The Dragon Knight; The Secrets of the Desert

The Secrets of the Desert (Chapter 1)

     Everything was dark. There wasn't even the tiniest hint of light. That was not good, definitely not good!

     Everything was silent. There was no sound near or in the distance. That didn't seem too good either.

     My head felt empty. That was strange. I hadn't had my mind and thoughts completely to myself since the bonding. Zjarr had always been there with her own thoughts and mind. But now nothing. Did that mean she was dead? Impossible! Was I dead? No, that didn't seem logical because my body hurt.

     Slowly I took notice of my body. I was lying on my back on something soft yet hard. It appeared to be warm but when I moved everything was cold. I moved my hands, hoping to find something; something to grab, something to give me an idea of where I was, something to light and chase the darkness away with. I did find something. I grabbed it firmly in my hand but I couldn't tell what it was. My hands trailed over it, from one end to other but I couldn't identify it.

     I just lay there, motionless, waiting patiently to get the full control over my body back. Slowly I started feeling my legs again and after that my arms. My legs felt fine, with the exception of one spot that felt completely numb, besides from the wet part of clothing around it. I wasn't too worried about that; maybe water had dripped onto my pants. I could move all ten of my toes and then my feet and finally my legs. Although it cost some energy and willpower I managed it. My arms were the same, I could bend my fingers without a problem, move my underarms and eventually my entire arm. My head hurt but it didn't seem too serious.

     But the darkness. That was becoming a bit of a problem. It made me feel uncomfortable; it was complete and unlike the darkest nights where stars would at least shine. I wasn't afraid of the dark but right now fear started growing in the pit of my stomach. I didn't like not even making out vague shapes. I pushed myself into a sitting position and blinked hoping that maybe I was only temporarily blinded. No such luck. It remained dark.

     I didn't dare to speak so, thinking the loudest that I could, I begged Light to come to my rescue and give me some light. A tiny floating light ball appeared in front of my eyes. I snapped my eyes shut, the sudden brightness hurting them, and slowly opened them again giving myself some time to adjust to the light. It wasn't much, the light was just enough to check out my clothes and limbs.

     What I saw at first was dust covered clothes. I was entirely covered in dust, my leather pants had gone from dark brown to a beige-ish color. I shook my head vigorously and coughed as the sand and dust flew in every direction. Feeling my head spin slightly from the motion I raised a hand to hold it reflexively, not that it did any good. I could still feel the dust inside my hair and there was nothing left of the braid I had made two days ago.

     Next I checked out what I was now sitting on. What I found made my scream in fright and jump up and away. Bones! I had been sitting on bones! But they didn't look like the bones of an animal or even human for that matter. These bones had sharp and uneven ends as if they had been broken but they hadn't. They were an off gray color making me instantly wonder what kind of... thing had bones like these. What had died here? And when?

     Slowly I backed away from the pile of bones. It was a miracle that they hadn't pierced me when I landed on them. And I realized, they had probably broken my fall. When my back hit the wall, the pressure somehow made a jab of pain shoot through my leg. My scream of pain bounced of the wall, shutting me up in an instance. Whatever those bones belonged to have been killed by something or maybe there were more. And right now I didn't want to want to call attention to myself.

     My scream turned to a whimper as I slit down the side of the wall. Something I hadn't noticed at first now became obvious; it wasn't water that had wet my leg. Through the dust I could clearly tell that it was red, blood red. Blood. Was it mine? It must be. Carefully I felt the bloody spot of my leg and eventually found a cut. Or maybe a hole was a better word for it. Well, not really a hole since the piece of bone that had pierced my leg was still in there.