The "wagons" I refer to are actually horse-drawn carriages seen through a dragon's eyes.
Swordfish awoke inside a cylindrical stone room. He sat up quickly, and felt the straw under him crunch slightly. The room was dark, except for sunlight shining through a small arched window just large enough for a dragon's talon to reach out of. Swordfish stood up completely and stretched his wings out. The room was large in area, large enough for a full grown dragon to stretch his wings completely. Swordfish turned around and was met with an arched doorway with cell bars. Outside the bars, the daylight shone.
Outside, Swordfish could count about 16 large towers, each with cell doors going up them. There were wooden bridges, obviously designed for humans, connecting the towers together. Each cell door had a wooden platform outside of it where the bridges connected. On the bridges, there were uniformed Old Monarchy soldiers armed with anti-dragon close-range guns and dragon snares. What caught Swordfish's attention even more was the fact that there were dragons perched on top of the towers and flying around. They had metal helmets that covered the entire backs of their necks. They had armor on their tails as well that protected the weak spot. They wore armbands on their left arm "And if ya really meant no harm, where's your armband?" Swordfish recalled Ezra saying to Vine. But that wasn't what really caught Swordfish's attention.
On each dragon's right forearm, was a mechanism that looked like the guns that could kill a dragon, but they were different. They were obviously bigger so that they could fit on a dragon, but the gun part looked thinner and longer. Similar to a rifle.
The other thing that intrigued Swordfish was the fact that in each cell he could see, was a dragon. There were no human prisoners, even though there were human guards.
Swordfish tried to remember how he got here. He remembered seeing Sloth wrapped up in a blanket as Mister Raneri sold him and the others to General Baumgarten, and then being traded off into large wooden boxes, still all cuffed and wired up. The boxes were in a large row and connected, and on two metal rods that were possibly the longest thing Swordfish had ever seen. They stretched out further than Swordfish could see. He remembered hearing he was on something called a "train" from one of the Old Monarchy soldiers. He was then approached by a human wearing the Old Monarchy uniform, but lacked a hat. He was beginning to lose the fur on his head.
He pulled out what looked like a small glass tube with holes for his human paws, and a small metal sharp piece. "Sleeping time, Camaelist scum." He said, and stabbed Swordfish on it, and Swordfish fell asleep.
Swordfish looked down at his left arm and saw he had a metal armband on, similar to the ones the guards wore, but had a different symbol on it. The shape of a front view of dragons face in a red triangle with leaved branches surrounding it.
Swordfish walked over to the bars and saw a guard dragon flying his way, an Icewing, and Swordfish was amazed to see a scavenger riding her. Swordfish managed to close his gaping mouth and speak. "Hey! What's going on? Why am I here!?" The scavenger had short, blonde fur on top of his head and wore the Old Monarchy uniform, but without a hat. The Icewing turned and landed on the platform outside of Swordfish's cell. The human got off the Icewing's back and looked up at Swordfish.
"Well Polar, what'd I tell you? I knew the Icewing wouldn't get up first." The human said to the Icewing, who was named Polar. Polar scoffed. "Well Michael, you're not taking into account that this Seawing is awake earlier than he should be." "Yeah, that's true. The sleep serum should be working for a few more hours. The others are still asleep." Michael turned to Swordfish. "Are you an insomniac by any chance?"
Swordfish had no idea how to respond to the quizzical human. He just stared. "Wh-what is all of this?" He finally managed out. "How did this happen? How are you talking? WHERE AM I?" Michael looked confused and Polar just scoffed. "Don't play dumb with us, dragonet. Michael Bridger here is a little more trusting than I am. But I know you're a Camaelist. No armband, wandering around Holzkirche borough in Lochberg, right after Conwell returned from his expedition. The question is, how did you find out what he was doing and where he would be?" Polar narrowed her eyes at Swordfish. "I think there's an informant within our ranks."
"What are you talking about? What is a Camaelist and why does everyone think I am one? I've never heard that word in my life!" Swordfish argued. Michael looked at Swordfish. "Are you Swordfish?" He asked suspiciously. Swordfish looked Michael right in his brown eyes. "H-how do you know my name?" "My best friend Anthony Conwell was telling me about a dragonet he wanted to meet named Swordfish."
