FSE

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It was a dark time for the people of Ariae, after the recent war, their army lay in pieces, their homes were destroyed, all that was left was the fortress named 'IronWall'. People from all across the land fled to this one last hope, hundreds upon hundreds of farmers, hunters, woodsmen and fishermen all hurried their livestock and families to IronWall in hope that it would protect them from the opposing nations. The nations of Otogi and Halfite had made a dark alliance against the peaceful nation of Ariae, and their armies will soon take over Ariae. with the opposing nations steadily building up their forces, and expecting to arrive next summer... It is a dark time for Ariae....

"NO" a large fist slammed down on the table, making it shake with the force of the hit, "I WILL NOT SURRENDER MY PEOPLE!"

"But, my liege, if we do not, the armies of Otogi and Halfite will wipe us out... they are but 4 months away....and..."

"Don't you think I know that?" the owner of that large fist sighs deeply, "I will never lead my people into surrender, for I, king Alexandra, am not a coward"

"But..."

"Just leave me Craig.... I must think..."

"As you wish" he bows gracefully and walks out of the room, the faint sound of the door creaking open, then shutting. The single figure left in the room slowly stands, his cape leaving his chair and gently trailing behind him as the lone figure walks. "...I will never leave my people.... I cant.... I wont.... my honour disallows it...." The figure stops as he reaches a balcony, the blue moonlight gently shining down onto the figure, showing every detail, his slick grey fur running down his entire body, his long grey tail poking out of his cape. The gentle shining of the crown atop his head as his ears lie underneath. The figure sighs, "...my father wasn't a coward, or was his forefather.... I will not be the weak link...." He looks over the peaceful scene of the buildings below him, "my people deserve more.... and I will bring it...."

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Below him, there are small houses, if they could be called that, lined up next to each other, each house with a family inside, all asleep, not knowing of the fate that awaits them...the horrible and dark fate that awaits them all.... But in one of these houses, a creature stirs....

"Alrighty then.... now where did I put my sword...." Inside this small house, in the faint glow of a small candle, a young dragon moves, his red scales reflecting the light as he works, bringing his items together, "Ah.... there it is..." the young drake picks up what looks like a sword, a faint blue glow in the blade, "ok then...checklist.... Sword..." he swings his sword around and sheaths it, ".... check.... money..." he picks up a small leather bag and throws it into a backpack "...check.... and finally...."

"What the hell are you doing?!" a small figure, hidden from the candlelight asks rather loudly. The young drake spins round and looks where the voice came from.

"Umm...I...I'm not doing anything..."

"Yea.... so why do you have your sword? Hmmm?"

"Oh..."the drake looks at the sheathed sword then looks back"...I felt like...um.... doing some hunting...yea hunting..."

"You know we're not allowed to leave the fortress! You'd be killed!"

"Don't you think I know that Danny? But we're dead even if we stay here"

"Draken...get a hold of yourself! Your speaking crazy!"

"Am I? Then why has the king put up these?" Draken pulls out a small piece of paper from his rucksack and reads aloud, "ATTENTION: your king, Alexandra, has asked for the help of anyone who is willing to fight, gold will be paid" Draken places the paper back in his rucksack, "you see? He's looking for mercs! That's right! Mercenaries..."

"Oh right, and your going to be one of those?!"

"I have to do something, I have to try and help..."

"And end up like dad?" the still unseen figure said lowly, an eerie silence fills the room, all that can be heard is the small crackling of the candle,

"You.... you have no right to mention dad! He died with honour fighting to protect us!"

"He died running...we both know that..."

"He did not! He was ordered to fall back to a better location..."

"Also known as running...."

Draken didn't say anything this time, instead he turned his back to his brother, and threw his rucksack onto his back.

"You're making a mistake Draken..."

"And so are you...Danny..." and with that, Draken made his leave, walking out into the cold, the wind from outside extinguishing the small candle, a small trail of smoke rising from it as the door closed.

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The door creaked open as a small figure rushes in, his tail flailing widely behind him, "My liege! My liege!" the small figure shouted as he ran into the room, "My liege!" in front of the small creature was a large four-poster bed, and the shape of a wolf lay in its sheets. The small creature rushes up next to the bed, "My liege, please wake!" the wolf starts to stir from its slumber, letting out a large yawn from his opened muzzle, exposing two rows of knife-like teeth.

"G-Greg? You better have a good reason for waking me so early..."

"Oh I do sire! I do!"

The wolf slowly sits up in his bed, his eyes weary from the sudden intrusion in his

Dreams, "well then... speak"

"We've had an applicant for the posters we've put up, we have someone willing to fight!"

The wolf's eyes widen as he hears this news, "We have? I must meet him." With that, the wolf slowly clambers out of his bed and walks over to a large wardrobe, opening the doors and selecting some loose garments to wear before putting them on. "Our chances might have just been improved..." he shuts the doors before placing his crown on his head, covering his ears. "Let us go meet this warrior" they both walk towards the door.

