SQUASHHH!!!
A pool of blood splattered everywhere.
But it wasn't mine.
What just happened? I stared blankly at the squashed Chimera in front of me.
Why is my face covered in blood again?
I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
Similar to something I've experienced before, but somehow... different.
The person who saved me this time wasn't a tall, black-haired, scary-attractive man.
No. You can't even call that a person.
It was the giant dragon we saw earlier. And now, it was looking me straight in the eye.
Did it kill the Chimera just to steal its food?
Though, technically, that food was me.
Is it going to give me a more painful death than what the Chimera had planned?
Ugh. Whatever.
"You... human."
The dragon spoke in a deep, unexpectedly feminine voice.
What the -
Did it just talk?
"You're not a hunter. What are you doing here? This place is destined to fall before all the other land in this world, and I haven't sensed any ordinary human presence here only you."
She lowered her massive head until her face was almost level with mine. Her eyes locked onto me.
They were glowing, bright blue, so intense I couldn't look away.
It felt like they were pulling me in, dragging me off course, making me lose myself.
Then, suddenly, I snapped out of it.
She grinned.
"You're an interesting one, aren't you? Well, I suppose you can entertain me for a while."
I was still in shock, but I forced myself to speak. I knew either way, I was probably going to die.
"What are you talking about? Are you going to torture me?"
She laughed. A low, rumbling laugh that shook the air.
"That's funny. Why would I take pleasure in torturing insignificant creatures like your kind?"
"What I'm referring to is your memories. You're not chosen, and yet you've survived. Regular humans should be dead within seconds of encountering beasts from the Labyrinth. But not only have you faced them, you've killed a hundred."
A hundred?!
Did I really kill that many monsters since the chaos started?
And how does she know that?
"I can guess what you're thinking," she said calmly.
"I am one of the Twelve Supreme Labyrinths, the first to be released into this world. I am the God of Dragons. I can see everything about you. Your memories, your power, and your desires."
She let her words settle, her gaze still fixed on me.
"My domain is always summoned for destruction, It geting kinda tiring. Maybe it's time to change things. I couldn't care less about the annoying rulers of Labrinths who will come after me. I am the first, I decide this world's fate. And for now, I'll give you what you want. As long as you keep me entertained."
Her words sank deep into me like a prayer finally answered.
It was strange and terrifying...
But they felt like salvation.
She extended her claws, and from them, a glowing light formed in a perfect circle. It was so bright I couldn't see anything anymore. In an instant, everything around me disappeared.
All I could see was pitch black.
I was floating in midair, like I had fallen into an abyss of eternal darkness. Nothing around. No sound. No shape. Just emptiness.
And then, a voice spoke.
"So, what is it that you wish for?"
My wish?
There was only one thing my heart truly longed for.
So I screamed with everything I had, my voice echoing through the darkness.
"I wish to save him!"
Maybe I had lost all rational thought by then, maybe it was the unbearable pain in my back, or the exhaustion weighing down my entire body, or the fog clouding my sleep-deprived mind.
I didn't even think about how it could work. I just said it. I wasn't thinking about the logic, the consequences, or if it was even possible.
How do you save someone who's already long gone?
None of it made sense anymore. Maybe I had already died. Maybe the Chimera had finished me off, and everything I was seeing now was just an illusion—something crafted to give me false hope as the end approached.
I'm tired, I didn't want to feel pain anymore.
Maybe it was better to die. To meet my grandmother in the afterlife.
And maybe, just maybe, I'd see him again.
This time, I'd be able to thank him properly
Face to face.
As I let my eyes drift shut, surrendering to the darkness, I saw something deep within the black.
A faint light, small, but steady.
I reached for it, desperate, like a dying animal in a desert finding its first drop of water.
The moment my hand touched it, the light burst into brilliance.
And then everything went white.
I passed out.
---
"Miss Viola!"
Huh?
Out of nowhere, I found myself sitting down, face-to-face with a girl who looked like a young teenager.
"I can't believe I'm finally meeting you in person," she said with sparkling eyes.
Wait, Where am I?
I glanced around and saw a large banner behind her.
It was from a fan meeting event.
And it was mine.
Isn't this... the fan meeting that happened two years ago?
"You came back in time,"
said a familiar voice.
The same voice as the dragon from earlier.
Though... this time it was much softer.
I turned, and what I saw left me speechless.
Right beside me was a tiny white lizard. It looked like a cute, miniaturized version of the dragon I saw before.
"Are you okay, Miss Viola?" the girl asked, looking at me with concern.
"Can't you see that?"
I pointed directly at the creature.
"Uhm... there's nothing there, though?"
What?
"No one can see me but you,"
the creature said again.
"It's me. The ruler of the dragon Labrinth."
She continued calmly.
"I assume you wished to see him again. I tried to bring him back to life... but I may have overestimated myself. It was my first time trying such a thing and I failed."
"There's no way to bring back the dead. Not truly. It drained my power more than I expected. That's why I'm like this now."
"But somehow, something... or someone... pulled you back. It reset this world's timeline. I don't know what kind of power caused it, but I intend to find out."
What is this tiny, weirdly adorable lizard saying?
I struggled to fully understand her words. Then my eyes landed on the banner again.
At the bottom of it... was the date.
My heart skipped a beat.
I jumped up from my seat.
"It's today!"
"The day Ezekiel and his party entered that dungeon!"