The Center Of the World
"You must protect your brother Tiabeanie. You are the only one who stands in the way of his destiny."
Those words rang in her head as she hiked through the cold, damp cave. 'What did he mean, "stand in the way of my brother's destiny?" She thought. 'Don't let him fall into darkness,' Tavish might have a stick up his ass most of the time, but he's not evil…much. Maybe Malfus has lost his mind. It makes sense to Bean; who knows how long he's been couped in this cave at the peak of the devil's snowcone. Once Bean caught up with her friends, she soon put the thought in the back of her head to forget.
"About time you caught up, slowpoke," said Luci. "We were about to leave without you."
"No, we weren't," said Elfo, giving Luci an annoyed look.
Koga glanced at Bean. "You ok?"
"Huh?" Bean raised her eyes from the ground. "What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. So, uh, where is the center of the world anyway?"
"In the center of the world, duh?" The sub-demon said, rolling his eyes.
"Or is it some weird metaphor for an area that isn't in the center of the world?" said Elfo, looking up at Oscar.
"Excellent questions!" said Oscar, jubilantly. "I do not know!"
They stared at the grand wizard.
Koga glared at Oscar. "What the hell do you mean, 'You don't know?' How are we supposed to get there then?!" He grasped Oscar's shoulders and shook him; his googly eyes to his suit wobbled.
"Let me finish! I don't know where it is, but I have an idea where it is!"
"What the—that isn't any better either!"
"Calm yourself, young man," Oscar pulls back the hood of his dragon suit. "The center of the world is a peculiar place. It is on no world map; hardly anyone knows where it is. BUT!" He holds up his dragon paw, stopping Koga from yelling at him. "To find the center of the world is by connecting everything to it!"
Bean, Elfo, Luci, and Koga stared at Oscar, confused.
Oscar cleared his throat. "Tiabeanie, you mentioned you took a trip to the bedrock kingdom, correct? That is one of the locations where great battles took place. When we met, I brought up that the bedrock kingdom isn't the only land where these great battles between dragons and humans erected; there were other lands. Land in the far north, far south, far east, and far west," The wizard held out his index finger and drew lines in the air. "The final battle took place—here." He points at the center.
Elfo blinks. "Soooo…where is that, exactly?"
"I'll show you!" said Oscar excitedly. He placed his hood over his head and moved his arms in a circular motion.
Bean's eyes followed Oscar's arms. "What is happening right now?"
Koga sighed. "Oh no…"
Elfo gulps. "W-Wait a second! Can't we do something that doesn't involve us dangerously flying through the air? Maybe we can, um, I don't know, uh—" The little elf could feel the wind picking up. "Walking isn't too bad either!"
But before anyone could throw in their opinion, Bean, Elfo, Luci, Oscar, and Koga flew into the air, riding the wind. Elfo was whaling at the top of his lungs, and Luci was spinning. Koga was unamused throughout all of this. That and his long, busy black hair was covering his face. Bean was terrified at first. Her body twirled in the air, similar to Luci's. But once she adjusted, she spread her arms out, laughing while she soared through the air.
"That's the spirit Princess Tiabeanie! Let the wind guide you!" Oscar exclaimed.
"This is amazing!" Bean yelled. "How do we land when we get there?"
"That's a good question, Princess! I don't know!"
Bean's excitement evaporated. Elfo let out a frightful cry, screaming that they would all die. Luci was indifferent as usual since he couldn't die, which he made clear to everyone, followed by an evil little chuckle. The wind Oscar conjured began to die, as did the party's altitude. They were getting closer and closer to the ground, and Bean and Elfo were shouting in fear.
"Oh wait, now I remember!" said Oscar. The wizard twirled his hand, and a gust of wind hit the ground below, stopping all momentum.
Still, they hit the ground with a slight thud. Bean landed on her stomach, Elfo on his back, Luci on his head, and Koga on his side. Oscar was the only one who landed safely on his feet while flapping his arms wildly. "And that, my comrades, is how a dragon lands!" He said confidently.
"I'm going to kill him…" Koga whispered.
Luci groaned. "You and me both…"
"My back…" Elfo whimpered.
