Chapter Five
Aeslian
“But what should I do if she finds me?” a young man’s voice drifted from the cabin, stopping the group in their tracks. They gave each other silent looks, wondering what to do.
An older voice, this one too quiet to understand, answered the first one. Karena motioned they should keep going; just because her grandfather had other visitors didn’t mean they couldn’t visit too.
When they reached the doorstep the two owners of the voices were still talking.
“But that couldn’t work! If she finds me who knows what she would do? She’s so unpredictable. She is absolutely insane, but sometimes it
seems like she almost has a heart.” The younger man said.
“I don’t think that excuse for a woman has a heart or could ever have one. If she found out your true nature she would kill you in a heartbeat, regardless of-“the old man started to say, but stopped mid sentence. There was a sound of a chair scraping the ground.
“What is it?” The younger one asked, surprised.
“We have company.” The old man growled, opening the door and pointing a staff at them.
“Grandfather!” Karena said, walking forward with her arms out.
“Karena?” The old man said, evidently much surprised. But instead of putting his staff aside, he pointed it right at his granddaughter.
“Before the pleasantries you’ll have to explain yourself, granddaughter. Forgive me if I don’t trust you immediately. Just look where trusting my son got me if you want to know why.”
Karena’s eyes widened in surprise, but then she nodded and took a step back. “That’s fair,” she said, putting her own useless staff on the ground in a gesture of peace.
“Put your sword on the ground, Dragon Hunter. And one unexpected movement from any of you I’ll have you frozen and thrown in the river in a second.” Karena’s grandfather said with a conversational tone wildly out of place.
Adrius slowly unbuckled his sword from his belt and laid it on the
ground. Karena looked at him briefly, to see if he was doing as her grandfather said. He wasn’t making a move to unsheathe any of his knives, but to Karena’s surprise his focus wasn’t on the Spellcaster threatening their lives, but on a teenage boy standing in the corner.
The boy looked about their age, perhaps a bit older than Karena. His hair was dark blue, and on his hands were the claws that marked a Dragon. He wasn’t showing any of his teeth, but if he did his fangs would show. His dark blue eyes were piercing and locked on Adrius without fear. Even preoccupied as she was concentrating on her grandpa, Karena could tell that the boy was dangerous. He was leaning on the wall with his arms crossed, no expression on his face as he got into a staring match with a Dragon Hunter.
Karena looked back to her grandpa, noticing that he was watching the face off as well.
He looked back at her, distracting her from the staring contest. “Who are these folks?” Her grandfather asked, gesturing towards Synfera and Reron.
“These are my friends, Synfera, she’s the Dragon, Reron, he’s an Air Apprentice, and Adrius, obviously a Dragon Hunter. I’m Karena, a Spellcaster and his granddaughter,” she said for the dark blue Dragon’s benefit. He didn’t take his eyes off of Adrius.
“Who are you?” Reron asked him. “I mean, I know your Karena’s grandfather, and you’re obviously a Spellcaster, but what’s your name?”
“I’m Doctor Raneri Arenn. Most people just call me Dr. Raneri. It’s better than being called by the same name as that loathsome creature that used to be my son.” He scowled at the mention of Lord Arenn, and then turned to Karena. “So, what’s happened since I got your last letter?”
Karena shuffled her feet, and said, “A lot, actually. A couple of days ago I ran away from home and met Reron. Then we met Synfera and Adrius. Synfera killed a Vampyr that was attacking Reron and I. But Adrius and Synfera were having a … misunderstanding, and we got split up by accident. I was with Synfera in the Forest of Arenn, and Reron and Adrius were trying to catch up. When we finally met again a Vampyr attacked us. The first one was a coincidence, but this time the Vampyr had been sent by Lord Arenn. We fought and silenced her. Reron and Synfera got captured by Forest Dragons a little after that, and then we all captured by the Linera. They gave us all different illusions based on our fears. In mine I killed a Linera with Reron’s help. But I don’t know anything about the other’s illusions, or even how Reron got in my illusion.” She turned to him in curiosity, “How did that happen?”
