Who Are You?

A silver door appeared eerily across the snowy white expanse as the cold wind howled, and before long, two people stepped out of it.

"God, what the hell is this place? It’s freezing!" Garen shivered the moment he emerged.

Needless to say, the two were Josh and Garen. After sending Dumbledore and Hermione back, Josh had opened the Void Gate once more and transported them to this godforsaken place. When Hermione heard the news, her eyes had lit up and she had wanted to come along, but Dumbledore, as the headmaster, naturally refused and simply dragged her away.

"Who the hell knows where this is? Could it be Skyrim Province? If it is, we’re in serious trouble."

Josh was freezing too. Unlike Garen, who was a warrior, his physique could not handle the cold nearly as well. Worse still, none of his magic seemed capable of keeping him warm, which left him rather embarrassed—although he had learned some fire magic, it had long since turned into Void Fire because of the power of the Void.

Fortunately, they had come prepared. This was not their first trip, and their Space Bags contained all sorts of clothing, including winter gear. Without another word, they put on their thick padded coats and immediately looked much more comfortable.

"Who knew this trip would be so unlucky? We ended up somewhere this cold. Is the whole world like this? Is Skyrim Province really like you said?"

Garen rubbed his hands together and spoke with clear displeasure. Cold was a serious problem. As a warrior, the chill could stiffen his body, and when facing an enemy, even his movements might become distorted. That was hardly good news for him.

"More or less. If this really is Skyrim Province, we’re in big trouble. Skyrim Province isn’t a nice place. There’s a civil war going on there, all sorts of gods and demons are awakening, and most importantly, the dragons there have started coming back to life. It’s no place for humans."

Josh looked over the endless snowfields with a headache. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing. Forget villages—he could not even spot a single living animal. And he really was worried that this place might be Skyrim Province. He knew perfectly well that if he ended up in that hellhole with his current strength, he might not even know how he died.

"The people of Skyrim Province are incredibly tough, especially the native Nords. They ignore the cold, and they can imitate dragon roars to harm their enemies. There are also creatures called Dragonborn. Their potential is so absurd that they can even take down gods and demons."

"Imitating dragon roars? Dragons coming back to life? This world sounds pretty good." At that moment, Akathosh suddenly flew out of Josh’s tattoo, while Hosdena also materialized behind Garen. Both of them had been drawn in by Josh’s words.

"It’s not good at all, okay? I don’t think someone at my level could survive long in Skyrim Province. The soldiers there dare to attack dragons! By the way, can’t you sense worlds? Why don’t you contact this world and find out where we are?"

Josh’s complaint made Akathosh shake his head helplessly. Then, with a look of disdain, he said, "Come on, this isn’t Kamacia. I can interact with Kamacia because its Naming gave me a certain connection to it. This world has absolutely nothing to do with me, all right?"

To sense a world, one either had to be strong enough or have some kind of connection to it. As Akathosh had said, this world had nothing to do with him. No matter how powerful his soul was, he could not do such a thing.

"Looks like there’s no other way. We can only explore slowly."

Josh had no better ideas. Honestly, he felt that his luck this time was truly awful. It was somewhat like his first trip, when he had landed directly in Icathia amid a pile of corpses. But that had been the beginning of Josh’s transformation. This time, he did not think he would encounter anything like that again.

Finding a place where people gathered was not particularly difficult. Of course, before this, Josh might have simply left, but with the dragon father and son, Akathosh and Hosdena, things became much more convenient. Even traveling was easier.

Garen summoned Hosdena. The dragon, over fifty meters long, looked quite imposing at the moment. Dragons were naturally sensitive to signs of life, so using Hosdena for this posed no problem at all.

"Are you all settled?"

Hosdena did not mind being used as a mount. For some inexplicable reason, he and Garen got along exceptionally well, though neither of them understood why. Still, neither cared about the reason. They simply regarded each other as good friends.

"Let’s go, buddy."

After glancing at Josh, who signaled that he was ready, Garen patted Hosdena on the back. The dragon immediately took flight. Seeing this made Josh a little envious. He wondered when he would be able to ride a dragon around like Garen.

"Tell me, how much do you need to devour before you grow as big as your son?"

