[IC] The Dragon King and the Human

[The One]

Humans are so ignorant. The world is filled with mythical creatures and they don't know a thing about it. To them Mythical Creatures are just a story to be told over and over again but they don't know the real story. The story about the 100,000 year old war against dragons and phoenix's, or the fact that there is a civil war going on right now that could determine the fate of all humans in existence. However, that is all about to change, because after today humans will know about mythical creatures whether we like it or not.

Drayko flew around in the sky as fast as he could. He was trying to get faster, he needed to become better. He flew faster and faster, feeling the wind through his scales. He was above the world, high in the sky, over the forest. Drayko kept on flying, until soon enough the wind pressure opened his wounds again on his wings, he roared loudly and began to fall. Drayko quickly attempted to close his wings as he was crashing in his home, his cave however he didn't and the sides of the cave cut his wings some more. He let out a loud roar in pain which shook the whole cave a little. He was severely injured, he would be unable to fly with his wings this bad and he had a civil war to fight. If he didn't win all humans would be wiped from existence, he couldn't let that happen. He hated them but he didn't want them gone. He looked to his wings before roaring in pain again.

[EurmalEye]

The deer was crouched over by a stream running though the forest, it's small size a clear indication of its youth. Alia took a steadying breath as she sighted down the shaft of her arrow at the creature. She had no clear indication of how much longer the deer would drink the refreshing water, but it seemed obvious her remaining time to fire the arrow could be counted in heartbeats rather than seconds. She had mustered the courage to fire the bow, but where could she place the arrow so the deer would die without pain. Alia was not certain she could score a direct hit on the head, the legs would only slow the beast down, possibly condemning it to a long period of agony. She took another breath and shifted her aim slightly till the arrow lingered over the creatures heart. She breathed in one more time, then held the breath inside her. The leather gloves on her hands creaked with the tension held in the taut bowstring, her arms feeling the pleasant burn of strain.

A monumental roar of some enraged giant burst through the forest sending alarm through all of its occupants. Alia spun wildly, the arrow launching extremely of course in her surprise. Behind her the deer bolted for protection entirely unharmed. "What in the blazes was that?" A traditional curse from her mother wormed its way from her mouth as her gaze darted around the forest trees near her looking for the danger. The sound came again, rustling the leaves in the trees around her with the force of the noise. The roar was strange, louder and more ferocious than any beast she had ever heard. Yet still, there was something strange about the noise... It seemed amplified somehow and less like a roar of anger and more one of... pain?

Alia relaxed her stance and calmed down, she glanced behind her expectantly and found the deer gone. She let out a grunt of unsurprised annoyance. That would have been a decent day's wages for her. Her eyes flicked around the landscape around her trying to determine where the noise had originated. The village was to the south of here but too distant to have come that far. The east led to the lake and the west was merely more forest for many leagues. However, the north had a stone mountain in it known to contain a fairly elaborate cave system. She nodded at it, the cave system could have produced the strange echoey amplification she had heard in the second roar.

If she investigated the noise, her village might be better prepared to defend itself against some new threat or call upon the King's Forces to protect them. However, if she simply left the noise alone perhaps nothing would come of it. She paused for a moment weighing the potential pros and cons and came to the decision to investigate the noise, but to go no further than observation. She jogged using the strange silent gait Shema had taught her to move the forest floor. There were no animals to be seen, they had either fleed or his at the massive bellowing sounds. As she approached the mountain, she could clearly see a cave smashed into a wider opening, clouds of stone dust still in the air around the point of impact. Her eyes widened at the sight of it and she retreated back slightly to a patch of soft mud left by the last rainfall. She coated her clothes and exposed skin in the muck, masking her scent. She spun her orange hair into a tight bun making it easier to cover.

