by D L Colon
Glaycol, not caring for what the price his body would pay for the power he would possess to defeat Hyglarur, mentally answers; give me that power now!
Not knowing what’s going on, Ethan and Jasorian are surprised when they see a red circle form around Glaycol. When black smoke starts to rise from the circle, engulfing Glaycol, they feel a change in the atmosphere and they know that they better stay out of his way. Ethan uses his magic and Jasorian uses his bo staff to go to a higher location, knowing the man in front of them is no longer Glaycol.
Glaycol starts to feel a change in his body as he feels the armor stick to him like they were sticking him in the Iron Maiden. He doesn’t feel any pain, but he knows that after this his body will be paying a huge price. He can see with both eyes for some reason, but he is consumed by his hatred and he doesn’t know who is ally or enemy. He swings his sword in a circular motion, killing a few of the dragons, as he keeps turning to evade and attack them. He continues to attack and in a matter of seconds the floor is full of dead baby dragons. As he starts walking toward the man in the mask, the man starts running to the cave where the dragon controlling the city is located. Glaycol is walking slowly, following him to that location and Ethan and Jasorian stay far away from him so he doesn’t pick them up with his senses.
As Glaycol continues to walk the man wearing the mask makes it to where the dragon is located. “Commander Zaz, there are intruders heading this way. Kill them and I will tell papa what you did and it will help you gain more control over more cities.”
Zaz looks at him in disgust and asks, “Why should I, The Commander of the Dragons, use my time cleaning up the trash you can’t take care of, Glarur?”.
“Because all your kids are dead, Zaz. Are you still going to let this go?”
Zaz, upon hearing that his kids are dead, feigns concern as he says, “Oh, my kids are dead”. Then his tone changes to one of anger, “You think I care about that? I can make more. Their deaths just mean they weren’t strong enough to destroy a small fry like him.”
When Glaycol comes into view and sees Glarur he starts walking toward him, ignoring Commander Zaz. Commander Zaz’s nostrils pick up something unusual within Glaycol and he looks at Glarur. “Oh, Glarur, you don’t know who he is, do you? That guy right there killed your uncle Rotwar. That, you pathetic little man, is the Dragon Slayer.”
Glarur, upon hearing this, starts running away faster, which prompts Glaycol to run really fast, making it easy to catch up with him. When he is about to swing his great sword at Glarur, Zaz uses his tail as a barricade between them, causing Glaycol to jump back in order to evade the blow.
“I’m going to kill him, Glarur. There’s no way I’m not taking this big kill. Run away make sure you tell your father what’s happening. Tell him that the Dragon Slayer has started to move.”
Glarur, in a hurry to leave, changes form and flies away. Ethan and Jasorian, who were hiding and watching, are in shock at the turn of events. What’s more surprising to them is how big Commander Zaz is.
Glaycol is facing Zaz, but instead of going straight for the kill, he is moving slowly getting into position. Suddenly Glaycol starts running, moving faster than the average human, swinging his great sword at Zaz’s tail. Zaz uses his claws to stop the blow, but the great sword easily cuts through his claw. Despite that, Zaz sends Glaycol flying back with his tail, aiming his fire breath at Glaycol. Glaycol senses the fire breath heading his way and he starts to run to the side as Zaz keeps aiming his fire at him for a while, following Glaycol’s every move. When Zaz stops with the fire breath, Glaycol jumps out and throws a flash bomb at Zaz, rendering him blind for a few seconds, leaving Glaycol the opening he needs to cut Zaz’s tail, causing Zaz to scream in pain. Using his fire breath at Glaycol once again, Zaz hits him straight on, but for some reason it doesn’t burn him. It just sends him flying back, hitting the wall once again, and this time it knocks the air out of him. Due to the armor he recovers quickly and runs toward Zaz again. Zaz attacks again, swinging his claw down forcefully, but Glaycol easily evades it and cuts his hand. Glaycol throws another flash bomb at Zaz, but he closes his eyes and it has no effect on him.
