The Last of the Dragons

Nehizina climbed mid-way up a tree and sat on one of its thick limbs, sketching the world around her. The forest was full of vibrant colors and life that seemed to elude town these days. Nehizina was always at peace here deep within the forest. She watched, drawing silently, as a bird with feathers of rich reds and deep blue plumage perched on a lesser branch above her. Nehizina took a deep breath of contentment and smelled rain in the breeze. Desperately, she tried to finish drawing the feathers of the bird when she heard a plop as a rain drop fell onto her notepad. She closed her notepad, gathered her utensils, tossed them into her small canvas bag and scurried down the tree as the rain began to fall heavier.

There was no way for her to run all the way home without soaking her notepad in the rain shower and losing over two hours' worth of work. She remembered the cave she saw when she first climbed the tree. She turned toward it and dashed up rocks, grabbing small branches to aid her upward. She grasped a ledge and pulled herself up onto the rough floor of the cave's mouth. She brought her notepad out from her bag and inspected the damage. Satisfied that only one edge of her notepad was wet, Nehizina placed the pad back into her bag and brought out a small flashlight instead. The warm morning she'd started her day with was now replaced dark grey clouds heavy with rainwater. Nehizina scanned around the cave with her flashlight, ensuring she was alone, when she paused over a large figure no more than thirty feet away from her.

Nehizina took a couple of steps toward the giant figure, curious as to the identity of the beast. She moved to take another step closer to what she assumed was the head of the beast. As she stepped forward, the beast began to stir. Nehizina paused, unconsciously holding her breath. The beast turned its large head, facing Nehizina, its eyes closed. Nehizina gasps for breath as her body remembers to breathe. At the sudden sound, the beast opened its eyes, staring into Nehizina's. Terrified of the beast in front of her, she steadies her breathing, taking shallow noiseless breaths. Nehizina stared back at the beast, transfixed. Its eyes were the size of her head, colored a deep golden with a pitch black lenses in the middle of the eyeball. Something about them...she couldn't look away. Suddenly, the beast began to stir as if to stand or move toward her. Nehizina found the strength, or perhaps the fear, to run away. She fled the cave, stumbling down a path to the side of the cave entrance. The rain continued to pour down without concern, and Nehizina sprinted away, tripping over rocks and roots, equally without concern, all the way back to town, not slowing until she was home.

Nehizina crashed into her room, trembling with a mixture of cold and fear and a little excitement. She threw her bag down next to the dried hearth in the corner of her room, and her notepad, now ruined by the downpour, spilled out onto the floor along with some of her utensils. She ignored the mess and walked to her desk. She removed her dripping cloak, dropping it to floor behind her chair. She sat down, lit the candle sitting on the desk, and grabbed a dry notepad and began drawing the beast from the cave.

In a manner of a couple of hours she drew and half-drew dozens of images of the beast. She drew its size lying across the floor of the cave. She drew its silhouette, detailing the scales of its larges, python-like tale. She drew its wings, large and folded across its back, detailing its feathers like that of the bird she'd drawn earlier, but coloring them with the tan and burnt reds and brown hues that were natural to the beast. She drew the beast spine, its wings silhouetted against it, detailing the grey and black fur that ran along the spine of the beast, stopping at the tail. She drew its head, pointed and scaled with the grey-black fur at the base of its skull and large antelope-like horns jutting from the top of its skull. She drew its face, dark with emphasis on its large eyes. She drew just its eyes, its mesmerizing, spectacular eyes.

Nehizina fell asleep at her desk, slumped over her new drawings. She dreamt of the cave and the beast the dwelt within. In her dream, she walked back to the cave. She took a torch off the wall at the cave's entrance and walked to the beast. The beast was sitting, waiting for her. When she stopped about fifteen feet away from it, the beast nodded its head and bid her come closer. She placed the torch in a holding on the wall next to her and walked right up to the beast. She ran her hand along the scales of its body. She let her fingers gently trace the feathers of its great wings. She petted the fur of its spine. The beast brought its face close to hers. At first, she feared it might eat her, but the beast just stared at her. As she stared back at it, she felt herself relax. She pressed her forehead against its nose, in the space between its nostrils. She heard herself humming gently aloud as she felt the beast's hot breath around her, coming steadily from its nostrils. There were voices in the distance. The beast snapped its attention toward the mouth of the cave, and then whipped around, blowing out the torch on the wall, and retreated further into the cave, leaving Nehizina behind in darkness.