The Crystal Odyssey

Chapter Fourteen: The Dragon Sealed In Stone!

Chapter Fourteen: The Dragon Sealed In Stone!
“Maya?” There was no sign of him. How could he sneak off like that and leave me here like that. I stood up and stepped off the tablet and onto the grass. I felt safe there but if some animal was to show up I wouldn’t know what to do. CRACK! I heard a twig snap behind me. I didn’t even turn to look. I ran, I just ran. This world was far more dangerous than mine, for all I knew I was being chased by a ten legged lion with twelve eyes and four wings. My imagination had become my worst enemy. I quickly turned my head to look back. There was nothing there but I couldn’t stop myself from running. I had kicked my body into flight mode and it wasn’t going to stop. I just kept running faster and faster. I turned my head again to look forward but I wasn’t quick enough. I rammed by body into a tree and fell to the ground unconscious.

I awoke to find myself back at the stone tablet. “How did I get back here?” I asked myself. Maya still isn’t here. This time I wasn’t going to move, I was going to stay put and wait for him to get back, but the tablet had another idea. It began to shake violently, so much so that it threw me of balance. I met the floor with a loud THUD! I turned around jittering with anxiety. The tablet had grown, literally. There was a large statue of a snake...no a dragon in front of me. “Arcani?” I whispered under my breath. It looked like the one I saw back at the cliff. This time could observe it in all its glory. It was calm and peaceful but I could sense the power and might it held back. There were orbs trapped in midair around her body: one, two...eighteen, eighteen orbs. It had two long whiskers that flowed half way down its body, just as I remembered. It had six legs, two near at the front, another pair halfway and the last pair near its tail. What a magnificent creature, it didn’t look like the one from Chinese legend. It didn’t possess any large wings but when I looked closer I notices three pairs of tiny wings on it legs. It had large nostrils and three sharp rows of teeth. I was gobsmacked. Such elegance and power perfectly balanced in one creature.

I want to touch it. I stood up thinking that it was merely my angle that made it appear so large but I was mistaken; it was rendered immobile by stone. Posing as it was about to take flight. I gradually walked towards it. I could sense the tranquillity surrounding its body and I did not want to sway it with tepid actions. The closer I got the quieter it became, this bought back memories from the crystal but I prayed that this time, it would not end in misfortune.