《Beyond The Primordial Void (Dropped)》 Prologue In a dark, cramped space of a cupboard, a young girl hugged her knees tightly, trying to make herself as small as possible. The cupboard rattled along with the vibrations that permeated through the ground. The girl heard the drumming of hooves, the muffled shouts, the whistles of arrows, the clashes of steel, and the sporadic shrilling screams that made her body shudder uncontrollably. She squeezed her large eyes shut as if trying to force the horrible sounds out of her head. Eventually, after who knows how many hours, the noise in the village eventually died out, except for the occasional voices outside. Voices of vulgar men who invaded her village. She heard a splintering crash and footsteps getting closer from the front of her house. Paralyzed in fear, she forgot to breathe, as the footsteps of men reverberated through the wooden floorboards. She hugged her knees tighter as one of the men took heavy steps towards the cupboard she was in. Through the crack of the cupboard doors, she saw a figure of a hand, reaching out towards her as she protested silently in despair¡ª ¡ªUntil there was a deafening sound of explosion and screams of men that pierced her ears. Surprised by the sudden clamor, the man turned around from the furniture and ran outside the house in a hurry to check the commotion. The sound of the man¡¯s footsteps got further away outside, until it was replaced by more screams and terrifying cacophony of things crunching and ripping. The girl flinched every time she heard another howl of pain suddenly stop with a snapping noise. This went on again and again and again. And again. And again. And... Silence. The girl, tucked inside the furniture, was more frightened than when the bandits attacked. Unlike the time the bandits attacked, not knowing who or what was rampaging around terrified her. However, she was still a fickle little thing. Her fear slowly faded away as another emotion crept up in her mind: curiosity. After gods know how many hours of silence, the crack of the cupboard door slowly widened as a single blue eye peeked outside warily. After scanning the surroundings, the girl pushed open the door and dragged her stiff body onto the floorboards. She trotted towards the front door, and after a slight pause, creaked opened the door.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Far off in the distance, the sun was beginning to rise, illuminating the world that was shrouded in darkness with a warm, soft glow. This scene would have been awe-inspiring, if not for the trail of corpses in front of her, soaking the ground with blood and guts. One look at the bodies would be enough to determine that their deaths were far from pleasant. Most of them had their limbs bent in impossible angles or missing, either sliced apart or torn, and all of them were brutally disfigured to the point where it was impossible to determine what they looked like beforehand. Those only applied to the bodies of the bandits though, as she noticed that the bodies of the villagers were still intact. It was not the scene appropriate for a little girl such as herself, but whether by trauma or by a strong heart, the girl found herself moving onwards, following the crimson trail. Her eyes followed the path until the end, where she found Him. In the middle of the village, stood a figure of a man, his overcoat gently fluttering in the morning breeze. The moment she locked her eyes onto his back, her body suddenly froze up. She felt her whole body being pressured down by an overwhelming presence, so great that even her lungs stopped working and begged for air which she desperately tried to breathe in. Her muscles spasmed without her consent, and she felt cold sweat on her back as she instinctively took one step backward. Unfortunately, the twig underneath her foot let out an unexpectedly loud crunch. Feeling her heart drop, the girl slowly looked up to the man, despair evident on her face. The man nonchalantly turned his neck over the shoulder towards the source of the sound and gazed upon the terrified young lady. The girl cringed as her blue eyes were met with the gleam of his eyes. It was brilliant gold, beautiful and enticing, but at the same time, the girl could instinctively feel that there was something feral within it. Something ancient. Something Primordial. Something no mortals should ever dare to trifle with. When the man noticed that the little girl was shivering in fear, the immense pressure that has been tormenting the girl abruptly faded. The girl felt her little legs buckle from the sudden release of encumbrance, causing her to fall to her knees. She gasped frantically as she gulped down fresh air into her lungs. Air never tasted so sweet in her life. The man walked up in front of the bewildered girl and crouched down to her eye level. When she looked at him up-close, she silently gasped once more, but for a different reason: he was the most beautiful man she has ever seen in her short life. His handsome face was perfectly symmetrical, his jet black hair with greyish highlights was slightly curly with it being just the right length at the right places, and his mesmerizing golden eyes threatened to bewitch the girl¡¯s soul. His looks had the perfect balance between beauty and masculinity. The man gazed at her for a couple more seconds before he opened his mouth, A deep melodic voice came within it, which was soothing to the ears but domineering at the same time. ¡°You¡¯re one tough little cookie aren¡¯t ya? Not many are able to stand up in the presence of a dragon...let alone a child.¡± The girl stared back at him without any response, causing the man to chuckle. He then looked around at the gory scene that lay throughout the whole village and furrowed his brows slightly. The corpses were starting to let out an unpleasant smell as the group of crows cawed above the village, waiting for their turn to feast. He turned towards the girl smiling once more, and for a brief moment, his golden eyes shined, or at least that was what the girl thought. The girl gulped as an unfamiliar sensation crept throughout her body, but soon unconsciously relaxed as sudden relief washed over her. The strange feeling drove away all the fear in her heart, replacing it with comfort and familiarity. After seeing that the girl has calmed down, the man, still wearing a gentle smile, asked a question in the most gentle tone possible. The question that would change her life forever. ¡°Hey little one. Do you want to come with me?