Long ago, before the formation of mountains, before the filling of seas and before the evolution of present day cultures, there raged a battle. A grand battle determining the future of the world. There was one powerful enemy who wished the end of the world and there were nine heroes who chose to fight it. The ruination of the world first must start with the beginning.
Upon seeing the earth with no life, the great Soa planted a magical seed into the barren land. This seed soon grew into a tree, The Divine Tree. The fruits growing on The Divine Tree’s enormous branches would soon blossom and fall to the earth. The 108 races that would inhabit the earth were to be born of these fruits. From the 105th race came the powerful Dragons with reduced intelligence as compensation. The 106th race born of the fruits were Humans, created peaceful by Soa and each varied in brain and brawn. Finally the last race born of the fruits of The Divine Tree were the winglies. Soa graced the Winglies with wings made of light, the ability to use magic and longevity in life. Unfortunately these traits caused the Winglies thoughts of superiority. This thought of superiority meant the enslavement of all the races, including the race yet unborn. Afraid of losing their rank as the last born of The Divine Tree, the winglies used magic to trap the last race within its fruit.
With the magical restraint placed by the Winglies, the last fruit named the God of Destruction could find no way to enter the world. The body of the God of Destruction trapped inside the fruit ascended to the heavens, and became The Moon That Never Sets. Melbu Frahma, one of the Wingly leaders, separated the soul of the God from its body. He kept the God’s soul in a container to draw power from to expand his own.
Tired of the endless oppression, humans used their knowledge and the dragon’s strength to ignite the revolt called the Dragon Campaign. This effort was close to futile. No matter what humans tried the wingly’s ability to use magic gained the advantage on the battlefield. Humans then harnessed magic and caught the winglies off guard. When seven Dragons had met their unfortunate end, their elemental spirits would choose heroes to impart their abilities upon. The combination of Dragon spirit and its bearer would breed a new type of hero, the Dragoon. The seven chosen to first wield spirits used their new Dragoon armor, wings and weapons to aid the revolt against winglies.
In the final battle, the Dragoons destroyed the container with the God of Destruction’s soul in it. The Dragoons fought against a weaker Melbu Frahma and the winglie’s controlled versions of the god of destruction. Five of the seven dragoons died during battle. Zieg, the Red-eye Dragoon thrust his sword into Melbu Frahma’s stomach and was then petrified, from the last spell cast from Melbu Frahma. The Darkness Dragoon fruitlessly stood by and watched her last companion fall down to the stone that he now matched. In despair Rose, the Darkness Dragoon went to a wingly that she had found friendship in, Melbu’s sister Charle. Rose discovered that by destroying the container the soul was imprisoned in, it would begin re-incarnate itself into a human body. History would name that child the moon child and only few knew the truth that time would soon forget. “Count back every one hundred and eight years and the Moon That Never Sets glows blood red and the moon child descends upon the earth to give a holy blessing.” Realizing this, Rose asked Charle to make her immortal in order to keep the soul and body of the god from joining. Becoming immortal, Rose lost herself throughout the many years in order to complete her goal of extinguishing the moon child and those around it destined to be its servants.
Eleven thousand years after the end of the Dragon Campaign, Rose discovers fate once again calling the Dragoons to battle. Fate’s call for the Dragoons begins with a war between an uncle and a nephew divide the country over power, when one side gains the advantage by using a Dragon. A mysterious hooded man’s search for the Moon Child results in the destruction of Dart’s second home, his first home was destroyed by the Black Monster along with his family. Dart, the future hero, would have a brief meeting with Rose where she would realize his destiny. He would travel to Hellena prison rescuing an old friend named Shana and a new friend named Lavitz. Dart, Lavitz and Shana would travel to the battlefield to aid in the war. The first battle, Rose makes an appearance at the end and induces Dart’s astonishing new transformation into the Red-eye Dragoon. The four would travel along searching for the reason fate had called the dragoons to bear arms again. Their journey would result in Lavitz receiving recognition from the Jade Dragoon Spirit with the elemental magic of wind and Shana being recognized by the White Silver Dragoon Spirit with the elemental magic of light. Without the protection of Lavitz and his knighthood, a mysterious hooded man kidnapped Albert the king of Bale. An angered Lavitz and his friends went after Albert. The mysterious hooded man magically removed an object from the inside of Albert. Charging at the hooded man was Lavitz transformed. The hooded man pulled out an ancient sword with the power to impale Lavitz. Albert was the one to receive the Jade Dragoon Spirit.
Extraordinary others who felt drawn to the four would join them in their journey and in their recognition of Dragoon spirits. Haschel, a companion from Dart’s travels found the Violet Dragoon Spirit recognizing him with the elemental magic of thunder. Across the continent Endiness was a beautiful and cheerful young lady named Meru. A stranger to Dart and the Dragoons, Meru felt a pull towards them and soon found the Blue-sea Dragoon Spirit’s recognition with the elemental magic of water. An enemy who’s respect Dart had earned through fighting was the last giganto Kongol. The Golden Dragoon Spirit with the elemental magic of earth recognized this giant warrior. The group traveled to a crystal palace where there remained a link to the past. Shana found herself called to this link, and separating from her friends went to it. In front of this link, Shana could no longer contain the White Silver Dragoon Spirit and it was passed along to a royal habitant of the palace named Miranda. Without her Dragoon spirit, Shana was helpless to capture again by the hooded man’s employer.
The group traveled all over Endiness uncovering the legend of Soa and the past Rose had surprisingly been involved in. They were also tracking the hooded man and the divine moon objects he stole resembling that which was stolen from Albert, but he had acquired a Dragoon spirit from the king of all dragons making him hard to defeat. During the group’s pursuit, many challenges arose, most involving the past. The biggest challenge from the past was the sudden entrance of Dart’s father, Zieg, the first Red-eye Dragoon. Zieg then let loose the truth of Rose’s other identity as the Black Monster and of Shana’s other identity as the Moon Child.
After that meeting, Rose led the seven heroes to Charle Frahma to question Zieg’s intentions. Charle then told the seven about the Signets and the Signet Sphere. Charle produced the Signet Sphere as a lock to limit the flow of magic Melbu received from the Moon That Never Sets. Melbu produced the Signets as keys to open the lock in case he needed all the magic he could get. Melbu never got the chance to use the Signets and humans obtained three Signets and divided it among the territories of Endiness. Charle then warned the Dragoons that if the signets unlocked the signet sphere the moon child and The Moon That Never Sets could combine to give birth to the God of Destruction. With their new goal of protecting the signets, the Dragoons set off for the three Wingly cities, Aglis, Zenebatos and Mayfil.
After sailing to Haschel’s homeland of Rouge, the city of Aglis, which had been built for the study of magic, appeared out of the surrounding sea. Finding another friendly Wingly inside studying magic, the group did what they could to aid in creating a new Signet and a powerful bomb. Somehow, Zieg took control of a powerful sea creature and went after the Signet. The dragoons defeated this creature but inadvertently destroyed the Signet during the battle. Being sent away from the blast, the seven traveled to the next city of Zenebatos where laws for all creatures where made and enforced by the winglies. Finding the judicial system still futilely running, the Dragoons changed laws allowing passage to the Signet and finding another fight. After defeating their enemies, the Dragoons found Zieg already at the next Signet, sending that to the Signet Sphere. Following Zieg to the last city and the last signet, the Dragoons traveled to Mayfil, where the Winglies had decided the fate of the dead. Before finding the last Signet, the Dragoons came upon some old friends and foes. Unable to stop him, Zieg destroyed the last Signet, The Moon That Never Sets sent a seed down to earth duplicated to that of the Divine Tree. The Moon That Never Sets landed upon a welcoming, fully grown Divine Tree.
Flying to The Divine Tree, the Dragoons traveling on a magical creature given as a gift from the Wingly in Aglis. The Dragoons crashed at the base of the Divine Tree and started their climb to the top to find the entrance into The Moon That Never Sets. Inside, the Dragoons found the past confronting them one more time. The Dragoons learned of Miranda’s adoption when she confronted a monster influenced by what the moon knew about her mother in a forest resembling her home. Next an entrance on Endiness twenty years before reveals the link to Haschel’s past. Haschel’s challenge was his daughter who had run away years earlier. Before Haschel’s challenge though, Dart also recognized the woman as his mother. Next, an attack by Rose’s pet Dragon split the group up. Rose and Dart were sent to the land of the dragons where Rose has to put down her Dragon of ten thousand years, again. Meru, Albert, Miranda, Haschel and Kongol were sent the Holy Land of the Gigantos. The five see how Kongol met Albert’s uncle Doel who made war on Albert. Upon seeing this, Kongol breaks down quick and then runs off to challenge his brother to gain power for Dart. Both groups meet up and go with Albert as he meets up with his Uncle to confront the murder of his father from Doel’s hands. The next and last challenge from the past is Meru’s where she confronts a god, which she believes was invented to justify the wingly rule in the past.
