Prologue 3: The Strange Alliance
A week has passed since Issei Hyoudou turned 12, he was feeling terrible. He has been feeling like that since his birthday.
He was having unbearable pain throughout his body, sensory overload, having strange dreams. His parents were greatly concerned with at least two of these developments enough that they have to bring him to the nearest doctor. The doctor thought that Issei is in the puberty stage since it usually occurs between the ages of 12 or later on. All he did was tell his parents to get medicine if this continues until puberty passes over.
His dreams are somehow the same and getting more unique each passing night. His dreams consist of himself being some sort of dragon, not just any dragon. It was a gigantic black-colored dragon with white markings and a naturally made crown of horns. Each time he looks into the seas that he has no wings or has a head that isn't like the dragons of books or media.
He was a Living Mountain that the land rumble of his every step or his very breath can cause a tempest. In those dreams, he could feel that he was greater than any King or Hero, but above all others with all intents and purposes.
In those dreams, he and others like himself were created by strange beings in a world that unlike his own. Meaning he could tell that it's the earth in the distant past, but in a sense that it isn't the earth, he was taught to look like. Oftentimes, he was fighting against other giant monsters, or times he was fighting against the humanoid figures. It was frightening to dream like this, but it feels too real enough that Issei thought that these were more than just dreams and more like memories of something else.
Young Issei wanted to tell his parents about this and the feeling about these, but his parents are probably going to ridicule him if he tells them that the dreams are memories. For now, he is keeping those secrets no matter what till puberty passes away.
Despite the pain of the so-called puberty, he needed to go to school because puberty doesn't require a stay at home type of situation as well as fixing a small family money crisis. Lucky for him, the school grants him a shorter time and lessens the school burden due to his abnormal puberty, and gets to spend some time in the computer lab to be close to the nurse's office should the medicine fail him.
Unfortunately, before he gets a chance to leave home and head school with his friends it happens again forcing him to head to the restroom.
In his current (condition/situation), he feels like his entire body is constricting his insides. He winced in pain as he hunched over the sink coughing up what feels like dirt. From his throat, several embers and ash sprayed most of the mirror and the counter as he could feel his heart having the worst kind of heartburn. Suddenly, Issei sort of vomiting some kind of fire liquid into the toilet's water causing the stream to emerge from the water.
Once he finished vomiting, he looked at himself in the steamy mirror, it was blurred at first. Painfully, he cleared the mirror with his hand, "What's happening to me?"
Some of the fire liquid leaked out of his mouth and ran down the chin. Strangely, he didn't feel the burn as it leaked onto his skin, but once the liquid fell to the ground, small flames ignited from these drops of liquid. Even more strange, he no longer feels afraid of these flames causing damage to him in any way. Instead, he feels as if he can command these flames.
Or he's delusional at these types of thoughts. Out of nowhere, Issei tried to vomit, but all it came out of his mouth were small drops of the liquid and grunts. The vomit is thick enough that he started to choke up. He could actually feel the heat of the liquid trying to get out becoming stronger.
Before he could unleash it, his mind is suddenly attacked by a vision of the same dragon that plagues his dreams, charging and unleashing 'fire' as well as calming the fire by breathing in and out with the use of the nose. For some unknown reason, Issei follows that strange vision by breathing in and out with his nose. Surprisingly, the burning liquid suddenly lost its burning sensation in the throat as he lost the will to vomit. Disgusting, the vomit retreated back to where it came from.
Before he could question everything, pounding was heard at the bathroom door.
"Issei what in the world are you doing in there?! What's that smell?! I'm coming in!" His mother shouted furiously from the hallway.
Issei then realized that the entire bathroom was a wreck and several fires were burning in the room. Before he could think of what to do, the door swung open.
His mother gasped at the condition the bathroom was in and looked at her son disbelievingly, "Issei what have you done in here?! Have you been playing with fire?!"
"No, mom, I…" Issei couldn't find a way to explain the situation as his mother furiously began to pat out several fires in the room.
After she was finished, she turned towards him angrily, "I thought you knew better than that! What were you doing here?!"
"Sorry, mom…" was all he could think to say. He truly had no idea how to explain the situation. He couldn't very well tell his mother that he was coughing up a fire in the bathroom.
Mrs. Hyoudou glared at him, "You've been acting up since it happened! Now, this?! Wait till your father gets home! You could have burned the house down!"
All Issei did is look down as he had no idea of how to explain everything no more since puberty occurred to his body.
Mrs. Hyoudou calmed down a little and commanded, "For now, Issei just gets ready to go to school. Once school is finished, just head straight home and wait for your father to come home. No detours, no exploration, no anything that is related to your wanderlust! We will have a talk about what happened! Do you understand?!"
Issei is running a bit late to his school. Since he wasted most of the time in the restroom and some time listening to his angry mother. Once he's out of the house, he wasted no time running to attempt to be on time as best as his legs could carry him.
While on his feet, he was basically dodging, running into people as he ran across crowds. He cursed his abnormal puberty as he thought that he might be late. There is no avoidance for not crossing the street signs as he buzzed the button while he escaped crowds.
Then again, his abnormal puberty has some benefits because his legs are moving slightly faster than an athletic 6th grader and his brain is automatically thinking alternate routes to his school.
In a shorter time than the average route he took, his school is in his sights. Looking at the clock, he has about 2 minutes and 41 seconds before he is officially late as he lets his legs go into overdrive with the determination of reaching class on time.
