"It's mine, and you can't have it!" The mighty dragon roared. His cold, scally body warped in puzzling ways. One could only describe it as an anomalous event. The man stood, adjusting his bowtie. He bent down, his hands reached for one of the millions of maps scattered about, like stars painting the dark sky.
"How odd." The man gave a sly smirk as he stared at the dragon towering overhead.
The dragon uttered a loud, irritated groan as he spoke, "You mere human, I am not odd. I am a mighty dragon!" The dragon huffed his breath, filling the air with its smokiness.
"Not odd? Ha, don't make me laugh." The man held up the map for the dragon to see, "You're a dragon who hoards maps, your large claws rip holes in the map's delicate paper and your fiery attitude chars the edges, burning up your collection." The dragon shrunk back like a vampire being staked. Once again an anomalous event occurs, a ripple of sorts causes a section of the cave wall to warp and flicker in an array of colorful lines.
"You HUMAN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY CAVE!" The dragon's anger heated up the cave, the maps curling upward in a blaze of glory.
"It seems that I continue to be followed." The man calmly says while ignoring the dragon's heated fury. The dragon puffed out more smoky air from his nose.
The man let out a sigh, "With all this smoke you'll end up killing yourself."
"HAH! Me a mighty dragon dying from smoke. A dragon is not weak like you, human."
"Suit yourself, I'm here for a map, I'd like to get it before you burn them all, mighty dragon."
The dragon glanced at the fragile maps turning in agony at his heat. "All this anger is not good for my old heart." His clawed hand waved permission at the strange human standing before him.
"Oh, old heart? But aren't you a mighty dragon?" The man mocks the dragon, like a fly at a barbecue.
"You quite remind me of a dog I once met, it was all bark no bite. The weakling ran away before I even came close to it." The dragon sat proudly on a large stone with piles of maps scattered around. "Go on and find the map, I don't wish to babysit you, human, all day."
"Well, I need a special map." The man's eyes scanned the walls, yet his attention was still focused on the dragon. The man's guard had been up since appearing before the dragon. The man could easily beat the dragon in one try, the dragon knew this, as he carefully conversed with the strange human before him.
"I understand." The dragon slowly rose up from his comfortable spot and made his way into a deeper part of the cave. One would have expected a cave to be dark, yet the deeper into this cave you went the more crystals lined the walls. The light bouncing off the crystals brought a bright glow throughout the rounded room.
"Oh? Is this where the mighty dragon hoards his special maps?" The man adjusted his clean suit while staring at his reflection in the shininess of the glass of a picture frame. A large map was proudly displayed within the golden frame. "A map of The Obelian Empire, it seems to be during Emperor Claude de Alger Obelia's time. " The man stared, a little excitement hinted in his voice.
"Oh ho ho! It seems you know your maps! Perhaps you're not so foolish of a human. Could it be? Are you a cartographer!" The dragon's large tail wagged as if he were a puppy.
"No." His immediate answer was flat and cold unlike his joking behavior earlier.
"Rude little human." The dragon marched over to a wall of the cave, and a large bookshelf stood stretching across the wall, it was as grand as it was full, and it was very full.
"What map do you need, human?" The dragon's eyes scanned along the shelves, attempting to memorize the placements of the objects. Another zapping glitch cracked out from a small box sitting on the shelf.
"That one." The man spoke.
"Where did that thing come from? I only collect maps, not boxes." The dragon swung his claw around, there was a colorful, ever-changing static-like design growing and stretching up his arm. With the dragon's other claw, he picked up the box, like a claw machine game. "Here human." The dragon lightly dropped it into the human's open hands. The human pushed the top of the box and it began to glow. A flat blue screen appeared before him and he began scrolling through it. The dragon curiously watched the human.
"This is good, cya oh mighty dragon." The human began to leave the way he came in before he stopped again, "Oh, also, sorry." With that, the human disappeared. The ever-changing colorful static quickly spread all across the dragon in spiky patterns. The dragon let out roars of agony as he dropped to the ground. The pounding of bookcases and flapping of maps changed into zapping and burning noises. The dragon's painful sounds continued before everything stopped. All was gone. Nothing could be seen, no sound came from the dragon anymore, and no feelings came either. One could only describe it as an anomalous event.
YOU ARE READING
The Dragon and the Stranger
FantasyA man enters a dragon's cavern in search for a map. Could there be more to this strange man? Art doesn't belong to me. Reference to Who Made Me A Princess.