"I… am Swordfish." Swordfish said with anxiety. Who is Anthony Conwell? Swordfish thought worriedly. "W-why does he want to meet me?" Polar turned to Michael as well. "Why would Conwell want to meet a random Camaelist dragonet?" "I'm not a Camaelist, whatever that is!" Swordfish argued, surprising himself with being able to speak without stuttering. "Sure. Whatever you say." Polar said flatly. "Polar, will you go get Anthony please? He's probably still with Commander Seilbrenner." Polar sighed. "I don't get why he was so interested in a bunch of enemy dragonets. The man went to the future and saw things nobody should, yet he's concerned about this." Polar took to the sky, and flew downwards, down towards a small complex of buildings.
"Man?" Swordfish asked. Michael turned back to Swordfish, a strange look in his eye. "It's the human word to describe a male. Woman is for female. Or, at least it does in the Arnish language." Michael paused. "You really don't know anything, do you? Where were you raised?" Swordfish hesitated before saying "The Kingdom of the Sea. I thought that should be obvious." Now it was Michael's turn to look confused. "What do you mean? I don't know of any place called that."
Swordfish's head was reeling. "Do you know what The Scorching is?" He asked quickly. "No, but it sure sounds dangerous." Michael joked. "Three moons…" Swordfish whispered to himself. "No, I'm pretty sure there hasn't been any more than one moon for a couple thousand years." Michael said. Swordfish didn't even know how to respond to that. He sat down on the straw and it crunched some more. He sat there, thinking for a while. "Ah, here comes Polar with Anthony." Michael suddenly said, and Swordfish sat up.
Polar was flying back up to the platform with a man on her back. Anthony had long brown hair and a brown satchel on his shoulder. He had a small bit of hair around his mouth and on his chin. He was wearing simple coverings. Swordfish looked through the bars to make eye contact with the human that he had met before. Time and time again. Anthony made eye contact back.
Sloth.
Polar landed on the wooden platform and it creaked with the force of the impact. Anthony Conwell slid off of her back, not breaking eye contact with Swordfish. There was silence. Swordfish and Anthony stared at each other. The wind picked up, and Polar raised her wings to provide shelter.
Finally, Anthony took his satchel off his shoulder and walked right up to the bars. "So… you followed me." He said. "Did you take the Necklace of Eclis with you when you walked through?" "YOU FOUND ANOTHER ONE?" Michael suddenly blurted out with a look of amazement on his face. "You… you mean Savanna's necklace?" Swordfish asked. Swordfish remembered Sloth dropping the necklace on the ground before entering the rift. "No. We… forgot to grab it. We were escaping from the Darkists." "You mean those creepy hooded dragons?" Anthony asked, brushing the hair out of his eyes, which the slight wind had begun to blow into his face. "Ah, good. That means it's still there. You can't have two of them at the same time, or one will be destroyed. Good thing you left it in 5,013." Michael and Polar turned to look at Sloth. "You mean… he's from… the future? He followed you here?" Michael asked. Polar whirled to look at Swordfish. "Are there humans? How are human-dragon relations?" "Uh… there are still humans… but they're nowhere near as advanced as this… they speak in another language, and they aren't considered intelligent and are eaten all the time. Dragons are the superior race of Pyrrhia."
"Pyrrhia?" Polar asked, and Anthony nodded. "Will you give Swordfish and I some time alone? I need to explain some things to him."
After Polar took Michael away, Anthony pulled something out of his satchel. It was small and square, and had squares of paper in it that Anthony flipped through. "This is called a book. It's similar to a scroll, but it has pages that you flip to, so you continue reading." Anthony flipped through the book until he got to a map. "This book is called an atlas, a collection of maps and information about them." Anthony flipped to a map of a place labeled "Jeoul."
"This world used to be normal until fourteen years ago. Actually, things were better than normal. The nations of the world were getting close to a form of world peace." Anthony began. "Until something happened. A strange new species suddenly appeared in the eastern country of Jeoul." Anthony turned the book so Swordfish could see. "They were scaled, fire breathing monsters. They had horns and talons. They grew faster than a human did, and had a tendency to be violent." Anthony looked up at Swordfish. "They were dragons, and there were ten different variations. Seawings, Aniwings, Rainwings, Mudwings, Rockwings, Nightwings, Sandwings, Grasswings, Skywings, Icewings." Swordfish recalled the three new tribes he had seen around.
"The people in Jeoul disappeared the night the dragons appeared. Nobody is quite sure what happened to them, but the most popular theory is that they were simply all killed by the feral, new dragons that arose, all of different ages. None of the original dragons that are still alive recall what happened before awakening in Jeoul, so it's assumed they just don't remember their first days alive. As news of this terrifying, supernatural threat spread throughout the world's countries, the island country neighboring Jeoul, Kibot, prepared for war." Anthony flipped to show an island labeled "Kibot."
