• Erthrisan Chronicles
    By Fenrier


    Prologue

    "Early in time, earlier than your ancestors remember, this world was new and brilliant. In this new and brilliant world there thrived fantastic creatures and amazing places. Though our story would seem to have a peaceful beginning, things are not as they seem…"

    It was dark. Night had begun to fall on the plains as the human raiding party made their way towards the mountains. They had been traveling for many days, and when the mountains came into view, they were overjoyed to know their journey was almost at an end, but the fact that their mission was one of blood kept them from sleeping soundly that night. They had yet to find what was lurking in the shadows of the great mountain’s caves. They brooded silently around their fire as they waited for the water to boil. Finally the big muscled man broke the silence.
    “So what exactly are we going to be looking for when we arrive at the caves?” he said in a deep voice.
    “’Ccordin’ to Dain, we’re goin’ ta go ta those caves and see if anythin’ is lurknin’ in it, surch as stray tribes whos been tryin to escape from us,” the skinny one across the fire replied.
    “What’s the point though?” the muscled man asked, “If they are trying to avoid us, then we needn’t bother with em, right? I mean, they aren’t trying to attack us or anything, doubt they could even hold a spear proper,” he added pointedly.
    “Well it’s not up ter us what is the poin’ and what isn’,” the man said indifferently, “We’s got orders from th’ chief to spoon out these caves and kill any loose tribesmen that we comes acros’. Ya see wheres I am going with this?”
    The man was silent for a while before replying slowly, “I guess I understand,” he looked at the moon and found it already high in the black night sky, then added, “It’s getting late. We should get some rest before tomorrow comes, eh?”
    “Aye, we shou’, we shou’,” He turned towards some men in the corner, and shouted, “Alrigh’! Sentries! Take post and make sures nothin' sneaks up on us in the night, got it?” There were scattered sounds of confirmation, “Good. Now let’s turn in.”
    With that the men went to their makeshift tents and slowly drifted into uneasy sleep. The muscled man found that no matter what position he took, sleep would not take him. The thought of tomorrows work was still in his head, and the thought that in the next twenty-four hours, he would, like he had done so many times before, be killing his fellow man. Eventually he managed to find sleep in the early hours of morn and woke tired but alert.
    The men did not bother to take down their tents; they would be returning to them after the raid, and there was no need to take them down just to put them back up a second time.
    They made there way towards the mountains base. As they marched on, someone called to the muscled man.
    “Throen! Throen!”
    He turned to find a boy, no more than 18 years old by the human calendar, chasing after him. He stopped and turned all the way around to face the boy, who arrived out of breath. Throen gave him a moment to catch his breath before asking, “What is it?”
    The boy panted a moment longer, then straightened up and looked at Throen.
    Throen took a moment to take in the boys features. He was surely new to the field of combat, for his young face was untouched by the scars of battle, or by the weariness of one who has killed many men. He was a little thin, but had some muscle to him, which showed some promise of winning a fight. His bright brown eyes hid under his long brown hair, which reached to his shoulders. And his face seemed upturned, like he had always been a happy person.
    The boy spoke, “My name is Hollind! I thought that I would stay with you on our venture.” His bright brown eyes glowed with admiration of Throen, “I hear that you are a powerful fighter and that you have never suffered a defeat! I thought that this being my first chance to fight, would be perfect for me to get some pointers on the subject. I mean, what could be better than learning from someone who has never lost a battle?” He stopped to catch his breath as Throen laughed. This boy was eager to fight alright, and that was a proud aspect for every warrior to have. His inexperience may kill him, though, if he isn’t careful. Then he finally spoke back to Hollind.
    “I don’t see what harm there could be in teaching a young one like you how to fight properly, especially one who is mentally and physically ready for combat. First lesson though, is never being over confident or overly eager. That leads to death in a heartbeat.” He took a long look at him, finding Hollind drinking in his every word, before continuing on, “Never let pride get in the way of a fight, either. That’ll lead to death as well.”
