DRAAILA'S WAY

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley, but Yuin insisted he saw one like the stories from their childhood. An oil which stung like a thousand wasps dribbled from its terrorising jaws as their thunderous strength threw them through the jungle, crashing and snapping, the rugged foliage echoed as it’s shivering hissed roared you still.

The stories also said they thrived, and they grew, but then Requis came and gripped Hinochus with their requisition. Now the Arqron of Life had no need for their protection.

“Now they’re back? How?” Draaila pushed for answers.

“Ask the Lightkeepers. A boltman moves with the arrows, I answer to the Emperor, not the Elderlife, or even the whispers from their Teqrons. It was real, as big as the Grand Rollock and its scales as hard as Jolcorium steel.” Yuin proclaimed.

Draaila turned to a window overlooking her village built amongst the canopy of the Great Jungle of Hinochus. The colossal branches of the great Hinocarps trees made the foundation for their wooden huts and holdings. Homes, halls and corridors even cut and burrowed into the wood, while pathways and stairs spiralled and twisted to the peak of the 400 foot tall trees. A platform in the centre lit with candles and mirrors made their place of gathering, celebration, and ceremony. The noise of commune and fellowship blended into the surrounding buzz of wildlife.

They made life here, and after her father’s disappearance, they chose her as their new village leader. But most men join the Requisian imperial legions and only the height defended from the jungle floor. “Why won’t they spare?” she thought.

“Yuin, I’ll need you to take me to the Arqron and your commander,” she asked.

“And my leave? Can it wait until after the cycle’s blossom?”

“If what you tell me is true, then I need more than just your help to protect this place.” Draaila said as she pulls out an old battered chest from under her bed, revealing her crocodile leather armour and her Yochus blade.

“We leave within the hour. Quick, grab your boltman armour!” she continued, slipping on her wear.

Within a second, Yuin was through the door. The flutter of branches and leaves knocked Draaila’s younger brother from a nearby perch.

“Leo?” asked Draaila as she sheaths her blade and helps him to his feet.

“You’re going to the Arqron? Can I come?” pleads Leo, brushing leaves and bark from his hair.

“No, you need to stay here where it’s safe.”

“But I was reading about the 9th Eldertruth’s teachings and he said that it’s the Arqron of Life which grows things big.”

Draaila let out a subtle smirk and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Or maybe you could try eating giant’s grule like father suggested. You need to stay here.”

Leo’s head dropped with disappointment as Draaila’s hand reached for his other shoulder. “I’ll be back before the second night,” she assures, nudging him back towards the other children playing and swinging from the canopy.

Leaving the village, the drawbridge lowered. Draaila scanned Yuin's armour as it glistened against the candle light and clanked with the Requisian mechanisms. The light plating and leather was coated imperial blue and golden, embroiled with the Emperor’s mark and his legion’s symbol, an arrow of thunder. His right arm carried his boltshot, a repeating crossbow linked to tethers and strings functioning to reload by the movements from his limbs. A boltman shoots quicker when moving quicker, the Requisians would say.

The candle lit path ended onto the branch ways, connected with bridges and parallel branches bonded together with rope and steel. The constant use had worn the branches down to an easy path. Level and stable, and wide enough to support a 3 man wide Requisian column. It was clear, and it covered most of their journey.

Eventually lowing closer to the jungle floor, Draaila looked down at the lush and vibrant plant life below. Only the chirps and howls of life echoed, but still no dragons. Not the hissing of their roar, or the crash of their thunderous sprint.

“Halt!,” barked Yuin. “There! Do you see that?”

Draaila dropped to cover, her heart pounded with fear. Yuin raised his boltshot but still Draaila couldn’t see. Then a figure passed by the brush below. It was tall, dark and shrouded with rags. “It’s a Wanderer,” Yuin whispered ecstatically. “Tales from the Requisian scrolls, they’re dead, ancient, and cursed to wander the world forever.”

Draaila leapt to her feet for a better look. The Wanderer stopped and turned its gaze to the two travellers in the branches above.

“Are they dangerous?” quizzed Draaila, squinting her eyes to see under their shadowy veil.

“Compared to a dragon? Harmless. They avoid people.”

In a moment of the glistening light, a deep red shined from its forehead, its eyes were deep black and its skin dark, rotten and warped.

“Is that a Teqron?!” Draaila perked. “There! Above its eyes!”

“It’s red with power, not green with life,” Yuin blurted with intrigue.

“Shouldn’t you be trying to take that for the requisition?”

“There hasn’t been an Elderpower for over 200 years. The Emperor saw them as a threat to his reign and burned down the House of Power.”

The Wanderer turned its gaze back to its path and disappeared back into the dense jungle.

“Come, we best keep moving,” Yuin continued.

“A Teqron of Power? What can they do?” asked Draaila as she picked up her pace to catch up.

“I don’t know, different types of power magic I guess. Ask a Lightkeeper when we get to the Arqron.”

