Maple or Real Life?
Chapter 10 – Mythical Beasts of Both Worlds
Disclaimer: I do no own Maple Story or other people.
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It has been a couple weeks now, we had arrived at quite a few towns and found next to no help so far. We had arrived at a town, but once we entered, it was quiet… too quiet… I dismounted carefully to not disturb the eerie silence. There were no one out and about, and a sense of fear in the air. An idly swinging sign that said, "Kenora" creaked each interval. Telling my 2 animal companions to stay put, I drew my Dark Arund and readied a soul arrow. Walking cautiously to the intersection I studied the area. With my companions following behind me, we stood alert.
Down the road, we found a city hall. The doors and windows were blocked from the inside and hid everything from view. I slid over to the main door and surveyed the entrance. There were a couple big tables standing on an end, blocking the door. The hinges were not seen on my side of the door; therefore, the door swings inwards. I decided to knock on the door, a bit of shuffling and arguing dulled from the door went on inside. When a deep male voice called out, "Who goes there?" I tried to say, "An adventurer." But the same voice cut me off, "Leave if you ever wish to see the light of another day."
Now, thoroughly annoyed, I asked for a reason. There was silence… "There isn't much of a choice." I muttered. I changed to my 2-handed 'Morning Star' and charged at the door. The force knocked the tables back a couple meters and the doors opened. Standing, I saw quite a few heads and a few surprised faces staring at me. Taking command, I demanded, "What's going on here?" Shocked faces became stunned, but a small young boy happily called out, "Yay, it's not the monster!"
Looking at the 3 men who went around the 2 big tables, they quickly ushered me in, and my companions followed. After barring the door again, we were led down to a classroom-sized meeting room. Space was cleared out for us as we began a discussion.
A man hastily introduced, "I'm Mr. Book, the mayor of this town… or was one. These are my 2 associates, Mr. Guide and Mr. Paper." signaling to the other 2 men in the room. "We have a bit of trouble in our town, it seems that there is a dangerous winged creature covered in scales and armed with claws, fangs, and fire from its mouth. It should be safe for you here." I questioned deeper about the situation, and it seemed that it was a dragon. In the dark, no one could tell its color, but it attacked anyone who got too close. A high leveled and hard-eyed female Mage had entered, and the 3 men fell silent. She had her Mage overall on, but she had on heavy warrior gloves and light thief shoes. Her mouth was in a stiff line, and her eyes showed a lot of past pain. She sat herself down in a nearby chair, and Mr. Guide introduced her, "This is our main fighter of this town, she said it was a dragon…" He was cut off when the Mage waved her right arm, holding a battered 'Kage'. Looking carefully, his mouth was shut by Ice. "Must be ice and lightening then," I thought before she, with her pained voice, continued, "My name is Derr." I had a quick intake of breath. She looked at me suspiciously.
I nearly leapt out of my seat when Angel ran behind her and poked a surprised pet cargo that was hiding behind the smooth dress. The small purple cat tried to slash at Angel's nose, but Angel leapt backwards in a nick of time. "Angel, come." I commanded, and she came to sit at my side.
"I am Ninja." I stated with a grin, watching her jaw drop and her eyes open in shock. We started to talk about the current times. I found out that she had fought with the dragon, but it had some type of dark shield around it. Explaining the attacks, we concluded that that dragon might have been under control somehow. Angel and Diago, Derr's purple cat, play with each other during our little conversation.
After laughter, tears, and comforting, we got down to business. Planning our search at dawn the next day, we started to prepare our battle gear. Talking at the same time, we muted our gear to avoid clanking. The topic somehow managed to get to boys and men. Derr spaced out making the conversation end.
Going over to Spirit and Angel, I explained the plan to them. I also urgently whispered, "If we do not make it back by nightfall. Go and find the others and they will know what happened if I'm not around." Feeding Angel some pet food and Spirit some packed oats, we played around until a young messenger boy led us to our room.
