Dragons Night

Prologue

Twenty-one years ago, a mighty dragon dubbed Lucifer was being hunted by dragon hunters. In his youth he could have taken them, but he knows his age is on him and he needs to hide. Luck, this day, was on his side, for it was the winter equinox. Because on the equinox, when the day and night are the same, he can walk as a human.

He lands in a park and runs to the nearest house. This evening there was a party and he knew if he had booze he would be hidden in the crowd. So, with the hunters hot on his heals he pulled out two bottles and knocked on the door. The party swarmed him, and he saw the hunters run past the house.

After a few hours he ran into a girl named Stephanie. She was a free spirted eighteen-year-old girl. She was rebelling and found his charm alluring. They sat and talked and he figured he would have her. He knew he needs to have a successor. That thought led the two of them to an upstairs bedroom.

In the mist of their loving embrace he realizes she won’t remember what they are doing. So, he told her he was a mighty fire dragon and he will leave one of his scales with her. The next morning, she wakes up with a horrible feeling in her stomach. Not a hungover feeling but a warmth coming from the inside.

She staggers to her feet and heads out to the dollar store. There she picks up a test. The only reason she gets one is because she thought she heard him say something about a dragon or a dragon dick. When she returned home, she went to the bathroom and was floored. The test was positive and she panicked.

Before she can get her jacket on to run to her friend’s house, she finds the scale on her dresser and upon seeing it she felt calm. She walks down to her parents and tells them. It whet over horribly, but they came around. The preceding nine months where hell. She found herself sick to the bone. She couldn’t move without throwing up and her body ached constantly.

However, she could eat anything set in front of her, including wood. The other strange thing is she emitted a supernatural amount of heat. But after those hellish months, she gave birth to a baby boy. She looked into her babies strikingly red eyes and noticed its skin was tanner than hers.

It was no matter because to her he was beautiful. She decides to name him Michael, so he will be strong.

Michael’s Gift

“Mine fire kills three and extremist claim to have killed a dragon. Next sports….” The news anchors on the TV say. In Michaels room his alarm begins to chime. He wakes up confused about the news but gets ready anyways because today is his birthday.

He is excited because he is going out to the bar with his friends. He goes into the bathroom to brush his teeth when he notices they seem different. The he put on his scale necklaces and it seemed to be glowing, but he pushes it to the back of his mind. He walks into the kitchen to make a bowl of cereal.

He asks his mom “Have you heard the news? The mine that dad use to work in had an incident and their talking about a dragon.” His mother stops washing the dishes and turns to him “A dragon, is that going to help you get a job.” He turns, awkwardly, to leave “I’ll look into it while I’m out.”

His mom turns back to the dishes “be careful.” He heads off up the road. He’s on his way to the abandoned mall to meet Jamie. She is his oldest friend; they met back in the first grade when she was interested in his eyes. She always thought they were striking.

He lives a short walk away but, on a cool day like this it seems to take him just a bit longer. At the slower pace he noticed that there where a lot of cars parked at the old mine entrance. He can see it down the road before the mall. Once in the parking lot he sees Jamie. She is covered in paint, as usual, and she yells “Run over here, I’m tired of waiting on you slow ass.”

He picks it up a bit, but he just can’t seem to get it together today. He makes it over there and she tells him “Close your eyes I’ve been working on it all morning.” She leads him blind into the old food court and shows him.

She had painted a mural of him with a flaming sword standing on a pile of enemies. He turns to her and asks “Why?” She laughs and hits his arm “Because you’re like 6’5 and you got those freaky eyes. So, you would be a warrior in the old world.” He looks back at the picture “Cool.”

She looks at him and points out “You realize your skin is turning red, right?” he looks at his hands that now appear to be scaley and his fingernails were black. He is starting to get worried, so he tells her “I got to go. I have no idea what this is.”

Before he goes, he is stopped by Jamie. She tells his “I’ve seen this before. In one of my dad’s books he has a bunch of stuff about magical creatures. He’s kind of a freak about it.” Micheal looks at her strange “Why would I do that?” She huffs ‘Because this is the coolest thing that’s ever happened around here and I don’t want your mom to ship you off somewhere no-one will know. You remember when you fell out of that tree.”

