The Tale of Ferhenmoore:Castle of Flames(Chapter 1)

The castle was under attack, again. Large blue and white dragons crashed through its ashy black and red walls. I overlooked the mess from The Peak, a hollow, triangle-shaped tower with a large pool of flames and lava at the bottom. I ran to the edge and jumped off, whistling a sharp call as I went. I free fell towards the lava for a few seconds, my wavy black hair and black cloak whooshing around me. Then I heard the rustle of giant wingbeats in the distance. A giant manta ray looking creature appeared beneath me and I turned myself to grab it’s black and orangey red back spikes.

Mantagons, we call them. They have the body, wings, tail and agility of a manta ray, but they have the long, snake-like neck, head, legs, fire resistances and fire-breathing abilities of a wyvern-dragon. They thrive in volcanic environments, which is where they get their black outer shell and back spikes from. There are also some spots on the Mangagon called glow spots. Glow spots are basically the spots where the Mantagon’s skin is exposed, which makes it their weakest spot, but the hottest spots. Glow spots are also where the lava seeped into their bodies when they were just born. No normal metal or wooden weapon from any soldier can break their outer armor, which ended up leading to me and the other of the Firestorm Barrons using them as allies in our battles. We each ended up getting a baby one during our training when we were little kids. Some got ones with black shells and red or orange glow spots, some got red shells with green or yellow glow spots and some even got ones with blue glow spots. Mine has a charcoal black shell with red and orange fire spots and is named Ember. Fire spots are one of the rarer things that a Mantagon can have, mostly because the lava is most likely to just settle down in its body instead of spewing out flames every now and then. During our latest year of training in the Barronlands Castle, we were able to enchant one thing of our choice by asking a fire fairy for our wish. I chose to enchant Ember with the power to come back to life if she fell or a piece of her was thrown into the Fire Well, which is another name for The Peak.

Anyways, I got onto Ember’s back and grabbed her back spikes. We zoomed through upward and did a spin through a tower fork without doing any damage, thankfully. We continued flying and it didn’t take long before we were being chased by a dragon. The white and blue shimmering scales along with the fins were a dead give away as to who was attacking us. The Merfolk. Not a surprise, since merfolk and Dark Elves have had a history of pissing each other off and causing wars. The dragon let out a hissing sound, opening its jaws. Ember ducked just in time for an icy water beam to go past right where we were a split second before. The beam hit the Fire Well, causing it to roar up for a moment before going back to its natural state. Another water shot hit Ember’s tail tip, causing her to screech, but she kept flying. The water dragon was closing in fast. Ember sensed this and shot straight up, as fast as she could. The dragon followed, but it was pretty clumsy and not as fast.

Ember hovered above the dragon for a few moments, then shot downwards at record speed. I drew my sword, a silver one-hand sword with a black hilt, and held it out, slicing the dragon’s underbelly open. Ocean blue blood poured out and the dragon roared a cry of pain. Ember did a loop and backtracked, breathing fire onto the dragon’s leathery wings. They ignited, and the dragon roared again. It clawed at Ember as it fell into the abyss, causing her to falter as it’s hook-shaped claws dug into her body. I steered her towards the Fire Well and we zoomed over, shaking the dragon off. Ember faltered again and I jumped off her just in time for her to fall into the well. I whistled a high-pitched note and she flew out, brand new, shaking off a few pieces of molten rock. She dipped down, then up, catching me. We found another dragon and attempted to breath fire on his wings, but this one was prepared. He threw his weight against Ember’s wings and clawed wildly at her. The dragon knocked me off and I fell, grabbing for something. I caught Ember’s claw and held on as I climbed on her back again. The dragon clawed at Ember again, breaking her wings into tiny pieces. She screeched again and the dragon threw her body into the abyss. I caught a piece of her wing as I jumped off and put it in the pocket of my black pants. I kept falling, going towards the Fire Well. I held onto the black ledge at the end of the well, pulling myself up and onto different stones. I grabbed two smooth black stones with white sparkles that were the size of eggs and stood up. I reached into my pocket, the roaring fire around me giving off a blistering heat. I held the wingpiece in my hand, studying it for a moment. Black and charcoal-colored outer wing with a softer inside that glowed a dull reddish-orange color. A small tear rolled down my cheek as I threw the wingpiece into the inferno around me. Wiping my eyes briefly, I whistled another high note, then jumped into the inky abyss below.