‘Damn she’s hot.’ I thought to myself as I ogled a woman walking the opposite direction to me on the large path through the city, I’d been staying here for about a week waiting for my friends to arrive.

The woman I was enjoying my view of was by my standards more than attractive. She was tall, and not just taller than your average woman, but straight up nearly seven feet tall kinda tower. Her hair was long reaching down past her waist, it was a beautiful scarlet red, seeming all the brighter in the golden heat of the desert sun. Her eyes similarly were green as emerald, had smooth looking creamy coloured skin though most glaringly about her look was the Golden horns crowning her head coming out of her temples, as well were Golden scales, like a dragons, travelling lengths of her forearms and calves.

Further beyond that her right arm and left leg were well… They were a dragon claw and all- hell she even had these massive red wings on her back and a large golden tail. Aside from all that she was fairly curvaceous with a bust most men would have dreamed of having in their lives.

Her clothing was more gold with plates on her hips and acting as a bra for her dress, an opaque skin tight thing that split at her legs, a lot of what she had was on offer for view-

“You know human it’s considered rude to stare at women in the streets.” A strong rich sounding woman’s voice said from behind me whispered into my ear.

“Ah!?” I jumped in fright.

“Hahha!” She laughed with a great deal of mirth at my bout of terror, having turned around at this point I realised it was the woman I’d been describing.

I felt like cursing but I didn’t and just decided to see what she wanted.

“Uhm so what did you want?” I asked plainly, it was my preferred way to speak, I leave riddles to poets.

“As I said, in our culture there’s an emphasis on not eyeing women of any variety, those with partners and those without, however you’ve found me on a good day I won’t see to it you're punished for your indiscretion.” Her words flowed like lava, molten and smooth with an articulate sounding accent.

“Ah- oh that’s good…?” I wasn’t really sure what to make of it looking up at the woman, meeting her emerald gaze.

“It is.” She said matter of factly. “If you wish to gawk at women then the least I can do is save those amongst the city from your ire, you will join me- you will won’t you?” She didn’t ask, it was a matter of course that this would be my day.

“I guess?” Before I could say anything else she grabbed my forearm with that large dragon hand of hers pulling me along dragging me off into the depths of a Bazaar where I would learn all about the city and its many wonders.

[Taken By A Dragon]

“So did I tell you about-” Another conversation blended into the background noise of the class.

Slowly lingering my way through the rows of desks to my spot at the back in the middle next to my two friends I had spent the better part of the year keeping from doing any real work toward graduating. I wasn’t doing poorly or anything, all of our grades were fairly above average amongst the classmates of our year group, but at the same time we hadn’t exactly made up for that in a lot of the basic work mostly choosing to put in the effort for exams and when we were actually learning instead of wasting away listening to some teacher speak a lot and say nothing.

Taking my seat I dropped my bag on the ground and moved it between my feet as I closed my eyes for a moment letting out a sigh as I leaned on my palm elbow pressed against the top of the desk.

A voice and sound of a chair scraping on the ground made my eyes blink open and look to my right-

“Seen Erika this morning? She has my book still.” The quiet and hoarse voice of Ciarán said with his usual neutral expression.

He was larger than most everyone else being a head above the crowds, had silky rust coloured shoulder length hair, pale skin, the usual ginger stuff. He was somewhat overweight, though his height did a great deal to lessen the look of it- well that and he preferred long baggy clothing.

“Beats me.” I shrugged my shoulders looking at him with his brow still raised wondering whether or not he wanted to ask something else.

“You heard what happened to Josh and Stella?” My new question broke his stupor.

He shook his head. “Hnm? What happened?”

“They got arrested after a house party they were holding got busted for underage drinking- well that and apparently from what Grace told me someone called in that they heard a gunshot, people saw kids running away screaming.” I told him and wide eyed look on his freckled face was shaken with baffled surprise.

“Fuckn’ hell that's as bad as Eli and Mason getting expelled with their dumb ‘lets make a pipe bomb in science’ joke.” Ciarán replied with a huff of hoarse laughter.

“Yeah I remember, I still can’t believe Eli actually told that first year how to-” I was cut off by a pair of hands slapping down on my shoulders.

“You guys talking about Miss Bronson's breakdown?” Another male voice said joining the fray.

“Not exactly, just what caused it, Harley.” My redhead friend responded.

“Yeah that was crazy- heh…” Our friend chuckled at the memory of it. “Elijah shoulda got a medal for it honestly.” he said before leaving looking off into the distance with a wistful expression.

