A Dragon's Pact

Powerful…

The first time I met him, his presence carried a pressure that I had never felt in my entire life. Maybe it's because I had stopped my schooling in middle school, if not, maybe I would have a word that could aptly describe how he felt like.

For me, it was like I was staring at a bottomless pit. One whose depth carried a kaleidoscope of colors – it was ever-changing. I could never guess what the next colors would be as they presented a myriad of impossibilities.

I wanted to describe that sensation as 'INFINITE', yet that did not seem to do him justice. Yeah, ostensibly, he felt 'INFINITE' but if I look a little bit closer, and observe the infinite ever-changing impossibilities and possibilities he emanated, the 'INIFINITE' changes to a 'DREAM'…

He felt like a manifestation of endless possibilities in a 'DREAM'.

That's what I felt about the mountainous ivory-skinned man dressed in biker clothes, who stood before me with arms crossed akimbo in what could only be pitch darkness.

"Not darkness, boy." The man's deep voice rumbled like a low thrumming thunder.

"This is the Void. A churning great beyond where beings too powerful to be placed under any Religious or Cultural Mythological Sphere are cast into. Think of it as a resting home for primordial beings greater than gods... Not like you seem to understand what I'm saying."

Honestly, yeah, I did not understand what the man was saying. Void? Great beyond? That sounded like something out of a fantasy novel. Last I remembered, life is certainly not some hocus pocus…

I had been reminded of that so much that I had stopped bothering to count.

Before I could reply, I paused wondering for a moment if the powerful man would be bothered by my voice. To put it aptly—it wasn't nice to hear.

'Man... Fuck it.' I bit the dust and said, "So why am I here, then? If this is some... Super gods... Resting place, what's a lowly mortal like me doing in here."

"... Ah, you don't remember, huh."

I blinked. "Remember what?"

The man looked at me in silence before snapping his fingers and two chairs snapped into existence. The man sat and gestured at me to sit on the other, but I shook my head as I rather much wanted to know what the man talking about when he said I didn't remember.

Call it a hunch, but something about the way the man said it gave me bad vibes.

"Sit." The man said, this time a bit more forceful. "This conversation won't be going anywhere if you're still standing like that."

I bit my tongue as the first instinct that welled up within me had been to sock him. Not a fan of doing so, but when bursting teeth and noses becomes a means of living and protection, you either become darn good at it or die in some corner of the streets.

So I decided to become darn good at it.

Anyway, I somehow knew that getting physical with the man wouldn't end things in my favor. There was also the fact that I didn't fancy my chances of fighting a man who had just snapped chairs into existence; what if he then snapped a gun or worse… Snaps me out.

It won't be funny, I tell you.

Letting out a breath that couldn't seem to push out even half of my anxiety, I moved towards the chair and sat down.

"Well." I raised both my hands. "I'm sited. So tell me what is this thing I'm forgetting and why do I have this feeling that it's not going to make my day."

Placing his arms on the armrest, the man said. "I'm not that good at skirting around the bush concerning this kind of stuff, so I'll just come clean and say it… Boy, you're dead."

"Huh."

For a moment, I felt confused. 'Dead? Me? Did he just say I'm dead? But… That would mean.'

I shook my head in denial. I refuse to believe some strange man telling me that I'm dead. I can't be dead... At least, not until the kids are safe.

So I clenched my fist—and punched myself.

The man sighed, shaking his head, "Nothing's going to change even if you punch yourself till next year, boy."

"Wake up. Wake up. You've got to wake up."

My nose burned in pain while my fist turned bloodied. But I never stopped punching myself. This had to be one fucked dream, it just has to be. The ramifications of my death do not affect only me.

In an orphaned family where I am the only breadwinner with the one next to me just entering 15. Dammit, I don't want them to go through what I did.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!"

My eyes watered in pain and blood slid from my nose, but that was a familiar pain -I've experienced worse- and it couldn't compare to the way my chest was burning.

