I screamed as I felt something grab onto me. My mouth was muffled by something as I continued to struggle but to no avail. All I saw was darkness as I continued struggling.
I heard a voice.
“[Sleep]”
And then I lost consciousness.
My body felt heavy when I woke up. I struggled to open my heavy eyelids and sat up while blinking slowly. Only then do my memory of what happened flood back to me. My body tensed up as I looked around my surroundings. I was in a large cavern. It looked like the cavern that Al and I had previously explored but inhabited.
I saw a pile of jewelry at the center of the room. Artifacts were displayed on shelves. I spotted a large fountain where the water was blue and glowing with life. To my right, a branch was hanging on a shelf, right below it a sword was stuck inside a large boulder. I blinked.
This entire place had mythical artifacts…? I stared at the branch. Misteltein, Excalibur, Fountain of Youth. The pile of jewelry had to be precious artifacts too, seeing as they hummed with magic. My eyes were wide as I looked around. This place made my heart ache. Remembering these made me think of home. I grabbed at my head. I’d tried my best not to think of home or I’d become homesick. But seeing weapons from mythology and folklore at home struck a chord in me. I walked closer to the weapons, inspecting them. The more I looked, the lonelier I felt.
It’s almost as if I forgot that I wasn’t a part of this world.
I didn’t reach my hand to touch them. I stared, feeling my eyes become moist. I tried blinking repeatedly but the heavy feelings weren’t disappearing. I continued to look around the large cave, as the loneliness only grew worse.
When I created my ‘How to survive in a fantasy world 101’ plan, I’d forced myself to adjust to this world, and become Rael. Thinking of these characters as my friends, family, and acquaintances. And it’d worked for the few months I’d been here. But today, I’d been reminded of the truth.
I was merely a parasite occupying a body destined to die. I rubbed my eyes. Come on Rael—no, that’s not even my name. I stared at the ground. I felt a longing, longing for home, for my memory back, but that was impossible. I was stuck here forever.
“How did you find this place?” I froze when I felt a presence behind me. Deeper into the cavern, the part that wasn’t lit up, a man emerged. His pointy ears twitched as he glared at me. My mouth was agape as I looked at him. The elf sneered as he walked closer.
“Well? Do you not know how to speak? Or are you incapable of speaking?” I couldn’t seem to form words.
“How were you able to wake me up? Did Heinz send you here? No, that foolish man should already be dead…” The elf began muttering to himself as he glanced at me. “Nevertheless, I want nothing to do with you. Begone, human.” He raised his hand.
“[Memory Bl—]”
“Wait!” I cut his spelling off with a shout. The shout surprised both him and me. “D-don’t kill me! I’m useful. I can help you, I know of the future. If you let me leave I’ll tell you everything—“ The half-elf frowned.
“Kill you? Do I look like a barbarian? Why would I stain my hands of filthy blood when I can merely erase your memory?” I stopped. And then my face flushed red. Oh, he’s right.
“Ah, yes, go ahead.”
“Were you lying about knowing about the future?”
I looked away.
“Yes.” The half-elf frowned. And then he revealed what he was holding in his hand. I saw a gem that was about the size of a fingernail. And it was glowing red. My face stiffened.
“It seems that you know what this is.” I didn’t respond. “You’ll have to stay here for a little longer.” I complied as I’d dug my own grave. Internally, I was cursing my stupid blabbering mouth.
The half-elf set up a table by levitating it to where I stood and brought two chairs. He sat down, crossing his arms. “Well? How does an ordinary human like you know of the future?” And then he narrowed his eyes on me. “Oh, you’re not as ordinary as you look.” I felt a bit hurt by his comments.
“I merely stumbled upon it.” We both glanced at the truth stone. It had turned red. I forced a smile on my face. “I… accidentally found out about it?” We looked at the stone. It lit up green. The half-elf seemed confused as he picked up the gem.
“Is it broken now?” I took a deep breath. Thank goodness the truth stone couldn’t pick up half-truths. The half-elf sighed and put the gem back into his pockets. I stared at his clothing. They were baggy, inconvenient, and barely intact. They looked to have gotten out of fashion centuries ago. He stared at me.
“Since you won’t tell me the truth, I’ll have to make you tell me.” I tensed up. With force? Or magic? “If you answer all of my questions truthfully, I’ll give you any treasure in this cavern.” My eyes lit up. Any? The half-elf nodded as though he heard my thoughts.
“Any treasure.” I sat up straight in my chair and nodded.
“Alright, what do you want to know?” I had a serious expression but my mind was thinking of which treasure I should pick. The half-elf stroked his chin.
“Let’s first start with the Descendants Legacy of the Harpy? Who was it that won that?” My mind was blank as I looked at him.
