Dragon Kiss

The Gray Dragon

Prologue Part Two

Snow is blowing all around me and has covered my footprints but I keep walking. I still feel like I'm being drawn to something or maybe someone. I am slowly becoming myself again. I don't understand what happened to me or how I even got here. I don't know where I am. I stop walking when I feel like myself fully.

Is this where I am supposed to be? I look around me but I can't see very far because of all the snow. There is so much of it and it's starting to get really deep. I'm not very tall yet. My brothers like to tease me because I'm not very tall yet.

"Hello" I yell "Is anyone out here?"

The wind drowns out my voice and snow flies inside my mouth. The cold makes me shiver. How long have I been out here? I'm not wearing any boots either. Did I really just leave home with nothing? I can't remember when I decided to leave. I hear something in the distance I look around me but I don't see anything.

"Is anyone there?"

I see nothing but this time I hear it better. It's a roar, a dragon's roar. I look to the sky but all I see is snow. There are wild dragons all over Wintervale. I'm sure one of them will help me. But the snow is so thick I can't see it. I take a few deep breaths and let out the loudest dragon growl I can master. It echoes around me. Hopefully the dragon nearby heard it and will help me. I hear the roar again. It's closer this time.

"I'm over here" I growl as loudly as I can.

I see the dragon but it doesn't fly lower and it goes right past me. I can't help but be disappointed but with all of the snow the dragon probably couldn't see me. I know one thing: I can't stay here. I'm not sure how much more cold I'll be able to withstand. Even we people of Wintervale have our limits. I start walking again. The snow is very deep and it makes it hard to walk but I have to keep going. If I stay out here I'll die.

The wind starts to pick up and blocks out all other sound. It's hard to walk and the cold is starting to get to me. I've been out here too long. I try to take another step but I fall face first into the snow. My body shivers from the cold impact. I'm too tired to keep going. I hear another roar but I don't do anything. The dragon can't see me with all of the snow and I don't have the strength to tell it where I am. I turn over to look at the sky and push off as much snow off of me as I can. My eyes are getting heavy. I don't want to die out here but I can't go on. The dragon's growl gets louder as my eyes close. A strange feeling comes over me. I feel like I'm flying. It feels strange. Is this what death feels like?

I can hear something. I shouldn't be able to hear anything I died, didn't I? I don't feel cold anymore. I open my eyes. The place I'm in is somewhat dark but it has its own natural light coming in from above. I hear a growl. I look around me. I'm in some kind of cave. All I see is a giant boulder that seems to be breathing. It takes a moment for me to realize that's not a bolder breathing, it's a very large gray dragon. It's sleeping. Did he bring me here? He must have found me after I passed out. I look around me again and I know where the heat is coming from, a hot spring in the middle of the cave.

It feels really nice here. I sit up so I can get an even better look around me. This place is beautiful. Crystals line the cave walls allowing the light to bounce off of them and allows the entire cave to be lit up. It is nice here, it's peaceful.

I stretch out. I wonder if the storm has stopped yet. I decide to find out and head for the tunnel entrance after a short winding tunnel I come to the cave opening. It's not cold but I can still feel the heat of the cave. When I look outside I see snow still coming down very heavily. It looks like I may be here awhile. Oh well at least I have some company. I head back into the cave. The dragon is awake now and he watches me as I reenter the cave.

I bow to the dragon. The dragon doesn't move, he looks at me as if he was curious. I approach slowly and touch his snout. He is warm, how strange. Ice dragons are usually cold but maybe it's this cave with the hot spring that is making him warm. I clear my throat so I can speak to him.

"My name is Tessa. Thank you so much for helping me."

I feel like I'm being rude to my savior. But by introducing myself I hope to redeem myself. I don't want a sacred creature to think I am ungrateful for his help.

"You're welcome."

He sniffs me a few times and stares at me each time he does. He must sense my dragon blood; he knows we are kin.

"Will you be so kind as to tell me your name?"

He looks at me. Most sacred creatures don't like sharing their names, especially elder dragons. That's what I was always told anyway. There is no harm in asking. If he doesn't want me to know his name he won't tell me. He won't need any words.

"Onyx."

"Onyx, that is a strange name for an Ice Dragon but your name suits you very well."

Onyx c***s his head to the side and looks at me. I see the curiosity in his eyes and he sniffs me again. I wonder why he keeps doing that. My family's dragons don't sniff me like this. Maybe Onyx has never met a human with dragon blood before. Onyx growls when I start scratching his head. He seems to like it.

"Thank you again for saving me."

"Why were you outside in the snow?"

I don't know how to answer his question, because I don't know myself.

"I don't know. I was home trying to go to sleep and I felt like I was being drawn outside. I was worried a sacred creature was stuck in the snow or needed help of some kind. That's the last thing I remember before I was standing outside. Did you call me out here?"

"No."

"Oh. I hope whoever did call out to me is safe. Maybe I should go look for them to make sure."

"No. You stay here."

"But what if they still need help?"

"Stay."

Onyx growled and if I'm not mistaken he's glaring at me.

"Ok I'll stay but my family must be worried about me. They were making a big deal about me not going outside. They were afraid I would get lost with the snow being so thick."

"I will go look."

Onyx didn't give me much time to react to what he just said before he started to move towards the middle of the cave.

"Stay" he says and then he spreads his wings. With a few flaps he is out of the cave opening. He disappears a moment later.

I hope he can find what I couldn't. I hope the sacred animal that called to me is ok. Maybe they didn't need help anymore and that's why I came back to myself. But to be honest I don't understand those kinds of things. For me to know for sure I would have to ask my grandfather he knows more about the gods and dragons more than I do.

I decided to take a look around the cave. It's very large and I've noticed there is more than one entrance to the cave I'm in now. So I decided to go in the opposite direction from the entrance. The tunnel is very large but I'm not sure Onyx could walk through. I walk deeper into the cave and when the tunnel opens up again. I'm in a cave five times the size of the one I was just in. There is a waterfall and a river going through the middle of the cave. Ice completely covers the other side of the cave. There is an opening above where the waterfall is coming in and the light is bouncing off of the ice giving it a mystical glow.

"Wow, it's so pretty."

SPLASH

I look around to see what made the noise and go toward the river. The water is clear and I can see all the way to the bottom. I see fish swimming by as if it's normal for them to be there. I've been fishing before there is a lake near my home. But I'm not allowed to go without someone being with me. I fell through the ice once and since then my parents and all of my older siblings have been treating me like I'm some precious gem or something. My grandfather has always told me I was special but he never said why or how, just that I would know when the time was right. This place is so beautiful I don't want to leave but I need to go back and wait for Onyx.