LIGHT. THE FIRST BRIGHT LIGHT HE'D SEEN IN DAYS. Since he'd fled his village, the journey Nata had made through the tunnels was an arduous one, fraught with twists and turns and uneven ground. He had no idea where he was going—for he had never set foot beyond Sild's walls before, yet he kept going, answering to the call of his heart and a desperate plea to find help for his people.
A monster had attacked their home. White, glistening, and unlike anything he'd seen with his own eyes. To Nata, its kind had been the stuff of nightmares and fairytales prior; a dragon, fearsome and terrifying. As it ripped his village asunder, the boy had been sent on his way by his uncle, and was now possibly the only one to have escaped alive.
To go to the surface and scout the other villages was a daunting prospect, but he had had no choice now. Scarcely even ten years-old, he navigated the caverns alone, until a light shown through a gap in the rock walls just big enough for him to squeeze through.
But as he shuffled to the other side, battling claustrophobia and desperation, he'd soon emerge to discover that the light was not that of the sun in old stories . . . it was the soft, yellow glow of a torch on a cave wall. He scrambled into the open clumsily before he processed it, then huddled against the wall as he scanned his surroundings. Had he found another town? Or perhaps, some sort of civilization?
The youth began to hug the walls, sidling against them and keeping close with cautious eyes. The caves here were particularly big, big enough to house a dragon, one might even say.
Unfortunately, that's exactly the kind of beast that lived here.
@innumerablemuses - plotted starter for glory and the DoDs :D
