Blood Shards

CHAPTER ONE

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. Endless wings stretched across the orange sky filled with black smoke, spitting jets of flame from above. Giant, horned beasts stampeded through the forest and out into the small village, Tharborg. The streets filled with screams as the villagers were engulfed in the fire and trampled by humongous feet. There was no cause, no reason for the assault. The king of Vatnimar had tried his best to keep the peace with the dragons, even setting up a guard at the border of their territory deep in the forest so travelers would not pass through. Clearly something had gone wrong.

Kelvik fell back on the grass, sweat poured from his forehead and down his neck, his bare chest heaved from the exhaustion of the day's training and his muscles cried for a break. A breeze of chilled mountain air blew across his skin and made him wish the Vetar season would come sooner so the valley wouldn't be so hot. He held up his new wooden practice sword, blocking the hot sun from his face, and thought of the times he'd used a stick and wished for something more sturdy and less breakable. Now he could go for hours against the log sticking up from the ground without stopping, and it really took everything out of him. He decided he'd try his special move one last time, stood up, and got into position. He put his side to the log, and with his right arm, held the sword to his front at chest level, and faced his left palm at the log under his arm. He shot forward and slashed at the log, pressed his palm against the bark and pushed himself away, then lunged forward, the tip of the sword pressing into a center indent. It was a perfect execution.

The only thing that could make it better was- and there it was, a small black ring in the wood where he'd pressed his palm. He finally was able to activate his blood art while attacking with his sword, burning a ring into the log's bark. Astrid's lessons were really paying off, only taking a few months just to find his affinity to fire and learn to slightly combust anything. Unfortunately, he was two years too young to enroll in the Affinit's Academy, and had to take whatever basics the village priests were allowed to teach him. He was hoping to learn how to at least make a fireball or even a small flame in his hand, but no, they were only able to teach him how to singe things like wood and make metal heat up some. Something about a 14 year old able to summon any kind of fire being an irresponsible and all-around bad idea.

He wiped the sweat from his eyes and pushed back his long, dark hair. He'd need to cut it before the affinit recruiter came by. Maybe if he looked presentable and not like any other peasant kid, the recruiter would take him seriously and see what he could do, but that wouldn't be until a few more days. For now, he needed to thank Sven for making his sword. This made his heart jump. He'd get to visit Sven and thank him, maybe even show off a few moves he'd started getting right. Kelvik picked his shirt off the ground and put it on as he walked back to the village.

The village wasn't too far away, and Sven's was even closer since he needed to have a lot of lumber for his carpentry. As Kelvik made it to the top of the last hill, he could see the little village of Tharborg, the river that cut through its center and separated it from the Great Forest, and Sven himself sawing planks on the side of his house. He looked up and gave a big smile as Kelvik got closer. "Hey, kid! How's the sword treating you? Bet it's a lot better than some stock, huh." he said, grabbing his shirt from the stump beside him to wipe the sweat from his brow, and brushed back his long, blond hair. As the sun was starting to set, Kelvik could see Sven's bare skin practically glistening, even with his muscular chest and shoulders covered in sawdust.

"Huh?" Kelvik said, getting lost in Sven's crystal green eyes. "Oh, it's perfect, thank you so much. Now I don't have to worry about breaking a stick and finding another." Kelvik said. "If there's anything I can do to repay you, please let me know."

"Boy, you've already hauled all the lumber I needed and more. In fact, you did so much that I'm indebted to you, so take these." Sven handed him 10 metal coins with yellow diamond shards embedded in the center.

"Wait, Sven, this is way too much. Besides, I did all that to pay for my sword. I can't take this." Kelvik said, handing the coins back. Sven shook his head and held up his hands. "No way. Like I said, you did way more than I expected of you, so you earned those. Besides, you might want to use a few to pay for a haircut." He ruffled Kelvik's hair with his strong hands. Kelvik had always looked at Sven as a father and a friend, but lately he couldn't help but notice more. The way his arm muscles tensed when he carved or sawed wood, how his skin would shine when he broke into a sweat, Kelvik just couldn't help but to stare. A door slammed shut behind Sven and Kelvik saw his twin daughters running out, Svedka and Leornia. They were a year younger than Kelvik and would follow him around, shamelessly flirting with him. He tried to avoid them, but somehow, they always found him.