It was like a hot coal was being dropped on me.

"You screwed up, Adam. You just had to go off yourself. Who's going to take care of the kids now?"

The man who had silent sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Boy, do you not remember how you died and... Who had been with you at that time?"

Somehow his question only made me feel cold. There was something behind his words, a hidden question that made my back damp in a cold sweat.

Before I could even stop myself, I was already gripping the man's shirt with teeth bared in a snarl.

"What the fuck do you mean by that?"

Internally, I was pleading, begging for him to stop. I just didn't want to hear it.

Images flashed through my mind—images of fire, images of cries calling my name. Even though it wasn't clear, the desperation I felt towards the images made the air feel difficult to breathe.

I knew what those images were—memories, they were my memories.

The man remained unfazed by my bare hostility, which was a first, honestly speaking - after all, I do know that one of my selling points was how thuggish I looked. It had helped me build cred in the streets and my cage fights.

"Kid... That fire didn't take just your life. It took others as well."

No… God, please no. Let this not be true.

"My-my-my brother and sister, what happened to them?" I stammered, even though my throat felt clogged. "I remember promising to take them for a shopping spree. I'd won an important match and gotten an offer from a well-known gym. I thought everything was going to change... Then last I remember, was a sudden fire, pain, then nothing. What happened to Nelly and Victor?"

Seeing that I had no intention of moving from my spot, the man sighed and dropped the bombshell.

"They're dead."

"… … … What?"

"Nelly and Victor are dead."

The vertigo that I felt at that moment was intense. I felt like puking, shouting, crying, and running around at the same time.

"Ha… Haha… Wait, are you sure it's my Nelly and Victor that you're talking about? May- Maybe it's a mistake - an expensive mistake. I will be angry, but I won't fault you either. We humans aren't expected to perfect after all."

"One, I'm not human –I'm perfect in my way- and two, you've got to accept the reality, kid, if you want us to progress with this little chat of ours... Understand that Nelly and Victor had died with you in the fire."

⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙

I would like to say that I was cognizant of the next sequence of events but that would be nothing but a lie... But then again I couldn't bring myself to care.

I had promised Mom before the sickness had taken her away that I would look after the younger ones. It wasn't easy. By god, there were times I just wished I could commit suicide or even go on a murder spree because I was too tired of it all.

But I didn't—the mental images of Nelly and Victor always pulled me back and spurned me on my feet. For them, at least for their sake.

But now I've lost it all...

Dammit—life just isn't fair.

⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙

I couldn't tell how much time had passed since I'd lost cognizant of myself. But by the time I had fully gained consciousness, I realized that I was on my seat once more.

"Heh..."

The man's voice drew my eyes towards him, which minutely widened as his face had a fist imprint on it. It was at that moment, my left hand shivered in pain while my chest felt like it was on fire.

"The number of people capable of doing what you had just done can be counted on one hand. The beings capable of walking away alive after doing so are only three in number. Hint, none of them are human or even Chief gods."

"Well... Yay me." I emotionlessly replied... Dammit, I'm just so tired. "So... Is there any reason why I'm here rather than with my family in the afterlife or some supernatural judgment room?"

"Now we're at the crux of our meeting." The man inclined himself forward with a small smile on his face.

"You see Adam, back when I still had my physical flesh, I had this large place all to myself. It was only there that I could do things without some god or devil fretting over my actions. There, I had quiet. Of course, there were nuisances like that Serpent who was too stingy to share just because she was the first dweller, but that was just that—a nuisance. Nothing more. That was until that mecha-guy came and destroyed my physical flesh and now I'm stuck here."

Sighing, I looked over the black void before turning to the man. "If what you wanted was a big space with quiet, isn't here enough for you?"

"Heh… Hahahahaha—nope" The man's face twitched in resigned frustration. "This place is large alright. I can even say it's more infinite than Ophis's shapeless ass. But quiet, fuck no. This place makes the rowdiness of an amusement park seem stale."

