According to Nathan before he appeared in EQ with Mitchel, I had been; 1.Missing for a month. 2. Our other friend had gone missing. 3. The same thing had been happening to people all over the world. I sat there sipping the bottle Rayne had served us. Turns out it wasn’t beer, it was some kind of apple ale. Figures, I thought disappointed.
After he finished his explanation, I told Nathan how I had come to be here. Needless to say, he was surprise at what Burijas had offered me. Nathan and Mitchel didn’t know my brother much, but they had been there for me when I had to bury him.
At some point of my explanation, Mitchel had picked himself off the floor and into a stool next to Nathan. Rayne had the sense to cut him off, for which I was thankful. Mitchel was more of a alcoholic than I was. Which is saying alot considering how much I drink on regular basis. How do you think I got here?
I finished my story and ale and placed the empty bottle on the counter and looked to Nathan with confusion. “Wait, so how did you guys get here?” I asked the pair. Mitchel began to slur something, but Nathan slapped his claw over his mouth before he said anything. “From what you told me, it was the same guy. Except he wasn’t as nice with us,” Nathan replied with a little anger in his voice.
I raised an eyebrow at this. “What do ya mean?”
Nathan lowered his claw enough for Mitchel to speak. “Red-man pimp-smacked us,” he slurred.
I threw my head back and laughed so hard my stomach hurt. “What?!” I asked still laughing.
Nathan completely released Mitchel and face-clawed. “We were walking to the guy's dorm and he came literally out of nowhere and said “have a nice trip!” Then he smacked us both in one swing. When we woke up, we had all this stuff on us,” he waved a claw at his very impressive looking steel armor. “And after about an hour of screaming our heads off and figuring out how to walk, we kind of just wandered in town.”
So it was Burijas who sent them here. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, I thought. The question is, now what should we do?
Nathan looked at me sympathetically. “I know that look Idilah, you're stumped,” he said.
I sighed. “Well, its just we’re in a new place, looking for my brother, with no clue where to start,” I said mournfully.
“RRRRRHHHGG!” Something screamed from outside.
Everypony in the bar stopped dead in their tracks. Nopony moved a muscle.
“RRRRRHHHGG!”
Everypony scrambled behind the bar, knocking over tables and chairs trying to get behind cover. Nathan, Mitchel and I looked back at Rayne, who was trying to keep all her alcohol from falling.
“Um, what the hell was that?” I asked her.
She stared at me, her muzzle agaped. “You must really new to Equestria. You don't know the sound of a dragon when ya hear it?”
“RRRRRHHHGG” The dragon screamed again, followed by the sound of breaking glass. Despite the fact that ponies were cowering behind the bar, pissing themselves in fear, Nathan and Mitchel were eerily calm. In fact, Mitchel looked like he had instantly sobered up; he was sitting up straight and looked ready for a fight. Nathan was the same, on edge but completely confident.
I stared at them curiously. “How can you guys be so calm?”
Nathan looked at Mitchel and back to me with a small smirk. “Walking’s not the only thing we found out we could do,” he said ominously. Mitchel nodded.
I stared at them both impressed, but then looked at their weapons and frowned. There was another roar from outside but I ignored it and groaned. “This is just great! A dragon’s outside that needs killing and I got nothing to-” A sharp pain erupted in my stomach, and a bar of my volcanic skin bursted out of my belly button.
Thats when that pain turned into full-blown agony.
I collapsed on the floor, screaming, clutching that little bar coming out of my stomach. Nathan and Mitchel hovered over me, they looked like they were yelling, but I couldn't hear them over the ringing in my ears. For some reason, I kept pulling at the bar, tugging and tugging until finally I plucked it from my body to see...
My teddy-knife, but now, the blade was pure, shiny obsidian.
“Bad...ass,” I rasped, still in pain.
Nathan offered me a claw and I grabbed it with my free hand, letting him pull me up to my feet. Both Nathan and Mitchel looked at me warily, their eyes drifting to my new and improved knife.
I returned their looks with a smile. “So...who's ready for a fight?” I asked them both, excited.
* * *
The dragon was deep blue, almost sapphire. Its eyes were ruby red, full of intelligence. Its claws were short but insanely sharp. It had already destroyed several buildings, the remains of the ruble at its feet...
Did I mention that this thing was 10 feet tall?
