The Child of Ix Raali

If you were to go to the nearest kingdom, you would come to Blackwood. Blackwood was one of the few kingdoms along the long path to the great mountain and one of the few empires that all avoided. It was common knowledge to stay away or hurry past, for whispers and rumours were drifting around with topics of dragons, fires and disappearances. The woods surrounding were a bad omen themselves, the bark of the trees deep obsidian and the leaves almost gone. if you were to stumble far enough into the forest you would find a dragon named Ix Raali in his cave, sleeping upon a pile of books. He was not a normal dragon you see, as he could read just as well as you and I, but if you were to disturb him it would be the last thing you'd do.

Now Ix Raali tended to burn his hoard of books and regularly had to venture out and plunder for books, and sometimes burn a building or two for the fun of it. He also had a bad rep for abducting people to teach him how to read. They were always given back, mostly intact, with a limb or two unattached. Some were pretty nice company too.

Today was one of the days the dragon needed more books. Some human had wandered too far from the town and now his supply of books was gone. Rude. So after the horrible encounter with that human, Ix put on his scarf and started the long trudge toward a town called Mirkwater. Ix would be flying and not have pine cones crushed beneath his feet (horrible feeling for the claws really) however, the human decided to use its horrible metal thing to poke his wing. The sword was flashy and overall clashed with the human's outfit. Thank god he got rid of it, even if it was the books that burnt as well. Now Ix was halfway to town and was feeling altogether irritable. His feet were tired and his tail hurt. But the books were in town and Ix was determined to get them.

Ix was trodding on the path and suddenly came to a short stop. All around was closed silence but the dragon could hear something in the quiet. After a few minutes, a cry wailed out, high-pitched and whiny. Ix shrunk down in distress as the crying got louder. Blowing a few smoke rings, Ix got up and scrambled through the foliage looking for the source of the sound, hoping to stop it. Throwing leaves behind him he came across the sound.

In front of him was a small bald human. It had stopped crying and was staring at Ix. He babbled at the dragon in surprise, a grin spreading upon his face. Raali did not understand what the small human was doing so far from the town, alone too. Oh well. It wasn’t Ix’s problem.

The dragon started back to the path, unaware that the human behind him stood up and was slowly toddling after the dragon. A few steps later he felt grubby hands on his tail. Looking back he saw the toddler hiking up his tail. Ha. This small infant human had some sort of intelligence for following the dragon. Plus it was lonely with only books. So, Ix lifted his tail, the little human dangling off. He placed the child on his back and set off, the child squirming and grabbing the scarf on his neck.

Arriving at the town, it was dusk and the child had fallen asleep. Ix set a child down beneath a tree. He shed the brown scarf around his neck and set it on the kid. Seeing that the child was content, Ix crept towards the house filled with books. He stopped under a window and slowly rose to see the inside of the house. He quietly puffed on the window and the glass melted from the edges. Slipping through the opening, Ix snuck into the shadows and started grabbing books from the shelf. Soon, his arms were full and he escaped the house, it stuffy with smoke. He went back to the child and used the scarf to hold the books. Once the books were all stowed away, Ix set the child in the nook of the scarf around his neck. Then, they stole away into the night. Once they were far away enough not to be noticed by anyone or anything, Ix slowed down to walk and started the miles back to the cave.

By the time they arrived, it was very late and if you weren’t familiar with the rocks, you could easily miss the cave hidden between. But Ix had lived here since he had hatched and it was as familiar as his scales. He walked into the dark cavern and was met with remains of his burnt hoard. He sighed at the loss and continued past, to the things he had collected from the humans. Grabbing the scraps of clothing, he piled them on the floor. Setting the child down he took a scale from his arm and set it beside the child. The scale emanated warmth and the toddler snuggled closer to it. Satisfied at the well-being of the human, the dragon piled his books and settled on them, weariness in his bones.

“Tomorrow.” Ix thought. “Tomorrow, I will teach the human to read.”

_______________________

Ix woke up to a small thing jumping all over him. The dragon almost burnt the thing to a crisp but stopped when he realized what it was. Groggily he shook the thing off and went outside. The human followed whining in broken Common about its stomach. Ix treaded it to a close river and took a drink. The small human did the same, spilling it mostly down its too-big shirt found in Ix’s nest. Soon after he clumsily walked away, babbling to himself. The dragon slowly followed after, picking the small berries around the toddler’s path.

Once his paw was full he picked up the boy with his mouth and walked back to the cave. He sat the human down in the grove that was in front of the cave. While the human ate the fruit he was given, Ix took a few books out of his home. He sat down beside the kid and started reading to him in Draconic. The humans seem to follow along in the book, his chubby hands sliding under the sentences as they went. They did this most of the day, with breaks for food and playing in the dirt.

