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Episode 4
Sion couldn’t remember his exact age anymore. In his original world, he’d been in his late twenties, and he had lived for over 80 years in this world—well past 100 now.
A hundred years.
In that long stretch of time, Sion, an immortal being, had finally witnessed something truly incomprehensible—something mysterious in the truest sense.
Even with its wings folded and its long neck lowered, the creature before him towered like a 15-story building.
About 40 meters tall? If it raised its head, it might reach 50.
Its massive body radiated overwhelming weight and power.
But it wasn’t just its appearance that made Sion define the dragon before him as “incomprehensible.”
“I have been waiting, User.”
A thunderous voice rolled down from above, vibrating Sion’s eardrums.
The dragon could speak.
And what it said was even more shocking.
“User…?”
Despite having lived for over 80 years, enduring countless trials and tribulations, Sion was taken aback.
No—his thoughts tangled in shock.
User? What was it using?
And “waiting”? For him? Why?
“Should I call you a User? Or perhaps Adventurer? Foreigner? Which title do you prefer?”
“……!!!”
The voice continued to dig into his already scrambled mind like a lightning strike.
“I finally found it.”
After all those long years, the answer to the mystery he’d been chasing had finally appeared.
“Ha… hahaha…”
Joy, emptiness, and a sense of accomplishment surged through him all at once, and Sion laughed without realizing it.
The dragon knew.
It knew he wasn’t a native of this world.
It knew he was a “User,” a foreigner who had come through the medium of a game.
“We have much to discuss, you and I. But first, there’s one thing I’m curious about.”
The dragon’s pupils weren’t slit like a reptile’s—they were round, reflecting intelligent curiosity.
“Why did you come so early?”
Sion followed the dragon, which introduced itself as Derkios, to its lair.
Riding atop a creature nearly 70 meters long—like being carried by a jumbo jet—was an unforgettable experience.
The gale-force winds weren’t the issue; it was the sheer speed that left him breathless.
After about ten minutes, they reached a gently sloping mountain made only of rock, sand, and dirt. Its peak was hollow, leading into Derkios’s cavern.
The interior was formed of steep rock faces plunging hundreds of meters underground—impossible for beasts or monsters to enter.
Crossing the vast wasteland to reach this place would be impossible for ordinary people anyway.
But Sion felt a strange certainty.
“Only someone like me can come here.”
And by “someone like me,” Derkios clearly meant User.
“So I really did enter a game world…?”
It was hard to believe.
This world, which he had accepted as real for decades—was it truly made of 0s and 1s? Were all his experiences and relationships just data?
“No. That can’t be.”
He shook his head violently.
Derkios would answer these questions.
With a WHOOOSH, Derkios suddenly spread his massive wings, generating a gust that swept the summit.
Dust swirled like a storm before slowly settling, and through the drifting particles, the dragon’s towering silhouette became even more majestic and intimidating.
Even Sion instinctively stepped back at the sight.
Then, the dragon spoke.
“Welcome to my lair, User. According to the memories engraved within me, you are the first adventurer.”
“The first adventurer?”
“Indeed. And such a feat must be rewarded accordingly, but…”
Derkios extended its neck and tilted its massive head in curiosity.
“As I asked before—why did you come so early?”
“…I don’t understand what you’re talking about. And more importantly—what are you?”
Sion had a guess, but he asked anyway.
“Me? According to my engraved memories, I am a guide and adviser to Users like you.”
“……!”
His fists clenched. He’d been right—this dragon was connected to whatever had thrown him into this world.
“Then can you guide me back to my original world? Do you know the way?”
He licked his dry lips nervously.
Depending on the answer, he might finally—
“No. That knowledge is not engraved in me.”
“What?”
His entire body slumped with sudden fatigue.
“That’s something you must figure out. Didn’t I ask earlier why you came so soon? Ah, maybe you really don’t know because you arrived too early. I suspected something was strange, and now it’s clear.”
“What do you mean…?”
“Something’s out of place. The engraved memories can’t be wrong. So the mistake must’ve happened before you came here.”
Derkios stared at him for a moment, then sighed heavily.
“We really do have much to talk about.”
The story Derkios told was long.
Sion mostly listened, occasionally asking questions.
By the end, his initial confusion had faded into calm acceptance.
If he’d heard all this when he first arrived, it would have shocked him. But after 80 years, and with some of Derkios’s answers matching his own suspicions, it wasn’t surprising anymore.
The conclusion was simple: Sion had arrived in this world far too early.
