AN: Sorry about the delay, first fanfiction website was down for a while, at least for me, then RL happened. Updates will be sporadic but I'll see how much I'll be able to publish today and tomorrow.
Selene snickers. [It still makes me laugh, remembering our first conversation.]
'What did you expect? I just had a life changing event, and then I find out I'm in a fucking fiction?'
Selene simply laughs, as my mind goes back to that conversation.
TDEOS
"Hello, Helen." A voice emanates from behind her, but Helen didn't notice the other presence in the room, as she was too focused on suddenly being back in her own body, in a different place than the alleyway.
Turning around she comes face to face with another dragon, a beautiful and majestic creature, with dotted purple scales, reminding her of the night sky. Shimmering silver orbs stare back at her, unblinking.
Helen stares back, but her mind is screaming at meeting another fucking dragon. Taking a deep breath, she calms herself.
"Hello?"
The dragon smiles, and it looks unnerving. Razor sharp teeth peeks through the maw of the dragon.
"I must say, you find yourself in an interesting situation." The dragon snickers, and Helen catches a glimpse of something behind the dragon.
Noticing Helen's gaze, the dragon takes a step to the left, and Helen spots a holographic projection, playing like a movie. Except she recognizes the 'scenes'. Moments of her life. Her childhood, school years, meeting Sam, falling in love, getting married, all of her life is displayed, until this moment in time.
Helen knows she should feel violated. Her every secret was just laid bare. Her every thought, intimate moment with her wife, but for some reason that feeling never comes. She looks inquisitively at the dragon before her.
"You must have a lot of questions, but I think I have a quick way to make you understand the current situation. I am your sacred gear."
Sacred gear? That nagging feeling grows stronger, and Helen tries to place the term. Suddenly it clicks, and memories come rushing through. Sam asking her to watch a new anime with her, Helen teasing Sam for the erotic content.
"You're kidding? That can't be true." Helen exclaims in disbelief. There is no fucking way this is happening. She was dragged from her bed, from her wife, her emotions manipulated, and now she's told she's in fucking Highschool DxD, a world of perverts?
The dragon morphs into a young woman, looking to be in the beginning of her twenties. Purple hair and silver eyes, and her beauty is ethereal.
"I'm sorry to say it is." The now human dragon confirms.
Helen falls to her knees. Still in disbelief.
Neither speaks as time passes by, Helen disregards everything that has happened since she went to bed. Her determination wanes, now that she knows where she is.
Eventually, she gathers herself, knowing there's only one option right now, moving forwards. Despite knowing this is the only option, she's afraid she'll become a completely different person. While she wanted to remake herself, she still held a tiny belief she was in her own world, and could eventually make her way back to her wife, despite the situation. Now that's not possible.
"It's a fascinating thing, the future. I myself was taken by surprise when I realized this world is just fiction in your own." The last scene Helen watched of the show, Issei going into Juggernaut Drive, until Vali Lucifer delivers Asia from the dimensional gap.
Suddenly Helen realizes that's where she was, and the only being that currently resides in the dimensional gap was Great Red.
Shaking her head free of those thoughts, they are not important now.
"I have a few questions." She tells the dragon, and she realizes she still doesn't know her name.
The dragon nods in response.
"First of all, where are we?" Helen questions.
"We are in your soul space, where I as your sacred gear resides. Your body is still in the alleyway, and you were brought in here upon awakening me."
"How come I look like this in here, but not outside?" Helen asks, despite having a feeling she knows.
"Here you are a manifestation of your self. This is what your soul recognizes as your ego, which can differ from how your body looks. Usually they are one and the same, with maybe a few slight differences, but you don't see yourself as the owner of that body, thus, your current appearance."
Helen nods, she had a feeling that was the case, as soon as she heard soul space. In the back of her mind she knows she's feeling eerie calm at the moment, but again, not important now.
"Who are you?" She asks, and the dragon smiles.
"My name is Selene. I was previously known as The Heavenly Dragon of Celestials, The Dragon Empress of Stars, Star Dragon, Cosmos Dragon, and the Dragon of Arcane Arts. I am the soul residing in the Arcane Crown, your sacred gear." Selene responds with a flourish of her arms, and an attempt at a grandiose tone.
Helen laughs at the introduction, she figures Selene is probably trying to make her feel better, and it works, before she suddenly realizes what Selene said.
"Wait? Heavenly dragon? I thought there were only two, Ddraig and Albion."
Selene nods. "I found myself surprised watching your memories, while I was never commonly known before I became a sacred gear, there were still those who knew about me. Unlike those two, I am a dragon of the universe, so instead of spending my time here on Earth, I was roaming the stars and the planets."
Helen's mind whirs with different possibilities and explanations, but she knows she probably won't be able to confirm if her knowledge of the anime can be applied to this world, until the main story progresses. She doesn't even know what time she's in, or when the main story is supposed to start.
"Ok. What is the Arcane Crown?" Helen gathers her thoughts, focusing on asking the most pressing questions.
Selene waves her hand and a projection of a tiara appears. It looks regal, and despite being a tiara, she understands why it's called crown instead of tiara. It's a shining black color, with intricate dragon motifs shaped out of the twisting metal looking substance. The ends grow thicker where they meet in the middle, and a single royal purple gemstone is embedded in the center.
"The Arcane Crown was a collaboration between me and Yahweh." Helen is shocked by the information that she made it with god, instead of being subdued and forcefully entered like Albion and Ddraig. "It is a sacred gear encompassing all that I am, and was, as a Heavenly Dragon. The wielder has an innate understanding of magic. While normally you'd have to study to produce magic, the innate understanding allows you to cast more like a devil, with imagination."
Devils, that's who's holding Helen's body. Filing away that tidbit of information for later, she motions for Selene to go on.
"While you can learn and use elemental magic, the Arcane Crown grants you three separate magics. Stellar, Cosmic, Celestial. You will bypass the orthodox methods of learning magic, being granted an innate understanding, and casting will be much like Devil's magic, based on imagination and willpower. In addition your magic pool and affinity will be unmatched, almost limitless. Though your magic may be limitless, your body is not altered, and thus more complex and grand magic may cause strain, injury or death.
Helen absorbs the information, and as each word is spoken by Selene, the knowledge associated with each word is implanted in Helen's mind, the different branches of innate magic, her understanding of different affinities, and the feeling of her magic pool, resting in a metaphysical place inside her body.
Her mind quickens, running parallel thought streams. One is absorbing and processing all the new information, and the other is already planning on how to get out of her situation in the outside world.
Selene claps her hands, grabbing Helen's attention. "Now then, it's time for your mind to return to the outside."
Helen blinks, and she's back in her new body, being held by the devils.
"Huh?" The devil holding her exclaims, as Helen's hair lengthens, and a small tiara manifests on her head.
Helen opens her eyes, and they're glowing with power. A smile adorn her lips, and they part to speak two simple words.
"Hallowed ground."