Dragons
âIf youâre in control, why are your legs shaking so hard?â Doubt taunted.
CHOICES is the first book in the Chronicles of a Hero fantasy series. This is the story of Wendell P. Dipmier, who Iâve been writing about since 1990. I hope youâll join me on this new adventureâŚ.as I tell the honest, complete story of this amazing 17 year old, exclusively on Life of Fiction.
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Chapter 4
âDragon?â I squeaked out.Â
âYes,â Delnar said⌠too calm for my taste. âShe protects your inheritance. To receive it, you must meet her first.â
âMeet. A dragon?â I said.
He nodded. âExactly.âÂ
Meeting a bone fide dragon face to face would have been the coolest moment in my life,âŚif it wasnât for the bone fide dragon face to face. My brain hit a wall at this point. Reason, saturated with outright paranoia, didnât altogether care if this was a dream. Dragons were usually hype-intelligent entities with too many sharp teeth. I donât know any teenagers who aspire to be a chew toy.
âHas sheâŚeaten recently?â I whispered. Many of my childrenâs books growing up were about the fiery serpents. Wingspans the breadth of a house, I dreamed of flying through a cloud-packed sky on the back of the giant creatures. Iâd wave a sword overhead as we dove towards the encampment of enemies, the dragon moving in perfect harmony to my will. Movies often portrayed dragons in a darker light, snatching and eating everyone but the hero, who eventually dispatched them.
The High Elder hesitated. âThe thought hadnât crossed my mind as important.â
My back pushed against the bars of the gate. âBut you brought me down here!â I slapped a hand over my mouth.
âToo loud, Wendell. Way too loud,â grumbled Doubt.
âOpen the gate,â I hissed softer. âCome on, Delnar.â
âThat, I cannot do,â he replied. âI sent our messenger to retrieve you, yes, but mistakes can be made. You may not be who you claim to be. There are powerful magics at work. Evil can disguise itself. Minds can sway, distract, and beguile. She cannot be deceived. She can smell evil. If you have ill intent or origin, the guardian will know.â His expression softened in the pale blue light. âBest hand the staff to me, young Wendell.â
I hugged the shaft of glowing wood to my chest. âThatâs âlordâ Wendell to you, blueberry,â I snarled. âMy only ill intent right now is to whack you with this staff. What happened to being my friend? You acted all kind and mentor-ish, just to get me down here and feed me to some lizard?â
Then it hit me. All this talk about treasure, his reverence in tone, was nothing more than a ruse to use me as bait! The High Elder had tricked me into entering this lair. What would keep him from slipping past this guardian while my bones were being chomped on? Iâm just a distraction so he can make off with the inheritance. Scumbag!
The ground rumbled. Vibrations traveled from the soles of my feet to my knees. My breathing quickened, and I widened my stance, ready to swing the staff like a bat if I had to. A tremendous thud followed, the shockwave throwing me against the tunnel wall.Â
âI told you something bad was going to happen,â Doubt grumbled. âBut did you listen? NoooOOOOooooo.â
Shut up.
The breathing resumed loud and strong, but it had changed. Cocking my head to the side, I pointed an ear towards the sound. It was rougher now, the breathing. Sounded more likeâŚsnoring. The sound you make when youâve slipped into a deep slumber. I grinned.
Thas was good for me.
I looked back at the gate, holding the staff above my head. The High Elder stood calmly, gripping the bars and staring at me. With each rumble of the snoring, his attention shifted from me to looking somewhere over my shoulder. He was looking into the mist and darkness.
Huh. Watching him react that way made me pause.Â
It feltâŚfamiliar. Sly, calculating, and sarcastic. The High Elder sounded exactly like someone my imagination would invent, but still no face I could place to him. His character traits were familiar to many dreams. Why should this be any different? I smiled to myself.
âBecause this is a lucid experience,â Doubt pointed out.
I get that Iâm asleep and dreaming, which meant I had control over my mind.Â
ââŚand that meansâŚ?â Doubt prodded me.
It means itâs time I took that control back.
âNow youâre getting it,â Doubt grinned.
âFine,â I said, relaxing my stance and planting the staff with a âclunkâ onto the floor next to me. Delnar snapped upright, obviously surprised. I shot him my best Cheshire Cat grin.âThe dragon needs to inspect me? Then letâs get this inspection over with.â With that, I walked straight into the darkness of the dragonâs lair.
Obviously, that was my first mistake.
Storming off in pride wasnât a calculated choice â I just wanted to look bold and brave to the High Elder â be confident in myself. Delnar might have been impressed, but the light from the staff was paltry at best. The soft glow barely illuminated three feet in front of me, and Iâd just marched out into the blackness with ZERO frame of reference. Like a kid spun about with a blindfold, when I looked around, there was no piĂąata. No tree. No sibling or adult tugging on the rope. Just darkness. With each step, my confidence waned.Â
I should have played the timid mouse. That way, I could have kept to the walls and felt my way around the lair. Simple steps. Safe steps.
âBut no, you had to strut out into the darkness to prove youâre brave. All you proved, Wendell, was your stupidity,â said Doubt. He wasnât wrong, either.
Now, I felt completely surrounded by nothingness.
I turned to go back and took a few steps, but there was nothing to see.
A few more steps didnât help. The tunnel had vanished from view and I refused to give that old man the satisfaction of calling out.
âBugger.â I whispered to myself. Not exactly my brightest decision so far.Â
âDidnât I just sayâŚâ
Shut UP! Youâre not helping.
ââŚâŚâ
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