Chương 58: Episode 3: Where the Heck Am I?

I bolted awake. Flat on my back, staring upward, except there wasn't much sky to see. Just endless layers of green. Massive, ancient trees towered above me, making me feel like an ant at the bottom of the world. Dirt pressed against my back, with giant leaves and twisted roots surrounding me from every direction. I groaned and pushed myself upright, shoving wet leaves and thorny branches out of my face. Everything around me looked alive enough to strangle someone.

The only thing that wasn't green was the dirt underneath me. Somewhere in the distance, a reptile let out a guttural roar. My brain finally caught up. The Lost World of Zeriath. Dinosaur territory. A prehistoric ecosystem where reptiles ruled and normal animals didn't exist. If you somehow spotted a goat out here, it was a miracle. Mostly, you just heard Brontosaurs screaming through the trees. Thank the rocks, my Earth Axe was still by my side.

My memory was fuzzy after getting folded by one of Vironos' cataclysmic punches. Don got snatched. Power, Eli, and Eldritch had vanished alongside Class 101 and the rest of the Nomanites. Power and Eli barely did anything before dipping, leaving us Chosen Ones to clean up the disaster. If they had a secret reason for that, it better be a good one. I tightened my grip on the axe and started moving through the jungle. The canopy swallowed the sky.

Everywhere I looked, dense vegetation pressed in, like the jungle was trying to grow directly into my eyes. And no, I wasn't about to start chopping trees down. Oxygen matters. Dusk settled as thick humidity clung to the air. Tiny Compys and Microraptors darted through the undergrowth like hyper little goblins. Eventually, I stumbled into a clearing. A circular lake rested in the middle of the jungle, surrounded by ferns and towering trees. The water shimmered in the fading sunlight as fish leaped from the surface.

Finally. A place to breathe. I dropped beside the lake, exhausted. And yeah… angry. Don was kidnapped by Vironos, who refused to explain anything. Class 101 vanished. The Chosen Ones were scattered. And I was stranded in a place where dinosaurs could eat me alive. I needed a plan. I grabbed a stick and started drawing in the dirt. First: survival. I looked over at a nearby plant and nodded slowly. I'm a Rockslide Ankylosaurus. I can eat plants and rocks. Point is, I wouldn't starve.

This jungle had more than enough vegetation to keep me going. Next drawing: me pointing toward the lake. Water solved. It rains every five minutes in Zeriath anyway. Honestly, I could survive out here forever if I had to. Then I drew Don and Class 101, with an arrow connecting me to them. Escape. I couldn't stay here forever. I had to find them. I had to help Don. Even if he'd been acting weird lately… he still mattered. SQUEAK. I froze and looked around. Nothing. Probably just some tiny creature.

I shrugged it off and shifted into my Ankylosaurus form just to be safe. Maybe other dinosaurs would ignore me if I blended in. I still needed to avoid carnivores, though. And villains. Definitely villains. I leaned down and drank from the lake. Cool, flavorless water, but after everything that happened, I wasn't complaining. It reminded me of the field trip where I had to beg Demaurion to summon water into my backup bottle. Then my eyes widened. My backpack. I slammed my tail against the dirt.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" I left it back at the village. That backpack had everything. Maps, desserts, donuts, cake. Even rocks.

"New goal," I muttered.

"Get back and grab the backpack—wait. No. Don got captured." Panic immediately set in. What the heck was I even supposed to do now— SQUEAK. Again. I whipped around so fast my neck popped. That's when I noticed a log that definitely hadn't been there before. Then, something popped out of it: a tiny humanoid triceratops hybrid. It was barely two feet tall, with brown skin, tiny horns, and a weird little body. It rolled out of the hollow log like a bowling ball, muttering curses under its breath. My tail stiffened.

I raised my axe.

"WHO THE HECK ARE YOU?!" The creature froze instantly and threw its hands into the air.

"DON'T HURT ME! I MEAN NO HAR—""AHHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I shifted back into my base form, screaming at the thing. In the chaos, I accidentally threw my axe. The creature ducked, still screaming.

"CALM DOWN! CALM DOWN!" it yelled.

"WHAT EVEN ARE YOU?!" I shouted back, my heart pounding.

"I KNOW I LOOK WEIRD, BUT I'M NOT GONNA HURT YOU!" It slowly waddled toward me with its hands raised. Emerald energy spiraled around my arm as rocky armor coated it. I was fully prepared to throw boulders.

"PLEASE CHILL!" the creature begged.

"I'M NOT DOING ANYTHING!"

"STAY AWAY FROM ME, YOU LITTLE DINOSAUR GREMLIN!" Then, the thing casually picked up my axe and tossed it back. It landed perfectly in the dirt between my legs. …Damn. I shut up immediately. The creature stepped closer.