When the past had been dealt with, the Dragoons went up against Zieg’s last defense. The Dragoons dealt with that easily and went on to meet Zieg. After Zieg stole Dart’s Red-eye dragoon, they fought, with Zieg’s attention on Dart mostly, until the 108th species started to take in Shana so that it could be born into the world. Then, Zieg released the biggest surprise of all. When Zieg had his sword in Melbu Frahma, Melbu cast a petrification spell on Zieg. Melbu with the use of a spell, attached his soul to the soul of Zieg’s dragon spirit and remained there until The Black Monster tried to kill him. While the Dragoons stared in disbelief, Melbu’s soul pulled Shana from the God’s grip and entered the body himself, becoming the God of Destruction. Another surprise came when the hooded man changed sides and confronted Melbu with his powers as a Dragoon. Melbu took a few hits before crushing the hooded man and the hooded man passed the Divine Dragoon spirit on to Dart. With his newly acquired form, Melbu and the Dragoons fought to see who would leave the Moon and who would perish along with it. Fighting their hardest and putting the skills they’ve learned to use, the dragoons fought the hardest battle against the new God. A transformed Dart let loose a powerful spell towards Melbu, which he thought would have ended Melbu’s life. Enormous explosions burst apart Melbu’s godly body and Dart flew down to protect Shana. After reaching the ground, Dart heard a voice from the fire and turned to see a deformed Melbu seeking vengeance. The next voice he heard belonged to Rose, she was telling him and the other Dragoons to get out of the Moon now. After a few protests, they obeyed what Rose had told them. Flying away and out Dart saw Rose and Zieg both transformed flying straight at Melbu with no intention of stopping. Gathering together all the energy and magic they had, Rose and Zieg crashed into Melbu and caused a huge explosion reacting throughout the Moon. All the Dragoons minus Rose and Zieg had made it out safe, Dart holding Shana in his arm. Rose and Zieg had saved the world from one disaster without being around to help with the others.
The wind hurt, it hurt worse than Albert’s spells could. He was flying too fast and too reckless, not at all how Master Haschel had taught him. Oh, Master Haschel. He knew this day would come, he just wasn’t ready for it. Dart, Shana and their fifteen year old daughter Tara were the last of the group to know what had happened. Kongol had already taken the news to everyone else and it hadn’t gotten any easier to deal with.
Meanwhile, a beautiful girl with hair that was a shimmering blonde in the summer and brown in the winter was running through a field towards Seles. She was very fast, faster than a lot of the boys in town, and she was just as tall as most of them too. She knew the way through the field, she had been here many times before. She knew where to jump over this log and where to duck or swerve to miss that branch. She came to the tree line that met with the end of the field. Within moments she’d be running through Seles. Once she reached her hometown, she kept running, dodging vendors and couples out for a stroll. She was close to home now. It was a good thing too, all that running and she was just now starting to hurt. She saw her house, she could call for her mom and dad before she got there, she was close enough. “Mom, dad, Kongol’s coming in and he’s coming in too fast. He’s gonna crash!” Shana, a woman who’s beauty was matched by her daughters, was the first out of the doorway directly followed by Dart.
“Tara, what are you talking about?” Dart asked as he came to the door. Tara pointed to where Kongol was flying, although it wasn’t necessary. The huge, golden giant could easily be seen against the calm blue sky. They could all see his landing site, the field and the treeline met where Tara had been running a moment before, thankfully there was nothing he could damage. Dart, Shana and Tara ran and watched Kongol start tumbling as he got closer. Something was wrong, they all knew it and pushed harder to meet him. When he landed, the earth cracked and shook violently as Kongol created a crater the size of two houses. After Dart and Shana adjusted to the vibration and Tara had caught up, the three ran over the new obstacles created by the giant’s landing. Reaching Kongol, the three realized that physically, he was fine but he was crying uncontrollably. Once Kongol got quiet, he could finally tell Dart what was so important. “Master Haschel said time to be with Claire, he said she is calling him. Master Haschel still ok, but time short. Everyone else knows, you were last.” As soon as Kongol was done speaking, Tara looked to her father who was already transforming.
“Kongol are you ok to fly?” He asked.
“Yes, Kongol feel ok.”
A little reluctantly, Dart said, “I want you to carry Tara. Carefully!”
“Yes Dart, I understand. Kongol will be very careful.” Kongol transformed and held out his hand to Tara. She took his hand and remembered how he used to care for her so gently despite the hands made for battle. She trusted these hands with the utmost care. In Kongol’s bear-like arms, Tara looked over and saw her mother in her father’s arms and remembered the story her parents had told her about the dragoon origins. Her father took off and Kongol looked down to make sure Tara was ok to fly. She smiled her approval and Kongol took off after her father. With the dragoon speed Kongol and her father had, it didn’t take long to get to Rouge.
The four landed right beside the practice deck and Kongol and Dart changed back into human and giganto. Tara looked at the somewhat familiar settings of Rouge, which she had seen about three times within her lifetime. When she was here before, her parents had showed her where Aglis had risen out of the surrounding sea. If she hadn’t turned around, she would’ve been left behind. All four walked across the practice deck and down a short path to Haschel’s home. He had moved recently so the walk to the deck so he could supervise his student’s practice wasn’t so long. Outside Meru and her husband Guaraha were sitting outside the house. As soon as Meru saw Dart, she stood up and went to him. Dart had never seen Meru so serious but this was a serious matter.
Kongol led the way into the house, Dart followed by Shana and then Tara. Kongol stepped through the doorway made to fit his size and went to the left so the three could enter. Dart and Shana walked through and immediately looked to see who else was there. Albert and Emille were standing at the back, dart guessed they had already been here quite some time and said what they wanted to say. He saw Miranda stand up beside Haschel and calm walking towards Albert and Emille. Haschel’s attention was now free and turned to Dart. His aged, tanned face unfolded out into a smile. Dart and Shana walked towards his bed and kneeled down. Haschel could see the tears forming in Darts eyes and said “Dart, this is not a sad moment. I’ve done many great things and I’m being rewarded. My searching couldn’t re-unite me with your mother, but maybe time can.”
All Dart could do was nod and look away. Shana looked to Haschel and started to cry. “Haschel,” she said “you are the strongest man I know. You’ve lived to the age of ninety-three. That’s quite an achievement considering the entire time you were always practicing your art.”
He looked at her face, just as lovely as the day they destroyed the moon. He said “Shana, your words flatter me, but my art is what has kept me going so long. But it has been long enough.” He looked to the doorway and saw Tara staring in. “Ah, my great-grand daughter. You are the best sight for my sore eyes.” Tara chuckled, flattered by his comment, but tat didn’t last for long and she too started to cry. Dart and Shana looked up to see Emille leaving, Meru came in and took her place. Haschel looked at all of his dragoon companions and his great-grand daughter. “Being with you young people has reminded me of my Claire,” was all Haschel said to the group. He closed his eyes and suddenly started glowing purple. Everyone soon figured out it was his dragoon spirit, which made sense. What didn’t make sense was when another purple glow separated from Haschel’s. Then came a red, dark blue, blue, green, gold and white glow came out of Haschel’s. All the glows floated but the dark blue, which descended to beside Haschel and shined, filling the room. When the light had subsided, to everyone’s amazement, Rose was standing beside Haschel. He opened his eyes and smiled, saying “I thought I felt your warmth again.” Rose held out her hand to Haschel, “Come on, there’s this woman I met who can’t wait to see you again.” Rose and Haschel glowed their dragoon colors in sync with the other spirits. The room filled up with all the colors and faded out eventually. A lifeless Haschel was left behind, his eyes closed and the corners of his mouth showing hints of a smile. Kongol picked up his old master as well as his friend, and left.
No one said a thing; no one knew what to say. Albert was the first to leave; his excuse was about poor old Noish alone with his kids. Miranda was next, probably going to check on Queen Theresa. Meru stayed a short while, lost in thought, but she too left. Her and Guaraha went to see the ancestor about wingly uprisings. After twenty-three years, there were still some winglies who couldn’t forget the past and live peacefully with humans. Dart, Shana and Tara waited for Kongol to come back. It was a while, he had a lot to do and say probably. A little while after sunset, Kongol solemnly walked through the doorway. All four just looked at each other until Shana spoke up after a bit. “Kongol, do you want to stay with us?”
“No, Kongol must carry on Master Haschel’s art in Rouge.” He said.
“OK,” Dart spoke up, “but you’ll always have a place with us in Seles. We should get back before it’s too late. It was good seeing you again Kongol, as always. I’m just sorry it was under such circumstances.” All Kongol did was nod his recognition. They all went outside, Dart, Shana and Tara going father out than Kongol. Dart transformed and Shana hooked her hands around his neck and sat on his powerful Divine Dragoon arm. Tara stepped towards her father and he motioned for her to get on his back. She climbed on and put her arms where her mother’s had been, Shana now had her arms on Dart’s shoulders. Dart rose from the ground and started away from Rouge. Before her dad used his dragoon speed to get home, Tara looked back at Kongol and met his gaze. She wondered if he was even looking at them or was lost in thought about his recently deceased friend.
Minutes later, Dart, Shana and Tara had landed beside the crater Kongol had made that afternoon. No one said a thing as they all walked to their house. Once inside, Tara started making her way downstairs to her room. She stopped within the doorway and turned to her parents. “What happens to the dragoon spirit now?” She asked. Dart and Shana looked at each other and back to Tara. “You know, we only know about the spirits when we have used them. We have no clue about the living except from what I’ve seen of Mayfil and there were no dragoon spirits being kept there. But then again, there were no extr dragoon spirits, we had them all.” Dart explained.
