Erandel

A Story by Jasmin

Dragons are myths, or so thats what Alexia Vandel thought untill she encountered one. Now she wants nothing but to tame one for herself and she will go to great lenghts to find the one she first saw.

Hi fellow readers, Testing out this new story if u wish for me to continue vote and comment .
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Prolouge

The first time I saw him was at an execution trial. I stood among the crowd watching as the men in contempt marched to their death. My small self was to short to see above the looming adults. So I'd squeezed through them until I stumbled to the front.

I was dazzled by the man, his yellow animalistic eyes seemed to stare off into a place much farther than here. Unlike the men among him, he stood tall and built. So much that he had been chained and bound twice more than the others.

His defined body was marked with scars, ones prominent others barely noticeable. Each no doubt of battles only he'd lived to tell.
I was drawn to him, mostly by the danger that radiated from him. It was a promise that he'd destroy every single one of us if the opportunity came. It had thrilled me, I had never met someone so dark and mysterious in my life.

If I hadn't seen it myself, I would never have believed the rumors. It been the talk of the town for the past week. A dragon the news paper headlines read. A dragon captured after an attack on Erandel. A bloody dragon.

I watched as they accended towards the execution stand were the guillotine stood ready to serve judgement. The wood was stained with the blood of previous criminals who'd been captured. It's iron blade so sharp it would slice your finger with the lightest touch.

Everyone had been aligned in order, the dragon coming in second. In contrast to the other men, faces full of terror, the dragon seemed almost bored. As if he were waiting in line to buy a two pound duck at a merchant stand not his death.

The first man was pushed forward by one of the guards he resisted as much as he could but was only rewarded with several painful whips. I watched with boredom etched on my face, it hadn't been my first time witnessing an execution and comparing it to more gruesome methods such as quartering this was a more "civil" punishment.

As the first man was dispatched the second was pushed forth. Despair settled in the pit of my stomach as I watched. I kept my eyes locked on him. A small part of me wishing he'd glance at me atleast once before his demise. I clamped my hands together beneath the cloak I had draped over myself. I made sure to conceal my face with the dark hood, easily blending among the crowd.

With the shackles on his feet and restraints against his arms he marched up the small staircase. He made it look so easy but in reality he was caring atleast eighty pounds. "Quickly." Shouted one of the guards whipping him. He stood In front of the guillotine, as another guard undid the restrains on his arms. Part of me hoped once the binds were off he'd transform into a beast and carry through with my previous thoughts, but I knew better. The shackles on his feet held an infusion that nullified all magic. He didn't stand a chance against the mass of armed guards.

Once placed in the guillotine, the crowd went wild, it was the reason most of them had attended after all. It wasn't everyday a dragon was captured.

As it finally registered in my brain that this was the end for him I turned away disappointed ready to head back to my unexciting life. But then the shriek of people made me flip back in an instant.

I looked to the dragon.

Fire.

Fire had emerged from his hands slowly burning the wood. "Behead him now!" Shouted the gaurds but as the blade fell forth it errupted into flames. The whole stand went up in flames. An intense blue fire that crackled loudly and even though I was quite a distance away I could feel the blazing heat.

Astonished not able to believe my eyes I pulled off my hoodie. The people beside me had began scurrying away dissolving the once cheerful crowd. Now they screamed in terror.

I walked closer even when I heard the guards agonizing screams from the flames consuming their body. The dragon stood tall. His irises dilated no doubt enjoying himself. He laughed.

"Tell the king I send my regaurds!" he yelled to the people running for their lives.
His eyes then landed on me. The sole person stupid enough to walk towards death instead of fleeing from it.

A hand gripped my shoulder.

"Princess Natalia!" It was Michelle, my supposed care taker. I had sneaked away from her grasp when shopping earlier. It was the reason she refused to take me out of the castle at all. I had a tendency of disappearing. Her eyes were now bulging.

"We must go!" She pulled me but I refused. I looked back to the dragon, he was now occupied with an army who had come possibly in my defense. "Take her now!" One of them yelled as she hauled me away.

"Dragon!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

He turned to me for a split second, his eyes piercing mine. Then surprisingly a sly smile crept up his lips. A sudden blast of fire incinerated the the radius around him, creating an impenetrable wall between us. I wasn't able to see past it and never did. Michelle had practically carried me back to the castle. My father upon hearing what I'd done, had given me the scolding of my life. Yet till this day I never regretted it, my first encountered with a dragon.