The Dragoso Series 3: Peace in Agony

“I am surprised you know at least a little of what you were doing with that blade,” Salem stated as he hammered away at the sword he was forging. Trevor stood nearby watching him.

“There was a club I was in back in High School, met on a weekly basis and we learned how to use a sword. We only used foam swords so the weight was different, but we still learned. Was in the club all through my high school career,” Trevor explained, he rubbed his arm that held the shield earlier. “Forgot how bruising the blows can be though.”

“You will get accustomed to the blows the more you train and sustain them.”

“So what about you? Clearly you’re skilled in a rapier, but know how to hold back.” Salem chuckled.

“When I was a boy, I was actually an apprentice blacksmith. I would train with blades everyday. Back then the sword choice was always rapiers. I spent much of my free time sparring with myself and sometimes the guards that walked the town would come to me to train as well. I was well liked due to my skills. It was...difficult...when I was turned. I murdered so many, lusted for more than blood. I wanted power and power is what I eventually got, but at a price.”

“Must’ve been hard on you.” Salem paused what he was doing before exhaling.

“Honestly, I couldn’t be happier right now. I’m the vampires’ leader, I have my daughters, and I spend much of my time teaching my blacksmithing abilities to many who wish to learn. I could not ask for anything more, except maybe sparing Mykau the experience of having a demon in his head and remaining with the insanity and rage in him.” Trevor scoffed. “What?”

“You honestly don’t believe that do you? Mykau is the reason Kathey and Gemini split up. Granted, Gemini sounds like a jerk, but he would still be around for Sandra and Sorren at least.” Trevor felt his head twinge with pain and he dug the heel of his hand into his eye. A typical remedy for an oncoming headache that he used all the time.

“Something wrong?” Trevor looked up.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, just a headache starting. I should probably go eat lunch, didn’t realize how late it was. Let me know when my sword and shield are done.” Salem waved to him as Trevor walked out and lifted his head to the sky. The sun was warm on his skin and the slight September breeze whispered through his hair.

These were things Trevor never used to notice before he learned of who he was. A powerful creature that he once thought was just in books and stories. Hell that’s all anyone believed until a major threat was eliminated.

The Dragon Hunters. Trevor shuddered at the memory of seeing dragons under the control of humans. Beaten, damaged, lost with their lives. Well after the rescue, Sylark and Anna had worked tirelessly to free all the dragons from not only Hunter control, but the parasites belonging to Cenod. Many had flown the base while some had followed them back to the Academy to recover before heading out to start a new life. All but four dragons.

The Exotics, the worst of the captive dragons. They were in such bad condition, they ended up staying at the Academy. For how long, Trevor had no idea, but he hoped they would stay for a while.

Trevor found himself among the noise of lunch in the mess hall. He was a little late, but he didn’t care. He spotted his siblings, Aya and David arguing over who was the best among the other eight of the team Kathey had put together.

“No way! Sonar is awesome! He knows where anything is AND he’s blind!” Aya argued.

“Nu uh! Sylark is the best! He’s all serious but he’s strong!” David snapped. Trevor walked up behind the two, Brenda meeting his eyes and smirking.

“What am I, chopped liver?” Trevor questioned, making Aya and David jump and looked up at him.

“Nobody beats you, big brother,” David advised and grinned. Trevor shook his head and ruffled David’s hair before moving to sit next to Brenda.

“So what did I miss?” Trevor asked.

“Where have you been?” Brenda countered.

“Practicing, don’t worry about it.” Trevor grabbed an apple from the middle of the table and took a bite out of it. “What’re the results on our scouting test?”

“Kathey didn’t tell you?” Trevor shook his head. “We passed. We’re another step closer to being official members of the team.”

“What’s left?”

“We have some big exams that will test our reaction time and our skills. On top of finishing our classes.” Trevor squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed them.

“You okay?” Aya asked. Trevor blinked a few times.

“Headache,” Trevor mumbled. “I’m gonna eat and probably lay down for a bit. Hopefully it’s nothing major.”

“Did you get hit in the head during that practice thing you were talking about?” David asked. Trevor shook his head and immediately regretted it. He groaned and massaged his temples. Brenda rolled her eyes and shoved a sandwich in Trevor’s face. He took it without hesitation and ate it quickly. He claimed a bottle of water and started up to his room.

Trevor plopped down onto his bed and passed out almost instantly. He found himself in a meadow among a forest. He sat on a blanket watching a bird chirp on a branch. It wasn’t every day he saw a blue jay and heard its song.

“I love blue jays,” a voice stated beside him. Trevor looked over and found he was sitting beside Amy.

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” he asked, smiling.

“Their blue feathers remind me of you when the sun hits your scales.” Amy snuggled closer to him and Trevor held her close.

“What a touching moment.” Trevor and Amy whipped around and there stood a Nega Dragon. Trevor stood up and between Amy and the enemy.

“I’ll handle him.” Trevor’s hands began to glow, expecting the glow to travel along his body, but instead it died out.

“What the...” Trevor looked at his hands before looking up at the now grinning dragon. “Amy...RUN!”

