Tick. Tock.

It was dark.

T-tick. Tock.

It was cold.

Tick. Tock.

It was lonely.

T-tick. Tock.

It was wet.

Tick. To-

Wait, what? Wet?

T-tick. Tock.

Something's wrong.

Tick. Tock.

Where was he?

T-tick. Tock.

Where was… Pii? He felt kind of… soft.

Tick. Tock.

Oh. He knew this feeling.

T-t-t-t-ock.

His eyes shot open once more as he laid face up towards the sky.

He heard something fall onto stone next to his head. From above, a soft voice spoke to him. “H-hey you’re awake?”

At the bottom of his vision he could see stairs leading to the banks of a stone canal with a busy bridge running over it, carriages echoing a constant click clack into the shadowed area he laid in… and at the top of his vision he could see black locks of hair. Ressen just laid there. This was new.

“You’re the softest one so far.”

“E-eh?”

He felt the girl stumble backwards away from him as his head hit the paved stone.

“Are you a pervert?!”

“You there - where’s Pii.”

“Pii? Wait, no I’m the one asking questions - I thought you were dead!”

“Huh. I didn’t think Aer could have a canal. Where does this water come from?”

The voice stopped stumbling backwards and fell on her rear with a plop. “Ae- this isn’t Aer?”

“Aer was pretty high up wasn’t it…”

The silhouette of a head blocked Ressens view. “Hey, where do you think you are?”

“Eh? This is Aer isn’t it. I’m starting to prefer Flot if Psia’s going to play these dumb jokes.”

The face stuck a hand in front of his face and waved it. “Hello? This is Fortress Ignis… Aer is two months away.”

“I need to go find pii an- what?” Ressen sat up, causing the girl to fall backwards on her rear. He spun around and looked at a black haired girl dressed in a quaint dress. “This is, I-ignis?”

“Aer is that city that's really tall right?” She was rubbing her back.

“H-hey, girl, where’s Pii?”

“You keep talking about a Pii… is that your friend or something?” she fumbled around in her only pocket trying to put something back in. “She's not a very good friend if you ended up in the sewers…” her face had a complicated expression. “Most people that end up down here are either dead or dying. I’m actually surprised you’re alive.”

Ressen’s mouth flapped open and closed repeatedly as thoughts rushed through his head. Dead? What had happened? “A d-dragon. Pii is my dragon.”

“Okay, I’m going to stop you there. Are you sure you’re not on some kind of drug?” She stood up preparing to leave.

Ressen was completely dejected, staring at the ground, trying to remember the previous day’s events.

“Alright, I’m going to leave you to it then…” she began backing off out of the alley.

Ressen looked up in panic, realizing if she was telling the truth, he had no idea where he was. “N-no! Please - Pii is all I have.” He stood up to try and stop her, “She's family.”

She stopped and turned around, “A dragon is family, huh. You don’t hear this stuff every day.” She stopped and looked like she was thinking. “I don’t have much time for nonsense.” She turned around and walked to the entrance of the alley.

Ressen stopped in his tracks. “Bu-”

She looked back at him. “C’mon, what are you waiting for? Tell me everything as we walk.” She stood with her hands on her sides. “You sound interesting, and I know a few people we can ask if you’re telling the truth.”