The Dragoon

Prologue

"I remember the wind and the cracking trees. My father had me on his back as he was running. My mother, I can't remember her face, but I remember her screaming. We were running from something during a storm. I remember being in a dark place and it smelled awful. I was hungry, scared, and worst of all, I wasn’t alone."

The Origins of The Dragoon

Water-drips echo in the dark. A sound of rummaging comes from deep in a cave. A child winces as she writhes on the cold wet floor. Her breathing grows heavy as she looks up to see darkness around her.

A deep heavy breathing echoes from further within. The girl freezes as she stares in the depths of darkness from where the sound came. Water pools in her eyes as her bottom lip quivers. Softly, her cry comes out. The more she cries, the louder her wails become. Her high pitched squeal sheers off the mossy stone walls.

A thud vibrates the ground followed by a heavy grunt from the deep darkness. A monstrous roar sends shockwaves through the girl’s chest. The girls hands and feet shake in fear. Something had been awakened.

Her eyes adjust to the dark and she can see outlines of stone and water. Her eyes follow the water that flows to the entrance of the cave. The sky is brightening as dawn approaches. The girl shivers as she gets up to her feet. She loses her footing, kicking a stone down the dark hole. The stone ricochets off the walls, echoing throughout the cave. The girl clenches up as if it will prevent the noise. Another roar shoots out from deeper within, but it’s short and alert.

Without hesitation, she runs towards the light. She can’t help but cry in fear of being caught. From deep within the cave, the creature grunts more as sounds of rocks crash against each other. The creatures' heavy footsteps are quick and eager.

She screams as tears fall from her face. Her steps are short as she struggles to find footing on the rocky ground, but she doesn’t stop running. She reaches out to the light as the creature is quick behind her. Her feet begin to submerge into water making her slower. She continues to struggle, marching through the water, the soles of her shoes lose grip on the slimy bottom. The exit is so close and so is the creature.

The creature grunts with each step it takes. The eagerness in its voice grows louder and hungrier. It crashes against the walls, cracking stone and scraping the ground. It can hear the girl panting for her life. The drool from its fangs hunger for her flesh. She is the perfect distance.

The creature lunges forward, reaching it’s hand out to grab the girl. She staggers over the slimy bottom of the water, tripping over her feet, falling out of the cave. The creature’s claws fall short of the girl's hair, grasping nothing but air.

The girl screams as her arms and legs flail in the wind. She is still falling beside a waterfall. The creature stands and watches her from above as she crashes down into the water. The girl holds her breath, reaching out and pulling herself up. She surfaces from the pond and takes a deep breath. The creature roars at her survival. It gets ready to jump down, but the peak of sun hits it’s arm, burning it’s flesh. It flinches and grunts from the pain. Stuck behind a barrier of sunlight, the creature growls in frustration and runs back into the darkness of it’s cave.

The pond flows down, connecting to a river. The girl is panicking trying to stay afloat. The current picks up faster, pulling her away from shore. The panic in her breath quickens, with all her strength, she fights the water. In the distance, there is a wreckage of a small wagon wedged against a boulder. The current pushes her against the wreckage, but the wagon breaks and she clings on, floating downstream.

The water is furious, pushing her up and down. The girl takes in water repeatedly. All she can do is hold on. Her cries are loud in-between her coughing and gasping for air. The rapids spit her out into a steady flow as the river opens. The girl manages to pull herself up the broken wagon.

Coughing and crying, the girl gasps for air. She looks up to see that she is trapped floating down the river. She doesn't know how to swim and she is tired. The exhaustion overcomes her, she rests her head on her arms in her broken wagon raft. All hope is lost, she cries with no tears to fall.

A shadow casts over the girl of a creature with wings. A gust of wind hits her from above. The scooping of air is loud and heavy, but she is too tired to look. The gentle sway of her raft on the flowing river is soothing. Her eyes shut as she falls asleep.

The girl lays limp on the broken wagon as it drifts. Bumping into rocks and trees her little raft gently spins on the lazy river. The winged creature follows her for miles, waiting for her to wake up.

