Fantasy Dragons Edge

[Carnation]

"I don't know!"Syn told Reena while holding up Phoenix who still had a drink in his hand. Syn laid down Phoenix and walked over to the remains of the entrance and picked up the bag filled with gold. "Must be for the repairs... Wait... This mark... Shadow Clan!.. But they never act this extreme unless someone betrayed them... As Syn said that his words started to trail off as he saw the cowled man who had been close to the explosives buried under rubble. "Amazing." Syn thought as he saw the man unscathed from the blast but was knocked out. This mage must have put up a guard spell long enough to block most of the blast but regrettably made him lose conscious. Syn picked the mage up and had his hand around him. "Reena! Will you please take Phoenix back to our room. I'll take this guy to the doctor to see how bad he is injured." As Syn took the mage to the doctor's the mage slowly began to regain consciousness.

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

The Young Mage indeed had saved his own life with quick thinking and raised a shield. The concussion wave however knocked his ass right cold on the ground amongst the rubble. His foes obviously didn’t believe him to have been able to survive such a blast as they did not check to see if he still breathed and for their arrogance alone he still lived. His shield however knocked out his other enemies rather effectively as it reflected most of the blast towards their direction. The fact that his foes knew how to find him so easily and set up this trap for him meant they had access to greater intelligence than he first thought. But the dregs of his healing body and mind overtook his thoughts and he fell back into unconsciousness. His final thoughts were. “Goddess thank you that all my shit is magically sealed.” The magic user groaned slightly as he was shifted about by the survivors of the blast but otherwise made no trouble.


@Carnation

 

[Viper]

Reena did as she was told and immediately took to dragging Phoenix home and throwing him into bed. She made sure he was fast asleep before running to the clinic. The stranger was awake and the doctor was finishing up the checkup. The person seemed to have gotten away with only scratches except a large lump on his head, it was probably the cause of him getting knocked out. Syn was sitting nearby, waiting patiently, but when he saw Reena he stood up. Reena waved him for him to sit down and walked up to the boy in green. She smiled lightly and introduced herself, "Hello, I'm Reena. I wanted to thank you for warning us before, if you didn't we would probably be in these be as well."

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

The young man shook off the attendants and slipped his cowl back on, taking refuge in the shadows that it provided to hide his face. The few cuts he sustained would heal shortly enough but until he was relatively alone he couldn’t risk healing himself. His last failed healing had done a little more than widen his own cuts. “I wouldn’t thank me.” The Mage replied softly. “I didn’t do it for you.” And indeed he hadn’t, he didn’t want more clans after his ass as there was two already and no doubt their deaths would be blamed upon him. Besides, these riders disgusted him. James misguided idea of what the riders were and their bonds with the dragons lead to revulsion within the magic user which was evident enough as he gripped his ironwood staff and fingered the shaft. “If you… would excuse me I must return to my companions” he lied smoothly. “They must be wondering what trouble ive gotten myself into”

 

[Viper]

Reena's smile twitched but she managed to keep it up, "If you meant to or not, you did it, and that means you deserve at least a bit of thanks." She no longer really meant her words but it was the call of polite society which made her continue the ruse, "I do hope you find your friends soon but know this, should you need some assistance in the future know that I owe you a favor. Safe travels" She finished and watched the boy leave. Only once she was sure he was long gone did she turn to Syn. "Well that guys rude. He may have saved our heads but that doesn't mean you can act like a dick to complete strangers. Do you want to go to the dragon haven and see Corruption and Domination with me? I feel the need to do something violent now."

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

James made it back to his little camp amongst a copse of trees not to far away from a stream and found it thankfully untouched and undiscovered. The Wards he placed before must have held and kept the unwary traveler and pesky thief from disturbing his little sanctuary. Packing up his meager belongings quickly he decided it would be the best course of action to leave the area quickly so as to avoid more trouble. Hunting down his hunters and eliminating them now would be in his favor before they became organized and began making themselves a real nuisance. But as he was finishing up his preparations he came to a horrifying conclusion. By the Goddess, his summoning leather was gone! His mind quickly flashes back to the girl who helped him earlier. HER! She might have taken it, inadvertently or it was still in the place where he was being treated for that explosion earlier! DAMNIT. he would have to go back and if he did not find it where he laid recovering, go and confront the girl. He simply hoped that he could do so before she got her dragon involved.

