In a well-lit parking lot of a college, in the late hours of a winter night, a young man scowled and tried not to curse out loud as he dropped his car keys for what seemed like the fifth time in a minute. It was the cold weather and his thick gloves causing it to happen, he was fairly sure, as he wasn't very clumsy normally.He shook his head, and some strands of his thick, almost waist length blue-green hair slid to cover his face.

The hair was quite obviously dyed, and you could see blackish-brown roots starting to peek out from his scalp, but none of that distracted from the face the hair framed. He had thick eyebrows, unmolested by dye or much beyond the occasional tweezing to shape them up and prevent a unibrow.

These eyebrows were over large, brown almond-shaped eyes, which were above a nose that could best be described as romanesque, and a somewhat wide mouth with moderately thick lips, currently deformed into a frustrated scowl.

His chin was prominent, but was neither pointy or square, more like the end of a rather rounded oval than anything else. He had an average body build, his shoulders and hips were not broad,yet not thin, and his long legs and arms made him appear somewhat larger than his actual height of 5 feet 10 inches. He was moderately fit, neither built like a statue or excessively skinny, though by the slight protrusion of his belly, the fat on his thighs and upper arms, and the slightly chubby cheeks that were held up by his high cheekbones, he could be considered to be a bit chubby.

All detail about his body from the neck down, however, was obscured by his baggy black t-shirt with some video game related logo, his baggy sweatpants, and the beat-up oversized leather jacket he loved to wear during cold weather.

Overall, his general physical appearance and his light brown skin suggested a mixed East Asian and European heritage, which wasn't far off from the truth.

This was Kellan Klein, a Computer Sciences student studying this field for, of all possible reasons, to pursue his desire to be involved in the development of video games. He figured he could turn it into a profitable programming-related career even if he couldn't hack it as a game dev, and that seemed like a pretty solid plan to him. Unfortunately for Kellan, life had other plans.

As he finally unlocked his car and prepared to head home, something tapped on his shoulder. He turned around quickly, and saw what looked like a bright-red skinned arm giving off a blood-colored light. Well, it was an arm, if an arm could be at least as tall as he was and about as thick as his waist. His eyes followed the arm to its source, what looked like...some kind of hole in the air, glowing with an eye-hurting rainbow of colors. He saw pretty much every color he knew in that rainbow, and a few that he had a sneaking suspicion humans didn't have the visual range to see under normal circumstances.

He tried to back into his car, stuttering out "Hey, I uh, d-don't want any trouble!" as he went.

This would have been a smart idea, except for the fact that the arm was much faster than he was, and the head-sized hands had clawed fingers. The obnoxiously glowing red arm grabbed Kellan and dragged him into the weird rainbow air hole, leaving behind nothing but an abandoned, unlocked car and the keys still in its door to indicate that Kellan or the arm had ever been there. As he was dragged through, the strange air hole, that Kellan now figured was some sort of portal, closed behind him, nearly severing the last several inches of his hair.

Kellan was being unceremoniously pulled through a short tunnel that glowed with the same light as the strange hole/portal/he wasn't sure what it was. He felt fear and anxiety spike within him, and his stomach began to churn. Oh man, a panic attack right now, before he had any idea what was going on or where he was or oh hey he'd reached the end of the tunnel. He discovered two things very quickly.

The first was that the place he'd arrived in was well lit, and well decorated, but obviously still a cave. The second thing was that right in front of him, there was a very large red-skinned woman , whose body was on the same scale of size as that huge arm that had pulled him here. Looking her up and down and trying not to scream, he noticed she had a pretty face, a fairly muscular figure, and two large, sharp horns that resembled nothing more than the horns of a bull,atop long, curly black hair. She wore a dress made of what looked like some sort of fur or leather, and didn't wear shoes. He figured that was because he feet were just as clawed as her hands, if not more so. Seeing the unfortunate mortal try to maintain composure in the face of what had to be worldview-shattering shock and fear, she smirked.

Kellan, for his part, managed not to scream or start crying, though he very much wanted to. If all the media he'd experienced and myths he'd heard of got anything right, this red lady was probably some kind of demon or monster, and she almost certainly intended to do mind-breakingly scary and traumatic things to him. With an effort of will that surpassed any he'd made so far, even the time he managed to keep down that horrific mixed drink concoction his friends had whipped up on his 21st birthday, Kellan looked the woman in front of him right in her yellow, slit-pupiled eyes. He tried to speak, to ask a question, but she spoke before he could get a word out of his mouth.

