This isn't a sequel, but an AU to the original.

One of the things I really like to do is imagine different ways Aladar and Delga could have met. In this version, it isn't Aladar pulling Delga out of his world, but instead Aladar finding himself in Delga's old world, meeting him there, and then escaping back to his world.

Not canon, but just a fun little thing I felt like doing.

Art is by PieceofLasagna from Twitter: https://twitter.com/PieceOfLasagna

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I couldn’t really tell what was going on…

“Ugh…”

A groan left my lips as I felt the back of my body being dragged across the rough ground. The last thing I remember was some silver dog guy attacking me and…

I say this because memories of what happened rushed back to me, and I didn’t hesitate to freak out as my senses returned.

My name is Aladar. I’m a Zangoose who was a dimension traveler that worked for a group of people set on dimension unification. Though I had visited my fair share of hostile worlds, this world I came upon was something else entirely.

“Let go of me!” I growled, thrashing about.

It was to no avail though, since the knoll that was dragging me had me completely tied up, and it was from my feet that I was being pulled.

Looking at my surroundings, I was in some sort of prison. There weren't too many people here, but more than enough to unnerve me.

Didn’t help that a lot of them were eyeing me like I was fresh meat, and making comments that wouldn’t sit well with any normal person.

I hated it more because the things they were saying weren’t just empty words, given how I’ve seen this world work.

And experienced…

My thoughts went back to that silver dog guy. I can say without a doubt that I was not expecting something like that to happen. The feeling of his hand around my neck and his other hand…

My body shuddered; had I not been freaking out about what would happen to me, I would definitely be reminiscing on what he did…

Suddenly the dragging had stopped, and the knoll opened what seemed to be a random cell, and threw me in it, before slamming the door shut.

“Damn it…” I growled.

If my hands weren’t tied at the wrists, I would have summoned my sword and cut the ropes. Well, I could still summon it, but I would have little control of summoning it in a way that could help.

I took a deep breath, attempting to calm myself a bit, so I could focus on my next move.

“Okay…”

“Hey hey!!! Looks like I got the new guy as a neighbor! How’s it going, boy~”

That voice came from the cell to the right of me. Luckily each cell had a brick wall in between them, so the guy most likely couldn’t get to me.

“Oh it’s gonna be so fun seeing ya being played with~ Damn I wish I could get my hands on you.”

I decided it would be best to ignore whoever it was; I didn’t get a good look at them anyway.

Okay, let’s see if I can do something with my sword.

Taking another deep breath, I summoned my sword in my hands. The blade was far away from where my hands were tied, but I could at least start with cutting the ropes on my feet. It was a lot easier said than done seeing how my hands were in an awkward placement, but holding it still and wiggling my feet worked well enough.

Took a couple minutes due to bending, but soon enough my legs were free.

Okay now my hands…

Looking at the empty cell, there wasn’t anything I could prop my sword against that would let me slice the ropes on my wrist easily. The only option I had was propping it between my feet and hoping I can keep it steadily long enough.

“Aww, not talking are we?” The guy to the right said in an obviously fake sorrow. “Eh, I guess I don’t need to worry. Perhaps your screams will suffice when that monster finally comes to get you.”

Monster…

I couldn’t help but freeze for a minute after hearing him bring that up.

It wasn’t the first time I had heard of this monster. I remember the silver dog saying something about it too, about how this slime monster pretty much rules this world, and everyone was its plaything.

“Hey Delga!” The guy shouted again. “I know you’re here! Why don’t you tell the new guy about his new master, seeing how you’re his favorite toy! HAHAHAHA!!!”

The guy laughed out loud, and I think I heard a few others chuckle as well.

Not sure who he was talking to, but obviously this guy was not new to mocking people.

Back to freeing myself though.

I carefully placed the sword in my hands in a little gap I made between my feet. Wasn’t sure how efficient this was going to be because I couldn’t really get a strong grip with them, but it was all I had at the moment.

Bringing my wrists up to the sword, I slowly began running the ropes up and down the blade. It was a bit wiggly, but I saw the threads of the rope beginning to shred, so with a bit of patience, I should be able to get this over with soon.

“Now you’re both giving me the silent treatment?”

Okay, this guy was starting to get on my nerves.

“You know a conversation is supposed to go both ways, right?”

“Fuck off!” I finally replied, now getting a bit impatient, causing my feet to lose grip on the sword, resulting in it falling to the ground, making a clank and it fell flat.

However, getting it back up wasn’t as hard since the rope on my wrists was getting weaker.

The guy continued to say stuff, but given how annoyed I was, I felt the best thing to do was ignore it and focus since I was getting close to freeing my arms.

It took a couple minutes, but I finally managed to get the rope off, giving me free access to my arms.

That out of the way, I began inspecting the cell I was in.

Empty, not even a bed…

The floor was dry, but more dirty than I would have liked. The bricks had quite a bit of graffiti on them that had been scraped on there from stones and such, from tick marks, to bad drawings of male genitals.

