George Atmell

I felt sick. Never would I thought a six-eyed spectral dragon put in such miserable state would be so horrifying. Even if it was six-eyed, it still looked like a dragon, and that horrified me, a human who lived with a family of dragon riders.

Kyrand's draconic body was held down by chains bolted to the stone floor. The gruesome part of it was the fact that those bolts went through its limbs, thereby holding them in place. Its wings had its membrane torn and chains passed through it to held them down, severely limiting the body's ability to move.

But it did not end there. It was apparently tortured, with swords and spears stabbed through its thick hide, causing it to bleed. The blood was used to write something around the floor like a sealing circle, with part of it also painted on the dragon's body which lit up as we walked in. The glyphs on the circle was not written with glyphs I knew, but apparently, the universal translator, or maybe the nature of the Concept Dimension, gave me the translation.

"Here lies the fallen god, never to rest, never at peace," I said as I read the inscription. "May the spectacle warn you of what awaits whisperer of lies."

"A little...information as to how...the Trikelians hated me so," said Kyrand. Poor thing. With everything that happened on its body, it struggled to speak.

"That's what they saw you? As a liar?" asked Arcturus.

"In a way, I am a liar," said Kyrand. "But that lie...has no weight if they became what they are now."

"So, let's get you out of here. It's...I can't look at you like this," I said, repulsed by the state of his being. "The dragons suffered similar things a long time ago. I can't...."

"Whatever...you see...is a representation. The Concept Dimension...gave you this form to see. The torture...is based on the concepts...all around us. It's...whatever imagined by...whoever was...out there."

"Then, tell us what to do," said Arcturus. "Concepts or not, one look is enough to know you've suffered enough."

"You must...find the key," said Kyrand. "But to do so, you must...defeat the Wardens guarding it."

"Who are they?"

"Concepts created by...Trikelians. Be careful. They...do not want their asset to be robbed. They will...guard the key...with everything they got. They...are powered by the imagination that shaped this dimension."

"Those assholes," said Arcturus, growling. "They screwed us over, they screwed you over, and now they think they have control of everything. I really want to see their faces when they lost even more now."

At this point, I started to worry that Arcturus might be hating on the Trikelians a bit too much for comfort. It was true that in the end, the hate against the Trikelians would be justified, but the rage in his eyes made me worry if we faced other enemies that wasn't actually evil for the sake of it.

"Just be careful. They have achieved their objectives a very long time ago," said Kyrand. "Now, they will only see you two as hindrances. The only time they will react is...when you finally free me."

"Then let's not waste time," I said, preparing my reliable gun-sword. "Just one more thing, Kyrand. I know whatever you're suffering is too much, but when we found out that it's deserved...."

"You will find out soon enough who's talking the truth," said Kyrand. "I know you're an unbiased person, George Atmell. The decision...is up to you."

I guess Kyrand also found that taking me along would be the right thing, knowing that Arcturus's hatred against the Trikelian might cloud his judgement. But, if it knew it was right all along, why would he challenge me into making a choice? Was it to gain our trust? It was true that the dragon of Ossogoth came out of nowhere, asked Arcturus to 'make a choice', and possessed the Vyrnian without really helping us other than giving us the info about the Trikelians. But...was it really wise? Did it really think it would pull it off? I guessed it tried to make this a 'fair' game while in truth, it had something else in mind

No, it wasn't malicious in any way, just...something it should've told us sooner, or maybe hint us towards it.

After Kyrand's assurance, we left the colosseum, now with its smaller spectral manifestation following us through the land full of concepts and imaginations. I liked the smaller version more than the tortured body of the bigger one, but I knew it was just to hide the pain Kyrand suffered for who knows how long. I did not want to know what it would do to a human like me. It felt like hell as imagined and told by the hellhounds of the Underworld. Maybe it's best to keep it tame since imagination could run wild.

The Concept Dimension had a lot of things to over it felt almost like a walk-through exhibit or a museum. Kyrand kept telling us not to stray from the path or we'd be lost, but it was hard not to admire what many people from many different realities had imagined and possibly realized through all sorts of media. Writing it did not do them justice. It was one of those 'see it to believe it' thing.

