“Nooooooooooo!”

The scream was a dull echo followed by an explosive clatter. The lid to Toby the Angekin’s enclosure was launched across the room and he was charging through the air toward me.

The elemental wind whirled to life in each of his hands: Green tendrils of razor-sharp wind loosely shaped into long blades. 

The first swing of his blades was easy to avoid. I moved my head a couple of inches to the side. The sound was like muffled saw blades in a wood whop. The second swing was much the same. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“You… YOU killed him!” Toby screamed, pointing one of his blades at me. Another blade of wind appeared, then another. Four in total, identical to the ones in his hands. They hovered in mid-air around him and pointed directly at me.

Dodge. Duck. Dip. Deflect. Dodge. I was mixing up the pattern, focusing primarily on the dodging aspect. I needed to convince him I wasn’t an enemy. 

I could see how this looked bad on my part from his perspective. I was also a little curious about how strong he was, so I let one of the wind blades hit me and deflected the other three.

 

 

The last deflect depleted the durability of my sword, sending it flying in two pieces away from me. Toby took that as an opening to charge me again.

“I’m on your sid-“ I ducked under a double horizontal slash. So annoying.

I avoided another swing of his sword but he momentarily turned the blade off, then back on at a different angle. I took the stab to my side. I wasn’t even mad. A little surprised, and a little proud.

 

 

“My side? You killed my father! My friends!”

I narrowly avoided two more swings and grabbed his wrist. He changed the angle of his blade to a reverse grip and slashed my forearm to free himself, but it wasn’t enough. I twisted his arm around his back and forced him to drop the wind blade.

 

 

“I’ve killed none of those things,” I said firmly. I pushed him forward, releasing his arm and giving his rump a solid shove with my foot.

He righted himself but was distracted now, looking closely at the Terrawk and Chimeroo I had downed earlier. His look of rage was breaking, at least until he looked over at the spot where the Dragon had died. “You’re lying. You absolutely killed my father!”

“Sorry kid, he’s not the father.”

“And who are you to tell me who my father is?”

Before I could respond a whipping wind began to swirl around me. It was impossibly loud against my enhanced senses and I was quickly overloaded. I didn’t want to hurt him, but he was making this way more difficult than it needed to be. 

Toby was preparing another attack. A bigger one. Two blades of wind formed, floating in the air beside him like javelins poised to launch. Then there were four. Six. Eight total, appearing in pairs.

What should I do?

 

 

Maybe always doing things is what’s getting me into so much trouble. So I did nothing. 

Each blade hit its mark and a small chunk of my health vanished. I was in a rare position where this battle wasn’t life-threatening. Toby’s damage could barely outpace my healing. Chances are he’d run out of attacks before my health was depleted.

Four more missiles hit their mark. I didn’t move. Didn’t flinch. I made eye contact and waited.

 

 

I held out my arms, a wide-open target.

“Stop that!” Toby shouted.

I made a gesture like I couldn’t hear him and the wind around me dispersed with a wave of his hand. “I said, stop that!”

“Stop what? I’m not doing anything.”

“Exactly! Why did you stop fighting? Am I so far below you that I’m not worth your effort?!”

Toby’s demeanor had changed now. Less rage. More doubt and sadness.

“This Dragon?” I gestured to where it had died, “he wasn’t your father. Hell, he wasn’t even supposed to be your owner at all!”

“What do you know! He raised us! Taught us to fight! Provided for us!”

“He kept you in glass cages on tables. Do you even get to leave this room?”

Toby hesitated before answering “yes.”

“When you want to?” 

Silence. Thought as much.

“You fight and die for the entertainment of giant winged lizards with no autonomy of your own. You’re free to do what you want now, unless you get captured by another Dragon. But you could come with us instead.”

“Why would I ever come with you? I hate you!”

“I think it's normal for kids to hate their parents sometimes,” I said.

Toby stared blankly at me for a long moment before my words dawned on him. His expression went through a series of revelations before settling on apprehension. “There’s no way. I refuse to believe that you’re my mother.”

“Believe it. Maybe there’s a section on your character sheet for ancestry.”

Another blank look. “Character… sheet?”

“You see that dot in the bottom right of your peripheral vision? Focus on it.”

Toby’s eyes lit up and then he was staring off into space. Did I look like that when I opened my character sheet?

