Proofread by: Daylius and Vikingstad
Draklake
Three figures stood, astonished, dumbstruck. They had been observing a certain somebody who they had thrown into a dream world.
“What just happened, Altair?” Petra was shivering. She had just witnessed something next to impossible. “How can he just end it like that? 10,000 against 100,000 and he lost just 10 of his men. What is he?”
Altair and Thorwin were also speechless. The real battle of Linford had been a narrow win for Lithinian army and that too came with the help of the reinforcements. They had believed that this had been one of history’s greatest battles. Petra had deliberately chosen the Battle of Linford hoping Shiv would despair and fail.
They had planned on showing him despair; make him understand the importance of strategy. Petra herself being a strategist was confident that Shiv would not be able to win. She had even prepared a speech for the time when a dejected Shiv returned.
The other two were speechless. They had made it so that he could not really on the sword technique and the Chains of Time. They even delayed the reinforcement.
For the three masters, Dragon King Orrinshire was the most powerful and intelligent person that ever existed. Even when Orrinshire had lead the battle, the Lithinian victory was attained due to the reinforcement. The King himself was on verge of dying.
All their beliefs were shattered when they saw Shiv win, that too with so much ease, without the help of re-enforcements.
‘What is he? A being even above the Dragon King. Impossible’
---***---
The next time Shiv opened his eyes he was in a large room. To his left was an armory and to the right where dummies.
‘Now where have I seen this before? A deja vu?’
Shiv looked around and it dawned on him that he was back at his training room. ‘So I won. The war is finally over. We won Black Dragon. Huh? Black Dragon?’
Shiv looked at his waist but no longer was the elegant black sword with a white dragon embedded on it there.
“Nooooooo, my Black Dragon” Shiv’s scream echoed throughout the academy and within seconds the door of the training room flung open and Altair came running towards Shiv. She froze midway. She saw a boy with dark long hair and golden brown eyes crying, tears rolling down like a river.
“What happened Shiv? Are you hurt?”
“Master my Black Dragon. I want my Black Dragon”
“Eh? Are perhaps referring to the sword?”
Shiv’s eyes lit up. He looked at Altair as if she were god. “Master, do you have my Black Dragon?”
“Errr! That was all a dream. You just were in a dream world that I created tee-hee” Altair said with a cute pose.
Shiv looked at her and said, ”Please kill me master. I no longer want to live in this world without my Black Dragon”
---***---
It took hours to console Shiv. After he reverted back to normal, Shiv was visited by all his masters together.
“With this you have finished your training. You are now strong. As promised you can have a weapon from the armory” Thorwin explained.
“No master. Black Dragon is my only love, I will not betray her.”
Bang
The instant that was said, he was kicked. Not by Thorwin but by the gentle Altair.
“Weapon or death?” asked a smiling Altair.
“Weapon” replied Shiv.
He then walked to the armor and looked at the weapons. There were different kinds of weapons: spears, swords, maces like that, a hundreds of them. He went towards the sword section and began holding and swinging each sword. The
masters were surprised, ‘Is that boy going to do that with all of them?’
Shiv continued his swings. The masters did not interrupt. They had felt this intensity before too, when Shiv was planning his war tactics. They did not dare interrupt.
Shiv was carefully examining. He did not realize the flow of time. For hours he kept doing the same thing. He had checked almost 200 swords and yet was not satisfied with any of them. It was then that something caught his attention. A rusted sword lay in front of him. Unlike the other swords, this one was much longer, the hilt too was thicker. The sword did not have any sheathe, the blade had no luster and was the portion which was not rusted had a silver tint . What caught his eye was the black gem embedded on its hilt.
‘Why do I feel I have seen that gem before?’
“Master. I will take this one.”
“This useless sword is what you want. Are you out of your mind?” Thorwin was annoyed. He had the largest collection of weapons in the world, from throwing knives to legendary swords. He had let Shiv choose one,thinking that Shiv might get a good sword. And now the boy chose a rusted good for nothing crap.
“Why this?” Altair asked, curious.
“Oh nothing special. This gem reminds me of Black Dragon”
The three masters were stunned. ‘Why is a block head like him our student?’
Shiv looked at the three and smiled. “You think that this sword is useless don’t you?”
“Yes!” the three answered at the same time.
Shiv smiled. He then gripped the sword and placed his forehead on the gem. The tattoo on his right hand began to glow,
“Come forth Black Dragon!”
