Chapter 33: Right, I Have Ascended Into a Dragon
Rekka sat on the edge of his mattress, staring blankly at the figure standing in the doorway. She wore a pair of excessively fluffy, bright pink one-piece pajamas. However, the crimson eyes glaring back at him definitely did not belong to the usual cheerful archer.
"Not exactly." Rekka scratched the back of his head. His gaze swept over Long Night Moon's ridiculous sleepwear, and a snort of amusement escaped his lips. "You ran all the way over here in the middle of the night, wearing that exact outfit, just to say things like that? It is incredibly distracting, you know."
"The clothes belong to her. I am not responsible for picking out this absurd style." Long Night Moon's piercing red eyes narrowed, locking onto Rekka. "Do not attempt to change the subject. Did you understand what I just told you? About March 7th."
Rekka let out a long breath, leaning back and bracing his weight on his hands against the mattress. "I understood you perfectly. But even if she actually has a crush on me, it is only because I complimented her earlier today. You know how it is. People get a little giddy for a few days after hearing something nice."
"So you are claiming she was merely caught up in the heat of the moment?"
"I never said that." Rekka spread his hands in a gesture of innocence. "I just think there is no need to jump to such definitive conclusions. What if my Path changes tomorrow and I turn into a complete idiot? Or a rock? Wouldn't all her affection today just go to waste?"
"You certainly know how to look out for her," Long Night Moon replied, her tone flat. "But March 7th is not the kind of fool who gets dizzy and confused over a handful of pleasant words."
A brief stretch of silence settled between them. Rekka scratched his cheek.
"Um... did you seriously hijack her body and run over here in the dead of night just to play matchmaker?"
"Not entirely." Long Night Moon stepped fully into the room, closing the distance until she stood directly in front of him. She looked down at him from her vantage point. "I primarily came to determine if you are actually worth her affection."
Rekka tilted his head up.
Those striking crimson irises were mere inches from his face. Even though it was the exact same physical body, the cold, calculating intensity radiating from those eyes was entirely different from March 7th's usual clear, boundless gaze.
"Now I have seen enough." Long Night Moon straightened her posture, taking a step back. "Although you are overly glib, occasionally act like a degenerate, and possess questionable strength, you are still somewhat reliable."
March 7th's inner thoughts never went three sentences without mentioning a certain chaotic variable. How could Long Night Moon not be crystal clear about the girl's true feelings?
Without another word, the red-eyed entity turned on her heel and left the room, the fluffy pink tail of the pajamas bouncing slightly with each step.
The second hand on the wall clock ticked past the final mark.
Midnight.
The familiar, agonizing sensation of being torn apart at the molecular level and violently reassembled struck him instantly. The lingering chill brought by the Path of Memory evaporated from his core, rapidly replaced by an entirely alien sensation. It felt as though his very soul was being forcefully poured into a massive, elongated mold. His human hands and feet dissolved, bursting outward into terrifyingly powerful, razor-sharp claws. His spine cracked and extended, growing endlessly long and impossibly flexible. Every square inch of his skin hardened, erupting into thick, freezing-cold azure scales.
He snapped his eyes open. His field of vision had expanded to an absurd degree, granting him the terrifying ability to perceive his surroundings from the front, behind, left, and right simultaneously.
"Woooo..."
Rekka's colossal, serpentine body stretched out into the freezing vacuum of deep space. His massive azure scales ground against one another as he moved, producing a deep, metallic scraping sound that vibrated through the cosmos. The Astral Express hovered directly beneath him. The warm, golden light spilling from the carriage windows made the train look incredibly fragile, yet deeply peaceful against the backdrop of the starry void.
Operating purely on newfound instinct, he slowly wrapped his titanic, scaled form around the exterior of the Astral Express, coiling his body in a protective embrace.
...
Inside the archives, Dan Heng was trapped in a nightmare.
In the suffocating depths of his dream, he was being relentlessly hunted by that madman wielding a cracked, blood-red sword. He was completely unarmed, his spear nowhere to be found, leaving him to be cornered, slaughtered, and resurrected time and time again in an endless cycle of torment.
"Woooo..."
A long, ancient dragon's roar suddenly echoed through the void of his mind. The deep, rumbling frequency seemed to shatter the nightmare instantly. Dan Heng's brow, which had been tightly furrowed in distress, gradually smoothed out as a deep sense of calm washed over him.
Dan Heng snapped his eyes open. Cold sweat soaked his dark bangs, plastering them to his forehead. The suffocating, oppressive aura of the sword-wielding maniac still lingered at the edges of his consciousness, but the paralyzing dread of imminent death had inexplicably vanished.
That dragon's roar.
Although muffled by the thick hull of the train, he had heard it with absolute clarity.
It was not a lingering phantom of his dream.
Dan Heng threw off his blanket, his bare feet hitting the cold metal floor. He crossed the room in three rapid strides and yanked the heavy curtains aside. His pupils instantly constricted into sharp pinpricks.
As a Vidyadhara, a deep, instinctual familiarity with this specific type of creature was etched into his very marrow. That overwhelming draconic pressure, that ancient, suffocating aura... even filtered through the reinforced glass of the carriage, it was enough to make the blood in his veins boil and surge.
"...Rekka?"
He subconsciously breathed out that name, even though the apocalyptic beast floating outside his window bore absolutely zero resemblance to the casually grinning young man he knew. But considering the chaotic anomaly's glorious track record of transforming into a literal bug a few days ago, and briefly manifesting the terrifying presence of an Aeon the day before yesterday, turning into a cosmic dragon today honestly did not seem that far-fetched. Dan Heng found himself accepting the absurdity with surprising ease.
