Being a Dragon Would Be Fine, Too

Long, long ago, there was an age unknown to the world.

Back then, the Ancient Gods had briefly fallen into slumber beneath the earth.

The Gods born of faith had yet to come into being.

At that rare moment in time, one powerful race seized this precious opportunity.

In one fell swoop, they became the masters of the heavens-and of the world itself!

Countless enormous silhouettes filled the sky.

Blazing fire burned the wilderness to ash.

Lava covered the earth.

In those days, all living things bowed their heads and submitted beneath their supreme might.

They instilled that fear deep into the bloodlines of every race, making their descendants tremble and grovel at the sight of them.

Though the tides of chaos later swept across the world once more, and a new race overthrew them and claimed the throne, taking the skies from them.

No one could deny that there had once been an age that belonged to them.

It was the age of Dragons!

Fire.

Fire, fire, fire.

Flames filled his vision.

As far as he could see, both sky and earth were blanketed in fire.

Only fire.

There was nothing else.

It was as though fire was this world's sole theme.

Strangely, though, Herbert felt no heat as he stood amid the blaze. In fact, he found it rather comfortable.

Warm and wonderfully soothing.

Looking at those flames, he felt a faint hunger stirring within him.

Grrrumble!

When a deafening roar erupted from his belly, Herbert failed to suppress his instincts and involuntarily drew a breath toward the flames before him.

Whoooosh-

As a gale swept through, a fan-shaped swath of flames surged into his mouth, leaving a gap that exposed the dry, cracked, scorched-black earth beneath.

Only when the flames entered his mouth and seared his throat like strong liquor did Herbert suddenly realize something was wrong.

Huh?

Are you supposed to eat fire?

He hesitated, but still followed his instincts and swallowed a great mouthful.

Gulp!

Hiss-not hot.

Not only is it not hot, it actually tastes pretty good.

Absolutely delicious!

And that was like Pandora opening her box, a pet dog getting its first taste of poop, or the first repeated message in a group chat...

It was already too late.

Having discovered the joys of it, Herbert could no longer think through all those reasons. All that remained in his head was the urge to slurp up more fire.

He raced across the burning land, indulging himself and eating his fill.

Whoooosh-

Sluuurp-

A gulp on the left, a slurp on the right. What bliss.

He had no idea how much time passed. Only after he had devoured every flame for dozens of kilometers around, like a rabid dog licking the ground clean, did he slowly bring his gluttonous rampage to a halt.

By the time he stopped, his body had grown dozens of times larger than it had been at first. His every movement whipped up gusts and shook the earth.

He sprawled lazily on the gradually cooling ground and let out an earthshaking belch.

Buuurp!

Along with that belch, a dazzling pillar of fire erupted from his mouth, lighting up his surroundings.

By now, Herbert had long since realized what he was-he was no longer human!

Mom, I've stopped being human!

Though he had no idea what had happened, he seemed to have become a Dragon.

Being a dragon would be fine, too.

There was also something more important-he could not remember where he had come from.

His freshly scrubbed brain was utterly blank, without a trace of memory left.

All that remained in his heart was a name and a faint subconscious awareness that he had once been human.

"What exactly is going on? Am I in... huh?"

As Herbert pondered, he suddenly felt everything before him begin to sway.

Uh... a carb coma?

Oh, I ate fire. That certainly has plenty of calories-no.

That's not right.

The earth is shaking!

Crack, crack, crack...

As the earth roared, the blackened ground split, shattered, and heaved upward... A mountain so enormous that it blotted out the sky burst from beneath the earth.

"ROOOAR!!!"

Only when the roar rang out did Herbert realize that it was not a mountain at all, but a head.

A Dragon's head!

Whoa-

Herbert had thought his current body was already enormous, but to his astonishment, he was not even as large as a single pupil of the other's eye. He was as tiny as a toy.

The one-eyed Dragon King lowered his head, stared at Herbert lying dumbstruck before him, and growled: ["You dare wake the great Dragon King! Speak your name!"]

"Me? I'm Herbert."

Herbert answered honestly. Though stunned by the other's immense size, for some reason he felt no fear. He even dared to ask a question of his own:

"And who are you? What Dragon King are you?"

Are you the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea? Or the Western Sea... wait, what sea is the Eastern Sea?

Xia Donghai?

No, and what's this Crooked-Mouth Dragon King business?

What kind of nonsense is stuffed inside my head?!

The Dragon King seemed equally baffled by the question and did not answer for a while.

Staaare-

He simply stared silently at Herbert for a long while before asking in a strange tone:

["You're asking who I am? Your bloodline is pure enough to qualify you to enter the Inheritance Grounds, yet you don't know who I am?"]

"I don't. So who exactly are you, sir?"

The one-eyed Dragon fell silent for another moment, then finally burst into hearty laughter.

["...Pfft! Hahahaha! Interesting. How very interesting!"]

Under Herbert's bewildered gaze, he burst from the earth with a thunderous boom, flapping his battered, scar-covered wings as he soared into the sky.

His immense body, so vast that its slightest movement distorted space, was covered in countless wounds: a missing eye, ruined wings, severed limbs...

Before old wounds could heal, new ones were added, again and again. Countless injuries had accumulated to leave him in his present state.

At that moment, even Herbert, who had forgotten everything, understood through his soul alone-this being's very existence embodied destruction.

["Remember my name-"]

["Amid the calls of the abyss and the whispers of chaos, my name is softly chanted in forbidden tongues-I am the doom of dragonkind, the undying flame of ages, the eternal darkness before dawn!"]

["THE DESTROYER!!!"]

The Dragon King roared. Then that terrifying figure abruptly plunged from the sky-straight toward Herbert.

Herbert: ?

Before he even had time to react, the terrifying beast planted a foot on Herbert's head.

BOOM!

["Remember the anger of this moment."]

["Little one, we will meet again!"]

"What kind of palm strike falls out of the sky?!"

"Wait, how did I end up flattened into paper again?!"

"Hold on, why did I say again?"

Herbert's eyes snapped open. The corner of his mouth twitched, and he raised a hand to feel his still-intact head.

Thank goodness.

This time, he had not become Herbert paste again. His character was not remotely flat or thin.

Shaking his head, Herbert suddenly noticed the candle flame on the table. On impulse, he reached out and touched the edge of the flame.

Hiss... not hot.

After a moment's hesitation, Herbert leaned his head closer and took a fierce slurp at the flame.

Hiss!

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Blech, I sucked wax into my mouth!