Cody walked through the door of his house, to see that his mother had left, but his father was still at the table, glaring at the map in deep focus. He never even acknowledged Cody’s presence as he passed by.

            He clutched his pocket nervously as he walked to the very back of the house to his room, and he shut the door lightly before sighing with relief. For some reason, he didn’t want anyone to discover what he had found in the dirt pile in the forest.  He took the thing out of his pocket that was wrapped thoroughly in a dirty piece of old cloth, and rested it on his bed. Then he went back to the kitchen to grab a piece of clean cloth and some water from a river nearby outside, and he returned with excitement.

            He pushed his thin sheet that he used for a blanket off his bed, moved his pillow near the center, and placed the object carefully upon it. Then, with the softest touch he could manage, he tentatively unwrapped the nasty piece of cloth and suddenly saw the black stone that seemed to radiate a dark, almost menacing light.

            The stone was covered in dirt and dust from being buried, but still seemed to gleam almost golden in the brilliant sunlight. Cody grabbed the clean cloth, discarding the other, and dipped it in his bucket of water, before rubbing the stone clean. Afterwards, it seemed to gleam even more stunningly beautiful than before, and almost sent him into a trance with its malevolent radiance.

            He struck it as hard as he could, and clutched his hand in pain, deciding it was perfectly solid. He stroked it, feeling its smooth surface and studying the rock that was surprisingly large. It was about a foot and a half long, ten inches thick, and perfectly round, as if carved by the great dwarf miners of legend, and lost for hundreds of years until now. It felt very strange though, not physically, but mentally. Cody felt as though it were calling to him still, bringing him nearer, but the voice, if you could even call it a voice, was very faint and was more like a song, a rhythm.

            He pressed his ear to the rock, but it didn’t improve the sound, or whatever you’d call it. Finally he gave up, wrapped his stone in the clean rag, and then a cloak that he kept by his bedside, before stowing it under his bed. By the time it was all wrapped up, it looked plain and unimportant, but it was far from it, that much was obvious to him.

            He shivered, though he had no idea why, and left his house again, and was surprised to see Aval and Autumn riding Myrtle and Mindy, their horses, straight towards him.

            “What are you doing here?” He asked them, very surprised to see them make such a trip.

            “We just thought we’d visit you. Your mum was a little concerned that you didn’t bring anything back to your house before she left,” Autumn said.

            “I wasn’t gone that long though,” Cody said, but he suddenly realized that the sun was almost setting, so he was somehow gone for at least eight hours, plus the time he spent with the stone, he added maybe an hour more.

            “At any rate, we’re here now, and it’s getting too dark for us to get home alone, mind if we stay the night?” Aval asked.

            Cody was more than happy to have them stay over, but said, “But I did it the night before, why can’t you now?”

            “Because we don’t know the path as well as you do, and you’re a crazy man that would attack a bear for a piece of meat if you needed to,” Autumn said, making Cody and her brother laugh.

            “I guess you two could stay the night, but then you will be leaving as soon as dawn comes!” Cody said.

            They smiled, dismounted their horses, and left towards the house to get settled in Cody’s room, while Cody led their horses away to the stables on his property, and entered the house himself, just as the sun disappeared completely. His father was now eating some kind of meat; though Cody didn’t bother to figure out exactly what kind, and the map was folded neatly in his inside pocket, only noticeable by a little corner peeking out.

            Cody slowly hung up his clothing and took off his shoes by the door for once, and went through the hallway to his room. Immediately he felt fear surge through him and he tackled Aval, who was stomping on his bed directly above the stone.

            The two crashed to the floor, and Aval bumped his head on the wall, and while he was clutching it in pain he asked, “What was that for?”

            Cody suddenly started biting his lip in embarrassment as he sensed Autumn staring at them through confused eyes. He stood up, helped his friend up, and brushed the dust off his pants.

            “I am really uncomfortable with people being near my bed, always have.”

            “You dirty little liar,” Autumn began, and Aval finished her sentence, “You and I always jumped on each other’s beds, it’s almost a tradition.”

            Cody sighed, it was basically their tradition, just a stupid little thing they did in a sort of remembrance of their childhood. He also figured that he would have to make up a good, quick excuse, or show them the stone. But he felt protective over it, he felt like a dragon guarding a horde of treasure, and he couldn’t let a single piece of treasure go.

