Upon The Horizon

Forging
"So, we've seen the world..." Leviathan sighed deeply, as she circled around a certain town. Truth be told, she'd have normally roasted a human and eaten them by now, but Delst certainly was different than the standard "fleshbag". "I had an idea. I know how selfless you are, and yes it does annoy me, but it wouldn't hurt to do the world some good. Let's make a few hundred maps drawn from our past experiences and sell them, so people wouldn't be in danger every time they explore."

Delst smiled, considerably warmed to the fact that Leviathan was seeing humans in a better light. "That's all fine and well, Levi, but..." He gestured to her draconian form. "I don't think both you and I can simply waltz into the nearest land over and try to sell maps like this. Humans will react in terror to a dragon." He chuckled, amused, because he could see them running and shrieking. "Even my eyes seem to garner strange looks."

"Just say I'm a giant prop animated by magic or something." Leviathan rolled her eyes- people were probably stupid enough to believe that. "Not like it won't work, you know."

A look of disapproval crossed Delst's countenance as he shot Leviathan a piercing glare. "Levi, I can't do that. You're my friend and companion, referring to you as a 'prop' doesn't sit right with me, it would be insulting to myself and you, you know that."

Leviathan sighed. "You don't really get it, do you? It's okay for me to play the part of a prop if I okay it, dammit. Don't go all mushy on me. Think about it. If we sell maps, not only will fleshbags no longer be lost, but we can make some money out of it. We can use that money for all sorts of things. Like buying fresh sheep."

Delst let out an exasperated sigh. "Leviathan, stop being difficult. I don't feel right with it, at all. If you insist on being called a "prop", then I'll just sell the maps solo and come back to wherever you are hiding out of sight."

"Fine by me, then." Leviathan huffed; breathing out light which almost devastated the area in front of her. "Just saying, we'd get money by people being attracted to a giant "balloon" dragon."

"Are we going to not argue on this or something? It feels like you're just using this to make a quick buck." Delst sighed, as he said, "Never mind, let's just drop it."

Leviathan snorted at him, as she turned away, "Fine by me, fleshbag." After a few moments, she turned around, before asking Delst, "Fleshbag...no, Yasuragi, can I ask you a brief question?"

Delst raised an eyebrow, perplexed. "You can ask em anything, you know that."

"Very well." Leviathan took a deep breath; as she asked, "Would you like me...to change forms, then? Get rid of the scales and fur, and become what I despise so much. A fleshbag like you."

Delst frowned. "I didn't know that was even an option." He slid his hand through his hair, breathing slowly. "The way you phrased that question makes it seem like you think I'm dissatisfied with your form, Levi. You know that's not the case. I don't want you to have to change anything about yourself that makes you uncomfortable, we simply cannot just walk into a city like this, due to you being a Dragon." His mind flashed back to the first thing Leviathan had ever shown him — the dragons entirely slaughtered by humans. "Fear and bad memories of the war between humans and dragons still linger, even now. I don't want the humans to try and attack you out of fear. We'll have to slaughter an entire village, and that won't end well. But I don't want to refer to you as my "prop", either." He cast a sharp look at her again. "You are my lifelong companion and friend, and I am happy with you being what you are. I have no intention of asking you to change."

"No, that's not it, you idiot." She muttered, quickly turning so typical to her. It seemed that for her hatred of humans, she was pretty darn human herself. "I want to be with you at all times. That's why I'm going to change. Your opinions are unneeded." White light surrounded Leviathan's body, as she began to take upon a significant change...

Delst's eyes widened, taken aback by Leviathan taking the initiative. What surprised him more, however, was that she had just said. "I want to be with you at all times." Did she, really? Hearing that made a feeling of elation swell in Delst's heart.

Leviathan's form continued to morph- until it had completely been transformed into that of a human's; Levi was now an average woman with long white hair and emerald eyes. She wore a plain white-coloured collar shirt with a small black cape, and long thin black cloth wrapped around the majority of her body. Her look was complete with oversized handcuffs, aqua-coloured shorts, and pink slippers. She looked at her own figure momentarily, snarking, "Seems that the clothes are free too."

"L-Levi...?" Delst leaned in, looking her over with eyes wide and mouth agape. "This is...you're human?" Delst was stunned, to say the least. Levi was human now, in a human body. He seemed shocked for a moment, but it didn't take long to relax. "You still smell like a dragon. It's familiar, so it's comforting."

"You can say that I don't want the same stench as you PU-mans." Leviathan actually laughed at her own terrible, terrible pun. "Yes, I'm human, flesh and blood. But I still have my laser breath, so don't try anything funny."

"Is this only a temporary form?" Delst inquired, ignoring the friendly threat. "Or is this a permanent transformation?"