¡± Chapter 1: Beyond In the year 20xx, there was a massive breakthrough in the Artificial Intelligence Industry. The A.I. developed was not only capable of adapting to different situations and learn, but it was able to discern and understand even the small nuances humans make. Four years later, video games have begun to utilize this A.I. for more interactive and realistic gameplay, which led to the development of a fantasy game that everyone claims to have revolutionized the video game industry. Beyond. It was a single-player open-world RPG computer game that offered the highest level of freedom and diversity like never before. It was also one of the very few single-player games that was produced amongst the multitude of multi-player games that dominated the game market. Initially, there have been a lot of complaints about it being a single-player game, but those remarks soon died down as more people got to experience the game High level of freedom, randomized NPCs with life-like AIs, stunning graphics, auto-generated animations, incredibly large randomized maps, immeasurably large perk trees, and hyper-realistic gameplay. It went beyond what all online games were capable of. The most prominent aspect of this game was that there was no predetermined main quest and quests. This absurd thing was only possible due to the advanced AI that managed the game. The AI would auto-generate the quests based on the actions and decisions of the player, which meant that everyone would have their own unique experience when playing the game. Be it being a hero to vanquish the demon king and saving the world, or a necromancer who is on a path for true immortality, or even as an Orc king who would lead his own kingdom to glory, the players¡¯ choices forged their own world. Then, a year after the game¡¯s release, there was once again a glorious turning point that further solidified the position of the best RPG game that has ever been made. The development of mods. The game company, for the one year anniversary of Beyond, decided to sell the creator tools separately. People started to utilize this to make countless mods that can be integrated into the game, which was then shared with the public. Thus began the era of mods. Ranging from the mods that altered the small details to ones that revamped the entire game, there was an endless stream of mods being created and downloaded. Exceptional mods that people wondered why it wasn¡¯t included in the first place became the norm for the players. There were mods that were highly inappropriate or created for the sole purpose of ¡®shits and giggles¡¯, but those were...remarkably glorious in its own way. Of course, there was a separate reason why people loved modding Beyond: the AI in the game perfectly integrated all the mods installed into the game. For example, even the game¡¯s lore and history could be changed depending on which mods are installed. With tremendous popularity, the game has reached a level where no others would be able to catch up to it in the same generation. *** Somewhere on earth, in a dimly lit room, a silhouette of a man was staring at the monitor with such intensity that one wouldn¡¯t be surprised if lasers came out of his eyes. The eerie light that came off from the monitor reflected off the metal wheelchair in the corner of the room. From the dust collected on the wheelchair, it was obvious that it has not been used for quite some time. The clicking and clacking of mouse and keyboard reverberated throughout the otherwise silent room. The irregular intervals of the clicks and the silent whirling of the supercomputer only pointed towards one conclusion: He was playing a video game. More specifically, it was Beyond, the best game that has ever been made in human history. Or at least that was what the man thought, along with most of the human population. After a good hour or two of playing the game, his hands suddenly stopped. He drank some cold coffee that was on the table and thrusted his arms upwards, giving his body a good stretch. He turned his sight back towards the screen, wearing a satisfied smile on his face. In the monitor screen, there were figures of colossal chunks of land floating in the void that was reflecting back in his eyes. It was a grand structure that he has spent seven months in real life building, using both creator tools, mods, and in-game mechanics. The Sanctuary of the Void Dragon: Drozinkrel. It consisted of massive floating continents that he had built for himself. In it existed a plethora of various geographies and cultural structures, thousands of unique races coexisting together, and most importantly, served as an epicenter of thousands of different dimensions, all connected through dimensional portals. An artificial sun and moon revolved around these continents, which made it seem almost ethereal, if not for the vast emptiness of the void that surrounded the continents. While working on this ¡°continental¡± project, the man rarely stepped outside of his home, rarely slept, and spent most of his time in front of his computer. This wasn¡¯t a big deal though, as the man took particular relish in doing everything that was related to the game. It wasn¡¯t as if he could do anything anyways. 7 years ago, after an accident, the man was paralyzed from the waist down, making him unable to use his legs for the rest of his life. Fortunately for him, he had more than enough finances to enjoy his life doing whatever he wanted due to his previous line of work.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Unfortunately for him, he also realized that he had to piss sitting down for the rest of his life too. It was at that time when he started playing Beyond, which he immediately fell in love with and continued playing until this date. In his game with over 500+ mods installed, he went on countless adventures, collected an endless amount of treasures, and built structures grander than the palaces of kings. The thing he took most pride in, however, was his character. The man pressed a key on his keyboard, which brought up his character sheet. The panel on the left showed a 3D image of a young man with greyish black hair and golden eyes, which was the current form of the character. The space on the right showed the stats and equipment information in an organized manner. [Name: Dracovus Aregon] [Level: 245003200000] [Race: Primordial Dragon (Polymorph: High Human)] [Gender: N/A] [Titles:One Who Does Not Exist, The Conflicted, Sovereign of the Void, The Primordial, Void Dragon, Way of the Void, Ruler of Space and Time, Conqueror of the Realms, Dragon Emperor, Embodiment of Magic, Overlord of the Immortal Ones, Natural Enemy of the Divine, Supreme God Slayer, God Devourer, Massacrer of the Divine, God Slayer, Legendary Blacksmith, Alchemist of Miracles, Martial Grandmaster, Mythical Tamer, (32 more¡­) ] [Stamina: 2,492,000,600,000,000] [Mana: ¡Þ (Void Dragon Heart)] [Vitality: 797,830,500,000,000] [Strength: 1,227,800,000,000,000] [Constitution: 970,003,000,000,000] [Agility: 840,250,000,000,000] [Dexterity: 820,346,000,000,000] [Intelligence: 1,204,340,000,000,000] [Wisdom: 1,412,780,000,000,000] #Stats may be diminished due to the current form of the player.