Chapter 15: What am I..

Chapter 15: What am I..

Time Error - ―̶―̸͠͞∴̶≠̶̨∫∫͝͝†̛‡̵̢͡∝̶∮͏̴̀――̷̡͘ : Location Error - ―̸̘̀―̸̻̽∴̷̰̓i̶̢̊ǹ̴͉v̷̟̀ã̸͜l̵͓̊į̵͠d̶̟̽―̴͉̓―̷͕̈

“Mmmm..” As I slowly opened my eyes, I found myself in a familiar, time-frozen field. -So it was real..-

I looked over and saw that the floating island had moved much closer, but I don't see the 'woman' anywhere around it. I didn't see any creatures for that matter.

-If I could avoid running into anything that'd be great..- I just wanted to look around and explore some.

Double checking to make sure nothing was around I checked myself out.

My body was much more defined than last time but was still only in shape.

My body was much more human shaped but I had two pointy things on the top of my head and a tail of some kind. -Are those horns or animal ears?- I tried to reach up and touch them but my hand simply phased through them.

“Haah..” -What am I even made of..-

Even though my body was somewhat humanoid now, it was still just an amalgamation of 'black lines' so I had no clue what I was. -But.. if anything its an improvement from the last 'dream'..-

After finishing checking myself out, I started moving away from the floating island as fast as I could. I simply wanted to avoid that 'woman' at all costs.

-I'm way faster now..- An odd feeling of euphoria filled my body as I was zooming across the open plain.

I was moving far faster than a jet, the islands behind me quickly disappeared over the horizon and only a few minutes later, I found something new. It was a large forest with extremely thick trees, similar to live oaks except without the drooping branches.

As I got closer to the forest though, time started to flow again. -What causes that.. Does it mean I'm approaching another creature?- Although a complete guess, looking at my past experience with the woman, it was entirely possible.

On top of that, the forest didn't feel as dead as the field.

There were definitely living things in the forest, I could feel their presences but none of them seemed dangerous so I didn't hesitate to explore.

As I was moving through the forest, time continued to speed up until it seemed to pass like normal.

*CrAsH*

-What was that?- It sounded like a tree fell in the distance but it was just a guess.

To go check it out, I quickly flew up above the canopy and dashed towards the source of the sound.

Only a short moment later, I found a collapsed tree and an opening in the canopy.

As I flew back below the shield of leaves, I found a large black creature. -It looks similar to me..- It was made up of the same seemingly random black lines just like me, but it was in the shape of a big bear.

I could also see everything in its body. Although it was made of the same black lines, I could see it had several familiar organs mostly only being vitals.

The disgusting part was that I could see everything inside each organ all at once too. It was a surreal but disgusting experience.

As I was trying to figure out what to do about it, it glared at me and let out a deep growl before lunging at me.

It was only a theory, but it was entirely possible.

I took a bit of time to think more about it before realizing a major problem. -Wait.. if this is the world I know of.. then what am I?!- I was once again set back to a basic question I still couldn't answer.

-My body isn't physical and I can't seem to interact with things like the trees directly, but that creature I blew apart.. the shockwave from it being slammed into the ground damaged the trees and ground. It also clearly had momentum but I don't.. Even when I let time flow..- The more I tried to answer questions, the more that surfaced.

"Haah, whatever.." Letting out a deep and agitated sigh, I gave up on trying to think of answers for a moment and floated over to the hut.

-I guess it can't hurt to take a look, maybe I could get a clue.. to.. anything..- I was honestly desperate for answers of any kind but just before I got to the edge of the clearing again, time suddenly froze and I heard a voice I was all too familiar with.

"A̵r̷̴̸e̵̷̸n̴̴̵t̷̶̷ ̶̵̶h̸̴̶u̷̸̷m̷̵̵a̴̴̸n̶̷̶s̵̴̵ ̵̶̸i̴̷̸n̴̴̵t̴̴̸e̷̶̵r̶̴̶e̸̴̶s̷̵̷t̸̵̷i̸̴̸n̸̷̵g̷̴̶?" The mature voice resounded through my body, sending a chill down my spine and scaring the hell out of me.

-Good lord.. I need to calm down..- As I tried to catch my breath, she started talking again.

"I like the look in your eyes~ You look at them like ants, just like you should."

-I guess I learned whatever awful language that is..- Finally managing to catch my breath, I decided to just play it cool as if I didn't nearly sh*t myself. "What do you mean by that?"

"You look at them as worthless beings, ones that are far inferior to yourself."

The meaning in her words was simple, but a part of me resonated with it. "Of course I would, I'm a dragon after all." I had moved on from the mindset of a human many years ago, I had become a dragon through and through.

"Oh? You should look down on dragons too though, they are inferior to you too~"

-Welp you lost me..- "How could I think my own species is inferior to me. I may be a dragon but I'm not that self confident.." I was genuinely confused, my fear had already dissipated and now I was just trying to get some answers out of her.

"That's because you're only a dragon on the outside cutie~, and unless you somehow modified your body to handle it, even a dragon's body won't be able to handle what you really are.” She reached out and set her hand on my chest. “Your vessel [1] would crumble before you could do anything since you're a rather.. special existence"

She just made me more confused, with every question she answered, she just raised 5 more for me to ask. "What does that mean?"

"Well~, you'll find out in due time. Here.. before you leave." She slowly moved her hand up towards my neck before a soothing sensation coursed through me as my body became stronger and more defined once again.

The sensation felt heavenly but I was too nervous to enjoy it. "What did you just do.."

"Hmm~ Let's call it.. some repairs" She said it with an innocent smile, but it just made me all the more suspicious.

"Why are you being so nice to me.. I know you're strong enough to simply dispose of me.."

"Well let's say I find you interesting, how about that?" She leaned down and looked into my eyes with her void-like pupils.

It felt like she was looking into my soul, they were so dark it was terrifying. I felt like I was going to be swallowed by the darkness in them but she blinked and broke the trance.

"Well your growth was good, but it should be better, so I'll leave you with one last present." She casually reached out towards my face but my body screamed at me to move.

I was frozen though, I couldn't move no matter how hard I tried until she grabbed my face and everything returned to black.