Chapter 5.

Lohengrin was completely spent. It was both the exhaustion of the body, which one may feel after days of hunting or flying without rest, and the sensation of the mind overwrought by the endless storm of newer and newer information it had to process.

Elder Zorhen's lectures began on their way north, towards their new home. Lohengrin quickly realized that Zorhen's teaching methods were brutally effective, and completely without respite. There were no momentary stops, rests or any other kinds of recreational time. Each and every day was an endurance round where Zorhen pushed him to his limits over and over again. However, the old dragon had an infallible sense to determine how far he can go, what would be the point if he was going to push the dragon well beyond his abilities until he collapsed out of pure exhaustion, and never went over it.

At the beginning, when he had the spare capacity to do so, Lohengrin was mesmerised about how much he doesn't know about even the most basic aspects of life. For example, Lohengrin was sure he was fairly competent when it came to flying, since he was famous among his generation for showing more than average talent. How wrong he was.

"Your wing work is sloppy and inefficient. In the higher layers of the air, you will find constantly blowing winds. If you carefully tilt both sets of your tailfins with the appropriate measure, you can use that wind to generate the lift you need to stay airborne, putting off much of the stress from your wing muscles. Those fins are capable of a wide variety of movements, and allow you to exploit the currents of the air from virtually any direction. There is a certain angle, if you keep your wings in that, you will barely feel your own weight, and you will be able to soar much longer distances."

So Lohengrin had to spend hours upon hours, practicing how to fly properly. The Shalnar ridges were notorious for their high peaks and canyons, so he could practice long-term level flight, climbing, diving, circling, accelerating and decelerating in the most effective way. During the first few occasions, he concentrated on making the right movements so much, he didn't even have the chance to admire the stunning and yet unfamiliar view of the landscape around him. After many months, when things became a routine, he found these flying exercises actually relaxing.

But every time he landed at the end of the day, he had to evaluate his experiences to the Elder, who never missed the chance to comment about almost everything, constantly explaining and imprinting the knowledge into Lohengrin's brain. Zorhen had the courtesy to hunt for both of them at the beginning, so the young Night Fury just had to come back, eat and then he could collapse at his sleeping spot in Zorhen's cave. The Elder always woke him up before dawn, and the learning procedure started again.

"Even though Wordren did an acceptable job with your upbringing, you are still underdeveloped in terms of your muscles and raw strength."

Due to Zorhen's endless training, Lohengrin was always running a lot. He often dwelt in the swampy forest, which served as an obstacle course with all the fallen logs, rocks and muddy soil, giving Lohengrin the perfect training ground to get from one point to another as fast as he could. What was most surprising, was that Zorhen often accompanied him on the track, talking as they dashed through the swamp, just as effortlessly, as if they were standing still and having a conversation. Sometimes trying to focus on Zorhen's words Lohengrin would end up smashing into logs face-first or tripping and falling into the pools of mud. It was mind-boggling to him that an aged dragon like Zorhen could keep up with him, centuries after his prime, the elder seemed to do these runs as if he was on a casual stroll.

The stamina-building exercises were often alternated with theoretical education. Zorhen began with practical things, like how can someone spot the signs of an impending storm, how to avoid it, what can you do when it gets you. About how to rely on instincts when in danger, where can someone find food and water in case of shortage or in foreign areas. Tree bark proved to be much more nourishing than Lohengrin would have originally thought.

He had to familiarise himself with almost every plant and animal in the vicinity. How certain herbs cure illnesses, which ones are good for subsiding pain, and which ones are poisonous. After an unpleasant experience with a tempting looking mushroom which caused him to vomit for almost two days straight, he made a mental note to avoid it for the rest of his life.

Zorhen's explanations were relatively easy to follow, until he gradually began to use the other language, the Old Tongue. This language was commonly used by the Night Furies aeons ago, but as the Common Speech began to spread between all the different kinds of dragons, it went into a decline, becoming largely forgotten. Nowadays, the Old Tongue was only used for ceremonial reasons, and was usually only known well by a few Night Furies. This didn't stop Zorhen in teaching it to Lohengrin as "...it has such a cultural value, it must be preserved."