Draken sits down slowly onto a chair, moving his tail out of the way before reaching the soft padding on the chair. He thinks to himself, *Damnit.... why doesn't my brother think this is a good idea? It's a brilliant idea! I get to keep my honour by fighting, while the gold I receive will help with the taxes and rent. I just hope the king will let me.... *

As he finishes that last thought, a large door opens slowly as a wolf walks into the room, his cape trailing behind him.

Draken stands and bows. "My liege"

The wolf walks up to Draken and smiles, "so you must be Draken, I will look forward to you working with us"

"And I will look forward to helping Ariae"

The wolf smiled and chuckled at that comment "And you shall young one, you might just be the hope that this nation needs"

The bright early morning sunlight seeped through the curtains onto him, illuminating every detail of his face, the small gaps between every single scale, the two small holes used for breathing on the end of his muzzle, the long gold horns sticking out the top of his sleek head. His eyelids firmly shut, trying to keep their owner asleep, but to no avail. Slowly, his eyelids open to reveal two silver irises and two pupils quickly shrinking to adapt to the sudden light. The eyelids quickly close as he grumbles and turns his head away from the intruding light. "Danny...shut the damn curtain...its too early to get up...." Draken lays there, half asleep, waiting for his brother's reply, but it never comes, "Danny?" Draken slowly opens his eyes and looks around sleepily "where the hell are you Danny?"

"I am here.... but my name is not Danny..."

Draken quickly turns his head to look at the creature that gave off that voice, his eyes widen as he sees the figure. Standing there, what he could only describe as 'beautiful', was a tall, slender dragoness. Her light blue scales reflecting the light easily, her small silver horns appearing at the top of her slick head before disappearing down the back of her neck. Her muzzle was long, but that was expected of a dragoness of such height. Her brown robes trailing down her body, sticking close to her, showing off her slick curves as it reaches her legs before stopping abruptly. Her blue tail gently swayed behind her beautiful body. Hanging from the top of her head and trailing down her neck and back lay hair the colour of the purest silver.

"My name is Lorenia.... and I am your servant while you stay here..."

As she says this, Draken has a quick look around the room he is in. The four-poster bed he is lying on covered in a fine purple cloth, which could be called 'the silkiest of silks', while next to the bed there was a small table of an elegant design, gold swirls running over the top and down the legs. On the table laid his sheathed sword and his backpack. He tares his eyes away from the room and looks back at the dragoness.

"I hope I can be of assistance"

Draken smiled as she said this, "Oh, I'm sure you will"

"Thank you sir" she curtsies elegantly and walks over to a cupboard and fetches him some robes before returning to his side "How may I assist you?"

"Well...you coul-" before he could he finish there was a loud thumping on the door, causing the bed and tables to shake with each thump. "Hello?" a voice as loud as the thumping boomed from the other side of the door, "someone open this door!"

Quickly Lorenia rushed over to the large door, opening it slowly and curtsies just like before "oh, master Ester, please enter"

"Thank you Lorenia" the booming voice said, still out of sight from Draken, who still lay on his bed, head tilted. "You are excused" with that, Lorenia turns to look at Draken, giving him a little smile before rushing out the room. At this time, Draken was nervous, many questions were running through his head *who is this guy? Why was he called master? What does he want with me? * His thoughts were silenced as a massive clawed foot stepped into the room, followed by another, the green scales easily reflecting the light around the room. Soon, a whole body stood with those massive feet, the bright green scales running all the way up the creature's well-muscled body, two large green wings sticking out the creature's back, a long tail just below them. Two jet black horns sticking out the back of the creature's head. A small smile on the mysterious creature's lips, "My name, as you might have guessed, is Ester. And I will conduct your training, although I will not actually teach you, just advise you and guide you, like a mentor you could say..." Ester slowly walks towards the confused Draken, the smile on his green lips widening with each step"...and I believe your name is..."

"...Draken...excuse me by saying, but I don't think I need a...'mentor'...I am perfectly capable of defending myself..."

Ester's smile widens still "Ah.... so I'm not teaching a true rookie...that's good news...for you anyway."

Draken tilts his head slightly ".... why is that good for me?"

Ester chuckles loudly before sitting down on the edge of the bed, causing Draken to increase in height a few inches. ".... Well.... I have a reputation of being...tough with my students...especially my rookie students...so you just saved me a lot of trouble and you a lot of...pain..."

Draken smiles sheepishly as he hears this "o...ok then.... umm...is it ok if I get dressed?"

Ester smiles and nods "by all means..." Ester doesn't move from his spot.

"Heh...umm...I don't know about you...but I'm not that proud of myself...so id like to get dressed in private.... please..."

Ester laughs and shakes his head "no no Draken... you will get dressed in front of me, you have everything I've seen myself...so don't worry..."

