Read Online Dragon Island by Shane Berryhill - Free Book Online Page B

surroundings rather than me.
    It’s cold down here.
    So cold.
    I shudder and Kitsune tightens her hand around mine. Having to constantly depend upon her comfort makes me feel more cowardly and ashamed than ever.
    I begin to hear even stranger sounds ahead of us in the distance. Alien sounds mingled with the zap of electricity and the working of machinery.
    Then there’s light before us. It’s a mere pinprick in the distance, but one that grows larger with our every step.
    “Careful, now,” Kitsune whispers. “They are near.”
    I don’t have to ask who they are.
    The Xenomians.
    The kaiju whose ways are different. Mysterious.
    Frightful.
    Kusanagi has grown red hot at my back. I release Kitsune’s hand for a moment and remove the sword and its harness from my body. I take hold of the ancient weapon’s hilt and begin withdrawing it from its gold-studded sheath. My eyes widen in surprise to see Kusanagi’s blade aglow with crackling white energy. For a moment, our surroundings are illuminated by its brilliant light.
    We are no longer in a cave, but a tunnel. The walls, ceiling and floor are covered by dark metal pipes, digital gauges, and computer circuitry. It’s a far cry from the rocky surfaces I would’ve expected to see.
    “What are you doing?” Kitsune gasps. She seizes my sword hand and shoves it downward, forcing me to sheath Kusanagi. “Are you trying to announce our presence to the Xenomians?”
    “Uh, sorry.”
    The words sound sheepish and pathetic as they leave my mouth.
    I suppose that’s because they are.
    “Keep Kusanagi sheathed,” Kitsune orders through clenched teeth. “Do nothing unless I command it!”
    “Okay! Okay! I said I was sorry!”
    I shove Kusanagi into my belt.
    Kitsune’s luminous gaze studies me. I know what she is thinking. It’s more or less the same type of thing my father ponders every time I visit him.
    She may not be wondering how a spineless coward like me could be her son, but she is considering if she was wrong about me. She is mulling over the possibility that I may not be a warrior from the heavens after all, but just the snot-nosed kid I claim to be.
    Hey, sister, I told you: Raymond Nakajima is no hero. Just ask my Dad. He’ll tell you, real quick!
    Kitsune takes my hand and begins to lead me to the light once again. I don’t know if it’s just me, but this time her touch feels more dutiful than kind.
    It’s not long before we reach the tunnel’s end. The light spilling in from beyond is all around us now, the passageway’s machinery unable to hide in its brilliance.
    Kitsune gets down on her hands and knees and crawls toward the tunnel’s edge, moving like a cat stalking its prey. I get down and crawl clumsily forward to join her.
    What I see lying beyond the tunnel’s edge is more amazing and bizarre than anything I could’ve ever imagined!
    We are perched in one of many tunnels snaking out from an enclosed chamber that’s roughly the size of my neighborhood. The pipes, gauges, and circuitry that blanket our tunnel’s walls spill out to cover the entire area above and below in increasingly complex patterns. These form several blocks of large, futuristic buildings and towers along the chamber floor. A single, domed structure stands at the center, dwarfing all else.
    The entire scene is lit by sizzling arcs of electricity that leap from structure to structure and from chamber floor to ceiling, each totally unpredictable in its course.
    But what really takes my breath away are the flying saucers!
    I don’t know what else to call them. They appear to be spinning, circular constructs of light and metal hovering hundreds of feet in the air above the city.
    Above us!
    And flying saucers or not, they don’t appear friendly.
    Suddenly, I’m gripped with the utter certainty that the saucer-ships have spotted us from their high vantage.
    I panic and start to get up only for Kitsune to pull me back down. Hard.
    “Be still!” she warns.
    I try, but despite