Blazzin book one

  Section one

  Prologue

  7/18/1378

  The heavy clomping of horses' hooves and the clinking of armor and equipment resounded softly on grassy plains as a large force of cloaked figures rapidly advanced upon a faraway, heavily fortified Friel settlement, Freladally. The settlement was nestled in a flowery valley at the base of a small, half-circle chain of mountains.

  The valley was a picturesque sight, with dense clusters of trees forming a forest from the north side of the walled Town to the north and west sides at the foot of the mountains. It stretched another kilometer through and past a passageway between a pair of mountains.

  The leader of the soldiers came to a stop a distance away from their target and ordered the rest of the group to halt. The large group of soldiers followed the lead of their ranks and came to a stop. The lead commander dismounted from their horse and cleared their throat.

  "All right, ladies and gentlemen, we're almost to the Friel settlement, so gather around and listen for my orders," he said gruffly. The man speaking was wearing a dark black jacket and pants, with a white hooded cloak tied around his neck featuring the emblem of a boulder on the back, inscribed with runes that read "Devotinaries of the Rock" above the depiction of the boulder. Under the image, read " 7th Commander of the Crusader Division." Adorning his jacket were a few metal pins of various sizes and alloy types displaying his rank and achievements. The man had a rough-chiseled face, that of a 40-year-old, with a short military haircut. He spoke to his soldiers, who wore the same attire as him but with their ranks, facing the few hundred-person congregations with a few officers by his side. The soldiers he faced stood by their horses and siege equipment, listening intently for their orders for the day's excursion.

  We will watch the city burn before returning triumphantly with the defeat of these heretics and then celebrate our victory with a feast unto our god for empowering us," the commander announced triumphantly. Then, he cleared his throat, readying to speak again.

  "Our final goal is to defeat and bring their 'Guardian Dragon'bound to our home, where we will offer the foul vermin as a sacrifice to please our god at the end of our feast, and we shall exploit the Majic of the Dragon to hunt down more of its kind to fulfill the commandments of our god." The commander shouted the last of his statement before continuing after another breath.

  You should all remember your squad assignments. Now, everybody, mount your horses and prepare to move out, " the army commander said before mounting his horse. Hundreds of soldiers shouted back, "YES, SIR!" as they swung their legs over their horses or hoisted themselves to set out on the carts that held their extra equipment.

  The commander and his officers, comprising four female human captains, one female co-commander, and three male human captains, mounted their horses and lined up before their squads, awaiting the order to advance.

  With a scowl, the commander turned back to face his soldiers, yelling rapidly, "First squad advance, second squad advance, third squad advance, fourth squad advance, fifth squad advance, sixth squad advance, seventh squad advance, special squad advance." With a final yell, all the army divisions advanced towards conquest. The final audible yell from the commander was, "Devotionaries and martyrs of our god, advance and show no mercy; crusade until the mission is fulfilled." After the announcement, the Crusaders advanced at full speed.

  An hour later, the southern men of the rock reach their destination. The soldiers begin to besiege the Friel people. The soldiers carted a wheeled construct to the west gate. The construct utilized a heavy log with pulleys and levers designed for smashing a gate open. The soldiers worked the construct; the construct slammed into the gate, sounding off with "Thunk, thunk, Crick, and a Crack" as it smashed into the gate and finally broke it. Once the soldiers cleared the rubble away from the gate, the siege construct was pulled back from the gate by its operators, and the broken gates were flooded by dozens of soldiers three abreast.

  Chapter One Ablaze

  The soldiers made their way through a block of the Town before they were met with any resistance.

  By the time some of the Town's guards arrived, the soldiers had already razed nearly a dozen buildings to the ground. One after another, they burnt houses made of twisting tree roots. The force of white-cloaked soldiers destroyed 3/5ths of the meager group that opposed them, no more than 13 guards. But still, the martyrs of the rock lost a half dozen squadrons in the engagement. A few moments later, a larger group of guards, maybe a few dozen, came to back up the survivors of the first group.

  This group of town guards fought well with the few they had before being overtaken and retreating from the fight. The only two survivors, both observers, were identified by the masks they wore to improve their vision. The two fled upon receiving the charge of notifying the other guards. The two observers —one wearing a Spiky Owl mask and the other a Raven Mask —ran for a short distance before the Raven Mask told the Owl Mask, "Go and alert the others, I will guard your escape."

