The caves grew vast in the darkness of the coming night. The evening torches were
being lit all along the walls so everyone could move about freely without risk to the
others. Of course, the torches were hardly necessary, since everyone had the eyes to see
in the blackest night. The lighting of the torches sent large shadows up to the ceiling of
the main chamber, becoming more monstrous than the inhabitants of the caves. Echoes
could be heard all throughout the caves, snorts of animals and the click of claws on the
rocks. Slowly out of the darkness a line of large forms moved out of the inner caves into
the main chamber, their shadows shaping creatures of nightmares onto the walls and
ceiling. The flames from the torches danced in their eyes as the forms proceeded past the
main chamber and into a cave adjacent from the sleeping caverns.
There were ten forms in all that entered the chamber. They entered through a large
wooden door that was very large by human standards. In fact, it was quite enormous. All
of the shapes entered the chamber without a sound as to not disturb the others beginning
to sleep through the night. The particular task at hand would have to be done in the
strictest silence. As the last form entered through the door, a large claw could be seen
closing the door behind them.
Once the door was closed, all was dark in the chamber. Suddenly torches came alight
all throughout the room, shying any shadows from the room in an instant. Their eyes
quickly adjusted to the light change and glanced all about the room at which they now
stood. Ceremonious candles lined both walls, the vapors filling the nostrils of those
assembled. At the far end of the chamber, a shape was carved into the stone flooring. It
held the image of a serpent-like dragon being held forth by a beautiful woman with long
flowing robes about her.
The figure that was at the head of the line moved silently up to where the emblem sat
in the floor, staying silent as he did so. His claws barely made any sound as they
ascended the steps, his tail waving about slightly to balance his body. The torches gave a
bright gleam off of the white scales that covered his being. As he turned around to face
the others, his poise clearly marked his status.
He silently regarded those convened with him for a moment, all dragons of different
statures of their society. The Black dragon, a knight, sat with his wife and son in front
of the elder White, eyes locked with his own. Behind them stood the elder’s noble high
council of Blue dragons. And of course, to keep this event from being prejudiced, a
lowly Green sat back by the door, merely as a spectator. The Black’s wife of course was
one of the Red, or the soldiers of their army. The son, being mixed, was mostly red with
long stripes of black crossing his back all along his body. He was to be the one in which
all were gathered this night.
He was already a seasoned fighter, like his father. Of course there was confusion at
first on how to regard him, as a red or black. But it was finally decided by the elder to
regard him as a Black to be trained by his father. The Black was already a knight and to
be able to train his son as one was a high honor for him to accept. Now, the elder
thought to himself, the hybrid was a legend among the dragons. His capabilities far
exceeded those of all of the other dragons, save for possibly his father, who stood proudly
by his son. Even the high council made room for his passage, for his capabilities with the
magic were even greater than theirs. The elder saw greatness in this dragons’ future, but
that was a secret for another day to reveal.
“The time has come, my friends.” The White flexed his great wings along his back
for a more comfortable position. He silently moved over the seal of Gelpha, the crossing
point for the holy, and motioned for the chosen to follow. The chosen silently looked at
his parents for a moment, receiving a proud nod from his father. With his mother he
brushed his snout against hers, offering a bit of his courage to her. She accepted and then
both parents stood back as their son slowly made his way up the stone steps onto the seal
of Gelpha. The young knight locked eyes with the elder, silently saying that he was
ready.
The incantation began. A low mumbling of words that were very hard to decipher
came out of the elders’ mouth. Then suddenly the Seal under the knight’s feet began to
glow. It began to grow brighter and brighter until no one could see the young knight
anymore. Then, just as quick, the light began to slowly dissipate until it revealed a
human baby lying on the seal, remaining silent in sleep, its small sheet of red hair bright
in the candlelight. “Good luck, my son.”
The elder began to recite a new incantation, this one creating a blue glow from the
Seal under the sleeping baby. The light began to engulf the baby until it seemed as if it
were going to smother it. But then the light began to die in the air, creating a stillness
in the room as it did. The witnesses watched as the light disappeared, some with eyes
locked on the apparatus, others looking away. When the light had finally gone out, the
baby had disappeared with it. The Black looked proudly at the elder, who still stood
where he had given the incantation, and then looked at his wife who still stood staring
into the air where the blue light had taken her son. She slowly looked to her husband and
managed to give a small grunt of confidence. “The rest is up to Bruin, now.” The Black
looked at the other dragons about them and they each nodded their approval, some
selfishly, others hopeful.
