DRAGON BONES
Prologue – The New City
The Arsain Mountains were a beast. They stretched themselves across the north-western edge of the Logos continent, high hills and deep forests, a grey stone wall separating the land from the sea. The mountains are a treacherous place, filled with monsters and horrors unknown, steeped in mist and magic, there are no maps, no records, no accounts of what lies there; sequestered beneath the shadow of the sun. None know what rests within the heart of that impenetrable fortress; only whispered tales told upon the coldest and darkest nights have ever left that lonesome place: stories that flitter about the camp fire, spoken by cautious mothers to frightened sons. The mountains are a symbol of fear and darkness, they are death itself. But no child, not a one who has seen those jagged peaks did not feel it; somewhere deep, deep down, that rush – adventure.
It sat at the dragons head; a fitting place for the city to lie. Since time long past the valley had held that name, the lands were parched and barren, as if they had been scorched with flames: the dull brown track of land leading up towards the base of the Arsain Mountains: the Anotian hill. Here the earth itself was dead and desiccated, a hellish heat beating down from the sun above; to crack the soil and break the spirits of the city’s residents; or attempt to at least. This was the centre of trade between the allied kingdoms and the Irusan Empire as well as the site of their most crushing defeat.
And there it was upon the horizon, at the back of the valley, and at the foot of the mountain; the white city: Carnock
Great bones lay bleached within the sunlight, bones reaching higher than any building made by man ever could, belonging to a beast not so long dead. Mortar and granite and leather and steel bound and wrapped and beaten into place, all nations had poured their resources into resurrecting Carnock from the ashes; a city built on the bones of dragons. A great wall had been resurrected about the city driving off the winds keeping its’ people safe; two lone gates breaching the behemoth’s sides, one lying north-east and the other south-west.
“Hmm... Your’ ID checks out... State your name, affiliation and reason for entering the Carnock.” The guard muttered looking upon from the tattered scroll in his direction. The young man blinked through his thick goggles a stray beam of sunlight bouncing of the guards helmet and into his eyes a heavy sweat dripping down from his forehead, the old guard scrutinising him, hand wringing its’ way up his spear.
“It say’s everything on my ID doesn’t it?” the he muttered, his pack clattering with each move a dull muttering rising up from behind him; the dark line of soldiers, traders, craftsmen, travellers carts and beasts stretching back into the distance.
“It’s procedure Mr... Sumasen?”
“It’s Sampson.” Sampson muttered snatching back his scroll and slipping it into a small cylindrical case resting by his hip, jostling the mass of tools resting besides it.
“Strange name; so where are you from Mr Samsen.”
“It just doesn’t translate well. I’m from Rimao the capital of Gleipon. I’m with the adventurer’s guild and I have permission to move here for work.”
The guard clicked his tongue leaning in with a dull glare,
“You don’t look like you’re an adventurer.”
“And is that a problem or can I go now?” The guard stood still looking him over for a couple moments longer before letting out a sigh and giving him a soft smile;
“Well be on your’ way and good luck kid!” he gave out a weary laugh waving for hi, to continue on. Sampson hiked up his bag and pulled on his cap his hands slipping down into his pockets as his gaze drifted upwards; towards the great iron gates set within the jaws of the dragon.
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It had been two years now since Carnock burnt; a dragon had woken within the Arsain Mountains and without warning or reason it made its’ way upon the kingdom of Reim. its’ capital Carnock was the first and the last city to fall to the dragon; the land itself reduced to molten slag in a twinkling, the only thing to keep the beast from rampaging across all nations being the combined might of the Allied kingdoms and the Irusan Empire those long standing enemies at last lowering their weapons and moving against the monster that threatened them both. It was on the battlefield that generals Ache and Yaora called a truce as both armies paused to watch the northern skyline burn, the next morning they began their march. An army of thee-hundred-and-fifty-thousand strong marched on Eneir the blue dragon that had reduced Reim to cinders. When Irusan and the allied nations had prepared their armies for the battle at Ulbran hill they had believed it would spell the end of the war; and they were right – the war ended that day – it was a massacre. The fields were strewn with the dead, forests, villages, houses and homes for miles around lay smouldering as the sun began to set, too many dead to count and the survivors few and far between. In the end it had been the S-class warriors of each nation who had delivered the finishing blow against the beast they had severed its’ head in a single strike and ended to bloodshed. And that should have been the end of it; it should, but a dragon is a miracle, its’ blood a deadly poison, its’ flesh a prime cut which can grant power and longevity, its’ scales and its’ bones prised by every artisan and weapon-smith upon the lands of Logos and beyond and if rumour were to be believed, at the dragons’ heart lies a mana crystal; condensed magical power which could grant everlasting life. Both nations were eager to claim their prize, but as the sun set and the moon rose they were to bear witness to a miracle of another kind. The dragon dissolved, it’s body became mist and its’ bones began to swell; they grew to twice their size rooted in the earth, all magic lying within dissipating down into the earth, carving our rooms and corridors, a labyrinth born in the blinking of an eye, filled with beasts, and treasure the likes of which had never been seen. And then it was agreed upon; Irusan and the kingdoms split the land of Reim among themselves and established a city state independent of either nation, to govern this new dungeon and the city of Carnock...
Or at least that was what he’d heard.
Houses had been raised in a matter of months, the city rising from the ashes; they had carved homes into the bones that jutted from their barren land, and the people of Reim who had survived the tragedy took up residents in a city that had expanded almost overnight. A cool chill touched on his skin, a myriad of traders and merchants having set up shop about the edges of the dragons skull, flimsy walkways resting above leading to houses cut into the skull itself, his wooden sandals clattering on the cobblestone streets as he tried to tune out the cacophony currently assailing him quickly getting swept up within the crowd. He broke from the shadows of the dragons skull a wave of heat beating him down, as he cast his gaze about the haphazard streets of a market place, vaguely able to distinguish actual houses and buildings not too far in the distance, most clustered around various landmarks; bones of every kind jutting out from the city casting shade and light in equal proportions.
“Right, I need to send those letters, and then get to the adventurers guild – where the hell did I put that map?” Sampson muttered to himself, heavy gloves struggle to flip through his belt in order to find the pouch he’d stuffed his map into. His sister had looked up the cities layout in a book at her school’s library, and had copied a map for him; he needed to get to the guild as soon as possible and then find somewhere cheap to stay for the evening. If he wanted cheap the demi-human district would probably be his best bet otherwise he could just find an empty plot of land and set up camp. Ah there!
Sampson fished out the small scrap of paper, his body freezing as he looked upon the abhorrent mess of lines splattered across the paper. Trusting someone with no sense of direction to draw him a map; he really was an idiot. The young man grit his teeth and scrunching up sheet and tossing the wad of paper aside, selecting a direction and random and charging forwards all the same.
So began the journey of a man in a city built of Dragon bones.