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The Dragon's Lair

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~* If you are to find a dragon, first find a girl with green eyes.*~ ~KRAGEN QUOTE~

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The wind bit at my face, as I clung to the pole.

Looking down, I could see Tayani gazing up at me, with her pretty face wrinkled up with worry.

*drooldrool*

I gave myself another UMPF! , trying to reach that stupid arrow.

Wish I could use my magic...

=c'mon! almost there!=

My face sweating, my back hot,

=C'MON! JUST...A...FEW...INCHES...AWAY!=

"ERGH!"

My fingertips brushed the feather of the arrow, as it quivered in the wind, but refused to budge.

Angered, I gave one last urge to reach the white feathers. Finally, my hands grabbed a sure hold on the neck of it. My burden lifted.

I PASSED!

I slid the whole mile down, with a triumphant smile. I was wheezing, but I didn't care at the moment. Tayani squeezed through the already filling up crowd of people congratulating me.

She wrapped her arms around my neck and starting to kiss my cheek. ^ ^ hehe I have the best fiancé in the world...

Anyways, back to the victory at hand.

I had just gone through stepping on slabs of coal that had been burning on fire for half an hour, having to fight the best swordsman in the village, and to surviving for half an hour, and lastly, having to get the Elder's Arrow from the Pole. A mile.

I had to train for years just for this, and now I'm fulfilled!

I can get married to my fiancé! Our village is very serious about marriages. The man has to be strong and able to protect his wife and children. The woman also must be strong, but also graceful and patient in what she does. Tayani has gone through her tests easily before me. She had passed them all easily for she was unusually strong and patient for a woman.

That's why I love her!

Then all the excited chatter was hushed as the 7 elders got together in their ceremonial circle. Tayani looked at me. We were ready.

We both walked up to the middle of the circle and the elders began to chant. I remembered this happened to my friend. He had to go to the middle of the circle with his fiancé, and they were married on the spot.

But since our village was the magic one, you also had to be granted to 7 elder's assurance that your magic was in check with the marriage. Like I said, our village takes marriage seriously.

But I am very young compared to most men who marry...

I'm only 19. I've training for 12 years. Although I had been young, only 7, I had been determined to get married.

I was smiling ear to ear. Looking into Tayani's green eyes with my face full of love, my mind emptied to the chanting of the elders. They all lifted their arms.

And the procession started. My dark green magic flowed while Tayani's white surrounded her. A strong wind whipped everywhere.

=Finally. 12 years just for this day=

I closed my eyes waiting for the check to be over, and I would be officially Tayani's husband!

But something went wrong.

Our magic began to swirl into each other. White and green mixed, and my eyes snapped open. Our bodies began to get sucked into an illusion.

~~~~~

=What is this?=

I couldn't breath.

=Tayani...=

My arms were stretched out toward her. But she was moving away, her arms were like mine.

=TAYANI!=

I tried to run, but I couldn't.

Then I saw it. The dragon. It was massive, huge. It's claws locked around Tayani's limp waist.

Its coloring was like our magic when it had mixed together. Marble white and dark green. Swirls and swirls.

I closed my eyes and ran. I ran and ran, trying to get to the dragon and Tayani. But they were fading...fading...My world turned black, and I knew no more.

~~~~~

"Damino! Damino! Please wake up! Damino!"

My eyes cracked open.

I covered them with my hands against the light.

Where was I?

Mom?

"DAMINO! PLEASE! *sob* WAKE UP!"

Tayani? Tayani!

I reached up and caressed her face.

"Did you see it Damino? Did you see it? It grabbed me! It was so beautiful though..."

The Dragon. My memory rushed back. White and green. Tayani...

"Tayani?"

"Yes?"

"Please stay here with me..."

She smiled and sat next to my cot. Then I heard a shuffling, and everyone left the room, revealing the 7 sages. They were all frowning, with a scared glimmer in their eyes.

Scared? The elders? The sacred sages? No. It couldn't be. They were never scared...

"Damino." Farin said with a grim hoarse voice. It really revealed his age.

"Damino." He repeated. "Your magic. Tayani's magic. It fits too much. You...you have to go to The Dragon's Lair."

I blinked. Tayani? Me? Magic? Fits?! DRAGON'S LAIR?!

