Roland POV
"So noisy" Roland exclaimed, watching the scores of bodies swarm into the castle. The whole spectacle was initially surreal but quickly became rather daunting, rather quickly.
He stood at the upper floor, aligned in a descending file of servants and a few of the high-ranked guards waiting to take their station below. Only this line hadn't really moved in up to an hour now. Roland sighed under his breath. Standing around like this felt entirely painful.
He would much rather explore the exciting prospect of his inner spatial world.
'A spatial plane where I can interact freely and manipulate information is a godsend for a researcher's brain.' Roland couldn't stop imagining how efficiently breaking down and learning skills would be.
'I wonder if meditation works well in that plane. Hmm, I shouldn't forget that old man is held up there, too.'
Roland found himself massaging his temples unknowingly. Adding an old geezer trapped in his mind to the problems he faced was rather on brand for him these days.
'I should be used to the wonderfully weird things by now.' He chuckled childishly. Roland placed his attention back on the well-dressed people flocking inside. Most of these people wore elaborate stilettos, vibrant hairstyles, and very peculiar smart clothes: blazers of silk, leather, and linen alongside dresses and pearls. The overall style of these people was a mixture of modern and eccentric futuristic styles.
'People sure enjoy these sorts of things, don't they.'
It was the same in every world by the looks of it. "The finer things in life are hoarded by the ones who can afford it." He said with his chin propped lazily against his hand.
"Psst! Psst yo-you there?"
"Huh-who goes there?" Roland said, slightly alarmed, twisting around to find the sudden voice.
"Wait wh-who goes where? Er-Ieurgh goes here- a-are you Ro-Roland?"
Roland narrowed his brows sensing a new annoyance circling the runway for landing. The annoyance was a chubby boy squeezed into a tight, long blazer. Roland looked the boy up and down before sighing into his hand.
"Is that you're real name?"
"Y-ya-es why?"
"It sounds like a sound you make, not a name, " he said, wondering why he and the chubby lad were the only young people on this floor.
"@_@"
"Why are you looking for me anyway."
The chubby boy couldn't look him in the eyes for long, he stumbled his words whilst staring at his feet.
"It's a matter of urgency fr-fr-from the little Lady herself. The lady Mariah has sent for your assistance at once. It's ur-urgent."
Roland cocked one of his brow up, by no means was he about to believe anyone with the name Leurgh, and not to mention.
'I can see his sweat pouring down his neck. This is definitely a set-up.'
He was a little surprised it was coming from his cousin Mariah. As much as Roland never really believed the whole nice big sister routine, so far, she hasn't given him a full reason to hate her. Roland still had doubts about this message, especially since the sender looked like this boy.
"Sigh, but what the heck beats standing in this line." He took two steps forward and stretched his arms a little.
"Alright, Leurgh, show me the way."
One of the main consistent things about this castle was the excessive number of burning candles pinned against every wall. And there seemed twice as many down here, in the cold, tight-walled stairwell spiralling down into darkness.
This place was definitely the doorway into an ambush. Roland simply asked himself why he wasn't feeling more troubled by that. Maybe he was tired. Boredom tended to be the opening act before performing a ballad of sleep.
The walls were so narrow that the fire's heat lightly warmed his face as he passed them down. Roland heard a gate being moved just below.
"Here th-this is it."
Roland observed what looked like a fenced door being forced aside. Dust fell from above, and rolling tiny stones sounded like the fires.
Roland cautiously followed the strange boy.
{Warning! Several heat signatures detected. Host advised to retreat}
Roland grimaced, watching the stuttering boy waddling him toward his death. He skidded against his heels and clapped his two hands.
"Oi, why are you helping them do this?" Roland asked the boy finally. He barely caught himself from being scared and nervously twisted around. His face had paled and was covered in sweat from the lies he was probably forced to tell.
"I… don't know wh-what."
"Listen boy, I'm not playing this game. I was intrigued by whether or not you'd cave before we arrived. But good job on the stuttering theatrics to make it through. So yeah, I'm not going further. Bye-bye."
Suddenly, a metal gate slammed shut, causing the roof to shake.
Omega ran nearby environment checks every step of the way, sending subtle shockwaves capable of detecting life forms nearby. Roland attributed this to the system's scan abilities.
The way they came from was sealed. Roland scanned the veiled darkness and started to unearth the sounds of rattling chains and clanging silver.
There was something else here. Roland could feel it in his bones. A swell of anger rose through his shaking frame.
