‘What the hell am I doing?’

Seeing the large crowd down on the streets, I knew I was crazy if I thought I could walk freely. I’d end up being pushed around given that I wasn’t well built either. If I wasn’t careful amidst that chaos, I might even be kidnapped or something. My position was worse than a lost child since I didn’t even have a guardian.

*Bang

“Wooooo!”

Large cries came out in excitement while I was scared out of my pants. A ball of fire had shot up right in front of me and exploded into a flare. I may have enjoyed it along with the crowd if it weren’t in such close proximity. I knew I wasn’t supposed to be shocked, but anyone in my place would be the same. Try getting blasted by a firework yourself, dear reader. It was dangerous stuff.

But that wasn’t all. Upon exploding into a flower shape, the flames suddenly gathered back in place as if time reverted before shooting back up into the sky. It rained like a water fountain except the ashes burnt up and disappeared shortly after. It was a scenery that made people go “What the fuck,” all the while having them pinch their cheeks in wonder.

“YEAAAAH!” A collective war cry came along that trembled in the surroundings with the sheer volume.

After a couple more fireworks, the bout came to an end allowing me to finally rest.

I took another peek down at the streets and couldn’t help but think the view was horrifying and amazing at the same time. I could fall to my death with a kiss from the wind, but I was too entranced to care. Everything was kneeling before me. If I ignored the horrifying part, I could kind of sympathize with God and his reason for staying cooped up in the sky all the time. There was a sense of inherent superiority to it; narcissists would vie for this type of euphoria.

‘Why am I on a skyscraper?’

Now that I looked at it, other than the platform I was on, there wasn’t anything parallel to my feet—that is, if I ignored the mountain in the background. No, seriously. It was a giant mountain. I’ve never been to Japan before, but the snow cap was just as exquisite as the one on Mount Fuji.

When you ignored the music, the scenery became a feast for the eyes. All the way down in the far right was a palace in its own holy territory. And with the occasion of a couple slightly taller buildings, everything else were houses with perfectly aligned roof tiles. The ordered plots of land and housing made it seem as if there were a tidal wave flowing from roof to roof. If you added a fish head somewhere, the countless roof tiles would stack like dragon scales.

I absorbed the eye candy for a while before I started planning ahead.

‘What am I going to do?’

I could barely see walls at the far ends of the horizon and which told me that leaving this city would take a while. It wasn’t a question of how I got there, because the only thing I had were legs. And amidst the chaos on the streets, even walking would be hard.

While that was good and all, my mind was dwelling on a more important issue.

‘I’m a stupid little kid.’

That’s right, I was both weak and in the form of a child. Who’s to say I won’t get kidnapped or something? People can fly here for fuck’s sake. Either that was common or the crazy woman who brought me here was a special case—still dangerous no matter how I looked at it. And even more sickening, magic looked like something commonplace based on the fact that those fireworks defied gravity.

I didn’t have a grasp on magic or even the slightest intuition of it, so I shouldn’t expect myself to be able to do anything against a magic user. In that sense, every adult was an enemy. Who’s to say none of them run shady businesses that involve child trafficking or slavery?

Every one of those on the streets were enemies to the child me.

‘I should have waited.’

I realized it too late, but my judgment to run away was plain fantasy. I wasn’t capable enough to protect myself yet I expected myself to survive independently? What the hell is wrong with me? I can’t even do more than 20 push-ups!

‘Fuck.’

I wanted to go back in time and redo everything like a true video game with checkpoints, but that wasn’t how it worked. There was no such thing as a flawless speedrun especially when it came to life. Speedrunning was the one thing exempt from the concept of life unless you were trying to suicide as fast as possible. In that case, be my guest, we’re all dying anyway.

And since I already started the trouble, I wasn’t going to back down anytime soon. I could only grit my teeth and pave my way forward without a word.

“AHHHHH!” More applause came, and I marked that as a starting point.

Looking around the rooftop, I made contact with a door distinct from the one I came out of.

After going down a flight of stairs, I came across a rather familiar figure. There was a single button engraved in a rectangle panel.

‘An elevator?’

I pressed the red button with no regard for the possible consequences and waited there foolishly.

The long-awaited elevator never came.

As I expected, it was luxury limited by the technological advancements of society. There was no way that elevators existed when cars didn’t. Of course, that raised the question of why there was a door-like gap on the wall, but I wasn’t going to waste time.

I passed through a door along with the same red button on every floor. After however long it took to descend the tower, I reached the bottom.

The soles of my feet were sore from the excessive stepping, but the pain was a temporal thing that would go away on its own.

I opened the only door there was, using it as a shield as the gap widened. I poked my head out to look, and seeing that the coast was clear, I entered, shutting the door quietly.

The place was dark and devoid of light. And the same unscathed carpets laid on the ground without any dirt.

I followed it down the only path available until I found myself in an opening reminiscent of a lavish hotel lobby—reception desk and all. The lobby was filled with plants of various colors: blue, red, purple, etc. But the strange thing wasn’t the fact that there were colors, but the fact that the entire plant from stem up was that single color.

There wasn’t a trace of humanity here.

The curtains were pulled tight, while the remaining light came from the glass doors. On the other side was a vacant street cleansed of life. All the people were probably on the opposite side of the building where the parade was ongoing.

I crept to and pulled the door, but it didn’t open. There didn’t seem to be any sort of lock so…

‘Ah, there!’

Another one of those red buttons was on the side, except this one had a label that read, “Open.”

With a click, the doors opened with ease as the festive air brought a certain scent of gunpowder to my nose.

“Beautiful,” I couldn’t help but say.

The air was the same, but the feeling was all so different. The liberation from breaking out of prison was one of a kind. And who would have thought it was so easy? Like,—Woah woah woah, what’s that?

“Wooooh!”

Mixed in with the cries of joy was the gorgeous scene where a gang of masked men were forcing a boy into a conveniently placed alleyway.

‘...’

I for one knew exactly what was going to happen next—and I wasn’t about to call myself a hypocrite.

I grinned profusely as I imbued my gaze with a hint of wisdom. “My time has come.”

"Hehehe."

Were they about to beat up a boy? Why isn’t there anyone on the streets? Was I, a weak little boy myself, going to intervene? And will there be an actual plot?

Find out in the next episode of Dragon B—

Wait, I can’t say that? Copyright? Au Bollocks