"Ugh…" Bean gets to her feet. "Ok, that was fun, but I'm never doing that again."
Oscar lets out a soft gasp. "Well, this is a pleasant surprise,"
Bean could hear the sounds of horse hooves kicking at the ground and the clinging of metal. She turned around, and her eyes widened as she saw a group of Dreamland knights led by Sir Pendergast, Turbish, Mertz, and Sorcerio.
The one-eyed knight lifted the visor and stared at Bean in surprise. "P-Princess Tiabeanie?"
Koga quickly got to his feet. "Pendergast?"
"Hi, Koga!" Turbish waved at him.
"Ah! So I was right after all!" said Sorcerio. "I knew that if we were getting close to the center of the world, we would run into Oscar and the Princess!"
"But wasn't that what the crystal ball said?" said Mertz.
"Never mind that cryptic ball of glass!" Sorcerio glared at Mertz. "Let's focus on getting—" When the court wizard looked forward, he saw that Bean, Elfo, Luci, Koga, and Oscar were making a run for it. He looked at the knights. "What are you waiting for? After them!" The knights kicked the reins of their horses, and they hurried after them.
The party sprinted down the dirt path and hoped over any obstacle. On the other hand, Luci was confused about why they were running. The demon looked at Koga and asked, "Um, hey, big guy? Aren't you going to kick their asses? Why are we running from them when we can deal with them now?"
"Shut up! I won't hurt them when I don't need to!" Koga fired back.
"Oh, give me a break!" Luci scoffed.
"How do we even know if we're at the Center of the World?!" Bean yelled at Oscar.
"We'll know once we notice the environment's distortion. If you visited the Bedrock Kingdom, I'm sure you've seen it!" Oscar yelled back.
Koga growled frustratingly. "You gotta be kidding me? We're going to deal with that again—" The wanderer stopped dead in his tracks and pulled back Bean and Oscar. A ball of lighting flew by, leaving a black scar on the ground.
Once they stopped running, they took in the scene before them; it was like the Bedrock kingdom: on one side, a healthy wilderness, and on the other, a distorted chaotic mess; the wind howled in their ears, and the sky above twirled as if they were in the eye of a storm. Trees, boulders, and even water floated in circles above them. The land below looked like a desert wasteland; the soil was dry, with cracks in the earth, and spears of elemental magic ran rampant on the ground, destroying the area around them.
"I guess this is it?" said Luci.
"So it would seem," said Oscar.
"Uh, guys!" said Bean, pointing at the knights behind them, closing in.
Koga knew that playing pacifist with his old comrades wasn't going to work for much longer; he knew he had to retaliate; he placed his hands on the handle of his colossal sword, bent his right knee, extended his left leg, twisted his hips, and with one mighty swing, Koga sliced through three of the knight's horses; sending Pendergast, Sorcerio, and Turbish flying into the air. But he didn't stop there. Koga would do the same to the next wave of knights and cut down their horses easily and swiftly. All Bean, Elfo, Luci, and Oscar could see were knights tumbling to the ground or flying into the air and landing with a clinging thud.
"NOICE!" Luci cheered.
But that didn't solve anything. Koga quickly turned around and held up his sword, blocking a forward thrust from Pendergast. The one-eyed knight pushed forward, swinging his sword at Koga, applying pressure—but Koga held firm—pushing back against Pendergast. The two would go on to have a fierce exchange of blades that sent sparks flying from their blades. Koga didn't use a hundred percent of his strength, knowing it would probably slice through Pendergast's sword and kill him. With this, Pendergast held his own but struggled to endure even a fraction of Koga's overwhelming strength.
"Koga, wait!" Pendergast pleaded. "I don't want to continue fighting you!"
"And you think I do?!" said Koga. Pendergast lifts his sword, shielding himself from Koga's swing, which sends him flying back into a nearby tree. "But I have my loyalty, and you have yours."
"Excellent duel, Koga the Wanderer,"
Koga spun around to where he heard the voice and pointed his sword between trees. Out stepped Lucius, clapping his hands in applause at the duel he had witnessed; by his side was the red-eyed Lieutenant Akane.
