Ep 1. What Even Was That?! (1)

 

Serenis felt her head buzzing. Distant voices reverberated within her ears.

Screams and shouts. Laughter. Shrieks of joy and pain alike.

Was she reminiscing?

She couldn’t tell. If only her head wasn’t buzzing so much, she could’ve made out what the voices were saying.

But she couldn’t be bothered to try and listen. Whatever memory it was that had returned to haunt her, it’d only create more regrets if she listened.

The voices slowly began to drown out in silence.

‘Much better.’

If only she could drift away like this.

‘So this is what dying is like. It doesn’t hurt as much as I…’

Wack!

‘Thought…’

Slap!

A surge of stinging pain on her forehead and cheek snapped the last remains of her wishful thinking.

Who could possibly be here to slap her at this moment?

‘Wait.’

What if that last strike didn’t kill the First?

Her eyes surged open.

“Kh…are you still not dead? How-“

“Deeeeeaaaaaad?”

Serenis flinched. The voice was neither as dry nor terrifying as the First’s. In fact, the voice was squeaky, childish, and definitely pissed.

The dragon blinked a few times as her vision returned surprisingly fast. A little child came into view before her, holding what seemed like a wooden stick.

“Did you kill me in your dreams? Huh? Is that what happened? Deeeeeeaaaad?”

‘…Who is this child, and why’s he so angry at me?’

“I apologize, there must be some sort of misunderstanding. I was just at a battle, and I must’ve lost consciousness…”

“Oh, you sure were. You’re still in it.”

‘What?’

Before Serenis could question the child’s statement, he lifted a thin wooden stick high into the air.

Seriously? THAT’S what he was hitting her with?

She scorned at the thought. A little child, threatening the lord of dragons with a twig.

If that wasn’t a joke, then what was?

She calmly wove her hand in front of her as a transparent barrier was cast in place.

The twig bashed onto the invisible wall and snapped in half.

“Settle down, child. I-“

“MY WAND!!!”

Wand?

That twig was a wand?

Suddenly, she could hear surprised gasps and mutters from her surroundings. Another look, and Serenis finally realized that a hundred others were observing them.

And shortly after, she could feel a surge of pain throbbing at her heart. For a brief moment, her limbs felt paralyzed.

Symptoms of mana depletion.

‘Oh, that’s right. I shouldn’t have any mana left…’

Still, it wasn’t a problem. She could easily suppress a hundred children like this with a flick of her finger. Since her physical body felt fine, she just had to lightly press the child down to suppress him. Then, she could ask him what was going on.

But when she lifted her arm to do just that, something seemed strangely off.

‘Was my arm always this short?’

She ignored the strange feeling and placed her hand on the boy’s stomach, trying to push as light as she possibly could. It should’ve been just enough to knock him down on the floor.

Instead, the boy remained standing.

‘Huh?’

She pressed a little harder.

Nothing.

Serenis was soon pushing him with every ounce of her strength, and he still wouldn’t budge.

The boy began to seethe in anger, his voice practically steaming out of his mouth.

“What are you doing?”

“…Huh?”

“ARE YOU MAKING FUN OF ME, YOU LITTLE SHIT?!”

Serenis saw the boy pulling his leg back, likely to kick her in the stomach.

‘Immensely slow. I’ll just step to the side, and…’

Her thoughts reached that far, until she realized something new again.

‘…Why am I moving so slowly?’

When the realization dawned on her, it was far too late. Serenis felt another jolt of pain in her stomach as she was kicked. She sprawled across the stone floor, coughing.

“I don’t know what you did, but you’re going to pay for my wand!”

Mana depletion at least made sense.

Moving slow can still make sense, if she was deathly tired. And she had every right to be, after the battle she’d just been in.

But given her pure body density, a tiny human boy being able to send her flying with a single kick was pure nonsense. He’d be lucky if his toes weren’t broken.

On top of that, the crowd surrounding them seemed to think this was normal.

“Oh…I get it.”

I must be dreaming. This is a weird dream to have before dying.

So there can’t be any repercussions for overusing mana, right?

Serenis rose back to her feet and angrily stomped her foot onto the stone tile. The entire ground began to emit a brilliant white light in response, its glow spreading further at an unbelievable speed.

Alit by the lights emitted from the floor, Serenis’ shadow turned upwards, much akin to a staged horror play.

The boy froze in place. An involuntary hiccup escaped his lips.

“Has no one taught you any manners, child?”

Even he could tell something was going terribly wrong.

“…Wait. We can talk about this.”

“Of course we can.”

“Right?”

“After I drive some manners into your tiny head!”

Perhaps birds would notice the faint glint in the distant blue skies that followed the dragonlord’s angered outburst.

Moments after, a dozen rays of starlight rained down from the skies unto the poor child on stage, threatening to incinerate his body whole.

Not that they really did. They just made loud noise and scared the living daylights out of him.

Once the rays faded, nothing had changed except the wetness of the child’s eyes and undergarments. He fell backwards from sheer shock, unconscious.

“Hmph. Whoever raised you ought to…”

Serenis’ head fell backwards.

“Teach you some…respect…”

The rest of her body followed suit, collapsing onto the floor.

Her heart throbbed in pain, and she could no longer feel her limbs.

‘Wait. Now that I think about it…’

The dragon’s consciousness rapidly faded away. Her eyes closed, and there was nothing but darkness.

‘It’s been centuries…since I had a dream…’