THE ICE DRAGON
VARGRAM II
THE SOUTHERN SPHERE
Winds howl through the icy landscape of the Southern Sphere, creating a dry chill in the air in the most southern region of the known world. Compared to the Northern Sphere, the weather in the south was much calmer with lesser blizzards.
In lieu of these blizzards were large caps of ice that were equal to the size of islands and lands. Many of them are tall enough to match mountains.
Upon the side of one of these caps was Vargram, climbing it with his climbing picks. He was climbing to reach its top for that was where his next job lies, a contract for a few thousand coins was worth to it.
"Are we there yet?" The voice of a child speaks to him as he climbs, a boy that was holding onto his back for safety. He grunts in annoyance as this was the eighth time he was asked this question by his ward.
"No."
"Oh... Well are we going to re-"
"We get there when we get there, boy. Now be quiet so I may climb." His words were firm yet no anger was in his tone. His ward was young, only twelve years of age, therefore his patience for him was higher to him. Many would call him biased, as this ward was special to him.
The boy becomes silent as he looks down to the height below, gulping down some saliva as it was a high drop if they fall. "Ok... It's just... We have been climbing for an hour and we mig-"
"Fall to our deaths if we fall now. I am aware of this, Lordan." Vargram finishes the sentence for his ward, aware of Lordan's fear of heights. He thinks of a training plan to help Lordan overcome this fear. One that he would be planning to execute when they return. "The only we avoid that is for me to concentrate. So be quiet." He makes his point for Lordan again, as he had a tendency to become chatty when he was nervous.
Lordan takes the hint and becomes silent, gripping Vargram tighter as the distance to the ground below grew larger. Their climb lasted a little longer before the top of the ice cap was seen, making Lordan breathe out a sigh of relief as Vargram finally climbs to the top.
Vargram keeps his climbing equipment and exchanges them with his weapons, handling Lordan his shortsword as well in the process. He settles for his usual dual swords combination, thinking that they might encounter swift enemies like ice wraiths.
He allows Lordan to adjust his equipment for a moment as he lengthens his straps to fit him. "Ready?"
"Just gimme... Ah. Ready." Lordan gets his gear in check at the last moment, earning a nod of approval from Vargram as his time to prepare was faster now.
"Good. Eyes up, boy. Assume everything here is trying to kill us." His warning was true as Vargram was not aware of the danger in this place. Rumors of Ice Dragons run amok in this region, dragons made entirely out of ice that breathed frost instead of fire that can freeze a man to death in seconds.
Part of him wishes he could see one, it has been some time since he had the challenge to face. The other part was worried, as Lordan would be in danger from such a great threat.
"Master?" Lordan calls out to him as he spaces out from the thought. He shakes his head and regains his focus, equipping his helmet to prepare.
"I'm fine, boy. Get on, you are taking point." He doesn't mention anything else and gestures for Lordan to lead.
They proceed to the space ahead, a large empty snowed field with the remnants of a great battle from long ago. There were hundreds of longships that were frozen in place as the ice caps in this region used to be nothing but an ocean. They look around the scattered ships and ruins in the ice fields to find their prize.
"Do you know what we are searching for, boy?"
"Yes sir. Bjorn's Sword of kings." Lordan correctly states their objective. The retrieval of this sword was a contract for a collector Vargram used to work with. This job came as a special offer from the collector, offering Vargram triple his usual fee to perform it.
"Yes, and do you know what it looks like?"
"Yes. Silver blade short sword with a golden hilt. With runic inscriptions on the blade."
Vargram nods and grunts a sound of approval. "You have been reading, that is good. Now focus. We find the sword, then we can leave." His encouragement makes Lordan move faster and they search more longships for their loot.
Their search continues for an hour, with every ship they search yielding nothing but bones and rusted weapons. It had been a few thousand years ago when the battle here took place.
