Dragon Slayer Read online

  “Let’s go,” he said as he yanked the door open.

  A wall of flame greeted us, and for a second it seemed like we had stepped into hell.

  Fire crackled on the ceiling of the fifth floor, licking at the walls and reaching blazing fingers toward the floor. The smoke was so thick I could hardly see five yards in front of me. Everything was burning, and my vision was filled with a thousand different shades of orange and red.

  My heart leapt to my throat. For a single instant, I no longer stood in the stairwell of Silver Star Tower. Instead, I was back in my childhood home, standing helpless as the flames consumed my bedroom, the staircase, and my sleeping parents. A scream threatened to burst from my lips as I relived the gut-wrenching horror and the realization that I could do nothing.

  “We’re coming, Freeman!” Boscoe’s voice snapped me from the past back to the present, and I sprinted into the inferno behind him.

  Flames illuminated the office building around us, and Boscoe picked his way through the patches of ground not yet consumed by fire. We moved at a slow, steady pace toward the northwest corner of the building where we knew we’d find Freeman and Mendez. I ignored the fire licking at my boots, pants, and jacket and concentrated on keeping in step with Boscoe.

  The shrill of Mendez’s distress signal unit grew louder as we approached the northwest of the building, and my gut clenched as I caught sight of the collapsed pillars and crumbled roofing. Nearly one-quarter of the floor above had collapsed. A chunk of the floor had fallen away as well. The fire burned on the floor we just vacated moments earlier, and I knew a wrong step would put a quick end to my life.

  “Freeman?” Boscoe shouted. “Freeman, call out!”

  “Here!” The muffled response came from one section of the piled debris.

  Boscoe leapt the crack in the floor and raced toward the call. I followed a step behind him as I tried to avoid the fires burning on both sides of us.

  The floor was close to going, and I knew we didn’t have much time.

  “Shit!” Boscoe swore.

  Freeman lay on the ground, the unconscious body of Mendez beneath him. A section of the ceiling had collapsed atop them, and I saw that Mendez’ mask was cracked and blood stained his face.

  “You hurt?” I asked Freeman.

  “No!” he shouted back, “but we can’t move. That’s the only thing holding up the rest of the ceiling.”

  I studied the section of rubble he indicated. Sure enough, a large chunk of concrete flooring had collapsed, falling onto its side. The metal rebar in the floor held up another chunk of the roof right above their heads. If Freeman tried to shift Mendez, he’d risk knocking over the debris holding the pile up.

  “Get some webbing under Mendez’s arms,” Freeman shouted. “On my go, drag him out of here.”

  “What about you?” Boscoe asked.

  Freeman shrugged. “I’ll just have to move fast. But Mendez needs to get to the ambulance now.”

  I drew out my webbing straps and passed them to Freeman, who ran them under the unconscious Mendez’s arms and around his chest.

  Something rumbled behind me, and I stifled a jolt of fear as a section of roof ten yards to the south collapsed in a spray of dust.

  “We’ve got to do this now!” Freeman shouted. “Three, two, one!”

  Boscoe and I hauled on the straps, and Freeman darted out from beneath the pile of rubble a moment before the massive stone shifted and crashed to the ground an inch behind his boot. The three of us heaved Mendez over the gap in the floor and leapt to safety. A second later, the entire section of flooring crumbled away.

  My heart hammered a furious drumroll against my ribs as I scanned the way ahead. Bright tongues of yellow and red flame consumed our path back to the stairwell, so I was going to have to find another way out.

  A hallway ran off to the left, away from the thickest portion of the fire. From my experience clearing the two floors below, I knew the hall would cut through the office and come out on the south side, near the stairwell out.

  “Through here!” I shouted as I led the way. Freeman and Boscoe came behind with Mendez’s arms slung over both their shoulders.

  The flames had yet to reach the hall, and I felt a moment of relief as the heat abated, but the relief died the instant I saw the door at the end of the corridor and panic grabbed ahold of my throat.

  This should have been the way out, but instead, it was a dead end. Had I gotten turned around? Was the layout on this floor different?

  I turned to backtrack, but a loud crashing echoed in the main floor as more of the roof and floor crumbled away. My heart sank. We couldn’t return the way we’d come. We had to go through.

  The door handle was hot beneath my gloves, but everything here was on fire, so I wasn’t surprised. What did surprise me was that the damn door was locked, so I hefted my axe and swung it at the handle. Wooden splinters sprayed across the hall as I drove the axe again and again into the door. Three powerful strikes shattered the locking mechanism, and I used my shoulder to barrel through.

  The office beyond was less than fifteen feet across, with another door at the far end. I figured this one was probably going to be locked as well, so I charged through the smoke-filled room and brought my axe down hard on the handle. Sparks flew as the flimsy mechanism shattered, and a well-placed kick flung the door open.

