One and the Same - Short Story Collection
PostPosted:Mon Sep 16, 2013 8:11 pm
The first story in a series of short stories, the collection is titled One and the Same.
I plan to create Dyyor Journals to tie together the short stories in timeline means.
Some short stories wont be posted here as I intend to include graphic and adult situations, but the Journals will help to fill in the blanks as they will be rated PG.
Let me know what you guys think.
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One and the Same
Prologue
~ Lunae, September 16th, Year 1355 of the Human Calendar
Choices, they define us; what we do, where we go… what we become…. Sometimes choices come easily, sometimes not, and sometimes they just seem like a choice when in reality there was none to begin with. And then there are the choices that demand sacrifice, the hardest ones of all are often the most rewarding; the outcome matters most to the majority.
What matters in the end is just how much you are willing to lose; would you give your entire self to save even a fraction of the thing you hold most dear? What would you do to avoid endangering that thing to begin with, would you push it away? Sometimes you have to do just that, to become lonely and never experience the feelings that very person or thing gives you ever again.
I was faced with a choice, one that would not yield its’ importance nor give sympathy to any delay. The outcome would forever alter who and what I was, my very soul was forfeit if in the end my resolve was not absolute. My choice was the only real control I had with the entire situation, the family I had managed to acquire was in danger if I wasn’t careful.
I suppose this all must sound outlandish to whoever is reading, so I will recount the events since the abrupt ending of my previous entry. The only solace I have is in the knowledge these entries won’t go unnoticed and I will hopefully not be forgotten if the time comes that my life must end.
To the curious individual reading this, you have my eternal gratitude.
- Dyyor
Chapter 1
The Unwelcome Guest
~ Iovis, August 29th, Year 1355 of the Human Calendar
Kurai has finally returned, barely, judging from his tale upon my curiosity. He had gone in search of a pendant he had left with one of our old caregivers, but there were some kind of hunters waiting for him. Unfortunately for them they lacked full understanding of what my small friend was capable of, and their choice of machinery was poorly made. Even so, they had managed to wound him considerably in the end, forcing him to stay in the mountains to heal.
My friend now explained to me the object that was stolen is called a Chaos Pen. There were only 15 of these objects in the entire world, scattered across the nations, and were different objects depending on their purposes. His Pen was some kind of key, meant to open a gate said to hold the Madness of the Gods. He didn’t elaborate on what that was, just changed topics and hoped I wouldn’t notice.
Sometimes I think Kurai delights in making me curious, but judging from his body language I can make the assumption this is some fairly serious stuff he is dealing with. I decided to let the topic trail off; I know he will tell me more when he is ready. Plus Ixontros should have sent a response by now; I hope he can give me more insight on Kurai’s Pen.
Regardless of his secrets, I am happy to have my friend home again, and Jadine will be happy to see him again too I bet.
~
I am not a clever dragon… I will explain later.
~
I found myself rushing down the corridors of the cave, weaving and dashing between stalagmites and launching myself off of walls to gain more speed. All around me were the sounds of magical bursts and metal screeching. Something had invaded my home, my magical barriers had been shattered and the defenses rendered useless. The very walls lashed out at me, a secondary failsafe I had put in designed to ensnare any would-be thief, and apparently said thief had reversed the spell.
Ducking under a stone tendril, I swung around and snapped my fingers to produce a resonance. The walls froze in place for a second then collapsed back into the rocks it had once been; barely giving it a second thought I continued my fevered race to my vault. Ahead of me I could hear footsteps, they sounded far too calm to be a thief rushing to his prize.
As I rounded the last corner I caught a glimpse of the man as he casually entered my vault, I couldn’t help but snarl fiercely as I leapt at his heels. My claws scraped and gauged the ground as I forced my body to turn against the momentum and I faced the intruder, only to find he had vanished. The room was dark and empty, save for my treasures, there were faint glows coming from some of the displays.
“Humph,” I growled as I strode amongst the items, “Not the brightest human I’ve ever met, but you broke down my safeguards so I suppose I should congratulate you on that regard.” Some of the items glowed brighter in my presence, magic sensory types. “You may as well come out now; I never did care for hide and seek, even in the hatchery.”
Suddenly a light sparked to life several yards away from me, the intruder had cast a Guide Light spell. He stood there in a dark cloak, his arms crossed behind his back and looking all too calm for his current situation. “I figured you had to be a magic user,” casually I walked towards him, “Not many can undo my magic, let alone turn it on me.” The intruder uncrossed his arms and brought up the left one, unrolling his cloak sleeves, I kept up my guard.
“Apologies for the home invasion, Dragon, but you have something my employer desires.” In the light several patches of scaring could be seen on his forearm, I noted how they looked familiar. “And this employer could have merely come and asked himself,” I waved my tail angrily and glared at him, “This intrusion wasn’t necessary.” We stood a mere five feet apart at this point, he stood there with his right hand hovering over the scars on his arm, I sat on my haunches and glared at him. Typically I am not this merciful to intruders, but my curiosity was granting him a grace period.
“So, intruder, what is it your employer wanted?”
He still didn’t lower his guard and bluntly said, “Not an item, but a creature, you.”
Well that is new… “Sorry, but you will have to tell your employer I am not for rent or sale,” I lowered my head to close the gap between us and hissed, “Not that you will actually be telling him that verbally.”
Surprisingly, he just smirked at my threat, “I guess it is a good thing I’m not really here then.”
~
My eyes shot open, the dream snapped out of existence and I was laying there dumbfounded. As if I didn’t have enough issues with dreams, now I had a recurring one with a Dreamstrider, damn it! The dreams began two weeks ago, while Kurai was in the mountains, they started with simple home invasion, but gradually progressed to the point where other dreams would get literally interrupted. Dreamstriding was still new to me and the magic it cost was nearly exhausting, but sadly it was my only means of catching this home/mind invader. It was refreshing to at least have a conversation with this person, even though I learned almost nothing.
I stretched and shivered as my joints loosened after the restless sleep. Much to my surprise it was actually morning, had I been chasing him the entire night? Lazily rolling out of my matted hay bed, I stood and shook my legs awake and scanned the room in case the visitor left anything to suggest actually being here. My cave was as homely as could be expected for a dragon, simple rooms and simple furnishings made up the interior. On tables there sat bottles and scrolls, small projects began and then forgotten. Light was produced by candles and fireplaces, even magically glowing gems attached to wall fixtures.
The light danced across piles of metal bits made of bronze and copper, gears and springs salvaged from broken human machines. That is my hoard; a dragon’s natural addiction to collecting objects and trinkets. The past hundred years, humans were crafting such fascinating things from natural elements found in the earth: machines, armor, tools. How could I resist claiming the odd spare gear or misplaced spring? Along with metals I had an interest in collecting spell tomes and scrolls, my magical skills greatly progressing over the last couple decades.
My musings were interrupted by a loud crack of thunder outside, the hairs of my mane stood on end and my ears perked up. A few seconds later another, equally loud thunder crack sounded along with a rumble that could be felt through the stone walls. That was my hint to find out what the noise was about, I dashed out of my sleeping room and down the hallway towards the common chamber. Just as I arrived at the mouth of my home, a yellow lightning bolt shot past me and struck a table, reducing the innocent piece of furniture to ash.
That was one of Kurai's spells, too wild of a shot to be target practice. I ignored the fact I was almost gravely wounded and continued running forward until I was outside; my eyes took several seconds to adjust to the light difference. Once the white faded I was staring dumbfounded at a most peculiar scene, my friend attacking a cloaked human. Kurai was bounding around hum, clawing at the man’s cape in passing, all the while blasting bolt after bolt of arcane electricity. The human was proving more than capable of fighting back, using an odd gauntlet that covered his right arm to deflect all of Kurai's lightning. He ducked and spun to keep up with my agile friend, using his left arm to cast spells of his own: webbed chains of solidified, red light.
A chain suddenly caught one of Kurai’s legs, fastening him to the ground tightly; as my friend struggled to free himself the human lunged forward. He swung out the gauntlet on his right arm and a large blade shot out, leaping forward he prepared to behead my friend. In that small fraction of time I acted; leaping forward and slammed my tail into his side, cracking several of his ribs. He went flying a crossed the clearing and smashed into a tree with a sickening crack, not giving him the chance to recover, he had his back against the tree gasping for breath within seconds.
“Who are you and why are you attacking my friend?!” I snarled, breathing fiercely in his face and baring my fangs. The human gasped and spit up blood instead of answering me, I lowered him and loosened my grip enough for him to speak through his blood stained lips. “Was... just... defending... myself,” he coughed, “Came... to deliver… message.”
I continued glaring at him for a few additional moments then looked at Kurai, who was still struggling to free himself of the magic chains. He stopped long enough to explain, “You were expecting this... Hunter?” he sounded unjustly angry at me, “He wears the same crest as the humans who attacked me at the hatchery!”
My eyes widened at this piece of information, I turned to the man lying before me, “Is this true, are you a part of the group that tried to kill him?”
The human groggily nodded his head and slumped down into unconsciousness. My curiosity peeking, I reached out and pulled his cloak open to reveal his bronze and copper armor. The chest piece was engraved with an intricate yet simple design: a wheel of eight arrows all pointing outward from the center. I recognized the symbol; it belonged to one of the Scribe guilds lead by Ixontros, the Hands of Direction. Why had Ixontros’ men attacked Kurai, what possible reason would he have to make such an order?
Kurai had finally managed to break the chain and was limping towards me; I shook my head and faced him. “Please, Kurai, tell me what is going on,” I couldn’t shake this feeling, “I think this may be my fault.”
~
After explaining about my attempt to contact the very leader of the group who attacked him, Kurai was understandably upset with me. “Why did you do that!?” he roared at me, “I didn’t tell you everything to keep you from being involved in this fight!” I winced at his rage, he was pacing back and forth, tail thrashing. “How was I supposed to know a friend I made decades ago would end up being some power-mad, overlord of a psychotic organization!?”
My friend huffed, and turned his back to me, then looked back at the man he attacked, “I think it is best I leave, before I do or say anything I will regret. I leave him to you, the message he has better be worth it.” His wings spread out and he hastily threw himself into the air, leaving me alone with the ‘prisoner’. I lowered my head sadly and turned to the human, he was still out cold so I saved myself the trouble and rummaged through his pack.
Inside were scrolls and other various items, eventually I found an envelope addressed to me, Ixontros’ family crest sealing it shut. I quickly opened the parchment and read the message inside:
Dear Dyyor,
It has been far too long since we last spoke, my old friend; I apologize for my absence during your visit. The nature of your inquiry is fascinating; as it turns out I too am looking into further information about these relics.
