Apollo was not in the habit of biting her nails. In fact, such a thing was quite unbecoming of a beautiful higher being such as herself. Yet, as she sat alone in the auditorium of the heavens she found herself pulling her hands away from her mouth more than once. She leaned forward, sweat beading on the back of her neck. In the clouds in front of her eyes, an image projected by Iris, the screen she was looking at, made her shutter with apprehension. Flying together, the dragon and the man had found their way to something that she’d completely disregarded. They had, unfortunately, found something that may resemble a clue to what she would have rather not have done.

This, despite her reaction, had been within her expectations from the moment she’d summoned that man to that world. She’d done what she could to fix her mistakes but after a certain point she’d given up on covering over every little detail. Upon that decision of her’s, Arthur was then summoned. Even if she was thorough, even if she was sure that she’s done enough to stomp out any lead to her past wrongdoings, she couldn’t help but to be nervous. Honestly, Apollo had thought that it would have taken a little longer than it did for everything to come to this point. She’d thought that she had time to forget. Having been somewhat blindsided by the pace that her experiment was moving, she hadn’t left herself adequate time to mentally prepare for her cleaning skills to be tested. 

Thankfully for the girl, she was at least somewhat confident that Arthur wouldn’t be able to find anything that would lead him down the path that she feared the most, yet…

I looked around curiously as I slid down off the back of Melody. The first building that I’d seen since being dropped in this world was in front of me built into the side of the cliff face. To my left, the source of the river, a small lake or a large pond on the top of this mountain, was being fed by little streams from the melting snow higher up. 

The house itself looked shabby and like no one had used it in a while. The window shutters were hanging open outwards leaving dark unprotected holes to the dusty interior. In place of what should have been a door, a rough rag hung limp and tattered being blown by the mountain air. I peeked inside over the sill of the window only to find a table laying on it’s side with a pile of dead leaves leaning against it. The only thing hanging on the wall other than the rag at the doorway was a shelf that had fallen off one side leaving a crooked bundle of patched together sticks hanging alone. Yep, empty and lifeless. 

I looked back at Melody who had at some point transformed back into her human sized form. 

“Arthur Callon, follow me.” Melody called out to me. Even if that seemed like what we were here for, she was actually gilding me around to the other side of the pool of water where there wouldn’t have been enough room for her larger form to land. If I looked over in the distance I could see a cave breaking the side of the brown stone cliff leading farther back into blackness. Hurrying, I caught up to Melody who was already walking at a brisk pace around the outer edge of the pond. I caught up to her, panting.

Looking down past the girl's tail, my eyes were drawn to the depths of the clear water. Like the stream with those micro-monsters in it, this was some of the most see-through natural water I’d ever seen. Curiously, I took out a piece of lady mushroom from the bag Melody had given me. I tossed the bit of stem into the water. It fizzed and disappeared. Yep, still dangerous.

“You must be wondering why I have brought you here.” Melody said, suddenly speaking up in the silence. 

“Uh, yeah.” I said, pushing the rest of what I was doing back into my bag and pulling the drawstring closed. I looped the end back around the belt I was given so I didn’t have to carry it. I looked back up to find the dragon still staring ahead soberly without looking back at me.

"Not a month ago my brother and I lived peacefully in these lands. The forest was not quite as silent as its name suggests then. No, at that time our forest was feared and avoided by humans due to the power and danger of its occupants, myself included. My brother though, in his own funny way, has a fascination with the human race aside from their taste. He would commonly fly to the city far to the edge of his land in the form of a man to consort with humanity. As he grew closer to them, I too desired in my own fashion to stay as a part of his world and thus become a part of the human's world as well. 

That all changed very quickly though. Strange humans, mages in blue capes, approached my brother for his power. They consorted and plotted together and, in time, my brother seemed to lose interest in all other facets of humanity but those two. He lost interest in me as well. 

I followed him as he snuck out each night to steal away to this mountain with those beasts. That cave, that cave is where they were, where they plotted, but I alone cannot enter it. They are gone as he is gone and I had no way to clean up the mess that they left behind."

Melody looked back at me seriously. 

"Arthur, I need a second being who is able to use magic to open the door to their cave. It is protected by something and can only be accessed by two hands opening the locks at once."

Ah, well, wait. I began to get nervous as she explained what we were doing here. I wouldn't mind helping her with this but I don't know if I could. I looked over at the cave that we slowly approached on foot. 

I can't even use magic effectively, though? I'm not sure how I could possibly help her with this without actually being able to utilize what power I do have. She's got to know this already, she was the one standing over me and watching me fail at trying to make that fireball. I know it worked eventually but I still have no clue what specifically triggered that. I had a creeping suspicion that Melody thought that I'd actually managed to figure out that fireball magic in those few hours I was wandering around in the forest. Unfortunately, all I'd really done is kill the micro water monsters and collect poisonous mushrooms. 

Whether I liked it or not we entered the cave. The space inside was massive and chilly. Melody pointed over to the darker spot on the wall and directed me to go there with a soft smile. Doing her part as well, the dragon girl walked to the other side of the cave and placed her hand on the wall. 

I stood in position, waiting for some sort of signal from the more informed party to start trying whatever it was that I was meant to try. 

"Arthur, do you have your hand on the magic circle?" She asked.

"Yes." I responded, looking over my shoulder to see that she was looking over at me as well. I looked back at the wall and waited for her signal. The symbol under my hand was far bigger and much more complicated than the one that I'd used to make a fireball. Remembering what Melody had told me about the aspects of magic I assumed this must be some sort of elemental thing that filled some sort of purpose. That… that might be obvious. 

"Arthur…" Melody said with a strained voice. "I am happy that you are here with me..." She said suddenly. I looked over at her again but she was motionless at the wall on the other side of the open cave mouth. “I… like you…”

I felt the blood rush to my face while hearing this. A confession?! So suddenly?! Was this seriously happening right now?! She seemed so focused on her brother before I can't believe she was thinking of me at all. 

Melody's words and my thoughts were cut off by a loud grinding sound coming from the back of the cave. The moment the blood rushed to my face a bright blue-ish white light shone from the intricate formation under my hand. 

I turned around expectantly to find Melody walking over to me with a smile.

"Melody, I like you too.” I said, heart soaring. I looked at her pretty face and couldn’t tear the smile off of mine. As she looked at me her smile quickly faded to a look of horror.

“Wait…” She said, her face rising into a confused smile. “No, Arthur-”

In a surge of self confidence I hugged her. It’s okay to be shy, that’s cute actually.

The next moment, I saw Melody’s tail curl around and stab me in the neck. I passed out.