THE SORCERER'S DRAGondisable=================

The large red dragon roared loudly shaking loose dirt and dust into the air as it pulled on the large steel chains holding it in place. The sorcerer standing before him let out a loud bout of maniacal laughter as he raised his intricately carved staff, which had various large stones embedded in it with a glowing ruby the size of a man’s fist, firmly fixed into the end of the staff. The dragon’s eyes watched the staff as the sorcerer raised it. The dragon tried harder to pull on the chains fastening its body to the ground. The chains clanked and groaned under the pressure from the muscles of the large sinuous body.

The sorcerer muttered archaic phrases while making radical gestures with his free hand. He moved the staff in a circular motion with the ruby pointed at the dragon. As the sorcerer chanted the ruby started to grow blindingly brighter and brighter, until the torch-lit room was as brightly lit as if the sun was shining down on a snowy wasteland.

The dragon let out a deafening roar which shook the walls of the room so much that holes appeared in the stone walls. He pulled backwards so hard that several of the chains snapped.

The sorcerer fumbled to the ground, covering his ears from the intensity of the roar. He dropped his staff in the process.

Having freed his head and one of his front legs, the dragon turned to face the sorcerer. Rage and hunger taking control of its mind. It reared back with all of its force again, while twisting; it snapped the rest of the chains holding it in place with a gut wrenching noise.

The sorcerer quickly fumbled to grab his staff, a look of complete terror crossing his features as he realized what was going to happen.

The dragon positioned himself in front of the man as he reared back his head, opened his massive jaws, and let loose a large blast of flame towards the sorcerer.

The sorcerer managed to grab his staff at the same instant as he dodged the blast of fire which ignited the stone floor and walls where it touched.

The dragon roared again, and bigger holes appeared in the stone walls. You could now see into the wide courtyard of the large castle overlooking the ocean.

Seeing a chance for escape from the beast, the sorcerer made a running dash through the door to the room and into the courtyard. The dragon roared loudly behind him. As the sorcerer made it to the center of the courtyard there was a deafening explosion. The dragon smashed through the wall of the building into the courtyard following after the sorcerer. The sorcerer raised his staff, muttered three archaic words, and the ruby lit up brightly as a beam of light shot out from it toward the dragon.

The dragon launched himself into the air, just barely missing contact with the beam of light. The light struck the side of a tower in the castle, blasting a huge hole in the side, raining the debris of stone and wood into the courtyard below. The dragon glided low over the ground towards the sorcerer. He opened his jaws and let loose a strafing jet of flame along the ground towards the sorcerer.

The sorcerer just barely made it out of the path of the flames, the smell of scorched silk, cotton and hair reaching his nostrils as he turned around to see where the dragon was. But the sorcerer was a second too late. Turning around he felt claws tear into the flesh of his side. The heat from the dragon’s body cauterizing the wounds as it grabbed the man and lifted him into the air. The sorcerer dropped his staff. The ruby hitting stone as it hit the ground, causing it to shatter in a mind numbing explosion of magical energy.
The explosion dazed the dragon who toppled to the ground. Releasing the sorcerer, who fell in a heap on the ground.

The two lay there unconscious for a few minutes.

The sorcerer was the first to regain movement. His body wracked with searing pain, and him fighting to stay conscious, the sorcerer managed to mutter an archaic phrase while motioning with his left hand. A swirling blue light appeared several feet in front of him, growing steadily bigger until he was looking through a portal to a snow covered village in a valley, with a castle in the distance.

He started to move as fast as he could to reach the portal, but he could barely walk, so he stumbled towards the magic doorway. No longer watching what the dragon was doing.

Just as he reached the portal and was about to step through, he felt searing heat all around him, and smelled burning flesh, hair, and fabric. He screamed, and in the same instant the dragon snapped him up in his mighty jaws and swallowed him in one bite.

