Chapter Text
The first morning that Kim Rok Soo had woken up as a dragon, he hadn’t immediately been able to process what had happened. His body had felt unwieldy and the environment had been completely unfamiliar, but after the initial confusion he had managed to access the memories of the body he found himself in. After that, adjusting to his new life hadn’t been that difficult, particularly once he figured out how to shape-shift.
Since the universe had apparently handed him a quiet place to live and mind his own business, Kim Rok Soo dug a small garden and planted some seeds, thinking of the conversations that he’d had with his companions in his previous life. The Red Dragon had been a hoarder of all kinds of things, and Kim Rok Soo had been pleasantly surprised to discover seeds among the myriad items collected by the body's previous owner.
It was still winter when he had first become a dragon, but that didn't stop him from digging around in the frozen ground and setting up a garden area. He simply put his new magic to use, warming the earth and air around his new home. It created the effect of a greenhouse without the inconvenience of having to actually build one, allowing him to start planting seeds despite the snow that surrounded his secluded meadow.
Although he had remained in dragon form to do the initial digging, Kim Rok Soo typically spent his time in a more human-like shape when working on the garden. It was easier to handle delicate tasks in a more familiar body, particularly since he wasn't really used to the talons and claws of his dragon body when compared to fingers. He was just as likely to pull out a plant that he wanted to keep as he was to pluck a weed if he attempted to tend the garden as a dragon.
Looking in the mirror after shape-shifting, he had discovered that his hair was vibrantly red, like the dragon's scales. It didn’t really matter what he looked like, or what he wore, since there wasn’t anyone out here but him in this stretch of wilderness that he had woken up in. The surrounding area was fairly rocky and accessing the meadow that the Red Dragon had claimed for himself wasn’t easy without wings. The valley was surrounded on all sides by slopes of rock, and if someone didn't know it was there, it was easy to overlook completely.
Within the sheltered confines of the rocky slopes, there was a wide swatch of meadow, several small patches of trees, and even a little spring welling from the ground. While he could easily change shapes and go find a human town, Kim Rok Soo liked the idea of being left alone to quietly mind his own business and tend to the garden that he had dreamed about planting so many years ago.
There were plenty of stories about dragons being hunted down and killed simply for existing in the books that he had read in the past, so he hadn’t really gone out to investigate the new world he now lived in despite his ability to maintain human form. All of his knowledge of the world came from the memories of the Red Dragon whose body now belonged to him, and the thing that primarily stuck out to him was that dragons were solitary creatures.
There was only one other dragon that the Red Dragon had known about, a golden dragon that had assisted him through his first growth phase. Kim Rok Soo was glad that he hadn’t personally needed to live through that experience, since just sifting through the dragon’s memories was enough to indicate that it hadn’t been pleasant. While the golden dragon seemed amiable enough in the Red Dragon’s memories, he had left the Red Dragon to its own devices after the growth phase was over, so Kim Rok Soo assumed that he preferred to live alone.
His inherited senses did also indicate the presence of dragon energy somewhere in the vast forest that he could see if he flew to the mountaintops that surrounded his secluded valley, but Kim Rok Soo hadn’t felt the need to investigate further. Dragon energy was not the only thing in that forest and even if he was considerably stronger as a dragon than he had been as a human, he had no desire to go out of his way to look for trouble. He had experienced enough instances in the past where trouble had come looking for him to feel the need to potentially add to his own problems.
The other thing that Kim Rok Soo had gleaned from the Red Dragon’s memories was that it had experienced a rather rocky childhood, just as he had. Until he had met the golden dragon Eruhaben, the Red Dragon had lived on the run. What exactly he had been running from wasn’t completely clear in the memories, but the simple fact that he hadn’t felt safe in the world was justification enough for Kim Rok Soo to keep to himself in this quiet mountain meadow. Perhaps it was a blessing for the Red Dragon to be able to forget the worst of the shadows that had plagued his youth.
