The Dragon Under my Bed

The Dragon Slayer

It was a silent night, the only sound I could hear was the gentle snoring coming from Zagem. How long was I asleep for? A few minutes? A few hours? I laid back down and closed my eyes, hoping sleep would find its way back to me, My mind wandered idly while I tried to sleep.

These past 14 days have been amazing. I never thought dragons existed, and I can't believe I'm friends with one. When I grow up, I'll pass this story to my children. If I ever leave this tunnel, anyways.

I knew we would leave eventually, Zagem always reassured me that we would see the morning sun again. I remembered a conversation we had one night before we went to sleep.

"Hey, Zagem." I had said.

"Yes?"

"What are we going to do when we leave?"

Zagem thought about it for a moment. "If the dragon slayer is still alive, I'll go somewhere far away. I'll seek my kind."

"What if he's dead?" I had asked.

"I'll leave no matter what. I can't stay here forever."

"I understand." I had said. "You would not want to spend the rest of your life with a human."

"Garret, it's not like that," Zagem said. "I'd love to stay with you, but I can't. I'm not one of you..."

"When you get your wings, you'll come back, right?" I asked.

Zagem nodded. "Of course."

"You won't forget me?"

"Of course not."

"You promise?"

"I promise. Shall we take a blood oath?"

"Hard pass," I said nervously.

Zagem chuckled. "I'm just joking with you, small one."

I smiled at the memory. It'll be weird to get used to the feeling of not having Zagem around. That night, I had promised myself that I would never forget the dragon, and always heed the advice he gave me. I just hoped that Zagem would never forget me. I turned to the sleeping dragon, who seemed to be muttering something in his sleep. Even with the dragon's company, the atmosphere felt strangely alien. We still had some firewood left, I'm sure Zagem wouldn't mind me lighting a small fire, I was rather cold anyways. I walked over to our supplies pile and dug around until I found the box of matches, I insisted we brought them, in case of emergency. I laid down a piece of wood and dropped the lit match on top of it, the fire beginning to form. I leaned closer to the warm flames, soaking in the warmth. The next thing I knew, I was asleep by the fire...

The sound of boulders being moved awoke me. The fire was gone, and the area was lit slightly. I looked at the entrance, to see the boulders getting pushed out of the way by a strange figure. I watched as a large, tall man with white skin pushed the boulders out of the way one by one. I noticed something strange coming out of his back, and I realized it was a giant sword, nearly twice the size he was. He wore some strange red suit, it looked as if it were made of scales.

Dragon scales. I thought. This is the dragon slayer. I nervously moved closer to Zagem, who was still in a deep slumber.

"I hope I didn't come in at a bad time." The dragon slayer said, pushing the last boulder and walking inside.

"W-who?" I stammered.

The man walked over to me and Zagem. "This is a magnificent beast." He murmured, sitting down.

"Leave him alone," I said, trying to hide the fear in my voice.

The dragon slayer ignored me and continued to examine Zagem. "Juvenile, male, black scales, green eyes..." He said. "This is the one, for sure."