1.
I, reincarnated.
Name is Great Red.
That is my name.
2.
There aren't exactly parents around, nor did anyone tell me my name, yet I naturally knew it. Is this that thing? That phenomenon where if you're born as some divine being, you just naturally know?
At first glance, looking at the gigantic body, wings, claws, and talons, I seem to have a dragon-like appearance.
So, did I reincarnate as a dragon?
Unfortunately, I couldn't know for sure beyond that.
3.
I open my eyes and look around, blinking.
Who am I? Great Red.
Where is this? The Dimensional Gap.
Looking around, what I see is a heterogeneous landscape with spaces mixed together. It's even fluidly changing constantly, so it's clearly an extraordinary place. Normally, it should feel ominous or something, but perhaps because it's the place where I was born, it feels familiar instead.
More than that, it's troublesome.
Even if I wanted to ask something, there's no one around but me.
Isn't the cliché usually a forest or something in these cases? Or normally, a supporting NPC would be attached to tell you where this is. But all that's around are strange spaces.
No, literally, really.
I'm just floating in place with nowhere to even step.
It seems in this place, you can float weightlessly even without flying. No, saying you can levitate might be more accurate.
As if there's no choice, I spread my enormous wings.
Even if I stay still I can float, but I can't move, so I guess I need to use my wings to get around.
Well, I am ready.
Are you ready, otherworld?
4.
I spread my wings and flew for a long time, but there was nothing particularly to see.
No, really, nothing at all.
Not to mention living creatures, not even inanimate objects are visible, so it's rather bewildering. Just what kind of place is this where I was born? There aren't only me in this space, right? That would be kind of scary.
As I was thinking that, I saw a living creature far away.
Well, accurately, my immense perception told me someone was over there, and I flew towards that still-unseen someone based on that perception. And flying to where my perception indicated, I soon see a living creature.
Oh, I'm not alone!
5.
What was there was a black dragon.
If I am a Western dragon, that one seemed to have the appearance of an Eastern dragon. The kind that holds a wish-granting pearl. Well, that black dragon doesn't seem to be holding or have a pearl, though.
Its body coiled up, quietly staying in place, looks as if it's in deep slumber.
Uh, that looks like it's sleeping?
Is it okay to wake it?
Normally, waking a sleeping person, especially a stranger for no reason, would make them displeased, so I'm wondering if I should talk to it, this is.
6.
Fortunately, my dilemma didn't last long.
Because as I quietly stayed nearby, that black dragon seemed to sense my presence and lifted the face it had buried in its body.
We watched each other with a subtle atmosphere, and maintaining the awkward air, I spoke first.
"Hello."
"You, who?"
"I am called Great Red."
At my words, the black dragon said.
"Me, Ophis."
7.
It seems the black dragon's name is Ophis.
More than that, the way it speaks is very strange.
Most of its answers are short phrases, to the point where I'm the one who feels more awkward. Are all dragons in this neighborhood like that? Or is it just that one?
I asked this and that, but the answers I got back were all 'don't know', 'not interested', and such. In the end, I had no choice but to leave the spot and set out to find another intelligent being.
8.
And I realized.
That all that exists in this vast Dimensional Gap is me and Ophis.
All that exists in this ultimate void is just us two!
9.
I've wandered around the Dimensional Gap in my spare time since then, but nothing came up. Of course, there are no antiques or secrets of the Dimensional Gap, literally nothing in this gigantic world worth calling anything other than me and Ophis.
Life.
Well, now I'm a dragon, so should I say dragon-life?
10.
Apart from that, I found out a few other things.
After flying around like that, I'm not particularly hungry, which means this body doesn't really need meals. If it weren't the case, I would have starved to death, so it's a fortunate thing among misfortunes.
Apart from that, I can wield a power of dreams called Dream.
How to use it, how I came to know the name 'Dream', I just naturally knew, like how I knew my name.
Just like how humans initially walk on all fours but naturally become able to walk on two legs.
11.
I looked outside the Dimensional Gap using the power of Dream.
What I saw was a vast universe.
".....?"
No, dude.
Don't tell me there aren't even any planets yet?