    He continued on in this manner, first telling him what to be careful for, such as thrown spears and arrows, and how to properly use his wooden shield. Then he instructed him in stances and movements, so that his hatchet would deal more damage, and his spears would land true. During these lessons, Hollind asked, “Do you believe the stories?”
    Throen looked at him curiously.
    “Stories?”
    “Yea,” Hollind said, “You know, the ones about flying creatures who can breathe fire and are thousands of feet long?”
    Throen laughed before saying, “Either you found our drink supply, or someone has been taking you for a fool. Those stories are just that boy; Stories. They aren’t real. Who’s going to believe that a giant flame breathing flyer that’s thousands of feet long lives in these here mountains? Just someone stirring up trouble for ya? Don’t get in to it. It aint gonna actually be there. Now let’s get on with the lesson that you wanted so badly.”
    Hollind nodded and they went into complex forms for hits at the neck and others of the such, and in no time at all, (Despite the red skies of days ending) they arrived at the base of the mountains. Throen looked at Hollind and said, “I have taught you all I could about fighting. Now we will see if any of it sank in.”
    Hollind looked up at him excitedly and said, “I won’t disappoint you!”
    Throen smiled and said, “Good, that’s good. Now let’s catch up. We’re falling behind.”
    They continued up the rough mountain terrain as the sun came down to the east, bathing everything in an orange glow. Throen stopped to admire such a view, for it is not often that he had time to see it. Hollind stood by his side and it wasn’t until the skinny man yelled to them.
    “’Ey! Move it along you two! Wer almost ther’ so quitcher dilly dallyin’!
    “Alright Omar! Were coming, were coming,” Throen called back.
    Throen waited until Omar was out of earshot before saying, “That one is a lunatic. Don’t ever want to get on the bad side of him. The way he acts though makes me want to pound his face.” He sighed as they continued on.
    The sun was pouring the last dregs of light it had on the earth around them, illuminating the rock until it glowed, and the caves seemed to light themselves of their own accord. As they came towards the first cave, Omar held up his arm.
    “Alrigh’! Now wes is goin to have ta split inta groups! I want three groups ready in twenty minutes!” He looked around at them before barking, “C’MON! MOVE IT!”
    For about twenty minutes, they moved about each other summing up certain strengths and weaknesses, and within the allotted time, three groups were ready to move out. Throen and Hollind of course were in the same group.
    After Omar gave the order to move out, Hollind looked at Throen.
    “This is it, isn’t it?” he asked silently.
    “Aye, this is where your lessons will come into play. You remember everything I taught you?” he asked eyeing Hollind. Hollind gulped, but nodded his head.
    Throen stared at him a little longer before saying, “Good, that’s good.”
    They proceeded to the first cave, and as the sun had finally faded from the sky they had to make torches to see properly in the darkness of the cave. The men ahead lit the way with their torches while Throen and Hollind lingered at the back of the group. After a short while, one of the men at the front shouted something undecipherable. Throen ran forward, axe and spear ready, when he saw the man leaning over something shiny on the ground.
    “What is it?” Throen asked, “What's the matter?”
    “Take a look-see at this, will ya?” He held up a glittering blue object that brilliantly reflected the torch’s light. Throen stared at it in wonder before repeating again, “What is it?”
    “Dunno,” the man replied, scratching his beard, “It doesn’t look like any gem or jewel that I’ve ever seen. Quite thick though, don’t think it bends at all. Hey! Someone bring me hammer here!”
    A man ran over with a hammer and handed it to the bearded man. Looking at Throen, he brought down the hammer with a power swing. As it struck the object, it let out a long piercing note and almost no damage came to it but a little scuff mark where the hammer had made contact. Throen looked at the object with amazement as Hollind came up behind him asking, “What was that sound?” He looked over Throen’s shoulder to see what it was. His eyes became round as he said with awe, “What is that?”
    Throen waited before saying slowly, “We’re not sure what it is. It looks precious, like nothing we’ve ever seen,” he looked towards the bearded man and said, “We should probably keep this. It may have some use.”
