Draconic Awakening

The gate—this was the gate. Ragnar scanned through the vicinity of the Mesa in search of something that at least stood up, probably a door or anything that spelled out to be a gate. But nothing.

There was no gate here. So what was the crazy lady referring to?

Before he could ask any questions, the other two men had finally reached the top of the Mesa—one pulling the rope after him and the other walking up to Ragnar.

Reaching the young Lord, he summoned into his grasp a short sword which he held, pointing the blade towards Ragnar's throat.

"You don't look very human. When did you end up in Wendigo crust?" Cleaver held the most unwelcoming demeanor he could muster.

This seemed infuriating—well, not that it was unexpected. After all, no one would risk their own life for someone that held no importance to their own cause.

And these two men had just jumped down to face a horde of Wretchborns right beside him.

A long, obscure silence stayed in the air until the other man came up to Ragnar with a much calmer expression. He seemed more gentle and respectable compared to the first person.

"I am Klein, this is Cleaver, and that's Hinahari, which we shortened as Hina," Klein pointed at each of them while he introduced them, and this information Ragnar absorbed like a sponge.

Cleaver was not happy about this. He gave a threatening frown towards Klein and lingered for a moment before placing his attention back on Ragnar.

'So Klein is the head of this operation? No...' Ragnar could only see Klein as the leader of this group but not the most important figure. The two men looked more battle-damaged, trained, and stressed than the gorgeous girl who wore a casual gown—not even a battle outfit.

"Now! I'll ask you this one more time—when did you end up in the realm, who are you, and what are you?"

Ragnar could understand the other two questions, but what he was? He was human—that should have been clear. Or did his current looks give him such a bad reputation?

"Answer me!" Cleaver's voice rose as he now pushed further, placing the tip of his blade towards Ragnar's throat—a threat to his life.

It was now Ragnar shifted for the first time, his eyes giving Cleaver the most intentful glare he had ever seen in his life, and then the young Lord spoke, "I—I can easily see through your bluff. You have killed beasts, but I am sure this is the closest you have come to slitting the throat of a human. Even if it wasn't, you are a dog tied by the chains of command—without the consent of those other two, you can only bark—"

Cleaver pulled his blade from the young Lord's throat and retaliated, shoving his elbow into his jaw in the next second, causing him to kowtow to the ground, coughing and groaning in pain.

"Enough! I never told you to harm him," Hina yelled out in a commanding tone, forcing the hot-headed Cleaver to stop his assault.

"Fucking beast!" With those last words, Cleaver backed away a few feet and let Klein handle the stranger in their group.

Ragnar took his time to reel himself from the attack, and then he knelt upright and stared at Cleaver once more. He let his stare linger for a while before turning to Klein.

The young man before him smiled, his normal gentle nature betraying him, then he sat down before Ragnar and spoke.

"I know you are wanting to know about our intentions. Well, seeing your flame ability, we believe it would be very useful in clearing this realm. And someone that could fend off a horde of ice wendigos alone—if you ask me, that is a formidable warrior I would want to have by my side instead of dead and ripped apart by my own enemies."

Ragnar was mesmerized by Klein—he was honourable, smart... he was— 'Stupid, so stupid... How can people be so gullible?'

"So because I am strong and you see potential in me, you want to recruit me into your dumb group? What gives you the assurance I won't betray you whenever I want to?" Ragnar let his words linger in the hearts of the three, and it was clear it caused a stir in their mood—most of them, that was.

Klein simply raised his hands and patted Ragnar on the shoulder, "If you tried that, I would surely handle you and toss you down the safety of the dark Mesa. But I have all reasons to believe you won't betray us—mostly."

Ragnar had no idea if they were just that gullible or had an Arcana that warranted them trusting him, but even he wouldn't trust himself in this situation.

Still, for now, he would play along... The young Lord nodded to Klein, agreeing with his terms.

"So now that you've accepted our partnership, would you like to tell us your name and your journey through the maze?"

There was no use in hiding that information, so Ragnar began his narration of his dangerous adventure through the cursed Realm to the group, explaining about his first appearance into the realm, his stay in the cave, and journeys through the cave.

However, he left the crucial information about his Arcana, shadows, and his gained ember marks—after all, these three could end up betraying him, and it was better to have cards not known to use when that occurred.

And when he was done with his explanation, the group were all in awe.

Especially Hina, who had her mouth clearly opened agape. It took a while before they could eventually shake off their awe to pry further into Ragnar's story.

Hina was the first to speak, "You wore the flesh and skin of a wendigo and joined the horde—uhh... are you insane?!"

Ragnar smirked, seeing the reaction he knew the normal human would get from that part of his story.

"You survived for more than a week in that hell—no wonder you look no different than a beast. You are truly a skilled warrior," Klein bowed his head slightly and gave Ragnar a small praise.

Cleaver was the last to speak, first getting rid of all the disbelief in his countenance. "You expect me to believe you killed a grade three Wretchborn and then a giant—human that had stayed in this realm for a few years—on your first day?" He paused, perplexed, staring at his other two companions who were digesting the story of a beast-looking, unkempt man. It sounded insane to him.

"So you killed him so you could strip him of his clothing? How devious can you be?"

Ragnar grinned at that question. "As devious as the human soul can contort to reach its goal. I preferably won't lie to myself or act like something I am not." His grin suddenly turned upside down, and he let out a sigh. "Yes, I know—I have no honour. Still, I am far more authentic than those that uphold those words like a crown."

Cleaver gave a final resentful scowl and then backed off further till he was standing at the edge of the Obsidian Mesa, having clearly had enough of this conversation.

Klein was satisfied with his answer—surprisingly to Ragnar. He did not show signs of believing all Ragnar said was a lie. Well, it wasn't a lie, but the young Lord made sure to exaggerate some bits of the story here and there to give it much more stakes and tension, to make them sound more grim than they were.

'Is that also considered lying? Is it? No, it's just exaggeration—it has its own word, yeah, so... why the hell am I so concerned?—'

"One more question—what's your name?" Klein was more interested in this than anything else.

Ragnar lingered for a while and pondered whether to use his real name or not, but after a short introspection of his choices, his reasons to say the truth far outweighed that to lie.

"I'm Ragnar."

A gasp escaped the lips of one of them on the Mesa—and that was the lady, Hina. She seemed to have been stunned by his words. "Ragnar—Ragnar Rok? Lord Ragnar Rok."

Klein at this point too had his eyes widen in realization. "The bastard of the Rok family—this is surprising."

Ragnar had been exposed. This made him wonder—just who was this lady that identified him just by name?

Who was Hina?