Chapter Text
Year 1026
Luminara has grown a lot since its creation. Smaller villages were arranged in a ring around the main town, with patches of farmlands and pastures meandering in between them. Rows of longhouses were scattered around as if they rained down, and no one bothered to put them in order. Their roofs were covered in damp moss and other vines that grew with time.
On the north edge of the island, forestry hills and small ponds covered plateaus and hills. The main town was situated on a fjord that had a few taller mountains on either side leaving only the front as an entrance into Luminara. It was also a well known port where ships were left alone to the rocking ocean.
Somewhere in the center, a big longhouse overlooked the town. In the wooden building, a boy was lost in thought.
Fluixon sat in a chair staring at letters upon letters that he had to respond to.
A bag of envelopes arrived earlier than expected last night. The raven haired boy was assigned the task to sort and reply to most. Of course there were still a couple of letters he couldn’t respond to.
Ever since his brother Ender decided to abandon his position as the next leader in order to live a normal life, Flux became the new heir. Cynikka was sent to marry an important figure somewhere far away. He could only speak to her once a month as it took quite a lot of time for mail to be delivered and sent.
His new duties were slowly making him realize how the choice his older brother made was logical. Even though he believed the classes he was forced to attend were boring, he wasn’t a coward to run away from what his family arranged for him.
Flux wasn’t the best fighter but he knew how to swing an axe. The only thing he was confident in was the ability to shoot a target with an arrow. Many nights of anger kept him up as he strategized ways to shoot dragons in the night sky. He could pretty much hit a target at any distance.
His head was laying on his desk as his eyelashes fluttered close, tiredness washing over. He would just rest for a few minutes, that’s all. A thundering heart was drowsily slowing down, the ringing in the boy’s ear disappearing with his consciousness.
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This year was supposed to be the year ████ turned 20. A big celebration would take place in a few months but his heart ached too much to think about it. Flux and ████ didn’t really get along that well. After all, it was Flux who pushed him away every time the other boy tried to get close. The raven boy didn’t even get to apologise. He has been living in utter guilt for the last 10 years
Flux stared into the distance as he laid under a familiar willow tree. He couldn’t remember why it reminded him of something.
Purple eyes fixated onto nothingness seemed to tear the whole earth apart by the passing second. Even if he was alone, the tension in the air was so thick it could be cut with a knife.
Looking around, Fluixon tried to wrap his head around where he was.
A flowery scent surrounded him. It smelled like a daffodil field after rain. Full of humidity and a sweet scent he could grow addicted to. It has been a while since he last smelled that. It reminded him of ████. That honey like aroma meddled with the earthy air flavor left by the willow tree.
A few rays of sun snuck unwelcomed past the branches of the tree lighting up the inside.
Faint child laughter disrupted the peace. ████’s laughter. The voice he memorized in the back of his head. The voice he played in his head late at night when guilt wouldn’t let him sleep.
Gosh, he must be hallucinating.
Flux sat against the tree playing with the obsidian necklace at his neck. He was tired; really tired. The raven haired boy couldn’t bear to look at the stone that his fingernail scraped against; to see ████’s eyes staring hopefully at him just to shed tears moments later. That hurt look in ████’s eyes ligered. Flux would sometimes stare frozen in time at puddles when it was raining. It reminded him of how he once made ████ cry- of glossy obsidian stones hidden away from the cruelty of merchants who would take what they offered just to sell them.
Flux felt awful.
A few minutes passed, engulfed in silence. It felt as if he was being punished by a god, having to sit in an enclosed space where it felt like something was watching him closely, absorbing his every move.
Deciding to not waste much time, Flux started looking around.
Dry leaves hung from every dripping branch forming a circular wall surrounding the trunk of the tree he was laying against a few moments ago.
That’s weird. He could’ve swore they were green when he got here.
The black haired boy didn’t want to deal with the thought of something weird happening so he concluded that he just remembered wrong.
