The moment that Simon appeared in this world what welcomed him was a fantastic scenery and also a little bit of pain as he feel from a few meters height.
Grunting and looking around him, he was froze on his place at the wonderful and magical sight.
His surroundings were filled with a sea of clouds like cotton, far in the sky, among the enormous clouds could be seen two pale moons. The clouds seemed to impide him from looking below it, as it extended until the far sight.
He took a moment and looked down on his feet and what he saw was a red-like soil, the whole terrain was red. with small patches of green soil.
'How the hell I will get down?' That was the first thing in Simon's head. He assumed that he was probably in a mountain or something among those lines, as the clouds could only extend like that in high places.
It was certainly problematic as the whole terrain was steep, and he will lack of oxygen if he moved too much.
"Well, first of all, gotta see if there's something that I can eat and drink "
Simon began to walk around the place It was quite the large terrain as he assumed it may have a few hundreds of meters, or more, there were some bushes and a few little trees.
For around forty minutes he searched the whole area. What did he find?
Bird poop, and some kind of berries. Aside from that, dry sticks and dead grass.
'How barren' He thought.
"Well certainly I need to get down from here, but how I'm supposed to do this?" Simon started scratching his head while making a troubled face.
"It would be okay if I was reborn as a baby or something, but nope, he just threw me here, on top of a fucking big mountain, God damnit!" A little frustrated for his situation, he shout in anger.q
He could try his abilities by getting down by his own hands, but that most probably will end up with him dead, again.
"FUCK!" Simon roared loud.
'well certainly the view here is marvelous, should I sit and watch the sunset? But without anything to ate and drink I would die. Forget about that, how can I breathe so smoothly here? I should be above a few kilometers up. Would I not face hypoxia?' Simon's head began a train of thought without him noticed it while sitting on a flat stone, losing himself watching the view.
...
Camille was returning from burning a castle, there lived a certain human noble that pissed her a few weeks ago, he claimed that she was the daughter of a snake and that he didn't fear her. A blatant insult for her. She took noticed of it due to a friend of her that usually came to hunt in the forest under her nest.
When Camille's friend finished telling her what that noble said, she flew in anger, blowing smoke through her nose and mouth. Then she began to incinerate all of that man's land until her anger began to diminish.
'Hmph, that will suffice. Now that human will understand that he can't afford to get us angry. Insignificant being, how dare you say that we are a snake?' Camille began to rejoice herself in vanity while cursing him. She was flying to her nest to rest for a few days maybe weeks, she deserved it. Or that is what she thinks.
Dragons are superior magical beings that generally live thousands of years, they are greedy, arrogant and lonely by nature. Camille is from an ancient clan of Void-Dragons, she did know this because once a human mage mentioned her this and a few other things in exchange for letting him study her for a few weeks, she didn't know who her parents were or when she began to realize she was alive. But what she did know was that she was alone in this world, the last remnant of a void-Dragon was from dozen of thousands of years in a continent far away from where she born and grew up, this mountain.
Young dragons usually live with their parents until they are old enough to hunt by themselves. As they are avatars of magic, their bodies are coveted by other races, that's why Dragon-hunters often kill newborns or young dragons when they found them without their parents, as an adult dragon is more than often impossible to face by normal means and required large numbers of the most powerful beings or representatives from all races to just kill a single one. And by that moment you will often find that a kingdom was destroyed in the heat of battle and thousand of lives, if not more, were killed. That is why a wild adult Dragon appearing in the mortal world was a synonymous of calamity.
Camille was lucky that her nest was in a peaceful place, where other races found it hard just to get near. Even when she was a youngster she could easily run away to here and the dragon-Hunters will not dare to follow her. Just a few were powerful enough to dare to trespass the forest and small mountains surrounding this one, and at the level of those people, a dragon does not mean any gain. They could not tame them since the pride and arrogance of the Dragon race make them the first under the sky. If they are killed, their remains will attract many beasts and that could mean the birth of a powerful being that could threaten people who live near the mountain and its forests. Also, often old dragons could share their wisdom that can give any normal person a chance to ascend to a higher being.
