“You know I hate it when you do that”, Athalea, his mother said as she pulled back the black curtain covering her from being seen. The curtain was right behind the spot where Cyrus was seated, meaning she had been standing behind the Prince this whole time.
She was in her middle ages, yet had the beauty and charm most men would seek, the only thing that gave her away was the tiny wrinkles at the edges of her eyes and lips with the little lines on her forehead. It seemed Athanasius got his blonde hair and blue eyes from her, as they looked strikingly similar in that regard. “Just had to get it off my chest”, Athanasius said. “Is that so?”, she asked. “For a while, it seemed like you had taken a liking to him.” “I still do”, Athanasius said. “It's just that it naturally infuriates me when... Never mind.” “You just hate it when you meet people who are smarter than you?”, asked Athalea. “You knowAbout 50 years ago... A young Jason Thornicus and several others like him assembled in an organized manner, doing basic fighting choreography while their supervisor, Stephen, watched them closely. He was elderly, but not too old. Perhaps in his early forties. He had a long cane in his hand as he stood on a high platform while the young men and women practiced below him. They were performing certain moves together, and as they did, they sang a battle song to improve camaraderie. “Zeno, your steps are out of sync!”, Stephen yelled at one of the young men who was a step behind the others. “You all are dragon slayers, people tasked to eradicate all dragons. If you can do something as simple as synchronized choreography, then you won't be able to work as a team on the battlefield.” “Yes sir!”, the young ones yelled out loud as they continued their choreography, jumping, somersaulting, twisting, and rolling. It looked like gymnast
“Alright, get up”, Stephen yelled out loud as all the youths down below got up sluggishly, with almost every muscle of their body aching terribly while they did so. “Now it's time for the sacred part of the martial art - The art of breathing fire”, Stephen said, and all the students below murmured among themselves. “Is this a joke?” “How on earth are we supposed to do that?” “We can barely even do the choreography without missing some steps, now he expects us to become professionals all of a sudden?” Stephen took note of their grumbling and to bring an end to it, he hit his cane on a rock. It made a sharp, loud sound that reverberated around the cave. The sound was so sharp that it caused everyone in the cave to fall silent, including those spectating the event. “You all have absorbed the power of all the dragon eggs we have gathered. That magic has grown deep inside of you for years
“Alright, young lot”, Stephen said to them. “You all are going on your first raid this morning. Now that you are Dragon Slayers, now is the time to show what you are capable of. You will be going with me to one of the nearby caves. Now is the mating season for dragons, meaning that a lot of mothers will be laying eggs by now. You will be egg-hunting. Each of you team up in the best way you see fit, but all hundred of you are required to come back with at least ten eggs.” “What? Ten eggs?” “It's almost impossible for a party of twenty to get one, let alone ten!” “What if this is just another stupid metric he's putting before us just to make us push past our limits?” “It has to be. Because there is no way we are cut out for this, at least not now.” Then, to their surprise, Kelvin, the more strict instructor came forth, standing beside his brother. “The mission expires by nightfall, if you lot don't return with all te
After the additional two had given up on trying to join them, Zenos turned to Faora. “Why did you have to chase them off like that?”, he asked her. “Won't we be better off being five than three?” Faora gave him no response, keeping her eyes straight and barely even acknowledging his existence. Then Thornicus spoke up instead. “Those men weren't looking for a group of people to fight with”, he said to Zenos. “They were simply looking for strong people they can leech off of by sitting back and allowing them to go ahead and do the dirty work while they sit back and do nothing. Given the situation we are headed towards, I don't think we have that luxury. Besides, we are better off this way - there will be fewer to no liabilities, now that there are no weak, persons among us.” “I hope you are right”, Zenos replied. Then Faora spoke up. “He is right, Zenos.” It was the first time he heard his name come from Faora, and fo
All the dragon riders stopped moving, standing still as they watched the massive male dragons guarding the cave with utmost vigilance. “Get down”, Stephen instructed in a low tone, afraid the paranoid male dragons would hear him, and those around him got on a knee. Those far behind followed suit when they saw those upfront kneeling. “I've never seen dragons act this way before”, Dorcas said, and Stephen turned back. “It's something that rarely happens, especially around these parts”, Stephen said. “They must be a new species, look at their scales. The color patterns are quite different from what we are used to, don't you think?” “Yes, they are”, Mark said before placing a hand on Stephen's shoulder. “You are sure of what we are up against, right?” “I hope so”, Stephen said, and the others closeby widened their eyes. They had expected their instructor to know everything that was going on, but it turned out that he
Stephen lunged towards the two beasts, which were now looking back at him with a fit of new anger. “That's right!”, Stephen said. “I'm your meal! Come and have it!” Stephen propelled himself upwards by the flames from his feet as he engaged the dragon head-on. “He is now flying?”, Troy asked as he noticed how their instructor had remained airborne for a long time now. “We were never taught how to do that, were we?” “That is an advanced technique”, Thornicus said. “It is way beyond our level. Most of us can barely generate flames let alone control it as we please.” “But we can”, Faora said as she tried to out get out of Thornicus's embrace and on her two feet. “You want to join him?”, asked Troy with an arched brow. “I'm not afraid to die for our cause”, she told him. “Are you?” “Of course not”, Troy said. “Especially when you also want to do so. Faora shook her he
Faora, Thornicus, and Troy got into the cave, hoping desperately that nothing had happened to their comrades. And when they got in, it was a nightmare. All three dragons were in full rage. They weren't as weak as the instructor said they would be. Sure, they were incubating their eggs at that time, yet they weren't at rest, being as agile as they would have been before the mating season. “How can this be?”, asked Troy. “I thought they are in mating season. Aren't those the eggs I'm seeing?” “You are right”, Thornicus said. “They are supposed to be weak at a time like this. What gives?” “It's because they are a new species!”, Faora said. “That's the only explanation.” They watched in horror for a moment as some of the Dragon Slayers were set on fire and getting burned to death while giving screams of pain. Faora then snapped their minds back to what they were supposed to be doing. “Snap out of it!”, sh
With all three dragons defeated, the mission was as good as done, and they looked around, gathering as many eggs as they could. Those who wanted to stay behind crying for their loved ones stood their ground, refusing to either be comforted or taken away. But that was when they heard people's screams coming from outside. “Damn it”, Troy swore. “What now?” “Of course, it couldn't have been this easy”, Faora said as the quad ran outside to see what was going on. And to their dismay, there was another male dragon, and it had burnt up several of them outside. Some of them were so disfigured due to the several burns from the dragon's breath that the trio could barely recognize some of them. Without thinking, Faora levitated up high and lunged at the dragon, forcing out fiery explosions from her feet while doing so to increase her momentum. Her arms were set ablaze as she blasted off toward the dragon, which had just barely noticed he