And so they searched and searched, and searched. Nothing resembling their goal showed up. The child and his master eventually stop, taking a break from the search as they re-evaluate their choices.
This isn't working... Vargram sighs as their search seemed pointless. Perhaps the sword was already lost thousands of years ago? If that were the case, it would mean that they had made a wasted trip here. "Do you see anything, boy?"
"Nope I- Um... No master, nothing." Lordan quickly corrects himself on addressing Vargram, something that he often does when he addresses his master casually. They both take a seat on a nearby ice block to rest while thinking of a better way to conduct the search.
Vargram takes out a leather bottle and downs its contents, mead he saved for the journey. He looks over to Lordan who was shivering a little due to the cold, all while being too stubborn to show it outright. He leaves a small amount of the liquid in the bottle and tosses it to Lordan. "Drink. It's all we have left."
Lordan looks to the bottle and carefully drinks from it, his face frowning as he tasted the mead. He lets out a few coughs once he was done due to the strong taste, passing back the bottle to Vargram who realizes that it was still not empty.
Vargram sighs and finishes the mead off with a single swing, tossing aside the bottle as it was now empty.
"Ahhhhhhhh..."
"Ahhhh...?"
"Hm."
Lordan mimics the breath of air Vargram took as he finished the mead, making the older man develop a tiny smirk on the side of his mouth. His attitude changes back to his usual one, serious and focused on the task at hand. "Boy. The sword is supposed to look like how you described it, right? No changes throughout the years between owners?"
"No. It's still the same, silver blade and golden hilt. which is said to never rust due to an ench-" Lordan's explanation stops as an idea comes to his mind. His enthusiastic side as a child takes over and Lordan runs to one of the longship in the ice fields. "I got an idea!"
"Boy?" Vargram takes note of Lordan's sudden departure, knowing that the child would have an idea that came to him all of a sudden. He joins Lordan on the longboat and sees him standing near the bow of the boat, searching for an item within his travel bag. "Boy? Lordan, what are you doing?"
Lordan's hand searched eagerly while addressing Vargram with his idea. "The last Jarl that wielded the sword was said to have decorated his longboat with the same materials as used in the sword, making it shine like the blade itself. which means-"
"The longship with the most amount of reflection will be where we must search." Vargram finishes Lordan's explanation for him. The boy smiles at his master's understanding and finally finds his signaling mirror, adjusting it to reflect the sunlight above.
He turns the beam of reflected sunlight towards the field of ice, slowly shining it upon many different longships that were exposed. He manages to shine a couple of dozen ships but they were not the ones that they needed to search for. His attempts were starting to fail as no ship with the shine they were looking for was appearing.
Vargram eyes Lordan and sees the disappointment growing in his eyes, failure was something that Lordan takes harshly. Vargram moves a little closer to him and places a hand on the boy's shoulder hoping to cheer up his ward. "Maybe we are doing this wrong. Let's try again somewhere else."
Lordan nods and wanted to keep his mirror, only to spot a faint shine at the last second. "There! I see It!" He shines the mirror on the lone longboat out in the distance, confirming the longboat's unique shine.
Vargram sees it as well, patting Lordan on the head as they managed to find the longboat that may contain the sword. "Well done, boy. I will take point, stay alert."
They both made their way to the abandoned longboat, watching out for any dangers close by while moving. They reached the boat and find it a bit larger in size as compared to the rest of the boats due to it hosting a king in the past.
Vargram boosts up Lordan to climb the boat, allowing the child to find a rope above for Vargram to use. He climbs up the rope to join Lordan on the deck of the boat.
The deck of the boat was filled with frozen corpses, and two different sets of uniforms can be seen clearly to highlight the different factions that fought on this deck. They look around and finally see the artifact they were looking for.
"There! We found it!" Lordan runs to the sword, which was embedded into the chest of an old corpse that became a block of ice on the deck, resembling a sword in a stone. Lordan looks at it with wonder, inspecting the ancient runes that were inscribed into the blade.