Oh, this is going to be B-E-A-U-tiful, I thought standing in front of the saloon. Nathan and Mitchel were beside me, smiling. We were all excited, but I was mostly anxious to see what I could do.”So, we got a plan or is it just normal formation?” asked Nathan.
Mitchel raised an eyebrow at him. "Formation? Don't we normally bullrush everything and use me as bait?” he asked.
Nathan and I stared at him expectantly.
Mitchel groaned. “Fiiiine. But you guys owe me a drink after this,” he demanded, walking up to the dragon, with us behind him. Nathan and I took cover behind buildings on opposite sides of the street.
The dragon stomped down another building and started searching for another target. What it found was Mitchel in a confident stance, sword in hand. Well, mouth, whatever. Mitchel angled his head and stabbed his cavalry sword into the ground. “HEY, OVERGROWN SALAMANDER! I BET YOU CAN'T HIT ME!” he yelled at the dragon. The dragon roared and charged him, wildly slashing it’s claws. Mitchel picked up his sword and stood there, waiting. The dragon was nearly on him and right before its claw met him, he yelled, “Gh0sting!” The dragon’s claws connected with the image of Mitchel, but that was just it, an image. Its claws passed right through it.
The dragon stared at Mitchel’s image, confused. It kept slashing and slashing in search of blood. It was distracted. The perfect time for a cheap-shot if I saw any.“CHARGE!!” I yelled to Nathan, and we took off weapons in hand. The dragon was still occupied while we came up behind it’s tail. Nathan stood up on his hind legs and brought down his axe on the tail, almost taking it off in one slash. While at the same time, I stabbed the dragon’s back, embedding the blade and gaining a grip on the dragon just in time for it turn around, roaring, dragging me off the ground.
The dragon turned so fast, that the remains of the tail slapped Nathan, knocking him on his back and ripping out the strand of tendons. I was hanging onto my knife for dear life as the dragon turned to Nathan and brought down its claws to strike, only to dodge it. Then he did something I didn't expect...
“KAAAAAW!!” Nathan screeched.
To say that it was loud would be an understatement. Imagine hearing a crows caw, but then amplify it ten fold, and echoing. Only then, will you begin to understand how freaking loud that was. However, it served it purpose.The dragon staggered, allowing Nathan to quickly recover his axe and get out of the dragon’s path.
The dragon let out a pained roar and started to twist its body and scratch at its head as if it was trying to grab something. That something was Mitchel. He had somehow made his way the top of the dragon’s head without being noticed. He was putting that fact to good use by slashing at the dragon’s head. Before the dragon could do any harm to Mitchel, Nathan got behind the dragon’s legs and started hacking away at the back of its knees.
The dragon crumbled on top of a recently demolished building, belly down, with me still on its back. I finally dug out my knife and stood on top of its back. Mitchel and Nathan were to my right, both breathing hard.For some reason, I felt worse. Even though I was probably the least contributing in the fight, I felt all the fatigue of fighting. “That... was a good fight,” said a almost feminine voice coming from the dragon.
“Hory shet!” Yelled Mitchel, almost jumping away from the dragon. Nathan didn't move, but only stared at the dragon. Despite my fatigue, I ran up the dragons back, jumping of its head and onto the ground in front of it. The look in the dragon’s eyes were of sadness and pride. I could hear its breathing and it sounded like it was on a respirator. “What did you say?” I asked it.
“I said...that was a good fight. Entertaining almost....Definitely nothing I would expected while looking for my,” she took a shaky breath, and exhaled smoke, “fucking idiot of a son,” she said with malice in her tone.
“Wait, you were just looking for your son? You tore half the town!” Nathan yelled at her.
“Yes...I had to find him...he is an abomination of our kind,” she took another shaky breath and turned her eyes on me. “Which is why, I leave everything I own to the wielder of that black blade.I leave you...my riches...my body...and my mistake...my horrible mistake, in hopes that he curses you...just as he cursed me!” She yelled and took one last breath and roared so loud, it nearly took me off my feet.
“Dafaq just happened?” Asked Mitchel to no one in particular.
“I don't have a clue,” I replied as I turned to them, ”What I do know is that I have a fucking idiot to find,” I said neutrally.
“That idiot would be me,” said a voice from behind us. We all turned around, weapons in hand to see...possibly the most disturbing thing I’ve seen in the 20 minutes of being in this place.
