The dragon chuckles and approaches Eric.

“I can smell your fear. Tremble before Uwibami, the destroyer of armies.”

“U-uh… hi?” Eric stammers, “My name is Eric.”

Uwibami’s body shudders for a second before his body starts shrinking and taking the shape of a person. He fully transforms into the humanoid lizardman at 7 feet tall.

Eric just goes slack-jawed and stares.

“Where are you from?” Uwibami squints at Eric.

“Earth, an uh, different universe.” Eric tells the dragon.

“Amazing. How are you alive?” Uwibami moves so fast it looks like he's teleporting to Eric and grabs Eric's hand.

Uwibami breaks Eric's pointer finger off along with the armor covering it and throws it into his mouth.

“OW!” Eric screams, “That hurt!”

The dragon waves his hand at Eric and his finger regrows instantly. Uwibami’s face changes expressions several times.

“You are definitely not from this universe.” Uwibami tells Eric.

Uwibami’s eyes sharpen and Eric sees a squirrel freeze and then fall onto the ground.

“That proves another theory”

“Uh, what?” Eric asks.

“I had a theory that aura needed mana to affect a living creature, and I was right.”

“M-m-m-m-mana..?” Eric whispers.

Uwibami points his finger at Eric.

“W-what are you doing?!” Eric jumps back before feeling a breeze pass through him. Then heat.

Eric’s skin starts turning red, and he breaks into a sweat. Then pain. It feels like his heart is on fire, then slowly the pain spreads through his blood and organs. He falls to his knee clutching his chest, panting hard before he blacks out.

Uwibami sighs and turns around before freezing. He looks at Eric's breathing chest and starts laughing, which quickly turns into full-on cackling.

Eric wakes up in a huge bed, inside a huge room. It looked like something out of a movie set in the dark ages. He slides out of the bed and notices he feels different, but can’t tell how.

He walks over to the huge wooden door and pulls it open. The two guards standing outside the door turn toward Eric as he steps into the hallway.

“Ah, you're awake!” One guard smiles at Eric.

“Please, follow us.” The other one says.

They start walking down the hallway and Eric follows.

They walk for a few minutes in silence before coming into a huge corridor. At the end of the corridor, a 9-foot man sits on a giant throne. He has long blonde hair, along with a blonde beard that reaches his chest. He has piercing green eyes that seem to look into your soul.

Standing on the giant's left is Uwibami, the slayer of armies.

On both sides of the throne, a few dozen people stand around bickering with each other. As Eric and the guards enter, everyone quiets down and stare at them.

“Ah, if it isn’t the man of the hour. Welcome to Everhollow city. I am King Arthur, and I’m the ruler of this country.” The giant man stands up and looks down on Eric.

The two guards kneel and Eric quickly follows.

“Everyone except for Eric and Uwibami to leave.” Arthur says, without looking away from Eric.

Everybody besides Arthur, Uwibami, and Eric quickly leaves the throne room. Once everyone leaves, Arthur waves for Eric to come closer, and he does.

“Aright, I’m sure you have some questions.” Arthur gestures at Uwibami “Feel free to ask, and we’ll answer to our best ability.”

“Uh, alright… what happened to me?”

“I forced mana into your body, and you passed out.” Uwibami shrugged.

“Holy shit, I didn’t dream it!’ Eric laughs, “Mana, as in the fuel for magic?”

“You know what mana is even though you don’t have any in your body?” Uwibami’s eyebrows raise. (even though he's a lizardman…)

“Er, we have stories with magic concepts, but no actual magic.” Eric explains.

“Well, here in Morosis every living creature needs mana to survive. Hell, some of them are made of it. Elementals we call them, but I digress. That's why I believe you when you say you aren’t from our universe.” Uwibami tells Eric.

“Wait, you said you forced mana into me?”

“Yes, I did. Normally, you can’t force mana into someone unless it's the same affinity that they already have. Er, affinity is what we call the mana you were born with. Most creatures only have one type of affinity, but they can be born with several, It's just really rare. Even when you have the same affinity, it's still very dangerous to force it into someone. Mana is circulated through your body by your blood, and you can rupture someone's arteries by forcing mana inside them. Maybe even their heart.” Uwibami explains.

“So you could’ve killed me?!”

“Maybe. But you absorbed all the mana and came out fine with a new affinity”

“Wait, does that mean I can use magic now?” Eric smiles.

“With training? Yes. But I would advise you not to try and use your new magic because you can and will hurt yourself and others.” Uwibami looks Eric in the eyes.

“You sound like a grandpa, hahaha!” Arthur laughs and slaps Uwibami’s back.

“Shuddup.” Uwibami turns toward Eric, “I’ll teach you how to use your magic. I like to think I'm pretty good at it.”

“T-thank you.”

Arthur puts his hand up and a hole appears in the air. He sticks his hand inside the hole and pulls Eric’s Ōdachi out of it, holding it out for Eric. It looks like a normal katana in his hands.

“I’ve never seen a sword like this before. Layered steel… the only way we can do that is with magic.” Arthur tells Eric. “You know how to use it?”

“I’m pretty new to it, but I’ve had training.” Eric nods.

“Well, would you like me to teach you some more?”

“I would be honored”

“If I train you, you will not be lazy. I will work you to your bone, I will break you and rebuild you from the ground up. Are you sure?” Arthur looks at Eric with cold eyes.

“Yes, sir!”

“Alright, we begin tomorrow, meet me on the training grounds at dawn.” With that, Uwibami walks away while gesturing for Eric to follow.

Uwibami leads Eric upstairs into a room filled to the brim with books.

“The first thing you will be doing is reading up on mana and magic theory. Once you finish those you will move on fire magic” Uwibami turns around “Oh yeah, your affinity is fire.”

Uwibami grabs a stack of ten books before handing them to Eric.

“Read all of these in a week. These next few years, all you're going to be doing is practicing magic, training, eating, and sleeping.” Uwibami smiles at Eric’s look of horror.

“Y-y-years?” Eric gapes

“I’m being generous, it might take you decades” Uwibami chuckles.

Eric is already starting to regret his decision.