Vargram walks to where Lordan was, letting him study the sword for moments. "What does it say?" He tests Lordan on the meaning of the inscribed words, wondering if Lordan had been keeping up with his studies. His question earns an action from Lordan who words quickly to translate the runes.
"It says, only those of divine and blessed blood, chosen by the gods, may take the sword with grace. For they are born to rule." Lordan reads out the runes, word for word as written on the blade. Vargram nods at his efforts and silently praises him again.
"Alright, let's go home then." Vargram holds the sword by the hilt and gives it a hard tug. Only to find that the sword would not bulge, prompting him to pull it with both hands and a leg that braces on the block of ice as leverage. "The fuck?" He pulls the sword with all his might but nothing happens, the sword stays in place, and not a single inch was moved.
"Great... It's frozen in place." He looks to his waist and prepares his climbing pick to be used as a pickaxe. "Step back, boy. I'm going to- Boy?"
Lordan looks at the sword, staring at it blankly as an instinct within him urges him to it. He moves to the sword and grabs the hilt, intending to pull it out on his own.
"Boy, out of the way. We don't ti-"
Lordan pulls on the sword and it was effortlessly drawn out of its ice prison, no longer entombed there. He holds the sword and is drawn by its elegance, its unique material defied the ages to keep the sword intact, almost new even.
"Time..."
Hm. Sword of Kings indeed.
Vargram looks at Lordan's retrieval of the sword. His mind thought of the scenarios that would play out right now. He was worried that Lordan might start asking questions of why he could do that so easily if the legends of the sword were true, completely unaware of his own status that allows it. "Well done, boy. How does it feel?"
Lordan gives the sword a twirl and holds it upright, its blade shined to the wintersun above. "It's... light." He looks at the sword with glee, clearly liking it as a weapon of his own. "Master... Can I keep it?"
Vargram looks at Lordan with a poker face when his request was made, making the child become nervous as he expected a harsh lecture on the matter. Vargram sighs and prepares to reject the idea. "No. The sword is to be returned for our payment." He could see the disappointment rising in Lordan, which prompts him to offer a compromise. "But you may get a new weapon with the payment we... No, you earned for finding the sword."
Instantly, Lordan's face lights up. The boy had a talent for changing moods almost instantly, from depression to happiness in seconds. He hands the sword over to Vargram and prepares to leave eagerly. "Ok! I'm gonna get a new sword! Or a bow! Or maybe a-"
"We will discuss it later. I will pick the suitable weapon for you." The last Vargram wanted to give Lordan a weapon that was ineffective in his hands. He keeps the sword on a makeshift holster and allows Lordan to climb onto his back as they descent from the ship.
They reached the bottom and Vargram formulates a plan to leave as quickly as possible, their boat was at the bottom of this ice cap. "Come, boy. We need to-"
He stops his words, his ears picking up a faint flapping sound that came from afar, from above more accurately. He places a hand on Lordan's shoulder, holding him back from moving as he tries to make out the sound.
"Master? What's wrong?"
"Shush. Listen. Don't move, stay still…"
They both stay at their spot as the sounds of a flapping come closer from above. Vargram slowly pulls Lordan backward to the longboat for cover, bracing against the hull of the ship for cover.
They look up and slowly a large shadow loomed above them, the flapping becomes strong enough to create wind that blows downwards at them. Vargram pushes Lordan closer to the hill, hoping that the thing above them would leave.
"Master?"
"Quiet. Else we both die."
They whispered their conversation, as the creature above them lands on the longboat. It roars and rattles the longboat behind them, clearly angered by something. The creature peeks its head out and they both witnessed what was currently hunting them.
An Ice Dragon. Its body was completely composed of ice, like a living glacier that was shaped like a dragon, with its beak and wings fully functional as the real ones.
Gods damn it. Just our luck… He looks to Lordan who was keeping as still as he could, offering his ward a small nod to ease his worry. They wait as the dragon moves back its head.
