"What are you trying to imply?" Akira asked weakly. The only thought on her mind now, Gods please forgive her, was that "Gods must be crazy."

Napat smiled. Sometimes concepts of heaven were too complex for humans. He replied, "To put things bluntly, a soul is always pure. It is never evil. It has no thoughts to influence it, no body to satisfy. Do you understand that much?"

Akira nodded. Yes, it was fairly simple.

"Right now, Asura, whom you dream of, is just a soul. He has not yet manifested in the world, so he is pure. I, as God, cannot hurt something that is innocent. It is against the Word of Apā." 

Enlightenment dawned on her. If the soul wasn't born, it could not hurt others.

"So it is enough to prevent it from being born?"

Napat shook his head and smiled. "No, that would bring about a catastrophe-level disaster."

Akira looked surprised. "How come?" 

"The sins. A soul escaping its sins imbalances the karmic scale. That would mean evil deeds would remain unpunished. So the soul has to be born and reborn until all its past karma has caught up, and it is cleansed of its sins."

Akira looked unhappy. 

"Is there no way to prevent this?"

"The decisions made by any creation in the living realm are a chain reaction. The Asura that you speak of may end up being a saint or the sinner you see, depending on his circumstances. As an Oracle, you saw the worst. 

"Let me show you the vision of a Priest."

He whirled his hand, creating a mirror from mist. 

A man with hair the shade of night clung to a baby. A dark hooded figure. "Give me the child, or you will die in vain, just like its father."

The man looked at the child and whispered, "Sorry, my love, for being born into our bloodline. You did nothing wrong. You may grow up thinking we abandoned you, but remember, we would gladly die to see you smile another day."

With that, he muttered something under his breath and, taking a pearl-like orb from his chest, imbued it into the child.

Using his last breath, he slashed his arm and drew a magic circle on the child, sealing its presence from any magic user, and opened a portal through which he pushed the child.

The hooded figure cried and slashed the man's hand, but the man had already died.

Akira saw this and cried, "Oh no! Why? What just happened?"

Hotrā said, "Let me translate that for you.  The guy whom you saw die... he is the Asura in your dreams."

Akira was utterly confused. "What are you saying?"

This guy had given his life to protect the child. How could such a man be capable of being an Asura?

"Before I answer that question, you need to understand the circumstances leading to the scene you saw, now and in your dream."

Akira listened intently.

"Do you know about Dragon blood and the Blood Moon?"

She shook her head. She had read about the Blood Moon, which was considered cursed as it always brought about death. But Dragons were fabled creatures.  Other than Hotrā, she added hastily."I am not really a dragon," he assured her.

Then who were the dragons?