Micheal thinks about it for a moment and answers “Yeah, you do have a point.” She then comments “Besides, it will be the first time you’ve been in my room since we were kids.” The sine comment made his already red skin turn brighter “Shut up.” They laugh and head over to her house.

Jamie lives in the stick of the Coal line. To save time they cut through the woods, taking a trail they carved a long time ago.

Family business

They make it to Jamie’s house without much trouble. Except, they did notice the exits to the town are being blocked off. They go into her backwoods mansion. Micheal looks around commenting “I always forget how big your house is. What is it your family does again?”

She shrugs “They’re trade experts, I think? Anyways the library is this way.” They walk into the library and Michael asks, “How are we going to find the one we need in this massive room?” Jamie walks over to an open book on a table “It’s the big one.” She opens it and looks at Micheal “Take your shirt off.” Michael takes it off noticing that whatever has him changing, has changed his whole body. He now has abs and pecks and is skin is tuff and scaly. While he is taking in how he looks, Jamie is flipping through the book.

“Aha, I found it. Look here, your skin looks like dragon skin. But you don’t have any other properties, do you?” He looks at himself “I have no fucking clue.” She closes the book “Well do you want to find out?” Micheal agrees “Yeah, but how?”

She grabs his hand and starts to lead him to the back door. He pulls back in shock “OK, you are way too excited about this. What do you know?” She exhales exasperatedly “You going to get back on this again, aren’t you? About how my family kills magical creatures. Aren’t you?”

Michael jesters to himself in anger “I’m red and covered in scales. I’m trying not to freak out.” She runs her fingers through her hair and tells him “Come with me.” Michael puts his shirt back on and walks with her. She leads him to a room down a small hallway covered with her grandparent’s portraits.

While he’s looking around in awe, he bumps into Jamie. She turns to him “Please don’t freak out.” She then opens the door to reveal a trophy room. There is armor and swords, bones, scales, and an entire skeleton of a dragon on the ceiling.

Heritage

Michael is taken a few paces back by all of this. He looks at Jamie “Why have you never told me this? Her reply, “You know I’m obsessed with this stuff. Our whole lives you called me crazy.” She throws her hands up “It’s supposed to be a secret, in fact, it’s the most well-kept secret that everyone knows.”

Michael, curios, asks “What do you mean? Nobody believes in fairy tales after childhood.” Jamie jesters to the room “But everyone knows them. The hunters make movies, and such to keep them in the worlds mind. So that when they make a claim, like in the news today, nobody cares.”

Michael asks, feeling strange “Then why tell me now? I’ve known you for years.” She looks down with a disheartened look on her face “Because now they will be after you and I wanted to see if you had any way to protect yourself.” Michael shuffles “Why wouldn’t I just get a gun.”

The comment makes Jamie smile “Because the meat they eat from the dragon makes them immortal. They sell everything else, but they keep the meat and since they just killed one there all stocked up.” Michael paces and thinks “Well won’t they run out of dragons?”

She shakes her head “No, every time they kill one a new one has to rise. It keeps the balance of things.” Michael sits in a chair that is next to the door and drops his head “Then how do we stop them?” Jamie picks his head up “You, their only weakness is magic or magic infused items.”

Michael shuffles his hands “How can I help and why would you even want to?” Jamie grabs his hands “If I’m right, every part of you is magic. Also, it’s my dads’ mission to destroy all of them. Me and my mom are just one in a long line.”

“I find them amazing and they don’t need us messing with them. I’ve been trying to find a way to stop them for a long time. I figure I can trap them in a reality that is just off from ours.” Micheal, confused by the whole thing asks, “How can you do it now?” Jamie looks at his hands “If you are some part dragon all I need is your blood. It’s the missing ingredient. But we need to know first.”

Michael looks at all the things around him and looks back at her “I’ll have to think about it. You just told me that magic creatures are real and now you want me to help get rid of them.” Jamie walks by him “Then let’s get you out of here.”

They walk out of the mansion and Michael heads down the path home. As he’s going, he sees what he believes to be the hunters returning home. They pull up with a semi-truck. Its load is covered but Michael can guess what it is.

