The Kingdom of White, Tiamat, named after the Ancient White who once ruled the Kingdom alongside its chosen human King. The Kingdom of White had enjoyed peace for many years, never going to war, never aiding nor stopping other nations in their wars. It was a nation that had rich bountiful yields, a land of plenty, a land where people from all over lived together in peace. The Kingdom of the cloudless snow plains. The land of the white marble. A land of pure white beauty and serenity.
But now those lands were gone. Replaced by fields of fire, of death, of decay. White snow now tainted black and blood red. People dying, people crying, people running for their lives. Deryke did not like what he was seeing but he could tear his eyes away from what was happening. This was truth of war, the truth of the darkness, the true war. He had long thought that becoming part of the Dragonnaires was the furthest he could go, that joining the Order would be the end goal. But it wasn’t. The two Souls within him. The Black soul that he had. The truth of Shivylie Silvastern. The truth of the Dark ones. And finally, the war. The second coming of the Dark ones and the second war. This was the true face of what he had to go through.
“The Red flight will handle fighting most of the smaller ones. The Blue Flight will support them. The Yellow and Green Flights will act as fast moving strike attackers and cause the enemy to spread out. As the White flight has already started fighting at the Castle, we, the Brown Flight, will go in a assist them.”
Hyral told the rest of her Flight although Deryke felt that she was actually talking to him.
“That’s the Castle of White.”
He looked up and only saw a large dark cloud circling around in a spiral.
“We’re going in.”
Before he could say anything, Hyral dived straight into the dark cloud with her brown flight following behind her. The strong winds of the dark cloud caused the dragons to be unstable, making flying hard. Deryke had it worst as he grabbed onto Hyral’s scales as hard as he could to prevent himself from flying off. The energies from the dark cloud caused some of the brown flight to lose their transformation and were falling from the sky towards the ground. Those who could still hold their shape went in to rescue their falling comrades. Hyral was having trouble keeping her dragon form as well, parts of her wings were disappearing and reappearing at random.
“… We will be making a crash landing. Hang on tight.”
“Wha-”
Without warning, Hyral took a dive straight down, causing Deryke to grab tightly onto her scales as they dropped all the way down. Breaking through the dark clouds, Deryke could see the giant walls of the White Castle. Its pure white stones were stained red with blood and black with dark energy. But they were coming in too fast and too low, Hyral tried to avoid the wall but she hit the stones hard, tumbling through the air and crashing into the giant sky courtyard below.
Deryke shook his head as he slowly got up from the ground. The landing was much harder than he had thought. Landing? He looked around for Hyral and saw her not too far from him though she was in worse shape than he was. Hyral had managed to land in such a way that he did not get too injured, however she had become injured instead. With cuts and scales torn off, Hyral lay there bleeding.
“H-Hyral!”
Deryke ran up to her but he realised that he could not do anything. Some of the others in the other flights could use healing Dracrede but he could not even figure out how the ancient form of magic even worked.
“Do not… bother.”
Hyral said, trying to get back up on her feet but her strength failed her.
“C-can’t you transform back?”
“… The darkness… is making our souls unstable… but you… are different.”
Hyral stared straight at him. He looked down and felt it. His chest was hot and tight. It was not painful but rather it was a feeling that something was protecting him. His two Dragon Souls.
“You must… save Shivylie… Head to the throne room… It is at the top.. of the main tower.”
Hyral looked up to where fire tall towers were covered by the dark clouds above. The main tower was the centre tower and was the largest of the five.
“B-but I still do not know what to do!”
“Trust… in your souls… They know… what to do.”
Deryke did not know what she meant by it but the cries of Wyrvens made him push aside those thoughts.
“Go now… before they come..”
Hyral pushed herself up but she could not stand straight.
“You’re in no position to fight those things!”
“I… am a Wing…”
Hyral said as she slowly forced herself back into her human form. While being human, her wounds were not as serious but Deryke knew she would still need to push herself hard just to stand.
“But-”
“Even… without my fangs… I can still fight.”
She raised her hand into the air and a bright light appeared at her hand. A giant brown hammer appeared from the light and grabbing onto it, Hyral slammed the hammer into the ground, causing it to crack. The hammer itself stood above its user’s height, with a solid head that appeared as thick as a horse carriage. Dragons were engraved on it, depicting a fierce battle of fire and mountains.
“But you’re injured! I will stay behind until your Flight can reach us.”
Deryke said stubbornly. Hyral closed her eyes, letting out a sigh before she turned to him.
“You cannot fight… without a weapon.”
Hyral pointed out.
