I watch as the person falls from the sky, tracking them with my eyes. When they impact on the other side of a nearby hill, there's a thunderous boom and the ground shakes. There's no way they survived that, especially with the flames, but I still want to check it out anyway. What the heck was that?

Quickly, I make my way to the hill, then scale it. When I look at the crater fifty yards away, I find him there, lying on the ground. He looks… strange. I move closer, entering the eight-yard-wide crater and approach him.

While he's humanoid, there are two things that stand out. First is the lizard-like tail coming out from right at the top of his ass. It's red, scaled, and about three feet long, about two inches or so at the base, tapering down to a point at the tip.

Then there are the scales. They're red, and spread from his tail to his sides, going up to his armpits, then moving back onto his back, up to his shoulders, which they cover completely, and then about a one-inch strip along his neck, leading up to his jaw, where they stop. The strips on his sides are only a couple of inches wide, leaving his back bare, and if I had to guess, probably his front.

His skin is pale, as if it's never been touched by the sun before, and his hair is as black as the night, which isn't something I see often around here.

The lack of horns indicates that he's not a demon, so that's a relief. Carefully, I turn him over, marveling at the fact that he appears unharmed. His scales are warm, smooth, and hard, but with a slight softness to them, like a lizard's.

Looking at his rather handsome face, I'd say he's about my age.

As I guessed, his scales don't travel onto his front, leaving his chest and stomach as smooth as his back. He's muscular, too, and hairless. Damn, he's attractive. Attractive and very, very naked. I turn my gaze back to his face and touch his shoulder and shaking him gently. With how impossibly unharmed he appears, I doubt there's any actual injury to risk worsening.

It takes me a couple of minutes, and some rather hard shakes, to rouse him, his eyelids fluttering for a moment before properly opening, his rich, brilliant blue eyes fixing on me, eyebrows furrowing in mild confusion as he lets out a soft, pained groan.

"So you are alive," I say.

"Yeah," he groans, sitting up and looking around. "Where am I?"

He has an unusual accent for this area, though I guess that's natural, considering he fell out of the sky.

"In Silent Valley," I answer. "We're about half an hour out of town. Are you okay? Do you hurt anywhere?"

"No," he answers. "The barrier shielded me well."

"The barrier?" I ask as he stands, and I do the same.

"Yeah," he answers as he stretches a little, looking around. "It's the only way I could have survived the fall from the portal. It's generated automatically. It was supposed to drop me near a Crystal Dungeon. Is there one nearby?"

"Whoa, hold up," I say. "Are you sure you're fine? What do you mean, portal? And barrier?"

"I'm fine," he tells me. "I came here through a portal, with a barrier to protect me as I fell."

"A portal?" I ask. "From… the sky?"

"Yes," he answers. "The aiming of the portal's location wasn't exact. Is there a Crystal Dungeon nearby? If not, do you know the way to the nearest one?"

"Y-yeah," I point in the direction of the entrance to the Crystal Dungeon. "It's right over that hill. Where did you come from? Why did you use a portal to get here? Why do you want to go to a Crystal Dungeon? Are you sure you're alright? You just fell thousands of feet."

"The barrier protected me," he states. "I came from another world, so a portal was the only way to get here. I need a Crystal of Power for my quest."

He doesn't expand on his answers, does he?

"Okay," I say. "Hold up. What mission?"

"To save this world," he tells me.

"From what?" I ask.

"It's dying," he answers. "I came here from my world to prevent that."

"And you need a Crystal of Power to do that?"

"Yes."

I sigh, rubbing my temples. That sounds like something out of a story, not something that actually happens in real life. His inability to expand on his answers without prompting makes this difficult, too.

"What are you going to do with the Crystal of Power, once you have it?" I ask.

"Seek out the Elemental Crystals."

The standard fare, then. I guess he's actually just on a quest to obtain a Crystal of Power and charge it full of magic. To charge a Crystal of Power, one must go to the Elemental Crystals and receive the element's charge. No one has to actually charge it with all four elements, they charge it based on what they want to use it for. Charging the Crystal of Power is even more difficult and dangerous than obtaining one, but the effect lasts for lifetimes.

