A World Fading To Black - BOOK 2

Chapter 14 - The First Task. Spoiler Alert: I Don't Die!

I expect the sun to obfuscate my vision as I leave the tent, but it doesn't. Thinking about it, of course it doesn't; we're in the Dark Forest! I go through some trees until I reach the arena.

The first thing I see are the hundreds of people looking down at me, waiting for something memorable to happen. Then, my gaze drifts to a pair of distressingly familiar glowing purple orbs. These are dangerously bigger than the ones belonging to the tiny lizard back at the tent, but they look at me the same way they did before.

I remember Bagman noting how big a Hebridean Black could get. Thirty feet, he had said. Well, this one? It seems to be about forty!

'Who said I was ready for battle?!' I internally shout at myself, thinking of how naïve I was just some minutes ago when I felt to be capable of doing anything.

Fume comes out of the Hebridean's nostrils, threatening to become fire.

I grip my wand tightly, internally cursing myself for leaving the Snowstorm in the tent.

My eyes drift again, but this time to the nest the dragon is curled upon. Huge eggs lay scattered inside it, all weirdly shaped: like a normal greyish egg, but with some kind of mossy stripes sprouting from the bottom and leaving some loose tips at the top. Tips that resemble a twisted and leafless tree, like those from fairy tale books.

But one egg is distinctive. One shiny golden egg glows in the fearful darkness of the Forest, washing away all the others.

Without a second thought, I run towards the egg. I feel the dragon's glistening gaze silently following me, but I try to ignore it; that is, until the dragon decides to spit out some 'yo, that's my territory' fire. Which is exactly what happens, leaving a circular fiery barrier around the nest.

'Well, what were you expecting?' I mentally slap myself for being so naïve and completely forgetting my last-minute plan. 'You weren't counting on the dragon to just give it to you freehandedly, now were you?'

"Aguamenti!" I shout, pointing the wand at the fire, but it doesn't even shake.

"Well, let me inform you all," I vaguely hear Bagman's commenting, "dragon's fire does not extinguish itself with a simple Water-Making Spell; one would need stronger magic!"

I hear some laughs from the public.

'I'd love to see all of you down here, facing a freaking dragon, for Merlin's sake!' I internally shout at them.

The dragon's amethyst eyes are now fixed on mine, its nostrils releasing a significant amount of smoke right on top of me. My vision starts to get blurry as everything around turns to hot fog.

Between coughs, I manage to mumble, "Stupefy!", pointing my wand at the sky and hoping it hits the dragon.

And it does, making the fire-spitter stumble away from the nest.

I take advantage of its distraction and run to the eggs, but as the very tip of my fingers brushes the golden one, I feel a dreading heat wave behind me.

Holy sh-

My mind races as fast as a Firebolt, and in a millisecond time worth of thought, I feel my body shrink, covering itself in brownish feathers, as my arms turn to tiny wings. I quickly take my wand in my beak as I kick off the ground and fly up to the sky.

I see how the crowd's expression when from 'oh no, she's dead!' to 'wait, what the hell?' as I fly above the gigantic stream of fire released by the dragon. Even Bagman is speechless, his mouth vaguely opened and his hand barely holding his wand.