They are called Chaos Pens, ancient items said to have unleashed the wrath of the very Gods upon the world thousands of years ago. All of them serve different purposes, but they also provide the same effect universally: Chaos, unbridled. What that means about your friends’ missing item, I sadly cannot say at this time.
I have sent Brother Leuthar to not only deliver this message, but to also accompany you in your search for the information you seek.
Sincerely,
- Ixontros
I turned the paper over twice before deciding nothing else was written, Brother Leuthar was starting to come to as I let out a small lash of flames and burned the letter. “Good to see you are awake, Leuthar,” I glowered at him, “The least I can do is heal you enough to travel, but you are to return to your master and inform him I won’t be requiring your services.”
I didn’t know what Ixontros intended to do, but if he was willing to hurt Kurai then he wasn’t to be trusted anymore. I would later learn that I should have just let Leuthar die under that tree; it would have saved me far more grief…
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One and the Same
Prologue
~ Veneris, September 20th, Year 1355 of the Human Calendar
Kurai has been avoiding me for the past four days, understandably I suppose; my curiosity did almost get him killed… twice. But, I was hoping that he would come around sooner than this.
The last couple days I have been trying to get an idea of how to make this better; I could apologize, but really, would a fiftieth apology change anything? I have tried to give him all the information I have on the guild that has, for lack of a better metaphor, declared war on him; that just got a narrowed glare from the little drake. The only other thing I could think of was to just give him space, which makes me feel even worse but what else can be done?
Since Brother Leuthar went back to the Hands, I have been thinking long and hard about why this could all be happening. Ixontros; did he by any chance go to the hatchery himself, or was he the one who stole the item to begin with? Why would he try to stop Kurai, he was only trying to get back what belonged to him. I couldn’t shake the feeling this was somehow connected to the intruder of my dreams, was he one of the Hands?
Tonight I will try to capture him, not entirely sure how, but I have to find a way. I wonder if there is a sort of trap I can place in my mind for such unwelcome visits…
- Dyyor
Chapter 2
Sleeping While Awake
~ Solis, July 28th, Year 1355 of the Human Calendar
~
Humans have fascinated me for decades, one in particular, whom I am proud to call my friend is Ixontros. He is an old alchemist and researcher I met about thirty-five years ago when I was sight-seeing in Colgrad, a lonely and cold little province of Athelon. I had heard tale Athelon developed its own unique type of magic that involved the written word; naturally I had to see this magic for myself.
They call it “Scribing”, the use of written and spoken words to alter and augment reality itself. While it was indeed impressive, it gave me a sick feeling along with a sensation I was not entirely sure of. It was at a Scribe College that I first met Ixontros; he insisted I stay with him during my visit so he could examine and get to know me. His home was quite large and accommodating, definitely not what I expected; who builds a house with a dragon visit in mind?
~
Night, the starry sky sparkled endlessly with light shed by long dead suns and distant worlds. I lay on my back watching their glow, collecting my thoughts from the day; attempting to condense them into a smaller chunk of information. This was my go-to strategy when sleep did not show itself; rest on the bank of Lake Lunsheer and try to count the millions of lights in the sky. My record was five billion, seven-hundred thirty-two million, four-hundred thousand and forty-two, the only reason I stopped was because the forty-third was the sun itself.
There was more than one reason I could not sleep tonight, one of which was my Dreamstrider, I didn’t like his intrusions and I certainly didn’t want to deal with him at the moment. Another reason was my worry; Kurai has been cooped up in his cave since his fight with Leuthar, I have never been good at the ‘giving space’ thing. And the last reason: Golems, steam-powered, mechanical beasts made by humans for general labor and the odd mercenary job. The past few nights several have passed through the forest, breaking branches, stomping around, and overall making a racket. I didn’t know who they belonged to, or what they could do, so keeping my distance and staying alert seemed best.
Suddenly something seemed off; one of the constellations was in the completely wrong region of the heavens… and upside down. The air tensed and became cold, just as I lifted my head the lake water to my right began turning and bubbling violently, a torrent blasting into the sky. Completely on my feet and alert, I watched in worried caution as the pillar of water burst apart, revealing the Dreamstrider. As the water fell like the first rain of Spring I glared daggers at the man, he just stood calmly as ever on the water’s surface.
“Visiting me in my daydreams as well,” I growled, “is there no limit to your persistence?” The human just stood there in his usual stance; with his left arm extended and the right hand hovering over what, I now remembered, was an Etch scar. This invader was a Scribe and a nasty one at that, I had no idea Scribing could be used like this, Goddess knew what else he had on his skin. “I told you I was not for sale, so tell your employer to take a hint!”
The man just chuckled arrogantly, “Sadly, Dragon, I was not hired to acquire your services,” he raised his left arm, “Tell me, what does my Etch say?” the moonlight struck the deep scar so the word could be read, Madness. My eyes widened, it all made sense now; his specialty was to break the mind! But then I recalled a single word wasn’t enough to harm anything, much less a dragon; it needed a catalyst Etch. I continued glaring as the order escaped my lips, “Show me your right hand.”
His smile faded, disappointment replacing glee, “So he wasn’t lying,” begrudgingly he turned his hand to my view, “No matter, you lack the skills and knowledge to combat me.” The scar read Revolving, I frowned in confusion and my expression changed to pain as something dug into my skull. The feeling intensified as I slumped to the ground, my vision blurring to black as I struggled to keep focus on the man slowly approaching me.
I lost consciousness as he spoke, “How many times am I going to have to break you until you realize?”
~
Blood, the warm and cooling liquid slowly trickled down my neck, spilling from my nostrils and the taste of iron and nickel filled my mouth. Crimson was what greeted my sight as I carefully opened my eyes, the color I often saw when using my strongest spells. The morning light was harsh and proceeded stabbing me with thousands of needles, but the stings quickly vanished with repeated blinks. It was morning… I was by the lake… standing in my sleep; these were the least worrisome things on my mind right now: What spell had I used? What was my target? Why would I use such strong magic for said target? Those questions seared through my head as painfully as that attack in my dream, they needed answers and fast.
I shook my head gently to clear my vision, sending droplets of blood flying into the water and surrounding plant life. Ignoring my wounds, I hunted for clues, any sign that whatever I had done hadn’t caused harm. There were craters surrounding where I had stood, the banks of the lake were shredded and several trees had been sliced down. None of this damage looked familiar and the magical resonance was alien to me, had I really done all this? As I stepped forward a sharp pain ran through my left hind leg, turning back I discovered the cause of the pain was a piece of steel.
The shard of metal was embedded deep in my thigh; pulling it out may cause uncontrollable bleeding, but I couldn’t just stand there and wait for help. Working quickly, I clamped my jaws onto the shrapnel and yanked it out, a torrent of blood followed in its’ absence. My mouth began to glow increasingly bright as I built up my fire breath; the flames burst forth and engulfed my wound in searing pain. My legs buckled from the pain and the light faded from my vision, the wound closed just before I felt faint. It took several moments before I was stable enough to get back on my feet and continued examining the scene.
Suddenly the sound of rattling drew my attention to the ground; I looked towards the piece of metal that had once been stuck in my leg. To my surprise the fragment was scooting across the grass towards a tree, my line of sight following it as it crept towards a human leaning casually against the tree. My alert rose and I forced myself to jump up, quickly regretting it as the world spun and I fell on my side. To my chagrin the human laughed at the sight of a ‘drunken dragon’, “Cher a clumsy ‘un when yer not restin’ upright, ain’t ‘cha?”
I didn’t recognize his accent, his annunciations were like gravel and glass to my ears and the desire to fly far away from him was increasing with each word. “What did you do to me?” I demanded, which in retrospect looked rather pathetic with my snout in the dirt. He just continued laughing at me, raising a peculiar weapon up to his eye level; the shard of metal floated up and then reattached itself to a gauge in the blade. “Oooh, ain’t we a rude ‘un, ‘tinkin’ I did sumtin’ to yer,” he spun the weapon around a couple times before stabbing the ground and leaning on it, “Te name be Brot’er Jakob by the by, pleasure t’meetcha, drag-ey.”
My eye twitched at the pet name, “My name is Dyyor!” I snarled, finally mustering up the strength to stand again. So he was a member of the Hands, which meant he likely had Etches on his skin ready to use at any time. “So, ‘Brot’er Jakob’,” I asked in a mocking tone, “If you did nothing to me, then why was your weapon’s blade embedded in my leg?”
“Aaaah, fine q’estion, Deeeee-or, ya sleep wit te unrest o’ the dead, maybe ya roll’d ontu it?” I was growing very impatient with this man, it was abundantly clear he had attacked me in some form or another. “Very funny, but I am serious, what is your business?” I was in no condition to fight, if that was his goal, but I wasn’t going to let him catch me off-guard.
Jakob leaned further forward onto his odd weapon, almost in a comical way, “I jus’ come t’deliv’r ah message’er two: from Mast’r Ixontros, und from Brot’er Leuthar.” My eyes widened at the mention of Leuthar, I tried to back away quickly but carefully. “Ah, come now,” Jakob began to stride towards me, “T’ain’t gonna ‘urt ‘at much.”
He raised the weapon high in the air, the hook of the blade pointed towards me, then swung down. To my shock, the blade shattered into dozens of pieces of metal without actually having hit anything, a weapon weak enough the air breaks it? No, that can’t be right; he had just been leaning on it. While my mind was trying to make sense of this fact, I hadn’t realized the shards had maintained the momentum from the swing and were flying towards me.
Several stinging sensations erupted along my right arm and chest plates, I snarled in pain as my hind legs gave way to allow me to fall on my side again. I quickly tried to assess the damage, only to discover this weapon was made of a special metal, able to pierce my scaly hide. Jakob’s laughter rang loudly through the trees as he sauntered over to me; as if his speech wasn’t annoying enough, but his laugh was like strangling a cat hanging next to a chalkboard. He raised the handle of the weapon, with bits of the blade still attached, and I could feel a pulling sensation in my wounds. I was painfully reminded this weapon could call back its pieces as, one by one, the tiny bits of metal shot out of me with the same force as they had arrived.
The wounds left by the metals shards trickled steadily with my blood, weakening me even further as Jakob stood mere inches from my face. “Nay a ‘big un’ tough drag-ey now, are ya?”
