It stinks in here. I've read that dragons have multiple stomachs. I can't feel the movements of the dragon, but I do think that we are moving, somewhere. Since I'm not being melted by its stomach acid, I'm assuming that this is the—
Instantly, the muscular stomach walls enclose around me. My pack is being used to suffocate me alone with it's muscular walls. I'm being crushed by the sheer force of this dragon's muscles. I try to think of a way to preserve my life, this can't be the end. Powder, I need your health-hazardous genius. Clearing my mind, I tried to focus on the equation for the element air and imagine it spontaneously manifesting in my lungs. It's desperate nonsense. It might not work, but it's the only hope I have left. Dragons, I never thought they would be this strong, I didn't even hear this one coming. As my vision dims, I fight with everything I have to stay awake. The muscular walls continue to crush me, not cracking my bones, but enough to weaken me. My eyelids are getting heavy, but I still kept the formula for air clear in my mind. "J-Janna..." If she can hear me inside of the beast's belly, I'd be grateful. Then, her face appeared—that blueberry-headed psycho. Can't lose focus, I need that air formula, but her face won't leave my mind. Darkness consumes me.
I wake up with a jolt. A pencil is clenched fiercely in my hand, and I'm in what Viktor always wears, academy attire. A white vest and dress pants. Compared to what I used to wear in Zaun, it looks like I'm about to head to a high-class party. As I look around me, I see that I'm in a dimly lit laboratory. Only a few focused lamps and a cracked curtain illuminate the room.
"Owen, focus." A simple command from a familiar thick accent rang across the laboratory.
Turning towards the source of the voice, I see Viktor, hunched over a desk. Singed and Sky Young are working in synch in front of a chemistry set, perfecting Shimmer to a new level of potency. For some reason, I'm not as disturbed as I should be. This timeline floods memories and knowledge of the most daring method to save Viktor's life, to the forefront of my mind.
Without looking away from his mathematics, he speaks as if I'm just another faceless assistant. "I can hear your staring. We have delicate work to finish. I'm certain you understand how crucial it is that we complete our work on time."
When I stood to walk towards him, my body felt significantly older, weary, and heavier. "Viktor...what..."
He then turns to me, and I'm shocked at his gaunt face and withered form. He's practically a skeleton now.
"What's with that face?" He twists his face in frustration and irritation. "You are well aware of my deteriorating state, I had thought I could trust you with this sensitive matter."
Whatever universe this is, it isn't any world I've been to before. In this world, Onisegun did arrive in Piltover as she should have. But...there are no memories of Powder, Vander...Vi...my brothers...no one is here, I've never met them. Instead, Singed was my main mentor. Fondness for Viktor and Sky...consumed my heart like a fire. They feel like family to me, beyond family, I'd do anything for them.
"I know I'm not what you expected. After—" I interrupted him with a hug.
It was an excuse to feel how thin he was. I couldn't believe it. The Viktor I know radiated with wholeness. This Viktor feels fractured. "Viktor, the hexcore..." I pulled back and glanced behind him to see the blasted thing pulsing with power. "...the risks are permanent, this could alter you forever."
But Viktor nods with a gentle smile. "I know, son, but it seems that this body was never meant for longevity."
I release him, knowing he's right. And that's the thing that defeated me—we were always right. The ominous glow of the hexcore covered us, drenching the room in shades of purple and blue. It made Viktor look like a ghost already, or more like a lich.
"Come, Owen, it is time." He quickly turns away and coughs blood into his rag. I didn't have to see it, I knew it was blood. It's always blood. Quickly placing the bloodied rag back in his jacket pocket, he nods towards the hexcore. "We must move to the next phase."
Singed and Sky turned to us and gestured to the medical bed in the corner.
"As we've discussed, survival from the operation is minimal at best." Singed wheezed as he prepared the syringes.
Sky and I helped Viktor to the bed. "You just have to stay strong for a little while longer, hun, we're here."
We lay him down on the bed and prepare for the surgery. In my universe, looking at Singed, much less being around him, would send me on edge. However, as we prepare to save my father's life, I feel a confidence in him like I never had.
