A breeze blew by in the night, gently rustling the grass in quiet rows. The trees swayed softly, and the ambient noise of insects and small animals sounded out as they moved about, completing their nightly business.

Steps sounded out breaking the silence, and a light could be seen shifting through the night forest, scattering the little animals.

Mican shivered slightly as the wind blew past, chilling him to his skin. His clothes were still damp from having slept in the rain, making him feel much colder than he otherwise would have been.

The young man paid the cold no heed, the breeze only serving to refresh him, invigorating his thinking process. He strolled along in the night as he sorted his thoughts and observations out.

First on the agenda were the much more immediate concerns relating to his safety and well-being. There were a few observations regarding the topic that Mican had noticed back at the strange ‘altar’.

The most prominent were the torches on the columns, the severed finger, and the dagger he had found on the ground. To Mican, these were obvious indications on the nature of the land he had found himself in.

The torches on the columns and the severed finger, of note, were still fresh. While the blood had dried on the finger, it had still oozed when he had picked it up. The torches on the pillars were also still ablaze when he had awoken, serving as further proof that the person or people who had created the portal had not been gone long.

Nodding to himself as he walked, the young man found his split-decision making acceptable. While he did not know what they wanted, he did know that they had been willing to use a freshly severed finger to create that portal, and it only created a terrible image in his mind full of caution.

Next, was what the torches and dagger meant in their representation of the world. On Mican’s home world, he had electrical lights and barreled guns as a marvel of science. Makeshift wooden torches and steel-crafted cold weapons like daggers were things of the distant past. This place he had landed on, its technological development didn’t seem to be very advanced.

There were still a few major differences though, in the nature of this world as compared to Mican’s own. It was the magical, supernatural aspect to it, such as the glowing green portal and the severed finger stained in a colored blood that he had never even heard of before.

Did it even come from a human? These were also the main reasons that Mican deemed the land he had appeared in as another world.

Thinking back to the supernatural events, his thoughts inevitably drew back to the pitch-black void he had been in and its contents.

What were those massive snakes, and why were they in formation? What was that giant worm-like creature, and more importantly who was the dark figure on top of it, eating away at it?

A shiver ran through the young man’s body as he thought back to the figure, the terror it had brought him had left a vivid mark on him.

He was crystal-clear on one fact though, after having thoroughly inspected his body. The looming figure did not seem to harm him, or more importantly, it did not seem to even care about him. It had just seemed annoyed by the light, shown to Mican in the fact that it had only pointed at the orb in his possession, and not at himself.

What the creature did though, he did not know. He was indeed paralyzed and in immense pain, but that seemed to be a reaction brought about after meeting the thing’s eyes, and not something done on purpose. How this was possible, Mican had no clue.

There was one more question left in the young man’s mind. Where did the five people that were encased in the orbs that flew alongside him leave to? Mican’s last memory of them was their still huddled forms in the orbs as the formation continued flying into the deep.

He knew there was no point in occupying himself over the question, as he had more urgent matters to attend to, so he decided not to dwell on the topic and continued his march forward.

A few short hours passed by as the young man moved through the forest, contemplating his next move.

Every so often, he would stop thinking and perk up his senses to listen for any potential danger. Caution ingrained this habit into him. In a strange world with strange powers of a like he had never seen before, he didn’t know what he could trust.

The leaves of a few bushes rustled as Mican pushed his way past, stepping into a large circular clearing in the forest.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

The area was lit to the point the young man could see even without the assistance of the torch, and looking up, he realized why.

Mican’s breath caught in his throat, and his eyes slowly widened as his brain attempted to comprehend the scene in front of him. The gargantuan head of a strange creature was floating above his head, seemingly staring down at him.

He nearly jumped back into the bushes out of instinct, but a split second later, upon closer inspection, the young man quickly calmed down.

The object was so far up he could not properly make out every detail on its face, but of what he could note was just a testament to its size. The only thing that Mican could liken the head to in his imagination, was a dragon. It was the head of a dragon so large it appeared larger than the moon.

The head was reminiscent to Mican of a western dragon’s head, with a large snout covered in scales, and a jaw lined with sharp horns, but there were several distinct differences he could make out.

There were a pair of multi-pronged antlers connected to the head of the dragon, and patterns akin to tattoos covered a portion of its head and antlers. The patterns and head itself were glowing a slight blue, shining a gentle light on the earth beneath it.