“I was just wondering.” Tara replied. “Good night mom, dad.” And she left for her bed. After brushing her hair and putting on her bedclothes, Tara lay under the blanket Miranda gave her. It had come from Mille Sesau where it continually snowed, so it had to be warm. Falling asleep that night had been hard, even with the overpowering warmth of her blanket. Finally, all the flying mixed along with her emotions was enough to make Tara fall asleep. In her dream, she walked out of her house and went to the crater that Kongol’s out of control landing had happened. For some reason that she didn’t know, she started digging, right in the middle of the crater. After a few handfuls of dirt were removed, a circle of lights floated out of the spot where she had been digging. The circle of lights had the seven colors of the Dragoon hero’s. The circle floated above her head, then descended and formed a ring around her waist, all the time rotating. The circle glowed brilliantly. While the circle of lights was rotating and glowing, an eighth color of light appeared in front of Tara’s heart. Realizing that this was the Divine Dragoon Spirit, Tara grabbed it and felt the warm light wash through her entire body. In her mind, she told the spirit that she wanted to see her great grandfather again, and she knew that the spirit would help her there. Tara took the warmth and used it to ascend. The Divine Dragoon Spirit along with the other spirits around her waist guided her up into the clouds. They were taking her to see Haschel, or she was going there with the help of the spirits. The spirits were at her command, and she wanted to go to Rouge. They landed on the practice deck, with no sight of Haschel; she flew to Neet, at the site of her mothers and most of the old villager’s grave. No sight of Haschel there, she returned home. She landed in front of her house with only one Dragoon Spirit, the Violet Dragoon Spirit. The spirit was pulling her inside, into her house. She ran in, but found no Haschel. She went down to her room and found Haschel sitting on her bed. Hearing her footsteps, Haschel turned around and greeted Tara with a smile. She went to hug him, but he stood up and pulled away. “Tara, I am gone, and nothing can change that. If you want to have me so much, look inside of you, because in your heart is where I will always live.” When that was said, Haschel moved to give Tara a hug. When they hugged, Haschel gave off a faint purple glow, and merged with Tara. A look of surprise came across her face, until a purple glow and a warm feeling came from her heart, making her smile.
A return of the past
He looked kind of strange in the forest, kind of out of place. He was a defensive tackle for his high school football team. He was big, but very aware and gentle, still, in football nothing got by him. He might have looked out of place in the forest, but he felt right at home, maybe it was because he used to come up here a lot. He still liked the city though, just not as much as his forest. As much as he might have looked weird in the forest, his girlfriend must have looked a lot more lost. She was a sophomore and he a junior, not too much age difference and there were few times when she acted immature. She could fit right in with the other cheerleaders, and she had as much pep and energy that they did. That’s where they first met each other, at a football game she was cheering at last year. He remembered her long red hair, her fair white skin and almost having trouble walking off the field normal. She had a great smile to go with her great body. It seemed to him that she could jump higher than the other girls, but maybe he was just watching too hard. He’d better stop thinking about that before he had to stop the hike. He looked back and saw her a few steps behind. He looked to where she was walking and two steps ahead, he saw a loose rock that might’ve looked secure from her side. He turned as quick as he could and grabbed her hand as she was falling from stepping on the rock. “You ok?”
“Garrett,” Sara complained between big breaths, “the water was back there. Where are we going and why?”
“I told you when we started off, that the B. C. Bay back there was for tourists, it couldn’t be as amazing as my scene.” Garrett said as he pulled her up. “The mountain hike will all be worth it trust me, I can’t wait to show you, you’re gonna FREAK.”
“As long as it’s soon. I’ve never been on the County trail and all this hiking and carrying this heavy backpack just isn’t working for me.” she said. Then she tried to walk some more and ended up stepping on the side of her foot, and going down. Without Garrett there to catch her she went down pretty hard on her hands which she had extended to brace her fall. Garrett bent down, picked her up and carried her some ways down the path as she hugged his neck tight. He passed a huge rock he recognized as a marker, wouldn’t be long until he could show her his favorite spot. He set Sara down on the rock and checked her ankle to see if it was all right. A short break and they left for Garrett’s surprise.
Seven minutes later, they reached the outline of Garret’s surprise. He hadn’t heard anymore complaints from Sara, she only complained a little but she toughed through a lot. Now all Sara could do was stare. She had never seen something so beautiful and natural at all. Sara was more used to the dance clubs and nightlife of Tarpon Springs. Most of the natural in Florida had been tarnished by the never-ending flocks of tourists. But here, the clear blue waters found there way by the source of a miniature waterfall, which crept its way from a miniature rock ledge the height of a two story home. Sunlight found its way through the surrounding foliage that had flourished beside the pool. Garrett watched a speechless Sara take it all in. “Been a while since I’ve heard nothing come from you.” he said as he started to take his shirt off.
“You better be careful or you’ll hear a lot of talking from my fists.” Sara joked back at him while she stripped down to her bathing suit. Garrett couldn’t help but stare, he had seen it all before but her body was perfect. The sunlight in Florida had done great things with her skin and her hair. Sara walked in first with Garrett eagerly following. Sara reached about a third of the way towards the center before she had to start swimming. After taunting her about it, Garrett walked twice the distance Sara did before he just got on his back in the water and directed himself towards her. With a little bit of flirting and actual swimming, Garrett and Sara stayed in the water close to an hour. Sara got out and laid out a blanket next to the bottom of the ledge so she could lay down and enjoy the sun. Garrett got out and put on some pants and shoes and went for a walk. Even though this was Garrett’s favorite spot, he didn’t know every surrounding thing.
Walking around, Garrett realized the sensation he had around this place of comfort. Garrett returned after a peaceful walk to find Sara close to asleep. He laid down a blanket and took a spot next to Sara and closed his eyes. He couldn’t remember the last time that he had felt so relaxed. Close to asleep, Garrett twitched, which brought him away from rest. He sat up and looked around. No time had passed since he closed his eyes and everything was the same. Before he lay down again, he picked up on a slight sound from high up. He looked around and saw nothing being disturbed. He started to lay back down until he heard it again. Looking around he saw a shadow on the ground in an odd spot. Looking straight up from the shadow he saw a rock that had fallen off the ledge. Thankfully its destination wasn’t injurious to Garrett or Sara. Garrett was starting to wonder why had the rock fallen when he realized more could come tumbling down. He turned to Sara to wake her and heard the sound of rocks striking other rocks. He looked up and saw a handful of rocks, a little bit bigger than the huge teen’s fist, falling from the ledge. Noticing that their pattern was straight for the two of them, Garrett leaned over to cover Sara. It was all he could think to do, after all he did play offensive and defensive tackle, he could protect Sara from a couple of rocks. He tried not to say anything as each rock hit him, but none got through to Sara thankfully. He counted and felt seven separate rocks. He’d definitely feel that later on. He stood up and looked up, saw no sign of anybody or any animal. Then he tried to fell his back. He didn’t feel any blood, which was definitely a good sign. Oh no, he heard more rocks coming. Not wanting to take any more hits, Garrett picked up his blanket, got down on his right knee, held the blanket as tight as he could above him and Sara and prayed it would hold. The next seven rocks (odd Garrett thought seven again) bounced off of the blanket and away from the two. Careful of more rocks, Garrett moved to wake Sara up now. Throwing the blanket aside, Garrett stood up and looked to look for more falling rocks. Seeing none, he once more went to wake Sara until one big shadow on Sara’s body caught his attention. He looked up to see a small boulder obeying gravity’s pull. Not wanting to take a hit from this boulder but stuck in his spot Garrett could only think of sports. He had planned to catch the boulder! “They always told us to catch with soft hands in football, soft hands” Garrett whispered to no one. Spreading his feet to shoulder width apart, raising his hands above his head and keeping a steady watch on his target, Garrett braced himself for the catch. The boulder met with Garrett’s hands and slowed as Garrett applied his force upon it. Gravity was hard to overtake but Garrett didn’t want Sara hurt. Applying all the force he had left that had mixed with his desire to protect Sara, Garrett raised the boulder above his head. He had stopped the boulder and saved Sara, he was relieved.
Closely overcome by fatigue, Garrett almost dropped the boulder until he felt it lighten. Confused, Garrett found the boulder floating above him. Staring in amazement, Garrett saw how the boulder started emanating a gold hue that grew brighter and brighter until he could see nothing but gold. As the light faded, Garrett noticed a marble sized golden ball floating in the air above him. It descended until it was even with Garrett’s chest and then towards him until it faded. Turning around he saw Sara had woken up in time to see this amazing gold stone. Both understood nothing, and couldn’t comprehend what had happened.
“Where is it?” Sara asked.
“I, … I feel it inside of me… I think.” Garrett responded. Sara started to ask another question but was cut off when the center of the pool caught their attention with its new luminescence. The pool’s light blue light started to glow as Garrett’s new gold stone from within glowed in time with it. “I think that there’s another one of these in that pool.” Garrett informed Sara.
“Well, lets get to the bottom.” Sara said.
“But, but what if its far down? I can’t make it that far.” He said.
“Then don’t go, I can make it.” She said.
