Dragonfight: A Heroes Story
Chapter 1: Summoned
The dragon blinked once, then twice, as the white light faded around her and she was met with a foreign landscape. As her eyes slowly panned across the lined terrain, they found their way to the interesting individual positioned in front of her.
With an all-white cloak and glasses poking out, it was hard for her to get a read on the tall, thin man. He held a weird weapon in his hand, the open end smoking. And there he was, waiting for her to say anything. So, she obliged.
She cleared her throat and proceeded. "I am Myrrh, from Darkling Woods. Could you please tell me what I'm doing here?"
The man responded, in a voice higher than she was expecting. "You were summoned here to help us in battle."
Short, to the point, and not the answer she was hoping for. This must have been evident, for the man added on, "But that will be for later. For now, we'll get you acclimated."
A second, and then Myrrh started walking towards the cloaked man. A small nod, unnoticed by Myrrh, and then the man turned on his heel and walked away from the platform, the dragon hot on his heels.
"I guess I should welcome you to the Kingdom of Askr," the man said as he continued at a breakneck pace for walking. Myrrh was close to a jog as she attempted to keep up with the man and not lose her footing.
It didn't help that they were going down the side of a mountain, which was apparently where she had been "summoned." While Myrrh could easily fly down, she needed to speak to this man, but couldn't get a word in as he dashed down the mountain. The man, however, seemed to be taking the steep steps in stride, as if he had done so many times before.
Before she knew it, the ground was only a hundred feet below her, and a castle grew into view, blocking out the sun. It seemed that this castle, for whatever reason, was built almost into the side of the mountain. Soon enough, the stairs plunged into the mountainside, and torches lit the rest of the way down.
The bottom of the stairs opened up into a cavern, and the man practically ran to the opposing side, opening up a door and beckoning the dragon inside. Myrrh took her time, panting a bit from the climb down, and as she approached the door, she noted that the man wasn't winded in the slightest.
She walked through the door, and the man closed it behind her. In front, a winding corridor, lined with torches. The man pushed in front of her, and once again, she had to jog to keep up with him as he blazed through the narrow corridor and around the sharp corners.
A door, and then she was in another room, sunlight streaming in through a window on the right wall. A simple desk, even simpler chairs sitting behind and in front of it, and two plain wooden doors were all that decorated the room. Standing by the far door was another man, wearing similar, yet more regal clothing as the cloaked man. His hair, blue with yellow tips, was brushed perfectly, nothing out of place, and his regal stance did nothing but betray his position.
"I see your summoning was successful, Kiran," the man said, sharp eyes looking straight at the dragon. She desperately wanted to hide behind something, anything to get away from the piercing gaze.
"Indeed," the cloaked man, Kiran, responded. "I didn't expect to see you here, though."
"You were taking a while, so I decided to come and check. I only just arrived." He directed his next phrase towards the dragon. "May I have your name?"
"...Myrrh," Myrrh responded, slowly.
"A good name, for a good person," the prince replied, with a chuckle coming from Kiran.
"So you're finally taking my advice, Alfonse? I never thought I'd see the day."
A small smile showed itself upon Alfonse's face. "I thought that you would finally stop bugging me if I did."
"It's rude to forget about a lady," Myrrh piped up. "At least, that's what Ephraim told me."
"Did he now?" Kiran said, his voice dropping as he said the words. "Alfonse, would you be so kind as to get Prince Ephraim for us? I believe I have something to give him."
The point of this endeavor was not lost on Alfonse as he responded with an, "As you wish," and quickly departed the room, leaving behind a very confused Myrrh and a quietly thinking Kiran. He beckoned Myrrh around the desk and into the seat at the front, while he himself sat on the other side of the desk, pulling out a few sheets of paper and beginning to write in silence.
A few seconds passed before a question rang out. "Weapon of choice?"
A pause, followed by a meek "Dragonstone."
The writing stopped, and Myrrh saw Kiran look up at her, a strange look on his face. "Well, it's been a while since we've had one of those. Makes my job a whole lot easier, though." The writing continued. "Age?"
"Ephraim told me it's rude to ask a lady their age," came the quick and indignant reply. Kiran shot her a quick look, patiently waiting for the reply, which came several seconds later as "around 1200."
And so the room was filled with questions, answers, and scribbles. A few minutes had passed before the door opened, and Kiran looked up at the intruder.
