by Weiqi Wang
‘What are you doing?’ Suddenly, one man in the middle of the group stopped running, making people behind knock into him. ‘Filton, move! Now!’
‘There’s something there!’ Filton pointed towards a rock not far away from them. ‘It’s a cotton bag!’
‘So?’ Another feller, called George, was not impressed at all. ‘You prefer your life or a cotton bag? There may not be anything in it!’
All tried to drag Filton away, but Filton persisted. ‘Listen, what’s that?’
‘It sounds like crying.’ They spared one second trying to distinguish the vague noise from the howl of the wind. ‘Something crying in the bag?’
‘It’s a baby! For god sake!’ Filton rushed to the cotton bag and was totally shocked when looking into it. ‘Let’s take it before the rain really hits!’
‘A baby?’ All were dumbfounded for a second, but then the thunder brought them to their senses. ‘Hurry up guys! Get it and get out here!’
‘Dear lord, what’s that!’ A few minutes later, a feller named James suddenly screamed, after a big noise from somewhere. Everyone saw the huge lightning bolt crash into a mountain named Cloud Soaring Peak — a mile away from the tree fellers, but clearly visible. Something on top of the peak was struck and flames soared towards the sky. It was probably a large tree, creating a brush of crimson between the dim sky and the earth.
‘Lolong!’ As always, the thunder clang came after the flash vanished, but this time there was something else coming with it —
‘Ahhhh!’
‘Hey, did you hear that?’ Filton asked.
‘Who didn’t hear that?’ Answered the rest. They had no chance to continue the conversation, because they found the earth beginning to shake, out of nowhere.
‘Oh mine… an earthquake!’
Immediately, the group was in chaos. Everyone tried to keep his balance at the same time as escaping from the forest. They barely made it back to the town where they lived, before the downpour totally soaked them. Screaming could be heard here and there from inside the town, with smashing noises as the earthquake shook houses to their foundations. Fortunately, the shake and tumbling didn’t last too long and everything came back to normal after a while.
‘It’s a boy! Looks like a new born!’ Filton took the crying baby out of the cotton bag and checked; everyone came over and took a look. They gathered at Filton’s place for shelter, because he had a relatively big house — it included Filton’s workshop for carpentry. Half of this very old house was occupied by all kinds of tools and machines, and the other half was leaking. However, now that it still stood after the earthquake, Filton had not much to complain about.
‘That’s very strange.’ Said George. ‘He does look like a new-born.’
‘What happened to his parents?’ Obviously, everyone was thinking the same thing.
‘Look, there’s a word printed on the bag.’ Filton stretched a corner of the cotton bag. ‘Jadeking — what’s that?’
‘It should be a family name.’ Commented James. ‘Some families write their names on things like that.’
‘Do you recognize it, then?’ Filton asked. ‘Which family is that?’
‘Gee, how could I know?’ James shrugged his shoulders. ‘Never heard of it before.’
‘Suppose it’s indeed a family name, it’s not from our town.’ George said. ‘I know most people here but I’ve never heard of a Jadeking.’
‘Great, so we have an unnamed baby, and a soaring flame out there.’ Filton frowned. ‘What shall we do now?’
‘I don’t know. You took the baby.’ Most of his friends decided to put it this way. They all had families and they had all been struggling to survive, so no one could really afford a new baby. ‘So he’s yours. You said you wanted one before, right?’
‘Fine, I’ll take him.’ Filton was really happy to see this. He once had a wife and a son himself, but the young man died in a battle after growing up and joining the army of the empire. His wife had been sick ever since, and passed away years ago too. Therefore he was all by himself in this workshop, not sure what else he could do with the rest of his life. So it seemed that the baby had turned up at the right time.
‘Great, we’ll help you if we can.’ His friends were also glad to see this. ‘If you need something, let us know.’
‘Well, help me find the Jadekings.’ Filton pondered a bit and said. ‘If it’s really a family name.’
The crew agreed and left after the rain stopped. The search for the Jadeking family was not successful, at least not in the town where they lived. Nonetheless, Filton still decided to give the name to the baby. And that was how a baby boy, named Soarame Jadeking, showed up in a small town in Corrugon Peninsula, Thundeross Continent.
