by Ryan Johnson
He spread out his wings as far as he can. Vaeludar was going have to fly fast as he could to get away from this dragon serpent, and he also didn’t know how fast this snaky creature could fly.
“Now would be a good time to fly,” said Charity, putting an arm around his neck.
“Way ahead of you,” stated Vaeludar, taking to the air. He grabbed her with his open arm and took off.
The Ice Dragon leaped its heavy body off the castle’s walls and glided faster than Vaeludar’s flying and landed in front of him. Its wings pounded a wind blowing that felt cold as ice during a harsh winter storm.
Vaeludar’s wings weren’t able to move or flap them. He wasn’t able to maneuver without the control of his wings. So Vaeludar had crash landed to the ground.
Charity landed on the ground as Vaeludar plumped into the ground. She was standing headstrong and wasn’t going to fall easily. Then she ran over to the fallen hybrid. “You really need to learn about how to land when it comes to retreating.” She found him with his wings frozen solid in a hold he made from the fall.
“Then maybe you can teach me how to land properly then,” said Vaeludar, getting up without taking a starch to this skin. He was still holding the Crystal Sword in his hand.
The Ice Dragon limped closer to them. It raised its curvy head and upper body up and blew glaciers of icy winds upon.
Vaeludar heard ice coming and blew a blaze of blue fire against the blue icy waves. Both blasted winds of heat and cold waves, which both blasts ended up in dead center. Vaeludar felt the cold air from the Ice Dragon, and the Ice Dragon could feel the heat waves coming from Vaeludar.
“Can you hold out until I can get your wings unfrozen?” shouted Charity.
“Util I ruan ou’ of breaf, yeah,” answered Vaeludar, with his mouth wide open exhaling his fire-breathe.
She placed her hands and his wings.
Vaeludar could feel both extreme heat and extreme cold running throughout his body. He eyes were tearing with a very strong presence running in his body.
The Ice Dragon was advancing forward, still blowing with all its icy might at the two escapees.
“No one shall escape,” said the Ice Dragon.
“We shall see, won’t we?” shouted the princess.
Shredding her hands off Vaeludar’s wings like ripping a paper, the ice on his wings came right off. They started to flap again.
Regaining control of his wings, Vaeludar crunched them up and widened them out once again.
“Now, we can get oat of heare,” said Vaeludar, still blowing wind power from his mouth.
“I’ll blind its eyes,” said Charity.
She lifted up high a finger. A light ignited from her tip and her eyes.
The Ice Dragon blinked and turned its eyes, stopping his blowing in the process.
“Now let’s get out of here,” yelled Vaeludar, being able to speak clearly. Vaeludar turned to Charity and placed his left arm around her waist. “Ready?”
“Go!” she shouted.
Vaeludar took off like a cannon fire. Flying faster than a bullet being fired, Vaeludar aimed for the mountain passes.
Charity held her arms around his neck while he blasted off into the air. She guided her flying rescuer through a narrow mountain pass. She pointed her finger instead of speaking in words. With her pointing finger and his flying jet speed, they both were working together to get out of the place.
Flying in the mountain pass was like flying in a cave, it was dark and rocks and edges coming in at high speed. It was narrow about fifteen feet in diameter. The light behind them began to fade into dark. The sky was barely to be seen.
Sounds of the Ice Dragon’s roar could be heard behind. Shouts of roaring could be heard through the mountain pass.
Charity saw looked upwards and saw a snowy avalanche coming down from the mountain tops. The Ice Dragon was running on the upper parts of the mountains, throwing down chunks of ice.
“Vaeludar,” said Charity.
“I know, I know,” said Vaeludar, hearing the sounds of dropping ice. He can’t both see where he was flying and look at the falling ice at the same time. He was flying with an avalanche closing in behind him. He could only see forward, so that he was doing.
Flying from one mountain corner to another, dodging rock ledges and pointy edges, and curving his wings away from the rock, Vaeludar’s flying was to and fro in different directions.
“Turn up,” shouted Charity, looking and pointed at a bright crack up above of them; it was where the Ice Dragon was going also.
Vaeludar saw it and his flying turned with his gaze.
Flying faster with a heart pounding like a heart attack, blood overflowing with great anxiety, a falling avalanche caused by a single Dragon, and the Ice Dragon was flying faster than the flying hybrid, Vaeludar was breathing hard with one nostril and the other blocked.
The light was drawing closer by the second. It was thin and a hundred feet long.
Vaeludar saw a rock right on it, as if it was blocking two mountains that were being forced to move. He puffed a fireball at the rock, which broke into halves.
The mountains began to crumble and slide towards each other. An earthquake was shattering strongly if it was shaking the entire island. Rocks began to fall with the icy avalanche. The Ice Dragon lost his balance and began to fall off the edges. The exit was closing fast like two sliding glass doors.
Vaeludar’s human body began to sweat heavily from hot, heatwaves from inside his body. He was seeing the exit closing faster than his flying.
Charity touched his head and his eyes sparked in a purple blaze. Waving clouds emerged her skin. The clouds slithered up to Vaeludar’s wings. She was transferring her power into Vaeludar’s flying strength. This gave Vaeludar more power to fly two times faster.