"It's time to embrace your evolution." Singed lowered the breathing mask over Viktor's face.
Instead of putting him to sleep, it snapped me out of the dream and threw me onto the hard ground, covered in dragon saliva. My senses are struggling to wake. My vision is blurred, but I can sense something impossibly big looming over me, probably the dragon. Then, a smaller figure pokes its face into my view, probably its offspring.
"It's waking up!" it excitedly bellowed with the voice of a child.
When the dragon sighed, it shook me and the mountain. "Smolder, eat this one when you break it." She leans against the mountainside, with her elbow propping up her head. "I won't find you another playmate if you keep breaking them."
Smolder jumps around me with untapped excited energy. "I know! I know!" He presses his nose against my skin and begins sniffing. "Hmmm...he smells...like that other place." He wags his tail in the air as he tries to think.
His mother watches him with amusement and taps the side of the mountain with her claw. "Smolder, we are not dogs."
Smolder slams his tail on the floor as he jumps around me. His powerful tail gives his jumping extra power to lift off the ground, making him seem weightless as he skips around me. "I know! I know!" He nudges me with his nose and palms. "Wake up! Wake up!"
His persistent nudging me with his nose and tail, combined with his mother's occasional rumbling of her breathing, stirred me awake. Seeing a smiling dragon with razor-sharp teeth that was a bit too happy to see me didn't scare me at all. At this point, I had truly believed I died in that dragon's stomach. By the look of things, it seems as if dying in the stomach would have been less painful.
"So, you have awakened." An ancient female voice rang in my ear. Looking above me, a massive dragon of washed, blood-red, battle-worn scales peers down at me in mild interest. She leans against the mountainside, as if using it as furniture. Considering her size, she can use any mountain as furniture. Reaching into her mouth, she picked at something with her claws. As she gently yanked, a familiar-sized object in front of me. "Before you panic, your pack is safe."
The little dragon dashed out of the way. "What is this?" he asked and began poking at it with his paws.
If only I feared death more, I would have said something smarter. "It's mine."
The child dragon rises to his legs and scales the pack. "What's inside? Can I see?" He dexterously claws at the straps, trying to find a way to open it.
"Smolder, it is not your place to invade others' property without permission." The mother dragon gently scolds, however, the power of her voice wasn't all that gentle for me. She has the power of 10 thunderclaps behind every word. I'm surprised that the entire mountain hasn't split into pieces by now.
Smolder, the child dragon, reluctantly lowered to the ground. "Okay, mooom," and immediately began hopping over to me in youthful excitement. "Can I look inside? Please? Please?"
It's strange seeing a dragon speak up close. They don't have the anatomy to use human words, yet they move their mouths anyways in an effort to speak. I did, however, feel their mental connection to my mind whenever they wanted to communicate. This must be just how they talk to other species. Smolder's voice is tamed, compared to his mother's. Seeing as I'm clearly outmatched, I had to give in. "Sure, go ahead."
His slit turquoise eyes shone with gratitude, and he returned to my pack. "I want to find out how to open it myself." He tackles and wrestles with it as if it were a toy.
Sighing, I turned to face his mother. Looking up, I met the eyes of the beast that swallowed me and my drake hound in one gulp. Her deep crimson red scales shift in color, blending into the mountain with seamless ease. "What do I call you?"
Her serpent face offered no signs of expression, just cold intelligent eyes. Then, a deep feminine rumble echoes in my mind, this time more gentle. "My name cannot be spoken with the human tongue." She slightly shifts, making the mountain moan under her weight.
Taking a chance, I chose a charming name for her. "Do you mind if I call you Scarlett?" Remaining flat on my back, I keep in mind that I'm under the authority of a power that can end armies in a single breath.
"Scarlett, Scarlett, Scarlett..." Smolder tests the name with his mouth, which sounds like hissing and gurgling. Then, his voice spoke clearly in my mind. "Scars...and the color red! Hey, that's smart!" He jumps from my pack and circles me again.
"You humans enjoy names, don't they?" Her crimson gaze shifts over me, like a blade over meat.
Reflexively, I smile. "It makes things and people easier to remember."
