High in sugar
1125 Words
“You did good today,” Aria commented as we walked out of the arena as soon as we were done “Pretty soon you’ll be a champ.”
“I wouldn’t bet on that so soon,” I told her “When it comes to learning new things, I learn faster by my brain, not my body.”
“Well, of course, you gotta use your brain in combat too. Being a warrior isn’t just about using your body to defend yourself, you gotta use your brain too. Why else do we have an academy here? We make sure our warriors learn everything before they go into battle. Because fighting involves smarts and wit as well.”
I raised an eyebrow “So how does Dale go in that category?”
She snickered “He may not be the wisest when it comes to social situations. But not only is he a good fighter, but he’s also good with animals. Since he lives on a farm, he knows a lot about horses and cattle and other creatures like wyverns.”
All of a sudden, there was a loud crash from nearby that made us jump. It sounded like something had crashed into the castle, and boy was it loud. But when we began to hear screaming, we knew something was definitely wrong.
“What the hell?” Aria gasped as we hurried to the sight and what we saw made us freeze in horror.
Copper the wyvern was going wild. He was jumping and flying everywhere while roaring like crazy and destroying everything he touches. All of the elves were running away from the scene when Copper flew up to the second story and vanished up the stairs.
“Okay!” Aria shouted with anger “WHO FED THE WYVERN SUGAR?!”
“That’s what’s happening?!” I gasped “The violent sugar rush?!”
“I told you it was crazy! Come on, we gotta go stop him!”
“How?!”
But she had already dashed off and I followed her up the stairs to the second story where he could hear more crashes, screams, and roars.
“This way!”
We followed the sound to a lounge where we saw Copper tearing up a couch and getting the stuffing everywhere.
“Whoa,” my eyes widen at the scene “That’s a mess.”
Just then, Copper turned his head towards us with his mouth full of stuffing. And what happened next went by so quickly as I felt Aria pulling me to the floor as Copper flew over us.
“You all right?” she asked me as she pulled me back up.
“Yeah” I nodded “How are we gonna stop him?”
“Well, we can’t exactly stop him” she replied nervously.
“What? Then how did you get him to calm down last time?”
“We didn’t, the sugar rush dies down after like an hour.”
“No way” I scoffed “There gotta be a way to end it quicker.”
“Well, we don’t know how.”
Just then, more screams were heard coming from downstairs.
“Come on!”
As we ran downstairs and into the throne room, we watched as Copper flew up, gave one last roar, and then crashed through the glass window.
“Oh no!” Aria gasped, “No no no! He can’t go out like that!”
“Has he ever broken out before?”
“Nope!”
“Well, that’s not good.”
“Come on, we’re going after him.”
“Whoa whoa whoa wait” my eyes widen, “You said that there’s nothing we can do to stop the sugar rush.”
“We may not be able to do that, but Copper could hurt someone in that stage! He could fly to the village and destroy everything!”
“I wouldn’t worry about that!” we turned to see Dale approaching us “Copper’s been trained to identify familiar places. Even in this state, he should stay close by until the sugar rush wears off.”
“But we still gotta get him back” Aria mentioned, “Which we can’t unless we find some way to lure him back here.”
“Why don’t you send Jesse to get him?” Flint suddenly appeared with a smirk on his face “He is the chosen hero after all. And shouldn’t the hero be the one to go save the day?”
“Oh shut up, Flint” Aria grunted, “He’s not ready to do this on his own.”
“Actually, your highness” Lindel also appeared with Oswind behind him “This could be his first mission.”
My stomach just flopped “My what?”
“Every chosen one has to have their first mission at some point, and this could be it. All he has to do it locate Copper and bring him back.”
“But, he’s not fully trained” Aria noted.
“Yeah” I nodded, trying not to appear scared, even though I was clearly failing.
“He doesn’t have to be fully trained for this,” the hobgoblin put in “Look, he’s going to experience danger as a regular thing now. We might as well see as he handles it. So why don’t you let him go first while we stay back, and if anything happens, we’ll jump in and help, how does that sound?”
“Hm...” she began to think.
“Why are you thinking about this?” I asked, getting more scared by the second “Don’t make me do this, please. I don’t feel ready.”
“What’s the matter, Jesse?” Flint sneered at me “Afraid of a little challenge?”
“No” I spat, “I’m scared of dying.”
“Jesse,” Aria spoke, “You’re gonna be fine.”
“You’re agreeing to this?!” I gasped.
“As much as I hate to agree with Lindel, he kinda has a point.”
“No,” I shook my head with fright “Please.”
“Jesse” she tried to calm me “Every first mission is scary, but like what Lindel said, danger is gonna be a regular event to you now, and I know you’re still new to training but, you gotta get used to this.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, they were agreeing to let me search for this wyvern who’s high on a sugar rush and could possibly kill me! What are they thinking?!
“Look,” she continued “We’ll be behind you in case anything happens so you won’t be alone.”
“But-” I replied nervously “Even if I do find him, how am I supposed to lure him back here?”
“You’re an A+ student” she answered with a small smile “Use your brain.”
Right, I forgot about my brain. But my brain works best when it comes to academics, I don’t know if I can use for something like this. Although, as much as I hate to admit to myself, maybe Aria’s right. This is going to be my life now, I gotta get used to things like this, no matter how scared I am at the moment.
“Fine,” I breathed in defeat “When do we go?”
“Right now” she declared “The sooner the better. Dale, get Hazel.”
As she took off, I noticed that Flint was still glaring me with that sneer on his face. I was starting to wonder how sugar got into Copper’s food, and it looks like I have the perfect suspect.
“Come on, Jesse” Aria directed “Let’s get ready.”
I gave Flint a quick frown before following her. If he really did do it, I gotta find proof. Although I’m pretty sure everyone knew he did it, I’m pretty sure.
- Writer
