"Ahhh! I'm going to die in the worst way possible, help!"
Suddenly, I found myself plummeting downwards towards the northern part of the network of floating islands. No matter how much I wished for my fall to end, it didn't only increase in speed until I eventually impacted the ground, throwing up a gigantic dust storm.
"Huh! I'm alive, how?"
Alive was one word to describe my current condition, but it wasn't totally accurate because of the immense pain emanating from every bone in my body. At least half my bones were broken.
"Urrr. Ow."
Thanks to my newfound body built of light and divinity, I wasn't in any life-threatening condition, only needing a few minutes to completely recover and my bones to return to their natural state.
I wasn't completely fixed, however, requiring a few grueling seconds to fully pick myself up, barely able to spit out the clumps of dirt embedded within my gums.
Looking around at my surroundings, pulling every ounce of strength to stay upright, I saw a distant, towering citadel, armored to the teeth and covered by a colossal steel wall that wrapped its perimeter, each section of the wall carrying a gigantic, unknown artillery weapon.
The only way I could describe the weapons would be that they bore some resemblance to a hwacha from Japan back on Earth.
My sightseeing of the lilac and golden lands was interrupted by the sudden rumbling of the earth, as if it were splitting in two, the vibrations growing more intense with each breath.
"What now?!"
Grumbling to myself, I cleared away from the crater as best as I could, lazily climbing up the walls, trying to escape whatever was coming. My slow climb seemed to bear no consequence, the vibrations stopping briefly.
However, my fear wasn't over; in the absence of the thunderous vibrations, a more putrid sight revealed itself. A huge claw pierced through the earth, dragging the rest of its body upwards until a gigantic dragon, its body half decayed, appeared in front of me, throwing a storm of dirt and ash on top of me.
"What?! I thought dragons were just things of legend used to excite children! I'm so dead, and why is it half dead!"
Terrified, I hurriedly ran away, but I couldn't move well after crashing down from the sun, so my efforts were in vain, falling down in pain again straight in front of the hideous creature's jaws.
The putrid dragon slowly crawled out of the crater, walking to my sunken form, seemingly enjoying my terror, its mouth oozing with a disgusting black liquid.
"Seriously! Why did I have to encounter an evil dragon first? This isn't how it went in those fantasy movies, I was meant to go to a guild first, not be eaten!"
The dragon let out a snarl, as if mocking my words, opening its mouth and preparing to swallow me whole. Before it swallowed me whole, it let out a hideous scream, declaring its victory, shaking the earth, its feet sinking into the earth.
"No! I'm not food!"
Raising my hands in defense, I made a futile attempt to avoid my death, but oddly enough, the dragon went silent, its rumbling actions standing still. A multitude of whistling sounds pierced straight into my eardrums, the dragon producing muffled pain sounds before its laboured breaths stopped entirely.
In front of me stood the slumped visage of the once mighty dragon impaled by a flurry of enormous light spears, all of elaborate and godly design. The spears seemingly had their own mind, withdrawing themselves from the dragon and stopping right in front of my face as if analyzing and inspecting my condition.
"My saviours?"
Picking myself up for the third time and tracing my fingertips along one of the spear's mighty forms, a small tickle of blood dripped from my finger, mixing in with the ethereal surface of the spear.
Its size shrank considerably after binding with my blood, able to fit comfortably within my hands, but the same process didn't happen to the rest of them, staying at their towering size, following my every movement as if they were watchdogs.
"Is this Seraphina's power that was infused into me? Why won't they go away? Are they perhaps an extension of Seraphina's love?"
My many questions wouldn't be answered any time soon. I was completely alone in this unknown land, lost and alone, with my only objective being to get back to Seraphina and release her from Eldros's clutches.
But I had no idea who to even attempt to do such a thing; this world was a complete unknown. I had never heard tales of any places other than Earth.
Something deep within me told me that nothing in this new world would be easy.
"You, wingless mutt! Tell me what happened here or face the Custodian's divine order!"
A four-winged angelic humanoid female hovered in front of me, glaring at me with blatant aversion despite never meeting me before. She wore full plate armour covering every vital point of her body, a beautiful azure colouring gleaming against the sun.
"Speak, mutt! Or I'll take your silence as admission of your many sins!"
The woman's ebony hair began to slowly rise into the air, her grip on her spear growing stronger, preparing to strike for no obvious reason past whatever prejudices were held within her mind.
"Who are you?"
"Are you that dense as to not know the protectors of the Dominion you call home, mutt? I am one of the Servants of Law, Second String, Lilia Heart!"
"Um, what is a Dominion?"
At my question, Lilia's hostility was replaced with confusion, completely baffled by my seemingly stupid question. She was stunned, her mouth agape for a moment, most likely thinking me to be less intelligent.
"Huh!? Don't tell me you were forsaken in intelligence as well as God's light? …Poor thing."
"I'm not stupid! Don't look down on me, just answer the question!"
"Okay, I suppose I must show kindness to a lower intellect, even if you are wingless. Kathoros, the holy land of angels, is split into five Dominions, each ruled by an angel carrying the same name. For example, we are currently in the Order Dominion ruled by Ickni, the Custodian of Harmony. There are four other Dominions, Sun, Moon, Stars, and Nature."
Lilia's pity was plain to see, while her eyes were quite beautiful with an emerald shine. Something else more intriguing drew my gaze; a shimmering collar was attached firmly to her neck.
"Now, to the main subject. Did you do that to the forsaken? By those light spears following your every move, I'm guessing they did."
"Umm, if I did say I did it, I wouldn't be in any trouble, right?"
"What, of course not. But there is something troubling about you. How can you possess such power while being wingless? And what is with your eyes, why are they golden?"
Golden? From the last time I checked myself in the mirror, they were the boring old brown they have always been, not golden.
Wait, golden is the colour of Seraphina's eyes. By merging with a portion of her body, I had most likely taken on most, if not all, of her traits and features, becoming a replica of the deity, just as a male would.
Wanting to confirm my theory, I plucked a couple of strands of my hair and inspected their colour. They resembled snow, not the dirty blonde I once had on Earth.
"I'm not totally sure what you are talking about? You should be telling me why you are collared like some dog, not picking at my appearance."
I decided I wouldn't reveal anything about Seraphina or my newfound powers coming directly from her body to anyone I didn't completely trust. From my few minutes on this new land, I doubted any of Seraphina's creations had actually met with her before, let alone had an actual conversation.
She didn't seem like the most caring god, easily growing tired of her creations after their less-than-satisfactory efforts in the war. But at least she held some sympathy for her creations, even if it was twisted.
"Huh!? How dare you call the Custodian's sacred band a collar! It is the only reason that our great Dominion is without crime."
Lilia's engaged shouts lasted for a couple of minutes, listing the many accomplishments and feats of Ickni, the Custodian of Harmony. Singing the custodian's praises, her cheeks reddening with each memory of Ickni's achievements.
"Umm… Are you okay? Your little rant is unsettling and frantically creepy."
"I call it love, nothing but my immense care and respect for our humble, brave, noble, steward, amazing, caring, and brilliant Custodian. Ickni!"
Unsettled wasn't the word to describe my current feelings. I believe scared was the better word. Of course, it would only be my luck for the first person I met to be a creep.
"Stop it!"
"Oh, don't be like that. You'll see the merits of Ickni once you put one of the Sacred Bands on. You're lucky I always carry ten extra bands!"
"No! They are obviously a tool to control people!"
My pleas didn't reach Lilia's ears, charging towards me, holding the open collar, aiming at my neck. My spears didn't respond to the threat, most likely due to the lack of actual hostility.
"Embrace the Custodian!"