Something that I said made her lift her head, causing the mountain to moan again. "That requires some level of attachment." Her eyes shift in tone, a hint of amusement and awareness.
The last thing I need is to mistake an ancient dragon into thinking that I flirted with her. "Basic communication is what I excel at."
Smolder giggled and nudged me. "Get up! The ground is dirty."
A rumble arose from the mother dragon's throat, perhaps laughter? "You may rise, young human."
That's all I needed, but even dragons lie. Slowly and casually, I stood to my feet. "Thank you. The ground was feeling like home already."
Only Smolder seems to find that amusing. "Home? Here? You?" He constantly circles me, nudging my legs like a happy dog. However, every excited nudge was like being punched in the leg. The child dragon is too strong for its own good. "That was a joke, right? You don't want to stay here!"
"Do you mean what you say, human?" She lowers her head closer to me by the second. "Or is this just another work of the sly tongue?"
She's smarter and more blunt than I'm prepared for. Given that she has nothing to fear from me, she has every right to be straightforward. Deciding that I don't want to be eaten again, I decide to just be honest. "I joke when I'm scared."
"Hmmm," she flicks her tongue. "I can smell and hear your fear."
Just as I was drawing a blank from the constant stare of her eyes, I felt another nudge at my leg.
"What's this?" Smolder holds a spare chest plate in his mouth.
"That's my armor, it keeps sharp things from poking me." I watch him grab something else from my pack.
He pulls out another piece of armor. "And this?" he says with the armor in his mouth, making the growl muffled.
"That's called a greave. It's for my legs, which I can use if you plan on ramming them some more." I grab it from his mouth.
Smolder nudges my legs. "You need armor because you're soft, right?"
I gave an embarrassed and pained smile. "Yeah, humans are naturally squishy creatures."
"Hm...a normal human, but a mage may prove differently." Her deep knowledge of what I fear horrified me—that she is a dragon of impossible size.
"WOW!" If Smolder wasn't jumpy before, he sure was now. He hops around me as a swarm of hornets would. "YOU'RE A MAGE!?!?" he sniffs me some more as Scarlett bores her eyes into me.
Those eyes, they hold secrets that extend centuries. As we locked eyes, I could see that she had the same ability I have. She learns everything about me, she knows everything that I am. All of my joy, my pain, my humiliation, my loves, everything. With a new understanding, she withdrew her sight from my soul. For the first time, her serpent face held an expression that I could read: pity.
"Such a young boy. You humans live life too fast," she judged.
"Would love to live it slower with a certain someone, but we don't have the thousands of years to do that." I shrug. "One of many downsides of being human."
"Mage," she corrected.
I raised a brow. "Mage?"
Smolder stopped bouncing around me and looked between us. "Mage?"
"Wait, there is no way that I'm a—" I stopped myself. An ancient dragon would know more about what is happening to me than anyone else.
The dragon nods. "Very good. A man who knows better to listen and learn when he knows not."
Smolder rises on his high legs and holds himself up by his paws against my arm. "You're going to get a lesson! Mama always makes me listen to her lesson, but I'm really smart now!"
I invited Smolder into a hug. His arms wrapped around me. His face lit up in surprise before exploding into a wide grin. He reminded me of myself in a weird way. Those explorative and curious eyes full of wonder... I miss that feeling. "I could use some education on what I really am."
Scarlett nods. "Good. The education is repayment for the name you've given me." She regurgitates the drakehound she swallowed. He slid to the ground in the fetal position. I instantly knelt next to him and checked his pulse, he was alive, thankfully. "And for befriending my boy."
My drakehound is still alive. Its pulse is still strong, it's just under hibernation.
Smolder sat beside me. "Don't worry," he said innocently. "He's just sleeping."
The scales seem to have gotten healthier inside the dragon. The saliva seems to have naturally polished it, as I wiped some off. "I'm glad you noticed the difference." Rising up, I faced Scarlett. "I'm ready to learn."
