The Calm Before the Storm | Teen Ink

The Calm Before the Storm

October 9, 2015
By K.Sensibaugh BRONZE, Claypool, Indiana
K.Sensibaugh BRONZE, Claypool, Indiana
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

I woke up, instantly feeling the pain of my cold stiff wings. I scan my surrounding seeing bright tan pillars running up the walls of a huge temple like structure. I see windows lined with bars and thick metal mesh. There is no exit and no other dragons near.
    I crawl over to the window closest to the ground, refusing to use my wings. I try to headbutt the window open, quickly seeing that this temple was made to keep a dragon. That is when I noticed I could not remember how I got here or anything at all for that matter. I brush it off and continue trying to get out. I heavily exhale and feel the warmth coming up my neck. My breath hits the window with a loud hiss. After the smoke settles I see that the bars and mesh are nothing but small bright orange tips.
    I crawl out the window to a wide grassy plain with mountains in the distance and few scattered trees. I see in the distance another dragon’s wings go over the mountain and pass in front of the sun. I brush it off thinking it is nothing. I look around for any other dragons within sight to see if they know anything about how I got in this temple.
    I see a dark navy blue dragon walking across the field looking suspiciously at the ground, trying to ignore me. I trot over to him as fast as I can, still afraid of using my wings. As soon as I get near him he shrugs his wings and looks at me with a disgusted stare.
    “Hello,” I said in a raspy voice.
    He did not respond.
    “Do you know how I got here?” I asked
    After a few seconds he responds.
    “Yes,” he said.
    “Can you tell me?”
    “I can, but I won’t because he would kill me,” he said as he showed me a brand on his wing. It had a very familiar name on it but I did not remember the face to the name. The name was “Bashka.”
After I read the name, he instantly turned around and shot up into the air with a gust of his wings.
I finally build up the courage to try and fly. I slowly extend my wings, feeling the pain of the stiffness shoot through them. After sitting a while with just my wings extended I dare myself to try and fly. I raise my wings and flap them down move my head to the flap to get the most thrust. I feel a cool rush of wind hit my eyes and mouth. I open my eyes and see the ground far below. I quickly feel my wings grow tired. After a more seconds of flying I land and feel the ground hit my claws with gusto.
I look behind me at the temple I was in and saw that I didn't look like a temple but more like a jail cell. I wonder why Bashka put me in there and why he wiped my memory.
I finally decide to go to where I saw the wind pass behind the mountain. I fly up and bow my wings to gain forward momentum. Before I know it I’m flying towards the mountain.
In a matter of minutes I’m flying over the peak of the mountain. I see mountain lions run in fear as I fly over. I start looking for the dragon that I saw. I see nothing and I mean nothing. No trees, no animals, and no grass just dirt and my own shadow.
After I keep flying for a while a large temple comes into view. I straighten my body and bring my wings closer to lower my surface area. This in return increases my speed. I fly through the air and reach the temple in a matter of seconds. Unlike the one I was in, this one has an entrance. I land without slowing down so I slide on the ground.
I trot over to the temple and I a massive being in the middle. I hesitate to wake it but my curiosity over takes it. I poke the figure with the tip of my claw. I was careful not to poke it too hard and make my claw pierce its skin.
It came to life with a low groun. As it was standing up I noticed it was in a massive hole though the part that was above ground was massive. It stepped out of the hole with tremendous slowness for how massive it was. It had to have been 100 feet tall with golden brown fur all over his body. It had brittle armour around his torso and chest. The head looked like a machine with glowing blue eyes with a small black pupil in the center. The mouth was more of an indent in his clay like head it had bald brown ears coming out of the top of its head. It had a stone pole for a right hand and a molded fist for the other.
I looked at me with an enraged look in his eyes. It swung his right hand at me with a massive wind up. I reacted quickly and dodged it. His hand hit the ground with a huge thud and a rumble in the ground. He was dazed by the how hard he hit the ground without me in between. I noticed this was his flaw. I flew up over the top of his head. Seeing a teal glowing glyph on the top of his head. I knew this was his weak spot. I exhaled as heavily as I could and started to feel the burning sensation come up my  neck and saw the thick black acid come from my mouth with tremendous speed. The breathe hit the glyph with a loud hiss and and after a few seconds the glyph faded and the colossuses eyes grew dark and lifeless. I watched from the ground as the colossus fell. He fell slow considering his size. He hit the ground with a massive thud and a rumble in the ground. I knew he was dead.
As I turned away I noticed a bright tan drawing on his back. I trot over to it noticing it was a map. I look at it for a while. Before I turned away I noticed a large building in the middle. It’s name was the forbidden temple of Bashka. I looked in the night sky for the northern star and looked toward the east where the temple was on the map. I could barely see the silhouette of it coming up from the horizon. I forced my wings down to get in the air as quick as I could. I straightened my body and got my wings closer together and dive bombed to gain speed. I leveled out and propelled forward toward the silhouette of the temple. I reached it in a matter of seconds.
I landed at the base of a short cylindrical arena with stairs running up the side. I ran up the stairs only to be greeted by a demonic dragon with dark black skin and red glow coming from under his scales he had dark gray wings that were torn at the ends and had black streaks going down them. He had an evil grin on his face.
“Hello again,” he said.
“Again? I have never seen you before in my life,” I said
“Yes, that is true but I have seen you many times. I have seen you cry in pain and seen you fall limp in battle.”
“I have never fallen in battle,”
He did not respond.
“But, I will see you fall.”
At the moment he lift off the ground and flew backward. He focused on the center of the circle. Within a few seconds a phantom like dragons came out of the middle. Its eyes fixed on me. It then flew into the air and used its thu’um on me. The force of the blast hit me like a bull. I pushed me near the edge of the arena. I flew up as quickly as I could forcing myself to use my thu’um. I shouted three word of power toward the phantom dragon. As soon as my thu’um hit it it disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the arena. I quickly found out the dragon's weakness. I have to trick him into thinking I’m attacking him then thu’um toward the place he reappears. I move my head backward as if I’m about to thu’um but catch myself right before I do. I see the phantom dragon disappear and reappear next to where he was. I then release my thu’um and it its him straight on and he disappears for one final time and does not reappear.
I look back over to Bashka who was looking at me disgusted that I beat his challenge.
“You have bested my challenge,” he said.
    “Yes I believe I have,” I said in the calmest voice I could make. I was extremely scared because i knew what was coming. I had to defeat Bashka himself.
    Bashka struck me by surprise when he blasted me with his powerful thu’um that blasted me higher than i wanted. I quickly fell to the ground and fired my thu’um at him. He bowed his head and did not flinch at all when my thu’um hit him. He looked back up and grinned and fired his thu’um at me for a second time. I flew up to dodge the thu’um and started to exhale heavily and as my breath blasted out of my mouth hitting bashka by surprise. He flinched and the blistering burn of my acid breath against his scales. He recovered and released his breath at me I saw thick red fire hurtle toward. It hit me with instant pain and i fell to the ground and felt the fire burn in my eyes. I shook my head and opened my eyes to Bashka standing before me. I lunged for his neck and felt my teeth hit his scales. The force of my hitting him knocked him over. I put my claw over the back of his head. I wanted to crush his skull under my foot but would that make me any better then him. I hesitated and took my claw off his head. He looked at me in confusion.
    “I will not kill you,” I said.
    “Why not? After all I have done, all the dragons I have killed. You deserve to kill me,”
    “That would make me no better than you,”
    “So you are letting me go?”
    “Yes. But under one condition.”
    “What?”
    “I get my memories back.”
    At that moment he started staring directly into my eye and I felt my memories reappear in my head



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