The Dragoso Series 3: Peace in Agony

“I’m gone for a few hours and this is what I come home to?” Kathey exclaimed. It was more bewilderment than anger. Kathey and Trevor had returned to the Academy and the first thing to interrupt the quiet day was an injured Metallic Ice Dragon dragging himself out of the Mausoleum in Drake’s cemetery. The stranger looked young, only about sixteen, but he had battle scars most likely from the Hunter and Metallic War.

“His dreams are littered with the war,” Sylark had said. The Metallic Ice had wounds not only from claws, but his flesh inside the wounds was burned to a crisp. It was a miracle he was alive, freezing himself for seventy years give or take.

Trevor leaned against the doorframe into the Med Lab watching the exchange between the two telepaths. It really was amazing how many new things were being thrown into his life. First the Royal Family, the castle, the temple, now a dragon from seventy years ago that hasn’t aged one bit since he froze himself.

The new arrival had silvery hair, though a good enough look, it had a light blue tint to it. Much like Sylark, he also had rather pale skin and each exhale was a chilly breath that they could see in the air. Pieces of rusted armor sat in the corner, clearly aged from being frozen so long.

“He needs rest and the scars will be deep once he heals, but he’ll be alright,” Sereph said. She stood beside the stranger holding a binder. “He’s lucky his organs aren’t harmed at all.”

“Exactly how is that possible?” Trevor asked.

“Dragons are hearty creatures alone. Metallic Dragons and all hybrids have titanium in their bones much like pins and replacements put into humans,” Sereph explained. “Their resistance is much higher than any other dragon breed. The fact he took the amount of damage that he did is surprising.”

“Sereph,” Kathey spoke up. She and Sylark stepped back from the bed, the stranger shifting in bed.

“Hey, look who’s back,” Sereph greeted, stepping into the stranger’s view. He reached up to rub at his face, flinching in pain and looking at his chest that was wrapped.

“Trevor, please step out, he might go manic,” Kathey requested and Trevor nodded. He backed out and into the hallway, leaning against the wall to wait.

“What happened?” the stranger asked. It wasn’t English, it was Draconic, an old language that very few dragons spoke.

“What do you remember?” Kathey asked.

“Who are you?”

“Princess Anna Dragon, Dragon of the North.” The stranger attempted to sit up but cried out in pain.

“What happened to me?”

“Looks like you got clawed in the chest, burned, and then you froze yourself for probably seventy years. What’s your name?”

“Private Glacclaw Cassen. She hasn’t said a word.” Glacclaw pointed to Sereph.

“She does not understand Draconic like Anna and I do,” Sylark replied.

“Okay, I have a lot of questions. First of all, a dragon of royal blood is also a Life Dragon? The Dragon of the North I know was a Fire Dragon. What the hell have I missed?” Kathey and Sylark exchanged a look and Kathey sighed.

“Get comfortable, there’s a lot to tell you,” Kathey said and Glacclaw nodded.

~oOo~

“To think something like that was buried in the cemetery,” Brenda said. Trevor looked up from petting Stephanie. He had retreated to the stables and found Brenda grooming everyone. They both just finished getting the griffins ready for their new arrivals. Breeding season was about to start.

“You would think they would’ve at least investigated any hole they found, wouldn’t they?” Trevor asked.

“I went out there with Sylark after they found the guy. It was covered over, nobody knew he was even down there.” Stephanie cooed and rested her head on Trevor’s thigh where he sat in her stall. Trevor resumed stroking the blue griffiness.

“That’s insane, he hasn’t aged a day, what the hell happened?”

“Cryostasis. I guess it’s a defense thing Ice Dragons can do to survive. Course there’s that risk of being frozen longer than expected. That war ended in nineteen forty-eight and he was still frozen then.”

“Pros and cons to doing that, huh?” Brenda nodded.

“Pros and cons to everything, even this life we live now.”

“No kidding.” Brenda looked towards the stable entrance.

“Brenda, good, you’re here. Give me a hand here, this royal is a handful,” Malice requested.

“Hey man, I just wanna see the hottie, let go!” A new voice snapped. Trevor stood as Brenda hurried over to help with the indigo colored griffin with a gold tint to his coat. “Smells like a buncha females in here, who’s the lucky girl?”

“Hype, you need to chill, you’re gonna scare all the females,” Malice commanded. He and Brenda wrestled the male into the indoor riding arena and let him loose. “Major handful. His owner is in the military, it’s a miracle even he can control this rowdy male.” Trevor joined them in watching the male. He had a few scars on him, but otherwise was a healthy looking griffin.

“Being an indigo he was bred in captivity, right?” Trevor asked.

“That he was. Quite a line of breeding through. Blue and purple parents, but purple is a captivity color too so a red and blue are in his bloodline too. I got the records, all really healthy griffins and he’s just as hearty. I’m hoping for some interesting babies from him and Moonlight.” Malice watched Hype the entire time he explained all this. The griffin was sniffing around the sand of the riding arena.

“Kindergarten art class comes in handy here, huh?” Brenda joked.

“Works with dragons too, sometimes you get a mixture of the parents colors, other times it’s both colors on one baby,” Malice said. “Marty is an example of a mixture, pinkish-orange somehow is a color. Sandra and Sorren are an example of both colors from both parents.”