“Then try out this dragon!” Kurai leapt from the trees and landed a few feet from us, he only stood still long enough for Jakob to be surprised and lunged with incredible speed at my attacker. All poor Jakob could do was turn and try to shield his face as Kurai clamped his jaws down on his shoulder, then clawed at his legs. Jakob screamed, dropping his weapon, and began twisting and turning, trying to pry the considerably stronger drake off. In his struggle he had no chance of noticing Kurai’s tail creeping up from behind, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Jakob as he became another victim of Kurai's ‘trump card’.
A long, blue barb extended from the tip of his tail and pointed at Jakob’s neck, in a fraction of a second the tail pulled back and stabbed Jakob in the spine. Kurai’s latest victim tensed up at the moment of impact then slowly slumped down to his knees, after a long pause Kurai pulled the barb out with a violent flick. He released Jakob’s body from his jaws and let it fall limply to the ground; we stood in silence for a time after that. He then looked at me and casually asked, “Will you be alright?”
I nodded, quickly regretting it as I felt my vision fade to black and back again, “I think so, how did you know I needed help?” not the best of times to be worrying about such a thing, but I couldn’t help it. My friend just turned his back to me and replied, “Because I am your friend, I always know when you are in trouble,” he then looked back at me with a slightly pained look, “Even if I am mad at you.”
My eye twitched and I couldn’t help but cringe, “Th-thank you…” I wanted to say more, but before the words could even form, Kurai quickly ran up and hugged my neck. I froze for several moments as we stood there in silence and eventually I returned his hug, wincing at my still bleeding wounds. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, I felt the guilt rising in my throat again and I hugged him tighter.
“Me too.”
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Brother Jakob's Weapon
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~ Iovis, September 26th, Year 1355 of the Human Calendar
Judging by the latest communication from Ixontros, sent by raven carrier, he is not happy about this outcome whatsoever. I gave him my word that I would not harm the next messenger, so long as they followed the same example. The message itself consisted mostly of apologies for the actions of their now dead member, but also a demand for the return of his corpse. I was more than willing to oblige, I also decided to inform him Kurai had confiscated that infernal weapon; my wounds still hadn’t fully healed. I find it remarkable just how civil he is being, considering he is my enemy now.
On a different note, the Dreamstrider has begun to up his game as of late, perhaps it has something to do with this Dreamsealing spell I found. The book said it would just prevent dreams, but it failed to clarify that by ‘prevent’ it actually means ‘freeze them in place so they can spend the entirety of your sleep staring at you like a creepy leper’. It didn’t take long for him to counter my feeble attempt, just three nights, but the delay had given me some hope. Still, I can’t really complain; those nights were the best sleep I’ve had in a while.
He has increased his efforts in the form of Nightmares, a lot of them! Every night he covers my mind in darkness, from that darkness comes the most horrible and grotesque visions. He has dug up old memories and thoughts I had buried half a century ago. He even found my memories about a certain incident I had an involvement with back in the year 1273, the Crimson Night. That Nightmare had a particular effect on my mind; I imagine he will force me to re-live it again if he deems it suitable.
The lengths this human is willing to go in order to break me are astounding, what purpose could he have to be doing this to me? My suspicions need to be put to rest and in order to do that I needed to speak with Ixontros, tomorrow morning I will begin my journey to Athelon.
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One and the Same
Prologue
~ Solis, September 29th, Year 1355 of the Human Calendar
Dragons are renowned for their diplomacy, their poise and most importantly their manners. For centuries my kind have been envoys for many great countries, proclaimers of peace and of war. Our prestige was justly earned, for our neutrality was rarely equaled in the realms of beast and man. The main reason behind our success was limited involvement; we typically chose to let conflicts play out on their own, regardless of attempts to hire our services as weapons.
Since the dawn of time, limited involvement has served us and the world well. Most creatures respected us and the rest learned to fear us. To go against a dragon was akin to placing your head on the chopping block and swinging the axe yourself. In other words, if you choose to wrong a dragon, run. Plain and simple; RUN.
It may not come as a surprise that I am not as poised as my brothers and sisters. It was why I lived in a deep forest, why I chose to distance myself from humans. If clarification is what you seek, then ask your local healer about the night of crimson; they will know what it means.
- Dyyor
Chapter 3
Suspicions and Threats
~Murcurii, July 3rd, Year 1355 of the Human Calendar
I awoke with a terrible chill, it was that dream again. The fire and the steel, I can see it still so clearly, yet when I try to reflect further it vanishes. I do not know how long I have been having this dream, but it is always the same:
I can feel the warmth of the blaze as it surrounds what I can only assume is my home, the smoke smells of pine and bitter berries. I catch glimpses of what looks like metal blades, reflecting the light of the fire as they swing about. And at last my view lands on a shadowed figure standing in the flames, it looks as though it is reaching out to me. I could swear I heard it saying something but before I can make it out, the blades swept in and caused it to turn to smoke and ash.
I spent the last hour trying to retrieve what little else I could from my memory of the dream, but to no avail. Perhaps a relaxing walk through the forest will help to clear my mind, if anything else I can get some fresh air.
~
Athelon is a vast country known for its military and most importantly its’ studies in the supernatural. It is where magic and science come together to create what is known as Scribing, magic that controls the very fabric of reality through the use of words. Practicing Scribes hone their ability by practicing words of power, known as Etches or Etchings, named for the scratches and cracks left on the user. The country consists of five main provinces, each segregated by its dominant climate. There were lush forests, freezing tundra, harsh deserts and even some marshland dotted the landscape. But I was not here to see the sights; my true destination was one of the largest cities in the snowy province of Colgrad, Victorium.
Travelers would often tell of a huge city where the streets were cobbled with crystals and the sky was never cloudy. In the center of this beautiful city stood the Peleren Academia, a large tower surrounded by coliseum walls more ancient than any human could know.
Not surprisingly, I was receiving disapproving stares from the townspeople as I sauntered through the entry gate of the city. Of all the things that had changed in the past thirty-five years, the tolerance for my kind was not one of them. The city streets bustled with the usual traffic of merchants trying to sell goods, as well as the odd street performer showing off skills like juggling or knife throwing. At times there were bards passing through teashops looking for a patron to pay them for ‘music’ from the hideous instrument they used, in case it wasn’t obvious I have a certain level of disdain towards loots.
The tower itself was six-sided, to symbolize the six forms of magic: Elemental, Mind, Body, Light, Dark and Destiny. Within its walls was one of the largest libraries in existence, where aspiring Scribes could learn and hone their craft. At the very top of the tower resided a gigantic silver bowl, its purpose was collecting the natural energy of the world; transferring it through the tower into glass collection spheres. The coliseum itself was made from granite and marble, serving as a wall of protection as well as providing privacy to the people inside.
The exact moment I crossed the threshold and walked into the courtyard of the Academia two cloaked Scribes appeared in a flash to block my path. One was a rather young man with an Etch of the word Intent scored on his left cheek; the other was an older but still young woman with dark skin and dazzling copper-colored eyes. Even though they held spears made of bronze and iron to my throat, I held my composure and wore a fairly unimpressed expression. “State your business, Dragon,” the woman ordered, “If you are here for blood then we will not hesitate to slay you where you stand.”
I failed to resist the urge to roll my eyes and curtly responded, “I am here to meet your master; I sent word of my coming a couple days ago. Now either step aside or fetch him for me, either way you will not hinder my business here.” The young man flinched slightly as the Etch under his eye glowed and his iris turned a deep purple; I suspected the word was meant to measure the truthfulness of my explanation. After a long pause the glow stopped and he lowered his spear, “He speaks the truth, perhaps the Master forgot to inform us about a visitor.” The woman was less convinced and held her ground, “Master would not forget about something as important as a dragon showing up!”
Again I found my eyes rolling, reaching up I tapped the spear’s blade and in a flash the spear vanished. The woman was spooked and fell back, enticing a chuckle from her partner, “Just so you know: I have known teleportation magic for half a century now,” she stared at me in fear, “if I had chosen to, you would have joined your spear underground.”
“Und you vould have lost your head.” Another man warned from behind me. I turned my head slightly so he could be seen from the corner of my eye; the newcomer held a fairly good sized sword colored rich purples to the nape of my neck. He wore a normal tunic colored dark green and grey with pieces of gilded armor on his left shoulder and right hip; personally I thought he looked partially dressed. “Brother Edgar, please lower your weapon,” the young man pleaded, “this dragon is here to see the Master.”
I locked eyes with Edgar for a lengthy glaring contest, after about a minute in which neither of us blinked he finally yielded. With a bored expression he swung the sword up and rested the flat of the blade on his shoulder, “Very vell, but I leave you two to vatch him.” As he turned his back to me I faced the other humans with a ‘humph’, I wasn’t about to be intimidated by a human, much less one that snuck up on me. The young man gave a heavy sigh while the woman finally got up from the ground, brushing off her slacks. “So I am to be babysat by you two,” this was going to be an entertaining visit, “where to first then?”
The woman spoke up first, “You are going straight to the Meeting Hall,” she put on a tough face, “it is the only room in the Academia big enough for you.” I pretended to be aghast at her comment, dramatically sweeping a paw up to my chest and putting on a shocked expression. Just as I expected the man tried to salvage the situation, “She meant nothing by that, Sir,” he sputtered cutely, “It’s just the tower was mainly built to accommodate human sized creatures.” The woman rolled her eyes at her partner’s desperate attempt to be diplomatic; apparently this was a common thing for the two of them to deal with. I gave him an understanding nod and they began leading me to a large building next to the tower itself.
The Meeting Hall was little more than a glorified drinking hall from what I could tell, scores of tables were lined side by side, several had Meade barrels propped up and mugs scattered about. The ceiling was constructed to be more than accommodating for a creature of my stature, while the walls still gave a slightly Closter-phobic feel with their sloping formation. The center of the hall was the roomiest spot, with a giant fire-pit constructed in a hexagonal shape; I didn’t wait for an invitation and swiftly lay down in front of it. I couldn’t help but chuckle as the few occupants of the hall stared and whispered, they reminded me of chimps looking at their first fire.
“You are more than welcome to make yourself comfortable here, Sir,” the man was still trying to butter me up, “We will remain by the door, if you should need anything please don’t hesitate to ask.” As they turned to leave I reached out with my tail and pulled him closer to my face, “I doubt your master would approve of some of the things I would like to ask for.” I said seductively, what can I say, I like to tease. The poor boy’s face turned the reddest red I had ever seen and I couldn’t resist but to give him a quick lick on the cheek, smiling like an idiot. I gently released him and he quickly strode towards the door in embarrassment, “You really should learn some manners, buster,” the woman spat in disgust.
