Chapter 5

"Urgh!" I spat the sand out of my mouth as I opened my eyes. 

The searing heat of the sun penetrated my eyes, and I squinted before getting to my feet.

"There is never one day of peace when it comes to us." I dusted myself. "Right, Connor..."

I paused mid-sentence as reality settled faster than the speed of light to me.

No one was with me. And this was not the valley where the team and I had come to excavate the dry bones.

This was a fucking desert. My hands trembled as I spun around looking for a source of life. The millions of thoughts in my head could not point to one logical explanation. Not science. Not voodoo or any of that black magic.

"C...Connor?" I called out to the empty space, my eyes shimmering with tears. "Jeff? Bianca?"

The latter two names reflected the desperation that clung to the depths of my soul.

No one answered. 

I felt a strange vibration on my left palm and glanced at it, feeling sick to my stomach at the sight of the red jewel my hand clutched.

"You!" I raised the jewel at eye level. "What the hell did you do? Where the hell am I? You know what? I don't even want to know. Take me back right now."

The jewel was as ordinary as it could appear to be.

"Oh, so now you can't talk, huh?" My rage intensified as I shook the red item. I couldn't even imagine how stupid I must have looked. 

My ranting paused as the floor trembled beneath my feet.

"What the..."

A sudden tremor took me off my feet, and I landed painfully on my ass. That seemed to be the least of my concerns, as seconds after that, a large molehill swiftly approached me.

"Fuck!" I backed away on my butt, trying to match the speed at which it approached me. Unfortunately, it wasn't good enough. 

An explosion, forming a huge cloud of dust, followed, and I shielded my eyes. I uncovered my eyes as soon as the cloud settled and immediately regretted my actions on what I saw next.

In front of me stood the largest cobra I had ever seen in my life. Rearing its head, it was like three elephants stacked on top of each other. Dark red patterns decorated its hood, and its grey scales sparkled under the sun. Its orange eyes focused on me, and I saw a fiery glow in them. 

"Holy shi..." I never got the chance to finish the oxymoron.

The serpent opened its mouth, and a huge ball of fire came from it towards my direction. Rooted to the spot both in fear and confusion at the abnormality of such a situation, I could do nothing as the flames engulfed me.

Resigning myself to death, I was in for another shocker. Instead of feeling my skin burn away, I felt something else. The normal heat that comes on a sunny day. In essence, nothing. 

The flames died down, and I discovered there was no damage done. The fire didn't do anything to me.

Well, except burn all my clothes off, leaving me naked.

Too shocked to even cover myself, I glanced at the cobra, which had cocked its head sideways, its eyes widening a bit as if mirroring my shock. Then those orange eyes narrowed in anger.

"Shit."

Hissing, the gargantuan cobra slithered towards me. At that point, my legs remembered how to function, and I took off without a second thought.

"What the fuck is happening?" I yelled like a banshee as I sped through the desert, my hands flailing about. The loud hiss behind me meant my reptilian assailant was gaining on me. 

Like a ray of hope, the sun's rays descended upon a huge rock in the distance. Smiling in gratitude at whoever sent that fortune, I spun around and kicked the sand, sending some of it into the cobra's eyes. The serpent hissed and paused, shaking its head to get rid of the sand blocking its vision and buying me enough time to reach the rock.

I hid behind the rock and slid down with my back against it to catch my breath.

"Okay, Irene, be calm." I inhaled. "This is not a dream. You're in a fucked-up desert with a snake that fucking breathes fire."

A controlled hysterical laugh followed. "Perfectly normal."

The vibration on my palm made me realize I was still clutching the jewel.

"Seriously!" My eyes burned with rage as I remembered why I was in this messed-up situation.

A loud hiss turned my anger into horror and served me a quick notice. My outburst had just given away my position.

For the cobra had rounded the rock and was leering down at me. Its eyes glinted with glee, and its lips spread wide as if showing a hint of cruel humor.