Unfortunately, as he was halfway there, a portal silently appeared on the ground to avoid the eyes of Issei or any other unwelcome beings. From the moment he 'steps' on the portal, he falls inside the portal. Once Issei's body falls into the portal, the portal itself dismisses in an instance as it completes its objective.
The destination of the 'kidnapped' Issei is the mysterious Dimensional Gap. A space within the Universe where it denies the universe and such it rejects itself 'out' of the universe. It is a place where laws/rules like space and time don't apply.
Despite the Dimensional Gap's independence of the Universe, it is still connected to the Universe. Like a spider's web, some parts of itself connected itself to certain places in the Universe. Inevitably, it created bridges for potential intergalactic transport without the need of traveling into the stars. However, the Dimensional Gap is the antithesis of the Universe without any forms of protection that organisms of Universe based life that traveling with the Dimensional Gap's tunnels will perish within seconds.
In a time before time, the Dimensional Gap used to have a different name. It was known as 'The Nothingness' named by a species once traveled with these tunnels. A familiar species that existed before the birth of the Universe, as such the Antithesis can't do anything against them. These species were the Archaios, the once Apex among all species of the Universe and the co-panther of the Universe itself.
With their existence predating the Universe and technology they're processed were far advanced than any other species, the Archaios were the only ones that traveled within the Nothingness without lethal side effects. Ever since the Nothingness came into existence, the Archaios study the Nothingness as they did study the Universe. With their finding of the two massive organisms, they formed the concepts known as "P-DNA," "N-DNA," and "O-DNA."
P-DNA stands for Positive DNA and the idea that forms it that the Universe like all living things carries DNA that creates for "Perfection" meaning everything in the Universe has P-DNA. O-DNA is another word for Negative DNA which the Nothingness is loaded with as it could be classified as either corruption or trash. In other words, the Nothingness is the rejected version of the Universe and the polar opposite of the Universe. N-DNA stands for Neutral DNA and is only founded within the Archaios so far.
These concepts formed a theory about the Universe and the Nothingness. Any organism that has P-DNA can survive in the Universe and will perish the very moment it appears in the Nothingness. Any organism that has O-DNA if there's one can only survive in the Nothingness, but will perish the very moment it appears in the Universe. Only those that carry N-DNA, like the Archaios can survive both the Universe and the Nothingness.
To prove this theory, the Archaios carefully studied the Nothingness as well as constructed ways to travel within the realm. Eventually, they built a gateway onto one of many entrances of the Nothingness. From there, a small group of Archaios were selected to venture into the Nothingness.
When they descend into the threshold of the Nothingness, entering the point of no returning to their home world. They did successfully travel within the Nothingness proving the theory to be true. However, their journey held more than proving the theory of the Nothingness. For starters, the selected group has emerged into another galaxy, not another planet that the rest of their species believed. Another of these unforeseen factors is that the technology they bring to communicated their people was destroyed leading the selected ones to need to build raw materials to communicate with the rest of their species.
Finally, the selected ones were forced to undergo a transformation as they noticed that each of themselves carry a different trait to survive a world. They found out that the Nothingness manipulated their DNA in order for themselves to survive in new territory by sacrificing the traits that allow them to rule their home galaxy/world (or previous galaxies). They unknowingly discovered a way of evolution; one that in time the Archaios will have full mastery of allowing themselves to adapt, evolve, and reborn again and again.
From that moment, a new age of the Archaios was born; one that will transcend their limited lifespans and the old method of creating new life in a different world into a life of immortality and new methods of creating life. With the newfound knowledge of the Nothingness, they created smaller gates for the Archaios to bathe in till they are allowed to adapt, evolve, and reborn on their own terms.
However, the ability that the Archaios have isn't of their own making, it was the Nothingness. At first, the Nothingness gives them that ability because they're the only species that survive within itself and come out without dying. That and due to the fact that the Nothingness is clueless at the species since they existed long before itself or even the Universe were born.
Within time, the Nothingness eventually has their role within existments as allies of the Universe. Any ally of the Universe is the enemy to Nothingness. As such, the Nothingness assists the Legion who chased the Archaios by providing means of disabling the gifted advantage and kills the Archaios. A liquid that is called Berzerk which can negate the gifted abilities and turns it into toxic towards the bestowed. The Legion used the Berzerk as blood of their creations, the daikaiju, as a backup plan.
As such, the Nothingness created the end of the Archaios, but that doesn't stop other species to follow in their footsteps. In its strange sense of time, other beings use the Nothingness enough that it causes pain of the realm itself. In response, it created the ultimate defender, one that would live within itself and will fight against the invaders that dared use itself for something sinister. Born from the infinity of itself, the Ouroboros Dragon was created.
With the Ouroboros Dragon living within the Nothingness, its existence is secure. Until that fateful, when the creations of the Archaios exiled a creation of the Universe. It was unlike all of creation that the Universe provided, it was a giant that is capable of surviving within itself. That concerns itself since only Archaios are the only ones that travel the Nothingness without dying. As such, it's defender came to the aid of the creator, but ultimately the Unknown was victorious.
The Nothingness simply watched as the Unknown exiled it's defender as the Nothingless is at the mercy of this mighty creature. In the times that the creature that other beings created it; Great Red have been in the domain, it basically downgraded the Nothingness as it was doing things that harmed the Nothingness. Not only Great Red, but the newer species lack the full knowledge of the Nothingness damages itself in a way, enough to force the Nothingness to sleep.
Lucky, Great Red suddenly stops as it somehow feels something on Earth, something that angers Great Red so much that he uses a bit of the Nothingness to summon the source of his rage.