Still, whatever concepts people had in this place, it also come with the danger. The danger came in many forms. Some were more believable like goblins and orcs, but others were more imaginative like hostile pepper-shaker robots and a human-like alien wielding a crescent moon sword wielded as if it was a guillotine blade. They were easy. What came next were not.

I soon found that the rules of the Concept Dimension, if there were any, revolved around the rules of the plot. In a story, there were heroes, there were villains, and there were those in between. Follow the plot of the story, and you got a story. That was the problem. The Trikelians knew how important Kyrand was and they knew it would do anything to escape. So, what did they do? Use the concept of heroes to fight against us.

I was talking about the cheap stuffs where overpowered heroes, heroes having incredible luck, and the 'chosen ones' were thrown against us, making it harder to fight them. Some even had powerful magical swords that was supposed to be as trivial as a rune sword except it was imbued with magic only a grand mage from the College could pull off, and not without consequences.

We were forced to get away when these 'heroes' were set against us. It was so bad that my sword was not capable of fighting against one of their swordsmen and was cut into two, just like that. It would be crying shame if it was real.

But it wasn't all against us. Kyrand was quick to remind us that this was the Concept Dimension. Even if we had no ability to influence the concepts in this place, we had the whole place for ourselves. If the heroes had their own weapons, we also had their weapons.

I quickly found one gun-sword that was completely different from mine. It looked like a revolver, but it had no indication it could shoot anything. However, I felt immense magic power in it, as if it drew magic from the environment. It was a weapon I could use to protect myself and I did by clashing blows with a knight in a literal shining armor and blew his face off by pulling the trigger just as my sword contacted his armor. It let out a powerful blast of raw magic explosion that bent his armor inward. Not sure if it was enough to kill him, but it incapacitated him enough for us to get the hell out of these 'righteous' heroes.

Arcturus fared less better because of his size and the fact these guys were from dragon slayer stories, which in my reality was more a propaganda. However, I did not believe they were from those propaganda works, and they clearly did not expect any 'dragon' using a glaive-like weapon to fight them, in addition to being very nimble and a warrior in his own rights. He did maim them and possibly seriously injure one. I saw him apparently killing one by electrocuting him through his metal armor, but I did not stop to check since more were coming. I urged Arcturus to break the fight and get away before things got ugly.

Kyrand stayed behind to create a form of spectral barrier. For a spectral dragon with no powers, he certainly had some control of it. Well, the danger was real and dangerous. Even I got hurt because of it. Losing my arm in real life made me very defensive and tried my best not to get it cut again. It wouldn't be funny if I lost it in a dream reality.

We ran and ran until we got out of the grouping of concepts and once again in a barren land, this time of a white, ash-white desert. The desert did not feel hot like those of the Central Region. Rather, it was cold like the night, except it wasn't nighttime.

"Okay," said Arcturus. His tone suggested he was exasperated. "What now?"

"Find the key and return," said Kyrand.

"Here? In the middle of a fucking desert?! I thought this is a straightforward mission, not an excavation dig!"

"Calm down. This is not where we're going to search the key."

"We do not go this far to be killed by fictional characters!"

"I know you're angry. Don't worry. It will be over soon. For all of us."

"Wait, Kyrand," I said, starting to suspect that he was up to something. "Are you...?"

"No, nothing like what you're thinking. I did say I did not want to harm you two. I think I worded it wrong, now that I have said it out loud," said Kyrand.

"Then, let's get on with it before I get even more impatient," said Arcturus. "And you owe us a lot of explanation. Lots of it."

Kyrand nodded and said, "Then let's not delay. As we walk, I'll explain what you're going to face."

And thus, he explained it as we walked on the fine desert sand.

"The Trikelians have a Warden that guards the key. The Warden, like me, has no control over the concepts in this dimension, but be careful. The Trikelians have made sure the Warden is formidable enough to prevent easy retrieval and is clearly not an enemy like the Trikelians."

