A Dragon's Tale

[Viridian]

Hey guys! This is Viridian with a story I'm gonna showcase to you guys. However! There is one thing I must tell you all before you go and read this.

There will only be a showcase of one or one and a half chapter. The reason behind this is because I am planning to start a roleplay, and I don't want to spoil anything for the rest of you who do want to roleplay it. The roleplay will be coming sometime later this week.

On a side note, a chapter will usually take three days to a week to make, so have some patience, please! I do a lot of proofreading and I perfect my stories a lot (I'm a perfectionist, even though English is not my native language), so I intend on making you guys enjoy it the most I can make you enjoy it!

Without further ado, let's start this off.

_________

Chapter 1 - Inexplicable

“No, I told you that isn’t the case.” The dark blonde-haired girl took a sip of her steaming tea and almost wanted to slam the cup back on the table. “It’s different than that.” Her light-blue eyes looked into her brother’s eyes at the other side of the table.

“Are you sure?” The brown-haired boy said, glancing back at his sister. He hadn’t had any contact with her in a long time, because she had recently moved out. He thought it must’ve been because she had other business to attend to - most likely hanging out and partying with her friends.

“Yes, of course I’m sure!” The girl angrily slammed a fist on the table, the cup of tea spilling some of the tea onto the oak wood table. The boy simply used his T-shirt sleeve to clean it up, sighing and looking back at her.

“I clearly saw it. It wasn’t any hallucination! What do you think I am? Some kind of drug addict, huh?” The girl mocked. The brother sighed and rolled his hazel-colored eyes.

“No, Sheryl, of course I don’t. Sometimes I do, but that’s just how you behave!” The brother mocked back. The girl let out a sigh of frustration and twirled a strand of hair into a curl and uncurled it shortly afer.

“Let’s just get back to the point - I saw something flying overhead. It wasn’t any bird, it was something way larger! I’m not even sure if it was anything avian! Other people saw it as well!” She exclaims, making a gesture with her hands to point out that the creature she saw was indeed very large.

“Are you sure you didn’t just see thin--” The brother’s question was interrupted as his sister pinched his arm. “Ow!” The brother yelped. His sister simply hissed at him and looked at him with an annoyed expression

“As I said before, no! I saw it clearly, with my own eyes, and it was not some kind of crazed hallucination. Can’t you just believe your own sister for once?!” She grunted and looked outside the window with an angered expression. It was raining outside, just like it was through the whole week.

“Sis...I want to believe you, but I just can’t seem to grasp the concept of a huge flying creature that you’re not even sure of if it exists in the first place.” He sighs and shakes his head slowly. He still wasn't sure if his sister actually saw it.

His sister looked back at him with a neutral expression, yet he managed to notice some sorrow. “...I see. Each to his own, I guess.” She shrugged and turned back to look out of the large window, where countless small droplets of rain slowly crawled their way down the window. Her eyes gazed off into the distance. “It’s inexplicable. It didn’t look like it was avian, yet it had wings. It was far off, yet it looked big. All of these things contradict each other... I can’t seem to make it out - it’s impossible.” She says in a rather sorrowful voice, yet it was hard to notice.

“What’s with the sudden change of emotions?” Her brother asked her. She simply shrugged at his question and continued staring. Her brother was confused - he never saw his sister like this. She would always be more...excited.

The more her brother listened to her, though, the more it sounded like it actually happened, like it actually took place. Maybe she didn’t see things - maybe it WAS something after all. The description she gave him resembled something he has heard before in tales and books - but it sounded way too crazy and improbable.

“Well, thanks for telling me. You certainly gave me something to ponder over for the remainder of the day.” He said, standing up and looking outside the window. It was getting darker as the bright shine of the sun slowly fades. “I think it’s time for you to go. It’s getting dark.” He notes while grabbing the two cups of tea and bringing them to the kitchen, into the sink. He simply sat back on the chair he was sitting on before when he entered the living room again.

“Oh, I didn’t know.” She replies to him with sarcasm in her voice. “I guess I’ll be going, then. See you sometime soon.” And with that, she stood up from her chair and left the living room at a slow pace, going to the hallway and putting on her jacket and shoes. She closed the door behind her and walked out the house, onto the raining streets. Her brother caught one more glimpse of her through the window, seeing her leaving on her bicycle.

The seventeen-year old brother got off of the chair he was sitting on, walking over the small ‘library’ that was situated at the other side of the living room. There were multiple, smoothed out wooden shelves full with new or old books of various kinds, each having it’s interesting content held within. He reached over for a book high up on a shelf, dragging it off the bookshelf and catching it with his arms. He blew off the dust that was scattered about the cover as he lays it on the table that was in the middle of all the bookshelves. He pulled a chair under him and sat down on it, dusting off the last remains of dust off of the book before opening it. There was an image resembling a dragon emblazoned on the first page he looked at in the book. His eyes glanced over the first page and sighed. “It’s been a long time since I’ve pulled this book from the shelves.” He mumbles to himself as he flips through some pages. He stops at a page where a small fragment of text was displayed, explaining about dragons.