On que, the portal opens within the Dimensional Gap as Great Red hides itself from the sight of Foe that defeated him from a long, long time ago. Remembering the battle between himself and him on that fateful day ended with him banished into this realm.
Great Red wouldn't forget that defeat and darn sure that he wouldn't forgive the one who attacked him in the first place. He spends all his time being in the Dimensional Gap, training and training hard enough for some good old fashion of payback. He doesn't care about Ophis, that dragon no longer worth his time ever since he battled it in his weakened condition. Nor everything else of the Supernatural World, they are just too weak to gain his attention.
The only one that is worth his attention is the one he called the Adversary since that creature is the only thing in the known existence that Great Red lost to. I mean of all the times he roamed the universe, he never loses a battle against his foes since they were far weaker and don't understand Great Red's status as being Top Dog. Yet, one of those creatures that predated the Supernatural have managed to defeat him.
HIM, the fucking Great Red loses a battle against a Pretender. Yes! He knew the very moment his eyes gazed upon Dagon, he knew that Dagon is a false dragon. There's one he hated from that time is the fact that a FAKE has stolen his title of being the Top Dog.
And now the time to regain his pride and title has come. Last time, Great Red fought in a land that wasn't familiar to him and that's probably why he lost. This time, he will win against the Faker in his own battleground. His moments of redemption are at hand as he could sense the Adversary nearby.
{switching to 3rd person} After moments of the opened portal, Issei has finally entered the Dimensional Gap as he floats around into space. As he tried to balance himself resulting in complete failure. He was trying his very best not to panic as he wonders how in the world he ended up here. Weirdly, Issei have a sudden boost of courage as well as some familiarity with whatever this is called.
After what seems to be minutes or hours {I have absolutely no idea of time with the Dimensional Gap}, Issei, finally, balances himself as he steadily hovers. As soon he steady himself, Issei surveys around his surroundings. As he scanned his surroundings, he felt like looking through a kaleidoscope. Yet, there are some chunks of ground floating around that reminded him of space with zero gravity.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a huge fireball blasted Issei's behind, sending him to a nearby debris. Issei, who crashed into the debris with enough force to kill a normal person, didn't feel pain at all. As Issei who kinda freaks out at this, he finds that his clothes are torn yet the exposed skin just has dirt on them. There was no blood oozing out nor any parts of his body having visible wounds of any kind. Issei is deeply confused at the sight of clothing and exposed undamaged skin as well as the very fact that he has survived an explosion and body slam to a chunk of ground hard.
Out of nowhere, Issei had a sudden impression that there's something behind him and needed to turn away. In seconds after he had that strange impression, he was in a very dark shade as he heard a very deep yet familiar growl.
With curiosity and a hint of courage override the common sense to run, Issei turns around slowly; finding himself face to face with the biggest dragon he has ever seen in his life. Normally, a normal person would have died seeing this or trying to run away from it. Then again, that normal person would die within the Dimensional Gap. Issei being here unharmed is proof enough that he isn't a normal human to the Great Red.
Issei on the other hand, felt familiar upon gazing into the eyes of the dragon as they held murderous intent. It's not the familiarity of a friend; more like the return of an enemy or a rivil. He couldn't help himself growing angry as he scowled the dragon despite the situation he was in.
Before Issei could do anything, the behemoth of a dragon opened its mouth letting out a roar as its firepower escaped and hit Issei head on. The results were the same; debris that Issei stands on was eliminated, sending Issei off in space of the void. Before Issei could get his bearings, it's massive tail came into his view and swiped him like a bug.
With the force that the tail swiped him, Issei crashed into the debris that barely survived from the impact. Taking little damage as his body has some cuts as he slowly gets back up. His mind wanders a little as he assumes imagination strikes him at the wrong place and time.
Unlike the recent dreams or nightmares, Issei was in a darker shade as he looked toward the source of the shade. He thought at first, he was standing in a Mountain's shadow. A mountain that seems to be shrouded by storms and mist. That stands taller than most skyscrapers of the world. Until a rumble was heard as a line of strange rocks in the shape of some kind of dorsal plates/spikes with the end of the line is some form of flat stone that seems to resembles feathers or a horizontal gowned tree, started to rise up from the ground.
IT WAS A TAIL! As the tail rotated around as it seemed to cause a small tidal wave of rocks to crash onto the right side, Issei began to notice that the Mountain turned around revealing a massive dragonic shape. Then, he heard huge repeating thumping sounds as the gigantic silhouette gets closer and closer to where he is as the storms and mist surrounding the beast travel with it.
Suddenly, a rogue lightning flash by the giant monster for a brief second. It may have gone fast, but it's enough for Issei to see some details of the now colored Black Behemoth. Although this one is slightly different than the one he has seen in his dreams. Similarly, this behemoth has the same size, same color skin as such black with white bold markings, having the three horns atop of the head and seems to be a dinosaur or dragon. At the same time, this dragon seems to be the latest of the previous two dragons of the dreams. The Crown which consists of the three horns are unique in a sense; two of the horns located at the edges have grown a secondary horn that seemingly fused with the first horn making it looks like a longer length of sharpness and the main horn is now located at the top of the forehead bent yet sharpest upward seemingly pointing what's behind the beast. Other than the tail sporting some dorsal spikes and feathers or horns at the end of the tails, the natural-molded V-shaped crown was the only noticeable that Issei observed.
