I Guess I'm a Dragon Now (Part 1)

Escape, Day Three

While the days in the desert seemed to be unbearable for the dehydrated water dragon, the night's were a pleasant surprise as the temperature fell to a more tolerable level. It was clearly freezing at night, but Ergen felt right at home in the desert after he slept through the day and started travelling once the sun fell. This was especially grand as he managed to catch a large lion that had been hunting that night and was able to fill his stomach. The lion had only been half of Ergen's size, which he hoped meant that he'd finally escaped the large and dangerous predators of the mountains.

After eating his fill, Ergen looked up into the sky so that he could continue travelling in the direction he'd been travelling. He was using the twin blue and red moons as a reference, hoping that travelling between them would stop him from walking in circles like he knew that humans would normally do when lost in the desert. Though why he thought of humans again, he didn't know.

It was early the next morning when the sun was only just beginning to rise until Ergen finally found the water he had been searching for since about midnight. His entire body felt sluggish either due to dehydration or the after effects of the poison, but the one thing that was certain was the face that Ergen was thirsty. He was more thirsty than he'd ever been before in his life, and he quickly moved towards the green plant-life around the water before he reached the shore and started drinking. There hadn't seemed to be any predators at all around, so Ergen didn't hesitate to drink his fill before he examined the scenery around him.

Tropical looking trees surrounded him with large ferns and some type of cactus populating most of the area. In the center of the large pool of water, what looked like a large fruit was growing from a tree with pink bark, though while the fruit seemed appetizing, Ergen resisted the urge to eat it as he was still content with his recent meal of the lion. However, a distance roar in the distance drew his attention to something the might not have had the same views as him.

Looking at where the sound had come from, Ergen turned to see a gigantic gorilla monster running as fast as it could down a nearby sand dune. Even from the distance, Ergen could already tell that the creature was larger than him by quiet a lot, and he didn't waste any time in getting away from the water source as the gorilla snarled at him. Thankfully however, it seemed to be more interested in the water than a potential food source as it moved through the cactus of the oasis like it was nothing before reaching the water. Immediately, the gorilla stuck it's head inside of the pond and started drinking, all the while with Ergen running away as he knew that food would most likely be the beast's next priority. And while he had just killed a lion the night before, a massive gorilla three times larger than he was would be much more of a challenge, and he preferred not to take it.

Looking back around as he reached the top of sand dune, Ergen turned to take one last look at the oasis, thinking that it would be the last time he would see water for a while before the unthinkable happened. Apparently, the gorilla was hungry, and unlike Ergen it actually attempted to gather the fruit at the center of the pond. And when it did, the strange tree that the fruit was in suddenly receded into the pond in an instant before the sand all around the oasis burst into the air in geysers. The airborne sand fell, and Ergen watched as a massive pair of jaws rose slowly from the sand, making the oasis completely dark as the gorilla spun frantically in plane inside of the shadows as it looked for any chance to escape. Though it never found any before the jaws snapped shut with a massive booming sound and made the air ripple around Ergen, seeming to create a shock wave that even blasted the nearby sand away.

Whatever the titan was that had eaten both the gorilla and the oasis in a single bite, it was covered in massive tan scales that still had sand pouring off of them as it continued to rise out of the ground. However, it stood stopped moving entirely, making some kind of strange grunting noise as it's jaws remained clenched. And several minutes later, the creature finally began receding back into the ground again, opening it's jaws to reveal that the oasis was completely intact. All of the water that had been in the pond was still there and none of the trees, ferns or cactus plants around it were hurt at all. However, there was absolutely no sign of the gorilla that had once been inside.

A few moments after the jaws had completely disappeared and the disturbed ground was filled in with sand, nothing looked out of the ordinary at all with the oases, almost as if there weren't actually a gigantic creature underneath of it. And soon, Ergen saw the reason why as the fruit tree in the middle of the pond started to slowly rise from the water again, standing tall, and apparently just waiting for another animal to come and attempt to eat it.

Whatever the beast was, the oasis was simply bait to other creatures to it's jaws so that it could feed, and Ergen gulped silently to himself as he was suddenly thankful that he hadn't attempted to eat the fruit. Because if he had, it would have been him that was being digested right now instead of the gorilla. And with his new knowledge, Ergen moved as far away from the oasis as he could before finding shelter from the unforgiving sun above him, ready to sleep so that he could continue his journey again after the night fell. Though, his experience that day had made one thing clear to him. His escape from danger had only just begun, and he wasn't even anywhere close to safety yet.

*     *     *

"Hey! What the- That's not fair!" Teus, the god of war, yelled as he slammed his fist angrily down on top of the crystal table, sending thunder echoing throughout the area as he did.

"Give it up Teus, you've lost." Harmony, the goddess of peace, chuckled to herself as she waved her hand over the table until it started showing her a large wolf running through what looked like a burning forest. "Your avatar is out of the game, so just sit quietly in the corner, would you?"

"I would like to thank you for your sacrifice though." Echo, the goddess of darkness, chuckled to herself as well as she watched Ergen walk away from the colossal sand worm.

"It should have been your avatar that was eaten Echo, not mine!" Teus roared furiously.

"But it wasn't her avatar that was eaten, it was yours." Clargen, the god of light said with a sigh while watching a golden griffin soar through the skies. "You're out of the game, Teus, so you have no right to be here."

"Jeffery Hern... you useless mortal fool." Teus clenched his fists as he watched his gorilla avatar get slowly digested.

"So I'm guessing that you're not going to reincarnate him then?" Harmony asked knowingly. "You always were a sore loser."

"Why spend any of my power on a worthless soul such as his?" Teus asked.

"Even if he didn't realize it, he did serve you until his final breaths." Clargen stated. "Such service is deserving of being rewarded."

"Then I will reward him by sending his soul to the underworld personally!" Teus yelled before turning and stomping out of the room, slamming the golden double doors open in the process before they closed lightly behind him.

"Well that was loud, though very interesting." Harmony chuckled to herself. "You're very lucky, Echo. If your avatar hadn't eaten that lion the night before, then he would have been the one eaten."

"He seems to be absolutely full of luck." Echo said happily before slightly brushing her image of Ergen. "He's continuing forward despite everything that's happened to him so far, and he'd done an amazing job... I think I might reward him soon."

"Interfering with your avatars is against the rules, though I suppose that I don't need to remind you of that." Clargen reminded her.

"I know that, but giving him back a few of his memories wouldn't be really breaking the rules, would it?" Echo asked innocently, making Clargen grunt in his chair before she looked back down at her view of Ergen and beginning to brush it again. "Do well, my little dragon, and you may earn your place at my side one day..."