"Hello there, young'uns. Come for a story?" The old man rasped, smiling kindly at the three kids trotting up to them.
"Yes please, Master Shen!" The oldest one bounced slightly in excitement. She brushed a lock of her golden hair from her face.
"You've always been one for stories, Mina. Perhaps you'll be the next dragon master."
Mina smiled softly. The boy puffed up a bit. "No way! I'll be the next dragon master!"
"Not with that attitude, Josh." Shen chided.
The youngest of the kids looked up at Shen with wide blue eyes. "Can I sit in your lap while you tell the story?" She squeaked.
"Of course! C'mere, Luna."
Luna grinned and slumbered into the dragon master's lap. Mina and Josh settled themselves down on the ground and looked up at him with eager eyes. Shen gazed back with wise, kind, old green eyes. "Now, which story would you like to hear?"
Mina glanced at Josh. "We want to hear about the Outlanders."
"Interesting topic." Shen murmured. "There are many options for said subject. Which would you like?"
"The history? Like how they became crazy dragon slayers?" Josh answered.
Shen nodded and leaned back in his chair. "Now then. The Outlanders as you three well know are dragon slayers and right crazy too. You should also know that they can sniff out a live dragon from miles and miles away." He paused. "But the Outlanders weren't always like this. At one point, they lived in the different dragon villages. This whole thing is actually fairly new. It started when I was about sixteen. The leader of the Outlanders is, as you well know, a woman. She hailed from this village, and she's a woman by the name of Serila. She's… my twin sister." The old man closed his eyes for a minute before opening them and looking at the stunned faces of the children before him.
"Now, Serila was once a good girl. Quite like young Mina here. She had two dragons, one a fire dragon by the name of Comet and one an ice dragon by the name of Snow. Serila was the happiest she could ever be, and one of our best fighters, myself being the other. The village thought we'd have two dragon masters for the first time in centuries.
"But when Serila and her friend got in a fight, it escalated badly. Her friend punched her, and that made Comet and Snow attack him. The poor man didn't stand a chance, and he was dead before anyone could react. The dragons did more than just kill him, they obliterated him. There was no way he could respawn, not after they finished with him. This sent his two dragons against Comet and Snow, and dragon fight raged right in the middle of the village. In the end, none of the dragons survived. I'm half grateful for that, because of the friends two dragons survived, they would most likely have gone crazy.
"Now, Serila was heartbroken. Comet and Snow had been her first dragons, and she had loved them deeply. She went crazy with grief, accused us of killing her dragons, vowed that she would never hatch or love another dragon and ran off. We searched for her, but she was nowhere to be found. We all assumed she had died in the Wilds." He paused and continued with a sigh.
"The first attack came six years later. At this time, I was twenty two and the youngest dragon master the village had seen yet. One morning, my three dragons, my fire dragon, Fireball, my ice dragon, Blizzard and my water dragon, Maelstrom, woke me by sounding the alarm. All through the village, the dragons were shrieking the alarm. At first we had no idea what it was, but fearing zombies we got ready. What we were greeted with were about thirty crazy warriors, some of whom we recognized. At the head was Serila. They all had crazy looks in their eyes and they had obviously learned how to be a berserker. There were no dragons with them and we assumed we'd win."
"But you underestimated the power of their grief." Mina murmured sadly.
"Indeed." Shen gave her a curious look. "Tell me, you are fourteen, no?"
"Yes, sir."
"And how many dragons do you have?" He knew the answer, but he wanted to hear something other than the answer.
"You're the dragon master, for stars sake! You should know how many dragons I have! I mean, you gave me my eggs!" Mina stared at him like he was crazy.
Shen laughed heartily. "Well said! Now, back to the story."
"Now that you know where it all started, let's continue with how the Outlanders formed. When Serila had run off, she had just kept running until she found the place where the Outlander's secret base is. From there, I don't know what happened. I do know that a young girl with dusty blond hair and crazy blue eyes recruited members of grief torn dragon villagers to her side. When she thought she got enough, she attacked us. They killed many villagers and many dragons. They focused mainly on the Protectors and their dragons. Now accompany that night with the occasional creeper, spider, zombie, Endermen and skeleton that decided to come in. When dawn broke and the dust settled, we found many people and dragons missing, and there were many dragons keening over lost partners. Some of them we were able to heal by giving them a new trainer, but many wouldn't listen to reason, and we had to kill them. I myself have a dragon that I didn't hatch. You know Daisy, my second forest dragon?"