“You thought I would fall for the same trick twice?” Zaz asks before he realizes Glaycol isn’t where he was when he threw the bomb.
He never hears a response from Glaycol and by the time he sees him it’s too late, Glaycol is already coming down screaming. The pressure of the sword hitting Zaz’s thick skull crushes it. Glaycol lands on the floor as Zaz’s body falls limply beside him. Once he stands up he severs Zaz’s head. After shutting off his emotions from the armor and turning back to normal, he knows that Ethan and Jasorian are close by. “Ethan, Jasorian, make sure that Hyglarur gets his head as soon as possible. I need to get back to the shop.”
Right after the words leave his mouth, Glaycol loses consciousness.
As Jasorian and Ethan approach Glaycol, Jasorian notices that there are some baby dragons who remain and they are approaching them. Jasorian looks at Ethan while gripping his bo staff and says, “Take him to Falror. I will make sure the baby dragons don’t approach you.”
Ethan uses his magic to lift himself and Glaycol up. As they float by the baby dragons, they try to jump to attack Ethan, but Jasorian, using his bo staff, makes it impossible for the baby dragons to approach him. Jasorian drinks his rum while using his bo staff, making drunk movements that become stronger the more he drinks. As he is drinking, he grabs a torch from the cave wall and uses it to make his own version of fire breath by blowing rum onto it, burning some of the baby dragons. As he’s making his way out of the cave he notices that Ethan is already out of sight, but some of baby dragons are following him. Cursing under his breath, he drops his bo staff and he takes a large flask from his waist and drinks from it, putting himself into some kind of drunk master trance. As he uses the surrounding energy to amplify his power he sends bursts of energy toward the baby dragons, blowing them into pieces. When he reaches the ones left, Jasorian starts attacking them with his fists, knees, and elbows, killing his way through the cave to exit the castle. Noticing that there’s no end to them, he jumps high enough to see how many baby dragons remain. Gathering the energy around him, he closes his fist and uses that energy to make a hole big enough that all the remaining baby dragons fall into it. Using his fire breath again, he makes a big fire in the hole, killing all remaining baby dragons. While the fire is burning he grabs Zaz’s head before throwing his body in there. On the way out he covers the head and puts it somewhere he knows Hyglarur will find it. While turning to leave the castle he grabs his bo staff and, even though he’s already drunk, he heads to where he can get more to drink, Susagep.
Ethan runs as fast as he can while carrying Glaycol, but he knows that baby dragons are following him. He uses a gust of wind to push back the baby dragons and then water spheres to drown them, too. As he continues to run he realizes that he has made it back to the city and the baby dragons weren’t following him any longer. He stops running, but as he slows to a walk he notices that Glaycol is bleeding through the armor. He touches the armor to see if he should try to treat him, but the moment he touches the armor he jerks his hand back. He felt the beast that dwells within it, fighting him. Using his wing magic, he tightens his hold on Glaycol and runs faster toward Falror’s shop. When he sees it a few feet away, he uses his magic to push himself faster, reaching the door in a matter of seconds. He abruptly stops and starts banging on the door. When no one answers he prepares to use his magic to destroy it, but Elaine opens it before he can.
“What is it? The shop is closed!” She tells him irritably, but then she sees Glaycol unconscious behind him. “Come in. What happened to him?”
Ethan goes in and the only thing he says is, “The Armor.”
Chapter 8
Glaycol is laying on his back when he suddenly wakes up and looks around. He only sees an empty white room, but he keeps looking until he hears a voice behind him. “It’s no use, Glayc
ol Master. Your body belongs to me now.”
Glaycol stands up quickly and turns around. He sees the Berserk Armor standing in front of him, looking at him with only one eye, the eye he longer has. It has a sadistic smile on its lips and Glaycol looks at the armor with a lethal expression. The armor spreads its hands wide and asks, “Why so serious, Glaycol? You wanted power and I gave it to you, but you forgot the same thing that everyone who has ever awakened me has. You forgot to not be consumed by it, and now your body will be an empty shell where I will remain in control until it is killed or….”.
