Out of Place

                  Travel proved to be a challenge even for the lifelong fighter, and the surprisingly fit Jonas. Yerik trusted his own physical prowess, maintaining substantial endurance in his slightly older age. The speed and endurance of Jonas surprised Yerik as he would have labeled Jonas as an individual not physically up to par. But they made excellent time as they traveled together. They took a much safer, but longer distance approach to get to the building. It made travel safer and easier even though they had much farther to travel. At a consistent pace, they soon approached the time encrusted building.

                  The massive structure jut out of the ground nearly at a forty-five-degree angle, covered with plant growth and vines that accumulated on any surface area throughout time. The building seemed to be much larger than they expected, and well built, as it kept most of its form through the many years of weather and growth. Jonas recognized the engineering feat to create a building that withstood so much destruction. The angle alone conjured countless questions. Jonas wondered if the structure was the top of a much larger building that had been buried, or if the structure collapse and remained partially intact? Maybe a landslide destroyed the lower portion of the building. Or a massive earthquake. Jonas noticed accents of metal used in the building materials, something no one ever considered the ancients capable of in their architecture. Jonas noticed the walls buried in similar stonework rubble, although the number of vines, trees and growing moss made it difficult to know for sure. The closer they got; they observed the fascinating architecture. The style and designs appeared very refined and intricate, far more than they would have expected of an ancient structure.

                  “Maybe an ancient temple was built on the side of the mountain that eventually slid down the slope.” Yerik looked to get Jonas’s reaction.

                  Jonas nodded, still examining the structure. “Yeah, an earthquake maybe?”

                  Yerik nodded. The two continued walking around the perimeter until they came to a broken opening in the wall leading inside. Yerik drew his sword as any good fighter would and stepped into the darkness of the interior.

                  The interior of the building illuminated an even further fascinating mystery. Rocky rubble filled the interior, still teeming with growth and plant life accumulation. Remnants of interior walls jut up out of the ground, creating a soft maze of rocks walls. Light streamed through several openings above, giving a dull illumination in the shadows. The interior architecture appeared far better preserved than they expected, despite the years of weather and erosion. The intricacies of the architecture and design fascinated Jonas. He had never seen so much ancient history so well preserve. The architectural design looked very geometric and bold, yet still intricate. If an ancient civilization built this building, they possessed far greater skills than the modern era ever realized. As Yerik and Jonas explored the inside, they came across several sections of the wall that had been protected from the elements, finding several written inscriptions on the walls.

                  “This is ancient Drekki!” Jonas’s breathing increased. “See this, this here, it’s ancient Drekki, it must be, it looks just like it. And so much of it! More than the Consortium has found in a lifetime! This is beyond… well, beyond anything we could have ever imagined.”

                  Jonas now knew this location connected to an ancient dragon civilization. He looked around, finding chunks of rock and rubble with some inscriptions on them to bring back to the scholars. Jonas knew this building alone would completely change what the modern era knew about their ancient history. Never has such a significant piece of their history been found.

                  Jonas caught up to Yerik with several samples in his bag, finding Yerik staring at a slab of rock. “What? What do you see?”

                  “Nothing yet. But look at that rock.” Yerik pointed his sword to a large slab of stone filled with Drekki writing on it.

                  Jonas looked at the stone. “Yes, I see it. What about it?”

                  “We are standing in what looks to be a collapsed building. Everything is on its side. The other writings we looked at followed the lines of the building. On their side or at an angle, as you would find in a collapsed building. But that slab of rock has inscriptions upright, nor are they weathered as much as the other inscriptions.” Yerik walked closer to the slab of rock. “Either that piece of rock fell and remained preserved perfectly in an upright position, or someone placed it there after the building had fallen. Look around, you’ll see others.”

                  Jonas looked around. Scattered throughout the uneven surface were stones and rock slaps stacked vertically. Some had writing, some with strange stains on them. Then he noticed some with bones stacked on them. Yerik walked slowly and steadily through the maze of rubble and upright structures when he turned to Jonas, his eyes constantly on his surroundings.

                  “Do you have what we need? We should head back; I believe there is more to this place than ancient relics.”

                  “Yeah, I’ve got some samples, lets head back.”

                  The two turned around to retrace their steps when something caught the eye of Yerik. “Wait one moment…”

                  Yerik pointed to one of the far walls in the shadows. Jonas looked at the shadowed wall, and as his eyes adjusted. It looked like a massive relief sculpture carved into the wall. The sculpture seemed to depict a great battle scene with an enormous dragon at the forefront.

                  “That dragon looks like the—”

                  CRACK!!

                  Yerik whipped around toward the noise. Jonas secured his pack and pulled out his sword. They both paused, listening. They heard it again. Something climbed around on the rocks. Something living. They could hear it breathing. They could hear a muffled gurgling breathing. As quiet as they could in the terrain, they crept closer and closer to the sound. Then they saw the movement in the shadows. What appeared to be a mid-sized dragon crawled on the ground in their direction. The dragon looked sickly with an odd appearance as it limped along the rocky terrain.

                  The dragon was about the size of a large mountain cat, or small horse. Its scales were small and refined, with patches of missing scales exposing the folding and stretching skin underneath. The lack of scales added to a slimy look of the creature. It almost appeared more amphibian than a reptile. Its eyes were wide set with a long row of small sharp teeth that could be seen through its open mouth. It had a long potbellied body with small front legs, and back legs and a thick round tail that would writhe and wrap around any object nearby like a snake. The dragon kept its wings folded, and as the dragon crept forward. It would use its wings as additional arms to climb along the rocks, giving it an unnatural insect like feel.

                  Jonas and Yerik froze, disturbed by the surprise of such an odd and sickly looking creature. Suddenly, it let out a noise.

                  “Hhhaaaapp,” in a strange hiss like nature.

                  Jonas and Yerik interpreted this as a call for help. Both Yerik and Jonas sheathed their swords and climbed down towards the creature to assess the situation further. As they drew closer to the dragon, a certain uneasiness fell over the two humans. The dragon looked up with a strange look in its eyes as it lurched several steps closer.

                  Suddenly it lifted a hand and yelled a strange word at them, shouting the most horrific sounding gurgling scream. Yerik and Jonas reached for their swords, but they couldn’t move. The creature laughing at them moved in closer and closer. Jonas and Yerik couldn’t move at all. Jonas noticed a strange tingling sensation in the core of his chest, then all went black.