 

[Carnation]

As Syn and Reena were heading towards the dragon haven Lavarious whispered something to him. "Their is something here i want to check out... it's a magical item." Lavarious went in spirit form and hid in the flames as he found what looked like a plain piece of leather near where the explosion happened. "Hmmm... curious" As Lavarious touched it he felt part of the leathers magic pour into him. "Increadible!" He then grabbed the leather and laid it in Syn's hand. What is this Syn asked Lavarious as he placed the leather in his hand. "I don't know but i will soon. I love this feeling. Everything is so new to me!" Syn sighed. How can this phantom be a noble dragon lord much less an original dragon? I guess being trapped for centuries will make anyone act like this. Syn looked towards Reena as he was petting Corruption. "Thank you Reena for... you know saving me and Phoenix." Syn then got on Corruption and looked at Reena. "So what do you want to do now?"

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

A voice cut through the air sharply. "Id like you to hand over my summoning leather" The speaker turned out to be that Mage who was in the explosion earlier. He was standing in the shadows with only the lower half of his waist and feet visible. One couldn't help but get the feeling that he was rather annoyed yet with an underlying current of caution. Any one in tune with the magical arts would see a slight shimmer around the young magic users person which occasionally flared and cackled. Think of like a massive damn holding back an entire lake but only letting out a small little stream of energy, being entirely unaware of the power hidden behind the wall. That's what the Mage looked like to an adepts magical senses.


"I know you have it, I can sense it from here, small little bit of leather, a square with writing on it? Im assuming you know what writing is though the more I see of this place the more I see education isn't a priority." The magic user said disdainfully.

 

[Viper]

Reena found Domination with three smaller, although most dragons looked small in comparison, metal dragons looking up to him with a bit of awe. Domination loved the feeling yet when he saw Reena he quickly left the others and approached. Just as Reena got onto her dragons back a sharp voice rang tough the air. It was the rude boy from earlier and Reena knew exactly what he was looking for, Syn had it. She wasn't sure what it was but this boys aura was strange and making her a bit uncomfortable, Domination on the other hand wasn't effected. Although he had no idea what the human was talking about, Domi would not tolerate someone insulting his rider. "I highly suggest you watch your tone human, it is in your best interest. Whatever this mage is talking about, don't give it to him until he asks nicely and apologizes for his attitude."


"Mage?" Reena asked, she never thought they existed but until recently she didn't think a lot of things were true.


"Yeah" Domination said with a small growl in his voice, "I guess you can't see the magic around him but trust me, there is more to this human than just a flare for the dramatics"

 

[Carnation]

Syn looked at the piece of leather and opened it to see if their were any writing on it. As it opened the writing began to glow making his marks glow as well. This made Syn drop it . "what did that thing do to me?" syn motioned that his marks were glowing then they dimmed. Lavarious spoke in his head. "I figured it out. Thanks to you holding on to it for so long i can replicate its magic. It's a summoning leather. Although what it summons I do not know yet. Let's ask him" syn looked at the Mage "what does that thing summon?"

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

"That's none of your business as to what it summons, only that it is mine and id like it back before you kill us all with it." the Mage said rather matter of fact. "and why would I apologize to the people who have what is mine and refuse to give it to me? I'd thank you for finding it if I wasn't sure you took it in the first place." he said to the girls beast before turning back to the one holding his summoning leather. "Besides Rider, its useless to you unless your looking to give up your dragon which im rather sure your not as to..." The Magic user trailed off and tilted his head, all arrogance and pompous attitude gone, instead there was a sort of boyish curiosity. Like a child who had seen a new bug or animal for the first time. "I have no idea why they react that way... power speaks to power is suppose" the Mage mused to himself and started mumbling about parallel dimensional doorways and something to do with hunting grounds, the dead and daemons before he shook his head and got back on task. "Nevertheless, my leather if you would please" the young man said gripping his staff in one hand and holding out his other. Meanwhile he was in deep thought stretching out a tiny little tendrils of magic to loop around his summoning leather. James would rather it be handed to him but if not well. There was always plan B... plan B always sucked though.

 

[Carnation]

Syn was still uneasy about the experience but he sucked it up and picked up the leather and handed it to the mage. Corruption then materialized from the shadows that the mage was hiding in. It startled him a little but held his ground. Corruption then gave Syn a look. Syn faced the mage. "Sorry about my dragon startling you". Syn gave a smile. "We appear to have gotten on the wrong foot. Hello my name is Syn. May i ask what your name is?"


Back at the inn Phoenix was still drunk. "Ughh my head..." All he could remember was talking with girls, drinks and an explosion. That was all. he laid on top of the sheets with his drink still in hand. "Syn...Reena... where are you guys!". He got up but fell backwards back onto the bed asleep.

