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

Not So Bad

'Why did I agree to this again?' Ergen asked himself as what were apparently gnomes swarmed over his body, each on taken measurements before writing something down in little notebooks that they carried with them before moving on to take their next measurement. They were apparently measuring him for some kind of armor, but Ergen didn't think that they were even being productive seeing as when they would finally complete the armor, he would have most likely already outgrown it by that point. Ergen was getting larger and larger, and he guessed that he was at least half the size that his mother had been at this point. However, size wasn't what he was concerned about at the moment, or even the gnomes for that matter as his thoughts were still focused on what Echo had told him.

Magic, a mystical and normally unobtainable power was apparently within his grasp, but Ergen had no clue in how to use it. Unlike the humans and the frost trolls he's seen, the fenrir hadn't needed to chant in order to be able to transform into snow, so how was it done? Unfortunately, Ergen hadn't gotten very many opportunities to even attempt to use magic as he'd almost immediately been accepted into the Demon King's army after arrival.

After meeting with King Asal, every servant and guard in the palace was confused when their 'Demon King' ordered them to show Ergen to his new home, which seemed to be an abandoned arena on the outskirts of the city. They hadn't known that Ergen and their king had already spoken with each other along with Echo and Vos, and all of them were completely confused as he willing followed them to the arena, which had thankfully been cleaned recently in anticipation for his arrival. However, with how open the arena was and how many soldiers and civilians were outside, this place couldn't even compare to his mother's den in terms of feeling safe.

Ergen had many complaints about his new situation, however when the gnomes finished measuring him, he found at least one thing about his new situation that he liked. Three cows had been butchered and put on the back of wagon for him. And as it was wheeled into the arena, Ergen could have almost cried as he'd been craving beef ever since he'd regained the majority of his memories back. He didn't care if the meat was raw or not as images of hamburgers and different cuts of steaks filled his mind, reminding Ergen that even while he was a human, he'd always been a carnivore.

After eating, Ergen laid down and basked in the sweet satisfaction of finally eating a familiar animal for once, and in order to fully appreciate it he laid down took a nap. No one had attempted to kill him yet, and Ergen thought that perhaps that a life being allied with the Demon King might not be so bad as he didn't have to do anything yet other than get fed and sleep. However, it wasn't even two days into his new position that he started growing restless. While the arena was more than enough housing than what he needed, the tall walls and stands were beginning to feel like a prison cell as Ergen wondered if the soldiers guarding the arena would allow him to leave or not. Though, seeing as they couldn't stop him if they tried, Ergen eventually disregarded them entirely before deciding to practice his flying skills.

Thankfully there wasn't an invisible net draped over the arena as Ergen shot into the air and started flying circles around the city. And while it had been entertaining to watch while on the streets, Ergen now held a new appreciation for the city's design as he got an aerial view of it. With five points spreading out, the city's construction made it look like a star from an airborne perspective, almost looking exactly like a golden sheriff's badge with how the bricks seemed to glow in the sunlight. And while he circled around the city a few more times to enjoy the view, Ergen soon decided that he'd seen enough and started flying off into the distance, diving and rising into the air repeatedly as he went. He was determined to get used to maneuvering in the air before he would have to fight the griffon, and after doing a few barrel-rolls while attempting not to fall to the ground in order to practice evasive maneuvers, Ergen felt content enough with his progress that he started heading back towards the city.

With his back already sore again from flying for a few hours, Ergen landed in the arena so that he could rest his body while his mind still raced from the exhilaration of flying. And as he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep, Ergen did the only thing that he could do in his spare time, which was attempting to figure out how to use magic. And as he thought about it, he begrudgingly thought that Echo could have at least instructed him a little bit before they parted instead of the quick 'You can do it!' that he'd received instead.

Sighing to himself, Ergen looked around the arena quickly to make sure that there was no one present to witness the embarrassing events that were sure to happen. And once he was certain that nobody was there to laugh at him, Ergen held out one of his front claws in front of him before trying to imagine fire coming out of his hand like he'd seen in countless TV shows and movies. He even attempted to yell 'Fireball!' while doing it, yet his dragon self only seemed to bark as absolutely nothing happened.

Quickly looking again to make sure that no one had seen him, Ergen sighed to himself as he realized that he would most likely never be able to control fire anyway. He was a water dragon, after all, so fire was probably out of the picture. And so, Ergen repeated the process while thinking about a bolt of ice shooting out of his claw, though again nothing happened. And when Ergen checked to make sure that he was alone this time, both he and a servant froze as they started staring at each other. The woman had a look of absolute confusion on her face that just seemed to scream 'What are you doing?', and that look was directed at Ergen, who was still stuck in the pose that he'd been in before she turned around and began to quickly walk towards of one of the many side exits of the arena.

"Sorry to disturb you!" The woman called out behind her before a wooden door slammed behind her, and all Ergen could do was remain frozen with his left eye slightly twitching as he suddenly wanted to die. Or at least give up ever using magic, though he knew that quitting wasn't an option if he wanted to survive. And so, Ergen continued attempting everything that he could think of to use magic for another half an hour until he miraculously found success. Forgetting projectiles at the moment, Ergen had attempted to turn into snow just as the fenrir and frost trolls had before he suddenly found that his claw was frozen in a block of ice. The ice moved along with Ergen's individual fingers, seeming to be solid yet flexible at the same time while forming some type of armor around him before it suddenly vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared. He was about to try and create it again when he suddenly heard yelling above him along the highest walls of the arena, which distracted him from his practice.

Several soldiers called out orders to each other while seeming to be in a rush for some reason, though that reason was soon made clear to Ergen as the noon sun suddenly grew dark due to some kind of cloud on the horizon. That cloud turned out to be a sand storm, and Ergen was suddenly regretting being in the open arena before the guards activated something and several stone slabs moved by magic up towards the top of the arena. The stone slabs continued to gather and gather until they completely covered the top of the arena, making the once open structure secure so that Ergen didn't have to suffer the sand storm. And when they finished, Ergen laid back down on the arena floor, thinking that his time here hadn't been so bad after all as he didn't have to suffer the bad weather. These people had left him alone for the most part save for feeding him, and Ergen thought that he could get used to his current circumstances before the main doors of the arena opened to reveal that another cart was being pulled inside. This one was filled with a single fish that was about the size of one of Ergen's claws, which meant that it equaled the half of the size of the horses pulling it. And thankfully the soldiers had used the same horses as last time as they had somewhat calmed down once the realized that Ergen wasn't going to eat them. Earlier, the city had been in chaos as all of the animals that had attempted to flee in panic when he'd first arrived, though Ergen had thought it slightly amusing at the time.

Taking the giant fish and eating it with just a few chomps of his teeth, Ergen grunted in satisfaction before laid down to take another nap. And as he started to clear his mind, he confirmed his earlier thoughts about this city and it's inhabitants that were bringing food for him. Yes... this place wasn't bad at all.