A silence lulled over myself and Ciarán before he finally worked up the courage to say whatever it was that was on his mind. Having had a look on his face the whole time that screamed ‘I want to say something, but don’t know how’.

“Did you watch the new King of Yggdrasil episode? ‘Cause I really loved what they’re doing with Ariel an-” My best friend's naturally sullen expression evaporated as his face lit up with enthusiasm as we went on to discuss the show we’d been into lately, it was an anime he’d suggested to me.

While we talked about it then a few other shows I’d been looking into since he put me onto the stuff our token girl of the group- Erika showed up late. She was half awake brushing down her frazzled bed hair, the dark shade that it was in contrast to her pale skin making her for a second look like some witch. Her witch-like appearance wasn’t exactly news, she did literally wear a large brimmed pointed hat, which she was aware of looked like a witches.

Her eyes being an unnatural purplish tone and her general awkward way of speaking being quite slow and methodical as she made sure she was using the words the right way furthered this idea.

But reality was often not that interesting, truthfully she was just German and struggled with English because she hardly had anyone to talk to before we became friends back when I started high school. As well from what I managed to understand, her whole ordeal of moving here alone while not knowing any of the language and dealing with a new system of living had just been really overwhelming so this all culminated in her not quite being all there in the head nature about her- even if it wasn’t true.

“Your book.” She said with a gentle smile tugging at her fair lips handing the novel back to its owner.

“Thanks Erika- musta loved it with how long you had it, I was starting to wonder if I’d get it back.” He replied.

“Yes. it was. Lovely.” She had been about to continue saying something else when the bell rang for class to start as our teacher came barreling into the room a second after.

The whole class shutting up when our bald teacher smacked his hand down on his desk to get everyone’s attention. The lesson was same old same old for Mr. Kale, which was to say that he was the best history teacher I’d ever come across, as there wasn’t a person in the class who wasn’t invested in his lessons. Always super entertaining and very informative while cutting straight to the information we needed with regards to an assignment.

As the class went on he reached the point in the lesson where he would show us stuff relating to what we were learning on the projector as he talked about what was in the pictures or maybe even footage of sites or locations. You could always tell he had a genuine passion for history and it was hard to not have it rub off on you while you looked into it on your own.

“We’ll be starting a new topic next week, I got a couple of them sorted for you all to choose from so if you like vote for one as a class or choose to do one of the three.” The chrome-domed man said as he put up a slide of what was next for our class. “Here- First there’s Greek Mythology and its reach/effects on greater storytelling, Second is WW1 and propaganda, Lastly is how Humanity’s first Hero changed religion.”

A roar of interest and some discontent at the topics arose, while his enthusiasm could be infectious regarding history, obviously it still wouldn’t work very well if you didn’t at least know something about it to behind with or have a basic interest.

Personally I was interested in the first hero project.

“Alright. Vote it is. All in favour of Greece? Put your hands up and let me count.” A Row of some more academic students put their hands up.

“Now WW1?” barely a handful of people.

“The first Hero?” He asked and every other person put their hand up thankfully winning it by a landslide.

“Who even is the first hero?” one of the kids who voted for WW1 asked with a frown.

“Depends which history you believe, but by the right accounts Gilgamesh- King of Strong Walled Uruk, friend of Enkidu and son of Ninsun is our first hero. But that’s for next lesson, I do advise you all go out and look into Sumerian culture for this ahead of time for your essays!” He said as the bell rung over him and people packed up their things to head to the next class.

Getting up at the same time as my friends we went to walk out the classroom together-

A sudden rush of air and wave of intense light and heat hit us as I blinked, looking around and saw a grand expanse of desert that met the Ocean on our right and on our left was an infinite waking golden tide of sand.

“Holy fucking shit.” Miyu, one of the two Japanese exchange students in the class announced in awe as all thirty or so of us stood around trying to figure out what we were currently experiencing.

“WHERE THE HELL ARE WE?!” Four or five voices yelled in unison into the blue slightly clouded sky.

[Sand in my shoes]

Some time passed and the whole group moved toward the beach to get some water, not that I planned on drinking saltwater but that idea hadn’t seemed to have crossed Micah who suggested it. As he was one of the more popular and forward thinking leader types, people jumped at the chance to follow him, while I, Erika, Ciarán and a handful of others kept to the back of the group to try and properly put together some idea of what was going on here.

As well in my little group were Miyu and her twin brother Shirou, Desmond and Finn. I knew why the exchange students joined us and that was because we’d made an effort to try to learn their language as well as generally be hospitable toward them when they didn’t understand something. But Des and Finn while they were friends of mine and Erika they weren’t exactly the ones I would have picked to get away from the pack.