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

The Dragon coming from the shadows didn't startle him, it was the big bastard tripping his ward that made him start as he tried to recall the concussion spell he set up earlier as its underlying magical matrix warped that had him freaking out. A concussion spell would only piss a dragon off, worthless to start hostilities if only for a slight knock back and headache. But he decided to let them think so, the knowledge he had just about accidently fired a spell into this Syn's dragons face might be bad.


But as for a response James thought quickly. "Bando." the young mage said smoothly stashing away his summoning leather. Wheeeew. He would rather not have a Daemon running about, even one as young as this... Well... James paused. he was pretty sure the Daemon was young, he didn't exactally know. Twas the first time he had actually captured and observed one of this particular type. He was just glad everything hadn't hit the shitter but as for the whole glowing mark thing.


"What is that, those glyphs?" He said curiously with a tilted almost birdlike expression.

 

[Carnation]

Syn knew he could trust this man. Even though he was acting very suspicious Corruption gave her mark of approval. "I'll tell you if you tell me what that leather summons. it's a fair trade of interests to one magic user to another. I'll go first. These "glyph s" represent different attributes of dragons. There are 9 different attributes, and as you can see i have only 2. I've answered your question, and it's only fair to answer mine now.

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

Fair enough, a magical debate was something that james never passed up the opportunity to have. "A daemon, some sort of magical serpent that I captured in the aether realms not to long ago, ive never seen its like before. Looks like a basilisk but crossed with an Egyptian cobra. Big one, around 15 feet long is what I measured it by before I jumped from the Aether and back to Terra. Managed to catch and bind her due to the fact that...well im pretty sure she was digesting the last poor bastard who came walking around." James said enthusiastically. "Now back to the attributes, glyphs whatever. What do you mean by attribute and how would one acquire such glyphs?"

 

[Viper]

Reena could not relate to this conversation, she was a master smith and a modest enchanter, the only true magic she had much experience with was inside her dragon. She was far from dumb however, she could follow just not add. Instead of wasting her time giving her full attention to the magic users she slid of her dragon and began doing field repairs on her dragons armor using the portable kit she always carried. As she did so she tried to talk Domination down, he didn't care that Syn gave the leather back but he still didn't like the mage. Domination didn't trust him, he was rude, cocky, and a bit... to smooth. Domination knew from past experiences that mages were always more than they appeared, and rarely in a good way.


In quiet whispers they spoke to one another, "I don't trust him, so keep an eye on him." Reena explained that the mage saved their lives once, although he was far from friendly, "That changes nothing, he probably had an alternator motive. Besides, how did he know exactly where to find you in order to demand that summoning tool?" Reena nodded her head, in the end agreeing with her dragon.

 

[Carnation]

" These attributes represent the different elemental powers of dragons. To answer your question on how to get one you have to have a dragon pick you as its rider and it's elemental attribute or glyph is then marked on your arm. After Syn answered Lavarious was so excited that he now had enough magic and information to make such a creature the mage mentioned. Syn looked at the sky and the moon was starting to set in the west. " Well we can have a better chance of talking after tomorrows competition. After all it is getting very late and I have to check up on my little brother back at the inn." Syn put out his hand. "I wish you luck for the competition, friend.


As Syn saw the mage walkaway he heard him mumble about something. As he returned to Reena and Domination he could practically feel the weight of their gaze at him but mostly at the mage. It was obvious that they didn't trust him. Syn said goodnight to the dragons and walked back to the inn with Reena. Syn then found Phoenix laying across the beds and Syn got an annoyed look in his eye. He then picked him up and placed him in one of the chairs nearby. Syn then said goodnight to Phoenix and Reena and slept soundly until the morning light woke him up.

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

James left silently in deep thought about those attribute, as they were called, and wondered what they actually did. That rider said you got them from a dragon when it bonded with you but then by that account you could only have one. Its not like the dragons would let you bond 9 of em if that were even remotely possible which it wasn't. The human mind wasn't built for that type of strenuous act let alone the dragons willingly allow it.


It seemed he hadn't even left the riders by the time he made it back to his camp, so deep in thought was he that it had all seemed to pass him by.


His camp was hidden by a simply illusion spell that gave him more trouble than it should have in his opinion but it worked. Ordinary eyes would never see his little camp. Though there wasn't much to tell. A old ragged tent which was just a waterproof tarp propped up on two sticks and tied down with rocks, sleeping bag, couple of crates full of his stuff and a horse tied to a nearby tree. He lived it rough and alone... alone. James shook his head to clear it of the melancholy. Nothing more to be done about it, he had made his choice. James face planted his nasty old sleeping bag and passed out quicker than one could believe of the arrogant young mage. he snored rather loud to.

