Vur exhaled through his nostrils and glared at the well-dressed man with the knife. Both of their arms were bloody. There was a thumping sound as the man Vur had just resurrected climbed off the sacrificial altar, but neither Vur nor the priest acknowledged him.

“I think I know what he’s trying to do,” Stella said and poked her head out of Vur’s chest. The priest flinched, but that was all.

Vur looked down at Stella. “What?”

“He thinks you’re hungry, so he’s offering these human hearts for you to eat!”

Vur’s nose wrinkled. “I don’t eat human.”

“Yeah.” Stella nodded. Then she pointed at the priest. “But he doesn’t know that.”

The priest stared at Stella’s finger. His eyes lit up, and he gave his knife to the person beside him. Then he lay on the altar.

Vur sighed and grabbed the altar with one hand, his fingers digging into the stone. With a grunt, he flipped it over, tearing its base from the pyramid. The priest yelped as he rolled off, and Vur snorted as he dumped the altar aside. “There’s really no way to talk to them?” Vur asked Zilphy, who was sitting on his shoulder.

“Nope. Unless you have a translation magic.” Zilphy shrugged. “Just treat them like you treat Snuffles.”

Vur frowned. “Snuffles understands what I say. He’s much smarter than them.”

“That’s not right,” Mistle said. “They just speak a different language. That doesn’t mean they aren’t smart.”

“Oh, what do you know?” Zilphy asked, practically spitting out her words. “To judge someone’s intelligence, you have to be smart yourself; you have no right to say anything about anyone’s brains.”

Vur sighed. “Why are you two still fighting?”

Zilphy snarled. “We wouldn’t fight if this vixen would just admit her wrongs, roll over, and die.”

Vur scratched his head. He took Grimmy’s advice—if there’s a problem, then ignore it until the problem goes away—but it didn’t seem to be working. Maybe he didn’t ignore it for long enough. Vur nodded and let the two elementals squabble as he looked around. People were still lining up on the pyramid steps despite the altar being destroyed. They were saying things at him, but since Zilphy was too busy arguing to translate, he had no idea what they were saying.

There was a thumping sound, and Vur looked down. The priest was on his knees, offering the knife by its hilt towards Vur. Vur grabbed it and tilted his head. If these people were so intent on feeding him because he saved some people, then he was going to show them what he wanted to eat. “Polymorph!”

Gasps filled the air as the knife in Vur’s hands transformed into a bear. It was a bear with no life in its body, but that was okay. Vur placed the bear onto the altar and pointed at it. Then he pointed at his mouth while performing an exaggerated chewing motion. With that, they should understand his point. Even a baby dragon would understand unless it was blind.

The natives climbed up the pyramid and surrounded the lifeless bear. They poked and prodded it, showing reactions as if they had never seen one before. “Maybe there aren’t any bears here….” Vur furrowed his brow. He was in a different place after all. Some places didn’t have demons like Tafel. It would make sense if some places didn’t have bears. But didn’t Sung say this place was supposed to have a lot of dragons? If there were a lot of dragons, then that meant there’d have to be lots of bears to eat.

“No, I think they’re just surprised about the fact you turned a knife into a bear,” Stella said. “For some reason, I don’t think there’s much magic in this world. There’s so much mana, so much that it feels like no one’s using it.”

Vur raised his arm, and there was a burst of light accompanied by a crashing sound. Lightning shot out of his fingers and filled the sky, blotting out even the sun with their brightness. “Huh. I guess you’re right. There really is a lot of mana here.”

“Oh, you frightened them,” Stella said. She flew out of his chest and stood atop his head, scanning the natives who were trembling while covering their heads. Most of them were on their knees, and the few who weren’t had directly fainted. A frown appeared on her face. “What if there aren’t any dragons in this world? Could we have been transported to a different place than everyone else? What if we’re stuck here forever?”

Vur grabbed Stella and brought her down to his chest. He turned her around to face him, and he patted her head with his finger. “Don’t worry. Ma will come find us when she notices we’re missing.”

Stella tilted her head. “And how long will that take?”

Vur shrugged. “Not too long. A few decades? I told her I would be gone for a while.”

“Oh,” Stella said. “A few decades.” She nodded. “You’re right. That’s not too long.” She exhaled. “Looks like I was worried for nothing.”

***

“Hmm…, where am I?” Mr. Skelly scratched his skull. He seemed to be surrounded by total darkness. Luckily, he could see in the dark despite his lack of eyes. Right next to him, lying by his side, there was another skeleton. “Hey. Are you alive?”

There was no response.

Mr. Skelly waited for a moment. “Well, that was silly of me. I meant to ask if you were dead and able to respond.”

There was still no response.

“Guess not.” Mr. Skelly sighed and wriggled around. He was stuck in a box, perhaps a coffin. If his dear Alice had ended up in the same situation as he did…. A chuckle escaped from Mr. Skelly’s mouth, and he pressed his hands against—what he assumed was—the top of the coffin. It didn’t budge. It seemed like he was going to be stuck here for a very long time. Well, he had a connection with Alice, so she should be able to find him eventually. Until then, he’d just have to wait. Perhaps it’d even take a few decades. …At that rate, it would be faster to scratch the coffin apart and dig his way out. It’s not like he had anything else to do anyway.