The massive, coiled body outside the window shifted.
With a low, grinding vibration that rattled the glass, a vast patch of azure scales slowly slid downward, revealing an impossibly huge, glowing golden eye.
The eye was terrifyingly large, dominating the entire window frame. Its vertical pupil looked like a burning golden fissure torn into the fabric of space. The giant eye leaned closer, the scales around it almost scraping against the reinforced glass, and blinked twice in a slow, highly exaggerated manner.
'Why is it actually kind of cute?' Dan Heng thought, immediately suppressing the absurd notion.
"Rekka, is that really you?"
The colossal dragon head retreated a few meters into the vacuum of space, then bobbed up and down in a distinct nod.
The physical movement itself was not particularly large, but the kinetic impact on their immediate gravity was significant. The entire carriage groaned and swayed violently in response to the massive shift in mass.
It really was him.
Dan Heng felt the last remnants of his tense nerves completely unravel. A rare, genuine urge to laugh bubbled up in his chest.
"You... you have become far too big." He shook his head in helpless amusement, pressing a hand against the cold window. "Do not get so close. You are going to shatter the glass."
Out in the void, Rekka was actually feeling incredibly depressed.
The initial sensation of transforming into a mythical dragon had been absolutely fantastic. The sheer, unadulterated power flooding his entire being made him feel as though he could casually tear through the fabric of space with a single swipe of his claws. The sheer might of it had made him feel a bit lightheaded and arrogant.
But this ridiculous size was just too inconvenient!
He had originally intended to shrink down to a manageable scale, perhaps something resembling a small, floating mascot, or at the very least, the size of a normal human so he could comfortably sleep inside his own bed on the Astral Express. Yet, after struggling for what felt like hours, the only thing he had managed to accomplish was coiling himself tighter around the train's exterior. His actual physical dimensions had not budged a single inch.
Worse still, the primal instincts hardwired into this draconic form were overwhelmingly strong.
Just a few moments ago, when he sensed the spike of distress from Dan Heng's nightmare, his body had acted entirely on its own, subconsciously unleashing that deep, soothing dragon's roar to calm his crewmate.
Dan Heng stared into that giant golden eye through the glass, his expression deadpan.
"...Can you shrink?"
The massive eye blinked, and the dragon slowly shook its head side to side, causing the train to rock once more.
"...Alright. One more thing." Dan Heng hesitated for a fraction of a second, his gaze dropping slightly. "Can you keep a secret for me? Regarding my identity."
Dan Heng glanced down at his own hands, forcefully suppressing the uncontrollable surge of his true Vidyadhara form, willing the phantom sensations of his tail and horns to retract back beneath his human disguise.
"Woooo..." The dragon hummed a low, vibrating note of agreement.
— — —
"Waaaaaaaah!!!"
March 7th's terrified shriek echoed through the quiet corridors of the entire Astral Express, loud enough to wake the dead.
She clutched her floral blanket to her chest, huddling defensively into the furthest corner of her bed. Her wide, panicked eyes stared in absolute terror at the solid azure "wall" currently blocking her window. The textured wall was slowly rising and falling in a rhythmic pattern, exactly like the breathing of some unfathomably massive space leviathan.
"What is going on?! What happened to the stars?!"
The azure "wall"—which was actually the thick expanse of Rekka's scales—slowly shifted downward. A second later, an incomparably huge, horned dragon head poked down from the upper edge of the window frame, peering inside.
"Are you... Rekka?" March 7th asked tentatively, her voice trembling as she peeked over the edge of her blanket.
The giant dragon head nodded enthusiastically.
Thump.
The entire Astral Express jolted violently, throwing March 7th off balance.
"Waaah!" March 7th almost rolled completely off the mattress, scrambling wildly to grab the bedsheets to anchor herself. "Take it easy! Stop nodding! I know it is you! Just stop moving!"
She let out a long, exhausted sigh, slumping against the wall. "Heavens... even though I was mentally prepared for you to turn into something weird today, this... this is really a bit beyond my imagination."
The initial spike of fear in March 7th's chest rapidly subsided, quickly replaced by a much more complex, awe-struck emotion as she took in the majestic, glowing scales and elegant horns.
"You actually look quite handsome like this."
The giant golden eye outside the window narrowed into a distinct crescent shape, radiating a smug, smiling energy.
"Alright, can you shrink down now?" she asked, rubbing her neck. "It is kind of tiring having to shout at a giant eyeball to hold a conversation."
The dragon head slowly shook side to side.
"Easy to get big, but hard to get small?" March 7th blinked, her face scrunching up in confusion. "What kind of strange, unbalanced game setting is that? Didn't you easily control your physical size when you turned into that weird bug the other day?"
Rekka let out a long, low, rumbling moan. The complex cadence of the sound made it obvious he was trying to explain the complex mechanics of his current draconic state. Unfortunately, March 7th could not understand a single syllable of the ancient beast-speak.
She deadpanned. "Can you speak human language?"
The massive dragon head tilted slightly to the side, seemingly deep in thought as it processed the request.
Then—
"Woooo..."
"Forget it, forget it, do not force yourself." March 7th waved her hand dismissively, bursting into a fit of giggles despite the absurdity of the situation. "With you just woo-ing back and forth like a giant, scaly train whistle, I feel exhausted just trying to listen to you."
The dragon's jaw parted slightly. A deep, rumbling voice, vibrating with cosmic power yet strained with immense effort, finally echoed directly into her mind.
"I have... already... ascended... into a... dragon..."
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