I Am Torben

Torben, quite happy with the carnage he released on the horrible dragon warriors, snapped back to his senses. He had to catch up with his friends! Torben grabbed one of the nearby torches, the dragon’s wood club, and ran down the corridor, hoping to find an open passageway or connection to get to the lower level. Every turn he took seemed to take him farther away. He feared if he backtracked, he would get too far behind them. He felt lost. The network of tunnels offered no visual guidance where his friends might be. Torben traveled the best he knew, hoping to reunite with them soon.

He finally emerged from the tunnel onto a narrow walkway that led to an open cavern. The walkway rose high above the ground. He could see multiple pathways, tunnels and corridors that connected to the wide-open space. If this location acted as a hub or a crossroads to the underground world, the chances were high he could connect with his friends there. Torben looked for a way to climb down to the base level.

As he followed his path, it narrowed into a smaller walkway elevated high above the ground by a series of arched columns. It seemed to be a bridge connecting a higher tunnel to another higher tunnel on the other side. Looking down, he could see several other elevated walkways below him, yet no easy way to climb down.

Torben held still for a moment and listened. He hoped he would hear the voices of his friends. But the cavern remained silent. He continued exploring his elevated path. He could feel a slight sway in the walkway the farther he walked on it. His heart sank. The elevated walkway ended, leading only to open air. He could see the path continue on the other side. An apparent previous collapse of rocks or debris cut the elevated path in two. It looked too far to jump. Then Torben saw the stairs on the other side of the bridge. Stairs that led down to the ground level.

Torben shook his head.

“Is this how it ends?”

His friends could be anywhere in the underground city. He didn’t know if his intended escape brought him closer to his friends or sent him in an entirely different direction. His attempts to get to a lower level only took him much higher and farther away from his goal. A wave of emotion swept over Torben. His exhaustion took over. He collapsed to his knees.

“What am I going to do?”

Torben rubbed his eyes. Several sobs broke the silence of the abandoned cavern. He shifted from his knees to a sitting position, dropping his head into his knees. He sat there alone, trying to collect any sense of composure and motivation to keep moving. The gentle sway of the broken bridge almost felt soothing. Torben breathed in, then breathed out. He repeated this several times, hoping to calm his mind. All he could hear in the vast open cavern was the sound of his torchlight.

“Never give up.”

Torben took a deep breath, stood up, and looked around to see if he could find anything to work with. He hoped to avoid backtracking into the tunnel and get lost again. If he could only get to the lower levels, he would have more options to travel. He then noticed chains fastened to sides of the bridge. At one point, they must have helped support the overpass, but now they dangled below, swaying with the platform. Torben lay down, grabbing the chain, swinging it around to see how far it went down. It almost looked like he could climb down the chain and swing to one of the lower levels. As he moved the chains, the broken bridge swayed even more. The arched columns supporting the bridge looked extremely unstable. Torben quickly tried to stabilize the chain to avoid any more sway of the bridge.

Torben sat up. He thought for a moment in the silence, then looked back at the dark tunnel he came from. After a brief pause, he turned back to the chain swaying below.

“Forward we go.”

Reaching down, he grabbed the chain to test its security. Then, pulling it up, he inspected the links to make sure the chain could support his weight.

Torben felt a slight vibration and sway on the bridge.

“You’ve been… entertaining… to watch… creature.” A deep raspy voice spoke from the darkness in the tunnel.

The voice of darkness found him. Torben turned around. Out of the darkness stepped a mid-sized dragon. It didn’t look like the mutant creatures he previously fought. It had the same base structure as a normal dragon, although it looked different from any other dragon he had ever seen before. The pale dragon had near white skin with pink tones. It seemed to lack any form of scales with loose folds of skin wrapping around its neck and joints. The dragon had dull, hollow eyes with overgrown teeth jutting out past its lips with short stubs of horns on the back of its head. The overgrown claws on its feet looked like knives extending at odd angles. The white dragon was much thicker than the other dragons in this valley, with thick leathery wings that it used for walking. It had a long tail that writhed and wrapped about the terrain as it walked. As it drew closer, Torben felt sick to his stomach, as if the dragon’s evil aura physically affected him.

“You have taught me much about humankind,” the pale dragon said with a growl.

Torben stared at the grotesque-looking dragon. His fear told him to run. His rage told him to fight. But he said nothing.