"It's permanent." She continued, "And there's not a thing you can do about it. From here on out, your opinions are rejected."

Delst laughed; he was sure he'd heard that somewhere before. "Levi, did you mean what you said? You want to be with me at all times?" Remembering that she had said that once again caused Delst to feel an explainable warmth; he was, dare he say it, happy.

"O-Of course I meant it, you idiot. Why else would I do this? Think with that pea-sized brain of yours." Leviathan huffed, crossing her arms as she glanced away, deliberately avoiding eye contact with Delst.

Delst's face flushed, if only a bit. Even without being able to remember anything, he was beginning to think he didn't want to. With Leviathan by his side...everything was just as it should be. Delst extended his hand, smiling. "Then we'll stay together. I wouldn't have it any other way."

Leviathan persisted in glancing away- though a shade of rosy red did cross her cheeks. "That sounds like a really good idea....fleshba- no, Yasuragi."

It was only a few weeks later, when the duo were handing out maps to people in several exploration guilds- as good luck charms. Gratefully accepting the helps of these two kindly strangers, it was soon obvious that from now on, there would no longer be death for the unknowing who ventured Earth Land without any directions.

"...While I don't hate this..." Levi sighed. "I wish I could still fly. That way we'd be able to get around easier."

"There isn't really anything wrong with walking." Delst said, handing out a map to a couple with a small child. "I have no issues walking everywhere, especially with you at my side. And besides, while flying was nice, I think we get the best feel for the land at ground level. I can take it every detail even better from here."

Levi overreacted, pretending to throw a childish tantrum. "But flying takes much less time and I could look upon humans like they were ants..."

"You'll have to learn to live with the humans now." Delst said reprovingly. "Our new world won't exactly exclude them, you know."

Levi stomped on the ground. While she was still only growing to tolerate (not like) humans, she still didn't approve of them. "It's just a manner of speech. Face it, if you stood on top of a building or something, and looked over at the people below you, wouldn't you feel so superior to those ants?

"No." Delst replied, looking at Leviathan with a look of surprise. "I don't feel superior to anyone even now; with the powers I have, anyone probably would." He sighed, and even shuddered slightly. "I don't like the idea of those emotions running wild with me."

Leviathan sighed. "Aww, you're no fun. It's just a little joke, take it easy." She didn't really understand why Delst was taking it so seriously.

"Sorry, Levi." Delst said. "It's just...I know I am stronger than almost any other human alive. If I were to embrace those kinds of feelings...I could very well become what we're trying to oppose." He shuddered again.

"Don't worry about it. I was making a joke, there's no need for this philosophy crap. Besides." She suddenly turned serious. "If you go wacko, I'll blast you until I knock some sense into that thick skull of yours, that's a promise."

Delst smiled, reassured at her rather brash gesture of kindness. "Thank you, Levi..." And, while he felt a bit embarrassed to say it, that was another concern. "What if I became corrupted...and hurt Levi..?" Delst didn't want to admit that these thoughts crossed his mind, concealing them with a smile as he passed another map to a passerby.

"It's fine, it's fine. Don't get all mushy on me." Levi lightly smacked Delst over the back of the head, in jest. "I hate that sentimental crap." She sighed, "...hmm. Seems that we're out of maps. I'd rather not make any more. I'm just...lazy." One couldn't blame her- it was more that she wasn't yet accomidated to act like a human right now. "Alright, let's go to an amusement park or something. Whatever you humans do to relax. I'm all game for it." She stretched like a...cat?

It wasn't long until the duo had immediately stashed what was left of what they were doing and ran off- Leviathan had grabbed Delst's hand and squeezed it tightly, to the point that the man thought that she was deliberately trying to harm him- then again, with Leviathan, nobody could ever tell. "I want some refreshments. Get me some." She ordered like a queen.

Delst frowned, taken aback by this kind of speech. While he knew Leviathan was far from humble — in fact, it probably wasn't a word that registered in her vocabulary — she still usually had a bit more tact than this. "Levi, you can't simply order me around, you know? I'll get you something if you want, but it wouldn't hurt to ask properly at the same time."

"Jeez, calm your lack of mammaries." Leviathan hissed like a...snake? "It's only required that you go and fetch me some nourishment, as I am the female, and as such I am more important as the producer of eggs." It seemed that she was taking a leaf out of the "logic" of somebody else.

Delst sighed in exasperation, unwillingly slipping his hand out of hers — he regretted that, he had enjoyed holding her hand. "Levi, reptilian logic doesn't apply here. You've become a human now, we're equal in this way. I will be happy to get you something if you need it, but you're going to have to learn not to demand it. It's far from kind."