Everything looked the same. It was eerie how the tree was symmetrical on all sides.
Inspecting the trunk, Flux slowly looked up only to see that the low thick branches instead of leaves, had small obsidian stones hanging from stubs and where instead of a petiole growing, strands of leather came out of the old dry wood. It looked just like his necklace. The one ████ gave his unappreciative past self. The one he once threw upwards into the branches. Like his own necklace that he had to climb to to recover after ████ left for the last time.
The boy backed off just as his heartbeat reached his ears.
“W- what..?” his voice came out like a whisper. Oh the irony of standing where ████ once was trying so hard to hide his hurt years ago.
One of the leather bound jewellery fell to the ground right in front of Flux’s feet.
It shattered on impact into a million tiny pieces.
𝐼𝓉'𝓈 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒻𝒶𝓊𝓁𝓉.
Fluixon froze.
No one was here. His mind was just playing tricks on him. Right?
𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒶𝓉𝒸𝒽𝑒𝒹 𝒽𝒾𝓂 𝒹𝒾𝑒.
“I didn’t mean to-” the boy whispered, his voice cracking.
𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉?
𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒾𝓈𝒽𝑒𝒹 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒽𝒾𝓂 𝓉𝑜 𝒹𝒾𝓈𝒶𝓅𝓅𝑒𝒶𝓇.
Flux felt like a little kid again; helpless against the wicked voice in his head.
𝐼𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒻𝒶𝓊𝓁𝓉.
His hands were trembling against the necklace at his neck.
𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝒶𝓌 𝒽𝒾𝓂 𝑔𝑒𝓉 𝒶𝓉𝓉𝒶𝒸𝓀𝑒𝒹.
𝒴𝑒𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓉𝒸𝒽𝑒𝒹.
Salty droplets formed in the corner of the raven haired boy’s eyes.
𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁𝑒𝒹 𝒽𝒾𝓂.
𝐹𝓁𝓊𝒾𝓍𝑜𝓃, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁𝑒𝒹 𝒽𝒾𝓂.
“I- I didn’t! I-” his voice broke just like the cherished stone he saw fall
𝐹𝓁𝓊𝓍, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁𝑒𝒹 𝓂𝑒.
Fluixon’s breath caught in his throat. That was ████’s voice.
He turned around slowly scared of what he would find behind him.
Nothing
There was nothing.
This was surely just a sick prank made by a bored kid that heard stories about what happened ten years ago. That is unacceptable. Flux would have to talk to his father to punish such a child that has the guts to mess with Luminara’s heir. Gosh this is so fake, how did he even believe for a moment that it was real. Flux remembers falling asleep at his wooden table, reading letters. Someone probably carried him here for this. The raven haired boy turned around to leave. This is all so messed u-
A boy sat cross legged at the base of the tree trunk, white hair cascading over his face in tangled wet strands. He couldn’t have been older than 10. His neck bent sharply to one side, twisted far beyond anything natural. No head should be held at such a crooked slant, and the skin along his throat looked almost stretched. Something was so, so deeply unnatural.
He looked awfully similar to ████.
Flux’s body tensed up as the other boy looked up
“𝐹𝓁𝓊𝓍, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝒹𝒾𝒹 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓂𝑒”
The raven boy took a step back in horror. His whole body felt a lot colder than it was supposed to be. With a racing heart, all he could do was watch as ████ rose to his feet.
His head was throbbing in pain.
“I-m sorry, I really am I” his voice came out in uneven tones.
𝒩𝑜, 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝓃𝑜𝓉
Flux’s mind was overwhelming as he felt his nausea tacking over his body. His limbs wouldn’t move. They shook uncontrollably besides him.
████’s head lifted again. Instead of tears, blood seeped from his eyes, trailing down his cheeks in dark, sticky lines as his face twisted unnaturally. The once pale skin was split by a jagged gash. His skin looked torn in patches, layered wounds making it hard to tell where the unbroken skin remained.