Anyhow I was sitting on the soft warm sand enjoying the rays for the time being with my two closest friends who were in conversation with the others. Shirou and Miyu for what it was worth were adding a lot to the talk of what exactly could’ve been going on, not that any of it would make sense even if this ‘Isekai’ thing Miyu brought up was real. Though my redheaded companion agreed that it had to be some kind of ‘Isekai’.

The only plus side to the situation was that everyone had their bags still, so my pocket knife and lighter I carried were with me along with my books and pencil case with pens and whatnot if we really needed them. Everyone had their phones too of course, but no cell reception meant we couldn’t do more than take pictures and tell the time.

However No one in Micah’s group seemed to have realised this could be very real and wasn’t taking the sun glaring down on us seriously which I could already see working over some people with how red they were beginning to look. We’d only been here and hour or so, but that was more than enough to fuck up your day. Very quickly our twins had pulled their jackets over their heads keeping their pale white skin out of the sun, since I was under a tree I decided I’d be fine for the time until we got dehydrated. Erika brought her large brimmed hat with her so she was rocking that, Ciarán was wearing a bucket hat while Des and Finn were keeping themselves under the shade with me.

I don’t really know what we would have done if it hadn’t been summer already before this happened, if it had been winter and we were all ready for the cold- we might have all gotten sunstroke already. Though I didn’t have sunscreen I would've killed for that.

Below where we were down lower on the small dune where the sand met the water and the sunlight glistened off the light perfect blue sea reminding me of those islands in the Pacific. A silhouette of a person appeared to the left as I looked out directly at the water, they were far enough away that I couldn’t make out exactly who or what they were.

“What do you think?” Finn said, making me turn around to the faces of my friends.

“Of what exactly?” I questioned back trying not to take my eyes off the figure I’d spotted for too long.

“We were talking about not using our phones or laptops in case we needed to and looking into maybe building a raft for the water.” He explained pointing to the branches of the tree when talking about a raft.

“Well I agree with the first part, but if anything we need to figure out some kind of shelter since for all intents and purposes however it happened- we’re stuck wherever this is now and our survival is more important than wanting to find civilization.”

“You, Erika and the twins on the same page then.” Desmond said before looking over his shoulder at the other group where a yell erupted from a crowd formed under another row of trees while Des continued. “Too bad none of the guys studying tech and mechanics came could’ve used their skills to cook something up out of the useless electronics.”

He finally looked back when our redhead spoke up.

“What happened…?” Ciarán asked no one in particular standing to walk over to the others who were a hundred odd metres from us.

Finn and Des went with him taking their bags, Erika had decided she’d rather be reading and just opened up her book while Miyu went through her things and Shirou stood up walking over to the tree trunk. I watched as he set his bag down and jumped grabbing onto a low hanging branch and started climbing, he managed to get quite high up in it where I could see him attempting to use it as a better look at the lands around us.

This let me turn my attention to the figure who was approaching from the distance-

“Hokusei!” Shirou’s voice called from above and I kept my eyes on the figure who he’d seen, which was good to know he had a compass with him.

“I see it too!” I responded, narrowing my eyes as I tried to pick out details better until a pair of binoculars were put in my face.

Nearly jumping out of my skin from how sudden and out of place it was I looked at Miyu who had her arm extended giving them to me, her bronzed-golden eyes dull coloured as they were almost sparkling with glee at being able to be more helpful. She and her brother both had that same colour though had your generic black bobbed hair cuts you’d see on shows and videos of Japan, the weird colour coming from their father who was as Shirou put it ‘An English Speaker’ but neither of them knew where from. Which was part of their reason for doing an exchange so they could learn more about the western world and get better use of their middlingly alright English speaking skills.

“Thanks Miyu.” I smiled with a quick bow of my head and got to sighting the binoculars properly so I could make out what we were seeing.

“What… in the name of…” My voice trailed off as what I looked at what was-

“God?” Erika said helpfully finishing my sentence making me huff a laugh and shake my head.

“Yeah sure, maybe he can help us with this.” What I saw though was a woman.

She was odd looking, that was for sure, she had long milky-white hair, golden eyes that seemed to glow and dark tanned skin that all stuck out. I had never seen anyone who looked like that before. Her clothing was some kind of blue dress with a white mantle thing over her shoulders.

The woman looked more than a little out of place, but considering I had just been handed binoculars I felt like that was more important to be completely honest.

Like seriously where the hell did Miyu pull these from? If she had them with her, why did she bring them with her to school?