Looking right and left while we were walking down the hallways, the other rooms were jammed pack with people. I was led inside a room where only Derr had inhabited. Packing unused items in packs and stacking my polished and muted armor to a side, we slept peacefully at the same time for the first time in a couple weeks of hard and dangerous travel.
The next day before dawn:
I was awake with my body still asleep. I heard soft footsteps coming down the hallway… The door softly squeaked open from no source of oil on its hinges. I turned over making it look like I was still asleep, but I had the handle of 'Dragon's Tail' in my right hand. A small rustling sound of fabric… To the right side where Derr was sleeping! I counted, 1… 2… 3! Using my left arm as a propulsion spring, I unsheathed my dagger from its holder attached to my left leg, and I held the dagger in a menacing way. The man was Mr. Paper with a knife!
Angel was also up and started growling and barking, Spirit looked ready to tramp the intruder, and Derr flipped up to a sitting position startled. Derr's Cargo stood up groggily to Derr's left, because it was sleeping on her shoulder somehow… Mr. Paper tried to bolt for the door, but Angel was a bullet and started to pull violently on the knife hand, the left. I brought up my dagger and used a blunt end (right by the handle) and knocked him out with a small whack on the back of his head.
I caught the scruff of his shirt before he killed himself by hitting his head on the door. Derr immediately started slipping on her armor, signaling me to do the same as well. Dragging the unconscious Mr. Paper, we went to the conference room we were in last night. A young girl came in and saw us, her eyes opened with fright when she saw Mr. Paper, so she ran right out crying something.
Immediately after, a mob of people came in. Mr. Guide and Mr. Book came shoving through the crowds and the 2 demanded to know what happened. Coolly explaining the assault, their faces paled. They ordered a few people, who were obviously around level 30, to tie up Mr. Paper and lock him somewhere safe for everyone else. Double-checking our equipment, we started out the door. The mobs of people were over-joy to see that they may be able to go home soon, and others were somehow happy that Mr. Paper was locked away for some strange reason. We strode through the crowded hallways with a forced smile… we knew that this situation may all end up the opposite way.
Once we were out the doors, we started hunting around for signs of the dragon. We snuck around a corner and came to a clearing that was a good distance away from the City Hall. I looked around the peaceful yet abandoned homes of maze-like roads. "Good thing I have a guide," I thought to myself while following Derr's movements and peeking around to spot danger. Safe… For now… We went silently to another corner. Looking sideways, there was another usual cul-de-sac.
Sighing quietly, we went to another corner that was a 4-way intersection. How do I know? There was a stop sign with a "4 Way" right under it. I was stopped by Derr's Kage in front of me, and then she pointed to the road to the left and whispered, "This was where the dragon was first sighted." I nodded, understanding.
Looking around the corner it was another cul-de-sac, but this one was different. There were giant eggs in a dug-out nest. The dug-up pavement was walls about a couple feet high. I looked around the skies, down the road, and back at the eggs. I silently went over to the eggs looking around wary of hiding spots. To make sure I don't cause danger, I leapt and cleared the wall with a "high jump" jump from track and field. But I was unprepared for the landing, so I landing with my left shoulder. Derr had teleported into this nest, landing right beside me. "Why didn't I just do THAT?" I complained in my mind while going over to inspect the eggs.
The eggs had colors either: red, blue, green, golden, white or black. The eggs were as tall as I was, the widths were proportional to make the eggs look like giant chicken eggs, but only one was a third of a meter tall with swirls of many colors. All eggs had colors either: red, blue, green, golden, or black. I inspected a red egg and another gold one, while Derr was looking at a blue one. There were 25 total.