With all of the rumours spread about the adopted boy, the menacing thunder and mysterious voice were all but forgotten — until the day Scankeen brought it up and asked.
‘Mom and dad…’ Soarame muttered, tears welling up in his big eyes.
‘I’m sorry Soarame, but one day we will find them.’ Filton sighed. ‘Now you know why your family name is Jadeking.’
‘Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked about this.’ Scankeen regretted it. ‘I’ll help you find your parents, Soarame.’
Soarame nodded in silence. He didn’t really cry out loud like a child usually did — he was sobbing but quiet. Soarame had been living with Filton and been influenced by his toughness towards hardships in life, so the little boy was actually tougher than people would normally expect.
Jadeking… Never heard of it. Scankeen was thinking hard but couldn’t find a clue in his memory. Sighing in his heart, Scankeen looked down into Soarame’s eyes. ‘Sweetheart, I’m sure you’ll find your mum and dad; especially after you become a wizard.’
‘Yes, I’ll fly on a magic carpet, it’s fast.’ Soarame wiped off the tears. ‘Teach me now!’
‘Tomorrow, I promise.’ Scankeen hugged the little boy with both arms. ‘Let me make sure this town is safe, so that you can safely learn magic, okay?’
The three of them left the palatorium and appeared back into Scankeen’s bedroom. Filton asked Soarame to stay in the house, and led Scankeen to the woods. They checked around and Scankeen performed something — it must have been magic of some kind — before they returned. Everything seemed to be fine according to Scankeen; but after Soarame went to bed, Scankeen came to Filton for a talk.
‘Sorry for the trouble.’ Scankeen sat down guiltily.
‘No, don’t worry; it would have to be revealed one day anyway.’ Filton served some water for both. ‘Thanks to you, at least Soarame has a goal to ease his pain.’
‘The Jadeking family, if it really is a family, must have something special.’ Scankeen looked Filton in the eyes. ‘If you remember, Soarame claimed he saw Fire and Darkness elements too, and he named the colours correctly.’
‘Okay, that’s great.’ Filton was happy. ‘So he can practice all seven kinds of magic?’
‘No, he can only practice three lineages properly: Lightning, Wind and Water. As I mentioned, the rest is not strong enough.’ Scankeen shook his head. ‘But three is already a great gift; a larger number doesn’t always mean better.’
‘I see.’ Filton had to agree. ‘You mean focusing is more important, right?’
‘That is very true. A wizard with great skill in one lineage may beat three with normal skills in two.’ Scankeen was pleased to talk to a wise person. ‘In fact, if he has gifts in all seven, that will be worrying.’
‘Why?’ Filton didn’t understand. ‘He doesn’t have to learn all of them.’
‘And I’m not able to teach all of them. I can only teach him Wind.’ Scankeen nodded. ‘But the point is, no one is supposed to have gifts in all of the seven lineages. Do you know what seven means in magic?’
‘Hmm…’ Filton tried. ‘It means more than six?’
‘Well yes, that’s for sure.’ Scankeen had to chuckle. ‘Besides that, it means something much more serious �
� dragons!’
‘I beg your pardon?’ hearing this, Filton almost choked while drinking his water.
‘Yes, dragons. You heard me.’ Scankeen didn’t look like he was kidding at all. ‘When wizards talk about all the seven lineages at the same time. ‘dragons’ is always the first word that comes to their minds.’
‘Are you saying…?’ Filton tried hard to stay calm. ‘Don’t dragons only exist in the legends?’
‘No, dragons do exist.’ Scankeen shook his head. ‘It’s just that it has been so long since one was seen, therefore people tend to forget that’s all true history.’
‘If you mean the Great Libral and the Grant Migration, no one forgets that.’ Filton spoke in a solemn and respectful voice. ‘But it’s history after all, so you mean dragons did exist, right?’
‘No, they do exist.’ Scankeen cracked a bitter smile. ‘They never vanished, ever!’
‘What?’ Filton became extremely nervous. ‘Dragons still exist? The tale of the Holiness Continent in books is real?’
