“Hello, is there anyone in that tiny weak shell of a body?”
I bow down to grovel for my life plunging my fists deep into the gravel road, cutting my knuckles open in the process. As I raise my head to meet the dragon's gaze, a message appears again ‘Danger Detected: Run!!!’
I'm not gonna argue with that. I shoot to my feet and they begin moving faster and faster towards the hill the convoy disappeared over. As I reach the top of the hill, a huge city unlike any in our boring world, one with archer towers, horse stables and in the center, a huge blackrock castle with guard posts and ballistas the size of SUVs atop all faces of the outer wall. The same castle from the vision in the toilets whirlpool.
I catch a glimpse of the red-haired girl slowly galloping through the city's main gate. But as I begin to scream for help, I feel the dragon's teeth clench around my legs. I feel the immense pain of the bone snapping and flesh being ripped from my body. I'm tossed upwards and grabbed again by the dragon's jaws, this time crushing my hip and the rest of my legs. Just as the dragon prepared for another toss, the commanding voice boomed again. "Heel, boy!" The dragon halted, suspending me from its jaws. My futile struggle to free myself only led to despair.
“Looks like my pet got a bit ahead of himself, I wanted to have a chat first.” booms the voice.
‘Pet, what the hell does it mean pet?’ I raise my blood-soaked head to just above the dragon's nostrils, and there, perched on the dragon's nose stands a man in red leather and metal armour with flaming horns and a black smoke-like aura surrounding him.
“Hello there foul human,” He said in a disgusted tone, “You're not going to survive this one, you don't even have an adventurer rank, you're a lowlife peasant, you're powerless, what are you even doing out here?”
As he finishes his barrage of insults I spot the leather bag dangling from a belt wrapped around the dragon's tooth. It was giving off a blinding yellow glow, I reached inside the bag and pulled out the first thing I touched. A leather-bound scroll of hard parchment, it too glowing a blinding yellow. As the scroll exits the bag's interior, a message appears. ‘Scroll of Power - Acquired’.
“Oh, what do you have there, a puny scroll of power huh? You know what, I'm feeling generous, I love playing with my food. Go ahead, use it, I'll let you get the spell off. Go ahead and open it, it's not like it's going to do anything to me.”
I pull the leather tie loose and unravel the scroll, it reads ‘A Heavenly present for the visitor. P.S. One time use so use it wisely’ At the bottom of the scroll an incantation sits. Now's as good a time as any I guess. I read the incantation.
“From the gates of heaven, let it burst free, and burn evil to ashes, let it destroy all those that oppose God’s rule, burn them all in HEAVENLY FIRE!”
“WAIT!!! HEAVENLY FIRE!!!” The man screams as the scroll begins to burn up in my hands.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
The last remnant of the scroll fades to ash and blows in the wind, the sky bursts with a golden light as an immense explosion erupts from my hands where the scroll once sat. My ears rupture as the golden explosion, unlike any I have ever seen, booms and blinds my vision. I tense my muscles as I anticipate the burning but instead, I feel a soft gust of wind blow against my skin, on my arms, face… and legs. Both legs and my hip were back, I was healed. I adjust for a moment as I land softly in the mountain of smouldering ashes where the dragon once stood.
I scurry to my feet and out of the molten remains of the dragon, as I finally reach the gravel again, my vision becomes blurry and a message appears in the top right once more “Stats Increased - Level Up”. The message then duplicated roughly 60 times and spread across all of my vision as my ears began to ring with the repetitive dinging of small bells.
It then all stops as quickly as it started, I hear rustling in the ash pile and look with disbelief, as the man from atop the dragon pushes his way out from the pile towards me.
“You filthy little human, how dare you kill my prized pet. I'm going to enjoy torturing you in the pits of hell! What are you gonna do now that you've used up that dirty little trick? Where'd you even get that wretched Heavenly scroll of power? No matter, I'm going to send you to hell myself!!!”
The man begins sprinting towards me, I don't know what to do. I panic and cower down onto the ground raising my arm to brace for the strike. An arrow lands at the man's feet and he stops in his tracks. I turn to face the arrow's origin and spot a small young-looking girl with pointy ears, and a green cloak.
“Run!” She screams. I get to my feet and run as fast as I ever have, I turn to look towards the man. He is standing with his feet spread, holding his hand out in front of him and chanting something. A large sparkling cloud of lightning begins to develop in his palm. He reaches forward and throws the cloud towards me. It hurtled towards me at immense speed. When suddenly the elf girl launches herself in between me and lightning. The cloud was about to strike the girl directly in the chest when my body began to move on its own. I barely had enough time to realise what had happened when the lightning struck me in the groin as spit flew from my mouth and I fell to the ground clenching my crotch.
‘Immune - Electric’
“Ouch,” I croak slowly, raising myself upright.
“What… how!? How have you survived me twice!? This is unacceptable!? I guess I'll have to do this the old-fashioned way!!!” The man swiftly proceeds to charge me drawing a black steel knife from his cloak, the knife glows with red writing as he swings it towards me. The world appears to slow for a moment as an alert appears in front of me.
‘Stat points to be appointed - 66’
A menu appears in front of me and I panic to discover the controls. I managed to become acquainted quite quickly and assign all the points into one stat… STRENGTH. Time begins to flow again.
I feel the knife pierce my restaurant uniform, my muscles clench, and I feel the veins in my arm pop and my sleeve rip as my fist, in the split second before his knife reaches my skin, makes contact with the man's rib cage. I hear a thunderclap as I drop to the floor, I slowly drift backwards as I spot the man's body flying into the air, a 5-inch hole in the center of his chest. My body hits the ground with a thud, but my head slams softly into the lap of the elf girl. As my vision begins to fade, messages appear.
"Severe Blood Loss Detected!!!"
“Boss defeated - Demon Lord Gestrel”
“Title acquired - ‘Demon Killer’ ”
“Stats increased - Level Up x 100”
“Fire immunity Gained”
My vision begins to fade more as the black silhouette of the elf girl blurs.
“Don't worry.” they say panickedly “I'll take care of you, but who the hell are y…” her words are cut short as my vision fades completely.