13 Dungeons and Dragons

<*Chapter 11*>

So, Scott has put himself in quite the predicament.

When teleporting with no destination.. It can put you in the weirdest of places.

Fighting a dragon to save your beloved, is not something you want to do at 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

Fighting a dragon, you ask? Well, for some reason, Scott teleported to a cave. Yes, a cave. And to make matters worse, Scott cannot use his powers.

Scott also has no idea where Grayson went, he can only hope that he's safe. Teleporting would be the best way to actually find Grayson, but there is a weird dampener on Scott's powers. He can only use his most basic abilities.

Those basic abilities include his werewolf senses and strength, his vampire nature that involves his heightened senses, speed and drinking blood, and then his demonic side really can't help because he had to train all of his powers. Now that his essence is dampened he can't necessarily do anything flashy, such as blowing up the dragon - that would be extremely fun - or flying - imagine the things he could do while flying.

But wishing for more in his situation will not help the fact that he cannot defeat a dragon. Maybe he can, he just doesn't want to. He's more concerned for his location, he actually has no idea where he is or what happened to Grayson. And that scares him more than a dragon.

For now, Scott pushes aside those thoughts, he needs to focus on his task at hand. Then he can search for his soulmate.

The dragon is large in size, an estimation Scott would give would be.. Really big. It's not a bright color, it seems like black but if you can see it up close - which Scott can because it's literally trying to kill him. It looks more of a purple-ish color and it's stomach looks like a lighter purple. It also has weird horns growing from it's head, they are long and they swirl like that of a goat, just a lot larger. It's huge green eyes dart around trying to find Scott once again.

Scott really admires the beauty of the dragon, if only it weren't out for his head he would love it a lot more.

At that thought the dragon goes in for another swing to Scott's body, almost crushing him if he hadn't dodged under it's tail.

"Can you please calm down!?" Scott yells while running around the dragon.

"Oh, yes. Sorry." The dragon responded while stopping it's attack.

The actual response makes Scott stop running, stunned into silence. He slowly turns around to face the dragon and his jaw drops as he sees it sitting like a dog.

"Did.. Did you just.." Scott pauses as he is too surprised to think of words.

"Are you alright? I know my job is to attack the humans who come in here but you're different so I thought I'd stop." The dragon states calmly, it starts shrinking as it continues. "I'm probably going to get my butt kicked but you seem fit enough to be my secret friend."

"What the.." Scott watches in awe as the dragon slowly turns into a human. With boyish and girlish features, a small build, dark purple hair, green eyes, small horns growing out from their head and light purple scales cover their face like freckles, the dragon now looks like a human, as much as it can be.

"So, how about we be friends?" The dragon asks smiling, luckily they had clothes on so it wasn't naked but having them come closer made Scott uncomfortable.

"Hold on.. I am not understanding anything right now. Can you maybe.. explain a little?" Scott asks with his pointer fingers massaging his temples, still processing.

In Scott's life, he has researched many things, spoken to many people. He's always been fascinated in learning about the different species throughout the world. But dragons.. He's never really thought to go in depth with them because there wasn't much information to go on and everything he found would contradict each other. Now though, his inner fanboy is coming out and he's ready to learn everything.

"Oh yes.. I forgot that I'm a dragon for a second.." The dragon pauses to think then continues, "So, we dragons live in this place called the 'Dungeon,' it's hard to get in here and most people can never get out. Anyways, we have been here for centuries and never leaving.." It smiles happily, "unless we find a suitable person to travel with. Dragons aren't very strong in these human bodies. Plus, travelling around in dragon form will just cause panic." The dragon moves their hands in a downward motion like, 'you see this?'

"Therefore, before we're allowed to leave, we need a strong person to guide us! And you, my friend, are perfect." The dragon smiles brightly while leaning towards Scott. "There are other procedures that need to happen before I can leave though, a contract will have to be made and we'll have to meet my father, and we'll of course be taking my brothers. So what do you say?"

"And so, this contract you speak of, you want one with me? We barely met, you tried to kill me, now you want me to be your friend..?" Scott asks with a raised eyebrow, still pondering his thoughts.

"Yes!" The dragon says excitedly, "you're strong! And I know this because usually any humans that come in here actually die in a few minutes but you've lasted way longer and probably never would've been caught by me. That makes you worthy to take my soul and protect me in the outside world." The dragon nods proudly.

"Okay, I think I understand this. Dragons want a strong friend to.. protect them when they leave the 'Dungeon' and I meet the requirement? But what if I can't protect you?" Scott asks, forgetting everything and wanting to know more.