Before Garrett could respond Sara ran towards the center of the pool. Garrett watched as she dove and swam down. Meanwhile he was taking his shoes off and the pants he had put over top his trunks. He ran as far as he could, took the biggest breath he could and went under. Following the source of the glow, Garrett swam as hard as he could. He could feel his air supply running down, no telling how much longer he could go. He wanted to turn around and see how far he had gone, but that would take up time, energy and oxygen. All he could do was swim, nothing but swim. He felt helpless, no other option but swim. Ignore the throbbing; ignore the want to go back, it was impossible anyway. That throbbing in his head, the result of lack of oxygen, was growing unbearable. How far down was this place he knew nothing about? How far? How … far? How …..
There was a distorted voice, “Is he alive? Oh, I should’ve never left him behind.”
“He’ll be fine. Water just isn’t his element.” came a second voice. From what Garrett could tell this one was aged, but there were still hints of youth in every word … she … spoke. Yes she. The accent was, in a category all it’s own. Wait, Garrett could move his eyelids. He was starting to get movement back with the addition of his hearing, which helped him wait.
“He blinked, did you see that he blinked. Oh come on Garrett, don’t let water stop you.” said the distorted yet distinct voice. As his hearing reached normal functioning, Garrett was able to recognize one voice as Sara’s. At least he had found her. Oh so slowly, it felt like every nerve from the top of his head down to the bottom of his feet individually woke up and announced their awakening. With every nerve waking up, Garrett could once again feel the still sharp pain of the bruises on his back from the falling rocks. He also felt cold, hard rock on his entire backside. He must be lying down in a cave, but how? He had been swimming; swimming after Sara and the glow.
“Ugghh…” was all Garrett could say as he slowly sat up and put a hand to his forehead. He hadn’t looked at what was around when he had opened his eyes; it had hurt too much. He still hurt a lot but this time he took a good look around. Yeah it was a cave, which he had no problem with until he looked up. The ceiling was moving like water because that’s what it was. His first reaction was to take cover before it fell down but then he realized it would’ve fallen down by now if it were going to. Garrett stared at the ceiling in pure astonishment until Sara called out to him.
“Garrett, are, are you OK?” Sara asked. “Garrett?”
“Sara, the ceiling is water. It’s water!” he replied.
“I know and Meru can explain everything.” she told him.
With his eyes still fixated on the ceiling made of water, “Who?” he asked.
Sara said “Well why don’t you take your eyes off the ceiling. It won’t come down I’ve been assured.” Finally, that got his attention turned away from the ceiling but know he was taking in the site of the cave. It appeared that they were in a small part of a maze of caves. The dim light was something Garrett couldn’t pinpoint, but the water ceiling did seem to have a sort of luminescence that revealed cave walls. The walls were decorated with tapestries filled with ancient writing and the faces of six people. Finding nothing else of interest, Garrett turned his attention to the strange woman whom Sara had just met. It didn’t matter that Sara had just met her, she felt very comfortable with her. She looked like a seventy-three year old woman with platinum hair and red eyes that held pure joy. She was short, even compared to Sara, but her robe seemed to bulk her up a little bit. The robe she wore was a beautiful clear water blue with gold designs sewn throughout. The strange woman met Sara with no discomfort at all.
“Garrett, you should be all right once the oxygen returns to your body. That was dangerous what you did but I believe that this brought you here.” Meru said as she took something from inside the robe she wore. Whatever she had, she kept it in her hand and nothing could be seen of it until a blue glow similar to the one they had been following shone from her fist. In response to the blue light, gold light shone from Garrett’s chest. The light subsided leaving Garrett, Sara and Meru dumbfounded. “Garrett, where is your dragoon spirit?”
“My what?” Garrett asked having no clue what she was talking about.
“The golden light we just saw, where is it?” Meru asked the rephrased question again.
“It was in this big boulder that was falling towards us. I put my hands to the boulder and stopped it from falling. It started shining gold then decreased in size. A gold pebble floated to in front of my chest and then towards it and disappeared.” Garrett said, recapping what had happened earlier.
Meru had a startled look on her face, “It seems that your dragoon spirit is inside you Garrett, and it sounds like it put you through a test first. That’s new to me.”
“How did you know my name?” was what Garrett wanted to know first.
“Sara and I were introducing ourselves when you dropped in. She kept saying your name and I picked up on it. By the way, my name’s Meru.”
“Thank you for your concern. All my friends call me Bug, please feel free to.” said Garrett, trying to be friendly.
“Bug?!? I don’t understand, you’re no where near the size of a bug. Why and how did you get that nickname?” Meru asked, having no idea what bug could mean.
“Actually, it’s Big Ugly Garrett.” He explained.
“How horrible,” Meru exclaimed as she looked Garrett over, “you’re not ugly at all.” A little embarrassed, he explained that it was just fun when they were younger and the name just stuck. After a long pause between all three, Garrett was the first to say something, “So can you explain this to us. We have no clue what is going on.”
Meru started to tell Garrett and Sara about her and the past. “What you have taken on is a part of fate. The golden light inside you is the harnessed spirit of a dragon called a dragoon spirit.” Meru started to explain.
“Hmmph” expressed Garrett’s disbelief. Sara hit him for that.
Ignoring him, Meru continued on, “I am from a time too long to remember. My friends and I, we used the dragoon spirits to defeat evil…” Meru started to tell the history forgotten by all but her. She started with the story with the Divine Tree, of its branches, it’s fruit and of it’s maker. She continued with the description of the creatures that were born of the fruits. Following her description, she told of the dominating Winglies, and the rebellion of Humans which led to the Dragon Campaign. She told them about the Dragon Campaign and how Human’s had used Dragon’s until it was found that the Dragon’s spirits could be harnessed and used by someone recognized by the spirit. She told of the Dragoon’s, Melbu Frahma’s and the Wingly oppressions end in the final battle. She then began the tale of the journey with Dart, Shana and Lavitz. She described as best she could the battles they had and when they met other Dragoon’s before Meru. Then, according to Meru came the most important part in the story, when she met Dart and the other Dragoons. Then she told about the places they traveled like Rouge and Mille Sesau, and all the enemies they came across like Lloyd and of Lenus and Regole. She told about the prime enemy, Zieg and the signets he kept unlocking, and she told of the Moon That Never Sets falling from the sky. She spoke of entering the moon and battling the past and finally about how Zieg was really Melbu Frahma inside Zieg’s body. She ended with the battle between Melbu and the dragoons. The entire time, both were intrigued but Sara was more believing than Garrett was.
When Meru had finished her story, Garrett and Sara had questions. Garrett was the first to ask, “How can we believe your story? I’ve never seen magic, how can it be real?” Directly after he had asked his questions, Meru shined her dragoon spirit and, before he could move, a plume of water came crashing down to a stand still above his head. Freaked out by the sudden onrush, he jumped to the side and rolled. Meru chuckled while Sara studied the new position of the water. Amazingly Sara found that the water came down in only the one spot above he and that it stayed there also. Meru’s dragoon spirit shone again and the water went back to its old position. “Why did you do that!!!!!”
“Do you believe me now?” Meru simply asked.
“I’ll believe anything you tell me as long as the ceiling stays up where it belongs!!!” Garrett exclaimed as he glanced back and forth between the ceiling and her.
“I have some questions.” interjected Sara quietly, afraid of the ceiling falling again.
Meru sensed how she felt, “Don’t worry about the ceiling, I’ll keep it up where it is as long as Bug doesn’t ask stupid questions anymore. At first I didn’t have that much power, but after my studies over the many years, I and the Blue-Sea Dragoon Spirit’s power have excelled.”
Considering that most people would consider Meru crazy, Sara believed what was said. “First,” Sara started, “how is it that you’re still alive? Your story was ancient yet you were apart of it”
“As I told you, there was a race born of the Divine Tree called the winglies.”
“Yeah I remember.” Sara replied.
“Well,” Meru continued, “ I am a wingly. My people were granted with the ability to use magic and we lived a lot longer than the other races.”
“I’ll accept that. I know I should probably have more questions but I listened to your story.” Sara said while glaring at Bug, “What have you been studying?”
“On our journey, my friends and I met a lot of challenges. I saw and felt the effect of a lot of magic. I wanted to perform what I had seen.”
“Understandable. Finally, are there any other winglies left?”
When Sara said that, she noticed the pain that crossed Meru’s face. “I’m sorry, did I say something wrong?”
