Serendipity (Veldora x TBATE)

02 | Immutable

Veldora is amused. He lifted himself off of the ground and began flying to the floating city up above. Flying was as easy as breathing—with wings or otherwise. It wasn't long until he was among the clouds, which was where the city hovered. He eyed the city from above for a while, just marveling at the sight. It was a huge city.

I wonder where I should land, he mused.

He floated a considerable distance above the city for a while, just observing like a deity with his creation. It's not an exaggeration since technically, Veldora is divine. Veldora's a god. It wasn't long, Veldora spotted a good landing place.

Secluded and fitting, Veldora deemed it perfect to blend in. He didn't want to go through the trouble of being arrested in the scenario that he was deemed strange for flying in the city unauthorized.

When did I learn to become prudent? Veldora thought to himself, amused. Here goes nothing, then.

Veldora's form blurred into a streak of crackling golden lightning as he landed elegantly, his feet creating haze as it made contact with the ground in a silent thump. Elegant, though—not a word anyone would usually associate with the storm dragon.

But his majesty is undeniable. It's something inherent with the dragons. Veldora walked for a while, joining in with the crowd along the marble pavements. Stalls lined up from side to side as the shouts of advertisements from vendors dominated the space along with the chattering of the crowd.

He was walking and squirming with excitement from the diverse wares that were being sold. Some didn't have a store of their own and just joined the vendors down the streets, while others were intricately displayed in a glass casing of their own.

"This world has mana, but why is no one using magic?" Veldora asked to himself in a whisper. He could see it flowing through people's veins from a core around their sternum, propagating with their blood.

Or was my conjecture correct and it's not allowed without permission or what?

Veldora shrugged as a flying rotating disk made its way to his face, cutting through the air with fairly impressive speed. He didn't even need to look at it to effortlessly catch it in his hand, its momentum persisting as it attempted to grind through his hand but to no avail. He turned the disk over in his hand, inspecting it with mild interest as a group of young men and women in matching uniforms rushed toward him, clearly alarmed.

"Are you okay?!" A young adult boy with blue hair asked him, concern evident in his voice.

Veldora regarded him with a raised eyebrow before glancing over the rest of the group. A small smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. Heh, the gals are checking me out.

It wasn't difficult to notice—their eyes flicked between his face and his well-built arms, which were on full display thanks to his snug polo shirt. The sleeves clung to his biceps, clearly leaving an impression on them. One of the girls blushed and quickly averted her gaze when their eyes met, while another just stared, too flustered to even pretend to look away.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Veldora finally replied, his voice informal and relaxed. He tossed the disk back to the blue-haired boy, who fumbled for a second before catching it. "You might want to be careful where you're throwing these things, though."

The boy let out a nervous laugh, scratching the back of his head. "S-Sorry about that! We didn't expect anyone to be standing there, and our research artifact got out of control."

Veldora shrugged again, dismissing the concern with a wave of his hand. "No harm done. It'll take a lot more than a toy to bother me."

The boy sighed in relief, while the girls continued to steal glances at Veldora, clearly impressed by his casual strength and composure. The whole situation amused him. It had been a long time since he'd had such interactions—back in his original form, his mere presence usually sent people running in fear. But now, in this new form, they seemed drawn to him in a different way.