Arc 4: What families entail
Road to a Hero:
Three chances in another world
Chapter 34. Dragons spirit
Miles away from the castle, on an active volcanic mountain, a dirty withered man trains a dirty sore boy. Edward's greasy black hair waves back and forth in front of his face while he swings a newly made black sword. Lincoln throws rock after rock at Edward while he smashes every one of them into a cloud of faint dust. Once Lincoln runs out of rocks Edward drops his sword on the wet dirty grass and brushes his hair back with his hand. He then walks over to Lincoln while wiping the sweat off his face and bare muscly chest.
Lincoln: “Your hair is getting long.”
Edward: “Yeah it is, and it’s getting kinda spiky. I used to just keep my hair short and it spiked a little in the back…but since I left the capital of Walgonia I’ve just been letting it grow.”
Lincoln: “Well keep letting it grow, don’t keep conforming to your damn knightly duties or whatever.”
Edward: “Is the armor cooling down?”
Lincoln: “Well let's go check why don’t we.”
Edward: “I haven’t been here very long…three weeks or so, yet I feel a lot stronger.”
Lincoln: “Good, it means it’s working. Your body was well done, but your mind and skills needed to be sharpened. And unlocking your internal mana will be your biggest step in becoming a man.”
Edward: “I’m twenty I think I'm man enough.”
Lincoln: “Whatever you say, you can barely grow a beard.”
Edward: “It’s coming in.”
They walk past Lincoln's cabin and start to go towards a hole in the mountainside. Once inside the area, Lincoln moves past smithing equipment and picks up dark black armor.
Lincoln: “Put it on, it better fit.”
Edward puts the armor on, and it fits perfectly. It is almost like a shell, built with individual plates that connect. Due to this, it’s very flexible but it’s also heavy. First the chest plate, the arm guards, the leg pieces, and the boots. All very angled, the handpieces and boots fitting over the arm and leg pieces with a sharp point. Then the last piece, a part of the armor shocks Edward.
Edward: “What’s with the skull helmet?”
Lincoln: “You said your friend wears one. So I made you one instead of a lazy-looking helmet.”
Edward: “Yeah but he was made by accident…and he doesn't look like a skull, it’s just white and has three black lines on it. The one you made is accurate, the cheekbones, each tooth made out of iron…even a nose hole…HEY!”
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Lincoln: “What? I made it accurate, you never said your friend was some goofy mask!”
Edward: “God dammit, the right eye hole…that’s not funny. The three small slashes…just like the brand on my eye…the gravestone pirates flag.”
Lincoln: “Well put it on already.”
Edward places the helmet on his head, causing his whole body to look black, sharp, and angry, like a monster. The way the outline of the left eye looks, it makes Edward seem always angry and the right eye looks like the carvings of a beast.
Lincoln: “Alright, you actually look like your name on the wanted poster now.”
Edward: “What wanted poster?”
Lincoln: “The one Walgonia has out for you and your friends. Soku the wind elf, Rosemary the golden knight, Gray Kyojin the Phantom knight, and Edward Van Helsing, the End Bringer.”
Edward: “The End Bringer…I finally got my title…”
Lincoln: “I want to teach you one more thing before you go.”
Edward: “I’m going?”
Lincoln: “A storm is coming…now follow me…I’m going to give you a trump card.”
Edward: “Alright then.”
Lincoln leads Edward to a patch in the grass.
Lincoln: “I taught you the dragon's fist…but do you know the origin of the attack? How it got its name.”
Edward: “I think…they tell it like a fantasy story. For some reason…near the end of the Demi-human war, a dragon had come from Alfheim and showed up right near one of your camps. The noble, intelligent, god-like beast approached your camp wanting to kill everyone there. But you stood up to it, it started you in the eyes and you didn’t falter…you stood your ground, found your inner strength, and hit the beast. You cracked its scales, pushed the beast back, and made it grunt. It bowed its head and evaporated into a cloud of mana and traveled back to Alfheim.”
Lincoln: “Good, but in reality, the story is much different. I was told a group of my men had abandoned our cause and fled to a lesser-known group of people at the time…the Sect of Anarchy. They burned down one of my camps…and I went to find them…and I did. They had strange abilities…but I killed them anyway. But for some reason when I tried to leave…an injured, mutated, and angry dragon landed in front of me. To this day I don’t know why it was there or how it got like that…but when it tried to strike me I freaked out…I had never been so scared…but in my time of need, I found inner strength…the Dragon tried to burn me but I punched it right in its aching wound. But when it fell back it burned its wound…burned it right off like a tick. and the dragon healed right in front of me. Then it told me something I’ll never forget…it told me I was worthy…and vanished.”
Edward: “I didn’t know that…but what was the point of this story?”
Lincoln: “The point is that I didn’t only learn the dragon's fist. I learned about the dragon's spirit as well.”
Edward: “What’s the dragon’s spirit?”
Lincoln: “I used all my internal mana at once…boosting my OD itself…I was more alive than I had ever been. It empowered me… awakened me…made me a new man.”
Edward: “So why did you wait so long to teach me?”
Lincoln: “Because right after the dragon left I fell to the ground broken. My bones, my muscles, were destroyed…I was rarely able to fight again but I was lucky and I fell into the dragon's spilled blood…and it flowed into my body through my skin and made me a new man.”
Edward: “So you wanted me to strengthen my body, then teach me a trump card.”
Lincoln: “Exactly, but I’m going to tell you how to use it. I don't want you to use it…at least not for now.”
Edward: “Makes sense…now tell me.”
Lincoln: “You need to find all your internal mana, flow it into your OD, and then you’ll feel it. Immense power…that will break you.”
Edward: “I understand.”
Edward gets up and begins to walk towards a cliffside that looks right at the castle.
Lincoln: “Where you goin'?”
Edward: “Somethings off…something bad is happening.”
Lincoln: “Something bad is always happening there.”
Edward: “No…I feel it in my bones.”
Edward focuses on the top room, seeing bright yellow lights flickering in the window. And then a rush of black flames burst out of the window.
Edward: “Arthur…”
Lincoln: “My sons…this isn’t good.”
Edward: “We need to go down there!”
Lincoln: “You need to…this is your mission now mine.”
Edward: “WHAT!?”
Lincoln: “LISTEN TO ME! This is for you, meant for you. I will help you after you end this war,…but you have to figure out what you really want to do, do you understand me?”
Edward: “Yes…I do.”
Edward goes to grab his sword, and Lincoln runs up holding a shoulder-back sheath, a supply belt with a small knife on it, a black curtain made into a hooded cloak, and a bottle of sake.
Edward: ‘Alright then…I’ll be back eventually.”
Lincoln: “I’ll see you then.”
Edward equips all of the things that Lincoln gave him, takes a swig of sake, and begins to jog to the castle.
END OF Chapter thirty-four