Heron had never dropped out of the sky like a misguided pinecone before.

  He’d fallen off of things in the past such as playground swings, his chair at the office, and even his bed. But again, he wasn’t one to go skydiving or skinny-dipping… he wasn’t that adventurous. So the fact that he was falling out of a sky like a stork dropping off a newborn baby except it had decided to do a violent delivery of sudden impact of releasing into the drop zone too soon.

  Impact was coming and Heron was going to die. He might have been screaming but that wasn’t going to help with hitting the ground. He needed to do something, anything.

  Quick, magical visualization powers activated!

  A GIANT STACK OF HAY.

  SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHFT.

  Gripping onto his white rabbit for dear life, Heron crashed into the giant stockpile of hay that he had created on a whim notice. Head spinning, vision dizzy, mouth foaming, Heron passed out.

  Bounce, bounce.

  Boing, boing.

  Something was thumping Heron on his bare chest. Opening his eyes, he groaned as he stared into the blue sky above. His back was being poked by dry hay and his arms were sprawled out as he lay in the large hay stack he had created to prevent sudden impact of death. His mind was still spinning as he blinked wearily from the illness that spun in his stomach. Oh goodness, he was going to hurl.

  We are under attack.

  Leaning over the edge of the stack, Heron heaved and said goodbye to his bread and soup from earlier today.

  Are you listening, human? I repeat, mayday mayday, code red.

  How the hell would this dragon know about slang and terminology? Heron wasn’t going to question it. When he flipped back onto his back, the white rabbit returned to his chest and continued to jump on him, as if performing CPR. He groaned as he clutched his forehead, the cold sweat chilling him as he shivered from the sickness. He must have summoned a lot of hay, he hadn’t felt this badly since he had built the stone oven.

  As Heron’s hearing cleared up once his head stopped spinning, he could hear the creatures… mooing. Ah yes, they were here for cows. And the cows were mooing. Loudly. Very loudly. He groaned, remembering that as they had been descending, there were countless of cow-looking creatures on the ground. Were they surrounded by cows?

  Yes, we are surrounded and they are attacking. These cows, they are formidable enemies. Do something, my underling!

  What the hell was the dragon—no, bunny—going on about?!

  Heron groaned as he sat up, rubbing the back of his neck. The rabbit hopped off of his chest and began thumping its foot urgently on the stack of hay.

  “What are you talking about? They’re cows.” Heron held back a dry heave as he burped.

  They are ferocious beasts that will flay our skin and eat our bones and crush our skulls if we give them a chance. We must flee at once.

  Heron stared at the white rabbit that glared adamantly back at him.

  “No they’re not,” Heron snorted as he leaned over the edge to get a peek at the cows. “They’re just cows—“

  Oh.

  Oh no, they were not just cows. They were cows but… strange cows. Cows with smiles. Or, baring their teeth? And they looked mad, really mad. One of them had vomit on its head and was snorting with righteous fury. And they were chowing down on the hay stack like rabid dogs. What the in the world?!

  Yes, they’ve been attacking our fortress since you summoned it. They are most upset, I can feel it in my bones.

  “Uh, why are they unhappy??” Heron asked, eyes wide and completely bewildered as he stared down at the herd of cows.

  Too many minds. Foreign language. They go moo-moo-moo. But they are furious. Outraged. Especially the one that you retched on.

  Yeah, that was not good. Heron had not meant to throw up on a cow.

  “Woah—“ Heron staggered as the hay stack shook.

  They were chomping, munching, and eating the hay stack fast. It shook the hay stack as Heron could do nothing but stare helplessly down at the ‘attack’. While an utterly confusing experience, he was not ready to find out what this world had in store for him. They were in a large pasture and countless cows surrounded them. And why was the dragon now a rabbit?

  “Wait a second, have you been spying on me?” Heron exclaimed as he flipped back to watch the white rabbit.

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  I did say I had been watching you, mortal.

  “Yes, but you were watching me as the rabbit, weren’t you?”

  The rabbit hopped once, then stamped its paw as if it were giving an order.

  It was a recon mission, I had to observe your capabilities first. It’s not like I was scared, it was a tactic of prowess and cleverness.

  “Didn’t say you were scared but okay. Can you turn back into a dragon now?!” Heron tried not to squeak as the hay stack shook some more. It was becoming less stable by the minute and he was not ready to slide into a herd of angry cows.

  No.

  “No???”

  Heron’s world slid as the rabbit hopped into his arms and they came sliding off the hay stack. It wasn’t a very far fall but Heron grunted as his butt hit the ground. When he opened his eyes, he was met with the gaze of several cows. And they were still smiling. This was incredibly off-putting and Heron jumped to his feet, the white rabbit still snuggling in his arms.

  RUN.

  The dragon-rabbit did not need to scream it in Heron’s mind, he was already booking it. As they fled the scene, Heron ran as fast as he could with his skinny office worker legs that could carry him while holding onto a fluffy rabbit. His heart pounded like jackhammer—not just from the adrenaline and sprinting but because the cows… were chasing them!?

  “Why are they chasing us??” Heron sputtered out as he ran through the grass. It was a wide field, and even longer with trees trailing the far edges of the plain.

