The Dragon Riders

chapter 2

Chapter 2:

The cave was huge and cold. There were many tunnels that I bet they connected somewhere in the cave, and they looked similar to the labyrinth in those carnivals we had in town. There was a chilling and ancient wind that raised the hair in the back of my neck. I don't know why, but the place radiated power of some sort. There were a lot of those like 'fireflies' attached to the wall, illuminating the cave just a little.

“Um...guys? I don't like it here,” Anastasia spoke with a hint of fear in her voice, “This place is creeping me out.” I knew how she felt, I felt the same way. Somehow, this cave creeped me out. It was like as if this place was ancient or something, and nobody had been here for thousands of year. Which, by the looks of the place, could be possible.

“Oh, come on! Where is your adventurous spirit?” Dustin asked her excitedly, “This place looks awesome. Come on, I want to check it out!” Dustin started walking toward one of the tunnels.

“Wait!” I exclaimed, Dustin froze on the spot and turned with a confused face. “We can't just walk into the tunnel just like that.”

“We can't?” Dustin asked stupidly, “Why not?” I just shook my head in disbelief. How is that he gets passing grades? 'I don't know, but I'll worry about that later,' I thought.

“No, we can't. We could get lost or something in those tunnels,” I explained, “Wait here, OK?” They all nodded as I held my breath, and dove into the water again. I swam back to the shore to my backpack. I opened it, and looked through my stuff. I remembered packing a rope or something. I packed it just in case we needed it, and it seems like it was a smart decision.

“Where is it?!” I slightly shouted towards no one or nothing in general as I looked through my backpack. I finally found it, and with a big “AHA!”, I slung it on my back and jumped back in the water. I swam back to the cave, but the rope got trapped on one of the rocks. I tried to unhook the rope off the rock, but I couldn't. I was beginning to run out of oxygen. As I was pulling with much force as possible, I realized it was useless and hopeless.

I began to lose consciousness, until I saw only darkness. I felt cold and then a presence, an ancient and powerful presence, and it felt like it was bringing  me to it. Then I heard a voice calling my name.

'Jason? Jason?' The voice spoke in a high pitched voice. 'You won't die anytime soon' The voice said, 'You have a great destiny to fulfill and dying is not part of it or not right now at least'.

At least? I thought. I tried to speak, but my lips were sealed as if my lips were glued together somehow. I couldn't see a thing, but darkness. I woke up. As I took more notice of my surroundings, I realized I was still underwater. I felt the water pressure and the absence of oxygen again. I thought I was going to die right then and there at that moment.

My vision was becoming blurry and even more blurry by the second. I was about to lose consciousness again, but I felt someone grab ahold of me from behind and unhook the rope from the rock. We swam up and resurfaced back in the cave moments later. Anastasia and Naomi were yelling both Dustin's and my name. I recognized it was Dustin who helped me. We reached the shore and the girls helped Dustin and I get out of the water.

I laid down flat on my back, on the cold and scraping floor, gasping and breathing heavily.

“Jason! Are you OK?” Someone questioned from above my head. I looked up and saw it was Naomi. Her face was worrisome as was Anastasia's. I sit upright and shook my head. My symptoms have not gone away as I still could not see clearly. I also felt a headache coming on.