But the elder was now looking out of the window cut out of the rock just behind
where he had been standing moments before. His eyes were scanning the stars in the
night sky, locating the one star that held any significance to him. The night sky could not
hide that star from view, the sight of it differentiated from the rest of the stars about
it. It was blue, whereas the other stars were white against the night sky. The blue
star clearly stood apart from the rest, for more reasons than one. The White stared at the
blue star for a few moments more and then turned away and began to walk down to his
audience. “Gelpha be with you, my son.”

*****************************************

Michael woke up with a start and quickly sat up. “What the hell!?” The question had
lied within the dream that had suddenly brought him awake, something about dragons
and incantations. His mind was swirling with the details of the dream when his eyes rose
from the blade of grass which he had been absentmindedly observing. And he quickly
found himself saying it again as he saw his new surroundings. “What the hell?”
He was surrounded by a forest, in a small clearing only about twenty feet in diameter.
The grass on which he sat seemed to be clean-cut and light green in color. But how in
the hell did he get here? There wasn’t anything recognizable with the forests that he was
used to, but, then again, he had never ventured into those familiar forests enough.
Michael slowly got to his feet, feeling his blood begin to circulate faster with his
movements. At first dizziness overtook him, but it quickly passed along with his
confidence.
He slowly looked around him, seeing trees larger than any he had ever witnessed in
his nineteen years of existence. Still, there was a feeling of something familiar about his
surroundings. Something elusive, like something he had seen before, but couldn’t quite
place. His eyes slowly moved along the perimeter of the little clearing in which he stood,
and, not seeing any danger in walking, began to slowly make his way into the forest. He
had no idea where he was going, but at least he was going somewhere, he told himself.
Michael hadn’t gotten very far when he saw his first glimpses of wildlife around him.
Something resembling a rabbit with a squirrel tail raced along the tree line above
his head as it jumped from tree to tree. The way that it moved made Michael think that it
was possibly running from something. That’s how squirrels always acted whenever my
dog chased after them, he thought amusingly. Then Michael faintly heard something
coming up from behind him and he quickly turned around to see what it was. He was
suddenly toppled over by what looked at the time to be a brown blur. He quickly got up
to his knees to see what it was that had knocked him over. What he saw made him think
that he was going blind, because all he saw was still a brown blur. Fur and a long lizard-
like tail were all that he could make out as the creature chased down the rabbit/squirrel in
the trees. From his very short observation, the creature looked to be about the size of a
buffed-up Rotweiler.
Michael watched the whole chase pursue until it was out of sight. He slowly got back
to his feet, brushing the dirt off his blue jeans and green flannel shirt. “What the hell’s
goin’ on here?” His eyes glanced in all directions as if to find an answer to his question.
His only response came in the form of a white horse with a single golden horn on its
forehead. It was still pretty far off to see, but Michael knew instantly what it was, or at
least what he thought it was. He stared with his eyes shakily fixed on what he thought
was an apparition.
“No way!” He said it more as a whisper than out loud. He couldn’t believe his eyes.
First the tornado-thing and now this! What the hell was going on? Michael tried to
breathe normally but it came up as heavy and uncontrolled. What the hell was this place?
First it was huge fur ball creatures, rabbit/squirrels, and now unicorns? What would be
next, sorcerers and enchanted swords? And what about Allen? What had happened to
him? He had seen him, or who he thought was him, being sucked into the same tornado-
thing as Michael. But something had happened to Allen. Somehow he had changed into
a girl, a beautiful girl, at that. Michael couldn’t shake off the image of the silver hair
that Allen had grown when the change occurred. It was one of the first things that
got Michael’s attention. Then there were the ears. There hadn’t been much time in between
the time of the change and the whole tornado-thing, not to mention the horde of weirdoes
that showed up just seconds before the tornado. But Michael definitely had a few
feelings show themselves when the change happened. One was of pure wonder; the other
was of a different nature.
When Allen had first changed, Michael had suddenly had the urge to kill him/her.
Why had he only had that feeling then? And why did he somehow recognize the girl that
Allen had changed into? He and Allen had been friends for so many years, why then get
the sudden urge to kill him? True, sometimes he was an arrogant ass, but he was sincere
in his approaches most of the time. There wasn’t anything that he could think of that
would make Michael want to kill him. For the sixth time he asked himself, what the
hell’s going on?
