Dragon x Drifter

Yuki was an ordinary person. When he was a kid, he led a fulfilling childhood. When he hit his teenage years, he went through puberty and experienced the joy of growing up like the rest of his peers. And when he reached high school, he was able to spend his time doing trifling but fun things together with the friends that he made along the way. All in all, the life that the human named Yuki built for himself was the epitome of normalcy. It was a simple but peaceful way of living that he came to love and cherish.

That was how he went through in his life, taking things in stride, as he enjoyed the different facets of reality. He traversed through time carefreely and lived doing what he could no matter how mundane. He did not dare to take things for granted, though, as he did not want to miss a single bit of memory. He was grateful, and thus, displayed his gratitude in placing importance in the fleeting moments of life that others may deem unimportant. If nothing went wrong, he would have been able to continue living happily without worrying about anything.

However, as a wise man once said, anything that could go wrong, if given a chance, would definitely go wrong. Fate clearly had something different in store for him. And Yuki certainly did not expect to be confronted with an absurdity capable of turning what he believed in on its head in the blink of an eye.

Staring at the creature in front of his eyes, disbelief carved itself on his face as his black eyes opened in wide circle. His mind was thrown off the loop, unable to process the situation he found himself in. But as befuddled as he was, it was no difficult to identify the massive creature that laid its body in front of him in full grandeur.

A dragon. The thing in front of his sight, the very absurdity that signaled the end of his normal life, was a real and genuine dragon found only in the myths and legends. It laid prone on the ground, unmoving, while it gave off an oppressive majesty that threatened to swallow his whole being.

Yuki stood rooted; his body shook on its own at the presence of the mythical creature. Its black scales that glimmered under the sunlight let out a scent of danger that sent the alarm bells in his head blaring. It was at this moment that he finally realized how the protagonists in the books that he liked to peruse must have felt when they faced unsurmountable enemies.

Strangely, however, aside from the shaking that his body did on its own. There did not seem to be fear deep within his mind. His obsidian eyes were terrifyingly calm, a clear contrast to his knees that were about to buckle in any moment, as he stared back at its golden eyes. It was a weird feeling, he thought. It was as though there existed a clear disconnect between his mind and vessel, making him feel unsettled about such fact.

The humungous creature, with its golden orbs, stared right at his figure. Curiosity filled its eyes and did not seem to contain any ill intent towards the human who dared to look in its eyes. Despite that, the tingling in his skin did not abate for a moment, even strengthening as time passed. It clearly meant that the danger that the dragon posed still have not passed yet.

"Human, are you not afraid of this monarch?

A voice echoed, unexpectedly pleasant, inside his mind which could only be described as telepathy. It was as though heavenly bells and trumpets formed an orchestra in his head as words flitted in his mind. It was a surprising experience he never expected from a dragon. Hell, he did not even expect for it to even be able to speak. Still, ignoring his own astonishment, he decided to respond immediately. It was unknown how the dragon would react if he left it hanging for a while longer.

"I am afraid… maybe. My body is clearly shaking by itself, but I seem to be fine inwardly. It feels weird, to be honest."

For a man who lived a normal life up until this moment, Yuki did well as sloppy as his answer was. He did not know where he found the guts to even speak, but he thought that complaining about it should be done when he was in the clear. It was much better than not being able to entertain the creature that could very much kill him over a thousand times the moment it felt like doing so.

Amused, the dragon cackled, "Strange… Your body fears me instinctively, but your mind does not. An admirable mental fortitude. For you to be capable of speaking in my presence is the greatest feat that a powerless human can achieve."

"T-Thank you?"

"Nevertheless, I want to ask of you," the aura of oppression that the dragon had abruptly soared, "of your reason about why you are here and how you made it inside my territory."

The scaled creature spoke amiably. However, Yuki was able to feel the increase of suppression in the atmosphere as the dragon's overbearing presence sharpened in the middle of its question. Cold sweat soaked the school uniform that he wore on his back and his throat felt dry as if he was in the middle of a desert.

