It’s the end of week two and I think I've already gone insane. So much for this journal.
I guess I'll start with the manticore. I spotted it the day after I wrote the last journal. I was trekking through the forest, gathering food, and I saw it before it saw me (thank god) and I managed to hide behind some bushes.
It was at least 8–9 feet tall, with a lion body, bat wings, and a scorpion tail. In other words, it was how it's described in mythology!
When I got back to the castle, I argued with myself for about two hours on whether or not I was hallucinating. When I decided I wasn’t, it got me thinking: if manticores are real, then what about the other creatures in the books that are in this castle?
Little did I know, my answers would come the next day.
I was practicing archery with my bow and a hay target I found laying around the castle armory. I consider myself good, but compared to professionals, I’m so-so. Anyway, I had been practicing for some time and was quickly getting tired. I was about to stop, when I herd screaming!
"HELP!" it sounded like a girl. I stopped what I was doing and quickly got to the castle wall, running up the stairs on to the wall, at the same time arming my bow. I looked around to find the source of the screaming, it didn't take long.
Standing with their sides to me, were three scaled figures. All of them were bipedal.
The one on the left was around 6-7 feet tall, and had dark red scales, with lighter red scales from his head to his tail. Did I mention it had wings too? It had a long sword and kite shield and looked... Scared?
The one on my right had black scales, with dark green scales running from its head to its tail. This one was slightly taller than the red one and it too had wings. The creature was holding a dagger and the last creature by the neck.
The third creature was about half the size of the other two, so about 3-4 feet tall. It had dark blue scales with light blue scales running from head to tail (I'm noticing a trend here). This one was un-armed and desperately trying to escape the black lizard’s grasp.
"Let her go, she has nothing to do with this!" The red one spoke. To say that I was surprised would be the understatement of the year.
Okay, I thought to myself, the red one is a guy judging by his voice, the blue one is the girl who screamed, and the black one, judging by his body’s build, is also a guy.
"She helped you escape; therefore she's a traitor to the king!" the black one said. Wow, I was right! I thought, Lucky guess I guess. Wait, what was that about a king?
"She's only ten! You can't sentence her for treason!" The red one argued.
"You know better than anyone that traitors cannot go unpunished!" The black one spat back. He started to raise the dagger and I raised my bow in response. Easy shot, I thought, I just need to hit his temple, without hitting her.
"Stop!" The red one pleaded.
"Why should I?" The black one responded.
"The king has been acting strange ever since he found that mask, and you know it!"
"That does not matter! The king’s orders are final, and treason is punishable by death!"
Blindly following orders to kill a little girl without question, this prick needs to be taught a lesson. I pulled back on the string. It’s just like hunting. I needed for there to be no wind to push the arrow in mid-flight. I held my breath and started counting seconds.
One...
Two...
Three...
Four...
Now!
I released the string, and sent the arrow flying. I hit dead on target.
The black creature dropped the girl and she ran off to the red lizard. The black creature stood for a couple of seconds, letting blood run down his neck and across his body, before falling to his knees and then to the ground. His blood started to pool around him.
Now, I've seen a lot of killing in my life, whether it is in movies, video games, or hunting, but killing a sentient being shocked me quite a bit. I regained my composure and started towards the wall’s gate. I usually close the gate whenever I'm at the castle and vice versa, so they couldn’t get in without flying.
I opened the gate and put an arrow on my bow, just in case. I got into a position where I could peak around the corner without being too noticeable. When I peeked from my hiding spot, I locked eyes with the red one for about a second, and then quickly pulled back into my spot. Well, I thought, so much for being sneaky.
"Show yourself, creature!" The red one said. I thought about his command and came to the conclusion that I could shoot him if he tried to kill me. As I step out into the open, the creature's eyes widen. He quickly regained his composure and got into a battle ready stance.
Oh? This is interesting. Judging by his reaction, he's never seen anything like me before. He could easily over power me if he were to reach me. That means humans aren’t seen very often and/or aren’t very heard of. Meh, it's not like it would be any different from my life on earth... I thought. On the other hand, there were no big lizard things walking around with swords and shields! I started to approach the creature.
"Who and what are you!" The big red lizard thing said. I said nothing as I approached. I just needed to be calm, cool, and...
*Trip*
"Gah!"