Purple eyes met black empty ones.
A violent tremor unattached Fluixon from the ground. His once stern face, now as pale as the boy in front of him with hot tears flowing like a river on the surface of his cheeks.
████ was melting into the ground. Piercing screeches filled the air, surrounding them, seemingly getting closer as the earth dragged the white boy into itself.
Flux took a few steps back, feeling nausea building in his stomach, threatening a throw up.
Helplessly, ████ crawled towards him trying to stay afloat the solid surface.
D̷͚́̿͆͜Ö̴̠̼́̾͗Ṋ̵̲͔̋'̵̣̏̽T̸̤̿ ̴͉̃Ĺ̴͕̓E̸͉̔͐T̸̤̞̏ ̵̤̈̚Ḿ̸͖̉͘E̴͈̘͝ ̸̛̗̠̮̀͝D̴̦̋͠I̶͖͔̳̋̓̚E̵̪͛̌ ̸̧́͜Ā̶̪͋̄G̸̭̭̳̓̋Ȃ̶̡͉̠Ȋ̷̪͉͇̓N̵̗̤͎͝
H̸̡͇̮̯̟̿͆̆͊̔Ę̶̼͍̠̋L̴̙̫̓͝P̶̧̰̗̘̠͒͐͌̚͝ ̶̛̱͖̂̂̐̕Ṁ̴̨̫E̶͔̫͉̮̟͑́̍́̋!̴͍̺͚̇́̈́
H̶̢̥̫̖̺̳̠̹̠̘̘̣͔̬̼̉̃̽͆͐͝Ĕ̸̢̛̛͇͎͉̐̃̄͊̆̀̈̎̚L̵̨̢̟̟̗̗̫̭̘͇͔̱̺͒͑͐̔̈́̚Ṗ̶̨̢̢̛̫̳̰͎̞͉͈͇͌͑̈́̅͒̕͠ ̷̢̲̗̲͕͔̭̺̗̟̜̙̟̘͆͐M̶̭͇̤͉̯͙̟̹͎̅̽̀͌̀̀̈̋̉͋͒̌̓Ë̴̡͎̘̻̦̪̗̱̯̰͉̤͇̐̀̐̀̆͛̀̑̒̀̍̿̅̚!̶̝̞̳͎̙̞̹̰̠̲̓̈̔̈́̆̆͗̚
Fluixon’s head was spinning as he backed up. He couldn’t make out ████’s screams from the other shrieks.
His vision swam with dark dots. At the edges, he saw the world fall apart slowly.
Leaves were swallowing him as he stepped over the edge of the platform the tree was on.
Flux’s heart paused as he fell backwards into darkness
Black void surrounded him in the span of a few seconds
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Fluixon abruptly woke up hitting his rising head against a wall.
This was cruel.
Shallow breaths accompanied his beating heart.
“Oh gosh, it was just a nightmare…”
Hot tears were stinging his face as he tried slowing his breath. Nightmares weren’t unheard of but he stopped having those a year or two after Saps’ death.
Flux finally calmed his breath after a few minutes of inhaling and exhaling.
His heart still clenched at the thought of seeing his old friend after so much time.
Oh how much he didn’t want to do any work now.
He threw his head into his hands groaning at the throbbing in his head. Flux still had duties he couldn’t run away from.
The black haired boy blinked quickly trying to regain composure. The forgotten stack of letters caught his eye before he decided to sort through them and try to forget about the punishment Ish had prepared for him.
A tower of political correspondence was quickly built alongside another one of personal importance.
A weird envelope caught his attention. The corners were outlined by red wax in a weird pattern. The way of sealing the letter didn’t remind him of any other kingdoms nor leaders or any of the official jarls his father had introduced him to. He opened it carefully and soon realized it wasn’t a letter asking for arrangements of marriage or discussions of alliances.
It was a declaration of war.
His heart stilled for the millionth time today.
