Chronicle's of Dragon Valley

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. And even before there were, it wasn’t like it was worth anything anyway. A place of violence, war, and… death. And the one woman who tried to make things right. The one who saw any resemblance of beauty….

Varen snapped his attention back towards the rough sandy horizon he was watching. The warm dry breeze gently swayed causing his blazen cloak to billow ever so slightly. He reached up and pulled down his goggles that were adorned with brass emblems of flames as he adjusted his footing on the small rock he was on. After the amber tint of the goggles reached his eyes, he lifted his index and middle finger to the rim, allowing his flames to pour into them. Suddenly, the lens leapt with fire and extended his view deep into the valley. He saw the coarse rock and sand run deep into the valley before it widened and curved. Varen couldn’t see beyond those curves, but he knew that they opened to a large circle that then branched the valley into the three other directions. The four total directions that lead to the four nations.

Varen’s teeth clenched as he thought about them. Those nations have no right to exist. He thought. After the death they had caused. So many lives taken. Especially those orcs. The brutes, with their grey and black skin. Why couldn’t they just follow the Dragon Pact Treaty.

“So what do you see?” piped in Jiren. “Anything actually seem special today?"

“No,” Varen replied, with a deep sigh. “You know you don’t have to come with me right? I can handle anything that were to come.”

“Oh come on. You know you would miss me if I was gone. Besides, you really think that the Courtal Hall would really let someone out here alone. So what if it is classified as a low conflict entrance.” Varen allowed the flames he was maintaining in his goggles to fade away as he slid them up onto his forehead. He turned to see his friend sitting down repeatedly flipping one of his daggers up and catching it. The light gleamed off of the green tinted bronze of the blade. Jiren had six more sheathed daggers along the chest of his vibrant green tunic outlined in a golden thread. He also had one on each hip attached to his belt, although one was currently empty.

“You're going to poke your eye out one of these days, Jiren” Varen retorted as he looked away “and I won’t always be right next to you to go carry you so you can cry to your mommy.”

“Oh come on, you don’t have any faith in me. Besides, when have I ever gotten into any trouble I couldn’t get myself out of?”

“The bronx boar incident, the whipping thorn forest, heck you even managed to somehow almost die at the kids whirlpool springs.” Varen said with a very slight smile forming on his lips.

“Hey,” Jiren responded, with a wide grin. “the boar incident nearly killed both of us, the whipping thorns you triggered, and the last one doesn’t count.”

“Oh it doesn't, does it?” Varen snickered. “Well I better just ask your sister…. hold up!” Varen exasperated, glancing back towards the valley. “Do you see that?” exclaimed Varen.

“You see something?” Asked Jiren as he leapt up from his seated position, his face quickly losing its playful smile. Within an instant the green rush of wind whipped out Jiren's other daggers as they began spinning mid air, kept aloft by the rush of his magic. Jiren also reached and drew his other dagger sheathed on his belt.

“Yes, look there.” Varen whipped his goggles back on and quickly allowed his flames to once again power them. The amber lenses enhanced his vision as Varen zoned in upon what looked like a girl running towards their position. However, something was different about her. “There is a girl. But she doesn’t look human either.”

“What are we dealing with? Dwarf, Orc, Gnome? Or are those Elves at it again?” Spited Jiren in a flurry of questions.

“I’m… not sure. She doesn’t look like any of them.”

“Hmmm, Is she one of ours? Part of the Satyr or Centaur tribes? She isn’t human is she?”

“No.” Varen stated plainly, an edge of worry on his words. “She has green skin. Don’t you think I would know a human? After all, I have to look at your ugly face all day.”

“Hey, is this really the time for this? Besides, my mom always says I am extremely handsome. And quite the lady killer.” Jiren said, bumping the edge of Varen’s arm.

“Whatever, she definitely is not human like us. She is covered in vines. Wait!” Varen manipulated the flames to give a wider view of the valley. Varen noticed for a brief instant, the flicker of a shadow passing from one rock's shadow to another. “Something else is out there as well. Get ready!”