  I peered through the haze of smoke and the blistering heat. There, just ten yards away, I caught sight of the glorious, glimmering green “Emergency Exit” sign. The flames had yet to reach the doorway, and hope surged within me.

  We could get out.

  “Through here!” I darted out of the way to let Freeman and Boscoe through. The two of them labored beneath Mendez’s weight, struggling toward the door as fast as they could manage. I kept pace two steps behind them.

  We were almost there. Just a few more feet.

  A rumbling echoed behind me, the vibrations running through the floor beneath my feet as time ground to a halt around me. I knew what was coming, and I had a single instant to act.

  I threw myself at the backs of my comrades and shoved them as hard as I could. Freeman and Boscoe stumbled toward the door just as the floor crumbled beneath their heels, but it was too late for me.

  The tumbling rubble took me with it into the flames and smoke.

  I fell hard and slammed into the ground with bone-jarring force. My head struck a slab of concrete and my mask shattered. The oxygen tanks crunched into my back and I gasped as they knocked the wind from my lungs at the same time as something heavy bounced off the rim of my helmet. It took me half a moment to realize it was the start of the roof collapsing, so I threw myself into the shelter of a nearby corridor an instant before it all came down where I had been standing. Dust and sparks billowed up around me while smoke streamed through my cracked mask and into my lungs.

  “Mayday, mayday!” I coughed into my helmet radio as I scrambled deeper into the hall, but crackling static was the only response.

  Panic tried to sink its fingers into my brain, but I refused to give in to the instinct. Fear had rooted me to the spot once before, and people I loved ended up dead because of it. I had to calm down to find a way out.

  The rumbling grew louder all around me, and I heard the crash of more sections of the roof collapsing, so I retreated into the hall until my back struck the door. One touch of the wood told me fire had consumed the room beyond while flames licked down the corridor toward me. In seconds, either I’d be crushed by the crumbling building or roasted by the fire.

  I had to think fast.

  A fit of coughing seized me, and I leaned on the door. I jerked my hand away in surprise, brow furrowing in confusion. I touched the door again. It was cool, and the heat of the inferno was suddenly gone.

  What the hell?

  Light emanated from the crack beneath the door. Not the harsh yellow glow of the flames, but a soft bluish-white light. Something about it made me feel oddly at peace.

  CO
ME!

  I jerked back as a voice echoed in my mind. On its own, the door creaked slowly open. Bright white light streamed over me, blinding me.

  COME TO ME, ETHAN DEPAOLO OF EARTH!

  I felt a tug on my soul as if something called to me from within the door. I had no idea what it could be, but I had no desire to die in the flames. It was my only way out.

  I didn’t have much choice, so I clenched my jaw and charged through the door. The white light beyond filled my vision, then everything faded to black.

  Chapter Two

  For what seemed like forever, but may have been only a single second, I fell? Floated? Hung? Damn it, I had no idea what was happening to me. The heat of the blazing building had faded, and I found myself in the middle of nothing at all.

  Was I dead?

  No, I couldn’t be dead. If I were dead, my mouth wouldn’t have been coated with the thick smoke I’d inhaled after my gas mask cracked. I wouldn’t be so thirsty or hungry.

  I tried to look around, but thick inky blackness pressed in on me from all sides. When I moved my arms, it felt like trying to swim through mud. There was no ground beneath my feet, but I knew I wasn’t falling.

  I simply was alone in endless darkness.

  HERO OF EARTH, a voice boomed all around me, and I raised my hands to cover my ears.

  “H-hello?” I called and winced at how faint my words sounded, sort of like I imagined it would sound shouting in the vacuum of outer space.

  ETHAN DEPAOLO, the voice came again. YOU HAVE BEEN SUMMONED.

  I gasped as I realized it wasn’t all around me. The voice was in my mind. How the hell was that possible?

  MY WORLD HAS NEED OF YOU, HERO OF EARTH.

  “That’s the second time you called me ‘hero of Earth,’” I said in as strong a voice as I could manage. “I-I think you’ve got the wrong guy.”

  THERE IS NO MISTAKE, ETHAN DEPAOLO. YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO SAVE AGREON.

  “Uh, I’m not a hero. I’m just a Chicago firefighter.” The words brought back the memory of the burning building. “How did I get here? How did I get out of the Silver Star Tower?”

  YOU DID NOT, the voice boomed in my head. I REACHED OUT ACROSS THE VASTNESS OF THE UNIVERSE TO PLUCK YOU FROM YOUR WORLD TO SAVE MINE.

  “O…kay.” This was getting harder to believe. “And how did you manage that? Who are you?”

  I AM BARODAN, SILENT GUARDIAN OF THE WORLD OF AGREON.

