The Awakening Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Entry #693106
Gabriel soon saw why the librarian had handed him this book; it had a picture of a--a--

Well, Gabriel thought, it's certainly something.

It was an odd beast, certainly; it looked almost like a giant komodo dragon standing on its hind legs, if komodos were still alive. And a poisonous purple.

Its front legs (arms?) were long and clawed; it didn't even seem to have any proper fingers at all. The back feet were what caught his attention, however; they matched the prints he had found, with its oddly shaped feet. The prints had been shaped like a "V," with three big, deep holes and an impression that looked as if the foot were webbed. Kind of like, Gabriel mused, it had two long, big toes that met at the heel, didn't have a sole, and had three very large claws.

He briefly wondered how tough the membrane between the toes was; for certainly it would have to be extremely difficult to pierce if the thing in the book could walk on land without tearing it, as the book said. He skimmed through the paragraphs, gathering information.

After a few minutes, he decided the tracks must have been a prank. Aparently, this beast could not only walk on land, but swim and breathe underwater as well; this accounted for the webbing between the toes. The clawed hands were supposed to look like eagle talons, but he had never seen one, so he didn't know if that was accurate. And then, it was unlikely that a predator would have scales that were so...bright, so easy to see. It was also considered to be the favorite prey of the mythological dragons.

He stared at the book in frustration, a whole new set of problems surfacing; if someone had set those tracks where he would come across them, someone knew his habits extremely well. Someone was following him. The only question was, who?

Then, just as suddenly as the book had lost his interest, it caught it again. His eyes fell on a passage that described one of the beast's legends.



"A demon of Night,

A terror to all Mankind.

The Sun's Children drove

Them back, and Said,

'They will rise in the

Darkest Hour.

Then, we will hunt again.'

And in a blinding flash

of their Father's Purest Light,

They sank into their Mother's

Arms, to Slumber until

Need arose once more."



That interested him. A mythological demon? Still nearly impossible that it could exist, but it did explain why the thing looked so...unnatural

He read the paragraphs beneath the passage. Summed up, it pretty much said that the passage was from a sacred pagan text, meant to be several things at once: a warning, a legend, and a prediction. The original texts were all burned, except for one, which would be found in the king's personal library, no matter what generation, kept in the interest of history, the book stressed. It seems to me, he thought amusedly, as if the king on the throne at the time this was written wanted an excuse to keep it. If that's true, he's not doing a good job.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, Gabriel's threat instinct pulsed through his chest. He needed to find that book, find a way to get a hold of it.

But it was more than that, he realized. He closed his eyes, searching, sensing...

Was something coming? Should he tell someone? He knew he should, but how to do so without embarrassing himself? Leave an anonymous note under the headmaster's door?

He dismissed that almost immediately; notes like that were never taken seriously. Most of the time, they were outright laughed at.

Don't mention the book, a voice whispered. You don't have to say you read this, so don't. Just show your sketches to the headmaster. Or right a journal entry and leave it all where a teacher can find it.

He was inclined to agree with the voice. That, he reasoned with himself, was not the same as an anonymous note. But what if someone saw it was him who had left it? What if they called him back to get it, without reading it?

It's highly unlikely, the voice whispered. Teachers are so nosey. Just take the chance, they need ot know!

Gabriel felt a little insulted; the voice sounded smug, as if he should have thought of it before, like it were pointing out the obvious...

I wonder, he thought moodily, if it's normal to give imaginary voices personalities?