CLANK! PANG!
The sounds of metal crossing and crashing with each other could echo throughout a forest just outside of Seles. Two youths held weapons against each other as an older man stood away from the two youths. A blonde haired man, with a red bandana and a red plated glove covering his entire left arm, right to his shoulder, this was Dart the Divine dragoon.
The two youths were two sons from the village, one was a son of both Dart and Shana, they boy named Kain. The other was Jex the son of the warrior who taught swordsmanship to the people of the village. These two were the promising warriors of the village.
Kain, a 14 year old boy with good build thanks to his early training, had his mother's brown hair but his father's personality along with his sword style. Thanks to Haschel's connection to the family, and being under the sun for a long time, he held a slight tan to his skin. He looked much like a younger and darker version of his father. He held a broadsword, the first sword that his father ever held, and his dragoon spirit came from a dragon that was not known to the other dragoons.
Jex was the same age as Kain, along with being Kain's closest friend. His hair was a dark brown and a paler hue than his friend. He held a completely metallic spear, and bore dark violet eyes. Jex's dragoon spirit was one that worked well with Jex. And after a review of the attacks that Jex could use, it became obvious that Jex was a dragoon who could control the flow of time to an extent.
The two boys were as close as brothers and had grown up beside each other. At the moment they were sparring with each other to gain strength and use their experience for future battles. Both were so strong and had such endurance that at the moment, any other normal person would be exhausted to the extreme.
Kain's breathing was becoming heavy after the extreme assault that his friend Jex had brought upon him, but even with the obvious fatigue that bore into his body, his thoughts betrayed that he was in better shape than Jex. Both were fighting without their dragoon spirits in order to keep things fair, since Kain could not awaken his dragoon spirit at that time.
After some time, Kain became a blur as he lunged at Jex, who could only guard against the surprising attack. Kain however, overdid it in his sudden speed and left his guard down for only a moment. Jex used that to his advantage and jumped high into the air, and came down upon Kain with such force that the ground around him exploded into the air.
Kain was able to roll out of the way, but was kneeling on the ground because of the force of the attack. Kain stood up as quickly as he could in order to prepare for the final strike, putting everything he had into it. Jex could do nothing different, since he had run out of ideas.
They charged at each other at the exact same moment, and made one final strike on each other before jumping back to their original spots. There they stood, watching each others movements with extreme intensity, until Jex fell to the ground panting with extreme intensity.
Jex gritted his teeth and smirked slightly "Damn it, you won again" He said, as Kain looked at his friend kindly and smiled, "Well you weren't very easy to beat so don't complain!" Dart soon walked away from where he watched the battle in order to enter the conversation "Well done you two, you get better with every spar and with every day of training."
Kain then looked over to his father and spoke "Dad when are we gonna actually fight some monsters outside of the city?" Dart began to chuckle before he spoke "Well, now's as good a time as any to tell you…we were invited by King Albert a few days ago. A party to his castle, it's tomorrow, and it'll take a while to trek to the meeting place in order to meet with our flying transportation. We'll be sure to meet up with a few monsters."
"All right!" Kain yelled as he jumped up in happiness. Jex seemed a bit depressed "I don't suppose that I could come, right?" Dart glanced at Jex with a smile and said, "Oh you're coming all right, and so is Kain's mother." The emotions that Jex and Kain held suddenly switched. Jex was now happy while Kain seemed depressed. "Why's mom coming with us, it's not like she can fight or anything, besides me being kept under a watchful eye."
Dart doubled over in laughter, "Trust me son, you don't know everything there is to know about your mother." After that, the three began to walk through the forest in order to reach Seles. Jex split up in order to reach his own house, while Dart and Kain headed to theirs. Shana was seen waiting outside of their house, "It's about time you came back. I was beginning to worry about you two." Dart shrugged with a small smile and said "The boys had a pretty difficult battle with each other."
Next Day
As usual, Kain woke up early and began to pack for the trip that he would soon make with his family and friend. He ate a small breakfast before making one for his parents to show the urgency of leaving at that moment. After Shana and Dart arrived to begin eating their breakfast, in a zombie-like manner, they were ready in half an hour, Jex arrived around the same time that they were ready.
Dart told Shana that the two boys didn't believe that Shana knew how to fight. So, with a mischievous smirk, she picked up her best bow and all of her arrows and led the hike towards the meeting place. It was a days walk from Seles to the spot where they would be picked up by a new set of wings, named Alfrez. A few minutes after walking they met up with a few monsters.
Kain and Jex were excited, and quickly unsheathed their weapons in order to fight. But the monsters suddenly died in a second with an arrow stuck in their chest, and with Shana giving a good laugh. It was surprising, but Kain could now believe that her mother could fight, but there was still a monster that was alive. Shana suddenly shined with a red light, and vanished to show Shana with red armor and with her bow enlarged with large steel blades on the edges of the bow for close combat. The next arrow she let loose blew up the monster on contact.
Kain and Jex were nearly left behind and could be seen trying to put their jaws back in place before running to reach Shana and Dart. Just before they reached them, another few monsters showed up that looked like human sized lizards. Kain drew the monsters attention to himself, while Jex began his dragoon transformation.
Jex emerged from a purple light with six small wings sprouting from his back, and shiny purple armor. His spear was now like a bolt of purple energy. "Time Freeze!!" He yelled and the monster and Kain stood still while they held their weapons against each other. Jex then dived and did multiple attacks on the lizard monster. When Jex backed off and flapped his six wings, Kain jumped back as the lizard began to move as if it were being attacked by an invisible opponent. Kain soon rushed in and split the monster in two with a quick slash from his sword. Jex soon flew down and stopped his dragoon power, "You didn't have to kill it. I was the one that was gonna get this one" Kain laughed when he answered "And let you have all the fun and glory? No chance!"
By that time, Dart and Shana returned to find Kain and Jex finished with their battle. Dart soon yelled out "All right you guys, let's get going. We have to get to that spot by sunset." Kain and Jex didn't need anything else as they ran to reach Dart and Shana.
They reached their meeting place at the predetermined time, fighting over ten monsters while they journeyed. Kain and Jex were enthusiastic with their first real battles, however Dart and Shana felt worried. The monsters were in a large number and they were strong monsters that even Dart and Shana needed to put some strength in killing.
They soon all began to take a rest and went to sleep. The next morning, they were woken up by a pair of large flapping wings. Kain looked over to see a giant flying Manta Ray with blue eyes and green wings. At that moment his surprise was soon placed in words with "Holy Shit!!!"
BANG!!!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHCK-!!!" And with that punch, Shana knocked Kain into a wall. "Do NOT say any curses in front of me!! GOT THAT!?!?" After Kain was able to pull his head out of the wall he replied "Yes mother" Dart and Jex chuckled and then looked over at the large beast. Dart then spoke to it "Well Alfrez, are you ready to take us to Albert's Kingdom?" Alfrez nodded its gigantic head and got ready to let the 4 travelers on top of his back.
Once they were able to take all of their belongings on top of Alfrez, they went back to sleep except for Dart. They flew at a slow speed and would reach their destination by noon.