I Guess I'm a Dragon Now (Part 1)

Epilogue: The end? Or the Beginning?

"A-are you awake yet?" Someone nearby asked, and Ergen slowly opened his eyes to reveal that he was laying down the middle of dark room that seemed to consist of surfaces made from stone bricks. Looking around, he appeared to be on an altar of some kind, though it was massive as even his dragon-self only took up half of the space on it. The room that he was inside was massive as well with even the bricks making up the walls seeming to be as large as he was, and there seemed to be enough space for Ergen to fry freely to and from each wall as well as the high ceiling, however stranger things took his attention now  as there appeared to be a woman standing a short distance away from him on the other side of the altar. Her golden blonde hair matched both the dress she was wearing as well as the feathers on each of her wings behind her, and she seemed almost like an angel to Ergen as he stared dumbstruck into her bright blue eyes.

"Am I dead?" Ergen asked as he still couldn't believe what he was seeing, though it appeared that the woman in front of him, while being just as tall as he was, turned out to be of the shy sort as she suddenly looked unsure of herself and seemed to be searching for somewhere to hide.

"N-no... I don't think so, anyway." She answered. "We didn't get to talk much at the end, but I think that introductions are in order."

"Talk?" Ergen asked, thinking that he would have remembered if he'd ever spoken to a giant beautiful angel before.

"My name is Chae, and thanks again for saving me." The woman replied, and Ergen's face suddenly contorted as the new information took a few seconds for it to click in his mind. This woman... was the griffin from before?!

"Uhh..." Was all that Ergen could say before the giant door on the side of the room suddenly burst open to reveal another surprise. A group of giants, all seeming to be happy for some reason, entered the room and started walking towards them as Chae hid behind Ergen. And yet another surprise came when Echo suddenly appeared in the middle of the group with a bright smile on her face as she stepped up to the altar. However, as Ergen had been larger than her in the visions he'd received before, he was now even more bewildered as he was nothing but lapdog size compared to her now as she reached down and lifted him off of the alter.

"Congratulations Ergen, you did it!" Echo said happily with a bright smile on her face, and Ergen was completely confused by now was he'd never seen Echo act like this before. And as for the other people...

"I'm so sorry for what you had to go through, Chae..." The man that had accompanied the others through the door suddenly seemed full of regret as he looked at Chae, who seemed taken aback by the apology.

"N-no! Clargen! It wasn't your fault at all!" Chae said in a panicked tone while frantically waving her arms in front of her. "It was my fault for being captured in the first place!"

"What the heck is going on?!!" Ergen asked out loud, beginning to grow irritated about his new situation.

"You've ascended, that's what!" A 'still giant but smaller than the others' brown-haired girl jumped beside Echo and explained. "My name is Harmony, the goddess of peace. Nice to meet'cha!"

"You were victorious in the game, so now you've been transported here so that you can participate in the next part." Clargen explained while holding a sitting Chae in his arms as he walked up to Ergen as well.

"Here?" Ergen asked. "Wait a minute, the game isn't over yet?!"

"Of course not." Echo replied in an annoyed tone as she lowered Ergen. "I told you before that there was a next part, didn't I?"

"Well-" Ergen replied in an embarrassed manner before sighing to himself. Just what would he have to fight this time?!

"Don't worry, I'll explain it all later." Echo didn't seemed to be bothered by his worries at all before she started walking out of the room with the others following her. "For now, let's just all celebrate."

As soon as they exited the door, Ergen's jaw literally dropped in amazement as the dark room somehow completely disappeared behind them before they walked into what looked like a wide open field. Everything was completely illuminated by three small suns above them, but they were the last things that he would be looking at  as the sky was completely full of creatures of every kind. Dragons, griffins, harpies and even what looked like giant snake made completely from stone and without wings were all flying around in the sky as if they were birds, and the land didn't seem to be so simple either. While he was used to green grass, the plant-life underneath them seemed to somehow be made from nothing but gold as it sparkled in the sun's light. Tall velvet flowers with multiple layers of petals towered like trees in the distance, and there even seemed to be what looked like a floating river in the distance with fish swimming in it that were large enough to even be seen from a long ways away.

"Welcome to Deus, Ergen." Echo hugged Ergen warmly while he was still lost in his surroundings. "Or, the World of Gods, as you've heard before."

"Yeah... thanks for having me..." Ergen replied after some hesitation while looking down at some of the ants beneath them that were the size of horses in his last world. And while he was amazed at it all, Ergen couldn't help but think that all of the progress that he'd made since hatching was all for naught. All of that growing... and this is what he got for it?! He felt even smaller now than when he'd first been born!

"And now, as for your reward for making it this far." Echo suddenly stated before she turned Ergen around again so that he could look at her. And as soon as his eyes met hers, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his mind before everything instantly became clear.

Garner Bonnit... that was the name that had been eluding Ergen all of this time. He'd grown up in a middle-class family and had never had very many accomplishments, though he'd suddenly had to move in with his loving grandparents after his own parents had fled the country to get away from dept collectors. That lasted right up until he graduated from high school until his grandparents were both killed in a car accident on their way to his graduation ceremony. And after that, he'd rented an apartment with all of the money that was left to him after his grandparent's funeral, which he then needed to find a job in order to maintain...

All of his memories, and grief, came rushing back into Ergen's mind in an instant as he finally remembered who he really was. He was just a simple store clerk, working a mindless, dead-end job where he most likely would have worked for years until he either retired or found another dead-end job somewhere else. And yet somehow, in the middle of a sea of others in the same position that he was in, Echo had chosen him to be apart of her 'game'.

"So? What should I call you now?" Echo asked as she smiled at Ergen. "Now that you have your memories back, it's your choice. Though, I'll also give you the option of being reincarnated somewhere rather than having to take part in the second half of the game."

While he'd only spent a short amount of his life as a dragon, for now, it seemed to Ergen as if it had been an entire lifetime. He was so used to thinking of himself as a dragon that going back would be... difficult, to say the least. And after looking at everything around him while thinking about all of the excitement and adventure that he'd had so far... well, in having to choose between experiencing even more new things or going back to being a mindless drone in some second-hand convenience store, there wasn't even a question in Ergen's mind.

"I think... I'd like to use Ergen." Ergen replied as he looked to his side at the world again. "By the way, what will happen if I die here?"

"I'll make sure that you're reincarnated." Echo answered, and Ergen now didn't see any downside to trying the second game as it seemed that he would be reincarnated regardless of if he quit or not.

"If that's the case, then I'll at least try competing in the second game." Ergen replied, now somewhat eager for it now that he remembered his boring old life.

"Are you sure? This game will no doubt be just as dangerous as your last life, perhaps more-so." Echo warned him with a serious expression on her face.

"I think I'll be able to manage it." Ergen replied, wondering if his face was actually smiling or not as he wondered just what new adventure this world would bring him. "After all, I guess I'm a dragon now, right?"