Encounter -- Part I

I abruptly awoke to a nauseating sulfurous smell and an uncomfortable heat. My clothes were damp with sweat, adding to the ominous unease I felt. Having no recollection of how I arrived to this strange and frightening place, I slowly looked around, trying to find something recognizable I could use to get my bearings. I could hear the slow bubbling and popping of the fire-red liquid in the surrounding pools. The night sky blanketed the scene; moonlight from the twin globes reflected off the pools, turning the rock-strewn landscape into a blood-red nightmare. I took off my outer shirt and tied it around my face, covering my mouth and nose in a futile attempt to ward off the smell of the place.

Nervously scanning my surroundings, which glowed with pulsating intensity, I desperately tried to remember how I had arrived at this godforsaken place. An unnatural silence lay heavily around me, broken only by the lazy popping and the thunderous beating of my frantic heart. The blood-tinted rocks warded the area, their jagged edges informing me that I was not welcome here.

As quietly and as carefully as possible, I made my way through the hazardous landscape, skirting around the deadly lava, scrambling over the misshapen rocks, nervously watching for any signs of danger. Who knew what kind of nightmares could inhabit this hell?

I didn't have to wait long for an answer. A black shape blocked out the stars and the twin moons, casting its shadow over my surroundings. Every muscle in my body instantly froze as I fervently prayed this thing wouldn't notice me. My heart's nervous pounding deafened my ears, creating a deadly fear that this creature would hear its beats. The creature didn't notice me and passed overhead. I waited several horrifying minutes, watching for any sign of its return. Finally, I let my body relax and continued my aimless journey.

Ahead of me stretched a hundred yards of a flattened rocky surface, broken by haphazard lava pools and lonely rocks. I felt exposed as I ventured into this area, but I had no where else to go. I was trying hard to keep from thinking of the nameless nightmares I imagined around me?so hard, in fact, that I didn't see the shadow return.

The creature flew inches above my head and landed in front of me with a ground-shaking thump. Its black body blended with the night, letting my imagination struggle with the possibilities of its size. The monster's spiked tail snaked across the ground as the creature turned around to face me.

My heart skipped as I realized that I was face to face with a dragon.

Time stood still as I awaited its attack that would end my life. The monstrous silver-eyes stared into me, piercing my soul, discovering everything about me. Its mouth contorted into what might have been interpreted as a smile by someone who wasn't staring death directly in the face.

Tiny tendrils of smoke escaped from between its blood-stained teeth. Nauseating smells of sulfur and half-digested animals threatened to turn my stomach. Fire-hot air singed my face as it spoke.

"Usually, my meals don't come to me. I've already hunted my dinner for the night." The dragon's rough voice reverberated through the wasteland, gaining menace as it echoed off the surrounding rocks. In a seeming afterthought, he added, "But you might make a nice desert."


----story copyrighted 2007 Bryan Spellman


Unknown "Keyser" Playful - 16 years, 11 months, 7 days ago

Encounter - Part II


The dragon examined my unmoving body, clearly reveling in my fear. Amusement crossed his face as he commented, "You aren't from this world, are you? Where are you from, human?"

I responded with silence.

"Tell me, before I grow tired of you and feast, where are you from?" The dragon breathed with irritated disgust.

I tried to respond, but fear continued to seize my body, rendering my mouth useless.

"Speak! Or your life ends now!" bellowed the dragon.

I summoned all the resolve I had to respond to the horrifying beast. "Wh--where am I?" I stammered.

"In my world." The dragon simply replied.

"And you are..."

"A dragon, yes. The last of my kind. The only dragon in existence for the past five hundred years."

"...a dragon." I finished, my fear slowly fading into curiosity. It hadn't eaten me yet; maybe it would let me live.

"Do you know much about dragons?" The mythical beast eyed me with suspicion.

"I know only what I've read about them. The accounts vary, of course. The descriptions are all different. But somehow, you aren't really anything like what I've read."

"Read about me, have you?" The dragon became less threatening, more conversational. "In books by Terry Brooks, Tolkein, Terry Goodkind...I presume. Yes, I am the dragon in all of those books. I can't say they always paint the best picture of me, but what can I expect from a human mind? Hmm."

"But how can you be all of those? They are all, well, different."

The black beast slowly settled onto his hind legs, looking like a wickedly-scaled Sphinx. His massive tail flapped behind him, and settled into a lava pool, splashing droplets of pain onto my skin. He eyed my frail form for a timeless moment and suddenly adopted a look of boredom.

"I grow tired of this conversation, but will sate some of your curiosity. The authors that you've read first encountered me in what you might call a dream. My first thoughts, of course, were to roast them and eat, but, as is sometimes my manner, I felt like talking them first. Much like I am talking to you." His silvery eyes looked at me with meaning. "It was the authors' love for fantasy that kept each of them alive. I am the last dragon, and, sadly, was flattered at the idea of being immortalized in books. Each of them wrote about me differently, with varying names, descriptions, and temperaments. Each wrote about me in the form in which I presented myself to them. I can travel through worlds; my magic is greater than anything you can comprehend. Do you think I am trifled with physical forms?"