"The Kibotens were very nationalistic, and immediately rose to try and stop the growing threat of dragons. They were the first to develop weapons capable of defeating dragons. Dragon snares, Single shot shotguns, and flashbang guns. They trained their military how to easily scale objects like buildings and trees, and where to shoot with the shotguns to kill a dragon. Right in front of the ear." Swordfish remembered how Sloth had shot the Rainwing Darkist in the spot on his head and easily killed him.
"But as the months went on, the dragons began easily becoming more human-like. They were already known to be intelligent, but they began speaking our languages, and showing more humanistic characteristics. We saw them as a threat still, but it became increasingly common to see dragons refusing to hurt us and humans refusing to hurt dragons. Eventually, it became known that each race saw each other as an equal threat." Anthony took a breath.
"Eventually, after a year of both fighting and understanding each other, a large collection of our nations met with the dragon leaders that had assumed power. We made a declaration of peace. War between the races would be met with punishment from both sides. Of course, there were dissenters on both sides, but a majority agreed it would be better to live together than to continue to fight and end both races. With our technology we had proven to be an equal match for the new dragons."
Swordfish couldn't believe anything he was hearing. This was the history of the dragons, and it was unknown. Nobody knew. It had been forgotten. Or as Swordfish was beginning to suspect, it had been purposefully blotted out of history. But by who? The royal families?
"There was an uneasy peace for about ten years. There were still humans who believed that these dragons were evil invaders. Most of those people were religious zealots and hate-filled. And there were dragons that were more primal than others, who believed they were superior and humans were nothing more than bugs that must be wiped out. They believed they were so much stronger than humans because they were meant to wipe us away." Swordfish looked down at his own claws. Would I want to wipe out humans? Where would have I stood?
Anthony sighed and then continued again. "For the most part, humans and dragons got along alright, and we resumed our mission for world peace. But then, about two years ago now, something new happened, and we were reminded again of the horrors of the war."
"An enormous dragon appeared, and when I say enormous, I mean that he was almost as tall as that mountain school you went to. He had fire in his scales. He destroys anything that even gets too close to him. He would walk through cities, burning them to the ground. His fire breath was unlike anything we had seen. He could breathe fireballs that would rain down and torch everyone and everything." Swordfish saw the fear in Anthony's eyes. "Not even the dragons know where he came from. He just rose from the ocean one day. His name is Camael."
Just the name itself seemed to create a sense of fear. Swordfish tried to imagine a giant dragon as tall as Jade Mountain. "Camael immediately began spreading messages of hate towards humanity. He was a dragon supremacist, and he was going to burn humanity away. All our cities, all our progress, all of our history, all of us. We are lucky that Camael rarely acts himself, or we would have been wiped out long ago."
Anthony took another breath. "The other dragon supremacists followed Camael. They believed he was a god, sent down to do the holy work of eradicating humans. They earned the name 'Camaelists.' The Camaelists were met with resistance at first, but their ideas spread as humans lashed out at dragons in fear. The idea that dragons were evil invaders took hold again, striking fear into people's hearts. One man in particular took hold. Axton Lloyd. He is a religious leader with a following of loyal people who believe he knows the words of the Three Moon Goddesses." Anthony's eyes got dark. "My own mother was one of them. Axton was dismissed in years past as slightly crazy, but he began rallying humans to join together to face down this evil. He and his cronies told people that we must band together to erase dragons forever. Put aside differences in race and sex."
Anthony paused and looked up at the sky. "He gained political friends, most notably Kuroi Hoshi, King of Kibot, and together, the Order of Black Star was created. A human supremacy group. All dragons must be killed, Camaelist or not." Swordfish was now definitely scared.
"The Black Star and Camaelists went to war against each other, Black Star using their authoritarian ways to create new technology to combat dragons. Each side began taking over countries, with Black Star creating horrific death camps where they would send dragons to be burned to death. And Camaelists would just destroy the entire country, attempting to catch and kill every human and leveling all cities and towns."
Anthony turned back to Swordfish. "But, one group remained that still believed that humans and dragons can live in this world together. It centered on the superpower country of Arnia. We call ourselves 'Old Monarchy' in lieu of the old leaders that believed in peace, some of which are still alive and working to restore the world. Our current head of command is the Arnish queen, Queen Hecate Finn." Anthony finished. "The dragons who side with us must wear an Old Monarchy armband to prove their innocence. This world-ravaging war has consumed us for two years now."