But it was so hard to learn! Lohengrin constantly had a hard time with the alien grammatical structure, and the unusual vowel sounds.

"Lehn ad sarkainn valiohr." Lohengrin tried one night, during one of his conversations with Zorhen in the Old Tongue.

"Oh, so you are saffron?" Zorhen asked, mimicking surprise "Well, that explains a lot."

"No, I wanted to say 'I am a dragon'. Lohengrin explained.

"Then it is: 'Lehn ad sharkainn valiohr.'" Zorhen corrected him. "There is a difference between the 's' and the 'sh' sounds, do not exchange them."

"Gen, Zorhen Ahltar."

"Much better." Zorhen nodded.

Soon after Elder Zorhen began to teach Lohengrin about the finesse of hunting, he stopped feeding him. After a week or two of fishing, Lohengrin was crazy for meat. Fish is nice and healthy, but he longed for some variety. He was never really successful at proper hunting before, but now he had no choice.

So he soared high, determined to not let anything spot him before he does. Upon finding suitable prey which tried stay out of sight in a smaller grove, he flew away to get some distance, and landed without gaining attention. Lohengrin silently crept through the grove, with eyes fixed on his target, with Zorhen's raspy voice echoing inside his head, his mind busy with analysing and evaluating the situation.

"... choose your prey wisely..."

"Young stag, alone, slightly limping to his right hind leg."

"...patience is the key for success..."

"I only move when the wind blows, allowing the rustle of leaves to conceal the sounds of my movements."

"...plan your approach carefully..."

"I'm coming from the opposite direction of the wind, so it carries my scent away."

"...get as close as you possibly can..."

"Its distance is roughly twenty steps from me... might be able to cover it with a long jump, but I'll get a bit closer, just to be sure."

"...check your chances..."

"Young, weak, alone and possibly injured prey, within pouncing distance. Unaware of my presence."

"...strike unexpectedly..."

Lohengrin launched himself forward from the cover of the bushes, and threw his legs around the unfortunate stag. It didn't even have the time to let out a frightened howl.

"...and without hesitation."

His head sprung forward like snake's, sinking his teeth deep into the neck of his flailing prey. With a quick, forceful yank of his jaw, the stag was done for.

What a marvellous feeling it was, after all the nerve-testing stalking and adrenaline charging preparations, to finally score a victory. Lohengrin had the urge to smile, but he was unable to do so, his muzzle being full of deliciously warm meat.

He spent almost an hour eating his prey, clearing all the bones and breaking them to get out the marrow. After stuffing himself, he flew to a nearby pond to drink a little and wash the blood off before going back to Zorhen's cave.

It had been a long time since he had actually had the chance to look at his reflection, and he was a bit surprised by what he saw. He was now three-quarter of the size of an average Night Fury. Distinctive changes were noticeable throughout his whole form. His legs widened, covering the width of his paws. The hatchling-hood chubbiness of his body disappeared; his neck, chest area, shoulders, back and tail were bulging with muscles now. His wingspan became impressively close to the average fifty feet.

This made him chuckle; as he realised he didn't really resemble the wide-eyed youngling anymore, which Zorhen took under his wing many seasons ago.

"I believe I have described the mating procedure sufficiently enough."

"Uh... yeah. Absolutely." Lohengrin blushed, almost feeling the heat radiating from his cheeks. To ease his awkwardness, he looked out from the cave, staring into the whirling blizzard outside. The wind violently stirred the snowflakes this night, and it was so cold out there, Lohengrin wingtips became icy while he was on his usual trip around the ridges. Of course, Zorhen never even considered halting his progression for such an insignificant thing like a raging snowstorm.

"I'd still like to ask a question, which is partially related to the subject, Ahltar."

"Speak." Zorhen nodded.

"You've told me about how much we dragons must respect life, and refrain from taking it." Lohengrin began "Then how does, for example, hunting fit into this?"