As she began to teach, I searched my pack for food. I may have been recently devoured, but that hasn't ruined my appetite much. Overpreparing proved to be one of my life-saving traits. Smolder seems to want to try everything I've brought. From dried meat and vegetables for soup, to the wine I snuck out from the dining room. Scarlett seems to not mind as much, which makes sense. Dragons produce a natural mix of flammable liquids and gases in their stomachs to breathe fire. The most valuable and most dangerous of all liquor is dragon spit. Certain dragons naturally produce certain toxins, which give their drinkers different effects. Scarlett's saliva specifically is said to make learning...easier. By the look in her eyes, I hope it's true, because she wants me to drink it now. She did this by politely extending her fang over my empty and clean mouth and injecting her toxin into it. To make sure I don't die from it, she added a critical ingredient, dragon saliva.
Looking down into the mug as thick as syrup, I begin to question my life choices. "Now is not the time to dally." Her stare seems more intense.
It doesn't help with the fact that Smolder is encouraging me that it's the right thing to do. Given that my life is in Scarlett's...she doesn't have hands per se...just claws...bony hands with claws. Resigned to my circumstances, I drank the syrup-thick liquor and hated myself through every gulp. The effects were instant, as was the trip to the ground. At least, I didn't feel the impact. Scarlett, with her massive frame, slithered over me. Careful enough not to crush me, she brought her mouth just inches in front of me and began whispering. The vibrations of her voice, combined with the soothing whispers in my ears, relaxed me in ways that no woman ever could. Never would I imagine being soothed by a dragon, but here I am. But, wait a minute, aren't I supposed to be learning something? Efforts to use my mind for any degree of awareness were proven useless, as I'm locked in the darkness of dreamlessness. Awareness locked in nothingness, a mind blinded by my own lack of understanding. As it turns out, her method of teaching is no different from the whispers I've mentally blocked from my mind. But now, I have to listen. With the voice of the mysterious arcane force and Scarlett, I am once again lectured into boredom. Here I thought something exciting would happen in the void of my own mind. I guess I'm also cursed to endure disappointment. In what feels like a century, I know less than I had before. The arcane whisperer, which is what I took to calling it, has chosen me as its champion. When my eyes opened, I saw Scarlett continuously coiling around me as I remained seated cross-legged on the ground. This isn't Runeterra, but somewhere else entirely. A misty quagmire dome that belongs to the arcane whispers continuously. Its presence surrounds me, it's more solid than the serpent dragon. Still elusive, but I can feel and hear the formulas dancing around me like a swarm of locusts.
"I do not know its origins, but I know its purpose." Scarlett continues. "For you to spread its formulas throughout the world."
Figures. "Kinda got that impression from my dreams."
Scarlett's rotating serpent body rises over me. "Yes, I've seen that dream, I felt it pulse from the far distant possible future."
My heart thumped hard in shock for only a moment. "Scarlett, please tell me, is it possible to avoid that future?"
Scarlett looks down at me. The overcast, which could be described as a sky, stretched into the endless grey of oblivion. "Owen, one way or another, you will meet the future with fire in your hand and the book of undeniable truths."
The tenseness I wasn't aware of escaped my shoulders. "So...that's it then...I destroy the world?"
Scarlett seemed to have attempted to comfort me in my hour of hopelessness, but she did a poor job of it. Can't blame her, it's not a good idea to try to brush against me like a house cat when you're as big as a mountain. "You're a whisperer, I cannot hear all, like you, but I can hear only crumbs of your destiny." She encloses her body around me but still leaves me room to sit comfortably. "You exist in no other universe, but for this one reason, you are too powerful."
At that point, I laughed heartily. The idea of being powerful is far beyond ridiculous. "Because some sadistic, cosmic being wants me to destroy the world? Seriously? I have no choice in the matter?"
Scarlett opened her mouth wide and lowered her head to the ground. "The matter of mortal will is not for me to comprehend. I am a dragon and only understand the ways of dragons." I stood and willingly stepped inside her mouth. "As you are human, understanding the ways of a human. Only you decide whether or not you have the will to decide your fate."