“The what?” The half-elf tsked.
“You don’t know about that? It was the biggest news and the whole world rejoiced. Whoever won that legacy would become one of the most powerful beings in the world. And you have never heard of it?”
“Never…”
“Fine. Maybe it wasn’t as well known as I remember it to be. Then what about Sky Invasion? Or the Hundred Year War? The Fallen Star?” He kept mentioning incidents that ‘shook the world’ countless times and explaining the events but I’d never heard of them. They weren’t incidents recorded in history either. The elf was flabbergasted by the end.
“Do you not know anything? Am I talking to an illiterate human?” I frowned at him.
“I’m not illiterate, you’re just confused.”
“I’m not confused, I remember these clear as day!” He snapped at me. I frowned. And then I blurted out.
“How long have you been asleep?” The elf blinked.
“I’m not sure.”
“What year was it when you fell asleep?” The elf tilted his head.
“It was year 340, why?” My hand shook. The elf saw the surprise on my face. I finally spoke.
“It’s the year 1350…” The elf’s eyes grew wide. And then he stood up from the table. He grabbed what looked like a mirror off the ground and began tapping it furiously.
“No, no, it can’t be!” He started muttering. And then he dropped the object on the ground. He looked at me.
“Did the harpies die?” I slowly nodded.
“What about the elves? Dwarves? Giants?”
“The only ones left are the descendants of them.” The half-elf’s lips trembled.
“And the dragons…?” I looked away.
“The last were wiped out centuries ago.”
I watched the elf stop. I saw the look of surprise on his face as he couldn’t comprehend what he’d just learned. He staggered forwards before catching himself. He paused for a few seconds.
“I guess you fulfilled my request then. You can choose any reward you want.” His face was blank as he waved me off. I stood up from the table and walked away from the elf who looked to be deep in thought. Instead of grabbing one of the artifacts I recognized, I wanted to see what other artifacts existed. It wasn’t every day you could view mythical grade treasures.
I saw a pond next to the Fountain of Youth. It was a green hue and glowed as I approached it. I craned my neck to look closer.
“Don’t get too close or it’ll grab you and drown you. It might look like a pretty pond but that’s merely an illusion.” I stopped and took a few steps back. I looked back at the elf.
“Why do you have such a dangerous thing around?”
“Because it’s useful and incapable of killing me.” I stepped away from the pond. I headed to the pile of magical weapons. I grabbed a sword that was encased with emeralds. I took it out of its sheath and the metal looked ordinary.
“What’s the story of this sword?” The elf glanced at the sword.
“Oh, nothing special, it was merely the sword of a serial killer who murdered thousands of people because of their beliefs. He thought there was only one true god to believe in.” I carefully put the sword back in its sheath and threw it back. I grabbed a pair of daggers and looked at them curiously.
“They’re poisoned, if you touch the edges, you’ll die.” I dropped them from fright and jumped when they nearly stabbed my feet. I sighed in relief and began looking for less lethal artifacts.
I stared at a pretty necklace, wondering if I should wear it.
“Anyone who wears it will become the world’s most powerful magician.” My eyes lit up. That sounded amazing. “For exactly ten seconds before the necklace of Reina sucks your vitality until you turn into dust.” I threw the horrifying necklace away, shivering.
My hands trembled as I touched a cape. Maybe this was some sort of cape that made you invisible? Or perhaps it had a great defense that could block any attack?
“That’s a cape of flight. You can fly with it.” I gave the elf a side glance. It sounded too good to be true. I must’ve imagined a smile on the elf’s face as he continued. “Except the cape will continue to fly until it’s reached the atmosphere, before plunging to the ground. All of its past owners are now meat paste.” I wrinkled my nose in disgust and put the cape back.
Growing tired of these dangerous artifacts, I decided to pick a simple artifact, I grabbed a sword. It looked simple but powerful. Perhaps I should pick this? I couldn’t be too powerful after all.
“That’s an exploding magic sword, it’s killed every single owner it had without fail.” Damn it! Of course, it’s an exploding sword, every artifact here is designed to kill you!
I threw it at the elf who grabbed it and threw it back at me. I dodged the sword with a yelp.
“Why do you only have dangerous artifacts here?!” The elf crossed his arms.
“It’s because you’re only picking dangerous artifacts. There’s a reason why they’re all in the same pile. The safe artifacts are there.” He pointed to where he’d first emerged. He pointed and the area lit up. I saw a wide area filled with strange gadgets. I carefully walked to that area, avoiding what looked like dead frogs on the ground, and inspected the supposedly ‘safe’ artifacts.
