The fairy glanced up, and his eyes widened with something that may have been recognition, but was quickly replaced with politely detached interest. “Hello, young man, how may I help you?”
“I, er, my friend and I want to register as heroes,” Ashe stammered out nervously.
A smug smile curled Snow’s lips. “You just called me your friend.” He gave Ashe’s arm a playful shove.
“Oh, shut up,” Ashe grumbled.
“Certainly.” The fairy fished around his station for some papers and handed them to Ashe and Snow once he’d found them. “Just fill out these forms.”
Ashe raised a suspicious eyebrow at the fairy. “That’s it?”
“Well, you’ll have to pay the registration fee, too, of course,” the fairy said, his blue eyes sparkling with amusement.
“Pay?” Ashe questioned uneasily. “How much?” He had the feeling that to register as a hero would cost an arm and a leg.
“1,000 Gold Apples,” the fairy said.
“That’s outrageous!” Ashe shouted angrily, and slammed his fist down on the countertop. “I could buy three horses for that!”
Snow casually dropped a purse filled with gold coins onto the counter in front of the blue-haired fairy. “Don’t worry, Ashe. I got it.”
Ashe shot Snow a heated glare. “I don’t like to owe people.”
“You saved my life, remember?” Snow pointed out.
“And then you helped me get my hands on an enchanted sword,” Ashe reminded. “We were already square. Now I owe you one again.”
“Ah, ah, ah. I didn’t pay for it,” Snow argued. “The deal you made with Aurelion and Rapunzel is that you get a sword if you become a hero. That means I’ll pay your registration fee…and then we’ll be square.”
Aurelion let out a chuckle as he watched the interesting exchange between Snow and Ashe. He could have paid, but it was more amusing this way. Besides, Ashe needed to get better at accepting help from others.
“Alright. Fine,” Ashe huffed, folding his arms over his chest. He and Snow carried their forms over to a nearby table, took a seat, and started to fill out their hero registration forms. Ashe stared down at the place on the page that asked for his name. He swallowed a lump of nervousness.
Lord Tremaine had purchased Ashe from his mother. Ashe was a registered slave in Glass Kingdom. Could a slave become a hero? Ashe doubted it. He decided to use a fake name and wrote down ‘Cinder Ashmore’ for his name.
Almost immediately the entrance hall was filled with the sound of alarms going off and lights began to flash warningly about the hall. Ashe looked around the hall in dismay. Oh, shit. And I really thought I was going to get away with that one. Fuck magic. And fuck me.
The blue-haired fairy approached their table and gave Ashe a stern, knowing look. He picked up Ashe’s form and slowly ripped it in two. Ashe flinched in a guilty manner. “Don’t bother trying to use a fake name. The forms are enchanted with fairy magic to tell if someone is lying. Please, use your real name.”
The blood started to drain out of Ashe’s face. “But I don’t think I can…”
The fairy placed a hand on Ashe’s shoulder and squeezed it. “Don’t worry. Just use your real name. It will be fine, Ashe Smoldris. Trust me.” The fairy gave Ashe a wink.
Ashe gaped at the fairy and his eyes widened. “How do you know my full name?”
“I knew your father Cinderelron Smoldris. He was a magnificent hero. He saved the life of the princess of Glass Kingdom. Now, here.” The fairy handed Ashe a new stack of forms. “Don’t lie this time, Ashe.”
Ashe let out a defeated sigh, and looked down at the forms. He picked up a quill, dipped it into the inkwell that was sitting on the table, and wrote down his name: Ashe Smoldris. Ashe’s hand was trembling slightly, but thankfully the alarms didn’t go off this time. “Phew,” he let out a breath of relief.
Ashe looked up to see Snow giving him a questioning look, but the playboy quickly schooled his concerned expression, smiled, and returned his attention to his own form. When Ashe risked a glance in Aurelion’s direction to see what the man’s reaction was to all the commotion he’d caused he saw Aurelion petting someone’s dog and wondered why he’d worried at all.
