Back on Earth, when Dorian managed to find free time from his studies, one of his favorite habits was to sit down on a comfy couch and read a book.
While he wouldn’t call himself a bookworm, Dorian had read quite a few adventure or fantasy books in his time. From powerful wizards going on quests to slay evil to chivalrous knights fighting to save the day.
One thing common to many of the stories he had read were random encounters happening in restaurants or inns.
A part of Dorian had always wanted to experience something like that, ever since he transported to this fantastic universe.
Unfortunately, reality proved that situations like that don’t happen as often as the books he read made them seem.
Until today.
He teared up slightly, gratefulness overwhelming him. For the young vampire to go out of his way to fulfill one of Dorian’s fantasies, it truly touched his heart.
As these thoughts crossed his mind, the arrogant vampire turned back to look at him, an annoyed look crossing his face.
“That means leave, goblinoid.” His group of followers all tittered, several of the girls outright giggling.
‘Goblinoid?’ Dorian thought, a rueful smile covering his face.
His current form, as an Ifrit, was a quite uncommon one. When he wasn’t enraged, the fires on him burned very low, barely visible. His appearance was rather unintimidating, and unless one was a historian or environmentalist, it was unlikely he’d be recognized as a member of the extinct Demon race.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, young noble.” Dorian responded calmly, nudging the silver coins the noble had placed down. They were different from the ‘mints’ the Barrel Autarchy used as currency, but of roughly equivalent value, forged by the local branches of the Aurelius Family. Most places would accept both forms of currency.
“I haven’t finished my meal.” He motioned at his plate. He had only devoured most of the roasted duck and bread, and still had some leftover.
The vampire rolled his eyes, uncaring.
“I think you have.” He said cheerfully, and then reached over, latching onto Dorian’s right shoulder.
–
Species: True Vampire
Class – Sky Class
Maximum Energy Level: 31
–
Dorian couldn’t help but smirk slightly at the energy value, as he had Ausra scan the noble. The energy level was set so that an Early Grandmaster Class being would have 100 points of energy.
With a maximum energy level of 31, the vampire in front of him was about on the level of his Red Salamander form.
The muscles on the young vampire’s arms bulged as he heaved, trying to pull Dorian up and out of his seat. His arm moved in a practiced motion, as if he was used to picking people up and tossing them aside.
Dorian didn’t budge.
He turned to look at the arm on his shoulder in amusement.
And then back at the arrogant noble.
“Hup. Whooo.” The vampire jumped back as they made eye contact, his eyes bleeding rage,
“A heavy one, huh?” He sputtered, slightly embarrassed at being shown up in front of his followers.
“Fine, have it your way, peasant.” The vampire leaned forward, punching towards Dorian’s head.
Dorian nodded in approval. This was just how many fantasy stories played out.
The punch from the vampire was painfully slow in Dorian’s eyes. He watched as it cut towards his head, and then slightly leaned out of the way. It breezed past him, missing by a few millimeters.
One of the two Wizards guarding the Vampire saw this. Out of the corner of his eye, Dorian made out his widening eyes, and panicked hand motions as he began casting a spell.
–
Species: True Vampire
Class – Master Class
Maximum Energy Level: 82
–
‘Oh, Master Class guards. Not even Grandmaster Class, huh? I guess he cheaped out on protecting his son.’ He’d caught that the vampire here was the second son of the Fifth Palace Master, one of the strongest Grandmaster Class vampires in the city.
Dorian turned his focus back towards the vampire attacking him, smiling.
Since he had been attacked, he needed to respond in kind. This needed to be a learning experience for the arrogant noble. Otherwise, how was he to grow from his faults, and become an upstanding member of society?
‘A light blow on the chest should do.’ He lazily lashed his arm forward, smacking against the vampire’s chest.
Unfortunately, Dorian miscalculated slightly. While his control of his strength and body was abnormally high, he was still adapting to his current physical form, especially while it was undergoing genetic repair.
He also overestimated the ability of the vampire to take a blow. He was too used to facing down stronger opponents like Helena, and those that had an innate barrier protecting them.
When his arm landed on the vampire, the arrogant noble’s eyes widened in horror.
WHOOSH
BOOM
A split second later the vampire vanished, crashing through the front entrance of the store, and sailing off into the street. Broken bits of wood and glass showered down near the entryway, raising a ruckus.
From outside, yells of outrage and confusion began to echo forth as a commotion was raised.