He returned his attention back to the unicorn and continued to watch as it made its
way slowly toward him, though Michael thought that the creature still hadn’t seen him.
Michael had been standing behind a tree, so the unicorn couldn’t possibly see him. But
the next time Michael looked around the tree to see it, the unicorn had stopped and was
sniffing the air. Michael quickly licked his finger and stuck it in the air. Yes, the
unicorn had picked up his scent. Oh well, Michael thought, he already knows I’m here,
so why make it futile?
Michael silently stepped away from the tree and slowly walked out into the open.
The unicorn saw him immediately, rising up in anger at the intrusion. Michael slowly
walked toward the unicorn. “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you.” He talked in a soothing voice,
hoping that it would calm down the beautiful creature. But still the unicorn kept on with
his tantrum, rising up on his back legs and screaming his fury at Michael. Then the
unicorn began to charge him.
“Uh oh.” Michael quickly turned and started to run back to where he had been
hiding, noticing that the unicorn was catching up to him rather quickly. Michael dodged
between trees, trying to get a little distance between him and the rampaging unicorn.
“What did I do!?” Michael began to scream at the unicorn as it slowly drew closer to
him. He began to tire and was breathing hard from his running. “Man, I should have
worked out more.” Michael began to slow considerably and the unicorn was catching up
with him. It was now only twenty yards back and gaining. “Okay! I’m sorry! Next time
I won’t come on your territory, okay!? Besides that, you’re supposed to be a gentle
creature, right?”
Michael was just on the verge of panic when he suddenly jumped out of the way as
the unicorn passed him, missing impaling him by mere inches. Michael nervously
watched the unicorn look around for a minute when it finally gave up and returned to its
grazing field. Michael breathed a sigh of relief, but then realized where he was. He was
in a tree about thirty feet in the air. “Oh shit.”

*****************************************************

Michael woke up a bit stiffly after a few hours of being in the tree. It was still bright
out. There wasn’t any sign to even hint that the sun was ever going to go down, but why?
Michael couldn’t fight it anymore. He had to say it again. “What the hell’s goin’ on?”
Then there was the question of how he got up in the tree that far in the first place. But he
decided that he should better get down. He slowly made his way down to the trunk of the
tree, glancing about for any other unicorns that might feel like chasing after him a bit
more. Once satisfied, he began walking.
The forest loomed around Michael as he walked. Dense shrubbery and huge trees
that seemed to stretch all the way up to the heavens were all that he saw. It was deftly
quiet in the forest now, not even the sound of a cricket. Michael looked around
desperately for any sign of life around him but found nothing. Something was definitely
wrong with this picture, “But what?” was the question.
Michael walked for much of the day before he finally came upon a stream winding its
way through the forest. Michael looked about, spying out any other possible threats.
After the earlier episode, I’m not taking any chances, he told himself incessantly, even if
there’re no animals around. Having walked much of the day, he was just a bit thirsty, to
say the least. As he bent down to drink, he heard a rustling in the bushes about twenty
feet to his right. Michael kept his vision forward at the stream and watched out of the
corner of his eye. Only as the small form appeared did he stand to face whatever it was.
It was a small Siamese cat. It looked at Michael and then at the stream, licking its
lips at it did. It slowly took a few steps forward, stopping at one point to clean itself.
Michael silently regarded the cat, wondering if it was dangerous or not. After the whole
unicorn incident, there probably weren’t that many normal animals in this forest. The cat
once again looked at Michael once its grooming was done and slowly walked toward the
stream. Once it reached the bank, it began to drink.
“You must be pretty thirsty, huh?” Michael watched as the cat slowly looked up
from the stream. “You bet your buns, I am.” Michael stood frozen. Did that cat just
talk? He thought he had just heard the cat talk. But that was impossible! Cats don’t
talk! Michael studied the feline at it finished its drink and began to walk toward him. “I
can tell you’re shocked.” The cat let a small snicker escape his lips. “You must have
never seen a talking cat before. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Seirick, or
Smokey, depending on who you ask and why.”
Michael didn’t know what to say. He tried unsuccessfully to think of something to
say, but all that came out was, “hi.” The cat named Seirick began to curiously look at
Michael in an up-and-down sequence, letting other small snickers come out. “Might I
ask something?” Michael slowly nodded, dumbfounded as to give a reasonable response.
The cat continued to give Michael his entertaining glances when he spoke. “Where on
the surface of Gelpha did you get those rags?”