The rest of the form was easy for Ashe to fill out. It asked for Ashe’s nationality, current place of residence, and for his birthday. The form also wanted Ashe to put down his reason for wanting to become a hero. This question was a little harder to answer, but Ashe remembered Aurelion’s words about how heroes wanted to help people in need, and jotted that down. Ashe didn’t think his real reason of wanting to keep the Glass Sword and fight in the coliseum was going to cut it.
After Ashe and Snow finished filling out their hero registration forms they carried them over to the blue-haired fairy’s station. The fairy took their forms, and filed them away. He then reached under the counter, and grabbed something. He handed two items to Ashe and Snow.
When Ashe opened the palm of his hand to see what the fairy had given him he discovered that it was a bronze, rose-shaped medallion. Snow held up his own bronze medallion, which looked identical.
“Those badges reveal your current hero rank and should be worn somewhere on your person where they will be visible,” the fairy began to explain. “Since the two of you are beginners your rank is Bronze. Once you’ve gained more experience and slain a few monsters you will be considered an average hero and you’ll be promoted to Silver. Intermediately skilled heroes are ranked Gold. Advanced Intermediate and the most powerful heroes in all of Fantasia are ranked Diamond.”
At the mention of the highest ranked heroes Ashe and Snow’s gazes immediately went to Aurelion’s breastplate where sure enough a medallion shaped like a rose and made out of diamond was attached to the front of his armor.
“Diamond rank,” Snow said, waggling his eyebrows at Aurelion. “I bet that impresses the ladies.” Aurelion blushed uncharacteristically.
“Aurelion has more than earned the right to wear the Diamond medallion,” the fairy said in a stern tone. “Rose Kingdom is only this peaceful because of him. You should show the man some more respect. You’re lucky that a veteran hero like Aurelion has chosen to take you under his wing, rookie.”
Snow put his hands up in surrendering gesture. “I was only joking.”
The fairy glared at Snow for a minute longer before nodding to himself as if deciding that he’d punished Snow long enough. “During a catastrophe it’s useful for other heroes that arrive on the scene to be able to see the medallion you’re wearing because this will immediately give them an idea of what tasks you should be able to handle. Not all heroes are going to be fighting the monster. Most will be helping to evacuate civilians.”
“How will the Guild know when I defeat a monster though?” Ashe questioned, raising an eyebrow at the fairy. “Will I have to bring the monster’s head here?”
The blue-haired fairy and all the other fairies that were working behind the counter suddenly burst out laughing. “Bring its head!” the fairy gasped out and wiped a tear from his eye. “No…you won’t have to do that. That would be highly unsanitary, by the way. The hero registration form is actually a magical contract. Any time you kill an evil monster the kill will appear right on your contact as a tiny slash mark. Fairy magic tends to make such things easier, hence why the fairies were put in charge of the Heroes’ Guild.” The fairy’s tone had turned smug and a few fairies were still giggling in amusement at Ashe’s question.
“What’s the deal with that board over there?” Ashe asked, jerking his thumb in the direction of the bulletin board. “Can you just pick whatever job you want to take on?”
“The monster slaying requests and other requests for aid have a recommended rank right on them,” the fairy explained. “This will help you to determine how difficult the task is and whether or not you’ll be able to handle it without getting yourself killed.”
“What requests will get me the most gold?” Ashe asked.
&nbs
p; “The more difficult the task, the greater the reward,” the fairy said. He noticed the bloodthirsty gleam in Ashe’s eyes and clucked his tongue in disapproval. “The reward is listed at the bottom of the request. At your level I’d stick to hunting rats in the sewers for now, rookie.”
“Rats?” Ashe asked dryly.
“Big rats,” the fairy said. “Sometimes the Heroes’ Guild makes a monster slaying request. Those would earn you the most gold. But they’re also the most likely to get you killed. These usually only occur when the Kingdom itself is in danger.”
“And when would that be?” Ashe tilted his head in a curious manner.
“Let’s hope you never find out,” the fairy said ominously.
Aurelion chuckled. “These boys have a long way to go before I’ll let them go monster hunting!”
“I’m glad that these two special young men are in your capable hands, Prince Aurelion,” the fairy said with an approving nod. He returned his attention to Ashe and Snow. “If you have any other questions feel free to ask. Also, you can pretty much always find me here if you need something.”