“It’s been so long, I shouldn’t be sore about the subject still but…” Meru’s attention turned away from Garrett and Sara to a part of the past. Surprising the two, Meru spoke while still turned away. ”After the defeat of Melbu Frahma, my fiancee Guaraha and I took the first steps towards uniting winglies and humans. All of the winglies had been secluded and in hiding using magic. A lot of winglies agreed with our wishes. Ancestor Blano from my home village helped out a lot towards the peace. There were also many that wished just the opposite. A wingly group had been formed under the leadership of Tirst. Guaraha and I brought together leaders from both races and made tremendous advances towards peace and coexistence.” Dealing with emotions impossible to ignore, Meru inserted another long pause to visit the past. Sara took this time to reflect on what was just said. The name Blano was said very easily where as Tirst was said through gritted teeth and with hatred that could easily kill. “Guaraha, Blano, Albert and I were meeting with three other ancestors and two other kings in an open plain. The meeting had very little time to get started before winglies appeared in the sky. The formation that they came in resembled a dome. There was no way out, all the winglies just floated where they had first appeared. Everyone was observing the situation and planning ahead, until Tirst appeared in the middle right beside the meeting. He sneered at the humans and ignored the winglies he should’ve been paying respect to. He explained that he had been studying the dragon campaign and Melbu’s actions during. Melbu had planned on using powerful ancient techniques to write a powerful spell, one that would wipe out races. Before he wrote that spell, him and the Dragon Campaign ended. Tirst had found what Melbu achieved and finished it. I was the first to speak and I proclaimed fraud against him and his supposed spell. He told me that grafting his soul to the Red-eye dragon spirit took too much energy. Tirst informed everyone that Melbu hadn’t had enough energy, but that he did. I transformed into dragoon and with my hammer ready to strike, I charged at him before he could prove any theory. He easily pushed me aside, so I tried magic. Halfway between the dome of Winglies and Tirst, I landed. I began with snow, brilliantly colored, then I flew as high as I could and thrust down my hammer, head first. My hammer flew through the air, with me on the end, and it landed in the spot I had once stood, causing ice to erupt all around. My balance with my right foot on the end of the handle was exactly the same as my focus, they were both perfect. Ice cold fog vented from the ice under my handle and gathered around Tirst. The fog gathered around him and became ice trapping Tirst inside. My focus on my energy was complete, and all my energy formed in my hands. I spread my hands apart and the energy followed my movements. I folded my hand over my chest, and then brought down my hands, sending all of my magical energy towards Tirst, still trapped in the ice. The moment my energy hit the ice, it exploded and it was once again snowing. I grabbed my hammer, thinking that Tirst wasn’t a threat any longer. When the snow cleared, Tirst had already started his spell, although his feet had been spread apart to sustain the blast and blood was dripping from his hairline. The words spilling from his mouth, and his own energy gathering in his hands. Albert transformed and started his wind spell Gaspless, until a group of winglies transported him away. Tirst’s voice seemed to echo to me until I realized the chorus of the surrounding winglies joining in. Tirst raised his hands high into the air to a spot aimed at by the dome of winglies. Gathering in Tirst’s hands was a sphere of energy that was soon to spread throughout Endiness. Ancestor Blano and Guaraha were conjuring up spells to attack Tirst. The bottom level of winglies left there posts and surrounded the two halting their spell. Blano shouted to me that part of the spell Tirst was using was wingly, not human. I got up during the third to last word. The second to last I was charging towards him. The last word rolled off his tongue as I hit him in the stomach. We toppled over each other, Tirst wincing in pain. We crash landed and I bounced back up, glad to see him wincing until I noticed all the other winglies around me doing the same. The realization of not getting there in time set in and I looked down to see Tirst’s body become a gas. I turned to Guaraha to see him doubled over in pain and was at his side in no time and caught him as he fell towards the ground. I didn’t care about whatever had happened or if I was in danger. The entire wingly race would die but most importantly, Guaraha was dying in my arms. I never got to say goodbye… As he lay in my arms, his outline started to blur and his wincing slowed down. I saw the comfort of being in my arms in the last look his face would ever hold. And then he was the same gas that Tirst was mixing with the wind. I turned to Blano to see him fighting the spell Tirst had sent out. Hardly able to see past the tears, I hurried to him to see him give up. He told me that my dragon spirit made me something greater than a wingly, a dragoon. And then he too, was gone.”
Meru ended her story and detached herself from Garrett and Sara. It wasn’t too long before Meru spoke up, “I’ve detached myself from the world studying magic so that no one else has to lose a loved on.” Sara and Garrett tried to comfort this living legend that they had just met. “I’ll be fine,” Meru told them, “but we have to find the other dragoons.”
“I don’t understand.” Garrett said.
“Fate only calls upon the aid of dragoons when it’s needed. There must be others.” Said Meru.
“How will we know who’s dragoon worthy and who isn’t?” Sara asked.
“We won’t, they’ll be made known by fate in the future. Until then, I could help you with your dragoon skills and magic.” Meru told him.
“I thought you’d never say something. I want to know what this thing does.” he said with eagerness.
“So how do you plan to get out of here? I’m not swimming through that again, ever!” was all Garrett had to say on the matter.
“This is true,” commented Sara, “I don’t think I could swim through that again either. What do we do Meru?”
“Well Bug should remember that I can control the ceiling to do what I want, as in stay up or fall down.” Told Meru as she received nasty looks from him. “I’ll create a passageway up through the water and we’ll fly up.”
“One problem,” Sara started to point out, “we can’t fly.”
“Oh, but Bug can,” Meru explained, “or don’t you know yet?” All Meru got as a response were blank looks from the both of them. “Well go ahead and transform and I’ll give you a lesson right now.” Again the blank looks. “You don’t know how to do that either do you. I remember hearing about the first time Dart transformed, Rose had to wake up his dragoon spirit. Let’s try something, Sara you might want to stand back just in case.” Sara stepped away from Bug’s side. Meru again pulled out her spirit from her robe but this time opened up her hand and put it beside Bug’s chest. There was a burst of blue and gold light all around the room. Sara ducked down and buried her face in her arms, the light subsided and Sara lifted her face to see the most amazing thing she had ever seen. Bug was decked out in gold, he had gold armor from head to foot filled with intricate designs. The front edge of his short hair met with a headband decorated with six stones in a circle formation directly in the middle. A seventh stone was in the middle of the protruding chest armor in the spot the dragoon spirit had disappeared before, right in front of his heart. This seventh stone had the image of a vertical pupil, nothing at all like a human’s. Sara was still looking in awe when two wings unfolded behind Bug’s back, making Sara jump back. Looking high up to his wings, she noticed that the ceiling, which she could guess was a nine feet high, was cramping his wings. She stood up and walked towards him noticing how he was taller than before because his wings were already lightly flapping, making him float. She took her hand and felt along the grooves of his armor on his chest and the protruding, aerodynamic armor on his shoulders. “Are you ready to fly?” Meru asked.
“I’ve never done this before but I think I can manage.” Bug said with slight confidence. “Are you ready?” he asked Sara.
“Whenever you are.” she replied with confidence in him. He picked her up in his huge arms and looked to Meru. The wings that were given to her at birth had appeared. Bug watched her ascend to a hole starting to form in the water ceiling. He looked to Sara and looked back to his wings. He looked up at the hole in the ceiling and focused on being there. His new wings picked up and took him to the hole but no further. Stumped for a minute Bug realized he thought about being at the hole but not going through. Bug pictured the shore of the pond when he had last seen it. His wings picked up once more and Bug went up to the shore only he had missed the passageway so him and Sara were flying through the water. With the dragoon speed, it wasn’t long until the two exploded through the top and came to rest several feet above the once calm water. Bug focused on the spot where their stuff still sat and glided over towards it. He set down Sara and looked to Meru, “How do I go back from dragoon?” he asked.
“Just picture yourself normal,” she said. Bug did just that and with a flash of gold light he returned to normal. Bug was a little bit surprised to see a completely black, night sky. “I’ve never been up here when its nighttime, it’s so much clearer than at home with all the lights.” he told Meru. A breeze pierced through Bug’s observation of the sky, reminding him that he had only trunks on and had just flown through water. He instantly started shaking and Sara was too apparently cause she hit him, “You went through the water and now I get to freeze my ass off!” she said.
“Hey! Don’t act like you’re the only one who’s freezing here.” he shot back at her. Bug and Sara got dressed as quickly as they could, the wind kept blowing and they hadn’t dried off yet. Once dressed, the two got all their gear together, the entire time, Bug kept an eye on Meru, noticing her actions. Strangely, she didn’t seem curious about the surroundings, considering that she had been in that cave for a long time. Once Bug and Sara were ready, the three started down the trail with Bug in front. After about a half an hour, Sara was complaining of fatigue. Somehow, Meru suggested the rest spot where Bug and Sara had stopped before. This heightened Bug’s curiosity. Meru stood while Sara and Bug sat on a rock. Bug decided to ask Meru about the fact that she knew present day things that he didn’t think she should. “Meru, how did you know about this resting spot? Also when we first came out of that pond, you weren’t surprised at all.”
“I studied magic for a long time and you want me to be surprised at the present world? I guess it makes sense that you would assume that I never left that cave, which actually I sort of never did leave. In our journeys, my friends and I were brought to Flanvel tower. It was a tower that used to belong to winglies, but then it was used for a royal secret. We were brought to this tower and at the bottom we found a powerful wingly who had lived there since the dragon campaign eleven thousand years earlier. This wingly’s name was Faust and he had the power to create an apparition of himself with as much power as the original. This was one of the powers that I studied in the cave throughout the many years. I perfected it and visited the surface to observe the world that had become and to make sure that nothing I had to deal with came about. So this world doesn’t surprise me, yet. I’ve visited many places before, but only once in a while. I usually stayed in my cave.” Meru told part of her story.
“When was the last time you came to the surface?” Sara asked.
“Actually it was recent. The last time I was up here was about two months ago.”
