The Origins of Anusa

Chapter 1: Desperation

A loud, clanking echoed through the darkness of the cave as a loud, rumbling sound swept across the cave.

"Who dares enter my territory?" a loud, deep voice said with a slight hiss.

"I enter this cave to find the mystic dragon of the north. I need to find the dragon to tell the tale to his adventure of his youth," someone assured the voice, looking around to find this so-called magic dragon.

"The dragon of the north is female," a slightly, higher pitched voice said.

"The.. the... you're a...a girl?! The traveler exclaimed clearly confused as they usually are when they figure this out.

Norbert sighed, "Of course you thought I was a guy, which technically I am. Well, as a dragon there is no male, female. So, yes, I am a guy, but would prefer to be referred, as the humans, a girl."

"That is not at all confusing," the traveler acknowledged sarcastically. "So, um... will you help me? I have a relative that is very sick and.." the traveler proceed to tell Norbert.

"Why, of course you have a relative that is ill!" Norbert growled shifting slightly so, her dark, blue backside was the most that the stranger could see.

"Please," the traveler pleaded, "this is my daughter I'm talking about."

Norbert sighed, wanting to help, but was not sure if this stranger was lying or not. Most people in the past have lied to Norbert to show off this famous dragon to get famous or rich, "Where do you live, stranger?"

"Oh, I live in Narisa."

"That is quite a long journey," Norbert pondered. "What happens if your daughter is not alive by the time we get there?"

"I...I haven't thought of that," the traveler sounded worried, very worried.

"How many children do you have?" Norbert inquired with a slight grin at this traveler, who must have heard the tale of her in passing, and not the full tale. Most people would have known that even from this distance Norbert could hold off the death of humans. Also, she knew this stranger was not lying, because of the worriedness in his voice was genuine.

"Just her. Her brother died early from this same illness," the traveler explained. Shifting his face away from her, even though she couldn't technically see him, does not mean she did not know he was trying to hide the tears from the blind dragon. Sobbing he said, "Please, if we don't get there soon..."

"I will help you, but you must come to me with food and tales, and I, in the future may tell you mine," Norbert said getting up and walking out of the cave.

The stranger scrambled to move out of Norbert's way, but got swatted by her tail. "OUCH!" the traveler exclaimed from where he was sitting on the rocky ground.

"Sorry about that. If you did not know I am unable to see. I have a tendency to hit rocks when I walk around my cave," Norbert apologized turning her head in the direction of the stranger.

The traveler got up slowly and looked around seeing that most of the rocks in the cave were near the sides of the cave, or near the entrance of the cave. He realized that Norbert was a really dark shade of blue, coming close to black.

"Hop on," Norbert insisted when they were on the ledge in front of her cave, which was high in the Siddlion Mountains. Norbert could smell the fir in the air from the valley before her cave. Even if she couldn't see the beautiful view that was there does not mean she did not enjoy the fresh air and the swirl of colors in her vision.

"Are you sure this is safe?" the traveler complained as he looked over the edge at the valley far below that had a bright, orange, shimmering lake in the center from the orange sky around the newly setting sun. Around the edges of the valley with high, steep mountains, but on the far side of the valley was a ravine, where a river winds down to feed the shimmering lake."Can't we walk? You are... blind and we may cra...crash, and..." the traveler insisted nervously as he glanced at Norbert, who was stretching her wings.

"Well, if you do not hop on soon. I will just go rest in my cave then, until the next traveler comes with his own requests, that can or cannot be helped varying on his own requirements," Norbert interrupted turning around to start walking into the cave. 

(I started rereading this, I'm going to regret publishing this, but hey, if you always live life without regrets what do you live for.  What do you stand for Burr, Sir. {Sorry, I've been listening to Hamilton a lot recently. If you have never listened to Hamilton stop reading and go listen to it. It's amazing.} Hope this makes you cringe less than me. I plan to publish once a week until I run out of story. If you want it to come out faster tell me in the comments. :) )