Unknown to Issei, the massive unidentified terrestrial organism has other additional changes to make this titanic dragon seemingly more god-fearing than the others. The scales of the entire body have become more durable and seemingly never reveals a weak point in the natural defenses. His body has adopted some sort of a bio-luminescence system as his markings and eyes seem to be glowing a blue color before returning to its ordinary color. The chest and belly areas of the Black Dragon showed signs that match the phase, 'reinforced armor.' The forearms seem to resemble almost like vambraces as a thin yet sharp blade stringer like bone is attracted where the elbow is located.
Two more rows of dorsal plates have grown side by side with the main dorsal plates; one row to the left and one row to the right. The dorsal plates of these two rows are smaller and more natural curved versions of the central row. However, all but four of these dorsal plates are the same size as the central dorsal plates; two near the shoulder blades and two at the hips. Unlike the rest of the plates, these four seem to be cone-like in nature as the tips point downwards.
The smallest of these changes are located at the mouth areas. The lower jaw-bone can extend a bit more like a python snake. More smaller and sharper teeth rows have grown on the upper parts of the palate; enough for the tongue to not gain damage yet enough to cause more damage in biting. The last, but least is the tongue itself as it sacrifices some of the length to make it longer as it can develop some sticky substance. Meaning that when the Black Dragon bites, it's tongue can stick itself onto the enemy's body parts to make the biting time longer.
When Issei saw what it looked like, common sense dictates that he needs to run away from the bigger dragon. Yet, he couldn't do what many would have done in his situation. It isn't reckless bravery nor suicidal behavior, but of recognizing that he stays on his feet.
In the final approach, the living mountain steps out of the storm and fog as it stops with enough distance to keep Issei in its sight. As it caught sight of Issei with what looked like a glare, it stood tall with a pump up chest and lowered head.
Before it can do anything, reality brings Issei back with a vengeance. While Issei was busy in his mind, the Red One took that as an insult to himself. Great Red closes in on Issei with the intent of giving his opponent; a brutality beat down.
First, He begins swiping Issei from one hand to the other like a ball of yarn, which snapped Issei back to the present as he received great pain from it. After a while, Issei somehow became dazed as Great Red sent another fireball on him causing Issei away from a good distance. Suddenly, Great Red disappeared from Issei's sight, only to reappear behind his line of sight as he used one of his wings to roundhouse kind of attack on his enemy. This resulted in Issei to crash into a football field sized debris hard enough to be knocked out, signifying the end of this one-sided battle of a rematch.
(Back to 1st Person) The battle between himself and the Pretender was over. Victory belongs to him now as he became Number 1 once more. The Only One that threatened his existence has fallen. He should have at least felt the significance of delivering the final blow as he has his pride back.
Should! The entire rematch has been INSULTING at the start! When he gazes into the humanoid Freelancer, not only that coward takes the form of a human, but doesn't even fight back. That Pretender didn't even once counter-attack.
Then again, this latest disappointment has lasted this long so far. Most of his attackers did their very best of getting his slight attention, but it was in vain. A very few of the attackers did land some damage, but they were defeated in a short time of fame. This battle lasted a bit longer as the Adversary seems to have a slight resistance to the attacks in his human form.
Great Red thinking the battle is over and his place as the Dragon among all things is secured, he turned around with his tail ready to strike the debis like baseball. Suddenly, something got hold of his tail before he could swipe away his recently defeated opponent. 'What the Hell' was the current thought of Great Red. Before Great Red could look at what had caught his tail, he was whirled away a good distance. When Great Red gained control with his flight once, a flash of light blind him long enough for the shape of something that equalized the size to or might have surpassed Great Red.
When the light dimmed down, Great Red finally looked at the cause of the flashing light. Only to be shocked with his jaw open at the sight before Great Red snarls as he gets himself ready to fight again.
(A few minutes earlier) As the Dragon of Dragons was busy with his dissatisfaction of the "rematch," the knockout Issei was back to where he was before the Red Dragon finished attacking him. Back to where he was meeting the Black Dragon instead of where he was the Black Dragon in his dreams. However, the location itself has changed greatly. Yet, that change of the environment isn't significant at all.
For the first time, Issei was focusing on why he was in a shade and ended up what seems to be facing the cause of that shade. Now, Issei have a full awareness of the area because there seems to be no sightings of the Dark Dragon.
In this dream, Issei finds himself in a barren wasteland with a few distant dead trees in sight and no mountain can't be seen for miles and miles. The sky looks void of clouds and the sun is shining less than it should be. He does what some brave or curious individuals do in such a situation, he walks forward with no direction and the hopes of walking in the right path.
As he walks, he finds himself concerned with the sunlight as the sky looks more and more dimmer than the starless night sky. It is as if a total eclipse rules the sky from now on. He finds it deeply worrisome as all are used to having a sun as the dormant park of the light sky.
Even if this was a dream, it felt too real to be one! Despite the lack of sunlight, he could still feel the heat of the wasteland as sweat began to show itself. He could feel the need to end his thirst as he walks further in hopes for water or signs of civilization. His legs arched as he continually walked. An hour or so later, he started to feel the heat overcoming his senses as he walked like a wandering zombie. With the last of his strength depleted, he slowly collapses onto the dry riverbed and lies there as he expected death to come any moment now.
A short time later, the day swifts into night as the moon shone bright onto the wasteland. The earth rumbles as Issei on pure instincts gets up and looks ready to sprint safely. As soon as he looked ahead, he was flabbergasted. The cause of that reaction is located a 10-minute run and takes the form of a moon reflecting lake that somehow magically appears.
