“Hey Metudo, remind me. Do giant flying lizards exist?” I gave Anatos a heavily skeptical look.
“You know well enough that they don't. And don't call them that, its insulting.” I turned, subconsciously following Anatos' gaze. “Call them, Dragon!” As I said the last word I saw what had prompted this conversation. There indeed was a very large dragon sitting in the field ahead. It's scales looked at first to be a pure white, but as the sun reflected off of some, a multitude of colors could be seen from the right angle. Unfortunately, the right angle was far too close to what was commonly referred to as a blood-thirsty and uncontrollable creature.
It was thrashing wildly as we watched, entranced. Seeming to be in enormous pain. My mind was screaming for me to run, but my legs just would not move. Until it turned its head. Our eyes locked. I sensed Anatos' fear reflex finally kick in and he bolted; but for me, time seemed to stand still. As our eyes held I felt myself being drawn in.
I saw a young man, surrounded by raging energies. He seemed chained down by them, he looked up at me.
“STAFF!” He yelled. Then repeated it, over and over again. Even as I felt myself being drawn out of the man's mind I heard that thought reverberating in my own head. My body was finally moving, and I ran opposite from Anatos.
“Look for some kind of staff!” I called over to Anatos. The image of it slowly seeping into my mind. “It should have a dragon head at one end. I'll draw this guy's attention!” As I spoke the man's draconian form was confusedly trying to figure out which one of us to chase. I opened my pack and found the only pot and a ladle.
“Oy! Over here!” I threw the pack over towards a tree and started banging the pot as hard as I could. The Dragon immediately made up its mind and chased after me. I only regretted my decision when I realized it could run just about as fast as I could; if not faster. I made for the trees, hoping they would slow it down. Sadly, as soon as it got nearby the trees literally moved aside for it to pass cleanly through. I tried levitating some nearby boulders and putting them in the things path; once again they simply moved themselves away. Now it was nearly on top of me, so I took the last available course of action. I ducked.
It cleanly barreled over me, skidding to a stop a good distance away. I immediately turned and began running in the opposite direction. I could see Anatos in the distance waving the staff, and broke for him.
“Throw it!” I yelled as soon as I was in range. As he did I caught it with my power and threw it towards the Dragon. It caught the staff cleanly in one of its front claws; and stopped dead. It began to shrink, the scales receded and became flesh. Soon a young, slightly pale man with short hair was standing where the Dragon had once been. I realized his hair was the same color as the his scales had been, white except from certain angles.
“Thank you!” He said quickly. Then fell silent.
“So I guess the stick keeps you in a human form.” I said. He shook his.
“It suppresses my energy. So I don't transform. That's a least what she told me.” I didn't pry, he seemed to be the type that kept his thoughts to himself. Which was weird, because I had been hearing Anatos' thoughts since this morning, and I could hear nothing from him.
“What kind of power is that though? You moved stuff around with no effort.”
“Actually, they moved for me. During the ritual she called it the power of Balance. I'm not sure of everything involved in that, but apparently things listen to me.” I thought for a moment.
“Well it would be stupid if it just meant you had perfect balance now, maybe it is the balance of the world. You know, light and dark, good and evil, the in-between, the gray.”
“I guess. Kinda hard to tell actually.” Then he seemed suddenly embarrassed. “I'm sorry, my name is Jato. I've been rambling like an idiot and I don't even know you.”
“Metudo, and this is Anatos. It's alright, I'm pretty sure you've been through the same thing we have.”
“Probably, I don't remember much though. I woke up, and found this woman, she took one look at me, smiled and... then I woke up in a circle of some kind with her chanting over me. Then nothing. I barely remember what I was doing as a Dragon. I remember your voice in my head. But that's it.”
“Huh. Well, we're heading North. It's the safest place for now, and more company is always welcome. Just don't let go of that staff again.”
“Trust me, I won't.” He said, somehow strapping it to his back. At first I was curious, but then I didn't want to know.
This was a fun chapter to write, still think the entry joke is a little weak, but it was the best I could do.
ReplyDeleteAh well, anyway its been another week, so I'm gonna recommend another good web-comic. Probably one that is very well known. Ctrl-Alt-Del. (http://www.cad-comic.com/) One of the first web-comics I got into, and it has only gotten better.
It began as a basic strip that made an enormous number of video game jokes and references; but has become more of a life story of this truly ridiculous guy and the people around him. It's a great comic to read, even if you aren't big on video games.