The Shadow of All Worlds

by Shane Porteous

  Chapter 3

  Sampson had mixed feelings about helping the Ulnath. Like most of the villains that had been gathered, Oos’ promise of power was too good to pass up, especially if he came through on it. Sampson had his doubts about this as something didn’t seem right. It all seemed too good to be true, like something he himself might say to get others involved in his own plans.

  As a master liar he could easily tell a lie and no one ever knew it wasn’t the truth until it was too late. He knew others could do this too. His own daughter was one of these people, but even while these doubts were in his mind Sampson knew that if Oos was telling the truth then he would have to be an idiot to pass up this opportunity. But even so he couldn’t believe he was now helping someone else. As if helping Atacir wasn’t enough!

  “What’s wrong with helping?” Air Raid thought to Sampson. “I like to help.”

  “So you’re enjoying helping me and Atacir?” Sampson challenged the dragon. In order to keep the conversation as well as the fact that he was having a conversation with his dragon private, Sampson used thought speech to answer.

  “Well…no,” Air Raid admitted.

  “Then you understand.”

  “Understand what?”

  “The feeling of being forced to help someone you don’t want to.” Sampson didn’t realize it, but he was beginning to form a bond with the dragon.

  “I suppose,” Air Raid responded. “Though I think my situation is a bit different.”

  “That’s true,” Sampson thought as his mind began wandering elsewhere.

  Air Raid was under a spell that forced him to do everything his rider asked of him. The only one that could release the dragon of this spell was Golden Flame. The golden dragon was special.

  She was known by most as The Legendary Dragon and had powers that allowed her to control the minds of all dragons and influence them whether positively or negatively. Normally the large dragon was friendly and used her abilities to stop rogue dragons from hurting anyone by calming scared dragons that accidentally travelled between Realms in Sampson’s world. Now thanks to a magical bridal that looked like a horse’s bridal only made for dragons, that was created by a combination of science and magic giving it the power to control any dragon wearing it, Atacir had been able to take control of Golden Flame and use her powers to take control of other dragons.

  Sampson felt a bit bad about forcing Air Raid to act against his will. Although a villain, he wasn’t altogether a bad guy. Sure he wanted to destroy his enemies and kill all wolves because his biggest enemies were wolf protectors, but he really didn’t want to hurt anyone else or force them to do things they didn’t want to do even though he always acted like he didn’t care and would do anything to accomplish his goals which sometimes meant doing things like this.

  “Sampson!” Atacir called angrily snapping Sampson out of his thoughts. By the tone of the general’s voice, Sampson could tell this wasn’t the first time he had been called.

  “Sorry, General,” he apologized flying Air Raid up to where Atacir and Golden Flame were hovering.

  “I told you to call me Atacir,” the alien said though he appreciated the respect Sampson showed by calling him general when he apologized. “Now pay attention or we will never capture any dragons.”

  “Right Atacir,” Sampson agreed with a sigh.

  The two rode in silence for a while, searching for dragons. As they flew through mountains covered by a very light, green snow Atacir said, “Once we capture this world’s dragons the next thing we will need to do is discover how effective they are in battle.”

  “How will we do that?”

  “Take them into battle,” Atacir replied simply.

  “But what if they aren’t battle ready yet?” Sampson asked, “Shouldn’t you practice with them first?”

  Atacir turned to look at Sampson. An evil twinkle appeared in his eyes. “You’re right, I probably should.”

  Sampson had a feeling he was in trouble now. He was proven right when Atacir said, “And while we are at it we should see how battle ready our own dragons are. Mine should be ready since she is used to battle, but yours…”

  With this came a strong feeling of fear. At first Sampson thought it came from himself but then realized it was Air Raid that was afraid. “What are you planning?” Sampson asked Atacir. It had to be pretty bad if his thoughts could make a dragon nervous.

  Atacir didn’t reply, instead he switched subjects and asked, “What do you plan to do after we have helped the Ulnath?”

