Reincarnated as a Dragon – The path of the Dragon God

“Do we proceed?” Chloe asked, darting her eyes around the floor. A narrow and short hallway spread out before them from the landing. At first glance, there was nothing out of the ordinary. It simply gave off the appearance of a decrepit house, nothing more.

“Well… we’re already here.” Henry shrugged. “It would be kinda wasteful if we back out now. But hey, you’re the most vulnerable one here, no offence. So, you make the decision.”

“Sorry for being the runt here,” Chloe grumbled.

Yula tittered. “You underestimate yourself, Chloe. You may be the weakest here but that doesn’t mean you are weak.”

“I don’t exactly feel happy hearing that,” Chloe huffed. “But anyway, let us proceed. Since I have the two of you here, I don’t think I will need to worry so much about whatever threat’s waiting for us.”

“Fine by me,” Henry said and led the way.

Yula walked behind with Chloe sandwiched in between the two.

The moment Henry stepped into the hallway, he withdrew the step immediately. His sudden halt caused the two behind him to nearly bumped into him.

“Enemy near?” Yula asked.

“I don’t know. But… It’s better that I show you.” Saying so, Henry stepped into the hallway after drawing a deep breath.

To the astonishment of Yula and Chloe, Henry disappeared from their view in the next instance.

“Where did he go!?” Chloe shouted, forgetting to lower her voice.

“Oh, now this is interesting and promising,” Yula said and reached her arm into the hallway.

A hand came out of a ripple in the hallway and pulled Yula into it by her arm.

“Yula!” Chloe cried and grabbed onto Yula’s other arm in a hurry. However, she was no match for the strength of the opposing force and she was swiftly pulled along into the ripple with Yula.

When Chloe came out from the other side, she tumbled for a few feet. She quickly gathered her bearings and flipped herself upright on her feet. A pair of blades sprouted from the Armour Suit on her palms, ready to confront who or whatever dragged her into god knows where.

“Chill, it’s just me,” Henry said.

Chloe blinked. “Henry? It was you?”

“Who else?”

“You’re so bad, Henry,” Yula chided him flippantly and gave him a light slap on the shoulder.

Chloe clicked her tongue and withdrew her blades back into her palms. “Couldn’t you have given us a heads-up?”

“It was faster this way. No one got hurt.”

“For now,” Chloe muttered. She turned away from Henry and began inspecting her surroundings. Her eyes widened.

They were no longer in the house. Their new environment was a vast, dark, and empty space which resembled that of a junkyard but the junk were mostly things that Chloe did not recognise. In fact, most of the junk looked ancient and alien.

“Where is this place?” Chloe asked.

“Hmm… a pocket dimension, I think,” Henry answered with uncertainty. “A subspace if you will, though I do not know the right terminology.”

“My guy and yours are the same person.”

“Evidently, but there’s a very small possibility that we are looking at a joint effort.”

“Don’t jinx it, please.”

“I’m merely contemplating the ‘ifs’. It’s good to be prepared for any possibility.”

“But it’s not good for my mental wellbeing. This is foreboding enough as it already is.”

“Is it still foreboding if it’s something currently happening?” Yula asked.

“Huh? What do you mean by— Ah…” Chloe followed Yula’s gaze and found a small group of grotesque quadrupedal creatures on top of a huge junk pile. “Henry?”

“Yes?” Henry responded casually.

“What are those?”

Henry shrugged. “I have no idea.”

The creatures also spotted the three and they immediately started crawling towards them. Their low growls and their drooling faces said enough of their temperament.

“They’re not friendly,” Henry said.

“No shit,” Chloe retorted and brandished her claws, extensions of her Armour Suit much like the blades from before. “At least there’s only five of them.”

“There’s more.”

“What?!”

“Umm… Henry?”

“Yes, Yula?”

“My shadows are… weak.” Yula rose a few ropes of shadows but the shadows rose slowly and timidly. “They are slow to heed my will and… they don’t feel as strong as usual.”

“We are cut off from Murux. Chloe, what about you?”

“I don’t feel any weaker than usual.”

“That’s good.”

“They’re coming!” Chloe shouted as the creatures broke into a sprint, charging at them.

Yula waved her hand, sending a wave of barbed shadows to meet the charging creatures. Two creatures fell to the onslaught but the diminished range of the shadows allowed three of the creatures to leap over the shadows unharmed.

Chloe continued the onslaught by lunging at the three creatures. She dodged a swipe from the creature by crouching low. She then retaliated with an uppercut that tore the creature’s face apart. There was no blood, only a strange black mist leaked out of the creature’s ruptured head.

Chloe leapt and flipped in the air, throwing the sole of her foot into the head of the last creature who pounced at her. The force behind her kick snapped the creature’s head with a loud crack.

“Behind us,” Henry muttered and turned around, assuming his humanoid Dragon form in tandem.

The three sneaking creatures immediately stopped in their furtive approach out of shock. Henry smirked and made quick work of the three creatures. He killed one with a Firebolt and slew the other two with his claws.

Henry tutted. “Even my flames feel weak. This is not good.”

“It really isn’t…” Chloe muttered in a hollow tone as she stared with a distant gaze in a certain direction. “There’s more!”

Their numbers neared a hundred and they were rushing towards them like a huge tidal wave.

“This is a trap.”

“That’s quite a lot of them,” Yula remarked and sent her shadows to intercept the approaching group of creatures. Her shadows were like a shredder but the blades dulled quickly and the sheer number of the creatures quickly overwhelmed Yula’s assault.

