《Via of the Flaming River》
Chapter 1 - A new world means new life
Surrounded by a beautiful warmth, I struggled to remain in the wonderful land of dreams as obnoxious voices kept resounding from somewhere.
Annoyed to a great extent, my eyes finally snapped open. All around me as a red substance, like water but denser: Lava.
Rising up from the lava, I stared down at the people who woke me up. When they saw me, their jaws fell to the floor in shock, but I didn''t even bother with that, as I was long since used to this sight.
"Who dares wake me up from my slumber!?" I roared at them. This was a scene that I repete thousands of times a day, and even in this very moment am doing in four other places at the same time.
Now, they had three main choices. One would be to immediately attack, the other would be negotiations and the last would be to flee. There have been some weirder cases of people with fetishes for dragons whom asked me strange things, but those guys died and didn''t get the event ever again, so... they''re not a problem.
"Oh mighty dragon Viasharakra, I am journeying through the world to gather the mighty overlords in order to defeat the evil that is enroaching upon this world! I beg of you, please help this world as it''s overlord!" A man in shining golden armor asked with a humble expression.
Oh, I see. So this is the quest where they gather all the dragons and then use them to defeat the demon king, but after they defeat it the kings try trapping the dragons. Then the player has to choose wether to help the dragons or to help the kings, although it is very rare for the latter to happend.
"A great evil? Explain it, human...!" I suddently felt a jolt of electricity down my back, and suddently my mind felt much much clearer. Knowing what was happening, I kept acting my part as I installed temporary bots and commands for the tens of thousandsof characters I act as before I opened my real eyes, in the real world.
As I got up from the bed I was sitting on, I removed the headset and the various needles poked into my brain. It sounds harsh, but it''s not really that bad. Furthermore, I haveover 3000years of experience doing this, so the risk of actually injuring myself is minimum, and even then, I can heal it.
I sighed as I askedthe AI in the room "AI, how long is my time off this time?"
It wasn''t long before a soft voice robotically answered "This is a message from John: Yo, Mark. You know full well that if you asked for some time off, we''d give it to you. Why the hell are you overworking yourself like this? You might erode your own braincells, and don''t go apeshit about how you have a masters in human syntethics and regeneration, I know. Boss herself decided to give you a whole week off this time, and don''t you dare log back in for work until that timer is over, understood?"
Frowning, I ordered to the AI "AI, send a big ''fuck you'' to John."
"Command received, a big ''fuck you'' has been sent." Answered the AI without a sliver of emotion. Ignoring the stupid machine, I headed towards a small chair in a corner and grabbed some clothes put on top of it.
After I did that, I sat at my desk next to my bed and began going through the internet, searching for ways to kill time. What can you even do these days? Read books? I read all the good ones, and it takes a week to even find a good book ignoring all the shitty ones wrote by people out there who have the same problem as me, they''re bored so they write equally boring books.
As I surfed the titanic monster that was the internet these days, a popup suddently appeared out of nowhere. Raising my eyebrow, I wondered who or what could ever manage to get through my firewall, but still opened it up since even if they did hack my computer and steal some data, my boss could probably know the moment the information leaked and send hundreds of Slaughterers after them.
as I opened the popup, and the moment I did a screen flashed into being on my screen.
[Are you bored? Y/N]
Snickering, I clicked yes. Then, another screen appeared.
[Do you wish for a better life? Y/N]
Again, better is, well, better, so of course I clicked yes again.
[Are you a hero, a villain, or a rogue? H/V/R]
Pondering for a second, I clicked rogue. Heroes are retarded, I have no idea how people still think that it''s cool to be a hero these days. Those kids seriously need to grow up. Villains are funny, but only if done right, and I don''t feel like a villain anyways.However, a rogue is a whole world to be explored.
The screen disappeared from my screen, and after a bit of waiting, so did my interest in it. I continued surfing the web and looking at crappy memes for another couple hours and then went to bed, tired and annoyed at not even being allowed to work. People these days only work because their bored, civilization is just that advanced...
As I sleptfor the first time in a long time without having to control many other bodies at the same time, dreams began to appear inside of my head.