"I will explain." Zorhen replied "There are foundations in nature, which we should not and in fact, cannot contravene. Our digestive system is not made to use solely vegetable nutrition; therefore we developed the necessary tools to become successful hunters. We are like that, because nature needs to have hunters, in order to maintain balance. If our prey, whether they are deer, boars or anything else were allowed to populate unchecked, their numbers would become more numerous than what this land is able to feed, and it would ruin the flora. And our prime targets are mostly the smaller, weaker, possibly sick ones, which is beneficial for both sides: Easier hunt for us, more diverse and healthy bloodline for them. This means mostly the ones with above average skill and health will have offspring, and they are likely to inherit those traits from their parents. We kill their surplus, which keeps us alive, and it makes them stronger in the long run, while also preserves the natural habitat for the future as well."

"However" he continued "The laws of the world only determine what can we do, it does not order us how we should do it. When we allow our intelligence and self-conscience to keep our inborn aggression in check, we make room to develop ourselves in different ways. When we learn to suppress our feral instincts to a certain degree, it makes us much more than mere animals. Reduced will to kill, and increasing curiosity about the world around us, makes us sentient beings while not neglecting the purpose nature entrusted us with."

"But... then why can't we live with the Skrills peacefully?" Lohengrin asked, thinking out loud "Are they less sentient than us?"

"No, although we are the most intelligent amongst all dragons, it doesn't mean that they are lesser than us. The disagreement is not particularly between our two clans; their whole kind hates ours for reasons, whose origins can be traced back to ages."

"What are those reasons, Ahltar, if I may ask?"

Elder Zorhen let out a large huff of breath.

"This is quite a long story, so I would advise to ask any further questions you may have before delving into it."

Lohengrin was surprised, as he did have one other thing that bugged him. After all the time they've spent together, he still wasn't used to Zorhen's ability to guess his thoughts.

"You've always said that we, Night Furies are so few. Why is that, I mean our clan doesn't seem to be small with almost sixty members..."

"Our kind's rarity can be related to two things." Zorhen said "One is a rather simple biological reason. Our females' fertility cycle is dependent on many different factors, like appropriate emotional and mental state, food abundance, weather and what not, so a successful copulation is not an easy thing to achieve. In other words, normally it can take years of trial, before an actual pregnancy happens, and even then, there is usually only one egg laid. There are exceptions in some rare cases, but most couples are happy if they can have two or three offspring during their lives. The low birth-rate is the partial explanation about our lower numbers compared to other kinds of dragons, despite our long lifespan. Clan Toemnir is one of the most numerous clans I have seen, others are usually much fewer than us.

Zorhen stopped for a second, eyes trailing off, like he was trying to search deep into his memories.

"The other cause is the same historical reason" he hesitantly began "why certain other kinds of dragons hate us. Have you ever heard the legend of Wotahn?" he asked.

"Of course I have. I was under the impression that everyone tells that tale to the young ones..." Lohengrin answered curiously.

"Then you heard the basic, fairy tale version of it, which is based on part of the truth. Now you are going to hear the whole story, not the one that gets worn further and further away from the truth every time it is told."

"Thousands upon thousands of seasons ago, way before even the dawn of humanity, this world was quite a different place. We dragons were different too. Our kin, for example, lived in small, family-based communities; they constantly wandered around from one place to another, showing little care or knowledge about the world. Our forefathers shared this place with a cousin-kind of dragons. They were quite similar to us in many attributes, despite being little more than feral reptiles.

At an undefinable point, a foreign, immaterial power rose up, pouring darkness and chaos into the minds of many of our cousins. These ancient reptiles became possessed, and began to massacre anything and anyone who was not from their ranks. They all shared one thing in common: they seemingly obeyed one evil will. The identity of this being remained elusive for us, however it was as clear as daylight that it wanted to claim this world all to itself; using our simple-minded cousins as pawns to achieve that.

Those were desperate times for any other living beings, dragons and others alike. Slowly but surely, huge areas were purged of life, leaving only dirt and ashes behind as the pawns of the Archnemesis expanded its realm. Thick, black clouds littered the sky, blocking away the light; and everyone who was able to, had to flee for their lives.