That was really bad news. Luminara wasn’t in the best position right now as half of its warriors were sent off to a new island an explorer has discovered. He insisted that he saw a colony of dragons there another nation would try and enslave to fight with, as he heard a king discussing with someone while taking a day break at a bar of a port meant for trading.
With half of its power missing, the nation would likely not win any battle with so many people gone far away.
Analysing it, the letter didn’t have any symbol that could represent any Norsemen that would have the influence to start a war with Luminara, one of the biggest Kingdom there was. Flux turned it over and gasped as he saw a familiar motif. A dragon whose skull was split into two by an axe. It was Norsea; the nation who once kidnapped his best friend ten years ago. They murdered Saps
Saps
They murdered Saps
Saps
Saparata
S̷̻̈a̷͛ͅp̴̫̃a̴̛͕̺͂r̵̮̀̀ä̴͉͌t̴͖̞͗̈à̴̯̈́
S̶͈̉͒̓̏̂̈͋͆̊̃̇͗̕̚͝ͅa̵͚̪͈̯̥͎͓̟͉̮͉̣̽̉̋̄̒̀́̉̏̏̕͘͝p̸̢̤͓̎̒́̍̊͋̚ǎ̴̠̲̰͖͙̙̤̯̫͍̮͍͉̳̩͑̏̐̕̕͠r̶̨̛͎̘̥̞̭͈̰̣̹̔̉̈͌̈́͛̏͌̓͋͝a̴̟̻̪͓̟͙̠̪̗͙͐͛̃̾͌t̶͚̙͎̦̉͠͠ȁ̷̬̰͇͔͓̏̇̄̈́͠
H̸̨̧̢̢̢̨̲̺̻͎͖̭̗͎͔͎͚̼̣̫̐̓̋͐̆̀̽̈̀͑͐̓̐̍̊̃̈́̒̀́͐͛̈͐͐̀̇̾̅̃́͑͐̕̕͝͝͠Ḭ̴̧̡̪̻̬̯̼͎̦͚̝̩̑̈͌̈͊̓͊̓̽̋̇̈́̾̓́̇̈́̔̕͘͝͝Ṣ̴̢̛̛̛͖̘̝̜̜̻̩̻̖̗̮̯̀͋͗̋̎͑̒́͆̀́͌̎̓͒̑̈̾̀̈́̂̿̀͘͝͝ ̸̘̗̆͂́͒̾͛͋̑̐̉͊̑̾͗̚̚Ş̵̨̡̯̟͎̣͎̻̙͈̯̪̥͍̼͉̮̲̬̦̲̱̱͇̩̃͜͝ä̸̫̻̥̫̰̭̟̤̮̹̹̪̬̯̳̰͉̺̘͍̱͙̗̮͍́̿͌͌̋̑̈͌̓̚͜͝͠p̷̡̢̛̰͎̥̙͖̝̗͖͇̰̹͓͉̘̱̺̠͍̲̖̬͕͎͖̈͒̎̈́̽̾̅̑̎͌̆͑̅͗͒̓̑̍́̋̆͒͑̂̍̅͗̀̎̅͑͘̕͝͝͠͝ą̶͖̬̱̻̭̻̱̱̝̤͔̮͔̀́͐̔̊̔͂͛̋ͅͅr̴̨̧̧̡̢̢̻̞̮̝̹̥͍̫̪̹͉͓̞̲͖̘̣̬͉̈́̑́͐̽̔̎̍̑͐̋̎̑̒̋́̏͂͆̈́͂̒̅̃͊̃̒̅͌̚͘̕̚̚ã̴̧̧̨̨̡̞̯̝̦̼̻̗̮̻̠̮͉̺͈͈͕̪̼̠̻͙̫̦̯̰͔̠͉̟̻̱̈́͊̌̆̽̈́̈́̅̒̎͗͑͑́͜͝͠t̴̛̛͈͓͚͚͒̏̃̃̋̂̇͌́̓͐̎͋̆͠ȧ̷̧̨̧̛͍̥̲̣̳̖̫͈̣̞̟̥̇̆́̓̃̓̎̾͋̌̾̍̿̏̈́͆̽́͑͑̊̂̔͑̾̋̓̊̏͒͊͂͂͐͘͝
.̷̱̮̍
.̷̱̮̍
.̷
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Fluixon stood up, clearly shaken up, his breath catching in his throat as his chair scraped the wooden floor making a long shriek.