...fall flat on my face. I instantly heard something running towards me. Well... I'm dead.
"Oh my gosh! Are you okay?!" I heard the girl say. I mentally fist pumped.
"Judith, get away from it! It's dangerous!" I heard the male one say.
"Lea, look at is arrows! He's the one who saved me!" Judith said. She pointed to the arrows in my quiver and to the body, to emphasize her point. Then, she proceeded to help me up.
"Thanks, and yes, I'm okay," I replied, getting up while doing so. Silence followed soon after. Curious as to why it was silent, I looked up, and found them with their mouths agape.
"Y-you can s-speak?! A-and in equestrian?!" Lea asked in shock. Judith was in this situation as well. "W-what are you?" She breathed.
"I'm a human, but I could ask you to the same question," I responded.
"We're dragons," Judith stated "but that's impossible! Humans are myths!"
"Ha! That ironic because dragons are myths where I come from."
"And where exactly, do you come from?" Lea said.
“I, uh...” I didn't really want to tell them because it would require explanations that I didn't have. "Does it really matter? I'm here now." Lea looked at me suspiciously. I couldn't blame him. I mean, if I met a myth in my world, I would freak out and probably kill it.
"Sorry, it's just that we've never seen anything like you before,” Judith explained.
"It’s fine..." then something struck me as odd. Their eyes were the same colour: a dark green. "Are you two siblings?" They both were taken back.
"Nobody has ever guessed that! How did you know?!" Judith exclaimed.
"Just a guess?" I responded honestly.
"This doesn’t matter! We need to get out of here before more come!" Lea interrupted. Lea then grabbed Judith’s arm and started to walk away.
"Wait!" Judith said. She sqwermed out of Lea's grasp and came over to me. "Please," she begged "we have nowhere left to go. We tried to help someone important to us and now we're being hunted for it. Please let us stay with you. We won’t cause any trouble, I swear!" I thought about it for a few seconds. They could help me in several tasks around the castle.
"If you help out around here, I don't mind harboring fugitives," The next thing I knew, Judith was killing me by hugs.
"Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyou!" she cheered.
"Ack! You're going to snap my spine like a twig!" I warned. Note to self, dragons are surprisingly strong. After she "thanked" me, I retrieved my arrow from the body and put it into the forest.
So now they're living with me. Dragons are living with me.
I find them to be very interesting. Judith is going to be a scholar (according to her). She's smart, loves to read, and knows a lot. Lea is the fighter type. He trained in martial arts, melee weapons, but can't use ranged weapons at all.
I guess that means that I'm the ranger of the group. I don't think that I ever described myself. As I’ve said before, my name is Dalton. I'm 22, I'm around 6'2, and I just got out of university. I have brown hair and dark brown eyes. I'm skinny-ish and have some muscle (I was a kinda chubby, but after 2 weeks of running, archery, cleaning, and repairing every day... well, you know). Before I arrived in this land I was actually a musician.
Also, some questions I've had have been answered by Judith and Lea.
#1- I'm in the land of Equestria, to be more specific, on the east end of the Everfree forest (which is, apparently, extremely dangerous, and I've been going in there almost every day).
#2- There are many mythological creatures in Equestria, such as unicorns, pegasi, manticores, and even hydras.
There's something else I want to tell you, but I don't think you'll believe me. Magic exists here. More specifically, soul magic. I can use soul magic. I found this out a day ago.
I was exploring the library (which is huge by the way), browsing the various books, when I came across a very old tome. It was bigger than most books and had a dark green binding. I blew off some dust and inspected the book.
"The Four Masks of Soul: Mask #1 - The Dragon?" Huh?
Curious, I opened the book and read the contents.
"There are many masks in existence, some masks in this world that have power beyond belief. Many of these masks are augmented with good or evil spirits leading to a bias in the users actions, but there are four masks that allows the user to choose what to use their powers for; the four masks of soul. Each of the masks represent a primary species in Equestria. The first and oldest mask is the Dragon's mask. The dragons, having a strong bond with humans, allowed us to create a mask with their powers, but at a price. To create a mask of soul, you need to seal the soul of the creature whose power you want to control, inside the mask." Wow, this is kinda dark...