“Dragons - what are they?
Dragons are a supposedly extinct species. They are a seperate species, but are otherwise rumored to be part of the lizard’s family tree, since they have remarkable resemblances to their species. Dragons were first discovered during a journey through an unknown mountain range. These travellers were looking for a town on the other side of the mountain range they marked on their maps, only to encounter the dragons themselves. It is said that the travellers made it to the town, without a scratch. They told about their fateful encounter and the story soon became a widely-spread story around the countryside, possibly even further. However, it was said dragons went extinct around the time range of 2,500 to 1,235 BC. However, we cannot be certain that they do or don’t exist any further...maybe they don’t. Maybe they don’t even exist at all, maybe it was just a myth.

-Mattheus Romeii, 1823”

He read through the article and his interest was piqued. “This Mattheus… Who is he?” He asked himself. He hadn’t seen his name anywhere in the book before, nor has he read anything he has written in here. “He does seem to know about dragons, though.” He notes as he pointlessly looks at a few other pages before closing the book. He glanced over the other bookshelves. “I think I can try…” He mumbled to himself, standing up from his chair and putting the book where it was before. “...to find that dragon.”

Chapter 2: Dragons?(!)

As the white moon stood high above the sky, the boy who just exited his house walked down the streets, shivering from the rather freezing cold. “I hate winter.” He mutters to himself, putting his scarf closer towards his face. His blue and white colored scarf swayed in the wind behind him. He sighed as he plugged his earplugs into his ears, playing a song. He liked all kinds of music, so his collection of songs varied quite a bit. The current song playing was a rather calm song. He sighed again as he walked along the icy roads. He looked up to the moon and sighed. “I suppose this is going to take a while.”

He had brought a bag with some tools inside - binoculars, a map of the city and it’s surrounding forests and more, and food, along with drinks to last him through the night. He was planning on looking for the dragon. There was a small mountain range nearby, and he was walking to the forest that would lead to it. He looked in the distance, where the mountains were barely visible, as it was night. The only thing illuminating the area were the tall lamp posts that were strewn across the path, of course being spaced apart from each other. As he walked by them, he looked at them, seeing the light dancing on the trees. He simply sighed. “It’s been a while since I’ve been to this forest… The last time I did was with my sister. Yet, she hadn’t moved out at that time.” He mumbles to himself. “...Still, it looks like nothing has changed.” He notes.

After a good ten to fifteen minutes, he finally arrived at the foot of the small mountain range. He saw a path going up, scaling up to the mountains. He started walking further, the gravel crunching under his shoes. He looked up to the peaks of the mountains, which were covered in snow. He always enjoyed the sight of the tall mountains whenever he went here with his sister. But now, all he cared about was trying to find that dragon. If he didn’t, it would be a waste of his time, and it would disprove the theory that it was indeed one. But nonetheless, he wanted to find out. No matter the cost.

He eventually made it to some plains higher up the mountain range, as he could see the forest was considerably smaller than before. However, there weren’t any lights here and the only means of illuminating the area around him was his flashlight. He sat down on the field of grass and took out something to eat. He pulled out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and took a bite of it while looking at the rather pretty scenery of the city and forest in the distance.

He was quite amazed at the sight - never had he been up this high before, and he thought to himself that he should’ve done so before. “Wow...Never thought it would be so nice up here.” He mumbles, taking another bite of his sandwich. Another breeze went across the plains, making his scarf sway around. He simply grabbed his phone from his bag and turned it on, starting to text a friend of him.

“Hey dude.”

“Oh, hey! What’s up??”

“Nothin’ much, just chilling up at the mountain range.”

“Dude, what’re you doing all the way over there?? Are you crazy? It’s midnight!”

“I know. I’m trying to find something.”

“Like what?”

“...Something. I can’t tell what.”

His friend didn’t reply after that. He simply put his phone back in his bag and stood up again, the breeze blowing in his face as he did. He sighed. He starts to walk walks further down the path, higher up onto the mountain range and looking up at the sky that was covered with clouds, a few specks of sky visible through them.

Eventually he found a good spot to spend the night. It had a view of a few caves below, as he slept on a hillside, and it was behind a rock so he wouldn’t be seen in case someone or something would be there. He pulled out a sleeping bag, along with a folded tent from his bag, along with his binoculars and other belongings. He kept his phone in his bag just in case, but he was sure it wouldn’t make a difference.

It took a while for him to set up the tent, especially with the various gusts of wind rushing past it, taking it down a few times. With a grunt of frustration and relief alike, he crawled into the tent and put down the sleeping bag inside it. He slipped inside the sleeping bag and closed his eyes, trying to sleep and eventually doing so.

