Mash began opening the portal to his world, though he kept his attention on all the people going there. So many of them were complete strangers to him, and he really wasn’t sure how they would react to the place. The last thing he wanted was to bring someone destructive somewhere else. He had already ruined the world and didn’t want to repeat that mistake. However, the eager anticipation on many of their faces made him smile.
Wood rose from the ground as it always did, however, the markings on it were different. They seemed more controlled, almost like some strange runic language. Rainbow light leaked from them giving the whole archway a more magical feel. It grew until it was big enough to let them all through at once, although it only worked because the dragons had changed into their humanish forms. He wondered what the difference was about. Did have to do with him changing his own appearance? He hoped the changes were only visual, but highly doubted it. Transformation was in his very nature, and his world would certainly change with him.
[Priscilla, can you reconnect with your other bodies and learn things.]
Priscilla didn’t respond with a message, just with the feeling of acceptance. With that done, he gestured for the others to follow him through the portal. Ythass went in ahead of everyone else, already familiar with the archway and him. The others were more reluctant to enter. Luke half dragged Valeria through the portal. The people who had been undead entered with little open concern, though Mash could see their weariness with his domain. Fate was very clearly the most hesitant, but she stepped through as well.
The last to leave was Toroken, though he didn’t look particularly afraid. Mash approached him as he stood unmoving. The dragon no longer looked anything like a dragon and was now a bronze-skinned beastman. An old one with a long beard, that he stroked with one hand as he stared at the mountain in the distance. Mash walked up to him, stopping beside the man, and looking at the same mountain.
“This had been my home, my domain my entire life. As a dragon of the land, I am bound to this place. Or at least I was until I died. Now, I don’t know.”
The dragon spoke softly, though his voice seemed to resonate with the earth, like the kind of echoes he expected to hear within a cave. Mash stared at the mountain for a moment, then shared his thoughts.
“It’s kind of small.”
Mash grinned when Toroken turned to look at him. The dragon was smiling too though and responded with an even comment.
“Yet it is what gave me all my power. And it was big enough to beat you.”
Mash looked at him and was about to respond, but Toroken stepped through the portal leaving him unable to. His words died on his lips, the protest that he had, in fact, been the winner felt childish. Sure, he might have lost had the fight dragged on as it had been, but he had been the one to win in the end.
It wasn’t like they could beat him after being changed by his aspect. They had lost most of the power. Mash let all those vain arguments die and just walked through the portal, that was a pointless excuse. He should’ve won the fight regardless of the situation, and the fact that he didn’t annoy him. Those daggers the beastman used had sealed his transformations. He really needed to learn how they did that and study them. That was something for later.
The worlds shifted around him as he stepped through the portal. He nearly fell to his knees as the dizziness struck him. Priscilla only made it worse by bombarding him with information. She held nothing back and gave him far too much information all at once. Apparently, a lot of changes had occurred in the world, many of which Priscilla hadn’t mentioned on his last visit. Some of those changes were drastic, and well things he would’ve liked to know before.
[There’s no way this all happened recently. Why didn’t you tell me last time?]
[We were preoccupied with another matter, and you did not ask me for it.]
Mash felt hesitation in her answer and knew that she only partly believed in the words. It had probably been for the best, considering all of the things that he had to do last time, but this was still egregious.
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[You could’ve told me people were getting classes.]
[That has only begun recently. I have composed a list of the current classes and levels for you to look at.]
She sent him the list alongside the message. She sent more than just a list. It was a series of images and information, showing him each person and the class, they had gained. Mash didn’t pay all that much attention to any specific class or person but got a general idea of it. Very few people had combat skills of any kind. It seemed like a pure combat class was incredibly rare. Most people had more general classes tailored to improving their lives, like farmers and cooks. The levels these people had were also incredibly low, and they didn’t gain nearly as many stats as Mash did.
He looked toward the others who were looking about the place. Mash considered the best way to tell the group about the changes. And realized that every method would be annoying and probably get him yelled at.
[Just tell them everything you told me.]