What was in front of us was what I can only describe as a anthro pony-dragon hybrid. He stood on hind pony legs, somehow balancing himself on hooves. His fur was a blue so dark, it looked black, just like the female dragon behind us. Everything above his belt-line was just...weird. He had a jet-black scaled belly and chest, while the rest of his torso was colored like his legs. His head was that of a dragon, but he had a spiky, emerald green mane to match his swishing tail. His eyes were that of a pony’s but the pupils were a creepy deep green. He casually took out a cigarette from the back pocket of the raggedy black shorts he wore. Seriously, they looked like they were sewn together with random scrap cloth. He breathed a small bit of fire onto the cancer stick and placed it on his lips, leaving it to hang from his mouth.
“So,” he said, managing to not drop his cancer-stick, “you killed ‘dear old mom,’” he said with malice in his voice. He eerily sounded like Kaiden from Mass Effect.
I lowered my knife and exhaled. “No choice, she was kind of tearing the town apart to find you,” I said neutrally.
He shrugged and chuckled, still managing not to drop the cigarrete. “You sneak out for ten minutes just to get some ciggs and mama somehow manages to to take it out of proportion. You know she wasn't looking for me out of my health right?” he asked.
Nathan put away his axe. “We figured that from the messed up verbal will she gave us. Why did she hate you so much?” he asked.
The pony-dragon shrugged. “Maybe it was because I snuck out and got her killed. Maybe it was because she hated the fact that I’m the result of the worst one-night stand she ever had. Or maybe it was because I smoked so much in the DAMN CAVE!” He yelled, but then started chuckling. “ Doesn't really matter. The lizard bitch is dead and I’m free. Free to smoke whenever I want to. Free to go where I want to go. Free to do whatever the fuck fancies me at the time. I’M FUCKING FREE!! WOHOOO!” He yelled running in circles. Me and the boys just stared as he did cart-wheels and back-flips, all without dropping that damn cigarette.
When he finally stopped, he stared at us with the widest smile on his face. “And I have you three to thank for it!”
I thought back to what Mama dragon had said, my body and my riches? I get the riches part, a dragon having a hoard is a part of the legend right? But her body...that was something I needed to ask him about.
“So what's you're name, Mr.Free-man?” I asked the pony-dragon-THING.
He snorted. “The name’s Nightheart, and I know you don't give a fuck about my freedom. But that's A-Okay! You want to know where the “family hoard” is. Well, I can show it to ya, but you need to promise me one thing.”
I groaned, placing a hand on my hips. “What would that condition be exactly?”
His smile somehow deepened. “Take me with you, wherever you go and we kill as many dragons as fucking possible.”
* * *
“So why did we just up and leave?” asked Nathan as we walked through the black forest.
“Because man, I didn't want to go back to the bar just to hear “thank you” when there's a treasure trove entitled to us waiting,” I responded.
After Nightheart named his price, we immediately left town. Taking off on a dark night was...not my best idea but I really wanted to see this hoard and returning back to the bar could wait. Nightheart was in front front of us, almost skipping with excitement. I had already told him about my quest and that somehow got him even more excited. Instead of using a lantern, he had coughed up a fire-ball that floated in front of us to lead the way. Apparently, even though he had no horn, he commanded a certain degree of magic.
“Oh man, this is going to great! Traveling the country, fighting! I never even dreamed stuff like this could happen,” he said excitedly. He turned back to me and the boys, walking backwards. “So what's the plan cap-i-tan?” he asked me sarcastically.
I tapped my chin in thought. I hadn't really planned this far ahead. Of course finding big bro was the goal, but lets face it, I knew diddly about this place. I had no information to go on and no clue how to get said information.
I shrugged. “No clue. How about we start by asking you what the hell you are.”
Nightheart took out another cancer-stick and lit it up. We’d been walking through the forest for half an hour and he’d gone through at least three of those things. “Now thats a question mom would constantly ask. See, I’m a pony-dragon; the result of male or female of each species getting horny. I walk like a dragon, look like a dragon, but I don't fly like a dragon,” he said dejectedly, pointing to his bare back. “Which is the reason why my mom hated me and kept me around so other dragons couldn't see me.The fucking bitch!” he stopped and yelled, dropping his cigarette. The boys and I stopped and stared at him.
