'Darren, it's completely fine, you've got nothing to worry about.'

"How was that, completely fine!? What the hell was I doing there?" Darren cried out. He didn't know what exactly happened, since he blacked out after starring at the risen for too long. But he could still feel the intense feeling of hunger that was there. And to say he felt uneasy was an understatement.

His breathe was coming in as short, and staggered as he was trying to come to terms with the events that happened.

"I mean, what was I doing? What happened? What was that ball thing I was holding? WhythehellamIsodamn–"

*THUNK*

'When I say things are fine, they're godsdamn fine…' Grima muttered after knocking the hysterical boy out with an energy ball to the head. 'Now I have to drag your body over to Ferox, fun…'

And so, the tiny dragon bit into the unconscious boys' hood, and proceeded to slowly drag him through the sand. Thinking that once Darren had come to, he'd have to explain that what had happened was not a bad thing, but completely. Normal.

'I swear you'd better not freak out again when you wake up. Or fighting risen will be the last thing you'll worry about.' Grima growled, as he pulled the unconscious boy by the hood using his teeth.

The Other Way - Chapter 3

When Darren finally came around the first thing that he noticed was the sudden drop in temperature compared to the desert he remembered being in. Even the sunlight seemed cold to him. His first instinct was to figure out where he was.

'God, why does my face feel like it was dragged across a field of gravel?' He thought. The feeling of tiny scratches on his face made their presence noticeable. His face scrunched up in pain, making them hurt even more.

'For the most part, you kinda were.' Responded an exhausted Grima. Who had, until recently, been sleeping on top of the unconscious boy. Now though, he was flying a small distance away from Darren's' scratched up face.

"Where are we?" He spoke up. His voice was coarse and dry.

'Take a guess.'

Opening his eyes Darren could see where Grima had somehow set up a campfire. The first thing he saw was the snow. That and how cold it was. Sitting up, he rubbed his arms with his hands to gain some friction. His clothing wasn't made to be warm in the slightest.

"Ferox? How'd we get here?" He said.

'I dragged you here after knocking you out during your little episode.' He responded. 'You're a lot heavier than I expected you know?'

Darren sighed at the mention of the previous events. How he'd gone from perfectly sane (well as much as one would be when facing something like a risen) to some sort of monster hellbent on eating… something. He wasn't sure what happened but was determined it was something dangerous.

"So what happened then? Before my little… 'episode'?" The Hunter asked.

'It's simple really,' Grima said casually. Pointing a wing to the boys' stomach, he continued. 'You were getting hungry from the lack of food. And while you were living off my energy as a result, you haven't had any since that afternoon. So when you saw how the risen had energy like mine, you took the chance to 'consume' it. Though I have to admit, I didn't expect you to be able to do that yet.'

Darren was silent as he was left to deal with the information. Snow was already beginning to fall when he finally spoke in an unsure voice.

"So nothing is wrong with me then? All of that was just normal?"

The fell-dragon pondered for a moment on how to answer that. Sure, the boy had lead a normal life before his odd death. But then again, normal people don't suddenly drop into a dragons' subconsciousnes. And that dragon is apparently the evil death god of a video game that he played. Inwardly Grima sighed, 'What a predicament. I don't want to discourage him in anything, but I want him to trust me.'

Finally, he said in a voice as comforting as he could. 'Well, yes and no. Normally, being able to do such a thing would require a seal or two to be broken. And your reaction to the feeling was probably a little much, but I guess it's because it was so sudden and you were unprepared.' His voice changed to a more uplifting tone. 'But other than those, it would be completely normal to drain a risen of its' energy if you were low on food. You just have to be careful on the amount you take; too much could be fatal, and too little will have no effect.'

Darren let loose a breath he wasn't aware of holding. He was honestly relieved that nothing was wrong with him. Well, nothing wrong as someone who wasn't from this world was. But he was relieved nonetheless. Glad at being reassured by the fell-dragon, he gave a small smile. Standing up, he was about to start walking before realizing that he had no idea which direction they were supposed to go. He sheepishly grinned at Grima before asking which way they needed to go in.

