//------------------------------// // CH55: Dragon Tales Part 1 // Story: Kingdom Hearts F.I.M: Rise of The Elements // by Spirit Shift //------------------------------// “It all began over several decades ago when a certain Keyblade wielder finally saved our world from darkness that we had been trapped in for centuries, Trial began. “A woman of immense power and authority. She and her team fought back the darkness imprisoning our hearts and released us from what kept us trapped.” A young dragon child sat on his knees, surrounded by a scene of destruction following a great battle. Fire, destroyed buildings and unconscious bodies lay in heaps around him. Unconscious, but still alive. Before them all stood a tall woman with bright crimson hair and a flowing white dress. Both of which flowed in the non existent breeze. Behind her were three familiar teenagers. A relatively tall girl with pink hair, wide smile and a blazing sun themed keyblade, a boy wearing mismatched clothes, a cocky smirk, holding no keyblade, and a short girl with dark blue hair and moon themed keyblade, Unlike the previous two, this girl stared back at the monster behind them, a downcast look on her face. Behind them, dwarfing their silhouette and laying motionless was the body of a massive dragon. Its dark form slowly fading away and thousands of hearts forming from its remains. The young dragon gazed upwards, first at the woman, then at the hearts that floated up into the sky and out over the world. A warm hand reached out to touch his cheek. “The nightmare is over now, child,” she said, her voice a melody in his ears. He looked deeply into her almost glowing eyes. “With this your people will come back, safe and sound, and you’ll never have to worry about losing them again to the darkness.” “B.. but,” the child stammered, his own eyes growing more and more wet with each word,” but what if it comes back? What if… what do we… how do…” he trailed off stammering his words as wet streaks began appearing on his cheeks.” The woman gently took him into her arms, letting her warmth flow through her and into him. “Shh,” she cooed” it’ll be alright.” There they sat, letting the child cry and sputter out his words. Soon, however, as his cries softened, the woman moved to look at him once more. “If you ever find darkness invading your world, if you ever find your people losing hope once again, believe in both yourself and the strength of your people. And most of all,” she turned, and gestured towards her students, who simply beamed in response, “believe in the holders of the keyblade that will always come to your aid when you need it most.” The child stared at the group, his eyes widening bit by bit. “But she was wrong,” Trial continued, staring directly at Twilight. “I believed in her words that day so I grew strong and raised a strong clan to believe in,” he sighed. Twilight placed a finger to her chin in thought. “From that description, it must have been the GrandMaster who trained Master Luna… But… several decades ago? How old are they, and why didn't she tell us that she helped recover this world? While she was thinking, Dash spoke up. “So what was she wrong about then?” she asked, a single brow raised. Trial glared at her, and slammed a fist onto the table. “We shouldn't have believed that a Keyblade wielder would save us,” he growled, surprising everyone. “Now hold on there a second,” shot back AJ, “We just got here. I know we’re a mite late but-” “I’m not referring to you!” interrupted Trial, matching her tone. “You're not the first wielders to come to this world, I hesitate to even call you the second.” His fist, still pressed against the table, began shaking. “No… the first true keyblade wielder is the reason our world is like this at all,” he said, his voice low and rumbling. Twilight opened her mouth to respond but paused when Trial held up his hand and took a deep breath. “My apologies, I've suffered a lapse in discipline. Let me continue so you may understand.” Trial looked between the girls, each of them glancing at one another. “There are certain things you need to know to understand the full story. This was the first, one of two legends we have, and the second begins around 5 or so years ago when a certain boy came to our flourishing world. Dash immediately felt a sinking feeling in her gut as he began. “This story begins when I was still in training.” ~~~ A young Trial, clad in leather armour, methodically marched through his village. As he did everyday, he took careful stock of his home. The market was as loud and bustling as his fellow dragons filled the paved dirt roads, moving back and forth in droves looking for things to buy. Children could be seen playing, small dragonlings no taller than his leg running back and forth with balls and toys apleanty. The buildings were much to behold, bricked buildings and wooden stalls were the norm for this outdoor public market. Over near the field outside the market he could make sight of some of them trying to fly with their newfound wings. While adult dragons are able to retract their wings until they need them, younglings tend to keep them out because of the excitement. Speaking of the children, he noticed out of the corner of his eye, one or two “borrowing” some food from a distracted stand owner. Trial shook his head in shame, shame that his world was still in a state where any child needed to steal to feed