Shadow Project: A Strange Find
This is the first chapter in what I hope to be a series of chapters. Please leave comments, both good or bad it dosent matter i would just like some feedback.
A Strange Find
Images of dragons, knights, and magical creatures filled Hinson's dreams. He enjoyed every second that he was in the magical world he wished still existed, but his dream world was soon interrupted. There was a knock at the door of his tent that snapped him out of his dreams and back into dull reality. He got up and quickly put on his clothes. He looked at his watch and groaned when he realized that it was still only two in the morning. He looked into the small mirror he had in his tent. His normally straight brown hair was a mess from sleeping on it. He brushed it and made sure the rest of him was presentable, even at two in the morning. After straightening his shirt one last time he said, "Come in."
The flaps on his tent parted and a tall, tan man walked through the entrance. He looked over at Hinson and realized that he had woke him up when he knocked. "Sorry to wake you, but we have found something you have to see."
"Alright, show me what you have found John." said Hinson as they exited his tent. It was a short walk through the cool night air of the African desert to the dig site that John was leading him to. This site had already revealed many surprising things, so Hinson wondered what would make John wake him up at this time of night. "So can you tell me what to expect when we get there?"
"You know that we have been uncovering structures far older than humanity itself, right?" asked John. Hinson nodded. "Well we were working on the structure we call 'The Temple' when we discovered a stand with a series of inscriptions on it."
"Inscriptions? Are you sure?" Hinson asked with a shocked tone. "If this is true then we have just pushed the birth of the written language back about five thousand years! Oh, this could be huge, a written language was around when humans were still learning how to control fire!", he exclaimed.
The two men were now inside a large chamber underneath a giant sand dune. There is a reason this structure had been named 'The Temple'. It was the largest structure they had found yet. It was about ten times the size of the next biggest structure in the area. In the center of the room was the stand and on top of it was a red jewel about the size of a baseball. Hinson was thrilled about the writing but as soon as he saw the jewel he could not take his eyes off of it. There was something about it, about the way it shown brighter than the lights in the room. As he looked into it he felt like he controlled the world and everyone in it. He had to hold it.
He reached out with his left hand and ran a finger over the smooth surface of the stone. A cold chill ran up his arm and down his spine spreading throughout his whole body. His world went black. His last thought was, "What have I done?"
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When Hinson woke up, he was in his bed. Not the bed in his tent but the one in his house in New York. He rolled out of bed already fully dressed and stumbled around his room dazed. How can this be? I....I was just in Africa.....how....? he thought confusedly. "James, I need to talk to you." said Hinson. James was his butler and if anyone knew how he got here James would.
"Sir?" answered James as he walked through the door of Hinson's room. He was a man in his early sixty's but was a hard worker and strongly loyal to Hinson. He was obviously worried about his employer but could not tell what was wrong. " How may I help you?"
"How did I get here?"
"You flew sir. You flew first class on your preferred airline company's plane."
"How long have I been here?"
" Sir, you have been home for a week now. Are you sure you're okay?"
"No, I am not sure about anything right now. That will be all."
James left the room, leaving Hinson all by himself. Hinson stumbled over to his mirror. The first thing he noticed was his hands in real life were normal but in the mirror they were covered in black scales and ended in short claws. As he looked up the mirror he noticed that his body was no longer human. It was humanoid but looked more like a dragon than a human. His body was covered in black scales and wings hung from his back. The last thing he saw was a face that was his but not his at the same time. The face had scales all over it but they were most visible around the mouth, eyes, and forehead. Red eyes looked back at him from under black scaled eye lids. Those eyes shown with an undying rage that sent a chill down Hinson's spine.
"What do you think you are doing?" asked the figure in the mirror. "You have some nerve being alive when no one wants you to be."
Hinson could not believe this, he was having a psychotic breakdown. "Who are you?"
The figure in the mirror flexed its wings before speaking, "As far as you are concerned, I am you. I am surprised you are even alive. Now for your other questions, I am a dragon, you have been unconscious for a week, I can control you while you are unconscious, I don't know why my spell hasn't killed you, and you are in for a life of servitude to me. That about covers it."
Hinson felt a pounding in the back of his head as he dropped down to his knees. His body got back up but it was not him who got up.
"Ematu martic draconis!" said Hinson's body. Soon his body truly was covered in black scales, his hair changed from medium brown to long black, and his eyes changed from blue to red with reptilian pupils. "Now that is better. Shadowa is back and I am hungry."
He had been trapped in that jewel far too long, but this, all of this, meant that his plan had worked and he had cheated death. His mind wandered back to when he was living his own life in his own body. It made him smile when he thought of how many humans met their end in his jaws. He hunted them down, had his fun with them, and then he was done with them he would kill and eat them. That was until she showed up.
She looked like a normal human female. She was thin with long blond hair and emerald green eyes. She was one of his most prized pets. He thought that he actually felt something for her until he found out the truth. One night he saw her walking along by herself in the night. He just sat in the shadows and watched as she walked gracefully through the open field. Suddenly a red dragon flew down and landed right in front of her. His first thought was that no other dragon could take his pet if he had anything to say about it. He was about to jump out and save her when he saw that she did not look like she needed saving.
She walked up to the dragon and wrapped her arms around its front right leg. She held on for a while and stepped away and said, "Not much longer now, mear val. I will take care of him soon, and after I do we can be together again."
The dragon did not say a word he simply placed his massive head on her shoulder and let fall a single tear. When he picked his head up, he quickly spread his wings and took off. This was a lot for Shadowa to wrap his mind around. The human he was in love with was a dragon who was trying to kill him? He could not let that happen. He quickly looked for a way to cheat death when she would bring it to him. He found it in an ancient dragon scroll and quickly bound his soul to a large red jewel. Now she could kill his body but his soul would live on in a sleep-like state in the jewel until he could find a suitable host body.
One night it happened. While he slept, she turned into her true form and cast a spell on him that stopped his heart instantly. He never knew what happened to her or her red dragon lover, but they must be long dead by now and he was once again free to hunt the humans like he did back then.
Shadowa walked over to the window and looked down over the three story drop. He took off Hinson's shoes and shirt then stepped onto the window ledge. He didn't know how long it had been since he last felt the wind on his bare scales. Humans had come a long way since the last time he had been free to hunt. They went from looking at the stars to traveling them, from learning how to carve stone to creating elements. He saw all of this through Hinson's memories. He also knew where he could find his game. He spread his wings and headed to the largest and closest city, New York City.