'This way.' They began walking.

'Wait.' Grima said suddenly.

Stopping in his tracks, Darren was guessing that there were enemies nearby. Bandits? Risen? Tensing his body, he waited for the inevitable fight that he would have to face. His heart was already going into hyperdrive, and was pumping adrenaline through his system. He was confused when the little dragon turned around to face the opposite direction. Even more so when Grima began flying in that direction.

'This way.' He said, unaware of the irritated glare his partner gave him.

As his eye twitched, Darren began to walk towards the tiny dragon. Not noticing the sudden aura he was giving off, Grima shivered as he felt an extreme sense of animosity aimed directly at him. He managed to look behind in time to see a fist slam down onto the top of his head.

"Gods, don't do that! I actually thought we were under attack or something!" Darren yelled out. He pulled back his fist to see the mighty fell-dragon flutter around to the ground, in almost drunken-like movements. Finally reaching the ground, Grima landed in the snow with a soft crunch as the snow beneath him flattened.

'Owwww,' he groaned, voice muffled somehow by the snow his head was currently buried in. 'Hey, where am I?' Now his wings were desperately trying to pull him out of his small, cold prison.

Darren would have helped him out, if he weren't so busy rolling around in the snow laughing at his friends' situation. All his earlier tension had been replaced by a wide grin and teary eyes. His breathe was causing small puffs of air to form in the freezing cold that was undoubtedly Ferox.

"Ahh," Darren sighed in content from his position on the ground. "I definitely needed that." Getting up, he dusted off all the snow that was on him from his laughing in the snow. Grima was glaring daggers at the boy when their eyes met, having finally gotten his head out of the ground.

'Not funny.' The dragon growled out.

"Neither was your lack of direction." Darren shot back with a grin.

'...'

Knowing that it would be pointless to continue arguing, Grima flew up and continued down the path they were taking. Inwardly, Grima had swore revenge on the boys' actions, but outside of his mind he sighed.

'This way.'

It was nearly midday when they finally saw something that resembled the giant gate to Regna Ferox. Even from his position, Darren could see how massive the walls were. He'd always thought that they were tall, but this was taking it to new levels, literally.

"Woah…" he awed at the sight.

'Huh, I guess it does look like that show with those giants in it.' Grima mused.

"Can't say no to that…" the teen replied, still not taking his eyes off the wall.

'Why don't we get closer to get a better look?' Grima suggested, already moving in its' direction.

"Yeah, we shou-hey! Wait for me!" Snapping from his gaze, he ran towards the tiny dragon. "Wait!" He called out. "What if someone sees you?" They were almost at the top of the hill where they would find the gate and —more importantly— the guards. Not wanting to confront the Feroxi soldiers with the god of their enemies flying beside him.

"We need some kind of plan, I don't want to walk up to them then die immediately because they're suspicious of what you are." Darren grabbed Grima before he could go over the hill. The fell-dragon was about to speak when the teen cut him off.

"You're going to have to hide if you don't want us to keep walking around until we find a random village. Now come on, see if you can fit in my hood or something." Opening up the inside of his hood, Darren waited for the fell-dragon to hide in it.

'We don't have ti–' Grima tried again.

"It won't be so bad Grima, just for an hour or so and you'll be free to get out. Now ust get in th–"

'THEY ARE UNDER ATTACK!' Grima roared, finally unable to take the oblivious boys' constant talking.

Darren blinked once, then stood up and looked over the hill. True to the fell-dragons' words, the guards at the gate were being attacked by a group of what appeared to be bandits. Taking in the visuals of people swinging swords, lances and axes around like no tomorrow. He also saw dead people. Lots. He was a little relieved when they were mostly from the bandits' side, but it didn't help much.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?!" He asked incredulously.

'…'

Grima then proceeded to slap the boy upside the head with one of his wings, before pointing at the Feroxi guards and saying in an cold tone. 'Help them. Now.'

And not wanting to anger the dragon even more, he quickly ran off, pulling up his hood in the progress. Leaving Grima to stare at the battles from far away.

