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In a land of myth and a time of magic, a small kingdom lay peacefully within a valley. Surrounded by three sets of unique mountains with a grand lake to it’s south. The different mountain set was inhabited by a different tribe, each with their own unique earth powers. They kept peace and balance for the kingdom,not breaking out into wars between the three. Within the lake lived the merpeople. They stayed out of human business, but enjoyed the company of the Queen who would often visit.
The Kingdom was ruled graciously by the King Burnie, and his amazing wife, Queen Ashley. The couple was young and full of life. The King was a wise, humble and powerful man, able to wield powerful fire magic. He often took care and consideration when dealing with the town affairs, keeping a level head in the heat of the moment. Many looked up to him and highly respected him as their ruler. The Queen was just as strong as her husband, if not more. Able to control the power of the flora around her, the Queen’s gardens flourished into beautiful botanical paradises for all the townsfolk to enjoy. Her kindness did not stop there. More often than naught, she would be seen in the village, going from school to orphanages to bring joy and laughter to the children of the kingdom.
Years had past since the King took Ashley as his Queen and the townsfolk was alive in hushed whispers, anticipating the announcement of a prince or princess. They would pass by the castle and point up to the royal balcony, hoping to see the couple appear with a glowing Queen.
But days turned into weeks, and weeks into months. Slowly, the whispers faded into quiet murmurs which slowly died off into nothing. The Queen was rarely seen, her face only showing through the curtains of the castle, watching with a sad look upon her people. The gardens started to wilt with the Queens mood, and the King’s temper became more fiery and hard to control much like his power; which in itself was becoming explosive as it’s master.
The Queen was infertile.
Thorns grew in place of the Queen’s plants, taking over her garden and transforming it into something dark and sinister. The children grew sad and angry at the lack of the Queen’s presence, wanting to see her magic and some grew into being bullies.
It was not until a handful of these bullies came running around the castle walls where the Queen was watching that she saw the young boy. He was being chased by the small youths and was covered in dirt and blood, his ginger hair matted and uneven.
Life sparked in her heart and her eyes and she turned away from the window, lifting her skirt and running down the stairs. Servants called out to her, concerned and confused at her sudden movements. She pushed the front doors open as fast as she could and made her way to where the boys and chased the red-head.
“You there! Cease what you are doing!” She called out them once she caught sight of the boys. The three of them stopped mid-kick and stared at the Queen doe-eyed. Without saying anything, they ran away as fast as they could, and she slowly made her way to the boy left alone, curled up in a ball in attempts to protect the most vulnerable part of his body.
“It’s okay boy. They are gone. I won’t hurt you.” she called out softly, her voice full of care and love. Slowly he looked out from his position and once he saw the Queen, tears started to fall from his eyes.
“I’m sorry ma’am. I didn’t mean to make a mess. Please don’t be upset.” he quivered.The Queen tried to get closer to the boy, who just flinched away.
“Shhh. It’s okay little boy. I don’t mind. But you are hurt and I’ll need you to come with me to get it looked at. What’s your name?” she asked. He uncurled, rubbing at his eyes to clear the tears.
“M’names Jack.” he replied.
“Hello Jack, I’m Ashley. Do you have any parents that are worried about you?” she asked and held out her hand, which Jack took. He shook his head negatively.
“No ma’am. They both died. I’ve been living in the orphanage but those other boys don’t like me there.” he spoke, tears still falling slightly. The Queen’s heart tore in her chest, which she quickly put her hand upon. Determination coursed through her body and she lifted the small child into her arms.
“Come with my Jack. We shall speak to Burnie about this matter, but I would very much like for you to live with us.” She spoke, walking back towards the castle doors. Jack went silent and tensed in her arms, the only indication of him responding to her statement was the tightening of his grasp on her back.
The Queen dropped Jack off in the infirmary where the nurses worked on him non-stop, cleaning his cuts and fixing the boy up. The Queen marched on to their private chambers where the King would be in his bath. He went to object to the intrusion until he saw it was his wife, with love and hope shining bright in her eyes. He knew, whatever she was about to speak, he had to let happen as the last time he saw her like this was when they got married.
She spoke fast and passionately about the boy who had no family she found, and that since she was unable to bear child with the King, she wanted to make this boy their own. The King thought it over, before agreeing to his wife.The Queen wept in happiness, finally able to care and have a child of her own.
A few days passed and the couple brought it up to the young man. He was unsure what they meant, but knew he would have a mother and a father once more.
The townsfolk became alive with chatters and the vines surrounding the castle and its gardens died within a day, and the most beautiful plants they had ever seen bloomed in their place; bright red flowers with hints of orange throughout them.