The journey within her mouth wasn't something I'd recommend. The journey down a dragon's throat is self-explanatory, don't do it. Even if this is a dream state or a hallucination, it doesn't stop it from violating all my senses. Imagine crawling through the sewers of Zaun. Your nose is assaulted by smells, sounds are buzzing around your head, and your eyes are tricked into seeing things that shouldn't be. The gases, fluids, and flesh of the congested, ever-stretching tunnel bombarded your body's ability to tolerate the sensations. The fumes dove into my body, setting my nostrils and lungs on fire. The fluids burned my skin so bad, I couldn't feel my hands and knees. The flesh, oh the flesh. The raw inner walls of a dragon are just as tough as the scales. It's tearing away at whatever made me tolerate the flow of my life so far. My plan—I have to keep hold of my plan—to return to Zaun, to make it great. Great for not only my people but also for my family and for my Powder. Crawling for what felt like miles within the body of the dragon broke me. Falling to the foundation of the living dungeon that served as my dream grave, all I could think about was my Powder. It only took the moment of closing my eyes for me to wake up in the physical world.
Bright, slitted turquoise eyes filled my vision, along with the familiar reptilian face of a young dragon. "Finally!" He jumps over me back and forth as I roll to my back, staring up at the sky. "Did you see anything? Any visions? Mama always likes to teach that way..." He picks up speed in jumping from my side to the other, with incredible agility. "...by she like talking too!"
It's amazing that he can keep talking without difficulty while doing that. Guess I have to trade peace and quiet for the chance of overcoming Rell. "Smolder...can you tell me exactly what just happened to me? From your perspective."
Smolder jumps over me again, landing beside me with a thud. "Mama took you into her belly again! But this time, to teach, not as luggage..." He looks to his mother, who has perfectly coiled around us with her body. "... Is that the right word? Luggage?"
Scarlett blocked the view of the evening sky with her head. "That's right, dear, you've used the word perfectly."
That ignited a series of claps from Smolder. It made me smile. Huh, what do you know? I'm smiling. "I don't know what you did to me in there, but I think I understand more of what I need to do."
If Scarlett could wink, she would have. "Oh? And what might that be?"
I pushed myself to sit up and struggled doing so, the journey must have taken more out of me than I thought. Smolder had to nudge me upright from behind. "By asking you for help, at the end..." I slung an arm around Smolder, who gleefully accepted the gesture. "...I'm sure you know when to help."
She gave no indication of affirming what I meant, but she is wise and knowledgeable. "Yes, I understand the moment of your crisis."
That one word made Smolder's head snap between us. And for the first time, that wonderment of a smile melted away into one of growing distress. "What? What's wrong?" The worry in his voice hurts me for some reason. "Owen, are you in trouble?"
Patting his back was the only way I could stall, thinking of a way to break it to him. "I'm trying to stop something bad from happening."
He then turns to his mother, with determination in his voice, which made him sound a few years older. "Mom, I want to help him."
A silence grew between them, a silence that I'm too aware to interrupt. Scarlett's scales smoothed out the rocks around us as she moved in a perfect circle. The mountain itself is shaped according to every movement this great dragon makes.
"You are due for another lesson, aren't you?" At the moment of acknowledging Scarlett's insinuation, Smolder nods vigorously.
"I want to help Owen and see the world!" Smolder proclaimed proudly with a puffed-up chest.
"Interesting..." Scarlett continues shifting her mass against the stone surface, slowly grinding it into...an arena? "Yes, Owen..." She must have seen the look of bewilderment on my face. "You must show me that you can handle my boy in a world that is rife with distractions."
She pulls back, expanding her body to where Smolder and I now sit in an arena, sizable enough to prove both a challenge and a hassle to prove myself.
"Oh! I love this game!" He assisted me to my feet by allowing me to push off his head. This kid is more stable than a horse.
Stretching to my feet, I can feel some of my strength returning. "You've played this game before?"
Smolder nods his head and rears on his rear legs, preparing to pounce. "Dinnertime, and beat 'em up time."
He looked serious about both 'games. 'Without wasting another second, I dashed towards him. Too bad he was thinking of the same method, because he rammed into me with the force of two full-grown men. This, of course, knocked me out of the elevated circle. We landed, or Smolder landed on top of me on the hard surface.
"Oof!" he shakes his head. "Wow! You're still alive!"
Dazed, I groaned, regretting this entire ordeal again. "Yeah, got the bruises to show for it."