"Then that means you're a bad friend. And in the contract if I get hurt, you would feel some kind of pain. If I die, there are extreme consequences if you ever come back to the dungeon. That's how the contract goes. But it's not as if you have to take care of me, just get out of the Dungeon alive and then I can be free." The dragon says, looking gloomy all of the sudden.

Scott thought that he better not ask about the gloomy mood and instead, "how do we create the contract?"

The dragon's face instantly brightens, "I already have one ready, my father has it!" It pulls something out of it's pocket and hands it over to Scott. Scott inspects this and sees it's some kind of badge. It's like a tiny shield about the size of Scott's hand but it's light and easy to carry. It's black with white engravings, small scribbles outline it and the middle holds the words 'Drugan Ruco Budgo.' Right underneath that is a blank space, probably for a name. "This will help you walk around here freely for now, put your name on it. We'll need to find my brothers before we get to my father."

"Oh, what's your name?" Scott asks, wanting to know this dragon more.

"I'm Draca.. Oh, and if you couldn't tell, which most people can't, I'm a boy." Draca says annoyed.

"Well, I guess it's nice to meet you. Just.. don't try to kill me or my soulmate.. Oh crap!" Scott suddenly remembers what was happening before this and realized he should be searching for Grayson.

"What?" Draca asks confused.

"Draca, can you help me look for another boy who came with me here?" Scott asks in a rush.

"Oh.. That boy is probably with another dragon.. We might want to hurry." Draca says with his hand on his chin, stroking an imaginary beard.

"Huh, why?" Scott asks while signing his name in the badge.

"Well, the dragons here are tasked with killing intruders, that's also my job but if we choose to find a friend worthy enough then we just leave this place and basically abandon our duty. So another dragon is most likely trying to kill that boy. The other dragons like it here.. So they won't go easy on him just to find a friend. " Draca explains nonchalantly.

"What!? Then can we hurry this up? Sign it, sign!" Scott says in a panic.

"Okay.. geez." Draca signs the badge happily and it emits a strange gold light in his hands.

Once the light dies down, Scott asks Draca where the dragons would put Grayson and they head out on their way to find the missing boy.

.

"So, who is this boy we're looking for?" Draca asks skipping down a corridor in the 'Dungeon.' The place is large and there are turns everywhere, Scott might've gotten sick if it weren't for Draca's strange talks that keep his mind occupied.

The walls are made of stone, along with the floor and high ceilings. It's an ugly beige color as if it's been left alone for centuries. It's extremely dark and the only faint light that shows up is the tiny lanterns along a few walls. It's exactly how you would imagine a dungeon.

Scott only wonders where he is, and if he's truly underground.

"He's.. my friend." Scott says slowly.

"Friend, you say?" Draca asks, raising his right eyebrow in question.

"Yes, we're friends." Scott says then brings up another topic, "Draca.. Have you heard of soulmates?"

"Huh? Well, yes. I believe if you haven't heard of a soulmate then you've been living under a rock." Draca stops and stares. "Wait.. I've been living under a rock.."

Scott laughs slightly, "anyways, do you have a soulmate? Or, I mean, have you met them?"

"Nope. I'm not too sure that I want to though." Draca says sighing but he continues to skip through the dungeon corridors.

"And why is that?" Scott asks curiously, he may be a little nosy but he can't help his curiosity.

"Well, for starters, having a soulmate seems boring, in a way. Like, what's the fun in being destined to someone for your whole entire life? Also," Draca pauses to smile at Scott, "I would like to choose who I spend my life with.. Not have it be predestined by some strange celestials."

"I see your point.." Scott sighs, "but you know, you don't have to be with your soulmate, even if you do find them." Scott states and Draca peers at him in surprise.

"It seems your life is quite different from mine," Draca says smiling with his head down. Another gloomy look appears on his face, making him seem rather lonely. "My family would never allow me to not be with my soulmate." He looks up, a new look to his face. Scott can't describe the emotion written there, but it seems incredibly hateful but scared.

Scott decides to change the topic upon seeing a new mood in the air, "you know, when I was little I would quite literally search every nook and cranny of my hometown to learn about dragons. I have to be honest, when I learned of the outside world I never believed it so I needed to read all of those books and letters to understand it. It made me become very fascinated with the outside to the point that, if I was not reading, then something was wrong." Scott laughs at himself. Draca seems to be listening intensely though so he continued, "even now, before I landed in your dungeon, I still wanted to learn more. My purpose for learning has changed though." Scott smiles while slowly remembering why his change came about.

"Scott, where have you been living your whole life? I think anyone can learn about the essences by just asking an elder." Draca asks looking at Scott suspiciously.

"Yeah, right. My home is surrounded by walls that are miles long. Few people ever left and even they don't know anything about what's out of those annoying things." Scott says with an amused look on his face. If it was that easy to learn about then how come all those books barely had any information on them?