Alia approached the mountain again and slowly began to climb the porous surface careful to have her balance set at every motion. She eyes the new loose stone suspiciously for signs of movement in case something slipped and crashed into her. A few pepples fell down nearly silently and she tensed her body in caution, ready to flee if need be. Waiting for a moment before continuing, she finished climbing to the newly expanded cave, and knelt by the outside of the cave. She brought a knife out of the sheath by her side and polished it on the inside of her clothes to a reflective clean surface. Still pressed up against the outside of the wall she slid down and lowered the knife to floor at an angle, attempting to peer in through the cave through its reflection.

[The One]

There she would see a giant red dragon surrounded with pure gold and treasure galore. Drayko looked up for a moment as he saw a gimmar of light from the knife and stared out towards the exit wondering who it could be. Who had he attracted to his hideaway home? He spoke in a deep and rough tone.

"Who are you? Do you not know who I am? I am Drayko! King of Dragons! Whoever you are, begone from here. This is no place for your kind."

He lowered his head and let out a large puff of smoke from his nose. Honestly, he knew his life was most likely coming to an end. A flightless dragon was a dead dragon.

[EurmalEye]

The golden gleam of treasure sparkled brightly at her from the interior of the cave. A ransom of gold that could easily have bought her village several thousand times over, a ransom fit for multiple kings. Alia sighed, an amount of gold that would bring no end of trouble for and her people if the word were ever to get out about the massive hoard of wealth in the mountains. She wondered idly if it would be better to seal this cave entrance now and be done with it. However, her sharp eyes caught a hint of slithering motion. What Alia had at first taken as a crimson decorative statue had begun to move. A serpentine head rose up to regard the light reflecting off of her knife, she quickly pulled it back, but not fast enough as the crimson beast began to call out in a deep and rough voice.

Alia listened pressed up against the reassuring strength of the stone wall beside the car opening, heart beating wildly in her chest as the being introduced itself. When he was done a large plume of smoke exited the cave smelling of ash. Alia stood stock still, before calling out "Alright, I'm leaving!" To Alia, this seemed the most rational course of action, she was no great dragon slayer out of Shema's tales, nor was she armed with any particular weapon that could even hurt the self proclaimed King of Dragons. She began making her way down the stony wall before pausing noting that the expanded entrance of the front walls had crimson streaks of blood along it. She frowned at it and groaned before calling out again, "Is there any chance that I can convince you to take your treasure and leave this area? If the local guard hear there is a wounded dragon here, I'm sure half of them would die on the trip over here from excitement before you incinerated the rest. Then the King's Forces would come and overall it would be a rather large ordeal for the village and quite a annoyance for you as well. Besides what gold we once may have had we traded for seeds and iron. Oh and we just had out last Harvest Festival so I don't even think we have any eligible maidens. All in all, this is probably not a fantastic spot for you."

[The One]

Drayko huffed softly as the human spoke, he gave a soft chuckle at her words for a moment. He knew humans were stupid but this was a whole new level of stupid.

"Foolish girl, even if I did wish to leave, I am far too injured to do so. Besides you do not need to worry about me much longer. Soon my sister will finish me off and take my place as Queen then proceed to wipe all humans of the face of the earth. So you can run all you wish, but no village is a match for an army of dragons. So live while you still can girl."

He laid his head back down and continued to rest. Honestly he would help the humans if he could, he may of hated them but that didn't mean he wanted them all gone.

@EurmalEye

[EurmalEye]

@The One

Alia raised an eyebrow in annoyance, "foolish girl" indeed. She let out an angry breath, taking another moment to ensure that she could get away quickly if she needed to. She poked the top of her head in view of the caverns opening, glaring at the interior. "Did you just call me foolish? That seems excessively rude. So your sister is coming to the area to kill you? And then all of humanity?" Again, she frowned face going into the expression quite naturally. "Do dragons always take things to such excess? It looks to me that the only thing wrong with you is your wings are quite torn up. Do they not have stitching where you come from?" She peered cautiously inside the cave further, eyes adjusting to the dim light and saw the dark drops of scarlet blood coming from the dragon's wings. She paused for another moment thinking, dropping her head below the line of sight from the cave. Then poked her head back up again. "If I stitch up your wings will you leave this area? You can fight with your sister anywhere else in the sky." She spoke up louder, annoyance coloring her tone. "And don't you call me 'Girl' again! You may call me "Miss" or "Alia."

