This Is Another World

"Who am I? What a disappointing question. It seems there are huge gaps in your inherited memories, though that is understandable. You are Hosdena, my child."

The silver streams of light within the Giant eyeball continuously gathered, eventually forming the shape of a tiny dragon, so distinct that anyone could recognize it. At the same time, the Magic elements in this area began to converge, and a lifelike, enormous dragon head appeared before Josh and the others.

"My name is Akathosh. Kamacia granted me the name Wing of the World!"

Another Dragon roar resounded through Josh and the others' souls. Josh even felt as though his soul was about to shatter! Under that immense pressure, Fular simply rolled his eyes and fainted. If Josh's soul had not been strong enough, and if Dumbledore and Garen had not possessed such resolute wills, they likely would have ended up like Fular.

"Your magic power awakened my soul, didn't it? Elf?" The enormous dragon head turned toward Josh, confusion on his face because he could not quite determine Josh's race.

"Elf?"

Josh's expression darkened. To be honest, the origin of humanity on the Muya Continent differed from that of humans in his previous life. Books rarely mentioned this, or perhaps never mentioned it at all, as though the information had been deliberately removed. But Josh was certain that humans on the Muya Continent had not emerged through evolution.

"Are you not? You carry the scent of an elf. Though it has faded to the point of being almost nonexistent, I would never mistake that faint scent in your bloodline. Still, your appearance does seem rather different. Although I am a dragon, even we have to praise the appearance of elves."

The massive dragon head seemed to have fallen into reminiscence, completely failing to notice Josh's gradually darkening expression. Even if he had noticed, he probably would not have cared. Who was he? He was Akathosh, the Wing of the World. Since ancient times, he had never cared about others' opinions. Otherwise, he would not have fought two beings on his level.

"No, I'm human." Josh shook his head.

"Human? I do not recall such a creature existing in my memories. Never mind, it does not matter. I want to ask how the situation across the continent is now. After those two damned fellows and I caused the World's Lament, what became of Kamacia?"

Josh did know what Kamacia was. It had been the name of the Muya Continent in the past. Before the Muya Continent was shattered into countless fragments during the First Era, it had been called Kamacia. Unfortunately, that was all in the past, and Josh could only briefly explain what he knew.

"You mean Kamacia no longer exists? Those two damned fellows, Victoria and Torysia, fell in the World's Lament, and even their divine sparks were taken by their descendants? This place is now called the Muya Continent?"

The enormous dragon head wore an expression of utter disbelief. He remembered how he, Victoria, and Torysia had shattered the world beyond repair, even causing the World Tree that supported the world to collapse. But he had never imagined that his actions back then had directly buried an era and brought an epoch to an end!

"That is more or less what happened. I found the history about you in my family's library. At the time, I thought it was merely a legend, but now it seems even more outrageous than a legend! Oh, right, my ancestors survived through the Second Era, which is why they were able to usher in the Third Era."

Josh shrugged helplessly. Facing someone who had once dominated the world, he could not help feeling worried. Though he could tell that this dragon might only have a remnant soul left, and its strength was perhaps comparable to his own, that roar alone told Josh that no matter how weak this fellow had become, he was not someone to be trifled with.

"Then where are we now? The Muya Continent? An island scattered beyond the Muya Continent? Or that Land of the Gods you mentioned?"

"I can answer that question. But before that, can you tell me what happened to you? It is extremely important to me."

"Are you a historian?" The dragon head looked somewhat impatient, but after thinking for a moment, he still spoke. "Back then, I fought those two damned bastards because they intended to seize the World Tree. You already know that much."

"But their goal was to use the World Tree to control all of Kamacia. You must understand, the World Tree was the spine that supported the entire world. It was omnipotent. However, those two bastards probably believed they could not defeat me one-on-one, so they joined forces, intending to eliminate me first before deciding victory between themselves. They even swore upon their lives to maintain the alliance."

"There is no need to explain what happened afterward. The two of them together were truly terrifying. Several times, I came within a hair's breadth of falling. But I was carrying leaves from the World Tree, so I always recovered. In the end, all three of us grew impatient and stopped holding back our power entirely."

