The Passage

Chapter One

I was bored. Like, beyond belief. This day at the park was a bust and everybody in my family knew it. It was a last ditch effort to try and bring the family together before the separation was finalized. I sighed; they didn't understand how much it hurt for us to have to put on happy faces and pretend like we were still a family. We hadn't been a family for a long time.

I mentioned that I was going to go to the bathroom and waved away offers for someone to go with me. I just wanted a minute to myself. As I walked away, I glanced over my shoulder to see what it looked like from the outside, and was surprised that it was almost believable.

Before I could look forward again, I tripped over something, and fell. I had a brief glance of the surface of the pond coming toward me before I shut my eyes.

The water was unbelievably cold, way colder than a shallow pond should have been. I opened my eyes and saw a tiny circle of light above me; how on earth was it so deep? I glanced around, but only saw darkness. 

Finally, I saw another patch of light below, but this one was different somehow. I sank quickly toward it, and abruptly popped out of the water and onto a mossy shore. 

Coughing, I glanced back at the water, and blinked. It was no bigger than a few feet across- a puddle, really. I shook my head and looked around.

Huge trees towered in all directions. They reminded me of the redwoods in California, only... they were clearly not. They looked like dark oak or something. Was I dead? I pinch myself through my wet clothes and wince; probably that means I'm still alive.

I stood and turned a full 360 on the spot. Everywhere I look, it's beautiful, as though nature has never been disturbed. And wherever this was, there was only one clear way out: a small dirt path off to my right. I glanced at the puddle I'd come out of. There wasn't any real reason to hurry back. I shrugged and started forward. Anything was better than the fake waiting back there.

I wandered along the path for a bit, letting the warm sunlight dry my clothes. It felt somewhat warmer than the park; was the season different here? It was quiet, with bird-call echoing through the trees. I didn't recognize any of them, which made me a little unsettled; birds were a hobby of mine, and I prided myself on knowing most of the ones in our area. Well, this was obviously a different area than what I knew, but still–

A loud crash echoed through the trees to my left, and I could hear a loud rumbling coming closer. I knew I should move, or hide, or something, but I was rooted to the spot, staring through the branches. Another crash indicated that a tree had fallen close by. The earth shook with the power of whatever it was that was trampling the forest. I stared into the darkness of the trees and tried to see what it was. I could almost make something out.

With a loud yell, an enormous humanoid shape launched itself over the brush and rolled to a stop in front of me, making me jump and fall backward. It was..it was..

The huge thing stood up and brushed off its clothes, shaking dust out of its cloak. Abruptly, it sneezed.

"Bless you," I said automatically from my spot on the ground.

The thing jumped and turned to face me. I was at least as amazed as it was, judging by the look on its face. Its scaly, dragon-like face. It towered over me, and stared at me like someone entranced. I wasn't sure what it was thinking, but I was remarkably unprepared to hear what happened next.

"What the hell is a human doing here? I thought they were just a myth," it grumbled to itself. "And how can it talk? I thought they just grunted and sang wordless songs."

I stared. Was I... dreaming? Did it.. he, just refer to me as a myth? I was a bit dumbfounded; this walking myth thinks I'm a myth?

He crouched down and tilted his head, considering.