Tide didn’t say anything as Andrew began to look around the woods. “Just a bit further” Tide said.
Andrew began to walk and was surprised when he walked into a wide open field where a giant hole was placed in the center. Around the hole were weird statues that Andrew found a bit odd as they were all of Dragons. “What is this place?” Andrew asked.
“This is the portal to the world of dragons” Tide said. “It may only be accessed and found through a dragon.”
Andrew found it odd that no humans were ever able to find this area considering how easy it was able to be spotted but he assumed that it probably had something to do with a force field or some other magical property. As Andrew walked over to the hole, he saw the statues looked very old and overgrown as if left alone for a very long time.
“Alright now place our claw on every statue” Tide said as Andrew walked over to a statue. Seeing an emblem for a hand… claw? Whatever. Andrew assumed this was where he was meant to do it and as he laid his claw on it the statue began to glow. “Great, now hurry and do the others” Tide yelled with anticipation within his head.
Andrew made his way to every statue and made them glow one by one until every statue had been touched. “Now stand back” Tide said as Andrew took a few paces back as the hole began to erupt a strange noise before a large aura of light came through the hole.
“W-w-what is happening?” Andrew asked a bit nervous at the strange phenomenon occurring on the ground.
“Alright now jump inside!” Tide said as Andrew walked over to the portal.
“But are you sure?” Andrew said as he looked down realizing how strange this all was.
“Just do it!” Tide yelled again. Grumbling, Andrew took a deep breath and jumped inside the portal. Andrew felt himself falling through a strange void as he closed his eyes before opening them again.
Andrew now laid on a dirty marble floor and looked around to see he was now in an old building. Confused as to where he had been transported, Andrew stood up seeing the area resembled the one in the woods with a hole in the middle and statues of dragons around it looking just as old as the others back in the woods. “Great just as I remembered” Tide said as if confirming the location they were standing in.
“Where are we?” Andrew asked as he looked around, worried something might jump out at them.
“Everything shall be explained. Just follow my directions and you’ll know” Tide said as he began to guide Andrew out of the Temple they were in and through a path awaiting them outside in the woods. As Andrew walked he began to realize the woods looked completely different than his own full of plants and vegetation he’d never seen in his own world.
“Here we are” Tide said as Andrew walked into a clearing where an ancient looking city awaited them. Surprised, Andrew saw all the other anthro dragons walking around as they lived their lives. “Welcome to my home” Tide said with a shred of nostalgia as Andrew began making his way into town.
Seeing how all other dragons were naked, Andrew felt more comfortable being nude here than before but felt very strange over all the older dragons towering over him. “Now if you just head to the left path we’ll be at my home” Tide said as Andrew walked in that direction. Andrew saw a normal ancient looking house as he opened the door and stepped inside.
In the house was a large male anthro dragon who turned around to see Andrew after opening the door. “Tide! Is that you?” The dragons deep voice asked.
“Yeah. It’s me” Andrew said hesitantly as he didn’t know what to say as the large dragon approached them.
Suddenly the dragon held Andrew up as he hugged him tightly. “Oh Tide I was worried after you went missing” the dragon said as he nearly crushed Andrew in his embrace.
“Need to breathe” Andrew let out as the dragon let go of him and placed him on the ground. As Andrew looked up, he realized the dragon looked a bit familiar with blue scales on his back and aquamarine on his front. In fact the dragon looked like an older, larger, more muscular version of Tide.
“Yeah that’s my Dad” Tide answered in his head.
Everything made more sense after Andrew learned this, feeling himself relax around the dragon man that he was so apprehensive of before.
“Tide where were you? You’ve been gone an entire week!” The dragon bellowed with an angry tone before looking up at the clock. “Anyway I don’t have time right now for you to explain. I’m going to be late for my job so until further noticed you’re grounded.”
The dragon man gave Andrew another hug just as tight as before and left the house leaving Andrew behind.
“What’s going on?” Andrew wondered.
“I’ll explain everything” Tide said as he began to tell him his story. “So a week ago I was playing in the woods far out from the city and discovered that abandoned temple we arrived in. After opening the portal, I jumped inside and landed in your world. At first I found it fun and began to explore, but after seeing humans I realized that world was far different from my own. Out of fear, the humans found a wizard to use magic on me to turn me into a ring, so that I would be unable to harm them. And eventually after being passed around I wound end up in that machine you won me in”
“Wait I thought you were trapped in the ring for centuries? How was it only a week ago?” Andrew wondered as he tried to grasp his head around the story.
“I assume time passes differently in our worlds. A hundred years in your world equals a day in my world or I believe since I was trapped in your world for seven hundred years and only a week had passed in my world.”
“And a wizard? I didn’t know magic like that existed in my world.” Andrew said as he found the whole thing bizarre.
“Don’t ask me. It’s your world.” Tide said with a slight laugh.
“Anyway what do we do now?” Andrew asked him.
“We should probably stay in my house for now. I don’t want to get in any more trouble with my Dad.” Tide said.
“Are you joking? How would he know if we snuck out?” Andrew asked in disbelief at the idea of Tide being worried of getting into trouble.
“Trust me. All my neighbors know me. And I’m sure my Dad already told them to keep an eye on me. So it’s better if we just stay in my room” Tide said.
Andrew then…