Reron cleared his throat. By this time the Dragon boy in the corner was staring at Karena, but now everyone’s attention turned to Reron.
“I met my parents,” he whispered, just loud enough for the others to hear. “They told me it was an illusion the Linera concocted and that they were making an illusion of me inside the Linera’s illusion to conceal the fact I was talking to them and not under the Linera’s spell. They sent me into Karena’s illusion, saying that I had to save us all by making sure Karena killed the Linera she was fighting. It was the only way to pass their test, so I helped her win.”
“In mine Sylas had fallen to the Vampyrs and the Knight Stars, and I killed a Knight Star.” Synfera put in. The Dragon in the corner snorted, and they all turned to him.
“Unlikely,” he said, “the Vampyr’s and the Knight Star’s loathe each other on principle, though there’s no rule about it like there is with Dragons and Dragon Hunters. Speaking of which, why is a Dragon Hunter traveling with a Dragon? Or is she your hostage?” He raised an eyebrow, as if he thought that unlikely.
“Synfera is my sister,” Adrius answered coldly. “I would as soon harm her as kill my own mother.”
The dark blue Dragon snorted. “Who is probably a Dragon too, right? Sorry if I don’t believe you, Dragon Hunter.”
Adrius didn’t bother to respond; it was obvious anything he could say would seem like a lie to such a prejudiced person.
Synfera glared at the Dragon, saying, “Yeah, our mom was a Dragon, and our father was a Dragon Hunter. If our parents could get over their hatred why can’t my brother and I? You’re just a Dragon who can’t accept that people aren’t what they always seem to be.”
The Dragon looked down, his shaggy hair falling over his eyes. “You know nothing about me, so don’t presume to know what I feel.”
There was an awkward silence following his words. Finally the Doctor broke it, asking, “So, Dragon Hunter, what was in your illusion?”
“I fought a Linera and lost. They were going to send me to the Vampyr arena.” Adrius answered curtly.
“So a Spellcaster is stronger than a Dragon Hunter… Interesting,” the dark blue Dragon laughed, lifting his head up to leer at Adrius.
Adrius was suddenly holding a knife, and he raised it and asked, “Do you want to fight?” The Dragon leaned away from the wall and reached for a sword Synfera only now noticed hanging from his belt.
Dr. Raneri intervened and said, “Now boys, no fighting in my house unless I’m the one doing it. Put the weapons away.” Adrius scowled, but put his knife away. The Dragon took his hand off of his sword and leaned against the wall again.
Dr. Raneri gestured to the table behind him and said, “Why don’t we all sit down? Then you can tell me why you came.” Adrius picked up his sword, and after she saw that her grandfather wasn’t mad, Karena picked up her staff as well. They all went and sat down then, Synfera trying to avoid looking at the other Dragon. Dr. Raneri gave a pointed glance to the dark blue Dragon, who silently walked and sat down too.
“Let’s have some tea while talk.” Dr. Raneri suggested, and waved his hand. A tea set appeared in the middle of the table, and the tea poured itself before floating over to land in front of each person.
Both Reron and Adrius were hesitant to drink, but Synfera, Karena and the strange Dragon drank the tea in one drought.
“That’s good,” Synfera and the other Dragon said at the same time in an identically surprised tone. They glanced at each other before looking away. Synfera blushed as she reached for the teapot, but the other Dragon just stared down at his teacup, his eyes tense and his body frozen.
“Seth, have some manners and pour the girl some more tea.” Dr. Raneri said, surprising everybody. Synfera blushed even more and bent her head down, hiding her face. She set her cup down and put her hands in her lap. Looking out through the pink strands of hair, she saw the Dragon take her cup and pour more tea into it, his expression carefully blank. He put it down in front of her and she picked it up and took a sip before setting it down again so she could hide her hands in her lap.