"Okay," it said cautiously.

"This is going to sound weird, but let me explain." It pointed to itself.

"I'm Eddy." This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. It looked up at me expectantly.

"…You?"

My body ached against the freezing stone wall. Everything about this place felt dead. Cold air drifted through the narrow prison cell while dust floated across the darkness. My eyes cracked open to jagged stone walls surrounding me on every side, with thick metallic bars sealing the front of the cell. I grabbed the bars and looked out. An endless corridor stretched before me, illuminated by blue torches.

Their flames danced violently, casting ghostly light through the hallway before the corridor vanished into the distance. For a second, I just stood there, trying to process where I was. Trying to remember. I backed away and leaned against the wall, pressing a hand to my forehead as fragments of memory slammed back into place. Vironos somehow came back. The Illegals escaped the "inescapable" Celestianite prison. We got jumped on the field trip, and Olsen was launched straight into the Lost World of Zeriath.

I was mostly pissed off that Olsen was gone, and that I was locked behind bars—definitely not where I was supposed to be right now. I exhaled sharply and forced myself upright.

"Okay," I muttered.

"Step one… get out of here. Step two… find everybody else." Olsen probably already knew about the Lost Gem by now. About his prophecy. About the trial waiting for him. Honestly, I should've known Teo was Vironos from the start. The second he introduced himself, something felt wrong. I attacked first, thinking it would stop everything before it got worse. Instead, the Chosen Ones were scattered, Class 101 vanished, and everybody got separated. I slid down the wall and stared at the floor.

"Nice job, Don." Maybe I should've waited. Maybe if Vironos had attacked first, things would've played out differently. What if there's another timeline where none of this happened? I looked around the prison again.

"Where even am I?" This didn't look anything like the Lost World of Zeriath. If anything, this place felt older and deadlier than eating at Garbys. (They don't have the meats.) I glanced back toward the bars. Honestly, they didn't even look that hard to break. But smashing through them immediately would be stupid—someone would hear it. And if Vironos locked me in here, there was probably a reason. So for now, I rested.

I curled up against the wall and shut my eyes, letting my thoughts drift through memories instead of fear. The people I'd saved across Avangard. The villains I'd stopped. The disasters I'd survived. I chuckled quietly to myself, imagining how cool I looked in my Hero outfit while dragging criminals back to prison. Being a Hero was honestly the greatest job ever. Dangerous? Absolutely. Fun? Oh, definitely. Eventually, exhaustion pulled me under. I figured I'd escape this place eventually anyway.

Maybe I should say goodbye before I leave. Two heavy steps echoed through the corridor like thunder rolling across stone. My eyes snapped open. I pushed myself off the floor, looked toward the bars, and nearly had a heart attack. A towering figure stood outside the cell. Six-foot-nine. Thin. Skeletal. His body appeared to be made entirely of bone beneath a torn black cloak that shifted like living shadows. A massive black scythe rested in his grip, while green fire burned inside his hollow eye sockets.

This guy easily took the cake for the edgiest cosplay. Dark Don had to up his game. Even his voice made the air colder.

"I've come to speak with you… Don of the Celestianites." I walked to the bars, coming face-to-face with him.

"Okay…" I squinted.

"Didn't know Vironos hired dead people now." Green flames flickered inside his eyes.

"You are five steps away from death." I rolled my eyes. Crossing my arms, I turned and walked back to the wall.

"If I take three of those steps," I said casually, "does that make it Two Steps From Hell?" Skull Dragger tightened his grip on his scythe.

"I am here to tell you something important." I leaned against the wall again.

"Cool. Let me guess—Vironos sent you to monologue."

"You are not who you believe you are." That made me pause. Then I laughed under my breath.

"And he sent a walking skeleton to tell me that?" I pushed off the wall and stepped back to the bars, hands in my pockets.

"You know how many heroic things I've done?" I stepped closer, staring directly into his hollow sockets as the blue torchlight caught my eyes.

"Did you see me save a mother and her kids from falling off the tallest building in the world?" I tilted my head.

"Did you see me stop an entire elementary school from collapsing?" Energy sparked faintly around my hands.

"And did you see me fight in the Great War of Celestia?" The skeleton didn't flinch. Only the green flames shifted.

"You were not born a Hero." My grin twitched.

"What?"

"You were something else before this." I leaned against the bars, forcing the grin back onto my face.

"I've wanted to be a Hero since I was three."

"I am Skull Dragger," his voice echoed through the corridor.

"And I am here to tell you the truth." He dragged the blade of his scythe across the stone floor, sending sparks screaming through the darkness.

"You're a monster." The grin faded for a split second as something strange twisted in my chest. Then it vanished, and I burst out laughing—loud and uncontrollable. I nearly doubled over, slamming a fist against the wall.