Kim Rok Soo had lost track of how many days or weeks or even months it had been since he woke up as a dragon. It certainly hadn’t been a year yet, as his little garden wasn’t ripe for harvesting and was still growing, but it was definitely early spring outside the valley now. The days blended together in a rather seamless stream of napping, hunting, and gardening. With no particular responsibilities or anyone to report to, Kim Rok Soo hadn’t been bothering to count the days or even pay attention to what day of the week it was.
One evening his quiet stream of similar days was disrupted by a huge wave of what he instinctively recognized as mana from another dragon. It was too close for him to not feel the need to go investigate, particularly since it had been such a massive blast of power. His knowledge of the world from the Red Dragon’s memories identified the energy as a mana explosion and he knew it was a dangerous situation for not only himself but also any people living in the surrounding valleys.
Now that he had been a dragon himself for so long, Kim Rok Soo had the feeling that he could suppress and calm the mana of the other dragon if he intervened, preventing a wide-scale disaster. If he left the situation alone, it seemed likely that the other dragon would go on a rampage and many lives were likely to be lost, not to mention the damage that would be done to the surrounding area.
Since he could fly, it wasn’t like Kim Rok Soo couldn’t at least get himself out if the situation seemed bad, though he would need to make sure that he didn’t inadvertently alert the people of the region to the location of his secluded hideaway. He reasoned to himself that this incident was similar to asking a noisy neighbor to quiet down, and with that thought in mind he took to the air.
What he found when he reached the source of the mana disruption surprised him. He had expected a dragon of similar size and bulk to himself, but instead he saw a tiny black figure in the process of destroying a mountain. Despite the other dragon’s small size, it was clearly very powerful, perhaps even more than it usually would be due to the state that it was currently in. Kim Rok Soo could see a mana suppression collar around the smaller dragon’s neck, but it was lashing out violently despite the collar.
The remnants of chains hung from the dragon's paws and there were wounds all over the little dragon too. Kim Rok Soo wondered if the Red Dragon whose body now belonged to him had endured a similar situation in the distant past. Perhaps this was why he had always been on the run, to avoid ending up like this little Black Dragon, chained and covered in wounds and burning its own life energy to overcome the mana restraints in pursuit of vengeance.
At the rate things were going, the little dragon was going to drive itself mad with pain, the collar inflicting increasing agony as the dragon continued to destroy the mountain that Kim Rok Soo suspected had previously concealed the place where it had been held captive. With a sudden flash of recognition, Kim Rok Soo realized that he knew both where he was and what would happen next if the dragon was left to rampage un-checked. If he couldn’t calm it down and get it out of here, it was doomed to be mercy-killed by Choi Han to put it out of its misery.
Scanning the area, he spotted the village where Choi Han likely was already staying. For now the dragon’s rampage was contained to the mountain, but if it started to attack the viscount’s manor or the village itself Choi Han would definitely get involved. Kim Rok Soo flew lower so that he wouldn’t be spotted from the village.
“Hey you,” he called telepathically to the little dragon below. It was convenient not having to raise his voice and try to be heard over the chaos the dragon had started. He saw the dragon flinch and look around, vengeance momentarily forgotten.
“Up here,” Kim Rok Soo called again, settling himself on the sturdiest tree he could see. It groaned under his weight but fortunately didn’t break. “You should stop that, you’re hurting yourself.”
The other dragon was crouched on the ground, staring up at him warily. Kim Rok Soo was reminded of a feral kitten, back arched and fur on end, ready to scratch or flee at any moment. It was clear that the dragon hadn’t expected to meet another dragon just outside where it had been kept captive. A small spark of indignant anger flashed in the little Black Dragon’s eyes.
“You don’t know anything,” he growled.
“I can see for myself that you’re in pain,” Kim Rok Soo pointed out, taking in the smaller dragon’s terrible condition. The mana was still burning and boiling just under the skin, ready to explode but barely contained by the collar now that the dragon had been distracted from actively using it. He needed to get the dragon away from here, because he could hear people coming to investigate the sounds from the previous attacks.