  The Raven mask observer did as they were bidden and ran to alert the others. The Owl Mask observer readied their bow and ran back into battle, jumping a couple of feet off the ground, their wings holding them suspended as they looked over the battlefield until they spotted an invader breaking the defense of a guard. He nocked an arrow from his quiver as he raised his bow to his chest, pulling the string and arrow with it and aiming at his marked foe before releasing the arrow. The arrow soared over the heads of his comrades before piercing through the right shoulder of an invader on the front lines. The wounded soldier jerked their arm back in pain and was thereafter taken down by a guard who stood in front of the indavder while she fretted over her pain. The Owl Mask observer continued similarly and took out six more guards, totaling seven, before his wings were shot through by an arrow coated in a black fog that streaked the air between the invader and him. The hovering Friel observer fell from the air, a horrified look across his face as he felt his large butterfly-like wings melt by the black fog that shrouded him and enveloped him in an acidic and suffocating cloud.

  The observer had taken out seven before falling, while the remaining men and women who could fight killed nearly a hundred invaders.

  The owl mask observer swiftly ran to notify the other guards, but didn't think he could reach them in time. So he then sent a message through an arrow and shot it to where the other guards were stationed.

  The owl mask observer jumped onto the roof of a house with the assistance of his wings. He posted himself on the roof, crouching low to the rough wooden surface. He crouched there on the roof, watching and waiting for the guards he sent for. He watched for a short while as the guards reached a group of invaders and took out roughly a dozen squadrons. Owl mask contemplated giving ranged support, but decided against it in favor of figuring out if the Aerial wards were off yet, so they could begin evacuation protocols. Thus, Owl mask flew off towards the

  center of the settlement, rallying civilians as he led them to the aerial ward generators

  The group Friel that was in charge of the aerial wards said they could not open the wards for another 20 minutes, so Owl Mask flew back out of the grand guardian tree that supplemented their aerial wards.

  Owl mask saw as he flew to rally more civilians to the north exit, that by then, the raiders had made their way towards the center of Town.

  This is sure going to be quite the report when this is over. Owl mask thought to himself, scanning the area for any survivors in the southern part of the settlement. With his limited range telepathy, he transmitted the message: "All non-active military please evacuate to the northern exit, I repeat evacuate to the northern exit, the ward masters will give you further guidance." was the message he sent to all of the Friel that could access their telepathy. As Owl Mask spotted a group of Friel in need, he angled his trajectory to help them. He was spotted by a few soldiers from a moderate distance, and several fired at him. Multiple arrows wizzed past Owl Mask, grazing his skin, while a few flew through his wings, leaving small gaps the wing could flow through, and knocked the Friel Owlmask observer to dive out of the way out of desperation. An arrow shrouded in dark energy clipped through a wing. The dark energy slowly started to corrode the Friel's wings. The Owl mask observer tried to dismiss his wings and absorb them back into himself, but failed as they completely dissolved; he rapidly plunged to the ground, bracing for impact.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Earlier that day

  I woke up this morning to my sister's insistence that we just had to make breakfast and meet up with our friends so early in the morning. It feels like my sister waking me up with her characteristic troublemaking was a distant memory of a long-past life. It didn't feel like it, but this morning and early afternoon were the last time life would be peaceful here for me. "Draxsssson, wake up, come on, make breakfast, and eat before meeting our friends. Come on, Draxssssson, we don't have any school today. You can sleep later, you big lizard!" she said with such conviction before she huffed and smacked me with one of her wings; my sister grew Dragon parts when agitated as well; it seemed that commanding the power inside of her; she probably got such control from our dad, but anyways her smacking me with the rough meshy part of her wing across my face is what elicited a response from me. "Hey, little Dragon, what are ya doing waking me up like that, don't you kn…." "Smack," she flapped her wing, bringing it swiftly across my face. She faced away from me and tried to play it off as if her wings were just twitchy. "You were not asleep, Draxson. I have the same senses that you do. You're not going to sneak off without me again, are you?