“Now, what is it Karena? You did not choose to visit me on a simple whim, correct?” Dr. Raneri asked, breaking the tension. For something to look at besides her hands Synfera looked up. She was just in time to see Karena staring at her, but then she turned away as if Synfera had caught her in a secretive act. Confused, she was close to asking Karena about it but was interrupted by Karena answering her grandfather’s question.
“Yes, I wanted to ask you for your advice. My friends and I are going to look for the Sica Aronoru and I wanted to know if you knew where we should go- or where not to go. You searched for it at one time, didn’t you?”
Dr. Raneri paused, taking a long sip of his tea. He set it down carefully, leaving his hands on it and staring at the liquid. Then he looked up, and the fire in his eyes was incredible for an old man. “You will not look for the Sica Aronoru. There is a reason I failed, granddaughter. I did not give up of my own free will, and I lost my daughter because of my foolish actions, goaded on by my own son to go our doom! Let me guess your reasons. You want to prove to Lord Arenn that he is wrong and you can find it, and you wanted to get away from home and away from him. You don’t seem to realize that he is a master of deception, far more talented than you can imagine. I wouldn’t put it past him to have arranged the meeting between you and your friends, knowing that they would further his aims by chasing you to your death. If you were to try and find the Aronoru you will meet the same end as your long-deceased aunt.
“She died when she was your age, you know.” Up until now, his voice had been fervent and passionate, but now it was dead and toneless. “We had heard the rumors about the Aronoru. Each Aronoru had obstacles dedicated to stopping that certain species, so your aunt brought along friends. I was worried, and Lord Arenn was constantly fretting about her. Whenever we were in the same room he was always badgering me about where she was, if I could help her, things like that. I eventually folded and transported myself to where my daughter was, just in time to witness the demise of her friends. I held her in my arms as she died. I knew then that it had all been a trap. My wife had died at the hands of her friend who had the Caytas Death. Lord Arenn had made her guilty about not visiting the friend, and she went just in time to die. He did it to get the throne. He killed his mother because she wore the crown. He killed his older sister so he could receive the crown when I died. He tried to have me killed by fruitlessly trying to save my daughter, and he very nearly succeeded. I barely managed to escape with my life.”
When he paused everyone stayed silent, even Karena. She just stared at her teacup, her eyes closed and her hands clenched into fists in her lap.
He continued when nobody said anything. “Lord Arenn told me face to face that if I didn’t leave Sylas he would kill everyone else I loved one by one, just as he already destroyed the two women that made up my entire life. I had so many friends and family. I tried to stop him but he slaughtered an entire town under the guise of bandits. The town had been the home of my two best friends and my favorite uncle. They all died. Before he killed any more innocents I left, never to return. I came to Lyorensti in defeat, and now look what Sylas has become besides of my weakness. I am called the best Spellcaster in Aeslian, but I couldn’t stand up to one Fire Fiend, my son nonetheless! My murderous, ambitious, disgusting son!” He spat the word, his disgust very evident.
“He wanted you out of the way, and that’s why he manipulated you to go search for the Sica Aronoru. Your mother, Lady Ilari, is pregnant with a boy.” When he looked up to see them all gaping at him, he explained, “Even though I am weak in battle, I am one of the greatest Spellcasters in all of the lands. Scrying is a very simple spell, though it does get harder over distance. It was easy to see one of the palace doctors telling Lord Arenn and Lady Ilari she was with child. Your baby brother will be born soon, and when he does Lord Arenn wants to name him the heir to the throne, but you were in the way, so he removed you from the picture. You’re only doing what he wants by wasting your life like this. The Sica Aronoru can only be retrieved by a Spellcaster. When Lrari made the obstacles he made them species-specific. Only a Spellcaster, and a strong one at that, could pass them. The reason no Spellcaster has not done it is because Lrari made it so even he couldn’t succeed. Whoever returns the Sica Aronoru to the Aronoru Temple must be stronger than Lrari himself- the greatest Spellcaster in history.”
