Seika's Trial

   I stood at the entrance of the cave where I would take on the trial. This was it. My trial, my time to prove that this was where I truly belonged. If I could do this, then nobody would ever question my place here again. Although, no one really did that much now anyways. I knew no one really said much about my heritage, the fact I wasn't entirely an Iukan elf, anymore. Oh, there was still the occasional look or word about me from the higher up, snobby society people, but in general nobody cared.  I was my own worst judge in that regard.

    I sighed and walked inside, standing here wasn't going to get me a dragon that was for sure. I just wanted to get this over with. Zephyr, had come to see me off and wish me well. He told me he wanted to be the first person to see me flying back on my dragon and jokingly added that if I got myself beaten up very much, he'd try to top the bleeding before I died....I have yet to appreciate my brother's sense of humor, maybe because I have none myself. I wasn't going to get beaten up, Ghebaas and Ios had made it through the whole trial in one piece and I figured if they could do it, so could I.

    I followed a set of torches along the walls for a while. Follow the heat, that's the only clue I had to go on. Everything went smoothly for a while, I trotted along down the tunnel wanting to cover ground as quickly as I could while there was only one path. Plus, the faster I moved, the less chance I had of being attacked by any dwarves hanging about the place.

     I hate dwarves. They are a constant nuisance and a plague we never seemed to rid ourselves of. My hatred for them was caused by something deeper than that however. They killed my father, the one man I thought could never be beaten. My trainer, my only family here....my hero. I was doing this for him as much as for myself. He always told me I could be a great warrior if I worked my hardest and never gave up. I wanted him to be proud of me, even if he was no longer around. Even if I'd never get to  show him my partner and fly along side him, I still wanted to make his spirit proud of me.

    I came to a stop as the path before me split in two. One way lit by torches, the other black as a moonless night. This was it, everything came down to the path I chose. If I chose the correct one, I would be led to the dragons' lair. However, if I took the wrong one I would be lost in the mountain, possibly forever. I felt a flicker of unease run through me. Just like the path before me, I had another choice I had to make. It was a personal one for me and had no bearing on my trial, but it was one I had been putting off for a while now.

    Zephyr had been wanting me to come with him to meet his...our mother. He said she would want to know I was alive and well and would love to see me again. Would she really though? After all, she gave me away once. How could I be certain she would want anything to do with me now? Would she look at me and be disappointed with what she saw and tell me she wanted nothing to do with me? I squeezed my eyes closed and leaned my back against the wall of the tunnel, was it worth the risk? Being honest with myself, part of me wanted to see her. She was my family, the only family I had left apart from my brother. But I was scared to go....What if she-

    A horrible, terrible pain in my side brought me out of my thoughts. It was the worst pain I had ever felt in my life. I opened my eyes to see the blade of a short sword buried into my side and a dwarf with cold eyes looking at me. Lost in my thoughts I never even heard him coming, I had left myself completely vulnerable and open for attack and I was now paying for it. I was lucky I suppose. His aim was too far off to the side. The sword had struck the very outside edge of my ribs and had simply gone through the skin on my right side, no severe internal damage done, except scraping the side of a couple of rib bones. The bad news was the sword had gone all the way through and was stuck in the rock behind me! Leaving me pinned to the tunnel wall!

     I couldn't get to my own sword, thanks to the one now stuck in my side. But I was good at improvising. I kicked the dwarf right in the face, it was handy being so tall sometimes. He reeled back, clutching his nose and cursing at me. I didn't waste a second. I grabbed the hilt of the sword keeping me stuck to the wall and pulled on it. I have a high pain tolerance, but pulling a sword out of myself was nearly too much for me. At least I was free now.

    The dwarf was turning to finish me off with a dagger he pulled from his belt, but I ran his sword up under his neck before he had the chance to stab at me. I let go of the sword as he fell back with a horrible, gurgling sound and whirled away from the body.

     I didn't hang around, I knew where there was one dwarf there were bound to be more. I took off down the path with no lights. It felt warmer this way. My side hurt terribly, but I knew I had to get as far away from the corpse as fast as I could. I twisted and turned down through the black tunnel, trying to go as fast as I could without ramming into a wall in the darkness.

     I knew their was supposed to be someone watching my progress in case things turned bad, but I yelled with my mind for them not to send any help that this was none of their business and not to interfere. I didn't know if they could actually hear what I said or not, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try anyways. This was do or die for me now.

    I kept on going for a long time. My trial was turning into my nightmare. I was running blindly down a tunnel with no noticeable end, in terrible pain, possibly with a horde of angry dwarves following after me and if they had lanterns or torches they would have no problem finding me. For I was leaving a perfect trail for them to follow. A trail of my own blood spattered all across the floor of the tunnel.  I would have tried to stop the bleeding, but had nothing to stop it with. I felt a hint of panic inside me. This couldn't be happening to me! It wasn't supposed to be this way! I was supposed to fly out of here on my dragon and show everyone how strong I was, not bleed to death is this dark place or be hacked to pieces by dwarves!

