When the broadsword collided with the diamond fragments embellished on the crown of the Queen of the Mosquitomp's, I was brought into an ancient, desolated arena with dragon statues as its spectators.
Due to the dust brought by the limestones, I couldn't help but sneeze, and on my last sneeze, all the braziers lit up.
Not only I was transported here, but also the bloodwhore parasitic diva.
She's tied up in chains, and no matter how she tried to conjure her bizarre freeing ritual, the chains just either choked her or restrained her.
"What did you do to me?" she asked angrily.
I shrugged. "No idea. But I like watching you deal with prolonged agony. It serves you right for depriving people of their lives."
I noticed that the diamond fragments on her were gone. "Come closer, and I'll coarsen that trenchant tongue of yours as I suck all your vigor."
"As if I'm a nitwit to follow your orders," I replied. "No insect in hideous form and in a helpless state can command me."
I heard an abysmal laugh, so loud it rang a bass bell in my ears, then one of the four throne chairs built from different corners of the arena lit up a green fire.
The pestilential queen was slumped-jawed as if it was the death of her when she saw what creature appeared on the throne.
"It can't be," she mumbled in terror and I even heard her mentioned 'Planetary Annihilators'.
A humongous green-scaled dragon covered in stone and moss appeared and sat on the prominent throne.
"Gutsy and bold," said the cross-armed dragon, referring to me. "However, your lack of patience and constant complaining are what make me dislike you. Nevertheless, you entertained me."
Another throne lit up with a burgundy fire.
A dragon as huge as the Eiffel Tower, built like a wrestler and covered in volcanic ashes and lava, showed up.
"It's maddening that I got bonked by a narrow-mindedly moralistic juvenile while I'm in the midst of my unbeauty rest!" It spoke angrily staring at me.
I almost got blown away by the sudden, windstormy appearance of a crystalline dragon shrouded in clouds, resembling a python, but this one could fly.
"This descendant of Oshirin is getting under my skin. Having said that, I'm unsympathetic to all of his inheritors who came here to lend one of our powers, but what can we do? We're being cursed by the Diamond Oyster."
The fire in the last throne surprised us with a man in midnight blue clothing. Among the three, he's indifferent and doesn't look like a dragon but a winged human.
He dresses like an archer – an archer who has just risen from the dead.
"You've already heard the initial impressions of my three siblings. It seems like I am the one here who has a favorable opinion about you, Kintsugi Agysmal."
"What are you?" I asked him, still creeped out by him. Speaking of creepy creatures, among the four, he's drawn to me, maybe because I look like a good snack.
"We're the mythical Meadow Feral called Dracomeleon, and I am Dotherte the Upriser," he revealed. "The one who's regaled by you is Aguinadro the Rumbler, the one who immediately boils when his sleep is disrupted is Qluezon the Arsonist, and the glistening beast who offers no regards to any humans is Akuinon the Drowner."
"The four of us were hatched to destroy a planet, and that led the Mother Meadow Feral to banish us to the outskirts of the universe. When we set out on Meadowglaze to cause annihilation, we were stopped by a monk who proclaimed himself the savior of the planet. His name is Oshirin. He defeated and buried us in this dimensional arena with the help of the most powerful gemstone – the Diamond Oyster," Aguinadro added.
"Oshirin then took our bones and had them compressed by the great blacksmith Forossa into a weapon, which he called the Draco Archer Kit. Oshirin used our powers in a way that's beneficial to the safety of humanity," Akuinon inserted.
"Oshirin tamed us, and we became allies for decades. However, when he died, the next monk to inherit the weapon became self-centered and hungry for more power. When he finally met his dreadful demise, we Dracomeleons decided not to fully lend our powers but instead decide which one of us will lend power to the next successor," Aguinadro explained.
"The successor must convince us that they're worthy of the Draco Archer Kit, so we put them through different pressure tests. In your case, you provoked us by breaking the weapon if it didn't work out according to your wishes. Though you possess some remarkable qualities like fearlessness and benevolence, I still not fond of you so I no longer have business to deal with you," Qluezon pointed out.
"I second the motion," Akuinon insinuated, glaring at me.
"I too is no help to you," Aguinadro enunciated that it made me looked down on them and clinched my fist.
"If only I'd known what lies beneath the bow and arrow that I've been carrying on my journey, I should've taken the kitchen knife and the frying pan as my weapons because they seem more helpful," I uttered as anger started to eat away at me. "But I took it for the sake of filling my loneliness due to Grandpa's disappearance. Knowing how belittling you are ruined the symbolism of why I took it with me!"
