frighten these beings.
"I know what you're thinking," Ace said. "Had we been at full strength, we could have taken him. But we weren't. We were weakened. We were taken down… in just one day.
"For the first time, something breached the gate and we failed to protect the Heart. We barely managed to drive it back to the demon realm it came from by using our life force to unleash a final burst of power. We left our souls in the bloodstains we shed and through that, sought out a 'Chosen' through the experiments those dastardly humans conducted.
"Now to the reason you were chosen over the others. The other unfortunate test subjects were consumed by vengeance anger toward the world and everyone in it. If they had been given power, we'd have just created another monster."
"What made you so sure I wasn't like them?" I asked.
Xavier answered, "You asked for it. One: you're dimwitted. Two: you'd already given up on life. So we thought, why not take this guy who's ready to quit and give him something worth living for?"
"Ouch. That kind of hurts."
"Yeah, it does. But it's the truth. Better a bitter truth than a sweet lie."
"I guess… So what do you want from me? Protect the Heart?" I gave a tired chuckle. "Hate to break it to you guys, but I'm tired. I just want to rest. If there is an afterlife, I want to go there without worries, without battles."