# His character, he believed, was the most overpowered one in terms of base stats out of all the Beyond¡¯s character he has ever seen, or at least the ones shared online. It was even more so considering the countless items, spells, skills, and perks that he had. Of course, he had various different mods that affected this, and Dragon was a cheaty race that grew exponentially stronger just by being alive to begin with, but he was sure that he was a special case. After all, he was able to choose the race ¡®Dragon¡¯ in the beginning even without any mods. Even if one used mods such as that, it only offered to only replace their character textures to that of a draconic creature. In Beyond, there was a wide spectrum of races that players could choose from. And yes, there was even an option to play as various monster races. However, amongst the ¡®Elf¡¯, ¡®Dwarf¡¯, ¡®Human¡¯, and the others, there was no such option as a ¡®Dragon¡¯ in the game. Or at least, there wasn¡¯t supposed to be. When starting the game, he chose this option without knowing that that was the case. So began his journey as a young dragonling in the default world, terrorizing kingdoms, exploring darkest caverns far beyond man¡¯s reach, piling up legendary treasures in his inventory, and polymorphing into various different races such as humans, elves and dwarves to experience gameplay as that race. At least at the start. After a while though, he quickly realized being a Dragon, presumably the most strongest race in the fantasy world, meant that his character¡¯s growth in strength was exponential, unlike other races. Normally, if one played as any other race in Beyond, the rate at which their levels increased would diminish as they reached high levels, just like any other RPG games. In fact, reaching level 200 in this game was considered a substantially high level. Soon enough, due to his preposterous growth rate, he found himself quickly running out of strong enemies to fight as he evolved, even though it has only been a couple of months since he started the game. However, it was a choice he never once regretted as the AI decided to give him special quests to balance the game: to travel to and conquer other dimensions. While everyone playing the game was fighting common monsters in the mortal realm, he was ripping apart the arrogant gods in the Divine Realm, beating down Arch-Devils in Purgatory, and battling all the catastrophic mythological creatures from different dimensions that the AI could come up with. And finally, at the final epilogue of this epic expedition, his character has transcended to inherit the authority of the Void, one of the four Primordial Powers in the infinite multiverse. Thus, the Void Dragon was born, strongest of all universes with no opponents to match its might. Even the game AI seemed to have given up on generating new enemies that are worthy of his attention. That was when he was 4 years into the game in real time. From that point on, he just focused on building, crafting, creating unique NPCs and experimenting with mods, along with the occasional quests that involved puzzles when he was bored. He even made five or ten mods himself for his own conveniences in-game. Back in the present day, the man scratched chin and felt his unkempt beard chafing against his fingers. He looked back at the screen once more and found himself sighing. He had nothing new he could accomplish in this game, and the fact pained him. After 7 years of devotion to the game, he finally decided to move on, and try to go enjoy the outside life more. Staying inside for too long is quite harmful to the health after all, although he never really got used to being in a wheelchair. He put his hands on the keyboard and manipulated his character towards Drozinkrel. The Void Realm in which it was situated in gave the grand structure a mysterious atmosphere. A giant Dragon Lair situated in the center of the continent floating in a realm of nowhere. It surely was a fitting place for the mightiest Dragon to meet its end. To slumber amongst the solitude of the Void along with its possessions. As he walked in the gargantuan main hall of his Lair, ornamented with the most elegant sculptures and decor befitting of an emperor, the various NPCs on either side of the hall bowed, as if to show their respect to the Legacy of their ruler and creator. In the deepest part of the Dragon Lair, lay a cavern that extended to a radius of several kilometers. The cavern was so concentrated with the purest mana, that most beings who would dare step foot in here would perish from the sheer pressure of it. At the very center of that deadly cavern, stood a man, unperturbed by the mana that threatened to crush any other man. Suddenly, an immense aura of magic swirled around the man as his form began to change. About a kilometer in length, covered in black scales with greyish tips, and with brilliant golden eyes that saw through all, it was without a doubt a form of a mighty Dragon. The man slowly dragged his mouse across the mouse pad, and with a melancholy glance at the screen, he confirmed the option for ¡®Dragon Hibernation¡¯. Even though he wasn¡¯t deleting the character and will perhaps come back to it again, he was still bitter about the whole situation. He has played as Dracovus for 6 whole years, and the thought of quitting the game still nagged on his mind. ¡°Oh well, I guess I¡¯ll just sleep for now.