Vegenrage: The Magic User

by Robert Spina

  “You want proof, I will give you the proof.” Blethstole is getting visibly angry, and he flaps his wings hard, sending gold and treasure flying around his lair.

  Gairdennow is suddenly alerted to the fact that he may have to defend himself, which is a natural instinct of all male dragons when this close to one another. “Come with me, Gairdennow, I will give you and all the others the proof you seek.” Blethstole leaves his lair followed by Gairdennow. Blethstole lands on a high perch overlooking his mountain and, with a great roar, summons all the dragons to his presence.

  This is a fantastic scene never seen before. Dragons of all colors and all shades of all colors take to the wing and are circling around Mirrimya Mountain. The most incredible gathering of the most incredible species ever evolved for the first time all in one place. There are male, female, young, and old. This is for the most part a gathering of all the dragons of the Maglical System, minus a very few of them. There is no one to witness this most spectacular, visually stunning scene. Dragons are magnificent, coming in all colors with fantastic shapes, grace, and beauty. It is amazing how this one species has so many variations in their bodies. They have awesome wings that fit their bodies differently. They have tusks and horns different to each dragon and growing from different places on their bodies. They have scales in different sizes and shapes covering their bodies. Some have fins, and some have weapons attached to their tails. They are powerful, strong, and magical.

  Blethstole stands atop his perch, the dominant dragon, but this can change at any time. For right now he has done what no other dragon has ever done: he has gathered all the dragons in one place at the same time, and for the first time ever, all dragons are listening as one.

  “It is time for you all to see firsthand the proof you seek. The proof you need that has brought you here. It has come to my attention that you cannot stay calm, you need proof of the coming of Vlianth. Well, I have the proof you seek, and it is not a book that will prove this to you. It is Vlianth himself. You are dragons, the strongest magical beings ever evolved, and surely one man, one woman, and thirty-five dwarves are no match for one dragon, let alone all of you. I warn you. I have faced Vlianth face-to-face, and he is a dangerous adversary. He is cunning, he is smart, he is truly a powerful magical being. The proof you seek right now heads for the Ruin of Altrar. He and his party will be there in seven days. If you cannot contain yourselves, then learn firsthand of the danger I have warned you of. If you think you can be the one to kill Vlianth, then go see if you can. I warn you. Vlianth, the woman, and the dwarves can kill dragons. If you feel I am not worthy of your trust, of your loyalty to me and your brethren, then go see if you can stop the coming of Vlianth.”

  With no rebuttal, with no more words, the dragons, all of them, take to the wing and head off through Dimension Doors. Blethstole looks around, humbled that not a single dragon has stayed to show allegiance to him; not one has taken his warning seriously. Blethstole heads back to his lair. He sends flames from his mouth, lighting multiple torches around his lair, giving off light. He walks up to the bubble containing Logantrance and looks at him frozen in it. He looks at Logantrance for a good long while grumbling. He walks to the top of his bed of gold and chants a spell. A few minutes later, the wall starts to shake, and dirt and rock start to fall from a point in the wall, and a Salcendreepe comes forth to Blethstole’s call.

  “Casson, you saw this man?” He motions to Logantrance.

  “Yes, Blethstole, this is the man that was with the dwarves. They triggered the cage that was where the Mystical Erkens used to be. Lyleede, Adronpee, and myself entered as commanded by the dragons. Lyleede ordered me to get Dribrillianth and Gairdennow, and when I returned, the two dwarves were dead, the dragons already gone, and Lyleede and Adronpee dead as well.”

  “I guess that makes you in charge now. I have something for you.” Blethstole chants a spell and breathes a fluorescent blue light from his mouth onto Casson. “The dragons have all gone to Fargloin to the Ruin of Altrar to kill Vlianth. There are many dwarves with him and a female. I want you to take ten Salcendreepes and give Vlianth and his party a little distraction from underneath when the dragons attack. Surely you would not mind the sweet meat of dwarve and human. I have given you the dimensional location and the time to arrive under the Ruin of Altrar. Go now and feed.”