"It would've helped plenty If you killed the rest of the knights, but I guess we can handle the rest," Lucius raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
A flood of dark legion soldiers rushed out from hiding and surrounded Bean, her friends, and all knights within the area. They quickly took hostage of Bean, bagged Luci and Elfo, restrained Oscar, and forced the knights to part with their weapons. Koga placed his angry gaze onto Lucius; the dark legion commander smirked at Koga and gestured for him to drop his sword. The wanderer reluctantly did so; his heavy, colossal sword hit the ground with a thud, shooting up dust.
"Excellent," said Lucius, smugly with his cheeks raised. The dark legion captain turned his men and shouted, "Collect their weapons!" The dark legion soldiers hurried and picked up the knight's weapons. Lucius didn't take his eyes off Koga. "I think it's best if you hand over the key, Koga the Wanderer. Unless you want to see your friends hurt."
The wanderer clenched his teeth. Koga reached into his pocket, pulled out the dragon key, and tossed it to Lucius. The captain catches the key and begins examining it. He brushed his thumb against the texture of the scales and rotated it. "Very peculiar. So this is what we'll need to go to the other side. Thank you all very much for taking us here. We wouldn't have made it this far without you!"
"How did they even find us!" said Bean. "They couldn't have known where we were!"
"We have our ways, princess," said Lucius, placing his pale eyes upon Bean. "But, you all don't have to worry about that. You won't be alive any—"
Lucius was interrupted by the sounds of a sharp roar. Everyone looked up, searching for what made the loud sound. The roar happened again; this time, it was deeper and more menacing than the last; this particular roar was familiar to Bean, Elfo, Luci, and Koga. It was the same roar they heard many months ago. Above them, blocking the sun, was a large creature with an enormous wingspan; behind it, another winged creature that was smaller but still was tailing right behind it. Oscar's eyes widened, and his jaw dropped; he gasped once he realized what he was laying his eyes on.
"C-Could it be?" The grand wizard asked himself.
But it was. The dragon wasted no time making landfall, shaking the earth below everyone's feet. Bean gazed at the mighty creature. It looked the same as it did all those months back. Its skin base skin color was pure white, with hints of purple going up its arms back; its hair was silk, soft, and purple, just like its scales. Like Beans, the dragon's eyes were small, bright, crystal blue. Behind the dragon was its child. It was slimmer, not as beefy as the one that birthed it. Its hair was shorter but a mismatch of white and purple. Its base skin tone was purple, with white going down its legs and back.
"I don't believe my eye," said Pendergast, staring in awe.
"A dragon…a real live dragon!" said Sorcerio in disbelief.
"I-I thought dragons were smaller like the lizards we practiced on. . ." said Turbish, stuttering.
"A dragon! A real Dragon!" Oscar gushed. "I-I don't know what to say! It's here, right in front of me! And two to boot!"
The Older dragon placed its beady eyes on everyone in the area and slowly but cautiously studied everyone. It, of course, remembered Bean, Elfo, Luci, and Koga; it felt terrible for letting them fall down that hole to Oscar's secret studies. However, it got over quickly once it got its egg and took flight. The slit in its eyes expanded when it laid its eyes on Lucius. It didn't care much for him, but it cared plenty for what was in his hand. The dragon opened its mouth, and everyone except Oscar shouted in terror. But no fire left its mouth. All that came out was a loud whisper. It was as if many voices were all speaking at once.
"W-What are you all waiting for?" said Lucius, sweat flooding his face and neck. "G-Get this dragon now!"
The dark legion soldiers drew their swords without a choice. The dragon turned to them, opened its mouth, and a flash of light erupted onto the soldiers. All that was left was the armor they wore. Lucius dropped the dragon key in bewilderment and backed away, crawling backward. The dragon eyes the key, raises its enormous scaley hand, extends its finger, and presses the claw onto the dragon key. A flash of golden light bursts from the key, lighting up the area around it.
Not only were the dragon and its child gone, but Bean, Elfo, Luci, Koga, Oscar, Pendergast and his knights, Sorcerio, Lucius, Akane, and the remaining dark legion soldiers had also disappeared.
All that was left was the sound of the wind.