Darius's eyes shot open. He was looking up into the sky lying on the ground eagle spread. Something immediately felt off about the ground though. It was oddly spongy and fluffy. It also seemed to mold around his entire body. "Wait, now that I think about it, how did I get outside? And does the moon seem closer and more blue than normal? Blue..... THE MOON IS BLUE?!" He hopped to his feet and took in his surroundings. There was nothing but rolling mounds of dark gray as far as the eye could see. The sky above him clear and filled with stars and a big blue moon.
"I'm standing....on.....clouds." As if in response to him, a flock of birds chirped from beneath him. They sounded almost scared. The clouds several meters away lit up and were followed by roaring thunder that shook the clouds beneath his feet. He fell to his knees. The noise was so loud he thought his ears would bleed. They weren't just clouds, they were storm clouds. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?! Ok, think Darius. I was playing Fallen Heroes, then the strange symbols, then a bright golden light. Oh shit..... I got raptured. So is this heaven?"
He gave himself a quick once over. "Hm. Everything seems to be in the right place."
He looked around again. "I'm pretty sure heaven shouldn't look like this. No golden gates? No welcome choir? No sense and staying wherever this is. Guess I'd better start walking."
He walked around for a while testing his footing and looking for signs of anything holy. There was nothing except for a dot in the distance that was most likely a mountain top many many miles away. Outside of the dot, all he saw was storm clouds and the occasional flash of light beneath his feet that was quickly followed by ear shattering thunder.
However, he did find that he was much lighter then before. He jumped several feet into the air with ease. He tried running only to find that it was rather clumsy on the uneven cloud surface so he stuck to walking. "This can't be Earth. The moon isn't blue, nor is it that big. And I definitely couldn't walk on clouds before. I've got to find my way down."
After about ten minutes of walking towards the distant dot, he felt a pulse in the back of his head. It was as if someone rammed a truck against the inside of his skull. Something was coming. He didn't know how he knew, but after years stuck in the military he knew to listen to his instincts. A distant roar sounded several miles away. It was a loud guttural sound he could feel reverberate in his chest. Thunder followed soon after. That wasn't from any animal Darius had ever heard. Considering how loud it was it must be massive. He heard it again, this time it was much closer. Whatever it was, the thing was fast. The seconds ticked by for what felt like an eternity until the clouds burst upwards in front of him.
From them came what could only be described as a dragon. It was as if someone molded a river into a giant serpent. It shot straight up through the air only to gently come back to rest on the clouds as if its massive body weighed nothing. Even with it coiled up he could tell the creature was at least the length of several football fields. It's scales were the purest color of ebony. It's eyes were a piercing golden color, accentuated by a wild rigid mane of the same color. It's thick stag like horns were almost the size of tree trunks. The dragon's maw was filled with razor sharp teeth. It seemed to be snarling at him, yet oddly Darius didn't see malice in its eyes.
From his expert otaku observation, he could tell the dragon was definitely the Japanese variant. No wings on his body. Must be magic. I wonder if he grants wishes? He thought he heard more thunder, but then realized it was laughing. He was surprised to see it was coming from the dragon. "HAHAHAHAHAHA. YOU SEE ME, A BEING YOUR KIND THOUGHT TO EXIST ONLY IN FICTION, AND YOUR FIRST QUESTION IS IF I GRANT WISHES. THE AUDACITY OF YOU HUMANS NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE ME." It began to laugh again. Darius almost fell over from the sound of its voice. The dragon noticed this, and proceeded to shrink. It shrunk down to the size of a very large anaconda. Was that magic?
"My apologies. I tend to underestimate the power of my natural form. You're pretty tough to only be rattled, most people are blown clear off their feet from the force of my voice. Hahahahaha." Again it spoke and laughed, but this time it was manageable. In truth he hadn't felt that much force coming from the beast's voice. What shook him was how loud it was. It felt like his hearing had been amplified dozens of times over. Once he got his bearings he asked, "How did you know what I was thinking?" The dragon responded, "Because of our link of course." "What link?" "Did you not feel it activate? I gave you a small mental love tap on my way here." He recalled the powerful pounding feeling he had in his head before this dragon appeared. "That searing pain was a love tap?"
"Ah. I forget. To someone not experienced with telepathy, the first time is a bit rough. Especially with someone like myself."
The dragon began another fit of laughter. Darius thought how strange this situation was. He was conversing with an actual living breathing dragon while standing on top of sea of thunderclouds like it was a everyday thing. He then had a glorious thought. If dragons exist here, and magic is real, then maybe elves are here as well. More importantly, elven women. Hehehehe. A devilish grin appeared on his face. "Hey! You understand I can see all the weird things currently floating around in your mind at the moment right?" "So we're linked huh..." "Don't ignore me!" "Why? And how? Are there elven wome.....I mean elven people in this world?" The dragon held one of his three claws up, his face trying to regain its composure. "Easy on the questions. I know only slightly more than you do. I know you share some of my abilities. Though you already possess your own, I've yet to figure out how they interact. I've also no clue as to why or how we were sent here as a linked pair." "We were sent here?" Does he mean he's from my world? And what power is he talking about?