  “Yes, Blethstole.” Casson vanishes into the earth wall.

  Blethstole looks to Logantrance again. “Yes, old friend, the time of your blessing is coming.”

  Glimtron is leading the way as the party makes their way along the Smildren Sea. They have traveled a week now, and the party has become close, all excited for the adventure they are on and worried about the danger they will surely face. Glimtron halts the party, and they all gaze upon the Ruin of Altrar. This happens every time anyone passes this way. It is almost instinctive from the last high hills off the Smildren Sea as Altrar comes into sight. The houses and buildings are in ruin but still stand. They are about a mile and a half from Altrar and the once-thriving city built by man that was built on the side of a great hill.

  The Altrar human race was well-known and traded with the elves and dwarves. Altrar had a very able fighting class with fantastic magic users. In the last Dragon Feast, the dragons targeted Altrar heavily and vigilantly held fast until all Altrarians were eaten. It is said that some Altrarians survived the onslaught and still live on Fargloin, but that is myth and legend. It has been over a millennium, and there have been very little signs of any human life at all on Fargloin. There are humans that live on this planet, but by far, the elves and dwarves are now the dominant species along with the dragons that are making a comeback. Vegenrage rides up to Glimtron.

  “What is it, Glimtron?”

  “Every time I ride past this place, it gives me an eerie feeling. I never get used to the sight of this place.” The hill has grown and the structures built by man are being slowly overrun by trees and vegetation. The entire hill, which is almost a mountain, has at one time been built on. In its day, Altrar must have been a very beautiful place. Now the buildings are falling apart, and the forest is moving in.

  “Well, what do you think, Glimtron? Should we camp here tonight, or should we move past and camp at a later place?”

  “No, this is a good place to camp tonight. We will reach the Long Forest by nightfall tomorrow.”

  The party dismounts and sets up camp for the night. Before long, all the horses are settled, and a fire is cooking a boiling stew. They all gather around the fire, and the dwarves begin telling stories as they have done for the past six nights. Farrah and Vegenrage always ask the dwarves about old tales and stories about the mountain, and the dwarves go on and on, and it always ends in a round of laughter as the dwarves make fun of each other. A story has just ended, and a long round of laughter ends in a long silence when Silgeqwee breaks the silence.

  “Ms. Farrah, how did you come to be with Vegenrage?”

  “I was under the spell of a terrible witch, and Vegenrage came to my rescue. He slew the witch, and I have been with him ever since.”

  Fimble jumps in. “Witch slayer and soon to be dragon slayer,” he says with laughter.

  “Oh, Vegenrage is already a slayer of dragons. He has faced Blethstole and Swomairen and thwarted their attack. He did not kill them, but he did kill Emzwer, one of the Mountain Creek Dragons.” A hush takes over the party. The silence is followed by the sound of large footsteps approaching. The party looks to the sound of the approaching footsteps, hoping they are from the giants, and they are. It is Osworns, and he advised that they get some sleep early.

  “The forest does not feel right. There is fear in the air. All the animals have taken to hiding, and this is very unusual. Even the predators of the night are nowhere to be seen. We will watch tonight in case something happens, but we should get an early start in the morning.”

  “Yes, Osworns, that sounds good. Get some sleep, everyone, we leave at first light.”

  Everyone
heads for their sleeping bags, but the curiosity gets the best of some of the dwarves.

  “Vegenrage, is it true you faced dragons and killed some?”

  “Yes, Dormins, it is true.”

  “Dormins, leave him be. Get some sleep. We rise early. That goes for all us. We pass Altrar in the morning, and hopefully we will hear from the elves soon.”

  Vegenrage has known for days now that something is not right. When Logantrance was frozen in the bubble, he had a sense a feeling that he has been trying to understand. He has tried to communicate with Logantrance telepathically with no response, and by now he knows something bad has happened to Logantrance. He has kept this to himself because there is no good in alarming the others, and he does not want to abandon the party because his gut has been telling him that as soon as he leaves, if he were to leave, then of course bad things would happen.

