Dragon's Honor

Dragon's Honor
Chapter 1: The Beginning

He was there, standing in front of everyone in the kingdom. There were roughly around 100,000 people there, from peasants to lords and knights. They were all garbed with their most formal clothing: From robes and suits to rags. He was wearing armor: Gold chest plate, leggings, boots, gauntlets, helmet and scabbard. The weapon, being unique and very powerful and light, was named the Ultima Shopae, or "Ultimate Sword" in the draconic language.

The castle behind him was over 2 miles tall: the tallest in the land. Draped down the stone walls were banners that were decorated for this occasion. Even across the courtyard, being suspended by rope, were even more banners that were duplicates of the ones on the castle. The door entering the castle was open, revealing the King and Queen, marking this as an extremely momentus occasion.

"Ladies and gentleman," the gold knight began, "I have been entrusted with the sword, and also a great quest!" Everyone cheered as he spoke. "I will leave this kingdom and combat the dragon that has lived and terrorized us for many years!" Everyone cheered so loudly, that it was almost deafening. he marched down the stairs to his horse, which was wearing gold armor that was the same exact armor the knight was wearing for horses. He mounted his horse and he rode off, with the crowd cheering for him.


The time went by as the knight galloped away, to the north. As he rode, the sun had fallen, and he was almost there. The cavern that was his target was nearing. He knew that his demise could be near, but he knew that great glory could also be his destiny. Only time will tell, he thought.

He walked into the cavern, the only light was from the torch he bore in his left hand: his off hand. The light revealled the stone walls and ceiling, wich appared to be too smooth to be natural. As he carefully marched onward, he would step on damaged bones, and the cracking sound they made would echo through the cave. Then, he made a big mistake: He stepped onto a bone that crunched loudly and he dropped his torch. The torch was extinguished, and it made a banging sound that echoed loudly, and he cupped his hands over his ears to protect them. When he removed them, he heard something stirring in the depths.

He felt fear, but knew that he must press onward: His honor rests on this assault. He marched deeper, and deeper, with a lot of caution and pause in each step. Then, when all hope seemed lost in navigating the cave, a faint light was visible in the distance. He quickened his pace, hoping that this was a way out: A way to safety.

He was wrong: The light was a hole in the roof of a strange room-like underground clearing. In the center, poised and expecting, was the dragon. Its scales glimmered in the moonlight, and the color brought peace in the knight. However, fearing a surprise attack, he drew his weapon and began to charge.

The dragon, seemed to expect this as well, and it flung the knight into the wall so hard, he dropped his sword. "NO!" He screamed, watching as his sword slid across the floor, and he sat helplessly against the wall. The dragon approached him, looking him straight in the eye. Feeling a strange calmness and familiarity, he submitted to it and slept...


"Time to wake up, Michael, dear!" A voice echoed in his mind. "Hey!" A thrust at his side caused him to awaken instantly. All he saw was his mother standing over him. "Don't forget about school..." She was cut off by a news flash.

"This just in!" The man on the screen said loudly. "A shooting at a residential area in the local school district has caused all schools to shut down until further notice!"

"What the--" He began, but was in too much shock to continue.

"Looks like you're staying home today!" His mom said. "Although the conditions are unfavorable." He just stared back at her, dumbfounded and shocked. He laid his head onto the pillow and slept once again.


A dream, the dream, came to him again. He was standing there, in front of the dragon. No armor or weapon was on him. As he glanced around, he felt different. He peered at himself and noticed scales, wings, claws. He screamed, letting out a monstrous growl instead. He wasn't human, but he was a dragon. He looked into a nearby puddle and saw a blue dragon looking back. He gasped, and exhaled a jet of ice-cold flame that froze the puddle and even some of the moisture in the air. The shock was too much for him and he fainted, slamming into the cave floor.


He awoke on the floor of his bedroom, tangled in the blankets. As he wiggled free, he smacked his head into his bed, causing him to jolt from the pain, which had helped to release him from his comfortable prison. "Ow," he said quietly: It was still fairly early, about 6 in the morning. He was energetic in the mornings because he loves the mornings, and he has to get up at 5:30 every morning for an early band class. He glanced at the clock and thought that he should find something to do for about 2-and-a-half hours.

As he thought, he heard noises. He wandered around quietly, attempting to find the source of the noises. He started in the kitchen with the silverwear gleaming slightly in the slight moonlight. They rested upon an island counter in the center of the kitchen. He peered around, noticing the tan stove with silver mantle, the white dishwasher with a beautiful ivory handel. The cupboards were cosed firmly, and the sink still had some water in it from when his mother washed her bowl there about an hour ago. Not seeing anything out of the ordinary, he continues through to the family room.