I saw a flower and grabbed it. I saw the flower bloom right as I held it in my hands. And then a refreshing smell washed over me. I couldn’t help but smile.
“What’s this?”
“That’s just an artifact to keep yourself clean.” I put the flower down. Useful but pointless. I continued to pick up strange things as I looked through the piles of artifacts. A talisman that could attract ghosts (which seemed quite dangerous to me), shoes that could double jump (Mario?), and a pair of glasses.
I saw the glasses and curiously picked them up. Right as I was about to put them on, the elf shouted: “Don’t put them on!” I froze. Was this a dangerous artifact as well? I saw the panic in the elf’s face and paused. Why was he panicking so much? He was nonchalant when I held the poisonous daggers and exploding sword.
And then it clicked. The glasses weren’t dangerous. And they were familiar to me. This was one of the artifacts I’d used in the game when trying to find my way out of a dungeon. The glasses could see through any illusions, no matter how strong they were.
And the elf must’ve forgotten that it was here and that’s why he panicked. I put the glasses on. Whatever he was hiding, it couldn’t be that bad—
The previously tall elf was gone. Instead, a tall, clawed, and menacing creature loomed above me. I raised my head and we locked eyes. Smoke fell out of its open mouth as it stared at me.
Oh.
I slowly took the glasses off. The elf stared at me. And then I saw him raise his hand and I ducked behind one of the large artifacts. I felt a blazing heat from where I previously stood. As I ducked, I thought of what I had just seen. And everything about the elf suddenly made sense.
He wasn’t an elf. He was a dragon. And now he was very upset because his secret had been revealed. I placed my hands on my face.
Why do I always seek death? It was going so well too…
My thoughts were interrupted when I felt a presence from behind me. I sighed.
“You’re going to erase my memories, aren’t you?” He didn’t respond as he stared at me. He was still wearing his elf disguise but I now knew it wasn’t his true form. I looked at the ground.
“If it helps, I would’ve never figured it out.”
“Shut up.” He finally says. And then he rubbed his temples, looking exasperated. He sighed and glared at me. “Perfect, out of everyone to discover my secret, it had to be you.” I put a hand on my chest, offended. What was that supposed to mean?
“Maybe I should be relieved that you’re dying soon though because erasing your memories would be pointless.” He snorted. My heart dropped.
I was dying? I thought Rael wasn’t going to die after his awakening though. “I won’t die. I have something that’ll save me.” I was lying, I don’t even know what it was…
The elf—dragon stared at me curiously. And then burst into laughter. “Even if it’s what I think it is, it won’t save you anymore. You have twice the amount of mana around you than an ordinary halfling. You’ll be dead before you know it.” My heart skipped a beat.
“I have twice the amount? How?”
“How do I know? Maybe you’re extra special and got twice the amount of the c— er, unluck.” I stared at him suspiciously. He’d cut himself off just then.
This was bad. It meant whatever helped Rael would be useless to me. I had to find a different way to survive… but how? Should I ask the dragon? No, he’d never help me.
I was growing annoyed and blurted out: “If you’re so all-knowing and mighty, why were you hiding here, sleeping for so long?” The dragon leered.
“It’s none of your business.”
“Oh but it’s your business to inform me that I’m dying and then laugh in my face? That’s quite the double standard.” The dragon looked annoyed. And he crossed his arms, sighing heavily.
“I hadn’t meant to fall asleep. This was supposed to be a safe place for us dragons. As the skies turned against us, we had to seek shelter on land. But no one ever appeared. I waited for a long time and before I knew it, I’d fallen into a deep sleep.”
“And it hadn’t been broken until now.”
“Yes, by you. I’m still not sure how you did it. Nevertheless… I woke up too late. Everyone who I swore to protect is gone. Now the only one left here is me.”
The dragon was in a daze as the silence settled in. As though he hadn’t thought of it until now. “Maybe…” He stopped.
I grew quiet. I didn’t know what to say to the dragon who’d just found out that he was the last of his kind. I hesitated. I knew I shouldn’t do this and that it might come and bite me later on but…
“I… I’m alone too.” The dragon gave me a spiteful glare. He didn’t seem to believe me. I bit my lip. I can't regret this now. Something in me didn’t want this stubborn dragon to give up. Because if I were to leave now, he might continue to sleep here until he eventually died. And I couldn’t allow that to happen. Because… he was too much like me.
All of those he cared about, everything he knew was gone. And for me, I’d been taken away from them, never to return. The possibility of me returning home was slim. But I kept up the positivity. Because if I didn’t, I’d end up like the dragon before me.
