"Dad! No, don't go! You'll die!" I yelled as I saw my dad ride on his stallion towards darkness. 

I run out the castle, practically slamming into walls. I trip on sharp rocks sticking out of the ground, resulting in a deep cut on my leg. I get back up and limp towards him, knowing that if I don't stop him he'll die. Why cant he hear me?

I continue to limp towards him, my leg now gushing blood from the cut. I can't run fast, and I can't yell loud. He can't hear me and he continues to ride towards the darkness. I don't know what to do, so I just stop where I'm at and drop to my knees. I turn behind me, expecting to see the castle and turn back, but instead I saw something else. 

A dragon, giant and made of flames. one of its scales alone were the size of me. The phoenix dragon, perhaps. It stood high above me, casting a shadow over where the castle should've been. Wait, should've been? Where did it go?

I tried to escape, but I couldn't run. It flew up, and breathed its hot flaming breath on me. I turn around to see it facing me, along with a blob of fire. 

*****

I woke up, gasping for breath and slightly terrified. I had been having these dreams for quite a while now, coming and going every now and then. 

A few days ago, I had one about the phoenix dragon. I woke up to find myself surrounded by its tail, as though it was my mother and it was snuggling with me. I slowly stood up to my feet, trying to sneak away from it without waking it up. I was doing good, until I stepped on a twig and it broke. The dragon didn't wake up, but something else did. I didn't even get to see it clearly because I woke up before it had a chance to do anything to me.

I thought that these dreams I've been having must mean something, so I asked my Oneirocritic to interpret it for me. Surprisingly, he had no idea what it meant which infuriated me. I still don't know what they mean, but I do have a guess. I think they might be trying to tell me something about the phoenix dragon, perhaps that it's real or maybe even its location.

I haven't had any signs, though, which I've heard usually come after you've had a dream that's telling you something. Ugh, it angers me knowing that the most powerful creature could be out there and I don't have any possession over it. 

Although, I don't know where to even start if I would want to find it. That's why I'm hoping that these dreams will tell me something, not just scare me to death.

I hop out of bed and head to my closet. I grab a robe and throw it on as I head to the balcony. I look off in the distance, the darkness that had consumed the flat plains in my dream now  disappeared and a sunset took its place. Well, of course it is, because it was just a dream.

"Ha ha! Sir, join us in a celebration for winning the war!" One of my trolls burst in the room with a mug in his hand. Trolls...

"'Won the war'? War? Were far from the end of the war, you idiot. Until I have every part of the Isle in my possession, the war is never over. Now hurry up with your 'celebration', we have work to do." I said.

"Alright, me shall do that." It said as it exited the room. 

I stared at the door for a few seconds, zoning out then licking my teeth. I tasted something salty, like... blood? Why was there blood? I headed over to the mirror in the corner of my room, looking in every part of my mouth. I looked past me and my heart stopped. 

The phoenix dragon stood in the center of my room, but smaller then I had imagined it, just big enough to be able to fit in my room. I turn back around, trying to escape, but now it's just darkness. I keep turning, looking for a way out, but everywhere is now consumed in darkness. I turn and see the dragon, it staring at me with its two yellow eyes. I looked down and saw it was standing on a book. I slowly walk towards the dragon, trying to see what it's called.

I took one more step, just close enough to read it. It read 'The Way of the Phoenix'. Got to remember that I thought. 

I look up, the dragons putrid breath breathing down my spine once more. I try to run, but it picks me up with its claws and brings me up to its face.

"You are not worthy." It said to me, anger growing on its face.

*****

I woke up... again, this time covered in sweat. I felt my mouth; no blood. I looked in the mirror that sat in the corner of my room almost as though I was scared of it.

"Guards!" I yelled for the guards that stood outside of my room, and within seconds, they were here.

"Yes sir? We heard you call for us." One of them said, his helmet slightly slanted in front his face. Ugh, always sleeping.

I looked at them seriously and said, "I need one of you to slap me, please."

They looked at each other with a confused expression, "Slap you, sir?" One of them asked.

"Do I look like I'm joking! Now, I command that you ask no more questions and slap my face!"

They both looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. One of them faced towards me and started winding up his arm. 

"Whoa! This isn't baseball you idiot! Just a little, thwap, I don't want to be beheaded!" I yelled. Idiot.

He stopped winding up and put his hand next to my cheek. He brought it back, and flung forward, hitting my face.

"Yes! Ha ha!" I exclaimed as I was also in pain. No more dreams.

They both looked at each other, confused. They probably thought I was going crazy or something, which I honestly would've thought too. I stopped celebrating and looked at them.

"Eh hem," I cleared my throat, "well, go on then. Get back to your job!" I yelled.

They both ran out of the room, surprisingly pretty fast. Right as they closed the door, I went to my books.

"What was that book called again," I said to myself, "'The Way of the... Phoenix'? Yes, that's it."

I searched through my bookshelf seeing if I had a book named that. Nothing. I decided to go over to the kingdoms library. They have almost every book imaginable, so there's a big chance that they'll have this one.

I threw on some clothes and headed outside, hiding my face from the public. If someone saw me, they'd start a crowd and I wouldn't be able to reach the library for hours.

I finally made it to the library, luckily without anyone spotting me. It towered over me, at least five stories tall. 

I made my way up the stone stairs that led to the library doors and walked inside where I was greeted by a librarian.

"Hello, young sir. May I help you with anything?" She asked.

"Oh, yes. Do you know where any books on Phoenix's are?" I asked her, making my voice sound slightly deeper so that she couldn't recognize it.

"Oh, yes. Any books in particular, like any exact title or authors name?" She asked me.

"Do you have any book called 'The Way of the Phoenix', perhaps?" 

Her face turned scared, "You... are him? The one?" She asked me.

I was confused, but said, "Umm, yes. I am the one."

She looked at me with a secretive expression, "Follow me, I can show you the book. Don't let anyone see it, or else." She said.

I followed her to a door which was locked. She pulled out a set of keys and started to open it.

"I've been waiting for you for fifty-three years, young man. Finally, you are here, and you shall be the chosen one." 

"What do you mean 'chosen one'?" I asked her.

"You shall be the one to..." She paused, "never mind. I've said too much. You need to figure the rest out yourself. Ahh, here we go." She said as she opened the door.

When we entered inside, the door slammed shut behind us. Not creepy at all I thought. We walked through a narrow hallway, nothing but unlit torches on the wall and a few spiderwebs. She took a match out of her pocket and lit one, which caused a chain reaction and lit all the others.

"So you just carry matches around with you all the time?" I asked, thinking that was a little strange.

"Oh, goodness no. I just felt something tell me that today was the day, so I thought I should prepare." She responded. 

I didn't know what was going to happen. Did this person actually have the book? Could she actually see right through my lies and knew I was the king and she was just leading me to a trap to kill me? Either way, there was no turning back now.

"Here," She said as she took a torch off the wall and handed it to me, "keep this for now, we might need it."

I took the torch and we kept walking. We came across a place where there were no more torches on the wall, so I guess she was right. 

"Now all we have to do is wait," She said as we came across a dead end.

We waited for a bit, then we heard a water drop.

"Now," She said, "place the torch in this circle, and then you'll get what you want." 

I placed the torch in a hole that was in the floor, and the wall dropped to the ground. There was a book on a small pillar, light shining from it.

"Thank you," I said as I walked towards the book and picked it up, "by the way, I never got your name. I would like to give you a great reward for helping me."

"Delilah.  My name is Delilah."