  Because they’re evil creatures and we are going to die.

  That was not the least bit helpful but Heron wasn’t going to test that theory. Running for his life, he flew through the field. There was no way he was going to outrun cows, who was he kidding?? He couldn’t even outrun an elementary school child when they pranked him on his way home from work.

  As he ran at the speed of a salary-man, Heron’s eyes flicked to the waterside that came into view. An idea popped in his mind and he changed direction. The thundering of hooves was snapping right at his heels as he pelted towards the lake while carrying the dragon-rabbit.

  Do not get my fur wet—

  Heron took a leap into the water.

  With his arms raised above his head, he blubbered under the water as he held the rabbit above his head. He’d come up for air in a moment but he obeyed the lord of his planet like a peasant and did his best to keep the dragon-rabbit’s luscious fur dry and out of the water.

  The creatures have not entered the lake. It seems their mortal enemy is liquid. Stay under, you’re doing great.

  Praise was nice and all but Heron was going to drown at this rate.

  Hey, watch the fur!

  Heron sputtered for air as he swam until his feet touched the ground of the water. Fully standing, he shook his head, hair flinging droplets everywhere as he blinked the water out of his eyes. With the dragon-rabbit still high above his head as it had commanded, he looked as the stampede of cows returned to minding their own business as if nothing had just happened.

  "Mind explaining what the heck just happened?” Heron glared as he lowered the dragon-rabbit down from head height so he could witness the furry creature.

  Whatever do you mean?

  “You dropped us from the sky! We could’ve died had I not summoned that stack of hay!” Heron waded out of the water and as soon as he did, the dragon-rabbit hopped out of his clutches.

  Hopping around him, it seemed to be shaking off the jitters.

  I was simply startled by the air current and environmental conditions of this planet. And I did not drop us out of the sky, I just allowed gravity to run its course of nature.

  Heron had a special skill called smelling bull crap—there were many bovines in the area after all—thanks to his many years of working under a shady company, but the nonsense the rabbit was spouting was on a different level. Still, he was sure it had its reasons to not be forthcoming. It didn't really matter why the dragon had suddenly turned into a fluffy, white rabbit mid-air, what mattered was that they were stuck on this new planet without a ride home.

  Shaking the water off of himself, Heron walked into the grass. Great, his underpants were wet and it was chilly on the barren plains. Sneezing, he rubbed his arms.

  “Fine, lord of my planet—“

  I prefer Great Destroyer, Planet Annihilator, World Ender—

  “Those aren’t names, they’re titles. If you won’t tell me your name, you’re just going to have to settle for Lord Bun.”

  I beg your pardon?

  The rabbit was hopping around his ankles and Heron knew he should be terrified of it biting his ankles or worse, turning into a dragon and charring him to smithereens, but for some reason he just wasn’t scared of the lil’ guy. Maybe looks were deceiving and he felt too comfortable with the rabbit since he had spent months alongside it while he’d been alone in this strange new universe.

  Or Heron would become dragon chow but that was a problem to worry about later.

  “You heard me, Lord Bun.” Heron stared off into the distance where the creepy cows had returned to eating his hay stack. “Now, what’s the plan?”

  The plan? That’s your job, underling.

  “What?” He flicked his gaze to the rabbit that was now chewing on some grass. “You’re kidding me, right? You’re the one who dragon-napped me onto another planet!”

  Your request required traveling and I simply adhered to your request.

  With the warm breeze blowing on them, Heron took a seat next to the rabbit and crossed his legs.

  “Okay… I can make a plan. But first, explain why you can’t turn back into a dragon.”

  Silence.

  Heron stared at the rabbit and it avoided his gaze as it started chewing the grass even faster. Which proceeded with more chewing noises—the dragon-rabbit might as well had inhaled the patch of grass it had been working on.

  I… require comfort.

  Comfort? That was quite vague.

  “Comfort like a hug?” Heron had no idea what was going through the dragon’s mind. Maybe it was just lonely?

  If rabbits could roll their eyes, this one did.

  No, you imbecile. It stamped its foot angrily. I must be comfortable to return to my dragon form.

  Now, Heron had never had a pet before but somehow he had been forcibly reverse adopted by a pet dragon-rabbit. His only ideas on how to provide comfort to an animal was either food, naps, pets, and more food.

  “I can summon a carrot for you?”

  The rabbit glared at him as it chewed on the grass, clearly offended.

  What am I, a guinea pig?

  Not quite, but close enough. Heron never understood why it refused to eat carrots but would rapidly munch on grass.

  “How about some pets?” Heron reached over with his hand to touch the rabbit’s white, luscious fur.

  Paws off, human. Keep your greasy little hands off of my pristine coat.

  Heron kept his snort to himself as he watched the furry little thing hop to another patch of grass to munch on. What a needy dragon!

  “Fine, I won’t touch your coat with my uh, filthy hands.” Heron surrendered with his hands in the air. He scooted closer and proceeded to summon a wooden comb.

  “But you won’t say no to grooming, right?”

  Grooming what—

  Heron grinned as he reached over with the wooden comb menacingly.