Michael took a glance at his clothing. Blue jeans, his dad’s old military boots, and
his green flannel shirt hung loosely off of him. “What’s wrong with these clothes?”
Michael barely managed to get the words out. “Besides that, where am I?” Seirick
looked at Michael for a second and, after cleaning himself once again, decided to answer.
“What, did you hit your head or are you just plain stupid?” The cat tapped himself on his
head with one of his paws to aid in his query.
Michael was, to say the least, slightly angered at the quick accusation. He came back
with a remark just as quick. “You want to know something! I have no idea where I am!
I have no idea why I’m here or even how I got here! The last thing I remember is
walking in a forest that was absent of any life forms that are anything remotely like
unicorns or rabbit/squirrel creatures or giant fur balls or even talking cats! Now why
don’t you just give me a freakin’ break, because I was nearly impaled by a unicorn earlier
today and I’m not too happy about my situation, okay?”
Seirick quietly watched Michael cool down from his unexpected outburst. Once
satisfied that he was cooled down enough, he stood back up on his four small legs.
“What’s your name, kid?” Michael’s eyes slowly moved from the ground to Seirick,
giving the cat the creeps as he did so. “My name…” He paused as he caught his breath.
“Is Michael.” Despite the fact that Michael had cooled down, his teeth were still
clenched tightly.
The small cat accepted the acknowledgement with a nod of his head and began to
walk past Michael, careful not to look into his eyes because he knew what he would find
there. “Follow me.” Michael stood frozen as Seirick confidently walked past him, not
even bothering to look up at him as he did. What was this cat up to? Michael didn’t
want to trust this cat, but what other choices were left to him? Michael slowly at first
began to fall in step behind the cat as he wound his way through the forest, following the
stream until it emptied into a river.
The river was called the Crystal River. Seirick informed Michael that the river
sprouted from the Keiroshian Mountains and wound its way south before dumping into
Crystal Lake. Because of the snow the water originated from, the cold waters sparkled in
the sunlight, making the waters look like glass rather that water. Michael silently stared
at the waters as they sped their way across the rocks and sand in the bed. Michael
suddenly began to relax looking at the churning waters, his anger subsiding altogether.
Something about the way the waters rolled down their path made Michael feel better.
But it seemed Seirick had had enough of it. “Enough gawking, let’s go.”
Seirick began to lead Michael down the river, always keeping the river to their right,
They stopped every once in a while for a quick rest, knowing perfectly well that Michael
was getting tired, even though he would never admit to it. “Where are we going
anyway?” Michael had held his curiosity for most of the day and was getting tired from
all of the walking. He liked to walk a lot, but this was getting slightly ridiculous.
Michael watched Seirick up ahead of him, his cat’s form gliding smoothly through the
thick forest. He waited patiently for Seirick to answer, knowing that the cat was
probably getting tired of his stupid questions. “We’re going to a village close to the edge
of Crystal Lake, where the river comes into it. It’s not far now.”
Michael was glad to hear that. He remained quiet for the rest of the journey,
surveying the scenery around them as they continued to follow along the Crystal River.
There were trees that seemed to stretch on for days, shading all of the ground beneath
them with their reach. Michael thought he caught sight of some movement out of the
corner of his eye at one time but turned to see nothing there. They stopped at a small
pool of water at the edge of the river later on and they drank for a minute. As Michael
bent down to drink, he stopped. “What the hell?” He stared at his reflection for a second
more before accepting it. His bright red hair was streaked with black stripes, as if he’d
inherited them from a tiger. At first he thought that he was seeing things, that his eyes
were playing tricks on him. Then he actually noticed his eyes. They weren’t blue like
they had been before his arrival. They were yellow. When he asked Seirick about the
changes he simply shrugged his small cat shoulders and said, “I thought you knew.”
Michael also noticed that his eyesight was getting better too. “Well, at least I don’t have
to worry about my glasses.” Michael grumbled to himself, remembering the pointless
spectacles.
They slowly continued on their trek, Michael becoming more conscious of himself as
they went along, tiger-striped hair, yellow eyes, and whatever else that decided to stick
out as this trip wore on. And it did wear on for a while, in any case, although at times
Michael glanced about and saw many beautiful sights. Little springs attached to small
waterfalls sprang up all over the river at different points. The ferns that grew along the
edge of the river reminded Michael of a spot in the woods behind his former home on
earth. Michael missed it even more now, even though he was away from the pains of its
turmoil. At one point Seirick began to move away from the river and into the trees.