    “Righ’”
    They left that cave and proceeded to the next one, which they found Omar already occupying, bending over what looked like a red version of the object they found in the other cave. Omar looked up as they approached.
    “Ye ever seen anythin’ like this before?” Omar asked Throen.
    “Aye, we have it with us.” The bearded man handed it to Throen who in turned offered it to Omar.
    “We found it in the last cave we scouted.”
    There was a greedy look in Omar’s eyes as he cast his gaze upon the sapphire surface. Then he looked to Throen.
    “It’s late. We should be settin’ up camp fer now.”
    “Aye.”

    As they set up camp, men from other caves came to report strange sounds from the caves, along with the same shiny objects that they had found inside. Omar had soon ordered for all the objects to be given to him for safe-keeping, followed by moans and sighing from the men he took from. The moon was high in the sky before Throen finally drifted into slumber. And one by one, the rest of their party did also. The last awake was Hollind, who lied awake, thinking about what they had found, what they had not found, and what may still lie ahead. But eventually he, too, had found rest in the long hours of the night. And for one peaceful hour, they all slept, oblivious to the world and its dangers.

    However, it wasn’t to last…

    Throen jerked awake as one of the men screamed at the top of his lungs, “TO ARMS! TO ARMS!!”
    As he grabbed his axe and spear, he looked for Hollind among the confusion. He found Hollind also looking about desperately for Throen. He grabbed his tunic and pulled him along to the sentries. Once within range he started to ask, “What is it?” but the words, failed in his mouth as he looked before him.

    There, standing no more than ten feet in front of him, was a great beast, that of the like of which he had never seen. It had armor of brown scales on its body. On its paw there rested serrated claws, five inches long and sharper than any axe or spear. And on its back, just after the shoulders, was a set of huge, leathery wings. They stood for a bit, staring each other down. For one whole minute, nothing happened.
    Then from the back of the group, a man screamed and ran from the cave, which seemed to be the sign for the men to flee or fight. Many of the men fled, including Omar. However, Throen and Hollind, along with a few other men, raised their spears and attacked. A spear sailed past Throen’s head and headed straight for the beast. Its flight was true as it sailed towards the creature’s chest and…… shattered.
    If this had hit them dumbstruck, they didn’t show it as they charged forth anyways. The men fought ferociously, but they soon found that it was not the only beast in that cavern. A red one came soon from behind, and it was followed by a blue one. Throen fought with all his might, but he worried that Hollind would not survive. He heard Hollind scream, and turned to see him smashed against a wall, clutching his arm, blood dripping down the side of his face and limb. In that brief second, Hollind looked towards Throen, and a look of pure terror crossed his face. Throen couldn’t even turn. He felt the great, five inch talons of the brown beast rake across and through his back.
    Blood came in torrents from his mouth and back as he fell to the ground, gasping for breath but choking on his own sickly fluids.
    “NOOOOOOO!” he heard Hollind cry as he fell to the ground, and could feel Hollind by his side as he hit. He looked through red eyes at Hollind. He gave a sad smile and choked, “….I...I….d-died….in….b-b-battle. I…I couldn’t’….a-ask….for….for…b-b-better. F i g h t o n………..”
    Throen’s head fell to the side, dead. Hollind couldn’t hear anything but his own sorrow. He couldn’t hear that the battle was now over. He couldn’t hear the beasts’ breath as they watched the scene with sadness in their eyes, at the unintentional suffering they had caused this tiny human. And for an eternity the scene remained. Sorrow in the young boys eyes, at the loss of one who had been like a father to him, though he had only known him for a short time. For longer than any could tell, he cried for his fallen friend, his fallen father.
    Soon though, Hollind could weep no more. His first feeling was savage anger, and he almost reached for his spear. But then a wave of hopelessness flooded over him, and he fell back to the floor in resignation. Then he looked up at the creatures, who returned his stare with large colorful eyes. Hollind could not help but take in their beauty, despite what he had seen them capable of doing with their mighty teeth and talons. For much time, nothing happened.
