My mind was a blank slate, nothing came to my mind. The purple eyes gave a gentle shimmer as it stretched out its wings slightly, a glimpse of markings on the inner wings. As the small dragon left my hand and landed on my hospital bed, its body scales had a candy paint effect that is used for cars. I thought of my dream car for a split second as I recalled the faint memory. A mustang with Peacock Chromacoat paint job along with black spokes and barrel. I think I was thirteen, it was for a class.    "Are you listening to me?" I snapped back from my daydream and looked at the dragon again.    "Hm?" I said, unable to help my sudden fascination with his scale colors.    He growled in response, a small puff of smoke coming up from his nostrils as I reached out to run my fingers on his scales. He hissed and moved back slightly as he started pacing on my bed again.    "Sorry, it's hard to f

    I looked around vacantly, nothing was processing. And I didn't care. Shobek slowly crouched down and laid his wing out for me to slide down from. It took me a few seconds to register my movements. When I finally felt the ground I looked at my hands. I am trembling. I slowly looked up at Shobek, his eyes showing a hint of annoyance as he sighed and wandered towards a crater. I slowly looked away, taking in the black stone ground and the falling ashes around me. The temperature around me was definitely hotter than any weather we ever had on the surface. But for me, all I felt was a vast emptiness. The dark world was only lit up by the glows of fire and lava. The underworld. It was quiet, but I could feel the anguish in the air. The fear.    "Are you going to stand there all day?" Shobek growled.    I slowly turned back to where I had seen him, the dragon's figure nearly invisible if it wasn't for the glints of his scales or gl

       Kasey stared at the deceiving form of the young boy. Though she was well aware that he was far older than her, she felt a pull towards him, wanting to protect him. His age didn't coincide with his actions, not all the time anyway. Shobek stared deep into Kasey's eyes as if reading her like a book. He hissed and jerked his chin back to where she had previously been when practicing. "Get back to work."      My body was exhausted by the time Shobek let me rest. It had been a few hours since I started and I was ready to quit. Shobek sat on his rock with his eyes close. Meditating I suppose. I plopped down on the ground taking deep breaths to steady my heartbeat. I stared aimlessly at the expansive room around me, my thoughts drifting back to what I had done. Nausea started rippling through me, my eyes slowly looking down at my hands that rested on my knees. I could almost feel the handle in my hand again. The

       It's been about a week since I last saw Shobek. It had to of been at least five days I think. It's hard to tell if it's day or night but his whole house seems to just automatically turn off all the unnecessary lights when it reaches a range of nighttime. If you wanted a certain light on, you had to go to the switch and flip it. It was a pretty neat idea but I wasn't sure if it was accurate, regardless, I've adjusted my whole lifestyle to it. The only times I know Shobek is still alive are when I hear him cursing at something in a game or when I suddenly hear rummaging outside my room in the kitchen in the middle of the night. I did try to catch him while he was on a hunt for food but when I saw him stalk past the hall, he looked more like a demon than ever before. Even though he held the corner of a chip bag in his mouth and was juggling a jar of dip and two different cans of some kind of energy drink, the way his eyes looked was nearly horrifying.

       Shobek wandered to the kitchen, Kasey still making some food. He glanced at what she had decided on and almost laughed.    "What?" Kasey turned a sharp eye on Shobek, scowling at the young boy.    "Frozen tenders and fries?" Shobek smiled mockingly, "it's funny how a little kid can cook better than an adult."    Kasey scoffed, "little kid my butt." She carefully slid the pan into the oven and closed the door. She turned back and peered behind Shobek, "did you end up killing him?"    "Sadly, I refrained from doing so. He's bathing in the bathroom if you want to go check."      "No thanks." Kasey turned back to the frozen food bags she had yet to put away and slowly looked at Shobek again. "How do you have all of this modern stuff?"    "It's easy for me to travel between realms because I can make my own portals. Though it is draining. Ever