The great war waged for eighteen years. Generations were taught
to hate others simply because of what they were taught. There was no reason for
the war, simply the remains of a conflict of truths from years ago. There was
no sense anymore. And during that time, which the Sybeal
called, ‘the great atrocity,’ Imbroloth’s influence
had grown stronger. The gods did not know what to do. If Imbroloth
succeeded and gained control over the majority of peoples on Falacia, then he
would wage a war against the heavens by a mas
suicide, bringing all of his followers (once he had awaken) to the realm of the gods. So, they made the
painful decision of destroying their creations. But before they could do so, Eldrihoth, the Wisest, advised that they simply create something that every race could
understand. So, they created the muse, Althridea,
with which to inspire artisans. The deaf had great works of art, and the blind
had music. And for the utterly forsaken, the blind and deaf, they created
imagination, the art of the soul. And for a time, it was good. The peoples
could set aside differences and share art. The races did wondrous things with
music. Men could speak to animals (a given trait in the Ienile),
and the Ienile could shape trees and other forms of
nature. And for a time, which the Sybeal
called ‘The Peaceful Years’ Imbroloth and his
children slipped out of mind. But this peace would not last forever, as
time showed.
-excerpt from the book of Yivyne
I said nothing to
James about the boy. No one did. We just walked and walked and walked to the
top of the city. James was quiet, and so was Naru.
James looked into space, not focusing on anything. he
just stared. His eyes were blank. I was kinda worried. I didn’t know him very
well, but he was probably the only friend I had anymore. “I’m... sorry.” I said
quietly. He said nothing. We finally came to a great iron gate, with two guards
with spears. James’ eyes narrowed loathly. “Names, please.” Naru spoke up. “Naru Yellowclaw
and James Elias and company. Special business.” the guards looked at
each other and nodded. “Accepted.” one of them took out a heavy ring of iron
keys and unlocked the gate. It opened noisily. When we walked in, we were amazed.
Huge, houses that resembled Truist churches, stained
glass and all. People dressed like kings and queens walked down the streets,
staring at us haughtily. “Wow. That was a change.” I said. Naru
nodded, and James said nothing. This was probably the rich side. The side we
were just on was dirty, but this place was immaculate. Lanterns reflecting the
sunset shone magnificently. It was amazing. The click of expensive boots and
high heels broke the silence. I realized that it was quiet a lot, now. None of the
other dragons spoke the language of Men, and Naru was
the quiet type. I had no one to talk to. Now I was sincerely worried about
James. He was starting to mumble, talk quietly to himself, his eyes looking
pained again and again as he stared at the rich people walking by. We finally
reached the Hold of Mennrek, where I was supposed to
meet someone. The gates here were made of Ivory, and it glistened as if
polished. There were at least six guards on either side of the gate. Thick
security, I thought. “Names.” they asked again. Naru
again spoke up. “Naru Yellowclaw and James Elias and company. Special business.”
They opened the gates. When we walked through, a group of guards
escorted us to another set of gates.
These were wooden, and had a crest of a silhouette a sword over a dragons head. James
growled. CRREEEAK... the doors opened, and when we walked in, an enormous court
room, with unnumerable chandeliers hanging from the
ceiling, which was adorned with several hundred masterpiece paintings of angels
and cherubs, all framed in gold. Portraits among portraits lined the walls, of
the kings who ruled this city in the past. Peacocks walked among the fountains
and gardens as haughtily as the people outside did. Bards and musicians leaned
against walls, begging Althridea the Muse for
inspiration. Thousands of hallways going in every direction, along with a huge
staircase in the front of the room caught the eye. Doors opened, and a tall,
fat man came running out. He had many diamond rings on, as well as an intricate
fur robe. I looked at Naru, and he showed the
slightest bit of fear when he saw the fur. He scratched his arm nervously. The
fat man’s hair was tied back, and he had a beret of silk and gold covering his
balding head. “Welcome, welcome...”
he said as he strode down the stairs as gracefully as he could. Which wasn’t much. “Welcome,
travelers. The council is tomorrow, so rest up tonight. I would be more
gracious, but I am a dreadfully busy man. You understand, don’t you?” “Where’s
our room?” James asked quietly, but it didn’t sound as if he was asking. “Ah, yes. Top floor, room
three hundred and twenty six. Here’s your key.” it was an old
skeleton key, the kind Leren used to collect. It
hurt-really, actually hurt-to think
about him and Entheen and my family. I took it in my
hand, and we began climbing the staircases. Walking and walking and walking,
eventually, one of us used common sense. Nar sighed, “okay, screw it,” and
began running up the stairs. The sound of his paws pounding the carpet got the
attention of every one in the room. I chuckled, embarrassed. It was a good idea. James’ wings flapped
open, and they whooshed powerfully, as he zoomed out of sight. I turned to one
of the dragons, and asked, “please...” to my surprise, one of them said, “sure, fine. Why not.” he/she grabbed my
arms and flew up the stairs. The others followed. “I didn’t know you could talk human!” I shouted over the flapping of
many wings. “Yeah.
