Blitzkreig50889: alright, ya'll here's the first of the rewritten chapters for Call of the Salamander. Hopefully, this will be a little better than the original was. So, Johnny…
Johnny: (snarls) what?
Blitzkreig50889: disclaimer please.
Johnny: (in a monotone) blitzkreig50889 does not own beyblade or any of its characters. She just owns her plot ideas. Enjoy the chapter.
Blitzkreig50889: (sarcastically) lovely, McGregor. Enjoy the chapter everyone!
Prologue
He was sleeping quietly. Or at least he thought he was anyway. Soft music played gently in his sleeping mind and the sight of a series of green hills just beginning to edge towards appearing autumnish.
Suddenly, the music became hurried. It seemed almost panicked in sound, as if it was trying to wake him up.
Just as suddenly as the music began it stopped. He jerked upright from his sleeping bag on the ground and rubbed a hand over his eyes. This was the first time this had ever happened, but the dream had always been the same.
Slowly, he glanced around at his teammates. He could easily see Oliver and Enrique, both still sleeping soundly. Enrique would shift around from time to time, and even Oliver would occasionally move around as if he was having a rough night. Robert was sleeping in much the same way his two younger teammates were; restlessly.
Johnny, the only one of the four boys awake at the moment, gently shook his head and burrowed back into his sleeping bag and tried to go back to sleep.
"Jonathan, is something wrong?" a soft hissing voice queried in the Scot's head. Johnny instantly recognized the voice as belonging to Salamolyon, his bit beast.
"I'm fine Salamolyon. It was just a dream after all."
"Yes, but you've been having this dream for days now. You know what they say. The more often you have a dream, the more likely it is to become real."
Johnny rolled his eyes before closing them. "It's just a saying Salamolyon. Stuff like that doesn't happen in real life."
Johnny could hear the salamander's sigh. "I hope you're right. But I have an odd feeling that that dream means something."
"Quit analyzing everything, Salamolyon," Johnny snapped after a moment. "There's nothing for you to worry about."
Salamolyon became quiet. When the salamander said nothing else, Johnny was forced to open his eyes and stare around the still dark tent. He could see the faint brightening of the tent's walls and knew that it was nearly time to get up anyway.
Johnny shrugged out of his sleeping bag and walked out of the tent to the outhouse. He hated the damn thing, but when a person had to go bad, and when it was the only thing around when a person was camping, there wasn't any other choice.
After a quick bathroom run, Johnny exited the outhouse and stretched until his back cracked. He then moved towards the center of his and his fellow Majestic teammates' campsite and sat around the fireless fire pit and watched the sunrise.
As the sun rose, that's when it happened. The soft music from Johnny's dream came at him in full force. The tune was rushed and panicked. Johnny jumped off of the log he had been sitting on and looked around. For the life of him, he couldn't identify where the sound was coming from.
"Salamolyon, do you hear that?" Johnny asked his bit beast nervously. Salamolyon however, didn't answer.
Johnny continued to glance around him in terror. "What the hell is going on?" He thought. "How is any of this possible?"
Just as it had in Johnny's dream, the music ended abruptly. "Jonathan! Are you okay?"
The sound of Salamolyon's voice was a relief for the fire blader. "I'm fine. Why didn't you answer me earlier?"
"Pardon?"
Johnny paled. "You couldn't hear me?"
"No. I couldn't seem to reach your mind either. Every time I tried all I got was an empty void. It seemed almost as if you had disappeared off the face of the Earth."
Johnny gulped and rushed back to his sleeping teammates. He had to know if they were dreaming about the strange music as he was.
"They're not dreaming the same dream you were dreaming, Jonathan," Salamolyon advised softly before Johnny could shake awake any of his teammates. "Leave them sleep and maybe they'll be able to tell us about their dreams. Maybe each of you is dreaming a small piece of the same dream but don't happen to be realizing it."
Johnny shivered. "Well they had better wake up soon! I don't want to be the only one awake if that music comes back a second time."
"I think it likely will."
"That's not very comforting, Salamolyon!" Johnny snapped as he broke off his connection with the salamander.
Johnny figured it had been about a thirty minute wait when the first of his teammates emerged from the tent. Robert looked as if he wanted nothing more than to crawl back into bed and sleep for a week. Oliver followed behind him looking much the same as Robert, but a little rougher as if camping wasn't agreeing with him. Enrique followed after his other two teammates about twenty minutes later like usual. Once each of them had completed their morning ritual and met around the still empty fire pit Johnny finally opened his mouth.
"So, how'd everyone sleep?"
Three identical glares were leveled back at him. "What do you think?" Enrique snapped.
Johnny shrugged. "I was just wondering."
"There was something behind that question wasn't there?" Robert queried after a moment. Johnny offered him a small smile.
"Right on the money there Robert," the Scot answered after a moment. "But you haven't answered the question."
"Well, if you consider the fact that I've been having the same dream for a few nights now and had it again last night, I think that's something to worry about."
Oliver and Enrique finally managed to wake up enough to understand that Johnny had known they'd been dreaming. "You mean, you were asking about the dreams we've all been having?" Oliver asked after a moment.
"Well, not the dreams specifically, but that works too. I just happened to notice everyone tossing and turning about in their sleep and Salamolyon mentioned that you were all dreaming," Johnny answered.
