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I titled this chapter "A Wizard and their Glowing Plants" and it just brings me some joy. I also figured out the next few parts of this story and it's not how I initially thought it would go, but it works, so I'm happy.

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Ok, yes, it was probably wrong of me to use Osirus as an excuse to take a break from work to hang out with my friend. In my defense, I was ahead on my work, and proofreading is boring so. I lead him to Inanna’s tent, where she spends entirely too much time taking care of her cotton plants and experimenting on them. 

“Hiiiii,” I say, entering the tent.

“Hildey! Come here, come here.” Inanna waves me over to a corner of the tent where she’s kneeling by one of the many cotton plants cluttering the room.

“What did you alter this time, ya nerd?” she sticks her tongue out at me.

“I’ve been testing what colors I can make the cotton grow in so we can skip some of the dying processes that dim the color. It didn’t come out as dark as I hoped, but look at this pink.”

“That is a pretty shade; maybe it can be used for decoration rather than symbols.”

“That’s a good idea.” She hops up to scribble that down in one of the notebooks scattered on the table in the middle of the room. “Who are you?”

Whoops forgot he was here. “Inanna, this is Osirus. I’m supposed to be keeping an eye on him for a few hours. Osirus Inanna”

“Hi,” Osirus very dully greets.

“Nice to meet you. You’re not wearing any identifiers. You must be from above ground,” Inanna analyzes him.

“Yeah. You guys are really into those symbols, aren’t you?”

“It’s an easy way to keep track of people; it works much better than what you guys have up there.” She finally gets around to scribbling down the note she wanted to.

“We don’t have anything designed to designate what job people have or who they’re related to.”

“Exactly.”

Osirus turns to me, “Is everyone down here rude?”

“no, you’ve just only managed to run into the snarky people. Which is kind of your fault for following me down here,” I answer with a smug look. He gives me an unamused look at that. 

I feel something tug on my leg and look down to see the little dragon I brought to Ossian. He sinks his claws into my pants and climbs up me again, returning to his place under my collar. “oh, the little menace is back.”

“is that a small dragon?” Inanna asks.

“yeah, they ran to me after seeing Osirus and hid under my jacket collar. I took them to Ozzy, but it looks like they ran away to find me for some reason.”

“Maybe they’ve bonded with you,” Osirus suggests.

“Dragons don’t just bond with people, and the last time I saw this one, they wouldn’t even let me touch them; they just hissed at me.” I wave off his statement.

“It’s possible they think you’re the only safe place here,” Inanna says. “Small dragons always seem to be looking for the safest hiding places.”

“maybe.”

I see the tent flap get pushed aside as another person enters the tent looking down at a piece of cloth. “hey Inanna, I-” he looks up. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t expect there to be other people here.”

“It’s fine, Zeki,” I say.

“do you need something,” Inanna asks.

“I tore my shirt on my run today. I went to get it mended, but they didn’t have the right thread, so they sent me here to get it,” Zeki answers. 

“what color?”

“just plain white.”

Inanna nods and pulls a chest out from under the table we’re standing around. “it’s gonna take a little while. You can wait here or come back later.” She pulls out a fluffy bundle of white cotton and a spool. As she heads over to the spindle to get it all set up, Zeki goes to sit on a blanket piled with pillows nestled in the corner of the room. It’s there for when Inanna’s been working too long and needs a nap or for people who want to hang around and chat or help card the cotton.

“Have you spoken to the record keepers yet,” I ask?

“no, not ye.t I wanted to drop off my shirt first. I didn’t expect to be sent on errands.” Zeki says while settling down. 

“I’ll grab some paper and a pen.” I leave the tent to grab the necessary materials.

When I return, Osirus is sitting with Zeki, “making friends?”

“I’m just asking some questions,” Osirus replies.

“don’t go stealing my job.” I sit down with the duo. 

“what even is your job?”

“record keeper. I write down stories and events so we have an accurate history of everything that happens here.”

“sounds boring”

I shrug “doesn’t matter how you feel, now let me work,” I turn to Zeki, “Tell me what happened up there.”

Zeki tells the story of everything that happened from when he left camp to when he got back, including a list of all the goods they collected. As we’re talking, the little dragon migrates to my lap, and Osirus reaches out to let them sniff his hand. The little creature surprisingly lets him pet them.

“so you just go above ground to collect goods you can’t make down here,” Osirus asks.

“and to collect the local news once every week, although it might happen more or less around holidays,” Zeki answers.

“hey, Zeki, catch,” Inanna tosses a spool of freshly made white thread to him, which startles the dragon into skittering to Osirus.

“Thanks,” Zeki smiles at Inanna. “See you around,” Inanna waves as he leaves the tent. 

I turn to Osirus. “We should leave Inanna to her work and see how Chieftess Aurelia is doing.”

Osirus nods. “Right, let’s go,” He carefully picks up the dragon.

I finally finished the second chapter of my book, so here it is.