“The same goes for you too, sweet-talker.” I gave her a suggestive wink and watched with glee as she too blushed and stormed off; humans are so much fun to mess with. I lay there and waited for Ixontros to show up; surely he was told within minutes of my arrival, but after twenty minutes there was still no sign of him. After another ten minutes I got bored got up to look around the hall, there were paintings and wood carvings on the walls that caught my eye.
The first artwork I looked at was a painting of an Aurora borealis, the wondrous greens and purples flowed well with the complimentary dark blues of the starry night sky. The next piece was a piece of mahogany carved to resemble a Wyvern class dragon’s head, the detailing on the spines was quite impressive and the natural red color of the wood gave it a certain life-like quality. I began to wonder who created these pieces of art and why they were displayed here of all places, but my thoughts were interrupted by a sudden chill in the air. It seemed familiar and yet alien to me, my scales began to chatter slightly and the hair on my tail tensed up.
I turned towards the entrance the hall to see a cloaked figure standing in the daylight; he walked forward with a certain malice to his stride. There had been another man behind him, the person I was here to see judging from his scent, he too began to walk slowly towards me. Moving back to the fireplace, more to warm myself back up after that feeling, I sat and waited for them. The familiar human had chosen to take a seat at a close-by table while his Master stopped a few feet in front of me, “Greetings, Ixontros.”
He reached up and pulled back his hood, revealing his aged face. He was a fairly handsome man, for a human, with minimal wrinkles and eyes as blue as sapphires, his greying-blond hair was combed back. On his forehead was a tattoo of a triangular eye, his ‘third-eye’ was mostly comprised of small Etches, Past, Present, and Future. He had told me before those words were usually frowned upon due to their power, the words of the Destiny Constellation, as such he never used them unless absolutely necessary. He smiled at me warmly, “Very good to see you, my old friend,” the greeting felt more formal than I recall, “You didn’t mention what your visit was about in the message, might I ask what I can do for you?”
Down to business it is then, “I request you call off your lackey,” I said bluntly, “He has been haunting my dreams for weeks and I am sick of it.” Ixontros’ expression changed from polite to concerned, raising an eyebrow at my demand. “My ‘lackey’?” he asked, “Who are you talking about? I haven’t sent anybody your way, save for Brothers Leuthar and Jakob.”
My eyes narrowed as I lowered to his eye level, slowly and calmly I urged him to think long and hard about whether he was telling me the truth, “I am not in the mood to be deceived, it is bad enough you are stealing from my friends and sending hunters after us.”
“I gave Brother Jakob no such order to become hostile towards you, that was Leuthar’s doing and he has been justly punished,” he began to pace in front of me, “As for your friend’s possession we only procured it because it was dangerous and needed to be locked away. You know very well one does not simply ask a dragon to give up a piece of it's hoard, we had no other option but to steal it.”
“Stealing from dragons is worse than asking them to give the item up, now you all have a target on your backs,” I thrashed my tail in warning, “Dragons are masters at holding grudges, the fact we live so long is proof of that; we have been known to bring misfortune to entire bloodlines in fact.”
“Yes, I know that, Dyyor. But as I said, the item was dangerous; your kind is also renowned for being careless in matters of magic running rampant. The fact your friend just had a Chaos Pen lying around was enough motivation for us to go through with such a damning decision.”
He paused a moment for his statement to sink in, admittedly he was right, most magical catastrophes were caused by a careless dragon with a dangerous relic. However, that still did not excuse his actions, “Dangerous or not, that item belongs to Kurai, you had no right to take it from him.” I stood tall, “And you certainly did not help your case by sending hunters to ambush him in the Roaring Mountains, he was badly hurt in that fight!”
Ixontros looked pained at my anger, “Please, believe me when I say your friend’s safety was not meant to be jeopardized. That group was only sent there because of a bounty request, it entailed killing a beast that was terrorizing the people of the mountain. It was a stroke of bad luck he was caught up in that mess, I assure you.”
I raised an eyebrow at that bit of news, finding it difficult to stay mad about a mistake; what were the odds of a bounty party looking for a monster at the exact time Kurai had gone there? Very slim, “Let me see the bounty poster, if what you say is true then the poster should specify the monster’s appearance.” The thought Ixontros may call my bluff passed through my mind, but I was happily surprised when the other man produced the information.
A bounty of one-hundred-thousand gold for the capture and/or extermination of a large, black and white, lizard-like creature.
Payment will be issued upon delivery of living or dead beast.
The picture scrawled on the poster was an overly dramatized, large lizard, fangs exposed and breathing fire. To any human Kurai would have fit this description just fine, so now another question, “Who posted this request?” unsurprisingly neither of them knew, but at least they could provide me the drop off location. I wasn’t done with them yet though, “Back to the unwelcome visitor of my sleep,” Ixontros put on a serious face, “The reason I figured he was one of yours is because he is a Scribe.”
Ixontros thought for a moment, “So you saw his Etches, what words were they, where were they on his body?” at least he was trying to be helpful now. I only told him about the right handed Etch, “Hmm, regrettably I can’t help you with so little to go on; maybe the Nightmares will subside once he realizes you are too strong.”
Something seemed off about his words, “I never mentioned he had upgraded to Nightmares,” my eyes narrowed and I watched as his face drifted from a confused expression to a serious one, returning the glare. “A pity, I had intended to keep you guessing but now I suppose you have forced my hand.” With a snap of his fingers the two guards from before were on either side of me, again with their spears pointing my way. I held my composure and asked the one question that needed an answer, “Why?”
“For survival of course, you and I are a dying breed in this time. This is a new age in which science is finally becoming a rival of magic,” He theatrically threw his arms out, his back to me, “In this world of metal and steam, do you honestly think you will have a place? Can you ensure the survival of your kind and not be threatened by the growth humans are capable of? I have seen it, old friend, a world filled with towers, smoke blocks out the sun and the land is dying beneath my feet.
“With the Madness of the Gods I can put a stop to this fate, the ultimate power only rivaled by the Gods themselves. The Future has shown me everything this age can bring about, I can tell you with conviction that your kind has no chance of adapting in time. Survival is entirely dependent on whether you accept or fight the change that is coming, so I ask you: What would you have done to fight your extinction?”
There was a long pause, the two humans on either side of me continued to hold steady, and the man at the table had shifted to a more laid back position. I thoughtfully stared at the ground and tried to decipher what he wanted me to say, did he want approval? Would he actually expect me to side with him, to approve of his actions against Kurai and myself? Finally I felt I had the answer that suited me best, “You are a fool,” there was a snicker from the man at the table, “You actually think declaring war on my friends, humanity, the World, is the best way to avoid fading with the passage of time?”
Ixontros lowered his arms slowly, he just stood there like a statue and I could feel the tension in the air rising. Swiftly he turned on his heel and aimed an odd weapon at me, a fairly short blade with golden tines extending from the hilt. “I had only partially hoped you would understand me, after what happened with Jakob I knew our friendship was merely a formality. Now that you know what I am trying to accomplish you must not leave.”
A yellow glow came from his left sleeve and a small blast of lightning magic shot into the blade, jumping around on the tines. I held my ground and tried to remain calm; a battle was one of the things I had anticipated to occur, but I didn’t expect Ixontros himself to be the instigator. However, I got the information I wanted and now was as good a time as any to leave, “I only have one thing to say to you now, Ixontros: Leave me and my family alone, or you will regret it.”
Without waiting for a response I swiftly spread my wings and sent the two guards flying into the surrounding tables. Ixontros tried to stab me with the odd weapon, but forgot about my tail and I knocked him away. I ensured they were all fairly incapacitated and then made a rush for the door, ignoring the man sitting at the table. That was clearly a mistake, he stood up and took a position that I recognized; his left arm extended with the right hand hovering over the wrist, the Dreamstrider[/]! Before I could react there was a familiar stabbing pain in my head, it felt like my mind was on fire and freezing all at once. The agonizing pain made it nearly impossible to think, my escape was beginning to look like a fool’s gambit, and yet I somehow continued inching my way to the door.
As I reached out for the handle the sound of metal banging against flesh rang through the hall, I turned to see the young man holding a steal shield and standing over the Dreamstrider. “Go, I’ll try to hold them back!” he shouted, in response to my confusion he simply blurted, “I am a friend, there is no time to explain, just go!”
He didn’t have to ask again, I was out of the building and in the air before he finished the word ‘go’. As to be expected there were Scribes prepared for airborne combat, standing on the coliseum walls, and I was immediately faced with wave after wave of Elemental magic. To my credit not a single blast landed, but I was unable to avoid crashing into a couple walls in my desperate attempt to escape. Overall, not the best meeting I have had with a human, aside from a few singed hairs and bruises one could say it went well enough.
Ixontros was playing with things he shouldn’t, if he truly wanted to prevent the future he saw then there was likely no stopping him by talking it out. Kurai was going to have to tell me a lot more than he was willing to; it was too late for me not to be involved.
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Brother Edgar's Weapon
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~ Veneris, October 4th, Year 1355 of the Human Calendar
I am finally back home, as it turns out running into buildings is not good for ones’ wings so I was forced to hoof it half of the way here. It is always the little things that you never imagined you would miss until you don’t have them. At least the countryside of Salmae is beautiful this time of year, there were kiwi trees in full bloom and even some bearing fruit already. In fact I noticed a rather peculiar creature in the grove; it looked vaguely like a tall wolf but had antlers!
I spent the entire afternoon watching as this creature did the oddest things; climbing trees, playing with smaller animals, even leaping to snap at the fruit hanging from the kiwi trees! It was indeed built like a wolf, but had a longer and a narrower muzzle as well as longer legs. Its coat was brown with darker brown areas, with antlers reminded me of a white-tail deer’s. I was tempted to approach it to see if it could communicate, but soon decided against it; it wasn’t the time to be making new friends.
I don’t know if Ixontros will retaliate or not, he may actually take my warning seriously. Still preparing for the possibility is on my ‘to do list’, but in the mean time I must rest. The next day I will visit with Kurai and exchange information, he knows more about this situation after all.
~
What a fool I am… I completely forgot Ixontros doesn’t need to send hunters; he has the best way to harm me already. The Dreamstrider visited me again, this time I was tied down in my own mind! He made my situation all too clear by showing me all of the friends I have made, everything I loved, burning. All of it was set ablaze as I stood helplessly watching, he forced me to relive the horrible vision a thousand times before finally giving his own warning: “Learn your place.”
It was hours before I stopped sobbing, the visions were thoroughly seared into my memory after he released his hold. This was why my kind detested humans; they are cruel, senseless creatures! That is it; I am done being toyed with, if he dares come back I will make him rue the day he was ever born!
