Chapter 1 - Prelude

PRELUDE

Red exited the portal from the Dragon Realm and stepped into the dark, dank cave. According to his contact, this realm was where he would find the underworld. Red looked around and, noticing that there was nothing inhabiting the cave, walked towards the cave entrance. There was a short breeze the waded through his short black hair and caused his blue eyes to dart around the cave in search of the cause of it. When he was satisfied that there was noting around him he continued walking to the entrance of the cave. He was halfway to the entrance when bandits appeared, blocking his path. Red drew his two katanas thinking that the bandits would surely try and rob him, and the bandits seeing that this strange man seemed to want a fight decided to give him one. Two of the bandits entered the cave while a third called for backup. The two bandits charged at Red expecting an easy fight but they were mistaken. Red parried each bandit’s attack with his katanas and, as the bandits fell forward and behind Red, he stabbed each in the back, piercing through each bandit’s heart. A few moments later fifteen more bandits appeared at the cave entrance and, upon seeing their comrades’ lifeless bodies, ran into the cave with their weapons drawn. They formed a circle around Red to stop him from escaping and slowly closed in on their new enemy. Red knew that even he couldn’t fight off all of these bandits but he would die trying. Two of the bandits stepped forward to try and claim the honor of killing such a powerful enemy. The first bandit foolishly tried to attack Red by himself and ended up getting a katana through his stomach. The second bandit simply nodded as a third bandit stepped up behind Red with a dagger poised to kill. The second bandit then lunged at Red to distract him from the third bandit at Red’s back. The second bandit may have died as a result of two katanas through each of his kidneys but his distraction had worked and the third bandit was bringing his dagger down to stab Red through the back. The dagger would have met its target but a wolf’s howl distracted everyone as they looked to see what had caused the sound. Everyone saw a giant wolf standing there growling and were suddenly struck with so much fear that they couldn’t move. The giant wolf took this opportunity to run towards the bandit about to stab Red and pounce on him, taking the man down to the ground. The giant wolf then proceeded to rip out the bandit’s jugular before moving on to the nearest bandit. Red let out a sigh of relief when he saw that the wolf was on his side and began slashing at the rest of the bandits. Red and the giant wolf fought together, side by side, until finally all of the bandits were lying on the ground, dead. Red placed his katanas in their sheaths on his back and was about to thank the giant wolf when it turned on him and started growling. The wolf was about to pounce on Red’s chest when a man’s voice called out.
“RAGNOR, SIT!”
Almost at once the giant wolf sat down and began panting, its tongue lolling all around the place. All of a sudden a man and a woman appeared at the cave entrance and walked in with their weapons drawn. The man wielded two gladius’ and the woman was holding a lance. The two walked towards the giant wolf and its ears suddenly stood up. The wolf stood up and happily strolled over towards the two and sat itself down next to the man who patted it on the head and whispered to it, Good job. The woman sat down next to the wolf and began patting it all over and saying he was a good boy. The wolf seemed to love the sudden rush of attention so much that he began licking at the woman’s face, making her giggle. The man continued his walk until he had emerged from the shadows of the cave to reveal his short blonde hair and deep blue eyes.
“Who are you?” questioned the man.
“My name is Red Dragon, who would you be?” Red asked back.
“I am Lone Wolf, leader of the Moon Warriors. These two are my companions; Skye Lana and my wolf Ragnor” replied the man.
Lone Wolf looked Red over suspiciously and was about to put his weapons away when a creature lunged out of the portal that Red came through, pinned Wolf to the floor and started licking at the man’s face. Red laughed and eventually told the creature to heel. “What the hell is that thing?” asked Wolf as he picked himself off the ground.
“Haven’t you ever seen a dragon before?” questioned Red.
“I’ve heard tales about them but they say that dragons are massive creatures, this one’s small in comparison” stated Wolf.
“That would be because he’s a baby dragon” Red told him.
Red laughed again as the dragon ran over to the giant wolf and licked its face and then playfully ran off. The giant wolf seeing that it was a game, chased after it in an attempt to lick it back. This sight even made Wolf chuckle to himself.
“So,” began Wolf “where did you come from?”
“I come from the Dragon Realm, I came to this realm through the portal behind me” stated Red.
“Wait a minute, are you saying there are other worlds?” asked Wolf in surprise.
“Millions of them” replied Red.
“Okay well how about you explain this more to me at my manor, it’s just over the hills outside this cave” stated Wolf.
Red, seeing this as a good opportunity to learn more about this realm and its people, decided to go with them.

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