The book went on to explain how to use the masks and what the abilities of the dragon were (strength, flight, breathing fire [which is so cool], etc...). It also explained that humans have a magical source within them called soul magic, which can only be activated by certain objects created by humans.
I got to about halfway, and then the book turned into a compartment of sorts. Inside said compartment, was a mask.
A dragon mask.
It looked like a mask from the game “The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask”. The inside was a solid blue. The outside looked exactly like a dragons face, complete with blue scales, eyes, and mouth.
Like the dumbass that I am, I put the mask on.
I’m so stupid. I even read the section of the book of what happens when you use a mask for the first time.
I instantly felt every fiber of my body being burned. I was shining with light as I felt my muscles rip and my bones break, just to be reformed. I screamed in agony until I promptly passed out.
—1 Hour later—
I awoke to being slapped to the face. Not the most pleasant feeling when your body feels like it’s been hit by a truck.
"Wake up!" Judith ordered, "Where's the human?"
"Ow, damn it Judith! What the hell!"
"Shut up and answer the damn question!" Lea now ordered. I was sitting in front of them, tied to a chair.
"Uh, I'm sitting right in front of you," I deadpanned. Judith and Lea shared a look. I could tell some part of them believed me, but something was making them doubt themselves.
"What? What is it?" I was starting to get nervous.
"I think it's best if we show you," Judith said. She then jogged away, only to come back with a hand (or claw?) mirror. She held the mirror to my face.
There was a dark blue dragon like Judith, but the scales on its back were darker than the main scales on its body. It also had dark brown eyes and it seemed to blink whenever I blinked. To make sure I wasn't delusional, I stuck out my tongue. The dragon did the same. I was a dragon.
It was at that moment that I broke.
"..." What the fuck?
"...Dalton?" Judith asked.
"..." What. The. Fuck?!
"Dalton, are you o.k.?"
"Congratulations, you broke him," Lea stated. Judith shot him a glare in response.
"...Untie me," I demanded. Lea and Judith did as they were told. I stood up and stretched my new body.
"You're taking this rather well," Lea noted.
"That's because I know how to go back to my original body," I said with a grin. I felt good. Really good. I could feel extra muscles throughout my body as well as protective scales coating me. I felt like a living tank.
"...Really?" Lea said disbelievingly.
I just nodded, and raised my hand to my face and closed my eyes. I imagined my human body, still wearing the dragon mask. I imagined taking the mask off, and followed the motion. Then, I felt a cooling sensation, like feeling a cool breeze while you're sweaty. I opened my eyes and... Bam! I was human again.
"Yes! It worked! Victory!" I cheered, throwing a fist into the air. I looked down to the mask in my hand.
"We could use this to help us." Lea murmured.
I flinched, "No, the pain of my body transforming was way too much for me to handle."
"Actually," Judith said holding up the book that the mask came from, "this book says that once you wear the mask once, it doesn’t hurt any other time you wear it," she was holding the book I was reading.
"Oh, well in that case, this power is getting so abused!" I said. Lea just shook his head in disbelief.
"I'm leaving to train," and left he did.
"Wait a sec... there's more than one mask," I realized. "Come on! Let’s look for the other books!"
Turns out that the guy who looked over the masks hid them in different locations, leaving clues to where they are in the books. The clues are in the form of riddles though, and they refer to places around Equestria. I know nothing on that subject, so Judith is working on that. I am trying to help whenever I can and I learn about the different places in Equestria.
We're gaining each other’s trust. Lea is teaching me the Basics of sword play, and Judith is teaching me about Equestria itself. In turn, I'm teaching both of them archery. Judith and I have become close in such a short time, but Lea still is weary of me.
I heard them arguing a while back about a “problem” that they have. All I managed to catch was that it was about their father and that I could help, Lea flat out refused to get me involved though.
Even though the atmosphere isn’t very friendly here, there are things that I can look forward to. The nights here are absolutely beautiful. The moon is a bit larger (or closer?) and breathtaking. I usually lie in the castle courtyard and stare into the starry sky, admiring its beauty.
Well, I should probably go now. It's around 11pm and I'm getting tired. I want to stargaze before I retire. I cannot wait until I get my hands on the other masks!
P.S. I looked into how there is plumbing in the castle. The pipes and sewage system are magically reinforced to withstand the elements. And I still have no idea know who previously occupied this place.