An adventure with a dragon

[Aurus]

A small dragon rummaged around in the dark cave. There were all sorts of interesting things to poke at inside, and what made it even better was that he was most likely the first one to poke them! The dragon had found a small opening in the wall of some ruins he had been napping in, and after squeezing inside had stumbled across a very odd looking ritual room. He didn't know too much about advanced magic yet so he had no idea what all the markings on the wall and floor meant, but that just made it even more interesting.

He knew the room had not been touched in many years, a combination of the smell inside and the small entryway he had accidentally broken into told him so. He was small compared to most dragons, still a curious youngling in the world and only about half the height of the one he was about to summon. Most young dragon's were bigger than him too, but he was told his species was more about magic and good looks by his fellow kin. And sure enough he was quite a sight! His scales were all a lovely smooth black, his long tail almost perfectly shaped. His pearly horns were short, and right in front of them were a pair of thin antennae with glowing green tips, well they glowed when he was awake at least. They were proving to be quite a useful light source as he poked his muzzle into various trinkets. The most obvious though was the giant pair of butterfly wings on his back, a massive variety of vibrant blues decorating them.

A bit more poking around and it finally happened. He poked something he shouldn't have. The whole room blew up into bright lights, strong magic being pulled in from everything within miles. The dragon practically squealed in panic, bolting for the exit as the room quaked, right into a bit of debris covering it as the dimensional wall was breached in that very room, pulling out to the realm ruled by humans to rip one out of that reality and drag her in to the realm of dragons. Coming to his senses as the now dully lit room came to stabilize, the dragon could only stare in wonder as a creature he had never seen before now stood where the rift had been!

[CaptNemo]

"COME ON!" Charlie beckoned out to Endry, "You're the ONLY ONE who is tiny enough to fit through that opening. Take a chance and go see what's inside there!"

Endry shot him a slight glare, "No. Way. I'm not going in there by myself! Who KNOWS what's in there! Could be spiders....or bats...or WORSE!"

Charlie rolled his eyes, "Like what?! A big, scary monster going to be hiding in that crevice and gobble you up? I highly doubt there is anything in there that will hurt you. Besides, I swear I see something glittering! You said you wanted an adventure. That's why we chose spelunking for our Spring Break vacay, remember?"

The short redheaded lass shuddered in response, "I agreed to go spelunking with you, yes. But I did not agree to go creeping into holes in the wall!"

"ENDRY! COME. ON. I want to know what's in theeeeere! You have your helmet light, so just DO IT! Just an in and out, for me, babe?"

"I'm not your babe, and I said NO!"

Charlie pouted, but then...a Lokian smile crept across his lips. He pulled Endry close to him in an awkward embrace, caressing the back of her neck tenderly. Endry squirmed in his grip, "What are you doing, you asshole?!"

Charlie released Endry and leaned against the cavern wall next to the crevice, [color=green"I'm giving you some motivation!"[/color] Charlie dangled a silver chain from between his fingers...it was Endry's necklace. The same one she had gotten from her late Grandmother. The icy opal gem that compromised the pendant caught the light, flashing with a sweet iridescence.

Endry's jaw dropped and she began to claw at Charlie for her treasure, "CHARLIE NO! CHARLIE, PLEASE! GIVE IT BACK!"

"You want it back so bad? Go. Get it." And with that, Charlie chucked it into the crevice, snickering as he did.

Endry's expression became rigid, and she gave Charlie a hard shove. She did not say a word as she squished her way into the hole in the wall, letting Charlie's laughter fade into the distance.

Upon reaching the other side of the little space, Endry dusted off her t-shirt and jeans and zipped her black leather jacket up to fight the sudden chill in the air. The space beyond the crevice was....strange and unsettling. There were strange markings dressing the walls, floor to ceiling. She let out a shiver...Was this where some crazy cult met, perhaps in some time long forgotten? She got the feeling of ancient mysticism flowing through the room, and it unsettled her. Perhaps why this room was tucked behind a crevice was because no one was meant to reach it? All the more reason to find her necklace and get out as quickly as she possibly could. She turned her head about, the light of her headlamp splashing against the floor. A slight glimmer caught her eye in the center of the floor and she grinned. "Bingo! Let's get Grandma's necklace and GO!" Endry picked it up gingerly before clasping it back around her neck, turning around to walk back out of the room.

