"What the hell were you thinking!?" Zoey shouted, sounding surprisingly irrational, "Why did you let that thing suck us in!?"
"Zoey—"
"I mean, you were the one who was trying to prevent this from happening in the first place, and then you just decide to see what would happen!? Of all the irresponsible—"
"ZOEY!" I shouted.
"What!?"
"Look. After all the crap I had gone through today, it was blatantly obvious that I couldn't control what was going to happen to me."
"But now we're involved!" she said, "Throwing your own life away is one thing! But you had to get us dragged into this as well?"
I sighed.
"Believe it or not, that wasn't my choice either."
"Okay, dude," said Kevin, "What exactly happened today before this mess?"
"Well," I explained, "I ran into this old lady in the hallway at school, and no normal old lady either. I mean, I had just bumped into some guy, and then I turned around for a second, and then there she was. She seemed like a total psycho at first, and then she said something about needing my help."
"You mean to take down that Rallix guy, right?" specified Kevin.
"Yeah," I said, "She told me she was a fortuneteller. And after making this crystal ball appear in her hand, she told me that he'd be breaking free from this seal in the Underworld."
"So you mean to say that old story is actually true?" said Zoey.
"Yeah, and the whole world will soon know it unless we stop him."
"And how do you know that?" she demanded.
"Because that's exactly what Leona told me. In that crystal ball, just as Rallix was breaking free, there were these three people appearing in front of him, stopping him from breaking free. And those people were, well … us."
"This is ridiculous!" said Zoey, in even more denial than I was, "I refuse to believe that this whole mess is about us killing a dragon!"
"Then what's your explanation?" Kevin interjected, sounding like the logical one for once, "Look. I'm as freaked out by this as you are, but how do you explain that portal appearing in the sky and sucking us in like that?"
Zoey hesitated, failing to offer any kind of answer to that question, until I chimed in.
"Look," I told her, "All we know is that something crazy is happening here. First this old lady says we're about to have to fight a dragon, then some mysterious message saying 'our destiny is imminent,' and then this. You can believe that's a coincidence if you want, but this all has to be connected somehow. Right now, the best thing we can do is accept whatever destiny we're about to face and try to find out exactly what it is."
Zoey sighed. Despite being thrust into the strangest and most foreboding situations that she couldn't imagine, she knew that there was no hiding what was already clear to us. For now, she would have to throw common sense to the wind and see what our fate would be.
"So," Kevin was already checking out the forest, scoping it out for possible clues, "Judging from that little story of yours, I doubt Rallix is here."
"No," I confirmed, "He was in the Underworld, attacking some rocky ceiling above him. At least, that's where we're supposed to face him."
"Then why are we here?" questioned Zoey.
"You got me."
There was a short pause as we took a quick look around the forest. It seemed to go on for miles. Trees, bushes, and vines were everywhere. We couldn't even see the sky, just intermittent rays of sunlight, flashing at the ground through the tree branches.
YOU ARE READING
Advent of the Dragon - Book 1: Destiny's Call
Teen FictionLong ago, when the world as we knew it was still young, there were said to be 4 mythical dragons, each wielding a different elemental power: Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire. As the Earth’s creators, their destiny was to keep it in balance for all time—...