[The One]

@EurmalEye

Drayko stared at the girl for a moment before looking at his wings, to let a human help him? That was weakness! Did she really think the King of Dragons was about to show such weakness or did she know nothing about his kind?

"Even if I were to let you help me, which is showing weakness and is forbidden, I would not leave. I have gathered far too much treasure to carry over hundreds of years and besides, as much as I would love to protect you humans from extinction, my sister's army is far greater than mine now. She has convinced the majority of my army to betray me. I would not be able to win alone and she does not fight fair."

He looked up to the sky and then looked back to her. They had some time yet before she came but it wouldn't be long now. He laid his head on the floor as he continued to see. Honestly he expected the worse right now.

[EurmalEye]

@The One

"Why would anyone fight fair? If everyone fought fair, only the strong would get anywhere in life. If your army has been convinced to fight for her just convince them back." Alia scoffed from her vantage point outside the cave. "As for accepting help from a human - which is worse for a dragon? Accepting basic medical aid or lying helplessly on the ground till someone shows up to kill you?" Alia climbed back up to the rock wall in front of the cave. She could feel her here pounding in her chest with fear, as at any point in this conversation the dragon could simply breath a tongue of flame at her and end her life. She was putting a large amount of faith in his professed desire to help humans, though something about the beast's tone had made her believe his story about humanities upcoming destruction. But if this dragon could help, it would be her responsibility to humankind to rouse the great beast into action once again.

She moved closer into the interior of the cave, pale and hands trembling but she continued forward stopping before the dragon."It seems to me that instead of me helping you, you can simply owe me a favor instead. It won't be charity, it will be a business transaction. Surely even dragons recognize commerce." She glanced pointedly at the massive piles of gold around them. "Accept my deal and live to fight again or patiently wait for your sister to disembowel you. One is suicide the other living. Which would you prefer?"

[The One]

@EurmalEye Drayko watched as the human came right up to him while listening to her. Once she was finished, he took a deep breath, releasing a bit of smoke before giving a small nod. She was determined, he would give her that. He was surprised however, why was she not afraid of him? She was just a mere human while he was the king of dragons. Must humans would of killed him right there and then or even ran away as soon as they saw him, but not her.

"I see, why are you unafraid of me? Most humans would kill me or run away, why not you?"

He would wait for her answer before speaking once again.

"Very well, you are determined, brave, I'll give you that. You may heal me, but what is this favour that you seek from me? Is it that you seek my help against my sister? If so, I will gather the few remaining dragons that were loyal to me."

He continued to lay still, waiting for her answer. He didn't like getting help from a human, but right now it was either that or die and if he died then all humans would become extinct. He would do whatever it took to prevent that.

[EurmalEye]

@The One

Alia coughed slightly as the cloud of smoke passed her by, its sulfurous scent filling her nostrils. The dragon spoke, questioning her about her seeming lack of fear. Alia raised an eyebrow, either draconic senses were not as keen as the story had always told her or Drayco had lost more blood than she was aware of. Alia eyed the torn wings, thin and leathery, whatever had cut through them had been razor sharp, an easy repair even for someone of Alia's limited skills at stitching. The dragon spoke once more questioning her. Alia could feel the deep thrums in air from the dragons words, now close enough that even the creatures speaking voice could be felt.

Alia made eye contact with at least one of the dragons eyes before speaking, "Who said I wasn't frightened of you? To me you are something out of a fairy tale come to life with enough power in one of your fingers to crush me. But I certainly wouldn't walk around your door and let you know that, would I? Besides, I have no weapons but my bow and knife so I doubt they would do any good in the first place. I could have run, but you would have made more noise and caused the uproar in the village or kingdom. Plus I also do not my species to go extinct. I have no business acting frightened now."

