"If you were given a chance to be reborn into a world, would you take it, and where would you go?"
Without missing a beat, Michael said, "A world where the story has yet to be finished or written and the land is sweeter than honey, and the dream never ends." Michael took a moment to contain himself before he continued calmly, "A world where death lurks around every corner and the lands are filled with the creatures of myth and legends. A world where I have the power to change its very fate." Tears ran down his cheek, "But if I were to go alone, I'd rather choose death than to go without a friend."
Seeing the excitement and already knowing his answer, Ezra laughed as he picked a forbidden fruit. "It's funny how conversations can start and end the same way twice." He said in a joking manner.
The man looked at Ezra, then at Michael. "Are you aware of the reason he is here? Talking to you, and not yet gone?"
Hearing that, Ezra sighed, and Michael saddened. "To say goodbye before he goes to see his family." Michael turned to Ezra, and held out his hand and said, "I guess we'll meet again when the sands of time repeat." He was trying to sound philosophical and funny. To Michael's surprise, Ezra laughed, trying to sound joyful, but Michael knew the laugh held more sadness than joy.
The man looked at Michael with a somber expression. "He's already said his goodbyes." Michael tried to remember if he heard any voices while he floated through the void.
Before Michael was too deep in thought, the Ezra said, "I already saw them, but the way I died is a sin in my religion, so I couldn't stay with my family." It enraged Michael that his friend couldn't see the people that were taken from him so soon. Before Michael tried to fight the deity, Ezra spoke, "Why fight when you get to take someone with you?" Michael's eyes lit with joy.
"Win, win I guess." Michael said attempting to sound calm but his excitement was blatant, "You'll get to live a proper life and see your family after this go around"
"Actually no, as punishment I'm given immortality, and I'll be your advisor in the new world. Due to this, I am bound to be a pacifist." Ezra explained. The thought of killing the deity creeped back into Michael's mind but quickly disappeared when he realized he would experience eternity in the new world with his closest friend.
Michael chuckled and said, "It's a waste that you can't fight unless it's needed." Ezra joined in laughing with Michael, as they weren't expecting Michael to become the more useful one.
The man, which they both now accepted as a deity, coughed to get the two friends' attention. "I would like to explain the parts you two will play in this new world." When he knew he had their attention, he continued. "This world has such an imbalance that when I send you both there, I must sleep for a few millennia to regain the power I will have lost." The man paused to think what he should grant these two to help correct the imbalance. While Ezra waited patiently, Michael was bouncing with joy, glad to have a goal going into this world.
The deity pointed at Ezra and said, "You will be Michael's advisor and help lead him through this world, so I will give you the ability to read, write, and speak all languages. I will also grant you the Great Sage skill granting you the ability to ask any question. So long as it has an answer, it will be answered. After studying magic, you will be able to cast spells, channel magical energy, and infuse objects with magic. Moreover, you will be granted affinity to wield magic and the skill to teach others, including lesser-minded creatures, how to use it." Ezra chuckled at his final skill that he was granted. As if in a video-game, a notification flashed in the corner of his eye telling him about the abilities he had just gained.
The man pointed at Michael. "Being the power house and leader of the group, you will also be granted magical affinity and increase your current physical abilities by a thousandfold, which would make you a hundred times stronger than the average person of that world. You will also be given the potential to gain immense power that could equal an eighth of my own-" Michael interrupted the man by squealing like a schoolgirl at the prospect of becoming so powerful but he did not notice the text flash in the corner of his eye.
When there was no sign of Michael's parade of excitement coming to an end, so Ezra took a swing in Michael's direction, which he dodged with ease and then stood still. The deity cleared his throat and continued from where he left off, "But you must train to gain the ability to use such power." Ezra and Michael shared a quick glance, then burst into laughter. The look of confusion on the deity's face made the two abruptly stop, and they became confused themselves.
"Aren't you supposed to be fucking all knowing?" Michael asks.
The man just shrugged and said, "Yes, I have the ability to know everything, but it does quite awkward when you know everything; especially when you start a conversation with someone's search history. So I'd much rather learn about people from them. So what's the laughter for?" Ezra nodded as if he had gone through the same encounter. While Michael let out a sigh of relief, knowing that his search history wouldn't follow him.
"We don't like having everything handed to us," Ezra explained while Michael nodded in agreement. "So if you would have given him the ability to use all that power right out the gate, he would have begged for you to change it, so he had to train to gain it."
"I probably would've had more fun if I had to work for everything." The deity said solemnly, but his face turned grim. "Even your most trusted of friends can one day turn on you. So trust no one, not even your closest allies." They both nodded their heads in understanding, but neither of them knew that the deity was talking only to Michael, warning him of a fate that had happened many times before.
