A Dragon's Bond

Striker

     I was pulled into the dark tower, squinting and blinking rapidly, making every attempt in forcing my eyes to adjust. After what seemed like and eternity things began clearing up, the area was dimly lit in comparison to the sun. The dark area smelt slightly damp and musty as all dark holes in the world seemed to. On the walls were sconces, lighting the paths from the entrance, each one perfectly distanced from the last. These however had small balls of bright electricity; the lights hummed a dull sound as they provided their light giving the hallway a chorus of sound, the air sounded like a million tiny bugs faintly humming in unison.

     They lead me down halls turning left and right at what seemed to be random intervals, the third mage still holding onto me and setting the pace, while the other two followed behind. My mind quickly lost all sense of direction as I blindly followed the man grasping my arm, the fear and surprise forcing me into following his will.

     We went down one last flight of stairs and into a room with a thick wooden door, the structure of it banded with black iron. I could begin to feel my anxiety rising, my heart beginning to thump harder and the blood making my ears hot. Why had they taken me away so abruptly without explanation, what did the crystal turning purple mean? They walked me in and sat me down in the back of the room on a thick pillowed couch.

     One of them mumbled that they would be back and needed to have a word, before the group made their way out of the room. The tone with which he said all this however, did not make me relax, his voice tense and almost nervous. His voice gave a hint at the swirl of emotions spinning inside him. They made their way out the door and into the hall, slamming the large wooden door behind them. As the door slammed it bounced back just a hair, enough to allowing their mumbling to pass through the crack.

     The room was a large circle of bookshelves lining the edges, seamlessly flowing from one to the other as if they were a single piece of wood. Random candles scattered throughout the room cast an uneven light across everything, the shadows danced about, adding to the mystery of my location. In the very center there was a fireplace leading up and out of the tower, the flames were small and let out the only sound within the room as they crackled and burned the wood. Off to the side there was a table with a collection of what looked like artifacts scattered about as they were in the process of being studied. One of the shelves in the middle held a collection of prized objects, placed carefully on stands and displayed. As my eyes glanced across the objects one large jagged thing caught my attention. My eyes focused hard on it and I could feel a pulling from the object, an instinct to go and grab it. It called to me, my mind focused hard in a way I had never felt before. I had some unknown connection with this object, I needed to find out what it was.

     Just as I began to get up the mumblings of the Mages became silent. One Mage quickly entered into the room, the man that had grabbed my arm and dragged me into the tower. I shifted back into my seat, my eyes locked on the man as he entered the room. He shut the door behind him and walked over to me, sitting down in the chair across from my couch. He stared as he was pondering the best way to proceed with our meeting, his eyes calculating and intelligent. He let out a sigh and his body relaxed ever so slightly. His appearance was clean and well kept. He had the appearance of a man who had things together.

"Please excuse the abruptness of what has just transpired, and allow me to introduce myself. My name is Striker. I am the head Mage of this tower. We did not want you to draw any more attention to yourself than you already have. You really should have just warned us beforehand and we wouldn't have had to draw any attention. You really put yourself at risk."

     At risk, what on earth was he talking about? I did just what they have told me to do. I could again feel my anxiety rising to the point I was beginning to feel sick. My mind searching for answers I didn't have.