“What does that mean? I thought magic is a power?”

“Look, all I know is the Elderlife had a Teqron, which helped a childless woman conceive. That one refracted a deep, vibrant green. Who knows, maybe he just fucked her.”

“And what about using them against a dragon?”

“I don’t think a Life Teqron would help against a dragon, Draaila.”

The branch way descended to a stone road which was worn and embedded with roots and ferns, laid years prior by the Requisian empire. A sign with wilting paint marked the route. “Only a few more miles until the Arqron,” Draaila thought. But the road was eerily quiet, without a person or another Requisian soldier in sight.

“I thought there would be more people,” she relayed her concern, “this Arqron is within reach of the Trium. It’s the Requisian’s reason for being here.”

“Or they come here to heal,” said Yuin as he sweeps an area of the surrounding brush, revealing a Lightkeeper unconscious and pale.

Draaila leapt forward, “Are you ok?!”

Her hand burned as it slipped off his sweat soaked white linen. Yuin kneeled and pulled forward his right shoulder. The white linen turned red with blood. His arm was missing.

“A fiery fever and part of him eaten. Shit! It was a dragon!” Yuin gasped.

Draaila stood, struck with fear.

“Quick! You run to the Arqron!” screamed Yuin.

“What about you?!”

“I need to lead it away. It’ll still be close. Now go!”

Draaila burst into motion, her hair stood on end, her sprint threw her with reason. The sound of each gasp of her breath and thudding footstep muffled her rear. “Is it chaising me?” her mind filled with fear. She dare not slow to check.

Then the jungle receded, and she saw her destination peaking above the white walls and triangular buildings of the requisition. The Arqron of Life.

The pearl white tetrahedron stood 500 foot tall, the clouds glistened with the green refracted light. It was smooth, seamless and older than the land itself. She struggled not to trip in awe of its beauty as her sprint turned into leaps.

A gate was near and in relief, it opened. Throwing herself in she slammed it behind her. Falling against a wall in exhaustion, the aged white Requsian concrete that sheltered the brick crumbled with her.

Catching her breath, she took another look at the Arqron. The summit was lit. A pillar of light brighter than the sun reached for the heavens. “Is the Elderlife in manifest or is a ritual in motion?” she pondered.

But everything was quiet, not a sound of barter, cheer, or ritual echoed. She pulled herself to her feet and made her way towards the steps of the Arqron. “Hello!?” she cried out.

The town’s streets opened to the square of the Requisition. To her shock, a pile of dead bodies filled the very centre. A group of men with their heads down in prayer surrounded. “More Lightkeepers?” she thought, but the closer she got, the more she noticed. “Armour?”

Their dress was heavy with steel, painted white and embroiled with 9 triangles of coloured marble matching the manifests. The centre of their chest plate showed the mark of the World’s Eye, and the Shattered Mountain. “Hello! I need help!” plead Draaila.

The men raised their heads and turned. “I’m from a village half a day’s walk away! I need help!” she continued.

“So do we,” a voice from behind her startled. She turned and a crowd of them circled.

“Please! I’m just here looking for help!” Draaila begged, collapsing to her knees.

Then one of the men stepped forward, his mantle and mark of the Eye glistened gold. An opened palm waved, and they all removed their helmets.

“We’re the Keepers of the Solqron. I’m this cohorts leader, Troaxus. Are you a native of Hinochus?” he questioned.

“Yes,” Draaila answered.

“And you are without mark of the empire. You have our protection.”

“There are dragons. Please, my village needs help!”

“We know. We released them.” Troaxus said, unsheathing his sword, revealing a red Teqron embroiled to the hilt, lifting it to point at the pillar of light above the Arqron. “It wasn’t anticipated.”

His hilt then lowered towards the pile of deceased Requisians. Then a fire started without a reason. It spread and consumed in a blanket of fire and crackling smoke . “But they made short work of the Requisian legion.”

Draaila gasped in awe at the magic, his manifest of power. “Aren’t you a Requisian?”

“Our way of the requisition is not of the Elder’s scripture, half truths or dominion, but of the Solqron.”

Then Draaila realised, these weren’t soldiers of the Requisition, but heretics and rebels, a chaos they’re called. “The Keepers of the Solqron? I thought Lightkeepers couldn’t use Teqrons, failed students I’ve heard.”

“I was a student of the Eldertruth, and then became a Truthdivine, but my desire to learn all the manifests brought me to the Komovian ruins of Zorichus. There I found a tomb, and there I learned a truth. This Teqron wasn’t my only reward, but so was knowledge. Now I lead these Lightkeepers for the requisition of the Solqron against the will of the Elders or their shitstain Emperor.”

Draaila stood, determined. “I am not a native of politics or religion, but of here. I only have a duty to my village and my brother’s protection.”

“Draaila?!” Leo cried as he emerged from behind the wall of the steel armoured Requisian heretics and dashed towards her.

