//------------------------------// // Chapter 3; Part 1: A Heart of Fire // Story: The adventures of Dread Wing the Kirin // by Vediccio //------------------------------// It was an early morning, followed by a hasty breakfast. We wanted to get on the way as soon as possible, because we were both very anxious to get this adventure going. Loading the last artifacts in the cart, with a lot of complains from Daisy of what we’ll do with the golden scales, of which we sealed in by putting a large chunk of rock in front of the opening, we continued our journey out of the forest. And yes, I’m pulling the cart, ‘cause I’m just that great . It was a long way to civilization, and we are most likely to get beset by the dangers of this almost tranquil forest. But we aren’t going to civilization. We are going to Dragon Mountain to obtain the element of fire, and after that… well, we’ll just have to plan it after we get the element of fire. We’ve been walking for a couple hours through the forest now and, I might just be paranoid, I think that there is somepony watching us from a far. It might be bandits, but that is just to cliché… *THUMP* And there the bandits surrounded our cart, but I just sighed at the cliché. “Hand oer’ yer shinies, an’ ye might keep yer head!” said the bandit with the most armor. He must be the leader, I thought to myself. In this sort of hierarchy, the leaders always gets the best stuff. “Well, we aren’t too keen on giving you s**t, you poor excuse for a highwayman.” I kindly said to him. “That’s the signal lads!” the supposed leader called out before my fist met his face. That ignited the fight. The bandits leaped towards us, but since we didn’t really have time for this kind of delay, I just finished them off with a casual force blast that sent them flying through the forest. After giving their supposed leader another punch to the face, we continued our journey. Successful fight, finished just before hitting twenty seconds. I’m quite proud of myself, but Daisy was amazed. “What was that?” she asked, “Was that some wicked dragon magic?” “No, just common unicorn magic.” I replied. “But, isn’t unicorn magic supposed to be friendly?” “If handled right, unicorn magic can be devastating,” I explained, “But if I really wanted them dead, they would be dead.” “Whatever, but shouldn’t we finish them off?” the question surprised me. “Why? They weren’t really in any condition to follow us, not to mention fight us!” “But what if they rob some other traveler that might just happen to travel here?” “And maybe there’s a reward for rooting them out…” I finished. “They might hurt… what?” she asked, looking at me strangely. “I said, that there might be a bounty on their heads.” “So, you agree on that we should go back and finish them off?” she asked. “Maybe, maybe not. But if it doesn’t turn out to be as rewarding as I thought it would, I will be minimizing your share of the profits.” “Sounds reasonable enough, but shouldn’t you do this for the better of the travelers, instead for profit?” she asked me. “Daisy, Daisy. I’m a half dragon, I’m greedy, selfish and cruel, not some charitable old man. But since you are asking me so nicely, I am willing to consider this arrangement.” “But…” she managed out before I put my hand on her mouth. “Shhh, they’re listening.” I whispered. Daisy nodded, closing her mouth. It was true though, they were listening, readying themselves to ambushing us. Seems like they learned a lesson last time, but they underestimated our hearing. It seems like one of them was getting restless, since he jumped down ahead of the main group, only to be the first to kiss my sword. It was quick. It was lethal. It was bloody. His head left his body midair, earning the anger of his friends. When they jumped down, I blasted them with some force, knocking them down in midair. One by one, they got up and threw themselves at me, only to be cut by Ballsbane, which was moving faster and faster with each hit. There were eight of them, or rather, WAS eight of them. All cut down by Ballsbane. All bloodied down, I turned around to see if Daisy was okay… and in some way, she most definitely wasn’t. Those were the kind of eyes that had never seen anything violent in their entire life, only knowing the kindness of her parents and their home. This was all alien to her. This was reality. To think that people could do this to another. Well, I wasn’t a killer myself, but they did try to kill us. I leaned down and hugged Daisy. “It’s okay, it’s over now.” I tried to reassure her. “You… you killed them all.” She whispered, as if talking loudly would kill her. “Yes, I did. But it was either us or them, remember