Dragon
Rider
The
legendary Dracuse: a race of dragon trainers, riders, tamers, etc. Here was one
now. There it sat by a lake in the distance, a giant red dragon. His scales were
dark red and glistened in the sun. The water reflected onto him and gave him an
eerie effect. Two horns jutted out from his head and a nice red mane appeared
as fire bursting forth from his neck and the back of his skull. Atop the giant
beast stood a man dressed in blue battle attire. He wore a helmet of royal blue
and light silver. The helmet appeared to have horns and dragon ear replications
protruded from it. His face was almost complete masked, and all you could see
were his eyes and nose. He held a light spear in hand with a silver tip. His
royal blue cape whipped about in the wind, as he stood there, motionless.
The dragon’s head lifted swiftly. “HEY!” the dragon yelled,
“what’re you doing up there idiot? Geez…are we going to move or not, I thought
we stopped to get a drink, and you’re just standing there, trying to be all
‘Mr. solemn cool guy’…well, you’re just wasting time. If you’re going to stop
somewhere, and do nothing, then why not just let me go. There’s no use for me.
Why can’t you just get a magic carpet or somet-“
“ENOUGH!
The Dracuse said with a hint of masterful anger in his voice, “Can’t you see
them Draco? In the distance, two travelers. Look at them. A tall one with black
hair and strange attire, and a giant one with what appears to be a skeleton
over his shoulder.”
“And I care
about this nonsense? You’ve got some nerve Traulus! Just standing there and
looking at people. I’m getting fed up with this. Let me go!” Draco: enslaved by
the Dracuse power, he is not allowed to move or employ his magic or power
without Traulus’s command. Get the point of Draco’s complaining now? “Now
PLEASE! Let me get some water, I’m thirsty damnit!”
“Silence…now.
What do you think we should do with these travelers?”
“I don’t
care…I WANT WATER!”
“Did I ask
what you wanted?” Traulus inquired as he flogged Draco upside the skull. “I
think we should burn them alive.
“Why do you
always want me to burn people up? You’re the reason that people think dragons
are evil nowadays.”
“Alright
alright. I guess I’ll spare them the ashes to ashes routine, but I just don’t
feel right about them getting away without being abused.”
“Abused?
Why can’t we help those people Traulus? Maybe they’ll prove to be useful to us.
Or maybe they’ll wish to be our slaves! How ‘bout that?”
“Hmmmm…whatever
Drake, old boy. I’ll give it a thought or two.” Traulus sat down and played
with the head of his light silver spear.
Darq looked at them in the
distance. He felt uneasy. He’d had some ghastly encounters with dragons in the
past. Tossed around, bitten, and almost toasted by them. Darq despised, and
feared them. Ricarde paid the Dracuse and dragon no mind. He simply continued
to walk and whistle a lively tune. “Um…what’re we going to do about this big
guy?” Darq asked uneasily.
“Do?
Let’s just walk around them, they probably just stopped to get a drink or
something.” Ricarde replied assuredly.
“Alright, I
guess.” Darq and Ricarde neared the dragon rider and his mount. They were but
two feet away when the Dracuse called to them.
“You there.
Hallo. What business do you have in these open fields?” Traulus asked.
“Open
fields?” Darq said, “We happen to be following the trail…. sir.”
“Is that
so…Ok, buh-bye.” Darq looked at the Dracuse with astonishment and walked on
ahead, as he released a sigh of relief. “Wait a minute!” Darq looked behind
him. “Where do you lads happen to be traveling to?”
“We’re
looking for the Library of Menkuala.” Ricarde replied.
“Menkuala?
Menkaula??? That’s in south Waishai. You’re more than years from there.”
“Why do you
ask anyway?” Darq said.
“Well,”
said Traulus, “we might be able to give you a ride near the midwest of Kronus,
but that’s the best we can do.” Darq smiled.
“Great!”
“There’s a
good chap then. Just climb up on the saddle here and get situated.” Ricarde
leaned over to Darq and whispered.
“He’s being
awful generous, don’t you think?” he said. Darq nodded and then shrugged as if
to say, “Yeah, but who can argue with a free ride. Man this is the sweetest
thing we’ve come across yet!” The two (three including sleepy boy) climbed
aboard the S.S. Big Dragon, and got comfortable.
“OK! Ready
Drake, old boy?” Traulus said with a tap of his heel against the dragon’s
belly. “Let’s go!” Traulus thwacked the dragon over the head with his silver spear
and gripped the reigns connected to the dragon. Draco took a few steps back and
lowered his head. His feet began to move slowly at first, and then stomped at a
fast pace. He jumped into the air and spread his immense wings. Darq leaned
over to his left and puked. Ricarde laughed and smacked him on the back.