With some hesitation, Issei speedy walks to the mysteriously lake to end his thirst as he ponders how did he miss such a sight that could change his school into a swimming pool exactly did the lake appear overnight. Those thoughts were short-lived as fog began to fill the air; seemingly attempting to hide the lake from his sight. The fog suddenly appears to give Issei some sort of deja vu feeling, but he has trouble knowing the last time the cause presents itself to him.
It may hide the surroundings, but the moon shrine gives the lake's location. With caution, he slowly walked towards the edge of the lake with his eyes glued to the ground. Before he could see a part of the lake, he ran into another obstacle (literally). This takes the form of an invisible wall that Issei accidentally bangs his head into.
When that happened, he was confused as he searched the object that was his head. At first, there was nothing as he rubbed his head. Then, he reaches out with his hands to feel the invisible wall and find a way around it. Before he could touch the blocked object, the fog evolved into mist and covered the object in question like a stream to a mirror.
Issei blinked as the mist completely shadows the lake and the blue moon, but it reveals the invisible wall to Issei. That's where the weak excuse of the Good News ends. As far as he could look and more in a straight direction to go around the object, the wall seems to have no edge for Issei to do in order to reach the lake.
After feeling hopeless in this situation, he was about to give in despair when he saw something in the wall; something glowing in what seems to be in the distance from where he stands. He steps a bit closer to get a better look, but as he does just that, the glow creeps closer to be seen a bit clearer.
It looks like a pair of eyes that are menacingly gazing at Issei; more like into him as if he's a statue. A loud groan was sound as the object stands between himself and the spook. He somehow notices that the spook was big enough to rattle the ground, yet from where he stands, the ground isn't shaking as well.
Before confusion sets in, another groan is heard causing Issei to look back; only to find the creature is a bit closer to where he's at. Instead of backing off, his feet did the opposite by taking three steps forward. His eyes are locked with glowing eyes in a staring contest. Then all of a sudden, the glowing eyes vanished within his sights as the fog completely submerged the object causing Issei to sighed in relief.
Before thinking about his next move, the object that blocked him from the lake that displays the eyes of the creature suddenly breaks like glass. The cause took the form of a giant clawed hand went through the object and grabbed Issei.
In a matter of seconds the hand that holds Issei pulled him to the other side of the object, It wasn't the lake, but a completely new environment all together. The place that he was pulled into was a dark place; darker than the night or the day sky of the wasteland. There is no sun or moon in the sky but absolute darkness.
Unlike the wasteland, there are mountains, hills, rivers and signs of plant life with signs of building. Despite the lack of light, this place has managed to strive at first look. Yet, even at beauty, there is a cost for it. The most source of light are the fires ravaging the plant life to fill their hunger. The once majestic mountains were beaten down by something big to the point of collapse. The buildings share the same fate of the mountains and plants as fire dominates them to ruin as the rivers are corrupted by dirt and fluid of different colors.
The worst of all are located all over the environment is the presence of death. Anywhere that Issei could see on these surroundings are corpses of humanoid and bemothant sizes and various shapes. Whether the causes of the deaths, the only living creatures are himself and his massive kidnapper.
Now that sightseeing of this hellish place he's in, he slowly turns to take a look at his captor. He becomes shocked once he sets his gaze unto the monster that appears as the dragon of his dreams before he meets the red one.
Seeing the dark one at the distance didn't give him much fear is one thing, but practically being a stress ball to the Black Dragon is an entire new matter. Fears of being squashed or eaten cause Issei to attempt to wiggle out of the monster's grip. Unknowing the size of the Beast has sunk to a degree, all it takes to steal the "human child" is a glare and tightening his grip a tiny bit.
It snorted at the results as the dragon marched through this graveyard. For a manner of time the Black Dragon carries the "human child" out of the burning graveyard into a desert mountain range. Despite being kidnapped, there are some parts of Issei that won't let him formulate a plan to escape from the beast as parts of the feelings attached strangely calm him.
Pasting lonely mountains and natural made pillars, the creature finally saw it's destination as it speedy walked to be near there. In the midst of the distance between the destination and the pair deceased, the sky reverts back to its original state of today's age. With the sun regained normally, it reveals everything including the place the creature and himself are going to.
The destination is unnatural to its natural state in the least. The natural part of the place, in short, a hole that may be exposing the inner layers of the Earth. What seems to be considered supernatural is the size and depth of the hole. The size of the hole is at least 4x larger than the very creature holding Issei. That alone isn't the most terrifying at all, but the absence of light from either the surface or the core refused to light the hole is. For no matter how bright the sun is showing the day that no light dares to enter the hole or the molten light at the very bottom of the tunnel refused to illustrate it.
Without warming, the massive unidentified monster's grip over Issei dissolves as the hand opens. Then, the hand rotates enough for Issei to face a falling death as he falls into the hole. The last thing he saw was the Beast standing firm and face as it looked down at him with what seems to be a smirk.
[Second Half of Issei's dream] "Ge… geh…" Issei woke up from unconsciousness; an unknown amount of time after the descent into darkness. His eyes darted in question as he obviously fell from the kill able height. There was no way that he, a human, could've survived such a fall in one piece. As he looked around for slight signs of light even though he feels that he's that deep in the hole.
Granted that some kind of neon, but weak light vapor roaming around revealing the ground to be covered by mist. He roams in search to get out so to speak until he stumbles across a cave. With his desire of returning to the surface, Issei blindly ventures into it as he stretches his hands to feel the sides. Probably within an hour, the mist flows through the cave floor like a river as the vapor slightly lights the path.
