To Wake a Dragon - Naomi Lucas Page 0,3

voice muffled from somewhere deep within. A wave of relief crashes through me. I’ve found her.

“Haime, are you okay!? Are you hurt?”

“The boy ran in here, but I can’t find him—I can’t see.” Her high-pitched cry is far off. “I can’t see. I can’t see!” It grows shrill.

“Stay right there. I’m coming after you!” Setting my spear aside and pulling away from the entrance, I search for a piece of wood to light, but the rain has made its way down to drop in splats upon the underbrush. Rushing to the old naga nest, I find broken branches, concealed under the tree’s large roots. Grabbing the biggest of the branches, I tug out flint and fire moss from my pouch. By rubbing the moss at the end of the branch, I make a crude torch.

Returning to the cave opening, I light the torch and drop to a crouch. “I’m coming,” I call out. “Don’t move!”

Holding the torch before me, I unsheathe my dagger and descend into the cold darkness.

2

Drazak’s Dream

Petrichor invades my mind. The scent of fresh rain in the air, and the feel of that rain upon my wings. It slides over my muscles and between my scales, and with it is the smell of soil. Rich soil, filled with minerals and dampened with water. It calls to me like a flame in the darkness and brings me peace.

I am familiar with this dreamy feeling. It is one I have had countless times. So many times that the memories blend together until my life is one reverie after another. I also know somewhere, not here, it is real and more than a pleasant feeling.

It is raining.

My body does nothing with this knowledge, and I settle into it. I have tried and tried to hold onto more than these feelings—they only serve as a reminder of the passing of time—to no avail. It is the rain that keeps me sane… I think. It is the rain, the soil, and the damp all around me that has given me the knowledge of time. I have gone through this thousands of times, and because of that, I know I have lain here for hundreds of years.

I think.

So, I have settled into this cursed life, and I wait until the day that I finally fall into true darkness from which I will not wake up again.

Venom runs through my veins, poison, paralyzing me. An enormous injection that should have killed me long ago. Except I am an alpha dark dragon, and my body’s strength fights back death, even if I wish for it. Death does not come easy to dragons—especially dark dragons. We are resistant to it. And herein lies the humor…

What makes me powerful and mighty has also cursed me.

My heart pulses hard at the thought.

The only satisfaction I have is that the poison dragon who bit me is dead. I made sure of it before I fell from the sky and crawled into this cave, planning to recover—HAH! I tore off that dragon’s head with my teeth, forcing his body down to the world as I fell. His taste still lingers in my mouth, rancid and bitter. The memory of his blood spraying across my body comforts me when insanity threatens, replacing it with glee.

He did not take my territory.

That is all that matters. Though sometimes I wish he had. Then perhaps my rage would give me the motivation to rise again, to tear him to shreds.

He wanted to steal my nest.

My territory is in a prime location… With the gulf nearby and the fertile jungle filled with creatures large enough to eat, hunger was never a worry. And with its central location, the likelihood of a femdragon in heat flying by was high.

Fellow dragons envied my territory.

Though whether it is still mine, I do not know. I sense other alphas now and again, but I do not know if they sense me. It is not like the rain. Alphas do not approach one another unless they are of the same blood or fighting over territory—or a mate. One has never sought me out, and so I believe my presence goes unnoticed. Surely, if one had, they would kill me and put me to rest.

“Wait! Stop!”

My heart weakly thumps again. Is that a voice? No. The only voices I hear are in my head. Drazak, fight the insanity.

“Wait!”

I hear it again. It is muffled though, as if it is coming from a distance. The voice does not sound like my thoughts,