Now flying a thousand times faster than a cheetah running at its highest speed, Vaeludar was able to fly straight through the collapsing light by an inch of his tail.
The crumbling mountains behind closed the entrance and sealed the Ice Dragon inside. Rocks fell and snow froze the mountains, making a giant ice glacier. Vaeludar and Charity had made a narrow escape from the Ice Dragon.
Vaeludar’s flying slowed down by ninety-seven percent. After narrowly escaping the crumbling mountains and the Ice Dragon, much of his body strength had drained him from his speed of flight. He stopped flapping his wings and soared with the wind.
Charity was relieved after a thousand years living under the eye of the Ice Dragon, which happened to be one of the heads for Lusìvar’s Five-Headed Dragon body; she was finally free of that place.
Above them, the light had faded away by the dark clouds again. The lands were covered in blackness. The lands were invested with great dullness and completely lifelessly. No stars or moon showed their brightness behind the clouds. The landscape was in complete blackness with no light.
Vaeludar drifted down to the ground with his legs taking a thrashing. Charity used her feet to soften the landing and keep Vaeludar from falling. It wasn’t easy; they slid on a hard rock on their feet.
After sliding to a complete stop, the female White Knight used a foot to stop them from sliding any more forward.
Vaeludar’s body strength was nearly out and kneeled down, breathing heavily. He dropped the Crystal Sword close by.
Charity pulled away from Vaeludar’s drained body. She was standing up fit, strong, and ready to move on. However, she saw the all-powerful, high-and-mighty hybrid kneeling down before her, breathing hard.
“You have limited energy just like I do,” she pointed out. “This is what happens when we use too much magic. It drains our body energy and eats it away from our age like a piranha eating its prey. I gave you some of my power to increase yours, and that was a lot. We used magic that can put us in a comatose state.”
“I’m glad I didn’t die from my magic,” said Vaeludar. The drained hybrid tried to stand on his back up. He s
lowly stood on his own feet without falling down. “I will try not to use too much magic. I could try to use some draconic power, but I don’t know how to use those powers of a Dragon.”
“And to think of the Crystal Dragon chose you as a possible successor to Valverno; you wouldn’t able to last five minutes against the Ice Dragon. Both your warlock and your dragon stamina have limitations and using them the wrong way will lead you to bad situations. That is why you need the hand armor artifact, for your stamina to increase.
“The hand will give you strong, brutal strength. The foot will give you speed. And the chest will give you defense. When you get all three, you will have the power of the Crystal Dragon god itself. Ultimately, you would become the Crystal Hybrid.”
“That would be taking the name of the dragon god,” said Vaeludar. His body was sweating up like a storm and he was panting softly. “I would become powerful like him. So, can you take me to the cave?”
“Once your strength comes back, we will be on our way.”
Vaeludar kneeled to the ground again, breathing harder than ever. He felt it would take a century before he would get his strength back.
Time had lapsed. It felt like hours before Vaeludar could get back on his feet. Once he was no longer breathing as heavily, he got up quickly. He softly swirled his wings and folded them up like paper.
“Vaeludar, are you ready?”
Vaeludar picked up the Crystal Sword and sheathed it.
“I’m ready to find that armor artifact and kill those witches, my mother’s sisters and the Fluting Piper who almost who took my foster sister twice,” Vaeludar answered firmly. “I’ll make sure they’ll never draw out the life force of any child ever again. Their hearts are cold as the Ice Dragon. I will deal with them, when I the hand armor.”
Vaeludar had widened out his wings, carried the White Knight of Charity, and took off in search of the cave.
A REGROUP
V
aeludar, land between those hills surrounded by those flatlands,” said Charity. “The cave is just hiding between those two hills.”
Vaeludar had landed in the middle of three hills with the dead trees with so much uncanny, human-face plants. Nothing cheery was in the black invested lands. The hills were two feet taller than Vaeludar and the White Knight.
“Cheerful place to hide an armor artifact,” said Vaeludar, taking a quick glance of the terrain of land he landed in. “Why not hide the armor in a volcano?”
“Don’t joke about nonsense, hybrid. This is a matter of…”
“Of great importance. I know, Charity, I don’t need to be told of these things. I am not a child with a curious mind and a weak realization. I don’t need to be reminded of what is going on.”
“Then start acting like a man,” said Charity.
“I’m half man, remember. I am acting like a half man. That is not a joke. I’m half… well, you know. Actually, I should be acting as a Dragon and a man.”
“Then start acting like both. We are wasting time with this nonsense.” Charity walked over to a dead tree and pulled it out with one pull of her hand. She heaved it into the air, causing it to fly.
Vaeludar saw it coming his way and rolled out of the way. Unfortunately, his tail got stuck by the tree’s impact. He managed to get out of the way but his tail did not. The grip of his tail made him stumble to the ground. He began tapping his finger while seeing what it was like to talk an unusual way to a White Knight.
“And I thought the White Knights had some sense of humor,” said Vaeludar.
“White Knights don’t have senses of humor, hybrid. I haven’t had one when the Ice Dragon invaded my kingdom. For me, humor is for kids.”