But it seemed the universe had other plans for Endry. The ground shook beneath her, and the symbols around her began to glow bright. Endry wanted to call out for help as she shielded her eyes...but she was stunned into silence. What was going on?! What was happening?! What--

She felt a great pull as if she was stepping from her own body, and then the light began to fade back away. Was this horror over? Endry slowly began to lower her arms back down. Endry hoped and prayed there wasn't some freak cave-in or accident, leaving her trapped...She did not want the cryptic hole-in-the-wall to become her tomb. Endry's glacial, blue eyes scanned the area around her....There was rubble on the ground...Oh Lord, she was mentally preparing for the worst... However, Endry was certainly not prepared for what it was she saw.

A great beast, its scales a shimmering jet black, like tiny dark mirrors. It had a long, elegant tail and pearly horns and antennae that burned with a soft green glow. Then there were...butterflies wings? Massive and alive with different hues of blue that danced playfully in the dim lights of the cavern. Endry's expression dropped with her heart. Endry didn't believe her creamy skin could get any stark whiter, but somehow it did. What little color she had drained straight out of her skin. She back-pedaled quickly, tripping over her clunky boots and thwacking against the stone back wall. Endry slipped about and groped it for support. Her chest heaved as she failed to steady herself, instead curling up against the wall. As she continued to stare at the creature, her mind went blank and she clenched her eyes shut. What was she going to do, what was she going to do! More importantly, what was it going to do. Eat her, maim her, bring it back to its young?

All of these thoughts running through her head, Endry did the only thing that made sense. She let out a loud, shrill, blood curdling scream.

[Aurus]

The dragon was actually quite frightened himself, not really sure what was going on, or what this strange creature standing upright before him was. He crouched down a little as the he participated in a slight staring contest with her, looking over the redhead's features as well. He was a rather young dragon so he had to be very cautious, there were lots of dangers in this world and no one was really surprised when a young dragon perished. Elder dragons on the other hand, much more surprising if they disappeared. The scream caused him to jump back, he could easily read her attitude now, fear.

Being the foolish youngling he was he dropped his guard now, taking in a more casual stance as he sat on his rear, green eyes seeming to frequently dart to the sparkly necklace on her neck. "Erm, hi. Where did you come from?" he said with a curious tone. "Actually more importantly what are you?" he added almost immediately after. His tail was flicking side to side now very slowly as he sat. Now that he was no longer threatened he could afford to relax a bit, and hopefully a little conversation would get her to not scream again. He'd keep his distance for now though, the person was clearly scared of him, though that thing around her neck was begging for some more investigation if his eyes darting to it every few seconds whenever it glimmered was not enough to give that away!

[CaptNemo]

Endry's eyes were held shut tight. She didn't have the heart to watch as this creature, so much larger than herself and so strange to her, would do whatever it was large menacing creatures did to humans. Endry awaited the sweet embrace of death. Or maybe this was a dream....maybe a rock had hit her head when the cave-in happened? Yeah...that's it....she was hallucinating. Charlie had probably gotten out of the cave as disaster struck and was calling for help right now. Yeah...there definitely wasn't any thing- a thing she could only describe as a dragon- in the cavern with her. She would open her eyes and it wouldn't be there...

Endry was sorely disappointed by what it was she actually saw. That was to say, the dragon was still there. And this time, it spoke to her, "Erm, hi. Where did you come from? Actually, more importantly what are you?"

Endry didn't immeadiately respond, instead she just held her head in her hands, "Holy shit. Ho-ly shit. Okay, this- this is happening. This right now is happening. You hit your head, and you are imagining this big creature and it is speaking to you. Endry, you must have a concussion. Or you must be unconscious and dreaming right now." Endry began to cradle herself, however still keeping her eyes fixed on the dragon before her, wishing it to simply disperse into whatever it was imaginary creatures dispersed into. It seemed to be eyeing her necklace quite keenly....was it attracted to shiny objects? A forager, mayhaps? What was she thinking-- it was a figment of her imagination, right? What did it matter?

Endry simply sat there in silence for another moment, before giving a great sigh. It didn't seem like the creature was disappearing no matter how much she focused and willed it to, so she instead gave in and answered it's question, , "I'm from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the great big ol' US of A," Endry stated to address the first question. She found that it was very good she could still recall her home town and birthplace, and quite clearly at that. Maybe the brain damage was minimal. She continued to answer the creatures questions, taking the opportunity to check herself- see what vital information on who she was she could recall still-"And I'm a girl. A human girl. My name is Endry St.Raye, I am 21 years old. I was spelunking with my soon-to-be-ex-friend Charlie, and something must have happened and now I am having some sort of delusion about a big black monster with butterfly wings talking to me. You hear that? I know you're just a construct of my own shaken-up head, okay?! Some kind of dragon or something. You're some weird thing my mind made up to either distract me or to try and make sense of what has just happened. And soon, Charlie is going to come back with some EMT's or something." Endry continued to stare at the creature through all of this, clutching her necklace tightly as adjusted herself to simply sit comfortably against the same wall she had previously been cowering against. For some reason, construct or not, Endry felt she had to watch this...thing. It sort of....fascinated her. Why had her imagination cooked up this creature in particular? Would she be able to feel it if she tried to touch it? Could it touch her? Would it disappear if either one tried? Endry decided not to try, instead, keeping her distance and playing still with her necklace.