“Come with me, I’ll help you out,” he told the Black Dragon. The Red Dragon’s lair was pretty well stocked, though Kim Rok Soo had confirmed from the memories that he had sifted through that it was not all obtained legally. Still, the little dragon was going to need some recovery potions at the very least, and he was sure that he could find something to get that collar off if he looked around a bit.
“No,” the other dragon said, bristling at him. Kim Rok Soo wasn’t surprised that it didn’t trust him, even if he wasn’t human like the dragon’s captors had been. “You should have helped sooner if you wanted to help,” the little dragon accused. Kim Rok Soo supposed that from the Black Dragon’s point of view, the Red Dragon had been close enough to break him out all this time and yet had done nothing to save him.
“I didn’t know you were here,” Kim Rok Soo admitted. It was partially his own fault for not scouting the area more thoroughly instead of just setting up his little farm. If he had recognized the world that he had found himself in sooner, he could have definitely come up with a plan to break the Black Dragon out before it had broken out by itself. Then it would have suffered less and wouldn’t be in the current state of barely contained mana explosion.
“I only realized that you were here because of your mana,” Kim Rok Soo continued. He could hear the sounds of shouting getting nearer as the people from the viscount’s villa came toward what was left of the mountain. “You can’t stay here though. People are coming.”
“I’ll kill them all,” the little dragon said viciously. Kim Rok Soo didn’t blame it for holding a grudge, but without getting the mana restraint collar removed, the dragon was just going to make his own condition worse.
“Come with me and I’ll get that collar off for you,” he offered. “You can decide if your revenge is really worth it after you’ve healed up a bit.” The glimmer of torchlight was visible now as the people drew nearer. Kim Rok Soo willed himself invisible, manipulating his mana slightly. Of course, the tree still bent nearly in two beneath him would give away his position, but he intended to move soon.
“You’re lying,” the little dragon accused.
“It’s true, I am a good liar,” Kim Rok Soo admitted. “But if you want to smack these guys in the back of the head, you should run away now and come back when you’re at full power.” He took flight again, hovering just above the tree he had previously been perched. “I’ll even carry you,” he offered, noting the state of the Black Dragon’s wings.
“I can fly by myself!” the younger dragon retorted quickly, but the moment that he stretched his wings, he winced. Kim Rok Soo was pleased that the little dragon had finally agreed to leave, since they only had seconds to spare by this point, but he stayed silent and watched the other dragon. After a few more experimental attempts at spreading his wings, the Black Dragon growled in frustration at his own limitations.
“...I’ll let you carry me just this once,” he conceded, having apparently taken Kim Rok Soo’s words to heart about not using his mana further while still restricted by the collar. Without that restraint, he would be able to fly even with his wings in such a poor state.
Kim Rok Soo gingerly scooped the small dragon up with his talons and extended his mana to cover it and make it invisible too. The mana restriction collar made it difficult despite the fact that he wasn’t the one wearing it, and Kim Rok Soo hoped that the little dragon wouldn’t flicker in and out of sight enough to be noticeable as they flew away. He flew swiftly and silently back to his hidden lair, carefully setting the other dragon down by the garden when they arrived.
“Wait here a moment,” he instructed, heading into the cavern that the Red Dragon had laid claim to before he had inherited this body. He shifted forms, figuring that it would be easier to handle the potion bottles and find something to cut the collar with if he had fingers instead of talons. A low growl alerted him to the fact that the other dragon hadn’t listened to his instruction to stay outside.
“Why do you look like a human?” the Black Dragon asked, voice full of suspicion.
“So that I can help you,” Kim Rok Soo answered simply. He located a pair of shears and eyed the collar, trying to determine if they would be strong enough to cut through it. After thinking about it for a moment, he rummaged around a bit further and found a pair of gloves. He hadn’t even been touching the collar before and it had still affected his mana when he carried the other dragon.