“Thanks…? What’s your name?” Ashe asked.
“Blue.”
Snow snorted. “Why’d you even bother asking him?”
The three young men chuckled as they left the Heroes’ Guild Headquarters together. They were about to mount Fenix when a fierce breeze abruptly picked up all around them. Storm clouds started to appear overhead, racing across the sky, and blocking out the clear, blue sky in seconds.
Suddenly, a swirling portal of black and silver energy appeared directly overhead. The portal was hundreds of feet wide and had a malevolent aura. Pedestrians stood on the sidewalk gawking up at the sky in horror, and pointed towards the swirling portal. Others had already started running as they tried to get as far away from the portal as possible.
“What the hell is that?” Ashe demanded upon noticing that Aurelion didn’t appear to be too surprised by this occurrence.
“Incoming monster attack,” Aurelion said in a grim tone.
Ashe eyed the portal warily. “Monster attack…?”
At that moment, an enormous, purple egg with black polka dots on it appeared emerging from the portal. The egg was one hundred feet wide at its middle.
“Is that…an egg?” Snow asked in disbelief. “What the hell could have laid that?”
The egg abruptly fell down through the air from the portal and hit the ground with a tremendous, earth-quaking thud. The egg completely destroyed the unlucky buildings that had been beneath it. People were now running and screaming as they tried to get as far away from the impact site as possible. The egg was two hundred feet tall and towered over most of the nearby buildings.
“Are they always that big?” Ashe asked.
“No,” Aurelion said, giving Ashe and Snow a fierce look. “I want you two to stay put. You’re about to witness what fighting monsters is really like. You boys will have a front row seat.” Aurelion scrambled up the side of the dragon, took a seat on the saddle, and grabbed the reins.
“Wait!” Ashe called up to Aurelion. “I’ll come too!”
Aurelion looked down at Ashe and offered the young man a lopsided smile. “Thanks. You’re brave, Ashe, but you’re not ready. Let me handle this. Now that I’m here - there’s nothing to fear! Fly, Fenix!” The black dragon let out a loud roar as it ran across the street, flapped its wings, and then took off into the sky.
Ashe and Snow watched as the dragon flew towards the gargantuan egg. Aurelion controlled Fenix so that the dragon circled the egg as it started to hatch. A large bird beak poked out through the eggshell, and then another beak poked out. This beak was followed by yet another…
Aurelion frowned at the sight. Are there multiple monsters inside that egg? That would be a first! All at once the rest of the egg’s shell shattered, sending pieces of sharp shell flying dangerously through the air, and the monster was finally revealed. As a piece of eggshell flew through the air like a Frisbee it sliced a tree in half.
The monster was eighty-feet-long and had the same length as Fenix. Its heads were also the same size as the dragon’s. The most notable difference was that the monster had five, long, serpentine necks that were forty-feet long.
All of the monsters that hatched from those eggs were always chimeras and this one was no different. It appeared to be part-bird, part-dragon and part-hydra. The monster didn’t have wings though so at least it couldn’t fly.
It didn’t take long for the monster to set its sights on the dragon that was circling around it. Suddenly, five pairs of glowing red eyes were pinned on Aurelion and he gulped. Outwardly, of course, he didn’t show his fear. He knew that the citizens of Rose City were watching the battle, and he couldn’t let them feel afraid. He needed them to be confident that he could handle this and draw strength from that fact.
Aurelion reached over his shoulder, wrapped his hand around the hilt of his great sword, and brought the sword down in front of him. “Come, Fenix, let’s attack!” The dragon obediently swooped down and flew towards the chimera.
As soon as Aurelion was close enough he swung his sword at one of the birdlike heads while trying to slice through its neck. The head used its beak to block Aurelion’s attacks though. That beak was as hard as steel. While Aurelion continued to try and get past the monster’s defenses, one of the birdlike heads opened its beak, and started to release a green-colored gas in Aurelion’s direction.
Poison gas! Aurelion thought, covering his nose with his left hand. At the same time one of the other heads was gearing up to attack and sparks were coming out of its open beak. Aurelion suddenly realized the monster’s intentions. Damnation! It’s going to ignite the gas!