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After grabbing the proper equipment, I return to the cave. There aren’t any odd creatures skittering around this time, so I can stay focused on my goal. I go down the same path as before, reaching the aven I didn’t attempt to climb before. 

The aven doesn’t pose a challenge; it ended up being a simple climb. The problem now is, “how do I find that person.” I look around, continuing down the passage.

“Hey, stop right there!” I turn to find the source of the commanding voice. I see a tall woman with auburn hair tied back in a ponytail wearing clothing similar to the girl from before in dark colors with glowing symbols. She holds her hand up to block the light from my headlamp. “who are you?”

“uh, Osirus. Who are you?” I respond.

“why are you here?”

“I saw something weird, so I came to investigate.” she stays silent a moment, seemingly analyzing me. 

“it’s not safe down here; go home or find somewhere else to investigate.”

“What makes it so dangerous besides one odd creature? This seems like a normal cave system?”

“It’s not your business to look into.”

“Well, I’m not leaving until I get answers. I saw something weird, and I want to know what it was.”

“The answers you’re looking for are easy to obtain, but you’ll never be able to go back to the life you lived before unless you want to call these caves your home, leave, and don’t come back.”

“Ok, goodbye, weirdo” I turn and walk away from the woman further into the cave system. I don’t know who she was, but she is all sorts of crazy. Luckily she doesn’t follow me. 

I continue further into the tunnels looking for landmarks, and occasionally set up small piles of rocks to ensure I can find my way back. I also take a few pictures; this cave system is actually really amazing. Then I arrive at an awe-inspiring cavern. I can’t see much because my headlamp is the only light source in the room.

I hear a sound like a hissing and turn to see what it is.

Big white eyes. 

I hear footsteps. 

I’m pushed to the ground. 

“Shhh, it’s ok. He didn’t mean to approach your nest” I look over and see the crazy lady from earlier standing like a barrier between the animal and me. “slowly go back out the way you came in. no sudden movements.”

She wasn’t looking at me, but I knew the instructions were meant for me from the tone. I look at the creature and see the biggest lizard-like thing I’ve ever seen. “what is that thing?”

“get out of here without dying, and I’ll answer all your questions.” So I follow her instructions and back out of the room carefully. Once out of the room, I wait for her to come out. “I knew you were going to be trouble.”

“Who the hell are you, and what the hell was that?” I try to stay calm, but this has been the most confusing trip of my life.

“you can call me chieftess Aurelia and the animal that almost mauled you to death is a dragon,” she answers like it’s the most normal thing in the world. 

“ha! hehe, oh, I must be going crazy too. Maybe it’s something in these caves making me hallucinate. Yeah, that must be it. I’ll just go home and sleep it off” I start back up through the cave system.

“oh no, you don’t,” she grabs my shoulder, stopping me from leaving “clearly, you can’t be left to wander around unsupervised, and I don’t have time to escort you out right now. So you’re coming back to camp with me.”

“no, nope, I am not following some stranger to their camp in an uncharted cave where I’ll most likely never be found again.”

“why would I go through the trouble of saving your life and taking you back to my camp using my valuable time and resources to make sure you’re ok only to then kill you?”

“I don’t know; serial killers do weird things.”

“Come on,” she pushes me to the side and starts walking down the tunnel.

I weigh my options possibly run into another giant killer beast or follow the stranger that turned out to be right and only might kill me.

Possible serial killer it is.

It only takes a few minutes of the chieftess leading me through the caves for us to arrive at what I assume is the camp. Several tents circle the large area with people milling about doing different tasks; a few of them stare as we pass by. They’re all dressed similarly in thick fabrics with glowing symbols. This place is odd, but it doesn’t seem dangerous. I guess she wasn’t lying to me. 

“So,” I ask the chieftess, “what’s up with the glowing symbols?”

Without looking at me, she answers, “they’re to help identify people.”

“What, like name badges?”

“Kind of, yes, but they also help us tell them from other animals and identify their job and family.”

“So, more like an introduction worksheet in a different language?”

“I guess.” we enter a tent, and the inside is lined with bookshelves and desks; the scrape of pencils and shifting paper fills the air. “Hilde.”

The same girl from earlier looks up from her desk where she was reading a stack of papers. “yes, chieftess.”

“This is the boy you saw earlier, right?”

She looks at me for a moment “yes, I believe so.”

“Good look after him for the next few hours”

“What?”

“I have some business I need to attend to before I can escort him out of here; until then, look after him.”

“I’m not a child, and I’m a little offended at the implication that I need a babysitter,” I attempt to defend myself.

The chieftess gives me a look that clearly means don’t argue with me. “after seeing you walk up to a dragon’s nest and nearly get killed, I’m not inclined to believe that”

“you did what?” Hilde looks at me incredulously “you really aren’t that smart, are you?”

“I didn’t even know dragons existed until like twenty minutes ago; you can’t blame me for that,” I say, annoyed at her slight.

“I forgot you’re from above ground, so you wouldn’t know.”

“Try not to cause any problems, you two,” the chieftess leaves the tent.

