In the quiet of the world around them, a fiery will sparked itself into existence.

“Hey! If you keep trying to capture this girl people are gonna start saying things”

The loud explosion the fell forth sprung out a tall and proud woman. Her crimson hair slowly fell down as she smirked. A lone tooth showing from the corner of her grin. Oversized sunglasses hung over her ears, and fire seared ablaze all around her, loudly erupting at every move she made. Parts of the jacket she wore were singed and burnt in spots, the furred parts especially.

“You..? Oh not you...not you not you...not you!” Null cried. The flow of the ground grew agitated and swirled anxiously.

“Yep, it’s me. Here for the girl, think ya’ know why…There’s no easy way this time either, I have some anger I gotta burn out. I was holding this one’s brother and he literally just warped out of existence. Kind of annoying, say did you take him too?”

“Her brother isn’t REAL! That’s a lie. That’s a lie. That’s a lie! You’re lying!”

The woman stretched her arms out and cracked her back before she continued. After a quick sigh, they began walking towards the statue of Aerith, each step eliciting a further response from Null. She eyed the solemn and onimus statue with an amused glare, it looked almost too pathetic. Null sprouted a wall directly in front of her, though she immediately burned a hole in it just tall enough for her. The material melted like a fresh wax, slowly dripping along itself. Null tried again, raising wall after wall in front of the woman, though she burned each and every one to the ground. Eventually, she brought her foot down, sending the world around her into a bright fire. A loud noise erupted as Null cracked across the injury.

“Noooooo...Noooooo...Noooooo” Null moaned. It swarmed around and around, seemingly in pain. The woman only watched as Null’s world faded away around her, quietly melting away until the mall came back into view. The sky dropped to the ground and the floor seeped away into the various cracks of the ground. Every trace of Null slowly made it’s escape, far away from the scene, leaving only Aerith, now free on the floor. Her clothes and hair had returned to their normal form, now scratched and dirtied. Stephanie was unconscious, right behind the woman. The mall was mostly destroyed by now, the section they were on previously must’ve caved in at some point, or a few more, actually.

Aerith starred in shook, her muscles still frozen in fear. Her legs and arms were still afraid to move, and the tears on her eyes still remained.

“Kid, you can move now” The woman sighed, “Name’s Saria, professional dragon, just saved you too I guess. So there’s that”

“I-I...Saria? W-what are you here for?” Aerith clenched her gut. She felt something coming up much too quickly. Her body lurched down as she vomited out a pale white liquid that also slipped far away. Aerith moved far away from the mess, panting.

“What..was..that..and why..was that inside me?” Aerith barely managed to make out any tangible words between the bile and her own fear. She nudged herself far enough to lean by one of the damaged walls and quickly wiped her mouth, just now noticing the amount of damage that had been caused. Most of the outside world was visible through the gashes in the architecture. Saria only stood by and snickered,

“That was Null, not sure why she was after you though” Saria pondered to herself and looked out at the sky. Eventually she shrugged it off, but Aerith was still staring it shock.

“I-It’s a she?”

Saria looked back blankly. She quickly turned her attention to the girl behind her and pointed at her, “What about this one, do you know them?”

“Yeah” Aerith trailed off as her eyes fell to the corner, “She’s a friend. She was injured before, how’s she holding up?”

Saria picked them up by their back effortlessly, “Doesn’t look like it...Null’s weird like that sometimes”

Stephanie could be heard lightly groaning. Saria turned to one of the larger cracks leading outside the mall and leaned over. Then turned to Aerith and signaled to her back.

“Climb on my back, it’ll be faster” she said. Aerith tilted her head in confusion,

“Where are you going? Wait, I meant why...”

“You’re never gonna find out unless you get on” Saria pouted, “It’ll be fine, trust me”

“Last time that happened I got turned into a statue”

“And who got you out of that situation?” Saria mused. Aerith sighed and regretfully drooped towards Saria’s back.

“Now hug me” Saria instructed.

Aerith groaned as she did what she was told.

