Chapter 20: The Otaku Makes a Friend (And Everything Gets Weirder)
The creature stayed.
Meliodas wasn't sure how long he'd been in the Birth World. Time moved strangely here—if it moved at all. His system clock was useless, spinning random numbers that made no sense.
But the creature stayed.
It had grown since he first noticed it. What started as a thickening puddle was now something with shape—vaguely humanoid, though not quite. It had developed what might have been eyes, watching him with quiet curiosity.
And it kept coming back to his barrier.
"You're persistent," Meliodas said.
The creature pulsed.
"I'll take that as a compliment."
He'd been sitting inside his energy dome for... a while. Long enough to notice patterns. The membrane-sky rippled every few hundred heartbeats. The ground pulsed with that slow, heavy rhythm. And the creature visited every dozen pulses or so.
It was learning. Growing. Becoming.
Because of him.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[CATALYST EFFECT: ONGOING]
Your presence continues to accelerate development in this realm.
Nearby entities are maturing faster than baseline.
The creature you've been interacting with shows signs of... sentience.
It is learning from you.
---
Meliodas stared at the notification.
"It's learning from me?"
The creature pulsed—almost as if responding.
"Can you understand me?" he asked.
Another pulse. Faster this time. Excited?
"Okay. Okay." He held up his hands. "This is... this is a lot."
The creature pressed against his barrier. Not aggressively—just... wanting to be closer.
Meliodas thought about the imp's curse. The hatred that fueled it. The way violence here would only make things worse.
And he thought about this creature—this being that was being born because of him. That was learning because of him.
What would it become?
What could it become?
He lowered his barrier.
The creature hesitated, then moved closer. It stopped inches from him, those new-formed eyes studying his face.
"I'm Meliodas," he said softly.
The creature pulsed.
"I don't know what you're going to become. But I hope..." He trailed off. What did he hope? That it wouldn't be evil? That it would remember him? That it would—
The creature touched him.
Not with hands—it didn't have hands yet. But with its essence. A gentle pressure against his skin, warm and curious.
And Meliodas felt something. Not words—not exactly. But intent. A question.
Who?
"I'm Meliodas," he repeated.
Another pulse. This one felt like... acceptance.
---
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[BOND FORMED: UNKNOWN ENTITY]
You have established a connection with a developing entity in the Birth World.
This is unprecedented.
The entity is now linked to you. It will grow and change based on this bond.
Its future is now tied to yours.
---
Meliodas read the notification.
"Great," he muttered. "I have a cosmic baby now."
The creature pulsed—happiness? Amusement? He couldn't tell.
"You think this is funny?"
Another pulse. Definitely amusement.
"Of course you do."
---
The Bond Deepens
Days passed. Or hours. Meliodas had given up tracking time.
The creature—he'd started calling it "Bud" in his head, because it was budding into existence—had grown significantly. It now had something like a face. Something like limbs. Something like a personality.
It was curious. Playful. Affectionate.
It followed him everywhere.
"You know," Meliodas said, walking across the warm, pulsing ground, "if anyone back home saw me now, they'd never believe it."
Bud pulsed—questioning.
"I'm from another world. A place where things are... finished. Complete. Not like here."
Bud tilted its head—a gesture it had learned from watching him.
"Back there, I have friends. Gravi—she's grumpy but loyal. Lyra—she's my biggest fan. Anastasia—she's... complicated." He smiled. "They're probably worried about me."
Bud pulsed—sadness? Concern?
"Yeah. I need to get back to them." He looked at the membrane-sky. "But I don't know how."
Bud moved closer, pressing against his leg like a cat.
Meliodas reached down and—carefully—touched it.
Warmth. Affection. And something else.
A feeling. A direction. A sense of... home?
He blinked. "What was that?"
Bud pulsed—urgently this time. It turned and started moving, then looked back at him.
"You want me to follow?"
Another pulse.
Meliodas hesitated. Then he followed.
---
The Journey
They walked for what felt like hours. The landscape shifted around them—pulsing ground, membrane-sky, distant shapes of unborn things watching as they passed.
Bud led with confidence, moving through the terrain like it knew exactly where it was going.
"You've been here before?" Meliodas asked.
A pulse. Yes.
"Here, specifically?"
Another pulse. No.
"Then how do you know where we're going?"
Bud stopped and turned to face him. For a moment, it just looked at him with those developing eyes.
Then Meliodas felt it again. That sense of direction. That pull toward something.
It wasn't coming from Bud.
It was coming from... somewhere else. Somewhere beyond the Birth World.
He closed his eyes and focused.
There. Faint but real. A thread—invisible, intangible—stretching across dimensions. Leading away from this place.
"A connection outside this realm." he whispered. "Someone made me a lifeline."
Bud pulsed—excited now. It had felt it too. It had been leading him toward it.
Meliodas opened his eyes and grinned.
"Bud, you're amazing."