Guns roaring, star-destroyers blasting ships into nothingness, Slaughterers teleporting everywhere and killing all enemies in sight, Technos whom operatedtitanic mechas falling from the sky, and in front of all of this forcestood a mere army of lizard-like people weilding mere spears. Needless to say, the scene ended with blood strewn everywhere. Then, the dream shifted to show a view of a world brought to ruin, no life existed anymore.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Then, the scene switched to another. This time, I could see myself as I walked forward, several subordinates strolling leasurely behind me. We reached a primitive village with mere stone walls. My companions cum subordinates began laughing and mocking the natives, but I roared at them to shut up and get to work.
Then, the dream sped forwardand it switched to a scene of me standing in front of a young man. Behind this child stood a young woman, perhaps in her 20''s.
"D-do not get close!" The kid shouted at me as he tried to steady his trembling knees. I looked at him with cold eyes, empty of emotions. No, perhaps saying empty of everything would be better.
The woman shouted in pain as suddently, a four-meter tall man burst into the room, hitting her and the kid and blasting both into the wall. Looking at him, I simply said "You can have her, but remember to grab keep the kid as a sample. We need at least half of this city alive for testing."
I then walked out of the building, the pleasured moans of the man, the wet sounds of mating and the screams of pain of the girl not even entering the scope of my ears. This had been a scene I had witnessed many times, so many in fact, that saying millions of times would be an underestimate.
Then, another scene appeared. This time, I was standing in front of a huge number of cages, and a man which back then was my boss stood besides me.
"Mhm. You''ve done well, Archdevil. The mission was nothing lessthen perfect, as expected of you..." The man said as he eyed the various people trapped in the cages. All of them had unfocused, hazy eyes, showing that the drugs injected into them had taken effect.
My mouth opened and I began explaining several discoveries, however, the details didn''t show up. Instead, the scene sped forward until the man spoke again.
"Mmm... These people are weak phisically and have no particular powers so to speak of... So war slaves are out of the question... And whilst they''re okay in terms of beauty, they aren''t at the level of harem slaves... Have you tested everything already?" My boss asked without even looking at me, already knowing the answer but still asking as to abide by the protocol.
"Of course, sir."
"As expected. Any outstanding specimen?"
"There were some specimens who showed an increase in strenght by circulating their adrenaline 500% faster then normal. That would make them eligible to offer to the Researchers, however, we discovered that their life spans were reduced by as much as 25% for a single use, and furthermore, all of their cellsand mental structures were weakened to an extreme..." The scene unfocused as it sped through over an hour of explanations of details.
"Damn it. I knew this planet was useless! Just put them into the Grinder and rid them from my sight immediately!" My boss shouted in anger. He was obviously very disappointed at these natives for their weakness and uselessness.
Obeying my boss, all the cages suddently floated up from the ground and lined up behind me. Then, I led said natives down into the core of the spaceship.
As we went further and further in, the heat began increasing and increasing. As we passed by, I could see many, many cages of other natives all around the edges of the core. Each person inside the cages had many cables stabbed into their bodies, and a strange liquid kept flowing in and out of their body.
When I finally reached a zone without any unneded cages, the natives behind me floated down together with their cages and were each put next to the wall, each one on top of each other.
"Beep! Authority to connect natives to central core required! Beep! Archdevil has ovverriden necessity! Connecting natives..."
A great many cables flowed out from the wall and stabbed into the natives. Then, they too had strange fluids flowing in and out of them.
This was the result of what happened when natives didn''t satisfy the commander. They would be put into this place as essentially fuel, having their own body slowly transformed into part of the spaceship.
Yes, this was how all spaceships in our empire were made. The process took a long time, but thanks to the intermolecular transformation, even a small spaceship had enough firepower to bring a world to it''s knees, it could even destroy one.
However, the truest of terrors laid inside of the Titans. Titans were a type of spaceship that were at least the size of 100 Earths, and they weilded enough power to lay waste to entire galaxies. Furthermore, each Titanhad at least several tens of armies of Slaughterers on them.
The dream began to unfocus as I went back to my cabin to begin planning our next operation. Then, another set of scenes popped up.
