Chapter 1

An explosion of sound slammed into his ears and drilled into his skull. Searing pain followed almost instantaneously. Gravity began to shift from one second to another. Up was down down was up. Light blinded his eyes and even closed his eyelids had no effect in abating the scorching light from assaulting his eyes.

Time seemed to drag for all of eternity. How long had he been in this state? Even he did not know. This time of pain and confussion that could have been a second or ten years for all he knew ended abruptly. Darkness consumed him.

His first sense to come back to him was smell. Grass , dirt and smoke was all he could smell. Was that blood he smelled as well?

The second sense to avail itself was taste. The good news was he knew where the scent of blood came from. His own mouth! He must have bit his tongue. A fact proven by the taste of copper in his mouth and the pain in his tongue that seemed to throb and radiate down his tongue.

As his sense of touch revealed itself a feeling of weakness and pain spread throughout his entire body. His hearing quickly followed and he could hear the sound of wind and the rustling of leaves. The sounds where jagged. Too loud. As if magnified through his ears.

He opened his eyes he closed them again immediately. Bright sunlight stabbed his eyes. Everything was far too bright. Inwardly he cursed. "What the fuck is happening to me?"

He made a second attempt at opening his eyes and was met with limited success. He was able to squint his eyes and make out a vast and blue sky. In the corner of his eyes he could see the branches of a tree. It was a beautiful sight to his eyes. Especially since it proved he wasn't dead....... or maybe he was.

He attempted to think deeper. "Isn't it supposed to be night? And even if I had been passed out for a long time, WHERE THE HELL IS MY ROOF!" These questions and more raced through his head as he lay on the ground facing the sky not moving.

The clouds in the sky lazily passed by. Almost mocking him. He even saw a shape that looked like a dog. "Wasn't I in my room meditating?"

A coughing/gagging sound awoke him from his thoughts. "Someone else is here!" He thought. The gagging sound was soon followed by the sound of someone puking their guts out and the panicked scream of a woman... or was it a girl? He didnt know.

Pain radiated up his neck and into his skull as he lifted his head but soon it faded away as his muscles and skeleton relaxed. He hadn't even realized his body had been so tense that it was causing his pain.

All around him was long grass about 2 feet long, but the small area he lay in was clear. It didn't look to have been clear for long as the place he lay seemed scorched and burnt.

A whiff of smoke curled from several strands of grass around him, but under him was completely scoured clean. As he attempted to regain his feet he now understood why someone was puking.

He felt like a drunk seasick man. His balance was all wrong. As his bile threatened to shoot out his mouth, he used an effort of will to force it down.

The girl was still screaming....... It grated at him and if he wasn't close to screaming in panic half a dozen times in the last minutes as well, he would have probably shouted at her to shut the hell up! What surprised him was someone did shout at her.

A ragged and hoarse voice yelled "stop screaming damn It!". The voice was mature, but not old. Maybe late 20s early 30s but it was deep with plenty of bass. The voice contained venom.

The screaming abruptly ended followed by a whimper. He felt a pang of sympathy for the girl. She was obviously scared out of her mind.

As his feet seemed to regain their strength, he rose from the tall grass , he instantly noticed another man also rising from the grass. A big man. 6' 4" at least. He was sheathed in muscle. His shirt was I'll fitting for such a large man and strained to hold the massive man's frame.

He was Caucasian with blond hair and blue eyes. He had a brick jaw and shoulders like a bear. The man noticed him as well. He glared at him with what seemed rage and suspicion.

Ignoring the man he looked around and noticed a woman's head , shoulders and torso sticking out of the grass eyes wide with panic. She was about 15 feet away from him. Her glossy black hair was wild as she whipped her head around looking for what he assumed where answers to her own internal questions. She looked to not believe what was happening. She had beautiful light brown almost golden colored eyes.

The bear of a man spoke up glaring at him the entire time. "Where are we? What the fucking shit fuck is happening?" .......... admiring the man's swearing and coming to the conclusion it was this man who shouted at the woman earlier he thought "Was that a question for me?" He took a second to look the man up and down and said "who am I supposed to ask?"

He shot a look at the giant that meant to convey he thought the man was an idiot. The giant didn't know how to react to that. He stood there for a second and then his face grew red. "Is this giant going to attack me?" He thought but showed little concern.

As the giant seemed ready to take offence another voice interuptted the situation. " let's not panic. Let's figure out what's going on and not fight. " the voice was hearty gentle and aged.

