Tribulations of a Dragon

Whatever void I've been sucked into has left me in a pitch-black room. I would imagine that I'm nearly invisible in here with my black scales, but I don't think whatever owns this place needs to worry about that. The only sensation I have is of weightlessness, leaving me sort of floating without any idea of whether I'm upside down or not. Who freakin' knows? I'm not an expert on void abductions. But that doesn't mean I can't be prepared!

As I float, I continue to struggle in case something gets close to me. If they don't care about my consent, then I don't care about theirs! Get clawed, weird aliens that may be here!

Trying to use my magic sight yields no results either, and even my billowing flames aren't visible, which is odd, considering light is one of my flames' main features. All in all, I am feeling remarkably helpless, and I do not like that one bit. I can barely tell where my own body is!

No matter how much I twist myself, I don't manage to find anything resembling a solid surface, so I might have to think about what to do here.

"Please do calm yourself, Kira. We do not wish for any harm to befall you."

Having some weird feminine voice speak to me too loudly is not making the situation any better. There's some comfort in not being alone, but she's too dang loud and she's giving me a headache. At least we can agree on the fact that neither of us wishes for harm to befall me, but kidnapping and headaches don't count as no harm. I can't think of anything that would get me out of this situation, though. Which means I'm sort of stuck, given that I can't get any leverage to move and wiggling helplessly isn't constructive.

"What do you want, weird voice? Why'd you suck me into a dang void?"

"We are within the Nothing. You do not need to be afraid, as we do not wish for you to disappear or get hurt."

I'm not feeling all that afraid, just annoyed. Dang voice is too loud, and I can't smell or see anything. And what the heck is "nothing?" Don't just make up words while shouting at me.

"Lower your dang voice, geez. Dang near hurts as much as Punchy's punches whenever you speak. And show yourself, too. It's rude not to introduce yourself, weird voice person. And give me back my sensations!"

"We are acquaintances, Kira. I do not believe you would wish for your sensations once you have them. See what I see."

The bastard didn't lower their voice, but my vision flickers and I become visible from a third-person perspective. I'm spinning a lot. Just a dragon twirling in darkness. Okay, yeah, looking at my whirling body is almost enough to make me dizzy. Given how little difference it made, fighting the darkness might not have been the best choice. But dang it! It was my only choice! How can anyone expect me to just roll with the punches as I get sucked into some weird place like this?

"Fine, but can't you just stop my movement and then do it? This is your fancy void place, isn't it?"

"I do not have anything capable of matching your mass and power. Should I tether you to me, I would soon find myself joining you in your dance as the moon circles our world."

She did not just say I'm large enough to have my own gravitational pull. That bitch. And then she sighs at me for some reason. I haven't done anything sigh-worthy yet. Along with the sigh, she releases the sight thing, making my vision fall into darkness again.

"I seem wholly incapable of choosing the correct path when you are the subject. Perhaps an expert is required. Might I request you bring her here?"

"How am I supposed to bring anyone? I can't even stop myself from swirling."

My question doesn't get an answer, and I have no idea how much time passes. All I want is to go back to the island so I can take my friends home. I don't want them stuck on a literal deserted island.

"Hey, V. Why'd you call me? And where's the big guy? He usually jumps at an opportunity to frustrate me. And when did you get a dragon piñata?"

Another loud jerk. I'm starting to get outnumbered, and I can't even see anyone.

"This Dragon is Kira. I would like to ask you to explain the rules regarding life in a world such as yours."

"Why don't you do it? You've always been so great with me."

"Yes... As fate would have it, she does not offer me the leniency that you so often do."

The second jerk is laughing at her, which does not bode well. They clearly know each other, so I'm definitely outnumbered. I want in on this conversation, but as I try to talk, I don't hear anything. No internal or external voice, and neither of them are reacting to me.

"Alright, you big lug. Let's get you stationary."

That sounds like a great plan, but it's somewhat ruined as I slam the underside of my face into something hard. Freakin' fuck, that hurt! Now I don't want to feel stuff... Freakin' warn me if I'm about to smack into stuff, geez. Rude jerks...

"The problem is that you're spinning like a gyroscope, so I can't just make a pole appear for you to grab onto. And you haven't figured out how this place works. If you had, then you could do this yourself."

They could just explain it to me, but instead I smack into another hard surface.