There was no way that the shears would break the collar as they were, but it didn't take long for Kim Rok Soo to layer some enchantments onto them. The memories of the Red Dragon came in handy in moments like these. Eruhaben had taught the Red Dragon a few things when he had helped the younger dragon through his first growth phase. Even the suppressing power of the collar wouldn't hold against enough magic, as proven by the Black Dragon's use of mana earlier.
“Hold still,” Kim Rok Soo told the other dragon, who was eying the shears with distrust. Despite the obvious flinch as Kim Rok Soo grabbed the collar, the dragon was otherwise still as Kim Rok Soo slid one of the blades underneath the ring. He had been right to grab gloves, since he could feel a bit of a burning sensation in his palm even with the gloves on. The Black Dragon must have been in constant pain while wearing the collar.
It only took one attempt to break the collar, though he did also unfortunately break the shears, as the blades were ruined afterward. Kim Rok Soo tossed both aside as he knelt and grabbed the little dragon by the chin to force a potion down his throat. There was a brief scuffle as the other dragon tried to get free, but as he realized the potion was healing him, he stopped trying to break out of Kim Rok Soo’s hold.
“Here,” Kim Rok Soo said, tossing the mostly empty bottle at the little dragon so he could finish drinking it. He found another potion and poured it over the worst of the injuries on the dragon’s back, allowing the potions to heal the dragon both internally and externally. It would probably be best for the little dragon to rest for a while and recover, but he guessed that as a being that was born proud and arrogant, the younger dragon would leave as soon as he could.
“I hope you get better soon,” he told the other dragon. He eyed the now broken mana restraint collar with distaste, wondering what the best way to get rid of it was. Leaving it here in his home was out of the question. Returning his attention to the Black Dragon, he saw that most of the wounds were healed now, though there was still some scarring that would need additional attention. At least the other dragon’s mana had stabilized and wasn’t going to eat away at him from inside anymore.
“What do you want to do now that you’re free?” Kim Rok Soo asked.
“I…want to live,” the younger dragon said after a moment. “I want to be free.” Kim Rok Soo nodded in acceptance.
“Yes, dragons should be free,” he agreed. “You should live the life you want.”
“I’m not going to be tamed by anyone,” the Black Dragon said resolutely. “Not by you, or anyone else!” Kim Rok Soo nodded again.
“Yes, you’re a smart and prideful dragon.” He stood up, crossing his arms. “I’m not going to raise you, so you should live how you want to live.” It was very unlikely that the Black Dragon would still be around in the morning, since dragons tended to be solitary creatures.
If nothing else, the younger dragon would probably go back and finish destroying the mountain where he had been held captive. Kim Rok Soo hoped that the other dragon would at least wait until Choi Han was gone if he was going to attack the viscount’s vacation home. The whole point of stepping in had been to prevent needless deaths, both that of the dragon and those of the people who hadn’t even been involved in the dragon’s confinement.
A being as intelligent as the young dragon should know that the best move would be to find himself a lair and grow in power before coming back to destroy the estate properly. Either way, whatever the dragon chose to do next was not Kim Rok Soo’s problem. He’d stepped in and averted the immediate crisis, but now he had a different problem on his hands.
If this really was the world of the book that he had been reading before becoming this Red Dragon, the plot indicated that there was an event coming up soon that would claim quite a few more lives than the Black Dragon’s rampage had originally been meant to take.
As much as he might like to say ‘I’m not human anymore, so this isn’t my problem,’ Kim Rok Soo knew that he wasn’t really going to do that. He knew that Choi Han would be able to mitigate about half of the damage, but that wouldn’t be enough. If the protagonist knew about the bombs ahead of time, he could both seek revenge for what he had experienced in Harris village and save more lives.
The only problem was that Kim Rok Soo had no desire to get anywhere near someone as dangerous as Choi Han, particularly not if he had Ron and Beacrox Molan in tow, which he most likely did if the plot was properly on course. Any one of those three might stab first and ask questions later if Kim Rok Soo approached them carelessly. Dragon strength probably wouldn’t do him any good against someone who had killed a dragon in the book, even if he was older and stronger than the young Black Dragon that Choi Han had been meant to kill.