"Oh, fuck."

Its forked tongue darted out before its mouth spread wide. This time I didn't see any hint of fire. I then realized the cobra had learned its lesson. It was not going to burn me. 

It was going to eat me.

Before it dealt the blow, a huge ball of fire struck its face, taking its attention from me. Hissing in pain and anger, it glanced towards the sky.

Before it could make a move, a larger gust of fire engulfed it. I watched in horror as it thrashed about and hissed. The flames intensified, and then the hissing stopped. My hands flew to my mouth as I was treated to the sight of the freshly incinerated bones of the serpent.

"Oh my God!" I cried out.

A large shadow formed over the serpent's corpse, and I looked up. Whoever or whatever had killed the serpent was in the sky, and the silhouette blocked out the sun. However, as it descended towards me and became clearer, my heart thundered against my chest.

It was a goddamn dragon.

I was not hallucinating. The black mythical creature landed gently before me, and I took in its size. It was almost ten times larger than the deceased cobra, and its wingspan could rival a plane's.

The dragon's red eyes stayed focused on me. Unlike the cobra, I couldn't detect any emotion in its gaze. Whatever it was thinking, I silently prayed it would just make it quick. None of the chewy stuff.

However, a gust of hot wind flew from its nose and engulfed me. To my surprise, it began to shrink, and the scales began to fall off.

"No way!" My hands flew to my lips.

In the dragon's place was a man. His garment seemed to be made of gold. But the red lips, long black hair, and cute nose were a perfect giveaway of who he was.

He was the same man of my dreams. This time there was no shadow covering the top half of his face, and I had the opportunity to see it clearly. His red irises seemed even brighter in daytime, and there was a symbol in the middle of his head. It was diamond-shaped. Overall, now that I thought of it, this man resembled something carved by a Greek or Roman god. He was fucking perfect. The only disappointment I felt was the fact that, unlike in my dreams, he was fully clothed.

"I...Irun?" He slowly stepped towards me, his gaze like someone who had found a missing item.

"I run?" Recovering from my shock, I cocked my head to the side, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Sorry, you got it wrong. I'm not even going to even get started on how you almost nailed it. The name is Irene. As in Irene Wesley. And I don't know—"

My lips were silenced by his. How fast he moved, I had no idea. My eyes widened, and then that familiar feeling from my dream. My body tingled, and my nipples hardened against his chest. Reliving a wet dream in reality was not a privilege many people could brag about. However, before I could drown further into the waves of passion, I was brought back to my senses by a shocking fact.

The man of my dreams, whose kisses were sending me to la-la land, was a fucking dragon.

With a newfound strength, I pulled away and silenced whatever words he could speak with a slap. The sound echoed in the desert, and his eyes widened for a split second. I was more impressed than worried that his face didn't even move from the sting of my palm.

"What do you think you are doing?" I hissed. You can't just sexually molest a woman you just met. In a fucking desert, for that matter. For all we know, I could be—

"You do not remember me?" His eyes showed a bit of hurt, making me wonder if he even paid any attention to my ranting.

"No, I've never seen you before in my life," I snapped.

'Well, except in my dreams,' I inwardly muttered.

"Irun, it's me." He held me by the shoulders, eyes reflecting the desperation in his words. "You must remember me."

"For the last time, it's Irene!" I yelled into his face. "Irene Wes-"

I suddenly began to feel dizzy. The ground seemed like jelly beneath my feet. And then my throat felt dry. My insides were like a microwave.

"Oh no." The two words came out of my lips in a weak whisper. 

This was dehydration. Running around in a desert would cause that. Mental note to remember, in case I made it alive.

Every strength I had left was sucked away, and I found myself descending to the ground. His firm grip stopped me from the impact.

"Steady, my love." His deep voice caressed my ears.

As my eyes slowly shut, I

felt myself being lifted into the air, and the hot wind beat against my body.

Finally, I slipped into the land of the unconscious.