Old Man Dragon - Chapter 2 Purgatory ?

The last thing Luis remembered was falling asleep. That was eons ago, or at least, what felt like eons. This must be purgatory… Luis concluded after some time had passed.

He felt certain after some point that he had died and was moving on into the afterlife, but it was all so strange. He was still lucid, but the world was enshrouded in darkness.

Raised his whole life as a Christian, he believed that he should have met God to be judged, but there was simply… nothing. He couldn’t hear, see, smell, taste, or touch. It was as if he was locked in his own mind with nothing but his thoughts.

Stranger still, he felt that he was still falling asleep on a regular basis, often regaining clarity after an unknown amount of time had passed. It was virtually impossible to tell with no senses to base his judgment on.

After an lengthy but indeterminate amount of time had passed in this manner, Luis began to feel despair. Maybe I have already been judged and this is hell… He began to fear the worst. Trapped for eternity in limitless darkness, with nothing but your thoughts forever. Truly a terrible fate!

However, Luis refused to believe this train of thought. I have lived a decent life, treating myself and others fairly and justly. I should be drinking with my parents and brothers, not floating in endless darkness… Luis was adamant.

Time passed further still. During this time Luis began to struggle, desperate to feel something… anything. Futile struggles turned to angry struggles which then morphed into rage. However, once the rage passed, Luis was left with a feeling of nothingness and depression. He feared that if life continued in this way, he would eventually go insane.

As time flowed, Luis continued to endeavor against the darkness.

.

.

.

…bump

What was that! Luis had felt something for the first time in what was akin to forever.

He… touched something, or rather bumped something. Through his efforts, despite not feeling any physical response of a body, he managed to move some form to hit something.

A powerful feeling of hope overcame Luis, and he revamped his struggling tenfold.

Time continued on, and new sensations began to make themselves known. Luis was now barely able to feel a set of limbs, and he regularly used them to bump against what he now considered his prison of darkness.

As his sense of touch grew slowly, he began to recognize that he seemed to be floating in some sort of… thick, viscous fluid that semi-impeded his movements.

It was what he imagined floating in a pool syrup would be like.

However, the real shock came out of nowhere, when he finally heard the first sounds since he arrived in the darkness.

“GRRRRRRRRRRR” A deep grumbling that was very similar to the growl of a wild beast. Only, it was so loud that he felt it vibrate the prison he was in.

The growls grew in magnitude and before long, he could distinguish that they seemed to be coming from two sources, likely two large animals.

If I had to take a guess, it sounds like those animals are about to fight… Luis pondered. After being in limbo for so long with nothing but his thoughts, any development, good or bad, was welcome.

Then the world shook.

A massive force rocked his world, sending Luis tumbling inside his whatever was holding him. A sensation that Luis hadn’t felt for a long time came over him… pure agony.

It was focused mainly on what he felt to be his right limb. When he was no longer tumbling, Luis saw light for the first time in ages. There was what appeared to be a large crack, from which smaller cracks fanned outward in a spiderweb-like fashion.

From these fractures, bright yellow light was flowing in, illuminating the darkness which Luis had been trapped in for so long. It was probably the most beautiful light he had ever seen, the light at the end of the tunnel.

Ignoring his right limb, Luis moved his left limb to touch the crack. When pushing slightly against it, he felt it give a tiny bit. It can be opened… Luis realized with joy.

This is it… Luis saw his opportunity come and began smashing his limb into the crack as hard as he was able to, seeking to break free.

After three solid hits, a large chunk of whatever was holding him fell away, allowing even more light in, so much so that Luis was blinded momentarily.

Excitement overwhelming him, Luis pushed his entire form towards the opening.

All at once, he spilled out into the world covered in the slimy viscous substance, and a tidal wave of sensations flooded his brain.

Thousands of smells from the surroundings that he couldn’t differentiate or understand flooded his now breathing nostrils.

The melodious tweeting of birds and the scampering of small creatures resounded in his ears.