Darius's hand twitched with another question and a yellow bolt of lightning shot from his index finger into the clouds below his feet. "Um. I definitely couldn't do that before." He tried it again and another bolt shot from his index finger straight through the air. "Well if you'll excuse me Mr Dragon, something just came up. I gotta go address it. I'll only be a moment." Darius busied himself shooting bolts in every direction while grinning like a child. Every nerdy dream he had ever had had prepared him for this moment. He shouted every pop culture reference he could quote while firing lightning bolts through the air.
The dragon watched him and spoke to himself more than Darius. "So being transported to this world gave you the same control over storms as myself. Our link is amplifying it, and giving you some of my other abilities as well. Very interesting." The dragon's expression changed to that of contemplation having become lost in thought. Darius on the other hand came to a shocking realization. He hadn't been the only one to see the symbols that brought him here. Cris had seen them too. Did that mean he was here as well? Or had he been sent somewhere else? He had to find out. He'd die before he missed out on the chance to dual his friend with his new power.
Darius's thoughts drifted from his nerdgasm, to his friend, to wondering just what mess they had been thrust into when the dragon finally spoke to him. "I've many questions about our current predicament as well, but we're going to have to go to the surface to find them. We'll probably find your friend there as well, if he's here. Considering my appearance, that job will be up to you. I won't have you do this unprepared though. You need to understand how to use your new power, and I'll be the one to teach you. You'll have a month of training before you go to the surface of this new world."
"What do you mean training? I can figure things out as I go, and I can do that while I search for my friend. A couple days practice? Maybe. Though I think a month is a bit much isn't it Mr Dragon?" "First, my name is Raiga. Second, this isn't a choice, It's happening. Unless you'd rather wonder aimlessly, zapping things at random until you die of thirst or starvation."
"I'm a member of the US Army my giant scaly friend, and I've been one for a while. The wilderness is my playground. I've been trained to adapt to damn near any situation you can throw at me." "Again. It's Raiga. And I'm aware of your military back ground. Its quite apparent considering you're wearing half your uniform. Nevertheless your training shall begin tomorrow." Darius face twisted with annoyance as he thought better of arguing with a creature capable of flicking him away like a bug. "If we'll be training together, then I should tell you my name. It's-". "No". "Huh?" "Once you have completed your training you will have earned the right to speak your name. Until then you are a pup" "A pup? Needing to learn how to properly zap things doesn't make me a pup damn it." "This isn't just about mastering your new found powers. This is about teaching you to control your new physical abilities as well as your magical ones." The only thing Darius was aware of, was the fact that he was much lighter in this new world. "What new physical abilities?"
Raiga grew back to his full size and gestured for him to get on. This time it was Darius that heard Raiga's thoughts. Hold on tight. They alighted and flew in the direction of the dark dot from earlier. Darius only processed this towards the end of their short journey because Raiga created a sonic boom as he surged through the air. The wind tore at his face for only a moment, for they arrived in mere minutes. Darius dismounted awkwardly and landed face first into more clouds. After popping his ears and regaining his equilibrium from his abrupt flight, he looked up at his new companion with irritation.
"Damn it. Warn me the next time you decide to break the damn sound barrier with me along for the ride." Raiga ignored him and pointed a claw towards the mountain top. Hit it. "Hit it? Look I'm aware I'm probably a bit stronger than normal considering that flight didn't tear me apart, but that's still a massive building sized chunk of solid rock." Raiga simply stared at him and continued to point. "Do you want me to break my hand?" Seeing Raiga unmoved, he relented with a sigh. He walked up to the towering pyramid of rock, and got into a fighting stance.
He looked back at the annoyingly stubborn serpent once more before he did what he knew would break his fist. He decided to half ass it and throw a simple light straight punch and the impossible happened. His fist hit the mountain with such force that a giant spider web of cracks formed at the point of impact. Darius's mouth hung slightly ajar as his eye began to twitch. As much as he wanted to mentally call him every name under the sun, he knew Raiga would hear it and make this situation worse than it already is. "Don't lie. There was no effort put into that was there." Raiga said it as a statement of fact rather than a question, but Darius answered all the same.
"No...." He sighed and swallowed his pride. "Fine. Let's get this over with." He looked at Raiga with anticipation. "Oh we aren't starting right now. I need my beauty sleep. We start tomorrow. Rest tonight and tomorrow we begin." After listening to Raiga and watching him curl up to sleep, Darius remembered he'd been transported during the night. He hadn't been to sleep, yet he didn't really feel tired. He figured sleep would come whenever and laid on the bed of clouds at his feet. "This is actually pretty comfy. Guess I'll try to doze off and ignore that loud ass beast behind me." Raiga had already fallen asleep and was snoring profusely. Darius took one last look at the strange moon as a smile crept its way to his face. He closed his eyes and drifted off for the night.