He had to warn his father, Elanuelo. The same people who caused his friend's death 10 years ago have returned and asked for a war.
The raven boy dizzily made his way towards the end of the hallway, where large gates guided the main chambers. As he was entering the room, wooden planks creaked under the footsteps of another person, who seemed to be exiting.
“Turkey!” Flux greeted with a relieved tone
Looking at the older man, Flux could’ve hugged him. His face relaxed as the mentioned person raised an eyebrow, clearly amused by the frantic search for help by the boy who normally tried to be as independent as possible.
“Is father there? I have to talk to him regarding an important matter and it is urgent!” the shorter boy said, trying to subtly look over the other man’s shoulder into Elanuelo’s office.
A sigh was all it took for Fluixon’s face to fall. “I am really sorry kid, but I don’t think he can talk before dinner”, Turkey apologised.
Noticing how the boy grew slightly upset, the man tried to change the subject. “Hey, if you have nothing to do for the moment, can you help with the new delivery of sheep?” he tried.
Flux slightly groaned frustrated at the situation. He did want to help the people and get them to like him but what was so important that his father couldn't take a two minute break.
Deciding it would be best to return to his previous activity while waiting to be called to eat dinner, he made his way to the room he came from sinking into his chair.
He had to write replies to most of the letters which he dreadfully tried postponing. He took out a random folded piece of paper from one of the towers right after pulling out a pencil and a white sheet from a drawer.
Flux opened the first envelope trying to not rip the paper up. The content was pretty short with a lot of numbers regarding profit made from trading. He would have to give it to Turkey later. The boy quickly tossed it aside, reaching out for another.
The second letter was a marriage proposal. Flux’s face flickered with annoyance. He had a deal with his father concerning choices that would affect his future. He was allowed to decline any marriage offer if he wrote a letter back in which he politely declined.
He lifted the pen onto the paper he prepared earlier.
How was he supposed to start a response?
Dear XXX,
I hope this letter finds you well.
I have to apologize for-
No that doesn’t sound right.. Fluixon tossed the paper in the distance wishing to send someone to tell them they were rejected instead of having to write an official response. Whatever, he could come back to this later.
By the third one he was quite bored. Three missing livestock and a dragon sighting late at night, most probably from the Stoker Class as it was seen lighting a tree on fire. It was speculated to be either a Monstrous Nightmare, or a Stingtail. Flux decided on assigning a few people to watch out for the next few nights to try and shoot down the dragon if it returns.
His mind paused while thinking about dragons. Fluixon abandoned his work as he took out a dusty leather bound book from a wooden chest. It was like a ritual he completed so many times, it was embarrassing.
Slender fingers brushed against the leather cover of the book that was replaced after being stolen from the longhouse dedicated to teaching new dragon hunters every aspect and weakness that could determine whether the hunter or the creature lives. The rigid engravings made the surface dip and rise like hills. In the middle, a circled dragon figure glimmered in the dim light.
He knows it is not the moment to continue his search on which dragon killed his friend but he felt closer to the truth than ever. He remembered clear as day the moment it lounged at Saps and hid them under a blue fire. Flux also knew that it was swift enough to disappear unnoticed into the night with a dead white haired boy in its hold. Though the color was the only thing he wasn’t sure of.
The pages of the book were worn out from the hours spent analysing every single species. The Strike class looked the most promising. That is if there wasn’t another dragon that shot the fireball to cover up the murderer’s tracks.