Vargram gestures for Lordan to follow his lead once the way was available to proceed. They walk as slowly as to muffle their steps, ensuring that the sounds of snow being stepped on was kept to a minimum. Slowly but surely, they made their way to the next longboat for cover.
Lordan follows alongside Vargram with great care. He looks back at the Dragon and slows down, tugging Vargram's sleeve to get his attention. "Uhhhh… master?"
"Keep moving."
"Master, I… We-"
"Not now. Move first or else we-"
"It's looking at us."
"Wait till we get to- What?!"
Vargram turns to the direction Lordan was facing, and witnesses the Dragon looking down at them. It already knew they were here, it just pretended not to notice so they would expose themselves.
Clever girl…
The Ice Dragon
The Dragon roars out its fury and brings down a claw towards where they stood, prompting Vargram to push Lordan to safety while he rolls in the opposite direction from the attack. It starts to ascend to the sky and takes off to prepare its attacks.
"Lordan!" Vargram takes the sword in hand and tosses it to Lordan. "Get to the edge of the ice cap! You are faster and smaller! Go!"
"What about you?!"
"I will buy you the time and meet you there! Go!"
"But! I...!"
"GO! BOY! RUN!"
Lordan listens to his master's instructions and runs in the direction of the closest edge, leaving Vargram behind to face the Dragon without worrying about Lordan's safety. He observes the Dragon preparing a dive, most likely to perform a frost breath.
His prediction rings true and the Dragon unleashes its frozen breath upon the field, its temperature so cold it freezes everything in its path to shatter them instantly.
Vargram rolls out of the way and the frost, running to cover with one of the destroyed longboats from the attack. He draws his signature dual swords and prepares for the Dragon's landing, knowing that it cannot stay long in the air due to its stiff icy wings.
The Dragon lands on a longboat and destroys it in the process. Vargram uses this time to charge, aiming to get below the Dragon to attack its limbs. The Dragon breathes frost his way, forcing him to run behind some of the longboats along the way.
The Dragon moves forwards and slams down its head on the longboat where Vargram hid behind, forcing him to once again move. He sees the opening he was waiting for and runs to the closet leg of the dragon, his momentum allows him to deliver a thrusting attack to the leg.
CLINK!
Vargram's attack fails, and the Dragon's ice body bounces his swords upon contact. His swords were effectively the wrong weapons to use due to the hardness of the Dragon's ice body that rivals diamonds.
Shit!
The Dragon stomps its legs near Vargram, which causes him to stagger. It then swipes its claw back and manages to hit Vargram, causing him to fall backwards. The tail of the Dragon then comes down upon where he laid for a slam, which he avoids by rolling in the last second.
Vargram looks at his dual blades and keeps them back in his holsters, knowing that they will be useless in the fight. He equips his pick in his left hand and searches for another in his enchanted bag quickly.
"Come on. Come on." He searches quickly as the Dragon and starts to turn his way. His search bears fruit and he manages to retrieve his signature sword.
The Godslayer's Blade. Or at least another version of it.
He gives the greatsword a twirl in his right hand, adjusting to the new setup of unequal dual weapons. Vargram and the Dragon circle each other in the snowy area, both daring the other to move first in their own way.
The Dragon goes first and prepares another frost breath his way. Vargram responds by charging up his weapon, its black flames powering up the blade for an attack to match the Dragon's.
The Dragon breathes its frost, to which Vargram responds with a downwards slash that creates a vertical wave of black flames. The flames cut through the frost to protect him and land a hit on the Dragon, cracks can be seen on the Dragon's head upon being hit by the wave.
Vargram sees the Dragon getting stunned by his move, allowing him to re-engage the Dragon with its limbs. He gets between the legs and attacks them with his new weapons, managing to hit out clunks of its ice body.