The chill of the surrounding air felt cool against his slime covered body.

As he was still blinded from the sudden influx of light, Luis was unable to look at his surroundings yet, but it was like every other sense was too strong for his mind, causing it to be strained.

There was, however, one sense that was unfortunately still functioning properly… physical pain.

God! Why does it hurt so much? Luis internally cursed as he felt massive discomfort in his right arm. It was definitely broken from whatever caused that earthquake earlier, causing him to tumble. It was so debilitating, that he immediately tried to avoid moving as much as possible.

Sitting there in the cold, the initial overwhelming sensual input began to peter off, and his body and mind began to adjust to the new and unfamiliar surroundings.

Eventually, Luis felt that his eyes were no longer burning from the light and decided it was safe to open them, slowly.

When he did, Luis was astonished at what greeted his newfound vision.

Trees, massive snow covered trees that seemed to stretch toward the sky as he looked up. As he glanced left and right, some clues as to what that caused that earlier earthquake made themselves known.

Many destroyed trees and what looked like smoking craters surrounded him on all sides. Some of the trees were even on fire. It’s like a meteor shower descended and destroyed the surrounding area, but I definitely heard the growls of wild beasts… Luis suddenly felt that his current location was not the safest place to be.

At long last, Luis turned his head around, careful to avoid moving his right limb, and came face-to-face with what had been imprisoning him for so long. What in the world? He was utterly speechless.

An… egg?

Luis felt the need to rub his eyes or shake his head, but there was no point. It was clearly an egg. He had been… hatched… from an egg. What he thought was a prison was just an egg… what?

The amount questions he had exponentially increased. Wait a moment. If I was hatched then what… Luis looked down and nearly jumped up in shock.

What greeted him were not human arms or legs, but instead fat limbs covered in white scales. Checking further, his torso and backsides also were covered in white scales, including a brand new tail.

I’m a… lizard… The conclusion Luis came to was not a joyous one. Something was definitely wrong here. Maybe he was still alive on that hospital bed, and this was simply one long extended dream or he was hallucinating from bad medication.

The pain radiating from his right scaly limb was proving otherwise, however. Upon closer examination, Luis found that it was terribly broken, hanging at a clearly unnatural angle. It would definitely take a doctor to fix it.

What do I do? He asked himself while sitting by the egg, trying to grasp the reality of the situation.

Luis was starting to get cold. While he wasn’t presently sitting in any, there was snow everywhere. It was likely wintertime, wherever he was.

Peeking at the carnage around him once again, Luis distinguished the smell of smoke from the thousands of other new scents he could detect, being very familiar with it.

Grumble!

Luis felt a sudden sharp pain in his abdominal area region that could only signify one thing… hunger. The initial shock and adrenaline was wearing off quickly, and now his young lizard body was demanding he find something to eat.

His new powerful sense of smell suddenly locked onto a particular scent, causing saliva to uncontrollably form in his mouth. What is that? Luis felt his sense of smell guide him to look around until it focused in on the egg he was hatched from.

Unable to resist, he carefully limped towards it and looked inside the remains of his former prison. There was still a large amount of the slimy fluid which had a yellowish tint to it left sitting inside. It was similar in color to the yolk of a chicken egg.

Immediately, an internal war started. His human mind was telling him not to eat something he had been sitting in for god knows how long, while his lizard body was demanding he slurp up the “delicious” substance.

Hunger and instincts finally overcame all his mental obstacles and he began slurping up the slimy remnants, shamefully unwilling to admit how delicious it actually tasted with his new lizard senses.

After he was satiated he sat on his haunches, still trying to piece together everything that had happened. He wasn’t given much time to think, however.

“Grrrrrrrrrrrr” A soft growl was emitted from a small distance away. Zeroing in on the source, Luis peeked his body around the egg and locked eyes with a massive wolf that had been sniffing the air. It looked quite hungry.

Oh no…