Dragon Fruit

Chapter 5

I heard nothing as I slept. The silence was calming, like I didn't have a care in the world.

When I awoke, the silence went away. It was replaced with the screams of people wanting more. Like hungry baby birds after their mother arrived. My eyes slowly opened, and light flashed into them before settling into it. As I looked around, I noticed I wasn't in the forest. That, or the trees suddenly turned into weird looking houses on the ground.

I began to notice the people a lot more. Some looked at me, some looked next to me. When I looked to my left, I saw Ryuu curled up next to me. I held him in my arms and tried to stand up. I hit my head on the roof of the... bark like thing. Nevermind, it was harder than bark.

I reached for my bow, and realized it wasn't there. I looked for it in the heat of the moment. There it stood to my right, on a shiny pedestal made of marble. I crawled to the side of the thing that had the noise.

Humans. Humans everywhere.

In shock, I fumbled back. There was one voice that was louder than the rest.

"Going once, going twice?" The voice shouted.

The people replied with numbers. 1000, 1200, and so on. I didn't understand why they were screaming numbers, but I began to grow worried.

"SOLD!" The voice shouted once more.

Suddenly, the thing began to move. It didn't have legs, so I assumed it was a weird wagon I couldn't get out of. Ryuu stood up on my lap and growled at the people who tried to flash light into his eyes.

Humans are weird.

I held Ryuu tight in my arms, to the point that he almost couldn't breathe. Just then the weird wagon stopped moving. I looked up from the cage and there stood this man covered head to toe in gold items. A golden necklace stretched across his chest spelling something out. It was so radiant I couldn't see what it was trying to say.

The man chuckled. "Thanks boys. I'll take it from here" He said.

Just then there were other people crowded around him, flashing light at us, kneeling down to look at us. As Ryuu was snarling at them, I was afraid. The weird wagon began to move again. Slower, but still moving.

We entered a 'hotel' covered wall to wall with shiny stuff. It took awhile for the weird wagon to begin moving again, but when it did we were approaching a closed iron space. The doors closed without anybody moving them!

The platform we were on went further down into the building. I assumed we would be seeing the trees they were on, but I was wrong. There was an empty hallway, with doors leading every which way.

We were dragged into one of these rooms and the door closed behind us. It was dark, with only one dim light covering that side of the room. It flickered occasionally, but never for long.

I was confused and afraid. I curled up into a ball and shivered. The room was cold, frozen like the winters in the Arctic. I could see my own breath as I inhaled and exhaled.

Worried about what would happen to me after this, what I had assumed was night, I knew the next day would only be worse. I called Ryuu over to my side, and wrapped my arms around him. His skin felt warm and welcoming, and he was carefree. I kept him close and closed my eyes to rest. The last thing I remember was seeing this tall black figure enter the area I was being held in.