[Aurus]

The dragon gave a bit of a chuckle at the rather odd response he got from the human, perhaps she was some sort of entertainer or something? His antennae seemed to rise up a little as she spoke about him being imaginary and introduced herself. He did give a bit of an annoyed glare though as she continued on though about him being a monster and a figment of her imagination! “I am not imaginary!” he huffed up a little bit, “.. and I am not a monster! I am Karu and I am a proud fae dragon. I mean, I'm a little young and small but certainly not a mean monster!” He said sounding a little more annoyed than amused for a moment. “You’re the strange one around here. I've never heard of humans or this US of A place.”

Challenged now, he had to find some way to prove he wasn't imaginary. He thought a moment. “I know! You can touch me then! That’ll prove things!” he said, suddenly deciding to move a little closer, much much closer. Right up next to her in fact despite her likely protests. He probably didn't seem that big once he was next to her though, his head would barely come up to hers if she was standing after all. He was quick to take advantage of the new situation, lowering his head down to hers to let her touch him. However, his real reason for having her touch him on the head was the opportunity to get a much closer look at the strange and sparkly thing that she was clutching on to now, his eyes locked to the glimmering metals.

He seemed to be taking the whole situation much more calmly, probably because he had already decided she was not a threat and partially because the shiny thing was really interesting. One could only wonder how many young dragons had perished due to their fascination with sparkly treasures. It was a good thing for the human though, a cautious and alert dragon would be a much scarier sight.

[CaptNemo]

It seemed to Endry that she had offended this....she supposed based on its introduction, dragon. She supposed it was rather harsh to call it a monster...Wait, what was she saying, it wasn't real! Of course it would insist it was real...wouldn't any good fever-dream? It called itself Karu, stating that it was indeed a dragon apparently of Fae lineage. It was a young one, at that, and stating that it was no monster. It went so far as to call her the strange one!

Then, it proposed something odd...as if reading her previous train of thought, "I know! You can touch me then! That'll prove things!" and with that, the scaled beast sauntered over to Endry's side and bowed its head to her level. Endry shrank back as it...as Karu approached her. She supposed he wasn't as large and menacing once he walked up to her, seeming to be about the same size as Endry herself. Looking at Karu now, it seemed the dragon was probably around the same size of a colt. Endry had seen horses before...she just had to think of Karu as a strange, scaled horse...yeah, that was it. You know, instead of focusing on the horns that could impale, the teeth to eat, and the claws to catch. With that, though somewhat reluctantly, Endry lowered her hand to touch Karu's head. And she was shocked- for it seemed that he was solid.

Endry's eyes widened greatly, "I....I don't understand. Hallucinations shouldn't be so vivid...I shouldn't be able to...to feel your scales, or be able to touch you at all, for that matter... You...you really are..." Endry swallowed the lump in her throat, "You....you're a dragon. Dragons exist. How...how is that possible?! What exactly happened in the cavern?! Did I like, release you from trap door when I went behind the wall?" Endry took a moment to ponder when it finally struck her, "Did it have to do with the...with the markings all over the place? How is this possible?" Endry stroked the head of the dragon as if it were a pet, and is if would calm her nerves. She noticed still that Karu was eyeing her necklace...Was he going to snatch it from her?

"Furthermore, you're not going to... you know..." Endry pulled her hand away from Karu and instead held tighter onto her necklace, "Eat me?-Because trust me, I am NOT a tasty dragon treat, that's NOT what a human is... Or, you know, kill me for my shiny here? I've seen you staring at it and I can't give it to you! It was from my late Grandmother and I went through a lot of trouble to get it back from someone who decided to play keep-away with it." And under he breath, Endry whispered, "And look where that got me...stuck in a strange room talking to a dragon."

[Aurus]

The dragon did not seem bothered at all at the touch, in fact he had quite the smug look on his face on the entire time. Primarily it was because Endry was finally realizing that he was of course right in the fact that he was not imaginary. His tail flicked a little happily as he promptly decided that this was a great spot to lie down, keeping his head under that hand with a rather pleased look on his face as she continued the rubs atop his head. You would not find many dragons that aren’t too stubborn and prideful to admit it, but almost all of them enjoyed being rubbed in that area. Karu was still quite young too, so he even let out a slight draconic purr at it!

