Written by 7th Grade Nathan

Hi. I’m Tom. This is the story of how I found the map that changed my life. (Or at least the story of one very specific Monday. But no more spoilers.)

So, the day started like any other Monday, getting up at 6 AM for work. Fun times, I’m sure everyone can relate. I woke up in my room, and started searching for something nice to wear. When I finally found a suit, I changed, left my room and headed through the dark hallway to the rest of the house. As I entered the small, bright room that was my kitchen, I turned to the left and decided to make some toast. After I put two slices of bread into my toaster, I turned to my right and noticed something strange on the white counter that separated the kitchen from the dining room. A dark piece of paper, singed at the edges and… still burning?! As fast as I could, I scooped up the paper, ran across the room, and dunked it in the sink. When I pulled it out, the paper seemed unscathed, and the fire had gone out.

I carefully turned the paper over and saw it had a fold. For some reason I decided it would be a good idea to open it on the table in the dining room, so I dried it and brought the paper to the head of the long table (I’m the only one who lives here, I like the vibe of sitting at the head of a long table, eating toast before heading off to work). I opened up the slip of paper and saw that it was a map. Something was familiar about it. It took me a second, but then I finally figured out what it was. My house. It was a blueprint of my house. But something was… different. And then I saw it. There was a faint set of lines over the house. I had no clue what it meant, but since it was recently on a flaming piece of paper, I knew it couldn’t be good.

The lines were traced above certain rooms, and I had a feeling that these lines meant something, so I went exploring around the house I thought I knew so well.

I went around the house, checking for anything weird. First, I checked my bedroom. I looked around, under my bed in the middle of the room, through the closet to the right, and under and behind my nightstand. Nothing weird there.

Next, my bathroom. I really hoped nothing weird was in there, because that would have some quite unnerving implications. I checked the sink and cabinets to the left, then the shower at the back. Phew, nothing weird. Yet. I’m just kidding. The closet to the right was fine too.

Then I went to the kitchen. Counter in front? Fine. Cabinets under the counter? Nothing weird there. Fridge? Nope. You know what? You get the point. Everything was fine, at least until I got to the living room.

I was dreading checking the living room, because I thought it had the best chance of containing something out of the ordinary. The living room has always had this bump under the carpet. I just thought it was a power outlet or something, which is weird, because who would put a power outlet on the floor (maybe for appliances)? But then I thought I knew what it really was. I lifted up my carpet and, sure enough, there was a handle to a small door in the floor. I twisted and opened it, and a puff of something like dust or smoke flew out. Then I looked down, into complete darkness. There was a faint point of red light at what I assumed was the bottom, and the whole thing was emanating a pull like it had its own gravity. It was so strong I had trouble staying on my feet. I just stood there, staring at the darkness.

Then, a lot of things happened at once. The gravity emanating from the pit grew much stronger, pulling me off my feet and into the pit. The last thing I saw was the red of the toaster. Dang it, the toast might burn! With that depressing thought, I fell down, and down, and down.

When I landed, I was surprised to find I was completely fine. This was surprising because, dear reader, while you only had to read one line, I fell for about five minutes. So, yeah. Glad I’m not a pancake.

I decided to examine my surroundings. I was in a cave, and red crystals glowed all over the ceiling. 

“Huh, that’s odd, hope I don’t die of radiation poisoning or something,” I said to myself.

Then I kept exploring. Oh, that’s new. Or maybe not. There was a dragon, sitting right in the middle of the cave. Nevermind, not sitting, sleeping. I was much more careful walking around after that. Then I saw something in the wall. A hole, or more accurately, a tunnel. I walked towards it, and then I heard something. A loud wind. Or maybe not wind. I didn’t want to turn around, but I thought that I should, because I had a feeling that getting eaten by a dragon couldn’t possibly be good for my health. So I turned around, and found a dragon eyeball staring at me from barely a few feet away. Then I heard a rumbling voice booming from the dragon’s general direction.

“Hmmm… What’s this? A snack? I have been getting quite hungry.” 

Ok, great. I started to back away, but then the dragon started moving, and I was being pulled toward it with the same force as what pulled me into the hole. So, I did what any sensible person would do, and ran for the hills-er-tunnel. It looked smaller than the dragon, so that was a plus. Once I got to the tunnel’s entrance, the dragon roared, and the air started to heat up.

As I reached the entrance I thought he was about to spew fire and burn me to a crisp, but instead the air was filled with the pungent smell of ozone, and red sparks started appearing on the ground. Then, red LIGHTNING bolts started crashing down from the ceiling, exploding where they landed. Thankfully, none of them came close to me. I kept running toward the tunnel, and eventually got to the entrance, but then I heard the sparking, and ran even faster. The lightning crashed, and I was blown into the tunnel.

When I woke up, I was inside the tunnel, and turned around and saw that the blast had caved in the entrance of the tunnel. Everything was tinted red because of the crystals on the ceiling. I turned back around and saw what looked like a torch, seemingly tipped with one of the red crystals.

I walked up to it carefully, and saw that it was not in fact a torch,  but a spear. Then I noticed that there was a sheet of paper, similar to the map that started all of this. And it had a flaming script engraved into it. I plucked it off of the spear, and inspected the paper. It wasn’t in any language I could read, but somehow, the meaning popped into my head:

“Impale the dragon, and the power-absorbing crystal will kill it.”

Well, that cleared that up. Guess I’ve got nothing better to do. I picked up the spear,  and walked back toward the entrance.

Oh yeah, it’s sealed. I had forgotten. Well, might as well try. I stabbed the rocks with the spear, and?… Nothing. Great, now I feel stupid. Oh, wait, something’s happening! The rocks started rumbling. And then they exploded inward. Oh wait, I’M INWARD! I just stared at the flying rocks, stupidly. The rocks started crashing down around me, but none of them hit me. Wow, this spear is powerful! It has its own gravity!

Oh. Nevermind. Turns out the gravity was the dragon. I guess he got hungry again. Wow, he’s powerful.

“There you are, little snack, perfect for lunch.”

What?! It’s already lunchtime?! My toast is almost certainly burned by now! Okay, I’ve got to wrap this up and get back to my toast. I charged the dragon, and it staggered back. I’ll be real honest, that was not the reaction I was expecting. Then, the dragon rebalanced, and swiped me into the air with his claw. There was the reaction I was expecting.

When I landed, I heard a loud crunching sound. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the USB I used for work. It held all of the files and powerpoints I was going to bring for the day. It was broken. Great. I just needed that in my day. I reached for the spear and picked it up, but then I heard a crack, and the spear became much lighter. I looked down, and thought, well, I guess my dragon killing spear is now a dragon killing moderately long-handled dagger. The day just kept getting better and better!

I saw stuff like this in movies, so it must be easy. I grabbed the dagger by the blade, and hurled it at the dragon (What? I was out of ideas!). It soared through the air, and it impaled the dragon right through the wing. I was and still am genuinely surprised that that worked.

“AARGH!! WHAT DID YOU DO?!”

The dragon swayed around for a second, then collapsed. That crystal worked fast, glad I didn’t fall on one when the dragon swiped me earlier. And then the gravity reversed, flowing outward instead of inward, getting progressively stronger. Then, I flew out of the cave back through the entrance at the top and shot back out into my living room, which blinded me after being in the dark cave.

I staggered into the kitchen and found that THE TOAST WASN’T BURNED. This was a cause for celebration! 

Moral of the story? Breakfast tastes even better when you’ve killed a dragon for it!