Trevor turned tail and Amy scrambled to her feet. Trevor was knocked to the side and Amy was pinned to the ground.

“AMY!” He watched in horror as the dragon smirked at Trevor before lowering his head and closing his mouth around Amy’s head. “NO!”

~oOo~

Trevor shot up from the pillow, panting. The image of Amy being killed played over and over in his head. He put his head in his hands and worked to calm himself down. It was just a dream, Amy is safe at college, no dragon outside of the team knew the connection between the two of them. It was a dream, just a dream.

A knock on the door brought Trevor’s attention to it.

“It’s open,” he called and the door opened and Brenda slipped in. “Hey.”

“You okay? I could hear your heart across the hall,” Brenda asked, observing his eyes. “What happened?” Trevor exhaled and Brenda moved to sit by his feet.

“Nega Dragon killed Amy...she knew I was a dragon.”

“How?”

“I don’t know, I guess I told her, it was a casual thing. There was a blue jay and she said its feathers reminded her of me when the sun hit my scales.”

“Why a Nega Dragon though? We’ve faced worse. Hell Dragons, a Death Dragon, Cenod, and a number of other breeds when we fought the Hunters.”

“Brokenstar I guess. He attacked me more than the rest of the team. He got me when I confronted Demise by myself. Why else would I see a Nega Dragon?” Brenda opened her mouth to reply when the bedroom door swung open.

“We got trouble in Clayton,” David announced. Trevor and Brenda exchanged looks. Trevor swung out of bed and the three of them hurried out.

~oOo~

The team flew over the town that was being terrorized by what looked like a bunch of warriors, least that what Trevor could tell from that high in the air.

“What the hell are Undead doing here?” Malice questioned.

“Undead? Don’t they live in Dragoso, not here?” Trevor asked and Samual nodded beside him.

“Yesss, they live on Whedabra, home of the Undead dragon classss. I have no idea how they got here or why they are here. Let’sss go,” Samual hissed and he dove towards the city, pouncing on Undead soldiers.

Trevor spotted an Undead creeping up on a child and what looked like his older sister. Trevor growled and dove down, landing between the soldier and the kids. He bared his teeth and glared at the soldier. The soldier’s eyes were pitch black, and he was ready to strike, despite standing before a dragon. Trevor roared and his throat constricted before releasing a stream of water. The soldier was hit and the water froze instantly, encasing him in ice. Trevor panted before snorting and turning towards the kids.

“Are you alright?” he questioned. The young boy stared up at him in awe.

“Y-yes, thank you,” the teenager replied and Trevor looked down at the boy. He stepped closer and held his hand up, closed in a fist. The boy looked down at Trevor’s fist before bumping it with his own.

“Get to safety, little man, keep your sister safe,” Trevor requested and the boy nodded. Trevor gave him a single nod before turning.

“Are you an older brother?” Trevor stopped and looked over his shoulder, smiling.

“Yeah, I know how it is. Get somewhere safe now before more come after you.” Trevor approached the soldier encased in ice and looked him over. The kids ran off just as Anna was flying overhead, spotting him and circling to land.

“They ran off and escaped through portals that closed before any of us could get to,” Anna explained, looking over the soldier Trevor had captured. “Good job catching one, Sylark didn’t think to freeze one.”

“And Brenda?”

“Ice Breath doesn’t exactly freeze a safe way naturally, whatever she got shattered instantly.” Trevor snorted and Anna stared the soldier in the eyes, her content face turned to anger. “Agony is behind this.”

“What?!” Trevor looked in the soldier’s eyes again. “I thought only Cenod’s parasites caused that effect.”

“No, this is a universal possession sign. This Undead’s mind has flashes of Agony, and he’s here on Earth.”

“Where?”

“He doesn’t know, so I don’t know. Between this and your nightmares, no doubt Agony is trying to wear us out so we don’t have a fighting chance.”

“What do we do?” Anna exhaled slowly.

“Whatever we can, for now let’s clean up Clayton. They deserve that much since the Undead aren’t part of their world.” Trevor nodded and took to the air to search for a place to start.

Hours later, Trevor and David collapsed in their beds. They had spent the rest of the day cleaning up Clayton and assisting in minor building fixes.

“What a day...I thought we would never finish,” David said into his pillow. Trevor smirked and rolled over onto his back, staring at the ceiling.

“No kidding, they kept sending us to help with tasks over and over again. My wings were ready to fall off. Why they wanted me and not Sonar or Zoymey for the heavy lifting is beyond me,” Trevor huffed.

“They were using them! How could some soldiers cause so much damage in a short amount of time?” David questioned, moving his pillow to cover his face.

“I don’t know, buddy. We probably heard about it long after they attacked. It’s what we do now, help the team and help the world. Every human will know who we are just like they all know the Compass Dragons.”

“I don’t wanna be famous. I just wanna be me.” David yawned and Trevor smirked.

“Don’t worry, buddy, I’ll take your fame if you don’t want it.” With that said, Trevor yawned as well and the brothers fell asleep.