----story copyrighted 2007 Bryan Spellman


Unknown "Keyser" Playful - 16 years, 11 months, 7 days ago

Encounter - Part III

"I grow tired of this conversation, but will sate some of your curiosity. The authors that you've read first encountered me in what you might call a dream. My first thoughts, of course, were to roast them and eat, but, as is sometimes my manner, I felt like talking them first. Much like I am talking to you." His silvery eyes looked at me with meaning. "It was the authors' love for fantasy that kept each of them alive. I am the last dragon, and, sadly, was flattered at the idea of being immortalized in books. Each of them wrote about me differently, with varying names, descriptions, and temperaments. Each wrote about me in the form in which I presented myself to them. I can travel through worlds; my magic is greater than anything you can comprehend. Do you think I am trifled with physical forms?"

As if emphasizing his point, the great beast gradually changed from black to blue to orange to pink, grew a three foot long silver horn above his snout, and split his tail into three. In a swirl of dizzying motion, everything settled back to his original form.

"Now tell me, human, what can you offer to save your life?"

The silver eyes glared at me; a wicked gleam flashed over them. The nightmarish beast launched himself at me. I crouched in a futile effort to protect myself, releasing a roaring scream.

Realizing I was still alive, I opened my eyes and stared in the face of the dragon, inches away from the black scale-covered snout. I almost vomited from the smell of its breath, saved only by my fear-frozen muscles. A dull red gleam filled its nostrils, cast by some inner furnace. Sulfur smoke circled around the giant head.

"Human, what can you offer to save your life?" It whispered with a sound that reminded me all too much of meat roasting on a spit.

I was too frightened to say a word; he had obviously lost patience with me. The night-black dragon opened his mouth and ignited the furnace deep within his body.

Time slowed to a snail's pace. I felt, rather than saw, the fire ignite inside the beast. Its red-glow reflected off the monster's throat. The fire licked its way up the beast, channeling towards me, my skin already burning with its heat. Out of the corner of my eye I saw an orange misty glow detach from the shadows and sweep towards me. An instant before the dragonfire ripped through my body, the glow covered me, and everything went black.

***


----story copyrighted 2007 Bryan Spellman


Unknown "Keyser" Playful - 16 years, 11 months, 7 days ago

Encounter - Part IV


Was I dead? I found myself in a cool, damp, misty space. An indescribable feeling of magic and power permeated the air around me, as I frantically tried to understand what was happening. Disembodied voices and wraith-like faces surrounded me, invading my mind, sending images of what could be. I saw everything that I ever wanted flash before my eyes, and I realized that I could have it all. I saw myself as a successful writer, sitting in my study typing away at the computer. My beautiful wife was fixing dinner, while our two kids played in the back yard. Life was perfect. I became lost in such possibilities, having no desire to think of anything else.

To this day, I don't know what saved me. A violent thought shook me from the mist-induced dream. Memories of the dragon invaded my mind, replaying our conversation. I vividly recalled seeing the fire ignite inside it, and braced myself as the dragonfire came to devour me. I remembered the misty orange glow that had saved me. Flashes from my life came storming into my confused mind. The stories and images from all the books I had read emerged from the caverns of my mind. The details and descriptions from these writings impressed heavily upon me.

By fate's whim, I had been saved from an untimely death. Like the other authors the dragon had mentioned, I had encountered the beast in a dream. I now found myself in a place between time and space, neither part of the waking world nor of the dream world. I could have been lost forever to my imaginings of what could be, but my mind refused to accept that particular fate. Knowing the danger of losing myself forever to the dream, I doggedly resolved to break free. As my determination strengthened, the wraith-life faces evaporated from my view. Their voices and magic faded as the truth settled onto my mind. Suddenly, the mist drew back, leaving me standing on a dirt road.

I did the only thing I could think to do: I started walking down the path. It seemed a never-ending journey, but I refused to give up. Steps became miles. Minutes turned to hours. I walked onward, but nothing changed. I began to lose hope, but my legs refused to give up. I could see something in the distance--a small pinprick of green and silver. Hours passed as I journeyed to this new discovery.

The metal pole stood as a lone landmark. Hundreds of green signs clustered on it, looking for all the world like a street sign back home. By a device unknown to me, the individual signs, despite overlapping and crowding each other, didn't obstruct my view of their companions. I could see what was written on each one of the signs. The road beyond the signpost split into four directions, with each of those splitting into 4 more paths, and each of those splitting into more, onwards to infinity. The solitary pole stood at their nexus, with hundreds of green street signs pointing to each of the various paths. The reflective white letters spelled out the names of different lands, authors, and stories. To the right lay the worlds of science-fiction. I could follow those paths and meet Ender Wiggin or step into the War of the Worlds. To the left lay the worlds of horror, populated mostly by the imagination of Stephen King. Other paths lead to Narnia, to the desert of the Aiel, to Hogwarts, to Middle Earth? The choices were endless.

I stood at a juncture of fate. This place connected all the worlds of fantasy and reality, of imagination and science. I could journey to any place I wanted. Mustering all the resolve I could find, I took the most daring path there was. I took the path home.



----story copyrighted 2007 Bryan Spellman
Unknown "Keyser" Playful - 16 years, 11 months, 7 days ago