The Haunted Traveler Vol. 1 Issue 1

60
chamber. The eternal shade of the subterranean metropolis
sits, yawning and uniform, beyond the dim reflection of the
glass blade, honed finely to lethal perfection by civil folk that
have long passed into their final sleep.
“Nothing there… nothing there,” he hisses out through
gritted teeth, their sharp points stabbing against the scales
of a stumpy snout. Anxiety runs through his blood, now incensed
by the imaginary foe that is occupying the circular
chamber that is his chosen abode. The cushion that serves
as bed, couch, and dining table takes up the entire space of
the room; the blood stains of past dinners have stained the
furnishing almost black, and the bodies of countless brethren
have flattened the tikya cushioning that once made it so
comfortable. Situated next to the male, just as naked as he
is, is a beautiful female, her lithe form covered by grey scales.
Her long tail is wrapped around her mate’s strong leg, keeping
watch over him in the ancient alarm of a thousand generations,
and as his mind turns to dark places and darker
thoughts involving the whip and the chain, she opens olive
eyes and uncurls her tail from around him as she sits up. “Pofiri,
what’s wrong,” she asks in a distinctly feminine, though
raspy, voice full of the tenderness and maternal instinct that
makes up her kind.
Pofiri angles triangular head in her direction, that menacing
scowl still crossing his long face. The lurking fear
slowly fades away as her form is absorbed into a savage mind
through eyes unable to see beyond what is resting before
them. Concerned, the woman rests delicate hands, the four
fingers each tipped with diminutive talons, on her mate’s
shoulder and thigh, and the subtle distraction manages to
ground the male back to safe, fightable reality. “Nothing,” he
grunts, not intending to sound grumpy though it comes out
like that as a result of his natural suspicion of things.
The female, though, he can trust, having travelled with her
from Balti to the holy city of the Drak’Krali, where they first
crawled out of the shadow to behold the barren wastes of