"Demon portal." Arlitos shakily said, pointing at the black field of flowers, his face pale with dread.
It was as if that one word was a dark prophecy, sucking all the air out of their lungs.
Ria's muscles suddenly tensed. She felt as if her entire body locked down underneath the pressure of that one word.
Demon. Portal.. it wasn't just the meaning of those words which made her freeze. It was the fact that those words were spoken in English.
Ria even doubted her own ears for a moment, but when she turned her stiff head to look at Fallios, she knew what she heard was real.
A suffocating atmosphere strangled the life out of the once exciting adventure. She turned to look back at the pitch-black flowers, no longer charmed by their captivating beauty.
Suddenly, she remembered a saying she had heard on Earth which perfectly described the scene in front of her; with beauty comes danger.
Arlitos swept his hair back, trying to calm himself and looked down at Ria and Fallios. "Sorry, you two. Playtime is over." He hoarsely said, gesturing for them to follow him back to the campsite.
[Let's go] Ria said, nudging Fallios before walking away. He slowly snapped out of his daze and mechanically turned to follow Ria.
Suddenly, Arlitos bent down after a few steps and rolled up his pants leg, revealing a dagger strapped to his calf. He pulled it out and began to cut deeply into the trees as he passed by them.
Ria didn't say anything. His sudden shift of character didn't surprise her that much compared to her earlier shock.
[This world. We don't know much about it] She suddenly said.
Fallios nodded even though Ria couldn't see it as he was walking behind her. [This world is strange. I don't like it] He mumbled with his head lowered.
Ria turned to look behind her, at the wilted dragon slowly following her. She learned a new thing about him today. It seems like he is an aloof person on the surface, but in actuality, he is as playful as her and hates violence.
Ria on the other hand, was different. Almost the complete opposite of him, actually. She was playful on the surface, but she really was a serious person who doesn't mind resorting to violence if the situation calls for it.
Perhaps it is the difference in our upbringings. She thought.
Ria was brought up as an only child in a bad neighborhood, so she wasn't a stranger to violence and the dark side of the world.
On the other hand, Fallios seemed to be brought up as the oldest of two children in a loving home.
Even when he died and was reincarnated as a dragon, he was still brought up lovingly by his second parents until the humans of this world killed them.
She suddenly had a thought. Perhaps the death of his second parents was the thing which averted him from violence the most.
She found it ironic that a reincarnated dragon from Earth had a slight hero complex.
Ria couldn't help but feel a bit envious. It wasn't like she suddenly hated or wanted to steal away Fallios's happiness, but she was just jealous he had a better upbringing than her.
It was a wonder their very different ideals and personalities could fit so perfectly together.
-
When they made it back to their camp, they found that Turro was still fast asleep in his sleeping bag.
Arlitos silently plopped on the log by the campfire, quietly contemplating as he stared into the crackling flames.
Ria laid by Arlitos's feet, and Fallios jumped up onto the log Arlitos was on and sat next to him.
Arlitos silently wrapped his arm around Fallios and began to pet his silver scales. "I think we got too soft. We forgot the danger which always lurks beneath the surface." He said.
Ria and Fallios looked up at him. There was a secret which they didn't know about, and it made their curiosity rise to the extreme.
Could it be? Are we not the only reincarnates in this world? If not, why can Arlitos say English words?
Those were the questions running through their heads at this moment. Arlitos sighed and continued, momentarily glancing at the still sleeping coachman.
"Those black flowers. They are a sign of a demon portal." He said, biting his lips.
"Demon invasions happened frequently in the past. Our world was constantly bombarded by attacks every decade. And each time a demon invasion happened, a group of heroes were summoned along with them." He said as if he was recounting a story.
Ria and Fallios silently listened. Their eyes locked onto each other with the same thoughts in their minds.
"It was said that the heroes were always young. They never appeared past the age of adulthood for some reason. These heroes had the ability to seek out the other heroes, and formed what they called a 'party.'" Arlitos continued.
The looks in Ria and Fallios's eyes slowly turned strange. The description did seem to fit somewhat.. but not completely.
But Arlitos didn't notice their abnormality, still trapped in his own story. "It was said that the heroes were summoned by the gods and felt a compulsion to defeat the demons. They had a mysterious power to become stronger extremely fast, and always defeated each demon king."
"The heroes are not themselves after coming to this world. From what we were told by the heroes, the gods who summon them here reconstruct them after they die in their world to give them that mysterious power."
"Once all heroes die, the gods summon a new group of young heroes just in time for the next demon invasion. But for some reason, the demon invasions became more and more infrequent until now." Arlitos closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting out a long sigh.
"It has already been two-hundred years since the last demon invasion. We were naive to think that the endless cycle of demon invasions ended two-hundred years ago." Arlitos bitterly said, once again stroking Fallios's scales as he looked up at the starry sky.
Ria's feelings were complex. Were we heroes, or were we somehow different? She thought. She didn't like the idea of being controlled by gods.
Everything seemed to match up with them. The only difference was that they weren't teenagers.
[Will we have to fight the demons one day too?] Fallios uncertainly asked.
Ria pressed her lips together and suddenly came up with a thought. [There is three things which sets us apart from those heroes, apart from the fact we are not teenagers] She said, her mind starting to whir with thoughts.
Fallios lifted his head with bright eyes. [What is it?] He eagerly asked. He was afraid of being controlled by some gods he didn't know, just like her.
[First, we were born into this world, which means we were not 'reconstructed' by the gods. Second, we are not humans. Third, we do not have the ability to rapidly power-up like the heroes] Her orange eyes were practically glowing with intellect.
Fallios's eyes went wide. If he could smile right now, he would. It was a great thing to know that they weren't heroes. They were a bit too old to want to become heroes now.
Still, knowing that they didn't fit the description of a hero, what were they then?