A Beast with a Smile
Chapter 17 (Scarlett): What Caught the Dragon’s Eye?

My feet began to burn during my marathon with the massive creature snapping at my tail. His hot breath blew across my neck with every crunch of an unsuccessful attempt for his meal. Our unknown journey consisted of knocked over trees and trees that were about to be knocked over.

At least when my two fearless fifteen-year olds figure out that they left me behind with a twenty-foot medieval dragon they can follow the tree sized bread trail to my final resting place.

The dragon let out a breath of flesh burning fire; I ducked out of the way for the most of it, but some managed to hit Nord’s jacket, setting it ablaze. I threw it off as fast as I could, leaving me in my pajamas, running away from a true nightmare.

I was trapped in a sea of darkness; the only light source was the fire from the thing trying to make me a midnight snack. It was a bad time to realize I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, more than twelve hours ago, yet my legs had yet to feel fatigue. My body as a whole felt great, every bit moving in perfect sync. It was the adrenaline or the fear, but either way I found a better training method than CrossFit.

I could see a breach in the tree line where moonlight broke the seal of darkness and I changed my course straight for it. The dragon’s black skin gave him a camouflage in the woods. His long, veiny, bat like wings scrapping the tree’s and the fire blasting from his slimy, snake tongued mouth were the only things giving away his position. He let out another blast as I swerved towards the breach. My foot clipped a raised root and then sent it spinning around the tree, slapping the medieval creature in the jaw.

I realized that my actions hadn’t hurt the beast, but he was definitely shocked or startled that something was able to hit him. It only made him madder. The dragon began to beat his wings, preparing for take-off, and started a mini sand storm. The choking sand made the air toxic with leaves and pebbles. I could barely see ten feet in front of me, but I had to keep sprinting. I felt a tingle in my toes as my misguided foot crashed into a puddle of water. I heard a loud pop and fell to my knees.

This is it, I thought, the end, death by spit roast.

I looked down at my foot to see the ground split. What was once a small puddle was now a massive pot hole. My shoe was planted deep into the wall of the crater. I was lucky that my ankle didn’t snap like a twig. I dislodged and continued to run for the light; the dragon had taken a low flight just above me and was sending beams of fire at my position. The heat from his breath was enough to give me an instant sunburn; it was certainly hot enough to set half the forest ablaze.

The fire quickly spread across my whole body: this only made me run faster. I began to see images of a boy in front of me dragging my outreached arm, leading me to the same hole in the trees. Scavenger.

I ran faster than I had ever ran and was creating my own mini sand storm. I was out running the creature by a mile.

The heat from the fire was beginning to become unbearable and it covered my whole-body head to toe. The smell of burning wood masked the scent of burning flesh. I was a few feet from the breech when sharp black daggers engulfed my body, taking me for a ride. I soared to the point where the trees were smaller than ants. I felt butterflies in my stomach and the initial pull up drained my lungs completely. I looked up at the beating wings of the massive creature and saw his red eyes glaring into my soul. He let out a massive fire bolt upward into the sky. His grip loosened and let me fly solo as I plummeted back to the earth.

You never realize how small your home is until you’re flying past it at a million miles per hour.

I could see what would have been past the breech if I had been so lucky to reach it. There was a small pond layered with broken trees and glowing mushrooms.

That seems like a nice final resting place. My decomposing body would help revive some of the vegetation.

I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable. I’ve heard hitting water after a large fall feels like hitting concrete, but when my body hit the water I felt rejuvenated and energetic. I felt stress leave my body as I relaxed in the bottom of the pond.

I opened my eyes and scanned my surroundings. It’s not every day you see yourself unconscious floating in the river. The images were already playing when I arose from the water. I saw Scavengers everywhere. There were muzzle flashes from every direction. I watched bullets bounce away from Scavenger as he stood in seven places at once.

A sudden and annoying pain lingered on my shoulder. I touched the spot and felt a rush of energy. The images faded away as the water around me began to swirl. The current only grew and I stood in the eye of the whirlpool. The dead leaves and moss were swept away making the pond see through. Along the bottom rocks and ooze began to glow white and blue. This only alerted the black dragon that his victim had survived the fall, because I heard a loud roar in the distance.

It wasn’t long before I could see his silhouette casting on the moon. He landed on the shore, knocking down trees and adding the whirlpool. Our eyes met with an old west kind of stare, just waiting for the first person to draw. I was prepared for the firebolt; I dove further in the water, realizing it followed my every move. I stood to see another bolt a few inches from my head. My reflexes were fast enough to shield my face, but the heat never touched me; only the splash of water and the sound of crashing waves affected me.

I didn’t know dragons could look astonished, but I guess no one asked too many questions before they were decimated by a monstrosity. He gave out a long beam of fire this time and I raised my hands taking control of the water itself. I created a barrier of pure water which steamed from the heat of the fire.

