“When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace.”
—The 14th Dalai Lama
The first month following that day was far more daunting for Russel. The horn told him many things about Vovin, its people and what their society was all about. It said that the dragons long ago were once considered gods in the earliest history's of Equis. Many creatures of different forms and shapes bowed down to dragons because of their sheer size and awesome power. For a long time, many territories had to make tributes of gems and other precious stone. In exchange, they were allowed to live and keep their territories from being destroyed.
The dragons ruled like this for a long time, hoarding and enjoying the great riches that were brought to them. After a while a group of unknown creatures showed up. These beings were pony like but took on traits of all three races, they were eventually dubbed alicorns by their brethren. They soon began amassing fighters. In a short time they had built an army with many capable warriors trained for one purpose, to fight dragons. The next time they showed up to take the annual bounty, the ponies constructed a trap and triggered it on their once sworn overlords.
The trap killed many dragons and allowed for the army to catch them off guard and gain an advantage when they did battle. Many were slain on both sides, but the ponies managed to drive back the dragon and out of their land. After that battle, one by one, the lands were slowly freed. It brought a new era for all the races that existed under the sun. Lots of dragon scattered to different caves succumbing to their inner hoarding desire which made them into more primal beasts. The rest that survived fled and found a place to survive in a desolate wasteland.
The ponies had finally achieved victory after many battle. The war however had a price and it was paid in many lives. Even the Alicorns suffered loss, many of their group had been killed and only four remained. However they didn't have time to grief for another problem was soon presented. Earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi from many different places flocked to the Alicorns, revering them as the true gods and goddesses of their world. The Alicorns had to lead them as the races were to use to being under control and having no freedom.
They were helpless and so the Alicorns excepted their new titles and help to organize towns and create cities for them to live together. The Alicorns became the leaders of this new nation of ponies and ushered in and era of advancement and evolution. they made laws and rules to govern the society. The earth ponies became master tillers and farmers growing the food for everypony. The pegasi learned to control the weather and began bringing in the four seasons on a yearly schedule. Lastly, the unicorns who learned how to channel magic through their horns, used it to build new technology and advance the culture of the newly formed nation.
Under the Alicorns, the nation grew and prospered. the new leaders built connections with the cosmic universe and became the keepers of the sun and moon. They made the day and night cycle come and go everyday on a proper time schedule. For a while there was a great calm and everyone lived in peace, but in the shadows a new evil was forming. A group called the order of the dragon priests was made and their purpose was clear. They believed that the dragons were going to bestow a great gift upon everyone for their sacrifices but now were angry. They believed that the dragons would be back and would take back everything. They wanted to be spared the punishment so they planned on eliminating the Alicorns. It would serve as evidence of their loyalty to their overlords and give them safe haven from the heathens destruction. The group planned for many years and then one day was given the chance to act on it. The group had slipped an assassin into the newly minted Royal Guard getting close enough to the rulers. One night, the assassin poisoned two of the Alicorns drinks while they were performing night court duty.
he proceeded to slip into the royal bed chambers and kill the other two by stakes to the heart. The assassin promptly left the castle only to be caught before he made it out of the city. The horn didn't know what exactly happened but it figured that they got information out of the killer before they executed him. This thought was brought on because the royal guard eventually found the group members one by one and eliminated them. Each member was found with a powerful magical artifact that was imbued with mystical enchantments. They were all buried in deep catacomb built to house their tombs; each one being guarded at all times.
After it was over the horn could not say what happened since it didn't know the history past that point. The horn made assumptions about the rest with what little knowledge Russel had in his own mind. It deduced that at some point the world fell out of balance by the extinction of Alicorns. The death of the Alicorns must have upset that balance; so the universe probably created the Draconequus Discord in its first attempt at fixing it. When that didn't work, it corrected that by birthing two new Alicorns. After the horn explained what it could about the past, it started to focus more on training Russel.
It showed him how to control and use the magic it bestowed to him by its enchantment. Russel was instructed to focus on a small rock until he learned to telekinetically lift it. It took a few days but he eventually managed to levitate it for at least a minute. Russel continued making greater progress after that initial day and quickly mastered levitation. He was so happy to achieve this mile mark that he showed more enthusiasm to master others. The artifact had hundreds of spells at its disposal to teach, and Russel was eager to learn it all.