“Let me see.” Jiren said as he quickly sheathed the two daggers in his hands and brought out a pair of binoculars from the folds of his cloak. A green flash of wind surrounded the binoculars, as they extended and enhanced Jiren’s vision as well. “I don’t see anything else. You're right, she is quite strange. I have never seen a race like that before. Oh wait look, she just fell.” Jiren and Varen watched as the strange girl tripped and fell face first into the hard ground. She attempted to push herself up, stumbling within a few hundred meters of the two boys, before falling back into the ground. “What do you think we should do?”

Jiren barely had the chance to get the words out before Varen leapt from the rock. Fire sprung from under his boots as he raced towards the girl with explosive speed. Drawing his sword, flames danced over the metal as Varen began to swing. The strange girl noticed Varen a few moments before he was upon her, and let out a high pitched squeal. Then suddenly, Varen’s blade came into contact with a blade cloaked in shadow as a large figure seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The flames and shadow collided causing a shockwave of wind to rush around them.

In that brief moment of confusion before he leapt from the rock, Varen had sensed a presence. One that was confirmed by the almost unnoticeable streak of a razor thin shadow leaving a nearby rock and heading towards the girl. Varen’s senses and keen instincts allowed him to just barely block the incoming attack as the strange figure appeared from out of that razor thin shadow.

Jiren stood back a moment in shock. He didn’t even have the chance to fully form his next sentence before Varen had blocked the attack heading for the girl. Jiren allowed his binoculars to drop to the ground as he rushed to redraw his daggers.

Varen and Jiren looked upon the black skinned creature with disgust. Across his bare chest were four grey lines that formed two interconnected triangles leading up towards his neck which was adorned with a strange necklace laced with bones. He had two fangs coming out from the bottom of his jaw, and his teeth stuck out in a sharp underbite. He wore sackcloth pants with small sloppy patches of neon green paint once again in the form of triangles. Upon his belt he wore two bottles, one made of glass with thick dark green liquid and the other made of tanned leather. A pocket watch also hung from his belt, swaying gently in the breeze. He had a large frame, a good foot and a half above the adolescent bodies of Varen and Jiren. The creature had a distinct foul odor about him, and a low gurgling noise sounded from deep within his throat. His blade was surprisingly well built, a smaller and sleeker version of a katana with carvings on the plain wooden handle.

“An Orc!” Varen and Jiren both snarled simultaneously. Their teeth clenched, and their faces turned to anger. Varen particularly began to shake with an uncontrolled broiling animosity. His flames began to flicker off of his cloak, dangerously close to losing any resemblance of control.

“You’ll be stepping away from her now,” Varen spat his eyes locked tightly with the orc as he pushed the still burning blade away from the girl.

“And why exactly would I listen to a foul human like you, especially one so shrimpy.” The orc mocked in a deep rolling snarl. His muscles tensed as he began pushing Varen’s blade back towards the girl's prone body. All the while, the girl remained motionless, eyes on the two blades interlocked above her, glazed over with terror.

Varen tightened his grip as the tension from the two blades began to go in the orcs favor. “I don’t know who she is,” Varen shot back, “but I know anything an orc wants is contrary to what I am going to give it!” At that moment Varen allowed his flames to surge as he focused his mana into one burst. The extra power began forcing the orc's blade back.

“Ahh, so the little runt does have some fight in him. Perfect!” The orc began to allow his shadow magic to pulse as they grew from the thin layer originally coating his blade, but before he could attempt to push Varen’s blade away, Jiren suddenly yelled out to Varen.

“Duck!”

Jiren raised his two daggers and used his winds to cause the six others still spinning to increase their speed until they each seemed like one circular blade of metal. Jiren, in one swift motion, caused the blades to fly at the orc at an alarming speed. Varen ducked backwards just in time as a flash of concern and fear crossed his usually stoic face. As the blades flew just over his face the orc leapt back, blade still cloaked in darkness, and in a barrage of two-handed strikes batted away the daggers. Varen, seeing his opportunity, flung his body back up right and came at the orc with a flurry of blows.

