Moon by Matthew R. Davis (fantasy novels to read .TXT) 📕

but watch as Apophis’s large mouth closed around its head and smashed its skull. The prane’s body became limp and motionless beneath Apophis’s feet.
He released a victorious roar into the darkening sky above. “No beast alive can defeat me!”

Pen walked into the small room him and Elva had rented for the night. In the center was the small bed they would be sharing. On the right side was a small table with a basin on it. It had no water in it and was completely covered in dust. On his left side was a window that looked out into the main street. He guessed he was directly above to bar. It was clear to him that this room didn’t get much use. He strode over and sat on the bed patiently waiting for Elva to return from whatever she might be doing.
Then, he realized that he was exhausted. The sky outside had become a pale orange as the sun set in behind the clouds on the horizon. The way the light reflected off the clouds struck Pen as beautiful. He laid down on the single pillow on the bed and watched as the sun sank out of sight. His eyelids where becoming heavy and staying awake was becoming increasingly difficult. Less than ten minutes after the sun had vanished, Pen was asleep.

Apophis felt weak as he ate the corpse of the prane. His body had suffered a savage beating the last few weeks and he was in desperate need of a magician. His wounds would not heal properly on their own. He reached out with his mind in search of the two-legs that had been using his dwindling power supply.The meal he was sinking his teeth into offered him some relief. But i could never make him whole.
Daydream Dragons had the unique ability to communicate with anyone at any time anywhere. But the problem was, the further away that being was, the more consciousness they would have to sort through. It was a pain staking task. But he was desperate, and he allowed that feeling to flow through his mind. He encountered several people with a train of thought similar to those of the two-legs he was searching for. Helplessness crept its way into Apophis as his search drew on for an hour. Then when he was going to give up, he found Pen. What he saw in Pen’s mind horrified him.
The small two-leg was battling someone. Their battle was intense and deadly. A series of blow where being thrown between the two of them. There didn’t seem to be any clear winner. Apophis left Pen’s mend and continued searching to Elva. He found he walking towards Pen. “Human.” Apophis said to her. He felt her heart accelerate, it pleased him that the sound of his voice alone frightened her. “Your that dragon from the forest, correct?” she replied.
He sent feelings of reassurance through there connection. “I need your help.” The dragon said. The sudden request startled her, and she began to calm down. “Is it possible for you to meet us outside of Harton?” She asked him. She could feel his nervousness. She knew that for a dragon to ask a human for help, the dragon must be injured or was in a very desperate situation. He agreed to what she inquired and without another word, severed the connecting again. Although the dragon had attempted to shield it from her, Elva could feel the injuries he had suffered.
“What could do that to a dragon?” She asked herself aloud. She continued on her route to the hotel. Once inside, she was careful to avoid eye contact with the bartender again, and made her way up the stairs to the room Pen and she would be sharing. Once inside she couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Pen. He looked so peaceful and so content that it made her long to join him in slumber. So she did. She laid down on the bed next to him and kissed his cheek. “Good night Pen.”
******

Chapter 6:
The Moon

Apophis flew that night non-stop. He strained to keep from passing out, but managed to make it to Hartford without to much trouble. Fatigue had swept him over early on and made it hard for him to concentrate on anything. Once there he found a large patch of trees large enough to conceal him. He didn’t bother warming the ground. Instead he laid down and almost immediately went to sleep.