“Impossible.” Adrius declared with an angry look on his face. “Lrari made the Aronoru. Anyone who could contain the cure to the Caytas Death in an object cannot be surpassed.”
“Who is Rari?” Reron asked, his tongue slipping over the name.
“Lrari, not Rari,” Dr. Raneri corrected, sighing. “Do you know any history, Air Apprentice?”
“Nope,” Reron said without a trace of shame. “I grew up on scraps from the garbage. You think I had time for education?” He laughed without humor at his past.
Dr. Raneri sighed, and said, “If you’re going to be traveling in this land, searching for the Aronoru or not, you first need to at least understand the mistakes of your ancestors. I’ll give you a history lesson, and then you can rest here for the night before you leave. You don’t want to wait here. I have many enemies, as do you and it would not be wise to linger in one place too long.”
He paused, looking around at them to see if they were paying attention. Then he began, “In the very beginning of life, there were four species; Fire Fiends, Water Demons, Air Masters, and Earth Maidens. After several thousand years, the Air Masters wanted more power and gathered all of the Air Demons of the day, from the youngest to the oldest, and condensed the air and twisted it, creating a creature they alone could control. In the midst of the spell, the Fire Fiends intervened and cast their own fire into it, and the result was two beings; the first Spellcaster and the first Alkalye. The Alkalye was a male Spellcaster called ‘Noran’ which in the ancient language means Death-bringer.”
“What’s an Alkalye?” Synfera interrupted, her nervousness forgotten. Karena hushed her, but Dr. Raneri smiled, putting up his hand to stop Karena.
“Its okay, questions don’t hurt anyone. Alkalye can be any species, but in a way, they are unlike any other species in the world. When the Fire Fiends cast their fire into the Air Master’s spell, it created chaos. The Air Masters had intended there to be two Spellcasters, a male and a female. But with the Fire Fiends interference, the chaos had nowhere to go with the air solidifying around it and containing it, trying to shape it into a form, so it had only one place to go- inside the Spellcaster itself. Thus the first Alkalye, chaos reborn into human flesh, was made. An Alkalye has ten times the power of any normal mortal and cannot control it. They have a triangle-shaped blood red mark on their forehead that instantly distinguishes them from normal people. Sometimes they are harmless; the force of power comes and goes, but if you’re near an Alkalye when they lose it, nothing can stop them. The Alkalye can be born into any species- since Noran was created Alkalye of every species have been born, and every one of them sent to Alkalye Island. Even the most insane man knows not to mess with monsters such as them.”
“Wow,” Synfera whispered, barely audible.
He went on, “The single Spellcaster, a woman, along with all the Air Masters and Fire Fiends defeated Noran and sent him to Alkalye Island, and then cast the Spell of Containment around it. The Air Masters then made it so that breathable air was created inside the island's barrier, so that not even air can escape but that the Alkalye can survive.
“The Earth Maidens and Water Demons were jealous of the Air Masters who had created the Spellcaster, and even of the Fire Fiends who made the Alkalye, and so banded together to create their own species. Using a special kind of magic that has never been recreated, they made the Dragons and Dragon Hunters. They had made the Dragons to be their mounts that would bring fiery destruction to their enemy, and the Dragon Hunters to be infallible fighters. However, before they were made the Spellcaster found out about it and went to where it was going to take place. When it did, the Spellcaster intervened in the creation and gave the Dragons intelligence and their human form, and gave the Dragon Hunters hatred for all other species and a deep sense of honor. But the spell was not complete when they became complete, and the hatred and honor given to the Dragon Hunters was incomplete. When created, the first Dragon Hunter saw the Dragon before all else because of its massive size, and thanks to the spell the Spellcaster had weaved, vowed to never rest until all Dragons were killed. But since the spell was incomplete, their hatred only stretched to the Dragons, and their honor only lived in their vow. The gold Dragon, along with the other silver Dragon, escaped into the Nemaex forest, where they wouldn't be seen again for hundreds of years. The two Dragon Hunters kidnapped an Earth Maiden and used her to escape, and then vanished just as easily as the Dragons.