“You can get… a weapon from… your Souls… You have yet to master them… thus to call upon your souls for weapons… is impossible… Close your eyes…”
Hyral said and Deryke was unsure but still did as he was told. While his eyes were closed, he felt someone press hard against his back. And from that point on his back, he felt a strange heat being forced into him.
“Do not open your eyes… I will aid you in this endeavour… Feel as my words say, not do… Reach into yourself… what do you see?”
He had no idea what she was talking about. All he could see was darkness-… He stopped as he thought he felt something pounding in his chest. A weapon. He had a weapon. A… sword?
“Now reach for it… pull it out… it belongs to you.”
He felt himself reach out for it, as though the sword was right there in front of him. He reached out and felt something at his outstretched hand. A… hilt? He grabbed onto it firmly and suddenly he felt it. He opened his eyes and he saw it in his hands. A long two handed sword but it did not seem to be heavy in his hands as he held it in one hand. The hilt of the guard was simple, yet had sharp prongs at the end of the hilt that curved both inwardly down the blade, and also down the hilt. Red words glowed on the smooth blade down the fuller. The hilt had a dragon’s head carving, seemingly biting onto the blade, with sharp slanted eyes that seemed to glow a fiery red flame within. This was… his Red Dragon Soul weapon.
“A blade that reflects its user… Such gaudy decorations show either a wild imagination… or a lack of mastery over your own soul…Yet… to produce it this quickly… even if I had dealt my hand in it… you have the skill to learn fast…”
Hyral said, and just when Deryke turned to her, he noticed that her hammer was raised up high, and ready to hit. Hit what? To be precise, him.
“Erm… L-lady Hyral?”
“… Yes?”
“What is that for?”
He dared to ask, pointing at her hammer.
“… It is the fastest way… to get you to the main tower.”
“I don’t think-”
“Don’t think… just… fly.”
Without another word, Hyral swung her hammer in one full arc, hitting him straight into the air. It was hard to tell just how high or how far Deryke actually flew through the air. This would be his first flight although he was flying as human being and not as a Dragon. Of course he had never flown as a Dragon and to have his very first flight be the direct result of someone hitting him with a hammer to fly through the air, it was somewhat of a sad event. Deryke could only remember seeing the some weird images before he crashed straight through the window of the main tower.
He felt his head spin a little as he got up to his feet, somehow unsure of how he managed to survive at all in the first place. Sent flying by a giant hammer? Should have died. Crashing into the stone wall of a castle? Should be dead and in liquid form by now. On a side note: flying through the air, not really something he liked. He looked around and found that he was alone in a corridor.
Looking out of the window, he saw that he flew quite far up as the sky courtyard where Hyral was some distance away from where he was now. Just what was the Brown Wing thinking? Using her weapon to send him flying all the way here? And wasn’t she injured? But the sounds of fighting and the flying bodies of dark dragon like creatures called ‘Vel Wyrvenias’ told Deryke that Hyral was more than capable of handling her situation.
“… Guess I’m on my own.”
Deryke said to himself as he looked down at the large sword in his hand. His soul weapon. It felt warm in his hand and to him it felt like it was something that he was familiar with. Something that he knew of and something that was a part of him. Well, it is his ‘soul’ weapon. He gripped onto his sword and steeled himself. He had to do this. Even though he had no idea what to do or how to do it, he had to do… it.
“… What was it?”
He tried to remember hard. That hit on the head was really bad to the point he could not remember why he was here in the first place.
“… Right, saving the World.”
He finally sort of remembered his goal, though not correct it was still on the same page.
Raising his sword, he cut down on the flesh of the creature before him, hearing it give one last cry before its body disappeared into nothing. Such was the end of a Dark one. He had no problems fighting such creatures to protect his home but something felt wrong about fighting the Dark ones, something he could not put a finger on.
“My Lord, we have managed to regroup with the Order.”
One of his men told him and he saw the dark armour of the Order of the Dragonnaires, worn by their brave Dragoons, fighting along the walls towards them. He knew it would be a matter of time before the Dragoons would reach them. The Dragonnaires themselves were fighting in the sky although it had seemed that their skills were limited, possibly due to the dark clouds that linger above the castle. A group of Dragoons marched towards him and their leader stepped forward.
“Are you a captain of the White Guard?”
The leader asked. The leader was a young lady with slightly long brown hair and one of her sides was tied in a braid. He was slightly surprised by the leader of this Dragoon group to be a young woman but he guessed an Order like the Dragonnaires had valued skill over anything else.
“… That I am. Captain of the White Guard, Josua Soulders. I thank you and your Order for your swift rescue.”
