My College

John swallowed very heavily, Dragon. It looked eerily similar to the mounted head on the old mans wall. Its breath was nasty. Minerva was unexpectedly standing behind John hiding. The shriveled figure had filled out revealing a very fit old man. He was wearing simply loin cloth, his arms and feet were still bound in chain. A golden chain was tied to his ear and around the neck of the beast next to him. The small lizard had transformed into a wyvern. Its tail was wrapped around the mans feet. The white light was no longer at his feet but in the chest of this beast.A thunderous laugh echoed throughout cave.

Inside his head Noira whispered, "Run, this is bad news."

"Little girl wants you run?" the old man said to which John froze in his low key retreat.

What the f**k? How. Johns brain couldn't process. With Noira's presence in his head he could understand the old man.

The old man stretched his hand towards Johns face. He had talon like nails but he was quite the distance away and the chains restricted him. Minerva didn't understand which little girl the old man was referring to and even looked to.

"He hasn't told you about his sword, has he?" John stepped back .

"Miner, Lets go."

"Don't you want to go home?" the old man said with a devious smile.

"You know the way out?"

"Sure, that old man I've met him before."

"Master, don't listen to him," Noira said. In Johns head he could see her hiding behind her chair. This was a far cry from the usual manner she carried herself in. She lacked her usual dignity and grace. "He's reading your mind, using what he sees to manipulate you."

"You think your mother wants to see you after you left her."

"What did you just say?" John responded at the smiling old man.

"Don't be provoked, he can't do anything, his chains restrict his power, and the golden ethereal chain between him n his beast prevent him from commanding his beast."

"So this little girl can also read minds? Come lets see whose power is greater, we seem to be similar in different prisons."

"Lets go," John straight turned around and started waling away. Minerva who was standing a distance behind John was still confused by the whole thing.

"What is he talking about? Little girl."

"My sword, I'll tell you all about it later, its best not to linger."

"You!" the crazy man shouted, "You killed your family." Seeing Minerva was about to charge over, John stood in her way to block her.

"He can read minds, and use it against you. Don't bother arguing with him."

"What is he?"

"Hell if I know."

"But you do." Noira said coming from behind her chair, "From the legends of your homeland he would be a vampire."

"Are you?"

"Yes, but me and him are totally different." She said sitting down in her usual self.

"We shall talk about this later."

"Please don't leave me here, the old man was shouting." Somehow John couldn't help but sympathize which was probably what the vampire wanted. To be stuck in this cave for an eternal life was not something he would just wish on anyone. Minerva was guiding the horses as they approached the other entrance. The path was steep and once again the shrieking returned. A cold chill ran down Johns spine when he thought about what would have happened had he been caught. No wonder he was sealed.

"I guess this is it, are you read to go home?"

"Wait, I think i left something at home," John held his pockets.

"What?"

"God, you are so easy to tease, " John was stifling a laugh trying to put the old man out of his head. She punched him and then quietly they looked into the dark hole they were about to fall into.

"Are the horses gonna be alright?" he couldn't help asking.

"Sure, they aren't dumb they won't go back to the wolves or that crazy old man and his beast, Come lets go."

John couldn't help but agree as they carefully made their way down. Turns out it didn't go all the way down after about forty meters of going down it leveled out and they were able to walk freely. walking downwards with horses in tow in the dark on such slippery ground was more tiresome than they thought. At the bottom of the slope they took a short break. The shrieking could barely be heard.

An underground river was audible some distance ahead. As they snacked John realized that because of the wolves they had barely had any food that day. The horses were luckier since they had some hay in front of them all night. It was quiet except the old man and the river. After the finished eating the continued ahead until they came to a fast flowing river. Testing the depth with his sword he was able to determine that it was about knee deep and the could make it to the other side. A though came to Johns mind, had he not convinced Minerva to summon Fireball that one time in the clearing they would be suffering right now. Life is full of coincidences.

"Rarely coincidences, more like fate," Noira said

"Please stop doing that,"

"Are you scared now that you know what I am, don't lie, I can tell."

"Whatever." John chose to ignore her and pulled his horse to step into the water after tying both of his swords behind his back. Minerva followed suit and guided her horse. For an underground river it was pretty wide. It was about as wide as a van. As John reached the middle he paused to look back. Minerva who was looking down at where he stepped looked up at him and smiled. He continued to move forward and when both them and their horses had all their legs in the water the water current grew stronger and the river begun to rise.

"What .... glugh.... sorcery is ...glugh.... this!?" John shouted with water getting into his mouth. The horses were neighing loudly as they panicked, Kicking in every direction. force pushed them downstream as they tried to bring their heads to the surface to breath. Unfortunately for them this was an underground river and this was the last thing they should have done and one by one they hit their heads at the point where the river went fully underground. The last thing Minerva saw was the dissipating fireball before everything went black.

______________________________________________________

It was a Saturday afternoon and the workshop barely had any people. During the weekend on a normal school schedule there were a number of people but now even that number had shrunk quite significantly being the summer. Two final year students were finishing their day and were packing their things preparing to leave for the day. One was standing at the door with one hand on the switch urging the other one to hurry up.

"Are you coming? Jeez why do you have to be so slow?"

"You are lucky, that we get to be part of this workshop, it will look good on your resume, why are you in such a rush to leave." she said as she approached the door her friend in the chest before kissing him on the mouth ans switching off the lights a moment later.

"Crash! Bang!" As he impatiently inserted the key into the lock a loud noises could be heard from the next workshop room.

"What was that?"

"How should I know, I'm standing next to you aren't I?"

"Well you were the last one to exit so maybe you knocked something over."

"Really?" she said rolling her eyes.

The loud neighing of a horse was heard in the same room as before, followed by another and the sound of smashing water.

"What the f**k is going on?" He opened the door again and turned on the lights and walked towards the source of the noise. I He could hear the sound of a neighing horse.

"If this is a prank, you chose the wrong place, I am calling campus police." He said as he opened the door. His jaw literally dropped. Ignoring the fact that the room was a mess. One of the paintings that the had been restoring was covered in water and was ripped in the middle. Two people were in the room before they looked back and saw him. One was furiously trying to calm a horse that almost knocked over a paint bucket while the other who was wearing a tattered suit and had two swords on his back and was looking at the torn painting.

"Wha- " he couldn't find the words.

"Whats wrong babe?" the girl said as she came into the room and had a similar reaction to her boyfriend.

"I did not expect to show up here, are you guys restoring these?" John asked as if nothing had happened. Minerva's horse calmed down and she walked over.

"Where are we?"

"My college."