'You can do this Darren, now show 'em what you got…' he said softly, before muttering bitterly. 'I don't like sleeping out in the cold all the time you know...'

Things weren't looking so good for the Feroxi at the moment. They had been doing fine against their melee fighters, using their armored knights to take on the front of the group. And it was working too. That is, until the mages showed up. Wiping out most of the armored guards, the bandits were able to steadily weaken the defenders. It was unfortunate that the Feroxi believed the bandits to be Ylisseans who wanted to form some kind of alliance with them. But after multiple attempts at attacking their towns, they all could not do much but always suspect any 'allies' to be bandits in hiding.

"Raimi, we can't hold them off long enough for reinforcements to arrive!" Yelled out a knight from below. The armored warrior was stationed by the stairs that led up to where the entrance was.

Raimi, the captain of the gates was currently observing the battle field with a grim look on her face. When they were denied entry into Regna Ferox, the bandits had attacked the guards. Killing everyone that barred their way.

"We'll have to hold out then! These bandit scums won't be leaving here alive!" She shouted back. Looking over the wall, she aimed one of her javelins at one of the enemies' mages. Heaving the object, she watched it arc through the air and plunged into the torso of the unsuspecting mage.

Having given the knight near the magic wielding attacker a much needed break, Raimi began to toss out more javelins into the battlefield. Many of which, had hit their marks, leaving dead corpses impaled to the ground.

Moving her gaze back to the fights, the captain watched as even more of the savages made their way onto the scene. They were just about to make contact when she saw something move from behind them.

Suddenly one of the bandits from the back of the group dropped dead onto the snow. Most of those nearby turned to see a figure crouched over the dead body. The person was wearing a hood over their face, obscuring most of the peoples' details under a shade under the cloth. But with what they could see, the person was definitely male in body build and facial structure.

The man was silent as the others stared, pushing up with one of arms, he stood. The hood fell off his head to reveal a teenager. His black hair ruffling in the cold breeze as he stared back at the momentarily stunned bandits and Feroxi guards. The silence was broken as he gave a small grin and said, "I'd like it if all of you left now." The cheery tone was ignored as everyone could hear the deeper voice of anger.

The bandits themselves gaped at the young man before breaking out into laughter. No one noticed the grin of the boy become strained as they laughed at him.

Gripping his right hand, the Feroxi watched as two blades shoot out of a metal brace on his right arm. Ending at almost half the length of his arm. Each blade curved up and down at multiple points, before ending facing forwards. Leaping to the now to silent enemies, the boy stabbed another man through the chest, then retracting the blade, he let the body slide off the blades. The teenager then taunted the bandits.

"And I thought I was bad at fighting! You guys are like a bunch of rocks!"

This resulted in a roar of fury from the enemy, and multiple bandits charging the boy.

"Get the little shit!" One of them, presumably the leader, shouted.

And so the fights continued. An archer beside Raimi, who had been watching the scene play out, asked in a confused voice.

"Captain Raimi. What do we do about the boy?"

She watched as the teen was evading most of the strikes with some difficulty, but was still dealing the same damage back with those odd looking blades. Shrugging, she looked back down to the fighting below her.

"We'll deal with him later, now keep shooting!" She barked.

Darren, who was trying desperately to dodge all of the attacks aimed at him, was yelling inwardly at himself for trying to be a show off.

'You.' *Dodge* 'God-' *Slash* 'Damn-' *Block* 'IDIOT!' *Jump* 'You just had to make the cool entrance did you!?'

'Bahaha what were you doing?' Laughed an amused Grima. Bad mood from earlier completely forgotten. '"I'd like it if all of you left now."' He mocked, and then laughed again.

Darren's face burned in embarrassment from the dragons taunting. He was about to yell at the laughing dragon, but was cut off by an axe nearly severing his head.

'Help me!' The teen cried out, now in the process of dodging a sword. Meanwhile the ever irritating snickering of his partner was present. It was hard enough with six people chasing you around, but with Grima over there laughing his proverbial ass off. It was nearly impossible.

"Graaah stop laughing!" He shouted, causing everyone chasing him to stop moving. And stare at the boy in mass confusion. 'Huh? Why did they stop?'