But, although Camille was not threatened, she found her existence difficult to understand. When she generally travels incognito to cities and towns, she could see how normal people live their lives, how they have something that power could not give her and it was difficult for her to get it, friends and family. She has heard about how arrogant and proud dragons were, she was one, but what she longed for was someone to talk to. Yes, she has a friend who often comes and talks to her, but what can she do in the meantime when she isn't there?
It was one of those times when Camille found a hobby, she would simulate her identity and take a humanoid form, then she would become an adventurer and try to find a party while having adventures and learning new things each travel. This is how she could fill a bit of her thirst for talking with someone.
It was her only way, in her normal form the people get scared away or feared her, they couldn't be like themselves in front of her.
While she was lost in what to do, the years went by, until today, nothing changed in how to solve her problems, but she found something to do. Erase those annoying human nobles, often she saw in the cities how despicable they can be.
Camille was flying near her nest while she was thinking. ' This is an important day, I should go to find those bearded monkeys to ask them today's date' It was then when she started to hear and smell something unusual above her nest.
'Hmm? How can this be? what is a human doing over there? Didn't he see my marks?'
Camille flew up to the mountain top, where she saw a young human in weird clothes, he seemed to be thinking about something while he looks at the clouds on the horizon. Camille was staring at him profoundly, she hasn't seen someone like him in the cities. He was tall considering his age and that he was human that looked like the Midlanders, at least that is what she seems to remember. He has curly brown hair with a weird haircut. It looked for her like a helmet but she was sure that it was hair. 'How weird' His skin was a little pale and his eye color were... yellow? No, golden! What is this, is he some kind of human-beast specie?
'No matter how I look at it, this human is weird, and what the hell is he doing here?'
Camille wanted to talk to him but found the words unable to get out of her mouth.
'Not again, why It always happened to me?'
She often had problems while talking to people, as someone with little social interaction, she more than often found herself unable to speak.
It was then when she saw the human looking at her with his mouth wide open.
...
'FUCK.
Yes, FUCK. That it's a dragon right there if I am not wrong. Did I fall into a Dragons lair? But that God told me to live well. How I am supposed to live well in a mountain, with a Dragon? I'm dead.'
Simon wanted to scream, the dragon was enormous huge, bigger than the whole mountain top they were currently in, he didn't found it first because he was absorbed looking at the sunset. But then he began to notice something black in the surroundings. It was then when he saw it, making his soul leaving his body scared out.
'It didn't kill me at first sight, why is that?'
Simon grew his gut and asked.
"Am I in a bad place now, Mr. Dragon?"
"WHO'S A MR DRAGON!? YOU WEIRD."
With a thunderous voice the dragon response back.
Making him close his eyes on fear and taking his palms towards his ears.
'How rude of him, I was being nice to him, but is good that It can understand me'
Simon said to himself grudgingly while trying to shake off the dizziness.
"How I am weird? And sorry if I was impolite, but you see, I suddenly found myself here, I didn't want to intrude here." Simon said and began to explain himself, even if the dragon didn't ask.
"Can you please not eat me? I will find a way to get out of here in the next day's, I promise"
Simon was sweating bullets by being watched by that enormous Dragon. Even he didn't know how his voice was going out smoothly when he was so nervous.
His back was filled with sweat and for the first time, his hands were starting to feel wet.
The Dragon was still silent, his ferocious mouth filled with knife-like tooth's was a little open, he didn't know if the dragon was angry or if it is going to suddenly throw magic to him.
Simon waited for a few seconds until the dragon finally said something, although in a low voice that almost didn't seemed to belong to the dragon in front of him.
"...your name and how can you suddenly appear here?... why ... look like that?..."
Simon couldn't understand well what the dragon said, he looked troubled while talking to him.
'maybe this isn't his common language?'
"Sorry but I couldn't hear you well, could you please repeat it?"
Simon asked faintly while looking down.
The dragon froze in the place and then its tail began to move faster, a whistle began to sound around Simon, as he began to noticed the air and wind start moving behind the dragon, while his voice sounded explosive.