The river bends and curves but she remains in deep sleep. Hours go by and the sun is at the highest point in the sky. The raft catches speed and bumps into a log. The jolt wakes the girl up. Her eyes prop open and she quickly looks around. Her raft is pushing against a fallen tree that is still connected to land. She looks at the log, and looks back at the river to see more rapids. Her mind is made quick as she slowly steps onto the tree. The tree is sturdy under her feet. As she takes her foot off the raft, it flows away on the river, breaking against the first boulder. She slowly crawls her way on the tree back onto land.

Her body wobbles, she takes a few steps and falls down on the sandy ground. Her pruning hands are shaking from being in the water too long. She lays on the ground, too exhausted to do anything. The sunlight is warm against her cold body. She looks up at the bright blue sky. Big white clouds and flocks of birds stream in the wind. She closes her eyes and a single tear falls. Her mouth suckles the air as she dreams of drinking her bottle.

Deep soft footsteps approach her. The winged creature puts a vine in her mouth and the girl suckles on it. She moans and takes the vine in her hands and drinks faster. The winged creature lays beside her, watching her sleep.

A few more hours later, the girl wakes up feeling hydrated. Her eyes come to focus to see the winged creature watching her. A fully grown dragon similar in size to a rhino. It's scales are smooth and white. It's wings are long and wide. The creature looks at the girl with it's smooth serpent head and purs jumping towards the girl. They lock eyes, the dragons golden eyes reflecting off the girls glimmering green eyes.

The girl's face is covered in dirt. Her hair is brown and rugged flowing over her shoulders. Her dress is smeared with dirt along with her shoes and fingernails. The dragon sniffs her dress and the girl screams crawling backwards into a thick bush and grabs a giant leaf to cover her.

The dragon creeps closer to the girl. The girl peeks under the leaf and sees the dragon’s feet. She panics, reaching behind her for anything to attack. Her hand finds something solid and she throws it at the dragon. A little red lizard sticks to the dragon’s face. The dragon looks at the red lizard in disgust. The red lizard looks into the dragon's golden eyes, fear strikes the lizard as it’s body furiously vibrates. The red lizard glows as it’s back begins to inflate.

The dragon looks at the lizard as it gently floats in front of it’s face. The lizard aims it’s rear towards the dragon and turns to look back to face it. The lizard squeals and it releases an explosion of fire out of it’s rear onto the dragon’s nose. The energy of the explosion propels the lizard away, making it’s escape into the water. The dragon jolts it’s head back, heavily blowing out of it’s nose. The dragon whines with a small smoke dust on it’s face.

The little girl giggles under the giant leaf. The dragon looks down to see the giant leaf shaking every time the girl laughs. The dragon looks up and around to find anything to cheer the girl up. The dragon spots a broken branch dangling from a tree. The dragon grunts and the girl peeks under the giant leaf. The dragon whips the tree with it’s tail and the branch falls on it’s head. The dragon exaggerates the damage and wobbles on it’s feet and collapses to the ground. The giant leaf shakes more as the girl laughs.

The girl lifts the leaf higher, revealing more of her face. The dragon stops to look at her, remaining calm on the floor. It assumes a submissive posture and rubs its face, cleaning off the smoke. The girl slowly exits her giant leaf and stands far away from the dragon. The dragon gets up making the girl flinch back. It grabs a vine and drops it on the ground by the girl. The vine leaks out water from where it was torn. The girl looks down and her mouth waters. She grabs the vine and stuffs it in her mouth, suckling the water from it.

As she is drinking, she keeps an eye on the dragon, watching it’s every move. The dragon remains calm on the ground, grooming itself, patiently waiting for the girl to finish.

A flock of black birds emerge into the sky and sing. The clouds grow dark and the sun is behind the trees. The black birds sing when nightfall approaches, a warning for all the animals of forest. The dragon looks up at the birds and back down to the girl. The dragon grunts and hums to the girl, getting up and walking into the woods.

The girl is hesitant to follow the dragon. She looks up to the birds that continue to sing and notices night time is approaching. She looks back at the dragon that is waiting for her. The dragon grunts and hums at the girl again, gesturing to her to come. With no other options, the girl takes a small step, following the dragon and keeping her distance.

Through tall grass and thorny bushes, over rolling hills and small cliffs, they enter the heart of the forest. On the ground are glowing mushrooms, shiny flowers, and vibrant leaves, a completely different forest to what the girl normally sees.

