Captured

The first thing I saw upon waking were metal bars, and a crude wooden roof above my head. Upon further inspection, I could see many figures surrounding my cage with all kinds of different clothes and weapons on, and they all vaguely reminded me of cavemen. They wore furs across their body and had wooden clubs or crude flint spears to defend themselves with.

'Well, it looks like you found some other Survivors! I'd recommend treating them nicely since there's a bunch of em!' I noticed that most of these people were actually speaking to their friends in different languages, while switching to English when reporting to the higher ups. It seems that most people were still wary of others after they were teleported here.

"Hey! It seems like you're finally awake, eh? Now, tell me what you were doing trying to settle on our land!" A muscular man with dark pants, no shirt, long, shaggy black hair, and dark eyes walked up and banged on the bars of the cage with a bored look in his eyes. "Oh, uh, I didn't know that this was your land, so your claim is not really valid since there are no private property signs..."

The man smiled widely and gripped one of the metal bars tightly, bending it with ease as he said "Don't fuck with me kid. You should've been more careful, because there is only one rule here, and that is the strong rule the weak. And you, my friend, are weak..." The man let go of the bar and walked away as he motioned for his men to continue moving.

The cart my cage was in began to move, and I saw a large creature, that resembled a parasaurolophus from Earth, pulling it while two men next to it whipped it every time it slowed down. The large group continued to move for hours without breaks until a massive, spiked, wooden wall came into view. The group stopped outside of a large gate and a man dressed in hard, chitinous armor stepped forward with a large sword strapped across his back.

The man began to talk with the large muscled man and, eventually, he opened the gate to let the group through. Large buildings made of stone were clumped together while a wide dirt road covered in multiple footprints and wheel tracks etched into the mud. Many people stared out at me from the comforts of their home, many with condescending glares, and very few with apologetic gazes.

Soon, we neared a large place within the village that was completely bare, save for a wooden platform placed directly in the middle. The cart stopped and a few men dragged my cage out and set it down on the platform before walking off to go do whatever. The same muscular man walked back up to my cage and knelt down before saying "You will stay put until the time for your execution draws near. And, trust me, you can't escape even if you had some type of magic that rendered you invisible..."

A dominating pressure forced the air from my lungs as the man let a seemingly harmless smile spread across his face, however, I had felt such pressure before, albeit not this potent. This was nothing but raw bloodlust. The pressure let up and I could breathe again, and Emily had finally decided to speak once more. 'Well, I was gonna let you figure out magic by yourself, but it looks like he ruined the surprise...'

I thought the man was joking when he said something about invisibly magic, but hearing what Emily had just said made me question even more about life than yesterday. 'W-W-Wait, you're telling me that MAGIC exists here in this world!?' Emily let out a nervous laugh before saying 'W-Well, you see...you have to find a creature with a strong affinity to the mana in the atmosphere, and then successfully create a soul bond with that creature in order to borrow its powers...'

The excitement I once held died down immediately and I wanted nothing more than to hurry up and get this "execution" over with so that I could respawn and get back to building a safe haven for myself. I had no plans to get anywhere near another dinosaur or anything like them. I sat down with a weary sigh as people began to gather around the empty place and whisper about who they thought was in the cage.

Of course, many people thought I was some random person they found who had just been relocated to this place, but they didn't care one bit. They just wanted to watch someone get killed. I sat there under the scrutinizing gazes of the various people until they finally decided that enough was enough and left to go do someone productive. I, on the other hand, was busy trying to bribe Emily to give me more blueprints.

'Ok, look, I know we started, and ended, on the wrong foot back on Earth, but come on we're pals now! Maybe just one gun...?' I heard Emily sigh in annoyance before saying 'No means no! I can't just give everything to you, because that's not fun! Learn to make a damn gun yourself!' I threw my hands up in defeat as I tried to remember exactly how to build an AR-15.

I earned many weird stares from people passing by, as it looked like I was reacting to nothing, and this only made me wonder if others didn't have a little voice in their head as well. Emily confirmed my suspicions. 'Nope, you're just crazy. Everyone else is normal while I was the only one that fused with my candidate...'

Huh...?

'The hell do you mean "fused?" And what the hell is a candidate?' Emily did the mental equivalent of a facepalm before saying 'Right, I forgot to tell you. Candidates are the ones who are chosen to be sent to the ARK, which is where you are at right now. Yes, there are more people like me who were handpicked to choose candidates, but I was apparently the only one to fuse with my candidates consciousness...'

