The Green Devil

Chapter 2: The two bridges

Dase, Rildan, Neyba and Lita reached to the place where the consumed bodies were found. They stopped, bent over, examined the dead, and remained silent. After a while, they gathered together again. Without any words, they began to stride toward the direction where the green Dragon had gone. They wanted to find him and kill him.

"But how do we do that?" asked Lita. "He's much stronger than us."

"Maybe instead, as a consolation for our lost, would we ask him to teach me how to become a Dragon Disciple?" suggested Dase.

"What, you mean this hybrid between man and dragon?" asked Lita. "Why would you want to become such?"

"It'll be so cool," said Dase.

"You don't have magic powers, you cannot do that," Rildan said. "The only one here that could possibly turn into a Dragon Disciple is Neyba."

"And I'm not going to ask for help from the dragon that killed our townsfolk," said Neyba. "And neither are you, Dase."

"I know," said Dase. "It was a joke."

They reached the edge of a chasm, and at the bottom of it was a stream. Above it were two rope bridges: One seems quite safe, but the other seems loose and unstable. As if it were obvious, Dase, Rildan and Neyba were walking toward the safer bridge.

"Wait! Stop!" called Lita. "Maybe there's a trap here?"

The other three exchanged looks with each other, and eventually agreed that it would be wise to let Lita use her rogue's abilities to check the bridge. She stepped closer and examined it.

"I knew it, it's a trap," said Lita. "This bridge will disappear once we get to its middle. We'll have to cross the other bridge."

Dase, Rildan and Neyba looked at the rickety bridge.

"But ..." said Neyba in fear.

"No but," said Lita. "It's the only way."

They looked at the loose bridge again and began to walk slowly toward it.

When the four of them were already in the middle of the bridge, Dase glanced down and choked from the horrifying sight he had seen.

"Whatever you do, don't look down," he said.

The others looked down.

"I said don't look down!" He said.

There were dead bodies floating on the stream. Not horrible enough, they looked like...

"The people of Mostoville," said Neyba.

"I thought they were killed by the dragon?" Said Lita.

"I guess some of them managed to escape," said Rildan. "And they tried – they tried –"

"To cross the other bridge," said Dase quietly.

Suddenly, the sound of unraveling ropes came from behind. The two ropes that held the bridge from the side the group had come from had unraveled. The bridge made a turn of ninety degrees, smashed into the opposite cliff and was now hung vertically from the edge the group intended to reach. Dase, Rildan, Neyba and Lita were now hanging on for their lives.

"I knew it was a bad idea, Lita!" Cried Neyba. "We could just find another way to pass!"

"Like what, genius?!" Called Lita.

"It isn't the time for a fight!" Called Rildan. "We must think of a way to get out of this situation!"

But it was too late. The two ropes that held the bridge from the other side were also unraveled.

They fell straight into the water, and the bridge with them. They struggled to stay above the water and free themselves from the ropes, which got tangled up around their bodies like snakes.

As they approached the edge of the stream, they climbed the land and limped toward a small cave.

They stayed there for a while, regulating their breath and drying, and then they began to walk along the stream. They found a winding path that came up to the edge of the chasm and began to strive upwards. When they reached the top, the night was already at its peak, and Alhazarde's green glow illuminated the sky.

They saw a hill in front of them, with a small hut at its top. They walked up the hill and toward the hut. As they approached the hut, it looked more like a warehouse. A warehouse in the middle of nowhere.

And suddenly, Lita gave a cry of fear after seeing something.

"What? What is it?" asked Neyba, and Lita pointed to something huge that was moving.

Dase, Rildan and Neyba looked away. After seeing the thing too, they gasped.

A giant emerald creature approached them. He moved heavily, and his body was adorned with huge lizard-like thorns. His growls seemed to rise from a deep abyss. It was the Tarrasque.

He came toward the four of them. They stood stiffly from fear, but then Rildan shook himself and tried to think. He looked at the warehouse and said, "Maybe there's something useful inside..."

The Tarrasque was already a few steps from the group. Rildan immediately entered into the warehouse, got out of it after a few seconds, and sprayed the Tarrasque out of a bottle he had probably found in there.

The Tarrasque stopped abruptly, then collapsed on his belly. He seemed to be asleep.

"What was that?" asked Dase, who was still looking at the Tarrasque.

"Sleep potion," said Rildan, putting the bottle in his pocket.

They were still looking at the sleeping monster.

"Do I see something painted on his back?" asked Lita.

"Yes, I see that too," said Dase. "It looks like a circle."

"I know what it is!" Cried Rildan. "It's a teleportation circle. If we stand inside it, we'll be sent somewhere else."

"And where do you think it will take us?" Asked Neyba.

"Well, Zordorad was the one who sent this Tarrasque here," Rildan guessed. "Maybe the circle leads to him."

The four of them were silent for a few moments, looking toward the Green Star.

"This circle leads to... to Zordorad?" asked Neyba in dread.

"I suppose so," said Rildan.

"Well, we've seen enough, what an adventure! Now let's go back..." said Lita quickly, and started to run in the other direction, but Dase managed to catch her in her shirt and stop her.

"Now you want to go back?!" He asked her. "So why did we chase a dragon, survive a fall from a bridge and defeat a Tarrasque that the Green Devil summoned?"

"Rildan did the last one," noted Neyba.

Lita looked frightened. "Well, maybe because –"

"There is no maybe," said Dase stiffly. "We've come to kill Zordorad, and we won't turn around just because we're afraid. We'll feel ashamed for the rest of our lives if we do so. Now you understand, Lita?"

"Yes," lied Lita, still frightened.

Dase, Rildan, Neyba and Lita climbed the Tarrasque, and when they reached one step in front of the circle, they took a deep breath and walked into it.

The four of them saw the same scene: They felt that they were flying extremely fast, both forward and backward at the same time. The surroundings began to spin, and in a moment they saw the colors mingle and turn green.

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