Dragons in the Valley

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. I have lived in this Valley my whole life, but never before have I laid eyes on dragons in my life, and it’s my fault they’re here. The sound of gunfire echoes across the valley, but their hides are so thick that the bullets bounce right off. With a mighty breath of fire, a turret is destroyed killing all the people inside. The turret’s debris slides down the Valley’s walls down to the ground below with a mighty crash. Why? Why did I dabble in the dark arts? Is this why they’re illegal? What’s the point of such a spell if you can’t even control your dragons?

“Hey, are you listening? HEY!”

“Huh!?” I snap out of it to see a short, stout black man with glasses on and brown eyes.

“Are you alright? The dragons didn’t hurt you?”

“Umm…no,” I answer as a dragon lights more of the town ablaze.

“Do you have any idea who did this?” asks the black man who I know as Mike.

“Yeah…it was…me,” I answer hesitatingly.

He then asks me a question I was not expecting and does it so casually, “First time using dark magic?”

I look at him in shock only uttering out, “Huh?” as another building falls down the side of the valley.

“Yeah. I also dabble in the dark arts, but however, summoning dragons is at least a Lv. 5 spell. A little too advanced for a beginner. That’s why you can’t control the dragons. And with so many of them, I presume the spell is out of control.”

A white dragon lands in the middle of town and unleashes a breath of ice that freezes everything in its path. Mike asks, “So where’s the spell circle?”

Still stunned, I point towards my house, and he says, “In the basement?”

I nod. He claps his hands together before slamming one of them into the ground, and there’s something shining in that hand. Another hand pops out of the ground, followed by more as zombies climb out. Three zombies rise, and Mike gets out a canteen and hands it to the zombies. They take a drink as Mike explains, “Coffee. The key to making sure your zombies don’t have an appetite for brains is coffee.”

“Is it really that simple?” I ask.

“You’d be surprised how often the simple solution is the best one when it comes to the Dark Arts.”

I stand there not knowing what to say when a fire dragon lands on some houses and burns down several more. The zombies finishing the coffee and then I ask. “Don’t you need a spell circle in order to do necromancy?”

“That’s the thing. I’m good enough to pull off quick casting with the help of this charm,” he shows me the little gemstone in his hand, which is now dull and somewhat cracked, before continuing, “Unfortunately, Quick Cast has its limits of three zombies. Anyway, we need to get to your basement and disable the spell circle. Once it’s disabled, the dragons should leave in peace.”

An explosion sounds off as I yell, “How would you know!? Aren’t dragons supposed to be vicious, man-eating predators?”

“That’s what the government wants you to think so no idiot would try to learn how to tame a dragon. At least, that’s what I think, but I’m not an expert on the subject. I do have a friend who is though. (Another explosion) Anyway, what I’m trying to get at is that dragons are not normally like this and the spell is causing them great pain making them last out. You might have to apologize though once this is done.”

I stood there once again speechless and Mike says, “We don’t have time to stand here. My preparations are complete, so let’s go.” Mike starts running towards my house with the zombies following suit, their arms flailing in the wind as they run. I didn’t think zombies could run. I run after them because I do not want to be left alone in this crazy situation. A dragon lands in front of us and flaps its wings sending a huge gust at us knocking us off the ground and I land on my face. I didn’t see what happened to Mike, but I noticed a zombie run up and bite the dragon on the leg. It roars in pain and quickly takes off, I assume to shake the zombie off. “Luckily dragons are immune to zombism.” Are they? Today is just a learning experience. We keep running and see an explosion cause a landslide. And we’re heading right towards it. Mike grabs my arm and drags me to the side, the landslide narrowly misses us. My house is right in front of us. An electric dragon lands a little distance and readies an electric breath, electricity crackling across its back. Crud. We run straight into my house as it launches its attack sending an electric streak across the street.

The house is dark, empty, and desolate. My parents fled at the first sign of trouble, with me in tow. However, we got separated in the crowd. Now I’m back here. Mike sends the zombies outside as we go down the stairs to the basement on the side of the house next to the stairs that go up. We see the spell circle glowing red with various runes I attempted to copy into it.

“Well no wonder it’s out of control. Your runemanship is terrible.”

“Give me a break! It was my first time!”

“I know. And that’s why it’s important to practice on smaller spells. Your runes are all over the place. Haphazard rune placement bogs down the spell and completely changes its meaning. This should be simple to fix. But once it’s done, the Elder Dragon will show up and demand an apology for all this,” he turns to me and asks, “Are you willing to own up to your actions?”

I answer, “Yes.”

Mike states once more, “Remember if word gets out, and with your apology it most likely will, that you summoned the dragons here, you will be labeled as a terrorist and an enemy of the state and the government will most likely sentence you to execution. I can help you get out of here alive, but you’ll never be able to have a normal life again.”

I gulp and ask, “And what happens if I don’t apologize?”

“They will most likely burn you down right then and there and burn down the entire Valley in retaliation considering everybody in it as an associate of yours.”

I take a deep breath and say, “I guess I don’t have much of a choice.” I nod. “Time to own up to my actions.”

Mike nods and says, “That’s the spirit.”

He takes off his backpack and pulls out another gemstone from it. He walks into the circle and slams it into the ground. A faint noise could be heard as the mana from the circle is funneled into the gem. The circle slowly turns black as the mana is taken away from it. The gem is now blood red as the circle is ash black. The sounds from the attack outside cease and I go out there. A red dragon with a scar on the left side of its lip lands in front of me. I take a deep breath and say to it, “I’m sorry for all the trouble I caused. I didn’t realize it was causing you so much pain. Please forgive me.” I bow in respect and as a sign that I’m truly sorry.

The dragon lowers it head to me and speaks, “Never let this happen again.”

It takes off and all the other dragons fly with it. Mike steps out of the house and says, “It’s over, but not for you. This is your new beginning.”

I turn to him and utter quietly, “Yeah.”

“Pack your bags, we’ll leave shortly.”

He walks a little distance away as I lament what I have done, tears flowing down my cheek. My life will never be the same.