the cave and the curse
#1 of Return
First off I can not write sexual situations so most of and or all will be clean. Second is that this is my story.
The day started out like every other Monday. John got up got his running outfit on and waited for his two sisters to get up so he could take them to school. He sat down and turned the T.V on and sat down and began to watch what was on. After a couple hours of flipping through the channels he looked at the time to see it was 6:00am. Getting up he went outside and started his jeep so it could warm up for about ten minutes. After five his oldest sister walked out and poured herself a cup of coffee, he never could understand why she liked it. When the clock struck a quarter after six his youngest sister came out of her room ready for school.
They all came out of the house and went to the crimson jeep where each of his sisters pulled out a pair of headphones and began to listen to there music. It was not a long drive to the school that his sisters attended, but it was long enough to cause John annoyance from his sisters blasting there random emo music through their headphones. Dropping them off he began his daily trip to the location that his sergeant had chosen for there daily workout. Today it was in some backwoods forest that was in the middle of nowhere. As he drove to the place designated on the map he had in his passenger seat. He decided to listen to a little music so he used his right hand to reach over to passenger side seat and grabbed the cd wallet out from between the seat and the door. Placing the opened wallet between him and the steering wheel, he began to search for a cd. Picking one he had burned himself from random songs from his computer. The first song that began to play was one of his favorites entitled Where Dragons now Fly. It was his favorite heavy metal song.
It did not take as long as he thought it would to get to the training site. It was a rather large forest with a gravel road that led to a clearing that was covered in gravel for people to park on. Getting out he saw the other recruits and walked over to them and began to wait for the Sgt to show up. It was not a long wait, the minute he sat down and began to stretch for today's run Sgt Fitzwater showed up. He instructed them to run to the as far as they could on the trail for an hour and then start back. John did not always like what his Sgt wanted him to do but he knew it was to get him in shape for basic. So he started his run at a nice slow pace but after only a mile and a half he was reduced to a fast walk. John was not fat he was just not used to long continuous exercise and the small amount of chub around his midsection proved that.
He had to pass a physical fitness test in order to get a promotion before he entered basic but in order to do that he had to shave a few minutes off of his mile. The push ups and sit ups were not a problem for him it is just he ran the mile in twenty minutes but he needed to get it in eighteen. As he was running through the woods he tripped and fell down a hill for a short distance. What stopped his descent was a large rock that was sticking out of the hills side. Brushing himself of he looked at the item that stopped his descent about halfway down the large hill. A large rock that stuck out at an odd angle, looking around he could see that it would be an easy climb but what caught his eye was the small opening in the side of the hill lower on the hill when he peeked over the edge of the rock. He noted to himself that he would have to come back later to see if the opening led to a cave.
As his training came to an end the only thing on johns mind was getting home and taking a shower so he could relax. However he was excited to return with a couple items to explore the crack in the rocks at the bottom of the hill. Ever since his grandfather took him into a couple of the caves on his land John has loved exploring them. He once found a couple of human bones in one of the caves at his grandfathers. So he hoped he would find something interesting in the one at the training spot. The drive home was as boring as it could have been but the excitement of finding a new cave to explore still made the trip worth the while. Arriving home he ran inside and grabbed a flashlight headband and a backpack he had prepared for when he found a new cave and left.
When he got back to the part of the trail he was on when he fell he looked over the side of the hill to find the rock he had landed on but it was gone. That just stumped him, how could a rock large enough to hold a person just disappear? So he started down the hill slowly in hopes that he could still see the small opening on the hillside. However about a quarter of the way down he found that the hill took a steep drop. Wondering why he had not notice it earlier he began to look for a descent sized tree so that he could tie a rope around. It did not take long being in a forest so he slowly slid down the rope to the bottom of the gorge. As he slid down the part of the rope that was around the tree began to slowly break apart.
