As Umbrae is banking during a sharp swooping maneuver his wing gets caught in the canopy below causing him to be whipped into the ground at high speed.
Upon landing a sickening crack can be heard, once his daze is lifted by an intense pain in his wing he looks at his wing to find it bent at an unnatural angle.
"Are you okay?" Asks Płomień as she lands.
"A bit dazed but I think my wing is broken."
"That can be fixed," starts Ignitus fishing a red gem out of his pouch and tossing it to him.
"How's a ruby supposed to help?" asks Umbrae, "My wing's broken!"
"What kind of primitive, ancestor forsaken, backwater do you come from that doesn't teach dragons about spirit gems!" calls Cyril disbelief filling his voice.
"It's simple, elementary, straightforward," rambles Volteer, "You merely absorb, take in, melt it through your scales for external injuries, or you consume, imbibe, ingurgitate the gem for internal injuries."
"When in Rome," mumbles Umbrae, tossing the gem into his mouth. As soon as he swallows a soothing warmth spreads across his body and his broken wing painlessly snaps into place. As he is testing his now healed wing a stick of dynamite lands amidst the group. With instincts honed by five years of fighting a rebellion he scoops up the stick and hurls it back the way it came.
"Apes!" Bellows Ignitus "Veneneer stay in the middle of our group."
Melding into the shadows he finds the ape throwing dynamite and appears from the shadows before plunging his parrying dagger into his back. Picking up the fire starter and dynamite he starts hurling the explosives at the apes that are moving to surround the party. Soon he runs out of explosives before reentering the shadows. As he is jumping from ape to ape he sees a stick of dynamite land right next to a preoccupied Cyril. With a few pumps of his wings Umbrae manages to tackle Cyril away from it mere moments before it explodes showering Umbrae with dirt and stones.
"Get off me you great oaf!" Calls Cyril.
"What a way to thank the person who just saved your life," hisses Umbrae as he stands.
"There's too many!" calls Ignitus as he cleaves an ape in two with his Halberd only to be set upon by six more, "We can't fight them with just the Five of us. We must flee!"
"All dragons to the sky!" Bellows Ignitus as he takes off with a final burst of fire magic that sears many apes.
After following him up Płomień comes up next to him whispering, "I know what you are."
"What do you mean?" Asks Umbrae.
"You're not really a dragon."
"What?" Asks Umbrae. His mind racing for a counter point before settling, "What a ridiculous thing! I look like a dragon."
"You fly like you've never had wings. You fight like a resistance fighter. Not to mention you speak like a human. Using terms that dragons could never know."
"Like what?"
"When in Rome. Talking about Napoleon and the HRE. Saying hand instead of claw," lists Płomień, "Just about everything else."
"Well how do you know all of those dragon specific things if you are a human?" spits Umbrae.
"Until roughly three years ago I thought I was a dragon, but then an ancestor appeared in my dreams and told me of my true nature. They told me that my destiny was to help another human in their own destiny. In exchange for my agreement they gave me back my human memories."
"I see Warfang!" Calls Cyril, "We should be there within the hour."
As soon as they land Cyril guides him to a building on the edge of town that radiates heat. Entering they see a fire dragon bulging with muscles, "Ferrum, get him some armor and a weapon for him and have my equipment shipped back to the Grand Temple. Priority express and Umbrae meet us in the council chamber after you place your order."
As Cyril turns to leave, Ferrum calls out, "Wait! Who's paying?"
"Charge it to the Silver River Temple."
"Wonderful, yet another unpaid bill," mumbles Ferrum.
"Have the Guardians not paid on their tabs before?" Asks Umbrae.
"No, just Cyril. That dueling equipment was charged to the Grand Temple five years ago. Still haven't seen a single copper piece."
"Speaking of which, how exactly does money work around here?"
"Not from around here are you? That's fine. We have copper, silver, and gold pieces. Ten copper equals a silver and ten silver equals a gold."
"Quite simple then. So how much would something like this dueling gear cost?"
"About fourteen gold pieces all together. Seven for the armor, three for a standard rapier, scabbard included, but that handguard is pure silver so about three extra gold and one for the dagger."