At the sight of my skeptical look, the man thumbed back.

"I want you to look around. No need to stand or anything, just stare into the void for a second and tell me if you still think this place is quiet."

Deciding to humor the man, I looked around the void—%$%# *—and shouted.

"Holy shit?! Loud! It's too loud!" My teeth gritted hard while my eyes threatened to burst out from their sockets. "Dammit, make it stop! I can feel it quivering my damn eyeballs!"

The man chuckled and snapped his fingers with the silence returning once more.

"See what I have to deal with every day."

"The hell was that?"

"Oh, that was Chaos having another party. This one is supposed to last for at least, four million years. Ymir's party followed for another ten. Yeah, that's what you get for putting Primordial beings in an infinite space. They make the infinite seem small. To make things worse, I can't just go ahead and beat them up because a little skirmish could threaten the integrity of the void, which could lead to the rest of those party-diseased bastards ganging up on me."

"Ok… I still don't see where I come in?"

"Oh, you do have an important part in all this—for me, at least." The man said with a smile. "Back when I still had my physical flesh, I had the opportunity to come across one special individual. Someone who had gained the attention of Ophis had one special item or a soul-bound item to his person and I want to replicate that effect with you. Adam, I want you to become The Glorious Red God of Dreams."

"… … The hell is that?"

The man's look of grandeur dropped to one of dry exasperation. "Real fun killer, Adam. Ahem, essentially, I want you to become my host so that you can inherit the mantle of the True Red Dragon Emperor."

"... And why should I agree to that, exactly?" I asked skeptically.

The Glorious Red God... Dragon or something—whatever that is, might sound grand and all, but I've never been one for the power anyway... That is what I would have thought until the man (dragon?) dropped the next bombshell.

With a knowing look, the man raised a finger.

"If you master just 3% of my power you can bring them all back."

That cleared out the despondency in my system. Blinking, I narrowed my eyes.

"Wait... So all you want from me is to become your host and exchange, I get to have my family back—like bring them back to life, back."

"Yep, but of course this offer comes with certain stipulations... What?" The man raised a brow. "Of course, for you to gain my power you've got to offer something in return."

Nodding in resigned acquisition, I gestured for the man to continue. "Seems fair, alright state them."

"Firstly, by inheriting my mantle, you can say goodbye to all forms of conventional death. In other words, you'll become immortal. Now, you might seem confused, but I assure you in the next thousand years or so it's going to become a different story. Secondly, you won't be inheriting my power from the get-go, because doing so will ultimately destroy your soul core and your existence would be entirely wiped out, ultimately ruining my escape plan. But don't worry, you'll have some sweet gifts—"

I interrupted him in bemusement. "Wait, then how am I supposed to master your power?"

"That's where those gifts come in. If you're able to take them to the highest level, I guarantee you will be able to handle 20% of my power without any negative repercussions."

"Oh... Alright."

"Good, and thirdly, you won't be fully human anymore. Well, as you can guess from the immortality part. Having my power comes with at least 60% of your body being rewritten into becoming a Primordial Dragon. So there's that"

"Let me get this right; the deal is for me to forfeit my humanity in return for a chance to bring my siblings and parents back... You've got yourself a deal—"

"Wait, Adam." The man stopped me bearing a serious look in his eyes. "If you accept this... There's no going back. You will be giving up a vulnerability that even we Primal beings envy. So I want you to be truly sure before accepting this offer because I don't want my host crying of suicide in the next thousand years or so."

"I'm going to be honest with you, man. All this talk about humanity is overrated as shit. I'm not one for power, but I'll accept it if it's going to help me. So a chance to bring them all back in return for a chance to guarantee their future safety... Sign me up."

The man grinned at me, but I'm quite sure he had seen the shivering of my hand—I really can't tell if what I was about to do was the right thing or not, but I can't bring myself to care.