“Oh dear.” This wasn’t part of the script, Dorian thought, looking down at his arm as if it had betrayed him.
“How dare you! Blood Magic: Blood Chains!” One of the two Master Class Wizard guards of the noble finished casting his spell, launching a group of blood chains at Dorian. The chains quickly surrounded his body, three inch thick clumps of blood red light, glowing faintly. The other Master Class Wizard dashed outside, heading towards where their charge had vanished too.
“Whelp.” Dorian shrugged. His casual shrugging shattered the magical blood chains apart, obliterating the spell. Shards of red light and matter scattered down, falling to the floor.
The followers of the noble all shrieked out in horror and began to flee. The other onlookers in the restaurant stood frozen, not wanting to get involved.
“A million apologies.” Dorian turned to look at the portly man that greeted and sat people, withdrawing several gold mints from his Spatial Ring, the equivalent of gold coins, and placing them on the table. He hadn’t meant to damage the shop. Its traditional, old-timey feel had been quite comforting to Dorian.
“S-stop right there!” The Master Class Wizard sputtered, his eyes going red as he began to cast another spell.
Dorian sighed again. This wasn’t nearly as entertaining as he’d thought it would be.
His body blurred as he stepped forward, appearing next to the Wizard. He punched out against the vampire’s chin, before the Wizard could react. This time, he was a bit more careful, taking extra care to control his strength.
The innate barrier all Master Class Wizards and above held trembled and fell apart under the force of Dorian’s blow.
Instantly the vampire collapsed, knocked unconscious.
Dorian caught his body as he fell, setting it gently down. With the powerful regenerative capabilities vampires had, the Wizards should be fine. He probably wouldn’t even be unconscious for that long.
He then turned and walked out of the establishment, stepping over the ruined front entrance. He sighed again. He really hadn’t wanted to damage such a nice, traditional store. It was his own fault for being too eager.
Across the street, the young master that he had knocked away was laying on the ground, in the midst of the wreckage of a small wooden, wagon. His body had intercepted the wagon, partially destroying it. The owners of the wagon were nowhere to be seen.
The arrogant noble was surrounded by a red glow as the other Master Class Wizard focused on trying to heal him. Blood pooled out of the mouth of the young vampire as he lay there, his arms and legs shaking.
The Wizard guard swore, cursing the cheapness of the Fifth Palace Master. They hadn’t been provided with any healing medicines or tools, and he hadn’t thought to bring any of his own with him on such a common excursion. He had a few tools he could use with his Blood Magic, but he didn’t own any rare or expensive healing objects.
Contrary to Dorian’s expectations, there was no crowd watching. Most people had deserted the scene or walked away quickly, the chances of getting caught up in the fight too risky.
“It… it smiled… a monster! A… monster!” The stuttering voice of the noble rang out as he shook, his body trembling. After a few seconds he fell unconscious, his body resting as his mouth gaped open.
“Ah…” Dorian raised his hand, and then lowered it lamely, not knowing what to say. He had only wanted to teach him a small lesson, and had almost accidentally killed the noble instead.
“There it is!” One of the followers of the arrogant noble shrieked, pointing to look at Dorian. The group had followed the vampire outside, and were standing near him as the guard of the Wizard fixed him up.
By the time the Master Class Wizard turned around, Dorian’s body shivered and vanished, disappearing from the scene as if he had never been.
As the Wizard turned back, frantically trying to heal the guard, from out of nowhere a glowing white pill shot forward, and landed in the mouth of the arrogant noble. Light, cooling warmth spread out as the Light Pill activated, and began to heal the injured vampire.
The Master Class Wizard looked around gratefully, but found a mostly empty street, devoid of anyone but him, the young master’s followers, and a few pedestrians far away.
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Dorian sighed, sitting back atop the roof of his Inn. Several hours had passed since he’d knocked away the young vampire, trying to teach him a lesson, and caused a great commotion.
Still, he thought, shrugging mentally, it had been an experience worth having. At the least, he didn’t regret his actions. Things hadn’t gone to plan, but it was still an interesting situation.
Life in this fantasy world was infinitely more fun than living in that mental prison.
“Heyo, Dorian.” Helena’s voice softly echoed out as she appeared next to him, her form coming in out of nowhere.
Dorian didn’t bat an eye, used to her appearing and vanishing.
“Heyo Helena.” He returned her greeting, giving her a casual wave.