that Daisy. Us or them.” I looked her in her eyes when I said it, to make sure that she understood the seriousness in it all. All Daisy could do was nod, since she was pretty shaken up. After a long reconsideration, we continued out of the forest, since she wouldn’t be able to handle what would be coming if we chased the bandits. Call me greedy, selfish and cruel, but don’t you dare call me heartless. Well, as far as she knew they were rooted out, but I knew better. When they tried to rob us, they were four. And at the ambush they had doubled their numbers, so they must have gathered reinforcements from somewhere. But enough of that, now we had to make it through this blasted forest. “Will the bandits be chasing us?” I could hear whisper. “Nah, I think they got the message.” I replied. “Yeah, it was pretty clear.” “Yep, and I think we got all of them, and now it’s just a matter of time before we pass through the Gryphonian border, and from there into Equestria. And then it’s just straight on ahead to Dragon Mountain.” *Thump* And now we were surrounded again, this time with even more bandits, a total of sixteen of them, if my senses told me right. And there was a nasty looking gryphon with scars and an eyepatch, wielding a massive battleaxe. And he didn’t look very happy. “Well well well, what do we have ‘ere? A filthy monster and the Maple girl.” The large gryphon growled. “Was wonderin’ when we’d find ye, little brat.” “Wait, you know who I am?” Daisy asked, with much surprise in her voice. The large gryphon lifted an eyebrow. “What? Little girlie don’t know who I am?” he laughed, ”This is just hilarious! We thought you dead in the woods, but it seems that we’ll get the pleasure of finishing up the business personally.” “Wait… are you the one that burned my home to the ground?” Daisy asked with a certain poison in her voice, and I could feel the stare she was giving him. “O’ course it was us! Hahaha! You should have seen the faces your pa an ma did, screaming out to you to run. Then we locked them inside the house and started burning that old shack up, and the screams! The screams of stupid ponys that’s burnin’ alive! Ha! Pricele…” he never got to finish that sentence. Faster than anypony could react to, Daisy drew her bow, summoned forth three arrows, and fired them straight at him. One in the eye patch, one in the heart, and one in the groin. And after that, she fired an additional three arrows and did so two times, faster than anypony could have done without years of training, filling the massive gryphon with arrows. And as the former bandit hit the ground, the rest of them roared at while preparing to charge, but then a hail of arrows stopped any such thought. I’ve never seen Daisy like this, killing without regret, mercy or after thought. Just simple relentless, merciless and brutal death by arrows. By now she had felled six of them, but the rest charged us to avoid getting hit from afar. Not that they stood a chance either way. Ballsbane cut right through them, painting the ground with crimson liquid. And as I cut them through, I could feel the bones crunching beneath my slash. Somehow Daisy had gotten the twin daggers from the cart, and started cutting relentlessly, covering the bandits with cuts. When the last of the bandits fell, we lowered our guard and looked at each other. This was not Daisy. Hateful, bloodthirsty eyes that could pierce dragon scales like you could cut warm butter. She pulled up the ice hammer from the cart, barely managing to drag it to the gryphon corpse, trying to lift up. “What are you thinking?” I asked her. “Oh nothing, I’m just gonna smash his skull in so hard that his brain will splatter all across the field!” she shouted. “Daisy, this is not you.” “How do you know!? Maybe this is my real self! And this shit pile isn’t worth anything else than this hammer splattering his head!” “Daisy…” “No! Don’t you dare say another word! You have no idea of what he has done to me!” she screamed. “No, I don’t. But I do know that this isn’t what the real you would do.” I said with calm in my voice, “Besides, you’ve already killed him times over. And I don’t think that a hammer to the face will bring back your parents.” “Shu-shut up!” she screamed sobbing. “You don’t know of what it means to find your home burnt down, with your only family locked inside to be burnt to a crisp! Just because some shit pile felt for it! And then wake up only to have forgotten everything.” She ended with tears in her eyes. I reached out and hugged her tightly. She hugged me back, hard. “Now, now… I know this isn’t easy, but remember… you still have me.” I reassured her, still hugging her