Ellis turned in retreat, “I-I’m so sorry, I’m new, I didn’t mean to.”
The room sank with unease. The beast muttered, “a Humi?”
Ellis turned, “I wanted to find a place to be alone, a-and I heard weird noises from this door-” Ellis clasped his hands over his mouth. He gazed at the beast, enraptured at its beauty. Its wings were blankets of uncountable charcoaled pine needles. Its antlers arched behind its head, as a horn of a ram would, dendritic buds of more antler growing from the base.
“Now it’s talking to me. How did it find me?”
“You asked me a question and I-” Ellis dropped his head. He didn't say aloud, I was compelled to answer.
The room thundered as the beast charged at Ellis. “You can understand me!?”
“Y-yes?” Ellis had fallen, the beast looking larger from the low vantage. Its breath smelled of rot.
It raised its lips only slightly, keen white daggers flashing behind every word. “I don’t believe it, who are you?”
Something grasped at his throat, forcing the words out, “my name is Ellis.”
The beast pushed its snout to where it was nearly all Ellis could see, blowing on him with a sweltering breath. “You do understand? How, why, who,” The beast cleared its mighty throat with a sound that shook Ellis’s core. “Oh, yes, my name’s Kelnor, what a wonder this is.”
Ellis stood petrified, his instincts screaming at him to run. He opened his mouth several times. Both waited, Ellis unable to ascertain intentions. The beast --with its own name-- radiated a dominating presence, something worthy of a bow. His taught hearing only found two: heavy breaths and a distant trickling of water.
“So, how did you find… here?” asked Kelnor.
Ellis looked around, the square room was big enough to fit at least ten or eleven of the beast. Rubble sloughed off the far wall, where the beast had been resting. To the left of that were two dark stone tunnels, one sloping up and left to a white light source, the other poured a small brook that ran along the room’s corners. “It was an accident, I was just trying to find a place to think.”
“So you didn’t come here to retrieve me?” Kelnor sat, his neck craning to avoid hitting the ceiling.
“No, I didn’t, I don’t know who you even are.”
“But you can understand me, how is it possible? Excuse my excitement.”
“I’m not sure what you mean, I’m-” Ellis paused to think. The first dragon, as hard to believe as it was, had spoken to him. “Why wouldn’t I be able to understand you?”
Kelnor cocked his head, “I do not follow.”
“I mean,” Ellis strained to keep his thoughts to himself, going so far as to cup his hands over his mouth, dropping the two charms and scroll he had been holding on to.
“I apologize Ellisir, you do not have to tell me if you so wish.” It laid down, chin to floor. “Curiosity gripped me. Admit, it is strange that we talk.”
Ellis’s eyes began to burn. Wherever he went, unthinkable things kept happening to him. He fell to his hands, curling himself to be as small as possible, uncaring of the world around him.
“A-are you alright? I did not mean offense.”
Ellis felt slightly comforted by Kelnor’s laden presence, a feeling he could only describe as distant comradery. “It’s not anything you did,” Ellis found himself professing, “I’m just so confused.”
Ellis cursed himself, why was he telling this to a complete and utter stranger; and to a talking fantasy animal on top of that? He kept running into more and more things that made no sense, having nothing answered or explained. His head spun.
“If it’s anything, I’m confused too,” Kelnor said. Ellis felt warmed by the attempt at empathy, something he then tried to snuff out. His eyes opened to burning salt-saturated tears. “I had just gotten back from flight,” Kelnor continued, “and here’s a stranger in my Oasis. I do hope you won’t tell anyone about this place.”
Ellis’s core painfully cramped, his body roaring at him that it could not handle this needless exertion of energy. Maybe that was why he could only gag, he had nothing in his stomach to bring up. His mouth was dry and his body more lethargic than ever before.
“Let me know if there is something I may do.” Kelnor hefted his body and took a step forward. “Ellisir.”
Ellis finally found the strength --or was it a lack thereof-- to refuse an answer. All this must be a bad dream, an inescapable dream he could feel pain in. Kelnor had said something to Ellis again, but he was unable --maybe unwilling-- to comprehend it. The beast stomped away. He hoped the beast would vanish.