"How different is it from those slimy bastards?" said Arcturus.

"It is created out of their desire to win, no matter the cost. I think it's what they envisioned themselves after they are exposed to the ambition of their leader. They are willing to destroy a civilization in a small third dimension as a starter."

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"Will what we do affect them in any way?"

"If you think so."

"Crippling their morale," I said. "Is that what you're implying, Arc?"

"I'll do everything to see them kicked out of Vyrn and this whole galaxy."

"It's a good plan, but only if you're fighting creatures of flesh and blood," said Kyrand. "Trikelians have evolved themselves to be the best living weapon. All you did is nothing but a nuisance. Cripple them, yes, but their morale, no. You think they take someone's face to show you they can feel? No. In fact, all you get is the dead stare of a corpse they took as their body."

"No remorse, then."

"You should. No, you must. No Trikelians beg for mercy. None. In fact, you'll be the first to beg. I know I did."

Kyrand's warning seemed to unsettle Arcturus a little. Did the Trikelians really were monsters? No compassion, no kindness, at all? Was Kyrand as blinded by hatred as Arcturus was?

I had a lot of questions for him and all I asked at that time was, "Wait. Evolve?"

"It's a forced evolution that only took thousands of years. They had the means to do it and the motivation to do so. That one ambitious Trikelian that became their leader did it for one purpose only: to win. Win, win, win. Three letters that ensure that they know they'll be top of the game. Your hatred means nothing to them, Arcturus. You may kill thousands of them and all they had to say is 'when's the next going to kill him'? That 'when' might be closer than you think."

"Then...what should we do?" asked Arcturus.

"The easiest way is to eliminate your sense of compassion and turn all that into hatred to the Trikelians. Oh, and discard your Vyrnian flesh and blood. But, in all my lifetime of seeing everything, I know it's only out of desperation, and it never ends well in the long run. Too bad for them, they haven't got me."

Arcturus looked at Kyrand, then looked at me. He knew the same thing I knew. Kyrand may be keeping something to itself, but the way it talked...it was serious. It was serious the first time we ever met and talk. Those six, green eyes of its were trying their best to give us the expression that it was not bullshitting us.

We could've written it off as a joke. Arcturus and I could try and lighten things up and laugh at it, but for some reason, we could not. If it was a joke, it wasn't funny. Kyrand was planning something, but we both somehow felt that it wasn't going to kill us. It had a plan, and it would do it.

In fact, by the time it was over...I could not call it 'it'.

***

Just as Kyrand said, the desert was not the end of the story. We did not know how long we had walked through the desert. We did not feel hunger, thirst, nor fatigue. It was simply boredom. We walked, and walked, and with no indication how long time had passed, it felt like we had walked for a very long time. Or was it just a couple of minutes? Either way, we finally reached where we needed to be: The ruins of a desert kingdom.

Or something close to that. Upon closer inspection, the stones that made the magnificent ruin were in fact hollow and made from plaster. Some were exposed by the elements and showed the wooden foundation within it. It was a phony. A very good phony. Arcturus, however, had the right word.

"Movie set," he said. "Never thought there are any left out there after they switched to holo-movies or whatever tech they have right now. No one uses sets for a hundred years."

"They do look more realistic since the actors interacted with them in the past," said Kyrand. "Humans have this fascination of the past and they try to emulate them as best they could, even if what they were emulating were made out of computers."

"Vyrnians did make some good flicks a long time ago," said Arcturus. "I sometimes miss them. Haven't got time to watch, you know?"

"You might find some good ones on your Lekan database," said Kyrand.

"Wait. Why are we talking about movie sets?" I said. "We're here, aren't we? This is where the key is?"

"This is where you will find the key, but with it, you also need to fight its guardians."

Arcturus readied his Draconus. It lighted up and crackled with lightning energy. "I know why we're here, George. Lighten up, will you?"

"We're going to potentially die the worst possible death, and you ask me to lighten up?"

"Being tense is also going to kill you, so try to keep your nerves checked. Still, I haven't seen any of them yet."

Kyrand turned its head towards the ruins and said, "They're waiting. Look there."

