Crescent High

Chapter 18

I lay in bed, unable to sleep. The nightmares that had been haunting me for the past few nights were sure to return if I shut my eyes. Every night, one dream would play over and over again. It was a dream filled with fire and screams of pain, a dream of death and destruction, and at the end, the smoke would clear to reveal the world in ruins. What it was trying to tell me I did not know, but it was clear that it was not good. Was it the future of our world, or was it what would happen if one thing was changed? There was no way of knowing.
The soft breathing of my roommates sounded loud in the silence of the night, and I could hear cracking from under my bed. I did not think much of it until later in the night when it was getting more frantic and furious than before. My heart raced as I realized what it was. The egg! I shot out of bed and crouched down on the floor, scooping the bejeweled oval into my arms. It felt hot to the touch, and though I was almost unbearable, I held on.
"Shh," I whispered quietly, the noise filling the room and making me wince. The gem on the top of the egg seemed to glow with a golden light, and I pressed it. Instantly, I was transported.

I sat on a dragon, thousands of soldiers behind me in battle armour. We were a formidable sight with our weapons at the ready, and the legions of mounted cavalry prepared to charge. My own armour matched the dragon beneath me: black as the endless abyss known as space, with a web like pattern spreading across the breastplate pulsing a golden light. Gauntleted hands stroked the dragon's head, and my feet, encased in a boot, kicked its side gently, urging it into flight. A war cry arose as the army charged in behind me, steely expressions set on their determined faces.
I could not imagine the thoughts going though their heads, but my own couldn't have been much different. We were charging to our doom; the opposing army would do all they could to cause as many of us as possible to perish. As swords clashed and I produced my own saber, I could hear men being slain around me, their rag doll like bodies collapsing to the floor lifelessly.
I froze, paralysed by the sight of my friends having fallen to the very monsters I swore to destroy. Was this the end...

📚

As I came to my senses, the first rays of light cast themselves across the room, illuminating the sleeping faces of my friends. Well, friend, as Megan was nowhere to be seen.
It was peaceful, just the egg and I, watching over Rose in her slumber. Her hair was spread out over the pillow, and her eyes fluttered gently as she began to stir.
"Good morning, sleepy head," I laughed as she sat up, now awake.
"Morning," Rose moaned. "Why can I not be a morning person?"
She sighed, and climbed out of bed, taking the uniform off of the end of her bed and getting ready.
"Well, I am starving, you want to grab a bite to eat before classes start?" Rose asked me as her stomach growled.
"I think I'll pass today, see you in class though," I replied. "I've got a bunch of stuff to do before Latin."
"Ok, bye," said a very hungry Rose, and she walked out of the room, leaving me alone once more.

📚

The egg had always fascinated me ever since it had come into my possession. What was in it? Where had it come from?
I needed answers.
But where could I find them? Why the library of course! Carefully, I hid the egg once more and ran to the library to start my research.

The library was one of the oldest rooms in the school, as it has been preserved from when the royal family lived here two hundred years before. It had dark mahogany shelves in even intervals, creating an eerily perfect sense of symmetry. There was a plethora of tomes on the mahogany shelves, providing a musty sort of smell to the room.
My footsteps were muffled as I climbed the carpeted stairs into the second floor, which overlooked the area below. This floor didn't have quite as many books as the last, but had large tables to sit at and study. One of those tables was where I sat after I had gathered a sizable stack of books. I worked my way through the pile, not finding anything about the egg that lay under my bed.
Soon, the librarian came up to me and said, "Class is going to start soon, do you want me to look after these for you and you can come back after lessons have finished?"
"Oh, yes please, that would be really helpful," I replied in a hushed voice. "Thank you so much." I handed the books over and made my way to class, lost in my thoughts.

📚

After classes had finished, I returned to the library and continued my search for information on the egg. I poured over the books that were piled up beside me, and found some promising leads.
"Dragons," I murmured. "Warmth. Fire. Water." I didn't know what I was saying as I read, but I kept seeing those words in nearly every book I had picked out.
"What does it mean?" Words kept escaping my mouth as if my brain wasn't controlling what I said, and the information I did find led me nowhere.
At some point I must have fallen asleep, as I was woken by the librarian tapping me on the shoulder.
"We're about to close for the night," they told me.
"Ok," I answered. "I'm so sorry that you had to come up, I can put the books away for you if you want."
"No, you don't need to, you can take one if you want, and just leave the rest on the trolley at the door. I'll put them away."

I thanked the librarian, whose name was Lex. Underneath my arm was one of the largest books I had ever read - Myths and Legends of the Unseen World. It had a lot of information about mysteries, and creatures I thought were just stories, such as the Chimera, and, I was hoping, whatever was in the egg.

* Another chapter at last! I'm trying to make updates a bit more frequent, so look out for the next chapter when it is published. Did you like this chapter? *