The once beautiful land of Trafalgar was reduced to a smoking wasteland. As Lyeoso walked the streets of his city, he cried. He cried for the innocent children and the vileness around them. He sobbed for the wickedness of their parents. He wondered who or what could have committed such vile acts as these. The bodies of the dead and wounded lay all around him. He watched as the white clothed nuns tended them, bringing water, ointment and crude bandages to wrap burned and bleeding body parts.
Lyeoso watched as thieves ransacked the city, stealing money from coin purses, food out of houses, and other valuables off the bodies of the dead. He felt a huge rage well up from deep within him, bringing up the fiery image of the Brydall clan. He heard a hellish trumpeting in the sky and looked up to see the twelve fiery red dragons and their dragon riders, dressed all in blood red and trumpeting horns. He shook his head and looked around.
“By the fires of Darkameshé,” he breathed as he telepathed his own dragon, Ryshan. Ryshan, I need you now. The dragon riders of Brydall have begun to fly. Ryshan swooped in from the now fiery heavens and landed neatly at his feet. Ryshan was a huge dragon, with shiny black armor-like scales that changed, depending on the light, from black to pearly greens, from deep gold to rosy pinks and ocean blues, intimidating talons, fire orange eyes, and also, an old silver chain, almost black now, imbedded in the scales of his neck. At the end of the chain was a heart shaped locket, which held his own molten lava heart.
Lyeoso stood on Ryshan’s tail and let the dragon transport him from his tail to the small saddle between his neck and shoulder blades. He situated himself and held on tightly as the shiny black wings beat the air, faster and faster, to finally carry them both into the atmosphere.
Where are they going Ryshan? Can you telepath that far? Lyeoso felt the link of communication between him and his dragon thread together and then cast out, trying to reach other dragons and riders. He felt the thread grasp one, then two, then finally all twelve demon red dragons. He stayed that way for quite some time, then released the link and swerved to follow one dragon, whose name, he found out, was Selini Daimonas, which meant, when roughly translated into the human language, Moon Demon.
Selini, a huge dragon, glided effortlessly through the air, almost as though he knew exactly where he was going. Time ceased to exist and all Lyeoso heard, saw, and thought was that of what Ryshan did, and since Ryshan could link to the other dragons and hear their thoughts, Lyeoso could hear and think what the other dragons did as well.
The thoughts and feelings of the dragons jumbled together in Lyeoso’s mind and confused him, until finally he was rocked to sleep by the rhythmic beating of Ryshan’s wings against the air, and the last thing he remembered was flying through a huge white world.
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Lyeoso awoke with a start and gasped for breath. Unbeknownst to him, Ryshan had followed Selini so high up in the atmosphere that the air had crystallized and he had a hard time breathing. Of course, the dragons could breathe just fine, what with being fire-breathing entities and all. He heard a voice in his head.
Why didn’t you tell me Ly? I didn’t know you couldn’t breathe this high up, the massive black dragon under him telepathed. Having said that, he dropped in altitude and finally Lyeoso could breathe easy. Lyeoso clutched the pearleascent scales and lay on Ryshan’s neck. He strained to see Selini through the clouds and gripped Ryshan’s neck even tighter. Finally he saw the flash of gold and Ryshan came out of the clouds to start circling down in a wide orbit, where Lyeoso finally glimpsed the huge gold dragon. As he and Ryshan dropped in altitude, Lyeoso looked around to see the scenery of the place.
This was a beautiful place, unlike the now smoking Trafalgar. It seemed almost magical, with trees that could dwarf a mountain, and more animals than he had seen in one place. Unicorns, horses of fire, disappearing cats, and more. The air was filled with faeries, griffons, teddy bears with watercolor wings, and animals that there were no names for. The rainbow streams had kissing koi, mermaids and multicolored dolphins jumping and splashing.
Just as Ryshan lightly touched to earth, Lyeoso was scrambling down his tail. He stared in awe, the same as Ryshan. The animals clustered close to Ryshan, curious about an animal they had never seen before. He heard chittering noises and chirping sounds.
Ryshan, what is that sound? Are they... talking to you? he asked in amazement.
Yes, they are. They are asking me what I am, and what you are. They have never seen such animals as you and I. Do you want me to ask them anything? Ryshan answered back, trying to keep up with the questions being fired at him by the hundreds of curious animals.
Well, I don’t know. Ask them what this land is called. Tell them we come from the land of Trafalgar and need to find Brydall. Ask them if they have a leader.
He heard Ryshan ask them questions and then... well, all the noises stopped. The trees stopped whispering and the chirping birds hushed. Even the grass stopped moving and whispering. He felt a heaviness in the air. He started to get nervous.
Ryshan, what’s wrong? What did I say? Why are they so quiet now?
Ryshan didn’t answer him for a long while, and then said, very quietly in the back of his head.
Lyeoso, get on my back. Get on my back now and don’t ask any questions. We have to go now, and I will tell you later Ryshan whispered in his head. He heard a hint of fear in the dragon’s voice, something he had never heard before.
Lyeoso slowly walked to Ryshan’s tail and was lifted hurriedly to the great dragon’s back. He almost didn’t get in the saddle before Ryshan beat his great wings in the air and was lifted skyward. The angry chattering of the animals rose up to berate them for saying such things.
Ryshan, what did I say? Why did they all get so angry with me? What is it with the land of Brydall? Lyeoso asked the dragon. The great beast shook his head and conveyed a sense of mourning.
I don’t know Lyeoso. I couldn’t get anything at all from them, just that they were exceedingly angry. Let’s see if the other lands feel the same way.
Ryshan turned around in midair and started flying towards Jaycen, a land to the east of this beautiful faerytale land. Lyeoso found that the creatures in this also gorgeous land felt the same way, and the wizards in Jaycen told him that the demon red dragons of Brydall had been there at one time. Ryshan and Lyeoso flew to as many lands as they could and found, that in every land, the Brydall dragons had been there first.
Lyeoso’s patience began to wear thin. “WHO are these demon dragons and riders? WHERE is this land?” he asked Ryshan. He felt his dragon chuckle under him as he answered. The Brydall dragons and riders are the best and the most feared in all these lands. They do much destruction, and not many can stop them Ryshan answered sorrowfully which is a shame because these lands used to be gorgeous, filled with so many creatures that the air and streams in all lands were alive with colors and sounds. Now the only creatures here are the ones who were ingenious enough to hide away from these demonic creatures. They serve the lord Grendal, whom is completely and utterly merciless in his drive for total domination. Trafalgar is a land which didn’t want to be trapped in servitude, and fought back. They paid dearly with their lives.
Lyeoso felt Ryshan’s sides heave as if sighing and stopped asking questions, afraid he had taken the dragon to a place he didn’t want to visit. He heard Ryshan.
No Ly, it’s OK. It just depresses me sometimes. I’d rather talk about it with you than anyone else. Lyeoso nodded and felt sleepy. Go to sleep Ly. I’ll wake you when we get to where I’m taking you. Lyeoso didn’t want to fall asleep and leave the dragon to his own thoughts, but Ryshan had his own plans, and Lyeoso fell deeply asleep.
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