“M-MARISAAAA!”

  Heather is screaming in my arms, filing about and trying to get my attention, I can’t help but look at her with a warm smile.

  “S-STOOOP! PLEAAASE!”

  I stopped as per her request near a lush forest, Heather got down with her wobbly leg from my arms and gasped for air...

  “Haa... M-Marisa!...”

  “Yes?”

  “T-the golem is in the west of town...”

  “Yep”

  “You’re going east...”

  “...”

  “...”

  We both looked at each other in silence for a moment,as it turns out I’m retarded...

  “A-are you sure about that?”

  “Yes, this is east of town”

  “Oh yeah! how do you know that without a compass?”

  “The sun rises from the east, from this direction...”

  “...ok, you win”

  “Still Marisa, we should probably head back to town, the farthest we go the more I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something wrong”

  “You say that, but what could possibly be worrying you? Perhaps a monster like before?”

  “No, it’s different...”

  As I was pondering with Heather about what could be worrying her so much, something odd actually picked my interest. It seems Heather realized it as well, given that we both looked at each other for a second.

  “Marisa-”

  “Yeah”

  We both realized it then, but it was more than obvious when we spoke, and we could see our breath in the air. The temperature has dropped down significantly and quite quickly as well, has it been getting colder before? I didn’t realize it until it went down so quickly that we both took notice.

  “I-“

  “There you are!”

  A sudden loud and hoarse voice reverberated through the air...

  “T-that’s!”

  Heather fell backwards as she looked at the sky behind me with incredulous eyes, I turned around, and I then saw something quite amazing. A huge dragon with blue scales, her wings were massive and as it lowered its head, almost as if to look at me, I felt a sudden chill down my spine...

  Heather is speechless and trying to form a coherent sentence. Me on the other hand, I’m worried, how did something so big get this close without me noticing! Even now that it’s in front

  of me it’s giving me a hard time to catch its presence, it descended next to us without even ruffling the grass on its nding.

  “Marisa”

  The voice alone it’s intimidating as hell, my gut tells me that it’s quite strong, but for some reason I can’t pick up any ill will or intentions, nonetheless the presence it radiates as well as the cold it’s quite strong being so close, Heather it’s having an incredibly hard time, I can see it in her eyes.

  “You!”

  “Ah sorry, maybe too imposing?”

  I was about to tell the dragon to get lost but then something even more amazing happened! It’s body began to glow, and then compressed in the blink of an eye in a humanoid shape, once the light disappeared, what was left was a rather beautiful girl, with blue hair, light blue hair that seem to almost sparkle in daylight, with light blue eyes as well, almost a pastel color, her white skin without any imperfections and a very slim figure, she was quite tall, but her modest bust and well shaped body is really pretty I can’t unglue my eyes... especially since her dress seems to be skintight, accentuating her figure even more, also entirely blue, maybe it’s too blue actually.

  “Allow me to present myself Marisa, I’m Celestial, a pleasure to meet you”

  “C-C-CCelestial!?”

  Heather screamed at the top of her lungs!

  “You know her?”

  I asked her while ignoring the dragon dy for a moment.

  “Y-Yes! Of course! Everyone knows the legend of the dragon Celestial! She’s even revered as a god by some countries! I never thought I’d see her with my own eyes!”

  She’s on the verge of passing out, meanwhile Celestial looked at her and with a poker face. “Oh I’m no god they just like to exaggerate, now Marisa, please come with me”

  “Eh? Where are we going?”

  “Home, let’s go”

  “I’m not following you!”

  “Right, Of course, I guess I should’ve made myself clear, seeing the clothes you’re wearing, I thought your mother would fill you in on this, but it seems she didn’t, old habits die hard, or in this case I guess they never die...”

  The dragon dy then looked dejected, almost sad for a second.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Do you recognize her?”

  She showed me a picture of the dy back from the magic box, I recognized her, her photo is in the locket I’m wearing, I don’t know why I keep putting the two on me.

  “Un...”

  “She, your mother, asked me to take care of you, in case you broke out of the seal, that is, she asked me to raise you in her stead, granted it’s a little early for you to be out but, let me fill you in back home”

  “Eh!? Of course I won’t go, I don’t need you to raise me, I’m fine by my own”

  I don’t know why, but a sudden feeling of rage welled up inside of me, raise me she said! It pissed me off for a rather unknown reason.

  “Marisa! Your power is not something that should exist near humans! This is for both your own good and everyone else!”

  “I refuse!”

  “Sigh... Marisa, I know you’re wary, I really intend no harm, just follow me to my home” Stranger danger, I know she’s not lying, but it’s still something I rather not have to do.

  “And then what?”

  “Well, I could make you dinner perhaps, what do you mean?”

  “I mean, I’m guessing you want me to stay there with you”

  “Of course! I don’t pn on keeping you forever locked, just until I see you’re mature enough to go out by your own, I’m guessing a hundred years or so should suffice”

  “Eh!? No thanks, I refuse! Leave me alone!”

  “Sigh... what can I do to convince you?”

  “Nothing! I’m staying here!”

  “No can do, you’re coming with me, out of your own volition, or by force”

  “Come again!?”