¡± After muttering something any responsible(?) adult would usually say, he pushed himself away from his desk. The force of the push rolled his chair all the way to the foot of the bed. He then lifted himself up from the chair and crawled his way to his pillow. The moment his head hit the pillow, his consciousness went blank. *** The Void. A place where nothing exists. But because nothing exists, it is also the origin of everything. Before Time, there was nothing. Before Space, there was nothing. Before the light and the dark, there was nothing. Before life, there was nothing. From nothing, came everything. In a space where nothing was supposed to exist, there was a single inexplicable spark. A spark that shouldn¡¯t be able to exist. Like raging flames, the tiny spark tore apart the Void itself. It was a tear that transcended the laws of space and time, and through the cracks of the fissure, there was an image. An image of a dimly lit room, where a single soul lay. Chapter 2: Merging of Souls His consciousness returned as he felt the sensation of falling. He could not move, speak, or even see, as his mind fell into the depths of the unknown. He fell, as his murky mind tried to interpret the context of this situation. ¡®Am I dreaming?¡¯ The man thought of the only logical answer he could come up with, and decided not to give much thought about it anymore. He did remember going to bed after all. At least, it was like that until he felt his head getting pierced by something, along with the horrifying pain that followed a second later. Pain was a familiar feeling to him, but this was much more than ordinary pain. Much worse than when he was captured by an underground organization who tortured him for information. This was the definition of pain itself: the kind that seemed to drill into his soul itself and hack away from the inside. The paroxysm happened so abruptly that it did not give the man time to react in any way. He couldn¡¯t even scream, and the only thing he was able to do was grit his teeth and protest silently in despair as the inexplicable pain tormented his soul. While falling into the vortex of an abysmal plane. The foreign feeling twisted and wrenched him from the inside, only amplifying the pain even more. At last, when he thought he couldn¡¯t hold up anymore, he slowly started to become numb until he perceived his consciousness slipping away. *** His eyes snapped open and, with a gasp, shot up from the ground while instinctively touching his body to check for any abnormalities. He didn¡¯t remember what happened, but his mind screamed to him that something was definitely wrong. He stood up groaning, and immediately perceived that the surroundings weren¡¯t familiar to him. ¡®Why am I outside?¡¯ Having a good look around while having such thoughts, he noticed that he was standing in a grassy clearing surrounded by the woods with trees almost thrice the size of the trees commonly seen on Earth. The contrast between the moonlit clearing and the dark woods only accentuated the mysterious atmosphere of the place. ¡®Wait a minute, I¡¯m standing?¡¯ The man tried moving his feet, and along with his surprise, it followed his commands. He felt his toes squirming inside the boots, felt the weight of his body pushing down on the sole of his foot, and felt the hard ground pushing back onto his two limbs. ¡°Heh.¡± The man found himself letting out a small laugh as he once more felt what he thought will be forgotten forever. Devoid of any senses in his legs for six years, standing on two feet again made him ecstatic. He turned his head towards the heavens and gazed at the beautiful night sky adorned with the celestial lights of the stars. The two giant moons in the sky gazed back at him with a gentle glow, as if it was trying to congratulate his brief moment of joy. Of course, he did take into account of the fact that there were two moons, much bigger compared to the one on earth. They even had different colors too. He didn¡¯t mind too much though, as his mind already perceived this as a pleasant dream. Or at least, it would have been so much simpler just to write this off as a dream, which was exactly what the man did, but after a full minute, he began to wonder. It was too realistic to be a dream. The next thing the man thought of was that he was somehow kidnapped, probably thanks to his...distinguished past catching up to him. That didn¡¯t explain the two moons in the sky though. Still, his senses didn¡¯t lie. The wind blowing on his face, the smell of grass traveling up through his nose, and the biting chill of the night all felt ¡®real¡¯ as anything else. The bloodthirst coming from the glowing pairs of yellow eyes amongst the shadows of the woods also certainly felt real as well. The man observed as four Dire wolves, each of them being larger than a normal wolf, slowly crept out of the clearing. They growled ferociously as they surrounded their prey, and tensed their whole body as if to prepare to pounce on him anytime. For what seemed like forever, neither the man nor the wolves moved. However, the tension in the air seemed like it would burst any moment. The man was an experienced fighter, but not against four giant hungry frigging wolves. In other words, he knew he was fucked. ¡°Well shit.¡± As if his words were a cue, the wolves simultaneously jumped at him, baring their fangs. The man crouched down with his arms covering himself as the two wolves behind him sunk their teeth on each of his legs and the one in front bit into his left arm. He waited for the horrible pain of getting his skin pierced to arrive, as he saw the last wolf coming straight at him¡ª ¡ªBut he felt nothing. He didn¡¯t feel any pain, only some mild, tingling sensation. He tried lifting his left arm upwards, and much to his surprise, the wolf dangled pathetically in mid-air as it hung onto the arm with its jaws. Upon closer inspection, the man noticed that the teeth didn¡¯t even penetrate his skin. The wolves on his limbs struggled to bite harder as they realized that they didn¡¯t taste the blood of their victim that they expected. The last wolf that charged at him came to a brief halt as he noticed in bewilderment that his prey still standing, despite his comrades¡¯ efforts. Its job was to tear off the throat of a downed opponent, but it couldn¡¯t do that when the opponent was still standing. Regardless of its initial surprise though, the wolf pounced at him again, this time aiming its fangs at a spot between his two legs, where no man would want to be attacked. The man, noticing the trajectory of the wolf, shot out his free hand sideways in his desperate attempt to redirect the wolf¡¯s jaw. Even though he wasn¡¯t feeling pain from the other bites, he didn¡¯t want that jagged mess of a mouth anywhere near his crotch. The moment his slap met the side of the wolf¡¯s muzzle, however, something completely unexpected happened. With a deafening noise of the impact, the wolf was shot away spinning with such velocity that when it reached the tree that was a good distance away, all that was left was a crimson paste on a splintered tree.