He keeps moving and once he comes to the road leading to the mine, he notices that the whole road is closed. Not only that the town seems empty. There are no people playing outside, in the road, and he doesn't even hear any TVs. He listens, noticing, he can’t hear the birds or bugs. He starts to get crept out and rushes home.

Birth right

Once home he comes in to see his mom holding an old photo and crying. Michael ask her “Mom are you ok, because I got some crazy news.” She turns to him “I know what’s up and I’m fine. This will just be confirmation.” Michael sits down at the kitten table “What do you mean?”

She puts the picture down and takes a seat “Your dad was a dragon and seeing you like this tells me he’s gone.” This strikes Michael hard “What do you mean? I thought dad died in the mine.” Mom leans on the table “No, he slept there and ate the coal to survive. Now that he’s gone, you will have to step up and keep the peace.”

Michael asked, “Jamie said something like that, but how did you and dad meet?” So, she explained it to him, about the party and the nine months and all. Michael was just in awe by what he heard. All his belief and wants, and he is supposed to be a peacekeeper.

Michael goes to his room to lay down. He winds up falling asleep. He is awoken by his phone ringing and it’s Jamie. he answers, “Sorry I didn’t go out like I said I would.” Jamie, through tears, ask “How fast can you get to the mall?” Michael popped up “I guess I will see what these new legs can do.”

As he is rushing out, he stops to speak to his mother “Mom…” Before he could get it out, she stops him “I knew you would be called to action once I saw your face. The world gave you your fathers eyes, now go and please come home in one piece.” He heads out the door and when he reached the road he thought “I need to go.”

He the takes off sprinting faster than he ever thought possible. Before he knew it, he is at the mall, but he didn’t think about stopping and ran into a light pole. He gathers himself and heads in. He comes in to see Jamie crying in the dark and he asks, “what happened to you?”

She looks up, wiping the tears away “I got into it with my father and he kicked me out. Also, he found your scales and they’re hunting you.” Michael helps her to her feet “My mom clued me in. Apparently I’m the son of a great dragon ruler, named Lucifer. But if they’re hunting me, we better get started on that spell.”

Jamie looks up at him “Really because all I need is your blood and the bones of a human. Once we have that, all I do is cast it at a dragon’s nest. That’s going to be the hard part.” Michael notes “If we can get to the mine, we can get human bones and a dragon’s nest.”

The small victory is short lived as they hear doors slamming. Michael looks out the door and comments “Now is going to be a good time to see if I have dragon powers with all these looks.” They turn to go out the back but are cut off. As they turn, they get surrounded. They see that they are dressed as knights.

Michael remarks “What’s with the get up. I was expecting something different.” The knight in the middle takes off his helmet, revealing Jamie’s father. He answers, calmly “If you mix magic with gunpowder it explodes, violently. Furthermore, the armor is infused with dragon bones. That way it protects us from magic.”

“It’s no matter because we will be killing you now.” Michael backs up to Jamie “Do you know how to fight?” She whispers back “Yeah trained since I was a kid.” Michael answers “Good.” Michael grabs the knight to his left throwing him into the one on his right. He kicks the sword to Jamie “Lets run.”

They take off into the stores in the mall hiding in the clothing section. Jamie ask “What the hell are you doing? We can’t fight them.” Michael turned to her “Why not, I’m half dragon and you’re a trained fighter, we got this.” Jamie kisses his cheek. Michael looks at her “Why did you do that?”

She shrugs “In case I can’t do it later.” Michael points at a column that is holding up the second floor “If I hit that you can run out. I’ll follow behind you. You just need to make a path.” She knows and runs out getting everyone’s attention. The knights swarm her and though she stands her ground there are more coming to fight.

Michael capitalizes on the distraction and charges the pillar. He rams it causing it to trap the Knights in rubble. It also causes Jamie to hurt her arm in the fall out. Michael rushes over to her “Are you ok.” She holds it “Yeah, maybe broke it.” Michael picked her up and ran out of the mall.

He runs so sharp and fast he passes the mine and runs all the way home. bursting through the door yelling “She’s hurt, and I think were being chased.”

