The Sleeping Dragon of Notre- Dame

"There weren't always dragons in the Valley." etched into the walls of a princely golden court were these mystic words. I was chained by strange metals, glowing amber red and burning my skin, while being dragged by two cloaked sinister figure towards a high raised throne .

Every part of my body was in pain, so was my soul, as if I was in a prison of that accursed hall for eons. The eyes could only see blur, until a sudden thud of me hitting the ground made everything clear.

I stood kneeling in front of a colossal throne of pure fiery gold, and on that throne sat the eerie Behemoth King Azmath. His eyes glinted black fire of death, and he wore a robe of ethereal ruby, but the face trumped them all. Malice dripped from that hell bound face, as I screamed from sheer mortal terror. No hero I am and no hero I will be if that abomination is my nemesis.

The walls behind him fell down, revealing the night sky and the vast expanse of his damned kingdom, but what it contained put the fear and belief of God in me. DRAGONS!!! Dragons were flying in the sky, thousands and thousands. Spitting fires of red hue, of blue sky, of cold ice, of lightning like and black fire. They were flying all over the place and the roars shook the ground, as if reacting to a primal fear, a haunted memory from the dark ages of this world.

I fell sprawling to the floor, the horror of such monsters from a bygone nightmares were too much for my mortal mind. As my body lay there, crying while the two cloaked figures by my sides stood menacingly still, the Behemoth King looked at me.

" You are in the Halls of the Kings. Pathetic as you are, stand up and bear these words." said the Behemoth King, with a voice that shook the ground and made the dragons even wilder.

A dull pain went through my body, as I could feel the look of the cloaked figure on my right. That pain told me to stand up, and feebly I did so.

" Humanity and everything it loves shall perish. The Fire that was quenched has rekindled, and I bring with me your, the humankind's, nightmare. Spread these words to your brethren, to fear the impending doom and the Draco!!!!"

With these words, the night sky behind him engulfed in flames.....

I woke up, all drenched in sweat. The same nightmare haunted me that night, as it had for the last few months. No peace in my waking hours either, as the fear of the same nightmare installed in me an impending dread. Dragons were myths, nothing more than that. Yet the dreams, the foul dreams.

I walked outside, hoping to get some fresh air. It was the dead of night, and folks said strange beings walked on that time but what could be stranger than the visitor of my dreams, or was I the visitor?

More like a prisoner I should say.

The night air was cool and soothing, as I sat beneath an oak tree. No moon but full of stars, illuminating a rather grim scenery yet beautiful. What they also showed was an odd man walking by the road, a groan on every step he took.

I stood silent but the man noticed me. Moving towards me in a jerky motion, and painful groans, he came closer, clothed in old royal clothes and a scarf covering his eyes. With a loud sigh of relief, he sat beside me.

"Dreamer, how do you do on a night like this?" asked he, in a youthful yet ancient voice.

" I can't sleep, not for dreams but nightmares." answered I.

"Don't speak of your nightmares, not even to your mother, let alone a stranger in these times... but do not worry, I have not come for harm" retorted the man.

"Who are you then, Traveler, walking these strange roads in such peculiar hours?"

" I am Sleepless." said he, in a tired voice.

He was the Sleepless. Once a man, an evil man but a mortal man. His sin was that he enjoyed murdering people, and he killed them while they slept. 99 he killed, and the last one he was going to, which would have made his tally a devilish 100, but the woman woke up, and she screamed. Her scream brought her neighbors in, and the Blind Imam. They caught him as he tried to escape. In his scuffle, his eyes met the blind eyes of the Imam, and blind as he was, the Imam could see beyond this world.

" You, the nameless killer, you have killed 99 and 1 tried. You killed while they slept, in their most innocent and vulnerable state. I put this curse on you, that you will lose what you destroyed, Sleep!! and that you will never know the innocence of life."

Those were the words that the Blind Imam said to the killer, and the curse came true, for the man sleep never came and he came to be known as the Sleepless. He also lost something else but that is unknown still.

Sleepless sat beside me, a someone who was once a sinner, and then a saint.

" So what do you say, Dreamer?" asked he.

I looked at him confused.

" Why don't we sat out tonight, for a journey across a thousand miles, to find the answers to your nightmares?"