The dragon wakes up with a start, in a forest he doesn’t recognize. He moves his head lethargically, scanning his surroundings for anything of note.
“Trees…” he mumbles, smoke leaking from his mouth.
With apparent effort, the massive black creature pulls itself from the hole it lies. Soil and plant life falls from his gleaming black scales as he rises. Once free from his earthen tomb, the dragon spreads his wings. Nearby trees are destroyed as the powerful limbs smash through them effortlessly.
“Where the hell am I?” the creature mutters. “I was… fighting that little kid.” More smoke pours from his jaws as he mutters to himself, rising to join the large cloud that floats above him.
Maybe going in alone… wasn’t the greatest idea… the dragon thinks to himself. Regardless, I need to find my way back.
With a quickly disappearing smoke trail, the dark creature flies off.
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Stupid demon girl! Almost getting herself killed! It's been almost a week already and I’ve still not calmed down over how close she was to leaving m— dying.
The chamber I’m in a new one, made by me specifically so I’d have a place of my own. Everything is bathed in a comfortable orange glow, since the room is on the backside of my core. The massive orange crystal makes plenty of light, and it’s technically me, so what better place for my room?
Anyways, no one can come in here without my explicit permission. That’s the important bit. The room itself is… set up worryingly similarly to my old room now that I think about it. I summoned a desk, computer included, so that I’d have entertainment. I actually commissioned a bed from Dalla, since I’d rather sleep on the stone floor than spend a moment in my old mattress.
Well, that’s how I envisioned the room, in actuality all my things are on the edges, with a massive pit taking up most of the space. The pit is ankle deep, filled with lukewarm water. Lights in the base keep it mostly transparent.
Bobbing along the surface of the water, is a small orb of black ooze. The familiar being smiles up at me with its massive teeth.
“Hiya, Obui!” Wem chimes.
“Hi, Wem,” I say with a small smile. The demon has been confined to the pond ever since the battle. Apparently it helps slimes regenerate. Currently she’s about the size of her original head, but without a body.
Excitement radiates from her wobbly form. “Are we gonna watch one of those ‘muves’?” she asks, butchering English in the process.
I smirk. “Movies, and yes, if you want to.”
The slime tries to nod, but just starts spinning end over end in the water. I reach out, grabbing her scalp to help her get steadied.
“Thaaaanks,” she chimes.
Just as I start willing the computer on, a small notification pops up in my mind.
You are now connected to Earth.
Without any further explanation, the message closes.
“WHAT?!”
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I rapidly abandon Wem after putting on a movie, and return to my full form. As soon as I’m back to my expanded view, I ping both of my generals. It takes only seconds for them to establish communication between the three of us.
“What is it?” Maddie says, worried.
“This better be important, I’m in the middle of a poker game,” Azrael grumbles.
I pause, unsure of how to proceed. I’ve told them about Earth, sure, but I’m not sure if I ever called it as such by name.
“The world I was from, its name is Earth,” I say.
“Okay?” Azrael says.
I think over my wording for a second. “I just got a message from the system. It said I’m connected to Earth now, like it did when we phased into Einmar.”
I feel panic come from Maddi’s end, and anger from Azrael.
“You’re telling me, the people who were so… foul to you, found their way here?” he hisses.
I quickly shake my head. “We don’t know if its the same people, or if there are even people involved, just that I’m conn—”
Maddi cuts me off. “I found them.” She sends me a mental approximation of where, and I quickly shift my view.
My heart jumps to my throat as I see the otherworlders. American army uniforms, five of them, all armed. Their rifles glitter in the low light of my tunnels, driving fear into me. Just as I start to panic, Maddi speaks up.
“Oubi, why are you so frightened? They look quite average.” Her voice is calm and reassuring.
“They have rifles, they are very dangerous,” I say, my voice quavering. As I take a closer look at the soldiers, I notice some odd additional weapons. One of them has a baseball bat strapped to their back, while another has a hammer and sickle on their hip.
As I watch, a blue pillar of flame erupts in front of them. For a moment I’m confused, but then I realize.