tightly, bordering to crying. “I- I know… but what if you decide to just leave me somewhere? Because I’m a burden?.” She was sobbing now. “Daisy… We’ve been talking about this, and I wouldn’t leave you even if the throne of the world was the reward. It’s you and me against the world, right?” “Yeah, guess so…” she’s felling tears now. “I can’t replace your parents, but I will do anything to keep you happy and alive, even if it risks my life.” “You would?” she looked up, eyes tear filled. “Yeah, I would. I might be greedy, selfish and cruel, but never when your safety is at stake. And a promise is a promise.” I said with a motherly tone. We both shared a moment of a great emotional hug, then wiped our eyes and stood up. I walked over to the gryphon corpse and pulled out the arrow that hit the eye patch. “What’re you doing?” I heard Daisy ask from behind me. “Well, if we come across a town, they’ve got to have a bounty on this bandit, and we’ve got to have some proof of the deed.” I smiled greedily now.” “Oh, right.” Daisy replied. We cleared the field of corpses, looting them for what little they had, which was just a couple of bits. But there was something about the medallion I found on the gryphon, since it looked like it belonged to an high placed soldier. Maybe he was, maybe not. But who knows? Maybe it will catch a fine price somewhere. When nightfall came we entered a village lying on the border between Gryphonia and Equestria, and fortunately for us, they had a tavern. Inside the tavern, well, let’s just say it wasn’t your typical café. Scruffy looking gryphons and stern looking ponies dominated the inside, but we managed to reach the tavernkeep. “What’ll ye have?” he asked. “A room would, if any are available.” I replied. “We’ve got plenty o’ those, since there ain’t many travelers about.” “Good” I replied him, bringing up my pouch, “How much?” “Ten bits a night.” The tavernkeep replied. I brought out ten bits, handing them over the counter. “Which room?” “The one to the far left. Can’t miss it.” “Thanks. Daisy, take your things to the room and get some rest, I’ll be there shortly.” I said to her. Daisy nodded and went up the stairs to the inn floor. I leaned over the counter. “An ale please.” The Tavernkeep filled a tankard with ale, putting it down on the counter. “That yer mare?” “No, more like a daughter if you ask me, but I’m actually her uncle.” I replied. “An’, don’t mind me askin’, are ye doin’ out here? Not actually the most ideal family vacation spot.” “Well, were just traveling, and happened to cross a band of bandits. Know anything ‘bout them?” I asked. “Wait, you mean the broken beak gang? Sure, I’ve heard of ‘em. Been making all kinds of problems round these parts. Why? Been victim to their *Toll*?” he asked, giving me a worried look. “Nah, more like that they won’t be doing banditry ever again.” I said with a smile. “Wait, did I just hear right? You took care o’ them?” the tavenkeep asked with surprise. “Yeah. By the way, is there a bounty for the leader?” “Sure is! Ye just have to give the police chief a proper proof and he’ll set ye right up!” “Nice.” I finished, finally getting to drink up my ale. I ordered a couple of ales before heading up to the room, a little tipsy. Ok, I was drunk. Daisy was sleeping in the bed, which left me with the floor. Well, let’s just say that I got a hard landing. But we did get a good night’s sleep, even though I crashed to the floor. The next morning came with bird song, which was kinda irritating. I left Daisy sleeping, locked the door, and went to the police office to cash out the bounty and get more information on this medallion. The police station looked like all police stations, tall and boring. When I entered the station I viewed the reception as any other police station reception, wide and boring. As I closed in on the reception, the pony secretary didn’t even look up. I tried to get her attention through many ways, like *excuse me* and *hello*, and they proved ineffective. After a hard bash to the counter she finally looked up, unplugging her ear earplugs, revealing the loud music she was listening to. “Oh, didn’t see you there!” No shit. “I would like to see the Chief of Police, if he’s not too busy.” I said with venomous sarcasm. “Oh, he just got in. Should I call him?” What. The. Hay. Are all police secretaries this slow? “Yes, that’s what I was asking.” I said coldly. “Ok, gimme a minute.” She picked up the phone and dialed his office. “Chief Buckle? Yeah, somepony wants to talk to you, should I send him in? Ok, bye.” She put down the phone. “You can enter his office which lies just down the hall, up the stairs and then to the far