It was hot, and it was painful.
He opened his eyes, and dealt with the struggle to do so. The heat in this room caused the air in front of him to shake. His gaze met a red, hot…piece of metal.
‘Argh…’ 𝘪𝘦.𝘤𝑜
He groaned inwardly, as a searing pain filled his toes and knees. The pain made him want to jump, but he was unable to do so. And he was unable to speak as well.
Ominous, red light filled the room…and it was too fucking hot.
And his mana…was not responding at all! This was a shocking occurrence.
‘Where…am I?’
He wondered, as he was unable to raise his head, Red, hot metal chains were wrapped around it, and connected to the ground. His neck was burning.
But that was not the only point, his feet, his hands, chest…every part of his body was bound. A measure like this was inhumane…but understandable.
Spikes were stabbed into his body, that further stuck to the ground. He could not move, and even if he did, the pain that would follow would be tremendous. It was better to accept his fate.
The collar, on his neck, was laced with such…an annoying smell! He tried to vomit, but the metal piece covering his mouth didn’t allow him too. The vomit merely went back to where it came from.
There were spikes on this too, that bore through his cheeks and gums and locked his tongue in place.
The pain…and the annoying smell!
He was going ballistic! He caught sight of a yellow flower slightly in front of him, as well as three bowls filled with a strange liquid, it looked like water, but Alan was going into a frenzy as he stared at them.
He didn’t even need to do that…the smell they released entered his body through his pores and his nose, and turned him into an animal!
“HMPH!”
A grunt escaped, but it was low. His body moved, and the chains rattled, the spikes already in him bore further, causing more pain.
“HMPH!”
But he had lost all reason, and thrashed around, the best he could within these restraints.
And just when he was about to kill himself, it stopped.
The bowls were picked up, and then thrown somewhere. A sizzling sound was heard as vapor rose into the air.
The dandelion in front of him, which was laid flat on the floor was picked up by a hand, the hand seemed normal, unlike the hands of the giants. It was…like a human?
“Woah there.”
Alan, calmed down and heard the voice, but he couldn’t look up. He was bound. He could only see the knees of the individual. They were skinny, and wore modern human clothing, although it was roughed up a bit.
A black trouser…that’s what it was.
“The dragon is feisty.”
A cackling sound rang out with the voice, as if whoever it belonged to was laughing at him, laughing at the state of the ‘proud’ dragon species.
He bent down, and Alan could finally see the face of this person. Sporting what seemed to be a lab coat, a blue shirt, and a black tie with yellow stripes, the man possessed a rough beard, and glasses.
His face wasn’t that special, and the years of no care being given to it worsened his look…but who cared right now! This wasn’t the time to think about whether he was handsome or not!
‘Human…?’
Alan though inwardly, but he couldn’t confirm his suspicions, his mana was locked away. He couldn’t use his skills to confirm it…and neither could he utilize his mana to at least probe the individual in front of him.
The state he was in disgusted him so much, he could feel his mana was still within him…but he could not use it. It was so annoying!
“Where’s all that vigor gone now?”
The man chucked and waved the flower in front of him, the scent it emitted got into his nose and he began to feel weak, but also frenzied. The mana in his body shuddered and went into disarray.
“Come on! Show me it! I read so much about you and your kind!”
The man teased him continuously, without stop.
“Aww…guess I won’t be able to see it.”
The man seemed to be inquisitive in nature, but nonetheless, he wasn’t stupid enough to ease Alan’s restraints just to see something. Based on the knowledge he had required, that would be disastrous for the others.
“Your connection to the other dragons should be cut off by the artifact…so I don’t have to worry about that fire devil dragon appearing.”
‘Fire Devil Dragon’. It was a story he had heard from the giants here, how their entire civilization was annihilated by a single dragon.
“I wanna experiment on you so…so much,” He said, but he reluctantly gave up. He wanted to do it so much…it was like a perpetual itch in his back side.
But he restrained himself, showing great control.
The man sat on the red-hot metal floor, the heat nothing to him. Clearly, his appearance betrayed his strength, and was clearly a guise. The man was strong, but Alan couldn’t determine how strong he was.
The heat in this environment, was weakening him.
“I studied the properties of your mana…and specially made you stay here, The heat in this area should suppress you by quite much. Of course, if that failed then no matter the chains and spikes embedded within you are enough.”
The man laughed, musing to himself and praising himself. He held out his chin and looked coolly at the ceiling, as if to give off the impression of a great man.
He laughed once more, a cackling sound that seemed more suited to a deranged individual.
“Mind telling me about the humans you came along with? Did you take a liking to Earth and settled there, or are you perhaps from a different planet that also has humans? How advanced is it? How much mana can it control? Wait…since you are a dragon there has to be a reason why you were there. A precious treasure perhaps? Or a girl you took a liking too?”
The man rambled on and on, Alan was getting more annoyed at this than anything else.
“Well, doesn’t really matter. I just need your heart and then kill you later on. We just need your mana to power this city again, and perhaps cure the giants here as well.”
“Did you know the fire devil dragon, the one that laid ruin to this planet before did so much damage the radiation permanently altered the genes of all living things here? The mutations often resulted in bad…bad outcomes. The giants you met are one of them.”
“Many species came and went…and the giants would follow…if not for me! Haha!”
He beamed, Alan was surprised this ignoramus could mutter a short sentence that was praise for himself.
“I, Earth’s greatest geneticist, made them in the top again! And will do so again! I will make them the strongest on this planet again! I! I undid the work of a dragon!”
He looked Alan straight in the face, and got close.
“I made the efforts of your ancestor…useless.”
The pride and arrogance in his voice was palpable.
“And do you know something? I…am the one that will kill you! But first I will study you, your properties…and take your blood! I will become a dragon!”
“The bloodline of a dragon! ISN’T THAT FANTASTIC?!”
His voice boomed, and caused tremors.
“You will be the catalyst…not just for the revival of this ancient weapon of a city…but also for my evolution. I will ascend from a human of Earth to a dragon! And then… I will become king of the dragons, and be the strongest in this universe.”
He had ambition, Alan had to give him that. He almost wanted to laugh at him, and would have done so if not for these restraints. Although the words he spoke confirmed one thing.
He was from the same Earth as Alan was, and also a human. He wouldn’t have said those things if he wasn’t…right?
“Oh fuck it… I don’t get opportunities like this often.”
He undid the restraint on Alan’s mouth, but took out an artifact which weakened him further. Alan could feel the spikes finally leave his mouth. The state of it afterward was pitiful.
The man snorted and put his hand inside Alan’s mouth, a ball-
shaped artifact was placed inside one of the holes in his tongue.
“Now, speak. I don’t want to risk using your dragon tongue… Although you are young and shouldn’t have awakened those powers yet… I don’t want to risk it.”
“Tell me…what is your name?”
The power of the artifact within his mouth made him utter the truth, and he was unable to resist it.
He had the ability to speak with the help for the artifact, but there was no mana to utilize it. The man excitedly put his own mana in the artifact, and forced Alan to talk.
“Alan…Peccator.”
𝘪𝑎.𝘤𝑜𝘮