Aurelion pulled back hard on the dragon’s reins so that Fenix flew up and above the gas, and not a moment too soon. One of the monster heads released a fireball towards the gas cloud, which caused a fiery explosion.
Aurelion looked down at the swirling inferno that was directly beneath him. He was glad he hadn’t been caught in the explosion. Apparently, the heads had different abilities. One produced poison gas, and another shot fireballs. There were still three other heads that had abilities that Aurelion didn’t know about yet. He needed to discover the monster’s other abilities before he could come up with a plan to defeat it.
Aurelion targeted one of the other heads. The head opened its beak and spat a large glob of green liquid Aurelion’s way. The dragon nimbly dodged the attack and Aurelion watched as the green glob of goo hit one of the buildings below. The liquid instantly began to eat away at the building, causing it to disintegrate. Acid. Aurelion deduced. That’s three down. Two to go. Let’s see what else you can do, Chimera!
Aurelion maneuvered his dragon so that they flew in close and he attacked another head. This head opened its beak and released a ball of crackling silver energy Aurelion’s way. Lightning. Aurelion thought, as he pulled on the reins to the right so that they just avoided the attack. Only one left.
When Aurelion attacked the final head it opened its beak, and…nothing happened. It just let out a loud, ear-piercing shriek. But then an invisible force slammed into Aurelion’s chest, and knocked him back off the saddle.
Aurelion started to slide down the dragon’s back and would have fallen off and plummeted to his death, but he managed to grab one of the spikes that emerged from the ridge of the dragon’s back. Aurelion dangled precariously from the spike for a moment before he gathered his strength and climbed back up on the dragon’s back.
Once he’d made it back into the saddle he breathed easier. Poison gas, acid, lightning, fire and sound waves. Aurelion thought. Just one of these formidable abilities is difficult to handle on its own. I have to deal with all five at once. This might be the most powerful chimera I’ve faced yet. Apparently, the League of Villains is stepping up their game. Wonderful.
“Come on, Fenix, it’s time.” Aurelion controlled his dragon so that it swooped down towards the chimera. I’ll j
ust have to take out one head at a time while avoiding attacks from the others. This should be fun! Multiple attacks were sent Aurelion’s way and he skillfully maneuvered his dragon to avoid the attacks. He aimed at one of the serpentine necks and swung his massive great sword.
Miraculously, Aurelion managed to slice through the neck of the head that produced poison gas. The head let out a shriek before falling silent. The head fell down through the air and released more poisoned gas as it went.
However, being in one place for too long had given one of the other heads the opportunity to attack Aurelion from behind. Aurelion grunted in pain as the lightning bolt hit his back, but he held back a scream. If the people below heard him scream they would be frightened. Even as thousands of volts of electricity were sent coursing through his veins he didn’t scream.
Aurelion pulled back hard on the reins, turning his dragon around to face the head that had just attacked him. “Oh, you’re going to pay for that! Forward!” The dragon let out a fierce roar as it flew towards the monster. The head opened its beak and crackling energy began to gather menacingly inside of it. But Aurelion didn’t hesitate and continued to have Fenix fly forward.
The chimera released its attack, and it hit Aurelion’s chest just at the same moment Aurelion swung his sword at the monster’s neck. Thousands of volts of electricity coursed through Aurelion and his body started to tremble. Two down. Only three to go. Aurelion thought as he let out heaving breaths, and watched the head plummet down through the air.
The people, who were watching below, started to cheer Aurelion on. “Aurelion! Aurelion! Aurelion!”
At that moment, on the rooftop of a nearby building a mysterious, cloaked and hooded figure materialized in a cloud of red smoke. The man was wearing a solid gold snake mask with ruby eyes. The hooded cloak he was wearing was black, and on the back was the emblem of a yellow snake coiled around a red apple that had a bite taken out of it.
“No! Damn you, hero!” the villain cried out angrily in Aurelion’s direction. “You may have managed to defeat two of its heads, but at what cost? You can barely keep your eyes open. You won’t win. And do you want to know why? Because I know a hero’s weakness - their kind heart! Chimera, attack the citizens of Rose Kingdom! Kill them all!”
Ashe and the Glass Sword Page 12