Rebirth of Light

Chapter 3

When he finally woke up, Gabriel was lying on his back in a large cave.  He groggily tried to sit up to get his bearings, but instead found himself staring into a pair of glowing silver eyes.  Those eyes were connected to the head of a large silver dragon.  Every instinct in his body told him to run, but he ached so much and felt so heavy that all he could do was lay right back down again.  "Allyssa," he moaned.  "I mean you no harm, human," said sweet, yet powerful, feminine voice.  Despite its volume, however, the voice carried no sound with it, like the words were spoken directly into his head.  "Y...You're in my head?" Gabriel asked dumbly.  "How...No... Who are you?"

"My name is not important at the moment," replied the voice.  "For now, you may call me Silver."  "Sliver," Gabriel thought.  Slowly, the pieces clicked into place.  "This voice...It's the dragon's voice."  "Correct," replied Silver.  Gabriel moaned, realizing that Silver could read his thoughts.  "Where's Allyssa?" he asked out loud.  "The girl has been awake for some time now." Silver replied.  "Can you stand you stand?"  Gabriel's only reply was him attempting to stand on his own.  He only made it to his knees when his head started to spin, forcing him back to the ground.

He was breathing hard, but each breath strained.  "It's hard to breath," he thought.  A moment later, he felt claws wrapping around his body, reminding him of the last time he felt those claws.  He tensed, expecting the worst, but those fears were put to rest when Sliver said, "You can't stand on your own. Please, allow me carry you."  This brought a smirk to his face.  "You didn't ask for permission last time you picked me up."  Sliver started to make a strange noise, and he was shaking a little bit.  Gabriel could only smile when he realized that this was Silver laughing.

When the laughter stopped, Sliver gently held Gabriel in one clawed hand and carefully walked toward an opening in the wall.  Still finding it hard to breath, Gabriel closed his eyes and asked, "Are you taking me to Allyssa?"  "Yes," was Silver's gentle reply.  After they had crossed threshold, Gabriel was placed on something much softer than the stone floor he had woken up on.  His head rand once more with Silver's voice, "Stay here and rest for a bit.  Readjust to the air and stabilize your breathing.  I will be back soon with something for you to eat."  And with that, she was gone.

Gabriel slowly opened eyes after Silver left.  He found himself in room lit by strange glowing rocks embedded in the walls.  As he looked around, he noticed that the lights pulsed slightly at regular intervals.  His first thought was that it looked like the heartbeat of the mountain.  His second was that he was really hungry.  His stomach growled at this, and he wondered how long he had actually been out.  He heard some shuffling a little farther in the room, and remembered why he had been brought here.  "Allyssa, is that you?"  The response was rather explosive.  

"Gabriel!" she exclaimed.  Next thing he know, something big and warm had launched itself at him and pinned him to the ground.  The figure then started to squeeze all of his hard earned breath out of his lungs.  She didn't even notice, as she continued saying, "When did you get in here?  I didn't even hear you come in.  Heck, I didn't even know you were awake."  "C...Can't... ... b...b...breath," he squeaked.  "Oh, uh.  Sorry."  She loosens her grip on him, allowing him to continue his difficult breathing, but she did not let go.

"Just...woke up.  Silver...brought me... here.  How...long have...you...been awake?"  Allyssa, still hugging him him, replied, "When I woke up, the sun was starting to rise, and now the sun will be setting soon.  So, I have been awake for most of the day."  "How long...until you...could...stand?" Allyssa gasped and practically jumped away from him.  "Oh!  I am so sorry, Gabriel.  I completely forgot that you wouldn't be able to stand or breath properly when you woke up.   I didn't hurt you, right?  I am so sorry."  "Allyssa," Gabriel said.  She immediately stopped speaking.  "How long...until you...could...stand?"  "If you recover the same way I did, then you should be walking around and breathing clearly by the time the sun sets," she said, still sounding very apologetic.