While the inhabitants of the very heavens themselves, two of them at least, set about searching for his whereabouts the dragon in question was busy pondering a curious thought. He even spoke it aloud. “Where the hell am I?”

The dragon looked around his lair curiously for a moment. He recognized certain features; but could not quite determine why he knew of them. “A… warehouse?”

He titled his head one side and then the other. His curiosity further piqued, he shifted into human form and stood in the center of the room. Bones littered the area, along with several piles of indeterminate natural ingredients that nevertheless provided light to the darkness of the room. Several items shined brightly, casting a soft light from within the confines of those disturbing piles.

It was a strange sensation, familiarity mixed with a complete lack of comprehension. Everything seemed so familiar, yet he did not know why. It was a thought that continued to percolate inside his mind like a coffee pot trying to brew a bitter morning beverage.

He walked over to a pile of something best left unnamed and squatted down before it. Gingerly, he reached out and took a shiny looking gemstone from the pile. It glowed softly in his hand.

While he did not need its light to see in the room, he did feel strongly that he should take it with him. There was somewhere that he needed to go. He could feel it, an insistence in his mind.

Shiny stone in hand, he left the warehouse and entered a broken-down parking lot. A rusted chain-link fence separated it from the larger world. He did not care much about that fact, but he did take a moment to consider the sense of familiarity that sprung up. There was a strange stillness in the air, a comforting presence. It was as though he felt at home there.

That stillness ended the moment he crossed an unseen barrier and returned to a more normal world. A frown crossed his lips. It seemed as though even the air was darker now, as much of the serenity and light in the world had faded into a muted form.

His progress was slow, as his goal was far from where he had slept before. In his mostly human body, save for the obvious physical divergences. He had a small set of wings and horns. There were the teeth, ears, and claws as well. Of course, the highly noticeable tail that lightly swayed behind him was also of interest. Though, it was the appendage that dangled and waved freely in front that might actually get the most attention. At this point, he had aged until he was nearly his original age. Another rest period or two, and he might regain what he had lost physically.

He knew nothing of those facts, however. At the moment, he strolled bold and free through the streets of the nearby town. Several people looked out of their window or crossed the road when they noticed his presence. One woman, who was talking on a cellphone while driving, stopped mid-sentence and stared at the strange sight of the incredibly nude dragon man casually strolling the streets. She slipped off the side of the road and rammed a fire hydrant.

A geyser of water shot into the air as the woman frantically fought against her air bag. However, the naked specter that helped to cause that accident seemed completely unconcerned. Instead, he continued to walk onward to his destination.

Eventually, several people noticed him who were more adventurous than most. They began to follow him at a distance while they also filmed his movements.

Soon, he arrived at the entrance to the cemetery. He recognized what it was, but once again did not know why it was important. The few dozen people who had been following behind him at this point because visibly agitated. It was just a graveyard, and normally it would not be a problem to follow the naked man-thing. However, in recent days strong monsters had taken up residence there. Several other locations across town faced the same fate. The police were spread thin and were too under-staffed and weak to handle the threat in the graveyard. Even the local adventurous types steered clear after several people died.

They murmured back and forth to themselves, but soon concluded that the man-thing was probably a monster that lived in the graveyard. Why else would he enter so freely, while being unconcerned about being followed?

One of the onlookers got up the courage to try to follow, but just before they were about to step through the gate into the cemetery a message window appeared before him.

Warning!!

This area is a designated quarantine zone designed to hold anomalous supernatural creatures. The beings that reside beyond this point are well above the standard allowable level for the current world project and are not meant to exist in this world. We cannot remove them directly, or we would. As such, this location has become a dungeon instance. Those who enter beyond this point are unlikely to survive.

If you do enter, and manage to clear the dungeon, you will receive a legendary grade reward. However, certain effects such as specific types of curses may persist even after resurrection should you be afflicted by such prior to your death.

Current Anomalous Being Count: 793

Current Time Until Quarantine Breech: 3 Days, 6 Hours, 27 minutes.

Minimum Suggested Entrant Level

113-127 (Human Standard | Solo)

76-88 (Dreamer Standard | Solo)

54-66 (Dreamer Party of Five)

Do you still wish to enter?

Yes | No

“Screw that!” cried the man almost hysterically. He fell over in an almost comical manner and hit the dirt hard. Status One only allowed them to have level one stats and to train their skills on Earth.

“What happened?” asked a concerned woman from nearby.

“There’s a popup now,” said the man while still seated on the ground. “This place is ridiculous.”

A few others grew bold upon hearing his words. They walked toward the cemetery until the popup appeared. Almost in unison, their eyes widened in shock.

“Who the hell do they think we are? There’s nobody who could do that!” exclaimed an old man who had chosen to see what the popup would claim.

“That thing we were following…. It lives here?” asked one of the others.

His words brought the onlookers up short. They had been that close to such a ridiculously powerful monster?

A roar reverberated from the depths of the cemetery followed by a lashing wave of absolute terror that sent the onlookers scattering like roaches caught in the open when the kitchen light comes on late at night.

Their screams were drowned out by the roaring and hellish wailing that came from the cemetery. There was a fierce battle underway, but they did not stick around to see it.