“Two months ago?! So why didn’t you help out with problems that resulted in deaths? You said that you studied magic so that nobody else had to lose a loved one.” At this point Garrett was afraid he might have to cut in, Sara was getting pretty emotional. He knew it was because of losing her grandfather in the car accident, which was caused by a drunk driver. “If you’ve visited up here you must have heard all the bad stuff that goes on why haven’t you helped?! You could do so much but you just sat down there studying your magic, and for WHAT?!” With that out, Sara turned to Bug and fell into his arms and had a crying fit. Bug understood that the two months hadn’t been long enough for her to be done grieving. He once had an older brother; he died when Bug was in the sixth grade, four years ago. His brother was a freshman that year in high school and the seniors that year had been cruel. They were pulling an annual senior prank, blindfold freshman and take them to the quarry. The seniors who kidnapped Tim were drunk and thought it was funny to taunt Tim by removing the blindfold and forcing him against the edge of a cliff. Tim was already against the edge when a senior threw an empty beer bottle at him. He ducked to miss the bottle, lost his balance and fell the forty some feet until he hit the water. The drunken seniors didn’t say anything until a quarry employee had found him. And even then the answer came from another senior who said that the three seniors had taken Tim that night. They told the whole story under interrogation without the drinking. That, they told in court. It had taken more than a year before Bug became normal, but that year held a lot of problems for him and his family. Bug knew how to help out Sara and dealing with her grandfather’s death because he knew what she would go through.
“I have great skills and powers. With great power comes great responsibility.” Meru said
“Ugh, how cliché.” Sara said with disgust.
“It’s true and every person’s life must come to an end. Everyone has his or her time to go. I can’t change that.”
Sara turned towards Meru, “My grandfather was killed in a car accident. The other driver who ran into him had been drinking. And you’re trying to tell me that my grandfather’s accident was fate?!?! How dare you!” Bug had to pull her back, afraid she might try and strike Meru. “You could’ve stopped him from drinking, or driving, or being on that street, or…” She turned again to Bug but this time no crying.
Meru was hurt, because of a guilt trip Sara had loaded on the wrong person. Still looking away, she said, “If I had changed where that driver had been, somebody else would’ve died. Would you honestly have wanted somebody else to have died, I don’t think that your grandfather would’ve wanted that.” after that she left.
Bug stood there and watched her disappear around a corner. He looked down to Sara and said, “We need to go after her, she doesn’t know where the car is. Are you ready?”
“She’s right you know. Grandpa wouldn’t want that. Let’s go.” Sara whispered. The two picked up the pace a little so that they could catch up with Meru. Not too long after finding Meru, the three reached the dirt and gravel parking lot. Bug’s huge truck was the only vehicle there. Bug and Sara put all there gear in the bed while Meru stood there and watched.
“It doesn’t look like your truck can fit three people. Why don’t I just ride in the back.” Meru said as she climbed over the side of the bed. Bug waited until Meru was seated comfortably in the back. Then, he and Sara climbed in the cab and the three left.
“Her grandfather.” replied Bug
“How?”
“Car accident. The other driver was drunk. Came barreling through a stoplight, and slammed headfirst into him, on the driver’s side. He died before the paramedics showed up. The other guy stumbled away with a cut from where his head hit the steering wheel. The weird thing is that it was close to three months ago. He’ll never get out of jail, but that’s not enough.”
”I understand. I’m sorry for upsetting her that much.”
“Don’t worry about that. She won’t apologize so I’ll tell you that I’m sorry for her blowing up at you like she did.”
“It’s ok, she’s still grieving, I completely understand. But you should be getting some sleep, we might have to leave soon.”
“Leave? Why is that?”
“If the dragoons are being called upon again, there are others to find who will receive the dragoon power to fight alongside whatever is coming. I have no idea where they could be though.”
“Yeah I’m really starting to feel all that walking and swimming. I’m beat, so upstairs is my parents’ room, they’re on vacation so you can sleep in their bed. If you need anything, I’ll be downstairs.” With that, Bug showed her his parents’ room and then went downstairs to his room. Sara was curled up on the bed, and he didn’t want to disturb her whether she was asleep or not. He sat in his armchair, watching her and going over the day until he fell asleep. That night his dreams took him to no place he ever could have imagined. Before he fell asleep, the last sight he saw was of his room and Sara. In his dream, when he opened his eyes, he was on a platform set on top of a cliff. He was standing on the edge overlooking a beautiful sea. He turned around and looked at the deck, in a few spots, there were pairs of pegs built into the deck. Each peg was about shoulder length apart and stuck out about a foot from the deck. The edges of the deck faded into forest, a path and a pair of stairs ending in another path. He started towards the stairs until he felt faint rhythmic vibrations. The vibrations only got stronger and he expected to see animals fleeing the forest, only there were none. The vibrations got louder until he felt the whole deck start to pulse, hard. Then, they stopped. He turned his head to the right, and saw someone huge standing at the deck where it met the path. His features reminded him of Meru’s story, and of the tapestries on the wall. The giant man had a mohawk and red tribal tattoos on his face. His clothes, Garrett guessed where animal skins, probably the wear what you kill kind of thing. He figured that his dream had just been influenced by them. He turned to go down the stairs when the giant spoke. “Young dragoon, you must stay and train with Kongol.” he said.
“You’re Kongol?”
“Yes. How do you know Kongol?”
“Well I met up with a friend of yours, Meru.”
“Friend Meru, still alive? Good to hear, she will help out young dragoon much. Now, we train.”
“With what?”
“Young dragoon has no weapon?”
“Call me Bug, and no, I don’t.”
“Does not matter, yet. First Bug and Kongol will train without weapon. Get as comfortable as can but make sure you can move good.” Garrett noticed that he had on the loose fitting t-shirt, jean shorts and his old hiking boots from this morning. He took off his shoes and socks and threw them of to the side, he figured it didn’t matter where they landed since it was just a dream. Then, he took of his shirt to reveal a chest and stomach that had gone through a whole lot of weigh lifting and football training. He was big, and probably had a layer of fat but he had a good amount of muscle. He threw his shirt to the side and turned to face Kongol. “Put up hands and push as hard as you can.”, said Kongol. Garrett did that and put his hands up to Kongol’s and pushed. “Garrett must be holding back, at least Kongol hopes so. Push!” Garrett re-positioned his feet, left foot front, right foot back, a stance he could push the most forcefully. He pushed his hardest, strained all his muscles and almost blacked out from sending almost all of his blood to his muscles to help push harder. He could bench 300 pounds, but Kongol just kept his stance, didn’t even have to push back and Garrett couldn’t move him. Garrett opened his eyes, looked straight at Kongol’s face and saw a smile come across his predecessor. Kongol pushed back and sent Garrett flying, feet stumbling all over the place as he went over the edge of the deck. Garrett screamed and landed on the path leading to the deck, a complete and total surprise except for the fact that it was a dream. “Good strength for young. We will build up Bug’s strength. For what seemed like the two days, Kongol trained Garrett with body relaxing exercises taught by Haschel followed by Garrett again pushing against Kongol’s hands. It seemed that Kongol was happy when Garrett was able to land on his feet after being sent over the edge. Garrett was getting better at his balance and even pushing a little mote at Kongol’s hands. Starting on the third day in his dream, Garrett was taught blocking when Kongol brought out his ax, with a head as big as Garrett’s chest. He was intimidated for a long time, until Kongol taught him to hit the weak spot in the ax where the balance was off the most. That took a while but he got better. On the fourth day, Kongol took Garrett back the path he had kept falling upon. The path split and eventually, Kongol took Garrett back to a house. In the back of that house were many weapons, most were giant axes. Kongol went to the far left and got an ax of the wall. It was no where near as big as the others, but it was still big. “Is that it? I wanna try some of the others.”
“Bug, young dragoon, not yet ready for trained ax.” Saying that, Kongol handed Garrett the ax, and he almost dropped it. It was heavy for a smaller ax, the handle was all wood, wrapped tightly with rags and twine. The head of the ax had the diameter of his forearm, and the thickness of his hand. Even the edges, it must be a training ax he wouldn’t get hurt. He felt like a child, but he knew that an ax with sharp edges would probably end up with him hurting himself. “Now, Bug is ready to train.” Kongol led the way back to the deck to train him. During his sleep, Garrett trained with Kongol. Kongol would swing his ax through the air and Garrett would have to mimic his movements. The ax’s weight along with swinging it around had to be building up his strength. Next, Kongol would come at him and Garrett had to learn how to block with the handle and head of the ax. He had never trained so hard for anything in his life. After about a week , Kongol stopped. “Training done, for now. Kongol see Bug again.” With that, the deck, forest and Kongol faded into darkness. That darkness was the back of his eyelids, until he opened them. Sara was beside him, watching his movements. Seeing him awake brought a smile on her face. “Garrett, oh you kept grunting and you’ve been sweating and bruises were appearing all over. Are you ok?”
“Yeah I’m fine. I was just training.”
“Training? Garrett you were just dreaming.”
“I don’t mean to cut you off but I need to talk to Meru right now. You’re welcome to come and listen if you wish.” With that, he kissed her on the lips and started upstairs to talk to Meru, with Sara following. Garrett got to the kitchen when the doorbell rang, he chose to just ignore it. He continued up the second set of stairs when the doorbell rang again. “Sorry, but go up and see how Meru is doing. I’ll go and send whoever this is away.” She nodded her understanding and went past him as he went down to the door. The doorbell rang once more as he was going down the second set of stairs. He opened the door and saw, not too far down, one of his classmates. His name was Alex and he and Garrett were both juniors, as well as they were both close to the same height, but Alex was a lot skinnier than Garrett. Garrett didn’t know him that well to be good friends with him, he was a band geek and Garrett was a jock, but, Alex needed someone to tutor for National Honor Society and Garrett had needed the help. He had dirty blonde hair that he parted in the middle and wore it down, except for the sides which were shaved short but not skin. He was Garrett’s tutor for physics and they were scheduled to go over some homework today.