Troaxus chuckled, “we found him following you.”

“Leo?!” Draaila shouted, embracing her brother.

“Why did you follow me?” she continued.

“I really wanted to see the Arqron. I have something to tell you. Guess who I spoke to?”

“It can wait until we’re home.” Draaila assured, turning her attention back to Troaxus.

“Thank you, Troaxus. You have my trust.”

Before Troaxus could reply, the noise of an arrow hitting his armor stuns as his Lightkeepers start to drop around him. The spray of blood from direct neck hits throws him into motion. Swerving and bowing, Yuin appears having depleted his repeating crossbow and draws his blade, swiftly knocking Troaxus’s sword from his hand.

“You fucking bitch! I should’ve just let my cohort fucking rape you!” Troaxus screams in a fury, leaping forward to grab his sword.

“No, stop!” Draaila screamed.

Yuin’s quick moves grabs Troaxus’s sword from under him. In a moment of helplessness, Troaxus grips Leo’s throat and throws him over his shoulder.

“Keepers of the Solqron, shield!” Troaxus barks.

The remaining heretics race in to shield Troaxus and retreat up the Requisian built stairway to the peak of the Arqron. Draaila screams in horror as Leo's face turns white with terror.

“Put him down!” Yuin roared, pointing Troaxus’s own sword at him, but nothing ignited.

Then there was a rumble and a shivering hiss. The Solqron Keepers froze. Yuin and Draaila turned to realise why Leo was so terrified. A dragon had appeared and was ready to charge. Its jaws were lapped and dripping with drool, its chest raised and bulging.

“Quick! Through the Arqron now!” Troaxus ordered to his cohort.

The Keepers of the Solqron made haste up the stairway, Draaila and Yuin chased after. The dragon charged with its full weight, pulling itself up the steep angle, snapping, growling, and licking the air at its retreating feast.

“Keep going, Draaila!” Yuin shouted.

“Save Leo! Quick, get after them!”

Yuin nodded, and the boltman dashed in a quick pace. Draaila could feel her legs start to lock with exhaustion, but the dragon didn’t seem to tire. Feeling her last moments, she crashed to her knees and pulled out her blade, bracing for its colossal jaws.

“Draaila, catch!” screamed Yuin, throwing Troaxus’s sword to her.

A swift grab from the air swung both points of each blade towards the beast. She screamed in defiance, and in an instant, the dragon burst into a ball of flames, letting out a dying roar as it slipped back down to the Requisian square below. Yuin gasped in disbelief. Troaxus and his Keepers paused, Leo began hitting and pounding, hoping to break free. Draaila’s fear turned to power, and she smiled.

“Quick!” Troaxus screamed.

Draaila turned and pointed the sword at Troaxus, but it was too late. They had disappeared into the pillar of light.

Yuin halted at the summit. The light was bright white, inviting and warm. Draaila, pulled herself to Yuin’s side.

“Where did they go?!” she yelled.

“Through the light. Do you see that?” he replied, lost in a trance.

Draaila stared into the light, the haze revealed another world beyond. “It looks like another jungle, but are those Komovian buildings?”

“They look far from ruined.”

“They took Leo. What do we do?”

“You have the way of the requisition.”

“What do you mean?”

“You haven’t trained a day in your life with a Teqron, yet you outmatched that Troaxus cunt with your manifest. I say we go after him.”

“He was going to protect us until you killed several of his men.”

“Their heretics Draaila! I would get my head cut off with an axe if I didn’t fulfill my duty to the requisition!”

“But now Leo’s gone!” she screamed, bursting into tears.

Yuin gulped and turned back to the light. “I’ll go first then,” he said as he takes in a breath and leaps into the unknown.

Draaila flinches, stopping herself from following. With tears running down her cheeks, she knew this is where the dragons came from. She closed her eyes and accepted the fight. She gulped and took a deep breath before bursting into motion. Charging into the light she embraced it and allowed it to swallow her entire existence. But it felt like falling, then nothing, suspended in a realm of pure white light. “Am I dead?” she thought.

Every image in her head became real around her. She could experience every moment she remembers with a sharp sense. Then she remembered Leo, and the white light parted to the world she saw. This is where he is.

“Draaila? Are you ok?” Yuin asked.

“Yuin?” she replied, dazed and confused.

“We’re here,” he said, pulling her to her feet.

“Where?”

“I don’t know.”

Draaila rubbed her eyes and scanned the heavens. They were on top of another Arqron, but it was dark and the constellations didn’t fit home. A moon that filled half of the sky glowed a vibrant green. A tall jungle feathered the horizon, with the Komovian dragon pits, halls and towers below. They weren't like the ruins from home, or even tied with cement, but with trees and vines which spiralled and clutched the brick in place. Then she noticed.

“Those look too civilised to be giants,” she remarked.

“I think those are Komovians, Draaila.”