Mash sent the message to Priscilla. Rather than worry about that conversation, he turned toward his portal. Sounds of exclamation and alarm began behind him. While they were distracted by that, he walked through the portal. He would go back once they had some time to talk about and process the changes. Looking around the clearing they had been in; Mash easily found a collapsed tree to sit on.
He opened his storage space and began munching on some dried meat while he waited. Part of him wondered if some of those other people Fate had mentioned would arrive. They did not, and after only a few seconds, Jill appeared beside him. She stood just beside the log that he was sitting on.
“I would run away too. I mean it’s really embarrassing.”
Jill had a mischievous smile on her face, her whole body shaking a little with giggles. Mash glanced at her unsure of what exactly she meant by that.
“Embarrassing?”
The word came out like a question, as he tried to imagine what would be so embarrassing to cause her to react like this. Jill’s eyes lit up with amusement at the comment.
“You don’t know! Priscilla didn’t tell you yet.”
Jill’s excitement made him anxious. He turned inward to Priscilla, who gave him a sense of abashment. It somehow felt like she was looking away from him.
“What is it?”
Mash really didn’t want to ask, but, at the same time, he had to know. Jill grinned slyly, and he thought that she might not tell him. She couldn’t resist the temptation though.
‘Your planet is named Mashad.”
She struggled to even say it, as she began chuckling in the middle. Mash groaned, dropping his head in his hands. They named the world after him. For his world to be named after him was one of the most egotistical things he had ever heard of. He never even picked a name. How did it even come to this?
[The people agreed upon it, and you told me not to intervene in unimportant matters.]
Mash didn’t lift his head from his hands. Jill continued to laugh beside him; she even patted him on the shoulder.
“You're enjoying this too much.”
His comment fell on deaf ears, as Jill was quick with a retort.
“No, I think I can still enjoy it more.”
Mash grumbled softly but couldn’t think of anything to say. Instead, he asked her about the other information.
“What did they think about the other stuff?”
“Pretty well. Valeria was weirdly happy about the classes and stuff. She even liked the name the world.”
Mash shuddered to think of someone genuinely enjoying that name. Jill didn’t seem angry, but she wasn’t the type to be bothered by stuff like this. Luke and Red were far more stressed and neither particularly enjoyed surprises. He decided it would be better to ask about them now.
“The others?”
“They took it well. I think Red’s finally decided to roll with the punches, and Luke just seems a lot more relaxed in general now. Honestly, it’s kind of weird.”
Mash nodded. That was a feeling he understood all too well. Luke had been changing a lot. If it was a physical it wouldn’t matter that much, but Luke’s change was more drastic in a way that was unsettling. Either way, Mash was happy for Luke. Thinking about that was enough to convince him to return. The changes to his world needed to be looked at. Plus, they did have to move a lot of people there soon.
His archway hadn’t disappeared when he closed the portal. It remained, and Mash felt like he could reactivate it rather than make a new one. He felt connected to it like he did with all of his magic and made it open again. It responded to his desire, and the portal reappeared. A window into another place. He stepped through it, looking at the others who were still talking about the place. Toroken was the first to approach him, this time his voice was filled with a childlike wonder.
“What is that tree?”
Mash knew the tree already, but he still glanced at the tree. It seemed even bigger now if that was even possible. The top of the tree had actually surpassed the clouds, and Mash could see the clouds skid across the surface of it. There was more to it though. The tree was covered in different color splotches like a poor finger painting. The tree’s leaves seemed to spread over the sky like an umbrella, and Mash wondered how far it would grow. Would the leaves eventually blot out the sun? No, that wouldn’t happen. This world was enormous and even though the tree’s leaves seemed bigger than mountains, it still wouldn’t be enough to cover the sky.
“My best guess is some kind of manifestation of my power.”
Toroken nodded appreciatively, though his next words caused Mash to freeze.
“Fascinating, then what of the lifeform within it?”
Mash’s reply slipped out of his mouth as he spun toward the tree.
“What?”