I Received System to Become Dragonborn

The two of them sat inside the large cave chamber, finally having a quiet place where they could speak without worrying about what might be lurking outside.

The cave would never feel like a proper home to an ordinary human because traces of the toxic air still lingered, but Erend and the humanoid creature had no difficulty breathing.

For them, the atmosphere was actually rather comfortable. More importantly, the thick stone and metal surrounding them provided enough isolation that they had to worry about someone overhearing their conversation or a monster suddenly attacking them while they talked.

"So tell me what you know about that time. My name is Erend. But first, tell me your name," Erend said in a serious tone.

The humanoid creature sat quietly for a moment before answering. "My name is Mathiu."

He then looked at Erend with renewed curiosity. His expression suggested that several questions had been building in his mind since the moment Erend had arrived.

"But before that, tell me who you really are," Mathiu asked.

Erend had expected the question sooner or later. After everything Mathiu had seen, there was little reason to hide the truth from him.

"I came from another world," Erend finally explained.

Mathiu’s eyes widened. "Another world?"

Erend nodded. He then explained that Valthoria was not his original world and that he came from a different place.

The power he used was not something that had developed naturally in Valthoria, and his unusual physical strength and resistance were also connected to his origins.

He told Mathiu that he had not come to Valthoria by accident either. He and his friends were searching for something specific.

Mathiu listened without interrupting.

The more Erend explained, the more astonished his expression became. The idea that someone could come from another world sounded impossible to him. But when he remembered everything he had seen, it became difficult to deny.

Erend had moved faster than his eyes could follow. He had destroyed a monster that Mathiu considered extremely dangerous with a single attack, and he had walked through the poisonous environment of the forest without showing the slightest sign of discomfort.

Those were not the abilities of an ordinary human.

Mathiu finally shook his head slowly. "I guess at this point I shouldn’t be surprised anymore. I will tell you what I know."

Erend nodded and waited.

Mathiu’s expression became more serious as he began remembering something that had happened thousands of years ago.

"When it happened, I remember the sky changing first. The sky became bright. Not like sunlight. It was filled with strange lights. Green and blue lights spread across the entire sky.

"At first, we didn’t understand what we were seeing. Everyone was looking up. Some people thought it was some kind of phenomenon caused by the experiment. Others believed the researchers had finally succeeded."

His voice became quieter.

"Then the lights began coming down. They spread through the air. The entire atmosphere became filled with those colors. Green and blue light surrounded everything. The buildings, the streets, and the people. And then the world burned..."

Erend’s expression hardened.

Mathiu swallowed before continuing.

"People began changing. Their bodies turned. Some of them became mindless monsters almost immediately, some of them collapsed where they stood and died. Some of them screamed while their bodies mutated. Others simply evaporated.

"I was exposed to those lights too. I don’t remember everything after that. The energy overwhelmed me. My body changed. Then something collapsed around me and buried me beneath the earth."

For a moment, Mathiu remained completely silent.

"When I finally regained consciousness, I was trapped beneath the dirt. I dug myself out. And when I finally reached the surface... there was nothing left. Everyone I knew was dead. The people I had lived with, the people I had worked with, the people I had seen every day, they were dead.

"The buildings were gone too. The streets were destroyed, the places I remembered no longer existed, everything had been burned, broken, or buried. I looked around and realized that the world I knew had disappeared."

The cave became silent.

Mathiu had survived the Apocalypse, but survival had come at a cost. He had watched his civilization disappear in a single catastrophe and had then spent thousands of years living among the ruins of what remained.

Erend stared at him quietly.

Now he understood why Mathiu had sounded so tired when he spoke about death earlier.

Mathiu did not just hear about the Apocalypse. He had lived through it and saw the things he loved died around him.

Erend wondered how Mathiu had managed to remain sane after witnessing such a catastrophe. He could not imagine what it had been like to watch everything he knew disappear in a single day. Perhaps Mathiu had developed some kind of unseen mental scar from it all but whatever the case, he was still able to think clearly and communicate.

At least Erend could talk to him.

"I’m sorry," Erend said sincerely.

Mathiu smiled faintly. "Thanks. But it’s alright now. Or... I just try to live with it and pretend that everything is alright."

Erend remained silent for a moment before asking, "Did you see a large creature flying through the sky after the disaster? Maybe even before it happened?"

Mathiu fell silent as he searched through his old memories. After several seconds, his eyes widened slightly.

"I think I did. Now that you mention it."

"Tell me about it."

"There was a man," Mathiu said slowly. "He told everyone in the square to come to the mountains to the east if we survived. Nobody listened to him at the time. But now... I think it might already be too late for me to go there."

"Thank you."

Erend’s expression became serious. This was another valuable clue that confirmed everything. The Dragonborn was most likely somewhere in the eastern mountains.

But another question immediately emerged in Erend’s mind. Why hadn’t the Dragonborn done more to stop the disaster with his power?

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