Chapter 58: A Dragon Serves, 79 CE

[Pompeii, 79 CE]

[1st POV]

As I stood in front of Mount Vesuvius, I felt something beneath the mountain. A powerful being, the remains of a powerful being more specifically. Its life energy was so strong that it remains until today, it was so strong that I could feel it from Rome. In the town near the mountain, I saw suspicious activities. People with strange thoughts and emotions entered the town a couple days ago, and they are scouting for something near the mountain.

I looked at the ground beneath me, should I? Or should I not? Will it impact the world above the remains? It shouldn’t… right?

So I took a deep breath, and I tried to connect to the remains of that being. Slowly but surely, golden energy was slowly sipping between the dirt below, rising to the grounds above. The energy slowly gathered in front of me, forming a creature in front of me.

As the construct took shape, a voice spoke in my mind.

“It is an honour to be with your side, my lord.”

Oh, it can speak? “Who are you?”

“I do not have a name, my lord.” spoke the voice. “I rested on this mountain that I called home, and I died of old age.”

“You…” I murmured. “When did you die?”

“I do not remember, my lord.” said the voice again. “It was a long time ago…”

I hummed. The energy seemed to finish gathering in front of me, and it slowly revealed itself.

It was in the shape of a serpent… no, it was a dragon.

“You are a Dragon?” I questioned.

“In your tongue, I believe it is what my species is called.” answered the Dragon.

Oh shit… a dragon? Am I allowed to absorb it? “Do you want me to release you?”

“Please don’t, my lord.” answered the Dragon. “It’s been so long since I saw the world like this, please, allow me to serve you.”

“O-Okay then…” A dragon, that’s a haul… “What do you want me to name you?”

“I wouldn’t dare to choose my own name, my lord.” said the Dragon. “Please, call me whatever you like my lord.”

“What do you think?” I asked the other constructs who could speak.

“Hmm… I am not good at naming things.” said Idemnon.

“NEW BROTHER!” shouted Asterion simply.

“...” Mephia was quiet.

I sighed. I looked at the dragon. He is gigantic, he is as long as a small river and as wide as it as well. The golden patterns are complex, he was truly an ancient being.

“Then… how about Smaug?” it’s quite a good name right?

“Then I shall now bear the name Smaug, thank you, my lord.” bowed the newly absorbed Smaug.

“Please, call me Pluto.” I shrugged.

“Very well, lord Pluto.”

Well, that’s better than nothing.

—

As I walked towards Pompeii, a group of people suddenly surrounded me. It was the people who bear strange thoughts in their heads, this is a pain…

“Who are you?” I questioned with raised eyebrows.

The group just went silent. “How did you resurrect the dragon?” asked one of the men, he has a strange accent.

I frowned. “You saw that?”

“I will ask again, how did you resurrect the dragon?”

“I am sorry, but I didn’t resurrect it.” I answered. “Who are you? You have a strange accent, you’re not from around here, are you?”

The man sighed. “You don’t want to speak, then we will make you.”

The fuck?! Are these people young masters or something?! I am at Pompeii right? Not China?

The group then suddenly rushed me with short swords. They were trying to injure me, so I dodged by jumping high into the sky. I summoned my bident, and shot golden lasers at the one who attacked me.

A couple of men died, leaving a couple more. “Why did you attack me?”

The man who spoke was still stone-faced, but I could tell that he was enraged that a couple of the men died. But then, he looked behind me, and nodded, as if a man was signalling something from afar to him.

“It seems the extraction is finished. We will find you for another time.” The man ran away from me as well as his men.

Okay… that was weird… They seemed Asian though… from China maybe? I tried to chase them, but they quickly disappeared.

After that bizarre encounter, I walked back to the town or Pompeii, where I saw an even more peculiar sight…

“Is that… Loki? Freeing some goats?” I questioned myself as I saw two rather modern-dressed men seemingly talking to each other in the middle of the town.

I was curious of course, it was loki, and it’s still some centuries before the bloke was born. I walked up to him, the other guy panicked as he saw me for some reason, but Loki didn’t notice me.

I was behind him now, and I asked. “What are you doing here?”

“Ahh!” shrieked Loki, jumping down from the goat pen that he was standing. He looked at me, and his face paled. “U-Uncle… W-What are you doing here?”

Uncle? That’s weird. “I asked you first.”

“W-Well…” Loki looked at the other guy that was with him, and the other guy gestured to Loki to run. “S-Sorry uncle, p-perhaps we will talk again at another time. I’ve got to go!”

As he said that, the mountain behind me shook. And magma dust started to come out from the top of the mountain. “Hey, it’s this your-” I looked at the direction of Loki again, and saw that he and the other guy had disappeared.

“The hell…” I murmured. I turned around again, and saw that the dust storm was approaching the town quickly.

“Is that… is it my fault?” I questioned myself.

“No, my lord.” said Smaug in my mind. “There’s a group of people who wanted to extract my bones, and they triggered the eruption.”

“So it’s not my fault…” I hummed. “This is a weird day… let’s just get out of here…”

I then summoned a portal back to Rome, where the others are preparing to depart. I entered the portal, and it closed as the dust storm covered the entire town of Pompeii…