The Age of Fog

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. Before the First Age, the natives ruled this land. But then the dragons came, ushering in The Age of Blood, where great battles resulted in innumerable deaths. The Age lasted for centuries, but eventually, an uncertain peace was formed. The natives having retreated to the coastlines, let the dragons be, and in turn the dragons did the same. The peace ended in a most unexpected way. The Age of Blood became The Age of Blight, for the dragons got sick and their flesh started to rot. It wasn’t long before the natives could retake the land that was once theirs. Everything but the far end of the Valley. Legends tell of the last dragon, a Rotted King that lives deep in the Valley, enshrouded in fog. Whoever ventures into this fog will be consumed and his flesh will be used to replace what the King has lost. To this day the Valley Deep lies undisturbed. Waiting to be welcomed back to the world.

Wally looked up from Toshacs History of Dragon Valley, and saw that he was alone. Again. A slight panic rose in his chest. Chumbley was not the ideal Beach Buddy. He was easily distracted and was known to walk away in the middle of a sentence if something shiny caught his eye. Wally was quite annoyed by this, but couldn’t help but also be amused. Today was different. He needed Chumbley on his best behavior. Today was Beach Day, and he was not supposed to be alone. Mrs Bertram said everyone needed to stay with their designated Beach Buddy at all times and she has eyes like a hawk. Mrs Bertram was the Social Studies teacher and she did not mess around. One time in class, Wally sneezed right after she told everyone to be quiet for the third time in a row, and sent him to the principal's office. She thought he did it on purpose no matter how much he said he didn’t know how to fake sneeze. She was ruthless. If Wally was spotted away from his Beach Buddy she would make him sit on the bus. The bus driver had a big face and smelled weird and Wally did not want to spend the rest of the trip with him. He had been looking forward to this all year. His Dad was saying how he had come here when as a kid and that he’d seen a real live dragon, but Mom overheard that and he said he was just kidding, that the dragons had all died hundreds of years ago.

Wally glanced around the cove. It formed almost a perfect semicircle, one end being a bit longer than the other and far more rocky. Chumbley said that he bet there would be cool sea bugs in all the rocks, so they’d gone over there to look for them. They couldn’t find anything aside from some crabs, so Wally decided to read while Chumbley kept looking around.

Looking around, Wally saw how far away they were from everyone else. It made him a bit nervous, but thankfully Mrs Bertram was too busy talking to some tall chaperone to notice them. Chumbley had wandered even further along the rocky coastline, and was crouched with his back to him.

“Chumbley! Come back here, what are you doing? ” Wally shouted. Chumbley stood up and pointed at a large oddly shaped thing that was washed up on some rocks.

“Look what I found!” came Chumbleys reply. Marking his place in his book, Wally set it down and ran over. The sand felt nice and warm on his bare feet and the cool ocean felt even better.. As he got closer, an unpleasant smell filled his nose.

“Uhhg, Chumbley,” Wally started, wrinkling his nose, “What is that? It reeks.”

“It’s a fish,” Chumbley answered. “I think it’s dead though.” The corners of his mouth twisted upward into a devious smile. “Dare you to eat it.”

“You eat it, Chubby.” Wally retorted. Chumbley’s grin left as fast as it had come. Covering his nose with his shirt, Wally crouched down to get a better look. It certainly looked dead but it did not look like a fish at all. The thing was about as long as Wally was tall and as wide as Chumbley was wide. The flesh looked pale and grey and seemed to have sores all over it. There was no blood, so it must have all leaked away. Chumbley picked up a piece of driftwood and started poking it.

“Ew, this thing is so gross...hey, I bet Robby would eat it! I bet he would!” Chumbley’s grin was back.

“No,” Wally shook his head. “We should go back. I don’t want to get in trouble.” Wally looked back at the class. Mrs Bertram blocked the sun with her hand and was scanning around. “Let’s go back. Come on.”

“Okay, I’ll bring it with us. We can throw it on Robby, I think we can get him t--, Woah, a cave!” And before Wally could even blink, Chumbley had dashed off across the rocks and toward the mouth of a cave. The boy could move surprisingly deftly.

“Chumbley, come back! Don’t go in there! We’ll get in trouble!” He knew he should probably just get Mrs Bertram, but he was scared of her, and thought she might make him sit on the bus anyway, even though he didn’t do anything and it was all just Chumbley being stupid. Wally stood there a moment debating what to do, and seeing that Mrs Bertram had resumed talking to the chaperone, he decided he’d risk it. Wally scrambled up the sharp rocks much more delicately, albeit slower than his friend, and before long was at the cave entrance. It was narrow, but went deeper than he would have thought. Not seeing Chumbley anywhere inside, he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted. “Chumbley!” His own voice bounced back at him, echoing in the dark. Lee…Lee…Lee. He tried again. “Chumbley!”

Lee…Lee…Lee whispered the cave.

Stupid idiot. Wally thought. If he ruins this trip for me I’m gonna punch him. Without glancing back, he swallowed his fear and plunged into the cave. It was cold and wet. He reached out his hand and touched the side of the cave wall. It felt slimy. The sound of his classmates died away and he could just barely hear the ocean waves. Wally was liking this less and less, growing more nervous. Keeping his hand on the wall, he continued on. With each step, there was less and less light and less and less sound. Wally looked back at the entrance. This is stupid. he thought. I should just get Mrs Bertram and take the punishment. But then he saw that the cave bent around to the left and he figured Chumbley was hiding behind some stone, waiting to jump out and scare him. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was getting scared.

“Chumbley!” He yelled. “Stop being dumb, we’re gonna be in trouble! Mrs. Bertram knows we’re gone and I’m gonna tell her it was all your fault, and you'll have to sit with Mr Porter on the bus!”. He turned the bend and saw no stones to hide behind. Chumbley was nowhere to be seen. It was almost pitch black now. Wally strained his ears and tried to hear his friends heavy breathing, but he could only hear his own. He took his hand off the wall and wiped it on his pants. His hands were clammy. He shivered “Chumbley, please come out! You win okay? I’m scared, you did it.” Silence. His heart pounding, he tentatively started to creep forward. He tried again, “I’m getting really scared okay? I’m serious, please let's just go back! It won’t be so bad on the bus if we’re both there! I’ll even help get Robby to eat that thing okay?” He paused. He thought he heard something. Not even daring to breathe, he listened. A slow, ragged sort of sound was coming up from deeper in the cave. Memories flashed in his mind of his Dad sleeping, and oddly of his dog's dying breaths as she was put to sleep. Wally wanted to cry.

“Ch…Chumbley?” He took a step. It was pitch black. Wally put his hand in front of his face and could barely make it out. He took a few more steps. The beach and Mrs Bertram and his classmates were a million miles away. For what seemed like eternity, Wally crept on, each step brought the ragged sound closer. Each step made his heart beat faster.

Wally froze. The sound had stopped. His heart was racing. “Chumbley?” he said in no more than a whisper. He heard something move in front of him. He could scarcely breathe. And then, whatever it was, was stomping toward him. Wally turned and ran as fast as he could. He felt something hot breathe on him and something soft and wet brush his back. Wally flew from the mouth of that cave, down the rocks, and across the beach. He ran until he was back in the bus and there he stayed, inconsolable.

When they searched the cave they found a pool at the end that must’ve led back out into the ocean. They said the bits of flesh lying around were pieces of fish, remnants of a shark feeding. They said Chumbley must’ve fallen in the pool and drowned and that they were unable to find a body.

Wally learned that day that his Mom had been wrong. The dragons weren’t all dead. They had just been hiding.