The Last Dragon Rider

Teaming Up

“A lot of crazies,” a voice said and Loric and Laud turned to see a man grinning at them.

“Name’s Syth,” said a bald man with yellow teeth. He wore a shirt two sizes too small.

Laud and Loric backed away from him only to bump into someone worse. A four-foot man with a long braided beard.

“Watch it,” the man said and walked past them without looking back.

“Told you. Crazies, lots of them.”

“What did you call me?” the dwarf asked just before he punched Syth in the abdomen. This made Syth bow enough for the dwarf to slap him.

Syth caressed his face after the slap. As the dwarf walked away Syth said,

“You’ll see who would help you get on a dragon.”

A few people burst into laughter.

“Brace yourselves,”

Gonta screamed before something crashed into the ship. The whiplash disoriented Laud, Loric was helping him up when they heard a huge bang. They felt and slid across the ship’s deck.

Syth held on to the dwarf with one hand and held on to the ship with another.

“What that?” Maitre pointed at a creature in the sea. They walked to the edge of the ship to take a look.

“It's coming back,” the dwarf said, and Syth jumped off the boat. The moment he touched the water it froze. It was just a portion around him but it gave him a ground to stand on.

“Does he also have dragon’s breath? People are not really surprised by this. There is something unusual with this group of people,” Loric thought as he watched Syth. He looked around at the others on the ship.

Laud on the other hand thought Syth was cool.

Syth waited for the creature to get closer. The others watched from the ship. As the creature headed toward them, it dove deep into the water.

They frantically looked around in search of it. Laud, Loric, and some others ran to the other side to see if it would come out the other end.

As Laud and Loric watched from the other side of the ship. When they heard screams and ran to see what was happening.

They got there just in time to see the creature flip Syth’s iceberg into the air. Fortunately, Syth landed on the creature’s back.

“Is that a Bloopard?”

35 asked as they all stared as it tried to get Syth off its back.

“What is a Bloop doing this close to the surface?” A woman with lustrous dark hair asked.

Loric thought of going to help but decided against it. The last time he fought a sea creature in its territory. He almost died, also he did not want to stand out.

Syth made two icicles he used to stab the bloop. He held on tight as it breached. It kept diving and falling back first into the sea.

After some time, Syth fell off the Bloop. Syth created an iceberg and stood on it. He saw the Bloop was returning. With both arms wide apart ice particle beams fired into the water.

He continued firing until there were multiple icicles sticking out of his iceberg. The Bloop swam into it but it did not go as he planned.

The icicles did not pierce its skin, but rather the bloop pushed the iceberg back. As it pushed the iceberg into the ship. Syth created a thirty-foot icicle that pierced the Bloop from beneath. It fell and floated with its belly up.

They threw down a ladder Syth climbed to get back on the ship.

“That was fun,” he said when he got back on board. Some congratulated him, giving his handshakes and a literal pat on the back.

Soon after they got to Ark Vasto. They watched it tower over them, constantly growing each time. They had to circle it to the other side. The beaches were rocky so they anchored and swam to shore.

They were greeted with a thick forest. A chirping of birds and other sounds they did not recognize. Not taking time to catch their breath they ventured into the thick dense forest.

“This was an uninhabited island, there are some unusual things here be careful. Remember, if you cannot keep up you get left behind,”

Ishu said before entering the forest.

The dragon worshipers led the way. The others followed closely by, they watched their step like they were told to.

All of a sudden they heard a scream. They turned to see a man being dragged away by a vine. He grabbed onto a tree “Help me,” Syth ran to him.

Before he could grab his hand, he was dragged further into the forest. The man's scream faded as he was dragged away.

“What’s was that,” Maitre asked as they kept walking.

“I don’t know and I don't want to find out,” Ishu said without looking back. Syth stared at the last place he saw the man. He sighed and then ran to catch up with the group.

After a while, they saw the end of the forest. Beyond the tree line was amazing. It was like something from a fantasy novel. The moss from the forest continued into the field.

The field was filled with flowers of all kinds. They grew in unusual patterns, somehow grouping themselves. There were three waterfalls just feet away from each other. The water flowed down a stream to a fruit tree.

They walked to the tree and down was a thriving village. They walked down a slope to the village. A group ran to welcome them.

“These are our family, maybe one day they will become yours,” Munic said then went with them deeper into the village.

An old man dragged Ishu aside.

“If you bring a lion cab home because it is cute. Remember it would grow to become a lion,” the old man said to him, and he nodded.

The Oldman walked away and Ishu went to the cloud chasers.

“The dragons live on the summit. If you can go there and come back safely, you can stay. You can turn back now and leave the same way you came. But if you decide to go there, know it will not be easy. You might not even survive,” Ishu warned them then turned around and went to the village.

“The only way I am getting out of here is by flight,” 35 said and started to walk toward the summit.

“I think we should work together,” the woman with the dark lustrous hair said.

“I am Shona Briggs,” the woman introduced herself and four others joined her. Syth, Laud, Loric, and Maitre.

Shona looked at the dwarf.

“Aaaww f**k it. I am Shakubati,” the dwarf said and joined them. There were three other groups of five and one group of four.

Ishu, Mew, Gonta, and Munic watched as they walked toward the second ring of the plate.

Their first obstacle was an 85-foot mountain that walled a valley. Which was about 20 kilometers away. That was where the waterfall was located.

“At least we have a White Monolith on our side,” Shona said as they walked to the waterfall.

“Sorry, but I do not think I will be much help. I had a fain with me but she was murdered,” Maitre stated then looked at Laud who was staring at him.

Laud remembered what Nox said ‘They deserved it.’

He approached Maitre, and asked,

“What is a Fain?”

“Fain’s are a group of witches with the ability to make people do what they tell them. That’s cool, right?”

Mature explained and Laud nodded in agreement.

“That's why Nox killed her, she was going to control the dragons,” Laud thought and wondered if it was the same for the others.

“If you think that is cool, what of someone who tells the Fain what to do?” Shona's statement immediately caught Loric’s attention.

He wondered why someone who can make anyone do anything. Take orders from someone else.

“There must be something special about him,” Loric thought and tried to find out more about Maitre.

“What is the white monolith?”

Loric hoped his answer could reveal something about him.

“The white monolith is a Fosglyphs. A light cube with secrets of the divine. It is basically the god's message to use. When we are able to decipher, we will share that message with the world,” Maitre said with a smile on his face.

“So something that had to do with the divine. I am not sure,” Loric thought, and before he realized they were at the waterfall.