龙巢 (Dragon's Nest)

Chapter 5

As morning came, Raiden yawned and rose up from his bed - the omega was still asleep beside him. Touching his forehead and changing the towel, he noticed that the fever had gone down now. As relief over swept Raiden, he got up to get ready for the day - a day he most likely would not anticipate because of the talk of him having found a mate. 

Raiden was anxious about bringing up Nobu to his parents because he knew that the moment his omega got better, he wouldn't be able to make up any excuses in order to postpone a celebration or a wedding - and there was the fact that the omega still didn't know about his past. All of this brought anxiety to Raiden, as he believed as of now, he has no one to tell this to. He couldn't even tell his best friends, Akane and Mamoru, because he knew how bad the two of them were at keeping secrets. 

There was also the omega's distinct appearance - nobody in Draconia had silver-white hair. He'd stand out like a deer in headlights. 

If his distinct appearance wasn't enough, there was also his unknown and nearly forgotten lineage - although, he believed that his parents would immediately recognize where the omega was from and that would cause a lot of issues and possibly even a cancellation of celebrating Raiden's new mate. That would be the worst case scenario, as Raiden had no interest in marrying anyone else. He knew it well - he didn't want a peasant, he didn't want some royal concubine who was just after his money, and he didn't want to marry one of his best friends from noble families. Having to find another mate would be too difficult because of how picky he was and marrying just anyone was out of the question. 

"...ngh..." Nobu groaned as he opened his eyes slowly. Raiden turned around and noticed Nobu had woken up. 

"How are you feeling?" Raiden asked, as he was changing into a new kimono. 

Nobu began to sit up from his position in the bed as he looked up at Raiden. His blank expression quickly turned into an expression of confusion. 

"Why am I here? What is this place?" 

Raiden faltered, before realizing that he should have expected this to be the first thing the omega would bring up as he woke up. 

"You're in Draconia, the heart of Dragon Spine. Are you feeling well enough to move around?" 

"Yes, but why am I here? How did I get here?" 

"I found you in the slave market and I brought you back to my palace. Unfortunately, I have to go attend to something, but there should be some books around my room for you to read to figure out the basic information about this place. Do you mind just reading those and waiting until I get back? I can give you a proper explanation of where I found you when I am done for the day." 

"Mmm.. yeah. Please forget about what happened last night," Nobu brushed the back of his head. "I don't know what came over me. I don't know why I was so eager to do that." 

Raiden chuckled, "I was a bit eager, as well. If you don't want anyone knowing, then that is fine." 

"Tch... I'd wish I didn't remember it. Are you sure you can't just owe me a quick explanation now, though? It would really ease my anxiety." 

"Hmm... well. For starters, all I can tell you at the moment is that you did not belong in the other world... most certainly not, although I feel as if it was rather obvious to you since the beginning," Raiden eyed Nobu curiously, while Nobu blushed, having had his thought process seemingly read so easily. "You were just a baby when you were sent there, but you were originally from here. Just take it like this: you have come back to your real home. You can spend the rest of your days here, happy and free from that other world you were sent to." 

Free from that hell, you mean, Nobu thought to himself as he raised an eyebrow at Raiden. 

"And unfortunately, when you were sent back here, you were caught and sold as a slave. Although... I'm not sure why that business is still up and running. There is actually a petition going around to end slavery, but the business is still rather popular. I will have to see to that soon." 

Suddenly, this topic in particular intrigued Nobu. "You still have slaves here? What kind of timeline is this?" 

Raiden raised an eyebrow at Nobu out of curiosity, "What do you mean by timeline?"

"Slaves are... old-fashioned. Damn, I didn't expect you to have such old-fashioned things... actually, this entire place seems old-fashioned, I never wear stuff like this," Nobu pointed at his kimono. 

"Hmmm... well, I'll have to talk to you more about that later. For now, you should rest. I'm afraid there was supposed to be a celebration scheduled soon for you becoming my new mate-" 

"Become your new what?"

"Becoming my new mate." 

Nobu stared at Raiden dumbfounded. "When did I ever agree to this?" Nobu's calm expression suddenly turned to anger. "You know, this is a little abrupt. And it's strange, even. I get transported into this new world and suddenly I get sold to you, and now you are telling me that I am your new mate? And what, we'll be getting married then, right? I don't like where this is going. I'd much rather keep myself available." 

Raiden sighed. "You need to understand your circumstances here. You are now in a world where you wouldn't even survive outside of this palace. You would be sold as a slave again if you walk out without anyone there to protect you. You don't even know of your past. I don't exactly have the time to explain to you in full detail about this, but I will need to bite your neck, so that we can be bonded. Trust me on this." 

"I'm not ready to be your mate." Nobu suddenly thought back to Miyuki and Hanazaki, two girls he had confessed to back in modern Tokyo. They were gorgeous girls, really, and he was sure he was straight. He was not ready to just suddenly become committed to some random man he had a one night stand with. The man in front of him was painstakingly beautiful and handsome, but it was just way too soon. 

Raiden sighed once again. "Give it some thought. I will be heading off now. You can check out any of the things in my room, as well as the books. Breakfast will be served to you here. I will have a maid bring it up to you." 

"...Thanks." Nobu turned away, blushing. 

It was the first nice thing Nobu had said to Raiden and being pleased with this, Raiden began to ruffle his hair. 

"Stop that!" Stated an angry and embarrassed Nobu. 

"You should smile more often," Raiden chuckled. "I believe you would look much cuter that way." It was nice having finally seen Nobu be in a lighter mood, although, Raiden knew that he definitely had not gained his trust yet. 

"Although you are allowed to stay indoors today, you may have to go to a celebratory dinner tomorrow night with my parents. I have already introduced you as my mate to them." 

As the man walked out the door, Nobu glared at his back. It was stupid how he already made such an abrupt decision without his approval. This was just like one of those manhuas Nobu remembered reading, where one of the male leads would be stuck in an arranged marriage. Nobu's current dilemma was no different. He was now exactly in that same position as that poor male lead. 

Despite the pain in his lower half, Nobu quickly got off the bed and walked over to the shelf in the room. As he began eyeing some of the books on the shelf, he picked up one that was titled, "The Hybrid War." It seemed as if this book would have the most information regarding the place he was currently stuck in. Anything that had to do with a war had to do with the history of the land and that, to Nobu, was already key to finding out more of where he was. 

 He quickly opened the book to find a large, fully sketched map of places in the land called Dragon Spine - bordering the place he was told he was currently in was a place titled Ouzopaphate. There were other places, as well, but Dragon Spine and Ouzopaphate were in bolded letters, assumed to be more important than the rest of the places on the map. 

As Nobu was in deep thought about the bolded names, he flipped a page to find a strange picture that looked vaguely familiar to him.