When I get a new art, I always love imagining something around it.
Sometimes I had an idea from the start, and with the artist's interpretation, the first idea can be updated to fit even better! Or sometimes it is just artistic freedom and from there, a lot can be built around.

I love this picture. Seeing Kael with a thinner body makes him look younger as a titan, so it made me think about reincarnation, to see a dragon be reborn again, for a new life, new adventures, etc...

But it's just my vision of it!

I quickly wrote something about it for the world-building, due to all these thoughts about reincarnation and souls. It was really quick so maybe there are mistakes or such, I'll reread that later. ^^

Reincarnation, when a soul leaves a good part of itself before ascending, so it can be reborn anew, sometimes generations later of the same bloodline, or as a new animal.
And this, the Makers understood it, and so they made sure a core creature such as the dragons could reincarnate in a new core in their same "Bloodline", which is why some dragons seem to reappear generations later with a body alike of their ancestors.

Souls were created with the birth of the universe. They were shards of the great Mana Hivemind that broke out and hardened.
Now separated from the hivemind, they built a new mind of their own, and could no longer (or at least without some very powerful magic) be forced together with the rest of the mana. They forged an identity of their own.

And the cycle of life was born.

While many souls decided to wander the universe as spirits, a large number of them wanted to be in an actual physical body, and life happened. They would live their existence, until the physical body would be destroyed or fully worn out, and they would ascend to a place known as the High World. Of course, none of them really remember their life as a soul, or part of the Hivemind, but they sometimes have shards of memory. It seems that the act of possessing a body for the first time can remove most of your memory, most likely for the better.

Of course, all these are just some theories by some old mages. They believe necromancy shatters these souls in order to cast powerful death spells.

Mana and souls will never truly be explained. And it is for the better.

I was very uninspired for the title. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go for a title fitting the picture or one fitting the thoughts in the description, so I went with something generic.
Sometimes, art does not need of titles.

This lovely artwork was made by  royalty !

Art ©  royalty
Character ©  artherion