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The creature mentioned in this entry is named Deeg, he was created by my girlfriend.
He is the one to the left.
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I plan to create Dyyor Journals to tie together the short stories in timeline means.
Some short stories wont be posted here as I intend to include graphic and adult situations, but the Journals will help to fill in the blanks as they will be rated PG.
Let me know what you guys think.
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One and the Same
Prologue
~ Lunae, September 16th, Year 1355 of the Human Calendar
Choices, they define us; what we do, where we go… what we become…. Sometimes choices come easily, sometimes not, and sometimes they just seem like a choice when in reality there was none to begin with. And then there are the choices that demand sacrifice, the hardest ones of all are often the most rewarding; the outcome matters most to the majority.
What matters in the end is just how much you are willing to lose; would you give your entire self to save even a fraction of the thing you hold most dear? What would you do to avoid endangering that thing to begin with, would you push it away? Sometimes you have to do just that, to become lonely and never experience the feelings that very person or thing gives you ever again.
I was faced with a choice, one that would not yield its’ importance nor give sympathy to any delay. The outcome would forever alter who and what I was, my very soul was forfeit if in the end my resolve was not absolute. My choice was the only real control I had with the entire situation, the family I had managed to acquire was in danger if I wasn’t careful.
I suppose this all must sound outlandish to whoever is reading, so I will recount the events since the abrupt ending of my previous entry. The only solace I have is in the knowledge these entries won’t go unnoticed and I will hopefully not be forgotten if the time comes that my life must end.
To the curious individual reading this, you have my eternal gratitude.
- Dyyor
Chapter 1
The Unwelcome Guest
~ Iovis, August 29th, Year 1355 of the Human Calendar
Kurai has finally returned, barely, judging from his tale upon my curiosity. He had gone in search of a pendant he had left with one of our old caregivers, but there were some kind of hunters waiting for him. Unfortunately for them they lacked full understanding of what my small friend was capable of, and their choice of machinery was poorly made. Even so, they had managed to wound him considerably in the end, forcing him to stay in the mountains to heal.
My friend now explained to me the object that was stolen is called a Chaos Pen. There were only 15 of these objects in the entire world, scattered across the nations, and were different objects depending on their purposes. His Pen was some kind of key, meant to open a gate said to hold the Madness of the Gods. He didn’t elaborate on what that was, just changed topics and hoped I wouldn’t notice.
Sometimes I think Kurai delights in making me curious, but judging from his body language I can make the assumption this is some fairly serious stuff he is dealing with. I decided to let the topic trail off; I know he will tell me more when he is ready. Plus Ixontros should have sent a response by now; I hope he can give me more insight on Kurai’s Pen.
Regardless of his secrets, I am happy to have my friend home again, and Jadine will be happy to see him again too I bet.
~
I am not a clever dragon… I will explain later.
~
I found myself rushing down the corridors of the cave, weaving and dashing between stalagmites and launching myself off of walls to gain more speed. All around me were the sounds of magical bursts and metal screeching. Something had invaded my home, my magical barriers had been shattered and the defenses rendered useless. The very walls lashed out at me, a secondary failsafe I had put in designed to ensnare any would-be thief, and apparently said thief had reversed the spell.
Ducking under a stone tendril, I swung around and snapped my fingers to produce a resonance. The walls froze in place for a second then collapsed back into the rocks it had once been; barely giving it a second thought I continued my fevered race to my vault. Ahead of me I could hear footsteps, they sounded far too calm to be a thief rushing to his prize.
As I rounded the last corner I caught a glimpse of the man as he casually entered my vault, I couldn’t help but snarl fiercely as I leapt at his heels. My claws scraped and gauged the ground as I forced my body to turn against the momentum and I faced the intruder, only to find he had vanished. The room was dark and empty, save for my treasures, there were faint glows coming from some of the displays.
“Humph,” I growled as I strode amongst the items, “Not the brightest human I’ve ever met, but you broke down my safeguards so I suppose I should congratulate you on that regard.” Some of the items glowed brighter in my presence, magic sensory types. “You may as well come out now; I never did care for hide and seek, even in the hatchery.”
Suddenly a light sparked to life several yards away from me, the intruder had cast a Guide Light spell. He stood there in a dark cloak, his arms crossed behind his back and looking all too calm for his current situation. “I figured you had to be a magic user,” casually I walked towards him, “Not many can undo my magic, let alone turn it on me.” The intruder uncrossed his arms and brought up the left one, unrolling his cloak sleeves, I kept up my guard.
“Apologies for the home invasion, Dragon, but you have something my employer desires.” In the light several patches of scaring could be seen on his forearm, I noted how they looked familiar. “And this employer could have merely come and asked himself,” I waved my tail angrily and glared at him, “This intrusion wasn’t necessary.” We stood a mere five feet apart at this point, he stood there with his right hand hovering over the scars on his arm, I sat on my haunches and glared at him. Typically I am not this merciful to intruders, but my curiosity was granting him a grace period.
“So, intruder, what is it your employer wanted?”
He still didn’t lower his guard and bluntly said, “Not an item, but a creature, you.”
Well that is new… “Sorry, but you will have to tell your employer I am not for rent or sale,” I lowered my head to close the gap between us and hissed, “Not that you will actually be telling him that verbally.”
Surprisingly, he just smirked at my threat, “I guess it is a good thing I’m not really here then.”
~
My eyes shot open, the dream snapped out of existence and I was laying there dumbfounded. As if I didn’t have enough issues with dreams, now I had a recurring one with a Dreamstrider, damn it! The dreams began two weeks ago, while Kurai was in the mountains, they started with simple home invasion, but gradually progressed to the point where other dreams would get literally interrupted. Dreamstriding was still new to me and the magic it cost was nearly exhausting, but sadly it was my only means of catching this home/mind invader. It was refreshing to at least have a conversation with this person, even though I learned almost nothing.
I stretched and shivered as my joints loosened after the restless sleep. Much to my surprise it was actually morning, had I been chasing him the entire night? Lazily rolling out of my matted hay bed, I stood and shook my legs awake and scanned the room in case the visitor left anything to suggest actually being here. My cave was as homely as could be expected for a dragon, simple rooms and simple furnishings made up the interior. On tables there sat bottles and scrolls, small projects began and then forgotten. Light was produced by candles and fireplaces, even magically glowing gems attached to wall fixtures.
The light danced across piles of metal bits made of bronze and copper, gears and springs salvaged from broken human machines. That is my hoard; a dragon’s natural addiction to collecting objects and trinkets. The past hundred years, humans were crafting such fascinating things from natural elements found in the earth: machines, armor, tools. How could I resist claiming the odd spare gear or misplaced spring? Along with metals I had an interest in collecting spell tomes and scrolls, my magical skills greatly progressing over the last couple decades.
My musings were interrupted by a loud crack of thunder outside, the hairs of my mane stood on end and my ears perked up. A few seconds later another, equally loud thunder crack sounded along with a rumble that could be felt through the stone walls. That was my hint to find out what the noise was about, I dashed out of my sleeping room and down the hallway towards the common chamber. Just as I arrived at the mouth of my home, a yellow lightning bolt shot past me and struck a table, reducing the innocent piece of furniture to ash.
That was one of Kurai's spells, too wild of a shot to be target practice. I ignored the fact I was almost gravely wounded and continued running forward until I was outside; my eyes took several seconds to adjust to the light difference. Once the white faded I was staring dumbfounded at a most peculiar scene, my friend attacking a cloaked human. Kurai was bounding around hum, clawing at the man’s cape in passing, all the while blasting bolt after bolt of arcane electricity. The human was proving more than capable of fighting back, using an odd gauntlet that covered his right arm to deflect all of Kurai's lightning. He ducked and spun to keep up with my agile friend, using his left arm to cast spells of his own: webbed chains of solidified, red light.
A chain suddenly caught one of Kurai’s legs, fastening him to the ground tightly; as my friend struggled to free himself the human lunged forward. He swung out the gauntlet on his right arm and a large blade shot out, leaping forward he prepared to behead my friend. In that small fraction of time I acted; leaping forward and slammed my tail into his side, cracking several of his ribs. He went flying a crossed the clearing and smashed into a tree with a sickening crack, not giving him the chance to recover, he had his back against the tree gasping for breath within seconds.
“Who are you and why are you attacking my friend?!” I snarled, breathing fiercely in his face and baring my fangs. The human gasped and spit up blood instead of answering me, I lowered him and loosened my grip enough for him to speak through his blood stained lips. “Was... just... defending... myself,” he coughed, “Came... to deliver… message.”
I continued glaring at him for a few additional moments then looked at Kurai, who was still struggling to free himself of the magic chains. He stopped long enough to explain, “You were expecting this... Hunter?” he sounded unjustly angry at me, “He wears the same crest as the humans who attacked me at the hatchery!”
My eyes widened at this piece of information, I turned to the man lying before me, “Is this true, are you a part of the group that tried to kill him?”
The human groggily nodded his head and slumped down into unconsciousness. My curiosity peeking, I reached out and pulled his cloak open to reveal his bronze and copper armor. The chest piece was engraved with an intricate yet simple design: a wheel of eight arrows all pointing outward from the center. I recognized the symbol; it belonged to one of the Scribe guilds lead by Ixontros, the Hands of Direction. Why had Ixontros’ men attacked Kurai, what possible reason would he have to make such an order?
Kurai had finally managed to break the chain and was limping towards me; I shook my head and faced him. “Please, Kurai, tell me what is going on,” I couldn’t shake this feeling, “I think this may be my fault.”
~
After explaining about my attempt to contact the very leader of the group who attacked him, Kurai was understandably upset with me. “Why did you do that!?” he roared at me, “I didn’t tell you everything to keep you from being involved in this fight!” I winced at his rage, he was pacing back and forth, tail thrashing. “How was I supposed to know a friend I made decades ago would end up being some power-mad, overlord of a psychotic organization!?”
My friend huffed, and turned his back to me, then looked back at the man he attacked, “I think it is best I leave, before I do or say anything I will regret. I leave him to you, the message he has better be worth it.” His wings spread out and he hastily threw himself into the air, leaving me alone with the ‘prisoner’. I lowered my head sadly and turned to the human, he was still out cold so I saved myself the trouble and rummaged through his pack.
Inside were scrolls and other various items, eventually I found an envelope addressed to me, Ixontros’ family crest sealing it shut. I quickly opened the parchment and read the message inside:
Dear Dyyor,
It has been far too long since we last spoke, my old friend; I apologize for my absence during your visit. The nature of your inquiry is fascinating; as it turns out I too am looking into further information about these relics.