This time, I was standingin front of a man that radiated an aura of absolute might.He had strange wings, purple wings that seemed to be made of the purest of energies, as well as a number of powerful orbs floating around him, looking like cannonballs ready to be blasted.
"Archdevil." The man simply said, and I raised a hand to where my heart should be, although I had no heart, both symbolically and physically. "Yes, my Emperor."
The man nodded and a strange light seemed to seep out from his body, before entering my own. I felt something inside of me shatter, and I looked at the Emperor in the eyes.
"Your time for service has come to a close. For serving the empire for five hundred thousand years, I officially bestow upon you the might of Ashakaban. Congratulations, you are now officially a free citizen of the mighty HolyEmpire."
"Thank you, my Emperor." I said. A small tear streamed down from my face as strange feelings flooded into me. It had been along time since I had such things like feelings inside of me. The Army Mark suppressed all emotions in order to achieve absolute loyalty, after all.
"From now on, your codename shall not be Archdevil, as that was a attributed due to your birth and race. Instead, you will be called Mark, in order to mark a new start..."
As many cheers and claps went off all around us, the dream began getting hazy again. However, this time, instead of switching to another scene, my mind somehow fully fell asleep, not dreaming of anything, not thinking of anything, simply sleeping. Nothing more, nothing less.
I couldfeel a strange warmth surrounding me, as thought I was back to the old days. The very, very old days when my mother was still around. She too used to hold me with a warmth like this, a warmth I could never experience again in my very longlife.
Opening up my eyes, all I could see was a reddish brown. I also had a strange sense of discomfort all around my body, which was weird since discomfort means something is wrong with my body, and since my body can literally adapt to any and all enviroments and damages, it means something is very, very wrong.
I tried to move around this strange place, confused. Several questions clouded my mind, questions like ''where am I?'' ''Why am I here?'' ''Where''s the AI?''
However, all of these questions were blown away as my head suddently broke through a surface, and I was greeted with fresh air.
The biggest shock wasn''''t that, however. Instead, this was thesame exact surrounding as my character''s home, Volcano''s Residence.
Then, slowly, I looked down at my own body.
I turned into a dragon?
Chapter 2 - Reminiscence
How did this happend? It makes no sense whatsoever. Had it been some sort of inter-stellar teleportation array, I could still believe it, however, not only would I have noticed it, but it wouldn''t explain how I somehow obtained the body of a creature that has been extinct for eons, and furthermore, in the same exact location of the game I worked at.
Well, at least it''s all new. I had been itching to find something to do for millenia.
Rising up from the giant river of magma, I slowly rose up from the dephts of the volcano and poked my head out of it''s roof.
The sight that greeted me was that of a huge blooming forest, filled with exotic and beautiful animals. There wasn''t the all-common smell of technology that filled all worlds colonized by the Holy Empire, which filled me with perplexity.
Back in the old days, I used to command a titanic fleet, and had been nominated by the Emperor himself as one of the fourSupreme Admirals. Back then, I was pretty sure I had conquered all planets that had life in them, since a strange wall blocked anyone from going further... A lot must have changed during my retirement.
Snorting in annoyance at me still thinking about those horrible times, I returned down into the volcano. Obviously I wouldn''t simply venture out like a fool, as if my assumptions are correct and the lore here is the same as it is in the game, for me to venture out would mean a catastrophe is coming.
Furthermore, my body was extremely large. So much so, that if it extended my wings to their maximum span, it would probably reach a couple miles across. Not to mention that in the game,Viasharakra was considered to be the second largest Overlord after the Water Dragon Mashumanor. If Iconsider that the smallest of the eight overlords is over 3 miles long and 300 meters high, Ican easily take a guess at what the second largest would be.
Not to mention, I had a strange feeling of longing towards this flaming river. It''s a weird feeling, but it''s there nonetheless. I simply feellike I belong here, deep inside of this boiling hot magma, that to me, feels like staying inside of a warm bath, soothing my skin... or scales, I suppose.
However, although I have changed my outer appearance, inside of me is still the instincts honed through hundreds of thousands of years of war. Furthermore, my true race does not allow for meto remain ignorant.