Soon it was after dinner and the child snuggled in his bed. Ix sat beside him and started singing, a lullaby he remembered from years too far to see. The song seemed to weave throughout the whole room, rough and harsh syllables song with a sweet and soft intent. Ix looked down at the small human and softly hummed the rest of his song, the child fell fast asleep and clung to his tail. Ix softly blew over the child, the warm breeze carrying bits of gold dragon magic. Then, slowly the dragon lowered down and circled the child, his eyes closing, heavy with sleep.

A Few Years Later

“Ix! Ix look!” The child called from the top of a tree. He had scrambled up and was jumping from branch to branch. The dragon looked up from his work of sewing small clothes. He grinned at the delight of the little child. The boy scurried down and ran towards the dragon's workspace. After looking at everything and deciding it was very boring, he ran off toward the planted garden to lift the ground vegetables out with a wave of his hand. As he did, shimmers of gold swirled around him.

Suddenly the dragon stopped his sewing. He was still before shooting upwards and heading west. A few minutes later a burst of flame shot in the sky, and then all was quiet again.

But as the dragon was out, a group hidden in the shadows use the diversion to take the child from the grove, with no sound of struggle.

When the dragon came back he was met with nothing. Instantly he knew something was wrong. He bolted into the cave, pulling away everything to view any hidden spots. Nothing. The dragon rushed out towards the garden but he saw nothing. Heard nothing. He went all around the grove, but the kid was not there. That’s when he realized he had been tricked. He fumed in anger, the grass around him smoking and shrivelling. He flew up into the sky and hovered, spinning to search. That’s when he noticed a cloud of dust following a group of horses. Upon them, were humans clad in silver medal and a smaller human in dragon-sewn clothes.

The dragon's eyes shone with an evil glint, as he spotted the group, his intent clear as day. He shut down towards the half, his maw opening to clamp down on the nearest horse. His target picked, the dragon bit down, splitting the horse and its rider in half. The last screams of the horse had alerted the whole group now and they had drawn their swords. Ix Raali planted in the middle of the party, fire spewing from his mouth. The stupidest ones, who thought they were brave, ran forth to confront the great dragon head-on, but we’re soon burned to a crisp. The rest coward behind the ring a flame, avoiding the fire. They fought valiantly, but it was futile, even with their final cry of “For the Prince!”

But no matter as all were dead now, their shiny things littered on the path behind the dragon, a boy on his back. He took to the sky once more to fly home. But then the dragon lurch towards the ground, his limbs limp and unresponsive, the child screamed as they hurdle towards the dirt. They hit the ground, tumbling and turning before coming to a stop.

The boy was the first to get up running toward the other. When he got there he saw a magnificent dragon and an arrow in his throat. The fight has taken too much and the arrow was the tipping point. The boy tried to wake the dragon, but it was no use. Falling to his knees, he cried out and laid up on the dragon, sobbing. He stayed there until the body was cold and the night sweats for the other side come. They dragged the boy away, as he cried in harsh Dacronic to stay with Ix. He wrote in silence, restrained upon a horse, morning his father. He would not eat or drink until forced to.

Soon they arrived at the King of Blackwood’s castle. And despite his problem, the boy could not help but be awed at the tall building of stone and brick. They were let in through the gate with no hassles, people stepping aside in such a hurry, things were dropped. The boy was led through the grand oak doors, bounds cut but a spread prodding his back. He was led to another enormous set of doors with intricate carvings of men killing dragons on them. Inside the disturbing doors, there was a large room with one chair at the end, its luxuriousness over the top. Sat upon it was a man, in fine robes of silk and satin, coloured vibrantly. He was a figure to behold, but the boy knew he was to blame for the death of Ix.

The man took one look at the ten-year-old boy and was disgusted.

“This is not my son,” he said. “ My son does not have the eyes and scales of a dragon.”

The knights pleaded with the king, recounting their story and trying to persuade the king to at least try. Soon it worked and the king summoned the sacred sword to be brought. Three knights scrambled to get it. Once they came back with it, the king took hold of it and brought it to the boy. He held out to the boy the blade gleaming in the afternoon sun. the boy took hold of it, stumbling under its weight. He shakily held it up and the blade glowed a brilliant gold. Every knight and the king around stared in wonder. The boy looked at the blade and the people in hate. Slowly he chanted in Draconic, rising from the ground his voice getting louder and steadier. He was the center of attention as pure gold energy churned around him getting faster with the boy's voice. Lifting the sword above his head he spoke in Common, a language he thought he had forgotten

“I am not your son nor your prince! You killed the one who raised me and now you shall pay.” He chanted as the knights scrambled to attack him. “I am Xi Raali and my name shall be the last thing you know”

Xi lowered the sword to point it at the king, his eyes glowing gold, pure hatred in them.

“Nelithik”

The Path to the Great Mountain

Far away, on a path going towards the Great Mountain, passed a traveller. Suddenly this traveller was driven forward as a ripple of gold pushed through the forest, destroying everything in its path. The traveller looked up to the sky and saw a cloud of gold, debris swirled around it. There almost seemed to be a figure in the middle, holding a sword. Suddenly the traveller was knocked out by a second wave from the explosion.

End