When Garrett had opened the door, Alex had looked to him with his hazel eyes. Now he said, “Hey Garrett, you didn’t forget about our session today did you?”
“Actually yeah, I did. Listen, I’m pretty busy right now, could we postpone this. Some other time please.”
“Yeah, sure. Any idea when?”
“No but I’ll call you, ok? But I really need to go now so, some other time. Bye.” He tried not to be rude, but he did need to go. He went up the stairs two at a time. On the next floor he found Meru and Sara looking out the window. “Find something interesting?” he asked them.
“Come here and watch.” Meru told him. What Bug saw next was not something he never would have expected.
Well that was weird. He just canceled and then slammed the door in his face. Alex figured it was some jock, football player problem he had, although Garrett didn’t seem like the normal meat head that made up most of the football team. He hoped Garrett was ok, and wondered if anything was wrong. He was walking to his car and thinking about what had just happened when the wind picked up rather quick. It was pretty powerful, so Alex hurried up a little. He got to his car and tried to pull his keys out of his pocket. He fumbled the keys and dropped them. When he got down to pick them up, it seemed that the wind had gotten powerful enough to skid his keys across the road. He tried to stand up to walk to where his keys resided, but found that the wind almost knocked him off of his feet. Seemed to him like a storm, even though it hadn’t been predicted. He got on his hands and knees to crawl across the road and pick up his keys. Halfway across the road, trash cans started flying in Alex’s direction, with trash inside. The wind picked up and even on his hands and knees, Alex felt the force of the wind, he wondered if Garrett would let him in. he looked in the direction of the wind and took in more of the details of his surroundings. What seemed like three feet in front of him, nothing was affected by this sudden wind. At the spot it seemed like the wind started, a manhole cover was ajar. For some strange reason, Alex had the notion that this strong wind was coming from that manhole. He did the army, belly crawl towards the manhole, and the closer he got, the closer he had to hug the ground. The wind got more powerful and more concentrated as he got closer. He crawled as the wind tore at his back and continuously flung street debris at him. All he could think was to get to the manhole and put the cover on, even if it wouldn’t help, he had to try. He had been crawling inch by inch and it seemed like he had been crawling forever. He looked up and saw he was an inch away from the hole. With his right hand, he reached out that extra inch and grabbed the edge. Simultaneous with his new grip on the hole, the wind kicked in more power, almost making Alex fly back and lose his grip. He kept tight until he felt confident with not losing it. Then he, closed his eyes, pulled himself forward as much as he could and reached forward with his left hand. He felt around for the cover for seconds that stretched into hours. At last, his hand came across the edge of the cold, heavy metal manhole cover. He reached further towards the center, looking for a hole to get a better grip. He found one and pulled the cover towards him but it could have only been an inch. He wasn’t that strong but he kept trying. He took a deep breath and pulled again, this time it seemed farther. Again, he pulled and the manhole slid across the road and part of the open hole. It was getting easier to pull, probably because of the strange air stream shooting up was working against gravity. He opened his eyes and saw that the manhole was still pretty far open. If he had to guess, he was good at mathematical stuff, he would guess that he had pulled the cover about a third of the way over the hole. Another big breath, another grunt and tug. He repeated that twice more, each time, the cover becoming more lenient. When he had the cover settled in place, it seemed enough to stop the wind. He laid there for a few seconds, then while still on the ground he searched for his keys. When he spotted where they were, he jumped up and started towards the edge of the yard where they had come to a rest. He had taken two steps when the manhole cover was blown into the clouds as a powerful gust of wind shot it away. The sudden burst of wind knocked Alex onto the ground, he had hit the road hands first and saved himself from breaking his nose. He turned to the manhole and saw the wind and now leaves erupting from the manhole. Once again, the wind turned in his direction but this time it seemed to blow past him. Then, the wind that was blowing past him came back from behind. The wind seemed to create a tiny tornado around a very freaked out Alex. This freak of nature lifted Alex off the ground a little bit. Then from the wind came a new stream, one that Alex could see because of a green glow. That new branch stopped a foot away from his chest and swirled into a ball. The ball of wind turned into a solid green glowing sphere that floated in front of Alex (who was also still floating). The sphere floated back in Alex’s direction and didn’t stop when it met his body, it just kept going and it became a part of Alex. When the glow disappeared, so did the wind keeping Alex afloat. Simultaneously, the manhole cover rocketed out of the clouds and crashed into the hole so hard it would probably never come out again. He fell to the ground, his legs unable to keep him up, and hit his head on the road. He felt the pain, saw Garrett and his girlfriend running towards him and then passed out.
“Good you’re awake.” said an old woman.
“Hi Alex. My name is Sara, and this is Meru.”
He woke up in Garrett’s bed with a washcloth on his forehead and Sara and an old woman siting next to him.
“It’s nice to meet Garrett’s grandmother. Thank you for getting me inside.”
“Garrett’s grandmother? I didn’t think I looked like Garrett. I’m not his grandmother. I’m just a friend.”
“Garrett has an eighty year old friend?” He must not have been thinking straight because of his head, but it didn’t make sense to him.
“Hold on Alex, you’ll understand in a little while.” said Meru. At that point, Alex could hear Garrett coming down the stairs.
“Is he awake yet?” Garrett asked before he was in the room. “Well, Meru is the reason I couldn’t study today. It looks like she’s your reason now too.”
“Why would she be my reason? And why would I not study today? Speaking of which, I can’t stay long, I’ve got class to get to.” With that, Alex tried to sit up, but Meru pushed him back down onto the bed. She was pretty strong for an old woman.
“I’m afraid that it might be a while before you can leave.” She said.
Again, the head hitting the road probably affecting his thought, “Listen whatever you three got going on in here, I can forget about it. Just let me go and I won’t tell anyone. I don’t know anything.”
Sara chuckled, “Garrett, he thinks that we’re into drugs and black market ingredients with Meru.” This made her and Garrett bust out with laughter.
Meru looked at Alex, “I’m lost. Never really knew about this kind of stuff.” All Alex could do was give weird looks. He couldn’t even begin to guess what they were all doing, but he just wanted out of there.
“It’s been interesting and weird, more weird than interesting, but I’m out of here.”
“No you don’t.” Meru stopped him from getting up again. “We have a lot to explain to you.”
“Ok, well can we do this thing later. It sounds like it takes a while and I don’t have the time. Can I come over after class?”
Garrett looked to Meru. “Yeah, it sounds good. Why don’t you spend the night? It probably could take the entire night to tell.”
“I’ll see what I can do but I’m pretty sure it’ll be all right. So I guess I’ll see you later.” Finally, Meru let him get up. Garrett walked him out to his car and just said goodbye and everything that good friends do. It was really weird for Alex because Garrett was a football player and he played the saxophone, the two usually didn’t mix. Something major must have happened. As he started his ignition, he remembered what happened before he hit his head on the road. He just overlooked it as a side effect and left. He traveled the ten minutes home, thinking about Garrett, Sara and Meru and what a weird name Meru was, at least he’d never heard of it. When he got home, he got his mask and uniform for his fencing class. His mom wasn’t home so he’d asked her about the night at Garrett’s after class. It was still early but he figured he get there as soon as possible and practice a little bit with anyone else who was there early. The drive took about twenty minutes where he just listened to music the entire way there and didn’t think about anything but the road and fencing. He got there, almost without realizing it since he did it so many times. The parking lot was empty, so he didn’t expect many others o be there. Most of the kids in his class were his age or older, so the competition was average but Alex was good at fencing. He walked into the YMCA and continued back to the locker room behind the gym. He changed out of his clothes and into his pajama pants and wife beater. Then he put on his uniform and got his mask out of his gym bag. He went out and saw Mr. Kayin getting all the equipment out of the closet. He went over to see if he could help but got a response he hadn’t expected.
“Alex, I’m glad you’re here early. We have a new student joining us today, he’s a transfer from, actually I don’t think he told me where he is from. Anyway, I need you to show him around and kind of make nice. He’s a junior but you won’t be seeing him around school, I think he said he was home schooled. So will you do it?”
“Yeah sure Mr. Kayin, I’ve got nothing better to do for now, nobody else is here to train with.”
“You try too hard with training, but I appreciate you lending me a helping hand.” After Mr. Kayin was finished speaking, Alex noticed that there was a kid approaching them. The kid was white, with short blonde hair that curved upward a little in the front. His shirt was pretty tight against his skin, showing that the guy had some major muscles for a seventeen year old. “Ah, Nathaniel, nice to see you again.”
“It’s nice to see you too Mr. Kayin, and I prefer Nate.”
“Sounds good. Nate, this is Alex Heir, he’ll be showing you a little bit of what goes on here before class begins.” Nate pushed past Mr. Kayin and went right up to Alex. They were almost nose to nose and Alex could see the pupils surrounded by the clear blue of Nate’s iris’. “Where can I get changed, Alex?”
“Right over there.” Alex said, pointing towards the locker room door. Nate followed the direction Alex was pointing and headed to the locker room. Alex looked towards Mr. Kayin who had just picked up where he had left off. Alex turned and went to the locker room, curious about how the guy could be so confident and rude. He entered the locker room, seeing the Nate had already found a locker. Nate was undressing as Alex walked up to the aisle he was in. Alex saw that the guy really did have major muscles, his arms and pecks were huge and he had a six pack of which Alex figured he didn’t need protection. His left biceps had the common barbed wire tattoo circling it. Nate spoke with the attitude of a popular football player, “Never seen a body this good, have you Alex? You better make sure that you tell the top kid in this class that he’s gonna get some competition that he won’t be able to take.”
