Air bubble shield? Check!
Rings? Check!
Summon spell at the ready? Check!
Trail mix? Check!

Just somethings I need to make sure are in place before I teleport to an unknown location. I sure don’t want a repeat of what happened last time I attempted traveling across the cosmos without any preparation. Over the years of traveling I learned that not every world is hospitable and fit for a dragon. Planets with the lack of oxygen, frozen tundra covering 99% of the surface, or even an infinite void are things I don’t wanna deal with again. There was even one time the ability to use magic wasn’t possible. But that’s a story for another day. If there was ever a time I was in a true pickle, I have to make a summoning circle in my original location to bring me back from where I came.

After going through my prep one last time, it’s finally time to see what this new world is about. I close my eyes to concentrate and clap my hands together. The symbols and sigils of the circle begin to glow and then..WHOOSH in an instant I’m transported to a new location. I slowly open my eyes to figure out the situation I’m in and it doesn’t seem like the worst thing to come into. A burning hell scape, embers and smoke in the air but at least I’m able to breath. I deactivate my air bubble and take a look around. Carelessly not looking in the direction where I walk, I didn’t notice that taking a step backwards makes the edge of the lava lake crumble and I almost fall straight in. I may like the heat, but a well done dragon is not on the menu today.

From the looks of it, it seems like I ended up on some kind of volcano or mountain. Looking up at the top of the mountain I can feel a mass of energy coming from it, similar to the surrounding area but much more concentrated, but I’ll think about that later. The interesting thing is, I don’t believe I ever seen wildlife, plants and creatures, survive in such harsh environments before.
But as fun as it is staying in this blistering heat I gotta get moving. I pick a direction and begin walking not knowing where it would lead or to who or what I may encounter. Little did I know, my movements were being tracked the moment I set foot on this land.

After about 5 minutes of sweating and what seems like getting nowhere, I eventually see a sign in the distance. Finally, hopefully this will give me some useful inform— …upon looking at the sign my eyes widen, my aloof nature turns to concern, and my mind begins to race. “GET OUT!” is what the sign said. So many questions, who wrote this, did somebody reside here on the mountain, one with intelligence, why would anyone want to come up here in this inferno? More and more question appeared up in my head as I continued walking. But my train of though was cut short, remember that mass of energy I was feeling from before, it wasn’t at the top of the mountain anymore. I took the time to feel my surroundings and noticed it’s headed my way.

“Oh shit!” I say feeling this thing rapidly approaching me. I look down and I see little pebbles vibrating on the floor, and I start to feel the ground rumble and shake. “What is going on?”
I had to be sure of something, I look over and teleport across the giant lava lake. Not to my surprise, the energy changes direction and hunts me down. Knowing I’m not gonna get out of this in an easy way, I stand my ground. Very soon after I see a…ball? In my confusion I see this thing running through lava, breaking rocks in its path, and running and bumping into whatever it comes in contact with.

I get into a battle stance preparing for the worst, but then as this entity approaches it leaps into the air and before hitting the ground, it unravels itself and I see what really was in the ball. A four armed beetle, wearing some blue pants, battle armor, glasses and a cool looking horn ring. The creature lands on a rock looking down at me menacingly. Before I could get a word out, the beetle already had an earful for me. I was stunned the guy knew how to speak as he continue to really lay it into me how I was disturbing his property. Instead of retorting and telling him an unbelievable story that I’m not from this planet having him get even more upset and doing what I can’t imagine, I just nod my head and ask directions to the nearest town. With a snarl he points in the direction and I make my way down the mountain.

It seems like this is just the norm for me. They’ll never be a place I go to where I don’t have to worry about survival within the first 20 minutes my feet hit the soil. But I’m glad I got out without getting into a fight, but I think this might not be the last time I see of him.

The beetle who scolded me  CypherWing
Drawn by the talented 🎨  ijdraws