The Dragon Triad

Vaniti and I walked to the destination…or, not really she walked. I was doing the walking.

My tail wrapped itself around her waist, and carried her. I'm honestly surprised on how strong my tail is, and the core strength needed to pull this off. I'm doing this so she can conserve mana and energy.

Well, mana is a lie, but stamina and energy. She's already done a lot today, she needs serious load management. And I'm so serious, I don't even want her taking a single step.

But hey, at least I can use her as a flashlight. Her eyes, isn't just perception, it's precognition through mana analysis. So, technically, she could see the mana remnants of a spell casted, or even know the intent of spell being used through mana.

It's crazy, I know.

All the more reason why the Sky Temple Expansion made these things…extinct.

The other thing is that we had to get off the main island of Aurea. Apparently, there are 5 separate islands, not including the one we were just on. Sub-islands, I call them. As I remember, there used to be a whole lot of more enemies and mobs…but since the entire archipelago was industrialized and colonized…inhabited by beings.

I think they all ceased to exist, and only thrive in dangerous areas like forests. The game I knew might be dead…shit, let's call it…game over.

But this world? It's still alive.

I don't think the enemies spawn in a mechanical sense.

Just…they survive. They have to. They need to.

And if anything, maybe whatever mob I meet here could help. Hoping and praying it's a dragon, because then, they could explain it. 

What I've noticed from the beginning.

The alarming lack of…dragonoids like me.

My tail kept Vaniti in front of me, perfectly within my sights. She would giggle or laugh from time to time, maybe she was ticklish. My tail wasn't all that scaly, no. More smooth…like lizard skin. Sounds like a horrible analogy, but just know that my tail isn't that scaly.

Not like other Dragons. Like a Dragonkin…or a Wyvern. Now they get scaly.

With her hood down, she was rotated upside down, and her black-blonde split hair lifted up, revealing her forehead…and something else I quite never noticed.

A significant mark over her right eye.

Less of a mark, more like a scar. As if a bullet hit her, but since there's no guns…I wouldn't be surprised if magic could replicate that.

Was that from the Ranger Corps? I don't know…and it feels too personal to ask. She's laugh slightly, and a bit too hardly. I don't want to destroy the mood because of something I was too nosy and curious about.

Plus…what if that came from the skeletons?

…

…

…

Who am I kidding.

It's right over her Spirit Eye.

Whoever did that, probably wanted Vaniti gone.

And gone, I mean, her eye. The pearl Spirit Eye, because if that's gone…then so is her Spirit Elf powers.

So by that extension, whoever did that knew Vaniti was a Spirit Elf.

Now…not entirely. She still has the emerald green eye, but that eye dominantly does most of the work. The other eye would be overloaded, and not even a simple blindfold could do the job. Two functioning eyes are needed.

Dragon's Tale: Ultimate never worked like that. Of course, lore made sense…because there were rules. And in that game? Rules couldn't be broken, only pranced around with.

In this world?

Rules and laws don't matter.

It's as simple as that.

Remove the eye, and you can remove the class.

If I find out who gave her that mark…I won't just delete them.

I'll…I'll…

A significant shudder, a chilling sensation went up my spine. I blinked a couple of times before noticing myself biting on my lip, almost bleeding. Another thing was Vaniti laughing even harder now, why?

Because my tail constricted around her waist tighter.

And she probably thought I was playing around with her.

I lessen the grip, her laughters and giggles die down slowly. The wave of…anger came and passed by quickly. I always forget that Dragonoids like I were prone to this…or more specifically, Dark Dragonoids.

It's a long history…but the shudder along my spine tells me everything. I forgot about the mechanic, but there was something that had to do with a Dragon's spine in the game.

That, was the root of all dragon powers.

And by extension, a full-fledged dragon transformation.

I want to feel disgusted, that…that primal feeling. It's what I felt in the VRMMORPG, the feeling was…weird, to be fair. That sensation only came when I was prone for full transformation. Even getting the slight tease of it…isn't a great sign, at least not for me.

It's a full scare.

We came across a cave, open cave. Wooden crates destroyed, gear broken, torches on the ground. Looks like anyone who traveled here thinking they could tackle this, failed, horribly.

I turn Vaniti to me, "This is why you need an Ascendant,"

"You don't want to have your remains scattered on the ground, do you?"

She shakes her head, "N-no…haha,"

I could only force a smile.

"You're pretty strong, but just to be sure it'll be good to have me by your side."

Vaniti laughed a couple times before speaking.

"I…I wouldn't have it any other way, Ryuuzen."

I…slowly nod. Is that…

No, not for me.

Couldn't be for me.

We enter the cave, and I knock on my horns a few times before they begin to illuminate. Traversing the cave looked easy, I've had my fair share of tricky and gimmicky dungeons…but it didn't look like it.

Whatever lead us here…remained her. I try to sense for something, mana, magic. But it felt short, too far. It was there, alright.

Just…far.

As we continued to push deeper into the cave, Vaniti's laugh and giggles died down abruptly. Her head tilted, turned, focused forward. Under the blindfold, I could notice she was trying to see further down the cave.

"...something's…there." Vaniti delivers. My tails guides her to the ground as she stands in front of me. Slowly taking steps. I trail behind.

"As…like what? You might be confusing whatever you see for mana-infused gems, those exist too."

She turned her head to me, "Really?"

"Yeah…but I said might. That doesn't mean we head down there frolicking into the unknown reaches of the enemy potentially."

She nodded.

And before we pressed further, the ground shook. Rocks from above fell below, and in that split second, it seemed like the ground split open…

…no, not just seem, it did.

I lost my footing, and grounding. I turned back slowly, and saw nothing but pitch black hollowness. Vaniti turned back and her body didn't freeze, she instantly turned, arm outreached for me.

I tried to grab onto her hand, and I was sure I did. Our fingers graced each other…

…but they didn't lock. Not even so much as interlace.

I slowly fell back in the abyss, my sight getting darker as Vaniti got smaller and smaller, with the sound of wind rushing my ears, the last thing I could hear was my name being yelled out in a state of panic.

"RYUUZEN!"