Awakening of the Dragon: Mark of Redemption Book 1 Read online

  Awakening of the Dragon

  Mark of Redemption Series

  N. A. Hydes

  Copyright © 2021 by N. A. Hydes

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  For my Grandmother, Stella

  Contents

  1. College Camping Trip

  2. Spring in Fall

  3. Awake

  4. The Prince and the Wise Woman

  5. Camp to Dorm

  6. Jennifer’s Place

  7. Dr. Nick Smith

  8. Matt’s Apartment

  9. The Beginning of Petr

  10. Dream Two

  11. Denny’s Great American All-Night Restaurant

  12. Silvery Serpent

  13. Jennifer’s Dreams

  14. Richard Lee and Josephine English Lee

  15. Wednesday

  16. Che-non

  17. Thursday, Robert Sowards

  18. The Promise

  19. The Grands

  20. Lunch

  21. Matt’s House

  22. Friday

  23. Leaving Cherryville

  24. Back to Campus

  25. Monday

  26. Tuesday

  27. At Home

  28. Sleeping Pills

  29. Lonely

  30. Losing Her Mind

  31. Immortals

  32. Saturday

  33. Library

  34. Crazy

  35. Coffee Shop

  36. Friday

  37. Pi House

  38. River

  39. Game Night

  40. Lust, Jennifer

  41. Lust, Petr

  42. Last Day of School

  43. Bahamas

  44. Christmas Break

  45. Barry Christmas to You

  46. Introduction

  47. Training

  48. Second Stage

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by N. A. Hydes

  1

  College Camping Trip

  The kiss was deep and passionate. However, the need to go to the bathroom was immediate and demanding. Jennifer, tall and blond, stood pressed against Matt. Her thoughts were darting from enjoying the kiss to her strong desire to go relieve herself.

  Jennifer put her hands on either side of Matt’s face. “Stay here,” she slurred and turned away from the camp. Her head spun from the alcohol she had just consumed, causing her to giggle as she wobbled with her first step. She grabbed the roll of toilet paper resting on a fallen tree limb and headed away from the campfire into the woods.

  In the forest, Jennifer contemplated what had just happened. Matt was so shy at the beginning. She had met Matt during college orientation back in August. It took weeks of ‘accidentally’ bumping into him at different places before he had enough courage to ask her out. She had taken it easy on phone calls, following her own set of rules designed to cause Matt to chase her. Rule one was that he had to initiate the relationship. They had been holding hands for slightly over a month with no progress toward kissing.

  Jennifer had planned this weekend out. How she would try to get him to kiss her as they took the tents down. The kiss started by Matt this early in the weekend was a surprise; it changed things. Should she play cool and give in, within reason, to Matt’s demands? Should she reject some of Matt’s advances to give Matt a hunt? And even worse, Matt, who was to bring tents, had brought only one tent for the two of them. What did the single tent imply?

  A noise from somewhere to her right took her by surprise. It sounded like some kind of animal, a wolf maybe.

  She’d been walking, contemplating Matt, and could no longer make out the camp. The moon was full, no clouds in the sky, so the forest was somewhat visible.

  Stay calm, she said to herself. And almost in response to her attempt to relax, she heard the sound again, louder, nearby. In her drunken state, she tripped on a tree root. Attempting to catch herself, she landed face down on the dirty forest floor. She could smell the decay of the leaves and tried not to sneeze. Standing, she dusted herself off, once again trying to soothe her nerves. She could feel some tiny rocks and sticks sticking to her knees, but otherwise, she seemed to be okay.

  Jennifer searched the forest floor for the toilet paper she had dropped. She assumed it had rolled down the hill. Turning around, she walked straight into a six-foot tall black bear standing on his hind legs.

  Two things happened at once: the black bear let out an earth-shattering roar, and something in Jennifer’s mind said rather loudly, “Awaken!”

  Her body changed.

  Jennifer suddenly dwarfed the bear. Fear registered on the bear’s face, just before Jennifer’s right hand penetrated the bear’s wet, warm, meaty flesh. The bear attempted to fight as it was falling backward. By instinct, Jennifer bit at the bear and pulled out chunks of its flesh. She swallowed some of it. It was gamey, tougher than beef, but the blood-rich meat was delicious. She watched as the life faded from the bear.

  Strange, she thought.

  Jennifer looked at her left hand, but it wasn’t a hand. In its place was a three-pronged talon.

  Odd, came from her drunken mind, and instinctively, she turned over the talon. It moved on command. She moved her middle finger, and the middle claw moved.

  On each hand, she discovered that her thumb and pointer were merged to make a single claw. Likewise, her pinky and ring finger combined to make another claw. The middle finger made the third, forming a sharp-nailed talon.

  How very odd, she thought upon realizing her hands looked like a velociraptor’s. She could see her nose, red and extended out beyond her face. Looking over her body, she saw it was also ruby and scaly, with giant tree-trunk-sized legs. There was something awkward on her back. When Jennifer focused on this new muscle, she heard a flapping noise and saw leaves blow around on the ground.