Thus, I resolve myself to leave this place... for now. But to do that, I need to find some sort of way to be... well, less obvious and extravagant. Whilst in the lore, the eight overlord are considered to be gods and some are even worshipped, namely the Light and Darkness overlord whom even built churches for their followers and sometimes granted them power, they are not invincible.
If they were to be ganged up by several of the ''demigods'' as they are called, namely Titans, Kitsunes, Undead Lords or even humans, they can be killed quite easily. And despite me not being sure if this is all real or not, taking things safely was what allowed me to survive through my many years of fighting.
An easy solution could be a camouflageor invisibility field. However, both of those would be impossible even for expert to accomplish on a body as large as the one I inhabit right now. Another chance is teleportation, but again, it wouldn''t solve anything...
Hours trickle by as I try to think of a way to get out of my dilemma. However, no clear answer came to me. As my frustration built up, the magma around me began to get... restless, agitated.
Noticing this, I calm myself down. I had completely forgotten that the Overlords are called as such due to their inherent nature. Unlike the Elementals, whom are born from the elements, the Overlords are not born from the elements, but instead, the elements are born from them. Thus, their degree of control and authority over the elements is unmatched, and going by that line of thought, the elements are connected to an Overlord''s mind, sharing their thoughts, intents and emotions.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
That is also why fighting an Overlord in their own territory is akin to suicide, as no matter the amount of enemies they face, they are half a step from beinginvincible there.
Groaning, I recall everything I know about the lore of this place, which since I worked here for some time, I know quite a bit. Naturally, I know a lot of secrets that if the world had been real and not just a bunch of codes, could bring it to it''s knees and make it all mine. However, is that what I really want?
Having the worldat my fingertips? I had an entire section of the universe under my thumb, and I can officially declare that ruling sucks. Besides, I had enough slaughter and genocide even for a race as bloodthirsty as mine.
Furthermore, would that help me solve my current problem? No, so dwelling on this and even just complaining about how I didn''t mean for this to happend or how I want to go home, which I don''t even want to,is a thing for emotionally unstable idiots.
Sighing, which in my draconic form looked more like me puffing out a cloud of smoke, I dropped my head onto a ledge near the lava and closed my eyes. Theoretically speaking, it is very unlikely that the Overlords would always remain in their titanic forms, so if I am able to tap into the memories of this body, perhaps I could find some sort of way to rid myself of these shackles? I have no desire to remain a hermit, after all.
As I looked into ''my'' memories, I felt a strange sensation. It wasn''t quite like I was hearing, nor seeing anything, but I could understand these concepts.
Hate, love, sadness, happyness... All sorts of emotions accompanied these thoughts. Slowly, I began to understand the characterViasharakra more and more.
She was born when the world began, along with other seven Overlords. They treated each other like siblings, excluding the rivalries here and there, and they loved each other very much.
Then, the ''intelligent races'' appeared. Humans, elves, beastmen, demons... The Overlords were suprised at first at their sudden appearances, but then got used to it.
They decided to seclude themselves from the affairs of the mortals, and instead dedicated their lives to laziness. Although the Light and Darkness Overlord took fun in pitting mortals against each other, even going as far as making the all-famous Demon Lord and Hero, all the others essentially spent their days just lazing around and sleeping.
Viasharakra hereself waseven more of a shy dragon then even the others. She never showed herself, excluding very rare events, where she would panick and just grant some degree of power to whoever found her and then quickly send them packing, before moving off to another volcano.
She indeed was quite different then theViasharakra in the game, but then again, it was just a game. There is no way a game can be as realistic as reality, otherwise it wouldn''t be called a game anymore.
However, none of this interested me as much as a techniqueViasharakra once learned from the Light Overlord. Apparently, she had taken to transforming into a humanoid form to ''descend and bless'' her followers.
WhilstViasharakra herself never cared much for this technique, I do.
Although there were some knowledge holes in the process to complete the technique, I decided that taking the gamble wouldn''t be much of a problem.
Hence, my body slowly transformed from a 10 mile long serpent-like dragon down to a mere 1.7 meters tall.
Opening my eyes again, I instantly noted how my body felt different. Obviously it was different from my dragonoid body, but what suprised me more was thatI now looked a lot like my previous form, except for the lack of male reproductive parts, replaced by those of a female.