A grimace found itself on his face recognizing the mythical creature's inquiry. He could only lament that of all the questions it could have asked, it chose the one that he could not possibly give an answer to. After all, he was also clueless about how he made it here, a supposed "territory" of a frightening dragon.

"To be honest, I don't know. When I woke up, I found myself in the middle of a forest. Of course, I knew I was going to starve just like that if I did not do anything… so, I decided to walk in a random direction… and made it here."

The dragon's slits narrowed in suspicion hearing Yuki's answer, a glint passed through its golden orbs. It was apparent that it did not believe him. As he thought, it was only natural since his reason did sound flimsy. A sigh of resignation left his mouth, not knowing what to say more about this.

He told the truth. And at the very least, he had nothing to feel guilty about. After a moment of silence, the air around him billowed as a groan slipped out of the dragon's maw.

"Hmm… It's a mystery how you even managed to make it all the way in this place considering your paltry strength and mana. With all the monsters around my territory, a fragile human like yourself would not have been able to arrive here without getting devoured."

"…"

"And even if you were, hypothetically speaking, able to get around those monsters, you should not have been able to bypass the ward that I had placed in the perimeter. There were also no space fluctuations that indicate that teleportation magic had been used… so, how the hell did you make it all the way to me?"

"I really don't know," he sported a defeated expression but quickly paused in realization of something. "Wait, wait, wait, and wait a moment! Did you just say 'monsters'? I think I also heard mana and teleportation…"

Yuki slowly fell into the pits of anxiousness as the words that the dragon uttered echoed repeatedly in his head. Compared to the sight of a mythical creature, what he heard was not at all comparable when it comes to being preposterous. It was not strange for weirder things to pop out at this point when an incarnation of ridiculousness stood in front of him. However, hearing those terms that could only be found in the fantasy genre foretold him of something that he might not have necessarily wanted to hear. A premonition came over him as a sense of déjà vu enveloped his body. He had an inkling where this was going to…

The dragon, on the other hand, felt that something was going on when it saw the panic that appeared on the human's face when he heard its words. This brought it confusion as it knew that despite trembling in its presence, Yuki was certainly clear headed enough not to be overwhelmed by fear. That was the reason why it had praised him earlier. But the moment the scaled creature spoke of monsters, mana, and magic, the figure that had been able to stand in front of it, albeit barely, fell into a mess.

Complex emotions glimmered in the dragon's eyes as it stared at the human. Had its majesty been reduced over the years that mere words scared the human more than its presence? It questioned itself inwardly. It closed its eyes to figure out what was happening, perusing the knowledge that it had acquired from the number of years that it had lived. A moment later, it opened its lids abruptly. It was apparent that the mythical creature had discovered something from the archives in its head.

Appearing out of nowhere, absence of magic and space fluctuations upon appearance, and cluelessness about common sense that the dragon knew… Everything finally made sense when the dragon managed to remember a piece of information that it had long forgotten.

"Human, tell me what is the name of the world."

Yuki did not know why the dragon had asked such a question. However, he felt dread upon hearing it, so he did not delay and answered immediately, "It's called Earth."

A second later, the space around the giant menace twisted. Gusts of air manifested as the scaled creature raised its head in the direction of the sky. An amused roar slipped out if its maw while a voracious laughter echoed inside Yuki's head loudly.

"How amusing! Now, I know what the hell happened! You are a 'drifter'!"

"What do you mean?"

The dragon seemed to be pleased with its discovery as an air of smugness surrounded its body. Fortunately, it did not dally in its response seeing the impatience in his eyes.

"The name of this world is Benedicto."

And with that sentence, Yuki understood what the underlying meaning was beneath the dragon's words. The gut feeling that came upon him and the anxiousness that gripped his heart, it was pointing about this certain truth. The truth that he had speculated. This place— no— this world was not where his home was. The existence of the dragon in front of him along with the things that it had muttered told him so.

This was not Earth.

He fell into his knees as his hands made contact with the ground. His body shook, a different reason this time, as nausea overtook his senses. His life… The peace and quiet, the normal and ordinary, and the life that he had built up for himself was gone, banished by this outlandishness that was thrust upon him by fate.

It seemed like he was transported into another world…