Chapter 16: The workers of the castle (II)
Compared to Phil, who was like the blazing sun, the man on the floor was like the moon. Mysterious, fit, and tall, though, I had to wonder why he had on a mask and clothes that look like one would wear in a new year Japanese festival. He was out of time and place.
"Ugh." The man groaned.
I reached up towards the mask to peel it away. The man snatched my hands from prying it off. Tch, I was so close to wondering what this guy even looked like.
Phil jumped backward and pulled out his knife. I wondered where he stashed that. I held up my arm to stop him.
"Who?"
"My name is Berry. I'm very sorry about that crash landing. I was just trying to get you to land."
"What?"
"I had to freeze up your engine so you would land, though it seems it was a bit too much."
"Where am I?"
"You're on the Solitary Mountain in the Kingdom of Dragons. Your plane crashed into the balcony of my home."
"Your home?"
I sighed. I don't know if the man was still dazed, or he was just slow.
"Your home! I'm so sorry." The man bolted up and bowed. "I can pay for the damage....." He looked around, confused, wondering where he was.
"I think that force landing rattled his mind." Phil spoke, "Though I believe this could turn bad if he goes crazy."
I curiously peered towards Phil. How come he was not even startled that I could change into a dragon but was warier about the man in front of us. Was his mind more whacked out than the man in front of us? I quickly brandished away such thoughts and instead felt relieved that he did not run away screaming. The idea of seeing Phil run away screaming was a funny thought.
His serious expression usually stays in two forms: expressionless and weary.
"How? What? Where?" The man examined the world around him.
I was like that when I first came here but not to such a point where I stood there completely dazed.
"My plane!" The man ran up in bewilderment. He checked every angle around it to see the partially destroyed plane. "Noooooo, how am I supposed to go to the Sakura Festival now?" He was groaning loudly.
"He doesn't listen, does he?" Phil whispered.
I couldn't agree with him more.
"Hello?" I waved towards him to catch his attention. "I got a couple of questions for you. I can't keep calling you, hey, or you. So what is your name?"
"Don." Looking back towards me, his demeanor changed.
"How did you travel to this world? Did you pass some kind of dimensional barrier to come to Torren? Is Earth still the same?"
"Torren? Isn't this still Earth?"
I shook my head. "No, the world you are in now is called Torren. I used to live on Earth until a year ago."
"You're kidding me, right?" Don looked at me as if I was talking some random gibberish.
"No, why would I lie? Where do you think the dragon that was chasing you came from? This is not Earth, you know."
"Dragon? Dragon!" Don searched around him nervously. "The dragon is not here, is it? It destroyed my precious plane." He angrily stated.
"Sorry. It was all my fault for being rough with your plane and destroying it."
"Why are you, sorry?"
"Because I'm the dragon." I pointed at myself.
Don's expression changed from disbelief, fear, and finally to awe."Hah?"
"Like I said, I was trying to make you land because I saw a familiar sight of planes flying in this world. I knew you were an inhabitant of Earth."
"You're the dragon?" He gazed at me strangely. "You're a human."
"I'm.....both?" I changed in front of him there and then. Looming over him with hetro-colored eyes, I spoke. "I've been changed."
"Wah!" Don fell and scuttled backward like a roach. His back hit the cold metal plane. "Are you going to eat me?"
"How barbaric. I'm a genuine lady. Eating people is like cannibalism." I huffed cold breath in disdain. The ground underneath me quickly frosted over. "See Phil. That's the reaction that you should be having. Why aren't you like that too?"
Phil was frozen on the spot, but he did not seem to be terrified. "After you were eating gold and creating and making strange things, I assumed you were something else. An elf does not create mechanical contraptions like you and instead likes to lounge around in the forest, enjoying life. Though to be considered a legendary creature to be born now of all times when the dragon reign's cycle to be over is very odd."
"I haven't destroyed the city." I blatantly replied.
"That too, nor do you show any signs of rampage. You even have God's Blood and God's Magic with you. Plus, you haven't killed me."
Maybe I was overthinking things, but this future demon king was a lot more cool-headed than I gave him credit for.
Calculating, yes.
Scheming? I think so. No, I'm sure so.
Once again, I reverted into my human form. Yep, being in human form was a lot more comfortable than moving around a large body though I had to wonder where my clothes went to when I shifted forms.
"You're an actual dragon!" Don cried out startled, and his curiosity piqued by the strange event that was happening before him.
