I Am Myth

Friends with a... dragon?

Brian awoke soaked, sleep-deprived, and pretty surprised that he wasn't dead yet.

"Look who's awake." The voice had a slightly harsh tint to it, but it seemed to float on the air. Brian turned to see who had spoken but saw only the mystics. "And don't say my voice sounds girly." The wolf's mouth moved in correspondence to the words.

"You can talk?" Brian's remark earned a laugh from the wolf.

"Of course I can talk, boy." He replied, "I just don't like to." With that he strut off proudly, showing he wasn't planning to answer any of the many questions Brian had swirling around in his head.

~One Week Later~

Brian looked out into the rain and longed that he could touch it. The cave itself was damp and miserable, but Brian longed to either be dry, or out in the rain. Each drop glistened as it fell from the sky, and some drops licked the ground and the trees, casting everything in a watery veil.

Bran became aware of a presence beside him and noticed the arching neck and proud head of the dragon looking out into the rain. Its eyes held the same longing Brian felt, and soon it was twisting through the rainy sky, letting out short, fierce, shrieks of delight.

The wolf howled, as if the call the dragon back, but then it too ran out and started bucking around in the rain. The wild look in the wolf's eyes was brighter than ever and Brian realized something for the first time; this life, this whole world. This was their home and, for some reason, Brian meant to make it his as well.

A slight clicking sound betrayed the spider's presence.

"What, you're not going out?" Brian asked. Not that the spider could answer. Only the wolf talked, or had the ability to anyways, though he rarely used it.

The spider answered by blanking staring, as it always did, through its many eyes. It shuffled back to its web and continued building on it. It seemed there was no upper corner of the cave that the web didn't cover, and Brian suspected it was like that throughout the entire cave, however big it may be.

Brian sighed loudly, causing both the wolf and dragon to stop and look his way. He squirmed uneasily under their curious and intimidating gaze. A quick argument of sounds followed, the dragon's growl followed by that of the wolf, both debating with each other over the din of the rain.

Finally they seemed to reach a verdict. On what, Brian did not know, but he suspected it involved him. The dragon flew over to Brian, the rain and sleet not disturbing his flight in the least.

Carefully, and with surprising speed, the dragon undid Brian's bonds, and then clipped a chain onto his foot. The other end connected to nothing but the dragon held it like a leash.

Oh well, Brian thought, better than last time.

He allowed himself to be led out into the rain and was actually grateful for being led around. For some reason not a worry prodded his mind and he felt free. Although he wanted to relish this 'freedom' alone, the ever-present dragon was a welcome sign and Brian remembered the many times the past week that the dragon had watched over him. It was like a guardian, however ironic that might be.

The same pattern repeated itself over the next three weeks. The sky pounded the trees and ground with a forceful wind and drenched everything with rain. And every time it did, the dragon would lead Brian out into it, blocking the wind with a large wing on the days that the wind was more forceful. Brian found himself talking to the beast; at first he asked questions, though the dragon could not answer, and then he told the dragon about human life, what it was like to be a hunter, and his own story. And, for some reason, the dragon listened intently.

Sometimes the dragon would even take off Brian's leash so they could wrestle in the mud or Brian could ride on its scaly back.

One night they watched the sunset. It cast warms glows of fading light all over the horizon. "You know," Brian told the dragon who was sitting calmly at his side, "I think we're friends."

He turned to look at the dragon, it was looking back at him and it nodded.

Brian chuckled softly to himself. I'm friends with a mythic. What have I gotten myself into?