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Then the man, as if guided by some unknown instinct that was awakened by violence, forcefully tore off the wolf from his arm, and chucked it in the direction where its fellow kin perished. The shockwave that was generated from the throw suggested just how fast the wolf was launched. The wolf broke through three giant trees before sharing a same bloody fate as the previous wolf. The remaining beasts, whether by fury or starvation, kept latching onto his legs. He grabbed onto their muzzle, tore them off his legs, and drove their bodies into each other with enough force to pulverize their insides. The wolves didn¡¯t even have a chance to whimper as they collided in front of the man. He then threw them away carelessly, not even checking whether they were dead or not. All that was done in a split second. The man drew in a deep breath and looked down onto his hands. He felt an unknown power circulating through his whole body like never before. Then it happened. He felt something deep inside him stir up his very soul. Something foreign. From it, streams of memories pierced his head, startling him and giving him a head-splitting headache briefly before fading away. Despite the ringing in his head, the man focused on the information that was flowing through his head. They weren¡¯t his memories. Instead, they were the memories of someone he knew so well. Someone he had created himself, in fact. The memories of Dracovus Aregon, the Primordial Void Dragon. An entire lifetime of events was forcefully planted in his head as if he had experienced it himself. The experiences of countless battles against supernatural entities, the mysteries of mana, and the secrets of the realms all branded themselves to the mind of a man. A man who has been reborn. A man that could no longer be called a ¡®man¡¯. Two separate entities became whole as if it was meant to be like this in the first place. After the initial shock died down, it was soon replaced by curiosity. ¡®This...is simply astonishing. It¡¯s as if I¡¯ve done all these things firsthand.¡¯ The man let out a small laugh as he looked at his palms. Although he didn¡¯t know why, he now knew for sure that he wasn¡¯t dreaming. All this new information contained in his head felt too real to be false. *Ggrrrrr* Dracovus suddenly broke out of his stupor as he heard the sound of growling from all directions. He looked up slowly, as he saw a literal pack of dire wolves surrounding him. The ones beforehand were just scouts, and the pack has come rushing after it smelt blood. The blood of their own kin. The thirty or so wolves cautiously encircled him in a similar fashion as the ones here did before. Upon seeing them, Dracovus didn¡¯t panic like last time. Last time, he didn¡¯t realize who he was. He did now. He disregarded their existence entirely and muttered a single word, hoping that his assumptions were correct. ¡°Myst.¡± From his shadow formed under the moonlit night, a dark shade with a form vaguely resembling a human slowly materialized and rose up. It was pitch black in all areas of its body, and the ominous dark aura around it fluttered as if it was dancing along the wind. ¡°Milord.¡± The entity spoke with a deep, ghostly voice while bent forward like it was kneeling, and proceeded to wait. His assumptions were indeed correct. Dracovus nonchalantly turned his gaze towards the shadow and felt an unknown familiarity towards the lurker. After all, although not in person, he has seen this being countless times through a monitor screen before, as it was one of his most trusty companions in the game, Beyond. The true identity of this strange being was an Ancient Shadow King, a monster who he tamed in the Abyss realm. Dracovus looked around once again at the mutts daring to attack him and spoke in a cold tone. ¡°Clear the way.¡± ¡°I exist to obey.¡± A chilling voice filled with respect replied back to him. The shade bowed to his command and in a split second, melted back into a shadow. Dracovus watched as the shape of a shadow extended towards the unaware beasts like a predator stalking its prey. Then, darkness descended upon the wolves. The shadows underneath their feet that have been getting abnormally bigger suddenly lashed out from the ground, slicing them apart piece by piece. This happened one by one as the black mist covered the corpses left behind like a cocoon and yanked them into the shadows. The sound of flesh being ripped apart suggested that as sure as the night, only death awaited them. Not even a trace of blood was left behind where the entity of darkness feasted. After the last wolf was devoured into the shadows, the shady creature slowly glided towards its master and merged into his shadow once again, silently awaiting its next summon. Silence proliferated in the dark woods once again, as if nothing happened. ¡°Well, what do I do now?¡± Staring aimlessly into the darkness, Dracovus muttered to himself as he trotted into the woods. Of course, he wanted to see his creations back in the Void realm now that he knew this wasn¡¯t a dream, except in-person instead of through the computer monitor. However, he was also curious about the world he was in now. It certainly wasn¡¯t earth, as proven by the two moons in the sky. He scanned the vicinities using his senses of a Dragon, and found the signs of several life forces only a several kilometers from where he was. The senses also told him that they were humans too, which was perfect since he was polymorphed into a human at this moment. High Human to be precise, but it didn¡¯t matter because although High human was technically an evolved version of a human, there was no difference in appearance whatsoever. Without a single thought of hesitation, Dracovus leaped towards the direction where he felt humans and vanished along with a gust of wind. *** Stella was a normal, ten year old girl who was living in a small village of Hurbam. At least, that¡¯s what she thought of herself. She was also exceptionally clever for someone her age too, although she had no way of