Arzy's Story

It was a normal Monday morning. Nothing to be excited about, nothing unusual going on, nothing different than any other Monday morning. Or so that was what Arzzanu Raknov thought as he sat patiently, waiting in the kitchen.

It was a school morning, and he was to walk his little sister, Roxy, to school, because his mother had to be at work early that morning, like just about every other morning. Arzzanu sat at the dining table across from his sister. She was only about eight years old, with curly brown hair which flowed past her shoulders and dazzling amber-colored eyes, similar to his own. She was not his full sister; they had different fathers. But that didn’t matter, she was his sister as close as it could possibly get.

She was his treasure. His world revolved around her, and their mother. He spent all of his time watching over them, trying to make sure nothing ever happened to them, as if he could actually do something if something ever did happen. But it kept him content, and he felt as if he made all the difference in the world, as if, if he wasn’t there, their world would be falling apart. He was happy to pretend that he mattered in such a case.

Roxy set down her fork, for she had been eating breakfast, and pushed her plate to him. “I’m all finished, Arzy! Time to go!” He smiled and took her plate, depositing it into the dishwasher, where he would wash it later that night when it was time for chores, for his mother would not be home until about 8 o’clock. Neither Arzzanu nor Roxy saw their mother very often, but when they did, it was great. She was a wonderful mother, and was always happy, no matter what.

And so Roxy grabbed her backpack form where it hung on the back of her chair, slipping it onto her back, before running for the door, throwing it open, and dashing into the yard. “Race ya, Arzy!”

“Hold on!” called Arzzanu, as he turned around to lock the door behind him. The last thing they needed was another robbery. A locked door wouldn’t stop a burglar, but it still felt better to take the extra measure. He turned the lock and slipped the key into his pocket, turning back around to chase after Roxy.

To his surprise, she was standing stock still in the middle of the yard, staring off into the distance. He now realized that it had been oddly quite while his back was turned. No sound of second-hand tennis shoes flopping against the concrete, no shouts of, “Catch me if you can!” or “Betcha can’t get me!”, and no loud laughs and giggles as she got away.

She was standing still, not moving a muscle, but she was breathing. She wasn’t frozen, only scared. Rather heavily, actually, her eyes wide, and her jaw hanging down from mouth, as if it were trying to escape. All at once, he realized that she was staring at something.

He heard it before he saw it.

A hissing sound, like that of a snake. That was his first thought, of a snake. But it was loud, too loud for something that small. It had to be big. His second thought was of a large lizard, like the Komodo dragons that were seen on television. But this was New York City. There were no Komodo dragon here. A million thoughts ran through his head as he slowly took the steps down the stairs, peeping around the corner. Many ugly, horrible things, things like…

Things not like that.

It was some kind of weird creature which he had never seen before. It looked like a person, a woman, to be exact, mixed with a lizard. It had the head of some sort of lizard, a thick, scaly tail, and green, scaly, clawed, horrible-looking arms. It was a Drakaina, but he didn’t know that. All he knew, was it was after his sister.

Or at least it had been. As soon as his face appeared around the corner, it gaze automatically switched to him. It stared at him for a moment, and saw sharp, menacing teeth and a flickering tongue. It looked like it was hungry.

Suddenly, it smiled. Arzzanu was taken aback. It… Smiled at me?

Then, all too soon, it struck. But, to his surprise, at Roxy. It gather up itself, clenching its muscles, looking like a ct ready to pounce. But it didn’t pounce. Instead, it let loose a huge jet of flames, crackling reds and oranges and blues in the early morning sun.

Time stood still. He watched as the flames progressed, searing towards Roxy, and he somehow managed to think a million thoughts in that extremely short amount of time. No longer did he wander at the new marvelous creature, no longer did he worry about a robbery. He thought of one thing.

Roxy.
Roxy.
Roxy!
“Roxy!”

He was still a couple of steps up the stairway to the front door, not quite on the ground yet. But he jumped. He launched himself off of the stairs, flying in the air for a painfully brief second. He hit the ground running, and sprinted across the lawn, full tilt towards his sister.

She was only about halfway across the yard, not hard to do, since the yard was very small, but the jet of flames raced through the air like lightning striking, and he feared he wouldn’t make it, even with his odd, inhuman speed for that short time.

But he did.

He felt himself hit Roxy. He grabbed her in a full tackle, bringing her to the ground with his arms and body wrapped tight around her. Just before they hit the ground, he felt the heat. It was like nothing he had ever felt before, searing pain that blasted through his body, seeming to try to fry every organ in his body. But, somehow, he ignored it.

As they hit the ground, he felt the wind driven from both of their lungs, and he heard ribs crack, and he prayed that they were his own. The flames engulfed his vision, and he saw nothing but leaping colors attacking him, and he wrapped himself around Roxy, trying to keep it from her.

And, as quickly as it began, it ended. The flames died. Somehow, neither of them had caught on fire, but he knew there must be burns. Lots of them. But he didn’t care. He looked down at Roxy and saw her staring back up at him, tears streaming down her eyes. “Arzy?”

He heard a loud rustling noise, and turned to see that the creature that had attacked had grown huge, leathery wings. With several great flaps, it rose into the air, and then soared away, disappearing behind the buildings and the clouds.

And then, the world went black.

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Probably more to come, maybe not. Don't know yet. I have the whole story in my head, I have for quite a while now, I just don't have it written down. So tell me what you think, and we'll see about the rest of it!