  Farrah has been getting a lot of attention from the dwarves all week. They smile and flirt and ask her all kinds of questions, but she deflects it all back to the dwarves, and they gladly pass the time telling stories that Farrah finds very amusing. She has been thinking a lot about the book she absorbed teaching about Vergraughtu. The amazing thing about the absorption magic that Vegenrage taught her is that when she absorbs a book, she may not know all the knowledge right there and then, but the information is there, and she can retrieve it at any time. She spent her free time remembering and thinking about the book she absorbed on Vergraughtu, and she can’t believe what a powerful magical item this is.

  It is actually one of the most valuable and powerful magical items around, and many would kill for it. There is much more to Vergraughtu than just the magical item and its power, and she has many questions for Vegenrage. The book kind of leaves her hanging, like Vergraughtu was meant to be transformed from a dragon into the Staff of Barrier Breath and then again back into a dragon but a different kind of dragon, and this is what she really questions. All the powers she can learn from Vergraughtu, like all the breath attacks of dragons and physical immunity to dragons and their magic. This is so powerful that it’s unimaginable. Not only that, but the book on Vergraughtu speaks as though the staff was meant to be held by someone, someone that has a part to play in the lives of dragons.

  Farrah sits up as something really strikes her, something that she is just now discovering. Logantrance had given Farrah some books to absorb while Vegenrage was asleep, and one taught her the dragons’ tongue or how to understand the language of dragons. She has been thinking about and learning this language also this past week, and something just comes to her attention. The book on Vergraughtu, which by the way is in Parnapp, ends by saying that Vergraughtu will be awakened by the one that sets the final Dragon Feast into motion.

  Vergraughtu was the dominant dragon two and a half millenniums ago. He was the Violet Violator, a spectacular dragon with frills all around his head. He was the only dragon who had wings attached to front legs and he had front legs also. He could tuck his legs into his body like no other dragon, making him the flier of worlds. He terrorized all three worlds, feeding and mating at will, because he was so dominant and so much larger than all the other dragons. It was like evolution took a millennium jump with him. He had no horns or tusks on his body, and rivals thought he would be easily defeated when competing for a mate, but Vergraughtu had such a size advantage on other dragons that he could withstand the best attacks, and a lot of times, he let dragons impale him on purpose just because he could. He was unbelievably fast and used his quickness and added limbs to grapple with dragons, and none could defend this kind of attack. He would wrap around them, breaking their limbs and snapping their wings and breaking their necks with his forearms and hands on his wings. His jaw was long and narrow with not the most powerful bite but easily strong enough for him to shear through the necks of his rivals with his long and sharp teeth. Vergraughtu was a one of a kind dragon, and there is none like him since he was transformed into the Staff of Barrier Breath.

  The book does not explain how he was turned into the Staff of Barrier Breath, but the book does tell how Vlianth will awaken Vergraughtu and start a chain reaction leading to his release back into dragon form. This is all needed to happen in order for Vergraughtu to make yet another leap forward in evolution to yet another form of more significantly powerful type of dragon, and this is where Farrah is left hanging. It does not explain any further. Farrah does now know dragon tongue, and she knows that Vlianth means “Vegenrage.”

  Farrah is lying close to Vegenrage as she has all week when they sleep. She quietly whispers, “I need my sight, I need my sound to be hidden from the light up from the ground.” A magical barrier rises up and over Farrah and Vegenrage like a large capsule, and they are now invisible to the party, and the sounds they make unheard. It does not take the dwarves long to realize they cannot see or hear them.

  “Krimzill, Krimzill!”

  “What, Eebil?”

  “Look, Farrah and Vegenrage, have hidden themselves from us. I bet they are bumping uglies.”

  “Yeah, well, I bet their uglies are not as ugly as yours and Regalamda’s are.” Some of the dwarves in the party start laughing.