knowing that about herself. Perhaps that was one of the reasons why she always felt like she was out of place throughout her whole life. She lived with her mama and papa, typical farmers you can see anywhere across the countryside, and who she thought was too kind for their own good. She had a normal house, ate normal food, wore normal clothes, and squeaked in happiness whenever her mum decided to bake a sweet roll whenever the merchants brought over some sugar from the big cities. She also liked her bedtime stories and her fluffy doll she had since she was a baby. But in reality, she was an orphan. When she was younger, the children were the first to let her know that her parents weren¡¯t her real parents. Although it was questionable where they even got the information from, the important part was that they didn¡¯t let her join in any of the games because of that. Children in general always tend to pick on the smallest stuff. However, there was no way a little girl would know that. That day she went home crying. Her parents, being too soft-hearted, were forced to tell her the truth. Many years ago, she was found by the village patrol as a baby in a wrecked carriage. Her current parents, who were unable to bear a child for over fifteen years, took her in thinking she was a gift from the gods. Looking at her clear blue eyes that shone brightly like the stars, they named her Stella. Stella always instinctively felt that she didn¡¯t belong here. The story only confirmed, at least to her, why she felt like this. Of course, she still loved her parents to death and had no intention of leaving them. And so the time past, living her life as a normal village girl, until one fateful night when Stella was tucked under her blanket as usual¡ª Bam! The door to her room slammed open, causing Stella to wake up. She rubbed her eyes and saw the silhouette of her mom who was coming closer to her in a hurry. ¡°Mama?¡± Upon closer inspection of her mom¡¯s expression, Stella knew right away that something has happened. While panic still evident on her face, she dragged Stella out of her bed and brought her to the living room, holding her hand tightly. Through the cracks of the wooden shutters, she saw a flicker of orange flames and heard panicked shouts as the ground rumbled. Even a little girl was able to determine that something was wrong. The village was never this loud in the night. ¡°Mama? What¡¯s going on?¡± Without replying, her mom dragged her all the way to a cupboard that was away from plain sight, and then crouched down to her eye level. ¡°Sweetie, listen to me okay? No, don¡¯t look outside. You¡¯ll be fine. Look at me. Just look at me.¡± Her mom cupped Stella¡¯s face with her two hands and made her look into her eyes. She then opened up the small cupboard, still staring into her daughter¡¯s eyes as if to brand an image of her beloved child into her head. She then lifted her up and put her in the deepest corner of the cupboard. ¡°Sweetie, listen to mama. You have to stay inside here, okay? No matter what, you have to stay quiet. There are bad things outside, so promise me that you wouldn¡¯t come out. Mama will come get you later when it¡¯s all over.¡± ¡°Where are you going mama?¡± ¡°Mama...has to go where your daddy is. So be a good girl and stay here until I come back alright? I love you baby.¡± After kissing Stella¡¯s forehead, the woman stood up and left, shutting the cupboard door tight. Leaving her in the darkness, Alone. Chapter 3: Acceptance and Confrontation The scrambled thoughts. The torrent of memories. The mind can only take so much. Especially when there¡¯s an endless amount of foreign memories drifting inside one¡¯s head, which has yet to be integrated to the embodiment of ¡°self.¡± About millions of years worth of memories, in fact. Under a moonlit night, within the silence of the forest, a man in a dark coat strolled in between the massive tree trunks. The darkness of the woods didn¡¯t seem to affect his vision at all, as he traversed his way across. Dracovus organized his thoughts as he walked, trying to make sense of the current conundrum he was going through. The memories that clearly weren¡¯t ¡°his¡± lingered in his brain, but his mind was telling him that those were indeed his memories. He pondered about the previous encounter with the dire wolves. He had instinctively called upon Myst back then, but when he thought about it now, he simply could not comprehend what exactly spurred him to summon the shadowborn. Why did he believe that there was a creature hiding in the shadows? How did he know that the ominous creature was the exact same one as the one in the video game he played? How the hell did he know that those were Dire wolves, a common animal found in the game Beyond, to begin with? At least the said memories were somewhat familiar to him, as it was similar to the events of the video game he played as his character. But it was much more. Those memories weren¡¯t just him playing the game through the screen; it was as if he had experienced everything first-hand. Even the skills that he had no interaction whatsoever in real life, like blacksmithing or swordsmanship, came to him naturally. For example, if someone put him into a blacksmithing forge and told him to make a sword, he was sure that he would be able to do it with such skill that a piece of iron would turn into a legendary sword. ¡®Well that¡¯s only fair, since I reached the pinnacle of blacksmithing in-game. Hell, I even got a fancy title for it.¡¯ Dracovus concluded as he pieced everything together. The new knowledge that he abruptly got was slowly beginning to make sense to him, which he thought was a good start. In the corner of his eyes, Dracovus noticed that the trees were starting to open up. The sudden change of scenery caused him to pause on his guesswork, as he found himself standing on the edge of a small lake. The scenery itself was dazzling. The brilliant lights of the moons and the stars reflected off the peaceful waters, like thousands of sparkling diamonds. When he glanced at the water, he saw a man with golden eyes staring back at him. This confirmation was all he needed for solidifying his conjecture of this whole event. This was indeed reality. Excitement prevailed in his mind like a child who found a new toy, but at the same time, he felt a little melancholic. Will he ever find his way back home? Would he ever try? He snorted at such a thought. There was nothing left for him back home. He