Introduction 2

I drummed my fingers on my desk, wondering how an unlucky farm hand could escape being burnt to a cinder. I got up to get some coffee when I realized that I was no longer in my room. I had only my desk lamp on, but now even the light from that was missing--gone, along with my desk. All I had was my quill...and what felt oddly like a coin. From behind me, I heard a rumbling, and felt the temperature start to rise.

I ran like hell, only just barely escaping the dragon's jaws as I leapt from the cave mouth into an overcast and rainy morning. The dragon emerged from the cave, and stretched its wings--they must have been wider than my whole house!

I was doomed. I had nothing...except the quill. "Use it wisely", my grandfather had written.

With no paper at hand, I crouched in the muddy ground and started scratching in the dirt. 'Then the dragon exploded!' I looked up, but the beast was still there, treading slowly towards me. I swore it must have been grinning with bloodlust.
I tried again, thinking back...What would grandpa have done?

It came to me just as the dragons jaws opened--'the red maiden arrived, sword in hand'.

I closed my eyes, and felt the rain sizzle in the sudden blast of heat. But then with a fierce scream of fury, I looked up to see the dragon writhing on the ground, with a sword driven through its forehead and into its brain. Standing atop it was Lita the Red Maiden, Sorceress of the Sword, and the heroine of my grandpa's best-selling book series.