TBATE: Born as a god

Sylvia

I opened my eyes again, with towering trees and dangling vines filling my vision as I lay on my back. However, the pain I expected didn't come. Only a small amount of pain comparable to falling on my butt as a kid. I sat up, and on my left saw a corpse of the mage and next to him a small sack of various dried fruit. I ate some, and went looking around to find a suitable camp spot.

'Oh, you're awake.'

The voice that seemed to come out of nowhere had a dignified, yet soft quality emanating a sense of royalty. It was powerful and resonant, yet silky and soothing sound that made you want to trust it.

Still on guard, I managed to mutter a less than elegant response.

"Who are you?"

'You will soon find out when you arrive at my dwelling.'

This voice seemed awfully sure that I would try and find it.

As if reading my thoughts, she continued, "I am the only one that will be able to get you home from this place, so I advise you to make haste."

That jerked some sense into me. That's right! I had to get back home! Mother! Father! The Twin Horns! My baby sibling! Are they alright? Did they reach Xyrus safely?

If the voice could really take me back home, I had no choice but to find it.

"Ahem, dear uhh... Mr. Voice. May I ask for the directions to your location so that you may bless me with your presence?"

The voice let out another soft chuckle before replying with, "Don't you think it's a little rude to call a lady 'Mister'? And yes, I'll show you the way."

Ahh... so it was a lady.

Immediately, my vision shifted into a bird's-eye view. Zooming out, a location that was roughly around a day's trip to the east came into sight and lighted up before my vision shifted back to normal.

"I recommend departing immediately. It will be a lot safer traveling during the day than when it gets dark." Gently chided the voice.

"Yes Ma'am!" I quickly picked up my knapsack before trotting towards my destination. 

A few hours later

"We finally meet child."

I felt the blood drain from my face as my mouth gape open and eyes bulge. Feeling lightheaded as my legs failed to support me, I crumbled back onto my butt, staring at the one who's been helping me this whole time.

W-What are you?" I managed to stammer out.

"We finally meet," it repeated with a lazy half smile that revealed a row of pointed teeth.

I tried getting up, but failed halfway and end up back on my butt, my face still slack from the shock of what my eyes were seeing.

"Bugs will fly into your mouth if you keep it open that wide."

Great. At least it has a sense of humor.

"As for what I am, I won't say anything more than what you can see from looking," the horned humanoid monster said with its eyes seeming to gaze straight through me.

"..."

"It is going to take to a while for me to open a dimensional rift that will transport you to your house, so until then, just be patient and wait here. There are special roots that grow here. You will be able to live off those until I finish," it sighed.

"Come! Sit here closer to me and keep me company. I haven't talked to anyone in a while," the being laughed, patting an area of its throne for me to sit on.

I climbed up the platform rather awkwardly, forgetting to use mana to just jump up, and I propped myself on the throne next to the being.

"Uhh... excuse me for being rude, but you don't exactly look like a lady. How should I exactly address you as?" I said, making eye contact with the being.

"You're right. I don't exactly look like a lady, now do I? I wonder why I said that. My name is Sylvia," she replied, letting out a soft chuckle.

This giant demon lord-like monster looked like anything but a Sylvia to me, but I chose to keep that to myself.

"Elder Sylvia, do you mind if I ask a few questions?"

"Go ahead young one, although I may not be able to answer everything."

I immediately rattled off all of the questions that had been on my mind ever since waking up and after meeting Sylvia. "Where is this place? Why were you here all alone? Where did you come from? Why do you have that huge wound?

She patiently waited for me to finish before replying.

"You must have had a lot on your mind. The first question is easy to answer. This place is a narrow zone that is between the Beast Glades and the Forest of Elshire. No one knows of this place because I've been warding off anyone who came close, although the cases are rare in the first place. You, young child, are the first to enter into this domain," she easily explained.

"Please call me Art! My name is Arthur Leywin but everyone calls me Art! You can too!" I blurted out before shutting my mouth with my hands, confused as to why I was acting like an excited child.

"Kukuku... Very well child, I will call you Art!" Her red eyes glazed, looking afar while answering my next questions.

"Art, may I ask you a question as well?"

"Yeah, ofcourse"

"Do you know why you have such pale skin, and a solid yellow core at the age of four?"

"No, I just thought I was special in some way."

"Well, you thought right. Let me tell you about asuras."

...

"So.. I have the body of a god? And there are those like me? Is that why I'm so powerful?"

"Yes"

 a few months later

"There now... Do I look a bit more like a Sylvia?" Sylvia let out a toothy smirk.

"S-Sylvia?? Y..you're a dragon too?" I said.

"Now That I am in this form, we do not have much time. Yes, I am a dragon, just like you. The reason I am dying is because I had been inflicted with this wound after narrowly escaping from my captors. I had sensed one of them approaching dangerously close a few days ago, so I feel that my time of hiding is drawing to an end. This form will alert them of my location, which is why I only have time to explain what is necessary. I am giving you this to take care of from now on."

One of her bladed wings unfolded and revealed a translucent, rainbow-colored stone the size of two fists. With a myriad of colors and shades, this stone resonated an aura that made me hesitate in holding it, as if I wasn't worthy.

Sylvia then proceeded to pluck a feather from her wings with her claw and hand it to me. "Wrap the stone in this to conceal it."

After doing as told, the once divine radiant stone merely appeared to be a smooth white rock, pretty, but ordinary.

While I was studying the feather-encased stone, I was suddenly pushed back as Sylvia's snout gently brushed against my chest where my mana core was.

Before I had the chance to ask what she had done, a giant explosion interrupted me.

I whipped my head up to see that the ceiling of the cave had been blown off and what came into vision was a figure that reminded me of Sylvia's previous form.

Clad in sleek black armor and a blood red cape that matched its eyes. The figure's pale grey skin matched the clouded sky in the background. The horns were different, though, as this entity had two horns that curled down and under its ears, lining its chin.

Sylvia immediately covered me with one of her wings in time to protect me from the falling debris and probably keep me hidden from our visitor.

"Lady Sylvia! I advise you to stop your stubbornness and hand it over. You've already caused us quite the trouble after hiding yourself! If you submit, the Lord may even heal your wound," the entity reasoned impatiently.

Immediately after he had finished speaking, the world around me seemed to pause. Everything but Sylvia and myself, the colors of the world were as though it was being seen through an inverted lens. What surprised me the most was that everything was still. The entity, the clouds behind him, and even the falling debris of the ceiling.

"Sylvia! Is what he said true? If you turn yourself over, will you be able to live?"

"Do not trust his honey-coated words. It will be worse off for you if you are found right now. As for me, I would rather die than go back to where he is," Sylvia said, impatience and anger mixed in her voice.

"No! I won't let you die here. If you refuse to go with him, then please, just come with me!" I begged.

"Unfortunately I cannot go with you. You will forever be in danger if any one of them finds out you have had contact with me. I need to stay here."

"I-I-I... Please, I'm begging you, just come with me. I-I don't know what you did but everything is frozen right now; we can escape! Please, Grandmother, don't go. Not like this!" I held on to Sylvia's claw, desperately trying to pull her away with me.

In my last moment with her, Sylvia's face blossomed into such a beautiful smile that I swear I thought I saw a human.

I could barely make out the words she said, before she pushed me into the portal.

"Thank you my child."