The good fight

Michael's mother runs over and calms him “It will be ok, the magic that surrounds the house will make it hard for them to find you. Now bring her over here, we need to set that arm.” They set Jamie on the couch and Michael steps outside.

He walks out o the porch to calm down. he looks up at the moon and stars. He exhales a small fire ball and drops his head on the banner. He asks himself “Why, can’t today be normal. He hears the door open and his mom walks out “Jamie is fine, she just passed out.” Michael’s face calms a bit “That’s good.”

His mom asks, “What’s troubling you?” Michael just shrugged “I was giving an amazing gift and the first thing that happens, is that I get my friend hurt. I just want things to go back to normal.” His mom looks up with him “But you’ve never been normal.”

This gets Michael's attention, she goes on “Remember that dog that attacked Jamie when you two where in the fifth grade?” Michael answers “Yeah.” She leads on the porch pole “you jumped in to fight that dog and it tore your arms up, but you held it off until I got there. You never backed down.”

Michael crosses his arms and ask, ‘What does that have to do with this?” She smiles “You have always stood up for her, no matter the fight. This guy is just another dog, but you are a dragon. Now get some rest.”

Michael goes in and sits on the chair next to Jamie and falls asleep. That night he has an interesting dream. He is standing in an all-black area with the only light being a spotlight on himself. He is his regular human self again. He tries to look around but can’t see anything through the veil of darkness.

Then a bright light shines down in front of him to reveal a huge dragon. Its red scales reflected the light as bright as the sun. His horns protruding from his head like two trees. Just under them was a long white mane that reached his huge chest. He took two steps forward with his long legs.

He stopped in front of him and told him in a loud booming voice “Stand tall, with your chest out. You are my son and as my successor I need you to be strong.” Michael upon seeing him begins to break down “What am I supposed to do, that someone like you couldn’t.” Lucifer smiles “You can bring them together.”

After sharing these few words with him, he vanishes into the darkness. Michael then turns to see all the past dragons of the land standing behind him. Some big, some small, but all standing for the next in line to rule. A loud thud wakes him as the morning sun comes through the kitchen window.

He wakes up to the hunters trying to break into the house. Michael tells his mom and Jamie to run. Jamie ask, “What are you going to do?” Michael looks her in the eyes “My best.” He turns to face down the men running in. There’s about three and Jamie’s father. He throws one up against the wall.

While he’s in the scrape, he gets cut across the leg. He grabs a vase and smashes it against the enemy. Two of them rush him and they fall over the couch. He manages to get his claws into the back of one of the knights and fling him on the front porch.

He takes a punch from Jamie’s dad. Michael tackles him breaking the kitchen table. With his attention taken he gets stabbed in the back. The men pull Michael off him. He gets up and addresses him “You know since you are a worthy foe, I will let you know my name. It’s Daniel.”

Michael takes a hard breath “Well Daniel, I hope your suits fire prof.” Michael the exhales a stream of fire engulfing the house. This gives him a chance to run. He makes it outside and jumps of the porch. As he is in the air, he thinks “Well, I could really use sum wings.” Just then the fire surrounds his back, giving him wings.

He flies into the sky thinking he’s safe. But as he is getting higher, he hears a whistling sound. He looks back to see an arrow coming at him. He swiftly evades it, but as it passes him, it explodes. He falls out of the sky, plummeting into a water basin, which happens to be next to the mine.

The Magic Within

Jamie and his mom run over to him and find he has reverted to his human form. They pull him out and the three of them head into the mine. They go to the shaft elevator and head down. They are met with a wondrous site. It is a wonderland of geodes and crystals.

Diamonds line the walls, that are held up by huge crystals. Large emeralds and ruby’s form a crest in the center of the room. Michael’s mom tells Jamie “We need to put him there.” Jamie ask, “But why, he needs a doctor.”

She explains “He has used up all the magic he has. He will recharge there.” Jamie, though confused, pushes him there. Once he is in the center of the gems, nothing happens. Jamie looks as her “What’s going to happen now?” She answers “Well, we pray. See, at night his magic is limitless. But, he only has so much during the day. Especially since he isn’t fully grown into his dragon form.”

