Chapter 1! Enjoy!
"Come on slowpoke. If you go on like this you'll never beat me." Ten and a half year have passed since Neo's birthday and one thing was for sure, Neo wasn't as strong as his brother with the age of ten, but faster and much smarter. Right now these two are in the training chamber of the dragon temple in Warfang... again. There wasn't much to do while the guardians were in the academy to teach and train the new generation. Neo and Malefor weren't allowed to go into the town and visit the 'average' population of the dragon city. The guardians said that they are something special and that they don't want them to get influenced by the 'darker' figures in the streets and academy. Because of this they were kept in the Temple for most of their lives. Only under special conditions they were allowed to leave the Temple.
"Who's the slowpoke?" Neo shouted as he ducked under an earth-missile. Malefor grinned and shot a fireball directly at Neo who jumped in the air to evade it. Just as Neo jumped Malefor sprinted forwards and catched Neo in midair, putting him to the ground with his paws, pinning him down. Neo stared at him wide-eyed, completely at a loss of words. Malefor started to laugh at the expression of his younger brother. "Unfair..."
"Ohm and what was unfair?" Malefor asked with as innocent eyes as possible, trying not to laugh. He stepped off from Neo and sat beside him.
"You're eighteen and I'm ten." Neo stated, sitting up.
"Yeah, exactly." Malefor responded in a sarcastic manner.
"And you're bigger and you have more training."
"Mhm, yes." He replied, again sarcastically, closing his eyes and nodding. Neo noticed it.
"And I'm going to tickle you to death."
"Yeah, sure... wait, what?!" Malefor's eyes shot open but it was too late. Neo jumped at Malefor, his claws ready to strike. He crashed into his brother, bringing them both to the ground with himself on top, and then he started tickling. Malefor started to laugh uncontrollable. He tried to get Neo off but to no avail; it looked like Neo was glued to him. "Neo stohohop plehehese!"
"No!" Neo shouted, laughing himself. Suddenly the door opened and one of the guardians stepped into the room, without the two purple brothers noticing. Viss smiled and shook her head at the scene in front of her.
"Neo! Malefor!" Both of them stopped and looked up at the guardian. In one swift motion Neo stepped off from Malefor and both of them stood up, bowing in front of Viss while Malefor still tried to catch his breath.
"Sorry. We didn't hear you mistress Viss." They both apologized automatically like they did it a million times before... what they did.
"Icicle is awaiting you in the classroom for your daily history lesson." Viss explained, turning around to leave.
"Thank you, mistress." Neo and Malefor looked at each other.
"Ready for the daily duties small one?" Malefor asked sarcastically. They started walking to the classroom.
"As ready as every day." Neo responded, smiling.
"How can you be so happy? Learning is boring." By now they have reached the classroom. It wasn't this far from the training chamber.
"Not for me brother." Malefor rolled his eyes and opened the door to the classroom. The room itself wasn't big, just enough for two dragons to learn properly. There were two tables with two purple cushions to sit on, a bookshelf with many books about history, geography, the elements and a few books about the old language. Also in front of the other tables there was one big table, a board, a sink and an Ice-blue dragon with a smile.
"Come in and sit down." Icicle said, the smile on his face remaining. The two purple brothers sat down on the cushions and Malefor leaned in to Neo.
"I don't like his smile." He whispered. Neo nodded and Malefor went back to his straight sitting position.
"Good, now that you two are here, we can begin." Icicle took a piece of crayon, turned to the table and began to write something. Neo and Malefor couldn't see it because Icicle stood in the way. Just before Malefor asked him to step aside, he did so and revealed the word 'Arctis'. "Does one of you know who this dragon was?"
"I only know that this is a really big Iceland in the north..." Malefor replied comically, "...but out of this... nope."
"You're partially right Malefor. The Arctic was named after him. Nothing else?"
"I know that there was a big war. I think Arctis won the war and because of this the arctic was named after him." Neo added.
"You're right Neo. But there is more to him. Nothing else?" The two purple brothers shook their heads. "Good, then listen to me. Arctis lived around three-thousand years before. In a big battle he and his army fought against Firis, a fire dragon and his army. You have to know that before the battle there was no snow or ice in the Arctic. After the battle Arctis was badly wounded. He went deeper into the Arctic and died there. As his last honor the ancestors enveloped him and the whole area he conquered in his element, ice and snow. This is the myth that explains why the Arctic has snow and ice and why the arctic is called arctic. Of course nobody knows if it's true. As I said it's only a myth." Malefor and Neo looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
"It's clear that there's snow and ice in the arctic. It's damned cold there." Malefor responded.
