Dan and the Judgment Dragon

Chapter 1 – 'The Hell House'

"Callum, hurry up!"

One boy stood outside a house at the dead of the night, he was swallowed in the darkness that was cast by a oak tree. He had his hands buried deep in his thick, black coat that hung down to his ankles and a black cap covered his eyes. The house seemed very well-kept; it had a big garden with lots of exotic and colourful plants growing along the fence that surrounded it. It had pillars either side of the front door to hold a balcony that seemed to lead to a bedroom. The lights were off and there was no sign of the residents. The door was wide open and there were sounds of frantic rummaging.

It was starting to rain. The boy strolled down the path and looked down the road to his left, then his right, his breathing steadied.

"No one seems to be in sight." He said in his usual deep voice.

"Well then," a voice came from inside the house, slightly higher than the first boy. Callum poked his head out to look at the boy. He wore a plain, blue jacket and a white t-shirt underneath and black jeans. His light brown hair was stuck up but was a little wavy at the front. "come and help me if no one's coming."

The boy walked up the path and stood in front of Callum. He was much taller than Callum and was about the height of the boy's shoulders.

"You been growing while you've been out there mate?" Callum smiled as he turned around and walked back into the house. The boy followed and hit his head painfully in the doorway with a thump. The boy groaned whilst Callum laughed loudly.

"Calm down Callum. It is pitch black in here." And it was. "How can you even see in this?"

"I dunno." Callum mumbled as he searched through some drawers next to the door.

The boy turned the lights on to see a living room, furnished with a big, brown, leather couch in the middle and there were multiple bookshelves leaning on the white walls, filled with a copious amount of books filling them on each shelf. A flat-screen TV was perched upon a table near the window.

The lights were then turned back off.

"I'd prefer if we weren't seen by the house across the street." Callum pointed out. He then started to walk upstairs.

"What are we looking for?"

"I'm looking for a deck which was stolen from me. It's a Gravekeeper deck." Callum walked into the first bedroom and started delve into a few drawers. "Remember, don't steal anything. We're not thieves. We're only trying to get my cards back."

The boy headed to the next room. He searched inside one of the end tables next to the double bed. They weren't there.

"How do you know it's here and how did it get here?" he asked whilst looking through the items on one of the shelves.

"You know the local tournaments we have in the Card shop that's down the road from your house? Well I was talking to some contestants until the final duel got under way. I foolishly left my deck on the table." Callum walked into the room shaking his head sadly. "The duel was great and then I turned around to collect my deck and head out but it wasn't there. So I asked a few people who were watching the duel if they had seen anything, but most people had no idea. Until I approached one nice girl who told me that she had seen Jacob steal my deck. I thanked her and left. I ran out onto the road and saw a car pull away with Jacob holding a 'Gravekeeper's Spy' up against the window and he smiled when he saw me then they were gone." Callum looked around angrily. "I stumbled across this house a few days ago whilst I was taking a stroll and spotted the same car that Jacob had been in."

"How do you know that Jacob hasn't sold them?" The boy turned around and walked past Callum and entered another bedroom.

"I know Jacob quite well. He used to go to our school." Callum followed and started to look into a few boxes on top of a cabinet. The moon was now providing just enough light to navigate around the house. "He'd never let me forget it and would use it to patronize me. So why would you sell it, when you could enrage a person who beat you during a tournament and frankly, it's a much better deck than what he originally had."

The boy started to look through a desk which was under the window. A book, a notepad, a few playing cards and then, at the back of the top drawer, was a deck. He scooped all the cards out and flipped them over so they were face-up, allowing him to examine them. It was obviously a Gravekeepers deck.

"I've found your deck."

The boy looked up. He could hear a car in the distance. It was coming closer.

"Ah! Good, good. Let's get out of here."

The boy stood like a statue. The car appeared, it turned into the driveway. The headlights flashed over his face. It had seemed to have paralyzed him. He stood like a statue. He was wasting valuable seconds.

The engine stopped running.

The door opened to two people and obviously a teenager due to the spiky hair mixed with his height and baggy trousers. The moon outlined the figures which had made their way up the driveway.

He turned and ran into the room Callum was in. "There are people coming!" The boy croaked. Callum turned quickly and dropped a small box onto the floor revealing its meaningless contents, it was the loudest thing for a couple of seconds until the boy turned and scanned desperately for a place to hide a or a way to get out of the house... A window! It was the only thing that would let them escape. The Boy advanced and examined how to open it. There were two latches connecting the bottom and top of the window to the frame. With trembling fingers, the boy flipped the latches away. "All this for a stupid deck!" he thought as he slid the window upwards, revealing a head-spinning drop. The cold air rushed through onto the boy's face and made him tremble more. He took his hat off and stuffed it into his coat pocket. The boy's hair was flicked to the right and nearly went over his eye and was a little scruffy, the back of his brown hair went just about down to his shoulders. He turned his head and looked at Callum who had followed. The boy's blue eyes were prominent in the moonlight. Callum had a quick look out of the window, his head turning from left to right as he tried to observe his options. But then came a distinct noise of the front door opening and mumblings crept into earshot.

"The drain pipe is the only way to get down unless you want to break your legs." the boy said. Callum agreed with a nod and indicated the boy to try to get out first.

"They have no need to know who you are so I'm letting you go first." The boy frowned at Callum's conclusion. "Jacob knows who I am, at least he won't think of me as a random burglar. He'll know I'm looking for my deck. But if he sees you then you have no excuse being in here. Now go!"

The boy nodded and jumped out of the window, holding on to the cold, wet ledge. Callum had turned his back from the window to greet Jacob if he were to come upstairs.

The boy shimmied across the ledge, getting closer and closer to the drain pipe.

Just a little more... The boy reached out...

With a triumphant smile he had managed to grab hold of the pipe and wrap his feet around it. He made his way down and Callum clambered out of the window. He tried his best to close the window as he hung there but there was no way of putting the latches back on. Unfortunately, Jacob and his family would know that someone had been in their house due to things being clumsily put back, things that were not where they were originally and the lock on the door was unlocked also the window not having its latches on!

Callum had considerably shorter arms than the boy. He found it difficult to reach the pipe. After a couple of agonising, inactive seconds waiting for Callum, they managed to flee into the woods next to the house.

"Thanks Dan." Callum whispered as the boys ran further into the woods.

A:N/ Hello everyone! I'm ArgonianCallum33! I hope you liked the first chapter of my story, and be sure to comment afterwards! Also, sorry for this chapter being quite long!