Thus, we turned to where he looked, and be surprised by it.

The Wardens took our forms, albeit with noticeable differences. I was holding a great sword instead of my heavily modded gun-sword and Arcturus had a bright, golden eyes instead of his dichromatic blue-green eyes in addition to having gold stripes throughout his body. He was also wielding a slightly different Draconus similar in model to the one he acquired from Ijuri, which he had replaced with a more sophisticated one he currently wielded.

"They're us," I said. "But also...not us?"

"They took aspects of several different versions of you," said Kyrand. "They're you, but at the same time, they're not."

"Yeah, I figured as much," said Arcturus as he readied his weapon. "My eyes are not golden."

"And I don't use great swords. Not ever," I said as I changed to a battle stance.

As we carefully approached the Wardens impersonating us, the one taking Arcturus's form talked.

"You found your champions at last, dragon of Ossogoth," he said. "But will they be enough to free you from your captivity?"

"Do they even know what your plan is? You know it's not as easy as taking the key," said my doppelganger.

Those words sounded like taunts coming out to make us question Kyrand's motives, given how Kyrand was still not very trustworthy. Like I said, if anything were to happen to us and it involved Kyrand betraying us, then we had a reason to turn around and fight Kyrand instead.

However, without proof, there was no truth in that accusation. Kyrand also gave a reply convincing enough (or simply was the truth) about what he was going to do. He made sure it included us.

"I brought them into this dimension and it's my responsibility to bring them home," said Kyrand. "I may have lost my mobility and most of my powers, but I'm not entirely useless."

"I see," said my doppelganger. "You have regained your hope, even if it's only for a slight moment. It will be such a pleasure seeing you completely shattered when your only hopes were crushed so easily."

My doppelganger suddenly rushed towards me and swung his great sword with such speed and force that when I stopped it with the revolver sword, I was worried it would break apart. To both our surprises, his great sword was completely stopped by my weapon. The force of the attack still caused my hands to tremble, and it felt strange when you know your right hand was no longer there in real life.

Arcturus was also attacked with such ferocity I thought he would be instantly defeated, but again, Arcturus' fighting prowess proved to be able to dodge and even counter his attacker with a sharp electric shock through his opponents' neck. He clearly knew how to fight without being very flashy.

The Wardens were surprised, but seemed to have known this would happen, especially when Arcturus's doppelganger stood up, rubbed his neck, then turned to Kyrand and said, "I see. So, this is your plan all along."

Curious, I turned to Kyrand. "What did you...?"

"The Concept Dimension were made out of concepts following certain rules," said Kyrand. "However, you two are not concepts. You two are real, three-dimensional beings dreaming this whole thing. Therefore, the Concept Dimension must compensate with you two and only show those you can easily comprehend. This place has limitless potential, but when visited, they cannot show the whole of it."

"Meaning?" said Arcturus.

"You two can fight us on equal terms," said my doppelganger. "But even if you can best us, we cannot be truly defeated. Even if we are limited to a third-dimensional reality, we still have control over the concepts of different realities."

"I must admit that you two will have a limitless capability to fight us," said Arcturus's doppelganger. "But how long do you think you have before your spirits break?"

They continued their attacks, but this time we were ready and successfully countered them. It felt weird decapitating my own head and I certainly felt it when I saw my body slumped beside me. I did not know what Arcturus felt when he 'killed' his doppelganger, but he later admitted that it felt weird and morbid, too.

As the Warden had said, they did not stay dead. After the bodies of our doppelgangers disappeared, another version of us returned to life, this time with completely different forms and different weapons. The most obvious one for me was that I was a Lycan for some reason, and a gunslinger using two magically infused revolvers that reloaded themselves with mana bullets. Arcturus's doppelganger stayed the same but was no longer using a Draconus glaive. Instead, he had sharp claw extensions that generated electricity and a generally more feral-looking appearance. Again, this wasn't that hard despite several setbacks.