themselves. He could catch and stop them, but his role was not to keep pitiful thieves in line. As he did everyday, Trial took careful stock of his home, not looking for anything that didn't belong in this town specifically, but rather, looking for anything that didn't belong in this world. Outsiders, visitors, heartless, anything that could threaten the stability that his heroes worked so hard for when he was a child. But it wasn't just threats that he kept an eye out for. Still watching, Trial kept his eyes locked onto that child as they ran from the stand. While difficult to see through the crowd, his time observing his home allowed him a certain foresight into where young children would flee to when running away with food. While the child, clad in torn clothes and bruised body, dipped in and out of the crowd, running into adults and past them, Trial methodically altered his march to head off the child directly through the crowd. Unlike the child, Trial was the heir to one of the ruling clans, and a self appointed knight tasked with keeping them safe from darkness, they knew who he was, and they moved out of his way. With trained precision, he predicted exactly which ally the child would turn into. As the child dipped into the alley, Trial placed himself at the corner and peered into it. Darkness could come from anywhere, even the smallest corner between bricked buildings. If the child was just feeding a stray pet, or a younger sibling, he would leave them be, just as he always had. Perhaps he would leave them something to keep them fed for a while. This was not one of those times. Trial’s eye widened as the child that had stolen the food gestured to a robbed figure who was about the same size as he. This other being had clothes that were in even worse condition. Torn all across the body, even the hood just barely covered its face. Just from height alone the child couldn't have been more than 10 years old. But it was when reached out for the food to take it that Trial knew that he needed to approach. The hand that had reached out was a pale colour, and lacked the characteristic scales and colouration a dragonborn should possess. Even more damning, was that Trial caught a glimpse of what was under the boy's hood as he reached out. It was the face of a normal human boy with pale skin. Without even noticing, Trial inched forward towards the children. Like any dragonling with powerful hearing, the child heard him immediately and turned around with a hiss. Time slowed to a crawl for the soldier, and Trial knew how this would go. This left him with two choices. He could come out and speak to them slowly to try to show them he meant no harm. But that would have been too easy. The dragonling, upon noticing that they were being watched, immediately spread his tiny wings and grabbed his friend. Cursing his failure, Trial unfolded his own wings and chased them into the sky. Reaching above the alley they were in, Trial caught sight of the children wobbling along. The way he was flying, occasionally mistiming the flap of one wing, the constant ascend and descend. Trial knew at a glance that the child must have only just got his wings. And the non–dragon child was just hanging. Trial gave one mighty flap and sped up to reach the kids. This wasn’t about catching them any more, it was to make sure they didn't crash into something. “Stop!” he called out, easily reaching the boys. “Lower yourself before you drop your friend.” Curiously, both children hissed at him, momentarily shocking Trial. Taking this slight pause, the child dipped lower in an attempt to escape. However, this was a mistake for a new flyer, as the dragonling didn't have much in the way of control over how fast or slow to descend, much less how to pull up or turn. The child flapped wildly while pulling his friend closer. Buildings came into view and the child barely swerved around to avoid hitting one, but when the next one came, he did not move enough and smacked his friend against one of the taller wooden stalls. His friend being wrested from his grip stole what little control the dragonling still had and he too crashed into the stall next to it. Trial’s face fell into a deep frown as he flew down to check on the boys. Touching down he cleared away the smoke and debris. “Are you two alright?!” he called out, only to hear quiet coughing in response. Even through the dust cloud, the sound was enough to track down where the boys landed. Moving some rocks out of the way, his eyes widened at what he saw. He had expected the dragonling to be alright, these kinds of things tend to happen when one is learning to fly, but instead, he saw something he never expected to see. The human child had stood in front of his friend, shakingly holding his ground against Trial. In his hands was a weapon currently too large for him. A large key shaped object that he could barely even lift. Past him lay the dragon child, clutching his wing in pain. Trial’s eyes narrowed, he had several questions, but they had to wait. Slowly, he took to one knee and held out a hand. “Hello, young one,” he began. The child merely hissed at him in response, a mere imitation of a dragon baring his fangs. With his robes hood lowered, Trial finally got a better look at the boy. As he thought, this child did not originate from his world. He has pale skin, messy and dirty short silver hair, a small scar under his left eye, and