"D-Dragon?" Mrs. Snow muttered. The bodyguards immediately made their way to the motel, but both of them stopped in their tracks as soon as they caught sight of Ikarus's imposing— yet small— figure. Mrs. Snow stared at Ikarus with widened eyes.
"He's harmless, don't worry," Edward told her. He looked to his fridge, where the handle from the door had been accidentally ripped away when Ikarus was attempting to open it, before turning back to Mrs. Snow, "Mostly, at least."
"W-why?" Mrs. Snow managed to ask. She tried to take her gaze away from the dragon before her but found it impossible. With every attempt, her instincts screamed at her to watch the dragon. She was afraid that he would suddenly jump at her while she wasn't looking— not that she'd be fast enough to dodge even if she was.
"I thought you already knew about him?" Edward asked. Mrs. Snow quickly shook her head. Edward sighed and looked at Ikarus. He spoke in Draconic, "The lady is scared of you, so don't get too close."
Ikarus nodded, then took a step away from Mrs. Snow and tried to hide behind Edward's body.
"You can speak to it?" She asked with a loud voice. Her body turned to look around Edward's legs, but Ikarus had already made himself scarce. Finally, she gained enough strength to look in Edward's eyes, "How?"
Edward sighed before answering her question, "I have a skill that taught me the entire dragon language. How much do you actually know about me, exactly?"
"We couldn't find your name in the player database, so we know you have a title, but that's it," Mrs. Snow said, "But now that I've seen you, it's obvious who you are. You're the Winged Legion, the dragon tamer that's been making waves around Pathe, aren't you?"
"Correct," Edward nodded, "This is Ikarus, my pet dragon. He's sentient and is as intelligent as a human teenager, so I would appreciate it if you treated him like one."
Mrs. Snow slowly nodded. Then, she looked back to her bodyguards and waved her hand.
"W-well then? Follow me. Uh, is Ikarus okay with flying above the car? I don't think we'd have enough room for him."
"That's fine. He'll hide amongst the clouds," Edward chuckled. He turned to Ikarus and once again spoke to him in Draconic, "I'm about to go with this lady. Follow us from above. Hide from anything you see— don't let even a bird notice you."
Ikarus nodded. Edward and Mrs. Snow began to walk to the car while Ikarus launched himself into the sky. Within a moment, he had already climbed high enough to disappear into the clouds above. Mrs. Snow watched with a dazed expression before turning to Edward.
"How is he here? Your dragon is a denizen of Avalon, not Earth," Mrs. Snow muttered silently. She and Edward were led to the car by one of the bodyguards, "He isn't supposed to be here."
"I'll answer your question, but first, you have to answer one of mine," Edward chuckled. He and Mrs. Snow climbed into the car and sat in their respective seats. As soon as he climbed inside, he was impressed by the car's luxury. It wasn't on par with a luxury limo, but it was very close. The seats were decorated with the finest leather and the windows were tinted heavily enough to completely obscure the view of the inside of the car— despite breaking the law by doing so. There was a large cupholder between the seats that held what appeared to be a high-class alcohol.
Once the car began moving, Mrs. Snow looked at him from the other side of the car. Edward took that moment to gaze back at her as he asked his question:
"Is Avalon actually a game?"
"No."
'I knew it,' Edward sighed. He looked at Mrs. Snow and asked, "How?"
"I don't know. The math is too intense for me to understand. From what I've been told, however, Avalon is a parallel dimension of Earth. A scientist from Sweden discovered it ten years ago in an experiment that killed his entire workplace. After it was shot down by the government, we managed to find a copy of the documents related to his research," Mrs. Snow explained, "So we decided to use the documents to replicate the experiment ourselves— this time with more restraint. The experiment was incredibly expensive— but entirely worth it. By the end, we generated enough power to open a portal between Earth and Avalon. We all celebrated, ecstatic at this discovery. We could've sold the technology for billions— potentially trillions— of dollars. For the first few minutes, we were too distracted by our own success to realize somebody had stepped through from the other side."
"Who?" Edward asked. Mrs. Snow shook her head.
"I don't remember. Nobody does. As soon as the man revealed himself, we woke up a few weeks later with no recollection of anything that had happened during those weeks. Designs for a gadget that would allow us to connect to Avalon were left behind for us to replicate, but the man was already gone," Mrs. Snow answered, "We had to invent a few things to make the device compatible with human technology, including a special system that would allow us to transfer the consciousness of a player to an avatar for a temporary period. However, we didn't realize that the technology we created did much more than simply transfer consciousness. We transferred the soul, as well. That's why your abilities are replicated into your real body. Luckily, the effect was too weak to survive the transfer in most players. Anybody with a basic profession wouldn't get any abilities, but anybody stronger would."
"Anybody?" Edward gasped. An image of Brandon appeared in his mind, "Including those with Kinetic Origins?"
"Yes. About half of their stats would transfer to their real body, but their appearance would stay the same. Because you have a blood origin, your body wasn't able to resist the change in the slightest. Both your avatar's appearance and abilities were forced into your real body without leaving room for anything else. It'll be the same for everybody else who has a blood origin. The transfer, which is what we call 'ascension', will activate the moment a player learns their first Blood Origin skill."
'That explains why Leila didn't ascend until she copied me. Her amnesiac Origin didn't give her any skills,' Edward thought to himself.
"How many players have Blood Origins?" Edward asked.
"Including you? Only fifteen, luckily. There are a total of 300,000 with Kinetic Origins, however. We predict that within the next week, the world governments will learn about this and take action," Mrs. Snow answered, "We got lucky, too. Nearly ten thousand players managed to convince their Maester to teleport them to an Origin, but only fourteen of them managed to successfully use them before dying. Most of the time, the players were teleported directly in front of a high-level monster. Then, a few days ago, one player managed to find one after exploring a small dungeon with her party, but we don't have a record of her name from before she gained her title, so we don't know who she is."
'They're talking about Leila.'