The Dragon slams its limbs around to try and deter Vargram, a move that does not work due to his faster speed and mobility as he shifts between different limbs. The Dragon then spreads out its wings, flapping them hard to create torrents of wind all around him.
Vargram gets thrown off balance due to the high winds, cold spread all around him as the Dragon created a miniature blizzard with this move. His lack of attention costs him as the Dragon turns swiftly and swipes him away with it's tail. The attack causes Vargram to drop his weapons as he was sent flying, crashing through more old longships before landing hard.
Vargram shakes his head to clear his senses, getting to his feet as soon as he can. He sees the Dragon charging his way, running through several pieces of debris in its path to try and kill Vargram.
A fire arrow flies through the air and lands on one of the destroyed longboats in the Dragon's path. It sticks to the broken barrels of oil and erupts the longboat due to its compressed energy being set off. An explosion that the Dragon gets caught in.
"Master! Get up! Come on!" Lordan comes running his way with a bow in hand, dragging him along to safety behind another longboat while the Dragon gets distracted. They hide behind one of the smaller longboats and sit down to conceal themselves.
"Damn it, Boy! I told you to stay away!" Vargram scolds Lordan for coming back. He could not effectively fight if Lordan was around, the danger of Lordan getting hurt in a chaotic fight like this was far too high.
Also, there was a chance that Lordan would see him wielding the Godslayer's blade. Something that he didn't want Lordan to know about.
"And do what?! Wait for you to die?! Because if that happens, I'm screwed too!" Lordan argues his case. He was right to a certain extent. "We gonna stick together! I'm in more danger if you don't come back!"
Vargram sighs and peaks out to see the Dragon recovering, looking for him once again. Vargram looks around the field, his eyes spotting the Godslayer far from reach.
He could simply recall it to his hand. An enchantment allows him to do that easier. But that would mean exposing its existence to Lordan.
"How do we do this?" Lordan asks, not knowing how to take on a Dragon that size. This was his first time seeing such a creature. His eyes trained on Vargram as an idea of his own came to mind. "Master. I got a plan. Or... At least I think I do."
Vargram's eyes were still on the Dragon as it searches. He decides to listen to Lordan's plan, the child had a knack for improvisation. "Let's hear it then."
Lordan points to the edge of the ice cap where he runs to just now, making note of the longboats there. "Those longboats, they still have boarding hooks on them with the launchers. We can try to hook them to the Dragon's body."
"Secure it to the decks and use the weight of the boats to pull it down to the water below or apart." He finishes the plan for Lordan, a thing he often does when they were on the same page. His ward nods at his assumption and they both work to execute their plan, with Vargram as the main bait. "Means we will have to break some parts of the ice cap."
"The edge of the ice cap is tilted, master. We can just give them a push and the longboats will slide off themselves."
"True. And we only need one to create a domino effect." He looks at Lordan with an impressed smirk, the boy was much smarter than most kids his age. "I will lure it to the edge. Be prepared to run, and fire off those hooks. Aim true boy, each must land perfectly. Then we push, together."
"Yes, sir." They look at the Dragon in the background again and get ready to move. Vargram grabs Lordan by the shoulders as he sees him tensing up, making sure he was calm before they act on the plan.
"Calm yourself, boy. This is what we trained for." He gives Lordan the same advice as always. "This is the way."
"This is the way..."
With Lordan in on the plan, Vargram takes position to dash out in the open for the Dragon to see. He takes Lordan's bow to use for ranged attacks. With a nod, the duo breaks into different directions.
"OI! HERE YOUR DUMB FUCK!" Vargram fires off an arrow that hits the Dragon straight to the head. It bounces off the iced hide of the Dragon and it starts pursuing Vargram on foot.
Vargram runs at a speed that was enough for the Dragon to keep up and keeps its attention on him. He looks around the area in the meantime and sees Lordan on the deck of one of the longboats, working to tie the hooks to the hull before jumping out to go to another longboat.