Furthermore, my hair, which was already long back then, had now become long enough to touch my butt. My previous man-sized breasts had now also turned into decent-sized breasts, although I disgress.
My body also had a large pair of dragon-like wings, which were different from those of my previous body. I did however retain a tail much like that of my previous body, but this one didn''t have spikes running all along it. Instead, it felt much softer to touch.
After a round of experimenting with my body, doing things like yoga, stretches, martial arts and other... necessary... testing, I decided that it should be good.
Although I really wanted to just go out and experience something new, a.k.a this world, I decided against it for the moment for one simple reason.
I''m sort of... naked...
Chapter 3 - Travel
Getting used to this feminine body took some time, but I still managed to accomplish the task. Although the extra weight on my chest is annoying, I don''t plan on doing a self-surgery and potentially killing myself trying to remove them. Regeneration can only go so far, after all, and should I fail and accidentally injure my heart, that would be an almost assureddeath.
Naturally, I hadn''t remained a sitting duck and instead had already moved out of the volcano. As of right now, I was flying over the large expanse of land surrounding the volcano in search of a place with civilization of any kind.
The sight was beautiful. Magnificent ancient trees stood with roots digging into the mantle of this planet, crystal clear lakes gave the liquid of life to many different species of animals, beautiful birds sang their lovely songs... It truly was a sight to behold, and behold I did.
I take back my statement of not being a sitting duck. I think I stood still, glass-eyed, for how long? An hour? Two? I don''t know, but I do know that this sight brought the memories of my ancestral home back. I would be lying if I claimed I didn''t miss those times, back when I wasn''t a slave of a power-hungry, selfish and ruthless Emperor.
Sighing, I resumed my flight towards the unknown. Although I had been standing still mid-air for a while, nothing seemed to have spotted me, which was definetly good. I prefere being the one doing the first move.
It didn''t take me too long to find a small village. Spotting it from a couple miles away, I descended to the ground and stalked my way over to the place.
When I say small village, I truly say small village. I doubt there were any more then a couple hundred buldings at most, and it''s ''walls'' were nothing more then some small palisades made of wooden sticks around the edges.
I crept around for a bit, gathering information by listening in to the conversation between the few farmers here and there and by comparing it to what I knew.
The language wasn''t a problem, as in order to make it easy, the game had a built-in translator for everyone, NPC''s included, so that everybody could understand each other.
The people here were mostly humans with a couple half-elfs and beastmen. Halfs were often resented due to their inherent nature, however, it didn''t seem as such in this village. Beastmen were the same story, albeit a bit less, and again they were treated normally. A rare sight in a gamemade by humansupremacists, but again, this isn''t a game anymore.
Deciding to take the gamble, I grabbed my makeshift clothes as well as some gems I had made on the get-go by condensing lava and other materials into what I think people would consider ''valuable''. I had ossidian, hematite, gypsum, gold, peridot and fluorite. Although back in the oldworld these things were worthless, I have reasons to believe that these may be valuable.
After all, I''m not a stranger to finding out what is valuable or not. We once used a strategy where we planted several gold mines on a planet and instigated the natives to go to war with each other over them, severely weaking them and then taking them down in one fell swoop.
Shaking away the darkness that are my doubts and reminding myself that confidence is a must, I exit from the forest and enter the village like I belong here.
There are no guards to check who enters, nor does anyone stop me. However, almost everyone does stop and stare at me, especially men, which confuses me.
That confusion only lasts a couple seconds, however. Back in my world, people often made themselves very pretty artificially, and beauty levels like that of this bodywere considered normal, sub-par, even. However, in a world as primitive as this, it naturally wouldn''t be considered normal.
Not that it bothers me. Rather, this is one more advantage up my sleeve to use. As I walk around the small town, I check out all sorts of places, and though there isn''t really any order in where things are, there are a couple ''important'' buildings that stand out.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
One place is the adventurer''s guild, which in a place as remote as this, probably only stays here due to the meager profits without competition. Another building would be the mayor''s house, obviously. Then, lastly, there is an expensive house even more luxurious then that of the mayor, which I assume is in case some very important people come over.