The dragon granted her permission to begin sewing up the wounds. Alia began to carefully make her way over the dragon's massive body toward the injured wings. She tossed her water pouch back by the dragon's head and spoke in a commanding tone, "Boil this." She listened to Drayco's questions and then shook her head. "No, best I can see you were going to do that regardless weren't you? The favor I request of you is to keep my village out of the conflict. And possibly a deer, your roar scared away my target." Alia took out a large spool of thread she kept to repair her clothing and a bone needle, preparing the needle for the stitching, mentally calculating how much she would need.

[The One]

@EurmalEye Drayko did as instructed and boiled the water with a light flame, however when she spoke of the favour he wasn't so sure if he could keep to it. Oh, the deer would be find however keeping the village out of conflict would be hard especially if he was getting help from a human. Regrettably the village might have to get involved at some point or another.

"I see, I will certainly try but I guarantee the safety of your town after all Viper will hurt anyone who stands before her including you. If she ever finds out about you, your village will be in great danger. However the food, I can easily supply."

Suddenly a roar was heard in the distance, he looked up then looked back to her. They would be hear shortly. He wondered what she would do now, would she continue to help him or run away in hopes to save her village?

[EurmalEye]

@The One

Alia took off her outer jacket made of leather and carefully handled the boiled water, using it to make sure that the needle would be clean. With the tears in the wings so clean, apparently made by razor sharp claws. it would not be a difficult task to sew the wounds shut. She got to work as the dragon began to speak to ensure that no time was wasted. She stuck the needle in and stitched at the wound as quickly as she could. Her mother had never had the delicacy to teach her to sew but she had learned through Shema the art, though she found it mostly useful for small wounds or sewing patches onto her own clothing. She listened as Drayco spoke nodding as he spoke, finding nothing in particular there that she could argue against.

"Well then let's make sure she just doesn't find out about me then." She tied a know off as she finished her work in the first large tears in Drayco's wings. She was about to open her mouth to speak more when they both heard a roar off in the distance. Alia froze, breath interrupted as the cold sense of dread settled into her stomach. "How long do we have before they arrive?" She let out her question in a near whisper, hands trembling slightly now as she resumed stitching the wounds shut.

[The One]

@EurmalEye

Drayko winched as she began to fix up his wing, but he didn't do anything more. He stayed still as he listened to her and when the question came he slowly looked up to the sky. He stared at the sky for a good few minutes before looking back to her. Before he spoke gazed at his wings which were being stitch, it was pretty good for the moment until he was able to find somebody to heal him properly with magic. After inspecting his wing he turned to her.

"We've got about ten minutes at best."

He looked back to the sky as he continued to stay still for her so she could hopefully heal his wounds before Viper got here. He sighed, it was only a matter of time before the war raged on. The question was who was going to get involved and who was going to survive after the war?

[EurmalEye]

@The One

Alia grew completely silent focusing only at the task on hand. The stitches themselves were easy to make and do but the sheer size of the tears in the wings meant that quite a large number needed to be made. Given that she had only ten more minutes according to Drayco's estimates, she was felt an enormous amount of pressure on her shoulders. It was entirely possible that the fate of her species depended solely on how well she had learn to sew. At any other point of time, she may have found that thought ridiculous and burst into laughter, but now she let only a single silent curse that she had not paid more attention to Shema's lessons. Her hands moved with speed as she sped through another tear in the wings and then another. Sweat began to bead on her mud covered brow sending thin clean lines racing down her face. She could hear the wing beats now and the occasional roar filled with the draconic ferocity she had grown so familiar with in the past hour or so. She pricked her hand with her needles in her haste and stifled a Yelp before continuing with renewed passion. As she finished the last stitch, hands cramping from the intense speed of the work she whispered one word to the dragon.

"Go."

