The Dragon of the Wood

Timmy was a lonely boy, though not chronically. It was an event of unfortunate circumstance that the young boy found himself in the woods, scared, alone, and unsure of how to get out. He had gone outside, barely leaving the sight of his home to play in the woods along the back of his yard. It wasn't until his mother called for him to come back inside that, as a nine-year-old will tend to do, Timmy ran deeper into the woods.

He wasn't trying to avoid anything in particular, and was simply proceeding with what was standard. Whenever he played in the woods, his mother would call him to come back after some while, he would go deeper - only slightly - and continue to play, and after a few minutes, she would call again, then he would start making his way back and meet her on his way out, from where she would bring him back inside.

Today, though, that was not what happened. Timmy played in the woods as normal, but after some amount of time, was surprised not to hear his mother calling again. Not knowing what to do, he turned to try to head back towards the yard. After several minutes of wandering aimlessly, the time came for Timmy to accept that he was lost. As any young child would do in so stressful a situation, Timmy fell to the ground and cried.

While he lay in this state of sorrow, a sudden voice interrupted, its deep timbre echoing through his mind, an aged and experienced male voice.

Timothy, the voice said. Come with me.

Timmy stood slowly, wiping tears from his eyes as he did. "Where do I go?" he asked aloud. As he finished his question, a tree to his left moved slightly, as though its branches had been struck by a sudden gust of wind. Timmy trustingly moved towards the movement, knowing that the voice was one which presented something positive.

Past these trees, you will find a clearing, instructed the voice. And there will I be waiting for you.

Timmy walked past that tree and through several others which were similarly swaying, though no others were, indicating the correct path.

Beyond these trees, the boy indeed found a clearing, one which he had never happened across before. In the center of the clearing, as real as the trees he had passed to arrive, stood the source of the voice.

A dragon, four legs as wide as trees supporting a tank-like body, all covered in shimmering black scales, stood in the exact center of the clearing. A serpentine neck rose up from its body, supporting a head which had a bony frill covering the nape and extended out in a snout which was lined with bright white teeth, the points of which protruded from the lips like a crocodile. Its long tail curled over the top of its back, ending in an arrowhead shape which pointed directly at Timmy.

Greetings, Timothy, the dragon said. I am T'kmela, and we need your help.

"My help? I'm nine."

Yes, Timothy. We need a child to save the dragons. Get on my back and I will explain everything on the way. Quickly, time is of the essence.

Unable to protest, Timmy ran to the creature, clambering onto his back. Once he sat in the center, T'kmela unfurled a pair of gargantuan bat-like wings, extending several feet above his body. He bent his knees and leapt into the sky, flapping his wings to propel himself up and forwards.

Timmy gripped tightly around T'kmela's neck as they soared far above the treetops at immensely high speed. As they flew, T'kmela spoke, just as he had promised he would.

Timothy, he said, not needing to worry about the wind interfering with his telepathic speech, both our worlds need your help. The light of the Dragonstone burns less and less brightly with each passing day, and without it, the dragons will be no more. Not only do we need you to save us, but without the dragons, your world will be in mortal peril.

"What does that mean?" asked the boy.

It means you are needed to stop bad things from happening to me and to you. We will arrive at the stone soon.

"What do I do?"

You will know.

Much sooner than expected, the dragon made good on his word, landing gracefully in another clearing which was surrounded by trees which were all bent slightly downwards. The clearing was extremely similar to the one they had left from, but possessed a certain ethereal glow, present though impossible to truly quantify.

In the center of the clearing, a large rock stood, nearly eight feet tall and just as wide, perfectly round except for the slightly jagged top. In front of the stone stood another dragon, this one covered in brilliant emerald-green scaling.

The stone appeared to be a normal stone, gray and relatively unassuming when compared with the innate splendor of the area around it. The green dragon sighted the pair as they landed, and spoke, with a slightly less deep, though more aged, voice.

This is the boy, then? he asked.

Yes, L'kria. Timothy is the child that will save our future. T'kmela moved his head, as if indicating to Timmy to move forward, which the boy obliged without question, standing now slightly in front of the dragon that had brought him here.

For all our sakes, T'kmela, I hope you are right. L'kria stepped aside, allowing a straight path between Timmy and what he presumed to be the Dragonstone. He was lost for a moment before he instinctively began walking forward, not truly knowing what he was doing. Before he was aware of what was happening, Timmy found himself standing directly at the base of the stone.

Directly in front of him, the only decoration on the Dragonstone sat at about his eye level, making it almost imperceptible to the massive dragons. A small carving of a dragon in flight, lacking much detail, inside a circle, looked back towards him. Before he could react, Timmy was already raising his hand up, placing his open palm over the image. He closed his eyes and stood, just like that, for nearly a minute.

Suddenly, a humming sound began to emanate from the stone. Timmy opened his eyes but did not move his hand. The circle around his hand and the image began to glow a bright white, slowly expanding out to cover the entire large rock. The Dragonstone glowed so brightly that he had no choice but to close his eyes again.

When Timmy opened his eyes, he was laying down on the ground, in the same place that he had been when his mother had called him the first time. He stood up slowly, feeling dizzy and grasping the sides of his head.

"Timmy!" his mother called for the second time. He did as he always did and began to walk back towards the edge so that he would meet her in the woods. When he did, she looked at him with a small amount of shock, having met him just on the edge of the yard. "Timmy! You're filthy! You've only been out here for ten minutes, how is this even possible? Go take a bath before supper."

Timmy nodded and followed his mother inside, where he went to the bathroom to do as he was told. He closed the door, sad that his adventure had been nothing more than a dream.

When he threw his shorts onto the top of the toilet, though, out of his pocket fell a shimmering black scale.