As if to taunt us more the woman went from looking at the ground to brightly turning her eyes our way and waved a smile appearing.

What the hell was happening?

My mental anguish over the confusion of the situation was met by the three who had gone to check out what happened returning and plopping back down on the ground only to tell us something worse.

“Sam died.” Ciarán said flatly.

“What?” Miyu questioned in disbelief, her proficiency over English compared to her brother was much appreciated for such moments.

“She picked up what the others said looked like a scorpion and when it ended up stinging her she pretty much went unconscious immediately then died.” Desmond’s expression was somewhat haunted as he retold what they’d heard.

“Someone. Is. coming.” Erika added, her stilted speech almost breaking the tension as she pointed toward where we had been looking.

“Huh? Who?” The others who hadn’t been with us said at the same time perking up, taking the distraction for what it was, to try glimpse the figure who was currently changing their course along the beach to meet with us.

At this point Shirou dropped down from the tree hitting the ground with an ‘Omph!’ holding his arms out to balance and gain his composure back from going into the full squat when he landed. Miyu clapped sarcastically, praising his acrobatics.

“I caught a good look at her with Miyu’s binoculars, she somehow saw us from pretty far away so we’ll find out who they are soon.” I said before filling in her appearance details to the others.

“Maybe she also got sent here?” Finn questioned with a shrug.

“Well she managed to spot us from over a kilometre away with dunes and trees in the way, so that's a little concerning.”

“You serious?” Ciarán’s brow furrowed with concern.

I hummed, nodding.

And so we waited, completely distracted from Sammantha’s death, though I couldn’t keep my mind off of the idea that some scorpion looking thing had killed her so easily. It wasn’t as though I was close to the rest of our classmates but I was on good enough terms that I could hold a conversation with each of them, with someone dead though that opened up a can of worms that I wasn’t sure anyone here was ready to deal with.

All of us stood with baited breath for the woman to arrive and when she did finally get within earshot of us she spoke up.

“Sorry I’m late to you all, my goddess was informed very late after the fact that she would need someone to meet you all.” Her apologetic tone was soft and careful, full of a caring warmth.

The woman with the milky hair colour extended a hand to each of us to shake with a bow, before she continued speaking as I, Finn and Miyu went to ask something.

“Now I know you all must be hungry so I can prepare food for you and your other friends, as well if anyone was injured I have the ability to heal.” Her blue eyes waited for a response with a natural light smile on her lips.

“Ah that would be great.” I said first

“There’s been a death, could you help with that?” Finn asked and the woman looked shocked before asking for details to which he retold the story and she headed with him right over to the others crowding around Sam's corpse wondering what to do about it.

Everyone followed the woman over to watch and see what she would do. I wondered what she meant by ‘her goddess’ because it was hardly ever you heard someone talk about their god in such an almost casual way. Let alone how what she said, at least to me anyway, implied she had fairly regular or constant dialogue with this goddess enough that it wasn’t worrying to trust their word to come and find strangers in a desert in need of help.

However at the back of our group I was stopped when someone wrapped their arms around me from behind, stopping me in my tracks as I turned to see who it was-

I found Erika with her head pressed against my back.

“No Bodies” she whispered.

“Right, of course.” I responded remembering where exactly she had come from.

Erika had been brought up during the Russo-Alliance war, she had likely seen people killed in front of her and like a normal person would. Wanted to never see a corpse again let alone someone she was familiar with. I can’t really even imagine what it was like to see her home destroyed the way it had been, hell the war was still going on prior to whatever this was happening.

I knew she was an orphan because of the war but for the most part had never really talked or thought about it. But if this was her reaction to going near one then I wouldn’t force her and I’d stick around to avoid seeing a body, not that I wanted to see one.

Watching on though from the sidelines as the others were surprised to see our new saviour was interesting.

“Thank you.” The German girl said into my back with her head pressed against it.

I decided to turn around so that I could face her properly, she let go, stepping back allowing me to move freely. Looking down into those purple eyes of hers was somewhat enchanting in a weird way. I'd always found her attractive sure, but this felt like it was stronger than those other times. Now it was like all those little things about her were making her radiate like a star in the night sky, Instead it was the chubby dark haired, purple eyes, pale skinned German girl who talked weirdly and loved reading seemingly sparkling in her dark clothing against the background of golden sands around us.

As though I were possessed for just a moment I reached out placing my arms around her and pulled her into a hug-

If this really is happening then I won't let the chance escape me. My thoughts filled with this idea. Her arms tightened around my torso same as mine hers as if to confer with me that she too felt the same in a wordless manner. Even though I knew it would be as if to play with fire I tiled my head downward to speak directly into her ear and I spoke-

"..." I mumbled words under my breath, not quite sure how exactly the best way to word my confession.