    Then Hollind said, “You great dumb beasts! Why are you toying with me!?! You are so good at killing, kill me now!”
    Then to is utter surprise, he felt rather than heard their response, and he found that they could speak like he could when one of them said, “Peace little one. What we have wrought this day was not of our fault.”
    Through his stupor, Hollind found the words, and through anger, said, “Not your fault? How could it not be your fault?!? I watched you tear him apart! You rent him like I could a leaf. And you say it is not your fault?!?”
    They seemed to sit and listen to him with unnerving patience at his screams that would be comparable to a toddler. When he finished, he felt a voice again, this time able to identify that it was in his head that he heard and felt their response.
    “Did we attack first?” one asked simply.
    Hollind could not respond to it. He got up and wandered about in sorrow and anger, wanting to run but finding himself surrounded by the beasts. Finally, after he settled down and sat, he asked, “What are you?”
    They stood for a moment as though conversing with each other, nodding and shaking their head to an unheard conversation. Finally they spoke again to him.
    “We are dragons, little human, and we have been here for longer than your kind has,” the voice paused as it let him register what it told him before continuing, “When your kind arrived, it made conflict on the Katsine, and we wished to avoid it. That is why you have never seen us before, except for the few that have spotted us by accident.”
    The rumors made sense to Hollind now. The only thing that was still unconfirmed was whether they breathed fire or not. He let his curiosity leek from his mouth, and in some relief that he finally calmed down, the brown one obliged by heating the wall until it was cherry red. Hollind looked in wonder at the glowing wall, mouthing wordlessly.
    Finally he found his voice, and said, “You are amazing creatures, and you seem so wise.”
    The red one chuckled in its throat before a different type of voice entered his head, and he was able to distinguish that a different dragon spoke to him.
    “Not all our kind is wise. We are just older than most of them, and have seen and experienced much more than they have, and for that we are named Elders. The young dragons learn from us, and sometimes not only the young ones, either. All come to us for our knowledge, for we possess the memories of the past, which we pass on to others and hope to allow history to live on, for without a vessel, history is lost.”
    Hollind sat and registered this for a long while. Finally he said, “I would have never imagined from the stories that you were such intelligent creatures. I must seem, and I do feel, so foolish.”
    At this, the dragons conversed secretly with each other again. Finally at some point they all nodded and looked back to him. They approached him. He took a short step back and felt something under his foot. He looked down to see one of the objects lying on the ground. It was a beautiful brown color that reflected the light from the newly rising sun. He looked from it to the dragons and something clinked into place.
    “Is this from your scales?” he asked, though he already knew the answer.
    “Yes that is one of the scales I have shed,” the brown dragon said lifting a paw to its chest to show who was talking.
    Hollind stared at it for a while longer before saying, “It is very beautiful.”
    They all stood in silence for a long while before Hollind finally asked, “So what happens now?”
    They stared at him for a while, as though sizing him up, before saying, “We have discussed it and we have come to an agreement. We have decided that today has been marked by the stars and Fate as one of great occurrence. We have decided to give you a gift that the dragons have never given before, but have always existed. We wish to grant you this-”
    “Excuse me?” Hollind said doubtfully, “Why would you just bestow upon a person you have only just met this…this….what is this gift that you plan to give me anyway? What is it all about?”
    The red dragon chuckled before saying, “It seems that we have a history lesson to teach eh? Ah well, I need a refresher. How about you begin Noram?”
    “Certainly,” the blue dragon replied, “Let’s see….Where to begin….Ah yes.”
    He cleared his throat with a low growl that made the rock beneath Hollind’s feet vibrate. Then his voice seemed to fill the room as he recited the history.
    “Long, long ago, when Erthrisa was still young, we dragons appeared. We are not sure what our origins were, but we worried not about it. We fought to survive in our harsh new conditions.” He paused for a moment to let Hollind grasp the concept before continuing.