Draken lets out a false laugh before reluctantly scrambling out of his bed, before standing next to the table with his robes on. Ester chuckles to himself as he sees Draken walk past, grabbing his robes and desperately trying to get them on as fast as possible.

After a few minuets of hasted dressing, Draken stood proudly in front of Ester, his long black robes trailing onto the ground. The robes were of two halves. A short -sleeved gown made the first half, before the cloak that hung from around his neck. "These robes are for basic trainees...they wont stop a sword from hitting you, but they will protect you from the elements...and when im done with you...you wouldn't need clothing to protect you from your adversaries" Ester chuckled slightly before motioning to the door "after you.... hatchling..."

It was several months after his initial training had begun. And already the affects were starting to show. Everyday he was forced to hike along the countryside over a distance of 30 miles, before returning to his dorm, exhausted, only to be called up into a duelling practise. His skills with a sword were notable. But he still had much to learn. His master, Ester, repeatedly beat him, but he was among one of the top trainees. His skills weren't just been honed onto swordsmanship...but also a school of magic of his choosing. Being as he was a good learner, Ester gave Draken the ability to choose two different schools of magic to learn. Naturally, Draken chose the school of fire as his first. But his second choice was one that hardly any knew why he chose it, for his second choice, Draken chose the art of Necromancy. And so he studied, he studied at every free moment he had, building his knowledge of the two schools. Until the one final test......

"Ah Draken...I see you are ready" Ester said from the middle of the courtyard, he donned his battle-armour, the heavy war-scared metal shimmered with a blue-ish tint. His emerald claw held the hilt of his blade, the long sharp metal gently resting on the floor, the runes along the blade glowed with a green light. "This shall be your final test...you will have to strike me down...use all of your skills..."

Draken stood opposite his master, his black robes flapping softly in the wind, the now personalised robes brought a slight sense of fear to the other students. Mainly because a bright white, dragon skull was engraved onto the back, its two black eyes staring into the sky. Draken had his own blade, which he built by himself, it look similar to his master's yet it had fewer runes and instead of a green light they shone a dark blood red. Draken remained silent as he listened to his orders. A small grin on his muzzle, his mind confident on his skills. "...For I wont hold back" Ester finished, before drawing his blade and holding it in front of him. Draken matched him, drawing his own blade.

Then it began...

Ester was the first to strike, charging at the red dragon in front of him before bringing his blade down harshly onto Draken. But to no avail, Draken quickly parried and pushed Ester away with his own counter-attack. The sound of metal hitting metal sounded as Draken's blade hit the tough armour, leaving nothing but the tiniest of scratches. Ester chuckles slightly before charging at Draken again, Draken parried with ease, but Ester quickly whipped his tail at Draken's face, the sharp tail cutting a gash down Draken's cheek. Draken let out a small roar of pain before glaring at Ester, pointing his blade at his master's face, his eyes narrowed, suddenly, his blade sparked to life and from it shot a black light, heading at amazing speed towards Ester. Ester didn't even have time to react, before the light hit, the light taking the form of two black claws, slowly tightening around his neck. Ester's eyes widened in fear as he felt his energy drain from the claws, his body slowly going weak. He was about to black out before the claws disappeared. With weakened eyes, he looks to Draken, the gash now healed, the only trace of it being a long scar. This was Ester's last sight, before Draken seemingly disappeared, only to appear in front of him, kicking his master down onto his knees. Draken held his blade up to Ester's chest, the runes glowing brightly, the blade calling for blood, it craving the blood of Ester. Draken plunged his blade into Ester, the old armour buckling under the strength of the blade, and the blade received what it cried for...Ester's blood. The large emerald drake went lifeless, his body twitching slightly as his eyes glazed over, his claw clutching his blade slowly opening, the blade falling to the floor. Draken placed one of his hind legs on his former-master's shoulder, before pushing down hard with his leg, pushing the body off of his blade, it lifelessly falling to the floor.

It was over...

Draken slowly sheathed his bloodstained blade, before placing a claw on top of his former-master's head. His claws sparked slowly to life, black mixed with white lights swirled over and through his talons, suddenly, Ester's eyes un-glazed, before he let out a large cough, spitting his blood onto the floor next to him. He continues to cough while looking up at his former-student. A small smile on his muzzle "well...*cough*...Draken...it seems cough cough...you have beaten me..." Ester slowly places a claw on Draken's shoulder "im proud of you...you have shown *cough* exceptional skills...you will make a *cough* fine warrior...now...go...go and help your people!" with that, Ester blacked-out. Silently and slowly, Draken straightens up, before giving a small bow to his former-master. He lets out a small sigh before walking through the large gates from the courtyard...his training now complete...

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But one figure remained, unseen and unheard, sitting high on top of the courtyard walls, the figure had witnessed the entire event. The shadows hid the figure's face, as it spoke to itself "very good...very good...I look forward to our meeting...brother..." with that, the figure jumped off the wall and disappeared completely into the shadows.