They are called Chaos Pens, ancient items said to have unleashed the wrath of the very Gods upon the world thousands of years ago. All of them serve different purposes, but they also provide the same effect universally: Chaos, unbridled. What that means about your friends’ missing item, I sadly cannot say at this time.
I have sent Brother Leuthar to not only deliver this message, but to also accompany you in your search for the information you seek.
Sincerely,
- Ixontros
I turned the paper over twice before deciding nothing else was written, Brother Leuthar was starting to come to as I let out a small lash of flames and burned the letter. “Good to see you are awake, Leuthar,” I glowered at him, “The least I can do is heal you enough to travel, but you are to return to your master and inform him I won’t be requiring your services.”
I didn’t know what Ixontros intended to do, but if he was willing to hurt Kurai then he wasn’t to be trusted anymore. I would later learn that I should have just let Leuthar die under that tree; it would have saved me far more grief…
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One and the Same
Prologue
~ Veneris, September 20th, Year 1355 of the Human Calendar
Kurai has been avoiding me for the past four days, understandably I suppose; my curiosity did almost get him killed… twice. But, I was hoping that he would come around sooner than this.
The last couple days I have been trying to get an idea of how to make this better; I could apologize, but really, would a fiftieth apology change anything? I have tried to give him all the information I have on the guild that has, for lack of a better metaphor, declared war on him; that just got a narrowed glare from the little drake. The only other thing I could think of was to just give him space, which makes me feel even worse but what else can be done?
Since Brother Leuthar went back to the Hands, I have been thinking long and hard about why this could all be happening. Ixontros; did he by any chance go to the hatchery himself, or was he the one who stole the item to begin with? Why would he try to stop Kurai, he was only trying to get back what belonged to him. I couldn’t shake the feeling this was somehow connected to the intruder of my dreams, was he one of the Hands?
Tonight I will try to capture him, not entirely sure how, but I have to find a way. I wonder if there is a sort of trap I can place in my mind for such unwelcome visits…
- Dyyor
Chapter 2
Sleeping While Awake
~ Solis, July 28th, Year 1355 of the Human Calendar
~
Humans have fascinated me for decades, one in particular, whom I am proud to call my friend is Ixontros. He is an old alchemist and researcher I met about thirty-five years ago when I was sight-seeing in Colgrad, a lonely and cold little province of Athelon. I had heard tale Athelon developed its own unique type of magic that involved the written word; naturally I had to see this magic for myself.
They call it “Scribing”, the use of written and spoken words to alter and augment reality itself. While it was indeed impressive, it gave me a sick feeling along with a sensation I was not entirely sure of. It was at a Scribe College that I first met Ixontros; he insisted I stay with him during my visit so he could examine and get to know me. His home was quite large and accommodating, definitely not what I expected; who builds a house with a dragon visit in mind?
~
Night, the starry sky sparkled endlessly with light shed by long dead suns and distant worlds. I lay on my back watching their glow, collecting my thoughts from the day; attempting to condense them into a smaller chunk of information. This was my go-to strategy when sleep did not show itself; rest on the bank of Lake Lunsheer and try to count the millions of lights in the sky. My record was five billion, seven-hundred thirty-two million, four-hundred thousand and forty-two, the only reason I stopped was because the forty-third was the sun itself.
There was more than one reason I could not sleep tonight, one of which was my Dreamstrider, I didn’t like his intrusions and I certainly didn’t want to deal with him at the moment. Another reason was my worry; Kurai has been cooped up in his cave since his fight with Leuthar, I have never been good at the ‘giving space’ thing. And the last reason: Golems, steam-powered, mechanical beasts made by humans for general labor and the odd mercenary job. The past few nights several have passed through the forest, breaking branches, stomping around, and overall making a racket. I didn’t know who they belonged to, or what they could do, so keeping my distance and staying alert seemed best.
Suddenly something seemed off; one of the constellations was in the completely wrong region of the heavens… and upside down. The air tensed and became cold, just as I lifted my head the lake water to my right began turning and bubbling violently, a torrent blasting into the sky. Completely on my feet and alert, I watched in worried caution as the pillar of water burst apart, revealing the Dreamstrider. As the water fell like the first rain of Spring I glared daggers at the man, he just stood calmly as ever on the water’s surface.
“Visiting me in my daydreams as well,” I growled, “is there no limit to your persistence?” The human just stood there in his usual stance; with his left arm extended and the right hand hovering over what, I now remembered, was an Etch scar. This invader was a Scribe and a nasty one at that, I had no idea Scribing could be used like this, Goddess knew what else he had on his skin. “I told you I was not for sale, so tell your employer to take a hint!”
The man just chuckled arrogantly, “Sadly, Dragon, I was not hired to acquire your services,” he raised his left arm, “Tell me, what does my Etch say?” the moonlight struck the deep scar so the word could be read, Madness. My eyes widened, it all made sense now; his specialty was to break the mind! But then I recalled a single word wasn’t enough to harm anything, much less a dragon; it needed a catalyst Etch. I continued glaring as the order escaped my lips, “Show me your right hand.”
His smile faded, disappointment replacing glee, “So he wasn’t lying,” begrudgingly he turned his hand to my view, “No matter, you lack the skills and knowledge to combat me.” The scar read Revolving, I frowned in confusion and my expression changed to pain as something dug into my skull. The feeling intensified as I slumped to the ground, my vision blurring to black as I struggled to keep focus on the man slowly approaching me.
I lost consciousness as he spoke, “How many times am I going to have to break you until you realize?”
~
Blood, the warm and cooling liquid slowly trickled down my neck, spilling from my nostrils and the taste of iron and nickel filled my mouth. Crimson was what greeted my sight as I carefully opened my eyes, the color I often saw when using my strongest spells. The morning light was harsh and proceeded stabbing me with thousands of needles, but the stings quickly vanished with repeated blinks. It was morning… I was by the lake… standing in my sleep; these were the least worrisome things on my mind right now: What spell had I used? What was my target? Why would I use such strong magic for said target? Those questions seared through my head as painfully as that attack in my dream, they needed answers and fast.
I shook my head gently to clear my vision, sending droplets of blood flying into the water and surrounding plant life. Ignoring my wounds, I hunted for clues, any sign that whatever I had done hadn’t caused harm. There were craters surrounding where I had stood, the banks of the lake were shredded and several trees had been sliced down. None of this damage looked familiar and the magical resonance was alien to me, had I really done all this? As I stepped forward a sharp pain ran through my left hind leg, turning back I discovered the cause of the pain was a piece of steel.
The shard of metal was embedded deep in my thigh; pulling it out may cause uncontrollable bleeding, but I couldn’t just stand there and wait for help. Working quickly, I clamped my jaws onto the shrapnel and yanked it out, a torrent of blood followed in its’ absence. My mouth began to glow increasingly bright as I built up my fire breath; the flames burst forth and engulfed my wound in searing pain. My legs buckled from the pain and the light faded from my vision, the wound closed just before I felt faint. It took several moments before I was stable enough to get back on my feet and continued examining the scene.
Suddenly the sound of rattling drew my attention to the ground; I looked towards the piece of metal that had once been stuck in my leg. To my surprise the fragment was scooting across the grass towards a tree, my line of sight following it as it crept towards a human leaning casually against the tree. My alert rose and I forced myself to jump up, quickly regretting it as the world spun and I fell on my side. To my chagrin the human laughed at the sight of a ‘drunken dragon’, “Cher a clumsy ‘un when yer not restin’ upright, ain’t ‘cha?”
I didn’t recognize his accent, his annunciations were like gravel and glass to my ears and the desire to fly far away from him was increasing with each word. “What did you do to me?” I demanded, which in retrospect looked rather pathetic with my snout in the dirt. He just continued laughing at me, raising a peculiar weapon up to his eye level; the shard of metal floated up and then reattached itself to a gauge in the blade. “Oooh, ain’t we a rude ‘un, ‘tinkin’ I did sumtin’ to yer,” he spun the weapon around a couple times before stabbing the ground and leaning on it, “Te name be Brot’er Jakob by the by, pleasure t’meetcha, drag-ey.”
My eye twitched at the pet name, “My name is Dyyor!” I snarled, finally mustering up the strength to stand again. So he was a member of the Hands, which meant he likely had Etches on his skin ready to use at any time. “So, ‘Brot’er Jakob’,” I asked in a mocking tone, “If you did nothing to me, then why was your weapon’s blade embedded in my leg?”
“Aaaah, fine q’estion, Deeeee-or, ya sleep wit te unrest o’ the dead, maybe ya roll’d ontu it?” I was growing very impatient with this man, it was abundantly clear he had attacked me in some form or another. “Very funny, but I am serious, what is your business?” I was in no condition to fight, if that was his goal, but I wasn’t going to let him catch me off-guard.
Jakob leaned further forward onto his odd weapon, almost in a comical way, “I jus’ come t’deliv’r ah message’er two: from Mast’r Ixontros, und from Brot’er Leuthar.” My eyes widened at the mention of Leuthar, I tried to back away quickly but carefully. “Ah, come now,” Jakob began to stride towards me, “T’ain’t gonna ‘urt ‘at much.”
He raised the weapon high in the air, the hook of the blade pointed towards me, then swung down. To my shock, the blade shattered into dozens of pieces of metal without actually having hit anything, a weapon weak enough the air breaks it? No, that can’t be right; he had just been leaning on it. While my mind was trying to make sense of this fact, I hadn’t realized the shards had maintained the momentum from the swing and were flying towards me.
Several stinging sensations erupted along my right arm and chest plates, I snarled in pain as my hind legs gave way to allow me to fall on my side again. I quickly tried to assess the damage, only to discover this weapon was made of a special metal, able to pierce my scaly hide. Jakob’s laughter rang loudly through the trees as he sauntered over to me; as if his speech wasn’t annoying enough, but his laugh was like strangling a cat hanging next to a chalkboard. He raised the handle of the weapon, with bits of the blade still attached, and I could feel a pulling sensation in my wounds. I was painfully reminded this weapon could call back its pieces as, one by one, the tiny bits of metal shot out of me with the same force as they had arrived.
The wounds left by the metals shards trickled steadily with my blood, weakening me even further as Jakob stood mere inches from my face. “Nay a ‘big un’ tough drag-ey now, are ya?”
“Then try out this dragon!” Kurai leapt from the trees and landed a few feet from us, he only stood still long enough for Jakob to be surprised and lunged with incredible speed at my attacker. All poor Jakob could do was turn and try to shield his face as Kurai clamped his jaws down on his shoulder, then clawed at his legs. Jakob screamed, dropping his weapon, and began twisting and turning, trying to pry the considerably stronger drake off. In his struggle he had no chance of noticing Kurai’s tail creeping up from behind, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Jakob as he became another victim of Kurai's ‘trump card’.
