Versatile: Alternate World



While the girls are all troubled over Lucia's new arm, Manato is thrown to a different place. It wasn't the same place as he usually appeared during his dreams which was where he always ended up but in some kind of cave this time around. Not only that but he appears to be spectating over rather than be the one moving around. And he couldn't move his body at all. Due to this, he is forced to just stay still and never move.

"What is happening? I am quite sure that I collapsed after fighting the Black Dog Barghest but for some reason, this dream feels too realistic."

Manato has no idea what is happening and why he can't move. He just remained there, staying still. The only thing he can deduce about where he was is that it is a dry cave that seems to be present somewhere in the mountains. It's not the same caves they usually explore where it's damp and slippery, this one seems more akin to a "hole" made in the mountain to act as a temporary shelter from the rain. It's just that it is indeed a cave and has a bigger area deeper as well. It's just that the place he was in is currently a bigger "room" which seems to be some sort of nest.

Also, he can also safely assume that it is some kind of creature that he is currently fusing with and uses its sight as what it currently sees. Right now, this creature is resting on some sort of nest and is always looking at the entrance for quite a while.

It's been a while and although this thing moves from time to time like eating and drinking water from a nearby pool in the cave, other than that, the little thing does not move away from the nest and just stares at the entrance blankly.

But a few hours later, Manato was startled and was troubled to see a big black dragon enter the cave. The cave has a big entrance so the dragon entered without problem. The thing that Manato is using to spectate seems to be excited as it raises its head and makes some kind of sound that he just heard. But seeing the dragon and the thing he was spectating from's reaction, he can assume this was a baby dragon.

The baby dragon is making some cute noises and is hopping around in front of the black dragon. However, after a few moments, the black dragon collapsed on the cave's floor. The baby dragon looked at its mother and tilted its head. While the baby dragon is wondering what is happening, Manato already knows what happened and why the dragon collapsed.

"There is blood. Missing horns, too many wounds on its body especially around the neck and face. Some of its scales are even coming off. This dragon is definitely in its last line. Though this dragon has too many severe wounds and based on their wounds, they don't seem to come from weapons at all..."

The baby dragon snuggled to the black dragon and it seemed the black dragon acknowledged the presence of her child. It also snuggled to the baby dragon weakly as well.

Manato can still hear it breathing but after a while, it stopped. He can only shake his head and close his eyes. The dragon is now dead and although he felt sad about it since he saw it in the eyes of the baby dragon, the baby dragon is totally oblivious about it.

This lasted a few days of the baby dragon sleeping and playing around the dead body of its mother, totally oblivious to its mother's death. It even left some food to it from time to time but since the black dragon will no longer move, it cannot eat at all.

But then, another surprise appeared. He wasn't expecting it in the slightest and it came out as a big surprise for him.

"So this is where it was coming from... the aura of someone's death..."

The baby dragon perked up its head and looked at the source of the voice. Based on what Manato heard, it's from a girl's voice. It sounded so mellow and yet he felt like he heard the voice from before.

The baby dragon walked to the source of the voice and tried to climb up from its mother when all of a sudden, the mother dragon turned to ash, disappeared, and turned into sparkling sand that was slowly blown into the wind. Seeing this, the baby dragon was stunned and looked around the cave, trying to find its mother. It's a sad scene and even though it is normal for Manato to kill monsters left and right especially dragons, he learns to appreciate the life of these monsters as well and after he befriended one, he has to ask for a conversation with them first before fighting against them to see whether they are good or bad. Now this scene just made him a lot sadder.

"The offspring of the Mother?" the familiar voice sounded once again and although Manato wanted to look at the source of the voice to confirm his suspicion, the dragon was too busy trying to find its mother, squeaking with some cute voice.

"I am sorry, but the truth is, your mother is no longer here."

Although the baby dragon did not understand what the voice was saying, it turned around and looked at the girl speaking to it. Manato's suspicion of the identity of the girl's voice was immediately confirmed.

The girl speaking was none other than the girl in his dreams in the place with the Ygdrassil. But her features were different and her clothes were also different as well. Compared to her teenage looks in the dream, here, she is more of a young adult woman in her 20s.

The girl in his dreams has white hair and wears a white kimono but here, she has very long black hair that reaches her waist and she wears a black kimono with a floral pattern on it. Despite those inconsistencies, Manato can easily confirm that she and the one in the dreams that he met are the same person. After spending much time talking to that girl in his dreams, he already memorized the slightest movements she does and those slight habits and movements are present in this girl as well.

The baby dragon started growling, making itself aggressive toward the girl but the girl smiled and only held her hand. This startled the baby dragon at first but it soon recovered and slowly approached her. Then it started rubbing its head on her hand. As for Manato, he saw the sad look on her face and he also heard her slight whisper, "I am sorry for using the scent of your Mother".

After that, the girl picked up the baby dragon and hugged her. The baby dragon looked at the young girl and she smiled at it.

"Although your Mother is gone, I will raise you as my companion from now on. It's not your fault that your mother is gone, and your mother would like you to survive. As one of the two goddesses and the one responsible for sending your mother to its eternal rest peacefully, I will raise you as a dragon that will be proud to protect the people and the world from danger."

Manato didn't expect the reveal and was shocked. The girl currently holding the baby dragon and the person that he was talking with in his dreams and saved him from the memory wipe was actually the Goddess of Death herself. This is a big shock for Manato as he didn't connect the Goddess of Death and the girl in the kimono as the same person.

Then, some kind of fast-forward things happened. Although Manato seems to see a flash-forward scene before him, he sees a lot of the important events that seem to be unforgettable for the dragon and are shared in his eyes as well. Everything else moved at a fast-forward pace.

When the fast-forward stops, the dragon is now an adult. He slowly understands the role of the dragon now to the Goddess of Death. This dragon is the one they called the companion of the Goddess of Death that disappeared alongside the goddess herself. Not many records of this dragon have appeared in the history books that Manato had read before due to most of the records left that tell the truth about the story are either destroyed or just not present at all. Most of the records were all the achievements and all of the things the Goddess of Life does along with her war against the Goddess of Death.

Right now, he is seeing the Goddess of Death leaning in a big tree. The dragon safeguarded the tree and the goddess, it wrapped itself around the surroundings of the tree and remained in a vigilant mode.

Now, it is waiting.