  Jennifer decided she was a dinosaur with wings.

  I don’t know what Colin, Paul, and Matt are up to, but this is not humorous, she thought to herself. Well, I will show them. And she lay down on the big bear and went to sleep, content that this was just a bad dream brought on by the night’s activities.

  Jennifer dreamed.

  Spring in Fall

  Jennifer’s Dream

  “I’m nervous, Mother.” The woman sitting on an ornate dark wood chair turned towards Jennifer. Jennifer, however, had never met the woman whose blond hair was sliding through her fingers.

  Jennifer wanted to jump back in shock, move away from the stranger with the pale hair, but she couldn’t control her body. She watched as her withered hand combed the woman’s hair.

  Jennifer was barely twenty; her hand was young, and it looked nothing like the hand she could feel separate silky strands.

  “You look beautiful. Your groom is a lucky man.” The soft flowing voice of another woman came from Jennifer’s mouth. It was very unnerving to hear herself talk, her mouth move, breath breeze over her lips, but have no control over the words.

  In a second, Jennifer knew the name of the woman whose eyes she peered through, Lung. The vision was a memory of Lung’s. There was nothing Jennifer could do but watch and witness.

  Lung looked across the room into an old, faded mirror at her reflection. The image staring back was thin, frail, and wrinkled. The shoulder-length blond hair sat above an off-white robe with patterns sewn around the collar.

  The young woman sitting on the chai
r moved her hand underneath her chin, catching Lung’s attention. The younger woman’s reflection was beautiful. She had a perfect Barbie nose, shapely lips with a slight rose shade, and a delicate chin.

  Jennifer wanted to gasp when Lung looked at the girl’s eyes. The color and shape were almost an exact match for Jennifer’s eyes. In that second, Jennifer somehow knew her doppelganger’s name was Spring, and she was Lung’s daughter. They named her after the season she was born. Emotion accompanied the name, motherly, but Jennifer had no children. The feelings developed as Jennifer stared at the young woman, happiness with an underlying sadness.

  Amazed, Jennifer realized she was experiencing Lung’s memories and emotions as if they were her own.

  Spring stood to move over to the mirror, blocking the sun, watching her smoky reflection. “And the dress, do you think he will like it?” Spring asked.

  “You look beautiful, my love. No man will disagree.” Lung’s voice was soothing.

  The wooden door to the room opened.

  Jennifer caught glimpses of the room as Lung turned to face the door. Tall ceilings, large gray stone walls, stone floors, a bear rug complete with the head. The images reminded Jennifer of a castle.

  All thought stopped when she saw the tall man with shoulder-length, wavy auburn hair standing in the wooden door frame. He had a white streak down the middle where his hair parted, and short stubble on his face matched his hair. He had a thin, muscular build. Jennifer couldn’t see any wrinkles. She guessed he was around her actual age of twenty, maybe a few years older.

  His clothes, though, weren’t from her century. He was wearing a thick off-white shirt and dark brown pants that looked handsewn with thick thread. The stitches in his leather shoes were visible. His clothing and shoes looked scratchy.

  Jennifer noticed she had paused the dream or vision to look at this man. Finally, here was something she could control, the speed.

  Stopping the events’ momentum, she drank in as many details as she could of the man before allowing the story to continue. This man mesmerized her, but not because he was perfect. There was something about him. Physically, he had a pointed nose, not something she usually liked, but it somehow added to his attractiveness. His eyes were dark blue with brown in the center and bright green around the pupil. Thin brick-colored lips sat in a square chin.

  Jennifer searched for knowledge of this man. A feeling of respect and a name, Petr, was all she received. He looked exactly like her Prince Charming.

  With a mental sigh from Jennifer, the dream continued.

  “It’s time.” Petr held out his elbow for Spring. Jennifer melted at the sound of his deep, throaty voice.

  As Spring took Petr’s elbow and stood beside him, Jennifer wished she were taking his elbow. Lucky girl.

  Lung followed the two out of the room and down a spiral staircase with the same gray, stone walls. Within a short period, the staircase straightened. The left wall disappeared in a few more minutes, revealing a fifty-foot drop and what at first seemed to be outdoors. Jennifer wanted to gasp and feel her heart speed up. The stairs lacked a guard-rail, but Lung remained calm. As they continued towards the ground, Jennifer was aware of a distant wall and a high, uneven ceiling. It was dark, but there was some natural light illuminating a small city of cottages. The floor or ground seemed to glow with varying shades of orange and red in different locations. Candles hung on the outside of the buildings; piles of firewood burned in various places. There was a slight smell of sulfur and smoke in the air, but Lung ignored it all. The room was immense, hot and parched, like being in an oven.

  More knowledge poured to Jennifer from Lung; this was a long-dormant volcano, which explained the orange color seeping from the ground.