"WHAT IS YOUR NAME? YOU FILTHY HUMAN AND HOW CAN YOU APPEAR SUDDENLY IN MY MOUNTAIN? SPEAK, WHO SENT YOU HERE?"
'Shit! How did I manage to trigger this Dragon with only a question?
calm down, calm down or you going to get fucked' Simon began to tremble at the sight of the dragon's anger, then began to squeeze his brain to find a good answer without triggering the Dragon anymore.
"Please don't kill me, I swear that I suddenly appear here, also my name is Simon... for the moment" Simon shut his eyes while blurting it out the words out of his mouth.
Meanwhile, Camille was blaming herself for being unable to talk well with the human, she even manages to scared him much more than when he first saw her.
'It was his fault, how can he confuse me with a male dragon!? My scales didn't look that rough, right?'
She tried to maintain herself calm, then she talked again.
"I can't guarantee that nobody sends you here, but seeing you like that I guess you're not going to do something stupid... you ... said your name was Simon, right? you can come down to my nest, here at night is dangerously cold for a human being like you. When we're down there I'm going to ask you a few more things, ALSO I AM A FEMALE DRAGON, okay?" With that said Camille use her tail and began to hit the surface of the mountain to make a path enough for Simon, as the rocky and steep terrain was too hard for him to walk down quickly.
Simon was stupefied for a few moments, he couldn't believe that the dragon could talk so well and deduce so many things.
'She isn't one of those brain beast dragons from the novels, well this is a good thing, let's hope my tongue is enough to keep me alive, If not... I fear for my body' He thought to himself while lamenting for the future of his body if everything go south, he couldn't even enjoy his current appearance, the enhanced version he wishes for. While thinking of this he began to talk awfully and said. "Thank you, I will try not to be a nuisance." Then he started to walk through the path that Ms.Dragon made for him.
"Does you have a name?" While he was walking down avoiding dangerous stones he tried to talk her.
Camille stopped for a moment while she tries to answer him.
"..."
"...." Simon.
"...aaaamille..." Faintly she said.
"...?...." Noticing that Simon keep looking at her, she suddenly she raised her voice.
"Camille!"
As if that answer consume her strength, she began to walk slowly and her tail started to work slower.
'Does she have trouble speaking?' Simon thought to himself while walking behind her.
"Nice to meet you Camille, and thanks for not eating me. Can I ask you another question?." Simon started to relax, while not forgetting about look at the path in front of him.
"You already did, but go ahead," Camille said.
"It is normal for a Dragon having a name like that? I mean, I used to think that Dragons' name was a bit unusual, like Leviathan or Nidhogg." Simon asked with curiosity.
Camilla then halted on her place and turned around to glare at him with her eyes narrowed.
"And who are they? I am Camille, I rule this land and I don't need any other name than that." She turned around again and keeps going while making a path for him.
"Also this name was given to me by someone I appreciate." She added in a small voice.
Simon would lie if he says that she didn't scare him when she turned around a looked at him like that, it make him feel like he was a tiny rabbit in front of a tiger. Well, a giant lizard in this case.
"Sorry I didn't mean to offend you, it was just where I came from that it's usually how they called dragon's."
Camille didn't let him off and asked.
"And where you come from?"
'shit I didn't think of an excuse'
His eyes suddenly lit up and he said with certain mischievousness.
"A God send me in this world you see, for his decree i was granted with life, would you like to help this ambassador from Gods to carry on their will?"
"No, those God's can go to hell, I will ask you again, where you come from? No games this time" Camilla said menacingly.
Simon looked trouble and he said with some ambiguity.
"Well, it's a strange town where everyone is selfish, I couldn't take it anymore so I run away from there, I guess I appear here trying to start again from zero"
Hearing his words, Camille didn't let him go this time."So you didn't appear here suddenly, how did you manage to trespass all my traps?"
"hey that was true, I appeared here suddenly, I swear it for my mom. Why you can't believe me? Even if I have the chance, why would I appear in a Dragon's lair?" He tried to explain himself.