"Are you certain this is the correct path for her to cease her movement?"

"Trust me, Kira's tough on any day. So a dragon Kira has to be extra tough."

I appreciate the vote of confidence, but I don't appreciate the third surface I smack into... I swear I can almost hear that second person laughing. That might be imaginary, but she sucks. Geez, what a terrible person.

"Can you not simply explain the Nothing as you understand it?"

"Nah. The word nothing doesn't exist in my world, and it barely exists in your world. She has to figure it out on her own. Chances are she's never encountered it before."

Screw all that. I don't care about linguistics right now, I want to go back home and make sure my friends are safe. What if they end up trying to swim back to shore and die? Okay, now I'm really worried. Just freakin' tell me what I need to know so I can leave.

"Sure. Don't share your modern knowledge with the locals. If you're here, then Ilantus is starting to notice you and he's a giant bastard. The only gods worth a damn are Merciferus and Mairleark. And getting the attention of a god is a very easy way to get killed. Wait, if she's a dragon, why would she share knowledge? Dragons are solitary bastards more interested in stealing and eating than in making friends."

"Would you believe she has befriended the Champion of Merciferus?"

"Really? That uptight bitch? Geez, maybe she is competent. For a spinning piñata."

Screw both of those jerks! Lauren is great and I like her. And they'd better not start making fun of Raya, too. If they're just going to be rude, I'll fight my way out of here and figure things out with the help of my friends. I'm sure they can tell me when I'm oversharing. My internal ranting is interrupted by another sigh coming from the first voice, and she sounds exasperated.

"Must you, Kira?"

Heck yeah, I must. I'm definitely willing to fight for my freedom.

"Let's do it, then. Just think very hard about this not being real, so you can't die."

I'm not sure what that means, and I'm not given much of a chance to think about it before I slam into another surface. This one is bigger and, judging by the next one I slam into, it doesn't slow me enough. Unfortunately, the process repeats a few times before I land on a cool surface.

Geez, my jaw hurts, but, as far as I can tell, I don't have any broken bones. It appears to be mostly my pride being hurt. With a solid surface beneath me, I can actually stand up, which is a lovely sensation.

"You do always focus on such odd things..."

"Yeah, she's a rascal. And freakin' huge, geez. Okay, focus, Kira. The Nothing is the absence of something. The Nothing seeks to consume everything, so within the Nothing, your thoughts are powerful. You aren't bound by physical things, so you have to go beyond simply reacting to input. You can't see because you think that you have to see something. Turn it around and see because you can see."

What the heck does that mean?! How am I supposed to see something if there isn't anything to see? Freakin' jerks just need to be clear and give me proper instructions. Of course, I have to see something, that's how light works. It reflects off surfaces, and that's what your eyes and brain interpret. There's no light, so how can I interpret it? Be reasonable, dang it!

"I believe you have a surplus of work ahead of you as you engage with this subject, Kira."

Dang right I do. She's obnoxious and vague and I just want simple instructions, not some jerk laughing at me...

"Right. So if she has friends, which one of them is the smartest?"

Definitely Raya. She's such a clever little goblin.

"I do believe she's right. Although her elven allies may surpass the goblin, they would likely yield issues that Raya would not, should we ask for assistance."

"She made friends with a goblin? And the champion, and a couple of elves all in one? Fuck, now I feel like an underachiever... That's one heck of a menagerie."

"Do not sell yourself short. You have managed well with what you were given. She did not bind the Nothing as you did."

"That doesn't count. It was accidental, and you know it. I was just trying to be nice... How was I supposed to know that I wasn't supposed to give him a name? It was sad that only the host had a name."

"Perhaps when you were told, you might comply and respect our wishes. To think you struggle following simple instructions so fiercely that fates become rewritten..."

That's a little much. "That's a little much."

Stop copying me. I can't deal with copycats right now, so I'll just leave them to their little discussion while I figure out how to navigate this place. The sensation of my talons impacting the surface beneath me makes it easier to move around, and I can just barely see the surface, but it looks blurry and weird.

Lowering my head to get a closer look doesn't do anything to make it less blurry, but it's tangible, so I'll consider that a win. At least I'm not spinning like a freakin' gyroscope anymore. Now I just need to find the exit. In a void. In a place without any landmarks... Dang it! Just tell me how to leave!