Logically speaking, Kim Rok Soo knew that as a dragon, he was among the strongest beings in the world. However, Choi Han was a protagonist who had some crazy growth potential and was already incredibly strong. Even if he might not kill Kim Rok Soo, he could probably do some serious damage, and Kim Rok Soo hated pain. He wanted to avoid even the slightest chance of being injured, if he could.
His best bet was to get himself some sort of insurance before he approached them. Knowing what he did about the world, Kim Rok Soo was aware that there were many hidden powers in the world. He wasn't really interested in divine powers, since he didn't want to get involved in any way with gods, or devils, or angels. There were plenty of natural powers he could look into though, powers that had come from nature or been developed naturally by people in the past.
There were several powers he could think of that Choi Han's party and other main characters in the book were supposed to collect, but they were supporting powers that the strong main characters wouldn't really miss. Dragons were definitely powerful beings, but supporting powers couldn't hurt if Kim Rok Soo was going to be face to face with the dangerous main characters. He had read enough about Choi Han's strength to be concerned about his own safety even if he knew that he had strong defensive magic.
Considering where he was, the closest and safest option was a power that would allow him to protect himself with an extra layer of shielding if he went and retrieved it. Since he could fly, getting to the location of the so-called ‘man-eating tree’ and gaining the power before catching up to Choi Han wouldn’t be a problem.
He could probably even spare a little time for networking and meet Billos, who was in the same area as the tree, which might give him an advantage later. Even a dragon could never have too much money, and he was about to spend some of what he currently had to get his hands on the Ancient Power of protection. Having connections with a merchant like Billos would work in Kim Rok Soo’s favor in the future if he ever needed anything from the human world.
Considering the approximate timeline of events, Kim Rok Soo should be able to pick up a secondary power and strengthen the protection of the shield as well, which would give him a little extra peace of mind. He intended to stay out of the main character’s way in the future, but having some additional strength wouldn’t hurt when the world was going to be engulfed in war.
After he sent Choi Han on his way to prevent the plaza incident, Kim Rok Soo might even head north to pick up an additional power in interest of his own self-preservation. Even with the added benefits of the Ancient Powers to augment his skills, he knew that there were some ridiculously strong people in this world. He might plan to stay hidden away in his little valley and not bother with the war, but he still wanted to have a way to defend himself and run away if things got messy.
It was already late enough that Kim Rok Soo didn’t see much point in heading into the Henituse territory tonight. Glancing around to see what the Black Dragon was doing, he saw that it was poking around through the Red Dragon’s stash of treasures. He didn’t blame the little dragon for being curious, considering that he had never known anything but darkness and torment thus far in his short life, but Kim Rok Soo was a little annoyed that the other dragon hadn’t asked before he started touching things.
Briefly surprised by the flare of possessive anger that washed over him, Kim Rok Soo wondered if being protective of a hoard was ingrained in a dragon’s nature. Perhaps there was some residual trace of the Red Dragon’s original soul still somewhere in this body. He could access the Red Dragon’s memories from the time before he had taken over the body, but he had never felt any sort of indication that there might be another consciousness in the body with him.
“Hey you,” he called to the younger dragon. “It’s not polite to touch what isn’t yours without asking.” The Black Dragon bristled slightly.
“I’ll touch what I want to touch,” he said with a mildly disdainful tone, but despite his words, he retracted his paw from the pile of gold coins that he had been gently sifting through with his claws. While his eyes kept roaming the room, he kept his paws to himself, wrapped around the glass of the potion bottle that Kim Rok Soo had given him.
Kim Rok Soo rummaged through the items himself, looking for some healing salve for the remainder of the dragon's wounds. There was likely to be some residual scarring either way, but scars were the mark of a survivor. Kim Rok Soo was familiar with scars. The Red Dragon had a number of them too, though they didn't show on his human body when he was shape-shifted.