"So… those people who captured us thought we were Camaelists because we didn't have an armband and were wandering a destroyed city." Swordfish said. "Yes, and actually there was something else that added to it." Anthony said. "You were at the King Burkhardt Bank in Lochberg. There had recently been a little… disaster there." Swordfish remembered the dead humans and he now realized there had been Black Star soldiers there.
"Holzkirche borough was the last remaining part of Lochberg that hadn't fallen into anarchy and ruin. The Old Monarchy government sent them funding for their resistance group three days ago, but Black Star attacked and stole the money and took all the employees hostage and killed the soldiers there. The Camaelists then attacked and killed everyone there and attempted to burn the building down." Anthony said. "Those bounty hunters found you and thought you were Camaelists. They sold you to us, the Old Monarchy. You are currently in a prison built specifically for dragons."
Swordfish felt like his mind had been blown away. Everything he had just learned was unheard of. If this really was the past, and it must be because Polar said Sloth had "traveled to the future." If this is the past, then something bad is coming.
"Anthony." Swordfish suddenly said urgently. "There's something called the Scorching coming." "I already know." Anthony said grimly. "Rainfall told me all about it. The question is, what do we do to make sure it doesn't turn out that way?" Swordfish turned his attention to the satchel that Anthony had put on the wooden platform. That's right! This is Sloth! He has Rainfall's code!
"Anthony, what is the code to Rainfall's chest?" Swordfish asked urgently. Anthony stopped and looked up at Swordfish with a concerned look. "How do you know about that?" He asked quietly. "Who told you?" Swordfish attempted to try and begin a response before Anthony started speaking again. "I SAID WHO TOLD YOU?!" He yelled. "Rainfall did!" Swordfish cried. "Right before he died! He said he had told me he wanted to show me things he knew about the world!"
Anthony turned away and looked up into the clouds, saying nothing. Swordfish's mind felt like it had been scrambled past the point of no return. He had just been told so much, and yet there were still so many questions.
Finally Anthony turned around. "I can't tell you anything yet. The things I learned from him and when I went to the future are currently classified Old Monarchy information. I need to talk to you about things more urgent at the moment." Anthony put away his atlas. "Tomorrow they are going to bring you and your friends to a court so your fate can be decided. I have told others that you are not Camaelists, but I'm not a high enough rank to make decisions like this. But there are people and dragons in your corner. Like Commander Daniel Seilbrenner. He's a great man and is willing to try and prove your innocence."
The name of the commander sent chills down Swordfish's spine, but they disappeared as soon as they came. He sounded familiar to Swordfish, but he had no idea why. "What happens if they think we're guilty?" Anthony sighed. "They'll either kill you or keep you here for 'rehab' where they try to turn you away from Camaelism." Swordfish swallowed. "I would try to get some more rest." Anthony said. "You've still got a few hours before your friends wake up. The injection is supposed to put dragons to sleep for longer, but you were able to wake up." Anthony turned to leave. "Good luck in court." He said, and then picked up his satchel and walked away, taking one of the wooden bridges out.
Swordfish lay back down on the straw as the wind slightly began to pick up again, his head full of questions. If this is the past… then what happened that resulted in Pyrrhia? The world seems so different. I need to see that atlas again. If those mountains outside Lochberg were really the same mountains that border the Lost Night Kingdom that would mean that the whole continent split apart!
Swordfish suddenly had a striking realization. If the continent split apart and Pyrrhia is just a piece of the puzzle… that would mean there are other continents out there.
And who's not to say that on these continents, the world is still the same as now? What if the Scorching was a Pyrrhia specific event?
. . .
General Henrik Solberg stepped out of the church and sighed. It was early morning and the sun was beginning to rise over Sainswood. He was conflicted. He was going to decide the fate of five dragonets, who the government had deemed important, in a military tribunal. They were accused of being Camaelists and enemies of humanity and peace. What was so special about them was that they had come through the portal to the past with Anthony Conwell, a soldier who had gone with a strange Rainwing to the future. These dragonets were from the future, and were a danger all on their own. This was information only known by the higher-ups.
Solberg was going to decide their fate. He was going to hear from both sides. The Committee of Public Safety argued that the dragonets were dangerous and should be either euthanized or rehabilitated. The army branch of the military argued that the dragonets are not only innocent, they could be helpful to Old Monarchy. They knew of the outcomes 5,000 years in the future.
The minister stepped out of the church doors behind Solberg. "Thank you for coming to church in your time of need of guidance." "No, I should be the one thanking you minister." Solberg said. "I feel that expressing this was a good idea. Yet the question remains. What do I do?" The minister put a hand on Solberg's shoulder. "You have good faith. A man with good faith, has good judgment. Put aside political complications and think. What do you believe is right?" Solberg looked back to the sunset and adjusted his glasses, thinking.