            He thought nervously for a bit and said plainly, knowing them well, “There is something under my bed that is very fragile, and I don’t want anyone to know about it.”

            Unfortunately, their curiosity forced their usual reaction aside, and they insisted on seeing whatever it was he was hiding. They argued that they already knew about it, so why would it matter if they saw it. And when that didn’t work, Aval threatened to steal it, until finally Cody gave in.

            “You must promise me that you will not lay a finger on it, nor will you tell a soul about it,” Cody said, feeling incredibly weak, no longer a dragon guarding his plunder, but a mouse trying to hide a piece of cheese from two cats…that had a hunger for cheese.

            His friends nodded, and he reluctantly went to his bed side and gripped the edges of the stone, and hauled it up onto the bed, but it seemed heavier this time. He ignored that feeling, and slowly unveiled what he decided was his most prized possession. Aval and Autumn gasped as they saw the beautiful rock before them, and Autumn even reached forward to touch it, but Cody smacked her hand, though she wasn’t surprised in the least; such a treasure seemed as though it should be guarded to the death.

            “Where did you get it?” Aval asked after a very long silence.

            Cody decided to tell them everything, excluding the giant footprint and birdsong. They were very excited to learn everything about it, but he was all too careful about what he gave away. After a short time, Autumn tried to suppress a yawn, but it was obvious that they were all too tired to carry on staring at it. So, reluctantly, they settled down, Aval and Autumn on beds of clothing and sheets, while Cody curled up, with the bare stone in his arms, uncovered and unprotected.

            Cody woke up later than usual, despite the fact that he had another strange dragon dream. This time, the black dragon was already carrying him in its claws, and was soaring high above the ground, through snow-white clouds. Occasionally Cody could see mountaintops poking out of the clouds, like the world was trying to stab at them with huge, thick swords. He could sense the creature trying to communicate with him again, but the dream faded away rather quickly.

            Cody sat up on his bed and reached upward with his arms, stretching them as much as he could. He looked around the room and saw that Aval and Autumn were gone, and probably left as soon as daylight could be seen.

            He stood up, and realized that the stone was gone! He raced around his room, looked under his bed, under the blanket, under the pillow, by the door, and everywhere else he could think to look. Then he slowly started to remember Autumn’s hand reaching towards it, and he grumbled to himself, realizing that she must have taken it.

            He stomped out of his room, through the kitchen (his father staring at the map again, of course), and to the door to get his shoes and jacket. He swung his jacket over his shoulder, slipped on his shoes, and raced out the door. Cody ran as fast as he could to the stables, grabbed Skeletar, then shivered and put the horse back and went to grab another.

            Chase, the black horse he grabbed from its stall, was a bit faster than Skeletar anyway. He put I bridle, saddlecloth, and saddle on him before climbing up and racing away on his back. Cody was beginning to regret that those were the only two horses his family owned, because Skeletar almost made him think that it was going to transform into something like a skeletar, and riding on Chase made him feel as though he was flying with the black dragon again.

            The only difference was that Cody was on its back, not in its thick claws, and horses were many times slower than that dragon. He rather liked flying with the dragon though, it made him feel excited, and now horses seemed really dull and boring to him.

            He shook the thought out of his head and focused on his current task; getting that magnificent rock from his supposed ‘friends’! He raced along the road as fast as Chase would carry him, and he never even frightened at anything anymore, he was far too furious with Autumn and Aval, whoever took the stone.

            After what seemed like an eternity, Cody flew by villagers as he raced over to Autumn and Avalsmokes’s house. He slowed Chase to a stop just outside their little house, hopped off, and completely forgot about the horse as he raced up, allowing him to roam around without care. He pounded on the door and tried to calm down a little bit, so he wouldn’t scare their mother when she came to the door.

            As he predicted, the gentle old woman answered the door with a polite smile on her face, though it turned into a frown when she noticed his own expression.

            “Cody, what’s wrong?” She asked, clearly very concerned.

            “I just need to see Autumn and Aval for a moment, is that alright?” he said and asked in return.

            She bit her bottom lip as she debated whether she could let him inside in such a state, but shrugged and allowed him inside, “They down the hall in their rooms.”

            Cody smiled and nodded before running through the hallway and bursting into Aval’s room, where his sister also happened to be.

            “Where is it!?”

            Both of them appeared utterly surprised and confused by his sudden appearance and anger.

