Crystal was the first one to log in. After all, she was the only one who was an outsider. Yes, she considered herself an outsider as she hadn’t met any of them in game and she was also far from catching up to their levels.
She had laid down on the couch and had expected to find herself in the church where she had just turned in her latest quest. However, to her surprise, she found herself standing upon a massive sheet of ice while a relentless blizzard raged on, reducing visibility to near zero.
Instantly taken aback by the sudden and intense change of scenery, she looked around with a faint look of shock on her face. Her facial expressions had locked up due to her nervousness.
She shouted into the storm, perplexed and afraid. She had heard the stories from Aria and Rachel about how they met some mysterious figure when they logged in for the first time but it made no sense for her to experience that, right?
With no idea why this was happening, Crystal could only embrace her Empress persona and draw her long sword and hold it out ready to attack at a moment’s notice. If she was going to be killed by some monster, she wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
’When faced with the Unknown, you choose to stand your ground and fight? A curious choice’
A booming voice that lacked emotion and intonation rattled her eardrums. She did not know where the voice came from but she felt an instinctual desire to bow to it.
Her legs trembled as she resisted her instincts, gritting her teeth as she remained steadfast and alert to the attack she expected to come soon.
"Show yourself! Or are you too much of a Coward to face me head on!"
She roared back, her hands tightening around the grip of her sword as she did the best to hide the terror that was welling up from the bottom of her heart. She grit her teeth as her gaze darted in every direction, looking for the silhouette of the assailant.
’You wish to see my face? Very well Child. Behold’
As soon as the words were spoken, a gust of wind rushed past her face that forced her to close her eyes. When the wind subsided and she could see again, the storm was gone but her eyes still widened in unmitigated shock. Not more than 10 meters away from her was a massive claw, a single scale was bigger than her entire body.
The Claw was attached to a Dragon that was so big, titanic and gargantuan did not seem like fitting words as they were too small.
Crystal couldn’t help but take a step away from the Dragon, her blood running cold as the Glowing Sapphire eyes of the Dragon stared down at her without emotion. Yet soon that fear began to subside as she noticed something.
The Creature was far too massive to sustain itself, hence it couldn’t be alive. This was just some statue that was meant to scare and intimidate her. Crystal wanted to kick herself for falling for it but the creature was just that convincing.
Crystal took a deep breath, feeling her pulse slow as she reminded herself that she wasn’t in immediate danger. It was just a statue, a work of art, a puzzle.
She could feel the tension in her muscles ease as her mind started to piece everything together.
Still, there was something unsettling about it all, the way the dragon’s sapphire eyes glowed with such a chilling, lifelike intensity. But she had seen enough in-game to know that sometimes appearances were deceiving.
She gritted her teeth, straightening her back and lifting her sword again. This was a game, after all. A statue didn’t have the power to make her doubt herself.
That was she thought until it blinked.
Her mind froze for a second as she thought that she was hallucinating it. How could it have blinked? It wasn’t alive! Right?!
Then it blinked again. Crystal felt her heart drop as the massive monster slowly began to rumble and move.
’You wished to see my face Little One yet you say nothing. Do you not have words to say now that the one you considered a foe stands before you?’
Crystal audibly gulped as her mouth felt dry and her body naturally shivered under the
Immense pressure of its mere presence.
Crystal forced herself to breathe, slow and steady, but every breath caught in her throat. The dragon’s voice echoed not just in her ears but in her chest, vibrating through her bones like the very mountain itself had spoken.
"I—" she started, but her voice cracked. She swallowed hard, summoning what little courage she could still cling to. "I thought you were a statue."
The sapphire eyes blinked once more. The dragon tilted its massive head, the motion slow and deliberate, as if considering her words.
The wisp of my Presence that has reached out to you was mistaken for a statue? That is a.... vexing revelation.’
Crystal groaned under the weight of its words, blood dripping from her mouth as she continued to hold her blade up, ready to fight even if she knew it was futile.
Seeing this, the Dragon God could only sigh to itself, it was always so annoying to control its presence and power. When it had been at the meeting arranged by Discordia, she had taken care of supressing its power.
Now before the first individual that had the qualifications, it now had to do it itself.
Remembering the feeling that Discordia had placed it under, the Dragon God began to fold and compact its presence and essence into an even smaller form.
Crystal watched in stunned awe as the massive dragon slowly began to shrink, its body twisting and breaking until it somehow began to take the shape of a human...that was 10 feet tall.
The emotionless voice called out as it shrugged the shoulders of its now humanoid form.
Arachne always thought the Dragon God was emotionless like a glacier.
The reality of it all was that the Dragon God was just extremely lazy.