The girl and the dragon walk beside a creek that is filled with shining minnows and pulsing tadpoles. The dragon pushes through a thick bush disappearing from view. The girl panics and rushes towards the bush. She tries to push her way through but she gets stuck. She whines and cries until the dragon opens the bush for her and she falls through. She stands up and wipes the dirt from her knees. As she looks up, she sees a glimmering pond with glowing lily pads. Fireflies and glowing dragonflies dart across the pond. The dragon walks to the water drinks from the pond. The girl looks into the pond to see glowing Carp. She looks at the dragon and goes back to the water. The long hike made her thirsty. She leans her head into the water and drinks from the pond. Something thuds against her leg.

The girl looks to see the dragon has brought her a purple fruit. The dragon gestures to the fruit. The girl's eyes are wide as she grabs the fruit and stuffs it in her mouth. The fruit gushes with juice, dripping all over her dress.

“Mmmm…” The girl moans, eating the fruit.

As she is eating, a firebug jumps on her hand and drinks the juice dripping from the fruit. She swats the bug away but it jumps up and back down onto her hand. She swats again and the firebug jumps a second time. The girl grunts and chases the firebug. She runs around swatting at the firebug as it dances through the air. Everytime she reaches to grab the firebug, it zooms out of her range. Soon, she forgets the reason why she was chasing the firebug, and laughs running around.

The grass glows when her feet brush against them. Butterflies dance around her as their wings glow from yellow to blue. The forest is glowing around her everywhere she goes.

The dragon watches her as she laughs, running through tall grass of fireflies. Everytime she laughs, the forest grows brighter. All the plants and bugs respond to her happiness. The girl falls to the ground, out of breath. As she falls, all the bugs zoom away and the glowing colors of the forest turn off.

The forest is pitch black and the critters stop chirping. The dragon looks around alerted from the sudden change. The girl sits up, oblivious to what is happening. In the darkness, a pair of glowing red eyes stalk the girl. The dragon growls at it, stepping in front of the girl. The red eyed creature steps out of the brush and reveals itself.

It stands tall and broad. It’s arms are long and it’s claws are rigid. It has a posture of a man hunching it’s back. The monster screams at the dragon, spitting out saliva and chunks of meat stuck in it's teeth. The monster widens it's stance in a stand-off with the dragon.

The dragon whips the ground with it's tail, shooting chunks of dirt at the monster, and jumps to grab the girl, fleeing into the woods. The monster wipes the dirt from it's eyes and chases them, jumping through bushes and thorns. The dragon is fast, sprinting on all fours but the monster can easily weave around trees. Looking back, the dragon knows it can't outrun it, the forest is too thick, and there are too many trees to fly.

Up and down the rolling hills, the dragon tries it’s best to lose the monster, but the monster is right behind the dragon, inching closer. The dragon runs through a bush wall to an enormous dead tree. It uses it's wings to help leap on the tree and spots a cliff. The monster lunges at the dragon, obliterating the bark, but falls short as the dragon darts off the tree.

The dragon's strides become longer and harder, building more speed in a straight shot to the cliff. The dragon jumps off, spreading it’s wings wide in the clearing. The monster jumps off the cliff after the dragon and grabs on to the dragon's tail. The dragon grunts as it loses balance mid flight.

The dragon spins in the air and flings the monster off, sending it into the trees below. The dragon readjusts itself, catching the wind. It’s wings are loud, scooping the air underneath it. The dragon spots it's home and flies towards it. It lands on the ground of a floating temple and drops the girl from it’s mouth. Other tiny dragons come rushing to the girl excited to see a visitor. The girl remains in shock, curled up on the floor. The dragon looks up to see a person running towards them.

“Veykha, who is this? Where have you been?” the man asks. Veykha grunts and nods to the person.

“What? Where?” the man asks.

A roar comes from the forest. Loud thumps can be heard from the monster, scraping against trees. The dragon looks to the man and turns to the woods. The dragon roars it’s battlecry and flares it’s wings. The dragon runs towards noise and out from the tree line, the monster lunges out.

“Veykha!” the man yells.

Veykha's throat shines and shoots a fireball at the monster, but the monster jumps away and the fireball explodes at the base of a tree, sending the tree crashing to the ground.