It was of little surprise the announcement the King and Queen made when they appeared on their balcony with a small boy between them, holding each their hand.
Prince Jack was to be heir of the kingdom.
And as he grew older, through childhood and his teenage years, the townsfolk loved him even more than the King and Queen if possible.
Which was why, when the Prince was celebrating his twenty-fifth year, the Kingdom, the mountain tribes and the merpeople of the lake were devastated. The Great Dragon Edilgarath came in and kidnapped Jack. He flew past the mountains to his keep in the ground, a hole so well hidden that it would take years for a brave, young knight to find him.
And that is where our story begins.
As a knight, Ryan knew he was a bit different from the others. Wherever he went, people would shy away from him. He had a reputation that followed him wherever he went in the Kingdom. Whereas other knights fought in honour and justice, Ryan fought just to fight. He enjoyed the blood bath, the rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins as he took the life from another creature.
But this time, Ryan heard the call from the King and Queen. The Prince had been taken by the Great Dragon. A creature Ryan had not had the chance to slay yet.
Ryan straightened out the saddle on his black stallion, Bounty, as he recalled the conversation he had with King Burnie earlier that day.
Ryan bowed down on one knee in front of his king, head down as well.
“Sir Haywood. I request you…..expertise. My son has been captured by the Great Dragon Edilgarath. I have heard of your tales of battle and you are the best fit to slay this beast. Can you do it, Haywood? Can you bring my son back to me?” the King demanded rather than asked. Ryan nodded his head even lower, not looking up to meet the King’s eyes.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Rise.” the voice called to him and Ryan stood up, his golden armour glinting in the sunlight. He raised his eyes as well and connected them with the Kings. There, Ryan could see fear, and hope both shining from within.
“I promise you. I will kill the dragon and bring the Prince back with me. I give you my word.” he spoke solemnly.
Ryan swung his leg over the saddle and got on, and snapped the reins to spur his horse into action. Bounty reared up, neighing loudly before galloping off as the sun started to peak over the horizon. There were a few boundaries between here and his destination, Ryan thought to himself starting to make a list. First he had to make it to the base of the mountains and depending on the tribe there, either make it over or through.
Ryan grimaced. The tribe of this particular mountain was composed solely of women, and were not so kind to men. He remembered the last time he went to make his way past the woman, the scar on his arm throbbing in ghost pain at the memory.
He paid no heed as the two rode on through the scenery, having seen it many times before. The fields turning into forest, which in turn would turn into rocky hills and finally into mountains. The cry of a red-tailed hawk echoed above him as they came closer to the base of the mountain.
“Halt! Who goes there?” a sharp voice called to them. Ryan pulled back on the reins, stopping his horse in his tracks. He could not tell where the voice had come from, only that it was from the tree to his left somewhere. There was a shuffle of movement and a different voice spoke to him from behind him.
“Speak your name, man.”
“I am Sir James Ryan Haywood, and I require your permission for passage through the mountain.” he replied to the trees. Silence met his reply and he waited.
“What is your quest?” the first voice asked, this time from his front. Ryan peered into the trees, this time seeing a pair of blue eyes staring back at him.
“The King has issued me to rescue the Prince. It would be helpful to have access through your mountain.” Ryan pleaded with the woman. Murmur’s surrounded him and a young woman stepped out into the light and out of the trees. Her hair was blonde and went to her shoulders and her arms were adorned with many lines, intertwining all along and around to create images of animals and plants all alike. Griffon, her name was if Ryan’s mind served him right. She wore leather to cover her most vulnerable parts, with some thicker furs draped over top. At her reveal, other women started to step forward too. A tall red head beside a shorter one - Meg and Lindsay. A brunette, Barbara, came from Ryan’s left talking with a petite blonde, Kara. Finally, a black haired woman named Arryn came from Ryan’s right and just stared at him
“You. The knight who slaughters, was sent on a rescue mission?” The shorter red head called out in disbelief.
“Lindsay. Hold your tongue.” the first woman harshly said. Lindsay opened her mouth to say something more, but closed it.
Griffon took a few steps forward and peered into Ryan’s eyes. Her blue eyes flashed gold as she stared deeper.
“He speaks the truth. Let him pass.” she declared. A few shocked faces looked at him, but Ryan ignored them and tightened his reins. He knew Bounty wouldn’t like the pass through the mountains but they had to to shorten the time. Griffon led them through the trees to a hidden alcove in the mountains, where a hole led into the heart of the mountain.
“Let’s go Bounty. And thank you, Griffon.” Ryan said wholeheartedly. Slowly, the pair made their way through the mountain. Thankfully, there were no creatures that would have attacked them, only bats and small elfish creatures. It was dark, and Bounty didn’t rear up in fear at all, which Ryan encouraged with a small pat on the neck and promise of a treat.
