Chương 32: Bonus adventure

Karatt managed to escape his glass prison. The loudmouthed golden lizard calling himself Ebraxius had been telling him not to, but Karatt was nobody's pet. He would rather die than endure this humiliation.

"I am leaving," he said, turning back toward the room.

"You should too."

"And get myself into even bigger trouble? Bah! You short-lived idiot... Ten years is nothing. Besides, I like the relaxation. No need to worry about possible rivals, guarding my hoard, or constantly pushing my limits. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise." Ebraxius spoke with a hint of amusement.

"I cannot right now, but I would spit at you." Karatt gurgled as he clawed his way up to the windowsill.

"There must be a way to open this." His eyes darted from left to right until they suddenly widened.

"AHA!" He spotted the handle and climbed toward it, only to discover that it was stuck.

"Bah! Let me out, you darn mechanism!"

"What are you doing?" came the slightly elderly female woof of Princess.

"WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?" Karatt hissed back.

"I am trying to escape!"

"Ohh! Is that a game?" Princess barked happily.

"Not a game, you dumb mutt."

"Awwww, you're not very nice." Princess gave a small whine before running off. A moment later, she returned with her rope toy.

"Wanna play?"

"No... I—why are you like this?" Karatt asked with a completely baffled expression, or at least he hoped his current face could convey such an emotion.

"Because I like to play." Princess tilted her head as if the answer were obvious.

"Like this." She grabbed the rope toy in her mouth and shook her head enthusiastically. The short rope flew out of her mouth, trailing a generous amount of saliva, and landed directly on the window latch... and Karatt.

"Yuck! I am covered in mammal saliva. How low can I fall...?" As if the universe itself had heard his question, Karatt's legs suddenly lost their grip on the slippery surface, sending him tumbling onto the wardrobe. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"I want to die," he said with absolute certainty.

"Oh... toy is stuck. I get it!" Princess barked. She jumped up and pulled on the rope, successfully retrieving her toy while accidentally opening the window latch at the same time.

"HAHA! Freedom is mine to be had!" Karatt scrambled back onto his feet and climbed onto the windowsill.

"I warn you, kid. You might wanna think about this." Ebraxius shouted from inside the terrarium.

"Can't hear you, old lizard!" Karatt laughed back before jumping out of the window and landing in the grass. For a moment, he simply stood there. He had escaped the humiliation of being a pet, and nothing stood between him and his return to the world. Then he looked up at the enormous fence towering above him.

"... Now, where the hell am I supposed to go?" The world was big... far too big for his current size, and the grass was cold from the freshly fallen snow. Karatt climbed up to the fence, only to witness something that even his experienced adventurer's mind could barely comprehend. A city stretched out before him, so enormous that there seemed to be no end to it in any direction. The house stood on a hill, giving him a surprisingly good view of the surrounding area.

To his right, he saw a massive, incredibly loud metal bird rise into the sky. Its deep screech was so powerful that he could not even begin to imagine what such a thing could do in battle. On the black road in front of him, extremely fast metal carriages occasionally raced past, pulled by neither animal nor monster, yet with humans sitting comfortably inside them. Karatt stared in disbelief. Then he realized something far more terrible. His joints were slowly becoming stiff. The cold was his enemy.

This new body simply was not made for this weather. If he stayed outside for too long, he would freeze up. He would never admit it, but he was scared. Just what kind of world had he been dropped into? Karatt jumped back down from the fence and hurried toward the castle. His steps grew slower with every passing moment, his breathing becoming heavier as the cold continued to seep into his tiny body. When he finally reached the wall beneath the window, he desperately climbed back up.

The moment he reached the windowsill, he almost fell straight back inside.

"Hah! Back so soon?" Ebraxius laughed.

"This... world... does not make any sense." Karatt muttered as his body slowly began warming up again. Before Ebraxius could respond, several men walked into the room carrying empty boxes and began packing things away. A woman with a neatly tied ponytail noticed the tiny, shivering dragonkin and immediately picked him up.

"Oh, you poor thing. You must have gotten lost." She gently held Karatt in her hands and placed him back inside the terrarium before carefully locking the latch.

"There you are. The lamp will warm you up." Princess was already jumping around happily.

"Guests! Guests!"

"So, any more adventures?" Ebraxius asked the shell-shocked Karatt. Karatt did not answer. He simply curled himself into a ball beneath the warm lamp and closed his eyes. Perhaps ten years could go faster if he slept more... at least, he told himself that as he began counting the days until he would be free again.