—Sally—

  I shot into the ground as abruptly as I'd been shunted from the cave, smming into the dirt with a painful thud. A groan left my mouth as I slowly shifted my body, my cws cutting furrows through the ground as I moved them. A wave of relief rolled over me when I felt no pain or discomfort when testing all six limbs.

  With no new injuries—as far as I could tell—I slowly gathered my wits, scattered from both the physical sp from being shunted through reality, and the mental molestation the conversation with a god had resulted in.

  While my mindscape busily rearranged itself back into a functional state, I opened my eyes to assess what my surroundings looked like. It was too bright to see immediately, and it took a hiss of discomfort and a minute of blinking to be able to adjust, but the pain was completely worth it.

  I was in a forest, an idealistic, almost animation-esque, ancient woodnds from old cartoons. Ancient trees rose up into a canopy dozens of metres up, the ground a green bed of small ferns, rocks of all sizes—from pebbles to boulders—covered in yers of lichen and moss.

  I was currently lying in a clearing, bedded with shed bark and leaves, and entranced by the beauty of everything around me. I didn't think it was possible for such a magical pce to exist outside a screen of some sort. I felt giddy at the realisation that I was finally free from that stupid mountain—free from the possibility that it would be both my cradle and grave.

  Vines were curling around the great trees, and I realised with a jolt of surprise that they were simir to the ones in the underground ke. While these living ones were a bit smaller than their rger, stonier cousins, they weren't any less impressive. All of them were still thick enough around the base that it would take the arm-span of three or four Orions to fully hug it without gaps, and their peaks had grown to an impressive thirty to forty metres.

  They must be the shorter descendants of the petrified remains in the ke.

  A ray of sunlight had pierced through the thick canopy, nding in the middle of the clearing and illuminating floating motes of dust and tiny particutes. It was such a fantastical sight that I almost expected to spot a stone with a sword embedded in it behind a random bush.

  I looked around again, just in case Robin Hood's foxy-fursona, Bambi, or some other Disney mascot wasn't lurking in the suspiciously picturesque bushes. But no, there was only Orion, staring at me with an extremely intense gaze.

  The wonderful mood I had, cultivated by witnessing the beautiful surroundings—the surface world in all of its glory for the very first time—was quickly ruined. The conversation I'd been dreading and procrastinating had finally arrived, with no way to dey it any longer.

  I'm still pissed at the Moon god though, they were a fucking asshole—even ignoring the other weird shit they had going on—they'd gone and revealed my true nature to Orion.

  What am I going to do? What am I going to have to expin, how little could I get away with expining?

  I crept a bit closer to the Ranger, but with every step my talons took he seemed to grow more cautious, weary and uneasy towards my existence as a whole. It was a stark inversion of how he'd reacted to my presence before, when he was chasing my attention instead of fearing it.

  I almost felt insulted, but could I really bme him?

  I mean it's a no-brainer that he'd get weirded out by the revetion that he'd been carrying a sentient man on his head instead of a cute little drake.

  I decided to start the negotiation by communicating in the medium that I now know both of us share, written English.

  After a bit of consideration, I began grabbing the straightest sticks around, and upon seeing my actions, Orion hesitantly began to help. Within a couple of minutes, we had a bundle of reusable twigs, that I pnned to make text. It was much clearer than trying to dig letters in the rough, coarse dirt—far too many random leaves and stones for the writing to be easily legible. Also, actual objects would be easy to pick up and rearrange for responding.

  I began to y out my first sentence to Orion, using my talons to pick up and arrange the sticks in what quickly became a surprisingly difficult test of my fine motor control. Orion knew what I was now, so I couldn't use my mouth like a wild animal—not without losing what little reputation I had left. I'd already done so much that I shouldn't have, and I really can't afford being abandoned in a random forest.

  'Hello Orion.' I wrote, and anxiously awaited his response.

  It was a unique experience watching his face slowly solidify with what I could only assume was anger, or some sister emotion to it.

  With a slightly shivering hand he began to rearrange the sticks into a new sentence. My heart began to race, fear arising from the realisation that I hadn't seen his hands tremble like this before.

  Not even when he was faced with any of the terrifying monsters inside the dungeon. It implied that he was feeling more emotional when faced with my true identity than almost getting swallowed whole by Ulun'suti. But that can't be right?

  'I'm sorry Sally.' He eventually wrote with the sticks, leaving me feeling mentally discombobuted. I had been expecting the exact opposite of an apology.

  'For what?' I cautiously replied, probing to see if I had an excuse to dodge all of the topics I'd wanting to avoid.