“The Fire Fiends were jealous of the Dragons and hated their own creation. Several generations passed before they would act. They took the entire race of Spellcasters prisoner, and forced them to create their own equivalent of the Dragon Hunters. The first Knight Star was made. The Fire Fiends were proud of the Knight Star, and were greedy for more.
“The Spellcasters, who had been told once they did this they would be set free, were angry with the Fire Fiends. They could have escaped at any time and had only remained because they thought of the Fire Fiends as having a hand in their creation. The Fire Fiends, in their greed, told the Spellcasters to create a being stronger than all other species. The Spellcasters complied, but made the creature have a thirst for the lives of others, and the first Vampyr was born. When it was being made a young Fire Fiend named Arenn realized what they were making and tried to stop it, but he had made the same mistake as his forefathers when they created the Alkalye. When it was done, the Spellcasters realized what the young Fire Fiend Arenn had done. He had twisted what the Vampyrs were. Now, instead of just craving the deaths of others, the Vampyrs ate souls. The Spellcasters had given them far more power than anyone could have dreamed, and the Vampyrs wrecked havoc on the land and took over everything; only the elusive Dragons and Dragon Hunters weren't under their control. The other species, under the control of the Vampyrs, resisted and created rebellions. The foremost rebellion was led by Lord Arenn, the one who had first intervened in the creation of the enemy. The Vampyrs were too strong for them and was crushing the rebellions, and in his desperation Lord Arenn gathered all of the four original species and together they made the perfect assassin; the first Shadow Thief. But a side-product of the creation was a Moon Elf. It died soon after it was created, but after that moment Moon Elves were mysteriously appearing despite the fact the first one never got the chance to have children. Lord Arenn's rebellion, with the newly created Shadow Thief, went perfectly and they overthrew the Vampyrs. The Vampyrs, in their defeat, fled to a corner of the land and gave the rest of the continent to Lord Arenn.
“When the Vampyrs were created a strange disease had entered Aeslian. This disease began ravaging all the races, and all knew that soon they would perish. In their desperation, all the races banded together to create a creature that could survive and maybe one day recreate the other races once all traces of the Caytas Death, as the disease was called, was gone. The Dragons and Dragon Hunters came out of hiding, the Vampyrs came forth from their exile, and Lord Arenn's only son, the leader of nearly all of Aeslian since his father was killed by the Caytas Death, overviewed the preparations in the next creation to make sure nothing went wrong and only one perfect race was created.
“The creation went underway just as the population fell dramatically; very few were left to cast the spell. Some of those that were left said that they should be focusing on how to survive themselves, not trying to make yet another race that would surely have enough defects to die with them. No one listened to these skeptics however and they went through with it. Halfway through, an Air Fiend ran in and declared that a newborn Earth Maiden Alkalye was destroying the city. The most powerful of the time were all focusing on the creation, and none listened. When it was almost done, the Alkalye destroyed the building they were standing in and those taking part in the creating saw what the Alkalye had wrought with its powers; the only ones left alive in the city was them. Then Lord Arenn's son, Lord Crimson, had the idea to harness the Alkalye's power to complete it. With most of them having died from the Caytas Death, Lord Crimson thought that harnessing its power was the only way to create the perfect race, and thereby the only way for their legacy to survive.
“Lord Crimson ordered the others to harness its power, and they obliged. Except for one. He was a gold Dragon, and saw that anything they would create using an Alkalye's power would be evil. He knew there was only one way to stop this- give up his life and let his life force give the energy needed.
