Chapter 4: An ecologist dragon scams us in the other world.

“You really think so?” questions Ellie with disbelief. “We were just drinking.”

She looks down and notices that she’s still holding my wrist tightly. We both jump away from each other.

I turn away from her, pretending to be evaluating the immensity of the cavern. “I don’t know… maybe…” I begin. I’m trying to stay rational, but everything about this place feels so real. “Maybe it was the fortune paper.”

“Oh, right,” affirms Ellie. “I remember we got a talk about those back when we were in high school.”

“Ummm… kids. You’re not under the effect of any hallucinogen,” says the giant lizard next to us. “I summoned you into the great Roagua!”

We both try to ignore her.

“The weird thing is that we seem to be inside the same illusion,” I mumble as I give myself a good pinch on the arm. I’m still here.

“Or maybe when I tripped, we both smacked our heads… and somehow we ended up in Europe!” says Ellie trying to convince herself.

“Girl. There are no giant lizards in Europe either.” I tell her, not believing a single word of what just came out of her mouth.

“Well, I don’t believe we’re hallucinating!” she snaps back, a little angry. “This feels too real.”

“I’m telling you! This is not an illusion, nor is Europe!” vociferates the giant lizard, at which we both jump, unaware that she is still there.

“Well, prove it!” challenges Ellie, smugly crossing her arms.

I’m not sure if I want this giant lizard to prove something.

“ROAAAAR!!!” clamors the lizard as a blow of warm air hits me. I struggle so the strength of it won’t overthrow me. Clumps of saliva hit my body. The inside of the mouth of the lizard looks dreadful, with lines of sharp teeth one after another.

From the corner of my eye, I can see Ellie tumbling as the lizard keeps growling at us. I try to catch Ellie, but my eyesight goes blurry, and everything gets dark.

…

The pain in the back of my head awakes me. I open my eyes to find myself lying on the cavern’s shiny dark floor.

I guess I fainted, and this time, I did smack my head on the floor.

I turn my eyes to where Ellie fell. She’s lying there, unconscious. A middle-aged woman has her hands extended over Ellie’s forehead. A dim yellow light is emanating from them.

“What are you doing?” I mumble.

“I’m healing her,” she says with a sweet voice. “I didn’t mean to scare you that much.”

This makes no sense. The woman’s voice is the same as the giant lizard’s.

“So… you’re the giant lizard?” I ask without believing a single word.

She sighs, deeply frustrated. “You know. We dragons are prideful creatures,” she says while taking her hands away from Ellie. “You better not call me giant lizard ever again!”

The woman’s face turns into an intimidating stare as she says so. I guess that I’ll never call her giant lizard again.

“I’m so sorry,” I say apologetically. “It’s just too much to process. I tend to overreact a lot.”

“Don’t worry. I get it. Now come here and let me heal that terrible bump in your head,” she says as she gestures for me to sit beside her.

This can’t be a dream, illusion, or Europe. The pain in the back of my head is way too sharp.

“So... you can shapeshift?” I ask as I sit next to her.

She proceeds to check my wound. “Most dragons can,” she responds as she examines my head for any other injuries. “I guess that I should have introduced myself with this shape.”

“I guess the first impression is always important,” I say as I feel the pain going away. “If I were a dragon, I would have done the same.”

She lets out a loud laugh.

“I’ve been watching your world for quite a while. You know,” the woman says as the pain keeps diminishing. “When I bumped into you, I knew you would be just the right one to help me with a little task.”

Great. The lady is also a stalker.

“Umm… What task? Me?” I ask with a little urge in my voice now that the pain is completely gone. What is this woman talking about? Did she kidnap us from our world so that we could do her chores?!

“A little patience, please,” she says with a calm voice. “Let’s wait for your friend to wake up.”

“What’s going on?” asks Ellie with a sleepy voice. “Ough!” she sighs. “Rin-chan. We’re still here.”

“I guess the dragon was right,” I say.

“You were so mean to call her giant lizard,” she says.

“Hey, you know I’m a professional overreactor,” I laugh. “I’ve already apologized.”

“Good,” says Ellie as she sits. “So. We’re not in Europe?”

“Unfortunately, we’re not.” I end.

I notice the woman/dragon coming back to us with two bowls in her hands.

The bowls turned out to be filled with a delicious stew that both Ellie and I devoured. We thank her for the meal.

“So you’re the dragon that made me faint a while ago,” asks Ellie.

“What can I say? First impressions are important,”

“Well, you definitely made a good one,” says Ellie, acknowledging the woman/dragon's point.

“By any chance… Do you have a name?” I ask as politely as I can. In some fantasy stories, having a name is a big deal. Many creatures don’t have one, so I try to be as polite as possible.

“Of course, I have a name!” she mocks. “Ignicoris. A pleasure to meet you,” she says, extending her hand.

“Sasaki Rin,” I say as I stretch her hand.

“Inoue Ellie,” Ellie follows.

“Well, it’s great to know my paladins' names finally,” says Ignicoris proudly.

“Paladinds of what?” asks Ellie, clearly intrigued.

“To answer that, I guess I will have to tell you a little of my story,” she begins. “Pay attention closely. I don't like repeating myself.”

“Long ago, the great land Roagua was ruled by dragons. Dragons, as magical creatures, would keep the balance between humans and all the rest of the living creatures of this world, and the world lived in balance for generations.

The dragon community was ruled by four great leaders: the mind, the feel, the body, and the heart. Each leader attended to different world necessities but would also work together. Occasionally, these leaders would step out for the new generation to take up the legacy. And one good day, I was selected to take the heart position.

I ruled with righteousness and verity, along with my comrades Jernlegeme the unwavering, Adhair the sagacious, and Gaol the bright. Little did we know that some humans were growing greedy behind our backs.

From the south ascended the great kingdom of Abhag. Native to the deserted lands of the south, the young king Abhag grew greedier towards the dragons' rule. Under the dunes of the sand city, he developed a plan to steal the staff of Oprin, the dragons’ most significant source of magic.

Silent and cautious, Abhag sneaked into the sacred forest of Acrum, where we were taking a sleep during the shortest day of the year. During this day, dragons turn exhausted and catatonic by the absence of light. So Abhag took the chance to steal the staff, and, commanding an army of dark wizards, he slaughtered my species in one night!

A more considerable amount of magic naturally flows through the veins of the four rulers. When they were unable to finish us, they decided to seal us into four different places in the forest of Acrum.

Fearful that any human might try to release us, Abhag ordered the destruction of the staff into three pieces, which he would later use to strengthen a spell to keep my friends captive, with the particular condition that only humans would be able to break it.

On one final effort, he used the magic of the staff’s gem to keep any memory of the dragons erased from humans’ minds.

Some fellow humans were able to resist the power of the gem and tried to reunite the staff, but all their tries have been unsuccessful.

Nowadays, Abhag’s empire is consuming this world, getting closer and closer to the unbalance and further destruction of everything we care for.”

So our world isn’t the only one with ecological problems. What a surprise!