Flipping through the possibilities, crossing out most of them that didn’t make sense. There wasn’t any acid in the area after the accident so the logical answer was that the Deathgripper was not the one he was searching for.
It didn’t make sense for the dragon to be a Skrill or a Songwing. That left only one that he still hasn’t crossed out.
Oh shit
The Night Fury.
The Unholy Offspring of Lightning and Death itself
A dragon that was never sighted.
The most dangerous dragon known yet. It is so fast that you would miss it crossing the entire sky if you blinked.
It made sense. The realisation drained all the color in his face.
Defeating a dragon rider was hard. Killing a Night Fury rider is close to impossible.
There wasn’t even a clear description of its appearance. Close to extinction, most didn’t even believe there were any specimens left alive.
Another realisation dawned on Flux. Norsea, an empire of great power which requests to start a war with Luminara, has a warrior that knows how to control a Night Fury.
They were screwed.
It was the first time in a while that he felt completely lost. What could one person do to stop a full war. His only hope was that Elanuelo was prepared for situations like this.
Fluixon needed a serious break. His head was still spinning from the nightmare and how he just came to the realization that his best friend had died with no body left and he couldn’t even be avenged since Norsea owned the most dangerous dragon, the one that killed Saps.
He couldn’t give up. He would at least try and kill both, hanging the dragon head on the wall of the meeting hall.
Silence stretched as minutes seemed to pass like seconds. Fluixon went back to composing the letter he desperately wanted to give up on.
The boy took out a new white sheet after throwing away the 7th try.
Regarding such an important offer I must respond. I appreciate the proposal but as our current objective is far from such arrangements, I must have to reject for the time bei-
A quiet knock interrupted the steady rhythm of the pencil scratching the paper.
Turkey emerged from behind the door. “Fluixon, you should come to dinner” the tired person stated.
The boy remained seated staring at the letter in front of him.
Eventually, he got up, giving Turkey a meek smile, as they exited the room. The hallway stretched long and the walls were full of stuffed dragon heads. Trophies. Fluixon felt many eyes watching him as he passed a Whispering Death skull nailed to the wood.
Outside, blackbirds happily chirped despite the gray clouds slowly covering the sky.
The walk to the dining hall felt like it would never end.
Little glimmers of changing orange hue of sunlight shone on the trees around the oak and spruce buildings. The air was heavy, and not only because of the humidity, but because Fluixon still felt the numbness left in his chest from the nightmare. His mind was full; the more he spent thinking about everything that had happened the more confused about his feelings he got. So he decided to make some conversation with Turkey;
“Why was Elanuelo so busy today? Did something happen?” He asked, hiding a tremor in his voice.
“You know how he is. He can barely catch a break.” The man paused, deciding if he should continue. “I don’t know much, only that a kid, around 15 years old, was training with one of the Vikings that was assigned teaching duties. He was learning to shoot down dragons on one of the islands east of the fishing docks when a Gronckle attacked him with a lava blast. Elanuelo has to help with his parent’s grief and arrange a funeral since the kid was one of his friend’s cousins.”
Flux felt bad for the child’s family but didn’t know how to respond to such a horrid thing.
“That’s unfortunate..” the raven haired boy settled on saying.
Finally, they reached the hall. The building was tall, certain parts of the roof already covered by a blanket of moss. The wood was carved into shapes that recalled old tales of dragons and men.
Chatter was seeping through the logs carefully stacked on top of each other isolated by dry weeds in between each.
Turkey opened the door and let Flux in. A sudden warm breeze rushed out of the dining hall.
Elanuelo was already at the table eating cooked cod. On both his sides sat other vikings discussing their newest trophies and reached goals. Fluixon walked up to the main table and sat at his designated place lifting his mug full of mead. He put it down as he couldn’t stomach any alcohol right now.
Voices sang around talking relentlessly. The raven haired boy fixated his eyes on his platter. He lost his appetite after all that happened in the last few hours. Elanuelo noticed.
