• Chapter 1: Orathion
    “Nathaniel… Nathaniel. Nathaniel, wake up already, the sun has already risen!” The boy turned over; sound asleep in a large hay stack. “Just a few more minutes… Mmm… No I didn’t want my horse purple… I wanted mine red…” The boy mumbled in his sleep, obviously dreaming. “Okay, you asked for it! Heehee!” As the laughter trailed off, Nathaniel opened one eye. Then both eyes flashed open as he gawked. “Wait no, Sariah, don’t jump on me from up there, I’m awake! I’m awake!” Nathaniel ducks as a girl flings herself off of the second story of the barn they were in. The barn was large, a simple two story house-like shelter, a hay loft and everything, complete with hay bales and horses. A bright red headed girl with braids lands into the hay stack with a poof! “Sariah, do you always have to do this first thing in the morning?” Sariah sat herself cross-legged next to him. “Of course I do!” she giggles, “It’s the only way to get you outta bed, silly!” Nathaniel yawns, and crawls his way out of the hay bale. “Oh that’s right, today we head to town, right? You found the baskets okay? Is Cedric ready to go yet?” Sariah jumped out of the hay stack gracefully, her small, knee-length short sleeve blue dress delicately draped around her small frame. “Of course I got everything okay, I’m not that stupid, you know.” Nathaniel shrugged, “Well, I never called you stupid, but if you say you are, then you must be.” He paused, then quickly added, “Now I’mma go get Cedric before you have time to say anything back…” Nathaniel leaves the barn, leaving Sariah by herself. Sariah shrugged her shoulders, “As long as you live Nathaniel, you’ll never be nice to girls, will ya?” Suddenly, a large dragon-like figure rose up from behind her, and a clawed hand wrapped around Sariah’s neck and mouth. Sariah squirmed, but without success. The dragon’s long, slender neck came from the shadows of the barn, and its snout fell right to Sariah’s ear. “Didja miss me?” The dragon seemed to smile to himself. “Orathion, do you have to scare me every time you wake up? How do you know Nathaniel’s not in the room?” she mumbles, muffled by Orathion’s clawed hand. “I overheard you two talking about going into town, I want to come.” Sariah pushed Orathion’s hand off of her mouth, and pouted. “Yeah, ‘cuz a big scary blood dragon isn’t scary to other humans at all.” There was a great flash, Sariah blinked, and turned towards the red dragon, but didn’t find one. Instead of a dragon, she found a man, roughly 20 years of age, at a height of six feet and three inches. He wore faded blue jeans and a short-sleeve plaid shirt, his red spiked hair seemed to be an alive, kicking flame, his eyes were of a serpent, a strange, opaque green. “I’m ready now, aren’t I?” Sariah blinked at him, then shrugged while walking out of the barn, “What am I going to do with you, Orathion? Once you set your mind to something, there’s no going back.” The man smirked to himself; he got his wish just by transforming into a small, helpless little human. He goes to walk, but just as he does, he trips, and lands into a faceplant. “I hate walking on two legs!” he whines as he blows a spiked bang from his face.