would have to resume the cycle of desolation all over again. He didn¡¯t have any dreams, regrets, or even a life. Perhaps he never had them in the first place. He closed his eyes, and the memories of his ¡®human¡¯ past came rushing in, as if they were waiting for a chance to remind him over and over again. The darkness of the night. The scent of gunpowder and steel. The look of despair on a dying soul. The chill of their body as they drew in their last breath. The blood on his hands. The scene repeated itself in a cycle, but each time with a different face. A different ember of life that he snuffed out. He soon found himself trapped in this vicious loop, leaving a crimson trail behind him. There was no way for him to stop though, as it was his whole life. These memories dated back even when he was still a little kid. He was raised as a killer, and lived his whole life as a killer. When he lost his legs, he lost his only purpose that his entire life was built around in. A sigh escaped his lips. Maybe his life predetermined the entire time. He opened his eyelids slowly, and stared at his reflection on the clear waters once again. What looked back at him wasn¡¯t a man he knew, but a dragon in human skin. It was Dracovus Aregon, his game character, but also one of the four Primordial beings that ruled over the four Primordial Powers. He looked at his palms, and clenched them into a fist with firm determination. He didn¡¯t know what exactly happened to him to end up in the body of his game character, but one thing was for sure. No more would he be dragged along by fate. No more would he be lost without purpose or direction. The Primordial Void shall break his chains, and set him free. With a light thrust of his legs, Dracovus shot up to the clouds in the sky with pure physical leg strength, generating a deafening shockwave. The overarching trees that threatened to swallow him soon became little green dots beneath his feet. A vast landscape, covered with an ocean of greenery on a scale he has never seen before, lay before his eyes as the moons above gently illuminated the darkness. The wind brushed past his face on his ascent, giving him a soothing feeling and shaking off his feeling of uneasiness. Once he was hundreds of meters up in the air, his eyes caught the sight of faint light coming from the far edges of the forest. It was at a distance that a mere human eye won¡¯t be able to discern, but he was no human. He immediately recognized that it was the place where he felt the presence of humans. The scent of blood tingled his nose, as he looked towards the direction of the presence. His near omnipotent senses of a transcended dragon picked up screams of desperation, and the shouts of men. It was the scent of conflict. The kind that involved blood and steel. The kind he was most familiar with. Turning his body mid-air to point towards the direction of the light, he focused on the flow of the universe. The memories he had gotten guided him to tap into the source of his power. Suddenly, as if awakened by his attention, something both inside and outside him surged throughout every nerve of his body, filling him with complete bliss.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. It was Mana. Energy of mysterious origins that can make the impossible into reality. As a dragon transcendent, a being that is entirely made up of the purest form of mana, manipulating it came naturally to him as moving his limbs. The mana slowly circled him as if it was giving a heartfelt greeting, before adhering to his will and shooting his body like a bullet towards his intended destination. *** As the flaming torch left the grasp of a grown man and hit the wooden walls, the fire blazed up towards the sky, devouring the house along with it. The orange flames that pierced through the darkness, as well as the occasional screams of the villagers being cut down, was enough to elicit a malicious mood from anyone near. A rough looking man sat upright on his horse, looking over the burning village with what possibly could be a smug expression, if not for his horribly disfigured face. He was a man who was only describable by a single word: Intimidating. His chest muscles were swollen to the point where it was about to burst open the leather armor he was wearing. His powerful arms that were connected to his wide shoulders caused no one to question his strength. The giant battle axe he held at the end of those arms only served to emphasize how dangerous he was. Regardless of which part of his body one would look at, there was no better way to describe him other than as a ¡®brute¡¯. Apart from his body, he had a face that resembled more of a toad than human, with his large cheekbones and baggy eyes. Despite how silly it looked, the contrast between his daunting body and his comical face was what made him even more frightening. Which in fact, was perfectly suitable for a bandit leader like him. He and his group of bandits usually lived off of ambushing unlucky stray merchants or caravans that used to pass the roads near the Evertrunk forest, but never have plundered a fully fledged village before, let alone a village like this one that was almost large enough to call itself a town. Until now. The bandit leader turned back to the village and gazed at the men busily looting anything that seemed valuable. They were all bandits, mostly consisted of thieves, outlaws, or farmers who had no choice but to turn to banditry. Looking at his ¡®lackeys¡¯ putting the loot into old sacks, the leader let out a coarse laugh. The raid went much better than he has ever hoped for; these village folk had much more in their possessions than they have expected. So they took them all. After all, they would have no use for it anymore in their afterlife. All that was bound to be worth a good coin somewhere, and it was all for him. The leader rode on his horse, galloping throughout the settlement and occasionally splitting the head of a runaway villager he could get his hands on with his trusty axe. The axe that was infused with his Aura seemed to hum in joy as it drenched itself with crimson blood of the innocents. Bandits usually never recklessly raided a settlement in a direct confrontation like this, as both sides would suffer pointless casualties. However, after a deal with the mages in ominous black robes who have contacted them, they now held a clear advantage over the village defenses. The mages generously supplied them gold, better weapons, horses, and drugs that temporarily juiced them up in exchange for one thing: complete massacre of nearby settlements. Strangely they put emphasis on the fact that they had to kill everyone, including the women and children. Although this raised some questions, and not being able to sell the women and children off as slaves annoyed the bandit leader a little, the compensation he received was enough to outweigh all his complaints. Besides, it wasn¡¯t as if questioning those mages would do any good for him. He couldn¡¯t care less about what those mages were up to as long as he made a profit. When he was having his gleeful moment of basking in delusions of his newfound wealth, a call from one of his bandits caused him to wipe off the stupid grin on his terrifying face. ¡°Boss man! There¡¯s some traveler coming over here!