The roaring continued. Hungry Guy pressed forward, his lust for lemon exceeding his fear of the monster on whose tail he trod. In between roars he could hear the creature chatting.
“I mean who throws a key? I could’ve lost an eye! The carelessness of some ---- ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!”
The serpent, who had been talking to herself, had spotted Hungry Guy out of the corner of her eye. In her fright she instinctively swung her tail, launching Guy skyward; she recovered quickly enough to catch him before he crashed to the earth.
Guy, having today ingested hallucinogens, traveled through an extradimensional portal and, perhaps most absurdly, journeyed aboard a ship directed by a horse, took this latest incident in stride. He smiled and introduced himself. “My name’s Guy, and you are?”
The serpent was silent, shocked at the aplomb of this tiny creature.
“Fair enough. Anyway, I heard you talking about a key. Well I dropped a key and desperately need to recover it. The key is my ticket to Intergaze, which apparently has a lemon, and typically I’m not a big citrus guy but I have a serious hankering now and, well, if I could just—-”
The serpent pressed a claw to Guy’s lips. “There is indeed a lemon, and it is indeed through the gates of Intergaze, and you’re welcome to this key despite the fact that you dropped it on my head.” She tossed it into Guy’s lap. “But the key won’t be enough.”
Guy’s face fell as the serpent explained the intricacies of the gate, that it did in fact require a key, but that the key could not be turned by any solitary adventurer. “Only a group of friends dedicated to the same cause can open the gate,” she explained.
Guy reflected on the cool irony of having been separated from his traveling companions to pursue a gate that he could not open alone. He wept.
The serpent was considering what to do with this piteous creature when there was a calamitous crash, a scream and a…neigh?
“Let him go, snake!” demanded a man in a threadbare jacket. He was flanked by another in a lab coat and by a horse, the group having inexplicably jumped from the deck of a wooden ship.
Guy, so elated by the reunion, momentarily forgot his hunger and ran to his companions. In one breathless rant he explained how he ended up with the (friendly) serpent, the key, and how he learned of the demands of the Intergaze gate.
Moments later the intrepid adventurers stood before the gate, the serpent having been more than happy to transport them to their destination so she might bring about her own reunion with peace and quiet. Guy inserted the key, and three hands and one hoof turned the key in the gate’s ornate lock.
Two titanic doors parted and the group was bathed in golden light. The improbable friends interweaved their hands and walked through to meet their destiny. As various animal ligaments tiptoed into the room, our heroes were met with their worst nightmare, something none of them could have prepared for. At the end of the hall lay a little black and white fluffy Pomeranian dog, licking its lips in delight. *burp*.
Our canine nemesis let out a belch and spat out a lemon pip onto the floor, much to the dismay of our protagonists. “Jennie…” they gasped. Their adventure had been in vain, and the Legendary Lemon had been lost. But maybe - just maybe - it was all about the friends we made along the way.
The Intergaze gateway crackled with energy, pulsing with thunder from the other side. Hungry Guy paused. The thunder reverberated in his chest.
Suddenly, the rift began to shiver. The portal’s veil peeled back and a long serpent’s tail cut through the darkness. It uncoiled, reaching all the way to Hungry Guy’s feet. Taking a breath, he stepped off the ship onto the tail’s tip.
Hungry Guy descended. The stiff serpent scales glistened like a set of quartz stairs under his feet. With each step his fear ebbed, replaced by energy and conviction. The portal ahead began to glow.
As he grew closer, he realized it wasn’t thunder on the other side. It was a dragon’s roar.