"No, you wanted a fight and it's been a while since I've fought a dragon. So we're fighting. It's too bad for you that you can't figure out how to see properly. So, which way do you coil when you coil up?"

The sound of a sword unsheathing alerts me to her presence and she's definitely to the left of me. And why would I share details about my comfortable coiling when she's about to attack me? That's not part of this conversation.

"A wise choice not to answer, Kira. A Dragon's coil pattern is a display of which side they favor and which side to avoid during an attack. Should you strike from the favored side, you offer the Dragon leverage. Yet should you strike from the unfavored side, the Dragon is at a disadvantage as they must overcome discomfort to strike."

Sounds like I need to do dragon yoga to become more flexible. And what's with the dang sword sound? If you unsheathe a blade and it makes noise, then fix your dang scabbard!

"I made the noise appear in your mind. I do take care of my things, and I would never let my sword get ruined by a dang scabbard being crap. Now defend your left."

How the heck am I supposed to trust that? I need to defend all of me given how little sensory input I'm getting. Unfortunately, that reasoning is met with a mocking scoff and another rant about not relying on input when I should be relying on myself. And as I try to defend all of me by tightening my scales and strengthening myself with magic, the impact of her sword strikes my shoulder. Somehow, it manages to cut right through my scales and it freakin' hurts! I don't have time for pain, I need to find that jerk and punish her for just attacking me.

"Do be careful, Kira. She is more fragile than you expect."

That's her problem! Don't attack a dragon if you don't want to get hurt. That's just common sense, no matter where you are.

I can't do much to fight back, since I have no idea where she is, so all I can do is lash out again. To begin with, I keep my tail sweeping across the surface behind me, hoping that it'll cut off some of the area she's moving on. And for my front, I have my flames, but that leaves both my sides. I wish I had Raya here to stab this weirdo for me. That would make it a lot easier to hunt her down.

"Counter-clockwise coiler with a penchant for relying on friends. That's unusual. I'm left-handed, too, so we have that in common. Use your wings to buffet the enemy. Creating a billow of wind can knock your opponent off balance, or just cause them to have to brace. Think about what you're fighting, not who you're fighting. Thoughts have far more power than you think."

That's all well and good, but why emphasize it with a stab to my flank, you jerk?! She's definitely around here somewhere, and I just need to spot her. Which would be a lot easier if this place was a lot less blurry. If this is just about me sharing knowledge, then I can stop.

"It is not so simple. You are allowed to share knowledge, yet you must limit yourself to concepts adjacent to the world's current advancement. And you must learn more about your being. Stumbling through the world, causing havoc and destabilizing the safeguards cannot be the norm, as the world cannot handle it."

I'm not that bad, geez. She makes me sound like a natural disaster... At most, I'm a local disaster.

"What'd she do? Sounds exciting."

Instead of letting me have some privacy, this V person starts blaming me for all sorts of things, like empowering some endless lich, destabilizing the guild, burning down a town, and forcing the undead jerk to begin his plans. At most, I'm to blame for half of that. If the guild didn't want to destabilize, it shouldn't be so split. At least the sword voice finds it funny as she expresses herself as being impressed. If only she was impressed enough to stop threatening me.

In fact, she's so unbothered by me that she starts suggesting that I should think about how this fight would go if we fought in a forest. She'd have so many trees to hide behind, but then I could just engulf the area in flames. I'd have to watch out, though. With a bunch of trees, I'd also risk getting stuck.

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Just like that. As I remembered the last time my tail blade got stuck, my tail blade got stuck. Looking back, it's wedged into a freakin' huge tree. Dang it! That's not good for my mobility. And it isn't helped by the stupid sword lady's laughter. This whole thing feels very one sided...

Trying to pull my tail free isn't doing anything. I'm bigger now than the last time I got stuck, so I should be able to get free with ease! I can defeat trees, dang it! Turning my body to meet the tree, I bite into the trunk and it snaps without much difficulty. With most of it gone, the tree is thoroughly defeated and pulling my tail blade free is easy. Then why the heck was it so difficult the first time?!

"Think about it, Kira. To you, surface tension is a fun gimmick of the world; to an ant, it's more important than gravity. So if the world, where everything is, values the physical, what does the Nothing value?"

