"So what happens to a phoenix after its rebirth?" Adam asked before adding, "I mean, after they become an egg."
"The egg is nurtured and cared for by their family members until it hatches," Revi replied, happy that Adam was taking such an interest in her race.
"Dragons are also born from eggs," Tephe suddenly announced.
"Really?" Adam asked in surprise as he turned to her.
Tephe nodded happily before saying, "They tend to be larger than Phoenix eggs and since we are an older and more powerful race, our eggs tend to take longer to hatch."
"That's only part of the reason," Revi replied.
"Really?" Tephe asked in surprise.
Revi nodded before explaining, "While it's true that dragons take longer to hatch because of their age and power, another reason for this is that the more times a phoenix is reborn, the quicker it is for them to hatch from their egg again."
"How does that work?" Adam asked in astonishment.
"We believe it's to do with experience," Revi began. "The more times you do something, the more experienced you become at it, we believe it's based on this philosophy.
Naturally, we are unaware after we are reborn and before we awake for the first time in order to break out of our egg because our physical form doesn't exist before then.
However, because every phoenix is genetically identical from one life to the next, we believe our souls get more accustomed to forming our bodies as the number of times it does it increases.
This would also explain why our first birth takes far longer than any other, since our genetic code at that time has yet to be decided."
"That's… incredible," Adam marvelled.
"Isn't it just?" Revi smiled proudly.
"The Phoenix race is one of the most mysterious in the universe because of their strange ability to be reborn after death," Tephe remarked.
"Don't call our ability strange," Revi complained with a frown.
"Name one other race that has the ability to be reborn after death," Tephe challenged.
Revi pouted before turning away and saying, "It's still not strange."
"That's what I thought," Tephe said gleefully.
"Do souls actually exist?" Adam suddenly asked, remembering how Revi had just mentioned them.
"No idea," Revi replied while shaking her head before adding, "I simply used the word soul because it's the easiest way to explain our rebirth to someone incapable of experiencing it themselves."
"Oh," Adam replied and was about to ask another question when the sudden appearance of a giant shadow caused the three of them, as well as everyone else nearby, to look up.
There they saw four massive dragons flying over the city and as Revi saw the red dragon in the lead, she couldn't help but frown.
"Oh great, Narven's here," Tephe groaned in annoyance.
"When she says Narven, she means that dragon who is pursuing you?" Adam asked while looking at Revi, who nodded with a sigh before saying.
"I'm sorry, I was hoping you wouldn't have to face him, or at least not for a while. I guess the festival attracted his attention and I miscalculated."
"You have no need to apologise, Revi, it's that moron's fault for not getting the hint that you don't like him through his thick skull," Tephe replied.
"Tephe's right, you shouldn't have to always be concerned that he will show up," Adam added.
"Thanks," Revi said with a smile before adding, "I would have scared him off long ago if I weren't worried about causing an issue between us and the dragon race."
"Does he come from a powerful background?" Adam asked as he envisioned the normally spoiled rich boys he always seemed to have to deal with.
"No, far from it actually," Revi replied, surprising Adam before she continued. "He comes from a common dragon family, but used his strength and intelligence to get to where he is today."
"My dragon race isn't really known for socialising, either with other dragons or other races," Tephe began to explain. "This is due in most part to the older dragons who are too set in their ways, I mean, unless it's something that affects our entire race, they generally leave the decision-making up to Mother; heck, most people don't even know there is a council of dragons."
"There's a council of dragons?" Adam asked.
"See," Tephe replied as if proving a point.
"Tephe, Adam's a bad example, he thought our races were mythological creatures before meeting us," Revi said before looking up and asking with a sigh, "They're descending, aren't they?"
"Unfortunately," Tephe replied while also sighing.
"He must have spotted you, your beauty is quite hard to miss after all," Adam said while smiling.
Revi smiled at the compliment before asking, "Why are you smiling? Surely you know this is leading towards a confrontation?"
"Oh sure, but as you said, it was bound to happen eventually," Adam replied as he saw the four dragons suddenly become covered in light before their bodies shrank to reveal the humanoid forms of the incredibly handsome men and one ravishingly beautiful woman.
"Seriously?" Adam asked while rolling his eyes before adding, "Are we in some shitty Sweeper novel? Why is everyone in the universe either handsome or beautiful?"
"You earthlings really hate that author named Sweeper, huh?" Revi asked before adding, "If his novels are that bad, why do so many people know about them?"
"Because they're addictive like a drug, you read one and you think it's shit, but you can't stop reading it. Then, when you're done, you post how crap it was online before your addiction has you go look for the next and the next," Adam replied hatefully.
"Ohhh," Revi said in sympathy before adding, "remind me never to read any."
"As I was saying," Tephe said in a slightly louder tone than normal while squeezing Adam's arm slightly so that he would pay attention to her, "We dragons aren't really known for socialising; however, that is starting to change among the younger members of our race because of social media influence and interactions with other races."
"Is that why Narven is here with three other dragons?" Adam asked.
"Probably," Tephe replied before adding, He's quite popular among the youngsters of my race, even though he's only a little over a thousand."
"You call a thousand-year-old young?" Adam asked.
"It is for the long-lived races," Tephe replied before adding, "I'm essentially still a child in the eyes of most of my race."
As they were talking, everyone around them had been paying attention to the four dragons as they watched them land in front of their empress and her two companions.
Narven's eyebrow twitched and the smile he was wearing faltered for a second as he saw how Revi was intimately holding some man's arm before Denog, who appeared to be a purple dragon, said, "See, I told you it was true, Narven."
"They appear to be on a date," The lone female dragon, who also appeared to be a purple dragon, said with a giggle.
"You must be kidding, Deirlo. I mean, no one is more worthy than my man, Narven, here to date the Phoenix Empress and who in their right mind would want to date that brat, Tephe?" Kalre, who was a blue dragon, replied.
"Then why are they both holding his arms so close?" Deirlo asked.
"Enough," Narven said, causing the other three to stop their conversation before he addressed Revi.
"Phoenix Empress Revi, how nice to see you again."
"Likewise," Revi replied in a cold, uninterested tone, causing Adam, Tephe and strangely Kalre to smirk before she asked in the same cold tone, "Since you're here, please enjoy the festival."
As she finished speaking, Revi attempted to lead Adam and Tephe forward but was blocked by Narven, who asked, "Will you not show us around, Empress? I mean, we are special guests who came all the way from Devatov Seven."
"Devatov Seven?" Tephe scoffed before adding, "That's like next door compared to where Adam is from."
"Did you say something, Tephe?" Narven asked, causing Denog and Kalre to smirk while Deirlo watched on with interest.
"That's White Dragon Tephe to you, Narven, or have you forgotten your place?" Tephe retorted, causing Narven's smile to flicker while the smirks on Denog and Kalre vanished.
"Apologies, White Dragon Tephe," Narven said through gritted teeth.
"Wow, he actually apologised," Adam said in surprise, causing everyone to look at him.
"Why so surprised, honey?" Revi asked in a tone that dripped with affection before she added, "Surely you know that Tephe is a special existence in the dragon race?"
"Honey?" Narven repeated as his eyebrow twitched.
"Told you," Deirlo said smugly.
"Sure," Adam replied as he ignored the dragons before asking Tephe, "But is it because you're the white dragon, or because your mother is the senator?"
"Mainly it's because I'm the white dragon, but my mother being the senator also helps, darling," Tephe replied in a tone that was very reminiscent of Revi's.
"Darling?" Kalre repeated this time as his eyes widened in shock.
"I'm two for two," Deirlo said gleefully.