‘It is not a tale, Filton. It has never been.’ Scankeen’s voice became low. ‘As I said, it is history.’
‘The Great Stanfaul Libral, the Starter of History, the Grant Migration… They are all history, as they are all real!’ As Scankeen waived his hand, the candle was re-lit just before it ran out. Upon a closer look, Filton realized that the candle had already burned out, but the flame still remained, jumping and dancing about.
‘Just like the flaming Fire Elements in front of you, which do not rely on the candle, everything I’m going to tell you now is real!’
****
As everyone knew, there were six continents in the world: Thundeross, Snowhill, Knighton, Rainbow, Holiness, and Allsouls. Countless empires and kingdoms, of big and small sizes, had been founded on different continents — some powerful and enormous, some suffering from all kinds of problems. Most big empires were peaceful and prosperous, but some small kingdoms in chaotic areas could change overnight. Soarame and Filton were fortunate to have been born in Arkward Empire, which was one of the biggest empires in the world; so although their town was rural and rather isolated, there were no worries about wars — at least, so far.
However, due to the isolated situation of the town, people there gradually lost track of what was happening in the wider world, and even of what had happened in the past. Few still believed that there was actually a major period of time in history, when dragons had dominated all the six continents. After all, even if it were true, that was four thousand years ago.
Yes, dragons, one of the most powerful creatures on earth, both physically and magically. Any member of the dragon clans possessed a magnificently powerful body, tougher than most weapons. On top of that, all dragons were gifted with at least one magical lineage; many had more than one and some top-tier dragons had all seven. Because of their innate gifts, dragons were once the most powerful creatures on the six continents. They had enslaved other species, including mankind, until three thousand years ago. The details about this part of history had faded away as time passed, but everyone living on the six continents knew one thing: it was a man, named Stanfaul Libral, the greatest human wizard in history, who led the entire human race in a war of revolution against dragons, defeating them and forcing them to yield with a permanent Magic Pact of Peace.
Since then, the era of humans had started on four continents out of the six — all except Holiness and Allsouls. Hence, Stanfaul Libral was crowned as the most powerful being on earth and called the Starter of History in the world of humans. Due to the mighty magic power of Stanfaul Libral, the dragon clans were forced to migrate to Holiness Continent, as a part of the Magic Pact of Peace. This migration of dragons was named the Grant Migration, as a reminder of the victory of the humans and the humiliation of the dragons. To celebrate the Grant Migration and the start of the new era, Stanfaul created the Cylone Calendar (CC) on the day that the Grant Migration was accomplished. The calendar was named Cylone because Stanfaul wanted it to be named in honour of his master, Albert Cylone.
The four continents under human control had always had a large amount of magimals and other species — such as Orcs, Druids, Elves and Dwarfs — living there too. Thanks to the peace since the Grant Migration, some of them had now grown to be as powerful as the dragons were in the old days. Hence, the Sunrise Alliance, founded by Stanfaul during the revolutionary war, had been keeping the peace between humans, magimals and the other races on the four continents governed by mankind. Dragons still live on Holiness Continent and could not leave due to the restraints of the Magic Pact of Peace. As for Allsouls Continent, oddly, no book ever talked about it, as if it had vanished from the world.
Filton had heard some of the story before, but not all. Until Scankeen explained all this, he had no idea that dragons were still locked in on Holiness Continent.
‘Dragons… Soarame?’ Filton was bewildered. ‘You think they have connections?’
‘Not at all, I don’t make random guesses.’ Scankeen waved his hands dismissively. ‘But it’s interesting to know that Soarame was born during a Lightning storm and now has great Lightning gifts.’
‘So you think there is a connection on this one?’ Filton’s mind was overwhelmed with too much information today.
‘I don’t know. I know lots of orcs were born in Lightning storms, but I never knew one with Lightning gifts.’
‘There are orcs in our land?’ Filton was worried. ‘Is this real?’
‘For sure. They are not even that rare; it’s just that they don’t live near this town.’ Scankeen had clearly been to a lot of different places. ‘They tend to live in mountains, so if you go far enough west you can see their clans by the Dare Valley.’
