Soul of the Dragon - Chapter 1
[Soul of Dragon]
Chapter 1 - The pride, The Paladin.
First time ever to write a non-yiffy story :P And I plan to make it a series. Yup, enjoy.
And before you guys read this story, I would like to give a BIG thanks to :iconTaaro:, he is my helper as well as story proofreader. He did an absolutely awesome job. And yes, you know what I am talking all these for, pay a visit!:P
Best regards,
AlientKnight
The silver plate mail shined under the bright light, Sephro stood on the stage, bathing in the holy light of the church. Bianco lightly punched her student's shoulder and grinned, "Yea...... so you finally graduated. You are officially a paladin now, though you are technically a rookie, but I think you will do fine."
"And don't you dare to sell your sword and armor. They are worth quite a bit of course, and I would have a great deal of trouble to get a replacement." She joked and kicked Sephro off the stage, making him roll down the stairs. "Now get your ass to the Order Guild and get some quests done before I have you promoted."
"Fine, fine...... I'll go. Just don't be so violent towards me, okay?" Sephro got up and rubbed his buttocks and complained. "I don't even know where to start." In return Sephro got a bonus kick on his butt one more time, followed by a roar, "JUST GET OUTTA HERE!" He dropped out from the open window and landed flat on the street, attracting all the people's attention. "Erm... hi..." He lifted up his head to greet the people, followed by a scream above him and a large force struck him on his back, making him grunt in pain. "Pervert!" The woman above him stomped again and again before she walked away from the hurt paladin.
"This is the worst day of my life!" He stumbled into the lobby of Order Guild and staggered to the request counter. "Any easy quests available...?" The lady on the counter shot a glare at him. "...Taking down the Izari Bandit Team, Defend Inalidia city side village from monsters' attacks, etc, etc......" With every quest he heard from the woman, his face slowly faded to white. "But, but but... are there any other quests that don't require a battle?" The woman glared at him and a cold word escaped her mouth. "No." Just when Sephro got disappointed and decided to leave the guild, a man swung the door open and strode into the guild. "Ma'm.... Ma'm...! We have a situation here! Sir Shawn had just released a new quest on exploring the abandoned ruins in the northern land!" Sephro removed the door that was slammed onto him and shouted out loudly, "I am up for the task! I will take this quest!" Chatters begun to fill the room. "Going to the northern land? He must be out of his mind!" Sephro adjusted his armor and walked to one of the chatterers, "Hey... May I know what is going on in the abandoned ruins of the northern land?" The person stared at him in amazement, "Have you ever heard of Pandora? If you have, you should definitely know about the northern lands." He paused and shuddered a little before he continued, "The Order Guild once created a monster name Pandora. It was meant to be the most powerful weapon against those mindless beasts and those arrogant dragons. But it went out of control and destroyed its motherland, turning that place into nothing more than a ruin. And that's the whole... entire northern land, you know?" Sephro shook his head and asked, "Wait...... Pandora, is...... is a living creature?" The man nodded, "Exactly! He is the product of human blood mixed with ancient alchemy. He has even stronger magic than an elder dragon does. No one, no one can beat him. Thank god he was reported missing after he wiped out the northern lands." The man took a sip of his beer, "Wish you all the best, hope you are different from the others that tried. So far I haven't seen anyone come back alive from that place."
"Oh hell no! I am not fit for this! Don't stamp it!" Sephro dashed to the counter just as the paper was stamped with 'Quest Accepted'. "Aww...shit! I am dead, I'm so dead." He gave a pitiful look to the lady at the request counter, begging, "May I cancel my quest... please?" The counter lady rubbed her fingers and whispered, "That would be 500 gold coins to cancel an A-level quest."
"What the fuck?!" Sephro dug through his pocket and drew out a bronze coin. "Great, that's all I have." The lady passed him the paper and winked at him, "Good luck, silly boy." She said as she watched him dragged his hopeless body out of the guild.
......
Just when he got back to the castle and reported back to his teacher, a guard called out his name, "Sephro, His Holiness wishes to see you. Please follow me." Sephro sighed and followed the guard, slowly walking to His Holiness' room.
Sephro bowed in front of the old man sitting in the center of the room, on a stage high above the ground. "It is my honor to see you, Holiness." The son of the gods, Sa'lamder, nodded and called him to stand up, "I am proud of you, my warrior. The light of the gods are definitely shining in your heart, giving you courage to take up such a challenging quest." This is definitely not what you think it is! Sephro moaned inside his heart. "I give my greatest respect to you, Sephro. May the eternal light guide you." Sephro held his sword tightly with both hands and saluted to His Holiness, "I won't let you down. You have my word." Sa'lamder grinned and dismissed him back to his room.