"Oh, what a great day it has been," said Leornia, "First, we find these beautiful new dresses, and now a gorgeous man has come to our home to admire them." Her and Svedka twirled around, their yellow and green dress skirts flaring out. Sven gave a hearty laugh, "Now, Kelvik, you wouldn't be trying to court one of my beautiful daughters, would you now?" he said, pulling them tight against his side. Kelvik held his face in a nearly disgusted frown. Svedka wriggled herself free and ran to Kelvik, then grabbed his arm and held herself against him. "Daddy, wouldn't Kelvik make the most perfect husband? He's so handsome and strong and skilled with a sword, and he would surely give loads of children." Before Kelvik could say anything, Leornia ran to his other side and pulled his arm closer to her. "Shut up, Sved! Everyone knows Kelvik would rather marry me than some little girl."

"I told you to stop calling me that, Nia, and we're the same age! He's only a year older, and besides, a man should always be older than the woman."

"And where do you see this 'woman'? All I see is a dwarf covered in dirt and moss."

"Stop it!" Kelvik finally yelled. He jerked his arms away from them, "No one ever said I wanted to marry any of you, let alone have kids with you." They looked at him with shocked faces, mouths hanging wide open. Kelvik turned to Sven, "Thank you again for the sword. Please let me know if you have any more work for me." Sven nodded his head, his face looking less playful and sterner. "I will, and you should be careful heading home." Kelvik nodded back and turned to leave. Just as he hit the main road, he heard Sven call out, "And don't forget what I told you! Get a haircut!" Kelvik waved to him, flashing a smile, and continued walking to the village again. Maybe he should go ahead and get a haircut. He would have to stop by the blacksmith's house and ask if his wife could do it for some coin. Eh, maybe tomorrow. It was getting late, the sky turning a dark orange color as the sun started to disappear behind the mountains, and Kelvik wanted to lay down in his bed.

The streets were nearly empty when he passed through, so he didn't have to stop and talk to anyone else on his way back to his home. His was one of a few still standing in that part of the village, and the others had been abandoned, the owners having moved until they could fix the holes in the walls and roofs, or become victims to the last frenzy. He opened his door, despite a hole twice its size right next to it, and called out a hello. No answer came. He walked into the dark house and sighed. Another night alone in this empty, cold, broken home. He looked at the large hole that went through the back wall and the one beside the door. A smaller, yet still large drake had busted in and ran straight through. That had been the last time he'd seen his parents. They didn't even know the dragons were coming. Their house was one of the closest ones to the woods, so the alarms wouldn't have had time to sound anyway. His parents were unlucky enough to be standing in the path of the drake, in their own home, and now, he was alone. A few villagers had offered to let him stay with them, but he knew no one had room for him, and he definitely couldn't stay with Sven, as much as he'd love to, he couldn't deal with the twins every day.

He went to bed that night thinking about everything. How the drake had taken his parents, how he'd decided that day he would become a soldier, and how he vowed to become the greatest dragon slayer in the world. That's when he started training every day. He found a decent sized log a distance from the village where no one would bother him, placed it in the ground, and found a stick he could use as a practice sword to swing at the log. He didn't know anything about actual swordplay, so he started by just swinging it. Sven had been commissioned to build a training dummy a few weeks before and was given sword scrolls in exchange. Kelvik had started passing Sven's house, so he followed him and caught him awkwardly swinging at a log with a stick. He gave those scrolls to him so he could learn how to properly use a sword, and not end up hurting himself. He tried to offer a practice sword as well, but Kelvik declined. When the offer to work for it came up, Kelvik couldn't decline.

