1 Every Hero(?) Has Their Origin

"Why are you still here? Get the hell out of my office."

Shooing away another dejected interviewee, a man with a handsome face that screamed 'asshole' leans back into his black leather chair, before pulling out his phone to look at whatever may catch his eye before the next sad chump walks in to present their so-called qualifications.

With eyes skimming for anything of interest on his news app, his eyes can't help but be drawn to a fantastical headline.

"'A material reminiscent of a dragon's scale has been found in a crater within Arizona?' Yeah right. Which idiot wrote this? Keep garbage like that in the realm of fantasy, please and thanks. God forbid I read anything either interesting or relevant. How is this on the front page? Who upvotes fake news like this?"

Snorting in disbelief, he prepares to keep scrolling downward, before he is quickly interrupted by the ringing of the bell on the door to his office room; another interviewee it seems.

At first annoyed at the intrusion (despite this being his job for the day), he is then comforted by the idea of potentially making whatever scrub come in sad. "You may enter," he says with a faux cheery voice as he puts down his phone.

In response to his words, a young woman walks in. He scans the girl over with his eyes, before rolling them inwardly. Nothing special about woman; she's plain... In fact, strangely so. As if simply imitating the form of a human...

She seemed to be of some form of mixed descent; no real outstanding features that would point to a specific race. The only standout clue would be her olive skin; or is that merely a well prepared tan of some sort?

Shaking off the faint feeling of discomfort, he waves toward the chair in front of him, as an arrogant command to sit before him, as if he was some form of king upon a throne, rather then just a prick in an above average office chair.

She wears a light smile as she lowers herself graciously in the chair, exuding a feeling of elegance; this provides a sense of beauty her plain form seemed to lack. She stares at the arrogant yet handsome man before her, as if searching for something.

He stares back at her, before opening his mouth. "So, what makes you think you're qualified to work with us? We're a Fortune 500 company; the only reason you made it this far is because apparently you weren't trash enough to have your resume immediately dumpstered. Congrats; you're now at the final bastion; me. Now talk me up, keep me interested, or get out."

She simply stares at him with her smile still upon her face. At this point, he starts to feel uneasy.

"Oi. You've now wasted 10 seconds of my time. I guess you really don't want this job after all. That's great, that means less work for me. Now get the fuck out."

"Not so fast."

That was the first time she spoke since she entered the room. Her voice had a lilting tone to it- the type of tone one would associate with a member of royalty or the like.

His eyes narrowed, sensing the change in atmosphere. He couldn't help but put his guard up. While he may seem to be naught but a self absorbed prick, he is still a well developed physical specimen, and a practitioner of martial arts; no simple prodigal son. His bronze skin and lean musculature unconsciously tensed under his suit. "'Not so fast?' Who exactly are you? And what do you want?"

At this point, he didn't even realize that his previous arrogant and dismissive attitude was nowhere to be found. The woman's smile widened, and she tilted her head playfully ever so slightly; yet the smile didn't reach her eyes. They remained inky pools; whether it was malice, pity, or wonder was lost on the man. At this point, he also realized that all noise seemed to have stopped. Here, in the USA, in the heart of a major city, within a major corporation, how could there possibly be no noise, no hustle and bustle. Before his bewilderment grew greater, the woman opened her mouth to speak again.

"Now, how could a dragon such as yourself have found themselves in this realm devoid of mystique, of wonder, and of magic? Did you perhaps get lost?"

"... A what now?"

His eyes flitted back to his phone screen- the only thing that still seemed to function in the timeless state he found himself in. Again, the headline about the dragon scale was illuminated on the screen, drawing his eyes over everything else. At this point, a faint feeling of excitement seemed to well within him.

The woman has a confused look on her face for a second, before quickly resuming her playful look. "Oh, have you perhaps lost your memories in addition to your form? Hm... Now that I take a good look at you, you have basically nothing left of that Supreme Existence. Maybe that means you won't make the same mistakes? Well, one can only hope; I always hated cleaning up someone else's mess. Well, it's about time for you to go back anyway."

The expression 'go back' caught his attention over everything else the woman said. "Are you saying... I can become a dragon? Go to another world? Like in a novel or something?" He couldn't help but have a growing excitement within him. He had no real attachment to this world; no familial ties left alive, nothing. Just leaving behind all his unread literature and unfinished games sorta hurt...

"Huh? You already ARE a dragon. And that 'other world' is your home. Not this... dirty place. Too many humans, too little anything else. There's some interesting things, but still far more boring in comparison to my- well, OUR home. But don't you worry about your current pathetic form, or travel expenses; I'm not the goddess of travel for nothing! Make sure to keep all your... what's the word? Ah yes, you're 'marbles' together so you are sane when you are brought back. I really have no idea how you even got here... Thank goodness you left a scale behind that I could use to track you with, or something with your strong soul being so displaced could've caused a major problem!"

"...Huh? Goddess of travel? Wait, we're going now? And you're the one that dropped that scale!?"

"Yes, yes, and yes. Wow, you've gotten much slower both mentally and physically well, I'll see you around! Maybe? Probably not."

As she raises her arms with a wide smiled and crinkled eyes that look more befitting of an old woman rather than the 20-something year old guise she had, she sent the man off in a twist of time and space before he could even respond with a scathing remark to the insult.

"Please do behave yourself Sion; this was a lot of work you know? Grow up big and strong..."

All that could be heard as time resumed and she twinkled out of existence as well was a witch like cackle...