It has been days since I left the kingdom of Candoness and so far I haven't found the Dreadful Venom my people fear. For days I aggravatingly wandered the massive forests of my region, carefully observing the surrounding environment, looking for scratch marks, scales, and drips of its acidic saliva. This went on for months, always getting close but finding nothing. Until finally, after finding the remains of a melted rumble hide hog, a trail of Dreadful Venom footprints freckled into view. From there I carefully followed the tracks leading me to my final destination; a dark isolated cave.
Determined, I slowly approach the intimidating cave covered with large moss and vines wrapped along its walls, with traces of acid patched on the leaves. Unsheathing my sword, the Wyrm-Blade, I raise my shield into guard and slowly proceed into the dark cave. With my draconic senses, I attempt to smell any scent of its piss to see if it marked the cave as its home. Luckily, it hasn't, but if it has it would mean I'd have to traverse through a pile of green corrosive feces. Carefully, I travel through with my dragon eyes helping me see as I walk through the darkness, checking any burrow the dragon could jump out of. But as I continued to watch my surroundings, the more I realized something was peculiar.
"Hmm… strange. Something doesn't feel right about this cave..." I thought as I took a handful of dirt.
"It's lacking slime. Usually a traveling Dreadful Venom would have the cave walls completely covered with it, in order to protect itself from diseases, but since it's all dried up that must mean," I thought " something already killed it,"
"You thought right my friend" A raspy voice suddenly replies.
Startled, I turned around to face the source of the voice and to my surprise I see an important old rival of mine, Viper the Netherdrake. With grace, Viper descended from the ceiling, and landed in the center of the enormous cave. He looked like a giant majestic green maggot, with wings...
"So this is a trap? I suppose" I mockingly question him.
"Oh yes Davion, but this time you cannot escape!"
Suddenly The entrance behind me came tumbling down with rocks and boulders, blocking the only chance of escape. At this point, I knew Viper had something up his sleeve.
"Ohoho, I've been waiting for so long for this day where I finally overpower you. I'll make you regret everything you've done to me!"
I laugh, "Overpower? How can you overpower me, if you couldn't even do the same to Jakiro?" I reply.
Suddenly, Viper flies higher into the ceiling and quickly turns downward to dive "Well see about that!" He shouts as he speeds towards me with his mouth agape.
With great agility, I dive roll away from his jaws. Quickly, I turn back to face him, firing my Fire breath damaging his corrosive skin.
"Aaaagh!" Viper roars
Here was my chance, I held my sword tightly, sprinting towards the green flying beast, jumping high with all my might to try and sever one of his wings. Unfortunately, Viper regains focus allowing him to move out of my swords trajectory. Seeing an opportunity, the great dragon bites my torso and flings me across the room, smashing me against the cave walls.
"Hahaha, fool! I have learned from our previous battles, attempting to cut my wings will not work again!" Viper screams as he quickly glides towards me.
Viper with his massive jaws chomps on my armor, grinding me across the rough ground and aggressively shakes me back and forth smashing me against walls, tearing my armor to bits. Angry, the dragon began to strengthen his bite, causing me to scream in agonizing pain. Realizing I could fight no longer, Viper smashes me to the ground once more wanting me to feel his pure inner wrath.
Panting, the green dragon stands tall. "How does it feel to be finally beaten Dragon Knight?," The green dragon sneers
" Are you not going to summon your pet? Or is he too much of a coward to face me!?," Viper mocks me
I chuckle "T'hehe, with a face like yours" I replied weakly, " I myself would not be worthy enough to be in Slyrak's presence "
Offended, the viper roars and bites my stomach. Causing me to scream in great terrorizing agony
"Damn Dirty Half-Blood!" He angrily shouts.
"Wait til you see what I have in store for you"
I lay in pain, watching the green maggot walk away from me, minutes after he returns with a bag of supplies taking them out and arranging them across the floor. He begins to prepare himself, grabbing sacred supplies, and a strange purple rock. Weak, I watch as he murmurs a summoning spell invoking a town portal scroll to materialize out of thin air. At first, I assumed he was going to blow me up, teleport out of the cave, and leave me to slowly die. Until I realized there was something different on the scroll. Unlike other normal scrolls, this one had purple magic emitting off it slowly altering the object.
Viper, turning back to face me, grinned with excitement.
"You see this Davion?" Viper calls me " this portal scroll is unlike the others, this will make sure to teleport your dead body to another existence, disconnecting your ties with the Radiant ancient, ending your chances of ever returning to life, and battle!" Viper claimed
Magically, The scroll aggressively starts to unroll itself and begins to emit a strong bright light. The sheer brightness caused the whole cave to light up acting as though it was the sun to the cave's horizon. Suddenly a beam of light blasted down through the ceiling, summoning a magic cylinder barrier around me. I flinch, believing it was a sunstrike, but soon I realized I was still alive. I look up and in shock, see a massive tunnel drilled through the mountain, created by the same beam.
Relieved, I attempt to bash on the barrier hoping it would break but soon found myself with no progress.
"Damn!"I shout
I turn around to face Viper one last time.
Grinning, Viper affirmed his final message "Goodbye Davion, let my face be the last thing you see"
Then, Flash...the light blinds me as I feel myself fly through space and time, then blank.
Darkness, that was all I felt, I float away in this dark nothingness and found myself with nothing, except casual clothing.
"Where am I?" I talk to myself
Unannounced to me, a figure walked closer and closer to me.
"Davion..." A woman whispers my name.
Startled I look around rapidly "What- what? Who goes there!?" I looked into one direction, and there I saw a shadowy ashy figure, with my eyes tired, I attempt to focus my vision
"Davion!" the voice calls out once more.
I looked at the source of the voice, only to see nothing but darkness around it. Suddenly I felt the ground under my feet, catching me off guard for a few seconds. I watch as the figure stood still, staying quiet and doing nothing, but as it did, a transparent image of a village then appeared behind the figure, resembling the one place I wish not to remember. Angrily I turn away in fear, and shame, trying to ignore it.
"Damn this deception!," I shout
"Why must I be tormented, by own consciousness!"
"Davion!" the voice called out once more.
With all might my might, I try to resist the tempting urge to face her, but gave in to my emotions.
But when I looked, my heart skipped a beat. I stared in disbelief, trying to comprehend what I was looking at. Fire suddenly appeared out of thin air, burning the village, surrounding me in a circle, choking I pathetically spoke: "Please!, forgive me!" I begged as I fell to my knees in fear. Painfully, my body began to feel as though it was burning, with the pain slowly getting stronger. I look up to face them for the last time as the flames around me began to increase. There lay my family's burnt bodies.
Screaming, I sprung up from my slumber.
"That dream again,"
"It's the past, I have to move on!" I shout at myself, looking crazy
"Where am I?" I wondered as I looked around
I sat for an hour trying to forget the memory. The pain and sorrow it brought me were too much to handle, so I busied myself with the environment. It took me a while, but finally, I distracted my conscious. Realizing it was raining I went to go look for my equipment, I began to look left to right and spotted a few of my items, The wyrm-blade still looking sharp, my shield with dents is still intact, and my helmet, severely damaged from being bashed against the cave walls. Thankful, I look up into the sky, thanking the universe for letting me keep the only items that reminded me of my home. Speaking of which, Where am I again?
Remembering I was in another world my emotions began to stir once again. My worries for Candoness spiked up. Now that I'm gone what can the armies of Candoness do? Will Dragon Clan endure? Will Crystal Maiden defend Icewrack without me? So many questions popped in my head worrying me to no end until, I remembered what Viper had said to me. The thought of that dragon's words was so tormenting, but at the same time motivating. There I recollected myself. I thought of ways to prepare myself for this journey. With a plan set, I was ready to begin my journey, but first I needed to get myself familiar with my environment.
I turned to face my left, where I saw a nice comfortable looking giant tree, with an arch under it, a perfect spot to keep myself dry from the heavy rain. From there I began to clean my remaining items, taking my plate mail armor, along with my right shoulder pauldron and used my fire breathing to build myself a small hammer. Making sure I didn't waste any of my precious armor, I forged a new short sword, so that the hammer could smooth out any weird dents and curves.
The only thing now is to cut my arm and let the blood bleed out into a puddle to dip the short sword in. It hurt, but what else could I do? I needed a smaller Dragon-steel weapon that can get me around the wilderness. Dipping it in my blood, the sword began to glow red, indicating the enchantment worked. Finishing the last few touches on my new machete, I then wrap it in leaves as a substitute sheathe. With the new tool finally finished, I turn to look outside the comforting tree to relax a few moments. I observe the beautiful green ecosystem, this land had reminded me of my past as a child, exploring the wilderness with my father, hunting for ducks to eat. There I saw a family of birds resting on top of a tree, I look to the right and see a massive wildflower, reminding me of the radiant soldiers I've fought alongside with, then I notice a very spiky dragon, then I look over to...wait, a spiky dragon? I look back at it, and stood still letting my mind process it. Instantly I hid behind the tree avoiding making any sounds.