"You're serious?!" I wheezed.

"What kind of monster was I supposed to be?! A blueberry monster?!" I cracked up harder, tears forming in my eyes.

"What's next? You're gonna tell me I'm—""LISTEN!" BOOM. Skull Dragger slammed the bottom of his scythe against the ground. The entire corridor shook, the echo thundering through the prison like an explosion. That shut me up. Still, I smirked and crossed my arms anyway.

"There will come a day," Skull Dragger growled, "when you succumb to your true self." I stared at him for a moment, then shrugged.

"I've heard enough, unc." I pointed at him, a grin spreading across my face.

"Oh, right. You're dead." My feet slammed against the wall. The prison bars exploded outward as I launched through them, crashing onto the stone floor below. I snapped my head forward and burst into motion, my body blurring into a streak of violet light. My wings flared, tail whipping behind me as blue torches smeared into glowing lines across my vision. Every inhale burned in my lungs as I rocketed through the hallway, searching for an exit— CRASH. Skull Dragger slammed into me.

The collision blasted us both sideways through the corridor and straight into a wall torch. Blue fire erupted everywhere. The explosion hurled us apart. I skidded across the ground, smashing shoulder-first into a wall, pain surging through me as I rolled forward. Skull Dragger rose from the flames, his scythe spinning in his grip.

"DIE." A massive beam of green energy ripped through the corridor. I twisted sideways as it screamed past my face, vaporizing the wall behind me. Kicking off the stone, I shot upward. The prison blurred as I blasted through winding passageways and fractured caverns, bursting into a massive hollow chamber consumed by darkness. Jagged spikes covered the cave walls. Everything was pitch-black. Except me. My violet aura lit up the void, reflecting off the stone.

My eyes glowed, scanning desperately for an exit—"NOT SO FAST!" Skull Dragger appeared directly ahead. WHAM. His scythe smashed me straight into the cave floor, stone shattering under my face. Before I could recover, he pinned me down with the butt of the staff.

"Man," I groaned, gritting my teeth against the weight, "you are aggressive!" Green flames flickered in his hollow eyes as he hauled me up by the arm.

"If you escape… you will not leave alive." He hurled me across the cavern. I skidded off the wall, hit the stone floor, and scrambled back to my feet, bolting down the corridor. Celestial sparks burst around me as I searched for an exit—until a skeletal claw snatched the back of my hoodie.

"YOU ARE TOO DANGEROUS TO BE SET FREE!" He spun and launched me straight through two massive doors, sending me plunging into an endless abyss. I slammed hard onto a giant chandelier suspended over the void, dangling by one hand as it swayed over the dark. Far ahead, a narrow, cracked stone bridge stretched across the chasm. Behind me, Skull Dragger tore through the doorway, diving straight for me.

"Oh, COME ON!" I kicked off the chandelier, violet energy flaring as my jet thrusters engaged. I blasted through the air with Skull Dragger right on my tail, his cloak whipping like black smoke. Scythe blasts erupted around me, green energy tearing through the dark. I spiraled and teleported in violet blurs, dodging the barrage before warping right to his flank to drive an elbow into his ribs. He plummeted, his scythe slipping from his grip.

He panicked, barely catching the weapon by the tail end to flatten his descent. The moment he lost his grip, his flight stalled.

"Ohhhh," I grinned, watching the weapon's aura flicker.

"That's your battery pack. LET'S PLAY TAG, SKULL DRAGGER!" I flipped mid-air and charged him head-on. Skull Dragger raised his scythe high, unleashing a spiraling wave of toxic beams.

"DEATH'S COLLISION!" I ducked through the barrage and crashed into him— SHNK. Agony ripped through my chest as the blade pierced straight through me. Blood spilled from my mouth while Skull Dragger held me by the throat over the void.

"You are young," he muttered coldly.

"But you are a weapon. You don't even understand what you are, Don." I forced a bloody grin.

"Calling me dangerous sounds like something only villains say." My hand snapped onto the staff. I yanked myself forward and drove my boot straight into his skull. The hit barely flinched him, but the momentum ripped the scythe clean out of his hands. Skull Dragger froze in midair, the green flames in his eyes widening as he realized he had no grip on the weapon. I held up the scythe.

"Oh, you're cooked." Skull Dragger looked down, realizing his flight was gone, and screamed.

"YOU MOTHER—AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH—!" He plummeted into the darkness until silence swallowed him whole. I snapped the scythe over my knee and tossed the pieces into the void, chuckling under my breath.

"Defeated a Xenith without even throwing hands." I landed on the fractured bridge with a rough skid, stone crumbling into the dark beneath my shoes. Ahead stood a colossal, ancient gate, covered in glowing symbols.

"Definitely hiding something," I muttered, stepping over the cracks and moving toward whatever waited behind it.