Winded and sore after days of hard walking but, luckily, no new encounters, you finally reach the dragon's cave. It is a gaping hole in the side of the mountain, with a few feet of flat ledge before it where you stand, staring into the darkness inside. You were sweaty before but right now, you can feel a different kind of sweat dripping down your spine. All of this has suddenly become real.
As your eyes roam over the entrance of the cave, something on the rock wall draws your attention.
Do an Intelligence test, rolling one dice for a result of 4 or more, or get a random number of 4 or more from a 1-6 draw.
If you manage, your eyes follow the great mark stretching along the rock in a jagged, downward line. Even from this distance you can recognise a giant claw mark when you see one. You take a deep breath and step carefully into the cave.
If you fail, your attention is taken from what you'd seen by a butterfly. You attempt to catch it, and inadvertently follow it right into the cave.
Once inside, the light dims until you are practically blind. You advance slowly, shuffling your feet to avoid tripping, your hands held out before you, one of them trailing against the wall to your right. The last thing you want is to lose your way.
You can -feel- a presence in the cave, but something is wrong. The silence, it's deafening. If there really was a dragon in here, wouldn't you be able to hear it? Are they not supposed to be massive beasts?
Ahead of you, a large hole in the ceiling sheds a ghostly light over the far side of the cave. As you approach, your breath catches in your throat. What you had thought to be a massive boulder is in fact a large coil. You take a few steps forward and cannot believe what you are seeing.
The dragon is there, coiled and looped around itself, fast asleep. It must be at least ninety feet long, with iridescent blue scales and a dark blue mane running down the length of its sinuous body. Its four legs are bird's legs, brown and clawed. And its eyes are tightly closed.
To examine the dragon more closely, go to Chapter Nine.
To go around the beast and explore the cave behind it, go to Chapter Ten.
YOU ARE READING
The Rains of Sichuan {Choose Your Own Adventure} // Wattys 2019
Adventure"If we want to survive this drought, you will have to make it rain." In this short-and-sweet Choose Your Own Adventure book, you will be taken on a quest to discover why the rains haven't fallen on your tiny little chinese village - and to remedy...