In a domineering, authoritative tone, as if she was used to being obeyed, she asked "So, mortal, do you want to know why I grabbed you, and what you're here for?You must have many questions." She smirked, seeming to enjoy his obvious discomfort.

That annoyed him,and under the fear and anxiety, anger started to build. Just who the fuck was this red bitch , and why did she think he was her fucking toy or whatever? He had rights that weren't supposed to be infringed on, rights that were supposed to be universal. Ah well, he figured that if even his government didn't obey such basic rules, why would this demonic-seeming lady pay any attention to them?

He growled out his next words, anger and fear obvious in his tone, like the battle cry of a cornered animal. "Who the fuck are you? Why did you grab me? What are you? Who are you? Where the fuck is this weird cave thing even at? What the hell was that portal thing?" his hands, not pinned to his sides by the giant hand, balled into fists.

"Hehe, you're clearly terrified yet you talk back to me? Even being able to tell that based on sheer body size and muscle strength alone, I could kill you more easily than you could crack an egg? Hmmph, you might be some a mortal loser from some lame weaksauce universe that doesn't even have magic or cultivators anymore, but you've got one hell of a backbone, kid." The demon's smirk gained a hint of genuine amusement. She wasn't used to her captives, mortal or otherwise, being defiant in the face of certain death. It almost made her want to keep this kid around, just to see how else he surprised her.

"Actually, I'm terrified and probably in the middle of a panic attack at the moment, but the sentiment is appreciated. Anyways, questions? I don't want to die or be experimented on or whatever without having any idea who or what took me out of this world." Kellan's voice shook, and he was unable to keep more of his anger and fear from seeping into his words and onto his face.

The demonic woman raised an eyebrow. "Well, usually I'd kill you for talking to me like that, but you're gonna die anyway so I'll answer your questions. I am Lamia, a demon from the Myriad Heavens Cosmos, a universe a fair distance away from this one on the grand multiversal wheel. I grabbed you to drain your vital energies,blood and soul so as to help create the formation that will open a portal home. You know, I've been doing this for thousands of years, slowly gathering the energy to heal my injuries. It's gotten a lot harder with modern technology and you people no longer believing in gods and demons. I miss the days when all I had to do was shapeshift into some half-snake thing and birth monsters to terrify you people into sacrificing to me. As for the cave? Well, that you don't need to know." She took a breath, though she hadn't seemed to be even close to being out of breath. Was this for dramatic effect? Either way, he was royally screwed, and was pretty sure he was going to die.

In that moment, Kellan gave up and went silent, the prospect of inevitable, painful death just to be part of the fuel for some demon's attempt to get home getting to him on a deep enough level for him to shut down and stop functioning. He waited for the pain, for the end, to fade into nothing. He wondered if there was an afterlife? There probably was, given that Lamia called herself a demon and that everything she'd done so far, even her damn existence, was clearly supernatural. He'd find out soon enough, he figured. He certainly hoped there was one, he'd dearly missed his grandparents and his dog since they passed away in the same tragic accident a few weeks before he turned 18.

*** SCENE BREAK***

Kellan waited for the pain, hoping it'd be over quickly. Instead, he felt a sharp pain all over his body, and for a few seconds that stretched into infinity, he felt something leave him. He didn't know what it was, but it felt important, it felt like losing it was the worst possible thing. It made the pain like a thousand tiny razors being dragged across his skin feel like nothing compared to the sudden emptiness he felt. To be honest, it felt a lot like a depressive episode, but one where his body was more depressed than his mind. It was just wrong, and he tried to grab onto what he felt leave and pull it back. He had no idea how, though, and he felt it continue to be pulled out of him.

"So this is how it ends, huh? A slow, painful death I can't even resist. I guess that's fittingly pathetic for a loser like me." Kellan had a hard time getting those words out. He was already in pain and feeling empty, and those words intensified both of those feelings. Having said his piece, he was content to wait to the end while the Lamia laughed and drained him of whatever vital energy or soul or whatever that was leaving him. After all, if he couldn't resist, he may as well go out peacefully and rob the demon of the satisfaction the torture he was going through would bring her.

