My name is David and I have a dragon.
Selphon's not a very big guy, only about the size of a sheep dog so far, but who cares because he can still singe a lot more than the curtains.
Life was going swell (as swell as it can b...
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I sighed and spun the bag over my shoulders as I ran. My face grew hot under my hood as I ducked and weaved through the trees. Selphon kept a steady pace, never one disappearing from my sight. He'd pause occasionally, like he was listening for something, but then speed off again -- sometimes in a whole different direction – and we delved deeper into the woods.
My breath fogged against my glasses making it even more difficult to see – but there was no time to wipe them, and if there was, they would just cloud over again. I cursed under my breath and whipped them off as I ran, careful not to crush them in my hand as the trail grew more taxing and my energy dropped lower.
My heart thundered somewhere lower than my chest – like my digestive and cardiovascular systems had come together to tell me that something was seriously off. Selphon had never run off like this before, sure he had gone off on his own for unabridged amounts of time, but never acting the way he was now.
His glowing orange eyes were hard and forward focused like there was something he needed to see. He ran with his head down and his wings pressed low against his back. The darkness clung to him, swooping down like shadows of the night bearing witness to his secret need for invisibility. His frills fanned out away from his head.
Something was agitating him and he was looking for it.
He leaped over a fallen tree with ease, using his wings to give him the lift that no other animal of his size would have been able to accomplish. He sailed over the trunk with ease, while it took me a solid thirty seconds to get over the obstacle. In that time, he had almost completely disappeared from my even more limited field of vision.
I decided to put my glasses back on and take my chances with the fog. My hands were frozen into fists inside my sleeves as they pumped against the cold night air. "Selphon," I wheezed as he spread his wings and took low to the air, ducking in and out of the trees like one of those high speed video games. I swallowed hard and dug my sneakers into the ground with determination; there was no way I'd be able to keep up if he kept going the way he was.
Suddenly I saw it – well, I saw something -- but the way that Selphon was barreling toward it, it had to be what he was looking for. A bright light, unnaturally placed against the dark woodlands. It was white in its core and sent bursts of soft blue dancing upon the trees as it hovered several feet above the ground. Selphon tucked in his wings to land before the spiraling discuss, allowing me to catch up.
He shot a glance back at me, his eyes wide with something I had never seen in them before. Something like, worry, or concern – maybe fear; it was impossible to tell. The object pulsed in the air, hovering and glowing brighter as if it were growing somehow.
"What is this?" I whispered and dropped down onto one knee to put an arm protectively over Selphon's shivering body. His wings were cold with the misty air, and he pressed up against me, almost seeming to curl away from the this object he had been so eager to find.
The two of us stared into the heart of the light; it's glow made the spots on my glasses blur straight into my vision. Suddenly the glowing discus began to burn with heat, causing the both of us to scramble backward in surprise. And from within the heat came a great cry like nothing I'd ever heard before. The sound rattled my ribs and made my entire body vibrate with its deepness. I was suddenly reminded of every Jurassic park movie I had ever seen. My hands flew to my ears as the roar came again. The disk of light seemed to respond its thunder and suddenly exploded outward in a burst of heat and light.
Selphon let out strangled scream and before I could figure out what was happening, he was on top of me with his wings flared outward like a shield. The heat was scorching, like I had somehow gotten trapped inside a preheated oven, but something in my gut told me that it would have been a lot worse if he hadn't been shielding me from the blast.
The small dragon flipped his head over shoulder before snapping back and grabbing the sleeve of my shoulder in his jaws. Those sharp teeth of his grazed my skin, but I didn't have the time to care about that because instantly he was half run, half dragging me out of there as he did. Without the protection of his wings, the light was everywhere and it burned hot like a thousand days under the sun without protection.
I took the hint and started running. Never had my feet carried me so fast. Selphon took to the air again, but this time he hung low and lazy, taking great care to ensure that I was behind him at all times. Behind us the creature screamed as if it were being reborn from the light that burned the forest.
And burn the forest it did. Tree branches sizzled and cracking as the exposure threw them into flames. The heat burned into the back of my hoodie, but I never looked back to confirm, instead just kept running. Once beyond the reach of the light, the air grew cold and my glasses began to fog, but I didn't stop. Not even when my feet snared the out reaching roots, only pausing when I found myself sprawled out on the forest floor in a pile of wet leaves.
Selphon turned back and tugged at my hood urgently. I looked up at his bright orange eyes and he blinked at me slowly before leaning forward and nuzzling his snout into my hair. A high-pitched whine emanated from somewhere deep in his chest and he continued rub to his face into my hair, his hot breath clouding my neck when he pulled away and hung his head.
"I know you're sorry," I breathed and reached my hand out slowly, even though I was still lying on the forest floor in a pile of leaves.
He flinched like he thought I was going to hit him, but I just kept my palm open and a moment later he hid his head into my hand, his leathery skin tickling my wrist as he rubbed against me in an almost cat-like manner.
Selphon paused and looked back in the direction of the light. It was far behind us, but I knew that we both could still feel it's presence lingering somewhere in our beings.
"That was another dragon, wasn't it?" I asked as I pushed myself up to sit with my legs crossed.
As usual, he offered me no direct reply and only stared longingly in the direction of the roars that had pierced our souls. His eyes blinked closed for a moment, and in that brief second, he seemed to disappear into the night, but then they opened again, shining brighter than they ever had before and once again I saw something I had never seen in him.
Regret?
A rumble of thunder churned from the direction of the bright light and Selphon was instantly on his feet. He tugged gently at my arm with his teeth, motioning that it was time that we stopped resting and got back to running for our lives.
I looked up at the sky and readily agreed with him. The clouds above hadn't changed since the moment I had left the house that night – and there was no way there was storm coming with such weak cloud cover.
Something else was out there, and it was coming this way.
Selphon took to the wing and I did my best to keep up with him. Neither of us needed any more trouble tonight.
A/N
Ohhhh I am in love with the next chapter. We finally get to see our antagonist for our first time. Yas. Everyone loves themselves an antagonist. #LeverageMeetsHTTYD
How would you handle this situation? And isn't Selphon the cutest little pie ever? (If you think pie is cute that is). He genuinely seems to care for David,hopefully he's not in any imprinting stages otherwise David might have to be the mama dragon.
Cover above was made by StormyTheZebra for the cover contest I made for this story. First place winner, round of applause guys.