Vargram gets the dragon into position and stops at a location near the edge but away from the nearby longboat. His job now was simple, keep the dragon here while Lordan works on the boats. Then distract it while firing off the hooks to the Dragon's Hide. Simply on paper, hard on practice.
Vargram then draws his dual blades again, knowing that they will be unless but will only use them for show. He runs to the Dragon's legs again and feigns attacks on its limbs, making the Dragon respond with attacks with its foot.
He dodges and sidesteps the attacks with ease, his years of training allow him to perform it this way. The Dragon's attention was fully on Vargram, making Lordan's work on the boats a safer job.
Vargram dodges more attacks and sees Lordan waving to him, indicating that he was ready to carry out the plan. He sees the Dragon preparing to take off and tosses a firebomb to its head.
The Dragon roars and uses its front hands to try and put out the fire, using some of its frost breath on itself to do so. Lordan takes aim on the first longboat, using the old launching contraption that was still functional to a degree. He fires off the first hook into the Dragon's hide, pining the other end to the deck of the boat before moving on to the next one.
The Dragon fails to notice as its ice form is devoid of physical feeling. Vargram keeps it that way by moving to the front of the Dragon to keep himself in sight. It takes the bait and Lordan was allowed to continue his plan, firing off another hook on the Ice Dragon's hide.
The Dragon gets frustrated by Vargram's constant avoidance of its attacks and decides to change tactics. It rises up on its two back legs and breathes its frost breath straight down. The sudden attack catches Vargram off guard and his leg gets partially frozen in place.
"Damn!" Vargram struggles to free himself before the Dragon recovers, using his weapons to try and break himself free while the Dragon approaches slowly, playing with its prey a little longer.
Lordan fires off one last hook into the Dragon's body, it hooks into the dragon's lower body and out of sight. He sees Vargram in his situation and jumps out of the longboat. He jumps out and braces against the hull of the last longboat and gives it a push with all his strength, hoping that the slope and the ice would give him the leverage he needs.
Vargram watches on as Lordan helplessly pushes against the near-immovable longboat, knowing that despite his true potential he would not succeed. The Dragon turns around and finally notices Lordan further behind it, and changes its attention to the child while Vargram tries to get free.
"NO! LEAVE HIM BE! LORDAN! RUN!"
Vargram works even faster on the ice that trapped him, wanting to get out before the Dragon comes close to Lordan. His panic grows even larger as he sees Lordan refusing to listen to his advice as he continues to push the longboat.
"LORDAN! LISTEN TO ME!" His hand stenches out to his back as he was ready to recall the Godslayer to his hand, not caring for exposure if it means saving Lordan's life.
Things changed, however, as Lordan by some miracle manages to get the longboat to inch just a little forward. It was enough to cause the longboat to slide toward the edge using its own weight. It also causes an effect as the other longboats with their hooks attached slowly follow along down.
Lordan runs to safety as the first longboat drops over the edge, then the second one, then another, and another. Slowly, the Dragon gets pulled to the edge of the ice cap, with each boat weighing it down a little more with each drop.
The Dragon roars as the hooks pull it ever closer toward the edge. Vargram and Lordan watch in horror as the Dragon holds on to the cap, enough to carry the weight of the longboats currently suspended over the edge.
Vargram manages to get freed and gets up to his feet. He charges the Dragon to give it one last push, enough for it to lose its balance.
His efforts were in vain as the Dragon delivers a swipe towards him, strong enough to send Vargram flying to crash into another longboat. He tries to get up as the Dragon musters all strength for a new charge intending to run him over.
Lordan runs to Vargram and stands in front of him, drawing the Sword Of Kings as his weapon. He readies himself as the Dragon approaches quickly. Knowing that their plan had failed, Lordan prepare to defend his master by any means.
"NO! RUN! SAVE YOURSELF!"
"No! I... I won't let it hurt you!"