right.” “Thanks.” I said while walking towards the stairs. “No problem!” she said merrily, putting back the earplugs. I sighed. I walked up the stairs, went to the far right and stood outside the Chiefs office. I knocked. “Enter.” When I entered I noticed a big gryphon sitting by the desk, obviously the Chief of Police. “So, you’re the one that wants to talk to me, right?” “Yeah, about the bounty on the huge gryphon bandit.” “Wait… you mean that you’ve put Iron Beak out of business?” he asked with surprise in his voice. “Yeah, and I even brought some souvenirs.” I brought out the eye patch and the medallion and put them on the desk. “Will these suffice?” The police’s eyes began to widen. “This is more than sufficient! What about the rest of the gang?” “Dead.” “That’s the best news I’ve heard for months! Finally someone actually went out there and put those highwaymen out of business!” he sounded very pleased, to say the least. “Well, with that out of the way, let’s talk reward!” I said with a smile. “Of course! A reward for ridding us of this nuisance! How does a thousand bits sound?” I gulped. “A thousand?” “Yep, a thousand bits for ridding us of this nuisance that has been harassing us for six months, charged for arson, destruction of property and robbery.” “Well, I’d say that you should heighten the price a little, since he’s also charged for murder.” I said coldly. Chief Buckle stopped smiling. “What?” “He burned down a small cottage with its inhabitants within. The only survivor was their daughter, of whom I have taken care of ‘till this moment, and I tend to keep it that way.” “Well, that changes everything… how about thousand and fivehundred?” “Well, that sounds better… But the important thing is that the girl got her vengeance personally.” I finished. “Well, if you take this note down to the bank, the director will give you your reward.” Chief buckle leaned back, clearly finished talking. “Good day to you, Chief.” Buckle stayed silent. I left the station and straight to the bank, cashed out, left and then walked straight back to the tavern. Daisy had already woken up, and was eating the breakfast I ordered before I went to the police station. After breakfast, we left town and continued our journey to Dragon Mountain. It wasn’t very far now, for I could see the mountain in the distance. When we reached the base of the mountain we were tired and it was evening, so we made camp. We skipped the campfire because it wasn’t cold outside this time of year, and then we rolled up in our bedrolls to get some sleep. Well, let’s just say that my dreams weren’t sweet, happy ones. I was in the dream realm, seeing the textures of Nightmare Moon appear. “Thou hast reached Dragon Mountain, and now thou must heed our warning.” And as always, her voice echoes. “What be this warning, my queen?” I humbly asked. “At the peak of this mountain rests a dragon, with the task to guard the Element of Fire from those who seeks its power. Thou must get past the dragon in order to reach the element.” “And how will I get past it?” “With thine imagination, my agent of darkness.” She humbly echoed. “Well, that’s good enough. I think we can handle getting past the dragon, if it is sleeping.” I replied with hubris in my voice. “Oh, but the dragon is not sleeping, but keeping watch. Be not fooled by its charade, for it will devour thee.” “Thank you for your warning.” I bowed. And with that, the dream washed away and I woke up to find Daisy, still surprisingly, cooking breakfast. Her cooking had improved somehow. “Have you been learning to cook, young Daisy?” “Well, since you were away to the police office, the tavernkeeper taught how to cook properly.” She smiled proudly. “Well, better than I already did, anyway.” “Don’t overestimate yourself Daisy, we still have to somehow sneak past a dragon and then snatch the element.” Daisy stopped smiling. “A dragon?” “A dragon.” “A DRAGON!?” she almost shouted worriedly. “Yes, and if you listened to me when I reviewed the mission, you wouldn’t get this hung up on me for bringing up the dragon.” I stated. “Well, if you just warned me a little before we got here, I wouldn’t have freaked out now!” she said loudly. “Well, you still should have listened to the review.” “But-you-Agh!” She went and sat down by a nearby tree, clearly looking angry. While she was busy being angry, I packed a rucksack, checked my armor and sword, and then started climbing. “Where are you going?” she asked, still with the angry tone. “Well, I figured that you were too busy being mad at me, so I started climbing.” I replied, looking down at her. “Oh, don’t you dare start without me!” she shouted, readying her things and