The Dragon's Claws

Chapter Twelve- Another "friendly" reunion)

I opened my eyes, still groggy and disoriented, and tried to look around. It took my eyes a few minutes to adjust to my dark surroundings, but when they did, I almost wished they hadn't. I was in a semi-lit, medium room that was not empty by any means. All around me were tables laden with saws, hammers, and a few other instruments that might be found in a deviant's basement. Just as I started to freak out, I heard a door open behind me and to my left. I tried to turn around to look at it, and it was only then I realized I strapped down by glowing chains to a large stone slab. I tried to reach for my magic, only to find that my connection to it was blocked somehow. That was when I really started freaking out . . . internally of course. I waited for my captor to round the corner of the slab, but the mystery person stopped right beyond my field of vision, much to my annoyment.

"Come out of the shadows, you coward." I growled, or meant to at least. I must have been chained down for over two days, because my throat was so dry that all that came out of my mouth was a croak.

"Trying to threaten or intimidate me, I suppose?" the man hissed in a silvery voice, lasting much too long on each 's'.

I stared straight ahead, not making a sound, and tried to control my shivering. Something about his voice sounded strangely familiar, like a friend from long ago.

"Stubborn as ever I see, Alex.

"How do you know my name?" I managed to force out after I got a little moisture back in my mouth.

"Oh, I know all sorts of things about you. I know your sword is called Umbra Mordēre, for the way you make it into a mouth with your demon magic. I know you're an elf." That part surprised me, because every time I leave my home I shift my features to look human. No humans besides Max and Nate knew I was really an elf. "I also know you're bonded to that accursed beast, what was his name? Fenrir? Fenris?"

"Fafnir," I growled.

"Ah yes, Fafnir. I even know his current whereabouts, though I'm sure you do not. Your link wouldn't stretch that far."

"How do you know about that?" I demanded. The link between a dragon and its rider was a secret known only to riders themselves. Most just assume dragons have telepathic abilities allowing them to speak in others' minds.

"You don't remember me, do you?" the voice asked, actually sounding a little hurt.

"Why should I?" I snarled, "Anyone I know wouldn't knock me out and kidnap me, besides The Priest, and you are not him."

"Him I am not," the silvery voice chuckled, "No, I am Viper. Formerly known as Sebastian."

Everything hit me all at once. Memories of playing in the forest as elflings, before Fafnir hatched for me. He was a friend, just like me in almost every way. We were the most active, the smartest...and the most chaotic. We both learned our shadow magic from sneaking into my dad's library, which was full of all sorts of powerful magics. My dad himself practiced True Chaos magic, a lost art formerly used to obliterate whole cities, kingdoms even. He acted as Nemus' guardian, protecting the elfin home for ages. When I say ages, I mean literal AGES. He'd been the protector for 300 years before I was born. But as soon as I was born, he gave up destruction for teaching, quickly becoming a mentor of a sort for my whole race. We quickly became very powerful in the art, and always used it to pull pranks or explode a few dead trees. But as soon as Fafnir hatched, all that ended. I was taken to the capital, Regnum Aeternus, also known as the Eternal Kingdom, and trained to be a rider. I hadn't had contact with Sebastian since.

"I feel the change in the air," he said with what sounded like a smirk, "so you do remember me."

"We were friends!" I shouted, trying to get more than the nose in the air attitude, "Why would you do this?"

"Oh, but were being the key. We were friends, Alex, but then you left me perditus. Abandoned."

"I had to train, you know that!" I hated how pleading I sounded, but I figured it was worth it if I could get somewhere.

"No, you chose to train!" He snarled, his voice suddenly no longer silvery, but thick and growling. "You chose to run off and be a hero and a legend, and did you ever even give me a backward thought?"

I paused, out of guilt more than anything. At first I missed him terribly, he had been the only friend I ever had, but the more I trained and had to focus on my studies, the more he was pushed from my mind. "I had a lot going on, I'm sorry." I apologized, and I meant it. I was truly sorry I had left him behind without so much as a second thought.

"Had a lot going on," he mimicked me with a snarl, "What a shame, you had to go train and be a rider."

"You know that wasn't my choice. Fafnir chose me. And why wouldn't I? A chance to be a rider, a legend?"

He scoffed and moved into my line of sight and I got my first look at him in fifty years. His body matched his voice, tall and lean, with platinum blond hair and leafy green eyes that seemed to have the ability to drill into your deepest, darkest part of your mind. "A legend. That's all you ever wanted, isn't it? Fame. Adoration. New friends every five years?"

"I am not shallow!" I growled, losing my temper finally, "I was chosen, and I was not going to turn down that chance. I would just as soon stayed with you as been chosen, but I was chosen, and I wasn't going to pass that up."

"Say what you will, Alex," he said my name with a sneer, "we'll see if you're apologizing after I'm done with you." And with that, he quickly turned and briskly walked out the door, closing it with a slam, and I was sure I heard a bar fall over it, making escape merely a dream.