This proved true as he looked over to see a black man with light colored skin tone who couldn't have been younger than 50. Balding and on the fat side but with kind eyes the old man looked at both the giant and him. He had his hands up in a patting the air gesture that said "calm down". Oddly enough it worked on the giant.

More people where regaining their feet now. Six in total including himself. There where three men and two women standing with him at what was the edge of a forest and the beginning of a grass land.

Both women where attractive but one was a young caucasian girl no more then 20 years old with strawberry blonde hair, while the other was a mature Indian or Pakistani woman in a woman's business suit. She looked to be about 30 years old with a figure that was full to bursting. While the young girl was pretty and youthfull the older woman was sexy and mature. Both would have been considered beautiful anywhere they went.

The last man in this group was a young arab boy about the same age as the girl who had probably been the one who screamed earlier. The young man had glasses and wore what seemed to be a prep students clothes. He had almost delicate features that probably made him very popular in whatever school he was enrolled at.

He was wiping at the edge of his mouth with a handkerchief in a refinned manner and looked to be sick. He came to the conclusion this boy was the one who puked earlier.

Everyone in this little group was eying each other and weighing their suspicions. "Lets all calm down and figure out what's going on." Said the old man. As the old man opened his mouth to continue a roar that that split the air stopped the old man cold.

It was unlike anything he had ever heard before and he felt a chill creep up his spine. There was something unearthly about it. As he tried to find the source of the terrible roar it became apparent very quick where it came from.

High above the forest in the glaring light of the setting sun was a shadow. As it moved out of the light of the sun and revealed itself the entire group took a collective gasp.

"That can't be right." mumbled the old man. The old man repeated the phrase multiple times losing volume as he spiraled into disbelief and denial. He was struck at the sight in a profound way. He didn't blame the old man at all. It took every fiber of his willpower keep his jaw from dropping so hard it would break.

Above the forest flew a creature with a massive wingspan of at least 20 meters. Clad in red scales and massive horns the creature circled in the air above the forest.

It had massive claws and four legs all layered with the large red scales that reflected the light in a way that made them look like precious rubies. It released another terrifying roar and then issued a stream of fire from it's mouth that was more like liquid light then fire. The light of the sun dimmed for a second in the presence of this liquid hellfire.

It was a dragon.

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE WE!" Yelled the giant. Looking up at the massive beast in pure terror. "Who the hell am I supposed to ask?" he thought once again but he couldn't even be bothered to look at the giant let alone engage him with an answer.

All that he had in his eyes was that massive red dragon. As the dragon circled around it came closer to the edge of the forest where they where.

"Quick into the woods! Hide under the trees! We can't let that thing see us!" Shouted the young Arab.

No one questioned his judgment as everyone scrambled to be the first to the perceived safety of the forest. The last to arrive where the two women. The young girl seemed out of breath but the older woman was not winded at all. She was running very oddly.

"Why is she so slow?" He thought. Looking down he noticed the woman was wearing high heels. "Oh".

Another roar tore him from his thoughts. Everyone shrank into themselves at the sound and made attempts at concealment. As time passed the roaring beast drifted further and further away. It's roars becomeing more and more distant.

Still no one made a sound besides the young girl who whimpered from time to time. He looked over at the young girl and pitied her. She was consumed with terror and looked ready to lose her mind.

After what seemed an age the young man spoke up while pushing his glasses higher. "I think it's gone.". "yeah... what the he'll was that?" Replied the giant. "Isn't it obvious?" A voice calmly replied.

Everyone looked at the one who spoke in unison. "Its obviously a dragon.. Isn't it?"

He was a young man in his mid to early 20s. He had dark brown hair almost black with brown green eyes that seemed resolute and steady. He must have done a sport of some type as he had a fit body.

He wasn't tall but was not short either. His face was slightly handsome but nothing special. He had a maturity and poise that set him apart from the rest if the group though. He was half Caucasian and half Asian with light colored skin.

"Dragons aren't real and who the hell are you anyways?!" Said the giant his first response seemingly always anger.

Everyone was interested in the answer and perked their ears. "Me? I'm Jason Wu. Nice to meet you. And yes that is obviously a dragon. Haven't you ever read a book?" He replied shooting another look that said "dumbass".

Jason's earlier panic had wore off and his grandfather's training was starting to kick in. Calm and composed he looked at the giant.

The giant was at a loss for words for a while then opened his mouth and yelled in a deep roar "WHERE THE FUCK ARE WE?!!!" After a second Jason seemed to grin and say "you keep asking me that question.... so I'll repeat. Who am I supposed to ask?"