  "Are you still mad about that? That was like one time, and we were sneaking off to make something for our mothers, and I didn't want you finding out and telling Mom before I could give it to her." I said, rubbing my face, where her wings had twice smacked me. "Well, that still doesn't justify it, Draxssson; I would have never sold out your surprise to Mom," she stated sassily. "Yes, you would have." "No, I wouldn't." "Yes, you would," we bickered back and forth before Dralasis got annoyed and finally looked me in the eyes. "No, I wouldn't have told on my own brother, not even if he's a big scary lizard," she said, smiling, which also, in turn, drew out my annoyed response; she knew just how to invoke agitation. "Hey, I'm not a lizard-" I stopped mid-sentence, almost yelling, but I had a second thought because I didn't want to wake up my brother or mom. Dad wasn't there at the moment because he said he had to go to his homeland for some Dragon war or something. I surrendered to my sister and said, "Okay, maybe you wouldn't have, but we should probably eat now. I'm hungry."

  Without missing a beat, she made a snide remark about me under her breath: "Of course, you're thinking about food, you big fat lizard." I got out of bed and lightly tapped her on the back of her legs with my tail as I said, "Cut it out, Dralasis." I said, rolling my eyes, before walking into the kitchen. With the help of my sister, we made some omelets and some crepes. We then woke up our brother and mother and ate together. We cleaned up and left before I could say bye to Mom. Dralasis was dragging me out the door to where we would meet our friends.

  We reached our destination about a few minutes later when, out of the blue, Dralasis tapped me on the shoulder as she ran away, saying, "Tag. You're it, everybody run, the lizard is gonna get us!" she said, giggling as my friend Bodezic, his brother, and the five others my sister was friends with. Scattered in multiple directions. Bodezic stopped and looked back at me, saying, "Sorry, pal, looks like you're it this time; I hope you don't lose." Bodezic said, turning back and running away. My sister must have plotted it; if I couldn't tag everybody before we were called back home, I would have to marry a tree and take care of it for a week, as was agreed upon when we played this game. I wasn't going to lose this time. I thought to myself.

  You won't find it here if you wonder what a tree marriage is. It's a profound and sacred practice for my people, but you'll see the details in my notes later. Over the next hour, I frantically ran to catch up with all eight tag participants. I caught them one by one. First, I caught Bodezic, "I got you, brother. Go help me catch Dralasis; I'll get your brother." I said as I tagged him and continued chasing after the fleeing group. I looked over my shoulder to see Bodezic smile at me, waving as he said, "No problem, leave it to me; I'll go get your sister if I can." The second one I caught was Bodezic's brother and three of Dralasis's friends, and each of them refused to help me catch her when I requested their aid. They all stuck their tongue out and ran off to play another game while this one concluded. It was about a quarter of an hour before one of us would be customarily called back home, but I had yet to capture Dralasis. She was the only one I needed to find, and even Bodezic and I were not sufficient to capture the evasive little Dragon. I started to sweat profusely; I needed to catch Dralasis in about ten minutes because I didn't want to marry another tree. I had been losing at tag for over a week now. It was finally time to end my sister's reign and stop her record from growing. I sped up, putting all of my effort into my sprint; I chased her near the last tree I had married and asked a favor of it. I asked it to block her path so I could catch her. That is when the day started to go wrong.

  That's when the raid happened. As I was about to tag my sister, she abruptly stopped, and my momentum carried me past her. I turned back to her, and she pointed out the fires.

  I was out, playing in a field near my house, when the raid happened. Those with me, my sister Dralasis, and my friends were unaware, playing in blissful ignorance of the horror the people of our Town experienced. When my sister spotted rising smoke in our eastern quarter, our play abruptly ended as we all ran to the thin, illusionary safety of our homes; those of us who were there who survived realized how fragile our safety is from an external and substantial internal threat. Dralasis, my sister, and best friend Bodezic- His brother ran to their grandparent's house on Bodezic's order- and I returned to our home in the city's center area.

  . I ran as fast as my ten-year-old legs could take me, carrying my sister on my back as we rushed to find our mother and younger brother, Frieldelian, who was taking a nap at home while we played. I feared the worst as I heard yells and ear-piercing shrieks, and a thick, burdensome sorrow hanging heavy in the air weighed down on me. Dread consumed me as I sprinted home, holding back tears and hiding any outward sorrow from my sister, for I wished not to bring grief or worry to my little sister. She only turned eight a month ago, and I wanted to be strong for her like a big brother should.