The light at the end peaked into their view and Ryan spurred Bounty faster. Bounty went into a light gallop and faster and faster, the light became brighter and brighter. Ryan shielded his eyes as they emerged, protecting them from the harshness.
What he saw when his eyes adjusted was nothing short of hell. What should have been a forested area was burnt to the ground, ashes and embers strewn about. The sky was hazy with black smoke and no creatures stirred anywhere. Ryan went on full alert, tensing as he drew his sword from the sheath.
He got off Bounty and let the horse stay there as he went in search of the hole, which wasn’t that hard. In no time, Ryan found the large hole in the ground, hundreds of feet in diameter.
“Your Royal Highness? Prince Jack? Are you down there?” Ryan shouted into the darkness. He pulled out a small hand torch from one of his pockets and lit it, before tossing it in the hole. Down and down it fell, until a very faint clank was heard. Ryan squinted and only saw a small pinpoint of light emitting from the torch before it was snuffed out.
“..llo?..El..Hell..hello?” a voice echoed from the pit. Ryan whistled for Bounty to come over, but his horse neighed loudly and turned away.
“Oh for the love of. You useless horse.” Ryan muttered to himself and trekked over to the horse. Just a few feet from the horse however, a loud and hot explosion burst forth scaring both him and the stallion. Sword held tight, Ryan turned around and came face to face with the Great Dragon.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here? A tiny little ant dressed in gold with a little toothpick for a sword?” the Great Dragon mocked, “I do believe I’ve seen better champions than you.”
Ryan frowned and held his sword up with two hands. He took in the Great Dragon. The called him Edilgarath, The Feared One. Thousands of dark, brown scales armored the monstrous body, with deep black spines protruding down it’s back. It had two enormous wings made of black leather to match, as well as a quilled tail. It’s black horns curled around it’s head and came to two, very sharp points. To his eyes, this beast had no weakness and many strengths.
But Ryan had fought worse.
With a smirk and a yell, Ryan charged forward, ducking out of the way when the Dragon’s tail came crashing down. A quill dislodged itself from the tail and into his shoulder, making Ryan wince in pain.
Unbeknownst to Ryan, a small dark light started to emit from his wound and seep into the ground, into his sword, and even back into himself.
Adrenaline coursing through his veins, Ryan screamed out as he slammed the sword down onto the tail of the dragon. Fury soared from the dragon’s mouth, white hot flames chasing after it. Blood splattered across Ryan’s face as the dragon whipped it’s tail far from the man. Edilgarath reared up before slamming his talons on the ground, pinning Ryan in one clawed hand.
Ryan screamed. One talon had pierced right through his armor and into his stomach. His vision started to hazy as loss of blood started to take its toll on him.
“Just like all the others.” the Dragon hissed at him as he lifted Ryan up to his face. “Weak. Pathetic. No match at all. Just another meal to add to my never. Ending. Hunger.” he mocked. Ryan attempted to struggle free, but it was to no avail.
Blood came rushing out faster, his sight now gone. All Ryan could feel was the cold scales around him.
And darkness.
Darkness suddenly broke free and surrounded him, enveloping him. He couldn’t see, couldn’t feel anything but the cool touch of darkness. The dragon roared as his clawed hand that held the knight started to burn, scales peeling away and falling off.
He dropped the human, and Ryan started to fall. Falling and falling, he did not stop on the ground, but rather kept going into the hole in which Edilgarath made his den in; in which the Prince was held captive. With a loud thunk Ryan landed on the hard ground, still surrounded by the darkness.
Footsteps ran towards him, but he couldn’t see anything.
“Sir knight? Sir knight! Please, open your eyes. Oh god, don’t be dead.” a male voice pleaded. The other man didn’t reach to touch him though. Ryan could feel his fear of him, of the darkness.
Ryan reached a hand up and it came in contact with a face with a beard.
“Don’t…be…afraid.” he whispered, and attempted to sit up. He groaned as he felt more blood spill out of his stomach.
“Please don’t move. You will only hurt yourself more Knight.” the man, this must be Jack Ryan figured, spoke.
“My name is Ryan. And I need to slay the dragon.” Ryan fought back. Gently hands hesitantly placed themselves on Ryan’s stomach.
“Then let me help.” Jack stated and a warmth seeped into Ryan. Slowly, his vision came back to him and the first thing he saw was a disheveled faced, framed by red hair and a red beard. Tired, brown eyes smiled at him.
“I don’t know how much time is left until the beast comes back. I fear we’re going to die here. You made him really mad.” Jack whispered. Ryan placed his hand on top of Jacks. He felt him flinch at first, but then relax.
