Through the Dragons Flames

There weren't always dragons in the valley. Totally my bad, but if I had to do it again, I wouldn't do anything different. I was on my way home from work when I heard the news report on the radio about an alter that appeared out of nowhere between two mountains in the Ozarks. The news had barely registered as anything serious as my day had been long, fielding calls from upset clients complaining that their phones were stuck on an update screen. I thought I had just tuned to one of those conspiracy talk shows. "Whatever," I think, "Might as well listen to this until I get home."

"Researchers documenting the local population of bald eagles were tracking the bird through the mountains when they reached a valley where they all seemed to be congregating," reported the voice over the radio, "There seemed to be something attracting the animals to the area, but nothing could be seen that would warrant this strange behavior. The researchers then reported hearing a deep, gravelly roar that seemed 'both very distant and all around.' All of the animals seemed to hear the direction the noise came from, as they all seemed to look in the same spot. Now I know this sounds strange, but I promise this is from a reputable source. This is all from an official report from the fish and wildlife service. It only gets weirder. I mean, I know some of the things I've talked about on this show sound strange, but I've never had sources this strong for something this random. The report goes on to say an alter made of some sort of purple stone with blood-red carvings just came into being. Right in front of the researcher's eyes. It wasn't there, and then just...was"

"What?" I think. "Like it just popped out of nowhere? As if." I pull into my driveway, and the radio shuts off as I turn my car off. I go inside and check my phone to see if I have any new messages since going to work this morning

"Software update ready to install."

"Great, now my phone's doing it too." I think. I go to my computer to message my friends online to see if their phones are doing the same thing as everyone else's.

Josh (You)- Yo, is your phone messed up too?

Daniel- Yeah, man. It's all over the news. Everyone's phone is stuck on an update screen for some reason. Not sure why but I hope it gets fixed soon. My gf doesn't have a computer.

Josh (You)- Dang. I guess that's why I've been getting pretty much the same call all day. You know how many complaint tickets I had to fill out today?

Daniel- No idea, but I bet it was a lot.

Josh (You)- 196.

Daniel- Jesus, man. You're not gonna have to bail on that trip tomorrow, right?

Josh (You)- No, I definitely need the break. Is your uncle's cabin ready?

Daniel- Yeah. Speaking of, did you hear about that weird alter that poofed into existence?

Josh (You)- Yeah, just heard about it on the radio. What does that have to do with the cabin?

Daniel- Dude, that thing is supposed to be like 2 miles away. We could hike down to it and check it out.

Josh (You)- Lol, That sounds kinda cool. You think it's real?

Daniel- Nah, but even if it's not, we still get a cool hike out of it.

Josh (You)- Sounds good man, see you tomorrow. I need some sleep.

Daniel- Alright, see you tomorrow.

Logging off, I check my phone again. Yup. Still glitched. I put my phone away and head to bed. The next morning, I wake up and get ready for my trip. I'd been planning this with Danny for months. The build-up of excitement to finally relax had been killing me. Finally, even without a working phone, I'm taking my vacation.

I drive for 3 hours and pull up to the cabin Danny and I are borrowing for the next week from his uncle. Danny, of course, is already parked in the driveway, standing on the porch waiting for me. The cabin itself is nothing special. It's a three-bedroom with two bathrooms, a generator, one of those giant propane tanks, and a septic system. Totally off the grid. We only use it because it's better than sleeping in a tent in the woods.

I park next to Danny's car and walk up to the porch where he's waiting for me, shaking with excitement. "Dude, finally," says Danny, "Took you long enough to get here. I want to hike down and see that alter thing already. Sounds like it probably summons the Devil or something."

"I thought you didn't believe it was even real. Now you think it summons Satan?"

"Well, I had all night to think about it, and the radio won't shut up about it. The drive over here gave me enough time to get my hopes up."

"Alright, but don't be disappointed if we don't find anything. First, though, I'm starving. Let me get something to eat, then we can head out."

After eating, Danny and I head out into the woods towards the valley. We walk for a good 20 minutes before he looks at me and says, "Hey, I just thought of something. Our phones don't work. What happens if we get lost or attacked by a bear or something?"