AG Panther "Dark Elegance" Loyal - 16 years, 7 months ago

THE BOY
======

The warmth from the crackling red and orange flames from the fire, permeated through the childs tattered rags as he sat in front of the hearth. A harsh wind howled outside the shuttered window of the small stone room.
A light rapping on the wooden door startled the boy, and made him scurry over to the far side of the room to hide under the metal platform, chained to the wall and covered in hay, which served as his bed. He shivered with fear.
The door to the room then opened and a man with long oily black hair and beard entered dressed in a well-worn black wool cloak that had been patched various times with other now dark black patches of fabric. The man stank of stale whiskey and sweat.
In a loud booming voice as he slurred his words the man spoke, “Here is your dinner boy, you better eat or I’ll feed it to the dog. He hasn’t had much to eat either this past week.”
The man then set down a metal tray on the bed and walked out of the room. Slamming the door behind himself with a load cracking sound as if the wooden hinges were about to break.
A few moments later after the boy was sure the man had left, he slowly made his way out from under the bed to see what the man had brought him. What he saw on the tray was half of a small dinner bun and a small bowl half full of what he thought might be soup broth.
The boy ate the food as fast as he could manage as it was the first meal he had been given all day, and even though he was still hungry after he had finished he was grateful he had been given anything at all. After he had finished he lay down on the hay bed trying not to think of how lonely, hungry and cold he was in an unfriendly place where he was forced to be.
He could barely recall what life was like before he lived here. All he could remember was that he never went hungry; he had nice warm clothes, a comfortable bed, friends and people who loved him dearly caring for him. He wished for a life like that again.
That would be the greatest thing in the world right now.
Thinking about happy dreams the boy slowly drifted off to sleep.

. . . Wake up . . . Come on boy, get up . . . Hurry up, he’s gone . . . Now’s your chance to get away . . .

The boy suddenly awoke to someone gently shaking his arm. He sat up startled at the unfamiliar person standing in his room. Well actually, there were two. A man wearing a brand new red cloak of a city official and the person shaking him awake had been a woman in a long red evening gown.
The woman spoke, “Come on boy, don’t be afraid, he’s gone at the moment. We are here to help you. If you come with us right now you will be safe and we will give you all the food you could ever want or need.”
The boy still a little unsure but tempted by the offer nodded slowly and moved forward and grasped the woman’s hand as she offered it to him and then the three of them made their way out of the small house to a carriage waiting out front.
The man opened the door and the three of them climbed inside as the driver urged on the horses and then they were on their way. To where the boy did not know, but he somehow felt safe with these two people.


AG Panther "Dark Elegance" Loyal - 16 years, 7 months, 21 days ago

MYSTIC MEMORIES - AN UNEXPECTED SURPRISE
==============================

A light rain started to fall softly upon the jungle foliage and the rooftop of the small wood hut high in the trees. Smoke slowly drifted out of the hut’s chimney. The sound of dishes clattering could be heard and the mouth-watering aroma of food cooking could be smelled as one drew closer to the hut.
Inside the hut was a small woman with long green hair, her pale green skin had darker green tiger-like stripes and pale green dragonfly-like wings; she wore a simple green dress. She was setting the table while cooking the afternoon meal.
The woman looked up when she heard the footsteps of two small people on the deck to the hut. The front door opened and in walked two children who resembled the woman in every way but color; the boy had blue hues and the girl who was with him had red hues.
“What took you so long, Azuric?” questioned the woman of the boy. “Hello Roze dear, are you staying for lunch? Well, anyway, if you are, both of you go and get cleaned up so you can eat.”
“Okay, Mom,” replied Azuric.
“Yes, ma’am,” responded Roze.
The two kids then ran to Azuric’s bedroom, a rather overstuffed shoulder sack hidden between them. Azuric’s mom didn’t notice the sack as the two quickly closed the door behind them.
After the two children heard Azuric’s mom start to clatter dishes again they both sat down on the bed, the shoulder sack between them.
“What do you think is inside it?” Roze asked Azuric in a whisper.
“I don’t know, but whatever it is it is going to be big when it grows up,” answered Azuric in a hushed voice. “It could be a dragon or a gryphon, or just a big bird.”
Roze then reached forward into the sack and with the help of Azuric, pulled out a large leathery egg that was a light orange with blue blotches.
As they sat it on the down mattress of the bed, the egg started to rock back and forth, and a low humming grew steadily louder.
They sat there awestruck for a few moments as the humming grew louder. They could feel a vibration coming from the egg through the mattress and the vibration along with the humming was approaching dangerous levels.
At the same time the two youths looked each other in the eyes. Then they both said the same thing at the same time.
“It’s hatching!”
They could barely hear each other, and a worried look crossed their features as they could feel the vibration from the egg through the floor of the hut. Items around the room started to fall off of shelves and the walls to the floor.
At that moment the door to the room opened and there stood Azuric’s mom, a look of anger upon her features. They couldn’t hear what she then said for the humming had become unbearable.
All of a sudden there was a loud cracking sound and their gazes averted to the egg which now was riddled with cracks. Something had started to push outwards from the inside of the egg.
A few moments later, a crimson reptilian snout poked through a hole in the shell that it had made. A look of terror crossed the mother’s features as it emerged.
With a loud cracking sound, the egg exploded from around the baby red dragon. The humming and vibration stopped.
The two children and the woman looked at the little creature in front of them as it spread its delicate wings and let out a little innocent chirp.

AG Panther "Dark Elegance" Loyal - 16 years, 7 months, 27 days ago