As he traveled in a long tunnel, he could feel the bones of his legs, back, and arms as sweat began to shower his body. In light of this problem, Issei paused in his venture to the surface by simply sitting on the ground with his back against the smooth part of the cave.
Taking enough time for the pain to go away, Issei resumed to go whatever the cave way leads to. Walking far enough, Issei finds himself walking into a hallway: one that seems to be mechanical in nature and litter with strange circles or compass symbols. The light of the mysterious hallway shrines a stronger version of the vapor light as the vapor leads the mist. Speaking about the mist, it ventured with him throughout the cave, but now the mist didn't want to travel beyond the cave way.
That was the least important mystery of the day as the more important hallway is within Issei's mind. From what he gathered from the written language are from the circles meant whoever built them is obsessed with it or it's an undiscovered language. The hallway seems to be made of a metal that still shines to this hour, making a possibility of someone recently been here. However, it's highly unlikely that a group of people digs this deep to build things without other people noticing in the news. It's also unlikely that the hallway was made by ancient people because as far as the now know that ancient people made structures out of stone or rock, not metals of any kind.
Suddenly, Issei hears something as he refocuses on the source. To say what he has seen a couple meters in front of him is confusing is an understatement. Since what he sees is some sort of phantom entity. The entity is human shaped and female-like. It seems to be made up of computer data. Besides the data skin patch, the feminine phantom glows a light blue while he could see the phantom wears a dress and sunhat to hide the nudity.
As soon as he caught sight of the phantom, Issei seemed to be mesmerized by the phantom. He doesn't know why he felt drawn to the entity, but the urge is so strong that he didn't quickly care about the realm. That irresistible force controls his movements as he walks in a trance like fashion to be closer to the phantom. As soon he reduced the distance enough, the phantom turned around and ran deeply into the hallway.
"Wait!" said Issei as he pursued the source of his newfound obsession.
After 16 minutes of running, the entity has disappeared into thin air as Issei exits the hallway. Upon exiting the hallway, an unbearable stench attacked his noses and eyes as it dared him to break tears and let out vomiting. At first, it made him blind to the surroundings, but as he found a better way to handle the stench; he now knew why the stench was awful.
The cause is that Issei is in a room, full of corpses that created the unbearable stench. As far as he knows about the room, it's bigger than the hallway and made out of metal as the hallway. The floor and parts of the walls are strained with dyed blood as different positions of the corpses are still in the process of decaying and the fact that the majority are not even human or any animal he has seen so far. The way the in-process decaying flesh looks like the monsters or beasts from film and books.
As he passed through the corpses, the room bathed with enough light to momentarily blinded Issei. Unknown to the blind Issei, the room faces many changes like the corpses quickly turning to dust as the wall quietly ripped apart piece by piece. When the light dimmed down the brightness, Issei gasped in disbelief at the place that replaced the room.
In place of the wall surrounding the room is the blue sky with clouds roaring in a vapor pattern. In place of the stained and rusted floor is a floor that the designs is a bridge between futuristic and magically due to the fact that the floor grows and blows mythical dust. The sight questioned the lost "traveler" as he was sure he was still trapped under the earth and hadn't found the way to ascend to the heavens.
As Issei was making sure he wasn't seeing things, the source that changed a change of scenery began to lower itself to properly meet one of them. The source may lack a complex form like an organism, but it does arrive in a simple form like energy. Being energy based is far easier than to have a fleshly existence and it will do the job more better for this moment. After all, the source is more like the energy manifestation of the Mantle which was forged out of the Archaios' collective knowledge.
The aura of light shows itself behind him, which Issei turns around to face. Upon seeing the source of brightest light, he couldn't help but feel there's something familiar about it despite knowing about the human form of science and the fact that his mind doesn't remember whatever stands before him. Curiosity grew enough with him as he walks closer to the thing almost like an undead.
Within striking distance, curiosity that filled Issei's mind becomes dread as what seems to be energy-based tentacles. The cause for his dread is that tentacles latch on Issei's legs, arms, and hips within seconds. It lifts him up to be closer to itself face-to-face, ignoring the fear-stricken Issei struggling. With one of it's tentacles wrapped around his neck to the back of his head, the source forces Issei to look in the eyes of the being. Smaller tentacles emitted from the being's head as it slithers towards Issei who seems to be panicking.
As quick as a flash, the energized face tentacles stabbed Issei causing him to scream as whatever it doing to him creates pain that seems to be greater than what he earned before encountering the Red One. The pain increased as the tentacles began to pump the being's essense into the boy. Even though his eyes are closed, images begin to pour into his mind at a rapid rate causing his mind to overload as it tries to process and keep up with the information being fed to him.
It was then, the thing telepathy says, "Relax! Let the memories flow though your storage, D ^."
When the being speaks, it clear Issei's pain as he attempts to make sense of its advice. From what he gathered from what being pumped into his skull are some sort of memories, but the bigger questions are what "memories" belong to as it reflects the dreams that haunt him as well as adding new context about the Black One.
The Being answered what might be his next sets of questions, "I am what You have protected since the end. I have arrived at even the odds… by helping you… to regain what You lost!"
"Huh?" Was all Issei could say as he tried understanding what it was saying to him about these images.
Seeing his expression as it was one that he doesn't show often. The creature added, "You truly believe yourself as a human!? Regardless, it's for you to return… the real you!"
The words echo in his mind as the images drive him to a spur happening at the base of his mind. "What does she mean… the real me?"
But before he could get an answer, the Manifestation increased the process as images flocked his mind once more. In the acceleration rate of images… Issei found himself in a different land… a different place… perhaps even a different time. "What? What is this?" Issei thought all this.
