Arise the Dragonslayer [The Flash warrior series #1]

Chapter twelve: Bad news

"Victor, what in the textbooks are you doing?" Lenard asked.

 

"What? I'm moving the pawn," replied Victor as he pointed at a chess piece, which wasn't a pawn.

 

"No Victor, you're doing it wrong. No wonder why we always restart the game."

 

"Come on, I wanna learn how to play chess," Victor whined.

 

Lenard frowned out of frustration. "I know, I know, but you're not remembering what I tell you."

 

"About what?" Victor asked leaving Lenard to scoff at the response.

 

"Ugh, never mind. I'll teach you a couple of techniques when you finally learned the basics, but first, let's eat." With a single snap, the chessboard and pieces vanished with purple smoke before being replaced by food that had magically appeared. 

 

"Hey, guys." Chloriette waved her hand to get their attention. "I never knew Victor wanted to play something like chess."

 

"Eh, I'm still working on it." He gave her a shy smile. Victor's brows rose by the sight of me. "Oh, who do we have here? Glad you can join us!"

 

"Yeah," I said. "People in here never heard about what happened earlier until now." I sat next to Chloriette. Lenard and Victor sat right next to each other on the other side of the table. It's for the best when we had to focus on another topic . . . please.

 

All of us went silent as Claes stood at a platform that has only four steps on top, together with a black-haired female with daring, purple eyes, and like Claes', she's wearing a black uniform. "Flash warriors, I have contacted Commander Grayson. The world's condition became far worse as the dragon, now known to be the Devastrigon, has appeared at a sudden time that no one would expect. The three-headed dragon has burned civilizations throughout the continents. Other warriors have been struggling to stop it, but nearly succeeded." The warriors were staring at him and muttered some other words that I couldn't even possibly hear. "But, there is a great chance of finding hope." We all stared at each other and later on, we turned again to him. "My other partner and I are planning to have a conversation with the Oracle of Prophethia. I know, I know it's very crazy to talk to her, but it could be and might be our only chance, whether its good . . . or bad."

 

Burned civilizations throughout the continents, which meant many people, nations, kingdoms, and other villages were destroyed?! Including other Flash warriors who were trying to protect them, but failed. My heart is beating so fast, my breath was shaking. Chloriette knew what I was thinking. she covered her mouth with her hands in terror. Lenard's jaw dropped as if Claes knew everything. Victor muttered, "No way."

 

My emotions were driving me crazy. Anger, fear, sadness. My fist clenched, I could feel my heart running, my cheeks turning hot. "Xabe?" Chloriette spoke, for the first time, no recruit has called my name in its short version. Her words persuaded me to calm down, forcing myself to not be overwhelmed by my emotions. "You don't seem okay."

 

"I'm all right." I lied, trying to shake my head to get rid of my emotions.

 

Claes whipped his head as if he was in a hot room. "All of you warriors must prepare yourselves. The Alliance Council will provide their strongest army to provide support to the people." All of us whispered because we didn't know what he meant. I didn't know that the Alliance Council could do that, they're just counselors, aren't they? "Why is he telling us this?" Victor asked. I wish I knew the answer until Claes raised his hand to silence us. "Keep yourselves well trained. We will soon face the dragon." His partner was shocked and stared at him. Didn't she know? All the warriors looked at each other, but without fear and hesitation except for the four of us.

 

***

 

"Oh this is bad," Lenard whined. "Really, really bad." The four of us were roaming around the academy, walking every majestic tall hallway with torches on either side while exploring other magical stuff that this place contained: Flash warriors taking care of unicorns, studying magical potions on a classroom, and a guy chasing a flying book.

 

"We need to calm ourselves. The fear part comes when the Oracle of Prophethia sees the bad future if she does," Chloriette said.

 

"I wish it's a good future." Lenard rubbed his hands, blowing in them as if he was cold or maybe because he was shivering from fear.

 

"What's the point?" Abruptly, a slouched, smoky hooded ghost turned his skeletal, crooked face at us from the corner's shadow. Lenard cringed. "This is the end. There is no point in fighting when death is coming." I don't know about this spirit, but something tells me not to be like him. 

 

"Who are you . . . ? What are you?" I asked as I controlled my shivering breath, it was freezing in here. "I am Hollow. I am the side of death, which sees across time and events. That is why I'm telling you this." The ghost's voice was soft and echoed every word that he said.

 

"Like death's sidekick or something?" Lenard said. Hollow went closer and gazed at Lenard. We can see his forehead trickling with sweat. "I am no sidekick of death, boy," he spat. "I am but death's eyes that wander across all places."

 

"I don't why you're here though." Chloriette and I nudged Victor to shut his mouth. I stepped closer to Hollow. "We won't let death come to our way," I told him, which was dumb, I know but I couldn't just let my hopes down. 

 

"And what makes you say that?" Hallow turned his head to me and tilted, creepy. I hope I don't get nightmares from this. Before I could answer, he titled his head and said, "Oooh, I recognize you. As of matter of fact, most people do. You almost confronted death by the hands of the monstrous three-headed creature."

 

I didn't say anything regarding my survived experience. "We may have a way to defeat it. The oracle will tell," I said. 

 

"That's right," Victor blurted out. That almost made me jump. "So you better stop saying bad things and back off!"

 

"Ah, though I am being optimistic," Hollow replied. "It's just that, nature and time cannot simply lie. It is truly the end, I'm afraid."

 

"You don't look afraid on the outside," I said to him. "Nor in the inside. Also, even if the dragon took many lives behind its blazing fury, we will bring him down. I'm telling you this because I'm sure of it." I've never felt this confident before, unlike the other words that I'm still not so sure of. Maybe because my anger was taking over. Also, I was so sure about this because I knew that Hollow was wrong. I wanted him to be wrong. Believe it or not, there is always hope. I can feel it. "Oh my, I've never met a person like you. Oh wait, I do, I met other mortals before, their sense of heroism was similar to yours." Hollow's eyes widened. "Then, answer this question, boy, how can a human being still have hope when they fear death? They know what comes for them is nothing but a deep dive into the darkness."

 

Suddenly, Sean walked in from the other side of the hallway while holding an ice cream. He went running until he reached us. "Hey!" He shouted to Hollow. "The heck are you doing here? Get out! You're not allowed in here!" The skeletal ghost hissed and flew toward the big window. "And don't come back! Ghost like you are not welcome even in this academy!" Sean took a deep breath and managed a smile. "Is that ghost bothering you guys with his creepy gaze? Because if he did, I'll-"

 

A brown owl flapped its wings on the hall. How did it get in here? The owl landed as Sean offered his arm. "Hello, what's this?" He took out a tiny scroll from the owl's legs. After he read the message, he let the owl fly back to where it came from. 

 

"What is it?" I asked.

 

"Just some sort of meeting with the Alliance Council," he said. "Claes is right, you need to train and learn quickly as best as you can while there's still a chance." He jogged back to the corner before silence took its place.

 

"You know, Hollow can be right," said Chloriette. "People nowadays are living in fear when the monster was unleashed."

 

"Come on, Chlor," Victor called out. "We're Flash warriors, we can do it." 

 

I appreciated Victor's optimism.

 

"I also couldn't believe that the Oracle of Prophethia is here." We turned to Lenard. "A place called Prophethia means there is something very important that she has to say since where the oracle came from was ancient and piled with written scrolls based on divine messages. Luckily, it survived till this New Era."

 

Now the pressure was on. I told the rest of them, "Whatever this divine message or prophecy she got. Let's not hope it's bad news."