 

[Viper]

The light from the window broke Reenas sleep and forced her to get out of bed and shut the curtains. She felt fine from the night of drinking, as is common for blacksmiths, she was no stranger to alcohol. The other two boys on the other hand were still passed out so with silent footsteps she exited the inn and began to walk the streets. It was still early so the streets were rather empty, just a few merchants settling up shop for the day and other citizens. Reena took the time to chat with a few of them yet she learned nothing except that all of the riders coming in from anywhere to participate in the competition were starting to cause problems, problems greater than just simple bar fights. They were violent, rude, and using intimidation to get their way.


Thanking the shop keepers for their time Reena went to the sign up stand and signed up Syn, she figured that he would like to rest for as long as he could and loose the highly possible hangover he was going to wake up with. There were a few riders hanging out ,laughing and rough housing in the area and with a smile she approached them. The group seemed all to willing to have another rider join them and welcomed her with open arms. "Hey I'm Reena, steel clan." She introduced herself and everyone else did as well. There were typhoon, tundra, veja clan members in that group but they spoke of seeing teams from every clan throughout the weeks, "Did you guys here anything interesting, since you've been here longer?"


They were eager to tell of what they heard. The riders told of the recent appearance of the shadow clan and that now from every clan there have been tales of at least one being seen and they have been searching for something. "They have actually stolen things from a few of the clans, no one knows what it is that they took but the leaders seem to be in a frenzy. That is the real reason they are hosting this competition, they are looking for possible warriors to join a militia... an army. These are exciting times for sure."

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

Not to far away, sitting down on a wooden stump cross legged sat the Mage. Most of the riders and others avoided him since he didn't talk to them and they didn't talk to them so both groups were satisfied at said unspoken agreement. Tensions however were higher than normal for earlier on in the day, one of the riders got this idea into his head that hey! Lets go beat up the Magic user!


It had ended terribly, what was originally supposed to be a slight ruffing up and bullying around on the Riders part and his entourage, ended up in a quick smack down by the Mages part. The Magic user had sensed their intentions and before the Rider got within 20 feet of his person he enclosed the opposing mans feet in hard concrete like stone and then quickly smacked his head into the dirt with a small telekinesis spell. It had knocked the young cocky Rider out which of course sent his friends charging in for vengeance. They too shared similar fates before the Dragons could reach them and break it up. It had been to easy, none of them had even reached for magic and therefore they hadn't a chance in hell of getting near him with his large area of effect spells. Two had to be taken away on their friends shoulders because of the freezing spell he used might have been a bit much and their legs were still numb.


So now the gap between the Riders in the competition and the young Mage had been widened indefinitely. They stared at him with anger while he seemingly ignored it and sat upon his stump looking as if the world would pass him by and he not notice it. Subtly though, the Mage coughed and a trail of blood leaked out from his mouth and nose.


Damn... it was starting again. Over the Top perhaps? yes but necessary.

 

[Carnation]

As Syn rubbed the sleep from his eyes he could see Reena was gone but something bothered him. Lavarious manifested himself from the fire place. " you've sensed it too have you Syn. 2 bone marks have been taken. We must hurry." An hour or two passed when syn meet everyone at the arena where their were thousands of people cheering. Syn armoured himself up and when he put on his magma armour people couldn't keep their eyes off him. "I don't like getting all this attention, but it must be done."


At the sound of the canon competitors rushed in to get the prize which was in the center of the maze. It was a lot more elaborate then Syn remembered it to be. Their we're trees bigger then dragons and plenty of other obstacles guarding the prize. Like man eating plants and quicksand. At one point he was surrounded by a group of high class acting people who were mad at him for taking their spot light. Lavarious then used his wings to lift some quicksand and thrown at at them dirtying their armor and hurting their pride.


Lavarious knew where to go and after bypassing all the obstacles by swinging on the vines he found the center of the maze only to find that the Mage arrived at the same time. The wind seemed to stop blowing and all was silent. It was a showdown.

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

The Young Mage stared at the prize curiously, and after a minute looked up from it to His newly arrived competitors.


"Oh... its you, id stay and chat but I don't have the time nor patience to bother with you. Nagashira, if you would please take care of them. I believe ive overstayed my welcome."


