Chapter 2: Life among the Undead and Living

Malefor was twirling his pencil, uninterested in his mentor's lectures. He was more interested in what was on the tip of his pencil than how to harvest a soul.

"Master Malefor, please pay attention," Val'thir said sternly.

"Look, I'm bored and harvesting souls is not my interest. I want to go out into the open and play with my fellow friends," Malefor said.

"Your father won't be pleased if he heard that coming from you," Val'thir said.

"Hear him say what?" Azurich asked as he entered the lecture theater.

"Milord, I didn't expect you to return so soon from Avalar," Val'thir said as he bowed down.

"I have decided to take the day off to spend some time with my son. I heard you wanted to go out and play, yes?" Azurich asked.

"You bet I do, dad. I saw my friends having fun when they play at the playground. I've been locked in this tower for too long," Malefor said happily.

Azurich smiled weakly and nodded his head.

"Very well Malefor, you may go out and play but you must study when you return home," Azurich said to the ten year-old dark purple dragon.

"Thanks dad, you're the greatest," Malefor said as he hugged Azurich.

Turning around, he stuck out his tongue at Val'thir before running off to the nearest playground.

"That young lad is sure a strong-headed lizard," Val'thir muttered as he shook his head.

"You must go easy on young dragons. Keep them happy enough so they won't think about disrespecting you. Do not forget, he must not be too strong. Keep him happy and naïve," Azurich said.

At a playground outside of Warfang, a group of dragons were playing with a ball made of rattan. Around them were other young dragons, all of them playing different games. Malefor landed at the edge of the playground and smiled.

"Wow, look at how happy they are. I want to play too!" he said happily.

However, no matter where he went, the other dragons stepped away from him. Malefor was naïve and he didn't understand why they did so. Feeling unhappy, he headed under the shade of a tree and sat there, sulking. Suddenly, a rattan ball landed next to him.

"Hey you, can you throw that ball over here?" a light blue dragon called out.

Malefor looked at the ball and picked it up. He threw it back to the light blue dragon and he waved his paw in thanks. Malefor waved back shyly.

"Sigh, no one will play with me," he muttered sadly.

Then, the rattan ball rolled back in front of him and that surprised him. He looked up and saw four dragons of different colors walking towards him.

"You look rather lonely. Care to play soccer?" the green one asked.

"Terrador, are you sure it's a good idea to let him play with us? He's the Overlord's son," the red one whispered to the green one named Terrador.

"He looks rather harmless to me," the blue one said with a tone of arrogance in his voice and he let out an icy breath.

Malefor scowled at the blue dragon but he seemed unfazed.

"I pity him for being lonely and he deserves to have a comrade to play with. We should let him in our group," the yellow one said quickly.

"I still don't trust him. For all you know, he'll bite us when we're not looking," the red dragon said warily.

"Let's not jump to conclusions, Ignitus, he looks lonely and we should help him," the yellow dragon said.

The yellow dragon stretched out his paw at Malefor, intending to get a handshake from Malefor. The dark purple dragon slowly reached out and shook it.

"Hi there, my name is Volteer and these three are my friends. The green is Terrador, the red one is Ignitus and the arrogant blue one is Cyril," Volteer said so quickly that Malefor barely manage to catch what he just said.

"Hey," said an annoyed Cyril.

"My name is Malefor. Nice to meet you all," Malefor said.

"Is that your name? By the gods, that name is unique," Volteer said.

"What do you mean?" Malefor asked with a slight scowl on his face.

"It means 'he who delivers'. Wow, that is some name you've got there," Volteer whistled.

"This dragon isn't a savior. Look at him, he's a shy weakling," Cyril said.

"That wasn't nice of you, Cyril," Terrador snapped.

They looked at Malefor and Terrador smiled at him.

"Come with us; let's go play some games before the Horde comes. We have at least five more hours of playtime together," Terrador said.

"That'll be great," Malefor said, looking more animated.

At the middle of the playground, Terrador handed Malefor the rattan ball.

"Do you know how to play Super Ball?" Terrador asked.

Malefor didn't even know what Super Ball was and he cocked his head inquisitively.