As he approached the family room: A junction from the hallway to the garage, the noises got louder. He turned on the light, illuminating a couple couches and a TV mounted on a stand with DVD's alphabetized in a rack next to it. The couches were placed in the shape of an "L" in the center of the small room, leaving a corridor like walkway along the wall. The TV was moderate in size, and on a special stand to allow it to move in and out from its resting place. The floor, which as supposed to be white, was a faded brown from the dirt on peoples soes as they entered.

He stood there, listening. The noises were coming from the garage. He slowly and apprehensively approached the door. His heart was punding so hard out of fear that it felt like it leaped into his throat. He knew that there wasn't supposed to be anything in there, but he knew that he had to open it. He reached his hand out to unlock the door, and saw it shaking. The sounds were discernable now. There were growls and scratches, but they were faint. He finally grasped the lock and turned it. There was a click to show that the door was unlocked. Hegrabbed the knob, turned it slowly, and pulled the door open.

He looked around, and realized that he needed to turn the light on to see anything. He flipped the switch outside of the garage to illuminate it. He saw the freezer behind a mound of junk piled strategicaly so it woldn't be just a mound, but a structure. All the junk in herewas that way. The car, a minivan to accomadate the 4 person family. was parked in the center, although not straight. What Micheal finally noticed, and which was the most out of place, was the... dragon?

There was a gold dragon standing alongside the van. It was hunched over, and was very thin. It's claws wer scraching the pavement barely, and it was growling whenever it breathed. Micheal felt compelled to speak. "Y-- you alright?" The dragon finally noticed him, and looked at him with a slightly desperate face. "C-c-c-can't speak English, c-c-can you?" It appeared to understand him and shook its head.

The dragon made some growling noises, and started falling. Feeling his instincts kick in, Micheal ran over and caught the dragon. He could sense that it was dying. He laid the dragon on its back. Micheal stared sadly at the dragon. The dragon just stared back, into Micheals eyes. Micheal felt as if he had seen this dragon before, but dismissed this feeling. The dragon slept, but was still alive. Micheal felt a heartbeat in the dragon. He almost couldn't leave it, but he knew he had to.

As he went back to bed, he pondered what he saw and heard. Hewondered why he feltas if he saw the dragon before, and where he heard the strange means of communication of the dragon. He shrugged it all away as he laid to rest for the third time in one day. He only hoped that he would understand what was going on.

Strangely enough, a dream came to him. Michael was standing there, in the garage, next to the small yellow dragon. However, it had grown to an adult in his dream, now about 30 feet high. It stared at him, and then spoke the same words that it spoke to him in the waking world. Hello, my friend.

He was taken by surprise. "How can I understand you?" He attempted to say, but only heard noises mimicking the dragon’s words. He understood those, too. What is going on? He demanded.

I have granted you the ability of Dragontounge. That is the ability to speak and comprehend my language. The dragon spoke calmly, and expectantly: It expected Michael to ask.

Is this only in my dreams? Michael asked, wondering what the answer was, and hoping it was no.

No, young one. The dragon said. Michael sighed in relief. You will need it to fulfill your destiny. Even more confused than ever, he attempted to ask another question, but the dragon spoke before him. You shall learn what I mean in time. Farwell. The dream faded and he awoke.

He bolted upright, thinking about what happened. He hurried silently to the garage to see that the dragon was gone, and there was no evidence that it even existed. Confused, he sat on his bed, and thought about Dragontounge. He attempted to speak it, with no avail. He slammed his fist into his bed and said, "Why can't I speak it?" He was shocked: He spoke Dragontounge! He spoke to himself in Dragontounge for a few minutes, than realized he knew all he knew in English in Dragontounge.

He sat in his room, quietly waiting for dawn to break. As he sat there, he began thinking about what the dragon had said. What does he mean by my "Destiny"? He couldn't figure it out at all. He thought and thought about it, but came up blank: Completely blank. Not even a possibility came to mind.

The sun rose, and Michael fell asleep thinking about this "destiny". As he re-awoke to the sun, having already completely forgotten about his thoughts on the subject, he strode out of his bedroom and into the kitchen to get something to eat. He opened the pantry and idly grabbed some cereal. He grabbed a bowl, poured it, and had a filling breakfast. After he finished, he washed his bowl and put into the dish washer.

"Feeling generous?" Michael heard a voice speak. He turned to see his mother, Anne, standing at the entrance to her bedroom. Michael, being confused, almost asked, but his mother said first, "You put the bowl away. That's quite new for you."

"What do you mean by that?" Michael disgustedly retorted. He really never admitted to his flaws including selfishness. "What do you mean, new to me?" He was speaking rather loudly now.