Reaching the bottom was the easy part he just did not like the idea of having to climb back up to the top. Although for now he could enjoy looking for the cave entrance he saw earlier. All he could rally do was walk along the path of the gorge in hopes to find it again so he started off one way. As he walked along the gorge he wondered what the inside of the cave might be like. He had seen caves that have ranged from smooth to extremely jagged with almost no room to move. There was even a time when he was with his grandpa that he was shown one that had a chamber which seemed to have been excavated. After about an hour of walking he decided to turn back, but when he got to the rope he noticed the opening but it was bigger and in a place that was solid rock when he left. It was not a huge opening so he could see how it could be missed but how had he not seen it when he first dropped down.
Taking his pack off of his back he rummaged around through it until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a flashlight that was bent at a ninety degree angle at the top. Entering the cave he turned the light on and placed it in the front pocket of his shirt. The first ten minutes of walking was smooth rock until he hit steep drop that caught him by surprise as he was looking at the stalactite formations on the roof of the cave. The fall was not bad but he landed on his stomach which caused him to break his flashlight. Now he was in a bad situation the only way it could be worse was if he was seriously injured. Thankfully the fall down the slope had not hurt him much but he did not know how far he had slid down. Getting up he dusted himself off and started walking deeper into the cave using the wall as a guideline.
Having no way to tell time with out his flashlight he had no way of telling how long he had been walking in the dark. The farther he got into the cave something felt odd about the wall. As he walked along it the wall went from the rough rock that was familiar in a cave to a smooth surface. At first as he felt around he figured it was because of water wearing down the rock but there was no running water that he could hear. Even if it was water the rock would not be completely smooth as far as he knew. The more he thought about it the more he realized that a cave could not be this large in the location that he found it; he was barely inside the cave when he fell but he felt like he had been walking forever.
This cave was unnatural as they came, as he moved further into the cave he saw a small orange glow at the end of the tunnel. It was not a large glow but it gave off enough light to be seen from a distance. As he moved closer he could walk freely no longer restricted to using the wall as a guide line. The closer he got to the light he could start to see pictures etched into those are not what caught his attention. Looking at the wall he could see it was not stone that surrounded him but a type of crystal that he had never seen. It was not exactly a clear crystal but looked like it had a frosted appearance but when the strange orange light hit it; it caused it to refract the light so that it formed a type of rainbow. This rainbow was not truly a rainbow but more of a gray scale that went from black to white with the different shades of gray in the middle. John knew that there was no mineral on earth that causes a reaction like that.
When he finally reached the light seemed to dim so he could get a better look at the source of the light. It was a small glass orb that was placed on a stone pillar that sat about waist high. The closer he looked at it he realized that the light was flickering, crouching down to get a closer look at it he could see that the source of the light was actually a ribbon of light inside the orb that was moving around inside the orb. It would circle around, twist around and even sometimes collapse in on itself creating a sphere of light before quickly returning to its previous shape. John reached out to pick up the orb but as he reached out he felt he should not do it. He suppressed that feeling and continued until he gripped it in his hands and picked it up in his hands. The pillar began to slowly sink into the ground until it had merged into the ground and completely disappeared.
As he turned the orb in his hand lines began to carve themselves into the floor, first a circle was formed followed shortly by another just inside the first. With the two circles complete symbols began to appear between the two circles. Slowly the symbols began to spin within the circles until they were a blur on the floor. When they began to glow brightly john dropped the orb. The orb shattered when it hit the floor releasing the ribbon of light into the circle. John began to feel weird his body slowly began to feel heavier than usual. Eventually it got to the point were he could no longer stand and fell to his knees then onto his stomach. The glass from the orb on the floor cut his stomach and chest causing a small amount of blood to drip into the circle. When the circle was so bright that he could not see the ribbon split and floated over to john and slipped in between him and the floor were it worked its way into on of the cuts in john's chest. Closing his eyes john felt an incredible pain in his chest that caused him to scream out in pain before he lost consciousness.