  “Is that where I am? Agreon?”

  YES. THE WORLD OF AGREON IS IN DIRE PERIL AND HAS NEED OF A HERO. A HERO LIKE YOU.

  “Again, I’m not a hero, I’m just—”

  A CHAMPION OF LAW AND ORDER. A PROTECTOR. A MAN WHO FIGHTS FIRE. ON MY WORLD THAT WOULD MAKE YOU A HERO WORTHY OF ANY EPIC TALE.

  My jaw hung open, but I couldn’t argue with that.

  “So, why exactly did you bring me here, then?” The question felt as good as any I could ask given the incredibly odd circumstances. “What exactly needs to be saved?”

  AGREON ITSELF. MY WORLD SUFFERS IN THE GRIP OF DRAGONS, MIGHTY AND FEARSOME CREATURES THAT WIELD GREAT MAGICS.

  “Wait, did you say dragons?” I asked. “Like flying lizards? Is this a joke?”

  YES, ETHAN DEPAOLO. DRAGONS. I HAVE SUMMONED YOU TO THE ISLAND OF IRIADOR, WHERE THE LAST BASTIONS OF HUMANITY ARE IN DIRE NEED OF YOUR HELP.

  The blackness around me disappeared, and I found myself hovering high in the air, a thousand feet above a massive island continent.

  FIVE DRAGONS HOLD THE ISLAND IN THEIR THRALL.

  As the voice spoke, I couldn’t help noticing the different terrains of the landscape. Ice covered the entire western quarter of the diamond-shaped continent and a long strip of smoking and bubbling red magma ran from north to south just beside it. The middle and eastern sections of the continent were divided into dark green swampland, rocky mountains, and an archipelago filled with tiny islands.

  I felt my eyes drawn toward a small patch of soft green in the middle of the island, just to the east of the red lands.

  THERE, IN THE HEART OF IRIADOR, IS THE CITY OF ELLORIEL, ONE OF THE LAST STRONGHOLDS OF HUMANITY ON THE CONTINENT. THEY ARE IN NEED OF A CHAMPION TO FREE THEM FROM THEIR ENSLAVEMENT TO THE DRAGONS.

  “What do you mean, enslavement?” I asked. During my teen years, I’d read a few books with dragons, and every one of them had spoken of monsters guarding piles of gold, but they never conquered the world.

  THE DRAGONS ROAM FREE ACROSS IRIADOR, DESTROYING, BURNING, AND BRINGING CHAOS TO THE LAND. THEIR FOUL MAGICS HAVE TAINTED THEIR LANDS AND TURNED THE CREATURES THAT LIVE THERE INTO MONSTERS. THE HUMANS ARE FORCED TO PAY A TERRIBLE PRICE TO LIVE IN PEACE. I HAVE BROUGHT YOU TO AGREON TO LIBERATE HUMANITY.

  The world disappeared, and I was once again plunged into darkness.

  “And how exactly am I supposed to do that?” I had a sinking feeling in my gut that he was going to tell me I had to—

  YOU MUST KILL THE DRAGONS.

  Yep, that’s exactly what I was worried he’d say.

  ONLY BY KILLING THE FEARSOME BEASTS WILL YOU GIVE HUMANITY A CHANCE TO SURVIVE ON IRIADOR.

  “Uh, Mr. Barodan, if you don’t mind me asking, why don’t you just do it? If you had enough power to, as you say, pull me from my world here, couldn’t you just snap your fingers and make them all disappear?”

  IT IS NOT THAT SIMPLE, ETHAN DEPAOLO.

  His voice had hesitated a moment as if he might have been scared. Before I could ask him another question, he continued with his narrative.

  ALAS, THE DRAGONS ARE TOO POWERFUL FOR ME TO DEAL WITH MYSELF. THEIR VERY EXISTENCE WEAKENS ME AS THEY SIPHON MY MAGIC. IT HAS TAKEN ME CENTURIES TO SUMMON ENOUGH STRENGTH AND BRING YOU TO THIS TIME AND PLACE. IT IS WHY I NEED YOU TO BE MY STRONG RIGHT ARM. MY CHAMPION ON IRIADOR AND THE SLAYER OF THESE DRAGONS.

  “Fighting dragons is just a bit out of my skill set,” I told the voice. “I know a lot about fighting fires, but I only have limited martial arts training. You’ve got the wrong guy here.” This seemed unbelievable, and I wondered if I was having some sort of crazy dream. Then again, the fire had felt real, and I could feel my body. I knew I wasn’t dead.

  YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE A GREAT WARRIOR TO DEFEAT THE DRAGONS. MANY MIGHTY KNIGHTS AND BRAVE KINGS HAVE FALLEN TO THE DRAGONS.

