Miss Taylor Young
Ed’an woke up, surprised that he had gone to sleep. He tries to recall the dream that he had. It was the only dream he has tried to remember in a long time. Ed’an’s dreams normally seemed like maple syrup, sticky and sweet, but when he tried to grasp this one, it would just melt through his talons, leaving him with a feeling of emptiness. He could feel what it was about, but when he tried to think about it, it was like it never happened.
Ed’an got up, and regretted with a pang, throwing the scroll into the storm. He could look at it better if he had it now. Surely it couldn’t be all taken by the Apistalons. Just most of it. He looked out of the cave and saw that the storm was over. He jumped up in excitement and grabbed a seaweed bag and put some of the leftovers of the cow that they kept in the bag, a map, and a seaweed canteen of fresh water. (A seaweed canteen is like a water bottle, but when you run out of water you can eat it. The same with a seaweed bag. It tastes delicious!) As Ed’an hooked his seaweed bag over his head onto his shoulders, he ran to the cave entrance with the bag thumping against his chest. Edan readied his wings and was about to fly out of the cave. Then he stopped for a moment. Where am I going to start? he thought.
He stepped backwards from the fatal drop, and tossed the seaweed bag and canteen over his head and into a corner, and sat down to think. Then he realized.
“Working for the Apistalon queen is a big job and a long way to go. my fa– Searer must have some backup plans somewhere,” Ed’an thought out loud. He knew his father; he was the kind of dragon who would make backup plans. Ed’an grabbed the seaweed bag, and walked to his parents’ sleeping cave again, and searched the room, seeing if there was something that he missed. He looked through both of his parents’ moss beds and moved the bookshelf to see if there was something behind it. Nothing. Ed’an banged his head against the wall. Thong, thong. It sounded hollow, he stopped banging. Ed’an moved his talons along the wall, feeling for anything, a switch, a lever. Suddenly, his right claw sank into the stone. Right where his fathers talons would be if he was to reach straight out to the wall. Ed’an pressed his side into the wall. It tore open to a dark tunnel going almost vertically down. From the wall suddenly giving out in front of him, Ed’an fell into the neverending dark chasm. He tried to fly but the tunnel was too narrow, so his wings just banged against the tunnel walls, driving bolts of pain up them. Ed’an landed with a loud THUMP, and his head whipped forward, to smash into the floor.
He blacked out.
Ed’an was in the dark, reflective floor space again. He hears a voice, maybe two or three, the voices sounded more like echos.
“Wh-what is it called…”
“ TimeTaker… TimeTaker…”
“Promise me…”
“ TimeTaker…”
“Power…”
“TimeTaker… TimeTaker…”
“TimeTaker…”
And the black space faded into that calming feeling of nothing.
Ed’an opened his eyes with a groan, and lifted his head slowly. He sat up and clutched his head, wincing at the pain in his cheek bone. He spat out a glob of red tinted spit. He ached everywhere. He tested each one of his limbs, making sure none of them were broken, he stood up and tenderly folded his wings up. His right back leg felt like it was on fire from the inside out hurting more by every passing second. He must have landed on it pretty hard. He had scratches and bruises everywhere. Ed’an exhaled sharply praying to the elders that something good would come out of this “Exciting” adventure.
It was pitch black, it kind of felt familiar. Favoring his right back leg, he reached his front talons out. There was a wall, not darkness that faded into eternity. Ed’an felt around the wall, seeing if there was a tunnel somewhere. When his claws reached the open air, he was afraid he would fall again. He pulled his talons back in quickly. Ed’an didn’t think he could survive another fall. But it was just the thing he was hoping for. A tunnel. Ed’an reached out to feel for its rough edges. When he found them, he walked forward, making sure it wasn’t another drop. He put one talon on the side of the gravely tunnel and felt his way at the same time. After taking a few steps he felt something sticking from the wall on the left side. Ed’an moved his claws around it. What is this? Ed’an couldn’t breathe fire yet, he hadn’t been taught, so he thought of taking it off the wall and hitting it against the wall, hopefully making sparks. When he tried to pull it off of the wall, it jerked toward him, stopping before it hit his face. A lever? He queried
A bright flash of orange gold light filled the hallway he was in. He shut his eyes. Being in the dark for so long made his eyes very sensitive to the light. Once he could adjust his burning eyes, he opened them and saw that the flash of the light was the many torches that were lining the sides of the cave. It was now bright enough to see that the passage didn’t last forever, like Ed’an had thought. There was another light at the end of the hallway, but it looked slightly different, almost blueish, and it wasn’t coming from the torches.
Now that there was light, Ed’an finally was able to look at himself. His leg was pretty banged up, but he could still walk on it. Once he realized how dirty he was, he shook himself, so he was presentable if he met anyone at the end of the hallway. He still looked horrible though, covered in dust and scratches. Ed’an sighed and walked towards the light at the end of the corridor.