Nightheart was breathing hard, his hands curled into fists, shaking. He took a deep breath and started walking again. He took out yet another cigarette. “You can see why I run out of these so fast. Anyway, lets hurry up and get to the damn cave. I want to get my stuff and blow up the entrance as soon as possible,” he said back to us, walking faster.
The cave was, to say the least, friggin huge! The huge hole in the mountain was big enough to fit at least three Mama-dragons. Nightheart stood in emance entrance as the boys and I gawked at the sheer size of it. He snapped his fingers impatiently. “Yo lets go! I want to get my shit before sun-up!” he yelled walking into the cave.
The inside of the cave had a domed ceiling made of glass smooth rock. The walls were the same way. The floor however was anything but. Covering most of the floor was a mix of random animal skins and hay, lots of hay. On one side of the cavern, was a little alcove filled with pine needles and a lone, tiny fox hide. That must be his part the room, I thought.
Nightheart led us to a particularly big bear pelt at the center of the cavern. He looked at the pelt with scorn. I looked at him sympathetically. “You really did hate your mom didn't you?” I asked him.
He chuckled and spat out his spent cigarette but. “You had no idea what it was like Idilah. You had no idea what it was like to have the person who bore you, hate you just for being alive. For that person not kill you just to pass the damn time!” he yelled and turned to me. “That bitch kept me around just to see if I could burn. Day after day, she would blow fire at me, knowing it wouldn't burn me. But it did hurt Idilah, it hurt in more ways than one.”
I looked back down at the bear pelt. “I wouldn't know, my moms dead.” I said, not meeting his eyes. He was probably staring at me for an explanation, so I gave him one. “She died giving birth to me. So no, I don't know what its like to have your mom want you dead. What I do know, is I have to start my search and this money is going to pave the way if only a little bit,” I said confidently, looking at him. I didn't know what to make of his smile, but I do know is a little bit of understanding passed between us. We stayed like that for several minutes, just staring at each other.
Mitchel decided to ruin that moment. “Um...guys! Hello? Treasure?” he yelled at us. Nightheart turned back to the pelt. Was he blushing? He was blushing! Wow, I managed to make a guy blush, scary. Anyway, he grabbed the pelt and in one movement, flipped the giant pelt and threw it at the wall to his left.
Under the pelt was...how do you describe thousands of gold coins, jewels and weapons? Oh yeah, loot. My mouth was salivating at the glimmer of coins and jewels. Nathan and Mitchel were gawking at the three weapons on top of the pile.
On top of the pile of bits, were a medieval claymore, a naginata, and a krogan warhammer. Thats right, a krogan flippin warhammer. Theres no other way to describe it. It was metal, it was blocky and it was huge.
I immediately went for the naginata, but Mitchel got to it first. He unstrapped the U.S. cavalry sword from it’s leather scabbard and replaced it with the bad-ass naginata I wanted. I then went for the claymore, but was beaten to the punch by Nathan, who also switched out his weapon for the new one.
I was going to go for warhammer, but stopped and looked at Nightheart. He caught my stare and rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. “Um...thats kind of my hammer,” he explained. I stared at him, waiting. “I’ll explain later, but lets just say that I found it and the bitch was keeping it in her hoard when I thought she threw it away.”
I sighed. “Fine. This just means I get more of the gold!” I yelled, grabbing handfuls of gold and stuffing them into my pockets. My duster had multiple pockets in and outside of the coat, so I just went to town on the gold.
Then, I saw a golden brown handle sticking out of the pile. The moment I saw it, I stopped digging out gold and stared at it. There was something familiar about that handle and I immediately went to pull it out. It was...a revolver, and not just any revolver. It was a 45. cal revolver with an extended barrel, a barrel weight and an extended rotator. There was an inscription on the side of the barrel that said, Duty.
This was my brother’s modded service revolver. I held it tight in my hand and stared at it. This was another thing buried at the bottom of my closet.
As tightened my grip on it, it began to change. From the end of the barrel to the hammer, the once steel metal turned black. The grip’s polished wood, turned red. The words Duty became bejeweled with red rubies. I watched the gun’s transformation and thought, yup this is officially my fetish.
“Idilah, COME ON!” yelled Mitchel from behind me, taking me out of trance.
We were under attack.
In my trance, diamond dogs had snuck into the cave and started attacking us. There were a dozen of them with spears and knives and they were not letting up. There were two struggling with Nathan, trying to get under his guard. Mitchel was doing his vanishing trick and side-swiping dogs left and right. Nightheart was destroying the dogs with blows charged with some sort of green energy.
