Bound To The Earth (Open Novella Contest 2020)

Discovery

I walked down the quiet hallways. Warm, morning sunlight seeped in the dirty windows and onto the floor. It was a normal routine for the hallways to be so empty this early in the morning; almost no one was ever up as early as me. The peace and quiet was just what I needed to plan my day.

When should I go and check out the rune? Should I go and see Reginald today? Should I bring Volkun with me if I end up seeing Reginald? Probably not. It might just be awkward, correction, it will be awkward.

"How many laps is that now?" I suddenly stopped in my tracks and turned to the doorway where Volkun was casually leaning against it, his arms crossed. His short brown hair showed clear evidence that he had just woken up, sticking up in random sections, but somehow it still looked well kept.

"I lost track after five."

"What's on your mind now?"

"Just planning my day. What are you doing today? Are you free? I need your help with something."

"Yeah. I don't really have anything planned. When do you need to do this 'thing'?"

"The sooner the better. If you're free now, that will work too."

"Give me five." Volkun closed the door, leaving me in the hall waiting for him to get ready. I tapped my foot impatiently, waiting for what seemed like hours. It wasn't that Volkun was taking a long time, it was just that I wanted to get to the rune as soon as possible.

True to his word, Volkun emerged from his room in five minutes. His hair was neater, but was just as unruly as it always is, and he had changed out of his comfy clothes and into ones that were more suited for town.

"So, what do you need help with?" Volkun asked as we walked towards the exit.

"I didn't tell you, but yesterday when I was out I saw a rune." I felt Volkun tense up beside me. "If you hadn't agreed to come help me, I was going to drag you along, quite literally. Thanks for not making me do that."

"Well, I'm glad you didn't. But did I hear you right? You saw a rune?"

"Yep."

"The practice of using and writing them died out so long ago that I have a hard time believing you saw one. If I didn't know you better I would have thought that you were joking around, just pulling my leg for the heck of it."

"Well, I'm not, it was one hundred percent guaranteed a dragon rune, not some graffiti."

"I never said I doubted you. Where are we going anyways?"

"Just follow me, I'll lead the way." As soon as the two of us were outside of the sanctuary, I nodded a greeting to Hyldan and broke into a run, Volkun not far behind me. Neither one of us broke the silence while we ran, enjoying the silence of morning. Before long, we were at the outskirts of the field I had been at yesterday.

"We're here," I said as soon as we arrived. I slid to a stop while Volkun jogged up behind me.

"Something's wrong," Volkun said suddenly. I turned a questioning gaze towards him. His brow was scrunched up in concentration, and his eyes were tightly shut. "I can sense a dragon, but it feels... different. It's not normal and I'm not sure why it's like that. We should leave, come back later."

"Nope, we're going." I grabbed Volkun's sleeve and started to pull him down the small hill, closer towards the building with the rune.

"Alena!" He protested, struggling out of my grasp.

"Volkun, it's fine. We just need to stay alert and we'll be fine. You even said it yourself, it feels different. Obviously whatever you sensed isn't a dragon."