Eternal Flame Ch.0
The wind was gusting through the leafless trees in mid autumn, the sun hadn't broken through the clouds and a dense fog lay on the ground. A boy with long, deep black hair and bright blue eyes, he was no older than thirteen and dressed in rags was running through the woods holding a large, jet black stone with both arms cradling it like a child. The stone was shaped like an oval and smooth as steel all around it. There was fear in his eyes and blood crusted on his hands. Chasing behind him were five soldiers dressed in black uniforms with glimmering steel plates over their chest, shoulders and legs leaving their joints able to move freely and exposing the cloth outfits. Their masks covered their entire face except the eyes and mouth which were etched to be seen as the face of a demon with a mouth filled with pointed teeth. With their long forged iron swords drawn they chased the boy with a look of determination in their eyes.
They were stomping their feet hard against the forest floor while trying to gain speed on the small nimble child. One of the soldiers stopped and kneeled on one leg as he drew his bow. The bow was as black as their uniform with a leather grip just below the center and a small notch to guide the arrow. The soldier pulled an arrow from his quiver and placed it on the string. The arrows shaft was pure silver with a clear glass tip that was serrated as a sharks tooth. As he stung the bow he picked his target from the gap he left when he left squad and aimed at the boy. He was about to release the arrow when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He slowly released the tension and turned to see who was standing over him.
There was a tall slender man standing over him. The man had a tight fit, black suit with the trim being lined with crimson colored cloth. The man had a pointed chin and a long nose. His eyes were bright green and he had his long, white hair tied in a pony tail behind his back, the hair fell behind his legs and looked as if it gleamed in the light.
He had his hand on the soldier's shoulder and slowly tightened his grip while asking.
"Need I remind you that I require the boy alive?" The soldier looked at him with in his eyes and struggled to speak, but eventually he managed to say.
"No, my liege," He said while his voice quivered "I apologize, Lord Wroclaw. It won't happen again." The man that soldier named Wroclaw stood above him and looked deep into his eyes with a fierce stare and said.
"No, it won't happen again." And he walked away with a long, fast stride. The soldier stood to his feet and let out a relived sigh. He took off his helmet and rubbed the dirt and grime away from his face.
The other soldiers were still chasing the boy who was now at a crudely built, rickety bridge across a canyon that was wide enough that after only several meters the fog had shrouded the other side. The boy ran up to the ledge and peered over the side. He gasped and backed away, his heart was already pounding faster than it was only moments before. He looked back to the woods, the fog had masked the woods in a sheet of white and the boy was checking to see if he had escaped the soldiers. The child held his breath and waited, he slowly released the air in an alleviate sigh. The boy collapsed to the ground and began to laugh. He couldn't believe that he had escaped the personal guards of Wroclaw. The boy put the large stone by his side and pulled a leather skin of water from inside his rags and began to drink. He tilted it up and gulped the water. It was dripping from his chin and on to his legs that were bleeding from the thorns and brambles in the woods.
The personal celebration was short lived though, there was a short high pitched whistle and before he realized what it was the leather pouch in his hands had exploded and the water rained down on him. He instantly turned to see one of the soldiers had trailed him to the canyon and had fired an arrow as a warning shot. The soldier had already strung another arrow through his bow. The two of them didn't say a word to each other for what seemed like an eternity until the silence was broken by the soldier.
"Don't even think about running off like you have, boy." The soldier said with sternness in his voice.
"Now tell me boy, what's your name" The boy just looked at him with a feared expression and said as bravely as he could.
"My...my name's Kenth." He stated with a nervous voice.
"All right, Kenth," he said while taking the arrow from his bow and putting them on the ground beside him. He then took off his helmet and set it next to his bow and arrow. "I don't know what that rock is, but you don't want to be involved with Wroclaw. He's not a good person yet, he wants this rock and he pays well, so if you give me the rock I'll be on my way and I'll say that you fell off the cliff or something of the sort. So wa, da ya say?" Kenth just looked at the soldier and said
"You don't have any idea what this "rock" is, do you?" the soldier just shrugged and asked
"All right, I give. What is it?" Kenth looked to the sky and asked.