He defiles Vargram's order as the Dragon comes ever closer. It stands up and prepares a breath of frost, preparing to finish off both of them in one strike.
Lordan looks at his sword and knows that it will be unless now. He screams out to the top of his lungs and swings the sword back in an attempt to throw it at the Dragon's chest.
Instantly, a power within Lordan awakens for a short time, despite his ignorance. Granting him to strength he needed.
Lordan throws the sword and it spins towards the Dragon and strikes it dead on its chest. The Dragon roars out in pain as the Sword of Kings manages to piece its ice form. Cracks to its chest were forming from the point of impact.
Lordan coughs and wheezes as he experiences weakness after the throw. He falls to his knees as blood leaks from his nose and mouth, his skin becomes a light pale with veins visible. His coughing continues as the Dragon struggles in the background.
It was a side effect of over-using his Great Rune. One that Lordan was not aware of.
No! His curse! It's active again!
Vargram sees Lordan in his weakened state and musters himself to stand. He snaps his fingers and the Godslayer gets recalled to his hand, spinning over to him at rapid speed.
Vargram charges up the greatsword and aims for the cracked spot in the Dragon's chest. He screams and swings his sword back the same way Lordan did. With his superior strength, Vargram tosses the sword and it strikes true to its target. He recalls the Godslayer sword and a gaping hole was spreading cracks in its chest.
The Dragon roars in pain once more, as the second impact was fatal. Its body begins to crack all around, and in its weakened state, it steps back closer to the edge of the ice cap.
The longboat still attached to the Ice Dragon begins to pull apart the ice form of the creature, hooks pull apart chunks of ice from its body as the Dragon was breaking apart like glass.
It screams out in terror as the remaining longboat hooks pull it apart downwards. With very little of it held together, the Ice Dragon begins to shatter, breaking apart from the point of damage from the two swords in its chest. The remaining pieces of the Dragon fall over the cap's edge as all the longboat attached to it drop down.
With that, the Ice Dragon was shattered to pieces. And the Sword of Kings falls into the waters below still attached to the chest of the Ice Dragon. A sacrifice Lordan made to save Vargram.
GREAT ENEMY FELLED
Vargram stays in his stance for a moment and awaited the possible return of the Dragon. He carefully walks forward to the edge of the ice cap to look below. He breathes out in relief as there were no signs of the Dragon's return.
His attention turns back to Lordan in his weakened state. He rushes to his ward, keeping his Godslayer in the enchanted bag, a part of him is relieved that Lordan did not actually see him using the weapon due to his weakened state.
"Boy?! Boy!" Vargram reaches Lordan's side, checking on the boy while he coughs out violently. Vargram reaches into his bag hoping to find the remedy that would heal him in this special event.
He manages to find the elixir given to him by Renna for this specific purpose. He eases Lordan up and feeds him the contents of the potion. "Drink. It will heal you. Slowly now."
Lordan drinks from the flask without protest. His face color slowly returns to normal as the effects of his curse slowly disappear, going back deep within his body to be undiscovered again. Lordan takes a few moments and slowly gets back to his feet, with Vargram helping him up.
"Wow... That was... weird." Lordan shakes his head and checks himself for injuries. Vargram sighs and gives him a rub on the head, part of him proud of the feat he had just done.
"Your sickness... It's getting worse."
"Sick? I'm fine. See?" Lordan performs a few moves to show his recovered state. "I was just winded, that's all." It was something that Vargram didn't understand. How Lordan seemed to forget about his weakened state almost instantly once he recovers, it was like a mental block to him.
Nonetheless, that forgetfulness has its pros, Lordan was still unaware of his status as Empyrean. "That was foolish, boy. I taught you better than that."
"I didn't have a choice. It was gonna kill you." He states his intention very plainly to Vargram. It was a habit of Lordan to put others above himself at times, something that created too many close calls, the scar on his left eye was proof of that result.
