When Michael opened his eyes, he found himself in an unfamiliar room. It took him a few moments to figure out how he had gotten there and by the time he did, the door had opened and the man, John, had entered. He handed him a bowl that contained a peculiar smelling mixture : "Here drink this... It tastes..weird, but it'll keep you on your feet." Michael nodded and put the bowl to his mouth. He gagged when the... something touched his tongue, but managed to gouge the whole thing down. He shuddered when he handed the bowl back to John. John was smiling at Michael's reaction to the brew. He remembered his first time eating it vividly!

He left the room and deposited the bowl in the kitchen. When he came back, the boy was getting out of bed. He walked over and gently pushed the boy down again. "Your in no state to be running around. Not as long as your falling off chairs, unconcious! Just rest..." Michael reluctantly obeyed and lay back down. It didn't take long until he was fast asleep.

When he woke the next morning, he found John sitting crosslegged in the middle of the room. Michael didn't move or even breathe overly loudly, but still, the instant he was fully awake, John spoke to him:"So, you're awake." He got up, and walked over to Michael. "Come on, we'll eat something and then i'll show you a ... a collection.. of mine..." He took Michael by the shoulder and led him into the kitchen, where they ate breakfast. Michael was getting suspicious of John by now. Nothing the guy did made sense. He bought the things Michael was going to steal, offered Michael, a thief he didn't know, coffee, made him eat the most disgusting...something he'd ever tasted and now wanted to show him some collection. Michael didn't really trust the guy.

When they'd done eating, John led Michael into a room in which stood fifteen or so pedestrials with a highly polished and differently colored stone on each one. They were different sizes too. Some were as large as a fullgrown deer, while the smallest one was merely the size of a coffee mug. Michael stumbled as he followed John across the room and would have fallen, had John not caught him. "Go ahead touch them. They're hollow, so if you tap them, each one will produce a different sound. Try it.

Michael walked to the first pedestrial and cautiously tapped the huge red stone lying on it. His fingers produced a deep, but clear note. John had said, that they would sound, but Michael was still taken aback by it.

"Go ahead, try the other ones...", John reassured him, which didn't really reassure him!

He continued down the line of pedestrials tapping each one and listening to the sound it produced. When he glanced over to John sometimes, he noticed the man's expression becoming more and more strained and...sad? Michael started to wonder, what John had expected.

When he arrived at the second to last stone, he heard John turn and begin to leave. When he touched the last stone, the stone, a tiny little , very dark blue orb, suddenly moved. Michael screamed and jumped back. He heard John coming back very fast. "Don't worry, it won't hurt you. There's nothing dangerous about it." "You knew this would happen?",Michael asked horrified. "I was hoping it would!" "Wha...What is happening? Is that really...a... a stone...?"

"No it isn't. It's a dragon egg...your dragon egg!"