The more he learned the more he craved and the faster he mastered spells. Although his magic use improved over the course of the month, his relationship with the rest of population hadn't. The Elders were impressed with his strategic prowess. The soldiers he trained and the rest of the general populace however, did not. Everywhere he went in the great city he got looks of hatred and disgust. He could not set foot outside his house without getting one look of distain.
The dragons that he was training also gave him grief. They only listened to him because they were instructed to by the Elders. Other than that, they did not give him any respect or even the time of day. Russel felt like an outcast but it was ok for him, this just freed up more time for him to study magic. A little over three weeks into the second month and he had mastered all the basic spells; as well as a few in the more intermediate levels. One day on his way to go teach his next lesson, several dragons and dragonesses converged on his location with looks that made him feel threatened.
"Hey guys look, its the clueless shaved monkey thinking he has another important lesson to teach. You don't belong here, your not even on our level," a young green dragon said as it stepped out from the crowd. Russel hazard a guess and thought that there were at least twenty dragons following this one. he was large for a youngster and looked like he was more than displeased to be around him.
"Yeah, puny ape, you have nothing worth teaching us. Your wasting our time," another dragon yelled from the crowd.
"You may have impressed the Elders but we are not. Your lessons are second rate, only dragons can come up with great plans. You are nothing compared to us," a golden dragon yelled over the crowd. All the other dragons agreed in unison and shouted there own nasty remarks and comment. Russel held his finger to his throat and energy sparked between them.
"I still don't see why you constantly make all these idiotic statements about me. I am simply keeping my end of a bargain. Why do you feel the need to say snide comments to me everywhere I go? What I'm teaching is not going impede you, it is new perspective and way of thinking you do not possess. Teaching you what I know will give you better insight when initiating a battle plan. You may need to change strategies in the middle of executing an attack.
Variety will give you an advantage that your opponent might not have. Since it seems you are not going to stop trying to scare me out of your city; I have a wager for you. One of you will face me in the combat arena. It could be anyone of you, it doesn't matter who. If you beat me then I will leave and stop wasting your time as you like to put it. If I win however, you will stop harassing me; give me the respect I deserve and pay attention to what I have to teach," Russel said as his voice was projected to a loud ethereal voice.
Russel removed the finger and rubbed his neck from soreness after speaking in that voice. The dragon who led all the harassment mobs stepped up to the human and shove him onto the ground.
"Alright alien, we will accept your wager however short the battle may be. You will be in the most pain you've ever felt when I'm done with you. You will learn your place," the green dragon said as he punched russel in the torso. The drake turned around and swept some dirt at Russel which prompt him to shut his eyes. When he opened them again, the crowd was walking away as if they triumphed at something. Russel got up wincing in pain as he brushed his body of all dirt.
"He's a bit hard headed but if you beat him they may actually listen to you." Russel turned towards the voice to see a lone dragoness leaning against a rock.
"I doubt that but I thought it was worth a shot. The problem is that they all believe and follow him without a second thought. Change is hard but in order to adapt, it needs to be accepted. If this wasn't a widely recognized thought, entire species would fade into history. Its a subject that should be regarded by everyone," Russel responded before sighing.
"You will make a good teacher, just don't do so much lecturing. Rakharr is hard headed and you unfortunately will not get any support unless you start with him. Most of the young ones follow his lead since he is the established leader of their group. You've got to earn everything in this city but at least your doing go so far. Good luck with the battle, you'll need it. By the way the names Saheir I'm part of the new set of soldiers to join your class," the dragoness said as she held out her hand.
Russel reciprocated the hand shake then they continued to the training grounds. Russel sensed that this dragoness was the only one that was going to be of any help and more active to learn. Now if only he could at least get the rest to give him such enthusiasm. The rest in general were not going to be receptive to learning since the younger ones have taken to following a complete idiot. Rakharr was going to be quite a problem and to be honest, Russel had his doubts about the match. The only reason he ever stood any chance against these reptilian behemoths was because of the enchanted item inside his cranium.
he had learned many fighting styles over his life but he had never been in a live combat situation. Russel had basically challenged Rakharrs control since he was the one who trained the fighters before him. It was really primitive how they worked for how smart they were. As sentient creatures, they were almost backwards compared to other races on the planet. Russel did not want to cheat by having the horn fight for him. That would not prove his own fighting skills which is what he needs to do if he's to win over their loyalty.