    “We dragons did not always have our long lives and our ability to breathe flames. It came from years and years of our oath know as the Star Sacrifice. We did this every century to enhance our power and our ability to live on in the wasteland we called our home. However, things were not as peaceful as you might think, even with what we were given. It is our only guess that Fate realized that we would not be able to sustain ourselves forever, so it, along with the Star Sacrifice, gave us a dormant ability that many have forgotten and which can only be done by many powerful dragons that have gathered.”
    He again paused to let Hollind register what he heard, and if necessary, answer his questions. When he said nothing, Noram grinned with his razor teeth, and said, “Ah, this one has patience. An excellent asset to have, little one,” he turned towards the red dragon and said, “Would you like to continue?”
    The red dragon chuckled again, and replied, “Of course friend.”
    He stood up straight and said in a seemingly louder voice, “I am known as Thrasdil. And continuing from where Noram left off, I will start as such:”
    He too cleared his throat and boomed out, “We were given a gift to which we could pass to one we deemed fit to hold. We were given this, so that if dragons were to fail, there would still be our kind in the world, for us as creatures are not meant to disappear entirely ever. This gift that we gave would create a hybrid dragon, one of which could not befall the same fate as all the rest did. It would be given in hopes that one day….”
    “All would still remember our legacy, and revere the one who holds it in his or her hands,” finished the brown dragon.
    The brown dragon looked at Hollind, before saying, “I am Hulistuu, the third of the dragon elders, and we have passed you knowledge that most would die for, had they know what it meant. We wish to give you the gift you see,” Hollind’s eyes widened in surprise, and the dragon continued, “However; we can not do it, us dragons three. There is another that must be here to help-”
    “And here I am.”
    They all turned to see a white dragon float through the cave entrance as it gracefully folded its wings. This one was clearly the oldest and wisest of them all, for even though dragons did not age quickly, the signs of age had become apparent around the eyes of this magnificent being.
    In a voice that was clearer and purer than any he had ever heard, it spoke to him, “I am Rasinji, the forth of the dragon elders.”
    Then he realized why the voice was so fair. Without thinking, he said, “You’re a female, aren’t you?”
    She seemed taken aback at the surprise in his voice at his question of her gender, but whatever had shown disappeared, and she said simply, “Yes I am the only female elder of our time. I would appreciate a little more respect from the one who will receive our greatest blessing.”
    Hollind turned red and hung his head and said, “Forgive me.”
    She snorted good-naturedly, and said, “A very good trait to have, especially with your haste that you bring with you. This is a most wondrous occasion, for we are about to give our Gift to one who truly deserves it, one who is fit to the task that lies ahead of you.” She turned towards the others.
    “My brethren, it is time,” She turned to Hollind and said, “Please, give us your name.”
    “My name is Hollind, Lady Rasinji,” and remembering his manners bowed to her.
    She seemed satisfied by the name and then said, as the other dragons slowly surrounded Hollind, “Hollind the human! On this day, we, the dragon elders of our time, hereby prepare to give you our gift. What say you?”
    In the tone she said her oath, Hollind felt the strangest feelings. The first one was that she hadn’t said that he must take it, but that it was indeed a gift, not a given. As he opened his mouth to say his decision, he felt an odd presence of energies in the cave, as if his destiny was being entwined in that of thousands of others.
    “I accept.”
    “Very well then….”
    "We bestow upon you this gift, so that when Fate sees fit, you will be able to help the ones in need," they chanted together.
    “Accept it in honor, for it is a gift fit not for any chief or lord, but for the one who is worthy,” said Noram.
    “Take it with good heart, and know that you now hold our legacy in your hands, and that you will be the one who will outlive us when our time comes,” added Thrasdil.
    “So is the circle of life, even for ones like us who live to be many millennia old,” recited Hulistuu.
    “WE BESTOW UPON YOU THIS GIFT, SO THAT WHEN FATE SEES FIT, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO HELP THE ONES IN NEED!”
    There was a blinding flash as their voice seemed to cause avalanches, and Hollind felt his very heart shudder in his chest. Then the air rushed from his lungs, and he fell to a crumpled heap on the floor and knew no more….