Looking at it, a sense of sacredness filled Mican, and he felt as if he was being blessed by a god.

The neck of the creature was clearly severed from its body, a smooth cut lining the bottom of it. The eyes of the head seemed to be peacefully shut, but when Mican looked at them, it gave him the sense that it had died unwillingly, though he had no idea why he would feel like that.

What sort of horrible monstrosity could kill a creature so large? Was this even real? Why was the cut so clean?

Ever since arriving in this world, the young man found himself with only questions, and it didn’t seem like it would stop anytime soon.

The head was indeed floating above him, but at the same time it was seemingly floating above the heads of every creature on the continent. The head was not in the air, it was in the atmosphere, or space.

It was so incredibly large that Mican thought even the snakes in the abyss, piled on top of each other, could not make up the difference. It was likely not large enough to be a celestial body, just much closer to earth than it appeared.

If just its head was this size, how large would it be with a full body? How could something like this even possibly be killed?

A blue moon shone far above in the sky, to Mican’s left, and stars filled the night sky above the head. The wind softly rustled the young man’s black hair and the sounds of insects and rustling of small animals sounded out as he stood there torch in hand, gazing up at the night sky, comparing it with that of his own world.

A small sensation of peace ran through Mican’s emotions, despite knowing he was in danger and on the run.

Looking back down, the young man surveyed the field, preparing himself to move on, once again full of the feeling of wonder.

Rows upon rows of blue flowers grew upon the field, swaying in the breeze, and the other end of the forest was about twenty yards in front of him.

Moving his eyes around the field, his gaze stopped suddenly, his grip on the torch tightened and his right hand moved to the dagger at his side as caution filled his body.

His eyes landed on a dark, unmoving figure in the middle of the clearing. The figure had clearly been there for a while, seemingly quietly observing him as he entered.

An eyebrow raised on the young man as he recognized the figure to be a bear, or a grizzly bear to be more precise. It had dark brown fur which blended in with the night and seemed to be fairly thin.

There was one disturbing feature about the bear, being the addition of a third eye on its forehead that hung out from its socket, attached by a meaty cord.

A frown grew on Mican’s face at the sight, and he slowly backed up from the corner of the field, planning to go around the clearing entirely.

“Hungh.” A light grumble rang out from the animal in the middle of the clearing as it stood up on all fours, slowly meandering towards the young man.

Freezing in his tracks, Mican’s thoughts went into overdrive as he considered his options, and what was happening. If he ran out into the forest there was a chance he could escape, but if the creature really wanted to eat him then he would be stuck between a rock and a hard place as two parties hunted for him in territory unfamiliar to him.

If it just wanted him to leave its clearing, then why would it get up as it saw him backing off?

The young man readied himself for a fight, gripping the torch in one hand and gripping the hilt of his knife with the other, not wanting to come off as an easy target.

He planned to scare the animal with noise and fire before retreating from the clearing, making it seem as if he wouldn’t be an easy meal.

The bear took light steps as it slowly approach Mican, its legs gently rustling the greenery in the field. A few long seconds passed as the bear made its way over to Mican, pausing to sniff at the grass every now and then.

The contrast created a strange scene between the two. A man with a hardened expression, his muscles taut as he seemed prepared to battle to the death, and a lumbering creature seemingly taking a relaxed night stroll in the field.

Why is this bear taking so long, is it waiting for me to let my guard down? What’s happening? Questions ran through Mican’s mind as the bear neared him.

“Hungh.”

At long last, the large bear plopped down several meters away from the young man, and let out a little sound, tilting its head inquisitively at him. Dumbfounded, Mican stared back at it, wondering why they were not tearing each other to shreds.

“Graaagh! Ragh! Shoo!” Refusing to let his guard down, the young man waved the torch and both of his arms, jumping about and letting out grunts and sounds in an attempt to frighten away the beast.

“Hangh.” The bear only tilted its head slightly, all three of its eyes looking at the young man curiously.

Not letting go of caution Mican resorted to pulling his knife out. He planned to wave it threateningly at the beast but before he could make his thoughts reality, a loud thump echoed throughout the trees as a massive paw flew by, before the he could react, crashing directly into his chest and launching him into the air.