No window either, so I assume this prison was either deep within somewhere or underground.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard tapping on the wall.

Not from the asshole from the right, but from the left wall.

And I guess maybe tapping wasn’t the right way of putting it, but more along the lines of carving.

I stopped my investigation for a second and listened. Again, it sounded like carving, but with occasional jabbing. It didn’t seem like whoever was on the other side was drawing something, more like they were trying to dig through the wall.

That thought did make me panic for a second, but the chance of them getting through these brick walls was rather slim, so I took a breath.

“What are you doing over there?”

Again, this was the guy from the right.

“First I hear the sound of metal dropping, now that loud carving. Will you keep it the fuck down?!”

“Says the guy shouting through the wall for the last ten minutes!” I replied. “And sorry, but that’s not me making that noise.”

“Delga!” The voice then shouted even louder. “If you’re trying to escape, knock it off!!! We all know damn well that you’ll just get caught and end up back here again! Give it a rest already!”

Escape? Again?

That got me thinking.

Whoever this guy was, he was clearly ignoring the shouting guy, and continued his carving away.

However, if it was true this guy was trying to escape, then why was trying to get into my cell? Did he know something?

Only one way to find out.

I moved to the edge of the cell near the door, and attempted to speak in a voice where the shouting guy couldn’t hear.

“Delga, is that you?”

When I asked that, the carving stopped.

I didn’t get a response, but I could tell I got their attention.

“My name is Aladar. Do… Do you know a way out of here?”

No response again, but I heard breathing this time, so I assume they were also by the door close to me.

“You’re…”

My ears shot up, as I got a response.

His voice was a bit raspy, and I could hear the concern in it.

“You’re... new here… right?”

“Yeah,” I replied. “I’ve only been in this world for a couple days…”

Well, at least I can say he’s already more bearable than the other guy.

“I-I need to get into that cell…”

I looked around, seeing if there was anything of value around, but again, nothing but empty space and graffiti…

“Metal…”

I tilted my head.

“Do you have something sharp? I can... use?” He then asked. “I heard you drop something… That sounded metal..."

Now I was getting concerned. I still had no idea what this guy wanted from this cell, and for all I know he could be trying to trick me and get his hands on me…

But…

Something about his voice…

“Yeah,” I finally replied. “Will a sword work?”

I heard a bit of a gasp from his side.

“Yes! Please hand me it!”

Well, it was a magic sword, so even if he turns on me, I can get right back, but here goes nothing…

I stuck my hand outside the cell bars and summoned my sword again, this time sliding it in the direction of his cell. Couldn’t see his hand from the angle I was at, but I could tell he got it from it being slipped away as soon as I pushed it.

Not a second later, I heard him carving at the wall again, but this time it was a bit more aggressive than before.

Really hope he knew what he was doing.

“Aladar… Was it?”

He stopped his carving.

“I uh… I’m sorry ahead of time if I break this…”

I chuckled at his modesty.

“Don’t worry about it.” I replied. “It’s a magic sword, and won’t break easily. Whatever your plan is, just go for it. Escaping is what’s important. I have faith in you.”

Again, Delga gasped a little.

Though this time I was a bit confused as to why.

There was a bit of a pause, and Delga seemed to have halted whatever he was doing.

“Delga?”

“Aladar…”

Huh?

Was something wrong?

“Stand back from the wall…”

I didn’t wait to do as he said. Not sure what exactly Delga had in mind, but I had a strong feeling that this wall was about to come down.

“RRRrrrr..GGGggrrrrraaaaAAA!!!”

With that, the next thing I saw was the tip of my sword now sticking out from my side of the wall.

Delga had just stabbed through a brick wall with my sword!

Wait!

Took me a second to realize, but it wasn’t just a stab through the brick wall, but specifically the mortar between the bricks.

Delga was planning on using my sword like a crowbar; if I’m right then…

A second later, the tip of the sword started to twitch, and with another grunt, soon the mortar between all the bricks of the wall began twitching as well.

“What’s going on over there?”

Uh-oh, looks like the guy to my right finally caught on.

Before I could make any sort of reply, the wall had collapsed, creating quite a ruckus that sounded not at all subtle.

I couldn’t help but freeze as I saw the man jump over the brick pile.

The guy I was looking at was a large, red dragon. He was quite muscular, and had green eyes and decent-sized yellow hair. His attire was a pair of gauntlets, a black and yellow jacket over a white tank-top, and a pair of black pants. He had a pair of white horns, and a couple fangs that grew along the side of his mouth.

I had to admit, Delga was quite handsome, and a blush had appeared on my face as he got close to me, obviously taking a look at me as well.

“You’re… Small...” Was his reply. “I guess that explains the size of the sword.”

A chuckle left my lips at the comment.

The moment was short-lived though, as we heard the guy next to us screaming stuff.

