Arise the Dragonslayer [The Flash warrior series #1]

Chapter one: Xabiere!!!

"Xabiere. Hey Xabiere. Xabiere!" I gasped at a sudden thundering voice that roared into my eardrums. I jumped as my spirit bounced upward, but someone grabbed my arm. It was Mondrea, my delirious, happy-go-lucky, totally exhausting, and annoying sister.

 

I wiped my eyelids to get rid of the irritating room. A flash of light shined in front of me. I covered my face with my hand as Mondrea slid the curtains open. "Rise and shine, Xabe!" she said sarcastically.

 

"Ugh. Mondrea, what time is it?" I asked while I still wipe my eyes.

 

"See for yourself, brother." she pointed at the clock above the wall behind me. Time addressed to me that it was seven o'clock in the morning. 

 

I peered to her so the light wouldn't straightly blind me."What the . . . why are you so early?"

 

"Sam's outside again. He needs you," she replied. And that got me thinking.

 

"Oh . . . wait, why?" I asked.

 

"Just come downstairs. Darn it, why can't just Rosie call you instead?" she muttered by the time she left. As I got up, I cracked my bones and stretched my limbs to release the tension. Ahhh, that feels so good. I even shook and slapped my face just for me to wake up more. I walked towards the stairs like a drunken man. I stumbled and rolled over and over again until I reached the ground floor. I felt how sore my body is. "Ow . . ." I muttered. Yup, that's me.

 

"Xabiere, Is that you?" Henrich shouted from the kitchen.

 

"Yeah," I grunted in response, rubbing my neck in hopes that the pain would vanish.

 

"Good, Sam needs you!" she yelled again.

 

"I know," I groaned. In front of the brown door with a misty window, I could see a silhouette of a person. He has just the right amount of fat, height, and curls on his hair. As I opened the door, I could see the houses of my home, Snowfall village. The roofs were blanketed with pure white snow including the leaves of the trees nearby. I have yet to see my home neither this snowy nor cold. I could see my neighbors wearing coats and jackets to get themselves comfortable from this winter atmosphere while laughing at their conversation.

 

Until my eyes fixed on a person standing right in front of me. "Uh . . . is this the Berrygrewd residence?" asked the guy, who was wearing a white uniform, in a low, lazy-toned voice as if he was awake for too long.

 

"Yes, why?" I asked.

 

"Uuuh . . . I came here to . . . uuuh . . . give you this package." He opened his bag and brought out a rectangular object wrapped with paper.

 

"What is that?"

 

"I don't know . . . you're the one who ordered this," he said slowly.

 

"Me?" Suddenly, Rosie rushed towards the man from behind my back. 

 

"Oh, goody, goody, goody! That's mine, thank you!" she went back to the place where she came, which I really don't know. turned back to see his tiring gaze again.

 

"So, who are you?" I asked the guy.

 

"Oh . . . uuuuh . . . I'm juuuust . . . a guuuuy, that sends messages to the villages . . . ." he replied.

 

"Are you . . . new here?"

 

"Uuuh . . . nooo . . . okay . . . for now, yes." The mailman and I got stuck in an awkward moment that I probably won't forget.

 

"Um . . . okay. Uh . . . how many letters have you sent these days?" I asked him nervously. I really need to get out of this awkward situation, it really sucks.

 

"Uh ... maybe thousands?" the guy shrugged before picking his nose.

 

"Oh my . . . eww . . . I . . . oh my . . . uh . . . what's your name?" I regret asking him that, but hey, that's me every time I have nothing in mind when it comes to talking to someone I just met, seriously.

 

"Uuuh . . . Mailman."

 

"No, no, no, your real name."

 

"Uh . . . Mailman." He picked his nose one more time while taking the awkward staring contest to the next level.

 

"Okay, Mailman . . . thank you for . . . um . . . this. Bye." I waved my hand up and down rapidly just for him to understand. Unless he didn't.

 

"Uuuh . . . okay, you're welcome." He turned and went to the other houses just to give them their letters. As he did, Sam, my best friend, stood in front of me- arms at his sideways and giving me the look. "Is he a friend of yours?" Sam tossed his head to the mailman.

 

"Oh . . . uh . . . I . . . I just . . . um . . . never mind. What brings you here, anyway?"

 

Sam chuckled, "Sorry for waking you up, well . . . judging by your shaggy hair. I was hoping if you can come with me to the book fair today. There are new wonderful books to read just for you too." He gave me a creepy grin. I was thinking about coming with him to buy new books, I was so bored anyway. And yes, folks, I can be a bookworm in a way.

 

"Of course. I'd love to, Sam," I smiled.

 

"Great! See you at twelve!" Before he ran, we did our best friend shake by pounding our fists up and down before forming an X-shape when our opposite forearm collided. That was the shortest conversation we ever had. He waved his hands while running backward. "Sam, watch out!" Too late, Sam turned and bumped into a postman. His opened back barfed with newspapers. I winced as I witness the two of them fell off. 

 

"Hey, watch where you going!" The postman shook his head before picking up the newspapers that Sam had tripped over.

 

"Sorry, sir. My best friend apologized to the man before focusing back on me. "Remember, Xabe, twelve o'clock!" I raised my thumb as a response.