I took the moment to heal and wait for Toby to come back into focus. “So?”

“No mention of murderous parents, and the Owner section is darkened, but apparently I’ve had two. I don’t know a Draconis, but I’ve heard the name.”

“Draconis would have been your first owner. He’s dead, too.”

“Let me guess, it was you?”

“Oh yeah. And I’d do it again,” I admitted. “So you believe me now?”

I wanted him to believe me. I wanted him to come with me. I didn’t have any experience with this parenting thing. Skipped the baby phase and straight to the teenager. I didn’t quite know how it all worked. I hatched a fully grown human with previous memories. Toby didn’t have that. He only knows what he knows from this world.

“I don’t know what I believe right now, but there’s no way in hell I’m going anywhere with you, mother or not.”

“So you believe that part?”

“On this… Character Sheet… thing, I have an ability when near you that indicates that you… might be telling the truth about that. I have other abilities I didn’t even know about. I’ve only used four of these skills at all.”

“Ok, well if you’re done attacking me now, I’m going to loot the place. The offer still stands to join us.”

“First murder, now theft? Why would I want to join you? What kind of parent are you?”

The kind that murders and loots Dragons, obviously, I thought sarcastically.

I can tell, Toby’s voice echoed in my mind. A familiar feeling I hadn’t felt since my first encounter with Orion. Telepathy.

You are your father’s son. Inheriting his telepathy, I thought at him. Come with us and you can meet him, too. Everything will make sense.

“Heelllooooooo!” a mysterious, female voice boomed down the hallway.

Thud!

I stopped and panned to the door, while Toby whispered behind me. “Sofizia.”

The female Dragon Draconis used to hang out with. I remembered her. The one with the Flamouse I trained with when I was first introduced to this world.

There was no time. She rounded the corner and stared straight at us. 

“Move and I’ll kill you,” I said immediately, floating up to eye level to meet her surprised gaze. 

“You… can talk?” She seemed genuinely surprised. 

“Most of us can talk,” I floated closer until I was almost standing on the tip of her nose. 

“What are you saying? Monsters can’t… talk.” Sofizia said.

“We can, and we’re tired of you pretending we can’t. We’re tired of being enslaved and forced to fight and breed,” I couldn’t help but raise my voice. Talking about it made me more angry.

“What do you want? Where is-“ 

“He’s dead,” I answered before she could finish. 

Sofizia’s eyes flashed sadness and worry. “And I’m next, then?” Her eyes flashed from me to Toby. “Toby?”

“Don’t look at him. He can’t help you,” I said. “Let's cut to the chase. How many monsters do you own, Sofizia?”

She flinched backward at the sound of her name and worry was replaced with true fear. 

“Twenty or so,” Sofizia half-mumbled.

She’s lying. I felt Toby in my mind. When he spoke, it was as if his words were floating through an open window in the back of my mind. It’s forty-four.

Slam! 

Sofizia didn’t have a chance to react before I grabbed her by the muzzle and slammed her backward into the stone wall. Cracks formed and pieces of stone fell loose, creating a Dragon-shaped indent. “Do. Not. Fucking. Lie. To. Me. Are we clear?”

Sofizia nodded.

“The correct answer in this case was Forty-four, yes?” 

Another nod, eyes wide with surprise. I released her muzzle and she gasped for breath. “Please… don’t kill me.”

“Why shouldn’t I?” 

“I’ll help you. I’ll do anything! I don’t want to reincarnate!”

“You’ll free your monsters?” I hated saying the word monsters. It wasn’t really what we were. 

Sofizia nodded.

I gave put on my best deadpan glare, one I learned from my older sister, and looked Sofizia straight in the eyes. I said nothing. I didn’t have to. 

“Fine…” 

“Maybe you’d like to spend some time as my pet monster instead?”

“I’d rather not… Plus I’m a Dragon, not a monster.”

“In the world I come from, Dragons are considered monsters. They also aren’t real.”

“Your… world?” Sofizia asked.

“Yeah, the one you reincarnated me from to play in your stupid battle monster game,” I said, trying to keep my tone even. It was the reason I was a raging ball of spite and anger towards the Dragons.

“You Dragons pull people, or monsters as you call them, from their home worlds and use them as tools for entertainment. I’m putting an end to it.”

