A Kingdom of One Becomes Two

"Stupid brother, do you know how worried I was about you!"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry and won't do it again"

Ah, now this is a familiar scene.

"Liar! You have said this countless times before and this still keeps happening!"

It was as if I was watching this through a hazy television screen. Currently on is an argument between a sister, who is definitely pissed off, and a brother who seems very lazy in his responses. Almost like he was saying lines he had said a million times before.

"Yeah I know, I'll try harder not to get into a fight next time" said again in a very non-committal voice.

This is a memory. One of my memories. It's the day I got into a big fight with some delinquents that tried to mug me when I was walking down a side street alone. I easily beat them down of course. But one of them pulled a knife out and stabbed my leg with it. Of course, I then proceeded to punch his face in. But I still needed to go to hospital as I lost a lot of blood.

"Liar! I bet you walked down that side street on purpose knowing that would happen."

"Maya don't be silly I would nev…. Wait, why are you here? Didn't you have that big dream job interview?"

My sisters name was Maya, she was older than me by four years. All I was really good at was fighting, my sister on the other hand was smart, beautiful, athletic and she could do anything she set her mind. She had worked super hard to get to the point she could go for the job she dreamed of having. On that day her hard work should have paid off as she had an interview to get that very job.

"Yeah, well…. I was worried about you. You're my little brother. We're all each other's got left in terms of family. When you get hurt of course I come running. Idiot."

I remember when she said that. That shocked me, she gave up her chance to achieve one of her goals in life for a no good brother like me who caused her nothing but grief. This time when I promised not to get into more fights, it was a lot more sincere. I appreciated her a lot more from that day.

For a few years, I did not get into any more fights. I avoided anyone who I thought might try to start one with me. I thought I had finally gotten past my obsession. But I let my guard down, got myself into a fight and gotten killed.

I'm such a shitty brother. After everything she did for me, I threw it away.

It's strange, now that I think about it, I can barely remember anything about my now past life. I can't even recall my name. Yet I remember so much about my sister. I wonder what she's up to now.

Hmm, my consciousness is fading… guess this is a dream huh....

Goodbye, Maya.

----

I woke up rather suddenly.

Hmm, where am I? I feel like I was just dreaming about something, but I can't seem to remember. Feels like it was important, but I can't dwell on it. I need to figure out where I am.

I surveyed my surroundings, it seems like I am in some kind of stone room. There were various holes in the ceiling and walls which let a cold breeze in. Green moss like plants were growing through the cracks.

I spotted a window and walked over to it. I couldn't reach the window normally because I was too small. Luckily there was a few old wooden objects, that looked like old furniture, that I could use to climb up towards the window.

Once I reached the window, a wonderous view was laid out before me. The room I am in has turned out to be in a tower that was part of a large castle. Although a lot of the castle was slowly decaying due to what looked like a lack of maintenance, you could still see that it was a beautifully constructed castle.

In the courtyard of the castle I could see a waterway that ran through it. In the water ways I could see what looked like lots of fish swimming around in them. From the look of this place it is most likely abandoned so there has been no one fishing or hunting the fish making the population of the fish explode.

What struck me was how I could see that there were fish swimming around in the waterways. I was the highest point in this huge castle, but I could clearly see them no matter if they were big or small. How strange, I wonder how I am seeing things so far away in such detail. For now, I suppose the answer to any changes that I feel could be put down to one thing. I am a Dragon. It's a simple answer but it will do for now.

Beyond the castle walls was a large city which looked as well maintained as the castle and even further beyond that was a large forest and mountains. It would be cool to explore those places at some point, I thought.

I then realised that my new mother was not in the room with me when I awoke.

Hmm, I wonder where she has gone. I suppose I shall go explore until I find where she is.

As I jump down, part of my body hit one of the old pieces of furniture. I thought it was strange because I made sure I had enough space to jump down without hitting anything on the way down. It hurt. But then I realised I had no idea what was hurting. Whatever it was it seemed to be on my back….

Huh? I have wings?

As I turned my head, I saw two small wings sprouting from my back. They were clearly not developed enough to carry me around as my body seemed to big for such fragile looking things.

"Huuu" I sigh and let out high pitched noise.

Another new body part I have to get used to having I guess. I have been getting less and less surprised with each new body part I discover.

I spot an old mirror resting against a wall and decide it is time to get a good look at myself. So, I plod over to the mirror.

Once I got there the first thing I noticed were my beautiful golden eyes. Just like mothers, I thought. That thought made me slightly happy.

I looked at my other features. I had small ears that went into a point and a little snout. I had two tiny little fangs poking out from my mouth that looked quite charming. I also noticed I had two tiny, but sharp, horns growing from the top of my head. Between these horns was some beautiful blazing red fur or hair, that went halfway down my back. This red fur was also growing on the end of my tail.

All in all…. I think I looked like an incredibly cute dragon if I do say so myself!

"Kyuuuu!" I let out a little squeak and puffed my chest out in pride.

Once I was done admiring myself, I realised I had originally decided to explore before I got distracted. I once again got myself mentally prepared and headed towards the wooden door and exited the room.

I immediately regretted my resolve to explore, as I looked at the sheer number of stairs that I will have to descend in order to get down from this tower. Still, I was determined not to be stuck in that one room.

And so, I descended the stairs, almost falling a few times as I struggled to climb down with my tiny legs. When I did reach the bottom, it led into a hallway. I imagined that there must have been many of these hallways throughout the castle, making it very easy to get lost.

I wandered through the castle for a few hours, and climbed down many more exhausting stairs, until I reached something that looked like an entrance way into the castle. It was very grand with what must have been very beautiful statues in the corners and patterns chiselled into the walls. Now they have mostly eroded and decayed like much of the castle.

Suddenly the doors of the entrance way flew open as I was admiring the architecture.

"ALICIAAAAAA!!"

I was, without warning, scooped up into someone's arms. That someone was my mother, Petra Valensca.

"Uuuuuu, I'm sorry I left you alone by yourself for so long, but I wanted to bring us home a feast of the most delicious food you can find around here. Soooo, I ended up hunting for hours for all the rare monsters. Uuuuu, I am so sorry Alicia, BUT I am back now!" My mother said excitedly while rubbing her cheeks against mine roughly.

"KYUUU! KYUU…. Guuuu"

I try to escape excessive skinship, but after a while I knew I could not escape. And wait, monsters? What do monsters look like in this world?

My mother seems not to notice my confused stare and carries on discussing our planned evening.

"Hehe, come my little Alicia. Tonight, we celebrate your birth with a feast and lots of Mother and Daughter bonding time. Hu hu, I cannot wait…."

…. There seems to be a dangerous glint in my Mothers eyes…. I'm going to be okay, right?

I hesitate to follow at first but as a delicious smell hits my nose my resistance is broken, and I follow her out into the courtyard.

I reached the doors of the castle and looked out onto this sea of destruction. Multiple bodies of various…. monsters as she called them, were strewn about with guts hanging out everywhere.

It looked very gross…. Is what I wanted to say but my mouth was drooling, and my nose was picking up a delicious smell coming from the corpses. I couldn't take the delectable smell anymore and dived headfirst at a tiger looking monster and took as big a bite as my mouth could take.

IT WAS SO GOOOOD. I happily kept devouring the monster meat. While my mother smiled affectionately from behind me for a while, before transforming into her dragon form and joining me in eating.

And so began my first family meal in another world.