“Crazy to think there are so many ways for dragons to get a specific breed. Bloodlines matter too, right?” Trevor asked.

“Yup, Kathey and Eshala are Flower Dragons like their grandmother. Of course, their whole family is strange with the genetics. Somewhere down the line was a Metallic, a Purple, and a Water. She has no idea who in her family line since a lot of the family history is lost.” Malice shrugged. “The other griffins will be here soon, make sure the field looks good, we’ve got one female coming, she’ll be staying in there until introductions can be made between her and Thunder.”

~oOo~

“Wow... that is a lot to take in,” Glacclaw mumbled. Kathey and Sylark had told him everything he had missed in the seventy years he was frozen. “So let me get this straight, you and Sylark are part of the second generation of Compass Dragons. The current Queen and King are your parents.” Glacclaw pointed to Kathey. “And the Council of the Underworld has risen again? Is their Master back?”

“No, we’re dealing with Agony right now though. He’s been attacking my students with nightmares,” Kathey said. “I’m afraid he’s just trying to exhaust all of us before launching a full scale attack on the Academy.”

“That is exactly what he is trying to do. He weakens his enemies mentally which turns into physical exhaustion. When the biggest threats are weakened, he attacks.” Glacclaw explained. “I...may have kept up with those fights while the Metallic and Hunter war was happening. Those Compass Dragons took such a beating from the fight against the Council’s Master, that was when the first one fell.”

“Excuse us,” Sylark requested and Glacclaw nodded. Sylark stepped towards the door and Kathey followed. Once out in the hallway with the door closed, they spoke. “We cannot let him free into the world.”

“I know. He’s a Metallic hybrid, it’s been our job as Compass Dragons to protect the breeds that are endangered and essentially extinct. On top of that, he’s so out of the loop, I’m pretty sure even laying in that room he’s having a major culture shock. Technology is very advanced now compared to seventy years ago. What are we going to do though?” Sylark hummed in thought.

“What about we teach him English, Zoymey, you, and myself, and in turn he teaches our students how to speak Draconic.”

“It’s such an old language, I don’t know how well that will be received.”

“Much like Latin among humans, but some places still teach it. I believe it would help not only dragons, but maybe if we ever connect Earth to Dragoso, other races can learn it as well. There are many old texts in Draconic and very few that can speak it. Teaching it could be beneficial.”

“Let’s hope so.” The two slipped back into the room and Glacclaw looked up.

“What is going to happen to me now?” he asked.

“Metallic Dragons and the hybrids are under our strict protection now. We can’t exactly set you free in the world. Not only that but you’re seventy years behind on the times. Technology has advanced greatly since you were alive. We’ll give you a home here, but we also want to ask you something,” Kathey started.

“We would like to teach you English and in return you teach our students Draconic. Kathey, Zoymey, and I have too much on our agendas to teach it ourselves,” Sylark explained. Glacclaw grunted as he pushed himself to sit up.

“I will do everything I can to help you,” Glacclaw promised. “What can I do right now?”

“Focus on recovering and your lessons will be given whenever possible,” Kathey said and smiled at him. Glacclaw nodded and laid back down, his eyes closing. Kathey and Sylark stepped out and started down the hallway.

“What is the plan now?” Sylark questioned.

“I have the Council’s books, I’m going to read up on them as much as I can, hopefully we can be prepared for their attacks. And if their Master is as powerful as everyone says they are, we better hope they don’t have the power to revive him.”

“What do you suppose will happen if he is revived?” They stopped at Sylark’s classroom and Kathey exhaled.

“My best guess? The end of Earth and Dragoso as we know it.”

“Cheerful... I will see you at dinner.” Sylark bowed his head to Kathey and entered his classroom. Kathey headed to her classroom and sat at her desk, waiting for her next class to enter.

~oOo~

Miles away, beady red eyes watched everything unfold in a black and red orb. Agony closed his talons and the orb disappeared. “Excellent! They are slowly being weakened by my nightmares. No matter how much denial they are in, it is working.” Agony looked among his army that stood waiting for command.

The undead staring blankly at the space in front of them. Wendigos knelt in the cloak of shadow Agony made for them with the cambions. Zombies and ghouls were in a corral of darkness, bumping into the blackness as they shuffled around. Demonic Hellhounds and Orthrus laid waiting for a command, a few sleeping soundly.

Agony’s eyes landed on the creatures made entirely of flesh from humans. Agony was the type of monster to create something like that, he knew it would throw off the meddlesome Voutneth Team.

“This is going quite well. Those brats are slowly weakening, my army grows stronger by the day, they won’t be able to stop us once my plan is set into motion.” Agony growled a bit at the thought of Cenod’s death. “You failed me, Cenod. I have no plans to recreate you. I should have done everything myself in the first place.” Agony shook his head, replaying the scene he had witnessed two months ago.

“Malice, if you would.” Sylark said, walking away from a wounded Cenod as Malice approached. The Thunder Dragon’s mouth had a white glow in it. Cenod snarled to challenge the usually laid back dragon, but it was in vain. Malice released the blast of the Life Breath and Cenod screeched as he was erased from existence.

“We will not fail you, Master Rakasa.”