“So that's… I never knew.” She slumped back against the wall. “It all makes sense now. Why there aren’t many wild monsters. Why we can only get them through Gachacorp.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“It’s their distribution facility in Verdania,” she said as if I knew what that meant. “It’s the closest city.”

“Close, you say?”

“Half a day’s flight.”

“For a Dragon with big ass wings,” I added. “Tell me, is Tyrannus’s tower in Verdania?”

The name gave her pause. “No, that’s in Azuria. Twice as far as Verdania.”

I referenced my map and asked “What is this third city? The farthest away one?”

“That’s Fyris, a factory and mining town,” she said with little-to-no enthusiasm.

“You don’t like it?”

“It’s unpleasant at best,” she rolled her eyes and sighed. “All Dragons start their lives there. While we learn, we provide physical labor for the first 3 years of our reincarnation.”

“Wow, that sucks. But you’re immortal right?”

“That’s right, but we can still be killed by other means, as you already know.”

I nodded. Oh boy did I know. 

What other questions do I ask? Even asking that question made my mind go blank. 

“Can I ask you a question?” Sofiza asked.

“Sure. Why not.”

“How can you speak through the Dragonforce?

“I have an ability that let me get it,” I answered. I debated on leaving out the rest, but said fuck it, “when I breed with a type of monster for the first time I copy one of their traits.”

“Breed? But Dragonforce isn’t a monster trait…” Sofizia’s eyes went wide with surprise. “You mean Draconis…”

I nodded and she exhaled slowly, “That pervert! I would have killed him too. That’s absolutely disgusting! And against the law in all three regions!”

“Wasn’t enough to stop him." I paused and took a breath, putting it out of my mind once again. "Now my last question. Are you going to help us take down Tyrannus and Gachacorp? Or should we just finish this here and now?”

“You want me to join you?” 

“I’ll be honest with you, Sofizia. All Dragons are the same to me. I don’t know your cities or your culture. You can provide that information.”

“I’ll do it,” Sofizia said. “The system’s rigged anyway, and if what you’ve said is true, everything about it is wrong.”

“I’ll come too,” Toby said. “I’ve heard enough.”

“What did he say?” Sofizia asked.

“He’s coming with us,” I said. “Go collect your monsters and gear and we’ll meet you at Draconis’s old residence.”

Sofizia nodded and quickly scurried up and out of the burrow, her pink scales disappearing into the darkness. I expected to never see her again.

The underground building was small with only a handful of rooms. Gold, silver, and bronze coins and various pieces of jewelry littered his pile of pillows in what appeared to be a bedroom. None of the metal was strong enough to use as a weapon. Leading from that room was a bathing chamber with nothing useful.

The last door led to a small kitchen and pantry, and further down was an unfinished hallway. I gathered a small amount of “edible food” as my display called it. Barely nutritious. I created four new metal bracelets from a pair of knives in the sink.

In his travel bag was a substantial amount of healing items and skill gems. Herbs. Tonics. Revival juice. The gems were primarily wind skills, which were green, and non-elemental skills that were clear. 

The incubator held a single egg shaped like a blue gemstone. We took that, too. My Analytical skill displayed the father was an Angekin and the mother was a Gemstar. That was a creature that I saw Sofizia battle with the first time I saw her. 

Shamura seemed most interested in the part of the discussion I mentioned being able to inherit traits via breeding and not that I was making an alliance with an enemy. She was a little disappointed that I got Magic Guard instead of something cooler.

After putting everything into inventory and having a short discussion on travel arrangements, we were ready to go. All the monsters here seemed to listen to and respect Toby as a leader, with the exception of the Minotaurus I knocked unconscious. We needed a way to transport them, and that’s where Shamura’s knowledge came in handy. She had extensive knowledge of dimensional space.

“As long as a monster is in a ball, you can put it in your inventory. Most people don’t have the space to accommodate them, but your stats are pretty high and your inter-dimensional space should be big enough,” is what Shamura told me.

So I put all the monsters except Toby into balls. The Minotaurus, Chimeroo, Terrawk, Shadopus, Tribearatops, and Horned Woofacle were all safe in my inventory.

To my surprise, Sofizia was waiting for us. We couldn’t hide with her, so we came to the agreement to ride on her back. In the long run, she was faster.

If we didn’t run in to trouble, we’d have less than a two-day trip ahead of us.