“Maddi, no!” I yell. But she’s already disconnected. Dammit!
“Just let her try, Mistress. She won’t be killed by people like that,” Azrael says, trying to reassure me.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
I just recoil at the use of the word mistress. I don’t like how… deferential it feels, but now's not the time for that.
Then Maddi manifests in the small tunnel.
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After going through the strange door, we found ourselves inside a tunnel system of some kind. Same green walls from the room in the ruins, except they just keep going, wound into strange tunnels. Small windows occasionally let some light in, but the other side of the glass is just blank nothingness. None of our armaments or skills could break the glass, either.
We pushed further into the tunnels for around an hour before anything notable happened, namely a pillar of blue flames.
I motion for everyone to take aim, which is unnecessary since everyone already has their rifles leveled on the potential threat. We watch closely as the pillar rages, unmoving, for several seconds. Then it winks out, leaving a humanoid in its place.
A very… female humanoid. Blue, but still womanly. The being is easily taller than any of the men present, with a massive tail swishing behind her languidly. Powerful looking wings flutter on her shoulders, and my eyes drift to four horns that sprout out of the hairline of her long black locks. She smiles at us, like a predator looking at their prey.
“Hello, boys, what brings you here?” she says with a deep but melodic voice.
I feel my heart well with pride as none of my subordinates answer. We’ve all been briefed plenty on fae rules. That being said, I’ll talk to it, on the off chance it’s actually a friendly.
“Hello, ma’am, I’m Sergeant Alex Right of the U.S. army. Could you tell us where we are right now?” I use my professional voice, draining all the anxiety I’m actually feeling from it.
She taps her chin, chewing over my words. “Saar geent? Is that like a knight?” she asks, her eyes flashing with curiosity. Suddenly she glances up to the right, her eyes glazing over for a second. “Ah, never mind. You’re a superior, then, leader of that band of men behind you?” she asks, waving her hand at my guys.
I hear the clattering of them tightening their grips on their weapons when she waves. I motion for them to relax a bit, and continue talking with the ‘demon’.
“May I ask some questions, ma’am?”
She nods, grinning. Large fangs glint in her mouth as she does, sending a weird thrill down my back.
“How did you just find out what my rank meant?” I ask, skipping what I should be asking. I’m very curious about this.
“Oh! My Mistress told me.” She nods, smirking.
“Your… Mistress?” I ask hesitantly. Is there like a vampire queen or something, a mother demon? Like we don’t have enough problems.
She gestures to the green walls around us. “My Mistress is the dungeon you’re all currently in.” With a tilt of her head, she pauses. “Did you not know you were in a dungeon?”
The hairs on the back of my neck raise. “What’s a dungeon, if you don’t mind me asking?”
She goes to answer, but her mouth hangs open. Eventually she closes it, and looks at the floor. “Actually, I’m not quite sure… My Mistress is one, but she doesn’t…” She gets lost in her thoughts for a few moments before looking up to the right again.
“Ah! Right.” She looks back at me. “I guess you could call it a structure full of monsters and wealth.”
Just as she says that, something rushes past her, heading towards us. My men open fire on the thing, stopping it in its tracks. After a few seconds of smoke clearing from the target, I see a…
“Is that a roomba?” I ask.
The demon frowns. “That’s a dusty,” she says, as if that’s obvious. She looks up to the right for a second before continuing. “Also, it’s apparently based on a ‘roomba’.”
“What the fuck…” I mutter. Why is there a roomba here?
“Are you really a demon?” one of my boys asks. I whip around to glare at the one responsible, but they all look away from me.
The woman laughs, grabbing her toned stomach as she does. After calming down she meets my eyes.
“Well, of course I am.”
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These men seem so skittish, jerking their weapons around at every minor movement I make. Which is probably prudent, since they wouldn’t have much time to respond if I decided to attack.
The very front-most man, a pale one with gray stubble, keeps asking me questions. I’m humoring him, because it’s… well, it’s fun to watch these frightened children react to my words.
But it seems I said something they really didn’t like this time. All I said that I was a demon, which is the truth, why are they all so frightened? I can practically smell their fear.