In those dark times, a young Night Fury mother found an orphaned hatchling on her travels. She could not leave him to his fate, so she adopted him, and raised him as her own. She decided to give a bright name to him to contrast the sad world around them, so she called the hatchling Reemen, which means Hope in the Old Tongue. Little Reemen had to see all the horrors cast upon us by the Archnemesis, and after he had lost his adoptive mother years later in an attack performed by the pawns of evil, he vowed to put an end to this. He was barely fully grown, when he claimed leadership to a larger pack of Night Furies. Dragons of the time used to respect nothing but strength. Using his new authority, Reemen began his journey, to unify all Night Furies under his command. He used persuasion, threats, sometimes brute force, and one by one he had many packs of dragons submitted to him. He did not stop at our kin however; he was the first who began to communicate with the other kinds of dragons, who were even more primitive at that point, than us.

His aim was to amass the largest army ever seen on the face of the globe, and take the fight to the Enemy. He managed to persuade tens of thousands, that if they want to avoid the extermination, they had to join his cause. Some say his strength and charisma were granted to him by blessing from the Spirits, I cannot confirm that. But his zeal and determination was unmatched, and if the stories are true, his physical abilities were like that as well.

In a bloody war which lasted for decades, Reemen and his armies managed to encircle the Archnemesis and most of his remaining reptilian pawns at a huge plain. The battle there lasted for days, the legends say the number of dragons darkened the sky, and the dry ground became swampy from all the blood that had been spilled. But Reemen and his armies managed to break the slave army of the Archnemesis, and according to the legend, Reemen killed it in a climactic duel. Witnesses told that It was destroyed in a ground-shattering explosion, which created an unbelievably huge crater on the battlefield. I am inclined to believe this, as I have seen that crater."

"Really?" Lohengrin asked in awe.

"I have, although most of it is underwater now. It is months of flight from here, on the shores of a distant peninsula in the far west and south. But let us get back to the story." He scratched his throat and continued. "From that fateful day, Reemen was called Wotahn, 'Victor' in the Old Tongue. He was an unquestionable hero, who saved this whole world from certain demise. This is what the fairy tale covers up, in its hatchling-friendly way. According to it, Wotahn and the Night Furies lived happily ever after. This is not exactly the case.

After Wotahn's army dissolved, he was determined to keep the Furies together. He suspected that he only managed to destroy the physical form of the Archnemesis, and it will return one day. He wanted his kind to stand ready to face the darkness once more, so he took his followers to a huge mountain range in the north, and established a realm of Night Furies. They picked a big enough mountain, and literally carved it full of spacious and artistic tunnels and halls. Don't asked me how, the knowledge to shape the living stone the way they did, is now lost to us. That place was named 'Menedhaec', which means Refuge. And that it was: a safe haven for any and all Night Furies, a place what everyone called home. Wotahn organised the dragons into a working, prospering society; of which, even to this day, our clan system is based upon. A great conclave of our kind elected Wotahn as the High King of all Night Furies. And Wotahn dedicated the rest of his life to lead our kind into growth and greatness. He spread the word of the Menedhec, to encourage more Furies to join them. He organised us, and taught us to cooperate for our common future, instead of everyone chasing their own selfish desires.

Wotahn lived for more than a thousand years and his descendants continued to have a long life. They did everything to preserve his legacy, and act in line of his wishes. And our kind really flourished: we became smarter, better individuals, food was never an issue, and our numbers began to rise. We even sent Furies to other kinds of dragon clans, to serve as teachers and advisories."

"Then... what happened?" Lohengrin asked.

Zorhen sighed sadly.

