Defying The Rules

Meeting the Beast

Pain surged throughout Thalos's entire body as he hit the hard ground. Debris had fallen on him, but he pushed it away. He groaned and sat up, his entire body aching. He felt his body for any broken bones. When he didn't find any, he looked up, seeing the now closed ceiling, surprised at the long distance he had fallen. How he had nothing broken, he didn't know. Instead, he figured it was simply a miracle from Thor himself.

He took heavy breaths, trying to regain the sudden loss of air he had gotten during his impact with the ground. He breathed deeply and looked around. Where the heck was he?

Giant light blue crystals covered the walls, ceiling, and ground of whatever cavern he was in. There weren't any crystals from where he had just fallen, but that didn't surprise him. They had all broken or fallen off as the ground caved. The cavern was completely lit up, despite there being no sunlight. "What in the name of Thor?" He said to himself, slowly, yet painfully, standing up. Were the crystals emitting their own light? "There isn't a fire anywhere." He said to himself. "How is this possible?"

He snapped out of his curiosity and started looking for a way out. Despite the magnificent structure and beauty of the place, he had to find a way out of here. He could die down here, and no one would have a clue as to where he was. They would all assume he was taken by a dragon. It's not like that was uncommon.

It was now that he realize the sudden change in temperature. It was warming up. Is that what these crystals were made of? Fire? Hot coals? That could explain how they were giving off so much light. It didn't look like there was anything in them. He hesitated a moment before reaching out and touching one. He expected to be burned, but he wasn't. It just felt like a normal crystal would. He swallowed and held his arms. He wasn't wearing proper clothing for this temperature. He needed a way out of here, now.

He saw only one path, so he figured that was his best option. There was no other possible way out, for behind him was simply covered in the massive crystals. Then the thought hit him. The sheep! That's how he got into this mess! The least he could do was get what he came to the forest for in the first place.

He started looking for the sheep. He went to where he fell, and sure enough, it was there. He sighed in defeat when he saw the sheep was dead. "It didn't survive the fall.." He sadly. He probably shouldn't be surprised. Heck, he probably shouldn't have survived the fall, so of course a frail sheep wouldn't have. Maybe he could still bring it back to the village? The least they could do was get food out of it. He sighed and shook his head. No, that would take way to much work-to carry a dead sheep for however long the journey was to get back to the surface.

He finally just started walking. He had to get out of here before he either starved to death, got dehydrated, or got eaten by some dragon that probably lived in here somewhere. Many things could go wrong in here. How had he never been told about this place? It would have been nice to know about it before he stepped over it and fell through.

He felt uneasy as he walked down the only opening. Suddenly, the ground shook, and large, powerful lasers started shooting from the crystal-covered end that had been behind him. The crystals the lasers hit exploded with such force that it threw Thalos back. He hit the ground, yet again, and rolled to avoid one of the beams of energy.

"Thor.. please help me..I can't do this." He begged, his heart racing faster than what was probably healthy. The sounds of the crystals breaking were over whelmingly loud. Thalos crouched behind a thick spike of crystal and buried his head and ears in his arms. He was panicking. His breathing was fast and his adrenaline wasn't helping. He cowarded behind a large crystal, praying that the lasers would stay away from him.

He heard crashes and crumbles from the crystals. He peered out from behind the structure he was behind. A massive, ice-colored dragon was bursting through the pile of crystals that had been blocking that area. The thing was ginormous with large wings and sharp features. It was a light, icey blue, and if it weren't for the four orange dots on both sides of its head, you wouldn't even know it was there, but would instead think it was more of the multiple crystals around the cavern. Thalos couldn't tell if all 8 were, or how many of those dots were, actual eyes, but they were creepy nonatheless.

The beast roared and spread its large, crystal-like wings. It's roar shook the cavern, causing more of the crystals to fall. The force of the roar pushed him and the crystal he was behind backwards, only making the pain Thalos was feeling ten times worse. He was pelted with little pieces of debris.

He found it hard to breathe. The giant dragon, the warmer temperature, and him hitting the ground with force multiple times was all taking his breath away. He was afraid. He could barely survive the Deadly Nadder. He stood no chance against this thing.

The dragon's eyes drifted away from the boy and landed on the dead sheep. It didn't hesitate to make its way over and engulfed the unfortunate animal whole.

"Oh Thor..." Thalos mumbled, staring at the dragon. His heart couldn't have been going any faster. This was the end. He was completely done for. The creature then looked at him, and his heart practically jumped into his throat. The dragon started slowly approaching him and Thalos shook his head. "I brought you the sheep!" He said, pointing frantically at where the sheep was before the dragon ate it. "I gave it to you! Don't eat me!" He begged pathetically.

The dragon looked where Thalos had pointed, then looked back at him. Thalos breathed heavily as the beast stared at him. The dragon looked him over. Seeing as the small being didn't look like much of a threat, it snorted and turned around, walking away.

Thalos let out a gasp of air. He then quickly got up and started running down the only path there was. It was probably a dumb move. Even he knew one shouldn't start running from a dragon. It could easily spark predatory instincts and cause them to start a chase.

For this dragon though, it only turned on his interest. He started slowly following the teenage boy, it's slow steps easily keeping up with his running.