Now I was even amazed, it’s a thrill to replace something new about yourself. The dragon was not impressed with my new-found abilities and decided to test them for himself. He blew more bolts further down to try and hit me with the beam. I raised the water all around me, forming an invincible bubble. More steam filled the air, creating a sauna like environment. The bubble dripped all over me, giving me the most exhilarating and comfortable shower, I had ever felt. It made me feel like I could do anything, giving unlimited possibilities.

The dragon became frustrated with his prey’s effectiveness at surviving. He entered the water, his worst mistake of the night. I was able to sense his presence and feel his every move. By directing the water towards him I was able to wrap him up with octopus like water tentacles. I commanded the water that held the beast to squeeze tight, restricting any movement. He screeched in agony and feared his prey becoming an equal. He tried to bite the water, attempting to free his imprisonment, but broke a tooth, which plopped into the water next to me. The tooth was the size of me and was sharper than a sword. The dragon, lost in his own agony, fell to his belly. He looked at me with defeat in his eyes, giving up on his pointless struggle.

I ripped his tooth out of the ground and walked towards the beast. He closed his eyes tightly as I raised his jaw. I found the spot where the tooth had dislodged and placed it back in. Water rose up the tooth onto the dragon’s gums and began to glow. The blooded gum was perfectly healed, and the tooth was cemented back in place. I remembered Elly’s wound closing in a similar way. He snapped to attention, realizing his life had been spared and he was repaired. I released his water chains and he rubbed his nose against my face purring.

“Good boy,” I said, petting his nose.

The dragon rose to his feet again and retreated swiftly back into the forest from which he came, leaving me with no one, again.

I sat down in the shallow end of the pond. The pond dipped from a few inches to a few feet to holy crap where is the bottom. This range was varied across the pond as if someone was drilling to the center of the earth.

“They’re from the meteors,” someone said in the darkness.

I spun around quickly attempting to identify the source.

“Where are you?” I asked, trying to focus on where the voice originated.

The tree in front of me began to glimmer as a boy appeared out of thin air in a reflective power suit. It was the most perfect mirror I had ever seen.

“The holes are from the meteors,” he said again.

“Who are you? And how long have you been spying on me?” I asked.

“Who am I? Who are we all? I know my name may be Christopher, but I much more than just a name, but yes Christopher Doll is my name, but you, le mien belle donne, may call me Chris,” he said in a thick Italian accent, “And to answer your question, I’ve been watching since you fell a few thousand feet into the Gene Pool and brushed it off like you simply tripped on the stairs. Things like that intrigue my interest.”

“So, you saw everything that just happened?”

“Yes, ma’am. I saw every little thing.”

“And you didn’t think, I don’t know, to help?” I glared.

“But then how would I know what you were capable of? I have to make sure you aren’t a powerful threat. However, so far, I see that you are quite the opposite any type of threat.”

Chris was barely the size of me with long, black greasy hair and a smirk that was begging to be punched. His face had multiple deep wounds, leaving nasty scars. It gave him a sinister look and one far from friendly. He noticed my unbroken gaze at his peculiar appearance.

“Ah! I see you’re admiring my reflective armor. Is it not perfection? I drew up the design myself. Don’t you like it? Archy wasn’t impressed with it, he said it was too obvious when I’m not cloaked. Well, beauty outweighs war tactics.”

“Archy? Have you seen him and Elly around? They were with me, but we got separated in the woods.”

He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, “The Immortal used the shadow machine and pulled them back home. Those two are constantly sneaking off.”

“Shadow machine? You say it like I know what you’re talking about,” I asked, wishing I hadn’t noticed him.

He took a deep offended breath, “Ugh, it’s a machine that can teleport people. Can we stop playing fifty questions, so I can get back to my guard duty? So, either admire my suit or be on your way lady.”

I rose out of the water, “Look here, dude. I have had a very long day,” I walked toward him in the trees, “I watched my mother’s memory be smashed on the ground by a sociopathic spoiled brat, I’ve been wearing pj’s all day, I exposed a fake medium who was scamming my dead/alive best friend’s dad, I’ve been slapped, thrown around, and shot at, I just fell a couple thousand feet and walked away without a scratch, and, oh, I had my hair set on fire by a freaking dragon. So, you can either tell me how to replace Archy and Elly or YOU can be on your way.”

I stood in front of him, inches from his face.

He held up his arm and spoke into a watch, “Um, Sally I need a pick up. It would appear Archy and Elly have brought back an uninvited guest.”

“Roger that. Portal opens in three, two, one.”

A giant spinning circle formed in front of us; it had a black mist that filled its inner shell. It opened wider and touched the ground.

Chris walked up to it and stepped through like a normal doorway, but before his head passed into the unknown he turned and looked at me.

“I’m on my way. Are you?” he said with his smug smile while holding out his hand.

I grabbed it and plunged into the unknown.