Princess of the Frost

The Red Raptor stood near Crystal as Mattia pleaded for the two to be bound in soul.

"How exactly do I do that?" Crystal finally asked. Adam could not teach Crystal how to bind a reptilian beast's soul to her own. The time spent together talked about the broad nature of cultivation that Crystal had to go through.

Only then did Crystal realize that Adam was teaching her as much as he could, knowing he would soon leave.

"First, you must recover. You should eat, young Empress."

Several Raptors had returned, bringing what appeared to be a dead bison.

"A bison?" Crystal recognized the beasts and had seen numerous of these giant creatures in herds and were hunted and domesticated.

"...Is it feeding me?" Crystal was afraid.

"Erm... Thanks." Crystal forced a smile. She was raised in a sheltered home and never really had the opportunity to eat such raw meals. The fact that a Dragon was offering her food to eat was terrifying. She could not eat raw, which may not have been translated to Mattia.

But suddenly, Mattia drew a breath of fire that burned the bison.

She then took the corpse, swung it to remove the flames, and tossed it back on the ground near Crystal.

She turned it into a burnt bison.

But even with that, Crystal was still hesitant. The food before her was cooked very bluntly and didn't even seem edible.

"I…"

"You have a dragon's soul in you, Little Empress. I know humans have a more sophisticated tongue. But open your nostrils and see if you can resist it. Our hunger is what makes us dangerous." Mattia chuckled.

Crystal was still confused and suddenly got a whiff of the smell.

Instantly, she felt a great pain in her belly.

It was as if her body was demanding something.

And at once, an incredible hunger exploded out of her at the sight of the burnt meant and reached out. The food was hot, and she drew her hands back. But the hunger was so empowering that Crystal summoned the ice to cover her hands, dug in, and ripped the crispy skin off the beast.

She ate in hunger, and it was surprisingly tasty!

The overwhelming hunger of her soul took over, and she kept eating and eating as if she were in a trance.

Seeing this, the Mattias knew what was happening and laughed.

A few more Raptors appeared and brought another Bison.

They also ate their own food as the Jurassic Dragon carefully watched Crystal.

The more Crystal ate, the more she felt a strange power within her.

"The dragon's soul is doing more to you than you can imagine. And the soul of the dragon that you have belongs to the Dragon Emperor. He challenges a great and impossible thing. To fight Fate and Destiny, to destroy the shackles that have limited our dragons is great and impossible…" Mattia spoke.

Crystal heard Mattia's thoughts enter hers.

Her mouth was full as her hunger urged her to eat more and more, but her thoughts were focused on Mattia.

"Is it… truly impossible?"

"Yes, Little Empress. You must understand the painful decision of our Emperor. He left because Fate will indeed catch up to you. Consider the shackles that bind me. I have always been able to understand what humans say. Yet I can never truly speak. Had it not been for the dragon's soul in you, our thoughts could not connect. To be robbed of the will to speak is a terrifying thing. Speaking to you is already a miracle in itself."

"I understand that he needed to leave me… But… You're a woman… Do you understand?"

"Of course, child. I have seen your soul and eyes. I know the terrors that Fate and Destiny had instilled in you. The loneliness that you had and the warmth that he brought. For someone deprived of love and to have the Dragon Emperor set his eyes and even his lips on you, it's quite... envious."

Crystal blushed as she heard Mattia's admission.

"But fear not a child. We dragons are different than you humans. Your race always seeks out the better ones. The younger ones. The more beautiful ones. But the pride of a dragon is quite harder. I envy that you had the Emperor's embrace and lips. But I will never allow my pride to be sullied. Only my husband, Genghis, will forever be worthy of this."

"Wow… You dragons are a very magnificent race… I wish I would find someone who would be this… this loyal and won't ever leave me."

"Little Empress, the Emperor is loyal. He won't ever have anyone other than you. You can be sure that for the rest of eternity, as long as you live, his pride and loyalty will be yours. I know the pain. But the foe you face is too strong. Together, you will die. He is fighting for you, giving you this power and chance to survive. And the Emperor is fighting for his kind. Our kind. Only a few of us are left in this vast universe and are being hunted down."

"Why haven't you left? Those men will surely return knowing that you are still here!"

"They will. But when I married Genghis, I was bound to protect his honor. They will desecrate his body. Even then, my life was spared because of you and the Emperor. They would have surely sought to slay me after the Emperor. They went there in their best forms, and had it been any other dragon that ate you, they would have easily killed the dragon and returned here to finish me."

"I want to help," Crystal said as she stopped eating.

"Taking my daughter and helping her grow is more than enough. Only another dragon could tell that this is a dragon."

"Taking her? Won't my soul be enough? You would entrust her to me? That's dangerous! You know that many hate me! Your daughter will be the target of those who hate me!"

Mattia smiled.

"Little Empress. We are dragons. We grow in these trials. I was worried that my daughter wouldn't face life's many challenges. The harsh world of us dragons is to pit our sons and daughters to great tribulations so that they can endure and fight for eternity. She will be a great ally to you. And you will be the forge that will sharpen her fangs."

Crystal was stunned. She glanced at the Red Raptor.

"Can't she talk?"

"She is too young. But she will learn to speak to you soon."

"...What is her name?"

"I had not named her yet. For I feared her Fate."

"What do you mean?"

"To us beings of Antiquity, and like Emperor Adam who was born even before my time, names are marks of destiny and Fate. What you name your child would often manifest in many ways. My husband's name means conqueror in the ancient tongue. And mine means gift. And even now, I live out my name by giving you my daughter as a gift. I feared her Fate as one who was destined to be scorched by her own self. But now I think I have a good name for her." Mattia glanced at her daughter.

"Wintress. The Princess of the Frost."