I just didn’t wanna have to. I’m better at speaking
human than the others, but It’s hard to. They’re
pretty different, and human is so complicated. Anything can mean anything.” I
know what you mean. What’s with James and the boy? It was sad, but he took it
personally.” the dragon looked confused.
“See, that’s just the thing. No one knows why James acts that way except for Naru and some others back at Lernalaban.
He’s pretty secretive.” “Oh.” We
were flying up the center of the stairs, and I could see the top floor ceiling
coming up. When we landed over the gold railing, I took out the key and
unlocked room 326. It was a lavish room, with at least ten huge canopy
beds. There was a sink near every bed,
and a dresser full of clothes. The first thing James did was change out of the
armor, put on some black, casual clothes and open up a window. “I gotta go think for a while.” he said simply. Then he humped out
of the window and flew to one of the palace’s steeples. We had told the guards
not to attack any dragons, because we were on business with the Lord Mennrek. When I ran to the window, Naru
put a hand on my shoulder, and said, “No.
Don’t worry about him. He went through something pretty traumatic today-” “THAT’S IT!” I shouted. “I
want answers. Now!” Naru
sighed. “Okay, come with
Later that night,
something woke me up. I heard the creaking of the window being closed. I sat
up, and saw that it was James. “James?”
“Yeah?” he said. “I wanna ask you something.” he was still kind of
depressed. I stood up, and swallowed my pride. “Why were you so happy a few nights ago, and the today, even before
we got here, you were all upset. Why?” He wasn’t
looking at me, but know I had his attention. “What?” “You heard me. Were you...” I
knew that I would be in pain in the next few minutes, but I had to say it. “...were you on theigarim?”
silence filled the room like only silence can. “AAARGH!” he roared, probably waking up
the entire building. I could see a tiny flare of fire go off in his mouth when
he yelled. It lit up the room for a split second. I could hear his footsteps,
and then two strong hands closed around my neck and pinned me against the wall
several inches above the ground. I could taste blood, and I could see stars. “Don’t you EVER accuse me of that!” he
grasped harder, and I could feel a trickle of liquid-spit or blood- flow down
my chin. “EVER!!”
I gasped helplessly for air. “I-I’m
sorry-” I managed to say. He let go of my neck, and I fell to the floor. He
sat down on one of the beds. I grasped my neck, and it hurt to breathe. I could
feel indentations in my skin where he choked me. I could see in the moonlight
that he was staring at his hands. “I-I...
I’m so...” I got up. “Don’t be. It
was stupid of me. I really can’t blame you.” But he continued to stare at his hands. They
looked red. I felt my neck, and it was wet. I looked at my fingertips, and they
had a red liquid on them. “Oh...” I
fell unconscious on the bed. I could hear James roar.
When I woke up, I
instinctively felt my neck. It was wrapped in some kind of damp cloth. I got up, feeling dizzy,
and the pillow on James’ bed was torn apart. Feather’s everywhere, and the
cloth cut up. It was the dressing on my neck. I got up to look in the mirror,
and the cloth was a dark red. Naru was sitting on his
bed. He stared at me. “I told you not to
mention any of it,
didn’t I. I told you. And your swore, to
my face, that you wouldn’t. It’s your own fault. And you should thank James. If
it weren’t for him, you would have died of blood loss.” I realized what a jerk I had been. He went
through one of the worst experiences of his life, and I accused him of taking
the drug that turned his parents into
vegetables. “God, I’m an idiot.” I said. “Yep. Can’t argue with that logic.” Naru
said. “Where is he?” I asked. “Why?”
“I want to apologize.” “Nope, he did enough apologies for both of you. All
night, he tossed and turned, ‘I’m sorry, so sorry,’ even though it wasn’t
his fault. Couldn’t you have just asked me? The reason he was so happy, was
because He heard that I found you, who was supposed to be the Savior of this
world. Wouldn’t you be happy too?” I nodded sadly. “Well, he’s back on the steeple. And if you tell him anything like
that again, I won’t kill you. I’ll do worse...” his face twisted into a
sick smile, showing sharp yellow teeth and black gums. “... I’ll tell his girlfriend.” now, I didn’t
think that this was a big deal, but I had never met Kia. And by the way he said
it, I didn’t plan to. I walked down to the main courtroom, and walked out the
door. I walked in front of the Palace, and looked to the top steeple. I could
see a green figure with wings on it. Apparently, he could see who I was just
fine. He jumped, at least ten feet in the air, and nose dived. He opened his
wings when he was about ten feet above me, and landed. “Oh, man, I didn’t think it would bleed that much...” “Don’t worry about
it. It was my fault.” “Did you FORCE me to friggin’
strangle you? No. I over reacted-” He was reaching for my neck, and I
grabbed his wrist. “No, James. Stop
blaming yourself. I said something incredibly stupid, and you got offended. I
do not blame you, okay?” he again looked pained. I had a feeling that this
was the James I was used to. “Okay. It’s
just, with the little kid, and all... I just had a lot going through my mind.”
I was relieved. “Good. Now
c’mon. We got butlers to order around, and a continental breakfast to
work on.” He smiled, still looking
sorry. “Okay.”