“Who dares to summon me?” suddenly there was a loud roar.
The masters froze. Thorwin being shocked beyond belief. He had searched for the sword, the sword of his Dragon King
for decades. ‘The sword had always been with me and I could not even realize that.’
“My name is Shiv and I have summoned you. Be mine Black Dragon!”
“Be yours! Such impudence. I do not belong to any one. Put me down and disappear mortal. Only the chosen one is
allowed to wield me. Wait, is that the mark of the Dragon God. Why do you have it?”
“I was blessed by Oberon, I guess?”
“So you have come back Orrinshire. Very well, I will let you wield my power. But let me warn you, years of slumber has
made me weak”
“I do not care. Be mine.”
“As you command Orr”
Then the sword began glowing. The rust began to fall and instead of silver tint, the sword began to blacken. The blade became longer so did the hilt. The grip of the sword remained black but the crossbar was silver. On the middle crossbar there was a dragons head. When viewed from the top it looked like the sword was coming out from the dragon’s mouth. Then the sword began emitting a dark aura. The dark aura surrounded the blade and formed the sheathe.
When the glow subsided Shiv froze. He was now surrounded by mirrors. ‘Where the hell am I?’
“Welcome young man. Welcome to my lair.”
Shiv looked at the direction of the voice and had the shock of his life. Sitting on a golden throne was a young man in his 20’s. The man had blond long hair, slightly pointy ears. He was dressed in a black armor carrying a black sword, black gloves and black boots. To the left of the throne was a large black shield. In his right hand a pocket watch, a dragon tattoo on the same hand. His left hand had a silver bracelet which had a red gem embedded on it. A silver chain with an unusual locket was hanging from it. The man was calm and smiling.
“Who are you? Why do you look like me?” Shiv questioned.
“Relax young Shiv. I am not an enemy”
“How do you even know my name? And why do you have that tattoo” Shiv was defensive.
The unknown man shrugged his soldiers and sighed.
“My name is Orrinshire and this is somewhere in your mind.”
“My mind? Then why are you here? Why do we look alike?”
“Why am I here you ask? Well that is because you have the tattoo like me and you are in possession of my sword and watch.”
‘Orrinshire, sword, watch? Ah I remember’
“You are the king of Lithinia, right? Why are you here?”
“Lithinia, its been a while since I heard that name. I was the king, I am no longer.”
“Why? Did you lose Lithinia?”
“You still do not know? They did not tell you yet. Do not worry you will know soon enough. I am not here to talk about
Lithinia”
“Then talk about our appearance. Are you a devil? Shape shifter?”
“I am no such thing. I am what you call ghost. And this is how I have always looked. You are my reincarnation, well just the body though.”
“Don’t give me that bullshit. Reincarnation my ass” Shiv was now pissed.
“You don’t have to believe what I say. Just ask your masters. They will confirm what I said”
Shiv knew it was a waste talking about it now.
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“So why are you in my head?”
“You and I are similar”, showing the tattoo on his hand Orrinshire continued. “Like you, I too was once called the child of Oberon, after being blessed by him. Only you and I have ever received this mark”
“So?” Shiv was now curious. Knowledge is power, he knew that very well.
“I will not go into it in detail. You are my successor. . There are things you must do even if you don’t like it. That mark is a boon and a curse as well. The mark is your destiny. And the reason I came here is to ask you to do something”
“Do something? I refuse” Shiv blatantly refused.
“Ho. Refusal even before hearing what I have to say huh. What if the thing I want you to do is gather these things?”
Orrinshire pointed towards the things Shiv was holding, “You already have the sword and the watch. Now you have to find 6 more items. Will you still refuse after knowing the power the sword and watch carries?” Orrinshire tried to bait him. He was sure Shiv would accept.
“I refuse. Look here Orrinshire. I do not intend to do great things and stand out. My wish is different from what you have. I am no hero and I do not want to be”
Orrinshire was dumbfounded. He was sure that Shiv would accept. He then smiled “Very well. I will not force them to you. You can now return”
“Thank you” Shiv said and again there was a bright glow.
‘They will come to you eventually. They belong to you young man. That is the dragon’s curse. Don’t make the same mistakes like I did young one. I wish you luck.’
---***---
When Shiv came to, he was still at the armory and in his hands there was Black Dragon. The masters then came closer and observed the sword. Of the three Thorwin seemed a little sad.
“We have nothing more for you boy. You may leave.”
“Thank you master” Shiv bowed at the three and left.