“I knew humans were weak, prone to fear. I could feel so much fear in you. Most dragons would have given up long ago. We are very logical. We know when there is no hope of escape, and we accept it. Yet you humans surprise me. You believe you can change your fate, even though your destiny is locked. You cannot change it.”

The pale dragon stood motionless, staring at Torben.

The white dragon gave an eerie smile. “Dragons accept the fate they are given to them, because they are intelligent, they reason, and accept the facts. But humans, you horrible filthy humankind, you somehow hold on to a false sense of what you are capable of. You have the misconception of believing in something … that is not real.”

Torben felt the sword by his side. He pulled at the lashings very slow as to not be noticed. Then stopped. He looked at the chain he held in his hand.

The white dragon took a step forward. “Take you, for example. You still believe you will join your friends. You still believe that somehow you will get out of here and make it back to your filthy little village… you think you won’t die.” The pale dragon paused in a raspy breath. “You will.”

Torben clasped the chain in his hand, taking several steps forward, looking up at the pale dragon with a scowl. “You don’t know me.”

“Ahhh, but I do.” The pale dragon stepped towards Torben. “I’ve watched you long enough, and I’ve learned. I’ve also watched your friends, and I’ve learned a great number of things.”

“YOU LEAVE THEM ALONE!” Torben took several steps towards the dragon, hurling the large wooden club at it.

The pale dragon didn’t flinch, holding up a few claws and stopping the wooden club in midair. The pale dragon twisted his head, and with a simple flick of his claws, the thick wooden club exploded into thousands of pieces. Torben stared in disbelief at the strange powers. It began to make sense. The feeling of paralysis he felt before must be connected. As foolish as he felt to believe in something like magic, it seemed the only explanation.

  The pale dragon turned its attention back to Torben. “The only reason they have survived this long is because I have ALLOWED IT!” the white dragon said with a snarl. “You humans are all the same, filled with fear, greed, and pride. I, I will give them reason to fear. They will know pain. Pain that no pride can live through.” The pale dragon spoke in an angered voice. “Your friends will die, except one. I will allow her to feel the pain of your death.”

Torben’s heart sunk. In the distance, entering the cavern, he saw a dull glowing light. He heard human voices. Then he saw them. His friends traveled this way.

Time held for a moment as he thought about the cruel timing of their arrival. Torben thought about how much he wished he was with them, by their side, on their way out of this horrible place. He accepted the reality that he wasn’t with them. Maybe it was for a reason. Maybe there was a fate that he couldn’t change. He thought about the stories they had to tell, the adventures to share, the village would see them as heroes. It made him smile. He wanted those stories to be told. Even if he would not be there for them.

Torben felt the links of the chain and slowly wrapped his hand around them, taking several more steps toward the white dragon. Enok always told him everything would be okay. Sometimes he hated Enok’s optimism. Torben broke a smile, thinking about his always positive friend. A tear rolled down his cheek. He nodded to himself, realizing that Enok was right. Everything would work out. At least for his friends. And he could make sure that happened.

The pale dragon spoke in its raspy, wheezing voice. “Now creature, I must end you. I’ve learned what I need, and now it’s time to perish at my hand.”

Torben snapped back to the moment, looking up at the dragon threatening him. In that moment, he let go of everything he feared, everything that weighed him down, and responded in true Torben fashion.

Torben casually took several more steps towards the pale dragon. The chain pulled tight. “Sorry, pal, you’re not that powerful. Because, CREATURE! YOU forget… I … AM… TORBEN!”

With a few steps, he leapt off the walkway, swinging out wide, then underneath.

The pale dragon laughed. “You cannot escape me, I am—”

When Torben hit the apex of his swing, he didn’t let go. He kicked his legs with all the energy he could. The elevated walkway jolted into a violent sway. As Torben swung back, the chain wrapped around a column, and once again he kicked with all his might into the air, lurching the suspended walkway in the opposite direction.

“You foolish FOOLISH HUMAN!!” the pale dragon screamed out, trying to walk the shaking pathway back to the tunnel.

As Torben swung back around, kicking his feet in the air again, the stonework gave.

The entire bridge collapsed, crumbling much of the surrounding structure. The pale dragon fell to the lower walkway, as the stonework above crushed on top of it collapsing the lower walkway.

Torben once again felt the sensation of weightlessness as he let go of the chain. Time slowed down as he felt his body drift through the air, ending his conscious experience with a sharp pain in his shoulder and head.