"BLUGH," Dash landed hard, falling onto the ground in a strange place. Before he could even stand up,
"KYYYYAAA!"
"Huh?"
He heard screams around him and the sound of many footsteps shuffling. Dash opened his eyes. In front of him, he saw a large group of teenagers, around 15 years old, standing frozen in fear, looking at him. Slowly, he stood up and realized he was taller than before. Then he looked at his hands and his body—he had truly transformed into a gray-skinned dragonkin with scaly arms.
After looking around, he realized he was standing in a large hall, surrounded by many teenagers ranging from 15 to 18 years old, all wearing some sort of academy uniform. They all immediately became wary, aiming swords, pistols, axes, spears, bows and arrows, and other weapons at him.
"Hey… what is this? Where am I?" Dash asked.
But he immediately shut his mouth because his voice sounded hoarse, deep, and clearly not human. He quickly looked around again. The faces of the teenagers around him were terrified; their hands shook gripping their weapons, and they were all human.
Suddenly, several men wearing uniform armor surrounded him with spears. They looked like ancient royal soldiers tasked with guarding the place he was in. Then a man wearing robes like a wizard's toga, wearing glasses, and looking knowledgeable and around 30 years old, stepped forward.
"Who are you?" the man asked.
Dash realized the language the man spoke was one he had never heard before, but he could understand its meaning.
"My name is Dash… I… I don't know why I'm here," Dash said.
"What… what are you? A dragonkin? A demon? A monster? Why are you in the academy lobby? Where did you come from?" the man asked, pushing up his glasses and examining Dash from head to toe, then back up.
"I don't know… what's clear is my body is… a dragon," Dash replied, since he genuinely didn't know.
"Capture him! Don't let him damage the academy!" the man ordered the guards.
"Yes, Instructor Roland!" the guards replied, advancing toward Dash.
"Wait… what are you doing?" Dash asked, seeing the guards closing in.
Suddenly, a guard thrust his spear at Dash, and "KRAAAK," the spear instantly shattered when it stabbed Dash's flank, which was covered in thick scales.
"Hey!" Dash yelled, turning.
Unintentionally, he swung his arm backward like a backhand punch. "SWOOOSH," "WAAAAH," the shockwave from his punch instantly threw several soldiers backward. Seeing Dash engaging in what they considered resistance, the guards immediately rushed forward, attacking Dash with their spears.
Despite his large size, Dash easily and nimbly dodged the spears and sword swipes without being touched at all. His feet pivoted like someone who had been studying martial arts for a very long time. He took his stance and slightly lowered his body.
When a spear aimed at his face, "KRAAAK," he met the spear point with his fist until the spear was destroyed, and the shockwave from his punch blasted the soldier who thrust it from a distance.
"Wow… so all that training at night was actually for this purpose," Dash muttered to himself, looking at his fist.
"KLANG," a sword slashed at his neck. He immediately caught the blade and kicked sideways, striking a soldier who was swinging the sword at his neck. The soldier was sent flying backward, and "BRAK," the soldier was embedded in the wall, which cracked inward, then hung there unconscious.
Seeing this, all the soldiers immediately retreated. Suddenly, "BLAAAR," a fireball hit Dash, making him stumble a step backward. It turned out Dash had managed to cross his arms over his face, deflecting the fireball blast. He saw a woman wearing an instructor's outfit firing a fireball from her hand toward him.
"Take this!" the female instructor yelled.
She fired several more fireballs at Dash. Without waiting, Dash punched one fireball, then hit the second fireball with his elbow, and "PLOP," he clapped the third fireball out with his hands in front of him. The instructor was shocked and stunned, lowering her hands as she watched what Dash did.
"KYYYYAAAA!" The teenagers, who had been surrounding Dash, immediately ran in all directions to avoid him. A larger force of guards began surrounding Dash again, and the arriving instructors immediately prepared their magic to launch at him.
"He—hey, I don't mean any harm! Stop!" Dash yelled, seeing the aggression aimed at him.
"Attack!" shouted the guard commander, who looked like a knight.
The guard soldiers immediately charged, and the instructors fired all sorts of elemental magic at Dash, who could only defend by crossing his scaly arms like a shield in front of his face. The soldiers simultaneously thrust their spears and swords into Dash's body.
"AAAH… IT… HURTS!" Dash groaned, holding his position.
Unable to take it anymore, finally, "GROAAAAR," Dash roared loudly and looked up, opening his arms. A gray energy aura immediately swirled around Dash's body and emitted a bright light, simultaneously throwing everyone around him, who screamed, back with a surge of internal energy.
When he opened his eyes, he saw all the soldiers sprawled on the ground and the instructors tossed far away. The only one left standing was the guard commander, a female knight who held her sword up in front of her face. "KLANG," the commander took off her helmet and shook her blonde hair, staring at Dash with her sharp green eyes.
"You… monster! Die!" the commander screamed, charging at him with her sword.
"KLANG," Dash raised his forearm to block the commander's slash. Then, with a swift movement, his other hand grabbed the commander's neck, lifted her, and "BOOM," he slammed the commander into the ground. "Ahak," the commander coughed up saliva, her eyes wide as she looked at Dash's face above her, staring at her with red, draconic eyes.
The commander's face looked terrified yet resigned to her fate. Dash, realizing what he was doing when he saw the female commander's expression, immediately released her neck and stumbled backward, his face pale. He looked at his hands, then around him.
"W-what am I doing? But why does her face look like that? I-I need to get out of here," Dash said.
Without another thought, he immediately ran toward a door, and "BRAAK," he smashed through the door, destroying it, then ran out of the academy building and leaped far toward the city center. The commander, who was still sprawled out, quickly got up and ran out of the academy building.
She watched Dash leap high, soaring toward the middle of the city. Then she touched her neck and looked at her hand. After that, she looked back at Dash, who had disappeared.
"He… he didn't kill me? What the hell is he, really? Is he actually a monster? I thought I was going to be… oh… he's… big… really big… that must feel amazing," the commander asked herself with a shy expression.
Meanwhile, Dash landed in an alley between two houses and saw his reflection in a puddle. Sure enough, what Dahrnel said was true: except for his head, his body was a dragon's body. He immediately sat down silently, leaning against the wall, and rubbed his head, looking down and lamenting his fate.
"Where am I… this definitely isn't Earth. Everything here looks like the Middle Ages, and I've turned into a monster in this weird place… Why is my life like this?" Dash thought.