"Time has proven to us that we are not as high and mighty as we originally thought." he answered "Many centuries after Wotahn's time, the High Kings began to deviate from his course, which eventually led to our downfall. Our mutual respect for each other slowly turned into envy, and intrigues. Instead of seeking knowledge and development, we began to seek pleasures and power. The teachers became overlords, the advisories became slavers, and slowly but surely, the very heart of our kind became darker and darker. The last but one High King had two sons. The elder brother's name was Haarion, and the younger was Leywanth. The difference between the brothers' personality was night and day, but they were still very close to each other in their youth. However, when Haarion ascended to the throne, his eagerness to prove himself became lust for power over time, and his confidence slowly turned into arrogance. He started to demand complete submission from any and all dragons, and those who protested against his deformed will were brutally killed as an example. Some said, it was the corrupt influence of the Archnemesis which began to show in the behaviour of our leaders, I cannot comment on that. What is known for sure, is that after Haarion has ordered the execution of a larger group of rebels and their families, Leywanth decided to step in, but despite his good intentions, it only made things worse. Others, upon seeing that it is possible to go against the mad king's will, began to rebel, aiming to put Leywanth on the throne, even if he himself had no intentions to usurp it from his brother. And, in addition to the fracture of our own kind, the other dragons rebelled against the oppression as well, and the situation escalated into a bloody, three-way conflict."

"Spirits of the Ancestors..." Lohengrin whispered mournfully.

"We had ascended too high, and our own faults led us to destroy ourselves." Zorhen gave a bitter sigh. "Every side committed horrible sins against the other in the shadows of the night, and by the time the fighting was over, everyone lost everything. Haarion's side was destroyed almost completely; the remainder of his followers surrendered themselves to Leywanth, and spent the rest of their lives trying to seek atonement for their crimes. The other dragons descended again into a bunch of violent groups, feuding against each other, lacking any kind of guidance but developing a lasting hatred towards the Night Furies. Some still hate us unquestionably, like the Skrills, but for our fortune, the majority exercised forgiveness towards us over time."

"And what happened to Leywanth?" Lohengrin asked, being slightly afraid about the answer.

"He gathered together the battered survivors of our kind, and as he saw what remained, he ordered the dissolution of the Night Fury realm and the abandonment of Menedhaec. He divided the remainder of our kin into clans, and ordered them to scatter around the globe, for our own safety. He established the guidelines of how a clan should work, and he himself became the Leader of a clan, somewhere far away from the Refuge. We have lost much of the knowledge about the world around us during that conflict, and what was even worse, our numbers dwindled to a fraction of what it used to be. I am not exaggerating at all when I say, that the vast majority of the Night Furies died by the claws and fangs of other Night Furies. Only a few thousand of us lived to see another day, out of the tens of thousands that once thrived. The situation was so dire, that lots of us thought that we were going to die out completely. Thankfully, the careful and clever reformation of our society, done by Leywanth, managed to save us from that dark fate.

Before our ancestors parted ways from each other, Leywanth made each and every soon-to-be clan leader swear that they will do everything in their power to preserve the peace between the clans, and, that when the time comes, they will all submit themselves to the next High King, should the situation demand it. For the evil of the Archnemesis still has not disappeared, and the time may come, when someone will unite us to face the danger Wotahn warned us about so many years ago."

Zorhen ended his tale, but took a sharp breath, and looked strictly into Lohengrin's eyes.

"And this is the absolute reason why you, Lohengrin, have to do everything you are able, in order to protect the lives of those you have sworn to look after. We simply are not in the position anymore, to allow us the loss of a few dragons. We did not recover too well from the Kinstrife, there are still only a few thousands of us left, scattered around the whole world, and the world around us is huge, and unfriendly. If you were ever to encounter a situation, when one of your own refuses the better judgement, you must talk, reason, argue with it first. Or beat it until it submits, but never, ever attempt to take the life of a Night Fury. The only exception from this rule, is to spare one from the long suffering before the inevitable."

"And what should I do with the Skrills?" Lohengrin asked.

"All of the above." Zorhen replied "Talk, reason, argue. And if none of it works, find the solution which costs the least amount of lives. The events of the Kinstrife taught us a very important thing: Learn from the mistakes of the past, to never repeat them again."

A/N: Don't worry guys, next time we're up for some action again! :)

Spotted a mistake or something you like? Or just have a question? Review!

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