Another Round of Dragon Lore

Orion covered his face and adjusted his pack as a cold wind swept over the hills and into the streets of Melan sending a chill over its residents. He was in the city trying to find the museum but kept losing interest when his stomach grumbled due to an unfound breakfast.

A big yellow sign stretched out onto the street, blocking him from the sun. The museum was the biggest building he had ever seen. The brick walls provided a safe and sturdy look while the roof was made out of a material he couldn't recognize. Orion opened the brass double door to the building and stepped inside. Marble pillars stood on polished floors bending his reflection into deformed shapes. There were seats spread around the room with plants placed in the corners and in the far middle was a man behind a service counter. Orion's worn leather boots made a sound on the polished floor that vibrated throughout the entire room as he walked to the far end.

The man had orange hair with freckles on his face that somewhat gave him an idiotic appearance. He looked up from rolls of parchment and examined Orion from head to toe.

"One coin service charge please." Orion flicked him the coin and continued down the room. There were hallways that lead to a wide chamber full of other paths to take. Above each path was an inscription of what was in each path. There were many paths but Orion was looking for only one in particular. On the far left was a Fantasy path with sub categories listed under it. Magic, Elves, Dwarves, Dragons, and Ghosts where piled over the hallway. Orion entered the corridor and walked into a room full of weapons and pictures full of wonderful paintings. There were hundreds of trinkets lined up behind glass making beautiful display cases. The walls and ceiling were a deep blue like they were made of sapphire. He thought maybe he could find out what kind of person he was chasing by finding out what kind of stone he found.

Amazed by all the shining objects, Orion didn't even notice a withered old man until he coughed into his sleeve. He was definitely old, yet he could tell that time didn't weaken him to his full extent. He had dark eyebrows that rested on top of solid blue eyes. Lines on his face gave him a sad and tired appearance, yet his eyes looked fierce and keen. Finally Orion saw what he was looking at, there was a sapphire scale beneath a show case, it glittered blue in the light, a color so rare and beautiful he made and oath to never forget it.

"Do you come here often?" The question startled Orion; he forgot he was even in a room.

The old man smiled, "It really puts you into a trance doesn't it?"

"Huh? Ugh, yea I guess it does…" He did have trouble taking his gaze off of the shiny object; it was like tearing away a part of his spirit.

"A dragon's scale must be the second fairest thing in Alagaesia."

"Don't you mean Algesa?" The old man stared at the ground for a moment before answering.

"Yes, of course, my mistake. So is this your first time here?"

"Kind of… my name's Orion." He bit his lip and cursed himself for letting his tongue slip.

"Why don't you come with me, I've been here as many times as the founder himself." They started to walk and look at all the displays and pictures. "The first thing you should know is that everything in this room is real. Some of it is a little twisted, changed, to keep people from knowing the truth. They kept walking until they came up to a wall that had a row of stones behind glass. They each looked like the stone Orion found on the night of the fire. The thought of it made a knot in his throat.

"These, are gemstones and jewels, or anything else that can hold energy."

"These gems can hold energy?" Orion was puzzled by his own question.

"Yes, but to understand you have to know what it was like long ago. A couple of hundred years ago magic was everywhere, it was all around us. What enabled you to use this magic was your own strength and your knowledge of the ancient language. The ancient language was a vocabulary that gave you the power to manipulate the magic that was all around you. There were words for everything, fire, water, air, earth, they were all there. But in order to use the word and the magic you had to be able reach for the energy inside of you, which was a rare talent that only got harder with age. People soon found out that they could store energy into gems and jewels which they could use later. So after years sped by, the ancient language was forgotten. But we were smart enough to harness the power of the magic into the gems themselves, this technique was too, long forgotten. Only the elves know the technique, but the ancient language itself, is probably lost beyond return." His eyes grew full of grief and he fell silent.

Unsure of what to say, Orion asked another question. "If the elves are real, where are they? And if magic is stored inside the gems how do you use them?

The old man looked up and smiled. "Full of questions I see, we'll just have to answer each one then. The elves, or what they are traditionally called, the wood folk, are one with the land of Algesa, even though they weren't its first inhabitants."

"Who were?"

"More questions I see! The old man grumbled.

"Sorry"

"Now if you let me get back to my story, the elves weren't the first inhabitants of Algesa, dragons and dwarves were. Dragons are still the founders of Algesa as they are one with the land more so than the elves.

"Where did the elves come from?"

"The elves came from the sea on their silver ships. Only they know where they are originally from."

"Where are they, the dwarves, dragons, and elves?"

"The dwarves are hidden underground, as they are natural diggers and craftsmen. The elves once again are hidden in the forests, as for the dragons, is even a mystery to me. One thing I know, they happen to show up when everything seems to be lost."

"What of the gemstones? You never said how to use them."

"To use the gemstones, you would have to have the special talent one needed long ago. If you possessed this talent, the user would hold the gem in his/her hand, and would release the magic out of it."

"It sounds easy."

"Oh but it wasn't," reassured the old man. "It was a painstaking process to get comfortable with. Besides that, there are three rules you have to follow in order to use magic. The first one is that you need energy to either use, or release magic from an item. After that you would use more energy to redirect and change how you're using it. The second rule is a matter of how much energy you use. Everyone has a limit."

"Where do you get this energy?"

"The energy need to use magic came from the user. If you used up to much and you pass your limit, the penalty is death. So don't try doing something so difficult that might kill you, especially when you even know your own strength! They started walking again and were looking at a picture of an elf using magic. Flashes of light glittered off the painting; colors swirled around the elf's palm. After a moment or two he took a deep breath and continued on.