"Grrr...! What am I going to do?" Sephro lied on his bed and wondered, still not sure whether he should be doing this or not. But there was no turning back. He had to do it or he would face a fate of ending up a cleaner in the guild, working days and nights, bearing humiliation just to get the 500 gold paid. "Screw it! I would rather die like a hero than become a cleaner in the guild." His temper raised and his breath quickened, his sword split the table half. "I will crush anything in my path like I did to this table!" The self comforting did help in bringing up some courage for him. The courage soon turned into nothingness, faded into void after he heard a low voice enter his ears, "A table charges 5 silver, sir."
DAMN!
......
Soft wind brushed against his figure, the bright golden light of dawn shined upon his silver armor, making it glow softly. Trees and bushes on the side of the path were painted with a layer of light orange under the sun of the dawn. Sephro rode on the narrow, muddy path towards the north. The path extended far along the bushes and trees, and then vanished in his sight when massive woods covered the sight of the path. The road just seemed to fade into darkness under the woods. Even though it was not completely dark before the night drew close, but there was no chance for the weak light to get through the leaves and branches before reaching the ground. He knew exactly how this forest was, just as dangerous as it appeared to be. Voices from side of the woods, and the music of the crickets slowly became inaudible when he entered the woods. The light of the sun was left behind at the entrance. The darkness had embraced him and his ride. The horse ground and dug into the muddy ground with its hooves, breathed heavily, trying to release its nervousness and fear. Sephro held the ropes tight, attempting to calm it. Indeed, he could feel something was not right. He drew out his sword, his eyes focusing on any unusual movements in the forest. He heard nothing, and saw nothing other than the shedding leaves and hearing the whistling of the wind.
A howl of wind on his back alerted him. He jumped down from his ride and drew out his shield, defending himself from the incoming harm. All he could see was an arrow piercing through the air from the darkness, shooting down his horse. With a howl of pain, the horse collapsed. Its wound was bleeding badly, and the blood was dark red. It took only a few seconds before the moaning of pain was muted completely when its soul left its body. Sephro hid himself behind his shield and tried his best to see though the darkness of the forest, searching for the assassin. He knew he shouldn't, and mustn't speak a word that might lead to his exposure of his enemy.
"Show yourself, you filthy human!" Sephro lifted his head right up and spotted a human-like figure in the darkness. It leaped from the branches and landed on the ground, revealing its body. A tigress, and to his surprise, it was on two, and not four like normal tiger's were. Her body was covered with leather, but it didn't hide her beauty. Her smooth, curved form allowed her to move faster than any assassin would in the woods. The long, wide wood bow in her hand was about the same height as her. He definitely knew her arrows were poisoned. He glanced at his ride, its wound had stopped bleeding, but the skin around the arrow had leeched its brownness and was replaced by dark green. Soon, she found where he was and drew out another arrow. The arrow was filled with her wrath. Before Sephro could even hear the sound of the arrow traveling through the air, it had already reached its target. He rolled on the ground and dodged the attack, unleashing his sword and questioned, "Must we have to fight? I didn't even know what I've done wrong and you attack me all of a sudden?" The tigress snarled with disgust, "All of you humans are such disgusting animals. You should have known what you have done to us!"
"Sorry, but no. I don't understand whatever you're talking about." Sephro shrugged.
"It doesn't matter if you don't know, because you will already be dead." Three arrows had been loaded on the bow at once and shot at three directions towards him, preventing him from any chance to dodge them. Even though he knew he was wearing metal plate mail that might prevent him from any harm, he would rather play it safe. "Divine Shield!" with a call upon the magic, lights and ancient words embraced him, knocked down all three arrows before they could touch him. "H-h-h-h-how can this be possible?" She gasped with amazement, not sure what she saw. What the heck is that sphere thing that blocked all of her arrows? She added another load of arrows and shot at the sphere again, trying to break it, to no avail. What on earth was that human doing? She didn't expect her powerful arrows to be blocked. "Alright, I can't hold this for long. I will have to finish this fast." Sephro held up his shield and charged at her. She finally gave up in shooting him and withdrew her short dagger, attempting to have close combat with the human paladin. The distance between the two shortened and their weapons met, drawing out a loud metal ringing noise from them. She bent down and Sephro's sword swung right above her. Her dagger slid across his metal plate mail, leaving a gash above it. "Hold it right there!" Sephro bashed her back with a powerful knock of his shield, "The holy light, Judgment Bolt!" A bolt of hammer-like energy smashed right onto her. "Wha...?" Her words left unspoken as she felt her world spinning. She held her head and slammed against a tree, trying to regain her concentration. But before she could do anything, the shield had made contact with her head and rendered her unconscious.