Oliver let out a sigh. "Well, mind describing your dream then?"
Johnny raised an eyebrow but spoke anyway. "I was dreaming about a place I often go back home. It was autumn and I was just sitting outside in the grass watching the leaves fall to the ground. There was soft music playing in my ears, but I didn't have a CD player or MP3 player or anything like that with me. It was just there. Suddenly the music changed and became rushed as if the person or thing causing it was panicked about something. Ordinarily, that wouldn't bother me, but the music was so odd that it scared the shit out of me. I've never heard anything like that."
Enrique looked surprised before he added his own input. "And I thought being surrounded by nothing but ocean was a bit strange. Then again, I could hear some odd sort of music too. It didn't seem rushed or anything though, just a little sinister. Come to think about it, it did creep me out a little. I think hearing that music was why I wasn't sleeping well. After all, it wasn't like there was anything scary in the dream like rabid fangirls."
All four bladers shared a shudder over that comment. After a small silence, Robert finally added his voice. "I was back around home too. Just like with you guys there was some weird sort of sinister music, however, like Enrique's, it wasn't rushed. It just gave me a major case of the shivers."
"Same here," Oliver murmured softly. "I wonder why that is?"
"Perhaps I can help you out with that question," A voice said softly. All four boys whipped around to stare at Johnny's grandfather.
"What can you say that could be of interest?" Johnny grumbled.
"Show some respect boy! This prophecy may help you."
All four boys raised their eyebrows. "Prophecy?" Enrique murmured. "Right."
Immediately, Johnny's grandfather broke out into a rampage and all of the boys were forced to listen to a lecture and in turn the prophecy.
"Now, you four listen real good, you hear? This may be extremely important. A long time ago our world was supposedly split into different sections. Some were good, and others were bad."
"Why does this feel like a lousy sci-fi movie narration?" Enrique interrupted. He was quickly quieted with a sharp smack in the head.
"Mouth shut!" Johnny's grandfather snapped before continuing on. "Anyway, among these sections were important artifacts. These artifacts did everything from playing soothing, healing music, to creating a love spell or causing a death. Now, there was rumored amongst the musical artifacts to be four that were the most powerful. These were known as the Dragonflute, Crystal Daggers, Aquarian Diamond Trident, and the only unnamed artifact, the Unknown."
Johnny's grandfather broke off as the boys gave him a skeptical look. "Just ask your bit beasts if you don't believe me," he mumbled after a moment. Instantly all of the boys reached for the bit beasts.
"It's true," Salamolyon assured his blader. "However, had I realized that the sound I was hearing was likely coming from one of the lost artifacts, I would've went looking for it."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because the dragonflute of the legend and the prophecy about to be spoken is mine."
Johnny let out a gasp, drawing each of his teammates' attention. "What's wrong, Johnny?" Oliver inquired softly.
"The Dragonflute; it's Salamolyon's."
Johnny's grandfather smiled as it finally sunk in that what he was trying to tell them really was important. "Can I continue on now?" The boys nodded.
"These artifacts, however, were extremely sought after. In order to keep the artifacts from falling into the hands of evil, a young priestess hid them using her own life force. The artifacts were spread to the approximate four corners of their bearers' realm. In this case, the realm would be all of Western Europe. The bearers of these artifacts were your own bit beasts."
Again the boys let out surprised gasps. This wasn't anything like they had expected. "So what's the prophecy then?" Robert ventured after a moment. His voice carried a slight tint of excitement.
"The prophecy goes as follows: When the sun eclipses the moon and the unspoken equinox between the seasons of summer and autumn occurs, the Dragonflute will sing. At the sound of the great flute's music, it's powers will be unleashed again on the world. White flames will ring the sun and point to the location of the flute. Then the bearer of that flute will play the flute's Song Test. If the bearer should pass the test, the location for the Crystal daggers will be unveiled and the moon will eclipse the sun, releasing the dagger's fullest potential. The Aquarian Diamond Trident will in turn start its own song, drawing it's bearer close to its watery destination deep within the great sea. However, to approach and move the trident, the flute and daggers must be with the trident's bearer. At the gathering of the first three artifacts, the Unknown will reach its greatest potential. However, bringing the four artifacts together will be difficult if one does not know their own heart, but if one should already know their heart, then the artifacts will unite and the evil in Western Europe will be vanquished."
At those words the Majestics once again raised their eyebrows. "That is the prophecy?" Enrique murmured. "It seems kind of lame if you ask me. Aren't prophecies usually really foreboding or something like that."
No one had time to comment however, as the music from Johnny's dream began to play once again. This time, Johnny wasn't the only one to hear it.
"That's the Dragonflute alright," Salamolyon whispered. It was obvious from his whisper he was trying to locate the flute's location. "I'd know that sound anywhere."
Johnny exchanged glanced with his teammates. They looked slightly terrified, but were excited at the same time.
"It looks like we're about to have an adventure," Oliver said with a small smile. "Let's just hope this one doesn't get us nearly killed like the other ones seem to try to do."
The Dragonflute became silent again, much like it had earlier in the morning. It was sending it's signal, just as the odd prophecy had stated it would. Now the interesting part would be in finding out where the first of the ancient artifacts was hidden and to see if the rest of the prophecy would play out.