To Ellis’s dismay, the dragon returned, asking him to drink the water he had brought. Without moving, Ellis’s lips touched cool, instinctively opening and sucking. He opened his stinging eyes to a globule of water about the size of his head, floating. In the magic, he saw someone. They had ghostly white skin, a gangly beard with nasty hair curling down over their shoulders. Their face structure was round, nose angled and prominent and brows sloped over pitch-black eyes. Who was he looking at? Was this… a reflection?
Ellis shot back, finally regaining control of his thoughts and body. He knew he shouldn’t have, he knew to expect weird things, he still couldn’t help himself. Hastily rounding up his dropped items, clutching them to his chest, he readied to flee the second the opportunity presented itself. The levitating puddle splashed to the floor.
“Let me know how you feel,” Kelnor said. Ellis didn’t answer, the hold the dragon’s words had over him was now gone. Ellis did not look at the fearsome giant directly. The dragon hummed, then got up. “I’ll be right back, wait there if you wouldn’t mind.” He climbed up the tunnel in the corner, his tail being the last to disappear
This was his chance, the golden time to make his escape. The door that was too small for the beast waited at his back, all he had to do was walk a few steps. Against all reasoning, he fell to his knees. The energy drained from him like a punctured waterskin. He sat in silence, mindlessly staring at the wet floor in front of him, past the reflection.
The smell of open flesh flooded the room. The dragon returned with a small pile of dripping crimson in an invisible hand. Kelnor came in close, offering the chunk of uncooked meat the same size as Ellis’s head. Absurdly alluring. His stomach gurgled; he turned his head away.
“There should be nothing wrong with this.” Kelnor worried.
“No, I,” Ellis put down his scroll and charms to take the chunk in both hands. It was weightless until the unseen hand let it go and it squelched, trying to slide from his grip. He ogled at the glop, unsure what part or even what animal it was from. His stomach growled at the off-putting pile. Having food in his hands bade him give into his depravities. He bit into the cold slop.
Immediately his gut turned on him, puking what was in his mouth, the water he had just drank, and the nothing-stomach-contents onto the floor. Kelnor quickly encircled Ellis, as though protecting him from some hidden enemy. “Are you alright?”
“I,” Ellis coughed, “I am, I just don’t think I can eat that.”
“Truly. You could have said something.” The unseen force grabbed the slick glob from the ground, taking it up to his mouth. After a deep inhale, a soft orange flame came from his lips and enveloped the lump. The room’s smell shifted from a kill to a meal. Kelnor handed the, now blackened, meat back to Ellis.
“Thank you,” Ellis said with little breath.
“It’s no problem at all!” They both sat in silence as Ellis ate. Ellis tried to stave his hunger to eat politely, or as politely as one could when they were holding their burnt food between dirtied fingernails. He considered his appearance in respect to the dragon, a filthy stranger; one who could understand him, which was more of a point of scrutiny than anything else.
Swallowed then asked, “you said it’s weird that I can talk to you?”
“Of course. You should not be able to do this.” Kelnor took a claw and tapped a scar on his neck. Ellis didn’t recognize the symbol as he had the symbols on the doors around the building. “They put it on when I hatched, so Mother says.”
“So you can’t talk to anyone?” Ellis asked, taking another bite.
Kelnor’s voice dropped low, “No one.”
“Then how can you speak in the first place?” Ellis asked.
“I can speak, it is that none understand. Not fully. The fairies, some of them can approximate meaning from Mother and I. It’s more intense mind-reading with them than what is happening here.” Kelnor curled himself next to Ellis, keeping a more comfortable distance. “It’s incredible, I still can not believe that we talk.”
“I don’t even get how you can lift stuff with your mind. I mean, I guess I did it before, but it’s all so weird.”
Kelnor’s eyes widened just for a second before regaining his composure. “You are certainly strange yourself. I don’t understand how you find, from all things, strangeness in that.”
“I,” Ellis decided to give in to those temptations he had managed to subdue before, “there’s a lot I don’t remember.” Kelnor kept silent, waiting for Ellis to continue. Ellis halfheartedly chuckled, “I actually only remember the last three days. It’s been so bizarre I don’t even know where to begin.”