[The One]

@EurmalEye Drayko waited for his wings to be fixed up as the sound of Viper's roars and batting wings drew near. Although as soon as his wings were healed he looked up to the sky hearing the human. It was too late now, Viper was too close and if he tried to fly away then she would just shoot him down. He looked to her for looking towards the skies once more. Viper could now be seen in the distance. He let out a heavy breath, breathing a puff of smoke from his nose before he opened his wings wide and flapped then quickly, blowing her back slightly into the hallway. He then stood in front of her hiding her from sight with his large body.

"No time, however, since you gave me a chance of survival, I shall give you your chance. Follow my lead."

He roared loudly and then soon after Viper came down. She stared at him before looking around the room, seeing his crimson blood upon the walls and edges of the rock. She then turned to him with a soft chuckle in her voice.

"Ah, Drayko. You're still injured it seems. This will be an easy victory."

Drayko stared at Viper as he hid his wings from her so she wouldn't know he had been aided by somebody. He immediately fired a large fire bomb at Viper but missed her by an inch which exploded against the wall and shook the entire cave, so much so small rocks began to fall to the ground in the halls and main room.

"Would you really kill a wounded King? Are you so cowardly and weak that you cannot face me one on one while I'm in top condition?"

Viper roared loudly, which shook the cave some more. It seemed that Drayko's attack had made it very unstable. It is then that Alia would feel Drayko's tail pushing her towards his back as Viper spoke again.

"Quiet you fool! You've spoken your last words. It's time you hand over your title to me!"

Viper fired a large fire blast at Drayko and as soon as she did he shot his own out. The two fire blasts met and cause a huge explosion. Suddenly the entire cave began to crumble, rocks falling as the cave shook and rumbled. Drayko, if Alia was on his back already would quickly step forward and opened his wings. He thrusted down downwards as hard as he could to push himself up into the air and would immediately flying off Viper screamed out loudly, angry as all hell.

"You weak King! You got a mere human mortal to aid you! I shall kill you, I shall kill you all!"

With that the cave collapsed completely. Drayko sighed, continuing to fly away. He would see a small village in the distance and looked over to Alia.

"Is that your village? Get ready to do some quick talking, that cave will only hold of Viper for a short moment. If you want your people to live now, then we're going to have to go to your village. Convince them that I am on their side, as I doubt they'll believe me right away."

With that he flew towards the village and when he was closing in he came to a soft landing right in the middle of the village. He folded his wings and then looked around as everyone stopped and stared. Suddenly, every guard available came rushing in with spears, swords, and whatever else they had at their command all surrounding Drayko.

[EurmalEye]

@The One

Alia held on tightly to Drayko's back as the dragon leapt off into the air, trapping his sister dragon in the cave behind them. He seemed to have abandoned his treasure hoard in exchange for their escape which Alia was grateful for. There was no way that she could have survived that encounter without their timely retreat. However, it seemed as though Viper had noticed her, as she screamed about Alia's human assistance to their retreating backs. She clutched at one of the bony spikes against the dragons back tighter. The air pressure blew against her hard, and the dragons moving scales were beginning to cut into her skin with their roughness. Drayco shouted out something to her that was lost as the wind roared past them as they soared over the forest. She chanced a glance upwards as they began to descend and saw her village on the horizon. A feeling of dread came over her and she vainly attempted to steer the dragon away from the village not risking her voice to carry over to the dragon's ears. The dragon landed with a soft thump upon the ground and she rolled off to the ground.

She heard a voice cry out "It's killed Alia!" and another shout "Charge!" before she could rise up. The guards leap forward numbering only 10 at the beast.

[The One]

Drayko watched as men came towards him, he opened his wings widely and let out a roar which shook the ground and knocked everyone on their ass. He then looked around before speaking out loudly.

"I do not intend to harm you however the next dragon does! If you want your village to survive you shall listen to my words carefully. I am the Dragon King, and at this precise moment there is a civil war going on. Now the humans are getting involved as much as I wished it not. If I die all of humanity dies with it as the dragon who wishes to take my throne wishes to exterminate humans."

