The Boy who Saw the Light

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. That was what the stories claimed, but for the boy, the sky of black was all he ever knew. Flakes of white drifted through the air, amassing on the bodies scattered around the ground. How many of them were still alive; the boy didn’t know. They’d been crouching for well over an hour, and in the upper realm, that could be enough.

When the boy was young, his mother had held him close, telling him that the white specs meant the under realm to anyone who touched them. Six years later, and the boy knew better. The flakes dancing around them did mean death but only if they stayed out long enough. Eighteen hours was their limit before the toxins claimed them, but those final hours were drawing dangerously close.

The adventuring party needed to move fast, the boy knew, else they’d never make it back to the gates in time, but Twelve Eyed Umber had yet to give the signal. Positioned at the head, the dark-skinned man gave no indication that he still belonged to this world, but if he had passed on, the boy knew there was no hope for the rest of them.

An unnatural wind swept through the field, and the warmth of smoke wrapped around the boy. His insides turned, and a growling made his hair stand on end. Gritting his teeth, he refused to accept his fate, and he curled his hands around his crossbow. Leaping up, he turned and aimed at what lay behind him.

One bolt through the eye. That’s all it takes. Umber’s words sliced through his mind, but before the boy could pull the trigger, something heavy struck him in the side. Falling to the ground, he saw his older brother sprawled out on top of him.

“Stay down.” His rugged voice dripped with fear, and the smoke parted to reveal the same emptiness that filled the rest of the Valley.

Was it just the boy’s imagination getting the better of him? He could have sworn he heard something behind him, but then, he glanced down at his stomach, shrunken inward to the point where he could see his bones. As if this world wasn’t cruel enough, even the boy’s own body was working to get him killed.

Up at the front, Umber gave the signal, and the adventuring party rose to their feet. Half of them glared daggers at the boy, and he took each of them. Thanks to his fear, he had almost gotten himself and who knew how many others killed. That was why they waited for Umber’s command. If the winged beasts caught even one member of their party moving about, the flames could take the rest of them in a matter of seconds. The boy knew that, and yet, he had put them all at risk. Why? Why had he done that?

He shook his head and pressed forward. He knew the reason, and that was why he had no objection to the glares. He had done it because that was what he always had done. From the moment he was born, he’d fought to survive. When a death beetle crawled into his crib, he’d crushed it underneath his fist. When a pack of rabid dogs broke into his family’s house, he’d cut through them one at a time, and today was no different. No matter the size. No matter how impossible. No matter how many had failed before them. The boy refused to submit to those monsters. Even if his fate was inevitable, he would not go silently into the darkness.

Turning to his brother, he wanted to thank him, but he knew that would not go over well with the rest of the party. In the upper realm, words were as scarce as natural light. There were glimpses here and there between the sea of smoke up above, but rarely was one able to bask in its beauty for more than a few seconds.

One day. The boy thought. One day I’ll pass beyond the clouds of darkness, and I’ll see the sun everyone keeps talking about. A giant ball of fire in the sky. Such an idea seemed too strange to be made up, but the boy knew he would never know the truth until he glimpsed it with his own eyes. One day, I’ll find the light. One day, we’ll tear through the darkness, and everyone down below in the tunnels can finally be free.

A hand clapped down on his shoulder, and the boy realized he had drifted off into his thoughts. Turning, he saw his brother’s concerned expression, although as of late, that seemed to be the only shape his face knew. Unlike the boy, his brother had no desire to venture into the upper realm, but when the boy had announced his intentions, the brother had vowed to come along.

He fears for me. The boy knew. I’m sure he would have preferred if we stayed below and never ventured out, but where would that leave us?

If they and the rest of humanity kept to themselves down in their tunnels, they’d be trapped, living in fear for now until the end of time. In order for that to change, their race needed people like the boy, Twelve-Eyed Umber, and the other twenty adventurers who were willing to put their lives on the line. Even if it was just little bit at a time, the more they ventured out into the upper realm, the more they could expand their boarders.

Rumor had it that past the Valley lay a world of monsters capable of rivalling the dragons. If humanity could reach them, perhaps they could strike some kind of alliance against the sky devils, but for such a treaty to be forged, first humanity had to escape. That was why they needed adventurers. With each voyage, they progressed further towards the end of the Valley, but even after a decade of their efforts, they’d only covered half the distance. In the process, they’d lost thousands to both toxins and flames.

There was a saying back home. When one went on a voyage, they should bring enough for two trips, one for the upper realm and one for the under realm. Of course, no amount of preparation could prepare one for either.

“Down.” A whisper shot through the party, and the brothers dropped to their bellies. A moment later, a dark blanket soared overhead bringing with it a torrent of wind. The white specs kicked up from the ground, swirling into the air, and the boy stabbed an arrow into the dirt below him to keep from being forced to his feet.