It was the sweet smell of wheat and the shinning sun that woke john from his sleep but it was where he was that shocked him. He was at the edge of a forest next to a wheat field but it was odd he could have sworn he was in a cave. Checking his chest he could find no traces of any kind of cut on him. "Maybe I imagined the whole thing" he thought to himself but he also knew he was nowhere near a farm when he entered the cave. Getting up he dusted himself off and went off to see if he could find someone to tell him where he was currently at. It was not long before he found himself at the top of a small hill that let him see over the tall wheat. He could see a house along with what looked to be people in the field working. Deciding he could probably get some help from them he started off towards the wheat.
He was in the wheat field when he began to feel the heat. Thinking it was just being caused by the sun and his over shirt; he removed his top shirt and put it over his shoulder. That worked for a while but he began to feel excessively warm again. This time he removed his jeans and started off in the runners shorts he always had on underneath of his pants. A third time he began to feel hot; this time he removed his shirt revealing his slightly rounded stomach. As he continued on the temperature around him kept rising and a side effect of that was sweat and thirst. Slowly he began to feel dizzy then light headed. It was not long before John found himself face down on the ground out cold. However this time something happened upon the unconscious human.
It was a fox that stumbled over his body in the literal meaning of the word. When the fox saw what it had tripped over it was amazed. Never in its life had it seen a creature without fur or scales covering its body. Not knowing what it was the fox grabbed John's arms and dragged him back to the home in the center of the field. When the fox got John to the house some more foxes came out to see what the first had. Knowing something was wrong with the stranger they placed him on a mat and covered him up and placed a cold cloth on his face.
While the foxes took care of john he was having a troubled dream that caused him to move around on the mat. In the dream he was standing in a burning forest surrounded by fallen trees as the flames crept closer to him. When the flames were upon him he screamed in agony as they burned his flesh to a crisp the sheer temperature of the air burned his lungs as he inhaled for every scream he let out. What was strange though was the skin on his left arm peeled off of him to reveal scales as black as the midnight sky. It confused and scared him his fingers were tipped in claws that were sharp enough to cut through almost any hide.
John's body began to heavily sweat as he thrashed around on the floor but the foxes never noticed due to the cloth and blanket that covered him. What they did see were the flames that seemed to appear out of nowhere. The flames where colored a jet black and only covered his left arm from the elbow down. Knowing that the flames could spread the foxes went and retrieved a bucket of water to douse the flames. It worked but johns left forearm was left a blackened and severely burned by the strange flames.
In the other room the foxes began to speak among themselves. There were four total. The two oldest were orange with black glove s on there hands while the younger two were arctic foxes that were a snow white color.
The older male fox spoke first among the group. "What do you think that creature is Kane?"
"Not sure, something strange about those flames that sprang up on his arm. Maybe we should take him to one of the sorcerers in town; they might know what he is and what those flames meant. Until then Kip don't let your two sisters near them and don't tell your mother about the flames when she gets back from town." Looking over at the two smaller foxes he motioned for them to leave. When they were gone Kane turned back to Kip. "With them not hear to hear, where did you find him?"
"I found him in the wheat field about half way between the house and the edge of the field that meets with the forest."
Nodding his head Kane looked through the door at john before replying to Kips answer. "If anything we can sell him to a slave trader for a nice sum of silver. Someone might pay a pretty hefty sum for something that is one off a kind." Nodding his head to Kane's statement he left to go look at the strangers arm.
The next day the Kane and Kip loaded John into one of there wagons and covered him with a few blankets so no one would be able to see him. It was silent the whole way to town but once they got there they went straight for the regal looking side of the town to find a sorcerer. Finding the home was not hard the arcane decorations around the entrance to the house gave them away. The only problem was none of them wanted anything to do with john when Kane told them about the dark fire. So on there way to the slave market they passed an old wolf who looked at the two foxes and then to the cart. The wolf stood and walked over to the cart.
"It looks as if you have something interesting in that cart of yours." The wolf said with a small smile on his muzzle. "If you are looking for some one to tell you what you need you should check the old tower outside of town."