Is this quest to save the world what he's told himself? His expression seems open and honest, so I doubt he's lying. But that thing about coming from another world? That's ridiculous.

"I've never heard of someone with reptilian traits before," I tell him. "Mammalian, but not reptilian. Is it okay if I ask where you're from?"

"Yes."

Once again, he doesn't elaborate.

"Where are you from?" I ask.

"Another world," he answers.

He's already told me that. I was hoping for more, but at this point, I should have known that's what I would get.

"And people look like you in your realm?" I ask.

"No."

"What do people look like there?" I ask.

"We look like dragons," he answers plainly. "We are dragons."

Dragons are creatures of myth and legend, not of reality. A few Ruins and Dungeons contain their design, but it's definitely not something with a human base.

"You don't look like a dragon," I point out.

"I attempted to take on a human form, but was not powerful enough to do so completely."

How hard did he hit his head, even with the protective barrier?

"Why are you naked?" I ask.

It's not like it's a bad thing for him to be naked, but it's also somewhat distracting because of how attractive he is, and it's taking every ounce of effort I have to not look down and admire his body. As a result, it's kind of on my mind, which seems to have caused it to come out of my mouth, too.

"Naked?" He gives me a confused look. "What does that mean?"

"You're not wearing any clothes," I point at him, then indicate my clothes. "See? Clothes."

"Oh," he says. "There are no clothes on my world."

Right. Dragons. They don't wear clothes, and probably couldn't make them even if they wanted to wear them. Assuming he's actually telling the trust. Does he come from a nudist society?

"Right," I say. "So of course you wouldn't have any before coming here. Well, here, it's customary to wear clothes, or people think the wrong thing of you."

"Okay," he says. "I need to go to the Crystal Dungeon first. After that, where may I acquire some clothes?"

That was a fast acceptance of wearing clothes, so at least he's a little reasonable in that way.

"I'll… go to town and get some for you while you're doing your thing," I tell him. "Come on, I'll take you to the Dungeon, it's on the path back."

"Thank you," he says.

I turn and start walking, and he follows me. We reach the Crystal Dungeon entrance, and he looks around it at as if he's never seen a Dungeon Entrance before, his face full of confusion as he attempts to figure out how to enter.

"How do I go in?" He asks.

"You put your hand on the center stone," I point at it. "When you do, a menu will appear in your vision, and yours alone, and you'll need to mentally select the option you want to go to. You have to be connected to the System first, have you taken on a Class yet?"

"No," he answers.

"How old are you?"

"Why?" He asks.

"You have to be nineteen to take on a Class," I tell him. "Otherwise, it will just pop up a message in your vision tell you to wait until you're nineteen. You'll have to take on a Class to connect to the System, and it's necessary to do the quest to receive a Crystal of Power, too."

He looks thoughtful for a moment, then places his hand on the stone. People can only see their own menus, messages, and inventories.

"You only have a Class Trial option, right?" I ask.

"Yes," he answers.

"Okay," I say. "Mentally pick one, then go in. It shouldn't take you too long. I'll be back in about an hour, probably. I'll grab a few supplies for you to use in the quest for the Crystal of Power, too. Those are supposed to take longer."

"Thank you," he says.

"What Class are you going to pick?" I ask.

"Knight."

"Okay," I respond. "I'll pick up a sword for you as well. Can you use a sword?"

"No."

I'll get him one anyway.

"If you're a dragon," I say. "Can't you already use magic and stuff? Like a flame breath, and all that? The ancient stories say dragons were masters of magic, and their signature attack was a flame breath. When they were just smashing and clawing their way through things."

I don't believe him in the slightest, but I want to see how well his story holds up.

"I am bound by the rules implemented into this world," he states. "As such, the limitations placed into it apply to me as well."

What the hell does that mean?

"Um, okay," I say, then give him a smile. "See you in an hour or so, Mr. Meteor."