"Quit the dramatics and release me now!" the Mosquitomp queen demanded, sounding entitled in a supermarket parking lot. "I still have a village to destroy, to erase all traces of resisting landowners."
"Shut your devil-damned mouth, you trivial piece of shit! We're not done yet."
I flew and twirled for a second in the air, and one of my molars detached from my mouth when Dotherte landed his fist on my face. I tumbled to the ground like a squeezed milk carton.
''What's that for?'' I asked him as I coughed, dealing with the pain.
''That punch? That's for waking your spirit! You've been furious and wanting to torment those who doubt your ability, but how can you not realize that I'm willing to entrust my power to you? Stand up, fix your composure, and finish the fight the Oogwen villagers have started. Take down Mosquitora in front of us. Make me proud, Kintsugi! Prove my siblings wrong!''
Hearing Dotherte's words gave a sudden jolt, dawning on my veins, compilations of people and monsters flooding my bloodstream, and their grunting in my ears made my head combust.
I can't bear the raspy and unsettling voices, but I'm dealing with the affliction as I fix my stance.
Panting, I took the newly furnished bow and arrow floating in front of me.
"Aim the arrow at Mosquitora!" yelled Dotherte, sounding like a frenzied beast, and as if I didn't do it straightaway, Mosquitora would get away from all the chains that had been tied to her.
The arrow, just like usual, turned into a broadsword when propelled, but the blade was now forged like a key.
As it was on its way to pierce Mosquitora's heart, it disappeared, then a big door appeared on her back, and when the cautioned-taped door opened, it spit out a horde of ZOMBIES!
The zombies competed with each other to ingest Mosquitora, pushing and pulling one another to see who could finish her off first.
They were savoring her taste while she was cursing us all at the top of her lungs.
Mosquitora was like being swarmed by a colony of mealworms, and I couldn't believe that this was the power possessed by the Dracomeleon, Dotherte – and how will I wield this kind of power?
It's scary, but it's a challenge.
When there was nothing left of Mosquitora, the zombies surrounded me, and that's when I noticed that they were a nonliving company of archers.
"From today onwards, the Specters will be your minions," Dotherte unveiled as he walked towards me, and the zombies gave him a clear path. "Each time you kill a person with an arrow, they'll instinctively become a Specter, and they can also spread their kind if a person is bitten. Each fragmented human or beast the Specters eat will give you more advantage in battle. That's all I can discuss for now."
I wanted to catch Dotherte with my own hands, but he disappeared along with the zombies-Specters, and I was sent back to Oogwen Village.
As I knelt down on the ground with a pile of questions in my head, I could hear footsteps coming my way.
"You retrieved the fragments!" Kooki greeted me with a celebratory tone as we stared at the diamond fragments glossing on the ground. But what pokes me is the archer's kit that's back to its usual useless form. It's lying beside the fragments.
"As he should." Floette jumped out as if she wanted to piggyback on me. "It's his only job – to retrieve the Diamond Oyster while we cover for him, and he didn't come back to surprise us with bad news."
"I thought we lost you, but we're glad you're safe, Kintsugi," Old Chiro chimed in, together with some wounded but medicated villagers. "Just a thought, what happened to the queen of Mosquitomps?"
"Let's forget about that ugly-crowned scene-stealer, Old Chiro," Floette spoke on my behalf. "What matters most is that she and her kind are now all turned to dust particles. No Mosquitomps will infest this village again."
"We can't be so sure about that, Floette," Old Chiro stated. "There are still different variants of Mosquitomps in different regions of Meadowglaze. However, being triumphant in the battle we strove to end for years only means that all the people who lost their lives in Oogwen Village didn't die in vain. They've been served justice, and we owe it all to you."
"Just be frank, Old Chiro – you didn't want us to go and remain here forever as your protectors."
"I didn't mean it like that, Floette."
"Why do you look spooked, Kintsugi?" Rosenth asked me warmly as she picked up the fragments and handed them to me. "Meadowglaze is filled with something hard to explain or understand from your perspective as a non-habitant of this world. If you don't give up and remain inquisitive, you'll get the answers to all your questions at the right time, and as your companion, I'll be there when you find them."
Rosenth's sisterly talk put a faint smile on my scraggy face.
I shook my head and pretended I'm fine since everything is back to normal in Oogwen Village, well, at least for now.