“Before the others knew what he was doing, the Dragon went to stand in front of where the creature would appear. He knelt and let his life force give the last energy needed, just as the Alkalye's life force was being given to it. The combination of the gold Dragon's pure courage and the Alkalye's terrible chaos and explosive power brought about the beginning of the end of the Caytas Death. The Dragon's color turned white and the first Linera was made just as the other creature was created. The first Ice Lancer, a Spellcaster, Dragon Hunter, and Water Demon all mixed together, came forth. The Ice Lancer was a woman, and viewed upon the world with disgust. The others turned to her in their time of greatest need, and she rejected them. She kidnapped one of the Spellcasters and he told her the state of the world. She was the first to have the idea of the Caytas Death suppressor- for she respected this power and, though it might end in her death, felt that one day some good may come of it. So she put forth the idea that an item be created that could suppress the all-consuming killer.
“The Linera was on their side and used his pure magic to fix the city. He fixed in a moment what might have taken all the Spellcasters combined years. When the Spellcaster that had been kidnapped by the Ice Lancer returned he told them of the idea the Ice Lancer had. They all begged and pleaded with the Linera to save them and create such an object, but he told them it was beyond his power. He could only cast spells to create, not something that would suppress other magic’s. No one for a moment considered he was lying.
“The Linera had lost all emotion such as pity and even self-sacrifice. He knew that the world would soon succumb to the disease, and though he wouldn't because he was immortal he understood that if the other Dragons all perished he would be alone for eternity, and perhaps one day die after all, alone in a blackened pit that would be left of the world. He turned down the thought of making the object himself because he knew he would perish if he tried, and it might not even work. He did not feel he needed to explain himself to mortals, so he put his own plan into action.
“While the Linera was working on his plans, the Ice Lancer understood that her idea would spread throughout the world, and one day soon someone would be able to accomplish it. How fast and if it would be in time she did not know. She also knew that the one who made it would be remembered throughout history, and she knew the only thing about her that would be remembered was the fact she was the first, though even that would fade with time and her name would vanish into the wind. Obsessed with the fear of being forgotten, the Ice Lancer made another plan to save the world.
“While the two most powerful individuals in the known world worked on saving them all, Lord Crimson saw his army quickly diminishing. The Caytas Death was going full speed, and his power as Lord of nearly all the continent was also decreasing as his domain weakened. So Lord Crimson knew he had little time to act before he was overthrown to be replaced by someone who could do no better than him -- nobody could help anybody else or perish from the Caytas Death in these times. It was every creature for themselves. Lord Crimson, under other conditions, would have adopted this unspoken rule without question and followed to the letter, but most of his power relied on the strength of his nation and it was crumbling. If he was to keep his position and power, he had to ignore the creed and do his best to save them, just like the Linera and the Ice Lancer.
“The Caytas Death had already killed millions of people, and there was one man, a Spellcaster, in particular who had been terribly affected by the disease. Though it wasn't contagious and could strike anybody, anytime, it was still dangerous to be around those who had it- near the end those who had it went crazy and killed everything they could. This was a dangerously common effect of the disease, and the Spellcaster in question, Lrari, had been at a large gathering of his fellow Spellcasters, all of them working together to find a way to end the spread of death. The man who had spoken with the Ice Lancer arrived and just as he finished announcing what she had told him, one of the Spellcasters in the audience went into the last stage of the Caytas Death and killed him, along with half a dozen others before he was restrained. Once his death throws were over, another went into the frenzy. Two more after that one went insane and by the time the four were all dead, only Lrari and one other was left. The other died from a fatal wound dealt to him in the fight, falling peacefully into death while Lrari sat and watched, unable to do anything to help him.
“Lrari was one of the most powerful Spellcasters of the time, and now, with his most powerful fellows gone, he was the strongest.
