THE DRAGON EMPEROR

Chapter 4

Al's pov

Darkness. That's where I was. Floating in darkness. I couldn't see, hear or feel a single thing. It was calm but unnerving. Like an eerie sense of forgetfulness, like I wasn't supposed to be here but also can't remember where I was supposed to be. I was in the darkness for I don't know how long before I started falling.

You know how you feel when the rollercoaster drops from the peak? That tingling in the pit of your stomach? Yeah I was feeling that way when I was free falling and screaming like a little girl. But after five minutes of falling here I was, still falling, not anymore screaming and void of the tingling. I was getting bored now.

After what felt like eternity, I started to feel warm. Not the kind you feel from inside. But the warm like when scorching winds were blowing beneath you. I turned my body mid-air in a way that I was falling face first. An orange glow was coming from the end of the drop.

Orange glow kept on increasing until I reached the end of the drop. As soon as I exited the pitfall, much to my surprise I found myself in a place full of fire, magma and volcanoes. Also did I mention I was floating in air right now even though I wasn't using my powers? Because I was.

I scanned my surroundings and saw that fiery mountains covered the whole landscape. If you looked right you could see chains of volcanoes with rivers of fire and magma flowing between them, if you looked left, well the view remained the same. I thought I was in Purgatorium. Probably I used too much power while fighting Luke and died. I shouldn't have gone to college today I knew it. Even though I came I shouldn't have gone to gym class. I am an idiot.

My chain of self-pity and loathing thoughts came to a halt abruptly because I sensed a really raw power. And it felt familiar. It was like my dad's, exactly like his but there was something added to it but don't know what. If it is my dad then this probably isn't Purgatorium and i am not dead. That was the only thought that crossed my mind before I was being yanked towards the source the power.

I was being pulled towards the biggest volcanoes on the landscape at the speed of sound. And I didn't appreciate it because if I kept on going like this I'll ram into the volcano and go splat like an egg or combust. But much to my relief, I was slowed down when I got near the volcano before I stopped and descended towards the ground.

I stood in front of a giant cavern. I couldn't see anything inside but I could tell this much that the source of the power was inside. In fact, the whole volcano was radiating with the power. I contemplated whether I should go in or stay put and came to conclusion that if I wanted to get out of this place, dimension, whatever this was, I have to go in.

As soon as I took a step forward a rumbling sound shook the ground and a surge of that power knocked into me causing me to fall on my butt. I quickly stood up again and saw that inside the cavern two torches were burning. Each at the either end of the cavern. And I must say, the torches were VERY big.

It took me a whole minute to realise that those were not torches. They were eyes. Bright yellow eyes, the looked like the were fires burning in braziers. Fierce, deadly, bone-chilling, I can go on but still won't be able to describe what they looked like, or rather how terrifying they looked. I must've been staring at those eyes for a good whole five minutes before they just vanished into darkness like the eyes were shut closed.

As soon as the eyes closed the volcano and the ground around it started to tremble. Soon the tremble increased in magnitude and became a quake of the maximum magnitude. I could barely keep myself standing on the ground. But the biggest mistake i committed then? I looked up at the volcano.

What I saw was enough to rid me of my sleep for months and make me poop my pants. After what I saw the trembling ground made sense. And what I thought was the sound of ground shaking actually wasn't that at all. From the mouth of the volcano, a dragon almost the size of the volcano was emerging. And sound of trembling ground? Yeah it was him groaning or growling.