He gave a slightly confused look at her words. “What do you mean how is that possible? We’re all over the place. I’m sure if we went outside you’d see another one by the end of the day! And what is this cavern? This is just a room in some ruins a stumbled upon, I may have activated some sort of spell though, maybe that’s why you are here.” He offered. “I was just poking around a little, I didn’t mean to!” he added quickly

He looked a little disappointed as the hand withdrew, but he shook his head at her worry. “Oh no! Not at all, dragons made a rule not to actively hunt those with intellect, especially us younglings! It tends to get us killed!” He assured her with a bit of a self-agreeing nod. “Besides, I’m far to young to have a home or a hoard anyways, I’d just get it stolen or lost, but it is very pretty! Maybe we should go outside and it will help clear your head a little.” He suggested, moving over toward the wall he ran into earlier, wedging a couple claws into the rubble blocking his entrance to move it aside. As light poured into the room, all that would be visible was the strange alien looking foliage of the vines over the passage, all the leaves looking like they were drooling a little with their shape.

[CaptNemo]

"What do you mean how is that possible? We're all over the place. I'm sure if we went outside you'd see another one by the end of the day! And what is this cavern? This is just a room in some ruins a stumbled upon, I may have activated some sort of spell though, maybe that's why you are here. I was just poking around a little, I didn't mean to!"

Endry blinked in slight confusion, "So...so there are more of your? Jesus Christ!- dragon's aren't anything but... but....fairy stories where I'm from. Where I'm from dragon's just simply aren't. real! They're made up!" The redhead palmed her own face, letting it slide down from her face back around her trinket, "And the cavern...it was where I was. We were exploring around in a cave and Charlie...he threw my necklace into this hole in the wall so I would go in there and check it out for him. It had all these markings and then there was this light- and I guess that light was...whatever spell you did. Holy Hell....this is all strange. In just one day I have encountered not only a goddamn dragon, but I've found out there is MAGIC too...I'm not sure whether to be terrified or pleased as punch. I dreamed of that stuff when I was kid, to be sure but...this is all...a bit much to take in."

With that, the dragon reassured her that her necklace was safe, that she was safe. Endry let her hand drop to her side and let out a slight sigh of relief. Next, Karu suggested that maybe they go outside to clear her head with the fresh air. The fae dragon dug its claws into the rubble, and tore it away with what seemed like ease. Light began to enter the room from some foreign sun, and Endry shielded her eyes until she adjusted to the change in lighting. As she stared outside , she noticed that the plant life was...strange. There were vines, twisting and curling, with oddly shaped leaves decorating them... Endry pushed herself from the floor and cautiously stepped over to stand just beside the entrance and stare outward, "Dragons...Magic...and weird plants....Karu? Can you...can you tell me exactly where it is I am right now? What this place is? Because Toto, I have a feeling we are not in Kansas anymore, so to speak. Is this even on Earth? In the goddamn same galaxy or universe?!" Her expression was dumbstruck and sorrowful as she continued to speak, "And Karu? How....how do I go home from here? If it's all the same to you, I don't think I want to go out there. I mean...it was nice meeting you and all, but Charlie is probably super worried about me. The authorities are probably looking for me. Can you, you know...send me back the way I came?"

[Aurus]

Karu nodded a little, finding this rather interesting that this Endry person had never heard of magic or dragons before! “Oh there are all sorts of dragons! I’m actually just a small one. Er, cause I’m young!” he added that last part rather hastily, like he was embarrassed by the fact and deluding himself into thinking he was going to get as big as the other types of adult dragons. His particular lineage was known for being rather small for dragons and he was a bit jealous of the bigger ones!

He led the way outside, they had actually been in a hole in the wall of a much larger structure that looked like it was crafted by a two legged race. The two must have been in some sort of hidden basement. He gave a happy inhale of breath, happy to be out of the smelly ‘old air’, turning around to make sure he was being followed. “We’re outside, at some ruins right now!” he answered quite bluntly to her question about where they were, clearly directions and geography were not his strongest subjects. “I think there’s a naga settlement to the north, but I’m not sure if they’re one of the friendly ones. I have no idea where you came from, probably somewhere I’ve never been. I don’t know very much about that sort of magic, I just poked something! Maybe an elder dragon would know about it, but they tend to keep to themselves unless you have something they want. I mean you could ask, you might be interesting enough being a.. human I think you said? One might help if it’s bored”

He felt a little bad about this. After all, he was the one who had found her. He was clearly innocent of actually casting the spell of course, it wasn’t his fault that poking that rock set it off! Magic users should be more careful! He decided to change the subject. “Also, what’s a Kansas?” he added, the movie reference of course completely washing right over him.