~

In his dreams, he saw various vague images. They resembled the likes of a dragon, but multiple dragons of different kinds showed up. It seemed like his mind was trying to figure out what kind of dragon it could be… But for all he knew, it would be unlikely.
~

His eyes slowly opened. The green shade of the tent surrounded him as he slowly got up from his lying position. He crawled out of the sleeping bag and slowly unzipped the tent's entrance. He looked around and was greeted by something that was not there in the morning - snow. A layer of snow covered the ground and the tent. As he looked outside, a cold wind breezed through the plains and he shivered. He sighs and looks at the scenery, then moves back into the tent as he grabs another sandwich from the container it was in. He put on his jacket, shoes and scarf again as he walked outside. He took a bite of the sandwich, but he stopped chewing as he heard something behind him, on the lower ground behind the rock.

He turned around and peeked over the rock he was behind. His eyes widened in shock and disbelief at what he saw.

It was a dragon.


______

This is all for now. Once the roleplay is up I will post more chapters as the story goes along, just to keep it fresh for everyone who will roleplay it. I will probably have the chapters ready by then, so you won't have to wait that long for me.

I hope you have enjoyed the 'preview' of the story, as there will be an unknown amount of chapters to come (probably a lot, though!)

Have a good one,

- Viridian

P.S: Keep in mind that the second chapter is not the full chapter, as I cut it off for 'spoilers'. It isn't a real spoiler to the roleplay itself, but I thought it'd be better to keep you guys on your toes. ^3^

Anyway, I still do hope you enjoy the read.

[FedoraChar]

And here it is! :D Dang, though, why the cliffhanger??? xD I have so many questions! What are the dragons like? Are they sentient? Can they speak? The main character found one so easily, I wonder if maybe the dragon was looking for him, too, for some reason.

I understand why you did cut it off there, though ^^ Looking forward to seeing the RP, though :) (and by extension, more of the story)

You noted that English isn't your native language, which surprised me because you got some good writing here--but you don't mind if I give some (hopefully) helpful pointers, do you? ^^

1st--Verb tense. Typically, you want to stick with one type of tense throughout fictional writing. I noticed that you kept switching between present-tense (having verbs ending with "s", which denotes that things are happening currently) and past tense (ending in "ed", which denotes that things had already happened) Like in this paragraph, for instance:

As the white moon stood high above the sky, the boy who just exited his house walked down the streets, shivering from the rather freezing cold. “I hate winter.” He mutters to himself, putting his scarf closer towards his face. His blue and white colored scarf swayed in the wind behind him.

You used the past tense mostly for this paragraph, except for "mutters". It's not a major mistake that detracts from the story, of course, but you want to stay consistent with your writing and choose either past-tense or present-tense. "Muttered" would be much more proper to put in, here.

2nd--Dialogue spacing. When two or more characters are talking to each other, they should each have their own separate paragraphs. In the conversation between the main character and his sister, you frequently put their lines of dialogue in the same paragraph. This typically will confuse your readers, as they won't be sure who is talking at the moment. Don't be afraid to break up paragraphs, even if all a character says is "No."

For example:

“Let’s just get back to the point - I saw something flying overhead. It wasn’t any bird, it was something way larger! I’m not even sure if it was anything avian! Other people saw it as well!” She exclaims, making a gesture with her hands to point out that the creature she saw was indeed very large.

“Are you sure you didn’t just see thin--” The brother’s question was interrupted as his sister pinched his arm. “Ow!”

The brother yelped. His sister simply hissed at him.

Breaking this paragraph up like this makes it easier for your readers to follow who is speaking :)


Those are the two main things I can think of, though! It's rather mysterious to me why the main character happened to have a book on dragons in his library--doesn't seem like a typical book a teenager would own. I'm wondering if it's like a family heirloom, or if it has some kind of relevance to the plot later on. I'm certainly curious to see how it all turns out ^^

The one thing I'm kinda caught up on, though, is the MC sleeping on a mountainside in just a sleeping bag in the middle of winter. Is he in a warmer climate? For it to snow overnight, it had to get below 32*F/0*C--which is very cold to be sleeping outside! Especially for a teenager! He probably would have froze to death in that kind of weather; it might be more realistic if he had some kind of shelter to take refuge in--a tent, snow cave, maybe even a cabin. That's just a thought of mine, though--food for thought ^^

Well, like I said, I'm looking forward to seeing more! Keep up the good work :D

[Viridian]

Thanks for the nice comment!

But, yeah, I do have to say that you're right on the past tense. It is a thing I do a lot, and seeing as how the story is written in third person, I let it slide. Mostly because I'm too lazy to edit it all.

I will, however, be editing some things you suggested, like the tent. I will edit that in!

For the book, however, it is a family heirloom. Practically, his uncle found the book in a small, old book shop in the neighborhood. The store owner said he didn't have any use for the book and gave it to him. His uncle was very interested about dragons as well, and Myron kind of took after him. His uncle then passed that book onto him on his deathbed. Just a small explanation. He also is very fond of books and likes to pass time by raeding them.

Now, let me get on with editing some stuff.

On a side note, you'd have to find out about the dragons yourself. :)

Also, he isn't a teenager. You could say he's a young adult. You can guess his age, although it's between 18 and 30.