"Let these memories restore you, Freelander" the voice continued as the forgotten memories overflowed the brain's features that allow Issei to be a human until that particular defensive measure is broken! Once that happens, Issei begins to feel the power within him glow with every memory restored. He remembered… he remembered who he truly was and what he was to begin with. The identity he adopted and his true identity that he hides behind this flesh… it all became clear to him.
Issei's final thoughts before the Being retracted the tentacles, releasing and placed him on the ground in turn. "I remember now! I am… I am… I am…"
When Great Red's tail was about to swipe Issei's body away, Issei opened his eyes and adored a serious look where he could feel Great Red's tail. Out of pure instinct, he lashed out his hand to receive the incoming tail. With a look that screamed fury, he not only captured the tail, but managed to whirled him to gain some breathing room.
As Great Red attempts to control his flight, Issei simply closes his eyes to focus. By the time Great gained control, Issei's body glows enough light that it can be mistaken for a star as his body grows in size and shape to reveal his true form.
When the light dimmed down, Great Red finally looked at the cause of the blinding light. In place of the human Issei is the new and improved Dagon as the four cone-like objects located on his back suddenly expand out of the Freelancer. Only to be identified as Dagon's wings as it unfurls and begin to help Dagon stable himself in a zero-gravity environment.
Seeing Dagon in his new form shocked Great Red to the point his jaw is wide-open. He can sense Dagon as the one who defeated him in a time before time. His time in the Gap doesn't change Great Red at all, yet the Pretender seems to have evolved over time to look what he's looks now. It makes him feel uncertain in his advantage as Dagon has wings like and showing no signs of having no trouble in a lawless space.
Great Red's shock invites Dragon to display his might to install some fear. With his markings and spines flashing full power, his head and back became as straightly as possible as he gives narrow eyes. Dagon huffed a guttural growl towards Great Red with a billowing forward through the tense air.
Dagon's intimidate displays insulted Great Red as he snarled and roared at Dagon, who glared back with a snarl of his own. As if the environment is on a planet, Great Red crouched low as he spread his wings to full extension on either side creating frightening displays. Any Human or Supernatural being would have been either flee at their sights or scared while failing trying to put up their brave face, but Dagon isn't just an Earth based entity. The Impostor took a deep breath in before releasing an ear-shattering primal roar towards Great Red. The Strongest Being of the Supernatural World replied in kind as Great Red began to fly forward to face the Strongest out of all Freelancers.
That action wasn't lost to Dagon as he, too, flaps his wings and flies. At first, he flew in a loop to make it seem like he's retreating. This resulted in a raging Great Red at the nerve of seeing such behavior from the Fake as he chased Dagon down. His game plan was simple: catch up with Dagon and attack him from above. Only to be surprised as Dagon turned around as Great Red wasn't able to defend himself properly. From that moment, these monopolizes of power collided.
Starting the First Round, Dagon opened his jaws before clamping down hard around the neck he's purposely aimed for. Great Red roared in agony at the contracted force before he uses his claws against Dagon to release him from his bite. It was like that until Great Red became lucky as he jabbed near his eye causing Dagon to release him.
A slight hiss escaped Dagon's mouth as he barely avoided Great Red's tail. In response, the Freelancer shoving the Dragon of Dragons back to give him some breathing room. It was short lived as Great Red strikes Dagon in an almost feverish manner. Anticipating his fight pattern, Dagon blocked ¾ of Great Red attacks as the former's spines flashing blue before karma kicked in.
The True Red Dragon God Emperor bites the Prototype at the neck proving that the Most Active Freelancer have some physcial weaknesses. This resulted in some painful groaning as Dragon uses his wings to flow backwards as he punches Great Red in repelling this form of assault. He was successful in putting Great Red off of him, but his retreat leaves him vulnerable to Great Red's range attack.
A constant surge of hellish colored flames forced Dagon staggered and eventually fall into a debris field. Once he fall into the debris, Great Red withold his fire as he adopt a careful yet aggression stance.
Dagon pushed himself onto his side and looked at Great Red before roaring defiantly. Once more he uses his wings to fly as Great Red shoots three fireballs straight at him causing Dagon to land his feet on the debris as he growls in anger and pain. His tail slammed onto the fraglie ground breaking it into different pieces.
Then, the first spike somewhere on his tail burst into flames as the second, third and fourth followed suit. Pretty soon, all the spikes on his back also burst into flames as the markings of his body light up in the same color of the flames. As they did so, snoke and stream emitted from it as it created an amazing yet scary display as Dagon unleashes a fire stream that burns the very space of the Nothingness and eliminates any debris in an instance caught in it.
The stream that burns hotter than the flames of Hell headed straight towards Great Red. Instead of dodging it, Great Red took a breathe and let it his own version of fire stream in hopes of counteracting Dagon. The inferno of Great Red and Dagon collided with each other as both sides pumped more power into it. Eventually, it created a gigantic explosion that rocked the area where they battled and sent both monsters flying into debris fields. The 1st round between Dagon and Great Red ended in a draw, yet the behemoths weren't happy at the results and once more charged at each other in this battle of supremacy.
So far, there were six rounds: two wins for Great Red, two wins for Dagon, and two in a draw. They were in the middle of their seventh round as things were getting nowhere for the likes of Dagon. Throughout the latest round, Dagon and Great Red were using hit and dodge tactics. Dagon let out a more stronger ranged attack towards Great Red as the latter barely missed it by using a barrel roll.