  My sister wrapped her legs around my stomach and her arms around my neck while I carried her home. When I almost tripped over a rock, my sister suddenly let go of my neck with her left arm and dug her barely developed claws into my chest. I tried to take my right hand and pull my sister's fingers loose in an attempt to soothe her and loosen her flesh-tearing grip. I felt trickles of blood exit from the five small holes my sister's claws made for a handhold. I spoke to my sister in the calmest and most soothing voice I could muster to put her at ease. "Dralasis, it's going to be all right. We're going to go find Mom, Frieldelian, and then, we're going to take everyone we can with us and evacuate to a safe area until the guards can take care of the mean people attacking our village," my sister replied with

  "But I'm scared, Draxson; I'm afraid they're going to get our baby brother and mom. Please don't let me go, Draxson, and please don't leave me to run home alone if the bad guys come for you *sniff sniff," she cried in response, with hot tears flowing down her face onto my head.

  I tried using a soothing spell on her as I replied, "They aren't going to get Freieldelian or Mom; I'm not going to let them; don't you worry, sis, we're going to find them safe in a few minutes." I promised, while in the back of my mind, I wondered if what I said was the truth, but regardless, it was all I could say to console my sister.

  My words carried up to her ears, but they didn't affect her; she only dug her claws deeper into my chest. I heard her fangs scrape against one another as she audibly clenched her jaw tightly, shutting her eyes as I asked her to so she would at least be spared the horrible sight of men and women in the distance slaughtering our people with strange smoke-like flames and black mist-shrouded swords or the horror of witnessing one of our neighbors being paralyzed and dropping to the ground from white and purple-hued arrows of the invading archers.

  While I ran past the gruesome deaths, I heard Dralasis whispering something. "Please let my brother and mother be alright, please, please, please, forces of life wherever you are, please save us." right before Bodezic and I turned onto a different street, I heard Dralasis gasp; she must have opened her eyes for a moment thinking we were home, but her assumption was wrong because she must have seen one of our people killed mercilessly. A moment later, after a loud inhalation, she screamed at the top of her lungs, attracting the invaders' attention. Bodezic raised his hand and cast a soothing spell on Dralasis to silence her.

  My friend and I turned a corner to avoid the invaders mere meters before us. Our swift turn didn't elude the attention of the invaders who tailed us, nor did the terror-filled scream my sister suddenly unleashed. I ran faster than I ever had in my entire life, with my friend Bodezic beside me. I gently stroked my sister's hand, saying, "It'll be

  alright, Dralasis. You're okay, sis, I got you." Somehow, this calmed my sister's nerves, probably due to the soothing spell and a strange, frightened obedience; I felt her grip loosen, and her claws became unburied from my skin and pulled free from my shirt, which sported a few new, unimportant holes compared to my sister's safety. I took my right hand and held onto my sister's left hand as I ran on uneven ground and nearly tripped on some protruding rocks in my path. I gently squeezed my sister's tiny hand to calm her.

  When we arrived at the end of the street where our houses were located, we were only a dozen meters from my house, and I heard invaders nearing it. So, I signaled to my sister in her mind to loosen her grip because

  I would transition her into my arms and make an unencumbered dash with my wings once she was off my back. My sister loosened her grip when I reached out to her with my mind, and I gently moved her from my back into my arms, cradling her as my tiny Dragon wings broke free from the back of my shirt, considerably boosting my speed with their initial flapping motion. With my transformation, my head changed, and my vision was greatly enhanced with the addition of heightened colors and visible heat signatures. "Hold on tight, Dralasis, we're about to fly," I said to my sister, gritting my teeth as she wrapped her arms tightly around my neck.

  As I leaped off the ground, my tail sprouted right below my waist, and I flew with my wings, carrying me a meter short of the dozen meters that separated me from the end of the street to my front door. While flying, I shouted to my friend that I was taking my sister home and told him to wait for me so we could fight back against these invaders. I opened the door and walked into my house. I gently set my sister down and hugged her before handing her to my mother, who was tending to Bodezic's mom, while the rest of his family was also present. I suddenly realized my friend would be alone, so I rushed to the door without a word. My mother tried to stop me, saying, "Wait, Draxson, where are you going? Son, come back!" I dodged out of her grasp and said, "Bodezic is all alone at his house. I'm going to bring him here." "Draaaxson, why are you leaving? Didn't you promise you wouldn't leave me alone?" Said my sister, who was

  chasing me out of the door as I flew off. I looked over my shoulder and saw my mother holding my sister back and bringing her back inside; my sister reached out to me, and I heard her yell, "Draxxxxson!" Her face was a mess, covered in flaming tears, and from her forehead sprouted a twisting horn. I faced forward again to carry out my mission, hoping to find him in time.