"What… what do you mean?" Asked Arthur, confused at Raiden's enthusiasm.
The effects of the Mind Dragon were removed, though his mental state obviously still wasn't the best. Currently, it was one of confusion and shock, above any sorrow he felt.
"I've heard that the King family Bloodline Ace is the Riftessaract. It can send anything inside of it to another world, as long as that planet has life on it. So right now, we're in another world!"
"Huh…"
Arthur was speechless. His knees gave out, and he looked down at the floor, slinking back on his heels.
'Another world. Like in those stories that David sometimes talked about.'
Arthur looked around, seeing themselves inside of a totally unnatural forest. He inhaled slowly, placing his hands over his face and clutching his face.
'I… I'm still alive. Stupid. So stupid, man.'
Arthur placed the cutlass up to his throat, and hesitated to decapitate himself. However, whilst making his decision, he was interrupted.
"Oh my gosh! It's here! They're here!"
He immediately put his sword away, looking towards the location of the voice. He spotted two men, in blue robes that were the standard fantasy mage outfit.
The men rushed forward, and Arthur lunged at them, swinging his sword down on their heads.
However, his cutlass was stopped when a magical barrier was formed above the head of the mage, protecting him. The mage leapt back, putting his hands up.
"Gah! They're supposedly heroes from another world, so do you think they can understand us!?" Yelled one of the mages to the other.
"Er, I dunno! Crud, the king's gonna be so mad if we die—"
"Shut up," Arthur interjected rudely. "I can understand you. What do you want?"
"Oh! Um, see, we, uh… what's the script again?"
One of the mages, who shall be referred to as Mage 1, since he was to the left initially, mumbled and searched his robes, before pulling out a piece of paper and clearing his throat.
"Um, let's see here… Greetings, heroes! The kingdom of Lazar has prophesied your existence for a year! According to our prophecy, two great heroes shall be summoned in the forest of Elias, and they shall go on to battle with the Demon King for the fate of the Kingdom of Lazar!"
"Hm."
Arthur listened, holding his hand over his chin.
"What's a 'Demon King?' Is it the king of 'demons' or is it, like, just a powerful… 'demon?'"
Both mages seemed confused. "Er," Mage 2 stammered, "the Demon King is indeed king of the demons, yes. Do you not know what a demon is?"
Arthur shook his head.
Back on Earth, the concept of religions and mythology didn't exist. However, that did not apply to the planet of Yggsoo.
"A demon is, like…how do I explain it to someone that doesn't know what a demon is…? Well, you guys are dragons, right?"
Both dragons nodded their heads.
"Yes, so, they're like dragons, but, erm, evil by nature. And they all share in one core mana 'root,' I suppose, and they can do things called 'magic.'"
"Magic? Oh, like casting fireballs and stuff?" Raiden asked, which made the mages enthusiastically nod their heads. "Yes, just like that! Humans can't do magic, but we have things called 'Talents,' which are magical abilities unique to the user."
"Like Dragon Arts?"
"Huh? I guess, if that makes it easier to process. Honestly, we weren't told much in the prophecy, other than that heroes from another planet—who happened to be dragons—would arrive and fight the Demon King."
Arthur looked around, growing weary of standing. "Let's cut the exposition and go somewhere where it can be explained without me having to stand, please."
Mage 1 laughed and nodded his head. "Aha! Yes, I suppose this is kind of like an exposition dump, isn't it? Aha!"
"You didn't need to laugh twice."
Arthur walked past him and Mage 1 seemed fairly disheartened, saying a soft "sorry…" before they led Arthur to the main city east of the forest.
Now entering a large city, it was immediately audible. That being, the sound of explosions and whatnot in the distance.
"What's all the racket?" Raiden asked.
"Ah. Well, y'know how people are; always fighting and whatnot. Is it not like that on your planet?"
"It is," both dragons answered immediately.
They all reached a castle inside of the city, where they were led to a throneroom. The one who stood before them was King Escanor, emperor of the Kingdom of Lazar.
Escanor was a man of average height, with a thick beard and large belly, adorned with a golden crown.
"Heroes of another planet! Welcome to the Kingdom of Lazar, and the world of Yggsoo. We urgently require your help, to slay the Demon King, Traf!"
Between the dragons, their reactions were starkly contrasted with the others. Raiden was excited, as one likely would, to be sent to another world and given the task of defeating a powerful foe.
