"Leave me alone, you perverted lizardy!"
Dio shouted as he ran, completely naked and absolutely done with life.
The air felt strange on his skin, too warm in some places, too cold in others, as if even the breeze couldn't decide what it wanted.
"Please, honey… make a few children with me," a sweet, alluring voice called from behind him.
It was the kind of voice that would normally melt a man into a puddle.
But Dio only felt pure panic.
"For the last time, leave me alone!"
He yelled, waving his arms like an angry scarecrow.
"I don't care how human you look now! I'm not putting anything anywhere, so just back off!"
He remembered the moment before this disaster, a giant lizard, teeth, claws, certain death.
Then suddenly she changed shape, turned into a woman, and before he could process anything, she kissed him.
A lizard. Kissed him. On the mouth.
His brain had been screaming ever since.
He pumped his legs harder, but the gap between them refused to grow.
In fact… it was shrinking.
He risked a glance over his shoulder.
She was walking, walking, yet somehow getting closer.
Her smile was calm, almost gentle, which only made Dio run faster.
"Stop chasing me!" he shouted.
"But we would make such cute babies," she replied, sounding way too happy about all this.
Dio let out a strangled cry.
The universe really had it out for him today, and it wasn't even lunch yet.
Nevertheless, Dio kept running, despite his body going nowhere.
His legs pumped, his arms swung, his lungs burned… yet he stayed in the same spot like someone had swapped the ground with a giant invisible treadmill.
Every step felt wrong, rubbery, like the world was pulling a prank on him.
The voice drifted closer, warm and honeyed.
"Sweetheart, you can stop running now."
Dio's heart kicked hard.
"No….please….don't! I don't want to do anything with a lizard! Please!"
His words came out in a messy rush as he tried to force his body forward, but he didn't budge even an inch.
She reached him with almost no effort at all.
Her hands slipped around his wrists, firm and unbothered, pulling him back like he weighed nothing.
"Let us begin our ritual," she said softly, as if announcing something sacred.
Dio's face went pale.
He tried to yank away, but the strength just wasn't there.
"I'm a human!" he blurted. "You're a lizard!
We can't—we shouldn't—this is not how biology works!"
She leaned in, undeterred, her grip tightening as if she had all the confidence in the universe.
"We will make it work," she said with a calm smile. "Our children will be strong."
She pulled him closer, her face inches from his.
Her breath felt too warm, too close.
"Let's start," she whispered, lowering her head toward his lips.
Dio's panic finally cracked into a scream.
"NOOOOOOO!"
The sound tore out of him—
—and the entire world snapped like glass.
He jolted upright, breath ragged, the scenery around him completely different, as if someone had wiped the nightmare clean with one sweep.
The lizard-lady was gone.
The endless field was gone.
The strange air, the warped ground, all of it… gone.
Only the echo of that terror clung to him, fading like mist as he tried to understand where he was now.
Dio sucked in air like he'd just outrun a herd of angry bulls.
"Huff… huff… huff…"
His whole body shook. The endless field was gone. The lizard-lady was gone.
In their place stood a room so luxurious it looked stolen from a king's private daydream.
Velvet curtains. Gold patterns on the walls. A massive, soft bed under him.
He blinked. "Thank God… it was a dream…"
Relief washed through him so fast it almost knocked him flat. It felt like cold water poured over fire.
He let his muscles melt into the mattress—
Then froze…
"Wait… why am I here?"
He shot upright, eyes wide. He should've been in the dungeon.
Dead.
Torn apart. Definitely not sleeping in a fancy bed surrounded by decorations that cost more than his entire existence.
"What… what the hell…?" He looked around slowly.
The room felt wrong in that quiet, polite way dreams linger after waking.
He grabbed his own cheeks and pinched hard.
"Ahh—!"
His eyes sparkled.
"I'm alive…? I'm alive! Yes! Baby, I'm alive!"
He practically exploded out of the sheets, still completely naked, but he didn't care at all.
Shame was a luxury for people who weren't busy celebrating surviving a giant lizard woman nightmare.
He bounced off the bed like a kid sugar-high on victory, shouting nonsense joy into the expensive air.
The mattress flipped back behind him as he sprang to his feet, arms wide, wild grin plastered on his face—
Alive, confused, naked…
And absolutely thrilled about at least one of those things.
But all of sudden Dio froze mid-celebration, like someone had smacked the pause button on his soul.
The joy drained out of his face so fast it was almost cartoonish, sunny sky one moment, rainclouds the next.
The memory hit him hard.
The hatchling.
His little guy.
He sank down onto the polished floor, shoulders drooping.
"I survived… but my son didn't," he whispered.
The words tasted bitter. His smile crumbled. "Sigh… you died because of me…"
He dropped to his knees, hands clasped together like a monk who'd just taken a vow of sadness.
"My son… your father lived, but I couldn't save you… Papa is sorry."
A sound echoed in the room.
A tiny, sharp—
"Papa!"
Dio's eyes flew open. He looked around wildly, but his vision caught only air, shadows, expensive furniture, and more air.
Nothing.
He rubbed his face. "Great… now my son is calling me from heaven. Wonderful."
He shut his eyes again, trying to look serious and fatherly.
"Son, wherever you are… live peacefully. Papa—"
"Papa!!"
This time the voice cut him off mid-prayer like an impatient toddler demanding attention.
Dio froze.
His eyelid twitched.
Because that didn't sound like heaven.
That sounded like something very much… in the room with him.
And very close.
The door burst open with a loud creak, and Dio's eyes snapped wide like someone had slapped a spotlight into his face.
A tiny shape shot into the room, a blur of wings, scales, and pure chaos.
Dio froze.
The hatchling.
His hatchling.
Alive.
His brain didn't even process it at first.
His jaw simply unhinged on instinct like a man witnessing a miracle he definitely wasn't emotionally prepared for.
The little creature zoomed straight at him, flapping its wings like an excited pigeon who'd downed three cups of coffee.
"Papa! Papa! Papa!!"
Dio didn't even move as it collided with his chest, wrapping its tiny claws and wings around him in the most dramatic hug a small lizard-baby could manage.
It pressed its head against him like it had finally found home after being gone for years instead of… well, however long that nightmare lasted.
Dio slowly lifted his shaking hands.
"Son… you're alive?" he whispered, voice cracking like cheap glass.