Looking over Kane examined the wolf before speeding up the cart so that they could get away from the wolf. Once they were out of site from the wolf they turned the cart around and went straight for the tower that the wolf had mentioned. They knocked on the tower door but got no answer so they knocked again and waited for a moment again. By the time they had knocked five times they had decided no one was home and went back to the cart. When they reached the cart john and the blankets were gone and in his place was a small pile of gold coins. They swiftly left because they knew some on took him and they did not care because of the money in the back of the cart was proof enough that it was a wealthy person at that.
Inside the tower there was a large shadowy figure standing above John as he lay there on the table. This figure knew what was wrong with him for he was following the cart for most of the day listening in on the conversation between the foxes and the various sorcerers in town. Placing its right hand over John the figure began to make a few in audible noises. A light formed in the hand revealing the features of the stranger. It was a powerful creature right out of the myths and legends. The creature was a dragon that stood at 7ft with an extra 2ft to the tips of its wings. The horns on its head curved with it forehead before straightening out for another half a foot. The scales that covered its body were a lustrous bronze that shone in the light in its hands while the bands on its chest and stomach were a cream color. With the examination done the dragon removed his hand from above John. Before it walked away it waved its right hand and in a circle causing the torches to ignite and light the room.
Leaving the room the bronze dragon walked up a flight of stairs that led to an extensive collection of books that could easily have been a small library. In the far back were the books went from bound in leather to being bound together by leather string. He pulled a book from the shelf that was in the back. The book that the dragon picked up was bound in a thick leather cover that had gold that formed intricate symbols along the binding and covers. On the book the words were raised and sewn in with a fine silver thread that read Banished and imprisoned. Flipping through the book the dragon skimmed through until some thing caught its eye.
Back on the table John was slowly thrashing around in his sleep. One motion he kept was repeating was a running motion as if he was running from something. When he rolled off the table and landed on his head he jolted awake and began to rub his head. Looking around he slumped over realizing that he was not in his room. He felt weird but shrugged it off until he saw his burnt arm. It had no feeling in it but he could still move his fingers but every time he did they made a crackling noise and some of the burnt flesh fell off. Not wanting to damage his arm any more than it already was he took his shirt off and wrapped it around it his arm nice and tight. Unaware of were he was he got up and looked around for something to get an idea of where he was. The room was circular in shape but it was rather cramped with shelves that contained a variety of items that he could not identify. On one shelf he could see containers filled with powders and liquids of different colors, while others had whole plants or a chunk of what looked to be rotten meat.
It was not long before John found the door that the bronze dragon had used just moments before him. Seeing as it was not locked John did not see the problem with exploring his strange new surroundings. When he arrived at the stairs he did not know whether to go up or down so he just decided the old fashioned way. He pulled a coin out of his pocket and decided heads for up and tails for down and flipped it. When it landed heads up John began to climb up the stairs the spiraled on for what looked like it could have been forever. During his climb up the spiraling stairs the lights that lit the staircase suddenly went out. John found himself in the dark again in another strange area that he knew he should not have been in. However this time He could see a flickering light above him that was slowly moving down the staircase towards him. When the light reached him john was beyond scared at what he say. He came face to face with the bronze dragon who was surprised to see that the human was walking around.
John turned around and bolted back down the stairs to escape the monster that was before him. As he was running down the stairs a sharp pain went through his left arm causing him to clutch it tightly with his right hand. While he held it he could feel the charred flesh underneath crumble as the pressure was placed on it but he felt something other than his arm. It felt like the skin on his arm was moving, shifting around underneath of his hand. Running back into the room he awoke in and hid behind the table he woke up on. Slowly the pain receded from his left arm enough so he could let go of it and unwrap it. It was not until he removed the portion that covered his hand. His hand was covered in black scales and the tips of each finger had hardened, curved and lengthened into deadly sharp claws. The sight of the changed hand caused him to scream out letting the bronze dragon know where he was.
Entering the well lit room where the human had run into he looked around shortly before hearing a loud scream from behind the table in the center. Being carful as to not alert the human to his presence he silently crept up to the table and peered over seeing the human starring at its changed hand. With a wave of its hand it sent the human into a deep sleep so he would cooperate while he tried to help him.