A long, blue barb extended from the tip of his tail and pointed at Jakob’s neck, in a fraction of a second the tail pulled back and stabbed Jakob in the spine. Kurai’s latest victim tensed up at the moment of impact then slowly slumped down to his knees, after a long pause Kurai pulled the barb out with a violent flick. He released Jakob’s body from his jaws and let it fall limply to the ground; we stood in silence for a time after that. He then looked at me and casually asked, “Will you be alright?”
I nodded, quickly regretting it as I felt my vision fade to black and back again, “I think so, how did you know I needed help?” not the best of times to be worrying about such a thing, but I couldn’t help it. My friend just turned his back to me and replied, “Because I am your friend, I always know when you are in trouble,” he then looked back at me with a slightly pained look, “Even if I am mad at you.”
My eye twitched and I couldn’t help but cringe, “Th-thank you…” I wanted to say more, but before the words could even form, Kurai quickly ran up and hugged my neck. I froze for several moments as we stood there in silence and eventually I returned his hug, wincing at my still bleeding wounds. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, I felt the guilt rising in my throat again and I hugged him tighter.
“Me too.”
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Brother Jakob's Weapon
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~ Iovis, September 26th, Year 1355 of the Human Calendar
Judging by the latest communication from Ixontros, sent by raven carrier, he is not happy about this outcome whatsoever. I gave him my word that I would not harm the next messenger, so long as they followed the same example. The message itself consisted mostly of apologies for the actions of their now dead member, but also a demand for the return of his corpse. I was more than willing to oblige, I also decided to inform him Kurai had confiscated that infernal weapon; my wounds still hadn’t fully healed. I find it remarkable just how civil he is being, considering he is my enemy now.
On a different note, the Dreamstrider has begun to up his game as of late, perhaps it has something to do with this Dreamsealing spell I found. The book said it would just prevent dreams, but it failed to clarify that by ‘prevent’ it actually means ‘freeze them in place so they can spend the entirety of your sleep staring at you like a creepy leper’. It didn’t take long for him to counter my feeble attempt, just three nights, but the delay had given me some hope. Still, I can’t really complain; those nights were the best sleep I’ve had in a while.
He has increased his efforts in the form of Nightmares, a lot of them! Every night he covers my mind in darkness, from that darkness comes the most horrible and grotesque visions. He has dug up old memories and thoughts I had buried half a century ago. He even found my memories about a certain incident I had an involvement with back in the year 1273, the Crimson Night. That Nightmare had a particular effect on my mind; I imagine he will force me to re-live it again if he deems it suitable.
The lengths this human is willing to go in order to break me are astounding, what purpose could he have to be doing this to me? My suspicions need to be put to rest and in order to do that I needed to speak with Ixontros, tomorrow morning I will begin my journey to Athelon.
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One and the Same
Prologue
~ Solis, September 29th, Year 1355 of the Human Calendar
Dragons are renowned for their diplomacy, their poise and most importantly their manners. For centuries my kind have been envoys for many great countries, proclaimers of peace and of war. Our prestige was justly earned, for our neutrality was rarely equaled in the realms of beast and man. The main reason behind our success was limited involvement; we typically chose to let conflicts play out on their own, regardless of attempts to hire our services as weapons.
Since the dawn of time, limited involvement has served us and the world well. Most creatures respected us and the rest learned to fear us. To go against a dragon was akin to placing your head on the chopping block and swinging the axe yourself. In other words, if you choose to wrong a dragon, run. Plain and simple; RUN.
It may not come as a surprise that I am not as poised as my brothers and sisters. It was why I lived in a deep forest, why I chose to distance myself from humans. If clarification is what you seek, then ask your local healer about the night of crimson; they will know what it means.
- Dyyor
Chapter 3
Suspicions and Threats
~Murcurii, July 3rd, Year 1355 of the Human Calendar
I awoke with a terrible chill, it was that dream again. The fire and the steel, I can see it still so clearly, yet when I try to reflect further it vanishes. I do not know how long I have been having this dream, but it is always the same:
I can feel the warmth of the blaze as it surrounds what I can only assume is my home, the smoke smells of pine and bitter berries. I catch glimpses of what looks like metal blades, reflecting the light of the fire as they swing about. And at last my view lands on a shadowed figure standing in the flames, it looks as though it is reaching out to me. I could swear I heard it saying something but before I can make it out, the blades swept in and caused it to turn to smoke and ash.
I spent the last hour trying to retrieve what little else I could from my memory of the dream, but to no avail. Perhaps a relaxing walk through the forest will help to clear my mind, if anything else I can get some fresh air.
~
Athelon is a vast country known for its military and most importantly its’ studies in the supernatural. It is where magic and science come together to create what is known as Scribing, magic that controls the very fabric of reality through the use of words. Practicing Scribes hone their ability by practicing words of power, known as Etches or Etchings, named for the scratches and cracks left on the user. The country consists of five main provinces, each segregated by its dominant climate. There were lush forests, freezing tundra, harsh deserts and even some marshland dotted the landscape. But I was not here to see the sights; my true destination was one of the largest cities in the snowy province of Colgrad, Victorium.
Travelers would often tell of a huge city where the streets were cobbled with crystals and the sky was never cloudy. In the center of this beautiful city stood the Peleren Academia, a large tower surrounded by coliseum walls more ancient than any human could know.
Not surprisingly, I was receiving disapproving stares from the townspeople as I sauntered through the entry gate of the city. Of all the things that had changed in the past thirty-five years, the tolerance for my kind was not one of them. The city streets bustled with the usual traffic of merchants trying to sell goods, as well as the odd street performer showing off skills like juggling or knife throwing. At times there were bards passing through teashops looking for a patron to pay them for ‘music’ from the hideous instrument they used, in case it wasn’t obvious I have a certain level of disdain towards loots.
The tower itself was six-sided, to symbolize the six forms of magic: Elemental, Mind, Body, Light, Dark and Destiny. Within its walls was one of the largest libraries in existence, where aspiring Scribes could learn and hone their craft. At the very top of the tower resided a gigantic silver bowl, its purpose was collecting the natural energy of the world; transferring it through the tower into glass collection spheres. The coliseum itself was made from granite and marble, serving as a wall of protection as well as providing privacy to the people inside.
The exact moment I crossed the threshold and walked into the courtyard of the Academia two cloaked Scribes appeared in a flash to block my path. One was a rather young man with an Etch of the word Intent scored on his left cheek; the other was an older but still young woman with dark skin and dazzling copper-colored eyes. Even though they held spears made of bronze and iron to my throat, I held my composure and wore a fairly unimpressed expression. “State your business, Dragon,” the woman ordered, “If you are here for blood then we will not hesitate to slay you where you stand.”
I failed to resist the urge to roll my eyes and curtly responded, “I am here to meet your master; I sent word of my coming a couple days ago. Now either step aside or fetch him for me, either way you will not hinder my business here.” The young man flinched slightly as the Etch under his eye glowed and his iris turned a deep purple; I suspected the word was meant to measure the truthfulness of my explanation. After a long pause the glow stopped and he lowered his spear, “He speaks the truth, perhaps the Master forgot to inform us about a visitor.” The woman was less convinced and held her ground, “Master would not forget about something as important as a dragon showing up!”
Again I found my eyes rolling, reaching up I tapped the spear’s blade and in a flash the spear vanished. The woman was spooked and fell back, enticing a chuckle from her partner, “Just so you know: I have known teleportation magic for half a century now,” she stared at me in fear, “if I had chosen to, you would have joined your spear underground.”
“Und you vould have lost your head.” Another man warned from behind me. I turned my head slightly so he could be seen from the corner of my eye; the newcomer held a fairly good sized sword colored rich purples to the nape of my neck. He wore a normal tunic colored dark green and grey with pieces of gilded armor on his left shoulder and right hip; personally I thought he looked partially dressed. “Brother Edgar, please lower your weapon,” the young man pleaded, “this dragon is here to see the Master.”
I locked eyes with Edgar for a lengthy glaring contest, after about a minute in which neither of us blinked he finally yielded. With a bored expression he swung the sword up and rested the flat of the blade on his shoulder, “Very vell, but I leave you two to vatch him.” As he turned his back to me I faced the other humans with a ‘humph’, I wasn’t about to be intimidated by a human, much less one that snuck up on me. The young man gave a heavy sigh while the woman finally got up from the ground, brushing off her slacks. “So I am to be babysat by you two,” this was going to be an entertaining visit, “where to first then?”
The woman spoke up first, “You are going straight to the Meeting Hall,” she put on a tough face, “it is the only room in the Academia big enough for you.” I pretended to be aghast at her comment, dramatically sweeping a paw up to my chest and putting on a shocked expression. Just as I expected the man tried to salvage the situation, “She meant nothing by that, Sir,” he sputtered cutely, “It’s just the tower was mainly built to accommodate human sized creatures.” The woman rolled her eyes at her partner’s desperate attempt to be diplomatic; apparently this was a common thing for the two of them to deal with. I gave him an understanding nod and they began leading me to a large building next to the tower itself.
The Meeting Hall was little more than a glorified drinking hall from what I could tell, scores of tables were lined side by side, several had Meade barrels propped up and mugs scattered about. The ceiling was constructed to be more than accommodating for a creature of my stature, while the walls still gave a slightly Closter-phobic feel with their sloping formation. The center of the hall was the roomiest spot, with a giant fire-pit constructed in a hexagonal shape; I didn’t wait for an invitation and swiftly lay down in front of it. I couldn’t help but chuckle as the few occupants of the hall stared and whispered, they reminded me of chimps looking at their first fire.
“You are more than welcome to make yourself comfortable here, Sir,” the man was still trying to butter me up, “We will remain by the door, if you should need anything please don’t hesitate to ask.” As they turned to leave I reached out with my tail and pulled him closer to my face, “I doubt your master would approve of some of the things I would like to ask for.” I said seductively, what can I say, I like to tease. The poor boy’s face turned the reddest red I had ever seen and I couldn’t resist but to give him a quick lick on the cheek, smiling like an idiot. I gently released him and he quickly strode towards the door in embarrassment, “You really should learn some manners, buster,” the woman spat in disgust.
“The same goes for you too, sweet-talker.” I gave her a suggestive wink and watched with glee as she too blushed and stormed off; humans are so much fun to mess with. I lay there and waited for Ixontros to show up; surely he was told within minutes of my arrival, but after twenty minutes there was still no sign of him. After another ten minutes I got bored got up to look around the hall, there were paintings and wood carvings on the walls that caught my eye.