I felt the head against my chest nod, her grip loosening for a moment only to reaffirm itself with a tight tug. Making me flush red realising she not only heard what I’d mumbled but had accepted it through her actions.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Erika seemed about to say something when-

"Ahem." Miyu's dull golden eyes stared back into mine when I looked to see where the sound came from.

"Sonia, that Priestess, wants everyone." The girl said clear as day, her accent not affecting her speech at all for once.

With that she turned and walked back toward the others who were now grouped up around the now named woman of god.

[Mysterious Stranger]

“Whew…” I let out a long sigh, tension leaving my body as I did so.

Looking up and down the structure in front of me I felt nothing less than the utmost level of awe and welling emotion that couldn’t be described. Before me was a great wall with a large blue gateway that encapsulated a city, the walls easily twenty or thirty metres tall, ten metres wide stretching out easily eleven or more kilometres around the city.

Everything about the beauty present reminded me of that poem about Ramses II-

“I met a traveller from an antique land, who said-

‘two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand in the desert…

…Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;’

And on the pedestal, these words appear:

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty and despair!

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

The poem might have been a reminder to those in power that nothing would remain of their rule in the end, but to me for whatever reason I heard that even at what would seem the end of time to those who made it, their monuments would stand even if broken- there would be a majesty and greatness to them.

“My people were not actually the first to live here, but came after those of the Naberal-Shaytan.” My half dragon female guide said as we passed through the gates without being stopped like the line of people that were currently waiting to be okayed into the city.

“What were they like then? The Naberal?” I asked, curious as to the history of the people who made something that made me think about those first civilizations in Iraq.

“Hah!” The hearty deep laugh that burst from her. “They aren’t gone! Ha!” She laughed some more before wiping away a tear from her eye.

Those around us turned to look when she had been laughing, as we walked what seemed to be a main road running from the gate straight up to the even more enormous than the gates palace looking building. Gorgeous painted white sandstone with bright lapis blue crowning parts of the building.

“Oh so they’re not like a long gone ancient people?” I probed.

“They are still well alive, Queen Naberal is stronger than any True Dragon in these sands and has fought fiercely to keep her people alive.” The woman responded.

“What are they like then?”

“Interesting.” She said with one word. “A people without origin, my kin the Alyaesub aren’t as old but we’ve been around for nearly as long- but from those I’ve met of the Naberal they are kind, often chaotic and easily intrigued.”

“So I have another question.” I wondered about something that hadn’t come up yet.

“What is that?” Her green eyes waiting and brow raised with interest.

“Your name, we haven’t exchanged them yet.” She nodded.

It had actually been two or so days since I met the woman but we’d actually never said or asked for each other's names, just starting to talk which got the other's attention. We’d left the city I’d been waiting around in for my friends, finding ourselves in this new one which the dragon woman was hoping to show me the ‘cool and interesting’ parts of as she put it.

“I am Auryn of Gilda, what is your name?” My now named escort/guide said with a smirk.

“Good to meet you Auryn, my name is-” I closed my mouth for a moment realising I could chose this moment to become someone else and start a new life here, I been using my real name up until now and it wasn’t like this world had any sort of technology to keep my exactness known.

“Ah- sorry just lost to a thought- my name is Leonidas.” I apologised because I paused for a minute or so in silent thought about whether or not I should use my real name, but decided to in the end.

“Leonidas if you are to follow me then I will show you something more interesting than the walls.” Auryn said taking my hand once again and leading me off into a part of the city that looked very colourful and decorative like it was a gathering place of artists and such.

----------------------------------------

This is where chapter two starts

----------------------------------------

“Leon!” A voice yelled, making me jump out of my skin.

“AH! Yes?!” I replied with my heart pounding from the fright.

“You’ve been distracted since Yesterday, what's up?” Ciarán asked with his brow raised as he sat down at the large round table I had been reading a book at.

“Sorry… I’ve just been coming to terms with it all I guess.” He didn’t look very satisfied with my answer.

“They did you dirty, to be honest it was pretty crazy how easily they dropped half the class, but it felt awful to watch when they didn’t even consider you.” My tall friend took a wooden mug that had been sitting on the table before I sat down and he filled it with a brown liquid that smelled like bourbon from a pitcher he’d sat down with.

He’d begun to thin out over the last few days, noticeable muscle appearing on his legs and arms.

“I guess so yeah, it's not like I didn’t get anything out of it though.” I said back before sighing and using the velvet strip attached to my book to bookmark my page.

