Woosh! woosh! crash! Boom! Crash! woosh!
Time flickered endlessly.
Space twisted without cease.
One moment, a vast plain appeared before John's eyes.
The next, a battlefield of slaughter.
Then, an aircraft roared overhead, dropping a bomb toward the ground below.
Before the bomb could reach him, John vanished once more.
Smoke curled from his wand as violet magic continued to pour out.
The black haze in his eyes grew denser, and in a short span of time, he had already jumped hundreds of times.
"Huff.. If this continues, I'll be drained dry and die."
Realizing he couldn't allow the jumps to continue, John made a desperate gamble.
His left hand clenched. The already fragile wand, under the force of his grip, compressed until the magic within erupted in a massive explosion.
The soul dispersed. Time vanished.
John was thrown out of that specific space, his entire body appearing high in midair.
"Urg.."
Wings spread from his back. Using all his strength, he adjusted his posture, and just before crashing into the ground, he twisted and beat his wings.
His descent did not slow. Before hitting the ground, John transformed himself into a fire dragon.
His massive body plunged downward. Boom!
The force of the impact was immense, the shock carrying far into the distance.
The massive disturbance alerted a small camp far away.
…
It was a group of magical creature poachers.
The wizards were haggling, gesturing animatedly as they argued over prices.
The sudden loud crash startled them all.
A bearded magical creature dealer stood up, letting out an uncertain shout.
"What was that?"
"Sounds like something fell."
Amid the rising noise, a young man with a timid demeanor and freckles cautiously approached the tent. Taking advantage of the chaos, he quietly slipped it open.
Inside, a large golden bird lay weakly in a cage, bound by multiple chains. It lifted its head with great effort.
This was a Thunderbird, a magical creature capable of controlling storms.
Its natural habitat was in Arizona, in the United States, but it had been captured by poachers and brought to Egypt.
He had only discovered this group by chance, and after learning of their deal, had secretly followed them here.
"Shh." The young man placed a finger to his lips, carefully stepping inside. Glancing at the dealers who hadn't noticed him, he whispered, "I'm here to save you."
He quietly moved to the iron cage, pulling out a hawthorn wand and pointing it at the bars.
"Alohomora."
Click.
The lock on the iron cage gave a soft sound.
As a magizoologist, the young man could tell the Thunderbird's condition at a glance.
There was no time for communication. After unlocking the chains binding the Thunderbird, he opened the case he carried with him.
"Please, hurry and get inside," the young man urged anxiously as he heard movement approaching from outside.
The Thunderbird forced itself up, staggering step by step toward the case.
From within came the scent of food it liked.
By the time the dealers finished negotiating the price and brought the wizard into the tent, they were stunned.
The Thunderbird that had been locked there was gone.
Having finished everything, the young man slipped out of the tent and hid along a narrow path.
The noise of Apparition would alert the poachers, so he could only move carefully away from them.
"There he is!"
Unfortunately, despite his caution, he was still discovered.
The poachers were all desperate men. The moment they spotted him, they immediately launched an attack.
The young man had no choice but to abandon stealth and used Apparition to reach a patch of forest.
But it wasn't long before they tracked him down and followed.
He weaved and dodged as he ran, a spell from the poachers striking the case.
Fortunately, the case wasn't seriously damaged.
Fleeing all the way, he unknowingly drew closer and closer to where the earlier impact had occurred.
At last, after another Apparition, he managed to shake off his pursuers.
The intense chase left his heart pounding.
Click.
"I think I'll need to fix the case."
The earlier attack had damaged it. Hearing movement from inside, the young man leaned closer and said, "Dougal, please behave."
He fastened the latch again. After confirming no one was chasing him, he waited a while before moving on.
"It looks like this place was hit by something."
The devastation before him was alarming.
As he advanced, a massive crater came into view.
There were clear signs of something having fallen on both sides of it.
He stepped closer, standing at the edge of the enormous pit, his eyes fixed downward.
At the bottom lay a black dragon.
It had an astonishingly massive body.
"It looks like it's injured?"
The young man murmured, "If it stays here, those poachers won't let something this big go."
He took a deep breath. Fire dragons were dangerous magical creatures.
Compared to a Thunderbird, a fire dragon was a far more dangerous existence.
Since he had encountered it, the young man couldn't just stand by and watch it fall into the hands of poachers.
"All right, big guy, you're making things difficult for me."
When dealing with magical creatures, he showed far more patience than he ever did with people.
Using a Levitation Charm to lift the dragon, he exerted tremendous effort before finally managing to get it into his case.
