Rex Draco stared for sometime at the witch. Like when he first met her, hundreds of years ago, he felt a sense of familiarity with her, which pushed him into making the decision of hearing her.
"You may speak." (Rex Draco / RD)
"Thank you." (Astra / A)
Hearing his aprovall, she waved her staff and made a confortable chair before sitting in it.
"After we sealed you, me and Gideon got a hold of a old prophet, that had made a prophecy about the consequences of your defeat." (A)
"Consequences? Was this prophet, a reliable one?" (RD)
"She was the one who predicted the death of the First Hero and your birth." (A)
" 'When the man falls, the dragon will rise' , huh?" (RD)
"Exactly." (A)
"Then? What did they say?" (RD)
Meaningless to say, but Rex Draco was very curious. In the past, seeking to find truth to his "birth", he had explored a great part of the world. The prophecy they had just mention was the biggest hint. In other words, he only knew that his "birth" was related to the death of the First Hero.
"They said that at the time you woke up great catastrophes would happen frequently and that amidst them a hero would rise." (A)
"And? If a hero is going to appear I do not see the reason to be informed of this." (RD)
"That is only half of the prophecy." (A)
The prophet they were talking about was a old woman that had a special ability to see the future within certain conditions. The first being, to reveal one of the halves of each prophecy and the second condition was to hide the other half somewhere.
"Have you found the second half?" (RD)
"I did. A few months before Gideon's death." (A)
"Old age?" (RD)
"Yes." (A)
"Well, then what did the second half reveal?" (RD)
"It said you would teach her something and that without it, humanity would be doomed." (A)
"Hm?" (RD)
Rex Draco was confused, mostly because he lacked proper emotions, otherwise, he would probably be fuming in anger.
"Teach her?" (RD)
"Right. I have already identified who the new hero is. This leads us to my price, our deal." (A)
"I suppose, you want to make sure that I teach her whatever I need to teach her, right?" (RD)
"Indeed. It would also be aprecciated if you could take care of her until she is ready." (A)
Rex Draco tought deeply, it didn't seem like a bad deal, but was he ready to face the brunt of corruption on his soul?
"The Demonic Power-" (RD)
"It's corrupting you soul and your emotions sending you in a killing spree, right?" (A)
"Yes." (RD)
"It shouldn't be hard to supress." (A)
"How so?" (RD)
"Well, the demonic power's corruption is aiming for the emotions that are on your soul, however, it does not originate from there, rather it's origin is your body." (A)
With this simple explanation, Rex Draco could vaguely understand her plan.
"You want me to switch my body for a new one?" (RD)
"Yes I will oversee the process, so you don't have to worry. Besides the only consequences are a reset of your powers." (A)
She was right. Both mana and aura traveled along the body, switching bodies meant switching the place those energies would travel on. This would result in his output diminishing.
"Unfortunately, your demonic power is already deeply engraived in your soul, so both your mana and aura are going to permanently be of negative side of the balance, besides keeping your hot-tempered personality." (A)
"What do you suggest then?" (RD)
Problems with the soul were complicated, but if you added the fact that the problem originated from the body and only showed it's effects on the mind. Naturally, Rex Draco was not shaken by the dificulty, mostly because of Astra's presence.
As The Sage, Astra was naturally someone highly versed in all areas known to Inteligent Life.
"I will use several different methods to test wich one is the most safe, but the main goal is to build a new body capable of cleansing the corruption in your body caused by the demonic power without affecting the demonic power itself." (A)
"That way I would still be able to weild my demonic power without being a victim to it's corruption." (RD)
"Indeed. Besides that, it will allow you a perfect way to approach the hero." (A)
"A human body, huh?" (RD)
"There shouldn't be any problems moving around, considering that last transformation, right?" (A)
"That is the least of my problems. But it will be a new body, essencially a new-born, my power will be reset. How can I trust that you will not dispose of me once I lose my purpose." (RD)
"You don't need to try to play mind games with me. I'm confident that you can regain your former power and incorporote modern magic arts aswell." (A)
"..." (RD)
"If you understand, then let me explain about how the world is now, who is the new hero and where you will meet." (A)
Astra proceeded to explain vaguely what had happened in the last 300 years since his defeat. The world was very different. During his time, humanity was like a mischief of rats, running around afraid from the demonic creatures plaguing the land.
At the time there was only a single place with more then a thousand humans, the last bastion of humanity called, The Nest.
Or it was before Rex Draco destroyed it to induce a good dose trauma into a young Gideon.
However, the world nowadays consisted on several nations. Some small, some Huge. Of importance, only three countries were woth notice from Rex Draco's point of view.
The Empire of Uclaria, founded right on the battlefield where he was sealed. The biggest country of them all and the most prosperous
The Kingdom of Striocia, dominated the area where once was The Nest and prided itself to be the homeland of The Last Hero, Gideon.
Republic of Whoastein, supposedly a neutral and mysterious nation. The only thing known was his political system and that it was the best when it came to technology.
'What even is a republic?' (RD)
Besides that magic become a bigger pillar to day to day life. In the past, magic was a rare practice and even slightly looked down upon. However, it seemed that nowadays it was used along with science to produce what was called as magitech. Creating artifacts that alowed everyday life to be quite confortable, apparentely.
"The New Hero is from Striocia but is coming to Uclaria to study." (A)
"Study?" (RD)
"Yes, the Uclarian Academy of Sword and Magic or UASM for short, is the most renowned academy worldwide, many talented young adults go there to achieve greater feats on the areas they excel at." (A)
"So I will find her there, then?" (RD)
"Yes, that's correct. In exactly a month the entrance exam to the academy will be hosted for the ones that are interested but were not recomended." (A)
"Are you confident in creating a body for me in a month?" (RD)
"Are you confident in adjusting to a new body in a month?" (A)
Both of them looked at each other, tension feeling the air.
However such tension was dissipated when Astra revealed a smug grin.
"I believe that we are both capable of achieving our goals without delays, am I wrong?" (A)
"I supose you are not." (RD)
"Well then, I suppose as a sign of my good will I should give you, your soul back?" (A)
"Won't it cause problems?" (RD)
After all, rex Draco did not possessed a new body capable of resisting the corruptive effect of his demonic power.
"It should be alright. Besides you will need time to process a lot of things after you reunite with your soul. Time that I would rather not have overlapping with your time on the academy." (A)
"Is it that bad?" (RD)
"More than you could imagine. So are you ready?" (A)
"I was born ready." (RD)
"... You forgot that you don't remember your birth, right?" (A)
"Right." (RD)