“Seriously? You got being able to understand some languages out of it. That's practically useless compared to what Finn got!” He argued.

“Is it? you guys must really underestimate language in a world where none of you understand what's going on.” He shook his head with a frown when I spoke.

“But we understand Sonia fine, and she’s a Filian- they’re basically human.” Ciarán’s response made me wonder if it was really him talking or if someone or something had gotten into his head.

“You do remember the part where she said her goddess Sana was expressly giving her the ability to understand us and have us understand her?” I questioned with my brow furrowed.

“Oh yea…” he seemed to get it before he caught something I guess? And decided to give his version. “No she definitely didn’t, Sonia just told us her goddess was named Sana, never anything about the god translating for us.”

I was gifted the ability to learn any language at lightning pace, my classmates having all been gifted some power by a god and the redheads gift was just referred to as ‘Perfect Form’ which was why I mentioned his thinning and getting more muscle because it was by no means natural there was literally magic at play making his body morph into something resembling one of those marble statues that were ripped.

“Hmm…” I hummed not fighting what he’d said, it would only cause more problems with him not acting right. “So was that all you wanted to talk about or did you come to see me for another reason?” I decided to ask changing the subject.

“Oh! Yeah!” Ciarán’s excitement was apparent as he knocked the mug in his hand, spilling some of the liquid on the table. “I wanted to see if you were up for training with me and the others later?”

“Learning to use a sword from Signifer Boal?” He nodded at my clarification.

“So?” He looked at me expectantly.

Taking a deep long breath in the silence that followed, I tried to figure out how worth it-it would be for me to even go.

I needed to put things into perspective again, I’d not really stopped to think outside of reading my book, it was one that had been in my bag when we arrived.

For what it mattered we’d been set up in this dorm-like mansion within a city named Aqua-fria, or just Fria for short. It was a large enough city on the coast of a country called Lacertus, a mostly desert nation that kinda looked like Australia on the map we were shown.

Anyway, Sonia the priestess brought us here under the pretence that her god had been directing her to do so as a part of some big plan or prophecy- basically it sounded like we were being pointed toward becoming some grand group summoned to this world to save the day. It was like a plot of some anime or comic book. Our priestess once we reached Fria however part of this plot had us talk to this robed woman and old man who went through everyone basically cataloguing our names, age then ‘ability’ which was something they measured with a device I couldn’t recall the look of.

This ‘ability’ each of us has was different and supposed to be a piece of a divine that had been given to us upon being brought to the world with the purpose of being put toward the defeat of some great being who threatened the very fabric of their reality. Finn as mentioned before by my tall friend had been given something that sounded Mythological in nature, any water taken into or held by his hands had healing properties and could heal any wound no matter how grave or curse ridden- to test this they had a mans hand cut off in front of us all and held it in place to the man who was then screaming in pain and having Finn pour the water onto his wound reconnecting the damage to flawless condition. He was also told that it would work fine if he let someone drink the water from his hands to cure ailments they had.

Which was likely why Ciarán had such a bad response, Finn got gods given healing of any wound making him effectively immortal so long as he carried water and could reach it, whereas I just got the ability to learn languages. Things had only gotten worse as they progressed down the line when they didn’t even bother to say what I had out loud nor show anybody how it worked instead just handing me some note afterward when they skipped over me in front of everyone. Hell Erika could now invoke magic spells so long as she had learned them, with these scrolls of basic healing and defensive spells being handed to her upon it being announced though they made sure not to mention the fact that she could learn offensive spells.

One thing I’d been surprised for sure about was Miyu and Shirou getting the same ability then again maybe we all should’ve seen it coming considering they’re twins, but everyone was also pretty stunned to Morgan who had been given foresight/clairvoyance but it could only see what was happening right now any place in the world, the foresight only with regards to people she was close to. Considering Morgan was a recluse of sorts or just generally blunt and not friendly to others I doubted there would be any mileage on the foresight. As well though was Natalia who was now able to become more than efficient at just about anything she tried going forward- or rather a jack of all trades that was great at most things, but she couldn’t master anything because of it though. But that would still put her leagues above everyone else for a long time if we were going to be around for as long as it seemed like we were.

So yeah I guess I had good reason to start conditioning myself to be able to get battered around and at least learn to protect myself, even if I was going to be relegated to a translator going forward. The only reason everyone was able to understand anyone so far was that a genuine god was playing a part in it, but we’d been told that they would stop because they had other things to attend to.

Everyone would need to learn how to speak and read Filian, Lacheran, Sylphium and whatever other languages I’d already come across in reading about the countries of the continent we were on at the moment.