"Good, now tell me; why is it so cold there?"
"Uhhh..."
"Think before you reply, ok Malefor?"
"Yes Master." Neo chuckled behind his paws. Unfortunately, Icicle noticed it.
"Do you know it better Neo?" Icicle asked with a knowing smile.
"What, I... no, I just..." Neo stuttered. Suddenly the class-bell rang.
"You're a lucky dragon Neo." Icicle laughed. "Still, I want both of you to learn the material of the last five lessons. In two days we'll have a test." A collective groan was the response to this announcement. "Goodbye." and with this last word Icicle left the room.
"Tell me, from where did you know about the battle. We never learned anything about Arctis." Malefor asked skeptically.
"When something is named after someone it's most likely that he won a battle or war." Neo answered with a big grin across his muzzle.
"Big-brain..."
"Hey!"
Suddenly the door swung open again and Terrus stepped into the classroom. "Hello you two"
"Hello Master Terrus." The two purple brothers chirped, once again. Terrus went to the board and cleaned it with a sponge that lay in the sink.
"Today we'll have a little verbal test. I'll just ask you a question and you'll answer. When you're right you'll get a plus, if false, a minus. Ok?" The purple brothers nodded. They already knew that it's pointless to argue with him. "Good. Neo, how many great dragon cities are in the dragon realms?"
"One... two, three, four. Four!"
"Good." He wrote a plus onto the board. "Malefor. I want the names of the cities."
"Shit... Ok... Warfang, Dremnon, Vertria... and Gladir."
"Well done." He wrote another plus. "Malefor. What's the name of the lake outside of Warfang."
"That's easy. Lake Warfang."
"Good." Again, he wrote a plus. "Last question. Neo, tell me the names of three areas, where they are and their ecological status."
"What?! Even I would have a hard time answering this!" Malefor protested.
"I've heard you talk. He always says that he's smarter than you. Let's see if it's true." Terrus answered with an evil smile. "No worry you won't get a minus if you don't know it. But at least you have to know three areas." He added for Neo who breathed a sigh of relief and closed his eyes.
"Let's see. The Nebulial Mountains with mostly grass and snow and few forests here and there. Also Vertria is located there. North-east of Warfang. The Deathlands are barren land, hot and south of Warfang. And Dante's freezer, extremely cold, the half is Ice-tundra and the rest forest. South." Neo opened his eyes and nearly burst out laughing. Malefor sat there, completely surprised, his jaw hanging down while Terrus just sat there, amused at the sight in front of him.
"This was... unexpected." Terrus half-laughed, he turned around and wrote two plus.
"Do you really learn in every free minute you have brother?" Malefor asked to which Neo nodded sheepishly.
"I think we can call it a day. I have other things to do right now." Terrus said and also began to walk out of the class. Just as Terrus closed the door behind him Malefor turned to Neo.
"You know, I hate you sometimes." Neo began laughing again.
"Oh, come on. Why?"
"Because you're such a big-brain." Malefor went over to his brother and punched him on the head slightly.
"Ouch! And for what was that?" Neo inquired, rubbing his head where Malefor hit him.
"As I said, for being such a big-brain. Somehow I have to shrink it back to normal size, right?"
"Ha-ha, really funny." Suddenly they heard someone cough behind them. They turned around and saw Viss standing in the doorway. Malefor quickly returned to his table and sat down.
"Hello Mistress Viss." They chirped again. Viss just rolled her eyes.
"Why do you never hear me? Hmm... Whatever, we'll have a verbal test today."
"Again?" Malefor groaned.
"What do you mean with 'again'?"
"We already had a verbal test today."
"Really? Good, then you're already trained and know how it works." Both young dragons groaned once again. "Listen, the last time we had a test was around a month ago. I'm sorry if you already had one, but I must know what you know. Ready?" The purple brothers nodded simultaneously. "Perfect. Neo, tell me the names of all elements."
"Fire, Ice, Earth, Electricity, Wind, Shadow, Fear, Poison, Light, Healing, Shockwave and Sound." He quickly replied like he read from a list.
"Man that was easy." Malefor whispered to Neo.
"Perfect. Malefor, tell me the positive and negative sides of Electricity."
"Hmm... It's extremely fast but it's hard to control. If you don't know how to handle it you can even strike yourself."
"Very good. Neo, tell me the positive and negative sides of healing."
"Let's see. On the one side Healing can heal nearly every wound and if you train it enough even broken bones. On the other side it's the element that needs the most energy when used. Ten times more energy than Fire."
"Perfect. Last question. Malefor, tell me the advanced forms of fear."