Hilde stands from her desk “alright, come on.”

“where are we going?”

“I’m not gonna be able to get any work done with you here, so might as well go visit a friend. Name’s Hilde, by the way, if you haven’t caught on by now” she walks out of the tent.

I follow her cause what else am I gonna do? “Osirus.”

“Cool name.”

“Thanks.”

Despite having been on this plane of existence for nearly two decades, I still manage to be surprised about how much research it takes to be able to write about something even vaguely or off-hand.

Alright, it's time I made my first post on here.

Hi, my pseudonym is Sapphire, and I'm a writer. I'll mostly post about my books that I never seem to actually finish, but I hope you all enjoy my work. This is the first draft of the first chapter of one of my books; please give me all the advice you feel like sharing. Also, title suggestions because I don't know what to call this mess yet.

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It was weird.

The creature’s small beady black eyes stared at me, and I started back. It was hard to see in the dim lighting of the cave. I went to reach for my flashlight to get a better look. 

It hissed at me, clearly deciding I was an enemy, not a friend, and started to back away.

I froze in response, not wanting to scare it, but it turned and skittered away anyway. 

I grabbed my flashlight, flipped it on, and ran after it. I only caught glimpses of it after that, but it was enough for me to follow.

The next event was only slightly more believable than the first. I turned a corner and saw a person, a girl I guessed from her blonde hair tied into a braid over her left shoulder. She was wearing baggy pants and a jacket to match that looked like they were made of a thick material and worn from use. the jacket was covered in glowing symbols.

The little creature climbed up her side and nestled on her shoulder before hissing at me again, easily drawing her attention. When she turned her attention from her shoulder to me, she froze like a deer in headlights. Similar to the creature, she backed up a step before turning to run.

“wait!” I yelled after her, but she didn’t listen as she vaulted over obstacles and climbed rocks to escape. I ran after her.

I grew up climbing and exploring caves just like this. I loved it, that’s why I’m here. I was looking for a new place to explore. I wasn’t prepared for this, though. My experience was enough to keep up with her for a while, but eventually, I reached a wall I couldn’t climb like she did.

“Damn it... looks like I gotta go back and get the right equipment,” I said to the wall accepting my temporary defeat.

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Huff...

Huff...

Huff...

“that was way too close. You, my little friend, are all sorts of trouble.”

The small dragon ignores me while snuggling under the collar of my jacket and resting on my shoulder. 

“come on, it’s time for you to run along” I reach up to remove the menace from my shoulder, but he hisses at me, “fine, you can stay there for now.” instead of worrying about the dragon curled around me I look for the way back to camp. I need to tell the chief what happened so we can do something before this becomes a problem. Luckily I lost the intruder in the caves, and we aren’t far from camp. I make my way back, mindful of the little creature, and look for the chieftess. 

“Chieftess Aurelia!”

“what is it, Hilde?” she was tending to a dragon that got hurt in a fight and didn’t like the interruption.

“there’s someone in the tunnels. They saw this dragon,” I point to the one on my shoulder, “and me.”.

Now seeming a little alarmed, she asks, “where are they now?”

“I lost them somewhere in the caves before coming back here. I didn’t know what else to do.”

She sighs “stay in camp. I’ll deal with it.”

“Okay,” I nod.

After updating the chief, I thought it was time to get some help removing the dragon from my person. So I head over to the dragon medical tent. 

“hey, Ozzy”

“Hilde, I don’t have time to slack off during my training. You know this.” His head is stuck in some book.

“I’m not here for that; I’m here on business ye who have no faith in me.” 

“since when does a story keeper have business with a dragon medic.” 

“since I picked up a friend in the tunnels.”

Ossian finally turns to face me rather than his book that I can now see is on dragon health, and he sees the dragon clinging to my shoulder. “what happened?”

“they ran into an intruder that scared them half to death. They’ve been clinging to me since.”

He grabs a bag off a shelf and a bowl from a cabinet. “they probably just need to calm down a little,” he pours some of the bag’s contents into the bowl and sets it on a table, “and some food will tempt them down.”

I reach up to pet the dragon, but they try to nip me. The gloves I’m wearing prevent any damage but not annoyance. Luckily the little creature decides they no longer want to hang out on my shoulder and jumps to the table with a bowl of food. “finally.”

“What, you didn’t like their company” he reaches out his hand to the dragon and lets them investigate it.

“you know I don’t mind dragons. I just have a problem when a terrified dragon sinks their claws in me and tries to bite me anytime I try to touch them.”

The dragon seems to decide Ossian’s not an enemy and starts eating, not minding when he starts to gently pet them “you’re just being impatient. You need to spend more time with them and less writing stories.”

“I’ll spend less time writing stories when there are fewer stories to write. Blame the people coming up with stories, not me. Also, there’s almost always important news to record that I can blame you and your fellow medics for.”

“we’re just learning all we can to help the dragons. Now get out of here before I lose more time arguing with you.”

“yeah yeah,” I leave the tent and dragon behind.