After that attack, Dagon and Great Red were back the way they started which one's more stronger. With the only exception is the fact that both sides are close to minor injury as they claw, bite, and burn marks throughout their bodies with few droplets of sweat. They are breathing hard as they enter another staring contest. The fights have somehow drained their interest as they heave because they are tired out of the fights. Weren't it not for the Dagon getting annoyed in this fight as "time" roamed by, the battle will have continued once they are healed and ready to fight till one of them falls.
When Dagon is fully healed and energized, Dagon growls at Great Red to start talking. Dagon speaks in a language that is similar to the dragon's ancient tongue that only few of their own kin speaks and understands. Great Red is one of the few that understands the words hidden in the growl as he replied in kind.
"You may understand my native tongue of my kind, but it won't save you from a can of ass whooping," Great Red glared at Dagon.
"So, you're not just a mindless beast!?" said Dagon as he enticed a rocky start of parley.
"How dare you!" yelled Great Red as he charges at Dagon in an attempt of clawing him to death.
In response, Dagon not only dodge Red's attack, but grabs ahold of the dragon's hands. Before Great Red could uses his fire, Dagon says, "What I said doesn't meant to insult you since I remember you growl, roar, and snarl like an old enemy of mine when we do battle!"
Hearing that stops Great Red from continues his assault as he glared at him, "Well, that your fucking mistake Faker!"
With that, he breathe a fire stream at Dagon whom the latter managed to flew out of range. Dagon asks, "Aren't you tired of fighting me? This battle has proven that we are equals!"
"Think again, Pretender! I was minding my thing until you show up and give me humiliation all those ages ago. I want payback for that, plain and simple!" said Great Red as he gives Dagon the meanest looks possible.
"Well, I'm a little busy at the moment. I need to do something that is of utmost urgency to me!(Seeing Great Red getting more angry) Wait! You can't continue this fight against me!"
"You're really asking for a death wish! Besides, you can get out of my turf mainly because you don't know how…" said Great Red, seemingly trolling Dagon. "Unless you wanted to return to your turf, I suggest you tell me the nature of this urgency. After all, I hate shady business just as much as I hate you!"
This gives a pause for Dagon as he thinks what types of reasons he needs to give to a creature that equals him in many ways. He doesn't know if his real reason could give the vengeful equal to spare him of the fight. Until, his eyes slightly widened at an idea, a good idea of handling the likes of Great Red.
"It matters not if my business back to my 'turf' is shady or not, for what truly matters is the fact it's distracting me to give you a proper duel!"
"WHAT!? What are you tal-" said Great Red before Dagon cuts him off.
"Just think about if there's something bothering me in the fight that I ain't giving you a full satisfying at the fight. You want the rematch to be greater than your defeat, don't you?"said Dagon with a smile.
That gives Great Red to ponder at what Dagon is saying, "What do you offer if I allow you to return?"
"Allow me to return to my land to let me handle my problem with the best of my choice. Once I finish my business, then I come back to settle our duel once and for all to see who truly belongs at the top of the chain. Right?"
Great Red looks unconvinced with that, "You expect me believing that? How do I know that this is an excuse to get away from me like a coward, Pretender?"
"Then let us add a few more bonuses! You can come to my land to check on my progress as we can do some practice battles against each other until the time comes. Just wait until my business is finished."
"I'm afraid you're pushing it," said Great Red disapprovingly.
"Mmm. Too bad, I thought you were a badass outlaw and all that benefits related to it. Besides, I was thinking we can gathered anyone that is your kin with my kin to sees who's stronger and whoever wins gets controls all like a gang," said Dagon as he purposely says 'gang' due to his time as Issei the human and the Red Dragon remind him of Japanese gangs for some strange reason.
Great Red smirked as he laughs, "A gang made out of dragons and whatever you are? I think that the first time I heard of such a deal!"
"I guess there's a first for everything, uhh!"
"Called me Red! Yours?"
"Dagon, but when I'm in a different form, call me Issei Hyoudou."
Red flashes a smile, "I like the way you think, Dagon! You've convinced me of having a gang that rivals them all. Just the thought of everyone thinking twice about crossing us Dragons is quite refreshing. We Have A Deal!"
"Good! Now, how do I get back?" said Dagon as the dealing with Red is a success since he knows that he outsmart Red during their first battle, but grew confused of how in the Creators will he get back to Earth or the problems behind this accord will bring.
There we have folks, the longest chapter I have read that lasted me a two-year period. This marks the end of the prologues chapter as hopeful this answers Djberneman as all things must come to an end. This chapter was inspired by Code Geass fanfiction Black Empire to address how Issei is going to remember He's Dagon (Freelancer-000) and Jack Sparrow's parley scene in the first movie. Hopefully, this satisfying you' all with some action.
If there's any other comments on anything within this chapter that needs to be explains! The chapter was finished and posted without Grammarly check up.
Freelancer Wiki
Freelancer model #: 000
Monster name: Dagon
Human name (optional): Issei Hyoudou
Gender: male
Height: close to 400ft
Personality (human): Let You be the Judge of his personality as story goes on.
Behavior: Protector of the Natural Order
Rank: Alpha
Intelligence: Close to Archaios due to the Mantle
Species identification: Dragon/Human
Appearance: Almost like Godzilla in freelancer mode and unknown in human mode
Type: Prototype
Abilities/power: adapting DNA, strength, breathes some type of 'dragon' fire, endurance, etc
Weaknesses: undetermined
Note: Named after the monster verse! Based on Godzilla!