Nagashira? who the hell was tha- oooooooooooohh.


A 25 to 30 foot majestic emerald green snake slithered out from where it had laid coiled up in the shadows of the maze. Its soft burning red eyes sparkled in the light with inhuman intelligence. It flared open a massive hood around its head like a Egyptian cobra save instead of spots it had what appeared to be extra eyes that stared unblinking at the world. It opened its massive maw and hissed menacingly, like water thrown upon a hot pan and burning into steam, two behemoth fangs dripped with a liquid that was probably not saliva. This was no natural creature. A basilisk, one of the ancient snakes whos gaze paralyzed those who looked upon its eyes and poisonous bite was deadly. It must have been the Daemon that the Mage had trapped in that summoning leather and from the look on the Mage's face, it took a lot out of him to keep it here and under control.


James knew the snake was obliged to protect him but keeping the Basilisk under control and preventing the magic which the daemon was trying to use to bind it here to him was difficult at the very least. He could only hope his... infirmity didn't break him before he succeeded in his goal.

 

[Carnation]

<p>Syn saw the mage struggle and he couldn't leave the man in a state like that so he hatched a plan. He remembered something Lavarious told him about the spell he learned last night, Syn began to chant in ancient dragon tounge when he summoned a flame tornado and a 40 foot Basilisk came out of it. This basalisk had magma scales, yellow hungry eyes and fangs longer then a spear, and sharper then a blade. It turned to Syn and slithered toward him rather menacingly. Lavarious told Syn that he needs to show that he is the master. So Syn jumped on the head of the monster and marked his symbol on top of its head. The creature stopped and waited for a command. Syn then jumped off of it and pointed to the smaller basilisk. It wasn't long before the bigger one swallowed the smaller one in one bite and Syn's basilisk then glowed. It opened its mouth and Syn could see it had a new ability. It now had venom fangs. It then brought its head down and Syn petted it. The basilisk then de-materialized into a small mark on his left blade. Syn then walked over to the mage. "Are you willing to finish this together friend?. As Syn dragged the mage to the podium where the trophy and bone mark were he placed his friend down and chanted a quick healing spell to cure the mage of the poisen and to heal the wound. As Syn helped him up to his knees and then he picked up the trophy. Horns blasted and confetti fell. The announcer spoke. 'Ladies and gentleman we have our winner!!!!"</p>

 

[Viper]

Reena cheered with the rest of the crowd, happy to see that Syn had gotten to the trophy first but more importantly he got the bone mark. As soon as Syn exited the maze and wasn't surround by people congratulating him, Reena ran to his and hugged him. She didn't think about it but once she realized what she was doing she stepped away from him and looked away, trying to hide her blushing face. "That's another one down, I'm surprised how easy this was. I think we should head for the..." Reena trailed off as she stared over Syns shoulder.


Pushing their way through the crowd several armored men walked up to Syn. They were wearing white armor and on closer inspection the center of their helms had a snowflake design. There were several other competitors following behind them with looks of pride on their faces. It was only when the leader of the Tundra guards approached and removed his helm did the two figure out why they were there. "Congratulations on your victory young man. I am Darius Himali,captain of the Tundra guards and tasked with finding talented riders such as yourself to join the militia. You will help bring us victory against the vile shadow clan and protect your clan, all the while gaining fame and fortune! If you would just come with us we will take you to the nearest base and introduce you to your new comrades." Several of the white clad men started to approach Syn and started to usher him away but Reena stepped in front of them. She opened her mouth to speak up the captain raised a finger and silenced her, "Please miss, this is important, we do not have time for your petty attempts to keep your boyfriend bound to your hip. So unless you know where the other boy from the end of the maze is, I suggest you step aside"

 

[Jarkov Malachai]

"Im right here you ignorant fools, why must you wear so much white? Bah its an eyesore" The voice of the young mage complained quickly cutting off into a violet hacking and coughing fit which blood leaked from his eyes and nose. Damnit, summoning that Daemon was more problematic than he thought. He summoned Nagashira back from the stomach of that other boys construct and the creature lost its venom fangs. How odd, he didn't know that constructs could do that, let alone overpower an actual Daemon. He must have bound Nagashira wrong or perhaps the she-daemon needed a stronger tie to this realm in order to access the snakes full potential and power? Nevertheless the summoning had gone awry, only explanation for his defeat here. He would need to study these dragon riders closer next time.


The Young Mage eyed the white clad men with distaste. "what is it you want of me?" he demanded whilst gripping his knarled and carved IronWood staff.


@Viper