Glaycol looks at him as he trails off and asks, “Or what?”
The armor smiles and answers, “Or you fight me to regain control, but for you it is too late.”
Glaycol reaches for his great sword, prepared to fight the armor, but it’s not there and the armor chuckles. “Oh, are you looking for this?” The armor asks and holds up Glaycol’s great sword.
Glaycol feels an unknown power coming from his body and it brings out a great white sword. Glaycol’s expression changes as he says, “Let’s see who remains in control after this.”
Glaycol charges at the armor and swings his sword horizontally, but the armor blocks it with the great sword. The armor strikes back with a right diagonal cut, causing Glaycol to jump back, but still managing to make a small cut on Glaycol’s cheek.
Glaycol and the armor keep attacking each other, but they both evade each blow, both only managing to make slight cuts on the other. As the fight progresses the blows they exchange are getting harder to control because both of their hands are slippery due to the amount of blood dripping from their wounds. Glaycol, knowing that he is losing his grip on the sword, pretends to swing his sword and lose his grip, but the sword is heading straight toward the armor. The armor smiles triumphantly and is about to block the sword, thinking he had this battle won, but he didn’t see that Glaycol was following the sword. Before the armor can knock the sword aside, Glaycol grabs it and executes a frontal swing, catching the armor by surprise as he cuts it in half.
Good, Glaycol. You have shown me, once again, your tenacity to remain in control. I will give you the power you seek, but remember to always control your emotions, or we will face each other again, and next time I will be stronger than I am today.”
*****
Two days have passed since Glaycol was brought into the shop. Ethan, Elaine, Falror and Jasorian have been watching him closely for any kind of stress. Elain managed to cover his wounds and stop the bleeding, but he has been laying there in bed, sleeping the entire time. They are beginning to worry. Elaine is about to change Glaycol’s bandages when he opens his eyes. Elaine, seeing Glaycol’s eyes open, hugs him while tears run down her face. This causes everyone else to stand up and look at Glaycol. He looks around at everyone for a moment then asks, “How long was I out?”
After Elaine stops hugging him, Glaycol proceeds to stand and pain shoots through every nerve in his body, causing his features to become distorted. Elaine hits him on the back of the head and scolds him. “You knucklehead. You have to rest. Your body is covered in wounds and you almost lost your life because you were being reckless.”
Glaycol lays back on the bed and instantly falls back asleep.
As he is lying in bed, sleeping memories of the day that his whole world was turned upside down assault him. It’s been two years since that nightmare happened, when the so-called good dragons seeking knowledge attacked the Continent of Istagar. Glaycol recalls coming home from hunting the chimera in the Valley of Blood, it was his final test to be a full-fledged hunter under his family name. He was coming back and everyone except his grandparents were there. He remembers his father’s, Bonca’s, words very clearly; You have undergone the hardest of the tests passed down through the Master family tradition. You have done your family, and our linage of the only remaining pure breed of the Master clan, proud. I love you, son.
Glaycol remembers how each family member gave him the piece of armor he now possesses, and until that day he didn’t know that this armor was his Gramps’ that he passed down to his son, Bonca, and now it was being passed down to him. He remembers the look of pride that came across his father’s, and his older brother, Loxy’s, and his mother, Vlumariny’s, faces. He remembers that last hug Vlumariny gave him and her words still ring in his mind to this day; You look just like your father, Glaycol. Through your veins flows the blood of not only the Master family, but of kin.
That last statement was never finished because they were interrupted by his brother.
While his father and his mother gave him the armor he now possesses, his brother handed him the sword that belonged to his grandmother. He never understood how Elaine was able to carry such a big sword until he saw her work with Gramps. After watching her work he knew that despite the fact that she still had a feminine body, her muscles had developed to a degree that she was able to carry the sword. Everyone in his family had always been scared of her, but Glaycol never had, and that’s why they love each other so much.