This was going to be a true test of power and prowess. Russel had many trials he was going to have to pass, that was for sure. The horn said he would need to go through changes. The loyalty and respect of the populace would go a long way towards furthering those goals. Russel entered the training area to begin his next lesson and saw the usual trainees. A group of teenage dragons who obviously were uninterested in the class but did it because they had nothing better to do.
"Hello class, alright today we will be learning about something a bit different. A soldier must be capable of holding his or her own on the battle field; but it is also just as important to know how to blend into your environment around you. The art of invisibility is the next thing you are going to learn. This ability is an important aspect especially in reconnaissance. To do this you need to figure out two things. The first is to know what environment your in.
There are many terrains and each has its own set of shades and range of color. To best use it to your advantage, you either want to already have your own natural color that looks near to it, or make a camouflage suit out of the local elements around you. Would somebody like to help me demonstrate," Russel asked to which he got no reply. Russel was about to point at someone but was interrupted by Saheir that gave him advice earlier.
"Il do it, what do you need me to do," she said standing at attention. Russel used the transfiguration spell to turn a rock into a hollow shell that looked like a rock.
"Take note that this still looks and appears like a rock, but when you lift it up you see the façade." Russel lifted up the rock to show that it was completely hollow on the inside and didn't weigh much at all.
"This would only work in a rocky area and not many places where cities exist are near such a place," one of the dragons said trying to poke figurative holes in the camo.
"Normally yes, but it can be used in certain places like forest or plains terrains. You can also use it as a home defense system since your land has the perfect terrain to use it on. This would be good for ambushing enemy squads who are invading. I am using it as an example for this test so this will do just fine. Now, would you be so kind as to put it over you and cover up inside it," Russel gestured to Saheir to begin. She did as instructed and hid under it.
"We still know where she is. It doesn't seem effective or useful to me," one of the dragons said being a smartass and pointing out the obvious.
"Thank you for that wonderfully accurate observation. Lets see how well you do under different circumstances," Russel said as he casted an illusion spell. A wall of shimmering mist appeared than many more rocks appeared exactly like the one she was hiding under. The group of trainees stood there perplexed on how one rock became so many.
"Umm how are we suppose to find her if all these rocks look the same," one of the dragons asked with confusion.
"That class, is the lesson of the day; knowing how to use your environment. So let begin," Russel said as the group of warriors lined up to start the session. They trained for the next few hours practicing their own stealth capabilities as well as spotting hidden things. Most did not do well but a few showed exceptional promise, including Saheir who helped him teach the lesson. After class was over Russel headed back to his den to prepare for the fight of his life. This was going to be especially difficult though as his opponent had a clear advantage.
These dragons worked with some pretty strong steel they called star metal due to the fact that it came from space. It also happens to have an impact strength that's equivalent to diamonds, making physical attacks useless. Beating Rakharr was going to rest solely on Russels magical capabilities and since he only knew a few attack spells, he was going to have to get creative. He knew there was no way that his opponent was going to be fair in this fight. Rakharr was going to use every trick in the book to beat him so Russel needed to learn new spells. Russel arrived at his den and went over to a secondary chamber that he used for a meditation room.
Sealing the room, he went over to the middle and sat down.
"I need to learn a new spell, and it cant be a basic set spell either. I need to learn a more complicated battle spell than any I currently know. the ones I know are not enough to beat Rakharr," Russel said his request out loud as he had done in the past to call upon the horn.
"I'll teach you something that may help, but you need to know something first. Certain spells., if taught to an unexperienced magic user can bring more disaster than help. Our magic well is artificial and this link we share through the magic, it's not perfect. If you don't perform the spell right, our power could go into flux and obliterate you. Our well will grow the more we sync together so be mindful and patient. remember, I am an artificial extension to your minds natural capabilities. Learn how to use our powers as such. now This spell I'm going to teach you is a form of petrification. If performed correctly, he will not be able to move. You can use this to get the upper hand on him and end the conflict before it can escalate any further. It is the best option," the magical AI said informing Russel like a guide.
"I can work with that, and don't worry; I wont overdue it. I am ready as always to learn more. So how do we perform the spell," Russel asked as his eyes glowed green and a calmness set in him that he hadn't felt all day.
"Its a bit more tricky than performing your average spell," the horn stated knowing that this was going to be quite the challenge.