. . .
Swordfish stood outside the gates to the outdoor court. Along with him stood Rattlesnake, Vine, Vulture, and Blizzard. They were cuffed and wired again. A light mist sprinkled their scales with water. Carriages, as Swordfish had learned they were called, were going by, the horse hooves echoing through the quiet morning noise. Dragons flew overhead, and some walked along the streets.
There was a small crowd of humans and dragons who would be attending the trial waiting outside at another door. "Why are we doing this outside? Why can't we just go indoors?" A Rockwing asked, shivering. "Yes, because the Sainswood court room is totally big enough for this many dragons." A woman said sarcastically, holding a stack of papers labeled The Sainswood Weekly. "Besides, do we really want to give those filthy Camaelists the pleasure of being dry? We audience members will be under cover." The Rockwing shrugged.
Swordfish turned and looked at Vulture, who was looking at the two having the conversation with wonder in his eyes. Swordfish had managed to tell his friends the basics of where they were before they got here. They had been ordered to keep quiet by a Skywing Old Monarchy soldier, who was now to their right with one of the Mobile Rifles attached to his forearm.
Swordfish watched as one of the windows on the building across the street opened up on the second floor, and three young humans peeked out of it, two boys and one girl. "Wow! Look at that!" One yelled, pointing to Swordfish and the others, being guarded by soldiers. "Do you think they're doin' a parade mother?" The girl asked. An older woman walked to the window holding a bowl with a wooden spoon sticking out of it. She gave the watching dragonets a nasty look and then closed the windows and pulled the curtains shut.
A Nightwing walked by with an Aniwing, and they both took the time to spit at the dragonets' feet. Swordfish watched as Rattlesnake tried to say something, but one of the soldiers gave her a hard look. Swordfish kept watching the couple, which twined tails as they walked away.
The crowd waiting to be let in made a noise of relief when an entourage of carriages began clopping their way toward them, with dragons flying overhead. Swordfish recognized the Old Monarchy symbols on the carriages and the armor on the dragons overhead.
When the carriages came to a stop and the dragons landed, Swordfish noted one of the humans who walked out. He wore a large coat and had small pieces of glass over his eyes, as if to magnify his vision. "That's General Solberg." Said a voice, and Swordfish could have sworn it sounded familiar. The dragonets turned to see a man with blonde hair and a small scar over his lip. "He's the one who will decide your fate." Said the man. "And I'm the one who is going to try and save it."
Vine opened her mouth, but then received another stern look from one of the guards. "Oh, dismissed." Said Seilbrenner to the guards. The guards nodded and entered the outdoor court. "Are you Commander Seilbrenner?" Rattlesnake asked. "That's what they call me." Seilbrenner said with a chuckle. Two human soldiers were to either side of him. "Let me introduce these two." Seilbrenner said. "Swordfish, I think you've already met Michael Bridger." Swordfish nodded when he saw Anthony's friend's face. He looked up to see Polar perched on top of one of the buildings. Swordfish made eye contact with the Icewing, who glared at him. "And this is Marie LaToin." Seilbrenner said, and the other soldier nodded. "Hello everyone!" She said. She sounded optimistic.
Suddenly, a familiar voice sounded. "Marie!" Yelled the voice of Anthony. Swordfish watched as the she turned and Anthony ran up to her. They embraced each other. "Oh thank god you returned safely." She said. "Where's Rainfall?"
Anthony sighed. "He died. He was murdered by…" Anthony shot Swordfish a look. "…something." Marie's face fell, and Blizzard made a strange noise similar to a cough. "I had to get back using the Necklace of Eclis I found there." Marie looked into Anthony's eyes, and took off her helmet, letting her curly black hair fall down.
Seilbrenner began leading the dragonets into the court, leaving the sad scene behind them. "Oh yeah, if you are proven innocent, you're going to have to tell us what we want to know about the future. That's the only way." Swordfish nodded. "I'll tell what I can." Rattlesnake and Vine nodded too. Blizzard didn't do anything, but Vulture got right up close to Swordfish. "If we change the past, who's not to say that the future we came from won't cease to exist?"
Suddenly, Blizzard spoke. "Commander, will we ever be able to get home?" The Commander turned around with a sad look in his eye.
"Probably not. The only way to do that would require the power of a goddess. But let's make sure you don't lose your head first." And the commander led them into the court.
Sorry about the delay. Also, next chapter may be much shorter than these past few.