  'Parents, kidnap, soul-bond.' He managed to eborate, noticeably talking to himself while doing so. Muttering three distinct words under his breath, and igniting an idea that'd make my future much easier.

  To test my theory, I ran through the mental exercise I’d been using to expand the system's magic transtor. Feeding it the things it needed for it to begin to do all the hard work for me. Though, unlike before, I had the words written down in a nguage I know, skipping the hardest part of the process.

  In an instant, my brain had categorised and understood the sounds, doubling my known words of this world's nguage. Just having Orion write and say words at the same time would be enough for me to learn them. Hell, I might be able to learn this whole nguage in a week.

  As I came to terms with this important idea, Orion had run out of sticks, and had begun to form a sentence from the ones he'd already made.

  I poked his hand with a sharp cw to stop him, and when he hesitated, I swooped in and stole what sticks I could.

  'Say word when write.' I requested, and when he shot me a gaze that I knew from experience was a questioning one, I continued to write.

  'Magic make me under-'

  'Understand meaning.' I eventually managed to expin, and after he processed the information for a second, resumed his unexpected apology with added narration.

  'Hunger, cold-' '-injury, near-death.' He eventually finished writing, and I felt pleasantly surprised at how he had remembered everything. It wasn't accurate, I was happy that he bmed himself—in a way that was beneficial to me—so I wasn't interested in correcting him. It provided a good opportunity to get some leverage on him.

  It only improved my good mood. Not only had I been completely wrong about Orion's—most likely—response to my unfortunately real backstory, I was finally free. Free from the cave, and how its stupid frigid temperature knocked me out of commission, how reliant it made me on Orion.

  A whole new world of possibilities had been opened up to me. I could go anywhere, pursue whatever I wanted, and best of all, I was finally getting the story I deserved.

  'It's no worries-' '-just don't leave-' '-me behind-' '-without helping.' I asked, giving the cold man the best puppy eyes I could. It's not that I wanted to stick around him, but I had his sympathy, and I wasn't going to turn down help from the person who'd just saved my life. Somebody who could give me so much more.

  He met my ploy for sympathy with an unwavering stare, holding it for five seconds—the situation almost teetering into an awkward silence—before he gave me a nod. I waited for him to respond through the sticks, but after what this time actually became a painfully long pause, I realised that I was going to have to be the one to keep the conversation going.

  'How about you tell-' '-me about yourself.' I asked, turning a question I’d been idly wondering into an excuse to keep the conversation going.

  'Park Ranger from-' '-North America-' '-I just turned eighteen.' He twig-texted—ooh, that's good, might just trademark it. But his three basic statements had given me a lot of interesting information. I was mostly surprised at how close in age he was to me, only a month or two between us.

  I didn't realise it before because he had one of those faces that'd make you think a high-schooler was in their early twenties—never could tell if that was a blessing or a curse.

  'And what are you?' Orion rudely asked, and indirectly reminding me that I hadn't told him that I was human yet, and the Moon god had only hinted that I wasn't a normal drakeling.

  'Once human-' '-died then turned-' '-into drake in egg.' I tried to expin without revealing anything I didn't have to. The less I had to expin about myself, the lower the chance of tripping over one of the many ndmines made of the things he'd assumed about me.

  But while I awaited his response, I carefully watched his face for any indication of his thoughts, but his constant poker-face was difficult to pierce.

  'Reincarnation?' He asked, and I gave him a nod instead of bothering to engage in the tedious task of replying through stick.

  'Sorry.' He needlessly apologised before continuing to write.

  'Is the body-' '-uncomfortable?-' '-do you want to-' '-fix it?' he asked, and as reasonable a question it would've been for most to answer, it still caused a rise of annoyance to peak in my heart.

  'NO!' 'Body is fine-' '-I like it.' 'Hopefully evolve' 'into a dragon!' I quickly corrected him, and he let out a sigh, letting some pent-up emotion—I didn't recognise it in the moment—escape and dissipate.

  A good sign I hope, maybe he was worried about getting roped into some quest that took a lot of time and effort for no benefit.

  'I was an almost-' '-eighteen year-old-' '-High-school student-' '-from Australia.' I expined, deciding to mirror Orion's introduction from earlier, just to establish some basic info.

  'Still figuring stuff-' '-out, but only-' '-thing I really-' '-want currently-' '-is to level.' I eborated, the tell-tale sign of Orion becoming confused indicated by the furrowing of his eyebrows.

  'Why level?' 'Don't want to-' '-be a human-' '-woman again?' He inquired again, reminding me that I had an almost eighteen-years-te gender-reveal party to host. I almost considered hiding that piece of information, but there wasn't much point to obfuscating it. It's not like waiting to reveal the information would make a potential reaction any less negative or extreme.