The first artwork I looked at was a painting of an Aurora borealis, the wondrous greens and purples flowed well with the complimentary dark blues of the starry night sky. The next piece was a piece of mahogany carved to resemble a Wyvern class dragon’s head, the detailing on the spines was quite impressive and the natural red color of the wood gave it a certain life-like quality. I began to wonder who created these pieces of art and why they were displayed here of all places, but my thoughts were interrupted by a sudden chill in the air. It seemed familiar and yet alien to me, my scales began to chatter slightly and the hair on my tail tensed up.
I turned towards the entrance the hall to see a cloaked figure standing in the daylight; he walked forward with a certain malice to his stride. There had been another man behind him, the person I was here to see judging from his scent, he too began to walk slowly towards me. Moving back to the fireplace, more to warm myself back up after that feeling, I sat and waited for them. The familiar human had chosen to take a seat at a close-by table while his Master stopped a few feet in front of me, “Greetings, Ixontros.”
He reached up and pulled back his hood, revealing his aged face. He was a fairly handsome man, for a human, with minimal wrinkles and eyes as blue as sapphires, his greying-blond hair was combed back. On his forehead was a tattoo of a triangular eye, his ‘third-eye’ was mostly comprised of small Etches, Past, Present, and Future. He had told me before those words were usually frowned upon due to their power, the words of the Destiny Constellation, as such he never used them unless absolutely necessary. He smiled at me warmly, “Very good to see you, my old friend,” the greeting felt more formal than I recall, “You didn’t mention what your visit was about in the message, might I ask what I can do for you?”
Down to business it is then, “I request you call off your lackey,” I said bluntly, “He has been haunting my dreams for weeks and I am sick of it.” Ixontros’ expression changed from polite to concerned, raising an eyebrow at my demand. “My ‘lackey’?” he asked, “Who are you talking about? I haven’t sent anybody your way, save for Brothers Leuthar and Jakob.”
My eyes narrowed as I lowered to his eye level, slowly and calmly I urged him to think long and hard about whether he was telling me the truth, “I am not in the mood to be deceived, it is bad enough you are stealing from my friends and sending hunters after us.”
“I gave Brother Jakob no such order to become hostile towards you, that was Leuthar’s doing and he has been justly punished,” he began to pace in front of me, “As for your friend’s possession we only procured it because it was dangerous and needed to be locked away. You know very well one does not simply ask a dragon to give up a piece of it's hoard, we had no other option but to steal it.”
“Stealing from dragons is worse than asking them to give the item up, now you all have a target on your backs,” I thrashed my tail in warning, “Dragons are masters at holding grudges, the fact we live so long is proof of that; we have been known to bring misfortune to entire bloodlines in fact.”
“Yes, I know that, Dyyor. But as I said, the item was dangerous; your kind is also renowned for being careless in matters of magic running rampant. The fact your friend just had a Chaos Pen lying around was enough motivation for us to go through with such a damning decision.”
He paused a moment for his statement to sink in, admittedly he was right, most magical catastrophes were caused by a careless dragon with a dangerous relic. However, that still did not excuse his actions, “Dangerous or not, that item belongs to Kurai, you had no right to take it from him.” I stood tall, “And you certainly did not help your case by sending hunters to ambush him in the Roaring Mountains, he was badly hurt in that fight!”
Ixontros looked pained at my anger, “Please, believe me when I say your friend’s safety was not meant to be jeopardized. That group was only sent there because of a bounty request, it entailed killing a beast that was terrorizing the people of the mountain. It was a stroke of bad luck he was caught up in that mess, I assure you.”
I raised an eyebrow at that bit of news, finding it difficult to stay mad about a mistake; what were the odds of a bounty party looking for a monster at the exact time Kurai had gone there? Very slim, “Let me see the bounty poster, if what you say is true then the poster should specify the monster’s appearance.” The thought Ixontros may call my bluff passed through my mind, but I was happily surprised when the other man produced the information.
A bounty of one-hundred-thousand gold for the capture and/or extermination of a large, black and white, lizard-like creature.
Payment will be issued upon delivery of living or dead beast.
The picture scrawled on the poster was an overly dramatized, large lizard, fangs exposed and breathing fire. To any human Kurai would have fit this description just fine, so now another question, “Who posted this request?” unsurprisingly neither of them knew, but at least they could provide me the drop off location. I wasn’t done with them yet though, “Back to the unwelcome visitor of my sleep,” Ixontros put on a serious face, “The reason I figured he was one of yours is because he is a Scribe.”
Ixontros thought for a moment, “So you saw his Etches, what words were they, where were they on his body?” at least he was trying to be helpful now. I only told him about the right handed Etch, “Hmm, regrettably I can’t help you with so little to go on; maybe the Nightmares will subside once he realizes you are too strong.”
Something seemed off about his words, “I never mentioned he had upgraded to Nightmares,” my eyes narrowed and I watched as his face drifted from a confused expression to a serious one, returning the glare. “A pity, I had intended to keep you guessing but now I suppose you have forced my hand.” With a snap of his fingers the two guards from before were on either side of me, again with their spears pointing my way. I held my composure and asked the one question that needed an answer, “Why?”
“For survival of course, you and I are a dying breed in this time. This is a new age in which science is finally becoming a rival of magic,” He theatrically threw his arms out, his back to me, “In this world of metal and steam, do you honestly think you will have a place? Can you ensure the survival of your kind and not be threatened by the growth humans are capable of? I have seen it, old friend, a world filled with towers, smoke blocks out the sun and the land is dying beneath my feet.
“With the Madness of the Gods I can put a stop to this fate, the ultimate power only rivaled by the Gods themselves. The Future has shown me everything this age can bring about, I can tell you with conviction that your kind has no chance of adapting in time. Survival is entirely dependent on whether you accept or fight the change that is coming, so I ask you: What would you have done to fight your extinction?”
There was a long pause, the two humans on either side of me continued to hold steady, and the man at the table had shifted to a more laid back position. I thoughtfully stared at the ground and tried to decipher what he wanted me to say, did he want approval? Would he actually expect me to side with him, to approve of his actions against Kurai and myself? Finally I felt I had the answer that suited me best, “You are a fool,” there was a snicker from the man at the table, “You actually think declaring war on my friends, humanity, the World, is the best way to avoid fading with the passage of time?”
Ixontros lowered his arms slowly, he just stood there like a statue and I could feel the tension in the air rising. Swiftly he turned on his heel and aimed an odd weapon at me, a fairly short blade with golden tines extending from the hilt. “I had only partially hoped you would understand me, after what happened with Jakob I knew our friendship was merely a formality. Now that you know what I am trying to accomplish you must not leave.”
A yellow glow came from his left sleeve and a small blast of lightning magic shot into the blade, jumping around on the tines. I held my ground and tried to remain calm; a battle was one of the things I had anticipated to occur, but I didn’t expect Ixontros himself to be the instigator. However, I got the information I wanted and now was as good a time as any to leave, “I only have one thing to say to you now, Ixontros: Leave me and my family alone, or you will regret it.”
Without waiting for a response I swiftly spread my wings and sent the two guards flying into the surrounding tables. Ixontros tried to stab me with the odd weapon, but forgot about my tail and I knocked him away. I ensured they were all fairly incapacitated and then made a rush for the door, ignoring the man sitting at the table. That was clearly a mistake, he stood up and took a position that I recognized; his left arm extended with the right hand hovering over the wrist, the Dreamstrider[/]! Before I could react there was a familiar stabbing pain in my head, it felt like my mind was on fire and freezing all at once. The agonizing pain made it nearly impossible to think, my escape was beginning to look like a fool’s gambit, and yet I somehow continued inching my way to the door.
As I reached out for the handle the sound of metal banging against flesh rang through the hall, I turned to see the young man holding a steal shield and standing over the Dreamstrider. “Go, I’ll try to hold them back!” he shouted, in response to my confusion he simply blurted, “I am a friend, there is no time to explain, just go!”
He didn’t have to ask again, I was out of the building and in the air before he finished the word ‘go’. As to be expected there were Scribes prepared for airborne combat, standing on the coliseum walls, and I was immediately faced with wave after wave of Elemental magic. To my credit not a single blast landed, but I was unable to avoid crashing into a couple walls in my desperate attempt to escape. Overall, not the best meeting I have had with a human, aside from a few singed hairs and bruises one could say it went well enough.
Ixontros was playing with things he shouldn’t, if he truly wanted to prevent the future he saw then there was likely no stopping him by talking it out. Kurai was going to have to tell me a lot more than he was willing to; it was too late for me not to be involved.
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Brother Edgar's Weapon
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~ Veneris, October 4th, Year 1355 of the Human Calendar
I am finally back home, as it turns out running into buildings is not good for ones’ wings so I was forced to hoof it half of the way here. It is always the little things that you never imagined you would miss until you don’t have them. At least the countryside of Salmae is beautiful this time of year, there were kiwi trees in full bloom and even some bearing fruit already. In fact I noticed a rather peculiar creature in the grove; it looked vaguely like a tall wolf but had antlers!
I spent the entire afternoon watching as this creature did the oddest things; climbing trees, playing with smaller animals, even leaping to snap at the fruit hanging from the kiwi trees! It was indeed built like a wolf, but had a longer and a narrower muzzle as well as longer legs. Its coat was brown with darker brown areas, with antlers reminded me of a white-tail deer’s. I was tempted to approach it to see if it could communicate, but soon decided against it; it wasn’t the time to be making new friends.
I don’t know if Ixontros will retaliate or not, he may actually take my warning seriously. Still preparing for the possibility is on my ‘to do list’, but in the mean time I must rest. The next day I will visit with Kurai and exchange information, he knows more about this situation after all.
~
What a fool I am… I completely forgot Ixontros doesn’t need to send hunters; he has the best way to harm me already. The Dreamstrider visited me again, this time I was tied down in my own mind! He made my situation all too clear by showing me all of the friends I have made, everything I loved, burning. All of it was set ablaze as I stood helplessly watching, he forced me to relive the horrible vision a thousand times before finally giving his own warning: “Learn your place.”
It was hours before I stopped sobbing, the visions were thoroughly seared into my memory after he released his hold. This was why my kind detested humans; they are cruel, senseless creatures! That is it; I am done being toyed with, if he dares come back I will make him rue the day he was ever born!
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The creature mentioned in this entry is named Deeg, he was created by my girlfriend.
He is the one to the left.
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and it needs more jato