The creature practically vibrated with happiness.
---
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[LIFELINE DETECTED]
A connection to Earth has been established.
You can now sense the way home.
Distance: Unknown
Time to travel: Unknown
Difficulty: Unknown
But it exists.
Follow the thread.
---
Meliodas looked at Bud.
"I have to go."
Bud pulsed—sadness. Deep, genuine sadness.
"I'm sorry. I can't stay here. I have people waiting for me."
Bud pressed against him, and he felt its emotions clearly now. Loneliness. Fear. Hope.
It didn't want to be alone.
"You could come with me," Meliodas said slowly. "I don't know if that's possible. I don't know what would happen to you outside this place. But... you could try."
Bud pulsed—uncertainty. Then determination.
It wanted to try.
"Okay." Meliodas took a deep breath. "Okay. Let's go home."
---
They'd been walking for what felt like hours when the ground changed.
Not subtly. Not gradually.
The pulsing stopped.
The warmth vanished.
And the membrane-sky went dark.
Meliodas froze. "What—"
The ground beneath him heaved.
Not an earthquake. Something worse. Something intentional.
Bud pressed against him, terrified.
And then Meliodas felt it.
A presence.
Vast. Ancient. And...suffering.
It wasn't waking—it had always been awake. But it was noticing him for the first time.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[UNKNOWN PRESENCE DETECTED]
Something stirs below.
Something that does not belong here.
It was sealed to this realm eons ago.
It has been waiting.
Watching.
Enduring.
---
The ground split open.
Not a chasm—something else. An eye.
An eye the size of a mountain opened beneath them, staring up with pupils that held galaxies of pain and rage.
Meliodas stumbled back nearly using his {Sun Fruit} while dragging Bud and wisely choose to observe with {Rush} ready to retaliate if needed.
The eye blinked.
And a voice echoed in his mind—not words, but meaning. Raw and terrible.
"Little spark. You burn so bright."
Meliodas couldn't move. Couldn't speak. The weight of that presence pressed against him like the entire universe had decided to sit on his chest.
"I have been here since before your world existed. Before your sun ignited. Before your kind learned to walk."
The eye shifted. Looking past him. Looking at Bud.
"And you..."
Bud pulsed—fear, recognition, longing.
"You carry my essence. My hope. My curse."
Meliodas forced words through the pressure. "What—what are you?"
Silence. Then a laugh—bitter, broken, ancient.
"I am what they could not kill. What they could not contain. What they threw into this place and hoped would fade."
The eye moved closer. The ground rippled as something vast shifted below.
"I am a what they called "Dragon". Older than your concept of dragons. Older than the stars you see at night. I was mighty once. I ruled skies that no longer exist."
Meliodas stared into that immense eye.
"And now I am here. Trapped. Forced to watch as lesser things are born from my suffering. Forced to feel every creature that grows in this place as an extension of my own agony."
The eye fixed on Bud.
"This one... this one is different. It carries my hope. My desire and my longing for an impossible freedom."
Bud pulsed—confused, afraid, yearning.
"It is my incarnation. My attempt to be reborn. To leave this prison."
Meliodas's mind raced. "Bud is... you?"
"A piece of me. The best piece. The piece that still remembers what it was like to fly."
The ground trembled.
"I cannot leave. The laws of this dimension bind me. But "it"... it can. If you take it, if you protect it, "it", can become what I once was."
Meliodas looked at Bud. At the creature that had followed him, learned from him, bonded with him.
"You want me to take your... your child? Your incarnation?"
"I want you to give it what I cannot. Freedom. A life. A chance."
The eye began to close with difficulry.
"Go, little spark. Follow your thread. Take my hope with you. And if you ever have the power... if you ever find a way..."
The eye vanished. The ground sealed.
And the voice faded to an almost dream-like whisper.
"...remember me."
---
Meliodas stood frozen, heart pounding.
Bud pressed against him, trembling. It had felt everything. Understood everything but still not.
"It's okay," Meliodas whispered. "It's okay."
Bud looked up at him with those developing eyes—and for the first time, Meliodas saw something that looked like tears.
"You're not alone," he said. "You have me now. And we're getting out of here."
Bud pulsed—gratitude. Hope. Love.
"Let's go home."
---
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[QUEST UPDATE: THE DRAGON'S HOPE]
You have encountered an ancient being—a dragon none like other, banished to the Birth World eons ago.
You now carry its incarnation with you.
Bud's fate is tied to yours.
Optional Objective: Find a way to free the ancient being.
Reward: Unknown.
Warning: This will not be easy. The dragon is bound by laws older than reality.
---
Meliodas read the notification and sighed.
"Of course. Because my life wasn't complicated enough."
Bud pulsed—curious.
"Nothing. Just... adding 'free a cosmic dragon' to my to-do list."
They started walking again, following the lifeline toward home....or, it is?
---
[END OF CHAPTER 20]