Pen had already awakened when Elva woke that morning. She walked out of the room and down the stairs. The bar was empty. She reached out and searched for Pen. She was surprised to find that he was where near the town. Puzzled, Elva walked out into the street. The town was completely empty. She didn’t understand what was going on. Then, “Human, i’ve been waiting for you to wake for hours now. It would not be wise to keep me waiting for much longer. I grow impatient. None of these two-legs here have the abilities to heal me.” Elva smiled a sighed a sigh of relief. The towns people had obviously discovered the dragon and where all there with him.
“What side of the town are you on dragon?” There was a pause before Apophis answered back
“I believe it is the eastern side.” Elva used the position of the sun to pinpoint the eastern side of the small town.
Pen was standing a good distance from the dragon when Elva arrived. She examined the dragon from a distance. Most of the scales on his right side where cracked, broken, or completely missing. His face had some cuts and his expanded wings where torn and bleeding. She imagined that the tears would make flying almost impossible. The dragon was all black aside from a white stripe of scales that started at the corners of each of his eyes and continued down the length of his body all the way to the tip of his tail. The scales glittered in the sunlight and bathed the area around them in dots of white.His eyes were a deep emerald color and the spikes that lines his spine where pearly white. His talons were coated in dried blood, as where his teeth. He was busy licking them, probably to clean them.
At first the dragon didn’t even notice Elva had arrived. “I am here.” she said aloud. The Apophis paused in mid-lick and turned to face her. His gazed drilled into her. “You took your sweet time.” She frowned and placed her fists on her hips. “You could have woken me up Pen.”
“Sorry, i didn’t think you would’ve liked that very much.” he replied.
Apophis stood and walked towards Elva. Her breathing increased as fear crept into her. The dragon was at least twelve feet tall. She wasn’t sure if she could trust the beast. “Will you heal my wounds.” he said the sound of his voice rumbling in her head. She nodded. “I’ve never worked on a dragon before, i’m not sure if i can heal your scales to their former luster. Apophis snaked his head around her and inspected her. “You feel different than the humans i have previously encountered. Your aura is much stronger. I trust you will be able to do just fine.” Unlike times before, this time the dragon sounded sincere and innocent.
She felt as if he really did trust her to heal him. “I will lend you any strength i have to complete the task. I’ve had experience in acting as a channel for energy. I will summon energy from the most powerful source in the universe. The moon.” Elva didn’t understand how the moon was the most powerful source in the universe, or how anyone could stretch their minds out that far. “As you wish.” she said. “But first you must tell me how you received your wounds. For i will never help those that are evil.”
“Your curiosity is justified, and i understand but instead, i will show you.”
The dragon leaned forward and touched Elva’s forehead with the tip of his snout. Lights swirled in front of her eyes as her mind was pulled free of her body. She rushed up through the clouds and into the dragon’s mind. In it, she learned many things. Including his name. Then Apophis led her to his memories. The sensation of floating inside someone else’s mind overwhelmed her. She saw things through his eyes. All the smells and little feelings he had. It was fascinating. His senses were much more refined. All the colors of the trees and sky were more vibrant and lively. Even in the dark she could see the faint and pale green of the grass.
Then Apophis stopped on the memory from the Sun God of Egypt.
He walked into a large open room with large pillars stretching from the floor to the roof. She couldn’t quite understand what their purpose would be. They where made of hardened sand. Any extra weight would cause them to collapse. The walls of the room were adorned with gold sculptures of a man she did not recognize. The torches all around the room, gave the interior dancing orange glow. In the center of the room was a large sun crafted from gold. It was clear that someone of great importance lived there.
Apophis continued onward deeper into the room. Then his eyes befell a the man who resembled the statues on the walls. Elva felt the dragon’s sadness explode within him. Apophis was the Sun Gods friend. The Sun God was the first human Apophis befriended, and he was the last. Apophis had always felt a great hatred for all humans and took enjoyment from killing the soldiers that attacked him. The man in front of them was dead, from what Elva guessed to be age. Then a yell broke the silence that en-shrouded the room “You killed our god!” The man yelled. It was strange for her. The man was of dark color. She had never seen such a thing. She deemed it to not be important and continued to watch Apophis. The dragon howled out in agony. Being blamed for the death of his friend was almost as bad as the death itself.
“You DARE to blame me for this human!” The man ran from the room and within minutes, the room was flooded with soldiers. They were carrying the same kind of sword Elva favored. The Falchion. This caught he attention but she didn’t inquire to ask Apophis about it. They rushed at Apophis from all sides, stabbing at him and yelling vicious war cries. Then the beast that entered the room last made Elva shudder. It was an abomination. Its eyes where sunk into it’s skull and where yellow. It’s skin was bumpy and a pale brown color. It was completely covered in tight muscle and it stood towering over the other men.
Elva could feel that Apophis did not want to fight it. He turned and Elva felt a pressure build up in Apophis’s stomach. Then she felt the warm tingling sensation of molten lava boil up his throat. It collected in his throat and turned to fire in his maw. It rushed passed his teeth, tingling his lips as it curled up over them. The flame was more than six feet wide and well over thirty feet long. To her surprise it wasn’t orange, but instead was the same emerald color of his eyes. The fire easily burned a hole in the roof bug enough for Apophis to fly out of.
He jumped through it, with a single bound using his powerful hind legs. His whole body vibrated with emotion as he spread his wings and flapped them