Henry stepped forward and doused the rest of the creatures in his flames.

There were a few that made it out of the raging blaze but Chloe did not let them stray far.

“Is that all of them?”

“Not even close,” Henry said and pointed behind them, where a larger wave of those creatures was approaching from afar.

“Oh… dear.” Yula sighed. “What have we gotten ourselves into?”

“I’m sorry, Yula. I didn’t mean for this—”

“It’s alright, Henry.” Yula smiled. “It’s not like we’re at our wit’s end. Maybe it’s time that you show off.”

“Gladly,” Henry nodded.

“Stand back,” Yula said as she gently pulled Chloe a few steps back with her.

“Now that I think about it, I have not assumed this form for quite some time.”

As the horde of these outlandish creatures drew near, Henry let loose his humanoid shape and donned the form that befits his true race. He unleashed a roar that shook the entire space as he spread his wings.

The horde immediately came to a stop when they laid their eyes on Henry in all of his splendour. Their crazed and ravenous expressions were replaced by fear and despair. They knew not what kind of monster Henry was but they knew he was not something they could or should oppose. They knew full well they had dug their own graves.

In his true form, Henry’s palm alone was a size larger than one of these creatures, and his size was not the only tipping factor. His defence, his hide, was nigh impenetrable. The things that could cut him and make him bleed could be counted on one hand.

These outlandish creatures stood no absolutely no chance against Henry. Before they could turn tail and run, Henry already had his mouth open and the budding blaze could be seen growing in his mouth.

The creatures didn’t know what was coming but they knew whatever it was, it was the herald of their demise. They shrieked and turned around, but that was how far they only managed to get before a large inferno devoured them whole. In seconds, they were mere ashes.

The horde was no more.

The flames did not linger after they reduced their victims to nothing. Smoke was all that remained, besides the ashes.

Immediately after the destruction, Henry dropped to his knees, or rather, his belly. His breaths quickened and turned coarse.

“Henry!” Yula cried and ran over to his head. “Henry, are you alright? What’s wrong?” she asked in a panic.

“I’m fine, Yula,” Henry replied with his Murux Voice. “It’s nothing. I’m just… out of Murux. It’s kinda like being out of breath. Nothing to worry about.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“If you’re fine, can we talk about the real problem here?” Chloe said.

Henry raised an eyebrow. “Which is?”

“We still don’t know where we are and how to get out of here.”

“...There’s a way out,” Henry said after a brief silence.

Chloe looked at him dubiously. “How do you know?”

“I can sense it.”

“You can sense the exit?”

“I can sense the… normalcy.”

“Normalcy?”

“For the lack of a better word, yes. This entire space has a very heavy outlandish feel but amidst the outlandish atmosphere, I can make out a faint trace of normalcy. If we follow that trace, we might just be able to get out of here.”

“That’s a big ‘if’ and ‘might’. What if you’re wrong?”

“We’ll get to that when we know whether I’m right or wrong for sure. Besides, we had yet to accomplish what we came here for.”

“I think we should abort.”

“We may never get a chance like this again.”

“Fuck that. I’m never stepping foot in here ever again. In fact, I am never taking on a job like this anymore. It’s only a huge stroke of luck that I bumped into you today. Otherwise, I would be trapped here forever. Hell, I might have already died in the foyer.”

“I’m sorry, Chloe, but I can’t leave yet.”

“Why? Is your mission so important that you would risk your life and your wife’s?”

Yula tittered upon hearing Chloe’s offhanded acknowledgement.

“Yes, it is very important. I know it’s gonna sound corny but the fate of the world rests upon this mission.”

“You cannot be serious.”

“I’m afraid I am.”

“For fuck’s sake… What have I gotten myself into…?”

“I’m truly sorry, Chloe.”

“Save it,” Chloe fumed. “Your apology is worth jackshit right now. And you.”

“Me?” Yula pointed at herself.

“Why are you so calm about all this? Is it always like this?”

“Not always. In fact, I have never been in such a situation before.”

“But you don’t seem too worried.”

Yula smiled. “Because I trust Henry. I believe he can get us out of here. I’m not just speaking this out of bias of my love for him. I know what he truly is. Therefore, I am not afraid.”

“I don’t care what he truly is. We’re practically in a different plane of existence if his words are anything to go by. So unless he’s a god or something, I am not very assured about our chances here.”

Yula’s lips curled into a coy grin. “If that’s so, you should be very assured.”

“What are you talk—” Chloe stopped herself and stared at Yula intently. Her blinking eyes told gradual realisation of Yula’s implication. Then, she veered her shivering gaze to Henry. “N-no way…”

Yula chuckled with her lips closed. “Yes way,” she said.

“You’re a god?” Chloe asked.

Henry sighed. “Yula, why?”

“What? She deserves to know. You don’t trust her? I trust her.”

“But you two only met for less than even half a day.”

“And I already considered her a very good friend. She’s…like me, no?”

Henry looked at Chloe. Now that he was giving the air a good sniff, he did smell a sweet scent emanating from Chloe. “She’s near…”

“It’s just a matter of time, no?”

“But it’s still not wise to drag her into our world.”

“Oi. I’m still here, you know? Can you stop talking to each other like I’m not here? In case you didn’t realise, I just heard everything. And are you going to tell me what this is actually all about? And… are you truly a god?”

“...Yes?” Henry answered. "Well, kinda. I'm on my way to becoming one."