......
"Sweet dreams?" Sephro sat beside the awaking tigress, asking softly. He turned and added more wood into the campfire to gain warmth and light in the night of forest. The female tiger gasped in horror and tried to pull herself away from the strange knight. "Who are you?!" She screamed as she found herself immobile, being trapped by the rope. "Let me go!" Wriggling and squirming, she attempted to break the hold but failed. "Relax, relax...... I am not trying to harm you. I'm doing this to stop you from doing anything stupid. Here, drink some water." He handed a bowl of clear liquid to her muzzle. But she seemed to have no interest on anything he was offering. She spat on him and growled with anger, "Just kill me, I am not going to tell you anything." Sephro shrugged and wiped away the saliva from his cheek, replying, "Easy, I didn't cause you any harm, did I? I just want to get through this forest, and you attacked me all of a sudden!"
"Shut up! You humans are full of lies. You all should be wiped from the surface of the earth." She snarled, then slowly her voice softened and she began to cry. "All of my family was killed in a disaster...... that horrible nightmare...... The night skies turned red and meteors fell on my village, turning everything into ashes, to dust. People screaming and fleeing, begging for someone... anyone, to save their lives." She paused and stared at the Order Guild insignia on his shoulder, her eyes widened, and she howled in terror. "You are one of them, the destructors of my homeland!" She bit his hand and knocked him down onto the ground. "What...?" Sephro got to his feet but was bashed down again by a powerful charge from the tigress. "You... YOU! One of your men destroyed the whole village!" She attempted to bite his neck and kill him, but failed as she encountered another bolt right on her head. The female tiger collapsed onto him and fell unconscious. "Who the hell she was talking about...?" Sephro moved her body aside and whispered to himself, "A man from the Order Guild has the power to summon a rain of meteors? She must be joking! I've never heard of a man that existed in our guild that could do that!" Sephro sighed with exhaustion, "Better get though this forest before the night draws in."
......
Darkness slowly faded and the lights began to appear on the far side along the narrow path, voices were barely heard and he could roughly see the shape of a small town in sight. "I guess we won't be staying in the wild woods tonight, eh?" Sephro turned and whispered to the tigress that was resting on his back. "Mmmmmmm!" She tried to talk but soon she found out she couldn't. A stripe of cloth on her muzzle had muted her from any further sound other than suppressed low moans. "Stay calm and stop kicking me. If not, I am going to put you to sleep again." Her struggling weakened and she began to whimper with sorrow. "Wait, wait, wait... what have I done wrong now?" Sephro put her down and asked curiously, not knowing why she started to cry out of the blue.
"Leave Emerald alone!" A low voice pierced through his ears, breaking the little peace Sephro had. He drew out his sword again, eyes focusing on the way where the source of the sound was. A big, tall figure appeared from the darkness. It was really huge compared to a human. Sephro roughly estimated it was 8 feet tall. "I said...... Leave Emerald...... Alone." The deep voice once again echoed in the small area.
"Emerald, who is Emerald?" Without further reply, the figure enlarged in his sight, appearing like it was hasting, charging at him. Though it might appear huge, its speed was absolutely different from its size. A mighty swing of his sword and a mysterious weapon met, drawing out a loud noise before it broke and crashed against each other again. In the short moment, their eyes met. "You...... you aren't human, are you?" The crystal blue eyes met with the serpentine greens and the blunt cheek touched the long, scaly, pointed muzzle. He could even smell the sulphur and carbon in the air. The loud clanging metal sound broke the peace in the woods, making a ruckus in the forest. Wild animals were awakened and slowly gather around the battlefield.
"Great, two out-of-reason fights all happening one a day." Sephro groaned in between his breaths, blocking another heavy slash from the gigantic figure. He could barely focus on the dark green figure. Its coloration was mixed with the nature and was hard to concentrate on. All he could do was defend himself from the heavy, broad blade. He needed a chance to free his hand and cast the knock out spell. He abandoned his shield and evaded another slash before he lengthened the distance between them. Just like what he did recently, he called upon the energy in the air and formed a light hammer that struck right down onto the figure. The grunt was heard from it, Sephro knew this was his very best chance. He rushed forward with sprint and attempted to knock it out and end this combat. All he could see was a wicked grin on its muzzle before he tripped and fell onto the muddy ground.