If the dragon sees us, there’ll be no escape, the boy knew. Their only hope was that they’d blended into the ground before it could spot them, but hope was a cruel mistress. In the blink of an eye, the darkness above shifted and spiraled downward.

One of the party, a man by the name of Slim Sandar realized the situation before the rest of them and dashed away from the group. A noble attempt that drew the beast away from the group, but heroics were never rewarded. In seconds, the dragon was on top of him, and with one swift movement, its claws snatched the running man, disappearing into the black sky as quickly as it had appeared. However, Sandar’s fate could be viewed as merciful as even the most inexperienced member knew that once one dragon claimed a meal, the others would not be far behind.

“Run!” Umber’s voice echoed through the valley. “Armen. Salvar. Split off!”

The adventurers jumped to their feet and rushed forward with all their might, dropping any supplies that wouldn’t help them fend off the dragons. The slowest of them, Armen and Salvar stayed behind, mounting a defense to buy as much time as possible, and as the boy raced past them, he let out a pray for their souls.

“Your sacrifice won’t be in vain!” Tears amassed in his eyes, but he didn’t let them slow his run.

The Gates of Gloin, the closest of the seven cities, was an hour trek from their location, but the boy knew he could make it in a quarter of that if he didn’t stop to look back. At his side, his brother screamed at him to move faster, but between the two of them, it was not the boy who would fall behind. Up ahead, one of the women tripped, bashing her face against the cold, unfeeling ground. Sitting up, the impact seemed to have knocked the common sense out of her and she forgot what they were doing. Reaching out, the boy tried to help her, but his brother caught his hand.

“She’s already lost!” He screamed. The boy did not agree, but by the time, he freed his hand, the woman was already in the distance. If she wasn’t doomed then, she was now, and the boy could not risk returning for her.

A thunderous roar shook the valley, and the boy felt his feet flailing in the air for a second before crashing against the dirt. Stumbling, he didn’t slow, even as cries of terror filled the sky. Claws descended and bodies flew side to side. One of them might have been his brother, but the boy was running too fast to tell who was alive or dead.

Just like before, he would fight and struggle to survive. The world could throw its worst at him, and he would take it all. That was the story of humanity. The sky devils would burn and claw and devour them, but they kept on resisting, no matter what.

Red flashed through the air, and a dark shape descended from the sky. The boy had only a second to react before claws sharper than swords tore into his flesh. Diving to the ground, he evaded the attack by inches.

Fight. Struggle. Survive. The boy staggered to his feet, heart slamming against the bars of his chest. Live to see another day. He took a step forward, but it was too late. The darkness returned, and as it crashed to the surface in front of him, pillars of specs lifted off the dirt, forming a wave of colorless chaos.

Gritting his teeth, the boy stood his ground, refusing to give up. Glancing down at his hands, he saw he still had his crossbow. One bolt to the eye. That was all it took, and taking a final breath, he aimed at the beast. Its red eyes glowed with malice, and steam flooded out of its nostrils. Still, the boy did not cower. He would never show fear. Not to the dogs. Not to the dragons. Not to this world. He would live through this, and he would see the light beyond the valley.

His finger closed around the trigger, and the crossbow shuddered. The bolt shot forward. A hissing sound pierced through the air, and the boy could see it was aimed straight for the beast’s left eye.

Clink.

The dragon twisted its head, and the bolt bounced off its scales. The boy had missed. Hope was indeed a cruel mistress. With one missed shot, there was nothing the boy could do, no weapon he could use to fend off the dragon. The rest of his party were either dead or had left him behind to save themselves.

“It’s not fair.” The boy’s lip quivered. “Not here. Not now. Not when I haven’t even gotten a glimpse. Haven’t I earned that!” Who he was yelling at even he didn’t know. “After all I survived, how can it end like this! It’s not fair!”

The boy received no response apart from the dragon who opened its mouth, revealing row after row of bloodstained teeth. How many humans had this single dragon devoured? What was their purpose apart from being a light meal for the beast? Was the boy’s purpose no different? In a day, would a streak of red running down some teeth be the only sign he once existed in this world. After all he had done, was that all he could accomplish? Was this all humanity could accomplish? After one hundred and fifty years, were they doomed to be nothing more than food for these monsters?

No! The boy did not cower before the devil before him. One day. That day is not today, but one day humanity will break free from this cage. One day we will escape this valley, and we will bring a force that will wipe out every last one of you. The days of dragons are at an end.

The demon did not answer. Instead, something began building in the back of its mouth, something the boy had not yet seen. A faint light, a mixture of red, orange, and yellow. The boy could not believe his eyes. The sun he’d heard about so long ago, the one that awaited them outside the valley was in front of them all along, in the belly of the beasts, and with a growl, the dragon unleashed all of it.

A smile stretched across the boy’s face, and arms outstretched, he stepped into the light.