AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Sparkles of gold glistened at the corner of my eyes. A thick, large body of scales nearly as tall as the cavern, coiled around me like a serpent. Not tight enough to squeeze, but close enough to kill me in a blink.
I shuddered, every nerve ending in my body alert. My hands on the hilt, the sword still impaled through the stone, I peered up and met huge dark eyes staring down intensely at me. My breath caught in my throat, and I didn’t know if I was breathing. Good thing I was still on my knees.
Not a snake, but a pure golden drakon with a giant, serpent-like body and two large horns on its head. I’d heard of tales of such mystical creatures that could talk, but I’d thought it was a bedtime story.
Saving Grace, it was real.
“Are you a drakon?” I murmured, trembling in fear in the presence of this beautiful but deadly creature. When it didn’t answer but continued to glare at me, I asked, “Who are you?”
The creature’s golden massive wings fanned out and then tucked back to its sides. “I am the moon and the sun, night and day. I am the beginning and the end, life and death.”
Its deep, monstrous voice and those sharp teeth sent shivers down my back but I was not afraid. If the creature wanted me dead, it would have seared my body into ashes. But I didn’t understand what this drakon was. A divine sort of being?
“I don’t know who you are, but I’ve come in peace,” I said with a steady, calm tone, but my chest still rose and fell out of rhythm.
The drakon shifted its long body, giving me more space. “I’ve already stated what I am.”
Not really but I wasn’t going to argue.
“Why did you let me live?” I waved a hand toward the pile of bones. “And killed so many?”
The drakon tilted its head to get a better view. “I asked you to show me the light and you did. The others who came before you had evil intentions.” The creature lowered half of its upper body so its huge face neared mine. “So tell me, little one. What do you need from me?”
I rose and tucked the divine sword back within my wings. “I’m here to find the Gate Key, but I don’t know what it looks like.”
The lower half of the creature’s body slinked into the water with a soft splash as it glanced toward the vast darkness on the other side of the cavern.
“Through there is the Gate Key. One must pass a test before the key is given.”
Not the answer I was expecting. “What does the key look like?”
I stared at the vast sheer darkness. Who knew what awaited through the veil? Asmodeus wanted to control what was beyond the gate. So I told the drakon about the demon king and how he reigned over the human world. Asmodeus had captured Zander, one of the greatest OA warriors, and how he wanted me to bring the Gate Key.
“What does the key look like?” I asked again, stepping from one stone to another.
“You will know if you pass the test.”
“What is this test?”
“You must gift your greatest fear.”
Hmmm, not terrorizing at all.
Just as I was about to ask the creature what it meant, the air shifted and the water whooshed and splashed as the drakon spun its body and headed toward the cave entrance. When the creature hissed through its nose, cool mist coated my skin.
On the first flat rock, Victus appeared like a shadow and dream. He stood tall and arrogant. No sign of trepidation that a giant beast hovered before him.
“What are you doing here?” I stormed across the makeshift bridge.
The drakon growled a mighty sound. If I wasn’t mistaken, the creature sounded somber, as if it had lost a loved one. The pebbles shook and the water shuddered. And even my bones rattled.
Victus held up his hands as he focused on the drakon, ignoring me as if I was no threat. When I reached him, I kept one flat rock distance between us.
“What are you doing here?” His gaze raked me from head to toe in my black leather suit.
From the sound of his tone, he seemed to be genuinely worried about me. But I was wrong. I must be delusional. He despised angels, especially Seraphim.
“It’s none of your concern. But you’re lucky I came first, or you would have been dead like them had you tried to summon the drakon.”
