Have you ever smelled a dragon’s breath? No? Well in case you were curious, it’s repulsive. The smell I can best equate it to is flaming cow manure, but you probably don’t know what that smells like either, bad example. Just know that it’s bad and don’t burden yourself with attempting to understand my pain.

Maybe I should explain why I am in this situation in the first place. My name is Jason Maurice but my friends call me Hawk, I couldn’t really tell you why. My entire village was slaughtered by a group led by a man named Syvimara and I’m out for revenge.
I traveled north through Nifaria to get to Orithian, the city of the sentinels. The Sentinels of Nifaria are the Special Forces of the Special Forces. Everyone has heard of them but no one knows their names or knows their faces. They are the stories of victory in the face of defeat and overcoming unspeakable odds. I wanted to join them.
When I arrived I was shown to a man called Matthias who was in charge of testing the new recruits. Everyone who wanted to be a sentinel went through three trials of initiation. I would be going through initiation with two other guys.
Michael was huge, he stood a few inches taller than me and I was over six feet. His arms and legs were thick trunks of muscle; he was pretty terrifying. Neal on the other hand, not quite as intimidating. The kid was bright, sure, but he was as thin as a rail and his skin was a sickly pale. There was no way he was making it through initiation.
Anyway the four of us headed to the mountains of Agaroc as soon as possible. I had never been to them before, actually I hadn’t been many places before, so I didn’t really know what to expect. They looked basically like I had imagined but some were miles tall. If it wasn’t already cold enough this far north I couldn’t begin to imagine what it would be like on those peaks.
We didn’t travel deep into the massifs though; we stayed along the periphery of the region and up one of the smaller crags. There was a path that wound along the side of the rock wall, which made me assume this wasn’t the first time the sentinels had been here.
At the end of the path was a cave that entered the mountain. I couldn’t see more than a few feet into the cave but I knew there couldn’t be anything good in there. “This is the treasure haul of a hoarder,” Matthias explained to us as the three initiates stared into the bowels, “A hoarder is a type of dragon that collects trinkets, valuable trinkets. They like gold, silver, and expensive jewels. You are allowed to take whatever you wish but I advise that you leave the trove alone, it isn’t worth it. You are to go in and retrieve a silver chalice, then you will return to me.”
“Sounds simple enough,” Michael seemed a little overconfident. I wasn’t sure about the idea of facing a dragon, this seemed incredibly dangerous, “Come on guys.”
“Well,” I looked over to Neal and he glanced back at me sidelong. We both shrugged at the same time and looked back at Michael, “Here goes nothing.”
The three of us plunged into the darkness and emerged in a brightly lit cavern. I wasn’t sure how we had been unable to see it from the outside. The room was massive; it must have been almost the entire circumference of the mountain.
“Whoa,” I gasped involuntarily and my companions could only nod. Matthias had understated the sheer size of the magnificent collection before us. There was so much gold that the walls reflected back yellow, it was like the entire area was made up of precious metals. Mountains of ludicrously expensive ornaments seemed to be cascading from the open mouth of the entrance. We stood for a few moments, just admiring the view, before anyone realized there was work to be done, “Come on, let’s find that chalice.”
Michael slowly walked toward a pile of the treasure, reached out, and touched it. His face lit up with a smile as he realized it wasn’t just a mirage. He took handfuls of gold objects and began stuffing them in his bag. “Michael, cut it out,” Neal’s voice was shaky and nervous and his eyes kept darting around the room, “You heard what Matthias said, don’t take anything.”
“No,” Michael replied as his bag was almost completely full, “He said that he wouldn’t recommend that we take anything. What does the dragon need any of this for anyway? He won’t even miss it.”
Just as the words left his mouth the mound of treasure exploded and a flash of pink darted out of it. Michael flew from his feet and landed heavily on the floor, groaning in pain. At least he was alive. “Great,” I grumbled, then I turned to Neal, “Grab something to fight with, we need to find that chalice quickly.”
I scanned the area, hoping that the dragon liked all kinds of shiny things. After it leapt through the gold it had disappeared again. “Be careful,” Michael was back on his feet now and had found a sword in the wreckage at his feet, “That thing could be anywhere.”
“Did you see it?” Neal asked, his voice hushed as he came across a short sword, “That didn’t look anything like the dragons I’ve heard of.”
“Quiet!” I hissed pulling on a spear in the pile in front of us. The black blade had attracted me to it, but it wouldn’t come free. When it finally did the rest of the pile came with it as the dragon rushed at us again.
Before I knew what was happening it was on top of me and we were staring into each other’s eyes. This is where I learned about dragon breath up close and personal. The only thing keeping me alive was the spear, keeping its claws only just at bay.
Neal was right, this dragon was completely different from the stories I had heard. The scales were a fleshy pink color. It didn’t even have wings, what kind of dragon doesn’t have wings? The dragon was also only slightly bigger than a war horse. Its muscled legs, deadly sharp talons, and spiked tail were enough to keep me wary though.
“Get this thing off of me!” I shouted as I tried desperately to free myself from its clutches. The spear was holding well thankfully but I didn’t know how much longer my arms would.
Michael charged and brought his sword against the dragon’s back. It ricocheted, having seemingly no effect, but the dragon howled and turned its attention away from me. I got to my feet and shouted at Michael and Neal, “Come on.”
We stumbled behind a pile of golden dishware just as the dragon released a wave of fire from its mouth. “Oh, of course,” I shook my head in exasperation, “Of all things, it can breathe fire.”
“We have to find the chalice and get out of here,” Neal’s face was of sheer terror and I couldn’t help but wonder if I looked the same. Survival seemed the key right now, not passing the initiation.
“No, we have to go back,” I looked at the other two and they stared back, “It’s too dangerous, we’re going to get ourselves killed.”
“You can go back but I’m getting that chalice,” Michael shook his head at me and I could see that Neal was with him, “If we can’t do this then we can’t be sentinels.”
“How does that matter if you’re dead?!” I shouted at them but they weren’t listening anymore, they began searching through the piles, “Don’t you understand that it’s nigh impossible to do, especially now.”
“Look!” We all turned in the direction that Neal was pointing. Sitting at the base of the largest mound in the cave was a silver goblet.
“Let’s approach this in a rational way,” I said but Michael had already broken from cover. I sighed and shook my head; he was going to get himself killed.
To my surprise Michael made it all the way to the goblet. He looked to both sides and raised the cup above his head, “See, simple enough.”
“Come on!” I hissed and he rolled his eyes at me and started walking back slowly. I saw the flash of pink but it was too quick to warn him. The next thing I saw were the talons protruding from Michael’s chest. He coughed and seized a little and then went limp. The dragon dropped him to the floor and looked straight at us.
I felt sick, the room was spinning, and I just wanted to vomit. The dragon was coming toward us but I had frozen. I hadn’t known Michael well but I just watched him get impaled. My breathing was fast and I wasn’t really registering anything.