However, Arthur was less enthusiastic. He didn't talk much, mostly because he was pretty miserable, tired of standing and of fighting. He was looking forward blankly, an undertone of seething present.
"Now, with that said, I shall fund all necessary expenses in your journey. We request your help, if you would be so kind."
"Ah, yeah, sure!" Exclaimed Raiden, wielding Dragonslayer over his shoulder.
"Now, other hero, do you wish to join him? I must warn you, if you refuse, you shall be treated not as a hero, but as any other citizen. You will have to work to eat, or else, you shall die."
"Whatever, sure."
'Not like I'm even going to live to see it.'
"Splendid! Gikoop, Pookig, bring the heroes to their chambers!" Yelled the king.
"Aren't you going to ask for our names?" Arthur asked. He held onto his cutlass tighter, to which the king narrowed his eyes, before nodding his head lightly.
"Ah, I'd forgotten. What are your names?" Asked the king.
"My name's Raiden Zeus!"
"I'm Arthur."
Then, the dragons left and went out to their rooms. They shared one large room with 2 big, fancy beds.
"Ah, so, shall we continue our exposition dump?" Asked Mage 1, whose name was Gikoop. Arthur shook his head.
"Anything we need to know, we'll find out in time."
With that, the two mages left the room. To clarify, they were not mages due to their practice of the magic arts, but because their "Talents," which were very similar to the "Dragon Arts" that dragons on Earth had, were similar to the magic wielded by nonhumans.
Once the mages left the room, Arthur plopped down onto the bed, tired of fighting. Then, the door swung open with great force, startling and annoying him.
He sat up immediately, seeing a woman of perhaps 19 or 20—anywhere near Arthur's age—looking at the two "heroes."
Between Arthur, a red-faced, juiced up, balding man, and Raiden, a fairly pale man with long white hair and a handsome face, it was obvious which one she seemed glued to more.
However, when both the Dragon and the woman made eye contact, they both felt the same disgust towards the other.
She was revolted by his looks, while he was revolted by her existence.
Fantasy wasn't an uncommon read on Earth. So, naturally, tropes that were famous in our world, were famous in this other world.
'The dang princess. Either Raiden's the main character and she falls for him, or I am, and it's an "enemies to lovers" thing.'
Arthur's intuition, or perhaps nerdiness, was spot on. This woman was Lain, the princess of the Kingdom of Lazar.
Unfortunately for any potential Arthlain shippers, it was a ship that was never to sail, as they both despised each other's existence. On top of that, Arthur was particularly hateful of the enemies to lovers trope.
"I'm leaving. Goodbye," said Arthur, walking to the exit of the room and heading around, looking for a bathroom. Upon finding one, he admired its large scale and beautiful nature.
However, when he saw himself in the mirror, seeing exactly what the princess hated, he couldn't blame her, and loathed it himself.
He punched the mirror, shattering it to pieces, as it fell down the ground and spread across the floor.
Quite an overreaction. Yet, the tired and irritable Arthur did not care. He formed a dagger from the cutlass of blood, and sat down on the floor, holding the knife to his throat.
'C'mon, do it. Come on. Die, just fucking die. If you stop being a bitch, your pain will end. Come on, come on, come on…!'
Yet, he couldn't do it, even after holding the knife for quite some time. He chucked it across the room; it crashed into the wall and chipped the hard stone.
"Motherfucker. I'm done."
He stood up, and angrily stormed out. The kings servants rushed over, seeing the mess he'd made.
"Huh!? W-what did you just, why did you…? Hero?"
Arthur turned to them and bowed his head slightly.
"I got upset. I'm sorry."
However, the mistake was quickly fixed when a servant with the Talent of "Reconstruction" used their ability to fix the mirror.
…
He'd spent a day inside of the king's castle, with it now being dinnertime. The food in the other world wasn't quite as "tasty" as the food back on Earth, but it was still quite lovely, and in fact quite nutritious.
The princess Lain and Raiden sat next to each other, having got along quite nicely. Meanwhile, Arthur rejected the offer to eat at the table, going back to his room and eating alone in a chair at a desk.
'Why couldn't I go through with it?'
It was a genuine question. After all, he'd been miserable his entire life, and he'd finally been pushed to the brink.
Being in a new world was not a "second chance;" it was a point of no return.
'I don't know why. I can't understand any reason not to do it.'