    After what seemed like forever, I saw a reddish glow. A rock tripped me then and I went rolling for several feet and into a huge chamber. I laid there, panting. I could see a rock bridge that led into the middle of the vast room, I could see holes where the dragons had tunnels that led to deep places only they knew. I could see the lake of lava and fire that flowed under the bridge. I had made it.

    Things from this point on became hazy for me, blood loss catching up with me I suppose. I don't remember going across the bridge. I just remember laying in the center of the room....Alone. I remember looking at my injured side and seeing the huge crimson stain on my shirt, I pulled my shirt up enough to see the wound. It really didn't look that bad on the surface, the stab wound wasn't very wide, but it went all the way through me. Breathing hurt so bad now I could hardly stand it and I couldn't stop the bleeding.... I could feel tears in my eyes and soon they rolled down my face. I wasn't crying because I was scared, I wasn't frightened of death. No, I was crying because I had let myself down...Let my father down. Zephyr would be watching for me, but I would never come. I wished now I had told my friends goodbye. Would they miss me much? Or just be glad I was no longer around to bother them?

    Once again the world went hazy and dark. When I came to again, I could feel myself laying in something wet and sticky, I knew what it was but tried not to dwell on it. At least I wasn't crying anymore, I felt too tired to cry or do anything really. I sighed and looked at the holes in the wall. No dragons. Nothing. I wished one would come. Just so I wouldn't have to die all alone. I suppose it really didn't matter, it would all be over soon.

    I was trying to fight off the urge to go to sleep, somewhere in the back of my mind I knew if I did I probably wouldn't ever wake up again. I was so tired though.

    It was then I noticed the eyes. At first I thought I was just imagining it, but no matter how hard I tried to look they remained unchanging. Eyes staring back into mine from one of the tunnels. They looked at me with concern, I heard something echo in my mind. A faint voice, but still clear.

    Oh, dear....You're hurt.....

    Suddenly a head poked out of the tunnel, soon followed by the rest of it's body. It was a dragon! It wasn't what I expected it to look like though. I expected something with a huge body, huge wings, jagged teeth, and spikes. This one wasn't like that at all. It had a long, serpentine body that was dark gray, with thin legs and delicate looking paws. It had no wings, but still flew. It looked like it was swimming gracefully through the air. It had a pair of horns on it's head, like a deer. From the middle of it's head all the way down it's spine and to the tip of it's tail was a thick band of fur that looked very soft. This was not how I pictured dragons. Dragons were supposed to look powerful and intimidating.This one looked.....cuddly. And it looked at me with sympathetic eyes. It was the least ferocious looking dragon I had ever seen.

    Poor thing....

    The dragon landed next to me gracefully and without a sound. It was bigger than I first thought. It's head was nearly as wide as my shoulders and was as long as I was tall from my head to my waist. At least I wouldn't die alone now. Maybe this dragon would at least take my body back. Before I could ask it if it would, it opened it's mouth. I could see a purplish light coming from the back of it's throat. Suddenly realizing what was about to happen I closed my eyes. It was just going to put me out of my misery now and forever! I closed my eyes, waiting to be burned up in a fiery inferno. Instead I felt nothing. No burning pain, there was only a warmth and a purplish light I could see even with my eyes closed. Then the light was gone and I opened one eye to look at the dragon.

    I've got to hurry and get you out of here and to someone with medical knowledge before you bleed to death, but you're already in such bad shape I'm almost scared to move you!

    This was a weird dragon, I was finally able to tell for certain it had a male voice. So obviously this must be a male dragon. He sounded more like a worried first time parent than a dragon though. Finally he carefully picked me up in his front paws, and kicked of the ground with his back feet and we flew upwards, towards the top of the volcano which was the fastest and only way out of here.

  You just hang on, Seika. Kaseel will get you to help, quick as lightning! Just don't die, okay? I don't want my partner to die before we even get to know each other after all!

    Kaseel? Must be his name...and he said we were partners... That must mean.... he was mine! I did it! I had bonded with a dragon and he was all mine! As soon as I wrapped my tired mind around that I felt so happy. Even though I was in pain and in danger of losing my life. I felt so happy. I hadn't failed after all! I now had the proof that I belonged here, for a dragon had picked me! Everything I had done, all the hours of hard training, months spent toiling away in the army, every mission I had ever gone on, was all worth it now. I had succeeded after all. I felt a peace wash over me, a peace I hadn't felt since my father had died. I no longer felt the need to try so desperately to prove myself loyal to my people over and over again.

    And I no longer felt the need to keep holding on and fighting the darkness tugging at me. Everything was alright now. I had achieved my goal. It was finished......So now I could sleep.

    "It's... all over now....." I whispered into the wind, then closed my eyes and let myself start to slip into the black nothingness that called to me. The last thing I heard was the faint almost inaudible sound of Kaseel's voice.
   
....Seika?

SEIKA!!!