The Dragon Prince

Into the Darkness

I hadn’t told him my name.

I spent the rest of the night in a haze. I couldn't get the vision of his beautiful deep blue eyes out of my mind. How did he know my name? I didn’t see him speak to anyone while he was in the bar. Did he know someone in town that told him who I was? I pondered those questions as I cleared the tables and counter to close up.

Donnie had been a flirt all night as usual. He was getting ready to leave, he walked over to me to give me a hug, and I felt him slip something into my back pocket. I let go and gave him a questioning look as I pulled it back out. “For dealing with my daily antics.” he said with a wink. He’d given me a twenty-dollar bill. I leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek. “Donnie, you don’t have to bribe me, you know I love you.”  He let out a chuckle and headed out the door.

I made my way to Josh’s office before I clocked out for the night to let him know I was heading home, but when I walked in, he wasn’t there. That was unusual for him, he was always the last to leave the bar and lock up. I grabbed a pen and my notepad and left him a note, telling him thanks for going easy on me and that I didn’t lock up in case he’d be back. I placed the note on his old wooden desk where I was sure he’d see it, and headed outside.

As soon as I stepped out the door, I felt a strange calm wash over me. I caught movement at the edge of my vision, and looked over to find an enormous white stag standing in the middle of the parking lot. I froze immediately, not wanting to scare it away. It locked eyes with me and just stood staring at me, unblinking, for what felt like eternity.

Suddenly, I felt the calmness start to slip away and I was hit with a strange sense of dread. The stag turned away from me and leapt into the woods that bordered one side of the bar. I raced to my bike and hopped onto the seat as quickly as I could, the feeling of dread growing in the pit of my stomach. I rode home as fast as I could, feeling as though the darkness behind me were a ravenous beast out for my blood.

It still took me about twenty minutes to reach home, and as I pulled up to the house, my heart lurched. The lights were off. It was one in the morning by this point, and my parents should’ve been home. As I got closer to the house I noticed that the front door was slightly ajar.  Panic started to set in as I pushed the front door open even further.

A strong scent hit my nose as soon as I stepped in the doorway. Sulfur. I almost gagged as I made my way through the entryway, the silence was almost crushing. “MOM!? DAD?! ARE YOU HERE?” I called out. An answering thud echoed through the foundations, coming from the direction of the dining room. I started to head in that direction, but stopped when the thud turned into a sickening slithering sound.

More quietly this time, almost at a whisper, I called out again. “Mom? Is that you?” Still no answer came, but the slithering, almost wet noise came even closer as I started to back my way to the front door.

A crash echoed through the house, as the door I had been trying to make my escape through hit the wall behind me. Josh burst into view, wearing a haunted expression on his usually calm face. “Arya, we have to leave NOW.” He forcefully grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the doorway.

“But what about my parents?” I cried as he yanked me onto the porch, pulling me across the front yard towards the road to town.

“Arya, we don’t have time. I need you to run. Run as fast as you can to the bar. Do you understand me? RUN.” He turned and sprinted back towards the house with what seemed like supernatural speed.

Panicked, I stood frozen for a few moments until I heard what sounded like a roar, followed by high pitched otherworldly screams coming from inside. I turned and ran towards my bike and got on, not stopping until I reached the parking lot that I’d just left, what felt like ages ago.

I hurried into Josh's office, slamming the door shut behind me and sat panting, trying to process everything that had happened in the past few hours. The note I had left for him still lay untouched on his desk. What had been in the house? Where were my parents? Why had Josh been at my house, and why had he run back into whatever danger had been inside? The questions were running through my head like wildfire. 

Images of my strange dream and the other weird occurrences that happened throughout the day flashed through my mind as I tried to make sense of it all. I was still puzzling it out when I heard someone open the front door of the bar. Loud, heavy footsteps approached Josh’s office and I quickly scrambled up and looked for something to defend myself with.

Josh burst into the room looking frantic, almost on the verge of terror, until he locked eyes with me holding a clipboard looking like a fool.

Relief flashed across his face and he sank down to the floor with a sharp intake of breath. “JOSH!” I exclaimed loudly, as I ran over to him, dropping the clipboard on the floor. “Josh are you okay?” He had his arm covering a portion of his chest, and I could see what looked like blood and black ichor seeping out from under it. “Arya, don’t worry. It’ll heal fast. We need to get you out of here though, right now.” The last part of his sentence almost came out in a growl and he grunted in pain. 

“Josh, you keep saying right now, what is so urgent? What is going on? What was that THING?” He looked up at me with what seemed to be sorrow on his face. “Arya, there are so many things I have to tell you, but right now is not the time. We have to leave.” I drew my shoulders back in indignation. “Well, we aren't going anywhere until I get you cleaned up. Here let me get you into a chair.” He grunted angrily but didn’t fight as I struggled to help the gigantic man into his desk chair. “Now you wait right here until I get some supplies.” He grunted at me again as I turned to leave. “Just hurry Arya. We don’t have much time.”

I looked back at the man that had always been like a second father to me, and it looked like he was wearing a mask of pain and sorrow. I turned and ran to the kitchen to find some clean towels, and the first aid kit we usually only had to use for small cuts from errantly dropped glasses and bottles. I could only hope that it would be enough to help with the gaping wound he had across his torso.

I got back to Josh's office as quickly as I could. We ripped off his shirt, that was practically just tatters at this point, and I could finally see the full extent of the damage. I cleaned up the edges of it as best I could, and used the extra-large bandages from the kit to cover as much as possible.

“Josh,” I said. “What did this to you?” The Ichor on the towels was steadily eating away at the fabric, and I watched in horror as they slowly fell apart.

“Arya, there are a lot of things that you don’t understand right now, but I promise you, you’ll find out soon.” He looked at me with a sad smile. “We have to get going. Will you please leave with me now? We need to get out of here.” He slowly stood with a wince as I nodded my compliance. “Good. You’re going to need to trust me, okay? I know things are happening quickly, and it’s hard to take in, but there’s something I have to show you.” I stood to follow him as he led me outside.

The night felt ominous. The darkness seemed to be alive, swirling through the trees like tendrils of smoke. Instead of leading me to his car, Josh walked to the forested edge of the parking lot. The same one the stag I’d seen earlier that night had fled into before the horrible scene at my house.

“Josh, where are we going? Are you sure you’re okay?” He looked at me and sighed, “Arya, I told you, you’re just going to have to trust me. We have to report to someone. Someone who isn’t here.” I turned to him, and arched my brows, studying his face. “What do you mean, not here?” He sighed again. “I’m just going to have to show you.”

As he said that, there was a flash. We'd reached the edge of the woods and right in front of us stood what looked like a giant glass wall, wide enough that several people could’ve passed through it without touching shoulders. The moonlight reflected off of it, casting shimmering rays across the grass and leaves between the trees.

“What the absolute f**k is that, Josh?!” I yelped. He quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me forward. “Like I said, Arya, trust me.”

And then there was nothing; no light, no sound, no senses. The only thing I could feel was Josh's hand in mine.

Then there was light.