“That’s more like it, struggle so that it is at least a little fun when I kill you.” laughed the orc, as he danced across the hard stone, easily reflecting every strike. Varen didn’t respond as he intensified the flames on his sword and continued the assault. Jiren quickly leapt into the fray running in a large crescent as he extended his hands toward the daggers still suspended in mid air. In an instant, Jiren manipulated the winds to redirect the blades towards the orc in a variety of different angels. Dancing backwards the orc managed to block all of them, but this time Jiren used the momentum to immediately strike back. As before, the orc managed to avoid all of them with a combination of foot work and swordsmanship; however, this time his smile faded for a moment into deep concentration as he danced back towards a cluster of small boulders.

“I have you now!” Screamed Varen as he leapt a few feet into the air and brought down his blade with both hands. The strike gave Jiren an opening and he pushed a massive surge of wind magic behind one of his spinning blades which caused the edge to pool wind magic around it. “Gotcha!” Jiren said, with a bright smile.

Suddenly, the orc smiled as he sank into the ground. In but a few moments the orc retracted himself completely into the ground, causing Jiren’s dagger to fly by the space where he once was, as Varen stopped his swing where it should have made contact.

“What happened, Varen, where did he go?” Jiren said frantically.

“I have no idea, I have never seen someone using this weird shadowy magic before! Just let me think.”

“Look out he’s below you!” came the faint voice of the girl.

“What do you mean below us?" Varen said.

“He can sink into the shadows and move around in them. Quickly, create light!”

“Yeah... what do you mean?” echoed Jiren as a shadow extended up and out of the rock’s shadow towards Jiren, striking right into the ground where he was a second before he had leapt away. Concurrently, the orc suddenly reappeared out of the shadow and struck at Varen. Varen managed to move his blade narrowly blocking the bulk of the attack, but the force sent him flying ten feet away. In one swift motion, the orc rushed towards Jiren. Jiren tried to react by raising his hands to control the five other spinning blades. In that moment of delay, the orc grabbed Jiren’s neck and held him up high causing him to drop his daggers and claw at the large hand.

“You know it is always fun seeing humans desperately beg for their lives.” the orc said as he increased the force. “Maybe I should just take an arm or two. Then you can watch me kill your friend.” The orc said, a sadistic smile curling at his lips.

“No!” screamed Varen as he burst out of the dust that had kicked up from his impact into the ground. Flames ran wild burning at the edges of Varen’s cloak. He rushed with blazing speed toward the orc, eyes intent of lethality.

“Yes come to your death” the orc snorted as, in one clean movement, he dropped and kicked Jiren by extending his left leg back, sending him into the air. While doing so the orc positioned both his hands on the katana preparing his next attack. Darkness flowed over the blade in a massive surge as he swiped the katana in toward the oncoming Varen.

Varen dug his boots into the ground, ready to leap when, unexpectedly, something came out of the ground and wrapped around his calf causing him to crash into the rocky ground. As he made contact with the ground, he felt a large flash of power flow over his head. Quickly, Varen looked behind him to see a large wave of darkness had flung over his head. He looked back towards his calf to find a vine wrapped around it, and the girl, a good distance away, exasperated with her hand outstretched.

“Why would you do that?” Varen snapped, “I had him. I could have blocked that.”

“No…” she barely huffed out. “Look at his leg.” She barely managed to finish before she doubled over in exhaustion.

Varen looked over and saw that the orc's knee of his left leg had come back forward coated in darkness after kicking Jiren. Varen’s eyes shot open with sudden realization as he visualized what the girl had been talking about. The scene played in his mind as he saw the clash of blades being equal until the knee drove into his chin, and the large wave of darkness cut clean through him instead of harmlessly over.