“Son, why don’t you tell them about how you took that Zippleback down last time you went hunting.” His father tried to catch his attention that seemed to disperse in all directions.
He could blurily recall himself dodging a green gas while lifting his axe bracing for a clean cut. The feeling of cleanly slicing the dragon in two made his skin crawl though he doesn’t know why.
One of the vikings close to him gasped “That boy has some real talent”. In response another joined the conversation “He may be as good as you Elanuelo. He should train a couple of kids once in a while, maybe even gather a team of dragon hunters”.
Flux smiled weakly nodding along.
“Father, I wanted to tell you something.” the boy muttered amidst the loud jabber.
The man smiled tiredly, dismissing his urgency. “Now, now son, why don’t you feed some of the gossip with all your little adventures. They all want to hear after all ” Fluixon opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by the constant questions from the people around.
“Father” the boy tried again to raise his voice against the crowd.
Chatter still filled every corner of the room, showering him in praise and wishing him luck. “I opened a letter today.” Nobody reacted.
“I think it is pretty important.” Laughter engulfed the air constantly.
Elanuelo was answering random questions he caught in the loud noise. “Father!”
“Please-”
“Dad!!” Fluixon almost screamed.
The room instantly silenced. The boy never lost his composure even though he always insisted on what he believed was right.
Flux sighed loudly.
“I was sorting through the letters that arrived last night, earlier–when the sun was right above. Father, I think we should talk alone.” Murmurs spread like wildfire throughout the whole hall.
The noise of the king clearing his throat silenced every curious Vikings sharing countless theories with them.
Elanuelo stood up concerned and started walking outside the wooden house with his son trailing like a shadow after him. The night has already set as glimmering stars blinked in patterns across the sky.
The man in front turned around with a stern face. “What was so important that you act like that?” His voice rang clear in the tense silence.
Unable to form a sentence, Fluixon took out the letter he stashed away in his satchel, handing it over. After quickly scanning the paper, Elanuelo’s face fell. He stilled as he read the lines written in dried ink over and over again with a dazed expression.
The air instantly stiffened.
“Son, go bring a map to the Hall and call Legacy and 3Below over. Quickly!” the man ordered, seemingly stressed.
Flux ran back to the wooden structure as fast as he could trying to navigate the similar path he often walked after dinner. The moon was the only thing casting a bright hue reflected on the short grass that grew on the trail. He soon reached the entrance and wasted no time in frantically searching through his cabinets for the peace of paper his dad had requested.
Leaving the mess he made behind, he ran into one of the adjacent rooms. 3Below was sitting on a chair while Legacy sharpened an axe, the tools screeching in a high pitched noise.
“Elanuelo will explain, come to the hall right now!” The raven boy rambled out of breath. His chest rose and fell quickly as both of the men in the room stood up and straightened, hurriedly, crossing the room in two steps and leaving into the night.
3Below was Luminara’s strategist with Legacy as an apprentice.
After catching his breath, Flux followed after the two, arriving quickly at the hall walking into the now empty room. The long table was barren as Elanuelo signaled for him to spread the map on the wooden surface.
Tension was clear in the darkened room. The lit up torch reflected its fire in all of their eyes. Determination blended with fear as most of the Vikings looked like it was the edge of the world.
It looked like his father had explained to all of the vikings that were gathered around, now way less than there were at dinner. Turkey spoke first.
“Flux, is there something else we should know?” he said in a grave voice.
Puzzled, the boy tried to piece together all of the new information he had gathered since the morning. Remembering the terrible discovery that he made after finding out about the war he raised his head. “I have my reasons, but I believe the Night Fury was the one that killed Saparata Theria ten years ago.”
Gasps filled the quiet room. Everyone seemed to be lost in thought as Legacy took a step forward. “That would mean Norsea owns a Night Fury..” he concluded.
Fear flashed in the adults eyes.
“Oh my Ish..” Turkey said at last.