"Good for you." Levi kinda stopped paying attention to him. "It's still a form of logic, and unlike some idiots I know who believe otherwise, logic is good for you."

"That doesn't make sense. You should at least listen to the opinions of others. Who knows, some of them might be smarter than you." Delst seemed to be getting slightly angry. But not too angry.

"Logic is logic." What kind of logic was that? Then again Levi didn't have many options other than 'nuke things with laser breath'.

"What."

"You heard me." Levi backed up her statement.

"This is getting absolutely nowhere, Levi. Stop acting like an immature child with super-powers. You'd do the world some good." Delst just face-palmed at this.

-BOOM!-

The sound of fires raging and explosions echoed out from a distance. Screams and sirens could be heard as all of a sudden, the two turned around.

"...We'll get back to this discussion, significant other!" Levi snapped as she began to run off at full-pelt.

"G-get back here, we're not done yet!" Delst snapped, but realised whatever was going on was more important than their petty argument. He dashed off after her, catching up in no time. "You are aware we aren't done yet? The moment this is done, I will probably have to teach you just how manners work."

Leviathan sighed, "I'm going to take a leaf out of your book right now. Right now, there's people in danger. Let's focus on that instead of how much more right I am than you."

Delst looked at her, his face blank for a moment. And then he smiled, his anger fading. Whether she knew it or not, she was changing. Slowly, but surely, and it was for the better. "You're right." He said. "Let's focus on the issue at hand."

"....It seemed out of nowhere, really." While passing numerous people who did naught but just stand there, Leviathan realized that people really needed to stop being bystanders. "You think this is some sort of elaborate trap?"

Delst frowned, considering it. "I won't rule it out, but it seems a bit far fetched." He stopped speaking to take in the humans running like a stampede of wildebeest attempting to crush a lion. "We don't know anyone here, and no one knows us, as far as we know. Why would anyone try to trap us?"

"Oh, I don't know, it's just a superstition of mine, but something seems to go wrong every now and then when I'm with you, flesh-no, Yasuragi." Leviathan muttered, "While we may not know anyone, somebody is BOUND to attack us out of nowhere."

"Point taken." Delst agreed, his eyes on the source of the explosion. "What is this odd feeling?"

Amongst the flames, there was a single woman- who possessed glowing purple eyes and she wore a black dress with yellow designs. Her fingernails were painted dark red; possessing black shorts underneath her dress. She also had high-heeled shoes and a jeweled anklet, with a blue feather-like accessory on her right hip. She had a crimson tattoo on her upper back that forms a heart shape inside; while appearing motherly, there was a certain sinister air to her. "Oh, it seems that you noticed. I feel bad about starting fires to catch the attention of wannabe heroes like you. Just a bit."

Delst gritted his teeth at this. This entire section of the village had been razed to the ground, and he could see the charred remains of several humans and animals. "You did all of this...for attention?" The last word was nearly a snarl.

The woman began to file her nails casually. "You know how it works. Explosion goes off, bait comes to me. It's always worked like that, and I don't know why."

Delst's eyes twitched. He didn't even have to think on it; this woman couldn't be reasoned with, and he wouldn't waste time trying. "It's a pity...if you hadn't jumped the gun, I might have tried talking to you." He took a stance, readying himself to strike — and then saw a shadow in the air.

"Holy Flare Roar!" A familiar voice called out; as a powerful stream of white light shot down from the heavens- aiming to incinerate the woman in a single blast. Levi had gotten the jump on this woman.

"Hah." A pulsating barrier of crimson surrounded the woman's body, completely absolving Leviathan's attack of any dangerous qualities. "Once a stupid lizard with wings, always a stupid lizard with wings."

And that was the final straw that broke Delst's already waning patience with this woman. "And like that, my reason to go easy on you vanished!" Delst hissed violently, manifesting a large skeletal hand which formed a flaming sword, and, without any hesitation, swung the blade down upon the woman and her strange barrier.

"Collapse." The woman muttered it under her breath- as the barrier had gathered eternano upon it, becoming charged with stray magical energy. In a flash, the barrier expanded into a pulse of light- releasing a powerful shockwave that blew Delst's creation back with ease.

The recoil sent Delst skidding across the ground, swinging his head back up to look at the woman in surprise. "What was that? She blew apart my construct...with just a shockwave?" He was starting to regret that he and Levi always wound up meeting opponents that seemed to be far more difficult than they should. Delst stood up, not relaxing his guard and keeping his eyes on the woman. "Who are you? And for a better question, why are you after us?"

"There's a good reason. And that's clasified." She quickly replied; noticing that Levi was charging her from the back, the woman twitched slightly- releasing a crimson barrier towards Levi, blowing the humanoid-dragon away, sending her tumbling across the ground.