  In the center of the town, before the rows of round huts started, a stone circle, a yard in diameter, surrounded a platform. The stones were sizeable, decorative-type river-rocks, similar to the type used as edging for flower gardens.

  Maybe two hundred people had gathered around the platform. Music and talking echoed off the walls. Jennifer wasn’t sure who first noticed Spring and Petr descending, but she thought it was a child that pointed. The ripple of quiet grew as, one by one, heads turned in their direction.

  Someone helped a small, slender, older man onto the red stone platform. His hair and beard blended into a long, white mass. It reminded Jennifer of a wizard from a fairytale, a troll doll from the seventies, or Papa Smurf.

  The room was still as he prepared to speak. Lung had powerful feelings for the man, romantic love, and through these emotions, Jennifer realized the man was Lung’s husband, MiFeng. Jennifer thought the man looked fragile, but Lung knew he was deadly.

  “Please come to the center of the room,” MiFeng indicated to Petr. Petr, with Spring on his elbow, moved forward. Lung followed behind as the crowds opened a path in front of the platform. Lung continued onto the stage, passing Spring and Petr. She stood to the right of MiFeng, looking out at the crowd.

  MiFeng raised his head and arms, and the crowd hushed. His voice was not meek but boomed. “This is our way, an ancient way that has existed since the foundation of our time. Here in our home. Here in our land. We all remember our ways, our birthplace. My daughter has made her choice. A bond that will last forever. A bond that will break two and make one. One that can make or destroy. A bond longer and more dangerous than any mortal can understand.” The room was silent. No one moved, no one blinked an eye.

  “Whom do you choose, my daughter?” The older man on the platform directed the question toward Spring.

  “I choose Che-non,” Spring’s lovely voice answered. A man with long, thick, black hair pulled into a ponytail stood in front of the slightly taller Petr. Jennifer looked at Che-non’s face. He reminded her of a Chinese warrior on Kung Fu Theater, a show she loved to watch as a kid. He was handsome but not as attractive as Prince Petr, who was still holding Spring’s elbow.

  Jennifer speculated maybe Petr was Spring’s brother, but Lung’s feelings suggested this was not her son.

  “Thank you, my brother,” Che-non addressed Petr, but nothing in their appearance suggested any family relationship.

  A strange thought occurred to Jennifer. The ceremony was not in English, Jennifer’s native language. Despite that, Jennifer could understand it, and she could tell by how Che-non clicked his last word that Che-non had a strong accent. Whatever language they were speaking, this was not his native tongue.

  Petr edged Spring forward. Che-non, rocking back and forth on his heels, refused to look away from Spring. Che-non gingerly reached his hand out to Spring. She smiled and allowed him to grab her elbow.

  “Many blessings, my brother,” the fantastic, throaty voice of Petr said, and he stepped into the crowd, blending in.

  MiFeng looked down from the platform at Che-non. “The mating of one of our kind is different than you can imagine. We have discussed this, and you are still willing to take this challenge?”

  “With all my heart,” Che-non answered, looking at Spring.

  “Then, you have my blessing as her father. And you have my blessing as the Head of the Council of Dragons.”

  3

  Awake

  The dream faded as Jennifer woke, but she kept her eyes closed. Her mouth tasted funny, salty and dry. Further exploring with her tongue revealed strings or hairs. Flies were buzzing around her head, attracted to a horrible smell. Swatting, Jennifer felt pain as she accidentally nudged her chin. She rubbed her jaw and moved it gingerly, trying to work out the soreness. Her face felt swollen.

  The rancid smell came from the soft, furry, warm, and lumpy thing she was using as a pillow. Jennifer’s stomach turned and protested at the stench.

  What happened? Jennifer thought, opening her eyes and looking at the limbs of trees and the dark night sky.

  Rolling over to stand, she could remember drinking and kissing Matt. She remembered toilet paper and walking too far, hearing a bear and seeing it, a voice, Awaken - is that what it
had said?

  Jennifer remembered looking at her left hand, but it hadn’t been a hand. In its place had been a three-pronged talon. The hand that moved now was utterly human.

  Jennifer’s heart sped up, recognizing the black bear’s lumpy form, face down in the forest’s brown, rich leaves. A creature had mangled it. Jennifer put her hand back by her side. Even though it was still dark, she could see the bear was real, and it was dead. Jennifer could taste the hair in her mouth and knew it was the bear’s fur. She dusted the twigs, dirt, and debris from her legs and then her body in a nervous action. Jennifer was completely naked and covered in blood. And worse, the reason she had left the party, she still had to go to the bathroom.

  Jennifer could hear a bubbling stream, and her thoughts ran towards peeing and cleaning off the blood. She started walking in the creek’s direction, having no trouble seeing in the dark. Several minutes went by, and although the water was getting louder, it was further than she thought.

  When she reached the stream, she looked up at the sky. The full moon had already set, and it was the darkest part of the night. Dawn was just a few hours away–if even that. She looked all around and allowed her bladder to release.