by Ryan Johnson
The weight of the Minotaur was much heavier for him to hold against. Vaeludar knew the large animal was heavier than the blade, and his father was said to be a Dragon.
So it would make since for him to inherit dragon strength and muscle from his dragon father. The thought of him being a hybrid was making him feel stronger than being a hundred percent single specimen such as being a full-bodied dragon or a human being.
“I would have to say being a hybrid is more interesting than I thought it would be,” he said gladly. Vaeludar sheathed the sword back. It hung on the scabbard tied around his chest.
Then a sound of a loud rumbling of horses pounded the earth.
Geraldus was seen riding to Alaric and Vaeludar who were in the grassy fields. His horse trotted from behind the small hills leaning above the village’s buildings. Behind Geraldus were a dozen bodyguards riding alongside their leader.
With Geraldus, there was one horse trotting with a saddle but had no rider on its back. The reins were held by Geraldus, who pulled the horse close enough to him.
“Father,” said Alaric.
“Geraldus,” said Vaeludar.
“Alaric, Arron and Nerio are up to no good, and I need you to keep your eyes on them.” Geraldus guided the unmanned horse over to Alaric. “And be sure not to have them out of your sights.”
Alaric nodded and mounted on the horse. Then Alaric strode the horse away from Geraldus.
After Alaric had departed from Geraldus and Vaeludar, Geraldus dismounted from his horse. He raised a hand toward his men who immediately departed. Geraldus was alone with Vaeludar. “Training the sword you found, I see?”
“How would you know that? You weren’t in the training grounds while I was practicing how to use my first weapon.”
“I am the leader of my village and this region. I know a lot of things going on at once. Otherwise, everything would fall into disarray if the right leader wouldn’t be put in charge of operations going on in the Western Region.”
“You sound like you know what you’re doing with your life,” said Vaeludar.
“You don’t sound like you don’t know what to do with your life. I thought you were going to depart some weeks back.”
“Well, that was what I thought. I thought I was going to depart, but when the two-legged beast invaded, I had slain it, which gave me high praise from this village. Now I’m not sure if I do want to leave. If I do leave, I’m not sure where to go. Maybe the unknown parts of the Northern Region.”
“The Northern Region? That place is strictly forbidden to enter. Anyone who enters in the mountain ranges bordering with the Northern Region never end up coming back. And it is a place the king ordered everyone not to enter and—”
There was a ruffling sound of a running horse coming. A guard wearing shoulder plated armor and a barbute helmet and carrying a long spear rode fast on a horse. “Geraldus!” he shouted.
“What was it you have found, scout?” asked Geraldus. “Is it raiders or other invading thieves?”
“No, a bird had come from the Capital City,” said the scout. He strolled his horse closer to Geraldus. “King Uragiru is on his way to this village.”
Geraldus lit his eyes with great surprise: the most powerful, political person of the island of Shimabellia was coming to his village. “Did the message say when he would be here?”
“The bird was sent two weeks and it took two weeks to fly here,” said the messenger. “The king of Shimabellia is coming in the next few days. He’ll be here in two or three days, Geraldus.”
Geraldus was surprised to hear the king was coming to his village on such short notice. “Was there anything else the massage said?” he asked.
“No, my lord, it only states the king is coming, with two princesses,” said the scout.
“Very well then,” said Geraldus.
The scout nodded and left Geraldus and Vaeludar in the grassy fields.
Geraldus took a few steps away from Vaeludar with great astonishment: the king of Shimabellia was coming. “This is very unexpecting. I’d never known his Majesty was coming to my village in a few days. It seems a lot of certain, unexpected things are happening in this village.”
Vaeludar thought of it of a great wonder. King Uragiru was coming to see Vaeludar himself. The news of his legendary battle with the Minotaur must have reached the king’s ears and needed to see the hybrid. The Siren he remembered saving was under the protection of the king, and it seemed she was coming as well.
Vaeludar heard of the king having a single child, a daughter who would be the next in line for the throne: Princess Stephanie. And the Siren would be considered an adopted daughter of the king of Shimabellia.
It would all seem strange for a king to take in a believed monstrous creature by adopting it, but Vaeludar had mysteriously won the heart of the Siren. It was then the king would adopt the Siren as a princess and a daughter, since the Siren almost looked human, only with some fish figures on her skin.
“It would seem the Siren, Marina, would be eager to see in the flesh,” said Vaeludar.
“You can daydream of your fish friend all day while I have to go and make preparations for the king,” said Geraldus. He mounted back on his horse and strolled away.
Vaeludar looked over at the surrounding trees and felt a small wind rousing around him. “I wonder if she is really eager to see me after we have just met five years ago. Of course, it have been five years since I last seen her. What is going to happen when she sees in for the first time in five years? I wouldn’t want my skin facing against a Siren’s sharp teeth.”
A PIECE OF CLOTH AGAIN
V
aeludar spent the next two days doing some more sword training, with the blade whipping-snipping at the practice dummies he was easily cutting down. He added great swiftness and brute strength to the sword. Having the strength and stamina of a Dragon and the size of a human being he was quick to master the skill of a sword.