I blinked a few times as I tried to process my newfound information, and I noticed that it was beginning to get dark once more. 'So, do you know who these guys are, Emily?' I asked as I brushed my hair back. 'Not really, but I do know that these people are a part of the Highland Tribe, one of the more powerful tribes on the ARK. Well, more specifically, Ragnarok, which is the name of the island you're on right now. You're lucky that you didn't get sent to the Extinction, or Aberration projects.'

I gathered a good bit of useful information from our conversation. First, there were multiple islands that made up the 'ARK.' Second, everyone here was once from Earth. Third, you can tame the beasts you find across the island. These were the three most important facts that I had gathered. I mean, magic was a close third, but I still have no plans of trying to tame anything here. Fuck that.

I released a sigh of boredom as the sun set and darkness descended upon the large village. No one else had come up to talk to me, or even let me know about anything, so I assumed that it would be a while before I could get out of here. Then I realized something. I scrambled over to the bent bar that the muscular man had almost broke and tugged on it just a bit, causing the whole thing to just pop right out of the cage.

I was never much of a religious guy, but some God must've been watching over me at that moment, and I will never forget their kindness. I slipped out from the cage and snuck toward a small alleyway in between two stone houses. From what I saw, there seems to only be one gate to get in and out of the village, so I honestly had no idea how I was going to get out.

But life finds a way, am I right?

A piercing roar echoed through the sky, and it sounded far away at first but, as the seconds passed by, another, closer roar made the very Earth tremble in its wake. A large shadow passed overhead and the figure in the sky was hidden by the night. Suddenly, a deep voice yelled out to me. "Go, whelp! I shall deal with these foolish mortals!"

I froze in my tracks as the figure unleashed a bloodlust that dwarfed the muscular man's by a seemingly infinite amount. 'Run you dumbass! He was talking to you!!' I snapped out of my daze and turned to run toward the gate at full speed. I heard the sound of someone taking a deep breath, and the sky suddenly lit ablaze, revealing the figure in the sky.

It was a Dragon.

A fully-fledged Dragon, with its wings spread out, floated majestically in the sky with the aura of a king surrounding it. It was a truly terrifying, yet beautiful, scene. Fire shot out from the Dragon's mouth and the light it emitted reflected off of its beautiful red scales. Many houses were caught in the blast and immediately reduced to nothing but rubble.

That, is the power of Dragon. A creature untouchable by even the laws of Earth.

I ran as fast as I could, ignoring the smell of smoke and burnt flesh, as well as the cries for help coming from those that just mocked and taunted me mere hours ago. I ran, and ran, and ran for what felt like hours, until a single cry made me stop and look. It was two toddlers crying out for their parents.

A boy and a girl, both with fiery red hair and bright red eyes, but their bright eyes were dulled by their tears and fear. After hesitating for a good second, I ran over and kneeled down to cover the children from the horrible scene behind me. "You two. Do you want to live?" I asked with a serious look in my eyes. I didn't know if I was capable of giving these children a good life, but I could at least try.

The boy was shaking with fear as he tightly clung to my arm with his eyes shut tightly. My expression softened and I picked the two up before glancing at a notification I just received. 'Another level-up, eh? Fuck it, put it into movement speed!' I said as I ran toward the gate while holding the children.

I felt a familiar surge of power course through my body, and I felt my pace get quicker as the gate got closer and closer. There were a good bit of people heading for the gate as well, and they would have made it if not for the Dragon. A large gout of flames came from the side and burnt everyone trying to escape, accept for me and the kids, without discrimination.

The walls were now ashes, and the village was deathly silent. The Dragon let out a loud roar of victory before looking toward me and nodding its giant head with an amused look in its eyes. The Dragon snorted and turned mid-air before flying off toward the mountains vaguely visible in the distance.

Another roar echoed around in the air and I was off. I ran through the burnt gates and out into the open plains, with no idea where I was going. I just needed to find somewhere to go, so that I could protect these innocent children. In that moment, I made a vow. A vow to their parents, saying that I would care for them and give them the best life possible.

I couldn't just let these two kids experience the horrors of reality, not after what they had just been through. I, Ash Yuragi, vow to do whatever it takes to save these two children, even if it costs me my life. I'll gladly sacrifice myself for them. The new has to overtake the old sometime, right?