¡± One of his underlings shouted while clearly out of breath from running around the village trying to inform the leader as soon as possible. Not out of respect, but out of fear. The leader raised his eyebrows in suspicion while looking down upon the grunt. Seeing his condescending gaze, the bandit flinched and curled up his body slightly out of instinct. His dagger seemed pitiful in comparison to the giant axe. ¡°This late at night? Are you sure?¡± ¡°Y..yes! I swear boss! Y..you can ask the others! They were watching him the last time I¡¯ve seen.¡± The towering brute snorted as he looked away from the scrawny bandit. ¡°Bring me there.¡± He demanded in a harsh tone. ¡°Right away boss!¡± The duo moved to the entrance of the village where the supposed traveler was coming to. On the way, a hundred or so bandits noticed oddity and joined them towards the destination as well. Upon arriving at the entrance, they saw an unimaginably handsome man dressed in greyish black, surrounded by four of their comrades. There was an indescribable tension permeating through the air as ten dozen or so rough bandits faced a single man. Ogling the man from top to bottom, the bandit leader licked his lips. Whoever this traveler was, he sure smelled like profit. Given his simple but well-tailored clothes, his clean-shaven face, and his good looks that almost could be called beautiful, albeit covered partially by the darkness of the night, he was likely from a small noble family or a wealthy merchant. Although he wondered why would such a person would come to a small remote village this late at night, that again was simply none of his concern. Whatever the circumstances, all he had to do was to rob him blind and possibly sell his pretty face off to a slave trader for extra coin. The mages didn¡¯t say anything about people not from the village after all. ¡°You picked a bad time to come here boy.¡± The bandit leader croaked maliciously with a grin. His lackeys snickered at that comment, as they slowly started to encircle the man. Dracovus silently gazed upon the corpses of the villagers from the village entrance and sighed. Even at first glance, it was clear to him what went down. Hundred or so men stared at him with gazes full of greed, ready to pounce at him like wild animals. The bandit leader, mistaking his absence of reply as a sign of terror, chuckled loudly and ordered his men. ¡°Go get him boys, try not to kill him!¡± He growled in joy. Five men that were closest to Dracovus dashed towards him with their hands extended forward, trying to grapple him. Even though they were only a couple meters away from him, Dracovus waited patiently because it seemed to him that those men were running towards him in slow motion, which amused him a little. It wasn¡¯t as if he actually slowed down time. It was just that his perception has gotten so ridiculously high to the point that he was able to perceive every little detail around him in milliseconds. And of course, he was sure that he could actually slow down time with magic if he ever so wished to. But why bother when they are the ones coming straight at him? There was a momentary spark of wildness in his golden eyes as the men got closer and closer. Once they were within arm¡¯s reach, he snatched the arm of the first man he saw and yanked it to the opposite direction, completely breaking his arm with a satisfying snap. Before the bandit could even let out a cry of pain, the dragon in human skin struck his throat with a blur, killing him instantly. In blinding speeds, Dracovus weaved himself towards the next man, this time sending a low kick that shattered both of his legs, and crushed his skull following up with an axe kick. Without even turning his head to look, Dracovus then sent a spirling fist straight into the third man¡¯s guts with such force that it twisted all of his organs inside. He did have to make sure he had to control his power though, since he definitely didn¡¯t want a bloody mess this late at night. Although the remaining of the five outlaws noticed their mates breathe their last, the poor souls weren¡¯t able to stop their momentum as they ran straight into the fists of guaranteed instant death. It was almost comical, to be honest. How strange for him to find humor in the oddest places, he thought. As the last bandit buckled onto the floor with a lifeless thud, a different kind of stillness permeated the area. The surrounding bandits just stared at him with stunned faces, unable to comprehend what just happened. A second passed. Twice. Thrice. Silence. The bandit leader blinked his eyes in surprise. As an Aura Novice that was close to approaching the realm of an Aura Apprentice, it was impossible for an ordinary man to move in speeds fast enough to avoid his perception of his Aura infused body. By no means can they also kill five men that easily either. In other words, the man who was standing in front of him was at least a realm above him, or even more. Looking back into his unshakable golden orbs that looked down upon them, he broke out in a cold sweat as his body responded to an unknown pressure that was being emitted from those eyes. Eyes that seemed to disregard their existence entirely. Eyes that terrorized their souls just by looking at it. And this fear did not go unnoticed by Dracovus. A predatory grin formed on his lips, which made a couple of the bandits flinch by instinct. Although having to deal with these despicable lowlives annoyed him a little, he also considered it an opportunity. After all, if this wasn¡¯t a chance to play around with proper magic since his shift of identity, then what else would it be?