"Come here," he told the other dragon. The Black Dragon looked at the container of salve in his hands distrustfully, but came closer anyway.
"You still look like a human," he complained. Kim Rok Soo ignored the complaint and opened the container of salve, dipping one finger into it. He reached toward the other dragon, but the younger dragon flinched at the motion.
"I'm not going to hurt you." He held out his hand for the other dragon to sniff the salve. "This will help you."
"You still look like a human," the Black Dragon repeated in a petulant voice. Kim Rok Soo resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
"Because I'm helping you. Not all humans are bad you know. Just because I look like one doesn't automatically mean I'm trying to hurt you." The little dragon gave him a distrustful look.
"Humans are bad," he countered. Kim Rok Soo nodded.
"Some humans are definitely bad. But there's good ones too." He thought briefly of his former team. "Some humans are definitely good."
"I don't believe you," the little dragon said firmly. Despite his words, he inched one step closer and allowed Kim Rok Soo to smooth the salve onto his remaining wounds.
"Do what you want," Kim Rok Soo told him. It wasn't his business if the little dragon didn't believe him that some people were good. Dragons kept to themselves anyway, so it wasn't like the Black Dragon was going to go live in a human town or something.
He finished treating the wounds on the dragon's back and put the bottle of salve back where he had found it. The natural healing effect of the dragon's own mana should help him recover from this point, so there wasn't much else Kim Rok Soo could do for him, aside from getting the remnants of the chains off the dragon's paws.
It looked as though the little dragon had attempted to claw them off himself, because there were some marks around the shackles on his rear legs. Kim Rok Soo sighed as he saw the marks.
"Look here. You can't just hurt yourself all over again," he said, picking the salve back up. He was going to need it again once he got those shackles off.
"Let me see," he ordered. After a moment of hesitation, the younger dragon extended one of his paws toward Kim Rok Soo. He examined the fastening mechanism and realized it wouldn't be that hard to undo with the right tools.
"Wait here," he instructed the Black Dragon. Leaving the salve next to the other dragon, he went and rummaged through the Red Dragon's collection some more. Eventually he found what he needed and returned to the other dragon's side.
"I need you to hold still," he told the smaller dragon. The Black Dragon bristled slightly at the unfamiliar items in Kim Rok Soo's hand. "I'm going to get those off of you," he explained. "For that I need you to hold still, got it?"
"…I'll hold still," the Black Dragon agreed. Kim Rok Soo used a combination of the tools and his magic to get the shackles and remnants of the chains off the other dragon's limbs, and the little dragon shook himself afterward as if testing what it felt like to finally be truly free.
Kim Rok Soo treated the injuries that the Black Dragon had inflicted on himself when trying to get the shackles off and stood, dusting himself off.
“Come with me,” he instructed, walking back outside. The younger dragon glanced around the room and hesitated a moment, but then took to the air and flew after him. Leading the little dragon further into the open meadow, Kim Rok Soo sat down and gestured for the other dragon to join him.
“Look up,” he said after the Black Dragon had settled itself a few feet from him. He noted that the younger dragon had carried the potion bottle out with him, clutching it as if it was some sort of good luck charm. The dragon gave him a perplexed glance, but then looked up and made a small noise of astonishment.
As Kim Rok Soo had predicted, the little dragon had been so absorbed in the destruction and distracted by his own pain that he hadn’t even taken notice of the splendor of the stars overhead. Unlike the skies of Kim Rok Soo’s childhood, where the stars were hard to see because of light pollution, the stars here were bright and clear, innumerable as they filled the sky above.
"What is that?" the little dragon asked in a hushed, awed voice.
"Stars. There's more to the world than darkness, you know." The other dragon didn't answer, staring up at the skies. Satisfied that the little dragon was at least going to remain quiet for the night and not return to destroying the mountain for now, Kim Rok Soo changed back into his dragon form and curled up to sleep.
If the other dragon was still here in the morning, that was a problem for morning Kim Rok Soo.