"Did your parents ever tell you stories when you were younger than me?" the soldier just looked at Kenth as if he were being lectured. Kenth saw and smiled, he then continued. "My father told me stories about the old kingdom and the knights that rose against the kings, he told me of the dragons that used to roam the land until nearly all of them had been hunted and..." Kenth was cut off by the soldier.
"Come on!" the soldier exclaimed. "Do you expect me to listen to this load of tripe?" Kenth quickly stood and grabbed the stone. The soldier drew his sword and pointed it at Kenth then said with his voice dripping with anger.
"Get the boy!" and as soon as he finished the sentence the other four soldiers jumped through the fog and charged at Kenth. He dashed away from the soldiers and started across the bridge. The boards were rotten and weak but he only hoped that they could hold him. His heart was pounding as he dashed across the old bridge. He looked back several times to see that the soldiers were right on his trail. He was almost across the bridge when he saw the other side and his hope of escape was dashed. Waiting on the other side of the canyon were five more soldiers accompanied by Wroclaw himself. Kenth stopped only a few feet short of the other side of the bridge. The soldiers on land began to walk across the bridge with Wroclaw leading them.
Kenth held tightly on to the stone and realized there was no way that he could get out of the situation. He looked to the stone, Kenth knew what Wroclaw wanted. He grabbed the bottom of the stone and lifted it high above his head.
"Keron!" he shouted into the sky "Get the egg!" the soldiers looked at him with strange expressions, they fell silent and exchanged glances with one another. Wroclaw had a curious look fall over his face, and then they heard it.
In the distance there was a sound of a roar, almost like that of a lion but it seemed higher pitched. There was a gust of air that caused the hair of the soldiers without their helmets on to wave uncontrollably and then a blast of air that rocked the bridge. There was another roar but much louder than the first. The roar seemed to shake the soul of everyone who stood on it, everyone except Kenth. The look in his eyes made it seem like he was accustom the sound.
Silence once again fell over the air. All that could be heard was the murmuring of frightened soldiers. Wroclaw had collected himself and the look of curiosity was replaced with that of ferocity. With wide eyes he looked franticly into the fog when it appeared.
A dark silhouette of a massive winged creature with a long neck and whip like tail came into view. Its head was long and triangular with eyes of the truest blue you would ever see and two horns were protruding from each side of its head. It had scales covering its body and long muscular legs and the feet which had razor sharp talons projecting from the toes. It flew right over the bridge and came close to taking off Kenth's head but as it flew over the bridge it scooped the black stone out of his hands and flew back into the fog. One word was one everyone's mind "Dragon." Kenth looked to the soldier who tried to talk the egg away from him with an expression that seemed to say.
"You should have listened to me." The soldier looked right at him with an amazed expression like a child whose father gave him his first weapon. Wroclaw looked to Kenth with a stare that could shatter the hearts of the strongest men and said with a voice that was completely seething with hate and anger.
"You, boy. You will be taken back to the dungeon and be executed." He stepped closer to Kenth and continued. "I'll personally see that you will be set on display in the town market as a warning of what would happen to those who defy me." Kenth looked to Wroclaw and took a deep, shaky breath then calmly said.
"Your lordship I apologize," he began while bowing his body in front of Wroclaw as if to taunt him. "But I must be going. I have to get back to my home and try and leave the kingdom," Wroclaw looked at him with the same anger but a slight hint of confusion was in it also "so I bid you farewell." As he finished the statement he leaned back on the support rope, he flipped his body over the rope and dove off.
The soldiers all swarmed to the rope and looked over but saw nothing.
"He must be dead; no one can survive a fall from this height." A gruff soldier stated. But Wroclaw wasn't convinced.
"Don't look for him. Listen" the soldiers walked off the bridge and stood cautiously at the edge of the cliff and did as Wroclaw instructed and opened their senses.
The soldiers were picked at birth and would be trained their entire life. In their training they would be pushed to their limits in both the physical and mental realms. They did not feel or show emotion but only had one sole purpose. They followed the orders of and wouldn't think twice of giving their life for Wroclaw or any of the commanders. Those who would ignore their purpose would be immediately discharged and executed.