Ultimately, he thought,
'Whatever. I'll go to bed after this.'
Arthur finished his food, brought back the plates and cup, then went back to his bed and climbed inside, sleeping for the first time in a while.
…
"Agh! Hn, k-keep going, keep going!"
'Huh…?'
Arthur drowsily opened his eyes, continuing to hear moans and high-pitched whisper-yelling.
'The heck is… that, that son of a bitch…'
Immediately, he formed a cutlass in his hands. However, it was not as powerful as the one he'd used in the battle, due to him throwing the cutlass (which had taken the form of a knife) across the room after getting frustrated.
He swung up from the bedsheets and, without second thoughts or hesitations, dashed at Raiden and stabbed him in the stomach from the side.
The cutlass wasn't as "sharp" as the other one, so the penetration, and consequent impalement, wasn't as smooth. It was forceful and blunt, not severing but pushing organs and bone out of the way.
Raiden yelped just a bit, looking at Arthur with widened eyes, ready for combat yet completely butt naked and, quite frankly, vulnerable.
The princess shrieked, backing away and stuffing the blanket of the bed onto herself to cover up, looking up at Arthur with terror.
"A-Arthur…?"
"Tell her to shut up," he said. "I'm trying to sleep."
He ripped the cutlass out of Raiden, who promptly healed the wound. Blood had already covered the carpeted floor, and the bed frame as well as the bedsheets and his lower body.
Arthur absorbed the blood off of the cutlass, before taking it back into himself.
"Fuck it, I'm already up," said Arthur. Arthur healed his brain at the cost of a tiny amount of stamina, which replicated "sleep," before leaving and going to the bathroom.
He showered in the middle of the night, reclaimed his knife, and took some clothes, as his current ones were made of blood. He gathered a black button down shirt, black pants and a black cloak.
The reasons for dressing in such an obviously edgy fashion were simply because he was leaving in the dead of night. If he were to hide, it would be best to wear darker clothes. Not to mention, it looked pretty cool.
Then, he left the castle, leaving the city as well, and entering a forest. It seemed that this new world had seasons as well, as what could only be described as snow, fell down.
It had coated the ground of the forest, and Arthur's footsteps made a nice crunchy sound as he walked.
…
"Huh? Why can't I read that guy's level?"
A group of hunters, hiding up on a tree in all black, looking down at Arthur. They each wore specialized contact lenses, which were magically powered by elves, which allowed them to see perfectly in the dark.
"Hm. Is he not human, then?" Asked another hunter, who shall be named Hunter 2.
"Beats me," said Hunter 3.
"That's gotta be the only reason, then," replied Hunter 4. "There's no case of someone being too strong or weak to have their level read, unless it's with their Talent or whatever. You think we can take him?"
The group all wondered.
"If he doesn't have access to a leveling system, then he's probably got magic. He can't be a demon, since he doesn't have horns. And from what I can see, there are no ear protrusions in his hoodie, though it is a bit far out. That means he's most likely a dragon, a vampire, or a Celestial."
Such was the saying of Hunter 4.
"Well, that might mean that it's not a good idea to fight him. Even if we win, there's no saying we'll make it out alive, and I love you guys, so I'd rather you not die," said Hunter 1.
"Thanks, man. Yeah, the levels wouldn't be worth it. Let's go back to the inn and wait for some weaker prey to arrive."
They all made their decision. And just as they were about to leave, they looked up, seeing a giant flying dragon.
…
The world of Yggsoo, is the world in which dragons hailed from. Dragons did not originally start out on Earth, but rather in this world, before a few made their way down to earth.
And every single dragon currently on Earth was only a percentage of true dragon blood. However, the sheer strength made it so that they were all, in essence, half-blooded.
That's why, it shouldn't be a surprise, then, that a race of true, pure-blooded dragons, were not merely "half-blooded."
'Sheesh, what a big boy.'
Standing at over 200 feet tall, in comparison to the 50 feet tall dragons in Africa, was a no-name dragon.
"The Scent of a Traitor… is it youuuu?"
Arthur nodded his head.
"Hmph. I don't know if you can hear me from up there! But you're right, that's me!"
A smile appeared on the dragon's face. In turn, a half-smile appeared on Arthur's, as he'd never fought such a gargantuan beast. As well, this may be the one to kill him, after all.
As such, the hunters who initially planned on fighting Arthur then hightailed it out of there, where they would live to see another day.