A moment later screams, javelins and arrows filled the air. Darren stumbled backwards as the bodies fell to the floor.

Darren stared at the bodies, the reality of the fact that he had killed a few people made its way into his mind. But the odd thing was: he didn't feel anything, no sadness for the dead, no feeling of regret. In fact, he was slightly anticipating his next fight. That alone left him suspecting Grima for doing something to him. But before he could turn on the dragon, a commanding voice from behind him called out.

"Halt!"

Darren stopped mid-step at the voice, it sounded strangely familiar. Turning around, he saw the source of the voice.

'Oh shit, it's Raimi.' He thought, already fearing for his life, or chances to finally eat something.

'The knight that accuses you of being bandits?' Grima questioned.

'Definitely.'

'Well…Good luck then.'

'Wait! Don't leave me here!' He all but cried out to the dragon.

"What are you doing here stranger?" Raimi questioned. Though from her voice, you'd think she'd demanded it.

"Huh? What do you mean?" He dumbly responded.

Raimi looked at him with an odd expression before trying again. "I mean. Why did you come here. And fight?" She gestured to the ground where the fighting had gone.

"A-ah you mean that?" He rubbed the back of his head while laughing nervously. "I thought you guys needed help. So I guessed that maybe you could use a hand?"

The captain bristled at the mention of needing help from an outsider, but calmed herself down when she remembered the reinforcements the enemy got. Without him showing up and distracting most of them with little display, more of the guards would have been killed. With a calm voice Raimi thanked the boy for his help.

"Thank you, things would have been harder if you didn't show up. Now, I presume you didn't just come here hoping to fight bandits, correct?" She asked.

Darren himself was surprised that Raimi, the stubborn captain who didn't let you go into Regna Ferox even though it's extremely clear that you have Ylissean royalty with you, had not only thanked him. But also tried to make a joke.

"I, uh, need a place to stay and um, food." He responded dumbly. Still trying to process what just happened. Raimi nodded her head to the answer before leading him to the entrance. Then she told him that she was going to bring him to the nearest town there was. Though Darren was sure she just there to take him out just in case he tried doing anything suspicious.

'At least you're inside the walls now.' Grima said. 'So things should go a lot smoother now that you can at least get a place to sleep. Then we can see if someone can train you how to fight using your weapon.'

'Oh yeah, I forgot you're still outside Grima. How're you going to get in here? Don't tell me that you are going to leave me alone to fend for myself are you?' He panicked.

'Don't worry,' Grima said nonchalantly. 'I'll fight a way inside, maybe in a few hours. So no messing up okay?'

'Alright, I'll try.' He responded nervously.

'Good, call me only if it's extremely necessary. I'll be there as fast as I can.' The dragon assured him.

The mental conversation ended there, leaving Darren to wonder what exactly he was to do until Grima arrived. He soon remembered that he had no money on him, so there goes the option of actually getting something done.

Something at the end of his view brought the boy out of his thoughts. In the distance a giant building appeared, it looked like a fortress, and ominous looking. Suddenly he noticed that they were heading towards the giant building.

"Uh, where exactly are we going?" He asked nervously. Raimi turned her head to look sidelong at him, before facing the building again. "The East Khan's castle of course."

So surprised by this, Darren stumbled over his own feet in attempt to stop moving. "Wh-what are we doing going there?" He asked incredulously, getting up from his fall.

The captains' face was still neutral, but her voice was clearly amused as she continued walking. "You wanted a place to stay and rest yes?" At his nod she continued. "Then this is the most I could reward you for your help. Just be sure not to do anything while you stay there." Warning him with some aggression in her voice. Unable to say anything else, Darren also continued to walk, trailing behind the knight as they made their way to the large building.

AN: So I'm trying to get these chapters out as much as possible, so I apologize if updates are really inconsistent. I'm usually a pretty lazy guy, so getting these done on a time period will be next to impossible, but I will try to upload weekly. If not it's usually whenever I can. So, if you've been enjoying this so far, please leave a review and remember to favourite for more updates soon to come.