“You’ve lost your mind?”
“In a sense, though I get these feelings that I know things. I mean, I know that the ground is hard or that fire is hot. Then there are so many things that I know shouldn’t be.” Ellis couldn’t reason why he expositied to a dragon; He felt lighter the more he confessed. Without skipping a beat, Ellis related all that had happened.
“Fascinating,” Kelnor appended. “And after all that, you are still able to talk with me. I assume that you were either someone of import or possessed arcane knowledge before you lost your memory. It would also explain why your mind is so blank.”
Ellis found himself sick once more.1After eating a fifth of what Kelnor had given him, he spilled his guts out onto the floor. Kelnor gestured for Ellis to move aside. Ellis got up on twigs, wobbling out of the way as Kelnor blasted where he sat with fire, leaving behind blackened stone.
Ellis apologized profusely, Kelnor kindly reassuring him each time. “It’s quite alright, you haven’t eaten in at least two days, who knows how long before that. Please, your company is more than enough to make up for it.”
Ellis couldn’t help but apologize more, he had invaded the dragon's den and taken his food before proceeding to retch it back up. Ellis promised to repay Kelnor in some way or another.
“Okay,” Kelnor said, “come back and visit now and again.”
Ellis ceased his groveling, being taken aback by the request. “But I- what do you mean?”
“You claim that Tia is forcing you to attend this campus. This means you’ll have to leave to attend classes. I understand that it’s a bit selfish of me, but I want to talk again.”
Ellis's thoughts raced, what an abrupt request. The more mulled it over, the more absurd it became. Talking to a mythological creature twice was enough, the thought of coming back to talk further was ridiculous beyond imagination. He had all but resigned to the belief that this was all some hyperrealistic dream. He would wake up before he would have to come back. “Sure.”
Kelnor cocked his head to Ellis, “you’re not one to keep things too hidden are you.”
“What do you mean?”.
“That you're so open, it's honestly rather hard to ignore.” Ellis gave Kelnor an inquisitive look. “Oh right, I mean that your mind and aura are so open, it's as if you have no gate at all.”
“I don’t understand.” Ellis returned to eyeing the ground.
Kelnor had smoke rise from his nostrils, “I may explain concepts to you if you wish.”
Ellis kept silent and his frown deepened. Then came that itch again, that far-off feeling in the recesses of his consciousness. It was like that time in the hallway, in some way different as well. The hallway had been lively and suave while this bore genuinity and discretion. It came rushing into focus, blotting out his prior thoughts. Ellis reacted sharply, crushing it from his mind, he would not have a foreign thought within him again.
“So you do have a gate,” Kelnor exclaimed.
“Was that what that was?” Ellis shouted. Kelnor recoiled. “You can enter someone's mind too? why not just have me turn into a bunch of spiders. I’m sick of this, I want to wake up from this nightmare!”
Kelnor didn’t respond, letting Ellis stew in his own whirlpool. What felt like hours passed, neither saying a word. Ellis was the one to break the silence, taking a long and deep sigh. “I’m sorry, I should go.”
Kelnor sat up, a motion Ellis took as acceptance. He stood but did not leave. His tears welled and pushed him back to the floor. Where was he to go? Everywhere he went, whether there were others around or not, the world would find some way to toy with him. Tia was the only one he found comfort with, or at least was the only one he knew at all. But Tia had left him without explaining a thing, leaving him in a new place of people he could not understand. He spiraled, bringing back the hopes of thoughts of the life he couldn’t remember.
He looked up to Kelnor, the dragon sitting firm and calm. “Could you,” he sobbed, “could you help me?”
Kelnor spoke with a grace audibly mustered. “I wish for you to tell me what you intend.”
Ellis choked as he tried to force out the words. “I mean could you explain things to me, how do I enter people's minds, how can I lift things without touching them, why are there dragons, what do all these stupid words mean,” He offered the charms, “what are these.”.
Kelnor contemplated. “I’m unsure if I have the ability to answer all your questions. I will answer to the best of my ability.” The dragon waved a paw peculiarly. Ellis couldn’t decipher what it meant; the two kept silent for a minute. Then Kelnor began: he did not wish to offend Ellis by entering his mind, he had found it the only way to communicate, and with very few people at that. If it weren’t for Jorm, he wouldn’t have been able to learn anything from his mother.