The three kids nodded.
"She was once my father's dragon. That's the reason she let herself give him up and let me become her trainer." Shen paused. "Now I believe that is all to that story. As you know, we live more in fear of an Outlander attack than a zombie invasion."
"Luna! Dinner!"
Luna scrambled of Shen's lap. "Thanks for the story, Master Shen!" She cried before racing off, calling to her mother.
"I should probably go too." Josh grunted, picking himself to his feet. "See you later, Mina, Master Shen!" He raced off, leaving the girl and the dragon master.
"Mina, do you need to leave as well?" Shen asked.
"Not yet." She sighed. "My father is in… one of his moods. My mother specifically told me not to come back home until she calls for me."
Shen frowned. "I need to talk to your father." He paused. "Now Mina, I have something to ask you. I need your dragons present for this. And I need mine."
The two trainers closed their eyes and called their dragons. Shen could sense that Mina was special. She reached her dragons easily and they came as soon as she called. Shen smiled and opened his eyes. His dragons thumped down behind him and Mina's dragons, the Aether dragon Cloud and the Nether dragon Heatwav, thumped down behind her. She opened her eyes and gazed at the dragon master. "What now?"
"Mina, I have a question for you." Shen began. "Would you like to become my apprentice?"
"Are you kidding me?" Mina's eyes widened.
The grey haired dragon master gave her a look.
"Yes! Oh stars, yes!" Mina cried.
Shen smiled. "I thought so." He looked at her dragons. "What about you?"
"Oh yes please!" Cloud purred.
"Please. Anything to get away from that ranting lunatic." Heatwave grunted.
Shen laughed. Typical Nether dragon. They can be nicest dragons, but they are rather gruff. "Well then, I will announce it to the village tonight."
Mina bounced with excitement. Shen sent her off and waited for the night to fall. As soon as night fell, Shen called the meeting and Mina became his apprentice. He was very pleased with this as he wasn't going to be around forever.
But he suddenly hunched over in pain as his vision swam. A cry from Mina showed that she was entering the vision as well. When Shen opened his eyes, he found Mina standing before him, trying to speak over the howling wind. Finally the wind stopped and Mina demanded what was going to happen.
"It's a vision. We dragon's masters and apprentices go through them. Though you're the first dragon master apprentice to receive a vision on the night of her ceremony."
The vision showed an older Mina, racing through the village with a young, twenty two year old woman and a twenty two year old man racing after her. From the shrieks, it was obvious it was an Outlander attack. Mina gave the two villagers packs containing their eggs, saddles and nametags and then the two started running. The scene changed to see the two people in a huge dragon sanctuary, one petting some dragons, another talking with villagers. It changed once more, showing those two people, the villagers and the dragons fighting against… something. Neither the dragon master nor the apprentice could tell what, but from the smoke and the red glow surrounding the sanctuary, it was clear the attacks ahd set it on fire. Shen and Mina were thrown forcefully from the vision and they stood there panting. "I sense that was important." Mina hissed.
"Very. Watch over those two when they are born, Mina." Shen advised. "I'm obviously not around when anything we just saw happens."
Mina dipped her head in agreement.
In a hidden village, an old woman with long grey hair and crazy blue eyes received a vision of a sanctuary and of two people that hailed from a future generation of her old village. She called her apprentice, asking if he had received it as well. He told her that he had.
"Well then, Shen." The woman rasped. "Still trying to save your village, eh? This time, oh ho, this time I will wipe you out."
She cackled evilly and turned on her heel, fingering the wicked looking diamond sword in her hand. She sliced the end of her finger open and the blood dropped down the blade and onto the grass. She paid it no mind and cleaned the blade off before sheathing it.
Soon, my revenge will be complete. She thought gleefully. Soon that village will be gone! She cackled softly to herself and ambled away.