a friendly chat

a concept work for a story i'm bashing out in my spare time. still needs attention, but i'm just fleshing out the characters at this stage. this is one of the first scenes and i just wanted to draw it

photoshop cs2 with wacom tablet. about 1.5 hours.
copyright dypsomaniart 2007

here's the first bit of the story if you want to have a read. theres a few changes i want to make to it already but feedback is welcome. all the thoughts are supposed to be in italics, but they don't seem to come up on here and i can't be bothered changing it so you'll just have to struggle through...

I looked up to see the dragon still standing over me i must have hit my head harder than i thought... i closed my eyes and rolled back into oblivion.
A nagging pain slowly brought me back to conciousness, something sharp pushing into my back. My mind in a cloud i tried to swat it away and felt my hand connect solidly with a warm scaly limb. what the... shocked fully awake i spun to my back on a cold stone floor, there was a mirthless rumbling chuckle, and i looked up into the darkness to see the huge dragon head hovering over me, eyes sparkling.
"w-what the hell?! what are you, where am i?!" i was quickly scanning the dark cavern and desperately trying to remember how i got here.
"oh, so you will speak to me now" said the dragon, with a hint of amusement.
i'm on a floor, in a cave, with a god damn talking dragon...
"how did i get here? i don't remember... where is here? what the hell's going on? who are you-"
"steady, steady. You had an accident, i brought you here. We need to talk."
"but where is here? talk? TALK? DRAGONS DON'T EXIST!'
i was out caving with max and janine, we were coming back up, i remember slipping- falling- but the ropes caught me, they should have caught me, what am i doing here. i must be unconcious still, this is just a dre-
"i can assure you that i am quite real. You've been here for some time now. Your wounds are healed, and you are safe." the dragon had rested it's head on a smoothed boulder jutting from the floor so our eyes were level, it's deep voice rumbled through the floor and seemed to fill the cave with echoing bass.
how long? where are max and janine? "What am i doing here?" i asked, my own voice sounding tiny in the dark cavern.
"That's a very good question, and one that will be answered in time. but first, i need to prove to you not why you are hear, but that you are here. this is real, and i am real."
ha, this will be good. the talking dragon proving he's real... i must be losing my mind...
"Get on your feet. I have a challenge for you."
I stood up gingerly, but found my body responding perfectly, i felt fit and strong.
"In a moment you will face a creature of the darkness. There is a sword behind you that you may use to defend yourself. If this is all in your imagination you have nothing to fear, but i would strongly advise you to take up the sword."
great, a creature of darkness, i'm so scared... like i could use a sword anyway- i've never even picked up a sword... this is stupid...
"are you ready?"
i leaned down and scooped the sword from the ground, it felt surprisingly good and natural in my hands.
"Yep, look at me, the mighty swordsman... ready when you are boss" this is ridiculous

A snarl erupted from the darkness beyound the dragons tail, then a creature out of nightmare leapt into sight. oh shit oh shit oh shit what the hell is that thing!!
Teeth glistened from three sets of mouths, the creatures snakelike arms whipped and twitched as it crouched facing me this can't be real, this CAN'T be real.
The creature took a few quick steps sideways, as though summing me up. i followed it's movements with my outstreched sword trembling this isn't real, this is just a nightmare, it can't hurt me...
In a blur it was flashing towards me, the sword had barely moved when one set of outstretched teeth lashed across my arm as it's body smashed me backwards. it's on top of me! the sword was lost, i thrust my hands up to keep it's snarling jaws from my face, it's weight pressing the air from my lungs as i felt it take hold and wrench my hands away. it hurts! christ, it's really goin to kill me!
Time seemed to slow down as the realisation hit that i was about to die. I could see the rotted meat stuck between it's teeth and the foulness of it's breath was gagging me. Saliva dripped towards me as it's mouths descended, filling up my world. this is it, i'm about to die.