“So… this was the prologue?”
He was reminded of that famous opening line from a classic sci-fi movie:
“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”
Because the time he arrived in this world was exactly that distant past in Another World Saga’s timeline.
Not centuries—but around 100 years after the defeat of the Demon Dragon Viouslek.
The official beginning of Another World Saga started 20 years from now.
In other words, Sion had arrived a full century before other Users were supposed to.
“I’ve told you all I can according to my engraved memories. Do you have more questions?”
Derkios’s booming voice snapped Sion out of his thoughts.
“More or less. By the way, you’re basically a GM, aren’t you?”
“G…M?”
“A game master. Or a kind of guide.”
“Ho. Not an exact match, but similar enough. Yes, one of my missions is to guide Users like you.”
Sion frowned thoughtfully.
“I’ve been wondering—these ‘engraved memories’ of yours. Who engraved them?”
He already had a guess.
If this world was truly a game, then memories were data, and the engravers were likely the creators.
“Those memories have been with me since I awakened as a ‘being.’ And of course, the one who engraved them is God.”
“God, huh…”
A cliché, perhaps—but only a godlike entity could create a world, transcend dimensions, and wield such power.
“Then can I meet this God? Communicate somehow?”
“Both possible and impossible. And why are you asking me?”
“What? What do you mean?”
Derkios clicked his tongue.
“Communicating with God is something only Users can do. And the method—you Users should know it.”
“Damn.”
Sion scowled.
He’d come full circle: He didn’t know how because he’d arrived too early.
“Everything started because I arrived abnormally.”
The responsibility and solution lay with some higher being, but for now, he couldn’t meet or talk to them.
So Sion had only one option left:
“I just have to wait, then?”
Derkios nodded.
“Indeed. Until mana returns to this world and other adventurers arrive, you must wait. And if you want answers to your questions—you must become the Victor.”
“Victor? What’s that supposed to—Ah!”
It hit him.
Another World Saga wasn’t just an RPG. It also incorporated RTS—real-time strategy—on a grand scale.
Adventuring, hunting monsters, leveling up—those were only part of the game.
Players gathered allies (NPC or otherwise), formed clans or guilds, and eventually built nations to wage wars for supremacy.
And the “Victor” Derkios spoke of had to be the final winner of those conflicts.
“Ha… you’ve got to be kidding me.”
After everything he’d endured over a century, he still had to win a war to meet God?
“No. Wait.”
He shook his head.
In about 20 years, Users would arrive.
They’d have proper knowledge and follow the intended path into this world.
“I’ve survived 80 years. What’s another 20?”
He resolved himself again.
He estimated it might take him about 10 years to fully explore the Dragon’s Wasteland, Eltis Island, and the Northern Snow Mountains. Even if it took twice that, he now had a clear lead.
Besides, even if the arriving Users didn’t know the answers, Sion had something they didn’t: Duke Sion’s domain—a powerful faction.
He was already decades ahead of everyone else.
“Leaving that request with Burgos was the right move.”
Before entering the wasteland, he’d gone to Burgos—a gateway city closest to the wasteland—to gather supplies and leave a standing information-gathering request with their guild.
Although his family thought he’d been long dead, he still cared.
Through the guild, he could quietly keep watch over his descendants and intervene if needed.
He paid one gold bar (1kg in his original world) upfront, and arranged annual payments of the same amount to keep the contract active.
“I just wanted to keep an eye on my family… but that turned out to be a genius move.”
He smiled faintly, thinking of his late wife.
“I’m not disobeying your last wish, Stella. Don’t worry.”
She had told him to live his own life freely, and he believed she’d be happy knowing he was still protecting their children from afar.
“Ho, so you can still smile.”
“Ahem.”
He cleared his throat awkwardly and quickly changed the subject.
“By the way, you mentioned earlier I’m the first User to arrive. So there’s a reward, right?”
“Indeed. I am tasked with rewarding all Users who find me.”
“All Users? Are the rewards the same?”
“Of course not. The first, second, and third visitors are special. Their rewards differ.”
“I knew it…”
A tiered reward system, naturally. First achievers always get the best prizes.
“So… what’s my reward?”
He asked eagerly.
“According to my engraved memories, your reward will be given on the day the other Users arrive.”
“…….”
“The final winner will be revealed… after the break!”
The echo of an old TV show host’s voice rang in his mind.
Except instead of 60 seconds, the break would last about 20 years.
(To be continued)