  “You heard me, now let’s go”

  She was about to grab my hand but I spped her hand as she approached to grab me.

  “Young dy! I won’t tolerate this behavior! I-“

  Fuck this dragon dy! I punched her in the gut with a bit of strength, to try to get her off me. “Are you done?”

  Nothing!? I punched and she didn’t even flinch. I didn’t use all my strength, but it was considerable, so I quickly jumped back.

  “You shouldn’t do that it’s quite rude”

  In the blink of an eye, she was already in front of me again.

  I panicked, so I gave her a punch with all the strength I could manage!

  Trees flew, dirt got everywhere, but once again, she didn’t even flinch! My hand hurts! I hit her with a lot of strength but it was still useless!

  “Sigh...”

  Eh? She suddenly lifted her hand and spped my face, I was sent flying quite far! It hurts! My cheek hurts! It felt like I was hit by a truck! My flying body is crashing against trees and other things! As I wobbled my way up, I saw her standing in front of me again!

  “YOU!”

  I-!

  I was gonna punch her again but she grabbed my head and smmed it on the floor! Making a crater, my head hurts a lot! I can taste blood in my mouth...

  “This is enough... let’s go”

  I released my suppressing aura, the same way I did with Heather's dad and the guild master, then the dragon dy tensed up.

  “This is bad, Marisa! Stop doing that this instant!”

  “Make me!”

  I said and proceeded to use magic on her, I froze her like Heather’s dad, but she broke out like it was nothing.

  “So you wanted some exercise is that it?”

  “Eh?”

  “You could’ve told me, I would’ve been gentler then” “Shut up!”

  I quickly shoot more ice towards her.

  “I see, I see, it’s fine dear, we can py a bit if you want” She then tossed a bunch of ice spears at me!

  Dammit! I reacted quickly but all I could do was throw fmes at them. I thought they would melt, but they were still coming at me! I dodged them! This was bad, I could’ve died if they hit me, good thing they were going a bit slowly...

  And so, I continued shooting magic at her, lightning, fire, ice, sharp wind, whatever I could muster but I still couldn’t even touch her, I got close but she just pushed me off...

  “*pant**pant*”

  Ah... I’m hungry... I don’t have the strength to fight her...

  “My turn~”

  She said while a bunch of ice spears rained down from the sky again, she had only used that one spell, as I was dodging, the sound of leaves rustling caught my attention, as I turned around I saw Heather coming towards us.

  ...crap! She’s gonna die from the spears! I can’t stop them, I tried! And I couldn’t get her out of the way, so there was only one option left!

  “M-MARISA!”

  “Heather... how many times are you gonna get in the way...”

  The nce pierced my body as I used myself as a meat shield for Heather again...

  “Oh my!”

  Crap... my vision is getting blurry...

  I... This is bad! I put my everything into one st attack towards that bitch! A punch, it was all I could muster, yet my fist didn’t even reach her... I fell to the ground...

  ...

  ...

  ...

  “WAAH!”

  I got up quickly since I felt something touching my face, I grabbed it with my hand but it was Heather...

  “C-could you not rip my arm, mistress... I only have one left...”

  “S-sorry...”

  I let go of her.

  “What happened?”

  “You passed out, I-“

  “Thank goodness you woke up! Here!”

  It’s that dragon bitch! She’s handing me a cup with a bright red liquid.

  “YOU!”

  “Marisa!”

  “Marisa stop!”

  Both Heather and the dragon stopped me from getting up from the bed.

  “Marisa! You’re about to die from starvation! Please don’t move so restlessly and drink this”

  “As if I’d drink anything from you!”

  My head is spinning... I feel terrible.

  “Please, drink it...”

  “Ugh...”

  I couldn’t help it since Heather also asked me to... Fine! I drank it all in one gulp. ...!

  Eh!? What was that!? It made me feel invigorated in just a second! I feel full, like actually full... How long has it been since I felt full...

  “Phew...”

  The dragon let out a relieved face.

  “Then I’ll let you two alone for a bit, say your farewells to her properly” “Eh!?”

  She didn’t hear me retort and then left this room...

  “What’s going on?”

  “I-it seems miss Celestial wants to keep you here for now” “But I don’t wanna!”

  “I doubt she’ll let you go for now”

  “But what does she mean by farewells!?”

  “She’s taking me back to the kingdom...”

  “Eh!?”

  “I... I guess this is a goodbye...”

  Heather started crying! That bitch! Only I get to make Heather cry from my incredible pounding! “Heather”

  “Yes?...”

  “This isn’t a goodbye, I’ll come back too, but it’ll take a bit, so wait for me ok”

  I said while cleaning the tears from Heather's face.

  “But-“

  I shunned her, pcing my finger in her mouth.

  “It’s a promise”

  I said then I kissed her lips. It’s my first kiss! A bit out of order since I had sex with her first but whatever... as I let go of her blushing face, I said something to her.

  “Heather, I’ll be back as soon as I can! For now, in the pace there’s a backpack with my stuff, it also has a considerable amount of money, use it if you need it, and wait for me ok?”

