Alex opened his eyes and saw himself standing in the middle of a grassland. There were so many tall trees, short ones and odd-looking ones scattered all over the place. He looked up but because of the canopies of trees covering the whole space, he couldn't see the sky.
"This place looks strange," he mumbled and soon, he began to regret his decision. He had no destination in mind but still couldn't continue to stay at one particular spot so he decided to leave where he was and walk around the place for a better view. But unknown to him, he was standing on the back of a monster.
As soon as he took his first step, the monster began to rise in the air even without him knowing. It wasn't until he was able to see the pink sky above him, and the top of those trees that he was able to realize that something was wrong. Frightened, he gazed down and to his shock, he was far away from the ground. He yelled out of panic and this caused the monster to be aware of his presence.
The monster turned its long neck around and saw Alex, it began to bring his head close to him until they were barely apart from each other. The monster then sniffed him and immediately, it screeched as it moved away from him. Feeling threatened, the monster began to move fast and this caused Alex to lose his balance and begin to fall but as he fell, he landed on one of the branches of a tree and immediately, he caught the branches so that he didn't fall again. Meanwhile, the monster after running for some distance stopped and turned around, he looked straight in the direction of Alex and suddenly, its eyes began to glow red. It let out a loud cry and began to head towards Alex's direction.
Alex from where he was hanging on the tree branch saw the monster coming at him at full speed. From the tree, he was able to see the entire view of the monster — It was a long snake with a huge stone on its back. Seeing what it looked like, fear gripped Alex and he lost his balance and fell from the tree. He roughly landed on the grass ground but thanks to the grasses covering the whole place, he didn't get injured from the fall. He gazed further into the distance and saw the monster coming at him speedily, he got up quickly and began to run in the other direction.
"Arthur, help me out, will you!" He muttered in fear. He expected Arthur to answer him but the demon didn't say a word. "Come on, help me or I'll die!" Alex yelled in desperation.
"I'm sorry but I can't help you. This is your fight, deal with it!" Arthur replied.
"The fuck? I'm your vessel, if I die right now, you'll also die!" Alex yelled.
"I'd rather die than keep helping you every time you make a stupid decision," Arthur replied.
"What stupid decision did I make—" Alex was about to ask him when he was cut through his speech. It was as though a spell was unexpectedly placed on him because he suddenly stopped running and stood, unmoving. 'How, how did it get to me?' He inwardly thought with a bewildered look on his face. Just a minute ago, the monster was far behind him but now, he could feel its presence right behind him. How was it able to catch up to him despite his inhuman speed? Worst of all, the monster was so huge and also carrying a heavy object on its back yet, it was able to move effortlessly and at an incredible speed.
The monster's neck grew longer and Alex was now able to come face to face with it. Seeing the monster's glowing eyes, Alex could not help but shudder. He couldn't move no matter how hard he tried to and if he didn't move, how would he be able to save himself? At this point, there was nothing he could do. 'If you won't help me, then I'll just die,' he inwardly said to Arthur while staring back at the monster.
After staring at Alex, the monster opened its mouth wide to swallow him, and not being able to move, he closed his eyes ready to accept his fate but suddenly, he blanked out.
Opening his eyes again, he looked around and was shocked to see the monster burnt to ashes before him.
"Did I do this?" He muttered with a shocked expression.
"This is the second time I'm using my power to save you. There won't be a next time," Arthur said to him.
"I don't understand," Alex mumbled with a puzzled look.
"What made you think that you were the one who defeated your senior the other day? I helped you do it!" Arthur replied, not sounding happy.
"Wait, was that the reason why I blanked out and couldn't remember anything afterward?" Alex asked him. Arthur didn't reply and so Alex took his silence for a yes. Disappointed, he lowered his head with a sad face. How presumptuous of him to think that he was already strong enough to deal with certain matters.
"One day, I'll eventually die, and if that happens without you having all my powers, all these will become wasted efforts. I can't continue to help you every time you get yourself into trouble, you have to save yourself because that's the only way you can improve truly. Relying on my power won't keep you alive because one day, I'll eventually die — don't always go about trying to save someone when you can barely save yourself. You will die as a result of your unnecessary kind behaviors..." Arthur spoke for a while and then sighed. "I want my only vessel to become the most powerful creature to ever exist, or even more powerful than I am... You have every right to make your choice but becoming strong is your task and as such, you must strive hard to fulfill it."
After listening to Arthur, Alex began to have a re-think of his actions. Just as the demon had said, saving himself should come first before anyone else. His life should matter more to him than that of other people and as a result of that, he was going to have a change of mindset. As for now, he would use the little opportunity and train himself, he had to find a way and survive until the time given to him elapses.
"Thank you for telling me all these," he muttered to Arthur before he began to head in an unknown direction.