It was the best part of Lordan. His willingness to help. In another life, Lordan would have been destined to fulfill great things. Things that would have changed the world.
It was too bad that he was created by the wrong Outer God. The worst one of all. The one that cursed him in the first place.
Lordan runs to the edge where the Dragon's remains fell to the sea. He was panicking as he had just thrown away the weapon that they worked so hard to find into the ocean, rendering their quest a complete failure and a waste of time.
"Master, I..." He looks back at Vargram as he walks to the edge of where Lordan stands. His was lowered as he thinks of the mistake he just made. "I lost the sword... I'm sorry."
The sword? Fuck that thing...
"You saved our lives, boy. The sword can be lost for all I care." This quest was by all intentions and purposes a mistake on Vargram's part. One that he should have considered before bringing Lordan here. An Ice Dragon was not something that many can face alone. Vargram could take it out easily just now, but he needed to hold back to conceal his abilities from Lordan.
"But what about the collector? Won't he want the sword?"
"He can find it himself. We are done here. Unless..." Vargram walks back from the edge and looks around where pieces of the Ice Dragon still remained, hoping that it had something valuable there. His assumption was correct as Vargram spots a small ball-like object that came from the Dragon. "Jackpot."
Lordan looks over to the object Vargram held, his studies allowed him to recognize it immediately. "Is that what I think it is?"
"The Ice Dragon's core." Vargram inspects the core that came from the Ice Dragon, it was of a deep blue color that used to give the dragon life. Confirming the theory that Ice Dragons were in fact, a man-made creation by alchemists and wizards from an age long ago before this region was frozen. "We have our prize, boy."
"The core is gonna get us money?"
"Yes. Six times what the sword was worth to the collector." Vargram knows that the collector would be interested in this core. It was one of the rarest objects in the known world and will be a very fine replacement for the sword that was lost. "Well done, boy."
Lordan's entire mood brightens up at the news. What was a mistake at first turned into an even better outcome. "Yes!" He raises a hand to Vargram, hoping for a tap from Vargram.
Vargram leaves him hanging for a while and eventually gives it a soft pat while sighing at his childishness, making the boy happy once again. "Yeah. That was great." They walked to the edge of the ice cap where they once climbed from just now. Lordan looks down at the edge and was dreading another climb down to their own boat.
"What the matter, boy?"
"Nothing... Just another climb I guess..."
"Not necessarily..." Vargram reaches into his pack and pulls out a large canvas pack that was sealed, it was the latest invention that allows one to descend from heights safely at a controlled pace. He hadn't had time to test it yet and found this to be the perfect scenario. "This will allow us to go down faster, but we will be falling on our own terms. What say you, boy?"
Lordan looks down again at the lower ice cap below them. It was either a long climb down with an hour on the side of an ice wall, or a jump to the bottom in seconds. He chose the latter.
"Ok... Let's jump."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes... I'm ready." Lordan looks straight at Vargram, showing no weakness or fear at this point. He had just faced down an Ice Dragon and lived. A jump down would be a step down from that.
"Good. Get on then." Vargram allows Lordan to climb on his back as he prepares to jump over the edge. He looks back at Lordan before jumping off, seeing his ward in a scared state. "Are you afraid?"
"Yes..." Lordan admits instantly.
"Good. Fear will allow you to not make mistakes." He prepares his jump and Lordan holds tight, starting a countdown to prepare. "On three, we jump."
"Three." Vargram skips the count and runs to the edge at full speed and jumps into the air. Their descent begins and Lordan starts screaming at the top of his lungs from the fall.
Vargram releases the strap of canvas and instantly a large piece of cloth opens up into a paraglider, and their descent down begins as they slowly floated down.
Lordan's screaming stops as he looks out into the distance in wonder. He was flying in the air upon Vargram's back. He laughs with excitement as the wind blows past him and Vargram.
"This is AMAZING!"
On that day, Lordan overcomes his fear of heights.
FIN.
