Birth of a Crimson Feather

◒THE BIG DEEP◒

"I don't think this is the right time to be doing this..."

What was that just now? I turned around pointing my wand at the voice but was left there unable to move.

There was not a single human in sight, the only thing I could see was a small blinking light moving toward the night sky.

'Where is he? I am certain I heard his voice... Oh well, I don't care, the only thing I want to bore my brain with right now is my goal.' I started moving my legs steadily, trying my best not to stumble and fall on top of the shards of glass. The whole area smelled like a combination of sulfur and mint. I had never smelled something so peculiar before, not even when my father showed me how to create old potions and magic brews out of the most interesting ingredients.

I never, not even once, thought that I would be witnessing such a beautiful setting, I was so happy to be in the presence of such wonder... But that smell! Oh, Great Witches! It is the worst smell in the entire world, I would bet my gold arrowheads on it! I tried so hard not to faint from that awful scent, moving towards the end of the Deep, I saw the start of The Great Lake.

You could clearly see the glistening waters from afar, but I was so preoccupied looking around the Deep, that I barely noticed it. 'Ahhh... I don't want to get wet now, it is still nighttime and I haven't had the luxury to pack more clothes with me... I need to wait for a few hours.'  my mind did the reminding as per usual. I could go in right now if it wasn't freezing. If I didn't know any better I would think a Winter Dragon lived near this place.

Holding my wand between my index and middle finger still, I moved to the nearest rock. Getting closer I was met with something odd. This rock looked like it was glowing red, even though it was not warm to the touch, In fact, it felt rather cold. This puzzled me enough so I had to check my notes the moment I sat next to it. Nothing came up while reading from my notepad, only questions, and a sneaking suspicion. With that in mind, I waved my wand and uttered softly: "Clarification spell. Initiated." After a few seconds, the rock began melting in front of my very eyes. I barely had the time to move my things away so they would not get tampered with.

'What in the white magic is this weird substance?' I almost screamed but I tried holding my voice as much as I could.

After searching through my things for a while, I managed to find a small, empty vile. Thank The Witches I brought this with me, I usually forget to put these things in my bag. Carefully and almost holding my breath, I gathered a small portion of whatever substance this liquid was. I labeled it 'RED AND SMELLY' since it had a similar odor to the entire area of the Deep.

"Amazing! Now I need to find another resting area for me and my wand... Where should we lay our wonderful and exhausted souls, Jinx? Aghh sometimes I wish you had a voice so you could answer me! I feel like I am talking to myself!"

"Which, in all honesty, you are!"

THAT VOICE. 'No, no, he was gone, I thought he left me alone!'  I screamed inside my head.

I could not believe he followed me here, I was trying not to look in his direction, I was, weirdly enough, certain he would make fun of my angry face. So I laid down and put my hands on top of my eyes, pretending to be resting, and said:

"So now you are following me? I was right to call you out on your creepiness before. You, sir, are weird!" I scoffed and tried not to move.

"Me? Following you? No, no, you, my friend, are wrong. I am following the Great Winter Dragon. Not your uninteresting self!"

I did not answer at first, I was so taken aback by what I heard that my mouth felt dry and it seemed like I could not use my vocal cords to speak. It took me almost a minute to respond and as my eyesight was adjusting to the low light, I noticed he was sitting next to me.