“Huh, smart girl.” Varen whispered almost inaudibly.

“Lucky break,” the orc said smiling as he allowed Jiren to regain control of his spinning daggers and sprinted back over towards Varen.

“So what are we going to do?” asked Jiren, wiping a small bit of blood from his lip.

“Guard the girl,” Varen motioned over towards where she lay. “I’ll take care of this scum.”

“You sure?” Jiren responded, glancing briefly at Varen. “Ok, but you better not die. Then my mom and your mom would kill me!”

“Don’t worry, I plan on ending it in one blow.” Varen said, walking slowly a few paces towards the orc.

“One strike?” huffed the orc. “I like those odds… well at least for me.” His smile grew to the full lengths of his mouth. He too stepped a few paces closer.

Varen lifted his sword above his head as he focused all the flames his mana could muster. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath as a memory of a girl, with silver flowing hair picked flowers and offered one to him. The flames greatly grew in intensity, condensing more and more into the blade. Across from him, the orc sheathed his sword and smiled as a large amount of darkness rushed between the sheath and sword. Varen opened his eyes. Closed them again. And then, opening them with fierce determination, Varen brought down his strike as the name of the technique floated through his head. Crescent Phoenix Slash. As the blade came down a brilliant arch of flame shot forth from the blade. Likewise, the orc drew his blade with extreme speed and a large straight line of darkness flashed forward.

The two blades of elements rushed towards each other. In the blink of an eye, from far above the clouds and setting sun, a blur of movement plummeted towards the Earth. A blast of lighting shot forth from the blur striking the two blades just as they collided. A bright multicolored light filled everyone's view, blinding everyone for a moment. When Varen’s eyes cleared he saw a large blue dragon. Her scales shimmered even in the fading light. Her ears, the insides coated in light orange, fluttered as her nostrils flared. Static crackled across the length of her body. Her blue wings extended showing the underside of orange, as she brought them down as a gale storm of wind flashed nearly knocking everyone over.

The orc chuckled, “Well I suppose my fun is done for today. Just when my power was about to hit its peak too! Oh, well, I suppose there is always next time. Till then, human.” The orc smiled as he faded into the shadows on the ground. Very faintly Varen could see him moving across the landscape that was now almost completely pitched in shadows from the valley.

“Wait, get back here!” Varen yelled as he rushed forward. However, as he did the dragon stomped her body in front of him as she spoke, in a powerful yet graceful voice, “Where do you think you are going?”

Varen stopped and hung his shoulders with a sigh, “I am going after him Xandria!”

“Oh no you're not,” she huffed, bringing her neck closer to his face. “You are far beyond the conflict rock. And you know good and well that the valley, especially this part, is not allowed for travel or conflict.

“And what of him!” Varen snapped back. “Why are you not going after him?”

“Oh don’t you worry. I will report everything to Crushious and he will find that orc and punish him accordingly.”

“That will be too slow, I'll just get him now.” Varen said as he tried to creep around one of Xanrdia’s four legs.

“Enough of that!” Xanderia said, as her tail swatted Varen in the back of the head, sending him falling onto his backside. Jiren laughed as he returned from getting his two daggers off the ground. “Serves you right, trying to play hero.”

Xandria turned and looked at Jiren, “oh don’t think you are off the hook either. You know fighting is only allowed within the dragons line if someone were to somehow make it into your territory. I’ll be sure you both get an earful from the Courtal Hall.”

“Aww,” both boys whined.

“What was that?”

“Nothing Xandria” they said in unison.

“What are we going to do with the girl?” Varen said dusting off his singed cloak and bending down over her body.

“What even is she?” chimed Jiren. “And why did the orc want her?”

“Hmmm.” Xandria pondered. “It is probably best to let the regional council decide what you should know. Now come on it is almost dark. Grab her, and I will fly you all back to town.”

Varen bent down and lifted her into his arms, and as he looked out deeper into the valley. He had a strange feeling of anger and worry deep in his stomach.