"Aww shit!" He flipped his body and found the broad blade was on his neck. He also saw an appendage wiggling behind the owner of the blade. "Alright, you win. What do you want from me?" He sighed and looked up, his first time getting a clear view of the figure. Yeah, he must be a dragon, Sephro thought to himself. The wiggling tail must be the cause of why he would trip and fall, losing this battle. The dark green scale form seemed to switch from reality to illusion, causing a strange effect like the dragon could melt into the forest in any time. Sephro moved his sight higher and met up with the blade that was held on his neck. It was weird, and it looked weird. Sephro had never seen any weapon like this before. It appeared broad and heavy, with only one side sharpened. Sephro would have no doubt that it could cut a deep gash into even stone. All his wandering thoughts were brought back at once when he felt the sharpness on his neck tighten, drawing out a few droplets of blood on the edge of the weapon. Sephro closed his eyes and held his breath. He knew he would not survive, but he just didn't get it. He clenched his fist, waiting for the unfair judgment to come.
But it never happened, however. Instead, Sephro had felt the blade being removed from him. He opened his eyes and the last thing he felt was a mighty struck on his head.
......
The darkness and dizziness slowly receded to the back of his mind, drawing him back to reality. "Urmm...! Where am I?" He found himself locked, bound to a wall. His helmet was missing, revealing his silvery hair in the air. At least what he was thankful of was he still had his armor on, not being nude or anything. His self questioning was soon answered by the same, familiar voice. "Who are you? Who sent you here? Why did you kidnap Emerald? I am not going to be done with you unless you answer all of my questions." Sephro clenched his teeth, he bit his lips to show his rejection against him. Before anything could happen, a figure broke in. As far as Sephro could recall, it was Emerald that this dragon was talking about. "Taaro...... Thank you." She hugged herself tightly and shuddered, voice trembled with a mix of fear and thank. "If you didn't come for me I would probably end up like some of the others might be, becoming a slave of the human world." Sephro's eyes flew wide open and they filled with anger, "W-WHAT?! Two times! Hell, two times you tried to kill me. I have no intention to harm you in anyway. So why the hell you do hate me so much, SO MUCH that you want to kill me by any means necessary?! Somebody tell me what the fuck is going on!" His temper burst and fury took him over. He would probably eat her flesh and drink her blood for that. She shuddered more and hid behind Taaro, who sheltered her from Sephro. "Listen, human." Taaro broke Sephro's stare and growled at him, drawing back his attention. "Now, let's get back to our topic. Answer my questions."
Sephro sighed, relaxing his body and slowly spoke up, "I am just an ordinary paladin, serving His Holiness and Order Guild. I was on a mission to explore the northern lands of Inalidia, and I certainly have no intention to harm anyone, ANYONE!" His gentle voice raised and ended up with a loud groan, "And you have no idea that this lady here attempted to kill me twice in a row!" And his voice softened again, "Why..... Why is this happening to me? Am I causing any harm?" He bit his lips again to mute his cry from being heard and turned his face away from the two people standing in front of him.
"If what he said was true, then there is no reason to kill him." Taaro spoke low in Emerald's ear, only finding she was stunned. "Emerald, Emerald?" Taaro waved a few times in front of her eyes but in response he only heard her mumbling, "The northern land...... the land...... my parents..." She finally awoke when Taaro shook her shoulder. She blinked a few times before she realized something, something very important to her. "Taaro, we shouldn't kill him. I need to ask him something before I let him off." She sent a mighty punch at Sephro's cheek and knocked him out before she removed the bonds on him.
"Let's move him to our room, I really have a lot to ask him."
......
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[Bonus?]
Sephro: Hey! That's not fair? It was just the 2nd day after I became the royal paladin and I caught with these much of troubles?
AlientKnight: Yeah, you know...... that's kinda needed in a story. evil grin
Sephro: Noo...... no, no, no! This is not what it is needed.
AlientKnight: Shut up. :P Emerald, take him away.
Emerald: With pleasure.
Sephro: ...... struggles
AlientKnight gives a big slap on Sephro's face and renders him to unconscious.
AlientKnight: Much better now. chuckles
Sephro: ...... (Why is this happening to me? T.T)