When the trio made sure Shiv had left their figures began to change. They suddenly seemed old.
“Briskol, he passed the test. Now what shall we do?” spoke the only male among the three.
“Gehambel, he still has one more test. And it is near. Irene have you prepared everything”
“Yes Briskol, I have used all of my magic to summon it here. Will it be fine to have that thing near the village?”
“It will be fine. Irene. Your barrier should be enough to keep it away from here” said Briskol.
“Hope this one does not turn out like you strategy lesson, Briskol” spoke Gehambel.
“Let us leave. We have to prepare the festival hoping he would come back alive”
---***---
“Identify”
Black Dragon (Level 1)
A sword made by a legendary blacksmith using the scales of the dragon God Oberon. This sword was made for the Dragon King, Orrinshire under the orders of the God. The sword is only usable by those approved by the God.
A powerful sword which can grow along with the wielder. The sword was used by the great Dragon King himself for decades. But due to its century long slumber the sword has lost all its power.
+1 level for every 4 levels the wielder gains
+5 for all stats
+20fame
+50 to HP and Mana
New skill created: Sword mastery (beginner level 1)
‘1 level for every 4 levels huh. So when I level up to 100 I will get an extra 25 levels? Just what was Orrinshire’s level for the sword to give a 500 level boost? Omg!’Shiv gulped hard.
“I got another skill eh. Good. This sword is the best” and he kissed the sword numerous times. ‘Now shall we have a look.’
“Open status”
Wind: 1%
Fire: 1%
Water: 1%
Earth: 1%[/tr]
STATS WINDOWCharacter NameShivAlignmentNeutralLevel1ProfessionNoneTitleNoneFame30Health: 300Mana: 300Strength: 34+5Agility:37+5Stamina: 36+5Vitality: 33+5Wisdom: 24+5Intelligence: 26+5Luck: 0+5Perseverance: 13+5Offence:30Defense: 0Magic Resistance
Wind: 1%
Fire: 1%
Water: 1%
Earth: 1%
AffinitySkillsHeavenly Element Sword Technique Beginner Level 1
Magic mastery Beginner Level 2
Water mastery Beginner Level 4
Earth mastery Beginner Level 4
Wind mastery Beginner Level 4
Fire mastery Beginner Level 4
‘My stats are good, but this is not enough. I have one day to prepare for my quest. Master gave me food and it will last for 3 days. I need to fill my canteen with water. Then I will head out to the forest. Before that I must return to master, I need some other things if I have to complete my quests’
---***---
Shiv was now in the forest. Small monsters had tried to run away when they felt his presence. Shiv chased them. He used the chains of time to slow the world around him. This made it much easier for him even though he did not like it. Shiv’s status had made him pretty strong. There were small monsters like six tailed cat, small spiders and some two tailed wolves which were roaming alone. The wolves were more powerful than the spiders and cats. He had made sure to attack those that were alone. He knew that he was not strong enough to deal with a pack of them. He had checked the forums but there was no information about such monsters so he concluded that these monsters were specialty of Draklake. He dealt with them with ease with the help of the watch’s power.
Because he had used the watch, instead of 1 day he now had two days to prepare everything. He grinded his level till afternoon. By then he had reached level 11 as he got to kill a fair number of wolves. He invested his points in STA, STR and AGI for now. For the upcoming war these were important for him or so he thought.
From leveling up 11 times he had gained 55 stats points. He gave 20 each to STA and STR, the remaining to agility. His sword mastery rose to level 3 while Form 1 and Form 2 leveled up to level 2.
He noticed that the heavenly elemental technique proficiency increased much slower than all his other skills.
With this he set off to the naiad’s pond. He reached the pond in 1 hour and introduced himself to them. The naiads were ecstatic and offered any help he wanted. He understood that they had no leader and everyone was equal among them.
He asked them some questions. From them he understood the surrounding terrain, things he could use. He temporarily used them to gather things.
The naiads knew everything in that forest and did what they all were requested to. Shiv did not understand why they
were so friendly with him and he did not bother to ask them the reason. His time was short.
Night fell and Shiv logged off for a brief moment. He returned fast and resumed his preparations. He then slept for a while. In the morning he went to grind his level a bit. He returned when he was level 20. By then it was evening. He cross checked everything he had set up. He then talked to the naiads for a brief moment, and then they disappeared.
Shiv stood there waiting with his unsheathed sword, “It is time for rabbit stew”.
---***---
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