"He's always espousing how noble he is yet he owes you, the man that made one of his most prized possessions, fourteen gold!" Exclaims Umbrae, "I will find a way to pay for my stuff even if I can't do anything about him. Now show me your sabres."
"Has Cyril rubbed off on you?" chuckles Ferrum.
"No, I taught myself how to fight with a sabre when I was thirteen. Long before I even knew who he was."
"Ah," nods Ferrum, "Take your pick."
Taking one off the wall he gives it a few swings. Dissatisfied with the weight he moves on. After a while he comes to the last on the wall. After a quick check of the length he does a few swings, then some stances, followed by more advanced techniques (including a few of his own) before looking towards Ferrum panting, "I haven't had a workout like that in a long time."
"I'm guessing you'll take it?"
"It's almost identical to the one I left at home. Just with a different hilt. How much?"
"It's a high quality steel blade, so four gold. I'll add in a scabbard for one more gold."
"I'll take it, scabbard included. and I'll pay off the debt."
He then straps a sort of harness around Umbrae before tightening it, "There's your scabbard," He grabs a fabric ruler, "Now to size you for the chainmail undershirt."
As he is writing down the measurements Umbrae asks, "How much will it be?"
"Your fighting style is based on a lot of joint flexibility and offense, so I've determined that smaller plates over a full body suit of chainmail is needed. As such I'd say about eight gold.
"In total about one gold shy of Cyril's debt."
"Essentially, it'll take about two weeks to make your armor until then you'll need to go with the standard soldiers' ill-fitting armor. In their sizes you'd be a large."
"Thank you," bows Umbrae, "Can I take the sword?"
"Why not?" reasons Ferrum, "The payment method has already been arranged."
"Have a great day," chirps Umbrae as he sheaths the sword and leaves. Looking around he realizes he has no idea where the council chamber is before figuring the giant building overlooking the city is a good place to check. As he is passing through a market his eye is drawn to a noble looking white dragon with distinctive sky blue swirl markings and a green one leaving a stall. Following them with his eyes he sees the white one bend down to bow to another dragon only for his rapier to slide out of his unbuttoned scabbard. Racing over to it and picking it up Umbrae searches the crowd and sees the same pair, judging by the barely visible swirls, take to the air.
As he takes off to follow a thought crosses his mind, 'What if they attack me when I get too close? Maybe I should fly low to the canopy and follow from a distance until they land.'
After a surprisingly short flight they arrive at some low rocky mountains where the pair alter course to fly through them. Keeping close they arrive at a verdant green valley with what appears to be an old monastery nestled on a hill that overlooks the valley. Deciding the monastery was their destination Umbrae sets down at the large wooden front door. After a few cautious knocks he the door creaks open.
Entering Umbrae calls out, "Hello? Sorry to intrude bu I-" he is interrupted by a gust of wind that catches his wings and launches him across the foyer.
Regaining his balance from the sudden gust he barely dodges the blades of wind thrown his way by disappearing into the shadows, much to his surprise the blade in his hand goes with him. As he is in the shadows he feels down into his elemental core only to notice a second one. Reaching towards it the second core feels cool but firm and unyielding, tapping into it an image of a sword appears in his mind's eye, not just any sword but the very rapier he is holding.
'Wait, is this weapon imbued with earth magic?' He moves directly behind the assailant, 'Lets see.'
Emerging from the ground he visualizes a slab of earth launching the white dragon, as he touches the activated rapier to the ground. Immediately the ground obeys him, launching the apparent wind dragon well into the air. Forming a wall to take the incoming counter attack he orders the ground to seal his opponent's fore feet to the ground once he hears him land. As the wind dragon looks to the restraints Umbrae orders them to explode into sand. Rearing back in pain at the blinding he is thrown off balance by a well placed pillar of earth before the ground appears to consume him and wrap in a ring around his body, immobilizing him quite effectively.
Approaching the dragon Umbrae dismisses the sand from his eyes before speaking, "I was just returning something you dropped when you bowed to that gentleman back in Warfang. No need to attack me."