"I hoped you would catch on a bit sooner." I sighed. This wasn't getting anywhere at the rate I wanted to go. "So, can you answer my question." I was tired of this back and forth dragon thing.
Even Phil was getting a bit impatient.
I asked again. "How did you get through to this world? And why are you wearing a mask?"
"I don't know. I woke up in my plane, flying through a thick cloud of fog that came out of nowhere. I also remembered bits and pieces of going to the Sakura festival. I couldn't land nor see anything in front of me. It was truly a nerve-wracking experience. I thought I would've died from an unexpected crash."
"And?"
"Somehow, I ended out of the fog and came to open land with a bright sky. This was the first time in my life since I saw such natural beauty; it doesn't even compare to Earth."
"I'm not so sure about that; there are places on Earth that are beautiful."
"Where are you from? You sound like you're speaking in Japanese."
"Really? To me, you sound like you're speaking in English." Stumped, I was amazed at the language barrier that was gone, and in its place was a universal translator that made it easy to understand one another. How this was possible, I did not know, but it seems that the only answer was magic.
"Are you Japanese?" I couldn't help but wonder why his name was not even Japanese.
"Well, I"m half french and half Japanese. My last name Dupont was taken in by my father's side. I used to live in England temporarily until my family moved to Japan when I was twelve."
"Ah, wait. That's like a whole different country. Though you do have that slight English accent."
"This just gets stranger and stranger."
"What is strange is that you are wearing a mask." Phil cut in. He was wearily staring at Don as if he was a criminal.
"I'm sorry. This mask is sentimental. I'll take it off." Don pushed the mask up on his head. His black hair and stunning greenish-gray eyes stared back. I couldn't help but stare. It was rare to see such colored eyes in an Asian descent. It matched perfectly with his baby face. "Did you, by any chance, see a lady in white clothes before you arrived here?"
"Lady in white?" Don thought it over. "I vaguely remember a woman in white clothes."
"Did she say anything to you?"
"I....don't quite remember completely." Don scratched his head. "I do remember her saying something about going somewhere and something about world merging?"
"You too, huh. Wow." I asked excitedly. So Earth and Torren were slowly merging. The lady in white was some kind of being that brought us here.
"There was one more thing she said. It went something like...."Don was thinking hard, "Beware of the Black Moon.....something...fight for your existence."
"It seems you hit your head a little too hard upon the crash," Phil spoke. He crossed his arms.
"Black Moon? Fight for our existence?" I didn't hear anything like that. "That does not make sense. We are going to need more clues on the white lady."
"Though I have to ask. Have you got this strange information coming through your head? It has my name, title, and abilities." Don asked. He was looking in the air where only he could see.
"Yes, I got that too when I came here. What does yours say?"
"Flying Demonic Maniac."
"Pfft." Phil held back his laugh.
"That's better than me. Mine is a Gaming Greedy Dragon."
"That fits you so perfectly, especially the greedy part." Phil retorted and burst out laughing. Walking over nonchalantly, I gave him a quick kick to the knee.
"Ow! What was that for?" Phil hissed, and he hopped around on one leg.
"Anything else?" I turned over towards Don and smiled.
"I got an engineer and Earth magic."
"Interesting, so both of you are blessed by God and are Adventurers. Outside the nobles, the only people or being able to have magic are Adventurers."
"Are you one as well?" Don asked Phil.
"You can say something like that."
"Though we need to do something with your plane. I don't think it's a good idea to leave it out and letting it smoke like this. We might bring trouble." I looked over towards the plane. To see it in such a condition made me wince.
"Trouble? Do you know how strange that sounds coming from your mouth?" Phil snorted, rubbing his knees once more. "You're a dragon for crying out loud. You're the trouble that scares away all the monsters in the vicinity. I haven't seen a single one nearby since we have arrived here."
I couldn't say anything. It was true. This damnable curse Double Trouble was always reeling its ugly head in some shape or form. The only thing was that this curse seemed to not activate in my domain. The way he said made me realize the oddity of the whole situation.
"If you don't mind. I would like a new change of clothes. Being in this bloodied up clothes makes it a bit uncomfortable and cold." Don shivered.
"Ah-" I couldn't help but notice that he was right. Blood was spilled in large blotches all over his body. He needed new clothes, and I believed they were many back inside. If only I knew where half the things were in the giant castle.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone