The white particles inside Sanya’s room were growing more and more in number. Sanya started to panic. Talia was still not here even after she had shouted her name several times. Her heartbeats were going faster and faster as she could only retreat up to the door, her back leaning on it. Her eyes darted here and there as she felt hopeless. The white particles condensed to form the outlines of something.

They formed a strange room. The original floor had another of wood. Several pieces of furniture that were originally not in the room appeared. A desk made of black shining wood was now in the middle of the wall. A few drawers were passing through the bookshelf. The thing even more strange was that all of these things were slightly see-through, like a hologram or such. Such scene would surely surprise almost anymore. However, Sanya was currently not looking at it. Or more precisely, she was much more distracted by something else.

Her gaze was glued to the thing above her bed. A round couch was there, passing through the bed like it was just a mirage. But, it was not the couch that attracted her wide-open eyes. it was the being on top of it.

Sanya’s breathing started to speed up, as she reached to grab the bell around her neck. She felt her hand on the surface of the bell. Cold sweat formed on her forehead as she tried to calm herself. But, she failed.

On top of the couch was a man with long fiery crimson hair sitting cross-legged. He had one elbow on his tight as he rested his head on top of the palm of the same arm. His scaly tail was wagging right and left as he observed the human girl with his expressionless face and his snake-like eyes. It was precisely this stare that terrified Sanya.

She saw Talia using Master level magic and had the opportunity to see the might of such level of destruction. But, this man was on a totally different level. He had not the air that Talia had when she showed her strength. In fact, the presence around him was quite calm. But, Sanya could feel it. This man was more dangerous than Talia. It was almost like a divine being descending upon the earth in order to observe a puny mortal.

As the pressure was too strong, Sanya closed her eyes. The grip around the bell became stronger and stronger. She was totally afraid of what was going on. After hearing Talia’s explanation, she thought that she could face any situation in order to remain with her. But, there was a large gap between what one thought they were able to do and what they were truly capable of. Sanya was just an ordinary girl without a powerful ability. Even if her fortitude strengthened with what happened with Talia, the man before her was just too much.

The man finally noticed that he did something bad. This was a habit of him, observing silently the thing that he was intrigued in. Then, he saw the scared girl backing as much as she could. He could only think. ‘...Talia will kill me.’

He decided to put on a gentle attitude as he reached his hand in her direction. Sanya had her eyes closed, so she could not see the shift in attitude. A single tear flowed down her cheek.

...The bell attached to her neck rang a few time. The thing was that it was in Sanya’s shaky hand, but the sound was crystal clear. The man had to stop. His eyes were growing wide open.

Sanya felt a warm feeling, like a part of her body, was being warmed by the sunlight. This made her recall the warmth of her girlfriend. Unconsciously, she remembered Talia’s words about her gift.

Think of it as a protective charm.

Sanya opened both her eyes and her hand to only look at the bell, not daring to look at the man. The bell was the same as before, silver in color. She softly caressed the surface with her shaking hands.

“...Talia.”

Suddenly, a bright flamboyant star appeared in the room.

The source of the light was the bell in Sanya’s hand. The light was being produced by the hundred tiny-sized tunnels inside the bell. Surprisedly, Sanya was not blinded by the light. Instead, she felt her connection with the necklace becoming more and more powerful seconds after seconds. It was discovering the existence of another limb and learning how to use it. In reflex, Sanya tried to move her new ‘limb’.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

A spherical barrier morphed around Sanya. The sphere had a radius of around a meter and was transparent. As Sanya was leaning against the door, the shape adjusted itself to follow the outlines of the wall. Inside the shelter, Sanya was dumbstruck as she was being bathed in a whole new sensation. The intensity of the light varied as Sanya was trying to control it.

She was completely absorbed in this new sensation, making her forget the presence of the other being. The man was observing the show with a shocked face as he could not believe what he was seeing.

Sanya was currently able to feel the surface of the barrier, the contact with the air, the wall and the floor. The big influx of information made her quite dizzy and she could even feel a slight headache. Even so, she still tried to take it under control. After a few seconds, she finally realized two things. The first was that she could somewhat control the shape of the barrier. However, it seemed like she was still too inexperienced as the most she could do was making it slightly undulate, like a wave hitting the beach.

The second thing that she discovered was that she could somehow thicken the barrier by raising the intensity of the light coming from the bell. The stronger it was, the thicker the surface was. When it first appeared, it was thinner than a sheet of paper. But now, it was as thick as a thin notebook. When she tried to even more increase the output, she felt that she could barely control it. When the amount of light continued to increase, she somehow recalled Talia’s talk about the backlash of magic. It was unknown what would happen if she lost control, so she decided to decrease the intensity to the minimum.

The thickness of the barrier returned to that of a sheet of paper, making Sanya breath out in relief. It seemed she could wield it with a not apparent problem. Then, she closed her eyes as she tried to explore the possibilities of the bell. She could feel that the bell could do a lot more than this, but she didn’t know what. It was like trying to see something inside a dense fog, where the sunlight could not reach. When she was about to look at it deeper...

“Seriously! What is going on with this world?!”

This sudden voice made her jump in scare. She had completely forgotten about the man. When she finally looked at him, she could see that the earlier pressure was gone, making him a lot more easy to look at. Sanya’s fear for him decreased, but she was still wary as she didn’t know exactly who he was, even if she had a small guess. So, even if she now know how to control the bell to make the barrier disappeared, she would not do it. Talia had name it a protective charm, so it should be able to protect her.

The man kept talking for a few moments, saying things that Sanya had totally no clue about. After this, he looked in her direction, while laughing. She could not help but feel that the situation was quite strange. However, she still pulled herself together and asked the question that she wanted to ask the most.

“You are the one called Lord, right?” Having seen the hidden pressure coming from the man, Sanya was pretty sure that he was at least stronger than Talia. Well, Sanya only knew that Talia was very powerful, and surely even among the Protectors of Worlds. So, logically speaking, the only one that would be stronger would be a transcendent. Like the Head of the Protectors of Worlds.

The man nodded with a smile in agreement. “That’s right, my name is Lord, founder, and Head of the Protector of Worlds. Talia surely told you about me. Nice to meet you, Sanya Cliff.”

Sanya waited for this answer but she was still surprised because she heard that Lord was a dragon, the type of a fantasy novel. No matter how she looked at it, the person before her was just a man with reptile-like features. “Sorry if I’m rude, but Talia told me you were a dragon.”

Lord just smiled as he replied. “You don’t have to be worried about being rude. You just heard about everything today, so it’s not weird if you are not aware of some things. It’s true that I’m a dragon. But, I’m also more than a simple dragon.”

He spread his arms wide as he declared. “I’m a transcendent. A being that went beyond the shackles of mortal limits, not restrained by normal rules. So, changing the shape of my body is easy. My original body is my dragon form, but I quite like this humanoid body. Also, it a lot less scary and convenient.”

His pose indicated the fact that he tried to show off, but contrary to his expectations, Sanya’s reaction was quite dull. “Oh, is that so.”

Well, she could not be blamed. She had seen Talia using powers far beyond of that of a normal human. She also first-hand experienced some kind of power, which was the barrier coming from her bell. If it was a day earlier it would have been different, but now, Sanya’s numb reaction was normal. Lord shook his head while shrugging his shoulders. ‘It seems Talia didn’t fully explain what was a transcendent.’

Then, Lord once more looked at Sanya. “Anyway, I’m not here to show off today. I have things to tell you and we don’t have much time.”

Sanya raised her hand before Lord could continue. “Before this, I have a question. Where is Talia?”

Sanya’s house was not very big, so her earlier shouts could have been easily heard from downstairs, and knowing Talia, it was strange that she didn’t come. Lord glanced sideways at the room. “I sealed the room and used the Time Cradle. It gave us a dozen minutes to speak alone before she could butt in. Well, if you don’t understand something, be it about us or even your bell, you can ask Talia afterward.”

Sanya nodded in understanding as she was still standing in front of the door, with her shining bell. Lord closed his eyes and spoke. “There are two things that I want to talk with you about.”

He opened his eyes as he started, with serious eyes. “First of all, I have a warning for you.”