Online In Another World

It flowed through his veins like a wildfire; that sublime, azure heat. Running across his skin like a tattoo of fiery ink, that shining-blue essence was reflected in the shift of his amethyst irises, which altered to a momentary sapphire.

[Draconic Might]

In the course of a half-second, it activated in full, birthing a natural light that emitted from the Dragonheart's tattoos as his body was imbued with a bestial strength, allowing him to dash forward with monstrous speed.

It was a state of monstrous power, granted briefly, yet bestowing him with strength without needing to undergo Dragonheart transformations.

The stone beneath his bare feet cracked just from pressing forth, tossing himself forward like a bullet itself.

"--!"

Whoever they were, the person who had shot at him flinched at the unexpected burst of speed, unable to get another shot off as their weapon of wood-and-steel began to glow, only for the young Dragonheart to slam his hand forward.

No, you don't! He thought.

With a single thrust forward of his palm, the draconic strength shattered the malicious tool, breaking through it and slamming against the figure's chest, dragging him across the room before pushing them against the wall.

RUMBLE

"Grgh…!" The figure winced, having their back slammed against the mossy stone.

The usage of [Draconic Might] filled his mind with the rage of a burning flame, causing him to blindly pull his fist back as he prepared to unleash a mighty blow upon the unknown figure before–

"I yield, I yield!"

Hearing those words spoken, he was dragged out of his moment of destruction as he blinked, finally getting a look at the person who had their hands up in a surrender.

It was a young man with shaggy, golden-blonde hair and pointy ears, wearing goggles. He wasn't wearing much of anything else, with nothing but a leather pouch worn on his chest without a shirt, and baggy, dirty pants with lots of pockets.

"Why'd you shoot me–? Who are you?!" Emilio asked.

"Err, well, I kinda thought you were the big guy out there," the youthful man answered with a shrug, now realizing he likely wasn't going to have his head bashed in, "Name's Blimpo, though! Nice to meet another rational, well-adjusted person! Right?..."

Emilio raised an eyebrow, looking at the goggle-wearing stranger for a moment before realizing they didn't have any malicious intent, and understanding the stakes in the labyrinth. He released his hold of Blimpo, stepping back as the azure tattoos settled from his skin.

"Emilio. That's my name," he gave his own.

The pointy-eared man coughed out, letting out a strained sigh as he stretched side-to-side, "Talk about monster strength! You almost snapped me like a twig, you did! You're not much bigger than me–what's the deal with that power? Got muscles denser than a mountain, there?"

Brushing the comments of Blimpo aside, he had questions of his own, looking down at the shattered pieces of the weapon he was originally shot with, "What was that? I mean, what you shot at me with?"

Blimpo seemed eager to answer, bashfully rubbing his upper lip with a smile, "Oh, that? That's what I call a "Rune Cannon"! Invented it myself. Not much else to do down here in the After."

"The 'After'?" Emilio repeated.

"Err, yeah? Wait, you don't know where you are? You must be new here!" Blimpo said in surprise, "The After is, well, a bit self-explanatory, innit? It's the afterlife, friend!"

It was confirmation for what he already suspected, but having it solidified made it settle in for the young man, knowing well-and-truly that he was now deep down in the realm of the dead.

"You don't seem too surprised," Blimpo remarked.

"I already assumed so, but still…What's the deal with all of this, anyway? I mean, this labyrinth and that thing out there–War," he said, letting out a sigh as he crossed his arms over his chest before looking directly at the goggle-wearing figure, "What I want to know right now though is, what's your deal?"

"Mine? Ah, I'm not that interesting, hate to break it to you!" Blimpo laughed, "I came to this temple with the same goal as any other reckless fool like myself: to meet the Progenitor!"

"The Progenitor?" Emilio repeated.

Blimpo didn't answer, instead staying silent for a moment with a smile before moving over to the hole in the ground he originally crawled out of, "Ah–let's not talk out here, 'kay? This room is a hard place for that big fella out there to get into, but if he hears us babbling on, well…You don't want to see what happens! C'mon!"

It was sketchy, to say the least, as he watched the eccentric figure drop down onto the secret layer of the labyrinth beneath the floor, though as he looked over, he saw that it was quite spacious; Blimpo was able to stand up completely after dropping down.