“Mother taught me the use of my ethereal limb. I don’t think I would have figured that out without her. From what I hear the masters say, I think spells are just things that don’t come naturally.” Kelnor inhaled deeply and flicked his tail. He explained how the charms Ellis had, he had heard the humi call murn. Kelnor cleared his throat, “Mother says she had dozens of her own for so many purposes, this was long ago.”
Ellis’s face grew hot. The way Kelnor spoke of these things so common to him had only abased Ellis. “Thank you,” Ellis said. He stared at the two trinkets in his hand, his murn. The unending azure flame played off the flaxen coin. He did not want to pay attention to Kelnor’s word choice.
Kelnor spoke quietly, “Ellisir?”
Ellis felt drained. Still, he answered, “it’s Ellis.”
“Ellis, I understand that we’ve met in strange circumstances and that you’re not in the best state. If needed, you’re welcome to stay here for as long as you’d like.” Kelnor spoke with a distant feeling of serene grace that comforted. “I have so many questions for you, you don’t have to answer them if you don’t wish to.”
Ellis looked up to Kelnor, his cheeks flushed and damp. He tittered a sardonic titter that could only be made with utter despair. Kelnor hesitantly made a deep rumbling in his throat, something Ellis assumed was a laugh. Ellis’s soft chuckle ballooned, coming to a laugh and then to a guffaw. Kelnor joined in the absurdity, nearly shaking the whole room with his boisterous booming. Neither knew what they were laughing about, neither caring too much.
The laughter died down as quickly as it had begun. remnants of joy still that bounding in their chests left half laugh and half coughs at irregular intervals. Ellis asked, “So, what kind of questions could I even answer?”
Kelnor flopped to the ground. “Firstly, tell me how you formed that door.”
Ellis turned; the door was still ajar. “I have no idea.” He sat and rolled onto his back, sprawling out over the cold, and now dry, floor. “I just kinda found it.”
“I hope you’ll be able to remove it.”
“Why’s that?”
“I would rather not have anyone find my Oasis, it’s already hard enough to keep secret. Mother guards the entrance to give me a reprieve. The other end is safe though, it goes past the fairies’ mound and out into the woods, or so the fairies say.”
Ellis laughed to himself. “What, you’ve never been out that way?”
“No, the way is too narrow. And, I’d get in trouble.”
Ellis eased himself. He had no idea what the time could be, the sourceless light didn’t change at all since he arrived. He didn’t care to trudge back to his room, past all those judging eyes, back to Paseht who he hadn’t kept his promise to. It wouldn’t be a detriment to sit with Kelnor for a while longer. Besides, he radiated warmth.
Compelled to answer needs the second quotation marks. His taught hearing...caught only two SOUNDS? Is the laugh of joy or absurdity? Mirth or abandon? And did Ellis, in telling all actually violate Tia's advice about not telling the rescue in the sand and the all that? I like the flow of this section. The clueless almost random Ellis actions and the Dragon as a pillar of stability and solid in the shifting strange environment. Isekai Ellis hasn't told the dragon Kelnor that he is mythical and that magic doesn't exist- at least in Ellis' normal world. I'm pondering a silly thing about story building - the principle starts believing something but finds that it is not true or is incomplete and the journey is discovering then truth. And Isekai stories.....forces at work bring the foreigner over usually and occasionally themselves stumbling over or open doors to the unknown. Again, finding a truth. ( typically part of which is that they are not crazy). I do wonder how the three threads will entwine.
I've fixed the "compelled to answer" portion, that was meant to internal and that wasn't clear. He did hear only two things, that's how quiet the place was! It's up to you to decide what kind of laugh (glad it was ambiguous). And yes, he did immediately do exactly what he wasn't supposed to. This chapter was meant more as a "catch your breath" chapter, so I'm glad it flowed well. I suppose in an Isekai, you get to skip the first couple of steps of the heroes journey. You don't get a call to adventure, your thrust into it. You typically don't get a mentor, you're left on your own.