I thought about the memory of getting stuck, and then I became stuck. I can't see the floor properly, is that because I don't have a memory of this floor? So if I focus on my feet sinking into soft mud, I'll feel... Yes, as it turns out. The dang floor turned to mud, and my feet are sinking in just a bit. Okay, that's unusual.

So, what? I need things beaten into me to understand crap like this? Freakin' Merciferus fought me as well instead of giving me the answer... Which is another thing the sword lady finds funny...

"Another trait we share. I can be a bit dense as well, but you'll get there."

So how the heck am I supposed to see this weirdo? I don't have any memories of her or the other voice. Dang it! I don't have time for riddles. I have no idea how long we've been here, and I need to get back to make sure my friends aren't trying to swim for it!

"Do hurry if you must, but you cannot leave until you understand how to. You have the power necessary to depart, yet the wisdom eludes you, weakens you. I am aware of what knowledge you seek, so you must cease your resistance and accept it as given. Once you reach acceptance, you may see my invisible form."

"You tried to teach her-"

"Do be quiet."

I wish I could just use my magic eyes to see stuff. It would be so much easier to direct some magic into my eyeballs and call it a day. But nooo... We have to be cryptic and nonsensical instead of having a lesson plan.

"Hah! As if you'd follow a lesson plan. We both know that you'd rather throw away your homework and start reading a random subject on Kalvin's Index. That's why your teachers didn't like you."

That may be true, but at least I'd have a better chance with some structure instead of random attacks. And how the heck does she know about Kalvin's Index? I'm certain that this world doesn't have the infrastructure for online libraries.

I don't get much chance to consider that subject before a flash of red strikes at my left shoulder again. Bringing up my claw, I block the blade, but the impact is very easy to feel. Geez, she hits hard.

She's slower on the muddy surface for sure, so that gives me an advantage. But she does seem to know a lot about dragons, so that's a disadvantage since I don't. Most of what I know is just happenstance knowledge I've picked up along the way. I'm not gonna let that stop me, though. I can win this!

With memories being important, I might be able to just think about something useful for it to appear. Dang it! I can't think of anything! She shouldn't have mentioned Kalvin's Index, now I'm thinking about my old world as well. Freakin' jerk! Okay, in my old world, what can I use? Memories that would slow down someone with a blade... Not the time I got stabbed, that isn't useful... Most of my memories of my old world are great, but that one is pretty awful. Might be worse than the time I got a stomach bug in the middle of class...

"Oh, fuck you. V, do something about this..."

With barely disguised chuckles, the V person mentions a pond for Swordy to wash up in. Given that they're taking a break for pond time, does that mean I win the first round?

"I do believe it does. Congratulations."

That also means I deserve a prize.

"No, screw that. You don't get a prize for making me shit myself!"

What?! I didn't do anything like that! I just thought about that time I shat myself, it was mortifying. Geez, that was awful.

"Stop freakin' thinking about it, then. Geez, now I can't stop thinking about it..."

That sounds like a her problem. At least with my dragon physiology, I can't suffer such a terrible fate. Dragons are the best.

Looking around does let me spot a blurry pond, but it's clearer than the floor was before I turned it to mud. The mud is very clear, and... so is the sword lady. She's very upset, and I recognize that frowny face. She's freakin' me! What the heck?! And old! She looks like she's fifty, and the worn plate armor isn't helping.

"No, we were the same person, but we aren't anymore. So stop weaponizing our shared memories, you jerk."

Geez, sorry. I didn't mean to make her poop herself. But then who the heck is V?

"We have met, yet you would not follow my instructions as Lauren and Raya did. Instead, you chose to attack, leaving a lesson unlearned."

I have attacked a fair amount of people, but the only ones coming to mind trying to teach me things are Merciferus and Shae Tara Volkai. Merciferus isn't afraid of showing herself or pummeling me, but Volkai seems more like the type to make use of other people for it.

"The dense beast might have figured it out. Now she just needs the rest of it."

I still can't see Volkai, but if I have to rely on memories, then I might just need to think about a time when I saw her. And how the heck is Volkai powerful enough to abduct me? That's too much.

Never mind that. If she's so powerful, I'm gonna be better off learning her lessons instead of fighting her. And I did want to do that anyway, as well as ask if she knows how I can block foreign magic. That whole mage situation in Esfjord was scary.