With a mighty sharp sword still believed to be a magic sword and a cross specimen wielding it, Vaeludar’s great power had doubled. Not only had he thought he would fight like a beast but fight had a human as well.
Vaeludar had been raised by humans more than by monsters or savages. He needed to show he was more human than a monster seeking the savages of war.
With the passing hours he was putting in, he was showing he was a capable warrior and a fearless fighter. Normally, it would take some long months for a training recruit to master a few basic moves, but Vaeludar have mastered the most basic and the most advanced moves within days. His half dragon body could be the only reason for why he had mastered the skills so fast.
“I should have discovered this in my younger years,” he said. “I have a great talent for swordsmanship.”
Of the moments he had witnessed in his seventeen years of life, this was the event he was finding the most exhilarating, how to use a weapon instead of fighting with bare hands.
Of course, where he was going, there were bound to be eyes watching him, mostly soldiers-in-training. The soldiers, from a distance, watched the hybrid slashing-and-dicing the training figures. He knew they were watching him, but he didn’t care if they were watching for entertainment value or staring out of jealousy of his inferior skill.
He thought they would be jealous that he was cutting down many magic stick figures or that he had killed a beast they could have killed with their spears and axes. And other thoughts they were thinking of the hybrid of he shouldn’t even be living in the village or should be not be permitted in the training grounds, since he was taking up most of the time taking down any wooden opponent coming to him.
But how could he stop? Every time one would go down, the stick figure would magically come up and fight again. Vaeludar couldn’t stop the fight until all enemies had been beaten, and he felt like he still needed to go on. At several points he wanted to stop chopping up wood, but there would always be a secondary thought for him to
continue the fighting.
And he couldn’t help it, he just keep on fighting, trying to keep his wooden enemies on the ground. He just kept on going in the following hours.
It was late in the afternoon, after he left the training grounds behind and the soldiers had their turn of the magical, wooden figures and started their training.
Vaeludar never knew he could have a split personality in his brain: two different personas. He felt his human side wanted him to stop, and his dragon side aching for him to continue the fight until he had downed all the figures, which didn’t work in Vaeludar’s human favor. They just kept on coming back from being chopped firewood and back into humanlike figures.
It was when someone called out his name that he suddenly stopped. When he stopped fighting, the figures had stopped as well. He finally had the will to stop fighting and walked away from the training ground. He was done with the sword training and did not need to seek any more training.
Back at the village, every damaged place had been repaired and everybody was back at work, gathering enough food to last them through the winter before they would resume working in the spring to prepare for the winter of next year.
From the last few fights the hybrid fought in, the damage he had caused had been swept away.
However, there were some casualties the wolf pack had taken. They killed some villagers while he was away. Vaeludar wasn’t to blame as he never knew there was going to be another attack from the Greenwood Forest.
Vaeludar managed to kill the wolf pack and save the rest of the villagers from dying, but he came too late to save some others that weren’t as lucky as the rest of the village.
A small funeral was held for those who had lost their lives during the second skirmish. Vaeludar also attended those buried when the Black Dogs attacked the village. Geraldus and his two oldest sons, Alaric and Flavius, and oldest daughter, Eliana, had attended the funerals of the peasants who lost their lives in the attack: five men had died.
Their families were heartbroken by their deaths. The men who died were fathers of a few kids and now a single mother.
Vaeludar could feel sympathy for the farmers’ families and tried to comfort them, but Geraldus had already comforted them for their losses.
After the funerals were held, Vaeludar had traveled back to Geraldus’s house and to the empty room he lived in. Vaeludar had leaned the sword against a wall as he gazed outside. He could smell the autumn air breezing in the room from the open window, which had no glass inserted.
After feeling the cool breeze, Vaeludar flew into the air and felt the air as cool as ever. He’d ever felt more alive as he liked the season of autumn. The air was always blowing coolly and softly yet speedily, a combination of swiftness and coolness that was not too hot or too cold. He liked that kind of weather.
Then Vaeludar flew over to the borders of the Greenwood Forest. He saw the leaves were dark green as usual. He sniffed quickly.
He caught no scent of any animal or fur nearby, which meant the village, was safe for now. But who knows? There could be any dangerous threat looming somewhere deep in the forest.
As he turned around to leave, there was a small wind glazing at his feet. He looked down and saw nothing, until a small rag came rolling through the trees and flipped onto his feet. Vaeludar looked at the flying rag landing on the claws of his dragon feet and picked it up.
To his astonishment, it was the map of Shimabellia he got gotten rid of. The one piece of cloth Nerio and Arron had when they were running out of the Greenwood Forest with the Minotaur chasing them.
Vaeludar turned back and was about to throw it back into the forest it came from. Vaeludar didn’t want any more trouble or damage to come from a small cloth.
“Hold it,” said a Dragon.
Vaeludar halted his throw and saw the Dragon King, with some bodyguards, flying in Vaeludar’s direction. The King of Dragons landed several feet away from the hybrid as his guards landed some distance from him.
“What is it?” asked Vaeludar. “This piece of cloth nearly caused the destruction of this village, if I wasn’t here to stop it. I’m doing this village a favor and putting this back where it came from.”
