Author's Note

Thanks a lot to city pigeon and Vulpix4life for all of their great reviews. I hope that everyone else will start reviewing to. Oh yeah. If you got a story that you want me to review or just read, let me know.

"Hurry! This way!" With inhumane speed, the man bolted out of the shop. A tattered sign above the window read 'Angela's Herb Shop.'

Where the roof was, cloud of smoke and dust remained. A long, flaming red tail snapped out of the cloud. The shape of a serpent was faintly visible through the dust.

As the man led Ziahra to the gates of the city, archers bounded onto the ancient, stone roofs. A huge citadel loomed in the middle of the city. The early morning sun barely reached its peak. The gates in front of them were rapidly closing. The man bellowed for the guards to open them, but to his displeasure, they did not obey.

Disgruntled, the man raised his hand and cried, "Jierda!" The gates momentarily stopped then shattered like glass on a stone floor. The two of them raced out of the city and quickly dove behind the nearest bolder. The dragon had crawled out of sight beneath Ziahra's shirt.

The man breathlessly watched the town gates for any sign of soldiers. After what seemed like hours of waiting, he shot up and sprinted to a nearby mound of stone.

The stones were farther away and much larger than Ziahra suspected. They had several small crevices and ledges that made it easy to climb. Ziahra noticed that halfway up, if he would've started in any other direction, he would've been stuck. If quickly stumbled up the rocks, and plopped down at the top.

A steady stream of curses silently forced their way out of the man's clenched teeth. "For sure they have just arrived… nothing like that could have been kept a secret for that long. Unless forces I do not know of have risen."

"As horrible as that might be," Ziahra interrupted, "I still don't know who you are and now, what on Earth just happened."

The man glared at him, then solemnly stated, "My name is Solombum."

"Good to know."

"I wouldn't speak at the moment. Teenagers… a disaster waiting to happen."

Glad to finally know the identity of this strange man, Ziahra settled down at on the edge of the rocks. His dragon hopped up to him, like a bird, and gently rubbed his back. After a few short seconds, it leapt onto Ziahra's back. He was surprised at how light it was, being the size of a small dog. Its dark blue, glassy eyes were fixed on his face.

'Is it a boy or girl?' he quietly thought to himself. An alien presence filled his mind.

Boy…

Was that you? He stared at his little companion. It nodded its head in recognition.

"Then I will name you… um… Solombum?"

He grunted in returned.

"Do you know a good name for this dragon? It's a boy."

Solombum stared at Ziahra. "How do you know that?"

"He told me."

Solombum's eyes grew wide with curiosity. "And so young…"

For a short while, Solombum gazed at Ziahra. "Name him Areaba."

The dragon squealed with approval.

"Then Areaba it is." Ziahra smiled at Areaba, as he hopped around, bubbling with joy.

Author's Note

This chapter might have been a bit boring, but I needed to write it. I'm sure that everyone has heard of Doru Areaba. I named him that for a reason. Keep those reviews comin!