“I’m not from this world.” The dragon narrowed his eyes at me. “I was suddenly transported to this g— world. My friends, family, acquaintances, I can’t remember any of them.” I tried smiling but my face was too stiff. I rubbed my eyes. I can’t get emotional right now, I had to tell the dragon my true feelings.
“I can’t even remember my real name. It’s as though my entire existence was erased. Who was I before I became Rael? Some days I struggle to know what’s real or fake.”
“Can’t you return home?” The dragon asked.
“I don’t know how to go home.” My voice trembled. Crap, I’m growing upset. I rubbed my eyes again, taking a shaky breath. “All I know is that the world is ending soon.” The dragon stared at me.
“Why are you telling me this?” I gave him a twisted smile.
“Because we’re the same.” The dragon didn’t reply as he looked away. I was worried that he wouldn’t believe me.
I watched the elf disappear as a large dragon materialized. Scales the color of deep green, yellow eyes that were slit and a large mouth filled with rows of sharp teeth were mere few meters from me. I shivered as I gazed upon the magical beast.
The dragon spoke; “Geo.”
“What?”
“My name is Geo.”
I blinked. I had not expected him to say his name. I nod.
“My name is Rael Vandergarden.” The dragon gazed at me.
“I want to help you.”
Huh?
“W-what?” The dragon blinked as he lowered his head, making us nearly the same eye level.
“You can still go back unlike me. Even though it’s hopeless for me, you still have a home to go back to. And when you finally regain your memories…” I stared up at the dragon.
“I hope you’ll reveal your real name to me then.” I tried blinking repeatedly as my eyes began stinging. I lowered my head and rubbed at my eyes once more.
“Yeah.”
Geo had decided to help the strange human boy. He didn’t know why he wanted to but the impulse wouldn’t go away. He watched as the boy trembled in his presence. But not out of fear. But out of sadness.
It took a while before the boy was composed enough to raise his head. He stared at him with reddened eyes, trying to think of something to say. But his head was blank.
The dragon smiled. He returned to his elf form, for convenience, and reached for his spatial bag. He pulled out a bracelet that had three beads on it.
“Here.”
Rael looked at the bracelet curiously.
“I’m not quite sure how I’ll help you go home, especially with how little time you have, so keep this. It’s a way to contact me. Just crush one of the beads. You only have three chances.” Rael stared at him.
“Can’t you just come home with me? You can transform into a cat or something?” Geo snorted.
“No, that’d be too dangerous. And I’m not quite ready to help you just yet. I have to catch up on everything after my 1000-year nap.” Rael cracked a smile.
“Right.”
“But once the time is right, you’ll meet me again.” Geo approached him. Rael looked disappointed.
“You’ll still erase my memory?” Geo sighed.
“I can’t take any chances. It’s only temporary though. I’ll merely lock away your memory of me, but you’ll still remember this encounter with something in this cavern. And you’ll remember about the bracelets' functions.” Rael didn’t look satisfied as he put on the bracelet.
“Can’t I just meet you here?”
“I won’t ever return here so no.” Geo placed his palm on Rael’s forehead. The boy looked nervous. Before Geo could chant, Rael made one last request.
“Can you… not make me forget your name?” Geo stared at Rael in surprise. And then he couldn’t help but snort.
“Sure.” But that request made him happier than he’d like to admit. And then Rael collapsed on the floor, his memory of an arrogant dragon locked away until Geo removed the spell. He looked at the boy’s unconscious body. And then he teleported Rael outside of the cavern. He was sure that someone would discover him there.
Geo began filling his spatial bag with all of his treasures. He realized halfway through that his bag didn’t have room for them all. Cursing under his breath, he removed it all and only put valuable treasures. He barely managed to fit the fountain of youth there.
Once he finished packing, he buried the rest several meters underground. If anyone were to dig up the exploding swords… well too bad for them. Geo pondered for a few seconds before transforming himself once more. This time it wasn’t an illusion, he had become a human boy. That also meant his mana was severely limited and he was as fragile as a human. But some sacrifices had to be made.
Geo began walking out of the cavern. He wanted to explore the world until Rael needed his help. And while he traveled, he could think of a new name to use. He had to blend in, so he should think of an ordinary human name, preferably one that started with a G.
Geo, not paying attention, stepped on something. He looked down and saw a dagger that had sliced the side of his shoe. It was the dagger that Rael had previously dropped.
A bit of blood dripped down. Geo’s face was drained of color.
He cursed as he tried neutralizing the poison. But as he was a human, it took more magic than he expected. He eventually passed out from sheer exhaustion, bedridden for three weeks before he could stand up again. When he woke up from his sickly state, he stared up at the ceiling of the cavern and let out a curse.
“Damn you, Rael.”
everything is blamed on the poor boy
Nmmmmm good