He stared at the humans who still readied their weapons. One man spoke out loud, questioning Drayko.

"How the hell can we trust you? We've heard the stories, the myths. Dragons are evil!"

Drayko looked to Alia, he knew nobody would believe him only she would be able to convince them. He huffed and looked back to everyone who stared at him in fear.

[EurmalEye]

@The One

Alia rose up from the ground glancing over the guards that had been knocked on to their backs. She was glad to see hat had been for the most part uninjured as Drayko quickly summarized the situation. She recognized the guard who had spoken up as Henryk, stubborn as always and apparently brave enough to stand up to even a dragon. "Listen everyone! What the dragon says is true I have seen it with my own eyes." She pointed over at her friend within the guards, Camilla. "Please go summon Mayor Felle- she needs to hear this." Camilla nodded at her and broke rank with the other guards towards the center of the village.

She turned to Drayko and whispered, "What exactly is the plan here? Even if we convince the village that you are on their side, there is little they can do to help you against a dragon."

[The One]

Drayko turned to Alia and stared at her for a moment, when the guard came back he stepped forward and roared out loudly letting his entire army that was still loyal to come to his location. He then looked around before stopping his stare at the entire crowd.

"You humans are smaller than us dragons, you are less intelligent, weak and fragile. However when allied with the King of Dragons that can easily change. I hereby grant you all access to Magic."

He roared loudly, and suddenly everyone would feel a surge of energy flow through them Including Alia. He then continued to speak.

"Now, use your combined wits and magics to make as many traps, cages and even nets. Make sure you use Dragonbane, it's rare but if you know magic, it is easily assessable. Those who remain loyal to me are on their way. You have about an hour, maybe two depending on how long Viper rests."

He huffed a little and looked towards Alia, their magic would be weak at first, unless one of them were a natural, he knew it would take a lot of practice for them to become strong but that was their only hope of survival.

@EurmalEye

[EurmalEye]

@The One
As Drayko roared everyone in the town from the oldest man forever cloistered in his home to the newborn child in its wooden crib would feel a sudden urge of newfound energy and power flow through them. The reactions of the townsfolk varied greatly as the energy began to manifest itself in different ways throughout the crowd. Henrik fell to the ground gasping in pain as his skin began to turn grey and harden. Camilla, who had been running towards the mayor's office found her pumping legs move up off the ground and she stayed floating a food above the ground, attempting to move forward fruitlessly. Alia began to cough clutching at her throat as a black mist began to pour out of her throat hanging in the air around her. Her nails scratched at her throat, eyes watering, as the uncontrollable stream poured out of her, at the same time her hair began to slowly rise above her head, standing of its own accord.

Other reactions seemed much less intense however. Several of the townsfolk simply scattered around the town, another man bearded and rogueish looking simply staggered in surprise but otherwise seemed to remain unaffected glancing down at himself in interest. There were cries from the surrounding buildings as well as all of the villagers and visitors to the town felt the surge of power. Near Drayco and Alia would come a small chittering sound as Leo, Alia's strange pet, ran past the crowd at full speed before leaping onto Alia's chest. The stream of black must ceased almost at once and let out a huge gasp for air, then began panting heavily. She raised her right hand and began to lightly scratch the topside of Leo's mane in appreciation. The black cloud of mist still hung around her, unmoved by the slight wind blowing through the village.

An older woman carrying a cane made her way slowly in front of the dragon before tossing a package near his nose. Alia recognized her at once as Shema her mother's closest friend. Alia flitted her gaze around the crowd but did not see the same telltale hair color that would tell her if her Mother was around. The older woman spat at the ground and in a voice that creaked with age and experience, "This is all the Dragonsbane I have managed to collect around the area for the past ten years is that enough Beast?" Shema looked to Alia with an expression of concern making sure she was alright before kneeling down to examine the still moaning Henrik.