"Number 1," I say, "You should've thought about that way earlier. Second, it doesn't matter. We don't get reception out here, so even if our phones did work, they would be useless. Lastly, you and I both know we won't get lost out here. We came here every summer as kids. Unless you hit your head and completely forgot the area and I get eaten by a bear, we'll be fine."

"Ok, I just wish we could use our phones. I want to take some pics of this thing if we find it."

"Why didn't you bring a camera?"

"Well, my phone is my camera. It totally slipped my mind to bring one."

We continue our hike for another hour or so, chatting and joking about life, stopping every now and then to look at the view and point at the bald eagles. There are a lot more of them here than in years past. Now that I'm looking, I notice they're all going south. In fact, everything is going south. Every bug, lizard, snake, and squirrel we see pays no attention to us and heads in the direction we are walking. "Guess that means we're going the right way," I say to Danny as I see he notices the same thing.

Another 20 minutes, and we come to the end of the treeline into a clearing. The sheer number of animals gathered around, staring at one spot, is staggering. Every bird overhead comes in for a landing. Every animal in this valley is standing upright, stock still, eyes open in reverence. Toward the center, I see bears and mountain lions doing the same thing, standing on their hind legs. Even these top-tier predators are peacefully congregated as to not disrespect whatever has them all here.

"Well, this is something," whispers Danny, apprehension in his voice, "Maybe we should head back."

"We've come this far, and now I'm curious what they're all doing," I say with hesitant determination.

Making our way down to where the animals are gathered, every head slowly turns in our direction. Danny comes to an abrupt stop, too freaked out to keep going. Not even noticing my friend, I watch as every animal in my path moves aside as I get close. I now have a perfect view of the center of this giant cluster of wildlife. There's a purple stone altar, just like the radio said. The stone isn't dyed purple, it seems natural. Well, maybe not natural. It has some sort of other-worldly feel to it. It seems so out of place, yet also like it's meant to be right where it is, like the ten foot wide square platform and eight foot tall pillars with their arched parapets formed when the mountains and valley did.

As I walk closer, I see the carvings on the platform the talk show personality mentioned. They're a deep crimson color, but for some reason, I get the impression that these aren't carvings, but that the stone formed this way on its own. As I walk onto the platform, I see pictured on the four corners are dragons, wings spread in flight, eyes pointed towards the center, observing. They look like the western depiction seen in movies and TV. In a circle around the center are armies of what look like orcs swinging hammers, lizard people swinging swords, wolfmen slashing their claws, elves shooting bows, and men with staffs casting magic. All of these attacks are aimed at the solitary figure in the center. A man, about 30 years old if I had to guess, with scruffy medium-length hair, wearing plate armor and wielding a sword in one hand and flames in the other. A closer look at his face has me shocked. I'm staring at a perfectly accurate depiction of my own ugly mug.

In total awe, I don't even notice that I'm still walking until I reach the center. That's when all the carvings light up in the same deep crimson they were formed in. The lines of each carving then begin to move. The dragons swirl into the warriors, which flow into one another. This continues until the picture of me begins to swirl under my feet, leaving me in the middle of a blood-red whirlpool light show. I watch as the almost liquid light makes a path up the pillars and across the arches. The light gets brighter and brighter until finally bursting out in a silent explosion, bathing the surrounding animals in bloody light. All of them, from the bears to the ants, hover in the air and fall to the ground, unconscious. Then I rise into the air and am hit with a vision of the impossible. I see myself riding a dragon into a battlefield scorched by flames. The image then flashes to me roasting a mage with fire bursting from my hand. Another flash, and I'm clashing swords with a king.

My sight returns to the clearing full of unconscious animals as I am gently lowered to the ground. Danny is just standing there, awe-struck. "WHAT?!" he yells. I just look at him, my face portraying my confusion, terror, and astonishment at what just happened. Then, just as I'm about to reply, an unearthly roar comes from above, drowning out all noise I could've made. A dragon, the same as in the carvings, can be seen flying down from behind the clouds above. I can feel its eyes piercing my soul as it flies overhead and off into the mountains. Just as I lose sight of the beast, I jump as I feel a buzzing on my leg. I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone. With everything that just happened, flipping my view of the world on its head, I just can't take it. I look at my phone. "Update installed." I look at the notification for a moment as my brain tries and fails to process everything. Then, like someone hit my reboot button, I faint.