started climbing. Half way up, I remembered that I hadn’t even taken a look inside Marelins spellbook. So I stopped and rested on a large rock, opened my pack and brought up the book. “What are you doing?” Daisy asked. “Reading.” I stated. “We don’t have time for reading right now!” she replied. “We have to get that element thingy!” “Well, I like to be prepared, so I thought consulting Marelins spellbook was a good idea. But if you want to face that dragon head on, be my guest.” I said venomously. “Agh! Fine!” “Thank you.” And with that, I returned to reading the index, to find something effective against dragons. Then I found something else that caught my eyes. *Kirin 101: All you need to know about Kirins*. I quickly turned to page 783, and started reading that chapter. Being a Kirin doesn’t include that you know everything about kirins. *Kirins have the ability to shapeshift* that one I already knew, but here is one note I paid close attention to, *All kirins have a special ability, unique to them alone*. What could be my special ability? Anyway, back to work. After skipping through five hundred pages, I finally found some notes on dragon slaying. *All dragons are weak to meteorite it seems, since Lasercorn could slash them all with ease while Sir Prancealot always busted his swords, having to get new ones after every encounter. Ice Bloods True ice hammer seems to work wonderfully too, since dragons roar out in pain each time he hits them really hard. Most spells are worthless, but if you aim precisely, one can inflict massive damage to them. As far as we know, these spots are a dragons weak spots. Dead Eye’s arrows seems to work miracles against their scales to, but he aims for the weak spots to inflict maximum damage, not that he has any problems for that.* The next page showed a picture of a dragon with cross circles at different locations on its body. I guess these are the weak spots. I wonder why Dead Eye’s magic arrows are so effective against dragon scales. Perhaps it’s something only he knew about. This should make this suicide mission a whole lot easier. Thank you Marelin for writing this wonderful book! I closed the book, but it down in my pack and then turned to Daisy. She was humming a tune, which one? I didn’t know. “Ready to head out?” I asked merrily. “Sure am! You sure took your sweet time!” she replied, also merrily. “Well, research takes time, but the results are worth the time.” And with that we continued to climb up to the top, which took the whole a couple of hours. We had to avoid avalanches, walk carefully over steep roads. After half the day passed we finally reached the top, and oh colt was it a relief. As we closed in on the cavern entrance, we readied our weapons, made a final check on our equipment, and then peeked over the corner. There it was, this huge monstrosity just lying there sleeping. But I knew better. “He’s playing a trick on us.” “Wha? How do you know?” “Because Night… The demon told me.” I sighed. “So, the demon took the time to warn us, did she?” I nodded, noticing that the dragon’s right eye twitched. Busted. I calmly entered the cave, seeing that stealth will be worthless. The dragon’s eyes lit up, stood up and roared. “Who dares enter the lair of fire!?” Well, dragons aren’t the most welcoming of creatures. “Dread Wing!” I shouted back. “Dread Wing who?” the dragon roared. “Dread Wing, Son of Dark Flame and Fairy Tale!” “Son of Dark Flame…” the dragon muttered. “Lies!” he then shouted back. “I am many things, but I am not a liar!” Well, not at this particular occasion, but the dragon doesn’t have to know. “Dark Flame would never mate with a pony, much less let the offspring live!” “And I presume that you know my father?” “We were once friends, but our duties teared us apart. But he would never retire, it’s not in his nature!” the dragon roared. “Oh, but he did. And I am his son and heir to his legacy! Hand over the Element of Fire, and I will let you live!” “Never! I would rather live in anguish than break my pact, and you being the son of my best friend doesn’t change that!” “Well, then we’ll have to do this the hard way!” I shouted to him. “With pleasure!” “Daisy!” I shouted, earning a surprised look from the dragon. From the entrance Daisy popped up, sending a rain of arrows towards the dragon, penetrating his scales, forcing out painful roars. Meanwhile, I focused my magic and formed a lightning bolt and sent it flying towards his breast weak spot. The dragon gasped for air, throwing himself forward and slammed me into the cavern wall. He lunged towards Daisy, who was frozen in place by fear. “GET OUT OF THE WAY!” I screamed to her, but she