            “Where’s what?” Autumn asked.

            Cody glared at her and yelled, “I know you took that stone!”

            Aval stood up, as he was sitting on his bed, and calmly said, “When we woke up, that rock was still firmly in your hands. But you were tossing and turning something fierce, so we left without disturbing you. I promise, we didn’t take anything of yours, it must have fallen and rolled under your bed or something.”

            Cody relaxed a little, believing Aval, because he remembered that there were a few places it could have gotten that he didn’t search. He staggered a little uneasily as he bid them farewell and left rather abruptly.

            He laughed at himself as he stepped outside and recaptured Chase the horse. Cody shook his head as he climbed back up into the saddle, and slowly trotted out of the village again. He went back to his farmstead at a steady pace, allowing his horse to sort of rest as they went along. Before long they arrived, and Cody put Chase back in the stable, and returned himself to his own house.

            Cody passed his mother and father who were eating their breakfast at the table. He turned back around to grab a piece of bacon and went to the back of the little house to his room. This time he searched a little more thoroughly, over and under clothes, every place there was, instead of just every place he could think of.

            Finally, as he lay flat on his stomach and looked under a small desk by his bed, he saw the large stone lying perfectly still just below it. He put his arm under the desk and around the stone, before carefully dragging it out. He breathed a deep sigh of relief and placed it on his bed again.

            He put his hand on the stone and pulled it away again after he felt a little sting in his palm, then looked down to see that it was bleeding a little bit for some reason, perhaps he got a sliver. He ignored it, but was kind of saddened to see a little red spot on the rock, ruining its flawless perfection. He went back to the kitchen to grab a wet cloth to polish it, but when he returned the spot was gone.

            He shrugged and put his uninjured hand on the stone, and suddenly pulled it away, he could have sworn he felt it move. He watched it carefully, very carefully, as it sort of…twitched. The stone, although by now he was firmly convinced that it wasn’t a stone, rocked back and forth slightly, and continued to move for a long while.

            Cody’s heart was racing, but his curiosity got the better of him, and he looked straight at it for a long time, at only about a foot away. He was sitting on his knees at the edge of his bed, just staring at it.

            Suddenly, a small chunk, about ten inches around, just popped off of the top and went flying into the air before landing again on his pillow. He threw himself back against the wall as more and more chunks were launched from the…thing. Then, a little shadow-black head came out.

            “A snake egg?” Cody asked himself aloud.

            But he knew this was no snake, at least not an ordinary one. It had a large mouth, and as it opened its mouth to make a little noise, Cody saw that it had several razor-sharp teeth, easily capable of shredding through any flesh. Just behind its head were two horns that curved forward slightly, and were about three inches long, and decently sharp themselves. Then, all along the creature’s neck, at least as far as he could see, were little half-inch spikes.

            He marveled at the creature as it broke completely free, and Cody saw that it was lying on its back. Four strong legs stuck out above it, and a long, spiked tail stretched out behind it. The creature rolled onto its ashy black, scaly stomach, and stretched out long, leathery wings.

            “A dragon!” Cody said, suddenly terrified and thoroughly impressed at the same time.

            The dragon, with stormy, frighteningly blue eyes, glared at him, somewhat skeptically. It flapped its leathery wings a little as it struggled to stand on its newborn legs. Cody marveled at how elegant it was; the wings completely unlike any other. They were almost two feet long, almost exactly the length of the little creature, and sprouted out from the body, a few inches from the long neck.

            Cody also noticed that there was an inch long space between the end of the spikes on the neck, and the beginning of them on the back, and the space was just ahead of the wings.

            Then Cody suddenly made a stunning realization: “You’re the dragon from my dreams…aren’t you?”

            The dragon continued to stare at him, although with curiosity now. It started to get used to its legs, and leaped down beside Cody. Its evil looking eyes continued to stare at him, as it slowly stepped forward. It put a scaly paw on his knee and tentatively leaned forward, and put its nose up to his.

            The dragon touched its nose to his chin tenderly, and Cody was suddenly filled with a new strength, and a new understanding. The dragon wasn’t dangerous, in the very least, not to him. It was a magnificent creature, strong, brave, intelligent, and beautiful, and Cody had the honor of seeing one of the only two in existence.

            He suddenly felt very tired, even though it was still light outside. Cody clambered and struggled onto his bed, and as soon as his head flopped onto his pillow, he was asleep.