"You think I don’t want to return to my old size? But if I don’t devour some life, I simply can’t grow!"

"What if you devoured some humans? Like the bandits in my territory?"

"I refuse!"

"Why?"

"I have no interest in helping you take out the trash!"

After flying for around ten minutes, Josh and Akathosh chatted idly along the way when Hosdena soon told them that he sensed signs of life. That made Josh a little nervous. In such a harsh, freezing environment, the only people capable of surviving and settling down seemed to be the Nords from his memories.

But Josh’s mouth soon twitched—because in the distance, he saw red warning lights flashing, jeeps racing out, and armed soldiers rushing forward. A flag fluttered atop one of the buildings farther back. Josh actually recognized that thing.

"This is the Skyrim Province you mentioned? Those are the soldiers who dare fight dragons? Why do I feel like they’re worse than the soldiers of the Muya Continent?"

Garen pointed curiously at the soldiers below, who looked as though they had seen gods, and asked Josh. This world seemed rather different from what he had imagined. Garen recognized those weapons as guns, but compared to those produced in Piltover, they seemed several generations behind.

Josh did not know how to answer. Should he say he had been overly nervous? That would not be wrong. He had overlooked the fact that besides the Nords of Skyrim Province, there was another group capable of surviving in extreme cold: a people known as the battle race.

And although this battle race differed somewhat from the one he knew from later times, that was only because the country had dissolved afterward. Josh could basically conclude that he had arrived on Earth, and most likely Earth during World War II. The symbol on that flag was unmistakably that of the Soviet Union.

"Well, if you know Earth’s history… Right, Hermione’s memories seem to contain some history about this country. If I’m not mistaken, this isn’t Skyrim Province. It’s the Soviet Union."

"I seem to remember the name of that country, but weren’t its memories saying that it had already dissolved? That it had split apart and no longer existed? Why is it still here?"

"Because we traveled to a world before the Wizard World. Well, more accurately, a world earlier on the timeline. It probably isn’t the same time as the Wizard World."

Josh truly did not know how to explain it. Parallel worlds, identical timelines, different people, different experiences, different outcomes—he did not understand how to put it himself. All he knew was that he had breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, this was not Skyrim Province, where Daedra roamed everywhere and dragons were as common as dogs. He might not gain anything here, but at least it was safe, wasn’t it?

"Who are you people?"

At that moment, a middle-aged man in a military greatcoat walked out of the building behind them. With a stern expression, he stared at the massive dragon flying overhead, larger even than a fighter jet. The freezing gusts generated by its beating wings told him that what stood before him was not fake.

Honestly, he had been in his office reading training reports when one of his subordinates had suddenly rushed in and told him that gods had appeared, riding dragons over their post. He had thought the man had drunk too much vodka and started hallucinating.

But the alarm afterward told him that things were not so simple. His first thought was that enemy spies had found their way here! Honestly, he would have preferred enemy spies. At least then they might have captured some live test subjects.

After all, this was the most special and dangerous facility of the entire Soviet intelligence apparatus—the Red Wall. Of course, that was only if the intruders were human. But judging by his subordinates’ expressions, the situation did not look good. Everyone who could enter this place was an absolutely loyal soldier!

Had they used some kind of hallucinogen? Could it be the Germans?

As the commander thought this, he also prepared to blow the place to pieces—he was practically the highest-ranking person here, and he controlled a special detonation button. That button was essentially the self-destruct mechanism.

His reasoning was simple. If the enemy could find such a remote place, then if anything went wrong, wiping the entire facility off the map was the best option. Yet when he saw what was outside, he froze in disbelief and finally understood what his subordinate had meant. This was really the descent of gods!

The dragon slowly descended from the sky. Its immense size and weight immediately shook the ground, sending countless snowflakes scattering into the air. Quite a few soldiers even lost their footing and fell to the ground.

Josh jumped down first, with Garen following close behind. Honestly, if the two of them had not been dressed so heavily due to their inability to ignore the cold, everyone present would probably have mistaken them for gods.

"Who are you people?" the commander asked, swallowing hard.

"Can you understand English?"

Josh had no idea what the man was saying, so he could only try English. Of course, Josh never could have imagined that one of the soldiers would suddenly fire directly at him!