  “Un! I promise to wait for you!”

  “Are you guys done?”

  The dragon entered again... this bitch doesn’t know how to read the mood...

  “You can come visit us if you want you know”

  The dragon said to Heather, her face lightened up a bit, but then went back to her saddened expression.

  “Here’s a map where this pce is located”

  “T-thanks!”

  “Now, I have to talk to Marisa in private so I would really appreciate if you could give us some space”

  waving her hand, a portal appeared and inside it showed what looked like the city. After convincing her to go, Heather entered the portal and it immediately closed up...

  “Now...”

  The dragon came close to me, and sat next to me in the bed. Now that I’m in top shape, I quickly tried to sucker punch her in the face but she stopped my fist with her hand.

  “Please, Marisa, can we just talk?”

  “What do you want from me!?”

  “That’s what i'm trying to get at, please come with me”

  She got up and we left this room, the next room left me speechless...

  We're on a mountain... a mountain that got cleanly carved out, with a huge gss pane I could see outside it. We're above the clouds and it seems to have turned into night while I was out. The stars look beautiful from here, it’s... it’s amazing...

  Then the bitch dragon served 2 cups of tea and told me to take a seat.

  “What now?”

  “Marisa... no, what was your name, when you were still human?”

  Eh!? Did she figure me out?

  “It’s ok, I won’t judge you, I just want to get to know you better”

  “I have no idea what you're talking about...”

  “Sigh... I know you have memories that doesn’t belong to Marisa, since she should basically be an empty ste”

  “W-what do you mean?”

  “I’ll get straight to the point, you’re not really who you think you are”

  “Expin”

  “The you that you think you are, ceased to exist probably”

  “R-right...”

  “You don’t believe me”

  “Of course not, you don’t make any sense if you ask me”

  “Did you think this was a dream or something? Didn’t it feel too real? I’m sure by now you know, that couldn’t be the case”

  “Then...”

  “You died probably, or maybe not I can’t tell to be completely honest”

  “Then that means that... that I reincarnated or something?”

  “Of course not, allow me to expin, the seal Marisa was pced in, had a function to slowly shove information on her brain, things like reading and writing, math, and other things we considered a necessity for her to learn about”

  That would expin why I can understand this pce's nguage just like that.

  “But, the seal was forcefully and incorrectly broken, that’s when you came along, you didn’t reincarnate, you, and your memories should’ve been kept where they belonged, but due to the incorrect awakening, those memories got copied directly into Marisa’s brain, thus you came to existence”

  “I see...”

  “It’s not that you died for sure, I just don’t see other ways that information could be passed around like that, so don’t feel too bad, the possibility you’re alive without any problem whatsoever”

  My heart feels heavy... I don’t know, a part of me doesn’t want to believe her, but I couldn’t see her lying either, it doesn’t feel like she’s lying...

  “With that out of the way”

  The dragon dy got up from her chair after another sip of tea, and walked towards me.

  “I’ll delete those memories now, it’s-“

  “Wait wait! You can’t just do that!”

  “What are you worried about? Not that you’ll die- hmm...”

  She then stopped for a second to ponder, and then headed back to her chair.

  “Actually you should think that you will die”

  “You’re gonna kill me!? What do you mean!?”

  “Not exactly, your memories are just a copy anyways, the originals are where they belong, nonetheless, I guess from your perspective, it would be the same as dying, or rather ceasing to exist...”

  “Don’t look so dejected after telling someone you’ll kill her! What’s wrong with you! Plus-“

  “Ok, but what proof do you have of you being you?”

  “Eh?”

  “No one knows who you were as a person, not even you, what if your memories also got tangled when they entered Marisa, how can you tell that your memories are indeed yours?”

  “I- I mean I know they’re real! They’re MY memories! How can you tell the veracity of your own memories!?”

  “I remember them, and when you live as long as I have... no it’s nothing, but I know my memories are real, the pces I’ve been to and the things I have done, there’s physical evidence of my existence and past, can you say the same about you?”

  “I...”

  Oh damn she has a point, this is like another world of something!

  “I’m not trying to devalue your experiences, they might be authentic, you might actually exist, but the you from right now, isn’t the you from them, nor are you Marisa either, you’re your own thing, and while I feel bad about it, you seem like a capable and responsible person, won’t you let Marisa live her life, as her own?”

  “I mean, not really if that means I technically die!”

  “You might have died already, won’t you get in my shoes! Imagine that someone you knew, one day cims to be someone else, and acts like a completely different person! You’ll think they’re delirious!”

  “But I don’t know you! And I doubt you’d known me before either!”

  “...true, the only interactions we had was when you were still a baby, nonetheless, I know that it’s not you, or not entirely”

  “Then how can you be so sure?”

  “As I said, Marisa should be a pretty bnk ste, you certainly have a pretty unique personality, plus you confessed already technically”

  “Look!-“

  “Enough, we won’t go anywhere like this, I’m sorry, umm..., I didn’t even learn your name sorry, but it’s time to say goodbye”

  “W-wait!”

  A weird magic circle appeared from thin air, as I tried to run away from it, suddenly everything went bck...

  Joanne_carper