I truly felt nothing for the first time, nothing to see, smell, hear or think about, it was truly peaceful for the first time. But that peace felt wrong like it was empty. A sudden, quick pain struck throughout my body, causing me to suddenly start feeling all around me. The air was chilly, and I was lying on a cold rock floor.
I opened my eyes and the room was completely dark. Memories started rushing into my head, I remembered Crystal being taken away and me being crushed, I squeezed my palms tightly, remembering the awful pain I went through. But none of it could compare to the pain inside me, knowing I failed her.
After a few seconds, my mind cleared and I stood up, "Crystal!" I shouted and only heard the replies of my echoes. "Crystal!" I said once more with no response. Please let this just be a nightmare thought to myself. "Is anyone here at all?" I scream, with no answer once again.
I walked ahead of me slowly, being careful not to bump anything in front of me, the ground was flat and had pebbles or rocks, almost like someone made sure there were no imperfections in the ground. After roughly 15 seconds of walking, I felt my hand touch a flat wall and used my left hand to follow where the wall went.
The wall was quite long and it felt like I was walking in a circle. After walking for a minute, I finally found an exit. It was long and narrow, but in the distance, you could see some light.
In a rush to see if there was someone there, I started running, but it felt different, I felt like I was lighter than usual, and I wasn't losing my breath. I started thinking why I was still alive.
Could it be that I was in hell, and this was my punishment? I wasn't the most righteous or religious after all. Or, it could've been heaven and I just needed to persevere some time running till I could experience total bliss.
I could've also been trapped in my mind, experiencing just a dream. While thinking of all the possibilities, I got there faster than expected.
It seemed to be a cave with an egg in the middle, there was an opening at the top which shone sunlight onto the egg. My body started moving by itself and before I knew it, my hand was reaching out for it. Up close, you could see it was a mixture of an ethereal gold and green, it would sell for millions.
My hand got closer and immediately after I touched it, I could feel some energy being drained from me. I tried to let go,o but it was like my hand was glued to it. I started using both hands, but nothing I did was enough.
I started feeling weak like I was about to collapse, but before I could, the egg started to crack, revealing a blinding golden light. My hand suddenly let go, and I fell back. I could feel a domineering presence starting to appear in front of me.
The egg fully cracked and the golden light started rising and blocked the hole. A snake-like figure started forming out of it and lowering back to the ground. The light shimmered away, and floating in front of me was a snake with white tufts around its head.
I immediately backed away but it kept on following me. The blue holographic screen appeared in front of me again, but this time it displayed something different.
[Congratulations on hatching Lv.1 Earth Type Dragon]
[You have gained the title: Dragon Tamer]
[Open Status for more information]
So the thing in front of me was a dragon, everything was confusing me right now. 'I guess it's because of the World Awakening or whatever,' I thought to myself. Of course, I was stuck in some kind of magical cave with a dragon. Because life hadn't been confusing enough already.
"Stay here," I told the dragon, I moved back and it didn't follow me. 'How do I make the status open now?' Immediately after that thought, the screens in front of me disappeared and a new one appeared.
[Name: Rain Williams
[Status: Confused
[Level: 1
[Race: Elemental (Earth) ]
[MP: 50/300]
[Mind: 25]
[Intelligence: 30]
[Element Progress:
[Earth: 1%
[Water: N/A
[Wind: N/A
[Fire:N/A]
[Titles:
[Reincarnate] [Dragon Tamer]
[Skills:
[Mana Syphon] [Mana Control] [Earth Magic] [Status Resistance]
[Tamed Beasts:
[Earth Dragon: N/A]
Reading through my status, I was surprised I wasn't a human, and I wondered if it meant I was an Elemental that came from Earth. I could tell that it was all based on a game-like system. I knew MP stood for Mana Power, but there were lots of things omitted and other unusual things.
I didn't know anything about Elementals except that they could control the elements. I reached out for my phone but I realised I wasn't wearing my clothes, I was wearing some kind of white body coat with nothing underneath.
There weren't any pockets and I didn't have any of my belongings. I looked to the place I came from before but it seemed like the path completely vanished. I looked at my status again closely and I looked at my titles, and my heart immediately dropped.
My first title was [Reincarnate]. So I did die, and I had no chance of getting back to Crystal, I failed her, and there was no chance to undo it. I felt like crying, but no tears came out. Was this my punishment?
No way of getting back to her.
No way of grieving.
Living in everlasting pain.
What was the point of all this? If I couldn't save Crystal, what was I even doing here? How could I handle any of this when I couldn't even handle saving her?
"Take me back!" I shouted, but there was no response, only the dragon came to me, and rubbed against me, almost as if it were comforting me. I calmed down and patted its head. "Thank you", I muttered, and it let out a quiet purr similar to that of a cat.
I looked through my skills and wondered what each of them was, and multiple tabs opened next to my Status, explaining each skill.
[Mana Syphon] |Lv. 1|
[You can absorb mana around you, but only that of your current element]
[Mana Control] |Lv. 1|
[You can control mana around you to use magic]
|Conditions: You need a Magic Skill to be able to use this skill|
[Earth Magic] |Lv. 1|
[You can perform Earth Magic (Starter)]
|Condition: You need the skill Mana Control to be able to use this skill|
'Okay, at least I now have a simple understanding of some things, now I need to find an exit.' All the tabs disappeared and the dragon was floating in front of me. "Do you... know an exit out of here?" My voice wavered. It turned around and went towards a wall, after a few seconds of floating in front of it a pathway appeared.
It went through it, and I followed after it. It was narrow and uncomfortable, but it was good enough. It wasn't very long and soon enough, we reached the end of the tunnel.
What I saw was something you would never see on Earth, it was a forest, but there were all different kinds of creatures, rabbits with horns, green humanoid creatures, and pig like people. It was truly otherworldly.