 

"He really likes books." I was startled as Mondrea somehow quietly stood beside me.

 

"Uh-huh, that's Sam the reader, all right." I nodded in agreement.

 

"That's the shortest conversation I have ever seen in my entire life." Mondrea looked at the horizon as if she was amazed by a picture.

 

"Mondrea, would you please stop stalking us." I glared.

 

She slowly back away. "I'm just saying."

 

***

 

"By the way, Hen, have you seen mom? I didn't see her when I looked at her room," I asked. Today, we were having bread and cereal with milk for breakfast. Also with our favorite, hot vanilla cocoa.

 

"Nurse Joy sent her to the clinic just to check her condition. Mother is not feeling well these days," Henrich responded.

 

"Yeah, after what happened that time." Mondrea began to shiver from the bad memory.

 

"Don't worry, guys. Remember the last time when we worried too much about mom?" asked Rosie.

 

Oh memories, I remembered that. It was about two years ago. We were in the middle of dinner time when mom coughed a bit. Later, she coughed really hard while holding her neck. "Oh my goodness, bring our mother to the hospital!" Mondrea shouted, panicking.

 

"Mondrea, we don't have a hospital!" Rosie reminded her twin.

 

"Quickly, to the clinic! Xabiere, you carry her, fast!" ordered Henrich with her death stare. It scares me when she does that. It was like staring at a vampire.

 

"Got it," I muttered, shocked by their reactions.

 

We carried mom to her wheelchair (Which we kept for a long time just in case mom's condition gets worse). We were pushing people away as we rushed outside our house. Mondrea yelled to the crowd, "Out of the way, coughing lady on a wheelchair coming through!" We even slid down on a hill just to get to the shortcut.

 

"Children wait," she coughed, but her voice was too weak, so we didn't pay attention to her (Except for me, obviously), we were very attentive to her safety. Villagers nearby almost got crushed because of us. We slid really fast we don't know how to stop it. My feet kept running as the wheels are rotating, separating me and my mother from my siblings. "Xabiere, the clinic's in front of you, slow down!" Henrich said from far away.

 

"I can't! After all, you're the one who told us to hurry in the first place!" I panicked and screamed. Somehow I heard Rosie said, "He's got a point, though."

 

The two doors opened, I saw Nurse Joy placing her hand on an old witch's back.

 

"Are you sure this will get my husband back?" asked the old witch, scanning the flask with blue liquid.

 

"Yes, absolutely. Just strike him in the head as many times as you want by using your broomstick to knock him out, then open his mouth before pouring the potion." Added information about the nurse was that she also does witchcraft. So that's wicked.

 

"Oh thank you, Nurse Joy. You're truly are a witch, just like your mother." The old witch bowed her head as she offered the nurse a warm smile.

 

"Thank you, ma'am, I always have my mother's dark side." Trust me, you don't want to know her dark side. Even if you convince me. I won't give you any info.

 

"Uh-oh . . . ." I struggled to stop my legs. Though I tried hopping for me to use my heels as brakes. As I did, mom flew so far, she slammed her face on the door. "By the potions! Mrs. Berrygrewd, are you okay?" Nurse Joy knelt beside her. My sisters came and grimaced as they saw our mother's face was hurt.

 

Mondrea said, "She's even worse than before. First, she's coughing hard, and now she face-planted on a door." Faceplant is where your face clashed with something.

 

Mother spat something out from her mouth. It was a small bone.

 

"Oh, now I get it." Rosie nodded.

 

"I don't." Mondrea shook her head. Mom was panting until she recovered.

 

"Why did you even bring your mother here?" Nurse Joy glanced at us. She was not looking very happy.

 

"We thought she was choking," Rosie said.

 

"Mom, I am so sorry," I pleaded and knelt near her. It was embarrassing. After her face collided with the door, how angry would she be? If she's very angry, I must be ready to defend myself or run away as possible.

 

"You could just do the Heimlich maneuver," Mom coughed. Heimlich maneuver is a technique where you wrap your arms around a patient's belly then you compress his or her stomach to push the air out of the patient's mouth. Yeah, I learned that from my dad.

 

I slapped my face, because of how dumb I was. "Why didn't I think of that before?"'

 

So yes, that's about it. Sometimes the Berrygrewd family can be a disaster in the past, but now we are determined (For real this time).

 

"Oh well, at least we remained faithful for her to feel better," I said. "I'm really worried about mother, what if Nurse Joy never found a cure?"

 

"Not to worry, she will," Henrich assured.

 

Things were very rough back then. Dad died for an unknown cause, mom started having this illness that got her weaker, and now we're here, the four disastrous siblings of destruction (We named ourselves since we were kids). Well, we'll just hope that nothing will get even worse.

 

But everything did get worse than the rest of the worse (It may sound confusing, but you'll get it someday). I, MaXabiere Berrygrewd (Or you can call me Xabiere, or Xabe. I'm just suggesting) have this life that I didn't fully expect from the rest. For sixteen years, my life was trapped by a catastrophic event that I must change. So catastrophic, that I could die.

 

So, let's go to my story. Where everything is about to change.