Vaeludar got up to his dragon feet and snapped his tail from the fallen tree, blades blunted out and the tree snapped apart into thirds. Waving his tail like a snake, Vaeludar turned to the White Knight and walked to her.
“Let me guess: the cave is under the tree you threw at me.”
“Yes, but it’s more in the way. I could use your help in moving the other plants and the dirt.”
“Ok, I will start clearing a path.”
Vaeludar rose up and waved strong winds with his wings where Charity was standing.
Sands and dust rose. The plants split from their roots just like a hurricane would do, rip plants from the roots. A small tornado swirled beneath Vaeludar’s flying wings.
Vaeludar guided the winds with his hands and moved everything with his mind. Guiding the winds and the plants and the dust, Vaeludar was moving everything if he was controlling nature under his will. With his wind powers, he even moved the hill Charity was on from its own roots.
The ground was shaking like a weak earthquake as the hill moved. Pillars of stoned faces rose from the ground like a phoenix rising from its ashes. The plants sank into the land if it was quicksand. Charity stood still as she watched everything transform into a different landscape.
Vaeludar stopped with the wind and everything stopped. He looked at the White Knight of Charity standing by the hill he moved yards away. He soared to the ground and walked between the stoned-faced pillars that rose. It seemed like a pathway.
“You did it,” exclaimed Charity, walking towards the other side of the hill that rose ten feet higher than it was before Vaeludar pushed it away.
Vaeludar followed her around the hill. When he was walking around the hill, there was a bright light of a fire-color orange appearing from the opposite side of the hill. From his view, a narrow hole seven feet long and five feet wide blinded his eyes from the light. His eyes had adjusted to the hole’s light.
There was the cave before him.
“This is where you will find the hand armor artifact. You will have to enter it without me; there was some type of barrier that is keeping me from entering. I don’t know where the exact location is, but it is for sure down there. And don’t even ask me how I know such things. When the powers of the White Knight had been incarnated into me, knowledge came with such magic power. I’m afraid you’re on your own at this point.”
“He is not going alone,” said a familiar female voice.
Vaeludar and Charity looked at the hill’s top. Vaeludar had never known Flavius, Wonomi, Galvin, and Marina would be standing right above them.
“Can’t let you go on your own, brother,” said Flavius, cheerfully.
They all walked down to Vaeludar and the mysterious girl they never met. They all crowed around Vaeludar and his appearance had changed while he was gone. At times, he keeps forgetting he was in his attack form.
“Who are you?” asked Marina, in a weird tone.
“I am the White Knight of Charity,” she answered, in an adult tone.
“What?” they all exclaimed, having the same reaction Vaeludar did.
“I know what it’s like,” said Vaeludar. “A White Knight in the flesh but no time to explain. We’re here at the cave and we’re going to find that armor artifact. I’ll tell you on the way down. But where is everyone else?”
“The rest are back at the village getting some sleep,” said Flavius. “We were pulled towards this direction by a mighty wind. We didn’t know why or how. We just know followed it here, and we found you two.”
“Even to a young princess,” said Galvin.
“She is not a princess, she is a White Knight,” corrected Vaeludar. “Her kingdom was destroyed and she has been alone with that one Dragon we thought to be a serpent. There were no people there for her to rule. Now, before we are distracted by anything else, everyone go into the cave. That is an order.”
Vaeludar was the first to wave in front of the bright cave.
“I’m going in. I’m not going to wait for the witches to find us. Come along or stay with the White Knight. I’m going in with or without you guys. I’m not going to wait any longer.” Vaeludar walked into the entrance.
Down below, he saw a steep staircase going down. The light, which shined like spark
ling gold, showed him the down. He began to descend down into the cave, walking on the steps going down very steep.
“Wait for us,” said Wonomi.
Within seconds, they all ran down the steep stairway, following close behind Wonomi in the lead.
Vaeludar continued to walk down the stairway. He felt the group was curious has to what happened with him while he was separate from them. As the group descended down the staircase, Vaeludar decided to tell them everything he had seen and experienced when he left them at a very fast paste.
FINDING ARMOR IN A CAVE
V
aeludar and his comrades walked down a long line of steps. The deeper he walked descended, the bigger the hole was becoming. The interior depth was that of a long cave. There was a tall block of a wall towering ahead of Vaeludar. At the bottom of the steps, there was an archway he could see the light coming from.
Everyone had their weapons ready.
“No weapons out, people and Siren,” said Vaeludar, walking towards the archway. “No one is here.”
Vaeludar was the first to enter the archway. Within a few steps, he couldn’t but notice:
GOLD!
There were long mountains and hills of golden objects flooding an entire section. Goblets, tall statues, chests, diamonds, crowns, swords, spears, pottery, bowls, silverware, and tree-like sculptures were plastered and heavily paved in gold. Everything was in solid gold with rubies, emeralds, sapphires, pearls, dark silver jets, and black corals painted on each object.
“Whoa!” exclaimed Vaeludar, awed at first site of the countless and endless views of the golden objects. “I’d never seen so much gold in my life.”
Everyone followed in and they too were awed by the mountain-stack piles of gold.
