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 heFaora, 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
All the bodies were gathered together and the cremation began. They were all set ablaze amid the cold south wind that blew against the thriving flames. It was getting dark, and it wouldn't be safe for them to remain out in the open, given the nocturnal creatures that lurked around the area during nightfall. “The weather isn't appreciating this”, Troy said. “Someone would have to watch over this for the next few hours for the cremation to be completed successfully without the bodies getting desecrated by wild scavengers.” After Troy said this, everyone stayed silent for some time, as if expecting a Selfless hero to give his or herself for the scary task that was proposed. Thornicus noticed Faora was also looking around, wanting to speak up once she was sure nobody was going to speak up. “All of you can head back to the cave”, Thornicus said. Faora looked at him with widened eyes, and he stared back at her with a smile. “There
When the divine dragon had gotten out of view, Thornicus struggled to get on his feet, still shivering in fear. Being the laid-back and nonchalant person known by most back at home, this was an odd experience for him. Never had he felt fear like this in his entire life. With great care, he walked over to the pile of ashes lying on the ground, and couldn't stop himself from falling to his knees, panting heavily. He hit his knees, commanding them to stop shaking whenever he gets up, but whenever he did so, he found himself falling back down, unable to keep his standing posture for long thanks to his jerking knees. He needed to get his act together, as the winds were only getting worse, and at this rate, all the ashes would either get blown away by the wind or get mixed up in a lot of snow. So while he was still on his knees, he pulled out his outer cloak, wanting to put all the ashes inside. He gathered as much as he could, putting it into t
Thornicus remained where he was, staring out to the distant horizon, oblivious to how much time had passed by. When the watchmen changed shifts, none of them bothered to ask him why he was sitting there for so long, seeing that he was perfectly conscious even when they walked back and forth to the entrance, where he sat. There he sat, and there he slept. And just as you could guess, he dreamt of the dragon. But instead of dreaming of fighting or killing it, as he had always done in his dreams, this time he was riding it. The beast moved in the direction he hinted at, following his every command, not as a slave but as a friend. Though the shape of the dragon's mouth couldn't indicate whether she was happy or not, somehow he knew by her roars and the swift manner with which it twisted and turned as she flew over the high horizon, that she was elated. She looked as beautiful as ever, with her bright and colorful scales reflectin
“I see”, Thornicus said, closing his eyes. Kelvin was breathing heavily at this point, surprised at himself by how much he had flared up concerning the issue. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down, especially as a crowd was starting to form around them, wondering what heat was going on. Kelvin's shouts had echoed through the entire cave, grabbing the attention of many, and he didn't know that until now. “Get back to where you came from, all of you”, Kelvin told them. “I was just giving the young boy some verbal discipline, that's all. Nothing to be concerned about.” Then everyone began leaving, vacating the upper ground where he and Thornicus were. “I'm sorry”, Thornicus said. “My childish curiosity got the best of me for a moment there.” “You are welcome”, he said. Then the young man turned to leave, but as he did, Kelvin called him back. “Thornicus, you didn't happen to en
Within the thick darkness, in which the only thing Thornicus could see was the large eyes of the beast, what followed after His request was total silence, followed by the complete removal of light as both eyes of the dragon closed up. Now it was total darkness, and Thornicus could not bear it anymore. He shut his eyes, abandoning any hope for final excitement before he gets eaten alive. But what followed next was her voice coming to his mind. Still stern, but this time softer and gentler. “It starts from the circle of life, a law created by the fates, the ones who determine how things should go and how they should be. All coincidences are determined by them and then alone, and it is thanks to their choice that this world and everything within it came into existence by chance”, she said to Thornicus. “The fates determined that men were to be the dominant beings of this world, but the problem was that dragons were almost as wise
“Beautiful”, Thornicus said once he saw her face. And from his reaction, she quickly hid her head back into the frankness at the far end of the cave where the light could not reach. The size of her head, compared to what he had witnessed before, seemed a lot smaller than before. She as a whole seemed to be a lot smaller than what he saw the previous day, but from the way they had just communicated, Thornicus was sure it was the same dragon he had encountered yesterday. “Please, come closer”, Thornicus said, to her bewilderment. “I want to see your face again.” “What is wrong with you?”, she asked. “You think something is wrong with me for wanting to look at something beautiful?”, Thornicus asked. “Doesn't the point of being beautiful mean that you are pleasant to look at?” “You have no fear?”, she asked. Thornicus arched a brow. She was right. Where was his fear? “Not sure how to put it”,