"Whacha waiting for?" Blimpo looked up.

"...Nothing."

Swallowing his hesitation in place of looking for answers, he followed the goggle-wearing figure down into the hole. As he dropped down, he found himself in a linear tunnel of dirt and stone.

"Did you make this?" Emilio asked, glancing around.

Blimpo answered while leading the way, "There's nothing but time here in the After! You see, I ran out of my seven attempts at the labyrinth pretty quickly! I'm outta lives–one more, and I'm probably going to end up in a region of this place that's Hell itself. So, in that case, I decided to bide my time and build this underground portion–I'll find that key and meet the Progenitor!"

"...I see. How long have you been up to this?" He asked.

"Err, well…I haven't kept track, but probably a year now," Blimpo responded.

"A year?!"

"Ha-ha!" Blimpo laughed at his shock before turning back to look at him, "Still, I'm curious about that strength of yours–it's really somethin'!"

He brushed off the curiosity of the pointy-eared man before following him to what laid at the end of the carved-out tunnel beneath the labyrinth, finding a large room reinforced with wood and stone.

"This is my workshop…and home, at least for the time being," Blimpo presented, extending one of his arms to welcome him in.

There were scraps of metal and other materials laying around, and half-crafted and even finished mechanisms sprawled out in a disorderly fashion. Before thoughtlessly walking in, the prospect of traps and not fully knowing the stranger was still on mind, leading to the young man watching Blimpo himself before entering fully.

"What's wrong? I'm totally harmless–trust!" Blimpo said, noticing his hesitation.

"You know the first thing you did was shoot me, right?" He asked.

"You're still holding onto that? The past is the past!" Blimpo brushed off.

Either way, it was impressive the sort of contraptions and devices that the pointy-eared, youthful figure was working on, especially considering the location he was secluded to and the resources available.

"Feel free to look around! Don't be scared of breaking anything–happens a lot, actually!" Blimpo laughed.

Even with his reservations about the eccentric fellow, he couldn't deny the quality and sheer impressiveness of the items; there were quite a few that resembled guns, but made of either stone, wood, or scrap metal found around the labyrinth. Though instead of bullets, they seemed to utilize magical runes–which, there were quite a few left in the secret base.

"You've got a lot of runes…Are those easy to come by here?" He asked, lifting a shining, azure rune.

Blimpo chuckled, picking up a flame-shaded one and flipping it over his hand, "Not a chance! You could search far-and-wide throughout the After and you'd never find one of these babies."

"Then…?" He looked over at the tinkerer.

"I made them myself. I've got nothing but time down here," Blimpo said, "I'm not exactly the most mana-rich person, but I'm no mage, so I've got no other use for it! Each of these runes takes about a week worth of condensing."

It was an impressive accomplishment to the young Dragonheart, knowing the value of magic runes in the realm of the living.

"What about these weapons? There's nothing like those in Arcadius," he asked.

There was already an idea of how and why Blimpo was making the rune-powered weapons, but he wanted to hear it for himself.

Blimpo set the orange rune down with a smile, lifting his goggles from his eyes to reveal bright-blue irises that were in a cross pattern, "I developed these bad boys with a little inspiration from the big guy out there–bows, crossbows, cannons–none of those come close to what it can produce. With that in mind, I adapted–'tis the time to fight fire with fire!"

It was hard to imagine a normal, sane, even, person being able to maintain their sanity in the face of the ominous labyrinth and the horrific embodiment of war itself, especially somebody who didn't seem imbued with any physical gifts like the elven man before him.

"You're crazy," he couldn't help but say with a smile, astonished at the man's passion for crafting.

"Hah! A little crazy is needed if you're going to dedicate day-and-night to this! Like I said, I've got all the time in the world down here," Blimpo told him, "No rush."

Lifting up one of the newly-invented guns, which was made with a base of stone and in the shape of a pistol with a large, thick barrel and infused with a bright-blue magical rune, Emilio looked over at Blimpo after inspecting the weapon:

"I've got a lot of questions. But, if you're looking to get out of here, then I say we've got a common goal," Emilio said.