“I need to slay the beast. I promised your parents.” Ryan stated and tried to stand once more. He felt weaker than what he was before. Ryan clenched a fist, wonder what had happened. The dragon had maimed him, almost to the brink of death. And after that…he didn’t know. It was darkness.
“You had me scared there. You were almost dead and you had this horrifying dark, light around you. I thought something terrible had happened.” Jack’s voice cut through Ryan’s thoughts.
“A dark light?” Ryan sharply asked. A roar sounded from above them and Ryan knew his time was coming short. Jack nodded and pressed himself against the rocky walls. Ryan stared at his hand.
“I was..almost dead, but…I had power.” he murmured. He frantically looked around him for some sort of sharp object. Seeing a jagged rock on the ground, he picked it up and jammed it into his hand.
Ryan cried out and an echoing cry came from Jack.
“No. Stay there. And don’t heal me. I think this the only way I can kill the dragon.” Ryan hollered out. Jack was hesitant, but slowly went back to the wall. Now Ryan could see what he didn’t before. As his blood spilled out, so did a dark light. It fell from his wound and into the ground, into his hand, seeping back into what it could. He clenched his fist once more and felt the power start to circulate through him.
“Go figure. Blessed with the magic of darkness.” Ryan chuckled before looking up at the sky.
“Come and get me you pathetic beast!” he screamed at the top of his lungs. A shrill cry roared back at him and he barely had time to brace himself as Edilgarath came crashing to the ground before him. Instantly, the beasts’ jaws came forward, attempting to devour Ryan. Ryan instead held up his hand that he had cut and let the darkness come in contact with the dragons teeth.
The dragon reared back again, giving Ryan a chance to see what he had done to its foot the last time. Instead of a clawed hand that had held him tight, there was nothing but a nub of an arm. The rest had fallen off.
“Excellent.” Ryan spoke to himself, and ran forward to the beast. The dragon, seeing the human run to it, turned around and let it’s cut tail run into Ryan. Instead of dodging it, Ryan let it him square in the chest, the spines piercing through him.
The dragon roared in victory, but Ryan held on tight to the tail. Ever so slowly, he climbed one spin at a time up the dragons back. Blood fell freely from his chest where the spines at first hit him, but along with the blood came the darkness, and he trailed a path as he went; red blood and black darkness. Soon enough, the dragon was crying out in agony as his scales peeled off, followed closely by its skin and muscle tissues. By the time Ryan had made his way to the dragon head, three quarters of the dragon’s hind side and ripped away.
Ryan held as tight as he could on to Edilgarath horn’s as the dragon whipped its head back and forth to rid itself of the vermin. It’s hand came up to Ryan to try and grab him, but just missed. Instead he cut open Ryan’s leg and blood gushed from there on to the top of its head.
By now, Ryan had lost his sight and was slowly losing his conscious from lack of blood. He was easily tossed off now and was thrown to the ground, rolling around like a ragdoll.
“Ryan!” Jack called out and ran to the fallen knights side. He placed his hands on Ryan’s wounds without hesitation and began to heal him. He kept an eye on the dragon, who was slowly withering away before his eyes to nothing but ashes.
As he healed, Ryan’s darkness surrounded both of them, until Jack could see nothing but the man before him. It swirled around them, faster and faster until it stopped. The dark faded instantly and with it, revealed that the two were back at the base of the mountain, surrounded by the burnt ashes of the forest.
A groan came from Ryan’s lips as he stirred.
“Did I win?” he grumbled out. Jack laughed lightly and lurched forward to hug Ryan.
“You could say that.” Jack replied.
The two sat in silence, only disturb by the sounds of hoofs as Bounty came trotting over to Ryan.
“You know.” Jack started to speak as he moved a bit closer to Ryan, “I never expect to get out of there alive. So…Thank you. Very much.” Jack whispered and leaned over to place a kiss on Ryan’s cheek. Ryan felt his face heat up at the contact and he turned to look at the other man.
Blue eyes met brown.
Lips met lips.
Afterwards, the two got on the stallion and road back through the mountain trail. The tribe was pleased to see that the knight had won over the dragon, and the Prince was safe and sound. Arms tightened around the Knight and the two said the goodbyes and carried on to the castle, where the King and Queen wept at the sight of their son back home.
Once asked for a reward, Ryan kindly declined and said he had gotten all the reward he needed. The Royal couple saw the looks between the two and understood. They wouldn’t hold back on love, and these two were obviously in its hold.
The Kingdom rejoiced at the news and sight of their Prince back, and got used to the sight of the golden armored Knight by his side at all times.
The end.