Michael gave him a questioning look as he turned back to look at him standing by the
river. “We go inland a ways from here.” Michael quickly began to follow after the
confident feline and soon after found himself entering a large meadow.
The meadow stretched on forever, it seemed. There were hills all over the meadow,
making it seem to be an endless ocean with the wind blowing the grass in waves. At the
top of one of the hills stood a village. It was quite large to be a village, but it overlooked
all of the land about them. It was at the center of the meadow, Seirick said to him
after a moment of awe. It provided an excellent advantage being able to see in every
direction around you for so far. That was one of the reasons that the village was built
here, Seirick explained as they drew steadily closer to it. It was also quite a sight to
behold all of the surrounding lands from the village walls. Which made it a perfect trade
post.
As the two steadily drew closer to the village, Michael suddenly was struck by a
strange thought. “Uh, Seirick, why are we going to this village in the first place?” The
cat simply looked up at him from his point at Michael’s right side. “Well, we’ve got to
do something about those clothes sometime, right?” Michael let a sigh escape his lips
and just kept on walking, Seirick pointing the direction toward the front gates.
The village was larger than it appeared to be when Michael and Seirick walked
through the front gates and into the village itself. The shops that sprang into view were
like little wooden shacks. Michael stared at the people as they stared right back at him,
some running to the safety of their homes. “I knew that I was new here, but this is a bit
over the edge.” Michael noticed that when the people first spotted him, their eyes
seemed to grow wide at the sight of his own golden eyes. Michael glanced down at
Seirick to see what his reaction to the welcome was, but the cat was only looking straight
forward, not even seeming to take notice of the people around them. Michael finding it a
bit more difficult to ignore the surrounding citizens began patting around at his pockets
until finally stopping at one particular and smiling. Seirick looked up in open curiosity as
only a cat could and watched as Michael produced a set of oddly shaped spectacles in
which both lenses were mirrored. Michael gave a triumphant nod and slipped the glasses
over his eyes. “Man I had almost forgot these babies” Michael gloated. “Name brand
Oakleys.” Michael chuckled at his cleverness.
“Wonderful.” Seirick mocked. “You’ve gone from looking viscous to looking like a
patsy. Splendid!” Michael frowned at the insult.
“Well, I didn’t see you coming up with anything better.” Michael, defeated now,
continued to walk down the dusty street, his sunglasses glinting the sunlight and
attracting more attention than his yellowed eyes. At least they’re not running this time,
he thought to himself, smirking at his idea to put the shades on. Normally he would have
just left them in his truck, but he had kept them with him this time around, and thank
God that he did.
“Hey, Seirick, are you going to tell me where we’re going yet, or do I have to make a
stupid guess?”
“How ‘bout making a stupid guess!” Seirick mocked.
“Fine, I’d say we’re going to…..” Michael paused in thought. “Uh, the
bathroom?” Seirick looked up at Michael with a somewhat irritated expression marking
his face. Very cat like, Michael thought. “Well you wanted a stupid guess right?” Seirick
simply sighed.
Michael noticed that they were passing every shop that they came up to. He had
remembered that Seirick said that they were going to get him some clothes, but Michael
had yet to see the tireless cat slow. “At this point, all of your guesses would be quite
ridiculous, but to answer your question…” The cats’ eyes began to look up at a shop in
front of them. Michael’s eyes followed the cats’ until they landed on the front of the
building where the sign was supposed to be. There was nothing there.
I thought there was supposed to be a sign on the front?” Michael looked down at
Seirick as the feline began to climb up the front steps of the shop, snickering hysterically
under his breath, trying not to make it audible but failing considerably. Michael gritted
his teeth in frustration and followed after. When they first walked into the shop, Seirick
immediately spotted a pair of dragonskin boots. Then all of a sudden it was all that he
could talk about. “I used to have a pair. By Gelpha, do I miss those boots. They were
the most comfortable boots that you could have worn. They even protected your legs
from scratches and such.” He glanced at the ground and took a deep breath. “Do I miss
those things.” Michael laughed. >>>>>>>>>New paragraph “How in the world can a cat
have boots to begin with?” Michael rolled his eyes at the boots. “I mean, come on,
you’re a cat. Cats don’t wear clothing!”