The deity clapped his hands, signifying that it was nearing the end of their encounter. Ezra did a slight bow. While Michael had a more frenzied demeanor. "LET'S GO ALREADY!" Michael shouted repeatedly. Ezra slapped Michael on the back of the head, which made him stop his repetitive shouting.
The deity laughed and looked at Michael. "You just told me you don't like having things handed to you, but since I can only view the world from skies, I can only drop you from the skies. So I will grant you the levitation skill, the weakest variation of flight magic." And with this, the deity snapped his fingers and sent the men to their new world, then the deity went to sleep to regain the power he just lost.
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"HOLYSHITWHATTHEHELLWHYDIDHEDOTHIS!" Michael's words all jumbled into one as he panicked and fell from the seeming endless expanse.
But Ezra had a glint of wonder in his eyes and a look of curiosity on his face. As he looked at the faraway ground, he wondered if he was invulnerable to pain or not, since he was now immortal.
Michael is doing everything to slow the fall, trying to activate his levitation until he heard Ezra's voice shouting over the whistle of the wind. "You remember how you felt when you were in the void?!"
"HOW IS THAT SUPPOSED TO HELP!" Michael said, still flapping his arm, trying to mimic a bird.
"It actually helps a lot. Now do you remember how you felt?" Ezra said, still calm but yelling.
"I FELT LIKE I WEIGHED NOTHING!" Michael shouted, now understanding; he silently cursed himself, knowing he would have figured it out if he hadn't been tossed into this world without a warning.
Michael closed his eye and imaged himself in the void, weighing nothing. This came easily due to his past life. In his life prior, he had an ability that even he didn't know he possessed; When he slept or zoned out, he unknowingly would detach his soul from his very being, allowing himself to wander the void with nothing but a thin cosmic thread leading back to his body. He now had to do it, but without detaching his soul.
He quickly learned how to do so because he began to fall slowly. Ezra to grab onto Michael, finally deciding not wanting to see if he still feels pain or not. The quick jolt of Ezra grabbing Michael's leg made him lost his concentration, and they began falling again, but as quickly as their fall began they started to float. "Don't try me, I will test your immortality if you do a stunt like that again." Michael shouted at Ezra.
Once they got close to the ground, the levitation fully set in, as they were now just above the tree line. Ezra got off and climbed his way down to check the ground while Michael looked for anything nearby. As Michael spotted a nearby town, Ezra signaled that it was clear.
By the time he got on the ground, Michael found himself alone, not knowing where Ezra was. He walked into the forest and quickly found a clearing; He looked around to see if there was a trace of his companion, but found nothing. Then he saw a black figure perched in one of the trees that surrounded the clearing.
"You wanna know somethin' Ezra?" Michael said to the black figure in the trees like this was an everyday occurrence, "If we ever see Odin, God, or whatever you want to call him again I'm going to do the impossible and kill him."
Ezra let out a quick chuckled then looked at Michael, then looked into the forest. "I wouldn't stand there. Those mythical beasts you love so much roam this area," he stated in a calm yet warning tone.
"Oh yeah, all wise one, which one?" Michael said in a little mocking tone, but he still tensed up.
"Dragons." Ezra stated simply, not moving from the tree.
"Dragons, really!" Michael scoffed out, "Dragons are massive, mountainous sized creatures. If there was a dragon in this forest, I would have seen it while I was in the sky." Michael zoned out for a moment, trying to imagine a dragon fitting in the woods.
"Yes, the stereotypical dragons are 'massive, mountainous sized creatures'. But that is a small fraction of everything classify as-." He stopped his sentence short and put his hand up to his ear and then looked deep into the woods. "Speaking of which." Ezra said as he jumped down from the tree and put a piece of paper away. "It seems you will soon fight your first mythical beast, my Lord." Ezra said in a mocking tone.
Michael wanted to chuckle, but he was too focused on trying to pinpoint the second presence he felt when he entered the clearing, but it was moving too fast. Ezra screamed in pain, breaking Michael's concentration. Before he could see what had happened, he was launched into a tree at the edge of the clearing. He slammed into the tree with such force it would have snapped an ironwood in half.
When the fog of confusion lifted from his mind, Michael shoot to his feet, ready to fight, but quickly froze when his eyes laid upon the sight before him. The sight before him could only be described as a pure nightmare. Michael's last and only friend, Ezra, lay lifeless, strewn across the beast's now blood covered lizard like face, its horns ran through his chest and stomach. As it swung its head to remove the lifeless body from its horns, crimson liquid rained on the clearing. Ezra's body was soon flung into the forest that surrounded the clearing.
The fear of being truly alone in the world consumed Michael's mind as he saw Ezra's lifeless body disappear into the dark forest. His gaze was locked on the creature. His eyes were lit with pure hatred and anger for the creature before him, thinking that his friend was killed before their adventure could ever begin.
Michael had no desire to run. He only had one goal in life now, and it was to kill the giant reptilian creature and every last one of its race, or die trying. The beast began its charge, intending to kill Michael.
