What brought him back to his senses was a sudden noise behind him.

The ice dragon suddenly raised its head, its wings slightly opened, as if it had woken up from its sleep, and immediately instinctively assumed an attacking stance. When Ed's gleeful outstretched figure landed in its golden eyes, the dragon froze for a rare moment.

“...... Why are you here?!" it blurted out, glaring incredulously at Ed, who had already pounced on his lap, and even raised its other paw and poked it to determine if he was real, before remembering another, more important question: "...... What the hell is this place?!"

"You don't know?" Ed was even more surprised, "Have you been sleeping since you fell off?!"

He thought it was going to be a adventure...... It's going to glow, isn't it!

The ice dragon narrowed his eyes in confusion.

“...... You can't even forget how you fell, do you?" asked Ed.

The ice dragon tilted its head, and his voice froze.

"Of course I remember. It said, "Would you like to explain how you 'fell'?"

Ed smiled and raced for the right reason. Of course he can't tell the truth, that will definitely be scolded......

"Idiot!" the ice dragon gritted its teeth.

Now that he has been scolded, there is no need for a "suitable reason". Ed breathed a sigh of relief and patted its leg.

"You can sleep a little longer. He said, "Your wounds are not healed, and I don't think there should be any danger in this place." ”

"Not necessarily. The ice dragon frowned, though it didn't have eyebrows, "I think it's a bit ...... here Didn't you heal my wounds?"

Ed shook his head, "Didn't you notice you were glowing?"

He took a few steps back so that he wouldn't be too tired from keeping his head up. He described to it how he had found it in the endless sea of black stones, how the terrible wounds on its body healed so quickly that he felt that he didn't need to do anything more, and he sat cross-legged on the ground with a long tongue mixed with his conjectures about the world.

The ice dragon looked silently at the starry sky. It had to admit that it didn't think there was any danger here. The starlight is cool and gentle, the earth is barren and heavy, and there is an intoxicating smell in the windless air...... Ancient and intimate atmosphere, distant and vicissitudes.

There seems to be some place with a similar atmosphere.

But the resemblance was particularly unsettling - it couldn't remember what it was, or rather, it didn't know if it should remember.

It lowered its eyes and looked at its front legs and wings. It was indeed glowing, a faint glow that seemed to seep out of its body, and it could feel the vigorous vitality in its blood flowing through its body, and feel the slight crunch of cracked bones as it healed...... It's not the same as receiving treatment from someone else.

This healing power comes from itself...... The dragon does have a strong ability to heal itself, but it is not so strong......

"What do you think?" asked Ed.

It was the first time he didn't know how many times he had asked this question, and he didn't really need to answer.

"I think," the ice dragon began, interrupting his unstoppable rambling, "we should think about how we want to get back...... If we're not dead. ”

Ed's mouth was wide open, frozen.

"Of course we're not dead!" he cried, "I'm still warm! I have a heartbeat, I breathe...... I can still touch you, and you can touch me...... Your paws just poked two holes in my clothes!"

"How do you know that dead souls can't touch each other?" the ice dragon snorted disdainfully, "how do you know that souls don't feel like they still have a heartbeat and a breath in their own world?"

“...... So do you think this is actually the underworld?" Ed shuddered, and suddenly felt that the ice dragon had some point.

The ice dragon couldn't help but laugh before trying to answer the question seriously.

"I thought you weren't afraid of death at all. It teased, raised its paw and poked the living fool sitting in front of it, and the uneasiness in its heart seemed to dissipate with laughter.

The muffled laughter that came out of his chest made Ed react, and he picked up a rock and threw it at it in anger, only to laugh the same the next.

They didn't die...... That's nice.

"Maybe we just need to find the end of this world and jump off?" Ed guessed, "but ......"

He hesitated, but finally said, "When I was looking for you, I saw something...... It's not very far from here. ”

.

The ice dragon took to the skies after the wound had healed completely, feeling as light as a cloud, and could float in the air without even flicking its wings.

It flew involuntarily as fast as its wings screeched through the air, so fast that Ed held his head and curled himself into a ball, unable to scream.

But the distance that Ed said was "not far" also took a lot of time.

"That's it...... That one. Ed's voice lowered in awe.

The ice dragon had slowed down, hovering over what might be the highest mountain in the world. It was still a black stone mountain, but between the rocks there were large patches of dazzling white, and the glittering light on it could not distinguish between illusion and reality, showing a strange beauty in the strong contrast, sharp and simple, simple and gorgeous.

Black and white are completely intertwined, as if they were born together. However, when viewed from mid-air, the whiteness wrapped in the rocks intermittently outlines a broken but unmistakable outline.

It was the skeleton of a dragon.

"What a big ......," muttered Ed, "I almost thought it was you, if I hadn't found you again soon...... Can a dragon grow that big?"

It's just a dragon, but it's almost a mountain.

"I ...... I don't know. The ice dragon replied a little blankly, "Maybe it was once possible to ......"

Perhaps, when this world was only for dragons, when the power of life and magic in the air was still as rich as water, dragons that could live for thousands of years could really grow to such a large size.

It flew around in mid-air, and for a moment it didn't dare to fall. Aside from the world itself that gave birth to them, the dragon did not have the same worship and gratitude for any being as humans do when they looked up to the gods, but at this moment, it was distinctly in awe that almost wanted to fall to its knees. Not because they are oppressed by some kind of overly powerful force and momentum, but because they ...... Pure reverence from the bottom of my heart.

It's like...... It is the world itself, the source of all life.

The ice dragon eventually landed under the rocky mountain - it didn't dare and couldn't fall on it.

“...... I think I've seen it. ”

It was a long moment before Ed spoke softly.