The Great Forest

Timor

William woke up in a cold sweat. He sat up in bed, feeling the cool, early morning air. The sun had barely risen, giving the sky the slightest bit of light. Even though it wasn't very cold in his room, he was shivering intensely. He uncovered himself and sat at the edge of the bed, trying to steady his breathing. His dream had been so real, so vivid, so terrifying. The confusion he felt during the dream still lingered, almost like throbbing. With a start he realized the source of the confusion wasn't the dream itself, but what caused the dream.

Timor.

William's heart skipped a beat and he froze. The strange presence felt stronger than ever.

Timor.

What was that word? William gulped as he put a hand to his head. Somehow he felt the presence was telling him something. It was telling him-

Timor. 

It wasn't a word, it was a name. The presence was telling him it's name. Scared and confused yet extremely curious, William closed his eyes and examined the presence with his mind. It stood out like a tumor, and felt cold and hard. It had a menacing aura, which deterred William from fully exploring. The presence noticed and pressed further.

Timor. Timor. Timor.

A pang shot through William's head and he cringed. A voice continued to chant the name, gradually getting faster and louder. William held his ears trying to block out the sound, but the voice only grew louder and quicker until the pang was constant and his ears were ringing. The presence began to envelope his mind, until the same confusion he felt in his dream took control. Out of desperation he asked, 

"Wh-wh-who are you?"

I am Timor, Guardian of the Ozai.

"What do you want? Why are you in my head?"

You will be my eyes, and my ears.

"What do you mean? W-what...? What do you want from me?"

You have shut me out for far too long now. It is time for you to surrender.

Those last words sent a chill down William's spine. In an effort to contain it, he decided to step outside for some air. He put on a warm shirt and snuck out the front door, walked to the end of the street, down the hill, and onto the bridge.

You think simply leaving your house will hide you?  No matter what you do, I will always be able to know where you are. We are bonded, you and I.

William steadied himself against the stone ledge. Whatever this presence was, it was not friendly. He needed to be careful.

"What do you mean, we're bonded?"

We share a telepathic link. As human, and dragon.

Dragon. The presence, Timor, was a dragon. William remembered last spring when the village was attacked by what was supposedly a dragon. Now he knew, it really was one. Suddenly a surge of memories he thought he'd lost during that time came flooding back. He remembered being trapped by a huge, black, monster with piercing yellow eyes and razor sharp teeth. He couldn't see anything else.

Yes, there it is. You've finally remembered, and now we can become one. Join me, William. Be my eyes. Let me gaze upon the world of the humans.

Timor wrapped itself around William's consciousness like a python and squeezed, causing him to feel faint with a migraine. Before he could fight back, Timor had lodged itself as a permanent part of William's mind, constricting everything else in the process. The migraine in his head raged on as Timor leafed through every bit of memory, every bit of thought, and every crack and corner of William's mind. The power and strength of Timor was too much, and William was soon retching over the side of the bridge, nose and ears bleeding, slipping into unconsciousness. As he blacked out, he could hear Timor hissing,

Yesssssss.

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The girl walked leisurely through her grove of apple trees, admiring the early morning cool of September. She smiled as she examined the apples, knowing they'll be good for picking in a week. As she picked an already ripe one and took a bite, a small yellow bird flew from the tree and landed atop her head of messy black curls. The bird whistled a lovely tune to her, and she whistled back. The bird, satisfied, attempted to fly away, but one of it's feet tangled in her hair. She grabbed the bird quickly and untangled it. As she held it in her hand and looked into it's eyes, the bird's aura quickly changed to that of fear. It began screeching and twisting and pecking. Confused by the bird's actions, the girl squeezed tighter, and tighter, and tighter until it's eyes bulged out of it's head and it's ribs cracked with a squash and it's feathers fell out in bloody splotches. She watched with interest as the life left it's body.

She dropped the bird corpse to the ground and continued walking, wiping her hand on her tunic.