I’d actually given Morgan and Natalia letters inviting them to a dinner I was willing to facilitate in the actual city to see if I could convince the gir- women to join me in abandoning this prophecy stuff and head somewhere else or at least tackle the problems away from the ideas and words of people who might try and convince the others to become their puppets throughout this ordeal.

Sigh.

“Yes I will come, just get me when it's starting soon.” I finally replied taking my book off the table and putting it in my bag.

I’d not let it leave my sight since arriving, I didn’t want people taking shit from it, in particular I wasn’t going to lose my phone and laptop that were in it. I’d warned the rest of the class of the same thing back on our first day and again when we arrived in Fria that they should keep a close watch on their things in case someone tried to steal it since it might look valuable.

“Got it.” he said as he sat up and looked into the empty pitcher realising he’d drunk it all. “What were you reading anyway?”

“In the West Nothing New, it’s by a German soldier from world war one. Not a particularly fun read by your normal choices, but I like it so far.” Taking the opportunity as presented I was glad to discuss the book with my friend and so I did that much.

We spent the next half hour talking before Erika showed up and she asked me away to help her with the Twins who had come up with an idea for something that needed my help.

[All Quiet on the Western Front]

“Holy shit that’s really cool!” A smile as wide as Texas spread across Auryn’s face when I shouted out my excitement at what she had brought me to.

It was this enormous temple to a Goddess named Sheba the mother and her Husband the Father Jundopah, the literal origin of all Miqyas as I’d been told by her. The building resembled the Parthenon but with two easily 40ft statues on either side, on our left was one of a fierce looking dragon that was captured in the moment of roaring on its hind legs and on the right side was a woman in hooded robes holding a baby wrapped in blankets with a draconic looking tail falling over the side as she held the child against her chest. Beneath each statue were plaques with poems on them.

There wasn’t anything left on Earth so cool besides the Buddha's of Asia that were enormous, but nothing like that was being created in our modern world; it was all from the ancient past.

She directed us past it, however, taking me somewhere else.

“Was that not what you wanted to show me?” I asked, trying to keep my eyes from her- ah tail.

“It was part of it yes, but there is something I wanted from you” The golden scaled woman said.

“?” I waited to hear what it was she wanted.

We hardly knew each other, but I was fairly willing to help out seeing as she’d been answering most of my questions. Auryn was still the most attractive woman I’d seen since arriving. That was still certain, something about the athletic physique she had was just right kind, she knew it full well with how she swayed when walking and stopped to tilt in very suggestive ways when she spoke.

Once again she grabbed ahold of my hand with hers and I felt my arm nearly come out of the socket when I was yanked forward wordlessly.

Walking through the city streets again I made the connection that the place reminded me in appearance at least to those depictions of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon I’d seen in Mr. Kale’s classes. There were huge man made waterways easily twenty metres across that ran through the city with large flax canoes or sorts going up and down it to little staired ports along it dropping off cargo, there weren’t any fully wooden boats or anything much larger than the canoes.

“What was the name of this city again?” I asked as we passed through a street of stall vendors, the smells, sounds and sights were something else to behold.

“Zigguratt, is the current name, the old Shaytan name forgotten under the heel of time.” She said languidly, her lustre of fierce expressions and sultry tone having long since evaporated.

A silence hung between us as she slowed to a stop outside a store where a man was grilling on slates heated by fire, the smell of the meat intoxicating.

“Are you okay Auryn?” I asked, her hands reached out and grabbed ahold of my shoulders as she had done in our initial meeting.

There were hardly seconds to react as she forced up against a wall in an alley next to where we were and I let out a pained noise as I was slammed into it and lifted up to meet her eyes.

“Queen Auryn.” She whispered into my ear, tone eliciting something deep within me.

Wait-

“Queen?” I questioned back, lost to my confusion.

“Yes.” Auryn continued whispering. “I fled the palace to take a day for myself… only for a human to provide more than a little interest and make my heart flutter so much I wished to travel with them and show off my kingdom.” Her explanation almost went over my head.

Too distracted by her forcing herself on me, then being told she was a Queen to hear her reasons for it.

“Fleeting as it is, our meeting must’ve been destined I imagine as Lady Sheba’s work often is.” The dragon woman’s prolonged grip on my shoulder as she kept me forced against the sandstone wall was very painful.

[Confused Lustre]

“Alright, I think we can both agree that we want to know why you had letters sent to us asking about this rather than just asking in person.” The mature tone of Morgan’s voice met my ears as I was sitting across from her and Natalia at a booth in a restaurant I’d reserved a place in, though I’d not expected it to take a week and then some for the pair to respond to my letters.