"I told you that you dropped it," calls a voice from behind. Whirling around he sees the green dragon from before, "Woah I'm not the enemy. It was Lucht's idea to attack. I just stood by. Speaking of which, well done."
"Thank you?" says Umbrae, rather unsure about this stranger.
"You figured that rapier's secret out pretty quickly."
"It wasn't that hard. When I reached for my element I felt an unfamiliar one coming from the sword."
"Ah," nods the dragon, "By the way I'm Aarde and he's my younger brother Lucht," noticing his raised eyebrow Aarde continues, "I'm adopted. Now I'm sure Master Senex would love to meet the dragon that defeated her finest student. Oh that reminds me," the stone encasing Lucht dissolves into dust.
Offering the rapier hilt first Umbrae starts, "Nice to meet you. I'm Umbrae."
With a growl Lucht yanks the blade away before skulking away.
Extending a hand down a side hall Aarde waits for Umbrae to start down it before sliding up next to him. As they walk he has time to admire the tall stone archways between large cloudy windows on one side of the hall. On the other are various paintings of natural scenes and landscapes, tapestries that show anything from tidy patterns to images that together tell a story, and busts of dragons long forgotten. His trip through the rather soothing and peaceful hall eventually transitions into a large beautiful garden dominated by a large pool with a natural looking fountain at its far edge. In the center of the pool is a large covered platform currently occupied by a black dragoness that appears to be asleep.
"Should we wake her?" Whispers Umbrae turning to Aarde
"I am already awake," comes a powerful yet soft voice from directly in front of him.
Looking back from Aarde, Umbrae jumps at the unexpected appearance of the dragoness.
Bowing Umbrae speaks, "My apologies ma'am. I didn't mean to wake you."
"I wasn't asleep, I was meditating," she looks to Aarde, "Or at least trying to with all that noise coming from the foyer. Mind telling me what that was about?"
"Lucht attacked our visitor and he defended himself," explains Aarde.
"I heard grinding rock," supplies Senex with a questioning tone.
Before Aarde can answer, Umbrae speaks up, "It was me. I followed Aarde and Lucht here to return Lucht's rapier after he dropped it, bowing to whoever that was in Warfang. When he attacked me I hid in the shadows. When I reached for my element, I felt the sword's and I used it."
"He learned how to use it impressively quickly," reports Aarde, "He even made sure to only use defensive techniques."
"Visitor, why didn't you try to kill him?" Asks Senex, "He did attack unprovoked."
"It wasn't unprovoked. I followed him all the way from Warfang all the while keeping quite a distance. I can see why he thought I had ill intentions. As for merely defending myself, well I came to return an item to its owner not kill him with it."
Her deep violet eyes gaze deeply into his as if reading something invisible to all bit her, "Visitor. I see your aura is powerful but unrefined. With training you could be a skilled wielder of shadow, even rivaling myself."
"Ignitus has been training me to fight,' chimes Umbrae.
"Ignitus only knows fire. You need a shadow dragon like myself to train you."
"I can't just bail on him," calls Umbrae, "He already said he could train me."
"Where is he?" Asks Senex.
"I was told to meet with the Guardians at the Warfang Council chamber. I presume he's with them."
"I think I ought to pay Warfang a visit. It's been a while."
"How long?" asks Umbrae.
"After my schism with the guardians, about twenty years ago."
"What did this schism entail?"
"You look old enough to have been told of it at least. Unless you come from far away."
"I do," nods Umbrae.
"I see. Long before the apes decided to march under Malefor's banner the Guardians were a monastic order charged with protecting sites sacred to dragonkind. As part of our worship we regularly pushed the limits of our elements in an effort to get closer to the ancestors, as such we became unparalleled in elemental attacks. The schism came when we were asked by the last king to fight on the field of battle. At first it was only a couple firebrands led by Ignitus but their numbers grew and grew until eventually I was left alone at this monastery. Until Aarde and Lucht were sent here by their father, the Duke of Nobele Strad, so Lucht could learn some humility and discipline. So, ready for a flight? Aarde you can stay and get some rest. Just make sure Lucht cleans up the mess his sword made."
"Yes ma'am!" barks Aarde.
She spreads her wings, "Let's fly!"