The Awakening

CHAPTER 1

Please vote and comment. -C

The old woman hobbled down the dark, creaky stairs, frequently peering through the darkness that surrounded her for any followers. Generations of her family had once walked down this exact pathway. They had all believed that what was at the end of this path would save them all one day, would rid the land of a far greater evil than any of us could comprehend. Hopefully that one day was soon.

She had grown quite attached to them, for over 70 years she had been caring for them, with her mother, who had sadly passed away some time ago now. Every day, she had walked these stairs, bringing them fresh food, water and blankets. She begged for their eyes to open, for them to wake from their slumber. For hundreds of years they remained comatose, never moving nor making a sound. Their shallow breathing was the only detectable way to tell that they were still alive.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she made her way into the small library. She quickly staggered over to the blank wall opposite the staircase. She ran her hand along the wall feeling the texture change from smooth to rough underneath her hand. Sighing, she drew the symbol for hope and watched as the wall sink back before splitting apart and sliding to the side. She took one step into the narrow pathway, before stopping to allow the torches to light. The torches would only light if one of them had stepped into the passage or if they beared the mark of a protector. Luckily for her she bore the mark on her shoulder proudly. They all lit up in a row revealing damp, scuffed walls. The passageway smelled rotten, but she couldn't do anything about the smell, so she continued to walk only breathing through her mouth. She continued to limp down the pathway, this time she didn't check for followers as they couldn't follow down here.

She smiled in delight as she reached the end of the passageway and came upon the archway. She stopped to take in the unique design. She stepped forward to trace over the words Aquí reside Akail eo seu dragón Argon, eles nos protexeron, e agora nós protexelos, that surround the arch, feeling utterly safe. Tears formed in her eyes at the memory of her mother telling her the story of how her ancestors had built the arch, how it took over 400 years for the archway to have gained each tiny detail, and for the staircase to have been carved out of the stone.

She walked through the arch, which was a doorway to a familiar area. The cave was a circular shape, and in the centre of the room going up and down was a cylindrical shape. Leading up was a steady stream of sunlight that lead to Noverrisha, and down below was a dark abyss of never ending water. The outside of the room was freezing whilst the middle of the room was pleasantly warmer, but still cool, as the sunlight shone down the sunlit tube above. Adding to the cold affect was how the room was never fully enclosed. It was great at how the room was designed by nature due to the cave getting equal portions of sunlight.

As the old lady hobbled closer and closer to them. She noticed that the girl had once again returned to snuggling up with the dragon. Her face broke out into contagious grin. Each day she would move the girl away from the dragon to make her more comfortable, and each day so would come through that arch to find the girl back to her original spot. Although the girl never stirred, just simply scurried over back into the dragon's embrace. She signed when she was close enough to put down the tray, that had her muscles aching in response, unloaded the food and water she had brought. She swept the girls black hair out of her eyes, once happy with how they looked they she moved over into the sunlight, humming in delight as the sun warmed her old frail body. As this was the only time she could actually feel the sun warm her body she decided to soak up as much sunlight as could. She lowered herself to the ground, thinking about all the people that had died in hopes for them to wake up. She listened to the water trickle down the walls of the cave, to the soft lapping of water just below her that echoed and to the rumble of air as it escaped the dragons lungs. Unfortunately she had no idea what gender the dragon was so she was reduce to calling it a it. Se felt guiltily every time she called the dragon an it, as her mother had taught her proper manners. The old lady continued her steady stream of humming as she felt the safest she had ever been in her life. She stopped humming as the sunlight warmed her frail old body, this was her only opportunity to bask in the sunlight as she had lived in a mountain her whole life.

She thought about all the times her mother had pushed people away. Now she knew why. No one could know about them, it would only cause more peoples lives to be in danger. She couldn't talk to anyone either, she had to continuously push people away. The Morocnids would surely torture anyone with that kind of knowledge, and she could bear to have that on her conscious. She had wished many times for someone to talk to but in the end, she knew why she had to do this alone.

The Morocnids were ugly, barbaric beasts. They were never known to just kill someone, first they would hunt down their prey, next they would publicly, torture you to death making sure everyone had to watch on as this happened. They had many methods, all cruel. She had never witnessed any of this as she had never left the mountain, and simply because she was in hiding with many others. New people came everyday tho and the stories they told were enough to scar a person.

The Morocnids weren't worried about all of us. They had other things to deal with then some stray humans that posed no threat. She knew that once the rider behind her woke that would be another story. But right now they were all useless.

A sharp sound from her left snapped her out of her thoughts. She shook horrified of what could be behind her and what they had seen. The rider and dragon, she knew that she somehow had to protect them. So she scrambled as quickly as she could to her feet. She spun on her heels hoping to see her attacker, hoping to dear god that her ears were playing tricks on her. She backed up in the direction of the dragon praying for that safe feeling to come back.

Once she had thoroughly checked the cave from top to bottom she sighed in relief. She knew her ears were playing tricks on her. Hunching over in relief she started to hobble back to her favourite sitting place. After only two steps she froze in complete and utter terror. Someone or something was breathing down her back. Her first thought was that it was a Morocnid. As Morocnids were 7-8 feet tall and towered above her small 5 foot frame.

She knew right then that she wouldn't take the cowardly way out of it. She stood taller as she turned to face the beast, preparing herself mentally to face this horrible creature. Only it wasn't a Morocnid. It was the dragon.

Her first thought was that she was going to faint. Faint and wake up walking down those stairs all over again. Walking down them thinking about how many more time she would be walking down theses stairs

Only the dragon was awake. His tongue flicked out of his strong powerful jaws, while it's head was taking in the room that had held it for the last thousand years. He was very alert, and was taking in his surrounding. Behind the dragon also awake was his rider. She stared up at her dragon in horror, tears cascading down her face.

The old women turned her gaze back upon the dragon, she knew what the girl was staring at its face was marred, deep thick scars littered its body, scale and spikes had been ripped off it. It scared you to look upon its body.

The old women raised her hand, and gently placed it upon the dragons nose. It's great green beady eye snapped to her. A low growl started, rumbling through the room. The women quickly took her hand off the dragon and walked over to the girl.

The girl was leaning against the back leg of the dragon. The old women grabbed the girls hand causing the dragons growl to grow louder. But she didn't care she had to get them to help her. She waited for the girl to look at her before she spoke.

"Save us! Save us from the Morocnids, for their ferocity has plagued the land for far too long."