Distorting Realities

Chapter Two: Distorting Realities

Darkness. Darkness. And more darkness.

The last thing he had felt was a scorching pain at his belly that had riled his pain sensors and he couldn't endure it.

"Mom... where am I?"

[Host awakened.]

"M-Mom... are you okay? A-Are you hurt too?" He struggled to free himself from the dark space but his body was strangely at peace.

He needed to rise up, rise up and fly back to his only family left. Even if it's the end, it would only be worth it when they experienced it together. His head was in fire yet his body didn't make any other changes.

"Mom!!"

[Turbulent emotions in host identified.]

[Troubleshooting...]

[Diagnosed report: Unpleasant memories]

"Mom! PLEASE! Answer me! Are you okay!"

[Diagnosed solution: Lockdown of turbulent emotions and unpleasant memories.]

[Initiating lockdown...]

[Lockdown complete. Host secured.]

Zephyr's eyes widened and he leapt from were he laid, his body floated above the ground and he felt lighter than normal.

His mind was still in a haze as he looked around for anything that would comfort the aching he felt in his chest.

Something terrible had happened, he could feel it but couldn't place what. His heart was still beating erratically from the result but the yearning he felt slowly faded. He noticed he wasn't on anything solid and looked down.

"M-My body!"

He stared at a crimson-scaled lifeless dragon with a torn wing and a hole in the orange underbelly. "Am I d-dead?"

A sudden rage filled him and he forced his soul towards the body. How could it be that he died in such a lame way! He didn't remember anything but there was certainly no reason for him to die soon!

As he reached for the ground, he saw another dragon laying besides him with a gash on her head.

"Nee Adalinda." He reached for her head but his hand went through. He sighed. His teacher was dead as well, and it seemed she was trying to speak to him before she died.

His eyes swept across the large waste of earth, it didn't look familiar and he had no idea what caused it, but the rage inside of him made him know that he should know. He had experienced it.

[I can answer your questions. ]

Zephyr shook his head. He must be hearing voices. He reached for his body and found that he couldn't get in. "I am really dead and can't do anything about."

He looked around for any sign of life in this strange place but there was none.

[I can answer your questions.]

Zephyr touched his hand and strangely felt it. "A voice in my head that can answer my questions. How do you know what I don't know?"

[I am not a voice in your head. Well, not literally. I am a sentient system, and you can address me as D.O.C 100. You can tell me what you want and I'd do my best to assist you in achieving it.]

Zephyr rubbed his head and grunted. He rose in the air and felt pleased that he could use his wings even in this odd form. "I want a physical body."

[Which means you are ready to meet him and discuss your quests and its conditions. ]

Zephyr had no idea what that meant but he appreciated the idea of meeting people who could explain what's happening him.

He looked down at the body of the dragon who thought him, Adalinda. Something was wrong with him. It was the body of someone who should mean a lot to him – yet he felt no sadness. He felt nothing. Nothing but confusion and rage directed at nothing he could remember.

He didn't even know how he identified who the dragon was. Maybe if he saw someone familiar then he'd get back his memories.

"Take me there. I hope they don't stay far away because It's tiring to fly."

[Soon, you wouldn't need to fly.]

Before Zephyr could digest what was said, his reality twisted to a reveal a black hole which sucked him in. He felt no panic but a pain spasmed through his body repeatedly making him wince.

His body was spewed out at a forest of white trees. His breathing was heavy as he looked around. "Doc?"

[It's D.O.C.]

He touched his head, as if trying to feel for it inside. "Didn't you say I can call you what I like?"

[Indeed.]

Zephyr stepped from the dry ground to the soft white grass and fell on it afterwards with a thud. It was oddly comforting, but he also found it odd that his body had weight in this space. "Where is the one I am supposed to meet? Where is this place? Will they really give me back my body?"

Despises numerous questions, the system only answered one. [You will be given a body.]

"My body?"

[A body.]

Zephyr didn't like the sound of that. In that moment, the environment had a hole in it and he felt an immense energy consuming the space around him as something entered from the hole.

He also felt the voice in his head left even if he couldn't actually feel their presence before. A sense of loneliness creeper to his last and he touched his chest. At least he was feeling something.

"Eryx Ryuu Zephyr."

Zephyr's head went down and he stood erect and raised his wings high, as he felt compelled to.

Whoever that spoke was superior to him and everything in his fibre wanted him to abandon his dragon pride and reverence them.

"Yes, I am here, Nii." He couldn't see the one who spoke but their voice and presence showed they were older and more experienced.

'Nee' and 'Nii' were used to address older dragons, female and male respectively, so Zephyr felt his speaker was worthy of it, whether they were a dragon or not.

"Are you really the only one who survived in Raxatia?"

Raxatia. Zephyr recognised the name and remembered that was the realm he had grown up in. Had he only survived?

It made sense why he saw no one and the only one he saw was badly injured. But survived what? He still couldn't remember.

He lifted his head to see who spoke and his eyes widened when he sighted a mountain-sized entity, covering everything in front of him.

"I-I think so. There was no one else with me. What had happened?" He didn't feel worried, only curious. "I can't remember. Or feel. Why can't I remember and feel?"

"It's probably the decision of your guardian, System D.O.C, but it's probably for your best interest." there was a displeased grunt. "Humans. Humans had happened and this time, they had help."

"Humans..." an image flashed through Zephyr's mind. A human with red hair and blue eyes, it had been a phoenix first. More memories flooded in; there had been a meteor. It stopped, and everything felt blur again. "I see. Only I survived?"

"It's uncertain, but D.O.C registered you because you were the only compatible inhabitant of Raxatia. Its former host had been sent to your realm before her death."

Zephyr remembered the phoenix and nodded. He had inherited that voice from her, but what did it entail? "Will I live again?"

"Yes, but not as you, and you'd have to work with D.O.C to finish the former host's missions, in a new body."

The voice paused, and its form slowly lowered towards Zephyr. "For your first mission, I'd gift you a Top-tier skill you can use to get an edge over hosts. Alright?"

Zephyr sighted a crystal gem on the bond of the entity, he instinctively reached for it and the moment he made contact, it vanished.

A soft glow moved from his claws through his short hand and separated to his two amber eyes. Yet he felt no difference in his body.

"Remember, after you finish the other host's quests, D.O.C would be yours, and that's only when you can use this skill." The entity rose up again.

Zephyr had no reaction to it, as long as he got a new body and live again. He'd use the time to know the full potential of D.O.C and it was given to him.

"What if I don't succeed?" he asked because the moment, he wasn't in tune with all his emotions and that's already a handicap.

"D.O.C would find another host, and the fate of the phoenix would be yours." The entity replied with a slight disappointment. "But believe in yourself. You can use the former host's mission to learn a lot."

The possibility of dying didn't scare Zephyr because somewhere in him, he felt like he had lost so much that living was no longer worth it.

Yet...

"I will do it."