“I think you should go a bit higher”

“Okay”

“Hiiigher”

“Uh..huh”

“Just a few more inches~?”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Not falling for that” Aerith sighed as she braced herself. Saria giggled and finally jumped from the mall. Aerith screamed in a frenzy, struggling to hold onto Saria. Somehow, Saria managed to keep Stephanie around her as she dropped off. She was getting ever more excited the closer she got to the ground. Likely, there’d be innocent civilians down below, utterly destroyed by her raw power. She’d crash and injure Aerith and this girl she had with her, likely fatally injuring them or even crippling them beyond belief. The destruction, the fire that would ablaze from the devastation, but most importantly, the failure.

The failure would be the ultimate outcome if she failed to transform right here and now, and as the thoughts ran through her mind she let out a smirk of excitement. Her eyes were enveloped by a bright glow, and her teeth began to extend. Her face extended a snout, and then another shape entirely. The small stubs in her forehead grew upwards into horns, new bones entirely growing from her back. Scales shaped around her skin, changing color to a washed out green. Her body extended out and finish taking the form of a dragon, wings and all. She proudly swooped her wings down and soared far above the mall.

Aerith could only scream and panic as she looked at the buildings above her fade away. Though the longer she flew, the more relaxed she became. Eventually blinking away her tears and forcing herself to climb on Saria’s back. They were just barely close enough to catch the odd glimpse of a building when Saria leveled herself, casually gliding through the air. Aerith found her footing on the dragon’s body and laid on her back, staring at the stars, mesmerized.

“Yeah that’s gotta be it. You wanted to rescue me so you can take me to your world right? I must have some important duty to fulfill or some ancient prophecy to complete...Though I guess I should warn you, I have a brother at home, he’ll probably miss me...It’s okay though, he’s kind of a huge jerk...I might miss Zackory more than anything...”

“WHAT?” Saria shouted over the harsh wind flowing over her, “Eh...We’re kinda high up here, I can’t really hear you all that well...plus I have this girl in my mouth”

Aerith quickly nudged herself as close to the edge as she could, Saria’s teeth were awkwardly closed and her tongue was blocking her throat. Aerith giggled a bit before she drew back. The Dragon was huge, nearly the size of a football field, towering across the brisk night sky. Her jade scales gleamed in the sky, and her midnight wings teared through the atmosphere.

She leaned to the middle of Saria’s back and tried to get as comfortable as she possibly could. The wind still proved to be an annoyance, threatening to keep Aerith cold the entire night if she didn’t get lower. The clouds looked down on the three of them solemnly, silently drifting off.

“So, where are we going? You said you’d tell me” Aerith recalled. Saria looked up at her and grumbled to herself for a bit, remaining silent. She swooped her wings down dramatically, irritated.

“Come on, I know you’re not talking with your mouth. That Null thing spoke to me the same way...”

Saria sighed, “Aye, I would tell you everything right now. But I’m not sure if I have much more time. I’m not even sure if I have enough time to explain why I don’t have to explain…”

Aerith looked up in silence and waited for Saria to give in. Saria grumbled again and started to go a bit lower,

“Listen, usually this wouldn’t be an issue so we wouldn’t be in this situation. But I’m kind of in a tight place right now. Currently I don’t really have enough energy to get us where we need to go the quick way...So we’re gonna try and do this manually”

Aerith nodded and looked off as the buildings below her started to come back into view. They were closer to the higher class zones now judging from the amount of lights.

“So you’ll have to land and recharge your batteries or whatever” Aerith finished.

“Not quite, I’ll have to eat something hot or spend some time next to some fire or something...Do you have anything like that in this world? I haven’t been here in ages”

“Since when?! How old are you?”

Saria thought for a moment. She darted her eyes over to an empty field and started to slowly descend towards it. Her eyes tried to figure how big the field had to be to fit her, but by by the time her brain caught up it was already too late. She clenched her wings shut and folded her neck in, just barely fitting in the space.

“Ah geez, last time I came over here I’m pretty sure there was this huge war going on, people all over the place, working hard for what they believe in…”

“Saria…” Aerith trembled

“Men going off overseas, supporting their families and their country, heads held up high in pride...Anywho, I think there’s something warm here, let’s go find it and...”