  Sampson was afraid to answer at first thinking this was a trick question. Atacir should already know the answer. Eventually he replied, “I plan on finishing fulfilling my duties to you.”

  Atacir laughed. He had actually meant after he was done with Sampson. “That’s good to know. You are loyal, that’s for sure.”

  Not as loyal as you think, Sampson thought to himself. He planned on getting revenge on Atacir for his pathetic excuse for a reward for helping the alien, even though he was beginning to really like Air Raid.

  “Do you know what I plan to do once we have helped the Ulnath?” Atacir asked.

  “No, what?”

  “I plan on taking all my captured dragons back home to my planet. Then you will be free to do whatever you want, but what is it that you want to do?”

  “All I want is to have more power than any of my enemies combined and the ability to use and counter every type of magic and ability in existence. In this way I can rule both Realms, and bring all Realms and worlds together as one where they will live peacefully under my rule because there won’t be a choice as I will be more powerful than any human, animal or anything else in existence.” Sampson declared. Then he thought for a moment and added, “Oh, and I also want to kill all wolves, wolf shape shifters, wolf loyalists, wolf protectors, werewolves, and any other wolf like creature and wolf lovers in existence.”

  “You really have something against wolves don’t you?”

  Before Sampson could reply and go into any details Atacir spotted three purple shapes in the distance. Hoping they were dragons Atacir forced Golden Flame to fly faster. Without any encouragement from Sampson, Air Raid did the same.

  As they got closer Atacir was excited to see that the purple shapes were indeed dragons. To Atacir and Sampson the three looked alike. Sampson wondered if they were triplets or if all dragons of this world were purple or just ones living in this particular area. “Sampson, I don’t know if this dragon can put all three under her control at the same time. She may need to do this individually so I want you to fly up and rope them.” Atacir instructed.

  “Rope them with what?” Neither Atacir nor Sampson had brought rope or anything similar with them.

  “You brought wands to use magic didn’t you?”

  Sampson had stolen wands from one of his enemy’s wizard friend. “Yes.”

  “Well, use them to conjure up some rope.”

  “Okay,” Sampson said taking one of the wands out of his pocket. Using the wand’s magic he conjured up ropes on all three dragons, which connected together so the dragons couldn’t break apart. The rope he conjured then tied to the horn on the front of the dragon saddle Sampson was using on Air Raid. The saddle being used was different from many other dragon saddles and looked very similar to a western saddle used on a horse.

  At first the three dragons struggled against the rope, trying to free themselves, since suddenly being roped together and tied to a dragon caught them by surprise. Then as if planned, and maybe it was, all three dragons breathed in then breathed out and fire began consuming the rope climbing up to where it was attached to the saddle. To keep the fire from damaging the saddle, which Sampson forgot was fireproof, he quickly undid the rope from the horn and dropped it. The rest of the rope was engulfed in mid air.

  During this time Atacir had ridden Golden Flame up to the dragons. Having been glowing while she used her powers, the large dragon’s eyes were just returning to normal when
Sampson refocused on the wild dragons. “They have been influenced to follow your dragon and commands” Atacir told Sampson. “When the time comes you will command them to do as I say.”

  Sampson magically undid the rest of the rope that connected the dragons together, then ordered them to follow Air Raid. One of the dragons fell into place beside him. Wondering if the dragon was now tame he reached over to it experimentally. The dragon met his movement with a very unfriendly attempt to bite.

  Atacir, who had seen Sampson’s interaction with the dragon, proudly said, “These dragons have some fight in them. They will prove to be an asset to my plans.”

  Sampson agreed but remained silent. Though he knew the dragons were under his control…for the most part anyway, he still felt a need to keep watch on the new additions. Atacir flew on ahead, taking his place in the lead once more, hoping to find more dragons. After the experience he had, Sampson secretly hoped they wouldn’t come across any others. Unfortunately for him they came across many dragons as they traveled, all of which showed the same feral nature. Though Sampson wasn’t fond of this it pleased Atacir greatly.