Dragon. I still shivered whenever I thought of that dragon...Farin's voice interrupted my thoughts.

"You must go to it and find the 7 stones that finish your marriage. But that's not all it fulfills."

Farin cleared his throat. "It is a prophecy. I knew it would happen someday, but I didn't think it would be this soon. And definitely not to you. But magic is strange and mysterious and has its own ways of showing itself to our world."

"So what is the prophecy and what does it 'fulfill'?"

"It's a story that was told a long long time ago. A story that was known to repeat itself one generation ONE time after their own."

[AN: The old guy's still talking but I'm getting rid of the quotation mark okay? Okay.]

~

There was a young woman. She was an outcast in her it was rumored that she was born of a Dragon and not a human. Although this is thought to be impossible, it was the only possible explanation in the people's eyes.

She was a stout strong girl with the prettiest green eyes you ever saw. When she was just a babe, a young couple found her at the summit of Raga's Mount. That was where the ancient ones, the Dragons dwelled at the time.

When that young couple saw the baby, they thought she was an answer to their prayers. For the woman was barren and could have no children, so they took that young girl, and raised her as their own.

When she grew to the age of five, her brown eyes began changing. It went from brown to hazel, to a bright emerald green! The couple was astonished. And scared. A green eyed girl was a menace to society.

One day, a great cry was heard, and the very same hour, the girl disappeared.

A few weeks after the young girl disappeared, a great flame came from the midst of the mountain. The people were afraid, for they knew that mountain well, and it had not burst flames for centuries.

The flame engulfed the entire village and burned it down, killing everything and everyone in its wake.

Exactly three years later, that girl came back, very different. Her eyes had become even GREENER, if possible, and she had a quicker mind, and much better movements. She sensed whenever something was wrong, and could tell when trouble approached.

But when she came back and saw that her village was empty, she broke down in tears.

Now when she cried, another cry was heard matching her own, but different. It was sorrowful, masterful, and fearful all at the same time.

They cry was like a symbol of her sadness for her foster mother and father for she knew she would never see them again.

A moment later, wing beats could be heard, and a great Dragon emerged from the fog in the mountain. It was the darkest green, almost black, but its scales glittered in the sun.

Majestically, it lowered to the ground in from of the girl, and she climbed on its back, and both still crying, disappeared for three more years.

Now, she had a young lover who cared for her deeply, and had not fled when everyone else did; instead, he stayed in the village and hid, waiting for her to come. But when he saw the dragon, he could scarcely move, for he was frozen in terror. His Green Magic had sensed she had dragon blood in her, but did not really think much of it.

After she was taken away, he got up and followed the dragon to its lair.

But what happened inside is not known. All that is known is, the boy came back with his bride, and a large round, oval-shaped sphere that was an egg. A dragon's egg, and took it home. They raised it, and it is not known what has happened to it.

But we do know that it was sent back to its own kin, and that they lived happily ever after.

~

[AN: okee we're back to Farin]

Farin took a breather while Tayani and I sat there, aghast. Unable to say anything. He cleared his throat.

"That is the story. But in the legends told to you in the past, it is usual for the second happening of a legend to be quite different than that of the first."

He glanced at me.

"For instance, it says that the woman's eyes were green, and so they were. But look at Tayani. Is not her's green also?"

"And then it also says in the legend, that the boy had green magic. Damino, is not your magic green?"

"And Tayani. Do you know of your true birth mother? You do have knowledge that your parents are not your real ones."

Tayani slowly nodded.

"But, there is a difference. Tayani is popular, and is greatly respected in her society, unlike the girl. And Damino has no reason to hide from her anyway."

"So, I propose that we wait until the time comes when it is decided for you to go back Damino, because you are the one who must bring back one Dragon's egg and raise it."

My eyes were the size of Raga's Mount. Raise a Dragon's egg? How do I know if there are really dragons? And if there is, how do I feed it? How am I suppose to take care of it? This is confusing...

Then my head jerked up to a sudden jolt of pain. It felt like a knife had jarred its way into my head.

Clamping my hands against my ears, I tried to block the pain out..but it just got..harder...

I felt sickness..

I felt loneliness..

But most of all, I felt sorrow.

Someone, or something had gone from the earth. Died.

~~~~~