The monster jumps onto Veykha and they wrestle to the ground. Veykha and the monster thrash around, clawing and biting at each other, fighting to kill.

The man runs into the temple and grabs a sword, “Trudy! Get ready to take off!”. The ground shakes below. The man runs out to battle.

"Veykha!" The man shouts. Veykha kicks the monster off and looks to the man.

He jumps into the air, “Dragoon!” he calls out. Dragon scales wrap around him, covering his entire body.

Veykha jumps up and the man lands on Veykha’s back in full plated dragon armor. The monster stands tall against the duo and roars at them, spreading it's claws to attack.

The man points his sword at the monster, “Drepa”.

Veykha roars as they charge at the monster. “Eldr!” the man shouts.

Veykha shoots a fireball and the monster raises it’s arms, taking the explosion head on. The fireball pushes the monster back but has little effect. The smoke clears and the monster looks at the dragon but doesn’t see the man. It looks up and the man is right above it.

The man pierces the monster through the chest, crashing them into the ground. The monster screams in pain, writhing on the ground. It pounds the ground and kicks the man off, sending him flying. It grabs the sword and pulls it out of it’s chest and tosses it aside.

“Veykha, be careful, this one is feral.” the man says. Veykha growls through her teeth.

The monster screams at the man and lunges towards him but falls. It looks down to see Veykha biting it’s leg. The man kicks the monster in the face knocking it’s head back. The monster kicks Veykha off and with it’s long arms, grabs hold of the man’s feet and trips him. The monster pulls himself up, with one hand still grasping the man’s leg and throws him at Veykha. The man crashes against Veykha, ragdolling from the monster’s overwhelming strength.

The monster pounces on Veykha, grasping one of her wings and smashes it with it’s enlarged fists. Veykha screams in pain, as her wing bone snaps. The monster takes it’s rigid claws and jabs them in Veykha’s side, lifting her up and slamming her back down on the ground.

The man comes in with a flying knee, pushing the monster off Veykha. He unleashes a flurry of punches, trips the monster and kicks it, skipping it across the ground into a tree.

The man looks at Veykha lying injured on the ground. He runs to grab his sword and the monster tackles him to the ground. The monster pounds on the man with it's overwhelming strength.

The man stabs the monster's hand with his sword and breaks free, kicking the monster off him.

“Veykha! Get on Trudy and run!”. The man leans on his sword as his armor falls apart. Veykha responds with a weak roar.

Veykha struggles to get up, watching the man and the monster fight. The monster is too fast and too strong. The man is doing all he can to hold the monster off but every time the monster strikes, he loses his footing. The monster grabs the man by the neck and throws him by the girls feet.

The little girl looks at the man as he lay on the ground, unable to get up. The monster walks up to the girl and grabs her. It brings her up to its dirty deformed face. The monster looks deep into the girl’s eyes.

The little girl looks back at the monster, her eyes full of tears. She notices something familiar with this creature. The outline of it’s face. The wrinkles in it’s eyes. The shape of it’s nose.

The monster takes a finger and brushes the girl's hair. Mesmerized by her, it tries to speak, but can only manage to hum.

“Daddy?” the girl says softly. She recognizes the humming. A song her father used to hum to her to sleep.

Veykha roars, snapping the monster back in attention. The anger, hatred, and rage sinks back into the monster’s eyes.

The monster roars at the girl. Tears fall down it's face as it raises it's claws. Before it swings at her, Veykha bites the monster's arm and the girl falls to the floor. Veykha clenches on to the monster and takes him off the cliff. They both fall all the way down to the bottom of the mountain.

“Veykha!” The man yells out, watching his dragon fall.

The man's armor shatters and disintegrates off him. He raises his hand up, watching the power disappear from his body. He falls to his knees in defeat.

“Trudy… We must leave.” The man says.

The land underneath them shakes and detaches from the mountain. They float away on a giant ancient sea turtle, taking cover in the cloudy sky.

The man looks at the girl, “Child, what is your name?” She looks up at him.

“Teresa…” she says softly.

“Come Teresa, let’s get you ready.” The man takes Teresa’s hand and they enter the Sea Turtle Temple, floating away in the moonlit sky.