"What the-it just popped out of nowhere!" I thought.
I peak along the tree edge and watched the mysterious dragon.
The dragon was purplish and had large amounts of spikes resting on its body and the head. The creature had a small frame compared to its big round head but seems to do just fine.
"I've never seen this one before, perhaps it could be a relative to drakinds, it has the same spikey features on the head, but lacks muscle mass" I theorize.
Then I thought of an idea, to test my theory I planned to lure it with Drakind bait.
"Let's see if it reacts to any of its favorite meals" I take out my pouch containing specific scents to lure drakinds. Their favorite wild wing bird, instantly makes them go wild.
So, I begin my test, Slowly I open the pouch, taking a small amount of wild wing scent dust, into my hand and threw it across the air.
Running back to the tree, I peek over again "Let's see if it does anything"
I watch as the dust comes nearer to the animal, waiting to see if it truly is a cousin of the Drakind species. The dust is now in its field of scent, begins to grab the creature's attention, "This is it, the moment of truth" I thought.
The creature begins to sniff the air, finally reacting, I hide in anticipation, waiting for the thing to go crazy...but nothing. "Hmmm, interesting," I thought as I peeked back.
"This must truly be a new species," chuckling I approach the creature.
"Hello there!" I greet the dragon talking in dragon tongue.
Surprised the Creature jumps in shock. The creature looked left to right and up and down until finally, it sees me standing there through one side of its the eyes. As soon as it did, it cocked its head in confusion.
"Ummm, greetings, fellow dragon, I am in need of your assistance,"
The dragon cocked its head with an even more puzzled look.
"Hmmm, can't understand me huh? Guess this is a sign I really am from another existence,"
Realizing this dragon behaved more like an animal than it did the ones I knew, I made sure to stay gentle and unthreatening. Curious, the creature slowly approached me, sniffing the air filled with wild wing scent. Knowing it lacked the intelligence of the dragons from my world, I backed away with my hands visible trying to show I wasn't a threat. Soon I had my back against a tree and the creature came ever closer. Eventually, it was close enough to touch, but I didn't try to, in respect of its large jaws. The beast sniffed me and seemed to study my scent, constantly returning to face my left arm, where I had cut it. Here, I gathered up my courage and reached out towards its muzzle, at first, the creature seemed to enjoy it until it noticed something, In fear the Dragon jumped back locking its fearful eyes onto my waist, growling at something.
Confused, I follow his eyes and realized it feared the Wyrm-Blade "Wait!, it's not what you think"
I raise my hand higher trying to reassure the creature. But my tense posture, quickly intimidates it, causing it to take a defensive stance, revealing its tail of spikes. The creature continued to stare nervously at my sword. It was as if it knew that this object is a weapon and wanted me to either throw it away or destroy my tool to slay dragons.
"I'm not going to abandon my sword," I told the beast even though it couldn't understand, "It's the last thing I have of my home" I mumble.
The Dragon knight looking back at the creature, realized there was no other choice.
"Fine, I will throw this sword for you, but I will promise you, that I will get it after"
The dragon closely studied my hands, eyeing it very aggressively and prepared itself to attack me in any way it could. Slowly and carefully, I held the handle of my sword, gradually pulling the weapon away from my body, avoiding any sudden movements. I held it in the air, displaying to the creature that I didn't intend to attack it. Trying my best to appear as though I didn't need it, I quickly threw the Wyrm-Blade away, surprising the purplish beast. The dragon watched as the sword flew across the air. 'clunk' I heard as the faint clank of metal dropped onto the ground. Finally relaxed, The dragon looks back to face me, and lowers its guard.
Attentively, I reach out my hands slowly attempting to touch it once more. "You can trust me now, ok?"
But before I could touch it the dragon denied me and dashed off into the forest, " Wait!" I called "Damn!"
But It was too late, before I could redeem myself, the new creature had already made its choice, leaving me to wander the forest alone. My emotions began to boil, on the edge of exploding like a ticking time bomb, "Oh come on!" I shout "the first living being I meet, and I already lose its trust!" It was stressful enough to be teleported to a world I don't know but not being able to socialize with my own kind just makes it worse!
Angry, I kick the closest rock.
"Damn green maggot! I can't believe I fell for that damn trap!" I begin to rant "AHHH I swear when I find a way home I'll burn his eyes out,"
Something clicked as I continued ranting.
"I have no idea how to get home do I?" I realized that I have no clue where to go or what to do.