That wasn’t something Alex wanted to hear, he was tired of dealing with people who thought so highly of themselves. “Why don’t you tell him yourself?”
Nate explained while further undressing, “Well I don’t know anybody here yet. You would know who is better than who.”
Typical, it was just typical that his kind of people wouldn’t understand a comment such as that one. “Well you’ve already met him.”
“Ha. Ha ha ha.” Nate laughing brought all the blood to Alex’s face. “You think you’re the best person of the class. The rest of the class must be pretty pathetic.”
“I’m not gonna fight you in here, it’s pointless.”
“Pointless, or are you afraid of a fight with me?”
“Afraid of a fight with you?”, Alex had to say something so it didn’t look like he was backing out, although he was desperately trying to. “I just wanna show you the real stuff from the best fencer around.”
That remark got Nate up out of his seat. He approached Alex in nothing but his boxer shorts and once again got close to Alex’s face. “What’s a matter? Can’t you fight hand to hand? Doesn’t matter, any fight between you and I, I could guarantee my win.” Alex put his left hand on Nate’s chest with the intention of pushing him away. He pushed, and ended up pushing himself backwards. If that wasn’t enough, Nate grabbed Alex’s left hand with his and pushed against Alex with his left. Alex, with his hand still in Nate’s grasp, fell towards the floor but, instead of hitting, his feet slid between Nate’s spread feet and stopped falling when his face was even with the bench. Nate bent over until his face was once again closer than Alex wanted it to his. Alex and Nate’s hands were now above Nate’s head. Nate leaned even closer, making Alex afraid of a locker room scene he didn’t want to happen. Nate turned his head and whispered into Alex’s right ear, “It could be the end of you, right here, right now. But, that wouldn’t be any fun, not to mention that it isn’t wanted, yet.” Nate let go of Alex’s hand and stood and smiled as Alex dropped the rest of the way to the floor. “That doesn’t mean we can’t have fun until then, right, Alex?” He turned and walked to his locker. Alex just laid there for a little while still a little afraid to move, and also trying to fight back an oncoming headache from hitting the floor. He pushed his upper torso up with his elbows, and looked over to Nate. Nate was busy getting his undergarments and uniform out of his gym bag. Alex figured that he could and should leave. As he was leaving the room, he put on a façade and greeted some of his friends coming in. He went out and claimed a spot on one of the mats that Mr. Kayin had laid out. He put down his mask and stood, closing his eyes, taking deep breathes in and out, calming his self after the scene in the locker room. He kept his eyes closed as more people went into the locker room and came out and claimed their own spots, Nate was probably one of them. That was the only time Alex didn’t think about the weird events of earlier today. He paid attention when Mr. Kayin had started the class, at least he sort of paid attention. Mostly he was thinking about Nate and what he had said. Then his mind would wander, thinking about what he thought of as the weird wind dream he had while he blacked out. He kept thinking about all this until Mr. Kayin had moved to in front of him. “Alex, thinking about colleges again? You’re only a junior, the future shouldn’t be constantly on your mind. You completely missed my lesson, fortunate for you it was about the saber. Anyway, for today’s fencing session, I want you to take on Nate. You’re the only one I know who knows him so far, and you’re my best student. I’m sure that you can make the effort to be a young adult and greet the new kid.” Alex hated it when adults tried to make him feel like if he declined their request, that they wouldn’t be mature. He wouldn’t have been able to decline anyway. With a pat on Alex’s shoulder after talking to him, Mr. Kayin left without giving Alex the chance to respond.
While he was thinking of a way to fake out of fencing Nate, a hand took hold of his shoulder which was soon followed by a voice belonging to Nate. “So hot stuff, still think you’re the best?” Alex didn’t respond, he just wasn’t one to exchange smart comments with Nate’s kind of meat head, or at least he tried not to. All the students gathered around the center mats, except for the first pair that would duel. Everyone else would watch, Mr. Kayin would give pointers and comments to both people. Alex always enjoyed watching others’ duels, that’s where he saw most of the techniques he used. They were either copied from another person or a combination. Today was different, Alex couldn’t watch, he was too busy trying to shake off the fire that Nate seemed to be burning in the side of his head. He looked over to find that Nate was actually watching the fight, like he should be, but still Alex couldn’t concentrate. He tried to shake it, tried to tell himself that it was just a side effect of hitting his head, but whatever it was, it wasn’t going away.
“Jason and Nick you’re up. Nate and Alex, get ready, we might be able to squeeze you two in before time runs up.” Mr. Kayin’s announcement broke through Alex’s ominous feeling. Nate flashed him a smile that seemed to say to Alex that Nate knew what to do. That got Alex worrying, until he told himself that that’s what the smile was supposed to do. He started again to watch the fight until he was almost knocked backwards from the return of the strange feeling. It was so strong, Alex couldn’t think about anything else at all. Mr. Kayin’s voice had broken through the agitation, maybe Alex could figure out how to do the same. He close his eyes and began to listen more to the match going on. The two were fighting with sabers, same as he and Nate were about to use. Alex could predict Nick winning, he was older and had been in the class longer. and damn, focusing on the fight didn’t hold priority over the continuing chaos in his head. The chaos parted, temporarily, to reveal peace and balance. He had no clue where this new feeling had come from, but it was eating away at the disturbance. He focused on this new feeling and found it growing larger. He also became aware of a rhythmic beating coming from somewhere in the gym. The beating got louder, and the refreshing feeling got larger. He was almost free of the ominous feeling and ready to duel against Nate. The rhythmic beating grew louder, almost as if it was right beside him. The feeling no longer felt good, it felt wild and uncontrollable. He opened his eyes to see Nick force the saber out of Jason’s hand, and his was aimed at Jason’s heart. He saw Mr. Kayin congratulate Nick, but he could here nothing over the tapping. He was almost overwhelmed by the wild feeling that had helped him. Nick and Jason walked off of the mat. Mr. Kayin looked over and saw Alex sweating, with his eyes shut, focusing on something far away. Mr. Kayin had a strange look across his face and tried to focus to see if he could pick up whatever was going on. Nate saw Mr. Kayin’s weird reaction and saw the even weirder look on Alex’s face, and Nate smiled. Mr. Kayin’s focus brought forth a faint sound halfway across the room. He turned around to find the source, and saw a window shake as a branch, forced by the wind, beat repeatedly. Mr. Kayin looked back from the window, to Alex and as he turned his gaze, he saw the stare that Nate was giving. Alex was now sweating buckets, and Nate was watching with a curious but strange smile. The class had now begun to take notice to the branch outside as it beat louder. Alex’s face twitched and glass shattered as the branch broke through the window. Pieces of glass and tiny branches were scattered on the empty gym floor. Nobody else had been around and the fencing class had moved to take up a little part of the gym. Most of the class got up to go over and look at the scene, Mr. Kayin was in front. Mr. Kayin dismissed everyone from class, but noticed that Alex and Nate weren’t among the others. He looked back and saw Alex still sitting where he had been for the remainder of the class, Nate was already through the door to the locker room. As the rest of the class followed Nate, Mr. Kayin went over and put his hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Alex, Alex are you all right?” Alex twitched in response, but gave no indication of getting up or even recognizing Mr. Kayin’s presence. “Alex!” Mr. Kayin said louder, as he shook him by the shoulder. Alex brought his head up and opened his eyes to look at Mr. Kayin. “Alex, are you all right?”
Alex looked around to notice how it was him and Mr. Kayin, “Yeah, sure I’m fine. Is class over?”
“Yes,” Mr. Kayin said with a little relief, “class is over. Oh, and it ended with a branch breaking through the window.” Mr. Kayin jerked his head towards the mess, then got up to roll up the mats. Alex stood up and glanced over towards the bits of glass and tree. Then he hurried over to the locker room without saying anything else. Alex went straight to the locker he had put his stuff in. He got out everything he needed to take into the showers, quickly stripped and went to find an open stall. He just prayed that he wouldn’t have to shower next to Nate. Relieved to find out his luck wasn’t so bad, Alex got in a stall next to Mike, a kid who joined a little after Alex did three years ago. The two exchanged short formalities and statements about the window, other than that, nothing else. Alex washed up as quick as he could, he was freaked out by those feelings he had and wanted to get out of there. He also wanted to get away from Nate, who might possibly scare him more than the ominous feeling had been. The hot water felt good and Alex lingered for a minute, letting the water rinse off the suds and the bad feelings. Not long and Alex turned off the water and went to his locker to leave. He got ready in record time and was out the door. He passed Mr. Kayin going into the locker room, apparently he had already put away the equipment and cleaned up the mess of the window. Alex said goodbye as he brushed past him and Mr. Kayin just watched him hustle out of the gym. Alex didn’t stop to talk to anyone as he went out the door and straight to his car. He had almost forgotten about Garrett, it’s a good thing he remembered before he had went home. He got in his car and left the parking lot, turning right onto the road. What he didn’t see before he left was Nate, standing between two pillars where it was shaded, watching Alex leave.