‘The legendary Dare Valley?’ Filton’s eyes shone. ‘I’ve heard of it.’
‘Yes, it’s famous.’ Scankeen smiled. ‘It’s a dangerous place, even to wizards. There are lots of wild magimals in there, let alone orcs.’
‘Wild magimals?’ Filton asked. “Like the boar?”
‘Yes, most of magimals are wild. Magimals like Richie are a minority.’ Scankeen patiently introduced Filton to some more basic knowledge. ‘Magimals in the wilderness and mountains are all wild and fierce, and some of them are really scarily powerful — that’s how the Dare Valley got its name.’
‘I see… How about elves?’ Filton was really interested to learn. ‘Are they friendly?’
‘Well, it’s really complicated…’
Scankeen and Filton had a long chat overnight. For the first time in Filton’s life, he realised that the world was so much bigger and stranger than he had ever dared to imagine. He didn’t notice that the sun had risen until it was shining his eyes.
‘Soarame, are you ready?’ In the palatorium there were only Scankeen and Soarame. Filton would not be observing the magic lessons. Scankeen preferred it this way — he wanted the boy to toughen up as a future wizard; being watched by his family all the time might soften him.
‘Yes, master.’ Soarame was feeling much less sad after sleep. ‘Can you teach me how to fly now?’
‘Sure I can teach now, but it takes time to learn.’ Scankeen chuckled. ‘You need to learn how to fly a leaf before you can fly yourself.’
‘I know how.’ Soarame crouched and blew at a leaf on the ground, so the leaf flew.
‘Well… not bad.’ Scankeen was amused. ‘But can you fly it without blowing?’
‘Yes, I can.’ Soarame crouched again and waved his hand really fast, and the leaf flew again.
‘Hmm… smart boy.’ Scankeen didn’t know what else to say. He had to stretch an index finger and point at the leaf. ‘How about this?’
The next second, the leaf started to spin and rise up, and then dance around in the air as if it was alive. Scankeen made it play different tricks and rotate around Soarame, making him cheer.
‘So, would you like to learn this?’ Scankeen let go of the leaf and it fell into Soarame’s palm. ‘When you are skille
d with this, you can then try the magic carpet.’
‘Yes yes yes!’ Soarame was jumping with excitement. ‘Teach me now, please!’
‘I’m certainly going to.’ Scankeen patted Soarame’s head gently. ‘But magic can be dangerous, so I need you to promise me that you won’t hurt people with it.’
‘I won’t!’ Soarame couldn’t wait. ‘A leaf doesn’t hurt!’
‘Oh my boy, Wind magic can do so much more than just flying a leaf. You blew those boys away, remember?’ Scankeen could always manage to take out a crystal ball from somewhere — another duly appeared.
‘Master, where did you hide it?’ Soarame caught on and wouldn’t let go this time — the crystal ball was just too big to be hidden in the gown.
‘It’s called a space-ring. I put the crystal ball in there.’ Scankeen showed Soarame a ring on his finger. ‘It looks like a normal ring but there’s a room inside it, just like this palatorium but much smaller.’
‘Wow, can we get in there?’ Soarame wondered.
‘No, it’s different from a palatorium. A space-ring can only store items, so people cannot get in.’ Scankeen didn’t want Soarame to get distracted. ‘Okay, now let’s take a look in the crystal ball and see what Wind can do.’
With that, the crystal ball suddenly began to shine, casting a large and dynamic hologram into the air. The cast scene showed the inside of a forest, where there were tress, rocks and rivers; it looked vivid, as if it was real. Beside a big tree there was a man wearing a gown that looked similar to Scankeen’s, but he was facing the other way, looking up at the birds that were flying above, so Soarame couldn’t see his face.
‘Wow.’ Soarame’s eyes and mouth were both wide open; he had never seen anything like this before. He could even hear the bird singing and the noise from insects, and perhaps small animals somewhere. Just when Soarame was about to ask something, there came a loud, bass roar from the deep forest. Soarame couldn’t tell what that was about, but it sounded scary, so he ran to Scankeen and grabbed his gown.
