Toraun

Lightning flashed, followed almost immediately by a loud clap of thunder. "Only a few more minutes before the rain starts," the old man muttered under his breath. He scratched his head as he looked behind him. "I need to do something about a seat." He said as a thin smile played on his face. The sight of the burning stool appeared in his mind. That had been a good day. He had purchased the stool when he first started the business, thinking that it would be the perfect stool, he had soon realized that it wasn't. But, never really having the time nor the money to get a new one, he kept it until last night. He regretted that he had to stand on the hard cement floor, but at least now he had a reason to look for a new one.

Lightning flashed again followed by another boom that rocked the small house. He looked at the roof of the old house and mumbled a curse. The rain always brought cursing from the old man. The thatched roof had more holes than roof, not really, this is just how it felt when the floor was covered with pots, pans and bowls to catch the water. He mumbled a few more profanities before he walked to the cupboard and pulled out the pans and bowls that would save the floor from the flood. The pitter patter sounds of rain started and quickened the old man's steps. Within a few minutes he finished the chore of protecting the floor. He looked at the worn floor and wondered why he even bothered.

He opened the old computer and caressed the keys lovingly. The computer had been given to him by his mother on his thirty-fifth birthday. He pressed the power button and it started whirring as it slowly booted up. He knew that the computer needed many parts replaced but after his mother's death he couldn't bear to let it go. The cursor blinked in the username field and he quickly typed in 'Dragonrider'. He pressed the tab key and the cursor jumped to the password field. He paused and thought of days of yesterday. The days that he traveled throughout the universe in search of the perfect adventure. With a sigh he typed in '@dv3ntur3j0urn@l' and pressed the enter key. The computer whirred and the screen flashed from white to blue. Several icons appeared on the screen but only one concerned him today. He touched the screen on the icon of a journal, and a holographic picture of the universe appeared in front of him. He zoomed in with his fore finger and thumb until the picture zoomed into a group of planets surrounding a bright yellow star. Several of the planets were outlined in red, a couple of yellow and a single green one. He pressed on the green planet. Toraun appeared in bold letters under the planet followed by a brief description. "I'm really getting much too old to be doing this." He pressed the initiate button and closed his eyes. His stomach churned, he felt blood rush to his head and then nothing. He opened his eyes and ran his hand though his long brown hair. He smiled and said, "At least it has its perks."