"What's Super Ball?" the black dragon asked.

"You mean you don't know? Super Ball is a ball game that many young dragons like to play. The rules of this game are simple so I'm sure you can pick it up quickly," Terrador said blithely.

"Do tell," Malefor nodded.

"The objective of Super Ball is to score as many points as you can. All you need to do is to keep the ball in the air for as long as you can give while doing amazing stunts with the ball. No flying allowed though," Terrador explained.

"What kind of stunts do you mean?" asked Malefor.

Cyril smiled arrogantly and took the ball from Malefor, earning the light blue dragon scowls from the other dragons.

"Watch and learn, newbie," he said.

Cyril tossed the ball into the air and he leapt up into the air. Cyril grabbed the ball and tossed it towards a nearby tree and the ball bounced back at him. He kicked the ball even higher and juggled it with his hind legs. Then he bounced the ball on his head like an expert soccer player before letting it fall down to the ground and Cyril landed beside it with a soft thud on the grassy field.

"That was approximately 15 seconds of air time and judging by his moves, I say Cyril got 25 points out of 30 for juggling, fast reflex and skill in total. Not bad for an amateur," Ignitus said smilingly.

"I could have done better if there weren't any drafts," Cyril muttered.

"Nah, you're only giving an excuse," Terrador said while waving a paw at him dismissively.

Cyril handed the rattan ball to Malefor.

"Why don't you give it a try, new friend? I'm sure you have some skills in you. For the most silent, they are also the most skillful ones," Volteer said.

"Well…okay, I'll give it a shot," Malefor said.

He took a deep breath and threw the ball into the air as high as he could. To the other dragon's surprise, the ball shot up so fast they didn't even catch what was going on. Malefor then leapt up after the ball. The kick on the ground was so powerful that the ground crack just as he pushed himself up into the air and after the ball. He bounced the ball with his head for 20 times before letting the ball fall. When the ball was falling, Malefor flew after it and did loops around the ball. The ball landed on the ground first and after a few seconds, Malefor landed gracefully beside it. His companions were wide-eyed and their jaws dropped.

"That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen," Volteer said.

"It's stupendous," Terrador muttered.

"Absolutely unique according to speed and gracefulness. If I were to give a score to an amateur, this will be 30," Ignitus said.

"Hey, that's a little too high," Cyril complained.

"I pitied him just like how I pitied you but he has power, speed and gracefulness in him. Don't go sulking just because he has a higher score than you," Ignitus said.

"But he flew and that was against the rule," Cyril complained.

"He didn't fly, you idiot. Malefor only glided when he did the loops and nothing in the rule book said that gliding was illegal," Ignitus explained.

Suddenly, everyone felt a rush of cold air. Ignitus noticed that the other dragons were running away. Moments later, in front of them stood the Horde high necromancer Val'thir.

"Young master, your father seeks your presence back at the castle," Val'thir said frostily.

"But I've only been here for an hour!" Malefor said indignantly.

"Back to the castle, young master. Your father says so and he will have his way," Val'thir ordered.

Malefor grumbled angrily and turned to face his friends.

"Listen, I'll come back and play with you guys tomorrow. Is that okay with all of you?" He asked hopefully.

"Join us anytime you like, Malefor, we're always welcoming new faces," Volteer smiled.

Malefor smiled and followed Val'thir back to the castle located on top of a mountain peak. Malefor didn't really like the design of the castle. It looked to gloomy, too dangerous…too evil. The castle didn't look like home but at least his father cared for him and the internal environment didn't bother him much.

"Young master, shall we resume our lessons for today?" Val'thir asked.

"What, more soul harvesting and learning how to breath the Death Flame like how dad does? I'm not really interested," Malefor muttered.

"I have been given orders so you are to obey it whether you like it or not," Val'thir snapped.

"Screw the orders. I'm talking to dad," Malefor said.

Val'thir wanted to stop Malefor but he pushed past some heavy doors and it slammed right in front of Val'thir's face.

"He's a hard one to educate," Val'thir muttered while shaking his head.