didn’t respond. I felt useless. Daisy was about to get smashed by a dragon, and there wasn’t a bucking thing I could do about it! I Screamed in rage and reached out in my mind, reaching a dark and distant place that was filled with complete darkness. “Use me…” echoed a replicated voice of me, only much darker, scarier and terrifying. I acted out of instinct and reached out to the darkness, which was much more like a dark mist. Before I came to my senses, I held Daisy in my arms and hovered over the cavern roof, further inside. I looked at my legs, and fear filled me. My lower body was nothing more than a dark mist, like the one that called out to me in my subconscious. “Amazing” was all I could think at the moment, before touching down on the cavern floor. The dragon turned around, extremely confused. “What kind of sorcery is this!?” he roared out in anger. “How could you teleport all the way from there to the kid!? Answer me, freak!” “Never call me freak again…” I said coldly, but somehow it echoed throughout the cavern. “And don’t you dare lay a claw on Daisy again.” “Ha! And what are you going to do about it? Sure, you can move a few shadows, but that is not enough to destroy me!” I smiled devilish. “That’s where you are wrong, my scaly friend. It’s exactly what I need to destroy you.” I didn’t need to shout, because my words echoed through the cave. And before the dragon could charge, shadows sprout out from the walls, grasping the dragon. “What sorcery is this!?” he roared. “Answer me!” “Kirin magic.” His eyes widened, and the shadows started to pull the dragon apart, stretching his limbs. I lowered Daisy down to the floor, leaving her on the floor while I slowly walked towards the dragon. “What are you planning, you freak!?” The dragon roared. “Your imminent and painful death.” I replied him coldly. I drew Ballsbane, it’s light shimmering as if it hungered for the dragons blood. The dragons eyes widened even more, now filled with dread. “No, don’t you dare put that thing in me!” He shrieked in fear. “Do you even know of what you have in your hands!?” “Your doom.” Before the dragon could say anything more, I hovered up towards the dragons heart, penetrating it with Ballsbane. The dragon roared in pain, and blood sprouted out from his heart, drenching me with his blood. I penetrated the sword further in, feeling something hard at the tip of the sword. “So, the Element of Fire is you heart, eh?” “WAIT!” he screamed, only to be forced into a scream of pain when I reached in with y hand, grasping the element. He screamed even louder when I pulled it out, slowly rotting away. “You fool…” he panted. “No, you are the fool for underestimating me.” “No, you are! Do you have any idea of what awaits you in the end of your road!? Only death and destruction will be waiting you on the end of your road! And Celestia will hunt you to the ends of the world to get it back!” he shouted. “Oh, but I will just be dodging her, in the shadows where she doesn’t have any power.” I smiled devilishly. “You fool…” he said, turning to ash. It was a once in a life time experience, seeing the guardian of fire turn into ash. “One Down, Three more to go.” I said while turning around only to find Daisy looking at me. It was a look of fear. “You…” she whispered. “Daisy…” “You killed him, didn’t you?” “Yes.” “But how?” “I stabbed him, wasn’t that quite obvious?” I asked. “No no, the shadow thingy. How did you do that? “Oh, that.” I scratched my chin, entering deep thinker mode. “Well, let’s see… I just happened to go into my subconscious after thinking that I was useless for not being able to save you, talked to a dark mist, touched the mist, and then suddenly BAM, there I was, carrying you to safety.” Daisy gave me a confused look. “You don’t really have to understand it all, it’s kind of a kirin thing.” “Ah.” She loosened up, and tried to stand up with her still shaky legs. “Let me help you.” I said while lifting her up with both my hands, like a knight carrying the damsel in distress. “Is this really necessary?” she asked irritated. “Why yes! Have you seen your legs lately? They’re shaking like an earthshake!” Daisy gave out a sigh of defeat, relaxing in my grasp. “Did you get it?” “Yes, but we’re gonna be here for a while.” I said, smiling greedily. Daisy looked confused, but when she looked at what I looked at, her eyes widened. Mount Jewel, I shall call it. Since its exactly what I saw in that lair. Hills upon hills of jewels, all flawed and ready to become flaweless. Sure, the dragon was the guardian of the Element of Fire, but he was also a dragon, and old dragons always had large hoards. “We’re gonna be here for a while.”