The wind blew over the trees and relief from the wetness in the air, but soon it was gone. Another breeze came and caressed the soldiers. They tried not to be distracted by the comforting breeze. Soon another gentle wind contacted their face through their masks and immediately another but stronger. They tensed up and drew their swords and with a sudden sound of the metal rubbing against the sheath. They held their blade high and hoped that the masks could hide the unsurpassable amount of fear on their faces. They did not tremble, they did not blink. They kept their ground and waited. Silence had enclosed the area.
The wind had gusted once more and was the fiercest of the four. The soldiers stood tall and braced for an attack.
The silence was broken when a sudden earth shattering roar erupted out of the canyon. The trees were literally shaking because of the shear amplitude of the roar, birds rushed out of them to escape the noise. The soldiers had backed several feet away from the ledge. Their bodies were hunched and turned sideways trying to make themselves a smaller target and they held their swords at a low angle ready for a rush attack. Another shriek came from the canyon but this was loud enough to make the soldiers wince in pain.
A powerful surge of air came and knocked a few soldiers down. There was a blur of a large dark creature come over the squad of soldiers.
"YEEEEEEAAAAAH!!!" Came a voice from the figure. Kenth was on the back of the creature and absolutely loved it. Soon they were far enough away from the soldiers that there was nothing they could do. A commander spoke the word that had lingered in every one's mind as the creature faded in the distance.
"A dragon." He said with fear in his voice. "Stand up you maggots!" He hollered at the staggered soldiers "I want you all on your feet now!" As the commander barked orders the soldiers scrambled to stand and get into formation.
"Don't bother commander." Wroclaw sounded as if he wanted to scream. "It's already lost." He said with frustration trembling in his voice. He began to walk away and the commanding soldier which was distinguished by the elaborate armor he wore, it looked like the foot soldiers but the steel plating was crafted with many small carvings and the steel was the finest the crafter could find. He walked up to Wroclaw and pulled his mask off then asked.
"Is that it? Are we going to halt the search because of a... um... drawback?" Wroclaw stopped abruptly and turned to the commander. His eyes had calmed and he held his head high with confidence, and then he spoke with a soft tone.
"I said it was lost." The commander looked at him with a puzzled face while cleaning the sweat off his brow. "What was lost can be found again." Wroclaw said with enthusiasm. He looked at the commander with an unconcerned stare and told him his orders sternly. "Mobilize your men commander. Have them ready by sunrise tomorrow. And get a fleet of ships supplied for a journey."
"Sir. Where do you want me to send my men?" Wroclaw looked at him with cold, almost frozen eyes and said with authority.
"Yes commander." A corrupt smile washed over his face. "You and your men will be sent to Terrenus." Wroclaw walked into the woods and the commander stood stone still with his helmet in his hand and shocked beyond reality. He called his men to attention. He had them march back into the woods and back to the barracks.
The two of them had soared over the mountains and landed in a small secluded meadow with wheat surrounding them. Kenth got off dragon named Keron and began to hear a feminine voice in his head.
"What were you thinking?!" the voice was stern but it sounded as if I came from a woman of royalty. The voice was from Keron. A very rare abnormality of dragons is that they were hatched with a truly unique ability to communicate with other dragons with extremely strong brain waves that entered the mind of the being they were trying to talk to.
"It wasn't my fault!" Kenth pleaded with the dragon as he sat down and leaded his back against Keron. "They tore my home apart and forced a trader to tell..."
"To tell them what?" the Keron replied with anger in her eyes "that you were out stealing morsels for you and that rodent you call your friend."
"Begh has been one of my only friends since I was a small child. And he's not a rodent, he's a dog." Kenth said while digging through his rags for a small stale piece of bread. He took a bite.
"You know, sometimes I wonder how simple my life would be if you would have came woke me that night." Kenth said sarcastically.
"It's as much your fault for coming out that night as it is for me being so carless as to when I got injured and had to land." Keron argued. Kenth stared at her while chewing the rock hard bread.