We fought and fought with the Wardens changing into different versions of us every time they fell under our weapons, ranging from relatively tame to outright edgy. But, just as the Wardens had predicted, they slowly found versions of us that could slowly overwhelm us until one of them managed to incapacitate us to the point that we could no longer continue. I did not remember how many doppelgangers we defeated, but I did remember the version of me that defeated me: he was wearing what looked like a sports gear and was carrying a water blade, which could change form and was also how it managed to cut my fighting hand. Again. The reason I lost was that I did not expect him to effectively use a sports ball as a lethal weapon.

Arcturus was defeated not by a Vyrnian version of him, but a 'Vyrnian' with a humanoid proportion and size. It was a wyvern-like dragonborn. He managed to subdue Arcturus simply by striking his pressure points with a spectral-looking spirit that fought for him and looked like a Vyrnian ghost. The strikes stopped Arcturus in place, and he could not move.

We both lost and at the mercy of the Wardens, who both loomed over us.

"You're good," said my doppelganger. "I expected you to be defeated after a couple of counterparts, but we both underestimated you. Nevertheless, it is ultimately a futile effort."

"Just...how badly they want to win?" said Arcturus with a struggle. "Do the slime balls hate losing so much?"

His doppelganger chuckled. "Oh, those slime balls can strike you down before you even notice them. There is a reason why they can subdue the dragon. The concept of defeat is like a blight they must remove. They must win."

"We know that they're extradimensional, but not as extradimensional as Kyrand. And we also know they can take over your body before you even know it."

"I am not talking about their hijacking. Vyrnians such as you are not that oblivious, and you are fortunate to have found them before they can do more damage than losing your planet. I think the dragon have explained it to you. They will do anything to win, and they are even willing to break the laws of time to do so."

"Time travel?" I said, surprised.

"Your fight has been pre-determined, and none can change that fact, not even you," said my doppelganger. "But even if you know that, what can you do?"

"We don't know our future and we refuse to know," I said as I weakly tried to fight back. "It's not fun to know the ending first."

"Even if it means your death?"

"Yes. Even that."

My doppelganger smiled then put his sword away before grabbing my arm and lifted me to my feet. This move surprised me, but nothing was more surprising that them saying, "Oh, but you might be able to change what they know. We're created by them, but we know the concept of defeat. We are the product of this dimension, after all. Don't you see, George Atmell? It's all according to the dragon's plan."

I turned to find Kyrand gone. I mean, it made sense for it to go since our fight was so long and I knew we were the distraction the moment it asked us to fight for it. Still, part of me thought that it was going to sacrifice us for its own end, at least until the Wardens started disappearing.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"The dragon found the key. When it does, our job is finished," said my doppelganger.

"You knew this was going to happen?"

"We suspected it. However, we decided to let it go. The Concept Dimension is not a place for anything other than Concepts, not even a dragon of Ossogoth."

"Then why did you not help us?" asked Arcturus.

"Why help if you can find out for yourselves?" said his doppelganger with a smirk. "And besides, that dragon does not plan on freeing itself. It plans on killing itself."

"What?!"

"Goodbye, third-dimension warriors," said my doppelganger. "Whatever Concepts your creator had in mind certainly provides quite an entertainment."

"And I'm sure he plans for more things to come," said Arcturus's doppelganger.

After they said those, they vanished, and the desert started to crumble into nothingness. At first, I thought why since the Concept Dimension could not be destroyed, but why did I care? I did care for our survivals, and Kyrand's voice shouted for us to follow his voice and run like hell. We did, even discarding our weapons, until we got through the psychedelic portal and back to the dream version of Arcturus's bedroom, surprised and relieved that we got out of it all without losing our lives.

"Dammit, I never thought you two to be so persistent," said Kyrand's voice. "But I appreciated the distraction."

"What the hell were they talking about?" asked Arcturus. "Suicide? You mean you never planned to free yourself in the first place?"

"If I do, I won't be able to help you. My extradimensional existence still has a purpose."

"But they said...."

"It's the same idea, but something more relative," said Kyrand. "But enough of that. It's time for you to wake up."

And with that, the dream world slowly dissolved, then I woke up.