piercing red eyes. “I'm not here to hurt you,” Trial said, slowly and carefully. “You’re both hurt, let me help.” Just as he said that, the dragonling pulled himself to his knees and clutched the robes of the keybaring boy. “Please,” he said, tears running down his cheek and still supporting his one wing limp. “I know he’s different, but please don't take my friend!” Trial waited a moment, carefully choosing his next words lest he frighten these children moreso. He closed his eyes and started. “I know what they say about us, specifically myself.” she mumbled, just loud enough for the two to hear.” But do not worry. I am not here to imprison a child. Nor will I separate you two.” He opened his eyes and made eye contact with both children. “I'm only here to ensure your protection.” It was then that the human’s arms finally gave out, failing to support their large weapon any longer. However, even with the weapon lowered, his eyes remained focused on Trial’s. Intense, but not enough to give Trial’s any reason to think words were falling on deaf ears. So he continued. “Do you know what that is you’re holding?” he asked, pointing at the keyblade. This took the child by surprise, and he stared down at it, his arms still trembling from holding it up. “He… I found him with it,” the dragonling started, looking up at Trial. Trial nodded slowly. “That weapon is very special,” she said, pointing to the blade. After a second, he pointed to the boy himself. “And that makes you special, boy. Would you like to know how?” The boy looked up at him, a fire still blazing in his eyes. He nodded, and as he did, the weapon vanished in a shower of wispy flickering flames that illuminated his face and shimmered off of his bright ruby red eyes. As he was distracted by the flames, Trial carefully picked up the dragonling and held him under his arm. Gesturing to the other boy he began walking. “Come with me, we’ll get you two patched up and we’ll discover your origins.” The human boy hesitated, looking down at his hands before rushing to catch up with the dragon. ~~~ Trial ended his story, looking down at the table, as he relayed his tale, his face expressed a story all its own, growing lighter and darker at points, until resting on a slight smile. “We discovered that the boy's name was Jinkei Eroz, from a human world, not sure which one,” he continued. Tinting his head he gestured to the dragon currently standing guard, “The dragonling grew up to become none other than Areth, the… soldier behind you.” The girls turned to him, but flinched when they saw his expression. A deep scowl adorned his features as he levied a harsh glare at Trial, one that he himself returned upon meeting his gaze. The following silence was deafening as the pressure in the room grew with each passing second the two spent staring at each other. Pinkie began to raise her hand, but was quickly stopped by Rarity. The same could not be said for stopping Dash though. “So what?” she shot up in her chair “Is this kid the reason for all… this” she said, waving her arm out in the direction of the sky. “Is that why your men attacked him?” Trial’s glare did not falter, but merely redirected towards Dash, who flinched back. “Of course not… he…” he trailed off, his eyes softening. He let out a quiet sigh and continued. “ Our people revere the keyblade wielders, anyone with one is treated as great warriors. I raised him like my own son. Taught him how to fight and to be honourable. Our home was protected.” He frowned and took a slow look around the area, stopping on each girl before continuing. “The story thus far is merely a prologue, as it involves Jinkei.” Triallenched his fist, a newfound emotion adorning his features and a low growl accompanied his words as he continued. “The true fall of this world happened when yet another wielder found himself here. A cursed child beyond all recognition.” Dash and Twilight each exchanged glances, a deep pit forming in both of their stomachs. Unable to hold himself back any longer, Trial lifted his claw and slammed it on the table before standing. “That cursed half-ling child, a poison upon our noble dragon heritage!” A gout of fire spewed from his mouth and onto the table! The girls reeled back, shocked from the outburst, Dash even readied her hand to summon her weapon. However, just as he began, Trial calmed himself with a cough. “I… I apologise for my outburst,” he muttered, wisps of flames still licking at his lips. “I bear a… personal grudge against him.” Twilight took a deep breath, calming her own heartbeat and steeling herself for the question she knew she had to ask. “It’s alright,” she began, worriedly looking at Dash and AJ. “How about starting from here. Wh… who is this half-ling? What was his name?” Trial took several deep and calming breaths before releasing his clenched fist and starting again. “As I mentioned before, there are certain things you need to know. In this world there are two legends, one speaks of the Keyblade wielders, of that you have been told. And yet, another speaks of something that should never exist. A half blood dragon. Dragons of this world cannot breed with other world dwellers,” he looked pointedly at the girls. “So the coming of one has always been seen as heretical, impossible, and above all else, forbidden. That taboo came to this world over a decade ago, and his name… was Attor. And he nearly drove our race to extinction.”