“First, let me see that cloth you have in your hand,” said the Dragon King.
Vaeludar was hesitant, but who was he to argue with a large, giant dragon? The Dragon was ten times the size of Vaeludar and could easily take Vaeludar down. But Vaeludar had taken down the Minotaur, which had the brute strength to match those of a Dragon’s strength. But there were about six dragon guards behind the Dragon King, so fighting would be out of the question, meaning he had to give the Dragon King the cloth.
Vaeludar held out his hand while holding the cloth. The Dragon King lowered his head to have a closer look at the map of Shimabellia. He saw the three points labelled on the map.
He grunted, “This is something we must discuss,” said the Dragon King. “This piece of cloth you have found. It seems to be more than just a rag with the map of Shimabellia; it seems to be bigger than you could imagine.”
“How could it be bigger than I imagine?” asked Vaeludar.
“Because, Vaeludar, I known this handwriting; it was written by your father, Ralenskrit.”
A MEETING OF CREATURES
T
his little piece of cloth contains some distinct information. Belverda and Ralenskrit found out something: a dark secret about to be unleashed,” said the Dragon King.
Vaeludar, Geraldus, Alaric, Flavius, the Dragon King joined at a small union with other leaders of the creatures: the Unicorn King, Centaur King, Faery Queen, Griffin King, and Pegasus Queen. They were gathered at a small open area outside Geraldus’s village. The rulers of each species came together, under the calling of the Dragon King and of what he had to say.
Vaeludar was rather curious about what the Dragon King had to say about Ralenskrit.
“This map shows the island Shimabellia in complete blackness,” continued the Dragon King. “Now we know why there were so many evil creatures appearing out of nowhere and attacking in the same location at different times. Not to mention the unusual alliance between giants and humans. What I have found from this cloth was what Ralenskrit and Belverda created: they know Lusìvar is going to return.”
There was a small mutter in the crowd of rulers. Vaeludar, for the first time in his life, was going to hear about his parents and what they had to do with a villain from a tale.
“Lusìvar?” said Vaeludar. “Isn’t he just a myth?”
“He isn’t just a mere myth, from the perspective of Dragons,” said the Dragon King, “he is a real monster. As we all know, he lived during the Second Generation. He enslaved the creatures and lived in the greatest depression ever known.
“It wasn’t until the dragon god, the Crystal Dragon, arrived and saved us all from a bitter eternal agony. With his crystal scales shining like the sun and his claws shaped like a mountain’s peak, he fought against the ancient Shadow King and won. Casted away from the Living Life, Lusìvar vowed to regrow in strength and rule the islands once again.
“Then, for thousands of years, a line of descendants tried to rule the islands in his place, but the mysterious group the White Knights and their demigod leader, Valverno, protected the island Shimabellia from those future Shadow Kings.
“From there on, Shimabellia enjoyed a long era of peace until the past few weeks. Today, we have gathered here to look at this map. This map contains three markings: a Lost Castle, a Secret Laboratory, and a Sirens’ Cove. These three mark where Ralenskrit and Belverda must have found artifacts.”
“What artifacts?” asked Vaeludar.
“Armor artifacts,” said the Dragon King, “Believed to have been forged by the White Knights themselves. Which would also mean used by the Crystal Dragon’s son: Valverno.”
There was a louder mutter talking about the creatures. They still spoke softly but louder than they did seconds ago.
“How is this relevant to me? How did you even know these events all of a sudden?” asked Vaeludar.
“Dragons inherited memories from our ancestors,” said the Dragon King. “My ancestors were still young and primitives, but they gazed upon the White Knights and Valverno. As quickly as they came, they disappeared without a trace and left behind no evidence of what had happened to them. Even though these may be old stories, these events were told by someone or a group of people who witnessed these events that had unfolded. And I believe these armor artifacts were possessed by the White Knights themselves. I think there could be some kind of connection between you and the White Knights.”
“How is this relevant to me? They left me behind and there is no way I’m connected to the White Knights or this Valverno. I’m not the son of a god; I’m the son of a Dragon and a human, and both were scientists.”
“That is quite true, but they had to leave you behind,” said the Dragon King, tapping the map once.
A puff of cloud formed above the spot the dragon had touched. Images of a woman and a dragon appeared in the cloud. The woman was carrying a baby with small dragon wings and legs. Around them were Banshees, Basilisks, Manticores, and Chimeras.
“That baby is you, Vaeludar,” stated the Dragon King. “Once every creature of evil saw you and your true purpose: to kill the Shadow King, they would try to get rid of you if they ever laid eyes upon you. So your parents hid you, to protect you until you were ready to fight against any evil.
“Now you are ready. And you are now in danger, when you killed the Minotaur, his death sent out war vibrations in the earth, digging down deep into the crust and casting in different directions. These vibrations were messages; messages that the hybrid has been found and the exact location where he is hiding.”
Vaeludar was breathing hard; his purpose was to kill a Shadow King from ancient times. That should have been impossible. The Crystal Dragon. Valverno. Lusìvar. White Knights. These were legends Vaeludar heard of and never thought were real.