After the first squabble was over, they began their selections. Throughout all of the
selections and squabbles that Seirick and Michael went through with the clothing,
Michael had finally walked out with what Seirick called a kind of “hunters’ garb.” With
the exception of Michael’s army boots that he had been wearing before, his new apparel
was quite “cool” as he put it. What seemed to really strike Michael’s fancy was the
traveling cloak that he had begged Seirick to get him. Once Michael had the cloak in his
possession and on his being, he said that it reminded him of a Jedi’s cloak. Seirick of
course had no idea what Michael was rambling about but he paid the merchant, rolling
his eyes all the while, and they left.
“Wait a second.” Michael stopped them after they walked out of the shop. “How did
you pay for all of this? I mean, how can you even have money on you?” The cat simply
looked up at him. “He owed me.” Michael was still pondering the statement as Seirick
walked on, laughing under his breath. When Michael finally caught up to him, Seirick
was quietly waiting outside of a weapons shop. Michael instantly knew what it was by
the long sword hanging in the window, along with the daggers lined in a row on a table
beside it. “Oh yeah!” Michael said it with a slight edge to his voice that almost sounded
mischievous to Seirick.
Michael began to lead the way into the shop with Seirick in tow, rolling his eyes all
of the way. After a crude display of short-sightedness on Michael’s part, the pair finally
emerged from the shop with a short sword, which Michael attached to the belt at his
waist, and a dagger that he also tucked in his belt. Once they were clear of the shop,
Michael pulled out the sword and began to examine it like it was a piece of gold until
Seirick had had enough. “Would you please just put the sword back in its scabbard and
come with me!”
Michael reluctantly resheathed the sword and followed after the retreating cat.
“Where are we going to go now Seirick?” Michael quickly caught up to him and they
walked to the city gates. From there they took to the stone steps to the top of the outer
walls of the village. “Did you know that this stone wall goes all the way around the
village?” Michael, however, wasn’t paying attention to him. Once they topped the wall,
Michael instantly walked to the edge and peered over, scanning the lands ahead of them.
Michael’s eyes followed the mouth of the river as it emptied into the lake all the way
down the lakes’ shoreline. There were small patches of forest to the far east of them that
came right up to the shoreline. All of the rest was part of the huge meadow, or plains, as
Seirick put it. “The Nahtanoj plains, to be exact.” The plains stretched for miles,
Seirick explained as they both scanned the distance. At the far edge of the lake, which was
quite large anyhow, the plains began and went on into the horizon. “And that is where we’re
going.” Michael was still looking out into the hot day when Seirick finally broke him of
his little trance. “Well, let’s go.”
The duo walked out of the opposite side of the village they had entered and began to
walk toward the lake. “We’ll camp at the edge of the lake and get a little rest.” Seirick
stopped a second to scratch at his neck. “Fleas?” Michael casually glanced down at the
cat as he walked by. He continued to walk on ahead until Seirick yelled at him. “Okay,
let’s get one thing straight. You have no idea where you’re going, am I right?” Michael
slightly nodded. “That would be what I have been saying the whole time, wouldn’t it?”
The cat grumbled something inaudible to himself and looked back up at Michael. “Okay,
if you have no idea where you’re going, then why are you leading? “ Michael scratched
his head and looked back down at the cat. “That’s a good question.”


At the edge of the forest, close to where Michael and Seirick had first come, a figure
stood watching the village. A short black cloak could be seen, but beyond that, nothing
else, with the exception of a pair of hazel eyes, eyes that were intent to find the one they
sought. And those eyes saw the village. Yes, he is there. The trail clearly marked where
the dragon had come. The scent was what really led the figure on, the stench of a dragon.
But what was confusing was the trail that the dragon left. There were such strange
markings where the feet touched the ground. The figure sighed sharply in the cool breeze
that swept by, letting a small lock of blonde hair escape the cloak. The dragon was in the
village, that much was certain. But why would he come out of the forest and into the
village to come face to face with the ones that hated his own kind to begin with? The
figure shifted slightly under the short black cloak, waiting for the breeze to calm.
The figure stood silently for a time, letting the thoughts weigh themselves out. The
questions were numerous, but would be answered soon. And then the dragon would die.
The job would be done. The figure smiled beneath the cloak, admiring the thought of
killing the famed dragon, Bruin. After so long, the dragon had reappeared, not even
aware of the dangers of coming home. But he would soon find out, the figure mused. He
would soon find out. The dragonslayer shifted in the cloak once more and began to move
out into the meadow toward the village.