He trained under the best swordswoman on the continent, her abilities were praised by many. Glaycol remembered vividly, and in more detail than he should, that after he got the sword Hyglarur came through the skies over The Forest of Darkness and started shooting balls of fire at their house, killing everyone except him. His mother protected him with her body, but Hyglarur’s claw sliced through her and across Glaycol’s back. Vlumariny’s blood covered him, making the dragons believe he had died, too. What he didn’t realize was when the house exploded a piece of glass embedded itself into his left eye, causing the eyeball to rupture.
Through his right, Glaycol watched how Rotwar, Hyglarur’s brother, was playing with his brother’s body. He was ripping it apart, limb by limb, while his brother screamed, until he finally severed his head from his body while they forced his father to watch. When they were finished with his brother, Hyglarur burned his father alive. After a look around, assuming they were all dead, Hyglarur looked at Rotwar and said, “Now nobody will be able hunt us,” and they flew away. Glaycol lost consciousness after that and doesn’t remember what happened next.
On that horrible day, Elaine and Falror saw the flames coming up from the top of the forest and they came running. They saw the sight in front of them and, believing that all of them were dead, they went to look at the bodies. After seeing how Glaycol’s body was protected by Vlumariny, they quickly realized that Glaycol was alive, but badly injured, so they quickly took him to safety and had a healer take a look at him. The chances of him surviving were slim, but Glaycol did survive. It took him months to recover from the shock of the situation he was in, but during those months he trained his body to the point where he could barely move some days, yet the scars remained. Once he was physically healed he tracked down Rotwar and almost killed him. For the sake of vengeance, and to send a message to Hyglarur, he left Rotwar just barely alive and sent him back to Hyglarur with a message.
Elaine, who has been watching Glaycol while he slept, knows that he is reliving that fateful day. Despite the time that has passed, he has never told them what happened that day, and Elaine is not sure if she even wants to know because it would reopen a wound that has never completely closed.
Glaycol finally wakes up and looks at Elaine and asks, “What day is it?” Elaine tells him the date and he nods. “So today was the day.”
His statement makes Elaine realize that today is the anniversary of the day they were killed, and Glaycol is most likely going to visit the Forest of Darkness again.
Chapter 9
Glaycol has woken up, his body still hurts but he has to visit the graves of his family. As he is standing up pain shoots through his whole body, but he endures it as he puts on his shirt to hide the bandages covering his body. His left eye hurts so he touches it and once he looks at his left hand he sees that blood is covering the bandages over his left eye. The pain becomes too much and he is forced to put his left knee on the floor while putting his righ
t hand on his left eye. He grits his teeth as he stands up, fighting the pain as he finishes putting the armor back on. Once that’s finished, he grabs his great sword slides it into the sheath on his back, grabs his short sword strapping it to his waist, and opens the door to leave the room.
Falror and Elaine are talking to someone when Glaycol comes down equipped. Hearing the noise of the stairs creaking, Falror and Elaine become completely silent as Glaycol joins them. Elaine is about to protest about Glaycol being up and dressed in his armor when Falror whispers in her ear, “Whether you like it or not, he will do whatever he wants and today is the worst day to say anything about it.”
Elaine sees that Glaycol’s eye is bleeding and she runs to get more bandages to cover it. As she is doing that she hugs him and asks, “How are you feeling, son?”
Glaycol smiles warmly at Elaine and answers, “I’m hanging in there. I’m going to see my family’s graves, want go with me?”
Elaine looks at Falror and motions for him to get something from their room. Falror excuses himself and the person that they were talking to leaves. Falror comes back with a parchment and they walk out of the shop to get a carriage to take them to the Forest of Darkness.
*****
They have made it to the Forest of Darkness and are getting out of the carriage as Glaycol hands the driver a silver dracone, asking him to wait for them. He knows that the silver dracone is more than enough for the ride there, the ride back, and the wait he has to do.
Glaycol, Elaine and Falror are greeted by the burned trees from the destruction that Hyglarur and Rotwar unleashed on the forest. They were left as a reminder to those who oppose the dragons. They are meant to tell people that they will be used as an example if they try to fight them.