"I don't know, tell me you."She cut him while turning around, she then added "It's my nest, not my lair. Also, we are close to it do not touch anything, these are my things, if I found that you stole something, you're dead"
With that Camille crouch down and then shoot herself with a jump to a giant cave, the surroundings of the cave were surprisingly sculpted with a certain style. Simon could make some resemblances with the greek architecture. Also, there was a road that goes down the mountain, but he couldn't see too much with the darkness in his surroundings and with only the faint light of the moons.
'Im surprised how fast we go down, I don't know how high we were up there but it took more than thirty minutes.' He thought to himself.
The sky in this world was pretty different from the one of earth, here the sky has two small moons, one of them has a faint green color while the other one resembled a little bit with the one from the earth.
'This looks pretty good actually, set aside that I was kidnapped by a dragon, the night here is beautiful, also this dragon lair could be seen as an ancient archeological place. By far this is the most exciting thing that happened to me in years' Simon started to ponder in his mind without noticing how much he changed from a few hours ago.
...
Once inside of Camille nest, Simon found a place for himself, the place unsurprisingly big, giant to say the least, he was sure that none of the buildings he saw on earth could get near to the size of this place.
To begin with, the floor seemed to have been sculpted from some kind of marble, it was smooth and pleasing to eyes, even with the dim lights surrounding the place.
The wall around him, he calculate that may have near to sixty to seventy meters if not more. Varios pillars where arranged in a perfect position, leaving enough space for the dragon body to pass through while carrying the weight of the mountain top.
There where also various humanoid sculptures clad in armor along the path, surprisingly they were in good state and aside from some fading colors in their White-Grey surface, they seemed well maintained. Still, even these sculptures were huge compared to Simon, around six to ten meters each one, and they were in rows, nearing just fifty from the side that he was walking through, meanwhile in the other side it seemed to be the same amount, only increasing in numbers and height while you get deeper.
While walking, he noted some inscriptions on the base of the sculptures, they were in some kind of rune that he was unable to comprehend.
Still marveled by the place, he walked through various minutes walking taking his time and adjusting his sight to see the place. It reminded him like one of those places he went back on earth, only with poor illumination.
A few minutes later, he finally reached what appear to be the end of the hall of large corridor that started in the entrance. He didn't know the exact length but he rounded near five hundred meters or more.
Still, the place he was facing now was a huge wall, on it was what it seemed to be a large mural, surprisingly this one still retained the colours, and was illuminated by a dim rocks-light. On it could be seen a seemingly baroque style mural depicting the coronation of a black dragon, surrounded by what seemed to be sturdy humans, lots of them.
'How wonderful, it's incredible for the size of this thing too, and I mean, look at these details!! I can see the details on the human armors and the crown of the dragon' He thought to himself excited, as the large details on the mural amazed him. The size of the mural was near 80x150 mts, so it could be understandable his emotions.
After a few more minutes admiring the piece of art, he keep walking towards the reverse side of this mural. Passing through a pitch black corridor, he was welcomed by a fantastic sight, the floor was slightly illuminated by the same rocks, only that it was perfectly uniform and in a grandiose way.
'Wow... This ... oh my god, this is incredible.' He was flabbergasted.
In front of him was a circular colossal dome, supported by a beautiful carved circular arc that reached a few dozens of meters. In the top of the dome could be seen more murals, sculptures, statues and even beautiful gems decorating.
The walls were white in color, from a rock material that he wasn't aware off. All in all, for Simon was hauntingly beautiful, he never have seen before such a place on his life, not even the Palace of Versailles nor the Saint Peter Basilica could approach to it's beauty and detail. It was certainly a beauty beyond earth.
As he stood struck on the floor, unable to take off his eyes from the sight, he didn't notice how much time passed after he wake up from his stupor.
Closing his eyes various times to adjust to the delight and to calm his dry eyes, he took a look at his feets. In front of him was something that resembled a giant bed, it was taking most of the middle place of the dome floor, on it, was the body of Camille, that seemed to reduce of it's previous size as he was sure that she wouldn't have fit on there.
