We walked through the forest and reached the end of it. Dermis, who was overly excited, was smiling ear to ear while looking at me.
"I can't believe I met my first companion so quickly. Thank you so much for setting out on this journey with me,"
"Oh....yes, of course," I said as if my life had been drained out.
It was outrageous to see the outcome of my kindness. I was kind enough not to correct him and tag along with whatever he said. At this point, I wasn't even sure about what I was doing. It felt like I was given a job to babysit a fool.
"Now that we both got a companion, it's time to look for more," he said while he fixed his white coat.
"What? If you wanted more companions, then why did we leave the elf bouquet. There were plenty of elves there?"
"It would be simple if I wanted another elf, but the next companion I want isn't an elf."
I thought he was a quiet guy, but I was wrong. At first glance, he may seem cold and unapproachable, but this guy was more extroverted and dumber than I thought.
"Oh ok, then what's the next companion you want?"
Dermis looked at me proudly while we stood on a green hill, and he continued.
"A DRAGON"
"!!!!???
My eyes widened by his remark once again as he spoke the most absurd words in the whole Earth.
"What?! A dragon, do you even know what that means?!"
Dragons were a solitary species and never meddled with any other creatures except for themselves. They were the longest livers in the whole Earth. They lived for 100,000 years. To compare it in human life time, an elf's whole lifetime would only be 20 years if they were 100 years old instead. As for a human lifetime, it wouldn't even be a year. They have the most mana amongst all the species on Earth. Some species even say that dragons sleep about half of their lifetime as there is nothing else to do.
"What you just said is impossible, you know that, don't you?" I questioned him after I finally grasped onto myself.
"It is not impossible"
"Ok, let's say it's possible, but how will you find a dragon? How will you convince it? How will we reach the dragons layer?"
Dermis looked at me for a few seconds and then shuffled in his coat pocket. He took something out of his pocket and showed it to me.
"Wha- h-how do you have this?" I said with wide eyes and an open mouth. I frowned with confusion and astonishment.
"It's a family heirloom."
The thing in his hand with the size of a bottle cap shined like a ruby. It was a portal gem. As it name suggests, it had the capability to open portals to wherever one wants to go. It was said that this artefact was impossible to find even if someone looked for it for a million years. The only reason I knew its existence was merely because I read it in some ancient elf book remains. That thing was almost like a myth that doesn't exist.
"Even so, how will you use it? This artefact requires a ginormous amount of mana to open a portal."
Dermis smirked at me and took my hand as he started releasing mana from his body to use the portal gem.
It was mentally astonishing to see how an elf could produce such amount of mana at once. This much amount of mana would take 5000 years for an elf to save up, and some may still fail.
I walked through the portal while I saw the mana flowing out of Dermis's body.
"How?"
"I saved up my mana for a long time."
His remark didn't seem like a joke. The guy I just talked to a few minutes ago and labelled him as a stupid moron is now being like a remarkable being. It was unbelievable. However, we still got to the wanted place.
I looked at Dermis once again. This time, I didn't have to ask him first.
"This gem is a heirloom that has been passed down generations of elves. This thing in my hand is almost 2 million years old."
"So, you saving up your mana from your birth is a truth?"
"I never mentioned it like that. Besides, believe it however you like it... Oh, look, we are in the dragons layer. "
I looked around the giant place, there was no tress, no lives in sight. Just a dead empty land. The bushes that still remained were dark and full of spikes. The sky here had no colour. It was dim as night.
The reason it is hard to find a dragon is that nobody knew where they lived. Most species say that they live in the dragons layer since there is always an enormous aura coming out of that place. That is one of the reasons there was no life here. Even if there was any life, they would be crushed by the enormous aura, just like those dead bushes.

Dermis looked around the place while I tried to maintain my balance. Passing from a portal surely put a strain on my head. If I weren't an elf, I would have collapsed by now.
"So...what now?"
"We have to go to the middle. There's more aura there. There's a high possibility there's a dragon there."
I scoffed
"You really are insane, "
***
We reached the centre of the dragons layer, and I wanted to vomit. The enormous aura was so suffocating.
I looked at Dermis, he seems to be in the same state I was.
"Hmm...the holes must be around here," he said while looking around in the ground.
"Oh! There it is,"
There were plenty of small holes that showed no end, Dermis sat on the ground and placed his mouth in one of those holes. He then screamed from the top of his lungs .
"HELLO! IS ANYBODY THERE!!?....MR.DRAGON!!??"
"You really think that would work?"
"Well, I at least have to try'
***
The tries went on and on. At this point, I can't even count the number of times this man screamed in those holes. It's already been three days of non-stop shouting.
Dermis fell back on his butt and tried to catch his breath
"Are you done?...there's no one coming. Give it up. "
"Not yet." he huffed and puffed
"You two get out of here, "
Suddenly, a voice came from behind, we both looked back to see a boy who had the height of an average ten year old human. But he didn't seem human. The red hair and the yellow eyes and most of the all, the giant enormous aura that was flowing out of him.
***
I came here to see who made all the noises up till now in the residence. Only to see two elves. Are they here to steal some of our gold. That doesn't seem like it. Whenever other species would come to a dragon, it was always for their own need. It was always for power and wealth.
"You both are disturbing this residence. The yellow dragons here filled a complaint towards you freaks, get out"
They both looked astonished by my presence, I mean, I can't blame them, I m the mighty red flame dragon.
"Umm, s-sir dragon..-"
"Become our companion Mr.Dragon!!"
"Dermis! Shhhh!!"
"Oh..."
That's all I could pronounce by the foolishness.
***
I tried my best to act right and shushed that moron, but he was stubborn into making this dragon our companion. The dragon looked at us without any expression. In a moment, we won't even realize when he might kill us.
"Umm, please ignore this gentleman's words, sir dragon." I laughed nervously.
"Please become our companion!'"
"ahhh, please, would you just stop talking?"
"....."
The dragon took a long pause and stared at the both of us, judging our every movement. After some minutes, he opened his mouth and spoke with his sharp voice.
"Alright then, I will become your companion. There's nothing to do anyway, "
"Oh?"