"The third rule is that you can't start off with all the power in the world. The only way of learning magic is by first using a gemstone. After practice and familiarizing yourself with how it is done, you need more practice and skill to be able to use the magic around you. Only the most powerful can do this."

"I just don't see how you could get stronger when you're limited by stones."

"Think of it in a simpler matter. Take sword fighting for an example, when someone teaches you how to spar, that would be like retrieving magic from a gemstone because it's easier. When you first swing a sword, you've used magic for the first time. When you make up your own moves, you learn to manipulate the magic around you. when you practice, build up your skills, you have began to get accustomed to using magic freely. After that, practice will only make you stronger."

"It sounds like everyone was well matched. How did one grew stronger than another?" He stared at him blankly.

"Weren't you listing boy? Two simple words, practice and skill, practice made you more powerful, while your skill determined how fast you practiced."

"Alright then," Orion said with a grin, while still unsure of the whole process "tell me about dragons."

Smiling from the request, the old man led him towards another part of the room. Rigid on the marble floor were cobble stone statues shaped as dragons. They towered over them like gigantic beasts who were about to claim their next feast. While the statues lacked color, the physical detail of the art surpassed the beauty of any other thing he had ever seen. Each scale, tooth, and vein had been carved into the stone, giving it a life like appearance. Carved into the base of the statue was an inscription in a language Orion never saw before. Paintings of dragons littered the wall in front of them.

The old man was about to start just as something grabbed his attention. Unaware of what was happening; Orion looked up and saw his guide looking at the back of the room. Past sculptures, paintings, and statues was a tall man wearing a black cloak. The two men glared at each other with a feel of outmost distaste.

"Run boy"

"What?"

"Get out of here you fool!"

With out hesitating, Orion jolted to the back of the room right as a pillar collapsed in a frenzy of green light. Debris flew everywhere, wrecking the room and hitting Orion straight on the chest. Breath blown away, he staggered to get up as the ceiling started to collapse. He looked for any signs of the two men but all he saw were streams of light coming out of the dust. He spotted an exit and went into a full out run as a section of the ceiling cave in. Rocks and pieces of the foundations pelted him as he ran for the door. He slid under a broken pillar and dove through the doorway while with one voice, the entire foundation ruptured and collapsed on itself, shaking the ground like a comet strike. Dust and debris pushed out of any opening and covered the ground like an ash covered graveyard. The resemblance was horrifying.

He lay there for a couple of minutes, dazed from all the action. He finally forced himself to get up and started to search through the ruble when he remembered he was the one that they were after. Fury and rage built up inside of him, but he knew he couldn't fight when his enemies were capable of bringing down a whole museum.

Cursing himself, Orion ran behind buildings and didn't stop until he reached the Inn. The sun was high in the sky, but he still managed to get past any gazing eyes. He gently opened the door to the Inn and saw another hooded man at the counter. The bartender met his eyes and he pointed at him.

"Aye, that's the kid you're looking for. Right over there." The response was a deathly chill.

'Thanksssssssss."

Orion bolted up right and ran like a frightened deer. There are more of those people? Or what if it was the same one?

Questions swirled up inside of Orion as he dashed through the streets. After a moment he stopped to look behind him and gasped when he saw him again.He had no legs and he was still gaining on him. The thing that was chasing him hovered a few inches above the ground and sped at him at an amazing rate. It shoved people to the ground when someone got in its way.

Petrified, Orion couldn't gaze away. Flashes of death and agony swirled in his mind. A wind blew through the city that carried the stench of death. There was a noise somewhere in the city that made it look away. Suddenly Orion regained control and finally broke free of its gaze. His head pounded and sweat poured down his brow, but he barely managed to get on his feet.

He bolted down another alley. His legs pounded. His head throbbed with every heart beat. His skin was clammy and cold as he sweat. He was about to give up when he turned a corner and ran into Vincent.

They slammed into each other at full speed, banging their heads on the ground. Orion groaned from all the pain and tried to look around.

The figure in the cloak came from out of the alley and started towards them. It pulled out a dagger with flesh blood already dripping off the tip.

Vincent was the first one up, and with a small curse he lifted up a bow, nocked an arrow and released it. There was a blood curtailing screech as the monster was struck. Orion clasped his hands over his ears and screamed. The sound was unbearable! With a grunt he managed to face the beast as it perished. Vincent had struck it in the middle of the black hole that was in the hood. With another shriek, a strong wind blew at them and the being turned into darkness that floated into the updraft like ashes.

Orion's back ached with pain as Vincent helped him up off the hard ground. With gratitude he finally managed to let something out through sharp gasps of air.

"I like your bow."

"Thanks, it's yours." Orion shook his head.

"How did you find me?" Vincent looked around impatiently.

"I'll tell you later, now we need to get a safe distance away from this place." They both agreed and went for the front gates.

"Wait," Orion stopped, "They will certainly stop us if we pass the guards." Vincent hid a grin.

"Don't worry; I have that taken care of. Just follow me." He led them towards a weak section of the well and uncovered a bush that was in front of hole. It was just big enough for them to get through. Sentries guarded the walls. As a bell rang extra archers poured out of the walls and began to search for them.

Without talking or even looking at each other, they ran for half a league before they stopped and sat for rest behind a small hill. They both fell and stood still on the ground.

"Don't get comfortable just yet," Said Vincent, "These guys don't give up on a chase. You can ask all the thieves in their cells if you don't believe me."

Orion sighed, "I would believe any thing right now." He looked up, rolling hills curved all around them giving off a feeling of being trapped and secure at the same time. He waited a few more moments to catch his breath, and then asked his question. "Who were those people? What's happening?" Vincent stared at him cautiously before answering.

"What happened," he said with a frown, "Was a farmer boy who came to town and screwed everything up."