“He confronted the Ice Lancer, asking her about the idea she had. She told him, and he left. The Linera and he met, and Lrari told the Linera that he was going to create the Caytas Death suppressor. The Linera told him he would help. Lrari said he couldn’t make a single cure; there would have to be one for each species, as the Caytas Death was different when it affected each species. And then he could only make a representation of the Caytas Death in an object. They would need a place of purity to place the symbols of the Caytas Death in. The Linera said he would get Earth Maidens to create a Temple, and he would place the spell on the Temple that would hold the Caytas Death inside.
“Lrari created what he called the Aronoru while the Earth Maidens and the Linera were busy creating the temple. When Lrari finished making the Aronoru, the Ice Lancer stole them. She found the one for the Ice Lancers, and was about to try and destroy the rest when the Caytas Death suddenly killed her without warning.
“The Linera revived Lrari, who had been put to sleep by the Ice Lancer, and when they had their backs to the Aronoru, the Earth Maidens, impatient for their freedom, took the Earth Maiden Aronoru and their leader Venuvian put the Aronoru on the pedestal waiting for it. All the Earth Maidens in the land afflicted with the disease were suddenly cured, but those who were insane from the Caytas Death died.
“The Linera, seeing the treachery, was about to kill the Earth Maidens when Lrari stopped him. The Linera wanted to return all of the Aronoru to the Temple, which was to be called the Aronoru Temple in the future, but Lrari convinced him it was too dangerous to do that. The Ice Lancer proved that people would go to any lengths to save themselves, and that someday, if the species weren’t living in harmony any longer, someone would go to the Aronoru Temple and destroy their enemy’s Aronoru. The Linera agreed, and Lrari said he would hide them and put obstacles that only the most powerful of that species could cross in the way. The Linera left, and Lrari did as he promised he would do, hiding the Aronoru in various places in the Plains of Death and putting horribly powerful obstacles in the way. After he was finished, Lrari died, all his energy gone.
“After the Aronoru were created the Caytas Death was a quarter of the strength it was before. Though only the Earth Maidens were completely free of the Caytas Death, the disease was far less strong than it had been, and order was restored to the world. But now that they had no reason to be united, Lord Crimson was forced to give up nearly all of his land, and became the ruler of Sylas. Each of the species forced Lord Crimson to give them each a country of their own, and the world returned to as normal as it could get, though the Caytas Death still killed many, many people.
“After that, the only major change in the world was several hundreds of years later, when the Dragons had a great civil war. In the end the Mountain Dragons retreated into what is now Minaex, and the Forest Dragons went into Nemaex. And that is how our world was created, though I’ve left out a great many details.”
“But there are Ice Lancers in our world now,” Reron said, “how is that possible?”
“Ice Lancers were made from Spellcasters, Dragon Hunters, and Water Demons. Normally, if a line is pure than the parents can only have what all of their ancestors and themselves are. What species you are is normally based on your genetics. But not in this case; Ice Lancer children can be born from any of the three species, even if their lines are as pure as it gets.” Dr. Raneri explained patiently.
“So, if my grandmother had married another Fire Fiend instead of you, I would be a Fire Fiend too?” Karena asked, shocked at this new information.
He nodded, saying, “Yes, of course. But my wife was an amazing woman, completely different from the Fire Fiends you know, and she absolutely hated tradition. She married me not only because she loved me, but because she wanted to show that anyone can be married to whoever they want. I was just like you, Reron,” he whispered, “I, too, lived off of scraps and other people’s generosity. But then, when Siani, that was my wife’s name, ran away from the palace and was cornered by a Vampyr, I saved her and chased it off. We became close friends, and when we were older we fell in love and got married. Never judge people based on their outside appearance; get to know them first and then you can judge them all you like, so long as you know the whole story.
“Seth,” Dr. Raneri said suddenly, “I believe I have the answer to your problems.”
“You do?” The dark blue Dragon, Seth, said in surprise.
“Yes, I do, obviously, now be quiet and let me explain. You’re going to go with Karena and her friends and help them on their journey. If they insist on going I want them to have all the protection possible.”