Smolder bites the strap of my armor and pulls me into a sitting position. me to a "Come on! Prove that you can hang with me so my mom can let us play together!"
With the thought of Zaun's fate in the balance of prosperity or destruction, I forced my pained body to its feet and followed the giggling dragon to the top of the arena. As I made it to the top, we engaged again.
Smolder laughs as he playfully batters me with nudges, leg sweeps, and tackles. Scarlett observed silently with my drakehound, who sat by next to a dead tree, munching on prey he caught. Getting hammered by a dragon kid is somewhat humbling. Somehow, he's able to beat me senseless without killing me or breaking my bones. If not for my formula-enchanted armor, I'd be destroyed by now. Hell, being destroyed would end the pain at least. Maybe he could feel the energy from my armor, telling him where to hit me and how hard. Landing a strike on him is as easy as swatting a fly. Just as possible and annoying as it sounds… Smolder moves in a blur, giggling and tackling me off balance.
"You're fun! The other guys would have ran away by now!" He prances around and under my legs, only to leap towards me with the power of Ambessa's kick. And as I block, I have to retract that judgement, this kid hits harder. The force sent me back, nearly knocking me out of the arena again, but I managed to shift my weight, turning on my toes to pivot back towards the center. As I did so, Smolder misread my movement and flew out of the arena.
My drakehound agilely evaded his landing. Smolder took out the tree, then sprang to his feet, surprised. "Ahhh man!" He turned towards me, frustrated but impressed that I managed to outmaneuver him. "Nice..." He jumps while flapping his wings and lands in the arena. "...but you can't dodge me all day!"
He charges me with his unrelenting energy. An entire day of scrapping with Smolder is not what I need. Having him as a companion is already what I've decided. Learning his movements and his patterns, like anyone else I've learned, I quickly began to catch up to his strengths and weaknesses. Being young, rowdy, and powerful would have made him unstoppable if he were human. With the knowledge I've gained from training the drakehounds, I dealt with Smolder in the same manner. My arms wrapped around his neck as he charged me. As I expected, he began to ring his neck, thrashing his head, trying to buck me off.
"Hey! Let go!" He writhes under my arm, but I haven't started yet.
Next, I captured his torso in one leg and captured one of his legs with my leg. Together, I locked him in a hold that minimized his movements to mere thrashing and rolling. What's better is that I managed to have his wing pressed firmly against my chest. Wrestling with Vi sure has helped in ways I'm grateful for.
Smolder grunts and bucks against me, with ever-increasing frustration and power. "You're strong...just like me!" He throws his head back, and I manage to slip my head under his chin, taking another weapon away from him. "Ugh! Should have seen that coming!"
We're now just two kids wrestling on the ground, rolling, and thrashing. Holding onto Smolder with worn and burning limbs is my only form of attack against him. Thankfully, he began to tire out.
"Fascinating, it seems keeping you here was depriving you of combat education, hmmm." Scarlett's contemplation made the drakehound hiss deeply in agreement, I hope.
Finally, after enduring Smolder's assaults and pushing my body to its limits, Smolder relents. "Okay...okay...I give..."
Instantly, I released him. My back rolled onto the ground, and I pressed my eyes shut, as they are the only muscles I can move without pain.
Smolder lay on the ground as well, panting and breathing heavily. "I knew you were strong...." Then, to my astonishment, he closed his eyes and dozed off.
I couldn't believe my eyes. "Seriously? That's all it took to get him to stop moving around?"
Scarlett lowered her head over to us, checking on both our worn-out forms. "You'd be surprised how much I need to talk to get him to sleep."
Sitting up wasn't an option. "You actually lecture him to sleep? I'm not tough enough to handle that, I hardly survived academy."
If dragons could raise a brow, she might have. "So I've noticed. You may have my son as your ward. Teach him the ways of human combat and how best to work alongside them." That made me breathe easier, but then she had to ruin it. "But, if Smolder suffers fatal harm, I will digest you the next time I eat you. Are we clear, Owen?"
Smolder as my ward is just what I asked for. "As clear as a dream." Then my fatigue won.