A cry, from most likely a dragon, broke out in the sky. The 2 of us stood stalk still right up against an egg. I looked at Derr with the same surprised expression. Thud… Something heavy landed by the nest quite gently. The sky was covered from view by a pair of wings. Everything grew dark…
'WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY NEST?!" a ferocious voice demanded. I reached for my sword, but something strong pinned my arms to my body and my legs straight and unmovable. "ANSWER ME, INTRUDERS!" the same voice yelled. A voice from my right slightly-shakily spoke, "We are here to make this town safer for its original residents." The wings began to fold back, and I looked down at my restraint.
A big dark red claw was holding me in the air. Shocked at the size of my so-called enemy, I looked to my right to see Derr held the same way. Looking in front of me, a big wedge-shaped head of a Red Dragon was frightening. The yellow eyes with black pupils looked back and forth between us. The big mouth opened and closed as it said, "Then the residents may return to their homes as long as they do NOT DISTURB MY NEST!" Flinching at her reinforced words, I was put down on the ground at the same time Derr was. The dragon started to inspect her eggs, so we left silently. Taking a peek backwards, dragons had 2 arms/fore-legs, 2 hind-legs, a sizable body with a strong tail about 3/4 that can reach up to their shoulders. The red dragon had a muscular neck half the length of her arms and a wedge head that fitted to make the dragon seem more balanced.
In a nearby cul-de-sac, we discussed what we should do. We could not be able to make the dragon leave or even harm those eggs; therefore, we're in trouble. A black dragon flew overhead. A deeper dragon voice rumbled, "Honey, I'm back." I groaned as the situation seemed hopeless. We could only go back to tell the citizens to leave the dragons alone. The red dragon's voice sounded in surprise, "They're hatching!"
The 2 of us ran right back to watch the birth of dragons. The black dragon immediately turned himself to protect his young. Our shoulders drooped from disappointment, the dragon seemed surprised. He seemed to understand and stated, "Do not harm them or it will be the last thing you ever do." Derr and I ran right over to the lip of the nest and we watched in excitement.
Most of the eggs had begun cracking and shaking. Blue and green dragons came out quietly. Red, black, white, and goldish bronze dragons either shattered their shells by unfurling their wings or decimating a part of the egg by claw, jaws, or wing. We watching fascinated. But there was one that wasn't hatched yet… The small one was still.
The red dragon, who became the mother, plucked the small one out gently with her right claw. The 2 parent dragons introduced themselves to us and their youngsters as Pern (the black dragon who became a father) and Samantha (the red mother dragon). Naming their young a variety of names that I forgotten. They began learning to eat, drink, fly, etc. Derr and I ran around on the ground keeping up to the flying and close-to-flying dragons. The many colored egg still in Samantha's claw. Part of the day passed quickly, and the 2 of us humans had to go release the citizens from the confined City Hall. The dragons came and accompanied us.
Back at City Hall, the citizens were shocked… SHOCKED… by this discovery that the dragons would not hurt those who hurt them. It was agreed that the dragons can stay and live in peace around and with the citizens of Kenora.
Celebrations and birthdays preparations had quickly begun so the party could start 15 mins later. I made my way back to our room. I pushed the partly opened door completely open. Immediately, I was attacked my soft and affectionate nuzzles and a wet tongue over my face and ears. Rubbing my 2 comrades behind their ears, we were happy to be back together again. I took the 2 outside (everything was already packed) and the 2 had no trouble interacting with the dragons. Even Diago was on top of Friezen's, a blue dragon's, head.
During the party, Spartan and Mango arrived. Happy times and current news were shared. Derr invited us to spend the night at her house, so we did.
She led us not too far from City Hall to a pretty, medium-sized house. Inside was furnished with organized and modern items. It was quite roomy, and there were a couple guest rooms. Somehow, Kin and Sweetie arrived at town as well, and they were led to us in Derr's home. The horses were left to roam the big backyard to graze, and the stream on the other side of the backyard ran peacefully. Since Arc and crew weren't here yet, we sent him a message that we changed our plans and we would meet him here. Taking care of planning, Derr was staying here and our 3 groups would take care of the other cities and towns. The rendez-vous point was here, at Derr's house.
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