Abduction still feels like a bit much when she could have sent a letter. I'm not that disagreeable. In fact, I have accepted invitations before without any issues or lashing out, even when I'd rather stay at home.

"Be that as it may, our history is a display of my own ineptitude as a hostess when you are the guest. You have continued to express displeasure at my approaches to accommodate you, as I did not account for the change in your mental state."

"Hey, I attacked that shadowy jerk, so don't go thinking it's just a dragon thing. It's a Kira thing, and we can be overly hostile regardless of species."

She's not wrong, but that sounds like a bad personality trait when she says it like that. But if Volkai struggles to understand two Kiras, the problem might not be us anymore. More important than Volkai's lack of social skills and affinity for sighing with exasperation is the fact that I'm here to learn a lesson. Something about sharing knowledge and whatnot. I'm not sure what the problem is if I end up making people's lives better.

"The problem is that Ilantus is a freakin' bastard. The guy wants to watch discovery, so when travelers come along and share knowledge, he strikes them down. Small things are acceptable, like if you share the way to make a stamp and use it with ink, and then someone else uses that to create a printing press, he's fine. But if you go straight to printing press, you've robbed Ilantus of witnessing discovery. Merciferus would welcome the inventions, since they often improve lives, Mairleark doesn't care. Irathmar wanted his people to grow by any means necessary, and the rest of them are a mix of that."

Geez, old human me seems to know a bunch about the gods. And given that the consensus appears to be that Merciferus is a decent person, I might have to take it seriously when they tell me to be careful sharing knowledge. Merciferus certainly hurts when she's punishing me for fun, so how the heck would some jerk god trying to kill me feel? Painful, I'm sure. I should avoid that.

"You know Merciferus personally? What the hell have you been up to?!"

Not only do I know her, but I frequently offend her. I'm quite the rascally little blasphemer. Dang it! Kira is distracting me! I'm supposed to learn more about this Nothing business and how to use my mind to do stuff. I don't know what the goal is, though.

"A simple matter. You will find yourself capable of perceiving more of the world beyond the Nothing should you master this ability. Solidify and rely on your memories, and illusions will struggle to deceive you. A skill you must acquire if you are to help the Champion in her tasks as her enemies become yours."

Dang it... That sounds uncomfortably close to an epic quest... And I'm gonna complain about this whole thing. There was no reason to not just go, 'Hey Kira. We need to teach you this important thing, come this way into a void, so you can learn all about it.'

And I'm gonna disregard Volkai bringing up the whole "attacking her" thing again. I didn't attack her because she was trying to teach me something; I attacked her because she was casting weird spells on my friends. There's a difference.

"I'm inclined to agree. There is a difference."

Somehow it feels a little hollow to have me agree with me, but at least I'm not arguing with me. And that's two against one! She should have just told me that I... Crap... She did... Dang it, I refuse to accept responsibility. She should have been clearer before casting spells on my friends.

I think now is a good time to disregard past mistakes and just go back to what I need to know about this Islandis god.

"I know we suck at remembering names, but you have to get his name right, Kira. He's an uptight jerk about knowledge, and getting it wrong, especially about him, can incur his wrath. And he's a giant ass."

Oh great... So I have to watch what I say because some jerk has a hard-on for watching people discover things? That's not fair. A bunch of incredible inventions could be made already with the existing technology. Especially if travelers happen regularly, since they'd have a bunch of knowledge to share. So one jerk keeping them from doing it is just not okay. Especially regarding construction now that we're rebuilding Plainshold anyway. Some better insulation would be fantastic.

"Wait, Plainshold has been destroyed? Kira, you need to go help Esfjord. Shortly after Plainshold falls, Esfjord is invaded by undead, and the Guild sends all its forces there. Many other cities will be overrun as well, but you can stop it."

Dang mind reading. I definitely shouldn't think about how I was the one who burned down Plainshold. That would send the wrong message.

"Did you burn it down to stop the spread of vile steel?"

"She did not. That was merely an incidental result. She refused to allow the Guild to eradicate a clan of goblins settling in the old frontier town of Eran's Peace, now named Tuiran. Many adventurers died to her flames, but she warned the citizens to leave before her siege."

"Wow, okay. Well, good thing the vile steel was stopped there. Not sure I approve of the murdering, though. But stopping Plainshold was good. It became a stronghold for the undead in my world, and with every corpse dragged back there, they grew stronger as they created monsters using the steel. Maybe we should hire a dragon to just burn the place down. I think there's still a large green one in the northern mountains."