3Below took a step forward and cleared his throat; “As terrible as that may be, we have to discuss how to counterattack and defend if a war breaks out. We don’t have warriors ready for such a big fight.”
“He’s right,” Elanuelo agreed. “As much as I hate to admit, we don’t stand a chance against Norsea. Crow, what do you think?”
A man no older than 40 stepped in front of the laid out map. “Our main concern is being attacked from behind. There has been an abnormal amount of dragon sightings near the lake or the pine forest.” Crow placed a small piece of wood near the north coast of the island. “We should send out more people to watch while also working there. Maybe send them fishing or cut wood. We should also send a few men with horses so they could arrive back quickly enough to warn us. Regarding the loss of warriors, we have to train a few to be replacements if the boat we sent to that place the explorer told us about doesn’t arrive back in time”.
“Whatever shall we do about the dragons?” Fluixon asked.
3Below looked around waiting for someone to respond. He took his head in his hands as he tried thinking of a possible way to defend against a Night Fury.
Legacy raised an eyebrow as he saw the heir take a step forward answering his own question; “I can try to obtain eels or poisonous roots so the arrows will do more damage. I don’t know if the younger hunters are ready yet. They might still be shaken up after the.. Incident.”
The king seemed to be in thought as he placed two more wood pieces on one of the main docks and one neighbouring island. Now, two more sides remained underprotected.
The mountains were unusually tall in comparison to others. Full of cave systems, if anything seriously turned out badly, they could hide away. Dragons thrive in a limestone environment so it was a risky thing to go there.
“Send out some vikings there to reinforce those ports as they are often spots where travelers stop. Make sure they are careful to see if anything is off” Elanuelo ordered as Turkey nodded along.
The man turned to the boy he called his son. “Flux, I’ill arrange for you to train a few of the younger vikings in the morning. You should go for now and rest.” he turned to face the others; “I’ll announce the plans tomorrow that we will decide on. I will also write a letter back in hopes of finding out if the Norsea people want something.”
Crow crossed his arms, gaze still fixed on the map. “If they do want something,” he muttered, “they’ve chosen a strange way of asking for it.”
Legacy quietly coughed before adding: “What’s worse is that if the letter took one week to arrive, who knows how much they will wait or if they are expecting a response or not.”
Flux turned away slowly walking outside, the noise slowly fading out. He could still slightly hear 3Below’s voice discussing strategies with the vikings that were left alone in the hall surrounded by the quiet of midnight.
The boy hated how he had to leave though he couldn't argue with his father.
A black haired person paced outside as something kept him awake.
Crickets sang sad ballads into the night with the wind blowing like a goat horn announcing the arrival of a new time.
When looking up, Flux noticed that the clouds that covered the sky were mercilessly shoving at each other before the sunset had returned, now threatening rainfall.
Coldness bit his skin sharply. The necklace that rested onto his neck seemed to press hard against him, tearing him apart. Fluixon could remember so vividly how he once stood, sheltered from danger, seeing it attack him. It wasn’t fair how little he got to explore the world. Saps would always talk without an end about his wish to discover new dragon species and territories. He couldn’t blame the boy for his nativity. Dragons were feral creatures undeserving of so much attention. The only reason he knew so much about them was because he had to know each and every one’s weaknesses. He was not interested in them whatsoever.
Flux took a deep breath, deciding to go back to his room.
The chamber house was anchored underneath a layer of silence. The boy quickly snuck inside his own space, climbing a ladder to get on the platform above the table where stuff was still messily pulled out of his drawer. Climbing into bed, all Fluixon wished was that the day would have been a rotten dream instead.
His eyelids tiredly fluttered closed, leaving the room in absolute stillness.
Somewhere outside a flapping wing announced the passing of a dragon wishing to be unseen.
Flux’s eye twitched under the skin. He was already fast asleep.
Small droplets started pouring in an even rhythm from the sky as fog fell upon the sleeping Luminara.