Some people did look at me weirdly, but I ignored them and arrived in front of the mayor''s house.
Knocking on it, a butler-cum-assitant looking guy opened the door. He frowned when he saw me, but still aked "Yes? I haven''t seen you around before."
Doing a small bow, I introduced myself "Hello. My name is... Via. I come from a very long journey, and haven''t been able to contact civilization for a very long time. I would like to speak to the mayor about my lodging here for a while."
The man seemed doubtful at first, even pitying, however, that quickly changed when I showed him some of my ''gems''. He immediately excused himself politely and let me enter before bringing me in front of the mayor. Nnn? That sounded wrong? Wrong is a matter of perspective.
I was left out of a room for a couple minutes as, thanks to my great hearing, listened to the butler go on about how I was a beauty whom had travelled far and wide and had come with great riches. Truly makes you wonder who the man in charge is in this place, but what can you do.
After several minutes, the butler-cum-assistant opened the door and led me in. The room was quite bland, except for a very antique desk where a slightly plump man sat at. He looked at me with interest as I sat down in front of him.
The first to break the ice was him as he introduced himself after a slight cough. "Good afternoon, miss Via. I was told that you have been cut off from civilization for quite a while, and are seeking refuge here. Am I correct?"
I nodded, ignoring the fat man''s grin. "That''s great. It''s very rare to get new blood in such a remote place as this, but do tell me of what you did during your... ''travels''."
"I travelled around the world, seeking the wisdom of the Overlords, the might of the Titans, the beauty of the Mermaids and the greatness of the Gods."
This was one of the secrets I knew. Only nobles knew what all of this phrase meant, and naturally, knew the meaning behind it.
The man paled a bit and said "O-oh... I-is that so..."
My eyes narrowed dangerously as I said "Indeed, for the wisdom of the ancients may bless the newborn." As I finished saying this, a strange aura erupted from my body. The man seemed to have lost half of his remaining years.
The man practically prostrated as he whispered "M-mighty Ancient Hero, I beg your forgiveness for not welcoming you in a better manner..."
All of what I had said was what the developersin the game world, or ''Ancient Heroes'' as the mayor calls them, would say in order to make even kings obey them. Naturally, it was a complete and utter cheat, but as a developer, I didn''t play the game in order towin, nor did I do it for fun. Not even for money, really. I just needed a job.
All NPC''s knew of this phrase, but the very code of the game forbid them from ever speaking of it to anybody, and naturally, us developers wouldn''t either. It was needed in order to get special events going or do what was needed without having to stop the game and have the programmers potentially mess up the extremely intricate code of the game.
"Speak no more. As I said, I am merely seeking a place to rest. My only wish is for you to give me a place to stay for a while. I won''t stay here for long, only around a couple thousand years." I said, realizing that I just said something I shouldn''t have.
"T-thousand years...?" The man seemed to tremble. By this point, it wasn''t even fear anymore. He was trembling from a mixture of excitement and reverence.
He even began whispering "An Ancient Hero is in my town... hehe...", which I ignored as I said "Do you understand?"
Recovering, he immediately acknowledged my plans. I gave him my gems in exchange for money and a house, nothing special, but still good. He also was gentle enough to give me some local information, which I may or may not have dug out of him. Unfortunately for him, he ended up blurting out a whole lot of very important things, which means I now have a whole lot of very important things that should not be known by anyone. Shameless abuse of authority? Perhaps this world is different from my previous one, andshame has turned tasty?
As I left the mayor''s building, I headed straight for the place the mayor gave me. After a couple minutes of walking, I finally reached it.
It wasn''t anything much, really. It was shabby, run-down, and the interior decorations sucked. Still, I could make it better. Although I would like to have some corpses to dismember and use in the decoration, I doubt these people would like it. I was essentially forced to abandon that habit when I ''joined'' the military back in my world. It''s a shame, really, as skulls really work well at calming my racial bloodthirst down.
Well, this all will have to happen tomorrow, as for now, I''m going to sleep. Too much happend today, and hopefully, I won''t just wake up in yet another weird world tomorrow, as I quite like the idea of trying out what this world is like, and perhaps experience this body more...