It was a nice last stand, all in all, but it was about to be interrupted. The cave walls shook,and some vases fell off a nearby shelf, somehow managing to not shatter on the stone floor dotted with cool-looking rugs made from animals Kellan had never seen before. Did tigers come in bright blue? Was that bear rug's fur red? What kind of overly huge lizard was made into the couch cushions? Kellan wasn't sure. He didn't have much time to think about it, as Lamia stopped draining him and a look that was an odd mixture of annoyance and primal terror appeared in her eyes.

Something that scared Lamia must be pretty terrifying and powerful, so I was somewhat perplexed when the ornate mahogany door Lamia had installed in the cave entrance burst into sawdust and the prettiest man he'd ever seen strode into the cave, staff in hand. He seemed to be of mixed East Asian-European heritage, like Kellan, and that was probably the most normal thing about his appearance. His entire face and figure seemed delicate and ethereal, his firm jawline and the cold anger in his eyes the only things about his appearance that weren't soft and smooth. He had silver hair, bright golden eyes, skin like Kellan's, and two horns atop his head, though they seemed smaller and more combat-focused than Lamia's oversized horns that were probably mostly there for intimidation. he wore a blue cotton robe, cut to resemble that of a Taoist monk, and what looked like black and white sneakers on his feet.

He held what looked like a short sword with a glowing white crystal in the pommel, and as he raised it to strike, his sleeve fell back and I could see patches of silvery scales on his arms. He said "It's time to come home, Lamia. I wish i'd been able to find and track you earlier, but it took this long to even get here. You set up a formation powered with lives,drenched in innocent blood because you weren't strong enough to get home and evade us, am I right, Planet Devouring Serpent Queen?" His expression was cold, and each word carried his disdain and disappointment with the demon in front of him.

Panicking, Lamia did what she thought would be smart. She held a claw to Kellan's throat, and her voice shook as she said "One move and the mortal gets it!"

The pretty man smiled, and it was a sadistic, joyless smile. Moving faster than Kellan's eye, and probably Lamia's as well, could see, he slammed the pommel of the sword into her forehead, and she screamed as her figure distorted and was sucked into the glowing stone with a sickening crunch.

"She'll be taken home for trial, and punished for her crimes. I can't resurrect her victims, as this isn't my territory, but I can help you."

He waved his hand, and Kellan felt whatever had been taken from him had been restored. Hell, he felt better than he had in years.

"Yo, uh, Kellan, I think your name is? I have a proposal for you. On my journey here, I was constantly scanning your universe, and I watched millions and billions of humans live, grow and age. So many of you dreamed of other worlds, other places.Your dreams in particular caught my attention, and the time differential between this cave and the real world is enough that it's been a year and everyone thinks you're missing or dead. I want to give you the ability to visit places you've dreamed of or heard of in stories and stuff, on the condition that you'll help me gather samples of resources, abilities and stuff so that I can catalog how powers and stuff work in those places." The anger had fled from his face, and he seemed more embarrassed than anything.

"I mean, it sounds great, but there has to be a catch. Is my old life completely gone? Can I go home again?" He asked.

"Well, there's no catch, per se, but you'll be constantly risking your life. You can go home, but i'll have to come up with a suitable cover story for your return and you can only go home on vacations, not permanently. Once you've progressed enough, though, you can bring your loved ones along and help them become strong and find place they want to go as well."

Assured that he wouldn't be some kind of Isekai protagonist with either no way home or no reason to go home, Kellan prepared to take the biggest leap of faith he'd ever taken.

"Hell the fuck yeah, man, sign me up. By the way, what's your name?"

"We'll begin the preparation process soon,after I take this monster home. My name's Avarius Goldscale, and I guess you could consider me...a guardian angel, if dragons are a type of angel." Avarius smirked.

Kellan was sure he'd regret this later, but at that moment all he could think of was a ridiculously pretty dragon man who seemed to switch between modern slang and formal, antiquated speech at the drop of a hat. Oh, and also the promise of exploring all the worlds he'd dreamed of since his childhood. This was gonna be fucking awesome!