He dreamed that night of gliding through the sky, jets of flame shooting from his palms and propelling him after a large wyvern. When he was close, he pushed hard and blasted ahead and the wyvern, cleaving off a wing with his blade of pure, bright red crystal. He rode the back of the wyvern as it spiraled down to the earth and before it hit, he plunged his sword though the top of its head.

The landing was spectacular. Just before it hit the ground, he shot his flames out and pushed himself off the wyvern, slowing his own fall. He landed beside its head on one knee and fist, and a crowd of people cheered for his success. He stood and began to wave, but a person in the crowd started to scream, and when he turned around, he was already inside the gaping jaws of a Vestra dragon. As he started to feel the fangs clamp down on him, Kelvik woke up with a scream.

He opened his eyes, and close to his face was the head of an alfur. He looked at him for a second and gave a small, high pitched squeal, mocking his own scream. He got out of bed, grabbed the furry winged creature, and released it through the hole in the back wall. He loved seeing the alfur flying around in the sky or perching on any surface they could find, curling their long tails underneath themselves,but it was odd to him how dragon-like they were. They had the head and neck of one, but their wings had feathers, their bodies were covered in colorful fur, and they had no legs. That, and they were smaller than a newborn human baby. Maybe he'd ask Astrid about them.

Kelvik opened his door and found he'd slept a lot longer than he thought, the sun nearly in the middle of the sky. He would have to hurry if he wanted to ask Astrid for another lesson on dragons. With his practice sword tied to his waist with some rope he'd forgotten to bring the other day, he ran out of his house and to the village's church.

The church lay in the center of the village, right in front of the bridge crossing the river. By the time Kelvik was at its door, the priests were already starting their daily chores. Standing in the doorway was Astrid talking to another priestess. Her hair was in its usual style, the top folded up and clipped to the back of her head and the bottom length in an intricate web of braids. Around her neck was the symbol of the Vatnimar church, a shield with a crystal leaf inside.

"Hey, Astrid." He called. She looked at him, then dismissed the priestess she was talking to with a smile and a squeeze of her arm.

"Well look who finally decided to wake up. Have you come to take your vows and join the priesthood? Lyf knows you come here often enough." she said, looking to the sky in mention of the fallen goddess.

"No way! You know the only reason I come here is to see your gorgeous smile every day."

"Oh, you big flirt," she said, pushing at him. "So what do you want?"

"I was wondering if you could answer some questions I had about dragons, and maybe teach me some more about flame magic." he said with an exaggerated smile, as she gave him an unamused stare.

"You do realize it's past noon, right? We have our chores to do right now, and Vera is sick, so I'm taking over her chores, too."

"Oh… well what if I help you out? I can do some of your chores for you, that way you don't have so many and can get them done sooner. Plus, I could give a big donation to the church." he said, holding out his ten yellow coins.

"So now you're bribing me? You can get in some serious trouble for that, you know." she said with a scowl. She burst into a laugh and took five coins. "You got a deal, kid. Vera just had to pick some herbs over by the forest, which coincidentally are the ones she needs to get better. If you can gather just a large basket of those for me, I can finish my stuff here, and I'll answer whatever questions you have. Just wait right there while I get the basket." Astrid stuffed the coins into her dress's side pocket and ran inside. Before the door even closed, she came back out with a basket in her hand and a book bound in green stained leather. She opened it to a picture of a green, leafy plant.

"This is mint. You can tell by its square stem, which is usually green or purple. Also, its leaves are round with ridges on the top, smooth on the bottom, and they kind of circle around the stem as it grows each node. If you're still not sure, just grab a leaf, pinch it in your fingers a little bit and give it a sniff. You'll know its strong scent, or you can just taste it. You should be able to find them easily near the edge of the forest, but not too far in, just across the river from here. Try to be back before the sun starts to set, or you'll have to wait until tomorrow, and who knows, I might have more for you to do." She winked and went back inside. He held the basket by its handle and ran across the bridge to the forest.