Yeah, I might be staying away from the northern mountains if I figure out which specific mountains they are. But the whole thing sounds pretty dang awful, geez. At least I seem to be ahead of it with how I made a mess of Plainshold, Esfjord, and maybe that other place too.

"Kira, you do realize what this is, right? Undead rising all over, deaths in the hundreds of thousands across the continent. It's not just some uppity undead jerk running around having fun. It's an organized effort to destroy life on that continent to create a realm of undeath."

That sounds way above my pay grade, geez. At least I am doing something to fight it, but I'd rather focus on why I'm a freakin' dragon and she isn't. I still have no idea why I became a dragon.

"I may have an answer to your inquiry. As she named the Shard of Nothing, it became forced to understand the world, yet the understanding was imperfect. The mixing of memories of eternity and that of the host caused confusion. The host favored deals, and with that, so did the shard, yet the shard did not understand the breadth of its dealings as this Kira offered to leave it alone in exchange for a few years of happiness. But what is a few years for an eternal entity? Without that necessary understanding, it agreed. The terms as specified by the Shard included a century of happiness, yet it soon became frustrated as it watched so many of your lifetimes end abruptly. It did not understand why you kept dying, of war, accidents, and old age, before the terms of the deal could be met. So a new solution was necessary. Your human body was insufficient, so it created an opportunity for you to obtain a body capable of withstanding the ravages of time."

How the heck does naming a shard make it screw up deals and whatnot? That doesn't make sense.

"Think of it like the shard of Nothing being a rock. Then I went ahead and gave that rock personhood. And it had very mixed feelings about that, but as far as I can tell, it's coming to terms with it."

Wait, hold on, so I'm the product of an eldritch monster's goof? I know I got the better end of that deal, but I'm a little offended that my entire existence is based on a misunderstanding... But doesn't that mean this other Kira got massively screwed? Looking at her, she doesn't seem too bothered. I'd probably be a little bothered, but also happy that someone else got to live a better life because of me. And I do like being a dragon.

Does this also mean that every issue I've caused is really because of the Nothing? I mean, I wouldn't be a dragon if it just bothered to learn what time is.

"That's not how that works, and you know it. More importantly, you should focus on fighting back against the undead jerk. He'll cause a ruckus and make a huge mess of things if you let him. The champions will do their best, but it won't be enough without help from other people. And the guild is a freakin' mess. Like a quarter of the leadership is in cahoots with the undead."

"Do be careful with which information you choose to reveal, Kira. The differences in your worlds may prove detrimental. And drawing the ire of Ilantus does not serve you."

"That's true. And Kira, be careful with the knowledge you share. Adjacent knowledge is okay, but advanced knowledge is not. Ilantus is a vindictive jerk and he isn't alone. The dang pantheon is just a bunch of cliques and they all suck in their own way. And don't go thinking that just because the Nothing can start over trying to make us happy, you can be reckless. I'm not you and you won't be the next one if you end up getting yourself killed."

Starting out getting a headache from booming voices and now I'm getting a headache because of this time nonsense...

"We must simply know that you will limit what technological knowledge you share so that you do not incur the wrath of a petty god. Any other matter I wish to teach you can be done in time if you become more agreeable and offer me patience."

Fine, I won't. I'll try my best to not share a bunch of things I know. Stupid freakin' god limiting what I can tell my people... And Volkai hasn't been mean to me, so I guess I should give her a chance.

"Oh, and Kira, if you're holed up in Eran's Peace, you know the mountain east of it, right? On the southern side of it, there's a hole leading deep underground. But what you want to look for is this piece of work, blood mage. He's using his blood magic to keep his partner alive, a tremendously skilled enchantress. She's a little nuts, but her spellwork is incredible. Unfortunately, the mage has a tendency to enslave anyone who gets near, but dragons are highly resistant to magic, and more so to anything that affects their will. If you can get his help, you can gain quite a fighting force."

Another blood mage? The first one is secretive enough, and I don't like that enslaving part. I might ask Joras if he knows who it is, though. Or is it rude to assume that he knows this other blood mage? I'll just have to try asking.

"Might I ask the name of the blood mage in your world, Kira?"

