The fire burns with an eerie red glow as you feel the heat flow into your soul. Then you catch something flicker in the light as the fire shifts and reflects the presence of another creature lurking in the shadows. You feel that you are brave enough to step closer to see what is out there in the shadows. As you take that step you hear a growl and a deep sigh. Fire glistens off one side of a pair of huge wings beyond the flames. Your heart beats faster as fear runs straight through your blood at the sight of the dragon.

The fire roars across the ground with the rumbling breath of the dragon, the kind of which contain the gases capable of igniting the flames of the fire into a searing blaze. Your eyes start to turn red as fresh blood flows into them, your heart pounding even faster. With a swift movement of the the dragon's head, it moves down closer to the fire, muttering some words that you've never heard in the tongues that you speak. The fire dies, leaving nothing but blackness for several minutes and no sound but that of the rumbling breath of the dragon. Then the breath fades. With a sudden shift of the ground, a circle of flames form a wall around you. The ground beneath you crumbles and falls downward, taking you down with it...

By Christopher S. P. Parsons

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