The herb, like Astrid said, wasn't hard to find at all. He found a small patch near the closest tree, and another close by, and was able to fill the basket a quarter way with these and went deeper into the forest. As he walked, he held a leaf in his palm and concentrated on it, and soon he saw the edges begin to turn black and spread inward, burning the leaf. He continued, and practiced on more leaves, hoping to at least make them smoke, and just as he was starting to see a small line rise from it, he felt something pull on his shirt. He looked behind him and a brown alfur was flapping behind him, biting and pulling on his shirt. He pulled it from its mouth, "Hey, what are you doing, huh?" The alfur gave a small chirp and pulled on his shirt again harder. Kelvik had the thought that the alfur was trying to lead him somewhere and let himself be led by it. It flew past several trees and looked back at him, squawking, and finally let itself land on the ground. Where it landed was a large imprint, and when Kelvik moved closer, he saw it was a footprint. He looked ahead and saw a trail of them, and many more clustered around it heading further into the forest, the trees surrounding them broken and scratched. The alfur trilled, watching him with a face that almost resembled pride.

Kelvik followed the trail carefully, the alfur following close behind him, a few times trying to sneak its head into his basket to take a few leaves. After a while, he started to hear a low rumbling sound, and the tracks were becoming more spread out, moving in different directions. Following the sound, he saw a giant green mound with yellow lines in the distance and slowly crept behind a tree to see exactly what it was. It was a sleeping drake. Its back was facing him, and he could see its long, thin spines traveling up its back and to its tail, where he saw crystal spikes protruding from it like a giant mace. Kelvik started to back away, watching the drake until he bumped into something hard. He slowly turned his head and saw a set of large, white fangs. He looked into the eyes of the drake standing before him, a dark green speckled with bright red and showing a hatred and hunger that Kelvik had never known. It gave a loud roar, opening its mouth wide and lifting its head. Kelvik screamed and started running.

To his sides, he could see more drakes waking and starting to run after him. He ran as fast as he possibly could, his heart pounding in his chest. Behind, he could feel the drakes pounding the earth as they ran after him, and heard one roaring loudly, as if in pain and Kelvik turned his head to look. His eyes widened in shock. The alfur that had led him there was latched on to the brow ridge of the closest drake and was slapping and poking its eye with its tail. It was trying to save him, a very odd thing for an alfur to do, and to save him from a drake made it all the more unusual. The drake thrashed around, slamming into the ones beside it and knocking the others over, creating a pile up of large, scaley bodies. The alfur had given him enough time and distance to run. Maybe if he was able to warn the villagers in time, they'd be able to evacuate. Which way was the village? What direction was he even going in? He'd lost sight of the tracks when he started running, not thinking to follow them back, and now was blindly running through the forest. If he was heading the wrong way and going deeper into the forest, he'd never find his way out, or worse. He could run straight into Sganear, land of the Acuranian demons.

In the distance, Kelvik thought he could see the tree line and the closer he got, the more he was sure. He burst out of the forest and found the road that led to his village, which he could see far to the north. After a few seconds of catching his breath, he started running to his village. He heard something down the road to the south, and saw a caravan cart pulled by kirun and a man driving them. The man sparkled as he drove. Was he wearing armor? The recruiter! He was early and making his way to Kelvik's village. Kelvik ran to the cart and the man quickly pulled the reins, stopping the kirun.

"Watch where you're going, boy! If you startle the kirun, they could trample you to death without a second thought!" shouted the man.

"Sir, sir please, I need your help." Kelvik said, still trying to catch his breath. "I need you to take me to the village up north. I need to warn them."

"Warn them of what? Why are you so out of breath? What's going on?" questioned the man.

"Sir, please! We need to hurry!" yelled Kelvik, and just then he heard it. He turned his head to see drakes bursting out of the forest.