"You should of ran, you oversized sewer croc!" Michael shouted at the charging creature, as he firmed his stance and braced for the impact. Through the fog of sadness, he felt something surge through his body as if something was increasing his power by ten times.
Michael subconsciously enveloped his body with the highest tier of earth magic, which was seen as an orange haze that made him immovable like the mountains. He reached out his hand, ready to toss the beast over his head. Michael's arms rang with pain as he grabbed the beast by its horn, stopping its charge completely while he himself remain truly unmoved. He lifted the beast into the air by its horns.
Michael slammed the creature into the ground with such force that its horn came clean off, killing it instantly. A more merciful death than it deserved. "I'll live this life for the two of us." Michael whispered as he glanced around the clearing sized crater before collapsing to the ground, his mana completely depleted.
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When Ezra woke, he was on guard immediately and put his arms up to protect himself. His eyes were drawn to a phoenix frozen in the air in such a way that suggested that something knocked it out of the way as it flew. The flames that commonly envelop the bird of legend still glowed but remained unmoving. He looked down at his feet, seeing his own lifeless body with a gaping hole in his torso. His attention was quickly drawn to the corner of his eye by a notification which said Third Eye unlocked.
Upon closer inspection of his body, Ezra could see small tendrils stretching and expanding, slowly growing and rebuilding the missing pieces. His attention was drawn back to the phoenix. He quickly noticed it had leveled out and its face turned to the sky. He came to the conclusion that he was spirit walking, allowing him to see time at whatever speed he wished.
Ezra could see the clearing in the distance, but wished to explore the forest before he returned to the fight. Soon, he came across an abandoned hut with the door wide open. The place looked well keep. And though bookshelves lined the walls of the hut, there was only a single row consisting of twelve books that sat on a desk on the other side of the hut. He tried to pick up one of the book but quickly realised he couldn't do to the form he was in; so instead, he crouched down to read the title written across the spines. The titles were written in a language he had never seen before, but he could read them without trouble.
From right to left, books one through nine were numbered and followed by a name that he could not pronounce. Book ten was titled, Guide to Spacial and Creation Magic; book eleven was titled, Guide to Using Mana; and the last book had no title to be found on its spine. Ezra made a mental note to come back at a later date. He then exited the hut.
When Ezra arrived at his body, he could see that everything was reattached and the gapping hole in his torso was nothing more than an indent in his stomach. The phoenix had flown up to the tree line in the time Ezra had been gone. Ezra stared at the bird until it was a foot above the tree line before laying down on the ground alining his spiritual body with his physical one. Ezra soon heard the sounds of the phoenix and felt the wind brush his skin.
Ezra quickly rushed to the clearing just in time to see the dragon, which he quickly knew was a larger than normal drake charge at Michael. He decided to stay hidden in the trees and watch the fight from the shadow. Ezra watched as an orange aura envelop Michael as he reached out, grabbing the drake's horn, stopping its charge without Michael himself moving an inch. Ezra watched as Michael lifted the massive creature by the horns and proceeded to slam the creature with such force the once flat ground of the clearing was now a massive crater. Michael was laying unconscious at the bottom which was ten feet lower than the ground Ezra stood on.
Ezra slid down the crater to examine the two. The drake's scales had a wood and grass texture with moss at some joints. Its horns… Ezra paused, seeing the two gaping holes in the side of its head where its horns once were. He looked over at Michael's unconscious body, noticing the three foot long clubs he held in each hand, each one being once attached to the drake's skull.
"How strong are the bones of this drake, exactly?" Ezra asked aloud. Great Sage skill activated flashed across his vision with a voice soon following.
"I must start with dragon variation," the Sage skill said. "All species of dragons have two variations. While most are born with average-"
"Skip to the rare variation." Ezra said, interrupting the Sage skill. The Sage skill seemed to let out an audible scoff, which surprised Ezra.
"While most are bor-" The Sage skill started.
Ezra let out a groan and said, "I thought I sai-"
"DO YOU WANT MY WISDOM OR NOT!?" shouted the Sage skill, making Ezra shrink back like a child being scolded by a parent. When the Sage skill was sure it wouldn't be interrupted again, it continued giving its answer. "While most are born with their species' average strength and intelligence. One in every thirteen thousand or so is born with thirty-two times that of their species' average abilities. Human and other races commonly referred to these rare variants to as Greater [Insert Dragon Race]."
"Interesting. So this one before me is one of the Greater variants? And how strong are it bones?" Ezra asked, making sure to poss his question at a time that wouldn't anger the Sage skill.
"Though the Drake is one of the weakest of the dragon races, its Greater variant, possesses bones that equal the durability of magic infused mithril and would take two-hundred and twenty-five tons of force to break," the Sage skill finished.
"Your leash just got a lot shorter." Ezra said as he looked at his unconscious friend.