"Leurgh you lying piece of sh-"
*Growl*
The sheer obscurity of that sound left Roland speechless. He moved his eyes forward, and he noticed the little boy beelining to the side in haste. Roland didn't bother following him since today's most impressive thing dwelt just ahead.
{unknown life form detected. Omega advises Host to deploy caution}
Roland wore the dark, smoky necklace given to him by Lord Brutus. The jewels' pendant felt hot, unnaturally so that subtle blue fire suddenly bloomed in the centre of the dark mist.
Roland didn't care who else was there or not. The low clicking noises and throat-curdling growls tingled Roland's body. Only one predator of the skies could evoke unease like that.
'But how insane are these damn kids? To toss a child into the den of a dr-'
The creature snarled again, this time shaking the entire room from its oppressive roar. Roland was forcefully moved back a few steps. Rather dimwittedly, there wasn't a school of candlelights down here.
Roland saw the large outline against the faint wall cast by the partial light. Its huge, grotesque head filled the entirety of the near-distant shadows. Slowly, two large, golden, oily eyes blinked into existence. The menacing slit between the irises made Roland's hairs stand on ends. His instincts screamed at him to stay still. He could hear its breathing, which became the entire atmosphere surrounding him.
'No way! Is that-gulps- is that a damn dragon!'
In all the ambushes and unprovoked dastardly schemes plotted against him, Roland could still bravely say that he had never been tricked into walking with his two legs into a dragon's den. The unmissable scent of ash wafted beneath his nostrils. Roland steadied his heels back in a gentle but hurried manner. With every movement, he saw those round golden eyes tracing his every step.
As long as he could remember, nothing living had ever put such a momentous fear in his heart like this. The whining shrills had long gone, and the air was soaked more heavily with soft growls crawling out from the gargantuan-sized reptilian-shaped maw.
'Ok Roland on the count of three, one…two-.' His inner voice was quickly cut short because of the bizarre thing he saw waltzing from the shadows.
Roland squinted his eyes to ensure he had things down correctly right now.
An orange-furred tabby cat carefully made its way out from the shadows. Roland stared at the bizarre scene with deep confusion. But the cat was real. Its snow-white paws trotted silently against the stoned ground. Then it stopped and looked up. After searching his face for a moment, he gave an approving meow and rubbed the side of its head gently against his leg.
"How did you…" he exhaled a deep breath and unloosened his collar. Roland didn't possess the strength to ask. He leant down, gently scratched the cat's fur beneath its ears, and did the same for its neck.
"I guess what's important is that you're alive. All things considered." He swallowed harshly. Before his narrowed gaze combed over the darkness on the other end again.
Those large golden eyes still watched him intensely. As terrifying as all of this was, Roland did find a space for his rational mind to search for answers.
"Why isn't it attacking us? Is it…not allowed to."
Considering this was a dragon, that wouldn't sound so out of place. In a castle filled with so many people, some level of safe measures had to be applied. Roland recalled a similar oath he heard was made between the death knights and descendants of the Patriarch.
'If that's the case then I guess…I guess I'm safe.'
He certainly didn't feel safe, but he wasn't being attacked or feeling any immediate danger so far. He was just tensely being stared down by a creature 100 times his size.
'The next question is , who amongst my lovely wretched cousins do I have to thank for this.'
Mariah was the likely fit, although her motives were still unknown to him.
The bundle of fur beneath his palms wriggled itself free before it swiftly trotted towards the exit. Roland remembered that sweating fatty and his antics earlier, "sigh, it's probably locked."
The cat made a low meow but didn't stop. Roland couldn't understand a thing, but he was almost certain that the feline had responded to his woes.
Once, the little thing arrived by the tall door tightly shut. It raised one of its tiny paws and gently prodded the door frame.
Roland found the entire thing somewhat adorable. After a few minutes, he walked over to the cat and gently carried it away from the door.
"I told you it's locked." He said, but for good measure, he placed his hand against the door and pushed against it. The hinges groaned. Roland's brow furrowed at the discovery.
"Huh? It's open." He was almost sure the doors were locked from the other side. Roland pushed harder, and the heavy doors drew outward and opened.
He felt relief wash against his bones suddenly. "Well, guess you might be my good luck charm. Hm, if only I knew your name." Roland pondered, still cradling the cat like a little child in his arms. The atmosphere was still rather tense despite his sudden arrival of good fortunes. So he dutifully left the dungeon and scaled up the spiralling stairwell with his new companion.
Roland arrived back on the main castle floor. The halls were still quite busy, with so many new faces roaming around and countless servants tending to their jobs. He performed a quick scan of the area before his eyes found a certain stammering, sweaty coward standing beneath one of the many large oil paintings.