“Saria you crashed us into a backyard” The mage finished. Saria quickly forced her head as far as it could go in front of her. Her eyes barely managed to make out the back of an estate. It rested just shy away from one of Saria’s wings, any movement would like destroy it. Aerith quickly slid down Saria’s back, enjoying it much more than she should’ve. She hid herself amongst a bush close to the neighbors back porch, keeping a close eye on the door to the backyard.

“Hm—? I don’t think I did. I thought this was one of those fields where those small wolves eat babies. I have the power of the gods! What could I possibly not understand about gauging the distance of a yard?” Saria pondering to herself while nervously shimmying around.

Saria groaned as she receded back to her usual form feeling her muscles slowly contract and shrink down until she became human again. The transformation happened in a flash of smoke and cinder, leaving Saria in the middle. Stephanie was left on the ground covered in saliva a few yards away, still unconscious.

“Idiot, get over here” Aerith whispered, “Who knows how many people saw us down here?”.

“Don’t call me an idiot! Everyone’s backyard looks like a park now okay?”

Suddenly, a flash of energy ran through her. There was a strange aura to it, almost whimsical it it’s nature. Aerith was about to ask Saria where it came from, but her expression quickly changed when she saw that Saria was frozen in fear. Her heart began to race with theories and ideas. She jolted up as quick as she could, then called upon her staff. Just as she did, a blue light started to outline the clouds. Seemingly the source of the energy, light circled around every cloud and began to break through the night sky. Aerith could’ve sworn she heard a chant as light opened open the clouds, a radiant glow shining down to the earth. A divine echo could be heard from the clouds now, it’s weight enough to send anyone on their knees.

“Honey? Is that you down there? Sam!? Can you hear me? Sweetie?”

Aerith froze, the voice sounded familiar. She struggled to keep staring at the bright light in the sky, but she felt it’s warmth.

“M-Mom? Is that you?” Aerith hesitated in her speech. She squinted her eyes to try and make something out, but she couldn’t make out anything.

“Oh my, you’ve grown so much since I’ve last seen you! Jake too! Come on, I’ve opened up the portal already, just get up these stairs and we’ll meet back up with your brother! But please dear, call me Spiritfawn...”

“Spirit...wah? What portal? Where are you taking me? Don’t you have questions yourself, I don’t understand...”

“See, that’s what Jake told me...He’ll just have to explain it to you I guess. Come on, just walk up these stairs, they’re right in front of you!”

Aerith frowned. Slowly she felt herself take careful involuntary step after involuntary careful step, but just before she did she suddenly remembered Stephanie. She quickly rushed over to her, covering the light with one of her arms.

“Wait. wherever you’re taking me I wanna know what happens to her first, and this one too” Aerith pointed to Saria and look up at the sky, awaiting an answer. Saria’s breath only quickened when Aerith pointed towards her.

“Ah, did you get a girlfriend when I was away, Aerith? I support you! I’ll deal with the one that brought you here though, we go way back. Right Saria?”

Saria nodded ever so softly, smiling and laughing sheepishly. Aerith sighed and pointed her wand at Stephanie lazilly. Two glowing purple flat creatures appeared behind her, both attached themselves to Stephanie and flew up.

“Aah, so you’ve already figured out your powers then! Wonderful!”

“Actually, I haven’t...I’m surprised I can do this much…The only other time I did it was when I was fighting that...thing, what can I do?” Aerith began to ponder to herself as she walked back around to where she was before.

“Oh it’s rather simple really! It’s a staff that can destroy anything in any way you want! It’s fuel is powerful emotion, I figured I’d based it off of that hero show you liked so much. There’s a bit of overlap where you can sorta create things, but they have to go away somehow!”

Aerith nodded with a blush on her face and looked at the floor. She casually waved goodbye to Saria, and took a few more steps forward until she reached the first stair. It caught her off guard at first, causing her to stumble her first few attempts before she got the hang of it.

“So, once I step through here you answer all of my questions right? You’ll still be...you, right?” Aerith said somewhat aggressively.

“Yep! You’ll know when you get here, trust me!”

Aerith’s eyes fell down on the floor, disappointed. She carried herself and Stephanie off up each step, letting the world around them fade away until the only sensation Aerith could feel was a buzz and the only thing she could see was a bright blue.