“Ah…” the sergeant finally says. “Th-that’s… interesting.” Even he’s afraid? What is with these people?
“Why are you all shaking like children suddenly?” I ask with a frown.
The sergeant makes an odd face before speaking. “Well… there’s no demons from where we’re from…” What a weak excuse. Oubliette never acted this way to me, Azrael, or Wem.
“Hmm… Is it customary in your world to be fearful of people different than you?” I say with a biting tone.
The sergeant’s eye twitches. “World, what do you mean?” His voice is suddenly harsh, and forceful. I quite don’t like that.
I ignore the man, looking at the backs of my sharp black nails.
Eventually the man seems to take the hint. “The answer to your question is no. It is not.” He sighs. “Now please explain what you meant by ‘our world’?”
I give him a wide smile. “No… I don’t think I will. That isn’t for me to tell.” I know my Mistress would want me to tell them, but I can tell these men are only being kind to get information from me. I want to see what they’ll do if they don’t get what they want.
“Then who can tell us?” the sergeant asks through gritted teeth.
“My Mistress, of course!” I smirk.
“Dammit, Sarge, just let us shoot her!” one of the men in the back shouts. I focus on him, a short and tan individual. In a single step, I’m standing behind the man almost half my height. I wrap my tail around his legs.
“Try it, little one.” I grin down at him evilly.
A loud bang rings out from nearby, almost instantly followed by a piercing pain in my skull. I take a half step back, just in time for a cacophony of small explosions to come from the men. Flames envelop my body, burning their metal projectiles to harmless ash before they can touch me.
Blood drips off my head and onto the ground, as a splitting pain comes from the side of my skull. I blink a few times, and realize I can’t see out of my one eye. I guess Mistress was right, these men are dangerous. I frown, anger flooding my veins with fire. Dangerous when they have the element of surprise, which they no longer have!
Just as I’m about to take my first steps towards annihilating the group of otherworlders, my view tips sideways. I slam against the ground, my limbs not listening to my orders. I feel something important start to leak from the top of my head.
This is unfortunate.
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The demon is down. We shot almost a full magazine into the bitch each, and I’m almost certain my first shot was the only one that did damage. Not that it matters, since it seems that the first was enough. Her large frame is laying on the odd floorboard ground, bleeding a deep blue blood all over. …Blowing half of someone’s head off is never pretty.
Just as I’m about to motion for my men to move forward, the atmosphere of the tunnel changes. The pleasantly cool air suddenly turns harsh, and the light pouring from the small windows turns crimson. Not long after that, everything begins to shake, violently.
The tunnel writhes around us, like an angry serpent. Rocks and… computers? Fall from the ceiling, nearly missing me and the squad.
“Retreat!” I yell.
The first thing we did on entering this place was make sure we could leave. After testing the wooden door multiple times, we decided it was safe enough. Now I’m glad as hell we did, since we have somewhere to run to.
The sounds of five men sprinting with heavy gear is suddenly overshadowed by a deep bellow. It reverberates through the quiet tunnels, shaking our brains in our skulls. A window nearby bursts, a flood of blood pouring from the small opening. We just keep running, ignoring the insanity happening around us.
After much too long, the dark door appears at the end of the tunnel. The door is wide open, its frame filled with a bright white light. We pick up the pace as the ground starts cracking underfoot, spires of stone punching through the floor.
When we get about twenty feet from salvation, the door slams shut. The white light behind it extinguishes, and the unrealistically loud sound of it locking fills the green tunnel. All five of us skid to a halt.
The tunnel calms, the light goes back to normal, the shaking stops. Like none of it had ever happened.
“You bastards are really lucky,” a teenage boy’s voice says behind us.
We all whirl around, guns drawn, and aim at the speaker. A… a cat. Sure, whatever! Our rifles don’t waver as the cat calmly licks the back of its paw.
“I’m serious, you’re all very, very lucky,” he says with an implied smirk.
One of my men drops to the floor.
“Sarge… I can’t shoot a cat!”