"I'm sorry!" She responded. "I was just being sarcastic!" She laughed. Realizing how stupid he was, Michael did the same. "I was just saying that you actually put the bowl away!"

"I usually leave it out for dad." He said, moderately sadly now. "I didn't think you always cleaned it." He chuckled, realizing something else he should say. It just popped out, "No wonder they were so clean. He couldn't do that good, even if he tried." They both started laughing extremely hard.

"Ok. So, what do you want to do now?" It was a day off from school, and he had the entire day to spend to have fun.

He started thinking, Normally, I would either compose music or make a video game to go with it. Maybe the other way around. 2D games are fun, but... "Aha!" He just had an idea he deemed incredible.

"What? What is it?" Anne was both worried and exited. "What did you just think about? Did it hurt?"

Micheal paused an shot her a look and she chuckled. "Why don't we go to Uncle John's castle?" It was a place well visited by this family. It held both sentimental and physical value. Inside were many things from all of the family's childhood. It would be destroyed tomorrow.

"Sounds great." She said. "I'll rouse the meatheads and we'll leave immediately." She walked to the room of Michael’s oldest brother, James, and opened the door. She said, "Time to wake up!" All that responded was groaning.

"That didn't work,” he said, holding back a laugh. "He doesn't want to get up..." he couldn't help it. He laughed.

"What's so funny?" A voice asked asked. A body emerged from the room: It was James. "Why are you laughing?" James said with a lot of strain from just waking up from sleep.

"You!" Michael said. James just got even more confused than ever. "Your groaning was just so darn funny!" James chuckled after hearing this. When they finished laughing, they noticed the third brother, Brian, had finally awoken. "Sleeping beauty awakens!"

"Shut up!" Brian retorted. "Where are we going anyway?"

"Well," Anne began, "Michael here thought it would be a great idea to go to Uncle John's Castle. I thought it would be great."

"Sounds good." Both Brian and James responded in stereo.


A couple hours later, they were all at the castle. It was out of the way, and the only castle in the country that still stood, and also a complete secret to almost everyone. Micheal stood there, and marveled at it's size and make. As he stood there, something rushed to him This is the castle from my dream. Micheal brushed it off and continued with his family. As they entered, a majestic air seemed to rush out and greet them. When they were all in, they split up to look around for themselves.

James was looking in the armory at the weapons, marveling at their ingenious design and power for primitive weapons. Brian wandered the main hall looking at his ancestors, always wondering if they were generals in their army, or just combatants. Anne wandered into the kitchen to study the cookbooks, so she could prepare better cuisine for her family.

Michael searched the quarters of the master of the castle, John. He found letters, pictures, even a one shot revolver with a bullet still inside. As he searched, he found a chest. It had runes engraved where a keyhole would exist. He studied it and found that it would be impossible to open it conventionally.

He carried it to the car and waited for the rest of the family: The time to go home had come. They had been there for only three hours, and all but Anne had assembled at the car. They all talked about what they should do.

"Maybe someone should go look for her." James said. "Maybe she hit her head and got knocked out, or something."

"No, she's too smart for that. She probably fell asleep from boredom." Brian responded.

"I don't care what you guys think." Michael said. "She may be hurt. I will go in for her and I won't come back until I have found her."

"Okay. Take as long as you want!" James said happily. Michael went into the castle to search for Anne.

As he walked down the halls, he felt more fear than he had ever felt: The power to this place was deactivated, so the halls were dark, and he forgot his flashlight. The paintings seemed to be looking at him, and they freaked Michael out. When he stepped on a creaky floorboard, he screamed and ran as fast as he could.

After a couple minutes of running, he encountered a door. He grabbed the door handle and opened the door. All he saw was the kitchen. Nothing out of the ordinary. He stepped inside and began to look around. He had nothing better to do, and he was also quite exhausted from running.

Panting, he opened the pantry, the broom closet, and even all of the cupboards and drawers. All that was left was to check the bathroom. He crept up on it and knocked. No answer. He knocked harder. Still no answer. He pushed on the door to find it unlocked. He looked in and saw a flashlight: It was still on. He picked it up and shone it around the room. When he saw it, he screamed and threw the flashlight.

She was lying there. She had an expression of calmness on her face, and she was about as pale as could be. Micheal screamed once again, and then heard footsteps coming from somewhere in the castle. He turned, believing it was the culprit, and saw Brian and James. They gazed upon Anne and screamed themselves.

A minute later, they began bawling. They had carried Anne out to the car, and James called 9-1-1. As they cried heavily, the sky opened up and it began raining, as if the heavens wept for their loss as well.