Blackstone

The First Test

I'm falling! The moment I stepped through the red door, I dropped straight into an immense open sky full of puffy white clouds. The wind screamed in my ears as I plummeted in free fall.

            My heart raced and pounded in my ears. Fear flooded through me in a white heat, and I fought to stay calm. Fear Kills, Fear Kills, Fear Kills, I thought desperately as I flew towards a towering cloud bank.

            I thought of David Ross.  Was this his plan all along? Lure me into his confidence and then set me up for a fall? Literally, I thought to myself with a sour laugh as I plunged through the air.

            No, they could have killed me at any time. I remembered David saying this was my first test and if I passed then I would be accepted into Blackstone.

            I rocketed towards the cloud bank and shot into its embrace. I blinked and flayed my arms as the thick white vapor surrounded me. This was even worse. I couldn't see where I was falling towards. How far above the ground were clouds? I tried to remember. A couple thousand feet? I didn't have much time. I had to figure out something fast.

            David said this was a test. If this was a test then there had to be a way for me to pass. There had to be a way!

            I fell out of the cloud bank. Below me stretching for miles in every direction was a thick jungle that melded into a grassy savannah. In the distance, a towering mountain with a snowcapped peak loomed over everything. I was only seconds away from smacking into the jungle.

            I closed my eyes and remembered Mary's teaching: a Keeper of the Wend does not run from death; She embraces it. I relaxed my breathing, my heartbeat slowed and I stretched my arms out. If I was going to die than I would meet my fate as a warrior. I braced myself for the impact.

            Whump! Something large and scaly snatched me out of the air just a hundred feet from the treetops. I was smothering against cold, scaly, talons that enveloped me from head to toe. I fought to turn myself around but it was no good. Whatever grabbed had me good. With a supreme effort, I squirmed around and managed to get a look at what had grabbed me.

            I looked up at a large, scaly, underbelly that looked about the size of truck. Large leathery wings stretched out and beat through the air. That was all I could see for now. Below me, the jungle canopy flew past.

            Where could I be? Obviously, the red door that I stepped through was some type of teleporter, but where had I gone to? And more importantly, what had grabbed me out of the air? I might have traded a quick death by falling for a slower one by whatever animal had snatched me from the sky.

            I watched the jungle give way to an elegantly manicured set of grounds that looked as well maintained as a championship golf course. The ground rushed up to meet me and the creature flapped its wings and dumped me on the ground.

            I sprang to my feet and prepared to defend myself. I just survived falling thousands of feet and the last thing I wanted to do was end up as a hot lunch to...

            A dragon?! I gazed at the creature that had rescued me from certain death. The size of a small house and covered in a beautiful array of green and gold scales, the dragon cocked its large head and stared at me. A magnificent beard drooped down from its mouth where I could see teeth the size of my refrigerator. I wouldn't be anything more than a late afternoon snack to this creature, I thought.

            I had fought dragons in the Summerland and they were nasty pieces of work – greedy, vicious, and cruel, with no more smarts than your average pet dog. However, I could see that this dragon was different. It seemed to possess wisdom, an intelligence that lifted it above just being an animal. This was a sentient being and it was studying me just as much as I was studying it.