“…Snap out of it!” I finally heard Neal’s words after a few moments of him smacking me. I looked at him curiously and then I realized the situation we were in, “We have to get moving.”

Neal and I ran in no specific direction, just away from the dragon. It leaped after us and I realized that we weren’t going to outrun it. “Over there!” I shouted, pointing at the entrance to the cave. If we could make it there we might survive.

“Not enough time!” Neal said as I could see his steps faltering. I knew that he wasn’t strong enough for this, but I couldn’t leave him behind. I growled and lifted him onto my shoulders and veered away to the right, “What are you doing?!”

“Hopefully saving your life,” I replied as I slid into the cover of a smaller annexed room. There was no treasure in this room, probably because the opening was too small for the dragon to get through.

“Michael…,” Neal finally said after a few minutes and the adrenaline had worn down. I looked at him sadly and nodded, “I feel like we should say something, you know?”

“Yeah, but what is there to say,” I shook my head as I drew circles in the dirt with my finger, “He seemed like a good guy but I didn’t really know him that well.”

“Yeah,” Neal admitted and we fell back into silence, “Look, if we don’t make it, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry, why?” I asked but I didn’t get to finish my query because Neal stood and broke from cover, “What are you doing?!”

I rushed after him and saw he wasn’t running toward the exit but back toward the chalice. Even after everything he still wasn’t giving up. “You idiot!” I held the spear out to my side and realized there were two blades. One was black metal and the other was golden colored.

Neal ran into the clearing and grabbed the cup with one hand without slowing. He continued weaving in and out of piles. At first I thought that he might actually make it, the distance was closing really quickly. “Neal look out!” I shouted and he had just enough time to duck for cover. The dragon’s tail smashed the stones where he had been.

It looked at me and then at Neal, I hoped it would decide I was the better meal but I didn’t think it was hungry. It was gauging whether it liked the chalice or the spear more, for some reason it picked that stupid cup. Neal screamed in terror as he dodged in and out of the dragon’s attacks, then the screaming stopped just as I arrived.

“Ahhhh!” I shouted like a madman as I drove the golden blade of my spear through the dragon’s head. I pulled the spike back and stabbed it again and again and again. Then I fell to the floor and cried, crawling over to Neal who was spluttering blood, “What were you thinking?! Why did you do it?!”

“For Michael,” his voice was weaker than usual and I barely understood the words, “We came this far, we had to finish it for him.”

“At the cost of your life?” I lifted the boy in my arms, he was younger than me. He was younger than I had thought he was, probably because he was so smart. I started toward the exit, “You’re not dying too.”

“I think you’re a little too late Hawk,” Neal made the most disturbing and sickening sound I had ever heard in my life, he laughed, “I’m so sorry.”

His head fell limply against my arm and I stared at his wide unseeing eyes. I sank to my knees, “No!” I set him down on the stone. “Rahhhh!” I shouted gibberish as I smashed every object in my site with my spear. Then I saw the silver cup at my feet. I glared at it.

Matthias glanced up at me and his eyes went wide as he saw the body in my arms. I didn’t say a word to him as I set Neal at his feet. The second time I emerged from the cave he looked very guilty as I laid the corpse of Michael before him. The third time I exited the cave I finally spoke to him.

I walked straight to the man I had once respected more than most people still alive in my life. He was a sentinel, a hero of Nifaria, he was supposed to be a great man. I glared into his eyes and he looked away. I slammed the silver cup against his chest. He looked down at the stupid trinket in his hands. They were shaking.

“I will never be one of you,” I snarled, telling him what I really thought of the Sentinels of Nifaria. I brushed past him, “This is sick.”