"Alfonse said that you asked for me," came the voice that Myrrh immediately recognized. She turned around in her chair, and sure enough, there was Ephraim, standing proudly, but with a noticeably... different stance from what Myrrh was used to. As a matter of fact, Myrrh realized, his voice was different, lighter, not as hoarse. It was as if he had never gone to war in the first place. She seemed to have caught his attention as he turned towards her.
In his eyes, Myrrh saw no familiarity, his face didn't soften like they did when she joined him. It was as if he was a complete stranger.
"Ah, I suppose you are the new hero that Kiran summoned. Would you please tell me your name?"
Myrrh couldn't respond. Here was the person, after her father, who she had gotten closest to, who promised to always come back to see her after all was said and done, greeting her as if there wasn't anything between them.
Thankfully, she didn't have to, as Kiran butted in. "Ephraim, I think you have quite a bit of potential, but I don't see it coming out when you go out to battle. As such, I want you to find Effie and train with her. When you can safely beat her, report back to me."
Ephraim turned back towards Kiran, gave a nod, and left as quickly as he came, all but forgetting the shell-shocked dragon. A few seconds passed before Kiran let out a sigh.
"Listen, Myrrh, I wanna apologize," he began. "I heard you mention Ephraim, and I wanted to make you more comfortable, but in my haste, I forgot that there's an issue surrounding him." He waited for a response, and, getting none, sighed before continuing. "You see, when he was first summoned, everything seemed okay, but I got some complaints within the first few hours from people that knew him, saying that he wasn't the same, that he had forgotten everything. And I'm sorry that this was your first experience here."
An uneasy silence filled the room, with Kiran sitting back down and continuing his paperwork, while Myrrh was barely holding herself together. Half a minute, and Kiran stood up suddenly, startling the dragon as he quickly walked towards the door that Ephraim had walked through so soon before. He motioned for Myrrh to follow, to which she hopped off the chair and silently followed.
Walking down the hallway, Kiran began to talk. "You'll be assigned to Squadron D, and your room will be situated near your other squadmates. You'll have your own room, with a bed, desk, and chair. If you would like anything else, you just need to ask. Of course, there's also the common room, which has a few members sleeping there, so if that's more your style, then-"
"I would like to be in the common room, please," Myrrh interrupted, eliciting a nod from Kiran.
"Alright, then we should be almost there."
Sure enough, just a few seconds later, Kiran stopped at a door that looked no different from any of the others, and, without hesitation, opened it.
The shouts were jarring and incoherent to Myrrh. As soon as he had stepped in the room, three figures leapt at him, chattering all the way. Kiran, however, seemed used to this, as he quickly made his greetings before ordering the three around.
"Tiki, I want you to grab Tiki. Nowi, you can get Ninian and Corrin, and Fae can tag along with you. Be back here as soon as possible." Three nods, and Myrrh was once again left alone with Kiran.
It wouldn't last, though, as the room was quickly filled with even more people, as five people changed to eight. Six of them had different looks upon their faces as they looked at Myrrh, some curious, one knowing, and some with glee. A circle, pillows all around, sitting with no equals. Before Myrrh could get even more uncomfortable, Kiran began to speak.
"Alright, everybody, we have a new member for your squadron. I want everybody to be nice to her, though I have no doubt that you all will. This is Myrrh," Kiran said, extending a hand towards Myrrh, who wanted to do nothing but shy away from the attention. "She can explain herself to you, but I have to leave to make sure this whole Order doesn't implode on itself." He seemed uneasy about it, but a deep breath and he was on his way out the door, leaving the shy dragoness to her fate.
Silence permeated once more, with Myrrh being unable to find her voice, finding her hands more interesting than the people around her. Before long, another voice broke the silence.
"Come now, little one. There is nothing to fear in a room of equals."
A quick look up found the speaker. Older, green hair, red dress. The talker noticed her gaze and brought her hand gracefully forward. "My name is Tiki. It is a pleasure to meet you, Myrrh." A quick handshake, and her hand receded back to her side.
And so, the meeting went, around the circle, from the far-too-touchy Corrin to the hyper-energetic Fae, Myrrh found herself being more and more comfortable in the group of girls that she was surrounded by. Finally, the last to speak, a younger girl with a short pink dress and green hair made her greetings, a smile on her face.
"My name's Tiki! It's always fun to have new faces around!"
Despite herself, Myrrh couldn't help but smile.