"At first, we worried about causing too much damage to Kamacia. Later, none of us could stop. I was born with control over the Wind element, but I had also sealed the Fire element and Water element within my eyes, so I did not fear them."

"But when the strongest attacks of all three of us collided, the entire world turned gray. The World Tree collapsed, and at the same time, the World's Lament appeared and launched a devastating attack against the three of us. I did not want to die, because my child had not yet hatched."

"My wife died the moment the World Tree collapsed. So, to escape that disaster, I took my child—Hosdena—and entered a black spacetime abyss. That damned abyss was filled with purple energy, and there were weak little vermin everywhere, trying to devour my body."

"But my body was extremely tough and highly resistant to magic, while those vermin were very weak. So I killed and ate them. That was how I survived within it, drifting for endless ages. But after encountering a kind of silver energy entity, I could no longer hold on. My physical body began to dissipate."

At this point, the enormous dragon head suddenly gave Josh, who was listening intently, a thoughtful look. Josh sensed it as well, and his expression suddenly turned extremely grim. He roughly understood where this Wing of the World had gone.

"Afterward, I felt that I could no longer endure, but I was unwilling to let my child die like that." The enormous dragon head withdrew his gaze and continued.

"So I shut out all pain and gathered the strength of my entire body. Without the protection of my power, my body was quickly devoured by that silver energy until almost nothing remained. Even my bones were not spared."

"I abandoned everything and used my last strength to disperse that silver energy. By sheer accident, I also opened a massive passage. I finally returned!"

The massive dragon head's voice was incredibly hoarse. One could imagine just how desperate he had been then. Hosdena's eyes widened, tears slowly flowing from his dragon eyes. It was as though he had seen everything, as though many of his memories had returned.

"But I knew I was finished." The dragon head's voice was low, but he continued speaking.

"I did not know whether I was the only one who survived. I feared those two bastards might still be alive, or that their descendants would come to seek revenge against Hosdena. So I sealed off the vast forest around here and sealed the last remnants of my soul inside my only remaining eye."

"I waited—for Hosdena to grow, for him to break the seal, for him to devour this final trace of my soul and complete the inheritance!"

"No!"

Hosdena roared. His roar was not a cry from his soul but an actual roar from his mouth. This caused a blast of flames to erupt from his mouth, setting the surrounding forest ablaze. His roar was loud and mournful, and dragons throughout almost the entire forest let out lamenting cries.

"I will never do that! Never! I have been alone for who knows how many years. I will never do that!"

The enormous dragon head did not respond to Hosdena's words. Instead, he frowned and looked at Hosdena in confusion. "Why is your power so weak? And why is the quality of the magic power within you so poor? What exactly did you go through?"

"I think I can answer that question." After hesitating for a long while, Josh finally stepped forward and explained. He really did not want to get involved in this father-son story, but he felt he had to explain, lest this old dragon become enraged. Josh did not want his soul to dissipate just like that. He was still hoping to learn something from him.

"What do you know?" The dragon head looked toward Josh. "And that energy of yours..."

"I will tell you." Josh shook his head, signaling for him not to rush. "Let me put it this way. The energy you encountered back then should have been this, right?"

As he spoke, Josh raised his hand. A stream of pure void magic emerged, transforming directly into the Baleful Phantasm Josh was most proficient with. However, he shaped the spell into a silver spherical orb.

"Yes." The enormous dragon head instinctively retreated slightly, as though remembering the fear that energy had once brought him. "Why can you wield such terrifying energy?"

"This is called the Void element. It comes from the endless void," Josh said softly. "The endless void connects countless worlds and ages, and the void naturally possesses its own unique power. That is what I hold in my hand. By coincidence, I obtained the inheritance of the void through an accident, which is why I can use void magic."

"As for how the Void element is used, I am sorry, but there are still too many forbidden areas in my inheritance that I cannot access. However, one of the spells I am most proficient with can explain many things."

Josh withdrew his magic power, then looked up at the enormous dragon head. "One of my most proficient spells is called Void Gate. It allows me to ignore all kinds of restrictions and travel from one world to another. You entered the endless void directly and broke through the barriers of the void. In fact, you are very much like me."

"So I want to tell you that this is not Kamacia. Nor is it the Muya Continent."

"This is another world!"

Everyone, happy Mid-Autumn Festival!