I’d been spending my free time using my ability to earn money around Fria as a translator. As far as I knew I was the only person who had gone out to earn money amongst the town.

The restaurant we were in was some kind of barbeque place? At the very least that’s what everyone seemed to be eating. The menu we were handed seemed to confirm this, I might have booked a booth but I hadn’t actually checked it out properly. I just chose the only place that seemed far enough away from the temple/mansion and had booth seating.

“That’s because I wanted to keep it from prying ears.” I explained with a shrug. “As for why you’re here anyway, if you didn’t think it was worth your time you wouldn’t have come in the first place.”

“You’re not wrong, I was pretty interested to hear what you wanted- ‘specially if you were gonna make us come to some restaurant for it.” Morgan confirmed.

“To cut right to the point, I wanted to ask if you both wanted to team up with me and potentially Erika and Ciarán, we’d take our lives into our own hands and pursue this ‘great evil’ without being watched over constantly and having those people at the temple breath down our necks- plus with abilities like us three have they’re the most likely to be abused and disregarded by them.” I was really hoping the two women would be receptive to my proposition.

A silence passed over us in the booth while they thought about there answers, conversing between themselves about it, they even took long enough that what we ordered arrived. Because of that though the deliberating was put on hold until they were finished eating since it was on my dime and we’d been kept on three meals a day that were hardly enough food to call a meal. Throughout the lunch I had brought them we talked about what had been going on in our lives since arriving since I was on good terms with them enough back before everything happened that I talked to them regularly- but now seemed like a good time to catch up properly outside of what other things were on my agenda.

“Mhm!” Natalia made a particularly enthused noise when taking a chunk of out the steak sized cut of mystery meat she’d ordered, breaking up the conversation as she went quiet taking her time to find her new favourite food.

“It can’t be that good Nat-Whoa! Thas-” Morgan started, her normally stern and blunt exterior vanishing in pure surprise as she got a taste of the dish. “We’re on your dime right?” the silver haired woman said, her blue eyes sparkling.

I nodded. “Yeah, the translator jobs I got paid really well from what I gathered about the economics of things going on.” I probably had the best understanding of the economy in the city right now as well due to the jobs Id’ picked up helping several people sort out misunderstandings regarding what they owed and such.

Not that knowing anything about the Venturae, Agricolae and Centauri as the three main coins used as currency in Fria was very useful. Apparently since Fria was a port created by the Filians of the Eme-ĝir Empire as the first step of their advances into this continent they quickly adopted the currencies of the empire because it was more valuable and had further reach with the new line of trade going back to their capital. But It wasn't really the time for a history lesson and tangents about money I’d learnt about.

Instead it seemed after an hour and a half of enjoying themselves on what they now considered the finest cuisine in all Fria, Morgan and Natalia had an answer to my proposal.

“Alright. we’re in, but- We have conditions.” Natalia started, wagging her finger right as I had been about to let out a small cheer.

“What are they?” I asked waiting to say yes to pretty much anything.

“Firstly a Salary, Second we want you to help teach us Filian and whatever other language that comes up, thirdly some assurances about what we are expected to do so that you aren’t going to do the same thing you’re supposedly trying to help us avoid. Lastly-” Nat paused running a hand through her short silverish hair.

Both women were pretty tall compared to the rest of the class, had dyed their hair silver for whatever reason, Natalia originally had black hair and Morgan had pale near white blonde hair. For that matter both were very pale and had blue eyes, though Morgans were a very icy colour. Their sense of dress was completely opposite too, Mor’ loved her dresses- since we’d been here she had been in the same whitish-pink Kimono with a large blue sash around it and Nat wore a long black coat over a crop top(which tended to be strapless) and jeans. As well I guess were their figures, Morgan a very normal/average maybe renaissance statue sort of shape to her while Natalia was very much more athletic and well proportioned with some light muscle toning.

Either way they cut interesting figures in the crowds where they went.

“Lastly we just want to make sure you’re not playing anything nefarious, we heard about you and Erika, it would be a shame to have to bury you after she finally found someone.” Morgan said with an expression that said she meant exactly what she said and I would be killed if this was some ploy to build a harem.

“No, that wasn’t my intention. I just genuinely thought you two would be the most willing to join up with me.” I responded looking past their glare.

“Alright sounds good to me, don’t send a letter next time though dufus just ask us.” Natalia said with a raised brow.

We stayed in the restaurant for some time after that as the girls made good use of my promise to pay for a meal.