Still, she was still a few dozens of meters in size, but now was more manageable for Simon mind to cope with it.
Getting near to her, he took a few glances around in searching for a place to rest, all around he could see various clothes, weapons, and many others things that he couldn't distinguish pretty well.
Camille was glaring at him during all this time, her eyes didn't miss anything he was doing. Ready for whatever he might try to do.
Stoping on his steps, he pointed towards a place where it was a large piece of hide, and then Simon said "Can I take a seat there?"
He took a glance towards Camille and saw her nodding. Without further words he moved towards the place to finally take a seat and relax a little bit, after a few seconds when he finally was resting on the warmth hide and tried to rest, he was interrupted as Camille began to ask him things about him and what she thinks was his tribe.
"How did you manage to reach here? I don't see any magical activity on your body." She asked while Simon grimaced at her question.
"Well, I wasn't laying when I said that I suddenly appeared here." Hearing his last words, Camille tensed her body and began to growl, noticing this, Simon quickened his 'Explanation'.
"Wait, wait, wait, let me finish."He raised both of his hands as a panicking expression was all over his face, noticing Camille stoping her actions he continue "Uhm, a guy on grey robes actually sent me here after I scaped from my town, if you ask me, i don't even know where I am currently in. So yup, that's how"
Narrowing her slits, Camille maintained in silence for a few moments as she asked her next question "Are you crippled? Is that why you wanted to escape from your town?"
"No, I am not, as you can see I'm perfectly capable of moving my limbs and i don't have any mental incapacity that I'm aware of asides from stupidity."
.. .
"Why your eyes are yellow? Did your parents were part beast, part humans?"
...
"Why is your hair like that? Wouldn't you prefer to have a long hair like everyone else? Is that why you run out?"
...
"Why are your clothes so strange?"
...
"Do you like my nest?"
...
And like that time passed by while Simon got accostumed to her presence while answering her questions. Simon also noticed that Camille somehow looked lonely, she makes him remember those grannies who often search for people wanting to talk them. He found it funny as a Dragon who looked so dreadful could resemble so much to a kind granny.
As Simon answered all Camille's question, she found herself more relaxed and started to talk more things about her. Without her noticing, she started to talk to him like he was a long lost friend.
"So after seeing that some of his soldiers were charred enough I decided to head back, and then I found you there while watching the clouds, it was so weird" She said while Simon smiled at her.
"Well at least I'm glad that I didn't ended up being a barbeque like them, still, where do dragons come from? In my place too we somehow put your kind along the snakes and other reptiles line, and I'm not trying to be disrespectful towards you, is just a doubt generated" Simon asked with honest curiosity at Camille.
Hearing his words, Camille's reptile lips formed a smile as her fangs were shown at Simon, who didn't flinched after knowing that she was just smiling.
"Yeah I often heard that too, but we Dragons are much more up in the family tree, is the same you humans with your counterparts of halflings, monkeys and dolds. So you can understand why we took is as offensive. Although if I have to say, snakes and lizards can evolve towards their draconic counterparts, although they are much different than my figure." She answered calmly at him, although she didn't opened her mouth, Simon could hear her pretty well.
"Oooh I see, also I'm sorry but I've never saw a dold." Simon opened his eyes after hearing her words and then laughed a little bit while finishing his words.
"It's a small creature of the size of your hands, they are pretty stupid and live in communities in the forest or swamps, they really resemblance humans. Here in my forest there's a couple thousands of them esparced around, you may see one of them in the future." She explained to him while the latter just nodded at her.
She keep chatting with him, explaining a little bit of the creatures around her fores, while Simon was having a hard time to keep up with her as he was tired enough after walking so much and everything that traversed, still, he was amazed by everything she was telling him.
Eventually, this ended as she saw him sleeping while sitting hugging his legs. With a slight smile on his sleep.
Then she started to groom herself in her bed and started to look at him while he slept meanwhile her mind began to think about all the things that happened.