  'Levels means I get-' '-stronger, and you-' '-don't have to protect-' '-me from monsters.' I lectured, leaving out that it would also make me less reliant on him for food and warmth. Because I think that topic is best left buried under that mountain.

  'And I wasn't a-' '-human woman.' I quickly added before he could reply, cutting off the fingers reaching for the sticks. After a few seconds of intense concentration he eventually began to reply, and I nervously awaited his response.

  'Okay.' He eventually wrote, and I almost had a heart-attack from how little he'd responded. I had been expecting something—anything—good or bad. The st thing I expected was this anti-climatic reaction, I’d thought he would be freaking out. It was almost worse than if he'd gotten passionate with either end of the spectrum, at least I'd know what he'd thought about it.

  'Boy?' He eventually to added to his cklustre answer, and I nodded, though I felt a bit confused at to why he felt the need to ask. It's not like there was another answer if 'Girl' was blocked out.

  'Boy now?' He added to his original sentence, and I nodded quickly to ward off this line of questioning. It felt humiliating and awkward to have to even entertain them.

  And it looked like he was curious enough to keep asking about it, but something else seemed to catch his attention and redirect his next question.

  'Is Sally an okay-' '-name? Do you want-' '-to tell me your-' '-old one?' He asked, revealing an important piece of information. He didn't know what the system did to my memories of my old name. It didn't change what he'd done to me, or that I needed to get revenge for it at some point, but it did soften the seriousness of his transgression.

  I looked at him carefully to formute my pn on what to do next, a dozen incomplete ideas flying around my mind until I settled on the safest option. It seemed that he already felt pretty guilty, and I didn't have to reveal the memory fuckery yet—so I could save the piece of info to guilt trip him ter. I did still need to manage the [Soul Bond].

  And besides, what else could I do but keep 'Sally' as a name? My old one was completely overridden, so I couldn't tell him that, even if I wanted to. I mean I could come up with some random male name like 'Ben', but in the end I didn't mind 'Sally'. It'd also already been magically assigned to me, so why bother trying to repce what'd already become so ingrained in my mind as 'my name'.

  'Sally is fine-' '-easier now anyway.' I wrote back, and he gave me a deadpan stare that sted a couple of seconds before he nodded.

  It really was amazing at how mild a personality Orion had, at least compared to the egos I’d expected from a reincarnation experience. I was expecting much more extreme highs and depressing lows, not this smooth-sailing and easy-going personality he'd shown. I mean he'd been more-or-less calm when dealing with the terrifying Ulun'suti—as far as I could tell.

  'You are okay with-' '-being a baby drake?-' 'and called Sally?' He tried to confirm for the third time, and I felt frustrated that this was the thing he was getting stuck on rather than anything else I’d been stressed about.

  A frustrated whine was all the response he got, and before I could apologise for the unintentional noise that'd slipped out, he nodded.

  'I don't understand-' '-but if you like it-' '-then that's all you-' '-needed to say.' He eventually twig-texted. But it took him so long to respond that it felt like I'd witnessed the real life equivalent of sending a risky text. I spent a minute watching his hands hover over the sticks awkwardly, the physical manifestation of a '…' appearing and disappearing as the recipient of your message typed out possible answers.

  But as he showed his rather accommodating personality, I remembered one other thing I'd forgotten to mention. While I had Orion's attention, I might as well mention it and see if his side of the system offered him a way to break the [Soul Bond]. I might even be able to get the system working if the Moon god's assessment was correct.

  'One other thing-' '-The [Soul Bond]-' '-Can you-' I almost finished writing, but by the intervention of some cruel god—most likely one from the moon—my stomach rumbled loudly. Orion had been intently staring at my mostly-finished sentence with an intensity I’d rarely seen in him, but my guts had spooked him into motion.

  He almost got up and walked off into the forest without saying anything, before remembering that I existed when I let out a questioning yelp.

  'Getting food before-' '-dealing with other-' '-issues.' He quickly arranged while popping a squat. He then retreated before I could do anything, jumping into the undergrowth like a startled deer.

  It was a bit strange, but a perfect reminder of the fact I was still starving to death. And I’d hate to know how painful the next stage of [Starvation] was if the second was already this bad.

  I turned my attention away from the crises I couldn't solve right now and looked for something else to distract myself from the gnawing hunger in my belly.

  I idly opened the System to see if it'd reacted to being in its creator's presence, and the new message idling in my inbox was very interesting.

  Update avaible, would you like to install it now?

  Well damn, I guess they weren't lying—I don't think that I had believed his words, not until I had the evidence floating in front of my face.

  I guess that all I needed to do now was accept the offer.