He wanted to bow to her but she raised a hand to stop him.
“Thank us when we actually do save your Kingdom. Can any of your men move? The battle for the sky has taken for the worse.”
The female leader looked up and he followed her gaze, looking upon a one sided battle where the Dragonnaires were losing. They were an elite force that trained hard to fight against the Dark ones but in this weather and against such numbers, they were facing near impossible odds.
“The Dragon Knights from the Kingdom of Red have arrived!”
The Dragoons of the Order shouted out as the skies became filled with flying dragons with armour that was coloured with the Kingdom they came from. Human Knights rode atop of these Dragons with spears and started to attack the Dark ones head on. This helped the Dragonnaires, who fell back and regrouped before charging in once more.
“Armies spotted over the horizon!”
One of the lookouts shouted. He ran over to the otherside of the wall to take a look and indeed it was a sight to see. Thousands of men marched through the countryside towards the castle. Banners and flags that showed the combined might of the Kingdoms coming to aid them. The sky filled with more Dragon Knights as the armies readied to attack from the hill.
“Looks like you have not been forgotten.”
The leader of the Dragoons said, making him nod.
“Yes… When all hope is lost, when all can see is darkness, those who come to your aid are truly friends.”
“… That, I have to wonder.”
Lord Regius looked at the battle in front of him. Death and blood everywhere. His army had gone through many fields of dead and burning houses but this was the place where the darkness was. The Capital of White, the White Castle, Tiamat. He had visited the capital of White once before. While not as large as Alexasdra, it was certainly a beautiful city that was filled with pure smiles and laughter.
A pure city that was peaceful and no one would suffer. Some call it a ‘perfect’ city, while others call it a ‘false’ city. Too peaceful, too perfect that some began to think that it was only on the surface that it was peaceful. Who knew what was the truth but now it did not matter. The once pure white walls now black and red. The lands were bare and empty other than bodies of the people.
“What is left of the White Army is in the main Castle.”
One of his men told him.
“I see, so they have decided to pull back everything to defend the castle… It is not wrong…”
Lord Regius trailed off.
“… But it leaves the people without protection. A rather selfish order, do you not think so?”
Mertyr asked, the commander of the Blue Kingdom riding up next to him.
“They knew that they could not fight against the Dark ones if they are too spread out. By calling everything they have to protect the capital, they made the right choice in order to make a stand.”
Regius answered simply. Mertyr smiled at his answer.
“And so they wait for the coming of the end of days. I wonder how much my Kingdom can get out of this?”
“Mertyr, you-”
“I have my orders, Regius, as do you.”
Mertyr said before riding off back to his army. Regius knew that what this war meant was not only a show of force that the Kingdoms are strong against the Dark ones, but it was also a show of power for each Kingdom. Whoever can prove to be stronger in this battle would no doubt have an edge in any war they have later on. It was the same for the Kingdom of Red. After the first war against the Dark ones, the Kingdom of Red proved itself to be strong and went to attack other nations after the war with the Dark ones. Could this be another chance for the Kingdom of Red to be strong again? Regius did not want to think like that.
“For now, the people of White need us. Men! Forward!”
“Lord Red Wing! The Armies of men have arrived!”
One of the smaller red Dragons flew up to tell him that although he did not need to know such things as he could see it for himself. Bryale, in his Dragon form, flew lower to take a closer look. The Dark ones were not only Wyrvens, but also twisted creatures that were ‘eaten’ by the Dark ones. No longer looking like their former selves, those mindless dark monsters only followed the Wyrvens… and the fallen ancients. It was never clear how they were listed but to the Dragonnaires, they were all just ‘Dark ones’. The Kingdoms of men had called them Wyrvens ‘Dark ones’, while calling the twisted creatures that followed them ‘Darklings’.
“Lord Red Wing, shall we assist the Kingdom of Red?”
One of the younger ones asked, to which he turned and snapped his jaw at him.
“We do not meddle in the affairs of men. It has long been decided as such. We shall fly to meet the Dark ones in the sky, that is all.”
Without another word, Bryale took to the skies once more. He knew that it was against the rules to aid the Kingdoms. Not like the first time, he will not make the same mistake again. But just as he flew up, he suddenly felt a strong power coming from within the Castle.
“Wha-”
He felt that power once and it was not too long ago.
“That boy… why is he here? But more importantly… he managed to control it?”
Bryale knew that this energy was of a ‘Soul’ weapon. Only those who had complete control over their ‘Souls’ could make such a weapon. The Wings are among the few who could use their Souls in such a way.
“… Just what is he?”
Imagination's fart 