  “Quiet, all of you. Leave the humans. We need to be ready this morning, get some sleep.” They all quiet down and chuckle a little bit.

  Farrah slides over close to Vegenrage. “Vegenrage, I have some questions for you.”

  He raises his hand over his mouth, and a green glow with white and blue lines moves between his palm and his mouth.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I am making my breath minty fresh.” Vegenrage slips into the sleeping bag with Farrah and kisses her. “What do you think?”

  Farrah smacks her lips and flaps her tongue against the roof of her mouth and teeth. “Very nice, I like it.”

  Vegenrage starts kissing her again. “Vegenrage, stop I have some important questions for you.”

  “I thought you liked kissing me.”

  “I do, but I need to know about Vergraughtu and you.”

  “The Staff of Barrier Breath is yours now.”

  “Yes, but the book I read on Vergraughtu said he could only be woken by Vlianth, and that is you, Vegenrage, and by waking the Staff of Barrier Breath, this set in motion the final Dragon Feast. It also says that Vergraughtu is destined to transform into another form of superior dragon. I don’t know what to make of all this. What if really, I mean really, bad things are happening and are going to get worse?”

  Vegenrage rolls off Farrah and lays his right arm flush with the ground and rests his head on his hand, looking at Farrah, and runs his left hand fingers through her hair. “I don’t know either. Sometimes I feel like this is all one big trap that I have been put into on purpose.”

  “Why did you give Vergraughtu to me? It sounds like he was meant for you and you only. I think this is a magical item that is way too powerful for me. I don’t know if I can handle it.”

  “You asked me over and over to teach you magic. There are things I can teach you, yes, but for the most part, you learn magic by taking charge of yourself and your emotions. You learn magic by not being afraid of it and letting it flow from within yourself. You have used Vergraughtu many times already, and already you have proven over and over that your desire to learn and grow and use magic has not diminished in enthusiasm and excitement. Yes, you can handle Vergraughtu, and the way the book spoke about me awaking Vergraughtu and then somehow passing him on to another form of superior being is just so hard to understand and make any sense from. When Parnapp asked for you to be his master and that I leave Vergraughtu with him and you, I somehow took this as a sign that you were meant to be, I don’t know, like my savior. You, I thought, would be my ace in the hole, not because I made it this way, but because you made it this way. I believe that somehow you and I together were meant to play some important role in the Maglical System, and together we will see through the bad. And whatever happens, we together will do what we can to make things bette
r.”

  “What if somehow I was meant to transform Vergraughtu? I can feel his strength race through me. I can hear his words in my head. He keeps getting stronger and stronger in me, and I am starting to fear him. This is too reminiscent of the way Alisluxkana had a hold of me. I never want to be under the charm of someone or something ever again. I just want to be with you now.”

  “We are almost to Erkensharie. We will find Logantrance and get more answers. For now, remember you are becoming a great magic user and always have confidence in yourself. Trust in your instincts, and as far as Vergraughtu, remember you are his master. He cannot lie to you. If you have questions or fears, ask him, and he has to respond honestly.”

  “This is getting so scary. I don’t want bad things to happen to us. Can’t we go back to your world? I would like to see it there, and we can be together and live without the fear of having dragons wanting to kill us.”

  “You would get very bored there. You would forget about me very fast and wish you were back here. Besides, I am not about to abandon the friends we have made here when they need our help. We have come this far, and I am not going to let anything happen to you. I bet when we wake up, your enthusiastic spirit will have returned, and you will be ready to take on any dragon as I have seen you do already. No, I think we should rest now and think about helping the elves in the Erkensharie.”

  “You know I love you, don’t you? You won’t let anything bad happen to us, right?”

  “I am not letting anything bad happen to us.” Vegenrage rolls over and looks to the sky as the magical barrier Farrah cast vanishes and the stars reveal themselves. He thinks about what could’ve happened to Logantrance and why he can’t communicate with him. Farrah cuddles up next to him, and they fall asleep.