A Dragon

The new hall I found myself wandering down very quickly seemed to narrow. I had to turn to my side to shimmy through, and the builders did not bother setting torches up along the walls of the tighter space, so I was engulfed in darkness.

As I slid through the dark, I couldn’t help but wonder if I should have tried to head back.

If I’d been separated from Orrin by moving walls, perhaps something else would have left a new hall for me to travel down.

Nevertheless, I had already shimmied down the narrow space for a while, and I was now determined to get out.

As if to answer my determination, I finally caught a glimpse of some light. My speed increased as much as possible.

I finally pushed out of the narrow space into a large cavern. Torches lined the walls to dimly light the cave, though I had been in darkness for so long that it appeared much brighter than it was for a brief moment.

I looked around the ample space. In the center, a pedestal was built on top of a flat platform. Four steps on all sides gave access to the spot. Along the back wall, a large waterfall seemed to pour out of a crack in the ceiling and descended down a large hole. Moving closer to the spot showed what looked like an endless abyss that the water fell into. Uncharacteristically, the water was grey like everything else in the cavern, save from the warm glow of the torches. It must have been real water and not the substance that led to many worlds, but the hole was so large that I could not reach out to the water and touch it to be sure.

I saw no exit, and my head hung. The narrow pass was the only way back, and I might have made my way to it again if I hadn’t seen a large shadow in the waterfall.

I could tell it was enormous since it seemed big, even though I saw it just appearing out of the darkness below.

Very quickly, it grew even larger in scale as it made it’s way up to where I stood. I didn’t have to wait any longer before I knew I ought to run. I turned and headed to the opening in the cavern wall that I had come from. A large splash echoed from behind me, and I heard a crash as whatever that thing was emerged. I didn’t reach the opening before a long tail crashed in front of me.

It was reptilian in nature and had a mild blue tint. Some frills grew out of it, and I traced them around the dim cavern to the waterfall.

The head of the beast was like a dragon, with sharp teeth and eyes that appeared frightening as they stared down at me. Its frills went to the head, and something like fins jutted out the side. I suppose it was some kind of aquatic serpent, at least that seemed to be the easiest way to describe it.

Under its head, a little way around its neck, two scars lined its belly; what had been cut off, I could not tell.

The monster smiled at me with sharp fangs; the very act sent a shiver through my spine. Before I realized it, my now golden daggers were pressed firmly in my hands and pointed to the beast.

It looked down at me with slit pupils and laughed. The laughter shook me more than an attack could; it was grating and seemed to strike something at my core.

“So, there are humans still in this world. An interesting one at that!” the words sounded as if they had a sneer underlying them.

I scanned the room, the exit was blocked by the beast's long body, and I saw no cover where I could take refuge.

I turned to the beast and pointed my golden daggers at it as I took a defensive stance.

The creature chuckled.

“Take it easy, dear; if I wanted to hurt you, I would have by now,” it spoke. The voice still rang with insincerity, but I would have to take them at face value. I lowered my arms but did not loosen my grip.

“What are you?” I asked.

The beast laughed.

“I wish it were something I could do easily articulate to you.” My face must have shown that I was not amused, or maybe the creature was willing to share more. Either way, it continued: “I suppose you could call me a dragon of sorts. That doesn’t quite catch it, but I have a feeling it’s the best I can do.”

What was a dragon doing here? And what did it mean by it not being enough? I had a feeling I wasn’t going to get answers.

“What’s your name?” For now, it was best to keep the dragon speaking.

“hmm, I’ve been called many names over the years… I suppose, for now, you can just call me Azul.”

The giant serpentine dragon, Azul, shifted slightly as if to get more comfortable. It slid its body some and lowered its head to my height.

“What about your name, dear?”

I wasn’t sure I should tell the beast my name, but I suppose the answer was fair, given that I asked.

“Hana,” I replied. I must have been good at lying before I lost my memory; either that or the beast was incapable of picking it up.

“Hana, a beautiful name. If I ever had a daughter, I would like to name her that!” he chuckled. I could not get any kind of understanding of this dragon. “Tell me, how many worlds are there to this date?”

His question raised some in me, but I wasn’t sure the best way to ask them.

“I don’t know,” I replied. Perhaps Orrin or Pythagoras knew the count, but it was not something I would have been aware of, “are you implying the number changes?” I asked.

“Hmm, I suppose that is something a human might not know. Well then, there were about five when I found myself here. Would you say that number is higher now?”

“Yes, likely many more than five,” I answered with no attempt to hide the confusion in my tone.

“I see; I have been trapped in this little cave for a great many years. My brothers and sisters are bound similarly around this location.”

“In the temple?” I pressed. Whatever this creature was, it sure liked to talk. I could probably learn much from it; whether the information was useful would be another matter. Still, I could feel something, perhaps an old buried thought, in me that seemed to say, ‘information is vital for the mission’ I wasn’t sure what the mission was, however.

“Temple? I see… No, my family and I are an ancient kind… of dragon that once ran free throughout the worlds. We were a family of seven or so, you see, and we would frolic and play without a care. “

The serpent monster seemed to smile as it spoke. I think I triggered a happy memory.

“However, the humans, and some other races to be fair, grew jealous of us. I think they feared our power without paying attention to our good nature. They took it into their own hands to seal us away. I admit some of our siblings were misled and betrayed us.” The dragon beast sighed in a disappointed way.

“What happened?” I asked. I slid my daggers back into their sheathes to show I was not violent. My hands remained on the hilts all the same, but the gesture seemed to be enough to make the beast smile.

“Two of my brothers found themselves siding with the humans; I believe some form of magic may have been employed to control them. Nevertheless, four of us were ambushed in this place between worlds. The battle was something else, but you can see what happened in the end.”

The serpent's tail tapped the wall as if to highlight the prison.

“You said seven before but only mentioned 6?”

“One of our siblings was not ambushed; I don’t know what befell after. I suspect the temple you saw was built after by those that forgot what happened, generations going by can do that to a people.”

The story spun was sad, and the beast made sure its tone matched as it spoke. Still, I was trained to be suspicious of newcomers, at least I think I was, and remained cautious of what could happen next.

“Do you know what this world is?” I asked.

“I do, but not in a way that I could explain it to you.”

“Do you know what the monsters from the myst are?”

“Mist? Oh, you mean at the edge. I don’t recall any monsters from there, but perhaps the occasional crying from my siblings draws them in.”

The dragon appeared to know a lot but didn’t seem to know anything relevant to me or wasn’t willing to elaborate further. I wasn’t sure there was much else I could learn.

“Do you know how to get out of here?”

“For me, or for you, dear?” the words had a rumble that made me tighten the grip on my daggers.

“I guess both?” I replied. I had meant for me, but it was best to retain friendly relations for the time being.

“Well, I will be imprisoned until released. I suspect a large enough monster could break open a hole, but they take a while to grow that big. For you, I would think you simply need to open that box. “

I turned to where the dragon's eyes pointed. An ornate wooden box sat on the pedestal in the middle of the room. It retained a brown color and was decorated with golden trimmings, which showed brightly against the grey background.

It had not been there before.