Seth raised his eyebrows, obviously not happy with the idea. “You do realize they have enough trouble following them, don’t you? They don’t need my problems, too. And I bet all of their problems added together and multiplied can’t equal Ascinsia.”
“Oh, they probably can’t,” the old man said cheerfully, “but Ascinsia isn’t a Spellcaster or an Ice Lancer, remember. She can’t scry and she doesn’t read minds, so even if someone found Karena and told your old master she couldn’t possibly know you were with them. Don’t tell me being a slave all your life made you this stupid.”
Seth gaped at him, then recovered himself and looked at Karena, who was staring at her grandfather. Adrius was glaring at Seth, but he ignored the Dragon Hunter and just looked at Karena until she noticed him.
“So? Would you let me come along, even if…?” He let the question trail off.
“First we should know your story, Dragon,” Adrius said, still glaring at Seth.
“Fair enough,” Seth said, glancing at Dr. Raneri. “How about you tell them? The Dragon Hunter won’t interrupt you, but he’d constantly be annoying me with little comments about how I’m lying, how everything is a scam, how they shouldn’t trust me, blah, blah, blah.” His voice was mocking from the moment he mentioned Adrius, a smirk on his face and looking at him out of the corner of his eye.
“Sure, why not?” Dr. Raneri said, shrugging his shoulders. “Seth was born in Minaex, near the edge of the border between Zyeria and Minaex. A Vampyr came and killed his parents and took him away. The Vampyr, named Ascinsia, was one of the few who has eaten a Soul of Life. Do you know what that is?” He asked, looking at Reron and Synfera. They shook their heads, so he explained. “There is only one Soul of Life in Aeslian at one time, and it could be anyone. If a Vampyr eats that soul, they grow in power until they equal the strength of an Alkalye, they will live forever unless they are killed, and they can see the next Soul of Life. Normally, Vampyr’s can never tell if a person is the Soul of Life, but if a Vampyr has eaten one before they can see it inside a person. A Vampyr cannot eat more than one Soul of Life. Usually when a Vampyr gains that power they try to take over control of Zyeria, but they always are attacked by all the other Vampyrs and are killed.”
Seth was the one who finished the tale. “Ascinsia is smart enough that she would keep her power secret until she had a fellow who had also eaten the Soul of Life, and wait until that moment to reveal herself. She was my master, and she kept me as her slave. She said the reason she did that was because if any other Vampyr found out about her power, they would try to kill her. She said she would use me as a decoy and force me to fight them and hold them off while she escaped. Vampyr’s have very strange customs. They can kill Dragons, but they do not eat the souls of Dragons. Vampyrs use the Dragon’s human form to eat the souls of others, and that tarnishes the Dragon’s reputation. To a Vampyr, eating the soul of a Dragon is like eating the soul of a fellow Vampyr. To a Vampyr, Dragons are kin.” Seth sounded disgusted by the end.
“Wow, growing up under the roof of a Vampyr must have been horrible for you.” Karena said with sympathy in her tone.
Seth just looked away and at the ground, not answering her.
Dr. Raneri stood up and stretched. Several joints cracked and he said, “I don’t know about you young people, but my old bones are tired. I’m going off to bed. I have several guest beds in the other room, go sleep in there. Goodnight everyone, we’ll talk some more in the morning before you leave.” And without another word he turned and walked through one of the doors.
“Dang, now I have to clear this.” Karena complained, flicking her hand and making the tea cups and teapot vanish. “Oh well. Time to sleep, come on everybody,” Seth walked through the only other door right after Karena, making it clear that he wasn’t going to let Adrius shove him out of the room.
They went in and found a dozen small cots in the room. “Wow,” Reron said as they settled down, “I wonder why he has so many beds.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Karena sighed, “goodnight everybody,”
“Goodnight,” they mumbled back. Seth was silent.