  “Fuck that!” The retort burst from my mouth beyond my control. “Look, I don’t know why the hell you brought me here, but I was in the middle of trying to get out of a burning build--”

  I HAVE SUMMONED YOU TO AGREON BECAUSE YOU POSSESS THE ABILITIES THAT WILL ENABLE YOU TO SUCCEED WHERE SO MANY HAVE FAILED BEFORE.

  “And what’s that?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

  THE DETERMINATION TO FIGHT ON NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS. IT IS WHAT DROVE YOU AFTER THE DEATHS OF YOUR PARENTS, WHAT LED YOU TO BECOME A FIGHTER OF FIRE, IS IT NOT?

  Mention of my parents’ death sent a rush of ice through my veins. For the last five years, I’d tried hard not to think about the night our house burned down. I hated the feeling of helplessness and the fear that rooted me to the spot. That night, as I lay in the hospital, I vowed I would never feel that way again. Barodan was right about it being the reason I joined the Chicago Fire Department.

  YOU ARE FROM EARTH, A LAND OF MARVELS BEYOND ANYTHING IMAGINABLE BY THE PEOPLE OF AGREON. YOUR TRAINING HAS PREPARED YOU TO FIND THE SOLUTION TO ANY SITUATION, NO MATTER HOW CHALLENGING. IT IS THIS, COMBINED WITH YOUR STRENGTH OF WILL, THAT MAKES YOU THE CHAMPION I NEED TO SAVE MY WORLD.

  I drew in a deep breath, but no words came. I had gone into the CFD and raced into that burning building to save people. Now, I was being given a chance to save a whole continent of people. This sounded too fantastic to be true, but how could I turn the opportunity down?

  I HAVE USED ALL MY POWER TO BRING YOU HERE. BUT IF YOU SLAY THE DRAGONS AND STOP THEM FROM DRAINING ME, I MAY BE ABLE TO RETURN YOU. I NEED TIME TO GATHER MY STRENGTH. USE THAT TIME TO DEAL WITH THE DRAGONS AND SAVE THOSE YOU CAN, AND YOU HAVE MY WORD AS THE SI
LENT GUARDIAN THAT I WILL DO WHAT I CAN TO SEND YOU HOME.

  The words rang in my head for a long minute. I was stuck here, wherever here was until this Barodan guy could return me to Earth. I had no choice but to make the best of a crappy situation.

  And I did like the idea of helping people, even though the thought of killing dragons sounded all sorts of crazy.

  “You pulled my ass out of the fire, so I figure I owe you my life.” I drew in a deep breath. I couldn’t believe I was about to say this. “I don’t really know how to kill a dragon, but I’ll help you however I can.”

  The words sounded ridiculous leaving my mouth. What the hell had I just signed up for?

  HERO OF EARTH, YOU HAVE CHOSEN WELL. THE WORLD OF AGREON WILL SOON BATHE IN LIGHT BECAUSE OF YOUR DECISION.

  “I’ll do what I can, but I can’t promise anything. Like I said, I’ve never really killed a dragon before.” I’d never even seen one outside the pages of novels. “And I don’t know anything about Agreon, Iriador, or anything else on your world.”

  I UNDERSTAND, ETHAN DEPAOLO. ACCEPT THIS GIFT AS A TOKEN OF MY APPRECIATION FOR YOUR HELP.

  Light suddenly blossomed in the darkness around me, and I squinted against the brightness. After a moment, my eyes adjusted, and I saw something shining bright red in front of me. I reached out to grab it and realized it was a gemstone the size of a chicken’s egg. Threads of white and crimson whirled in the depths of its many facets, and I found myself drawn toward it.

  THIS AMULET CONTAINS THE SOUL OF A VERY POWERFUL BEING. SHE WILL BE YOUR GUIDE, YOUR COMPANION, AND YOUR GUARDIAN. SHE WILL TEACH YOU THE WAY OF AGREON AND AID YOU IN YOUR QUEST. KEEP HER WITH YOU ALWAYS, FOR SHE IS YOUR ONLY LINK TO REACH ME WHEN YOU HAVE COMPLETED YOUR TASK.

  The gemstone hung from a silver necklace, and I slipped it over my head. It nestled against my chest and filled me with a comforting warmth.

  A WARNING, HERO OF EARTH. The voice resonated with a hint of danger. SHE WILL TRY TO CONVINCE YOU TO RELEASE HER FROM THE AMULET, BUT I CAUTION YOU, DO NOT LET HER OUT. SHE WILL ONLY SERVE AS LONG AS HER SPIRIT REMAINS LOCKED WITHIN THE GEMSTONE. IF YOU FREE HER, YOU WILL HAVE NO ONE TO GUIDE YOU OR TEACH YOU THE WAYS OF MAGIC.