Malefor walked into a room and the guards stood straight in respect. At the other end of the room, Azurich was seated at his throne, sleeping soundly. He was so motionless that one may mistake him for a statue given his color and state of motion.

"Dad," Malefor called out.

Azurich didn't stir but after a few seconds, he opened his eyes and it glowed blue. His eyes searched around before finally setting his sights on his son. He moved and got up from his throne with some loud crunching noises, as if his bones were breaking.

"What is it, Malefor?" Azurich asked in a booming voice.

"Why did you call me back so quickly?" Malefor asked.

Azurich stared at his diminutive son for a while before smiling.

"I have reasons for that but you should go study. Study for at least 3 hours and perhaps I'll bring you out for dinner tonight at Warfang. How about that? You shouldn't really slack off on your studies," Azurich said.

"But I hate studying," Malefor said.

Azurich kneeled down so his face was at the same level as Malefor's.

"Malefor, becoming like me isn't as easy as it seems. You must do a lot of practice before you can achieve greater power. I know you look up to me so why not do something about it?" Azurich asked while patting his son's head.

Malefor looked down on the grimy stone floor and sighed.

"Do I really have to?" Malefor asked softly.

"If you don't want to, no one's stopping you. However, you'll be weak and you'll let people push you around. Isn't there a young dragon named Cyril? An arrogant one isn't he?" Azurich said.

Malefor widened his eyes in surprise.

"How'd you know?" he asked while looking up at his father's face.

"I have the ability of foresight, don't you remember? If you're stronger, I don't think Cyril will push you around like what happened today. Tell me, do you like him?" Azurich asked in an attempt to manipulate Malefor.

"Well…I…I don't really know," Malefor stammered.

"I can tell that you don't like him. Look at him, he's an arrogant dragon and he doesn't look all nice. Don't tell me you want to be friends with a dragon like him," Azurich said.

Malefor thought for a while and shook his head.

"No, I don't want to," Malefor muttered.

"He thinks that you're stronger than you. Do you want him to push you around like that?" Azurich asked some more.

"No, I want to beat him in strength," Malefor said angrily.

"If you do, allow Val'thir to educate you for you'll need it," the overlord said while gesturing at Val'thir who was standing behind Malefor.

Malefor didn't really want to complain so he obliged reluctantly. After the sun had set, Azurich kept his promise and brought Malefor out for dinner. Everywhere they went, all creatures avoided them.

"Dad, why are they avoiding us?" Malefor asked.

"It's out of respect," Azurich said lamely.

They went to a food court where a lot of dragons were having their dinner. They quickly moved aside as Azurich approached. They sat near a balcony while the other dragons cleared off.

"Go see what you like. Here's some money for you," Azurich said.

Malefor accepted it and quickly headed for the stall that sold grilled venison, his favorite food. He ran so quickly that he bumped into another dragoness in front of him.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" the dragoness said angrily.

"Watch who you're talking to," Malefor shot back while helping himself up.

The dragoness turned to stare at him and she got a shock. Malefor also got a shock but not because of whatever reasons, it was because of her beauty. His face blushed and he felt blood rushing to his head.

"Ah, I'm sorry, young prince, I didn't know it was you!" she said hastily.

"I-It's okay…a-actually," Malefor stammered.

"Please forgive me for my hastiness. Don't throw me to the guards," she said, feeling afraid.

"N-No, I have no intention of doing so," Malefor said, his face growing redder.

They stared at each other for a while and the dragoness also started to blush.

"I-I'm sorry for disturbing you, milord. I-I'll be o-on my way," she said and quickly went away.

Malefor was awestruck by her cuteness and beauty. That icy white dragon…what was her name? She's so cute...and beautiful as well. Malefor felt like that he wanted to know her but his growling stomach distracted him.

"Well, maybe next time," he said to himself with a shrug.

A/N: Ah, Malefor is still naïve and innocent but that won't last long. Anyway, in light of the ongoing flame war, I plead to both sides to stop bickering and stop making the place a warzone. This is a fanfiction site, not a battlefield. Both sides have faults so deal with it, nobody's perfect. I direct this message to both Scarlett-Husky and morbosity666. As for me, do not drag me into this for I remain strictly neutral.