“We have to go!” The dragon stated, grabbing my arm. “Here!”

Delga took me to the wall of my cell that was opposite of the door.

“There’s a contraption here!”

He had stretched his arm to the higher part of the wall, then traced some sort of symbol on it with his finger. After doing so, the wall began to rise, revealing a secret passageway.

“What are you two doing?!” The guy shouted again.

“We’re leaving, Leo!” Delga shouted back, holding me close as he dragged us through the door.

“You won’t get away with this!!!” The Leo guy shouted back. “You won’t get far! I’ll find you and drag you back here if someone else doesn’t before me! You’ll wind up back here before you know it! I hope you-”

A few seconds after we went through, the door slammed shut, rendering whatever that guy was shouting inaudible.

I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.

Delga sighed as well, but it was a bit of a different one than mine.

Looking back at him, I saw he was staring at the mechanics that made the door open.

Using my sword, he sliced a few of the ropes that pulled the mechanics, then removed some of the gears, setting them in front of the door.

“That way we’re not followed…” He said, turning back to me. “This was usually my cell, and this is how I got out of this place. Unfortunately I wasn’t placed in there this time, so I was trapped for real for once…”

He sighed again.

“Looks like this is the last time I’ll be using this exit.”

Looking around, the cave was pretty dark, and the only light we had was a single torch on the wall.

“I was wearing away at the mortar on the wall for about a month.” He continued. “Originally I was planning on busting through the wall, but that would have taken much longer for me to wear away the wall before I could do so. I guess luck was on my side for once with you here.”

“Glad I could help.” I replied, smiling. “Also glad not everyone in this world is some sort of crooked creep.”

Delga gave a little chuckle.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but almost everyone is here.”

That said, I grabbed the torch that was on the wall.

“Come on, we should probably get out of here before they surround the place looking for us.” I said.

“I know a safe place we can go to.” The dragon added. “This tunnel leads to an area where we can make a break for it before they can find us.”

I nodded, and we began walking in the direction the tunnel led us.

It was dark, obviously, but I knew I didn’t have anything to fear now that I had a companion with me.

But damn, I guess this place doesn’t just have a few bad apples, it’s a whole rotting orchard.

Looking back at Delga, he was looking behind us. Probably making sure we weren’t being followed, or maybe lamenting on his getaway point now being rendered useless.

I owed him for that.

“Thanks for helping me get out here, Delga.”

He then faced forward, looking at me.

“We make a great team~”

Delga looked a bit nervous after I said that, and I could tell he probably wasn’t used to getting compliments.

“I-I should be thanking you.” He replied, scratching the back of his head. “I’m glad you came when you did. I was starting to lose hope, and the people that run the prison do horrible things to the inmates at night. I was afraid of spending another night there…”

He then grabbed my hand, stopping me for a second.

“You’re the first person who’s ever wanted to help me.” He stated.

I was shocked as I saw tears streaming down his face.

“Everyone here is a monster.” He continued, taking a little gulp. “I’ve been here for about eight years, running, hiding, and fighting so I could find my way out of this cursed world, and everyone I have ever met has either abused me or used me as a tool so that they could search another day. I’ve been stuck in this world, alone…”

Woah, talk about an info dump right there.

Guess Delga has had it pretty rough.

This world really is that bad, huh?

He was shaking, but I squeezed his hand, and he stopped.

“Well, then let’s go back to my world together.”

“Huh?”

Holding his hand, I began walking again.

“I have people looking for me.” I continued. “I work as a dimension traveler, and wound up in this world by accident. I haven’t been able to contact the people I work with, and if I don’t within a few days of departure, then they’ll know right away to come find me.”

Looking back, I could see the dragon’s face light up a bit from that statement.

“If we can get to this safe area of yours, all we need to do is stay put, and they’ll be able to zero in on our location.”

“Will… Will we really be able to get out of here?” He asked.

I nodded, and he squeezed my hand back.

“And my world is nothing like this one.” I said, giving a soft smile. “You’ll like my world. It’s really nice, especially this time of year. It’s gonna be nice and cool, but not too chilly. The leaves will be falling and looking all pretty, maybe the occasional snow flurry~”

Autumn really was the best time of year.

“When we get back, I’ll treat us to some nice hamburgers~”

As I said that, Delga’s stomach growled something fierce, and he had to stop walking for a second to clutch his stomach.

“Sorry…” He muttered. “I uh, haven’t had much to eat for some time…”

Oh dear…

“Here, hold this for a sec.” I said, handing him the torch.

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I tapped on my snack storage app and summoned one of the few cracker packs I had in there for rations. When I looked back, Delga’s eyes were pretty wide.

I smiled and handed him the crackers in exchange for the torch.

“I have a few snacks that should hold us for a few days. Eat up, big guy~”

I swear the dragon was going to cry again, but he was too busy tearing open the packaging and chowing away.