"Very true but personally, I don't think you wouldn't have made it a week if I didn't make that splint for your wing." Keron rolled her eyes.
"Ow!" Kenth exclaimed when Keron had slapped her tail against his chest knocking the bread out of his hands. "Was that necessary?" he asked while rubbing his chest and picking up the bread.
"I don't care what you say I could have found a way to tend to my wing. Besides I remember the terrified look on your face." she said sounding a bit more relaxed.
"You're a dragon! What did you expect me to do? Run up to you like my mother and give you a hug?"
"Calm down Kenth, I'm just making a point that I'm not as helpless as you think."
"I guess you're right." He paused and looked up to Keron then continued. "So why did you take us this far out of the kingdom? You only go this far out when you need time to think, and rarely with me. So tell me, what are you planning?" Keron looked away and sighed.
"I took you out here to tell you that I can't stay in this land any longer. There have been rumors of a dragon from the old kingdom has been roaming the night sky. I don't need that kind of attention." She stopped and then struggled to continue "I am going to leave the kingdom. I need to leave Legus and go across the sea and to Terrenus." She looked the Kenth and saw the dread in his eyes. "Don't worry," she continued "The egg I had you keep is very important and could help pull this land out of chaos. I'll be gone for a few years but once the dragon is mature enough I'll tell it about this place and the dragon will come and help us over throw Wroclaw." She knelt down to Kenth and said softly
"You need to be strong."
"Couldn't you take me with you," he asked timidly. "it could just be me and you. We could live..." Keron stopped him short and began to tell him of Terrenus.
"It's a much more dangerous place than here. The other dragons, most dragons are savage and hostile to anything that wonders to close to their territory. I need to go back to that land because of attention being focused on me and the egg." She looked to the egg that sat on the ground. The sun was shining off the black shell and burning into the eyes of Kenth. He closed his eyes and looked at Keron.
"The dragon that will hatch from that egg is the last of its kind. Its parents were killed by Wroclaw many years ago yet the egg was unnoticed and luckily I found it." She paused and lowered her head "Only a few years and I'll return, but until then you need to get far away from the kingdom. I took you here because over the hills to the west is a small village. I took some of their thoughts and from what I could piece together they care not for the kingdom or Wroclaw. You need to go there and wait for my return." Kenth was silent for what seemed like an eternity but eventually his emotions overwhelmed him and he fell forward and wrapped his arms around her head. With a single tear rolling down his dusty cheek he softly said.
"Don't take your time. As soon as you think he's... or she's... whatever just get the dragon back here soon." Keron smiled slightly
"I will. Don't worry I'll be back. Just stay in the village." Kenth let go of Keron's head and stroked he top of her nose. She looked at him with soft blue eyes and nudged his arm with the tip of her muzzle trying to console him. He looked in her eyes with a deep sadness yet some part of him seemed to welcome the idea of a new start but he would still much rather stay with Keron.
If someone were to see the two of them together in the meadow they might say that Kenth had tamed the last of the dragons. But if the truth be told, Keron was a free spirit and could have left at any time but stayed because of Kenth's parents being killed almost immediately after she appeared and she couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible and she knew that it could prove to be a challenge to watch the egg with no help.
Kenth wiped another tear away from his face with his sleeve and solemnly said.
"I'm going to miss you. Try not to fly into anymore trees." He said the last part while forcing a small chuckle. Keron looked to Kenth and said with empathy.
"Don't dwell on the passage of a dear friend, instead try and remember the times you shared with them, enjoy the moment and embrace life." Some of the sadness in Kenth's eyes diminished and with a final set of heartfelt goodbyes Keron began to walk away.
With each step she increased her speed until it developed into a jog and soon a run. Kenth watched as she spread her wings and with a push downward she was lifted into the air. Keron flapped her wings several more times, once she seemed high enough to touch the stars she tilted her wings and began to head back over Kenth. With great speed Keron soared over his head and soon after he heard a faint voice in his head.
"Remember, always embrace life and never forget the ones you love." There was a bearably audible roar that seemed to be a final goodbye. Keron slowly vanished into the distance as she flew in the direction of the Souls Sea and to the fabled island of Terrenus.