"Scott.. what's the place called that you live in?" Draca asks seriously, Scott hears this and frowned slightly.

"Erebus." Scott states calmly. Draca goes wide eyed but doesn't say anything else.

"Ahem," He clears his throat, "for future circumstances, don't tell anyone that, alright?"

"Huh? Why?" Scott's mind is racing through possibilities but he still can't understand why Draca is being strange.

"Hey.. Just don't." Draca says with a new strange expression. He seems worried or confused, maybe a bit of both.

.

.

After searching through many empty rooms, the two finally come across an intense fight scene.

"I told you, that's my food!" One dragon yells to another. It was smaller than Draca as a dragon and it was dark green, with one gray horn on it's head.

"You are always taking the humans, leave me one!" The other shouts. The dragons were almost identical, except the second has a white horn.

"Uhm.. Excuse me, what's going on..?" A boy asks as he backs away from the two bickering dragons.

"What did that boy say?" The first dragon asks.

"How am I supposed to know, idiot?" The dragons look at the boy in confusion until they notice two new faces joining the scene.

"Draca?" The two dragons transform into humans like it was nothing, and run up to Draca.

"Scott?" Grayson asks, shock is still plastered on his face.

"Grayson!" Scott calls out, he runs to Grayson happy to finally find him.

"What's going on..?" Grayson asks, first he discovered his soulmate has weird abilities but now he's seeing dragons talk and turn into humans, who knows how he feels at this point.

"I'm sorry.." Scott looks down, trying to think of what to say. "I'll tell you about my.. abilities another time. Right now we're in this place called the Dungeon and the dragons are in charge of watching over this place."

"Correct! Now we all need to leave before the elder dragons come here." Draca says and leads everyone out of the room.

"Draca!" A booming voice halts everyone's movements. A tall and angry looking man enters. By his side appears a young looking woman who appears forcibly happy. They're both veiled in darkness due to the lack of light, but their facial features can be seen.

Draca's startled into silence for a moment, "Hello father, mother." He bows his head and bends onto one knee, as do the two dragons behind him.

"What is going on here?" The man asks pointing to Scott and Grayson in fury. Smoke flew out his nose when he puffed.

"Ah.." Draca looks back at Scott, "this person has become my friend. I would like to ask father if I may leave with him. Might I add, it is time for me to explore the regions along with Kaida and Fafnir. If father would be so kind..?"

"Nonsense!" The man shouts angrily. "Draca.. You know the rules." He states narrowing his eyes at Draca and the two dragons behind him.

"Father," Draca states worriedly, "You know that the trials are too extreme.. If I don't leave soon, I won't be able to before I turn eighteen. After that.."

"Draca, the trials are tradition. One day there will be someone who beats them and takes you on your journey. It is destined." The man states as he slowly steps forward.

As the man comes into the dim light, Scott can finally see what the man looks like. And from Scott's knowledge of a powerful man, as in the power over others, this man appears like a king. He walks with elegance and he has a peculiar robe on his back. It's like the badge Scott got from Draca, almost all black except for the bright ivory-colored fur on the rims and the small designs in light gray. His clothes are basically a suit with the same coloring, and the woman next to him wears a graceful dress with the same patterns.

The man's hair is an even darker purple than Draca's, and his eyes are unbelievingly dull red with light purple scales underneath. He's extremely tall and very bulky, he seems incredibly strong. The woman is almost his opposite, she has, long, bright green, curly hair and even brighter green eyes. Her cheeks are somewhat red and she has glorious makeup on, making her seem like a high ranking official. She's shorter than the man and extremely skinny but she exudes a strong aura of power.

"Father.. My birthday is very soon, and we do not get visitors often. If he gets hurt and no one else comes, what then?" Draca seems to be in an aggressive debate with the man he calls father. Neither want to give up, but what are they even discussing?

Scott wishes he could interfere but he doesn't understand anything and it's not even his place to add anything.

"Draca." The man says sternly, "if he wants to leave this place he WILL go into the trials. And if you wish to go with him, along with your brothers, then you can only hope he succeeds."

Draca still looks apprehensive, but he lowers his head once again. "Alright.."

"Now then, boy! Tell me your name." The man smiles mischievously.

Draca looks guiltily at Scott and nods his head.

"I am Scott Powers." Scott states firmly, and standing tall. He's very confused but he can play along. If these 'trials' determine whether or not he can leave then he's going to beat them, no matter what.

"Scott.. What a unique name you have." The man says amusedly. "I, am Klaus Rearziesh, the current Dragon Lord of the Dungeon." He smiles cunningly.

Those words didn't exactly surprise Scott, he just isn't sure what to do now. He's never heard of a Dragon Lord.

What do you do when you meet royalty?