Finding a way home now is impossible without the power of a portal scroll, and mana. Where would I even find one? I doubt there are item stores in this world either, and my mana is taking a long time to regenerate. Speaking of which, the mana in this world is weak, I can barely feel it surging within me. Without it, My powers will take longer to be fully charged, turning a minute to recharge into 30.
I sigh "I guess I'll just look for the sword,"
I begin to walk towards the direction of where I threw my sword. Until suddenly I hear a familiar loud squawk. Surprised I stop in my tracks, moving my eyes left and right trying to see if something is about to jump at me. Then I hear a faint sound. At first, it sounded like a blanket aggressively waving the air, until it began to get louder. As the sound came closer I panicked. Quickly, I search for anything I could defend myself with, but it was too late. I spot the same dragon I saw earlier flying ever closer, but something was off. It seemed as though its expression was...happy?
The dragon lands in front of me and excitedly I exclaim, "Your back!"
The dragon begins to jump around joyously and it suddenly stopped. Confused, I watch as the creature began to heave, forcing something out of its mouth spitting out a metal object at my feet. Confused, I look at the heavily slime covered object and realize that it was my one and only Wyrm-Blade! The same one I had thrown away. Surprised, I look up at the dragon and back at the sword, and back at the dragon. To my disgust, the dragon licks my face fondly and then nudges the sword closer. Even though it is covered in saliva, I pick up the sword and tied it back to my belt. Adorably, the dragon squawks as if it were asking for some kind of approval or praise. I give the beast a small smile and pat it on the neck.
"I can't believe you brought my sword back!"
The dragon replies by squawking, seeming as though it said, "You're welcome,"
"Maybe I should call you something, hmmm, maybe.." I stop and think for anything I could name him after he fetched my sword for me.
I think for another few minutes, but then I think of something.
"...maybe...Fetch?" I ask it.
The dragon with glee squawks once more suddenly rubbing its head against me.
"OK ok ok that's enough", I stop him, "I'll pet you some later, but first we gotta find a safe hiding spot" I try to reassure Fetch.
"Who knows what else is out there, if you live here, that must mean bigger and more dangerous dragons too,"
Fetch warbled with a worried tone as if agreeing with my statement.
I turn to look at the stormy sky, trying to identify what time it would be, "Hmmm sun's getting real low, we should probably look for a nice cave to rest in for tonight" I say as I begin to walk deeper into the forest.
Fetch squawking agreed and began to walk in another direction beckoning me to follow.
"Hmm? You know a place?" I ask Fetch.
Fetch beckoned me again.
"I'm coming fellow dragon," I tell Fetch.
Fetch's expression brightened as I followed him. We made our way through a field and suddenly Fetch disappeared from view.
"Fetch? Where have you gone?" I call, "Fetch!"
Then from a distance, I hear Fetch's familiar squawk and quickly follow the sound. After running for a few seconds I come upon the entrance of a large tunnel-like cave hidden in the grasses. Observing it, the cave appeared much larger than Fetch. Using my draconic eyes I glance around for Fetch for a few minutes trying to find where he was. Suddenly Fetch rushed up to me and started to gently nudge me down the tunnel. As me and Fetch entered, I looked for any signs of claw marks to see what kind dragons inhabited the cave, but only saw those with three slashes, hinting that Fetch and maybe a few of his friends have lived or slept here before.
As we walked a few more steps, I spot a large horde of shiny objects.
Panicked I take out my sword and instantly took a defensive stance.
"Stay back Fetch!" I order him, " There could be a wyvern sleeping here!"
Fetch, who seemed confused, shook his head adorably, and walked over to the pile of shiny objects. Squawking, Fetch found a reflective surface and looked at himself. He cawed proudly as if admiring the dragon that looked back at him.
Walking over to him, I too look into the mirror, "Ohhh... I see you find seeing yourself entertaining,"
Puffing himself up, he nods in agreement. Then Fetch walked over to a soft grassy area of the cave, and made himself comfortable. He sends a small chuff as if trying to say "Here is where I sleep" Fetch then looked over to another spot and chuffed once more telling me that I could sleep over there. Looking where he had gestured, I saw a nice patch of grass, with one bump on one end looking like a pillow. It somehow actually looked very cozy.
"I guess that will do," I state.
I walk over to my bed and began making myself comfortable. I look over at Fetch, who already fell asleep, thanking him in my head for becoming my new friend in this interesting world. Now, all I have to do is to familiarize myself and find any mages that could me get home, but then I wonder.
"What if there's another dragon here like Jakiro?" I thought.
"Nah, ugly two-headed dragons don't exist here I'm sure,"
Then gradually, I drift asleep into the world of dreams.