Humanity Reborn - A Dragon Majesty Story

The Human Condition

-Among the Fortunate-

The impeding cloud cover loomed ever so slightly closer to their position as two objects streaked through the cloudless sky. They weren't high enough to produce contrails, but that was in their favor, as the current sky, clear and ripening to a light blue, already gave them away to any onlooker who happened to be gazing at the skies above.

With the outskirts of the human settlement of Munich within their view, the two fliers began to descend into the green covered landscape that lay below them, forests and countryside lined by only the occasional house or small settlement.

The wake form their now low altitude flight sent the high reaching trees into a flurry, their leaves fluttering in the wake behind as they flew lower to avoid an onlooker's gaze.

She pulled ahead of him and looked back, holding her glasses to her face to avoid losing them at such speed. A simple nod from him would garner her decent into the treetops and their rapid capture by gravity as the two otherworldly beings once again allowed gravity to halt their flight.

Their wings retracted or disappeared in Arcadia's case. Despite little human concentration between their starting point and the outskirts of Munich, walking would allow them to avoid suspicion and human involvement. Both had seen how humans enforced their kind, and neither wanted to find out what would happen if they happened to catch their attention. Hence the remote situation of their living arrangement.

The sharp whistle of win was replaced by gradual thudding as they grounded themselves and took in their surroundings. The outskirts could be made out amongst the moderately dense trees that surrounded them.

"Good call, probably couldn't get much closer without someone noticing" Arcadia said.

She smiled triumphantly as she turned to him

"I have my moments Arc." She replied

He rolled his eyes, knowing full well it was all a game, a competitive one at that. With the two being similar in abilities, it was natural that the two would try to best each other.

As they made their way through the forest edge and into the view of the city outskirts, the sudden contrast in landscape made the two stop in their tracks. They hadn't come this far before, nor had they seen such a densely populated city of this scale. Pedestrians, vehicles travelling to and from the city, rising buildings that dotted the horizon ad covered the storm clouds that were approaching soon.

On cue the two of them gave only a slight nod before descending the hill that the forest teetered on. The decline would lead them to streets below that snaked their way into the sprawling sea of buildings and roads.

Small shops began to line the sidewalks, replacing the greenery of the countryside the two emerged from. Their eyes drifted between the windows of the shops, Arcadia especially, as his gentle walking pace began to evolve to a light jog.

"Slow down will you?" Esteria called out from behind.

But he was already captivated by endless rows of buildings. The smell of coffee from a café, the open windowed clothing shops with their expensive and exotic fashion designs, and the endless flow of people walking in the opposite direction.

The two snaked their way through the crowds, briefly peering into each shopfront time something caught their eyes.

"I've never seen you this excited, looking for something in particular?" She called to him.

As if scripted, he stopped dead in his tracks, to the annoyance of people walking in his direction. His gaze turned to the shopfront of a clothing store, filled with what could only be described as his preferred form of attire. Coats and jackets.

"Yeah" He replied, "This"

Finding his way to the open door, they stepped inside to the warmth of the large stylized room. It made sense, Esteria could see he was cold, no matter how tough he though he was, the goose bumps and slight stutter in his voice were evident since they set off in the morning.

"You know, this isn't such a bad idea, considering your other coat isn't exactly incognito. I'm yet to see someone around here wear one like that if I'm honest with you" she said.

However clearly he was mesmerized by the selection of jackets that lay in front of him. He seemed to be taking great notice of a particular design, made of a hard-shell material, and coated in a dark grey design with small patches of blue. Similar to what one may consider camouflage.

While Arcadia was obviously taken by such design, although with his limited interaction with human society, it didn't take much to capture his imagination.

To Esteria, he was similar to a child, an incredibly inquisitive and dangerous child, but a child at heart nonetheless. For her, it was similar, but Arcadia always seemed to be a little less aware of the world around him, leaving her most of the time to decipher the world around him. She often wondered how he was so unfamiliar to the world, she couldn't have been here longer than him. At least that's what she thought.

But back to the situation at hand, at this point she realized that Arcadia wasn't aware of how trade worked, that was evident by the fact that he had chosen such a jacket that was quite expensive, being the only kind in store, Esteria knew why. It was unique, something she found Arcadia craved, uniqueness. Having faced Icarus many a time, he often became distressed at the fact that they were so alike.

"Maybe that's why he ditched the coat?" she thought. "And the blades too?"

She made her way over to him, who by this time was trying it on.

"This is pretty neat actually, what do you think?" he said, while doing what could only be described as a mediocre job of trying to act like a model.

She couldn't help but laugh a little at his attempts, especially as he was in front of a mirror.

"You like the look of your own reflection Arc?" She asked.

"Nah, but I really, really like this jacket. It even matches the rest of the outfit"

He had a point. Between the black boots, black pants and now the black camouflage jacket over his white shirt, he looked much more incognito, as far as one could imagine a boy with white hair being, and it didn't draw too much attention from stretching down to ankle height, unlike his old coat.

"Yeah, its great and all, but how are you planning on paying for that?" she asked with a slightly concerned demeanor.

That when she realized, he had never experienced currency, and as a result, not a single dollar to his name. Although with his lack of knowledge of the human world, that was to be expected.

"You mean with money?" he asked sheepishly.

"Yeah, money Arc, do you have enough to buy it?"

I was at this point he lowed his head as he began to take it off.

"I guess we'll pass on the jacket then."

{Temporary modification rights transferred to user_thedragonmajesty}

~The next chapter will begin the branching storyline. From now on all chapters will include this, therefore the story will be altered based on chosen dialogue or actions. Rewinds can also be in the following chapter~

Soundtrack:

Paragraph 1-5: Duel Wielder (Ace Combat 7 SKIES UNKNOWN OST)

Paragraph 6-9: City Ruins [Rays of Light] (NieR Automata OST)