Dragon Birth Brother - CHAPTER I

It was summer time. School had been over for ages and the impending doom of the dreaded return to school was still far. It had been a good day. Dad was also on holidays which meant that he wasn't tired in the evenings and in a good mood for story telling. As usual the story has been about dragons and Alberto was still thinking about it.
Alberto shared the room with his brother Alvaro who was always either playing Warcraft on the computer, reading a book and, if Alberto wasn't careful, playing with Alberto's DS which he got as a Christmas present from Santa two years earlier for getting good results at school.

"Alvaro. Do you think that dragons could really exist?" Alberto asked his brother.
"Sure thing," replied Alvaro "and if you don't shut up and let me sleep I'll call one so that it gobbles you up."
Alberto knew that meant dragons didn't exist, but he still got a bit nervous when he heard a strange scratching sound in the room. Lying in bed in the dark he couldn't quite tell were it was coming from.
"Alvaro. I think the cat is in the room."
"No he's not. Mum took him out. Now please let me sleep."
Nothing happened for a while. Alberto could hear the TV playing softly downstairs. That mean that his parents were still awake.
The scratching sound came again. Louder this time. He heard Alvaro sitting up in the bed.
"That's not funny Alberto. If you don't stop making noise I'll call mum."
Alberto, who was now quite scared, said "It's not me. I didn't do anything."
Alvaro got off his bed and stood next to him trying to look mean. "Don't lie! I did hear you scratch...."
More scratching sounds. This time clearly from the window.
"Muuum!!" shouted Alberto.
"Be quiet. It's probably just the wind," said Alvaro walking towards the window and opening the curtains.
There was nothing there. Alberto could see the estuary with the town lights further away in the distance. His brother turned to him with a look of 'I told you so'.
"But," Alberto said, " there's no wind."

Alvaro realised that what his brother had said was true, there was no wind. He turned toward him, trying to think of some other reason to explain the noise, and saw him looking out of the window terrified. Alberto was trying to say something but no words would come out. Alvaro realised the room had gone darker and that there was that scratching sound again.
He slowly turned to look. The town lights were gone, the estuary was gone, there was nothing there, just blackness. He took a few steps back and said to his brother "I think we should tell dad that the lights have gone," even though he new it wasn't true as he could still hear the TV in the background. Suddenly the room lit up with a weird yellow light. He looked out and there, just outside the window, there was a huge cat's eye.
"MUUUM!!! DAAAD!!!" Screamed his brother.
Alvaro couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. He hear someone coming up the stairs and his dad saying something on the lines of stop messing about and go to sleep. Then complete silence.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you or Alberto." Said a sweet relaxing voice, "but I've been looking for you for a long time and I had to see you."
The peace the voice brought to their hearts was so big that the fear the brothers had just felt seem far away. They looked at each other puzzled rather than scared.
"I think he's talking to you." Said Alberto, quite glad he didn't have to talk to THE EYE. No matter how nice it sounded.

"What are you?" Asked Alvaro. Quite convinced now he was having one cool dream he would be able to tell his mates on Messenger the next day.
"My name is Alvaro," replied the Eye.
"Hahahaha" Alberto burst out laughing. "Good name for an ugly big eye".
Alvaro gave Alberto a dirty look and was going to say something when the Eye said "I'm your brother."
Alberto stopped laughing and Alvaro smiled. "Yes. You look a bit like my brother."
The big hearty laugh sounded all over the house. While it laughed the Eye moved and for a second the boys could see the town lights again. There was some big animal with cat eyes just outside the window!
"I'm not a big animal with cat eyes," said the voice. "I'm a dragon..."
"I knew it! You DO exist!" shouted Alberto, making the dragon go quiet. It has to be said here that no many people have the strength of soul to quiet a dragon.
The eye moved further away and looked at Alberto. They could see the head now. It seemed to smile. A big, scary, full of big sharp teeth type of smile.
"As I was saying before I was interrupted, I'm a dragon. I'm your Dragon Birth Brother. That's why my name is Alvaro."
"What's your name in dragon language?" Alberto asked before Alvaro had the chance to speak.
"Alvaro is the only name I have," said the dragon.
"In Spanish? Yeah, right," said Alberto who was quick at catching things like this.
"Be quiet and let him speak." Ordered his brother.
"How do you know it's a he?"
"QUIET!! I want to know more," said Alvaro, and to the dragon he said "Please go on."
"As I said. Alvaro it's the only name I have. I was given that name because I was born at exactly the same time as you. Taking into account non linear time of course."
"What was the last bit he said?" asked Alberto. Alvaro had heard his mum talking about non linear time but wasn't sure what it meant and it didn't sound important.
"At the same time as me?" He asked to himself aloud. Just then something that was nagging him became clear. "Hey. How did you know I was thinking of you as a big animal with cats eyes? I didn't say anything."
The dragon gave him one of those chilling smiles again and said, "because we are brothers. Dragon Birth Brothers can use mental communication."
"How come I can hear you then?" Asked Alberto.
The dragon moved a bit further back and looked at him with both eyes. "Yes. I was wandering about that as well."
The boys got closer to the window and looked at the dragon. It was huge. It looked just like a dragon from the movies. It's wings were flapping creating a lot of wind but the trees didn't move. Even though it was dark, the colour reminded Alberto of Saphira, a purple dragon from the film they had gone to see a few weeks earlier. "Dad never got here." he said to Alvaro.
"You are right."
Alvaro crossed the room and opened the door. There, he saw his dad walking up the stairs looking crossed but without moving. He turned to the dragon and asked, "did you freeze my dad?"
"I didn't freeze him. I simply speeded up the flow of time for us. He's moving really, really slowly from our point of view."
"Why did you do that?" Asked Alberto.
"So that your parents don't worry about you leaving."
"What you mean leaving? We are not going anywhere." Stated Alvaro.
"I guess I should have started at the beginning. Alvaro, I need for you to come with me to my side of reality. If we are to beat the dark dragons the brothers have to be together. It's the only way."
It was just too much for Alvaro. He didn't know what to say, so he said, "but I have my pyjamas on."
This time they could actually see the dragon laughing.
"I'm not staying behind," said Alberto. "If you leave me, I'm going to tell mum and dad about you and him."
"I can't bring you," said the dragon. "You don't have any powers on my side of reality and I can't look after you."
"If I don't have any powers how come I can hear you? Even if you freeze me like my dad I will tell them about you."
"They won't believe you," said Alvaro. "But I agree. I don't think we should leave you behind."
Alberto stared at his older brother. He was actually being nice to him.
"Ok. Fair enough. But make sure you act like his older brother and look after him," said Alvaro the dragon. "Open the window, climb onto my head and then onto my back."
They changed clothes, then Alvaro opened the window and the dragon got his head as close as he could to it. The dragon was so big that his neck was like a path. It helped that the dragon kept his head really still and when they got to the back of his head, which was moving, it was wide enough not to fall.
The dragon pulled away from the window as soon as the boys had settled on his back and started flying towards the sea. They could see the lights from the town getting bigger and went past them quite fast. Now they were flying in the dark on top of the water. The boys were holding on for dear life but the dragon was flying quite gently so there was no danger of falling.

Suddenly a bright light appeared in front of them and it started to get bigger and bigger. The boys thought they could see clouds inside it. "What's that!" shouted Alvaro above the wind noise.
"It's the interdimensional door to my side of the universe. Don't worry it's just a door!" Alvaro the Dragon shouted as they flew in.