Jamie figures she should know “Well, then how does he do that?” She looks at him “He just need to embrace it.” They then hear the elevator squawking. They turn to see a severely burned Daniel. He screams “I haven’t killed this many dragons to fall to you.” Jamie and Michael's Mom stood between him and his goal.

He gets to the floor and pulls out a small bag “He isn’t the only one with magic.” He eats a small piece of what looks like silver meat. Jamie screams “Wait dad don’t do that you will become a monster.”

Michaels moms ask, “What is that.” Jamie answers “It’s dragon meat purified in unicorn blood. The last person to get a small taste was Macbeth and he ended up going crazy.” Daniel eats the whole beef jerky size peace. His burns heal and then his skin turns grey.

His eyes turn yellow as he starts to grow. He ends up looking like a beast of old. He scoffs “Now I can defeat anyone.” Jamie looks at what her father has done to himself “I hope your happy?” He smugly remarks “I am, I’ve always wanted to use this and now that there are no more dragons, I have no more reason to hold on to it.”

This confuses them both causing Michael's mom to ask, “What do you mean?” Daniel shrugs “I guess there’s no harm in you knowing. With Lucifer’s death there are no greater beasts to hunt. The few that are left are runts. There’s just no belief anymore.” He begins to run at the two of them when he feels a pain in his stomach.

He looks down to see Michael and he tells him “Move!” He brings his other arm across and knocks him into the elevator. Michael then stands up in his dragon form. He turns to his mom and thanks her “I needed that.” He then turns his attention to Daniel. Daniel stands up “That all?” Michael smiles “Not even close.”

Jamie runs up beside him and Michael asks, “Are you going to fight with me?” She smiles “I’ve always been fighting him.” Michael pushes out his fiery wings, taking to the ceiling of the cave. He then dives on Daniel but gets swatted to the side.

Michael slams against the wall and Daniel begins wailing on him. Daniel then feels a pain on his leg. He turns to see Jamie with a blade, she found on the ground. Daniel turns and kicks at her. She evades and bounces on her heals to pierces him in the abdomen. Daniel is angered by the inconvenience, “I always hated girls, they never obey.”

He then pulls back to slam down on her, but Michael grabs his arms. Michael then pours fire down on his head. Daniel then bashes him on the ground. Confused now, Daniel begin to rampage around. Michael limps to Jamie “You got to cast the spell. I will hold him off as long as I can.” Jamie, with a look of concern on her face, tells him “If you keep fighting you will die.” Michael then gives her a kiss “Then take that, in case I can’t later.” He then runs right at Daniel.

The two clash making waves of dust fly off them. Jamie then turns to Michaels mom and begin to cast the spell. For all his attacks Michael is only chipping away at him. Michael claws his back, but Daniel jumps backwards pinning him against the wall. Michael pushes him off with his legs, just to be back handed into the shambled elevator.

This is it

As Michael is steadying himself, he notices that he is starting to change to his human form. He figures that he just used to much magic. Michael takes a breath and exhales all the fire he has in him. He burns and burns as he becomes human once more. He sees that his flesh is chard and he begin to stagger.

Michael grabs a sharp piece of iron, knowing if it has his blood on it, it will hurt Daniel. He lunges, impaling him. But without his dragon reflexes he gets caught. He puts his knees on the spike driving it deeper, causing Daniels to drop to the ground. Michael is loose from his grip, but with no way to heal up he takes but a few steps and faints.

As he hits the ground, the spell begins to activate, and a light illuminates the room. Jamie sees Michael laying on the ground and asks his mom “What is happening to him?” His mom looks at the light and back at him “The light is taking in all the magic; he can’t heal without his dragon form.” With a tear in her eye she says, “He’s dying.”

Jamie holds up her hands and looks at her. She then takes the light orb and throws it at Michael. The magic engulfs Michael causing him to shine bright. In the light the shadow of Lucifer could be seen, and she hears “Thank you Jamie.” When the light subsides, Michael is there.

Jamie runs into his arms “I had no idea if that was going to work.” He looks down into her tear-filled eyes “It’s OK.” She wipes her eyes “But what about protecting all the magical creatures?” He smiles “Between the two of us, they’ll be just fine.”

The End