The dog’s strikes and dodges were precise, they didn't waste any energy with any movement. It didn't take a girl taught by a Ranger to tell these dogs had been trained.
Too bad training, no matter how extensive, prepares you for a super-sonic caw.
Nathan’s caw staggered everyone in the cave except for the other boys, which was weird. It also gave me the chance to test out my new revolver on the dogs that were charging Nightheart. By all accounts, a revolver like this could have taken my hand off. Hell, it could have taken even a trained soldier’s hand off. Despite that, I held it up with one hand and pulled back the hammer. Then I shot at the dog nearest to Nightheart and...well two thing happened...
1. No sound emitted from the gun.
2.The dog’s head simply exploded.
I stared at the gun, my mouth agaped. “Okay, this is my fetish!” I yelled, taking another shot at another...then another...then another...
Before I knew it, I had killed all the dogs in the cave.
“Aw, what the fuck, you stole my kill!” yelled Nightheart.
Nathan raised an eyebrow at him. “Oh boohoo. If you didn't notice, someone just tried to take your home!” he yelled at him.
“Whatever. I wanted to test my magic hammer on at least two more diamond heads,” Nightheart retorted.
“Um guys, I think you better come see this!” yelled Mitchel, standing over a diamond dog.
I wasn't too proud where my bullet had landed. The shot had completely taken off most of his leg. He was shaking, most likely from shock. “ Is pony going to kill dog?” it asked in a shaky voice.
Mitchel shook his head. “Nope, not up to me,” he replied, nodding his head to me. I nealed to the dog, pressing gun on his stub of a leg.
“I bet this leg hurts a lot huh?” I asked, applying more pressure to the leg. The dog whimpered. “Yeah, it hurts. Now, I’m going to ask you some questions and you're going to answer them, and I’ll make that leg not hurt anymore okay?” He nodded, I smiled.
“Okay, first, who sent you?”
The dog was breathing heavily. “Pony named Jill! Pony hire all the kings out of Dustown to work for her!”
I tilted my head curiously. “And who are the kings?” I asked.
“Kings are my clan! We beat up whatever pony with money wants beat up!” he yelled quickly.
“Mercenaries. So where and who is your leader?” Nathan asked.
“Dog don't know. Dog just beat up ponies and get stuff pony wants!”
“Why did this pony send you here?” asked Nightheart.
The dog shook his head. “Pony only said she wanted key. Pony didn't say what key look like. Can someone fix dog’s leg now?!” he yelled at me.
“So a merc group, hired by a pony named Jill, sent a squad to this cave in search of a key. Interesting. Thank you, you’ve been a big help. Find peace in the afterlife friend.” I said quickly, covering his eyes and pulling the trigger over his temple.. This time there was only a small spat of blood and the dog went limp.
“That was kind of cold I.D,” said Nathan.
“I thought it was awesome! You totally should have said...whatever Ezio says whenever he kills someone,” Mitchel said excitedly.
Nightheart rolled his eyes. “Whatever the case, a group of D-dogs just tried to assault my former home. What are we gonna do?” he asked me.
I tapped my chin, thinking but then saw the night sky and yawned. “What we need to do first is get some sleep. Nightheart, is there anyway you can cover up that hole?” I asked him.
He reluctantly nodded. “Yeah, I always use a illusion spell to cover up the cave, I got it,” he said, walking to the entrance. Nightheart spread his hands and the cave entrance was lit with green fire. He turned to us, looking agitated. “There ya go. I was hoping to get a move on tonight, but I guess I could stay in my bed one more night,” he said sarcastically, walking to his alcove.
I got up and stopped him faster than I thought I could move, holding my arm in front of him. “Oh no big boy. You're sleeping on the big mat tonight.” I said.
Nightheart stared at me like I had seven heads, but look back at the bear pelt and smiled. “Well, I always wondered what was the big deal with sleeping on your hoard.” he said.
I shook my head. “Our hoard remember? You're apart of a family now Nightheart. Now lets go to bed.”
He smiled and blushed, then walked over to the bear pelt and dropped on it, and immediately started snoring. Nathan and Mitchel were already passed out on separate pelts, snoring peacefully. I looked down at the fluffy pelt below me and suddenly felt the weariness of battle take over me. Then, I saw nothing but the darkness of sleep.