I'm not sure whether Volkai is talking to me or the other Kira...

"Joras... And the enchantress is Lilirinna."

Oh! Joras and Lily! They're my friends already. That was an easy task. Point to Kira.

"No, you don't get a freakin' point for just happening to be friends with some guy. Geez... This feels freakin' unfair, though. Do you know how hard it was to sneak past hundreds of adventurers to reach Joras? It took me days! DAYS! And you're just like, "ladida, I'm a dragon, I make friends with everyone and we sing campfire songs every day.""

I want to say something, but we do spend a lot of time around campfires and I am a dragon, so it doesn't feel wrong. I'm not gonna focus on the casual mockery. Instead, I'm gonna focus on still wanting to leave this place because I still don't know whether my friends are safe or not. I've agreed to not overshare about my old world, and I've got some idea about the memory thing, so it'll be fine.

And old Kira wants me to kill undead things, which I don't need a lot more motivation to do. Lauren wants to do it, and they're delicious, so why wouldn't I kill them? So let me out of this dang void with its muddy floors and poopy water, dang it!

My very reasonable request is met with laughter from Volkai, which I choose to interpret as her agreeing that I should be let out. Old Kira seems less enthusiastic-

"Yeah, because you keep thinking of me as old. I've got plenty of years left, you giant reptile. Besides, you should be focusing on trying to manifest something here. This place reacts to thought and concepts. So do something with it. Figure out how to leave the Nothing on your own. I could do it, so you can too."

So... what? I just think of a portal leading back to the Friendship Island and that's it? Okay, visualize a large gateway, like the northern gate of Tuiran. Palisades and wood, now... OPEN! Well, there's no portal yet, so clearly I'm not doing it right. I wonder if there's an easier beginner's class I could start with because this feels difficult.

"Perhaps your course of action might be to recover your senses within the Nothing. Within this realm, your thoughts and perceptions hold power. I cannot offer you a path, as I do not experience what you do."

That's not very helpful, and I don't quite understand what she means. There was some sort of mention about reacting to input. But that's how senses work, isn't it? Scents go into my nose, nerve cells pick them up, and send neurons to my brain.

"That is how it works, physically. But this place isn't physical."

So I'm just supposed to imagine that I can smell and then I can? What's something that smelled horrible... That dang concoction Joras made. Geez, that was so freakin' awful. Oh, geez! No! It's coming back to me! Dang it! Freakin' heck! It's so disgusting... It's like I'm right next to Lauren again... Ooh, Joras is in for some punishment for ever having introduced me to that dang abomination.

"Yeah, I agree. You should definitely punish him. That's freakin' awful... I might find him again and slap him in my world for this. Geez, it's terrible."

Finally, someone agrees. I have no idea how Lauren could think this smells nice. Clearly, her sense of smell is broken. It does seem like I managed to manifest this place into being a lot less livable, so I'm more motivated to leave.

I'm gonna try focusing on a pleasant smell instead, like Frosty's corpse. That guy was delicious... And it works! The sweet scent of decay starts permeating the area, replacing the rancid, horrible, AWFUL stinky smell of Joras' potion. Dang it! The dang stink is returning! Focus, Kira! Frosty, Frosty, Frosty... That's better. Okay, gotta keep my mind on Frosty.

Can I do something like that with sight as well, or hearing? I don't see why not, but those senses are a lot less significant, and how do I even do that? I do have quite fond memories of the Friendship Island, so maybe if I focus on that, I can finally leave this place.

"Uh, I wouldn't do that right now. You should focus on-"

As I focus my mind on the image of the island, it becomes clear to me, and memories of Lauren and Raya's visits fill me with warmth, even if Lauren mostly yelled at me. I can even smell the fresh wind carrying the scent of the ocean and feel the wind beneath me. Wait, that's too far beneath me.

Crap! I did leave the void, but I'm not on the ground! Quick, Kira! Flap your-

Freakin' stupid hecking void... How dares it spit me out above the ocean... Turns out I make a loud splash when I hit a large body of water. At this point, the theme seems to be learning, so I guess I'm learning to swim now. The island is right in front of me, maybe a few hundred meters, so with my usual determination, I start paddling away! Slowly but surely I'm making progress! Using my wings makes it go even slower. Stupid ocean... At least my friends are still there, so they didn't get any bad ideas about swimming to shore.