The Draconequus

Early in the morning Alex was rudely woken up by a loud crash in her closet. Snapping her eyes wide open she slowly looked around, hardly moving at all. Her closet caught her attention when she looked back. A bright, gold light was emanating from around the door. Suddenly the door flew open and a creature tumbled out at the foot of her bed.

One large creature looked up at Alex with big, black beady eyes. The creature was an amalgamation of many different types of animals. He stretched out a large pair of wings, a feathery one and a scaly one. From what Alex could see he had a snake like body that was covered in black horse hair. His tail was the head of an emerald green snake. His face was similar to a dragon but he had a rams horn and an elk antler. One paw was that of a bear and the other like a hoof, andis back legs were like bird talons.

Alex gasped and sat up straight. The creature cocked its head at her and hopped onto the end of her bed to perch itself there. Looking at the creature she thought about a mythical creature she heard about that was similar to this one. Slowly Alex reached for her phone on the table beside her, not taking her eyes from the curious creature's gaze for one second.

Snapping a picture of the creature she sent it to someone who would probably know what exactly it is. The mismatched creature blinked repeatedly and shook its head, pawing at his face. Alex smiled a little realizing the little creature was actually kind of cute in a way. Tentatively she reached out to the odd animal of chaos. as she did, it came closer. The creature stretched its neck to bump his little head into her hand, nuzzling her to pet him more.

As Alex warmed up to him by scratching behind his reptilian ears, he flipped over onto his back to encourage her to pet his belly, so she started petting his belly. While she was doing that she heard a weird , and loud, grinding noise coming from the tiny creature. The sound carried on and Alex realized it was coming from the creature.

“Huh, are you purring?” Alex scratched the creature's chin as he looked up at her affectionately.

She was starting to get lost in his gaze when a ping brought her out of the trance. Eagerly she grabbed her phone and noticed her friend, Tony, got back to her on what the creature could be.

“That seems to be some type of Chimera.”

“What is a Chimera?”

Alex was puzzled, she didn’t know what a Chimera is. She’s not as well versed with mythical creatures like Tony is. While she was waiting for him to reply again, she looked at the possible Chimera in awe. The Chimera was staring at her as she looked over him. She looked over the different animal parts in disbelief once again.

“You really are an amazing creature. But why are you here?” Alex mumbled out loud as if the creature would respond to her. Another ping came from her phone.

“A Chimera is a creature that usually has a couple different types of animal parts, like a griffon. Although the Chimera in mythology is usually depicted as having three heads; one of a lion and one of a goat, and then a snake as a tail. I like to think a Chimera can be even more than that, but it is possible this creature could be a more specific type. Maybe a Draconequus?”

“A Draconequus? I think I’ve heard of that before.”

“It’s possible. Although usually they’re a product of chaos. So why would it come to you?”

Alex wasn't sure on that part. There hasn’t been anything chaotic in her life for some amount of time, and definitely nothing that could summon a being of chaos. This has to be something else.

The Draconequus crawled over to here still making the grinding sound that was similar to a purr. What reason would a being of pure chaos form in her closet and also be attached to her? Alex looked at the creature in her lap, thinking. She got an idea of why it’s here.

“Tony, what if this thing doesn't know what it’s doing here?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s so small. What if it’s just a baby?”

“That could be. They do usually tend to be quite large.”

“What should I do with it though?”

“Take care of it? Keep it hidden somehow?”

Alex is perplexed. Having a strange creature in her home until it can take care of itself. It seems a little risky. The Draconequus could end up being dangerous once he gets older and bigger. There also was that moment between them that seemed like hypnotism. The Draconequus snuggled into her lap, snapping her out of her thoughts.

“I should name you so I’m not just calling you The Draconequus”, Alex chuckled as she lifted him off her lap. He batted at her playfully and squeaked out in triumph when he caught a strand of her dark red hair. She set him down on the floor and got her phone out again to do some name searching.

As Alex was scrolling through different names related to chaos, she started smelling some smoke. She bolted up and looked around for the Draconequus but he wasn’t in her room. She rushed out and followed a trail of burnt carpet to find the creature playing with a piece of string and occasionally letting out a breath of flame. 

“Hey hey hey! Watched the flamethrower little guy,” she rushed over to pick him up before he burnt the whole house down. “I happen to have the perfect name for you, you little spawn of chaos. I’m calling you Erebus,” Alex tapped his scaly snout and he gently snapped at her. She pulled away and smiled at the rascal. Alex knew Erebus would fit him well.

After an eventful day of keeping Erebus from destroying her house and causing chaos in the outside world, she brought him back up to her room for bed. Alex thought about what could happen while she sleeps. Could Erebus, a draconequus that is a creature of pure chaos, be a threat when she’s asleep? She looked toward the creature at the foot of her bed soundly asleep for a minute but then he turned to her with his beady black eyes. 

Those eyes were so piercing and entrancing, it was hard to look away. Alex felt like something was wrong but she couldn’t stop what was happening. Erebus stared intently into her eyes as she fell into some sort of trance.

Alex gasped for air as she awoke from some dream. The last thing she remembered was taking Erebus to bed with her, but she didn't remember falling ever asleep. She was freaked out and she had a feeling it had something to do with the creature of chaos in her bed. Looking over to where he was she noticed he wasn't there. Erebus was gone and possibly for good

Alex snagged her phone as she hopped out of bed and quickly dialed Tonys number. It rang three times and then he picked up.

“Tony something is wrong. Last night I fell asleep without even remembering and I think Erebus is behind it. Oh, he’s also not here anymore,” Alex rushed in a panic but hoped her best friend would be able to understand.

“Woah, hold on a bit. What are you talking about? Who is Erebus?” Tony asked, very confused.

“The Draconequus I asked you about” Alex responded hastily.

“I still have no idea what you are talking about Alex” her friend stated in concern.

“I talked to you about him yesterday morning! We came to the conclusion on what he was,” Alex was getting upset about her friend acting like the creature didn’t exist.

“We never talked yesterday. Alex, are you feeling okay?” Tony sounded even more concerned.

“I-uh. You know what? Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay. Sorry, I was just pulling some silly prank,” Alex forced a laugh.

“If you say so. Anyway, I have to go. Talk to you later,” Tony hung up before she could reply.

Alex dropped her phone in realization. 

“A being of chaos. It either didn’t exist and I’m delusional, or since it didn’t actually belong here it had to put me in a deep sleep to escape,” she laughed at the thought of being crazy, but she knew it made sense.

Mythological creatures don’t actually exist and there was no way she saw one yesterday. It had to have been a dream, or someone drugged her to make her hallucinate. Deep down Alex knew neither of those were right, so she just kept quiet about her beliefs and moved on with life. 

She never forgot about Erebus and sometimes she swears he is still around taunting her in the corner of her eye. Whenever she turns to get a good look there's nothing there. He was just a figment of her imagination and never to be seen again.