I just wanted to see my family smile under the sun with any burden whatsoever. If becoming a True Dragon whatchamacallit grants that vision a chance of realization...

Then I say fuck this, I'm in.

"Good." The man said, his form exploded in a crimson glow and grew.

I really couldn't see his form as the luminance of the glow kept on getting brighter, only his behemoth silhouette.

'Damn, he's really a Dragon.'

"Get ready, Adam!" His voice shook the void with a thundering rumble. "Since we're going in blind, I'll transmit the necessary details directly to your brain! So until you'll be able to call my true power, you'll be on your own! Good luck… Partner."

I nodded, ready and the radiance finally enveloped my vision.

ᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥ

First Singularity; Hundred Years' War of the Evil Dragons: Orleans,

The abrupt transition in my surroundings, bathed in the warm glow of daylight, stirred a sense of vitality within me that whispered of a rebirth.

"Alive… But not human. Not anymore."

In the familiar attire of a black tank top and jeans against my tan skin, I appeared unchanged. Yet, an indescribable surge hinted at a metamorphosis, a shift toward something beyond the mundane.

"The body of a Dragon."

Clenching my fist, I threw a punch, relishing the resonant noise and the rush of wind it summoned.

"It'll take some time to get used to this, but I'm sure I can manage... Now, what did he call that first gift again…? Ah, right, [Boosted Gear]."

[Dragon Booster] [Boosted Gear Gift]

A red claw-shaped gauntlet adorned my right arm, illuminated by two glowing green gems.

"To think that I would ever see the day when the Dragon of Dragons would bind himself to a human… Hahahaha! How interesting! Adam, you just may be as interesting as my last wielder."

"I don't know if I should take this as a compliment or an insult, Draig."

"It's a compliment, Adam," Draig replied, amusement in his tone.

With a grunt, I brought my fists together. "Then, let's go and see where the hell am I 'cause I'm quite sure this isn't Kansas. Draig, do your thing."

"Got it, partner!"

[Boost!]

With a barely perceptible crouch, I shot off at speeds that defied my imagination. The Dragonoid physique, combined with enhanced parameters, propelled me through lush green fields, the scenery blurring with my newfound velocity.

Time to explore, to peel back the layers of mystery in this unfamiliar realm, and to swiftly master this latent power—all in pursuit of reuniting with my family.

ᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥ

At the same time, in a different location,

Olga Marie snapped awake, her heart pounding as if she'd just dodged a bullet. Waking up usually wasn't a life-altering event, but for her, it felt like the universe had hit the reset button on her existence.

"What the... How did I survive?" she mumbled, trying to make sense of the fact that she wasn't currently taking a dirt nap.

Flashbacks hit her like a freight train. Surviving Singularity F, the chaos, the unexpected betrayal—thrown into the CHALDEAs by the one person she thought she could trust.

"You're a failure, Animusphere. So die a failure!"

The words echoed in her mind, accompanied by the cruel laughter that followed. Shivering, Olga Marie hugged herself, her eyes dull compared to the lush scenery around her. There was no time to admire the view; she had to do something, contact Chaldea, and send a smoke signal— whatever it took. She couldn't let her father's legacy crumble because of her.

'But you already did! Because of you, humanity is in danger.'

"No, I didn't do anything wrong," Olga mumbled defiantly, her voice void of conviction. "I just want someone, anyone, to look at me… Is that so wrong?"

The resolve flickered in her eyes as she surveyed the unfamiliar surroundings. Wherever she was, it wasn't where she'd been before. Determination replaced confusion. It was time to take charge, to find answers, and maybe, just maybe, to prove that she wasn't a failure.

"So, what's the plan now, Olga? Just sitting around won't fix anything. Time to roll up your sleeves and figure out how to set things right," she muttered to herself, a newfound resolve replacing the initial shock. With a deep breath, she embarked on her unexpected adventure, ready to reclaim what was lost and, in the process, rewrite the narrative of her own destiny.