"Easy. Fear, Pain, Energy absorption."
"Perfect. Both of you will get a plus." She dipped her claw-tip into an inkbottle and wrote two plus into her folder. "I will go now; I think I've interrogated you enough for today." Viss walked out of the room, but stopped in the doorway. "Oh, silly me. Before I forget it, Fyre is awaiting you in the training chamber."
"Thank you." And with this Viss left the room.
"Ready to go?" Malefor asked.
"Why do you even ask?" Neo responded, already walking to the door.
"I don't know, maybe because you hate the training lesson with Fyre." Malefor said, following his brother out of the class.
"I don't hate it." Neo stated "I just don't like it, and him, that's all."
"Yeah, sure." Malefor scoffed. By now they have arrived at the training chamber and Malefor pushed the door open. The door swung open to reveal a red dragon in the middle of the training chamber waiting for his pupils.
"There you are." He went over to the purple brothers. "Can we begin?"
"Yes master Fyre." Both of them responded, only this time Malefor showed a little bit more enthusiasm than Neo.
"Good. Today we'll have a little sparring match. No Elements."
"Ok." Malefor replied, smiling, while Neo groaned. Still both of them stepped into the middle of the chamber. They got into their positions.
"Ready?" Both purple brothers nodded. "Begin!"
Malefor lunged forward; he was always the offensive one while Neo stayed defensive. He nearly struck Neo but he rolled to the side quickly. Neo jumped at Malefor who just stepped out of the way and brought his tail in Neo's way. Neo collided with Malefor's tail and crashed to the ground once more. Malefor awaited this and put his claws on his neck.
"Malefor wins." Fyre said in a sarcastic 'what a surprise' manner. "Neo you have to train more! You're far too inexperienced!"
"I know! But I hate fighting and training. Ouch..." Neo protested, rubbing his stomach where Malefor's tail hit him while Malefor stepped off from him.
"You won't come around it young dragon! One day you'll have to fight. You're a purple dragon; you're the best fighters existing. Look at your brother for example. He nearly beat our general in a sparring match. And he's only eighteen. It's your job to defend this city and its inhabitants!" Fyre stepped ever closer to Neo in a threatening manner.
"But I don't want to train or fight!" Neo protested once again, standing up.
"Then you'll die in your first mission! The outside world is cold Neo. There are bandits and other dark figures everywhere. There you don't have a second chance like here. Ask your brother!"
"SHUT UP!" Neo cried and ran out of the chamber.
"Ugh, kids. Malefor, go and look after him. We're done for today." Malefor nodded to Fyre and ran out of the training chamber, heading for Neo's room.
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-Meanwhile in Neo's room-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
'I hate him!' Neo shouted in his mind. He lay on his bed, crying in his cushions. 'I don't want to fight, why can't anybody accept this?!' Suddenly he heard a knock on the door.
"Neo. Are you here?" It was Malefor.
"Go away! You will never understand me... nobody will." Neo became more silent at the end of his sentence. Suddenly the door handle turned and the door opened inwards slowly. Malefor sneaked in and went to Neo's bed.
"It's pointless to demand from me to go away when you forget to lock the door." Neo jumped from surprise and looked at Malefor angrily, who just smiled, sadly.
"I know how you feel." Malefor lay down beside his brothers' bed.
"No you don't." Neo responded quietly.
"Oh I do. Neo, also I didn't want to fight when I was younger, but..."
"But what?" Neo asked, now curious.
"We are who we are. You can't change your destiny Neo."
"So you're on Fyre's side! I can and I will change my destiny!" Neo stood up in his bed and glared into his brother's eyes.
"Fine, then do what you want. I'm not on Fyre's side Neo. Also I think that he's an asshole. I just don't want to see you hurt one day. You're everything I have."
"I-... sorry." Neo lay back down onto his bed and looked down guilty.
"Think about it. Goodbye."
"Wait, I still have a lesson."
"Oh, right. The old language. Why do you even want to learn this subject? It's pointless if you ask me." Neo just gave him the death-glare. "Ok Ok, I'll talk with Volt. You're free for today." And with this he left the room, closing the door behind him.
'Was he right? Am I destined to fight? Ancestors I hope not' Neo put his head on his pillow. 'What a day. I just want to sleep...' With this said Neo drifted off into the world of his dreams from exhaustion. Both, physically and mentally.
I'm back from my Silvester trip. WOO! I think I was never so happy.
Soo what do you think? Was the end too kitchy? Was it bad? Good? And why in hell do I ask all these questions?
Mostly mindsettings of the different characters. Hope you liked it! :D
And happy new year to all my readers!