“Yeehaw!”
Ricarde yelled. The dragon launched itself into the air with immense speed and
began flying as if it were child’s play.
“Ye gods, the
pain never ends…what’s next?” Darq said rather cathartically. Within moments a
flash of light burst through the clouds as if a giant thunderbolt thrown by the
gods. Darq looked towards it and cocked his head to the side. Traulus gripped
the reigns of his trusty dragon. “What in the hell? What’s that?”
“That? Why
dear boy, don’t you know?” asked Traulus, “THAT….is called…a bogey.”
“A bogey?
What’s a bogey?”
“A BAD GUY
WHO JUST HAPPENS TO BE ON OUR ARSES DEAR BOY!” Traulus was not in any mood to
explain anything to Darq at the moment, for he was occupied, trying to avoid
anymore lightning attacks. Ricarde clutched his axe with one hand and pulled it
off of his belt. He swiftly stood and swung the axe in front of himself.
“Alright
boys. Have fun, I’ve got some business to attend to.” With that, Ricarde jumped
off the tail of the dragon and flipped out into the air. THWAM! Darq whipped
his head around to catch sight of his friend Ricarde. The beastly man had
jumped into thin air and landed on a giant beast, all feathers and claws. A
griffin, Darq thought to himself.
“Traulus…wolf
boy may need some help. I’m going back there, please stay in front of us, we’ll
be back in a flash.” Darq turned around and stood upright, he reached behind
his back and pulled his colossal mallet from out of thin air. “Manus, serve me
well.” Darq raised his hand in the air and began a chant, “REPTU KI!” As Darq’s
hand closed tightly into a fist, a giant fireball engulfed it. Darq gave a
slight half-smile and looked to his trusty hammer. With a slow movement he
touched his hand to the yellow pentacle that shown brightly on the face of his
mallet. His weapon had been ignited, in most cases a weapon of wood would be
burnt to a crisp, but not Manus. Manus, was an elemental weapon, whose secrets
were endless, and it seemed as though igniting it only made it a more
formidable weapon.
Darq raised
his mallet into the air and outstretched his hand. “Wait up Ricarde…It’s hammer
time.” Darq leaped off of the dragon and landed on top of the griffin. He
saw himself face to face with a sorcerer wearing green robes and a pointy cap
and a short witch wearing purple and black robes and a floppy sorceress hat.
“Alright guys…whoever you are, prepare yourselves for some serious trouble.”
Darq swung his mallet into the air and let it rest there. In a few seconds it
sounded as if a meteor were crashing into the earth. Darq’s mallet fell like
Lucifer from the heavens and practically knocked the green wizard into a coma.
“ACK!! You
fool…my robes…AHHHHH I’M ON FIRE!!” the green wizard swarmed about and nearly
fell off of his griffin mount. From behind an axe made a swift motion and was
stopped abruptly. Ricarde cocked his head to the side as if to say “my axe…what
the hell…my axe!” The witch stood directly behind him, her hand raised into the
misty air. The sun was setting, and things were getting silent. The battle was
just beginning and, when underway, promised to be very messy. THWAM! Darq
slammed into the green sorcerer once again with his fiery hammer. Ricarde
whipped around and grabbed the bony young wizard, and held an axe to his
throat. The witch stood still, she was helpless to do anything. Suddenly, a
green aura surrounded Ricarde and he had frozen still. The green wizard
adjusted himself promptly and faced Darq. Blood spilled from his mouth and his
face was battered. Darq smiled sardonically and held his mallet horizontal and
parallel to his waist. He put his left hand to the left face of the mallet and
pushed down. “
“REPTU KI!”
A giant blast of fire built up between the mallet and the hand. The hammer
shook violently and then—VOOM. Darq whirled about like a top, all fire and
mallet. He was a veritable fiery tornado of death. The green wizard was caught, he was sucked into the attack and
was being slammed about and received countless blows in many places (not to
mention the fact that he was being burned by the singing hellfire). In the end,
the green sorcerer fell off the griffin. Darq was triumphant, or so he thought.
The witch
jumped off her beast and plummeted downward. Suicide? No. She soon rose back
up, riding on a crude broom. She raised two hands in the air and raised the
green wizard up beside her. “You’ll not have beaten us this day lad. You
haven’t seen the last of CoOH,L.” A purple aura surrounded the two and they
hastily flew through a gigantic black portal.
The green
light that had surrounded Ricarde had subsided and he was free once more. Darq
looked towards Draco and yelled to Traulus to bring the dragon around. In an
instant the red fire breathing beast flew around the side of the horrid
griffin. Ricarde and Darq hopped aboard and decided to rest. A true treasure
hunter’s work…is never done.