My new enemy had outsmarted me at every turn. First, he’d appeared out of nowhere and killed Troy in such a manner that I was the only suspect. This led my family to hate me and send me into exile. I came to my cave to think things through, but he was waiting for me. His trap succeeded because I hadn’t even seen it coming. I’d played the fool.
The thing that puzzled me most was how he knew about my cave’s second
entrance. Sure, most caves have more than one entrance, but he went to it so
quickly that he must’ve already known it was there. As far as I knew, only Sir
Giovalde and I even knew about the cave, much less about the second entrance.
Surely it wasn’t Giovalde? Was it possible that he could’ve been killed
and resurrected into a fire dragon? I couldn’t allow myself to believe that. Giovalde
was a man of principles and had always been loyal to me, despite my faults and
mistakes. He’d never turn on me in such a manner.
Neither could it be Gabby, the only other dragon I knew to exist. Fire
dragons are created in the bowels of Hades, and Gabby had surely never been
there. Plus, Gabby loved Troy. He’d never have killed his mentor just to punish
me.
It was puzzling how he’d avoided being roasted by the beast that had
ruined my life, but his deep wounds did prove to me that he was a victim. Unfortunately,
with me being trapped inside my former sanctuary, he’d likely be victimized
again, along with Lori and Sir Jefferson. My only hope was that Sir Giovalde
would return and protect them.
The only problem with that was that Giovalde was only an Onyx dragon. Not
to belittle Onyx dragons, they’re absolutely an elite creature, unmatched and
unthreatened by any beast upon the face of the Earth, except fire dragons. Fire
dragons were like Onyx dragons to the tenth power. My new enemy would most
likely find Giovalde to be easy prey.
Distraught, I started to panic. It wasn’t because I was claustrophobic or
anything of that nature, it was just that I knew I couldn’t survive in this
cave very long with no food. There were a few bats nested on the roof of the
cave, but that wouldn’t sustain me very long.
Since no one knew I was even here, besides my enemy, it looked like I’d
remain trapped here for a very long time. The only chance I had at long term
survival was to stay in dragon-form and hibernate. It could be a year, a
thousand years, or, it could be eternity. I liked none of those possibilities.
I calmed myself by employing meditative techniques I’d learned over the
years When I finally reached an emotional state that would allow me to think clearly
again, I walked over to the far wall of the cave and picked up the coin the
fiery beast had thrown in for me before sealing me in. I sat down and began to
examine it.
“What was the purpose of this?” I asked myself. “Was it cursed? Was it
something that was supposed to pacify me during my imprisonment?”
The coin was gold. It was also ancient. Marked with the year 1368, I
figured it was from about the time of the mythical King Arthur. This was also
about the time when dragons across the world largely disappeared from mythical
stories.
The coin had English lettering, but it was so worn down that I couldn’t read
it. It had a man’s bust on it, but I couldn’t tell exactly who it was. It was
mysterious to say the least and I was completely stumped by its significance. Perhaps
it was symbolic, or perhaps my enemy only meant to keep me guessing.
I clutched the coin tight in my hand. I could feel a strange electro-magnetism
radiating from it, pulling me in such a way that I instinctively wanted to
protect it. The weird feeling freaked me out and I tossed the damned thing down
a tunnel but as soon as it left my hand I felt a dreadful craving overtake me
that weighed me down with sorrow.
I ran down the tunnel as quickly as I could to find my coin. It was
extremely dark and I couldn’t find it, so I turned to dragon-form so I could
use my supernatural night vision. The tunnel was barely big enough to contain
me so I crawled until I grabbed my coin.
Obsession for possessing it completely absorbed my soul. Protecting that
coin was all I could think about. I was angry at myself for the way I felt
about this enchanted coin and I knew I’d been outsmarted again. I tried to
think of ways to escape my imprisonment but as long as I held this mind-consuming
piece of gold, I couldn’t focus my thoughts on anything but it.
I angrily tossed the coin down the tunnel again. I started shaking
horribly, like an addict in the throes of detox. I began to feel dizzy and nauseas.
So, I crawled back down the tunnel again to retrieve my fix.
I was caught in a vicious cycle of possessing the coin and purging myself
of it. I couldn’t stop myself. I wanted that coin more than anything I’d ever
wanted in my life. Finally, I found it again and immediately the withdrawal
symptoms stopped and I began to feel happy again.
I laughed at myself for becoming like Gollum
in the J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous tale of Hobbits. He was so obsessed over the one ring that he turned into a monster.
Then I realized it wasn’t so funny and I stopped laughing and started crying.
I flung the coin down the tunnel again. Again I was forced to go retrieve
it by my very soul’s unquenchable thirst for it. I was shocked by how easily I’d
been drawn into the coin’s curse. Its evil power over me was inescapable.
The cycle played out over and over again. It could’ve been hours, days or
weeks. My mind was so clouded that I’d lost all sense of time and purpose. The
weight of its power was crushing me. Retrieving it, clutching it, protecting
it, loving it, hating it, throwing it away and then retrieving the malevolent
coin would kill me, of that I was sure. If I didn’t hibernate I’d starve to
death. My enemy was much shrewder than I’d given him credit for.
Fed up with my doomed attraction to this bewitched coin, I consumed the
damned thing. When it hit my stomach, a fiery sensation began burning within
me, which I thought to be extremely odd, because I was made of fire. I
transformed into human-form, hoping this would help ease the pain, but it only
made it worse, so I went back to dragon-form.
The coin seemed like it was burning a hole in my stomach. The pain was so
excruciating that I purged it. It hit the floor in a blanket of foul smelling,
green foamy puke. I dug through the retched vomit and retrieved my coin and
squeezed it tightly.
For a brief moment I was happy. Then I became angry again and tossed it
back down the tunnel. Tears rolled from my dragon eyes and steamed away on my
burning flesh. My mental state continued to fall into a dark abyss of despair. I
was a hopeless slave to this godforsaken coin and there wasn’t a damned thing I
could do about it.
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