1 Deal

Dim lights shine on a lone man.

Sitting at a bar alone accept for the company of a cold beer and a wall to lean on.

Joe slowly raises his head and looks around the bar seeing a peppering of people looking back down at his wrist he notices its approaching 2. Now that he thinks back the loud shout may have been last call". That shocked him from his stooper. Bracing himself for the wobbly journey ahead he gets ready to rise and pay his tab.

But a man appears out of nowhere but seems like he's been there all along grabs joes left arm .

"Why the rush?" The man asks in a voice unlike any joes heard be fore like two grated stones being grinded togather.

Joe looks at the man and to his arm thats in the strangers vice like grip.

"Can I help you?" Joe asks unsettled.

Though joe stands six foot three and three hundred pounds in the twenty something odd years he still afraid of conflict and socially awkward.

"Sit" the man says.

Joe not wanting a scene obliges and knows the bar is about to close sits back down.

"Pay my tab and I will tell you of a world you have never imagined, I will tell you a tale of magic and beasts. I will tell you of a world your soul craves."

A smile touches the mans lips as he finishes his words as he lifts up and finishes a brown liquor.

"O o okay" convinced hes listening to a loonatic joe plans for the path of least resistance and agrees to hear the man out and getting away as quick as possible.

Joe waives the bartender and grabs the tab of the both of them. His being 16.75 and the strangers being 88.88 internal tears spill as the bartender takes his visa and charges it.

Seeing the bill payed the man starts his tale.

Another world

Hushed foot steps fall on the hard stone of mt. Kyros. A group of six men stealthaly climb the side of the mountain trail walking in a formation, two armoured men with swords in the front a robed man in the middle next to another man slender with a sword and an amber bead on the middle of his brow, two men with bows followed the rear.

"Rrrrrrooooooooooaaaaaaaaaar"

The ground shook as the pained howl of a beast quaked the earth. The sheer power could tell the strength of the beasts pain.

Stopping for a moment the group continues onwards .

Rain starts to pour and lightning streches across the sky with thunder singing a ballad of rumbling booms.

Back to the bar.

The mans tale ends looking into joes eyes he asks.

"Now that you have heard my tale of the world how do you feel?"

Joes heart shook, the world seemed so real so inticing magic and beasts, kingdoms and religion. Joe wished it was real and wished to live there .

As if reading his mind the stranger asked.

"Do you want to live there?"

"Yess!!!" Joe nearly screamed.

"It sounds amazing, I'd give my left nutt *cough* I mean my soul to be apart of it.

"What about your family friends ? Everything has a price boy." In a forboding tone the man asked.

"Pff , if I had friends would I be drinking alone? If I had a family would i not seek there comfort ? I losf my job today and my parents passed in a car accident years ago . I'm a single child and friends are a distant dream ."

Smirking the man asks.

"So you want to go and will pay your soul?"

"Pft, yea if it was real id give everything"

Joe responded longing to escape this world of pain and bad memories . but knowing its just a hope and the other world is just a story.

Joe rises once more to go the man looks and reaches out a hand and smiles .

Joe shakes it about to let go.

He hears the man say "deal".

The other world

The six men are no longer. Only 2 remain the man with the amber bead and the cloaked man.

The others lay strewn around there bodies burnt and smoking the cave infront of a bleeding angry Dragon. The Dragon furiously roars about to unleash the lightning thats been coiling around its body but is racked by a contraction.

The move halted mid way the slender man sees an opportunity.

"Strike at tbe newborn its head is crowning, if we cant steal it we will kill it ."

Nodding the robed man activates a ancient bronze wrist band and a bow made of ice that looks of Diamond pulls back the unseen string a compressed mana arrow forms and is released aiming for the baby dragons head.

The robed man collapsed . seeing his friends weakened state and the arrow on target he grabs the robed figure and starts too flee.

The mother Dragon seeing the arrow come towards it child tries to move but the contraction just got worse and movment is halted.

*Squish* the babys head is crushed open.

The mother roars a defiant screech . crimson streaks flow from her black and gold scaled eyes.

Back on Earth

Screech

Bang

"Help"

" Someome call the ambulance theres been a accident."