“My men reported what happened to you in the city. I had the guards settle the incident, and have settled things with the Fifth Palace Master.” She said, walking over and sitting down next to him. Internally, she was grateful this happened to the Fifth Palace Master, and not the Sixth. She was almost caught accidentally causing the Sixth Palace’s roof to collapse a few days ago, and couldn’t help but to squirm in guilt whenever she saw him.
As she thought this, her eyes narrowed as she looked at Dorian. She had blamed that incident on the escaped Titan that had caused trouble in the city. A Titan that had vanished out of nowhere. From the reports she’d gotten about the Anomalies, they could transform their physical forms into any creature they seemed to come in contact with.
And the Anomaly she was hunting had come into contact with a Titan…
As she realized she had inadvertently framed Dorian for a huge crime, and inspired a large scale, and currently ongoing, manhunt, she blushed, quickly staring off into the distance so Dorian wouldn’t see it.
“Thanks. Sorry for the trouble.” Though, all things considered, he was planning on leaving soon, so it didn’t matter too much in the end.
Helena forced herself through her emotions, deciding to change the subject.
“I had a question for you.” She said, forcibly gaining control of herself.
“Oh?” Dorian turned. He blinked as he looked at her. Her face was scrunched up, cutely, and seemed to have a faint red tone, almost as if she was blushing.
“I don’t blame you for taking action against the arrogant fool.” She began, gesturing with her hands out towards the city.
“Far too many young vampires think they are gods, and need to be taught a fierce lesson, or killed.” Her eyes were harsh,
“After you smacked the second son of the Palace Master, however, my men reported that you took care to not injure his guards, and even helped heal the arrogant vampire. If not for your actions, the foolish noble would be down with permanent injuries, forever unable to grow in strength. A just punishment, in my opinion, for daring to slander the vampire race with such base actions.”
Her eyes were full of curiosity as she looked at Dorian,
“I might have just killed him outright.” She shrugged.
Dorian stared back, shaking his head. He understood Helena’s way of thinking, but found it very foreign from his own,
“I simply wanted to teach him a small lesson, and give him a wake-up call. I hoped to make him see the error of his ways, at least to some small degree, or put him on that path. Not to kill him or ruin his life.” Perhaps his lesson might not be as poignant, but everyone deserved a second chance.
Helena gave him an odd look,
“But what if he doesn’t see the error of his ways? Then your lesson would be wasted, and killing him would have saved you far more trouble.”
Dorian shook his head,
“Perhaps, but that wouldn’t be the right thing to do, and I believe everyone deserves another chance to redeem themselves.”
Helena’s eyes lit up,
“You said that before. About doing the right thing.” She began, looking at him.
Dorian nodded, waiting.
“What if you were in a situation where there is no right thing to do? Where no matter what choice you make, it has consequences that are wrong?” She finished, folding her hands together. Her tone was strained and tight.
He took a deep breath, considering her words.
“I would look at the situation, and then at my heart, and force there to be a right choice to make, and take that.” He nodded confidently.
She stared at him in confusion,
“But, I mean, what if there is no right choice?”
“I would force there to be a right choice.”
She held her hands up in exasperation,
“You can’t just force reality to change. What if you were stuck in a situation where it was impossible to pick the right choice?”
“I’d find a way to make the situation not impossible, and then take the right way.” Dorian replied, nodding for a second time.
Helena glared at him.
Dorian couldn’t help but smile at that. His eyes turned serious, however, as he continued,
“Sometimes life will throw you curveballs. You just need to take each obstacle one step at a time, analyze it, and cross over it. I am confident that I will find a right choice, no matter what situation I will be in.”
Helena was silent for a time, considering his words.
Dorian was as well, looking out over the city as the evening light around him began to fade.
“…”
“What’s a curveball?”
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Dorian took a deep breath as he looked back at the city behind him.
The towering walls of Potor City gleamed dully in the early morning light. He clenched his fists and then gave the city a small nod. It had been a part of his life in this world.
A part that it was time to leave behind.
“The World Bridge to Blizzaria is located near the City State of Hebbedon.” Dorian muttered aloud, glancing over a small map he’d purchased. His Ifrit form was currently dressed in a slightly nicer brown robe, looking less like a poor peasant and more like down on his luck merchant.
He looked up, over to one of the edges of the plateau. Several large shops and organizations had set up transport companies on the edge, for those seeking to travel from one place to another.
Dorian smiled as he began walking towards one in particular, the Golden Carpet Travel Company.
It was time he set off for a new world.