It was a case enchanted with an advanced Undetectable Extension Charm, its interior serving as a sanctuary for protecting endangered magical creatures.
The fire dragon was placed inside.
The young man left the area.
…
"Urg… that fall was pretty bad."
Having been knocked unconscious by the impact, John groggily pushed himself up.
He reached up and scratched his head, then looked at his hand.
Black dragon claws gleamed with a metallic sheen. After a moment of daze, John finally remembered that he had transformed into a dragon just before hitting the ground.
The temporal flash explosion caused by the forbidden collision had been astonishing. Combined with the toxin from the Runic Serpent egg, even with his fire dragon physique, John had slept for a long time.
After waking, John prepared to figure out where he was.
From the scene he had glimpsed before escaping the temporal distortion, he should still be in Egypt.
"How long was I out?"
This time, he had been unconscious for quite a while. John noticed traces of ointment applied to his body.
He froze. Who was bold enough? Facing a dragon like me and daring not only to approach, but even to apply medicine?
He scraped a bit with his claw and sniffed it.
"Dittany… looks like a wizard's work."
A creature that walked with a heavy thumping gait passed in front of him.
It was a Graphorn, resembling a rhinoceros.
Inside the pyramid, John had even encountered a time-displaced unicorn.
Above him, the sound of a storm rumbled.
A Thunderbird flew overhead.
Then Mooncalves emerged to bask in the moonlight.
Their bodies were pale grey and smooth, with two large, bulging eyes on their heads.
They had four thin, spindly legs and four flat, broad feet.
A buzzing sound rang by his ears, and John turned to look.
A Billywig, with its six wings, flew past beside him.
At the end of its body was a long, thin stinger. Anyone stung by it would become dizzy, then begin to float, sometimes drifting in the air for several days.
A Murtlap, with an anemone-like growth on its back, scurried past beneath his feet.
Besides that..
A Puffskein,
A Niffler,
An Occamy,
A Erumpent…
He seemed to hear the voices of three heads conversing—was that a Runespoor?
"Is this some kind of ecological reserve built according to a textbook?"
John fell into thought.
All these creatures were listed in the official Hogwarts textbook for Care of Magical Creatures, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It was hard not to suspect that this place had been constructed based on that very book.
"Where exactly am I?"
Magical creatures from all over the world gathered in one place—either this was some kind of circus tent, or the home of a mad magizoologist.
John shifted slightly, startling a group of Mooncalves, who immediately abandoned their moonbathing and fled into their burrows.
His body was enormous—an eighty-foot behemoth. Even a Thunderbird looked like a small bird in comparison.
"My tongue's still a bit numb." Smacking his lips, John said helplessly, "Eating a Runic Serpent egg raw causes hallucinations, unconsciousness, and tongue paralysis."
He figured he could take note of that and maybe write a book someday.
He was just about to transform back into human form—
"You're awake?" a voice filled with surprise called out.
Curly brown hair, grey-blue eyes, and a light scattering of freckles across his face.
The young man who had entered stared wide-eyed in astonishment.
He wore a white shirt with a brown vest over it.
The young man slowly approached John.
He tried to keep John from reacting aggressively.
If an eighty-foot dragon were to become enraged, it would be a catastrophic disaster.
John looked at him speechlessly as the young man fidgeted, even attempting to tuck in his arms and imitate a dragon's wings.
He's… treating me like a wild dragon?
John didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He hadn't expected to be treated as a magical creature and raised like one.
Watching the young man flail about with great interest for quite a while, John finally spoke, "Aren't you tired?"
"A little.. eh?" the young man replied instinctively, then suddenly froze as he realized something was wrong. His eyes widened as he looked toward the source of the voice.
He stared at John in shock. "You… you can talk?"
"Of course."
John lowered his head, his dark green scales gleaming like steel.
The young man could clearly see the dragon's brown eyes.
"Thank you for saving me." Because of the numbness in his tongue, John's speech was slightly slurred.
"No need to thank me. Sorry, I—I just…" The young man stumbled over his words. A talking dragon completely overturned his understanding of things.
Not knowing what to say, his mind blanked, and he introduced himself, "Hello, my name is Newt Scamander."
"Hello, Newt."
___
He-ya folks! Looks like he time-traveled again.
Sorry for not posting for three days. My dog died bro... May his soul rest in peace.
I already knew his time was near, but it still took me three days to come back to my senses. I'll start uploading every day from tomorrow
o(*￣▽￣*)ブSupport and Read 12 Chapters ahead: Patreon/Dragonel