This chapter has changed, please read again, thank you!
Prologue
Issei stood slack-jawed, his mind numb from shock as he stared into the crystalline blue sky that spanned the horizon as far as his eyes could see, aside from the bright and brilliant orange glow from the flaming sun that rose beyond grey mountains with snow-tipped peaks standing to his left side. However, it wasn't the vast expanse of crystal blue or brilliantly saturated orange that perplexed him as he peered above a forest of strange and foreign-looking trees before him. The source of his shock instead came from the two moons in the sky that left him too flabbergasted to even speak. Slowly shuffling his way toward the cliff's edge and stopping just at the drop to prevent himself from falling, he took in all the sights and sounds.
Before him stretched a forest of vibrant green with trees that seemed to flow and move with minds of their own. The leaves on the trees shimmered with strange glowing spines, making the forest before him look even more magical than he believed them to be. From above,a strange energy fell from the bright sapphire moon downwards onto the trees like an early morning mist or fog that slowly began to fade as the trees seemed to absorb it into themselves.
Not only did the forest around and below him seem to be thriving and pulsating with strange energy, but there was also something that caught his eyes in the distance that gleamed through the energy that fell from the moons above. Jutting just above the canopy of the trees, were large crystals that glowed in myriads of colors that shifted and swirled as the light of day hit them. The crystals themselves were more than perfectly shaped, despite how tall they were. Each individual crystal held a base that was just as sturdy as necessary for their height, most falling around the size of a miniature house with some even larger, and some much smaller.
And all of it was like nothing he had ever seen before. If the last few hours of his life had failed to teach him that he was no longer on the planet he remembered and called his home, he knew now that there was no way to deny such a fact. There were two moons above his head, each a different beautiful color—one an almost raging ruby red and the other stunning sapphire blue, both a bit pale in the rising sun. As if that wasn't enough to confirm, the trees glowed, and crystals grew from the ground as large as houses and taller than trees.
Not only was he in an entirely new location that was completely impossible on Earth, but his own body had been changed as well. While he still held a human figure, his body had become almost more... reptilian. He had emerald scales on his arms and legs that seemingly gave him natural gauntlets and greaves to protect his extremities. Not least of all, he had long, hooked claws that seemed as sharp as any blade he had ever used or felt before, though they could not pierce his now much tougher skin, much less the scales.
Though he wished he could shake off what he was seeing and claim it was a twisted and strange dream, he couldn't. He had realistic dreams before, but this was something entirely different. He felt like his senses has been boosted beyond what a human normally could sense. He could hear all the leaves rustling against each other as the wind blew, the subtle flapping of four-winged birds behind him mixing with all the other sounds around him. He could see details much farther than would ever be possible, even in the dreams he had experienced before. And he could smell it all. He could smell the dirt and the scent of the forest, as well as a partially decomposed animal somewhere within the woods. The smell of freshly fallen rain and honeysuckles. It was a smell that he could only explain as being therapeutic. Calming. Peaceful.
He inhaled deeply, smelling the honeysuckle sweetness that filled the air and gave him a sense of familiarity. He brought one of his claws up to his face and carefully wiped away a tear that fell from one of his eyes. He was not sad, in fact, it was the opposite. He was happy, for the first time in such a long time, his heart felt full. And beyond all that, there was a feeling that tugged at him in an unnatural way. A feeling of familiarity once again. Like he had been here once before. All the sounds. The smells. A feeling that told him all would be alright. A feeling that told him he was home.
"Welcome to The Isles, Issei."