Calmness washed over me as i looked into the foul maw of my killer, the teeth taking an eternity in their final descent as my mind took in the details. Then it was gone, the creature shooting away from me straight up, as the dragon's jaws tore it away from me.
I lay gasping on the ground, my mind unable to function, then i'm alive! i'm actually still alive!...
I slowly noticed i was coughing and gasping still as my lungs recovered from the winding, my arms, face, chest, burning with the sting of cuts as my heart continued to beat wildly in my ears. I'd never felt so good in my life...


"So you know this is real" the dragon said amiably, as i finally regained control of my breathing enough to sit up "And now you know that your alive."
"ALIVE!! that thing could have killed me!! what the hell are you playing at! was that fun for you!?" this god damn dragon is insane, what the hell am i doing here!?
"You needed to believe, so i showed you"
"you could have just told me!"
"I tried that, remember?"
"yeah but... I almost died!"
"It was necessary. Humans have an annoying inability to truly grasp anything until it's too late. And you, of all people, i would have thought would know to trust your instincts by now, not that pathetic excuse for a brain."
"Great, so now i'm stupid."
The dragon let out a slow sigh, "I shouldn't blame you" damn right you shouldn't- "it's just i was hoping for more.You still seem a long way from understanding even the basics."
"Understanding the basics of what? Who do you think I am? You still haven't even told me who you are?"
Another sigh as the dragon looked me up and down with a slightly disdainful air, muttering to himself "every bloody time it's the same, useless humans..."
"Very well" he cleared his throat "My name is Graugnok. I am a Dragon. Your name is Dharamon. you are a spirit. are you following so far?"
"No."
"Good, shall we continue? where was i? ah yes, You, Dharamon, are supposed to be leading that teeming mass of humans into the understanding of their true selves so they can return home, and stay there."
okaaay then...
"Every time a human child is born, a spirit is torn from our world to be trapped inside the offending body until it dies."
ha! you've got to be kidding me...
"It's an ancient curse that none of us has ever been able come close to breaking." his voice lowered conspiritorially "No one knows where it came from, but it is said every one of our great mages has tried every spell known to our people, and none can lift this bane.
And so, many thousands of years ago, you, Dharamon, warrior, magician, sage. Took on the task of destroying the human race, with me as you protector and guide here in our world." as he finished his head was held high proudly.
"So i'm thousands of years old. Right."
"Yes "right." snapped back Graugnok angrily "We are a race of spirits. In our world here we are solid enough, but we live on a different plane in a different world to earthly creatures. Our planets are linked by their proximity. Our planet actually slightly passes through their planet in it's orbit around the sun. But yes, you are thousands of years old, as are the rest of us- those left at least-for we exist forever, to put it in human terms."
"Jesus... you're dead serious aren't you." This is so beyond the ridiculous it's not funny "So you want to destroy the humans so they can't, what? use your lives to live? How am i supposed to do it on my own? don't they have a right to live?"
"You get dumber every time you spend another lifetime as a human! They dont "live"! Their conciousness is us! Our people! Except every time one of our spirits gets sucked into one of them, we lose all memory of ourselves!"
"This is crazy, you expect me honestly to believe all this?"
"Take a look around you Dharamon, you just almost got eaten by a demon and your talking to a dragon."
"Fair enough. Good point. I need a drink."
"BAH! HUMANS!" Graugnok let out an explosive burst of flame "for some reason all your human memories stay with you when your body dies. Don't you see? our world is disappearing! Humans are breeding like flies, taking more and more of our population. And when our spirits return home, they bring all of humanity's stupidity back with them! At first it was not too difficult to bring them back into our society, but as their numbers increase, and the numbers of true spirits here dwindles, the tides are turning..."
"So this world is becoming more human?"
"Exactly. Greed, corruption, jelousy, spite, bigotry, racism, lies, hatred. The mindless inability to think for ones self... Traits created by the human mind, that are carried over to our world."
"Thankyou, so are you stereotyping me also in your racist tirade against humans?"
"OOh, and you wonder why i don't like humans! STOP THINKING OF YOURSELF AS ONE OF THEM!!
Graugnok snorted smoke at me, turned his head away, snorted again, then got up entirely and walked to the back of the cave, where he curled himself in the shadows.
I moved back and sat against the opposite wall to think.