"My name is Drake."

"And mine's Nate," I tell him. "See you in an hour, then."

"Goodbye," he dips his head to me, then vanishes.

I return to town, still not entirely sure what's going on. I found a guy who survived meteoring into the planet, who claims he's from another world and is on a quest to save the world from it… just dying. I'm not sure I'd be able to get a proper answer on how and why it's supposedly dying out of him without asking a million questions.

When I reach town, I make my way to the guild, where Daniel and Cassidy are chatting at the bar, Daniel on one side, Cassidy on the other.

"Welcome back!" Daniel greets me with a big grin. "How did it go?"

"It went easy," I tell him. "My sense for treasure made it easy to finish. After, though, something weird happened."

"What?" He asks, and I explain about Drake. "There are no people with reptilian features, Nate."

"He definitely does," I say. "I felt them, too. They're a part of him. What about his quest thing?"

"Do you believe he's serious?" He asks.

"I believe he thinks he's serious," I answer.

"I see," he says. "If you're being honest, and he looks different from any other type of person here with such a strange tale, then I believe you should pay your grandmother a visit."

"Which one?" I ask, even though I know who he's talking about already.

"The one who lives nearby," he gives me an amused look as Cassidy snorts. "Your other one lives in the kingdom's capital, so that's more than a little journey and a 'visit'."

"Granny's gonna be mad you haven't visited her in awhile," Cassidy chuckles.

"It's only been a couple of months," I roll my eyes. "She tends to not realize it's been awhile for a couple of years."

"You say that, sure," Cassidy says. "But trust me, she's going to be mad her favorite grandson hasn't visited."

"Cassidy," I say. "Granny saw me when I was born. Then not again until I moved out here when I was twelve. That was twelve years. She thought that was 'a short time'. She literally said 'you grew fast' when she saw me. I was twelve. And I'm a little on the small side. Her sense of time is so messed up, I could probably wait another ten years to visit her, and she'd act like I just left a few months ago."

"Don't be mean about Granny!" Cassidy exclaims.

"I'm not being mean," I roll my eyes. "Just factual. Her sense of time really is messed up. Plus, if she thought the wait between visits was too long, she'd have told me when to visit again before I left last time."

Granny is the Oracle. She's someone who learned spells outside of the ones from taking on or advancing a Class. Her extra spells allow her to know things others don't, and she's been sought by powerful adventurers wanting advice before.

Years ago, before I was born, she moved to an area near here. A small island off the coast southeast of the valley. It's private, secluded, and a bit out of the way for most people. Before she moved out here, she had people visiting her all the time, wanting advice about this or that, but her power wasn't so cheap that she could just look and see what they needed.

Even charging people for it, which resulted in most visitors leaving without what they sought, she still received many visitors. That's what she got for living in the royal capital. Even staying in the castle proved problematic, as people would gather at the gates, asking to be let in. It resulted in adventurers or nobles who could pay not being able to visit her easily.

So, she teamed up with a group of powerful adventurers, one of whom I think was Daniel, got a Crystal of Power, charged it at all four Elemental Crystals, then created herself a home on an island out here. The Crystal of Power was used to create defenses for her, and once word went out that she moved into a strange sort of Dungeon, only those who she actually wanted to visit did. Adventurers, nobles, and other powerful people for whom her advice could potentially help many.

Then there's me. I can visit her freely, because the defenses recognize me as a resident.

As a result of Granny's powers, though, she really does have a hard time with realizing how long it's been. Short-term things, she's good with, but longer-term? I wasn't kidding about her probably thinking it was only a few months if I didn't visit for ten years.

"Should I go while he's getting the Crystal?" I ask. "How long does that actually take?"

"Depends on the team," Daniel tells me. "It can take several days, even a couple of weeks. It's best if he doesn't go in right away, regardless of his quest."

"Okay," I say. "I'll let him know that. I should go get him some clothes, I'll need to buy some, since he's at least a size or two bigger than me. See you later!"