The morning sun ascends from behind a jagged mountain that stands defiantly amidst the scenery. Summer had enveloped the world and the gentle heat caressed the crevices that lay bare upon the mountainside. Sparse foliage decorates the enormous gargantuan, the gorgeous shrubbery that is scattered upon the mountain shines a beautiful shade of emerald.
Upon viewing the mountainside from the ground the greenery looks insignificantly small, however if one was to observe a single tree among the vast of ocean of foliage they would find that not a single tree was under the height of 200 hundred metres.
This mountain was the beginning of a vast mountain range that spanned the breadth of the entire continent, however even still compared to the other mountains in the range this mountain was a legendary landmark. This was because sitting atop the peak of this goliath being was the home of the legendary dragon clan, the undeniable aerial experts that ruled over the Agrueo kingdoms military forces.
The absolute peak of the mountain resides at a height of 200 kilometres up in the sky. In the air around the apex of the mountain were writhing creatures that flew around antagonising one another. Appearing to actually be in the mountain itself glimpses of immense slumbering beasts could be caught.
As you descended to a more comfortable height of 50 kilometres the second peak of the mountain had been levelled entirely leaving a roughly circular area with a diameter of a kilometre entirely flattened out. Upon this secondary peak the scenery was extraordinarily rugged with pitch black rocks completely covering the area apart from one space in the center where there were beautiful marble white structures that sat atop the peaks surface. In between these white structures many figures rushed around carrying about their, anything but mundane, tasks.
Towards the outer area of the peak, amidst a jagged outcrop of rubble, a group of figures, lit by the red rays of the morning star, moved in synchronisation performing flowing movements, completely in tune with one another. Their movements were incredibly strange and profound, sometimes appearing as passionate and blazing as flame whilst at other times seeming as solid and firm as the very earth itself.
The group was made up of 15 moving figures that seemed to be performing the movements slightly slower than a larger figure, who stood in front of the gathering, as if they were copying his actions. The group was dressed uniformly in a silk training garb that was endowed with a spiralling dragon wrapped around the torso. Among the outskirts of the group was a figure who was disjointed and awkward in his movements, and as the tempo of the dance increased the figures awkward failing limbs tangled amongst themselves causing the figure to fall down hard.
The instructor didn't bother paying attention to the frail boy who collapsed to the ground as the earths heavenly flame dance tempo began to pick up. The young individual who had fallen over had done so many times already in this training session, the instructor had begun to stop caring, labelling the boy as a waste of time and resources already. The physical requirement to complete the earths heavenly flame dance was unbelievably low, yet somehow the boy hadn't even been able to keep up for half the dance, this in itself was an amazement to the instructor.
The boy was part of the violet ruby generation, a generation that showed great military talent. However even in this talented generation there were bound to be failures, it was only expected and so for these reasons the instructor had left the boy on the ground as he continued showing the boys who showed promise the correct way to execute the movements.
The young boy lay still upon the dull black rocks. His breathing slowly returned to a normal state and his heart stopped pounding in his chest. Once again for the umpteenth time the boy began to pick himself up and readied himself to begin the dance once the group started over.
Among the group of 6 year olds this boy was the only one who struggled to perform this basic dance, all the others could complete it with ease. The earths heavenly flame dance was a training method that allowed the body to slowly begin gathering natural energy from the surrounding atmosphere. It was an essential dance that any young boy must be able to perform to become a man of the dragon clan, a man that couldn't perform the earths heavenly flame dance was as useful as a young child.
So for this reason the boy picked himself up off of the rocky floor of the mountain and started the dance over again with the other children. The slow movements slowly became more intense as the dance neared the midpoint. The boy could feel an unquantifiable amount of natural energy surrounding him, he could feel it's slow ebb as the plants and wildlife unconsciously absorbed that energy into themselves, and he could feel the dance slowly increasing his intake of the energy, entering his body from every single pore of his body, it was then slowly drawn towards the centre of his chest.
As the dances tempo increased more energy started being drawn into his chest, however just before the half way point of the dance the natural energy that he'd already absorbed suddenly began to leak out from his chest spreading throughout his body seeking an exit.
At first it only mildly affected his dancing but as he began absorbing more energy, more energy began leaking out, until just like a dam bursting the energy he had painstakingly collected exploded forth and uncontrollably travelled through every muscle in his body in its frantic search for a exit, causing the boy to spasm and once again fall to the floor in dejection. But once again the boy picked himself up. In the youths eyes a glint of steel flashed.
The sun has begun it's grudging descent behind the other side of the indomitable mountain. The same boy sits where the suns rays had fallen upon the group in the morning, dressed in the same silken training garb. A single glistening tear rolls down the boys cheek. The boy is no fool he realises the worth of someone who cannot even practice in the most basic of all the dances and sutras.
As the stars cheerfully appear in the sky the boy remains on the outskirts of the peak, purposely avoiding going home, where he must face the terrifying prospect of telling his mother that he, the clans future and their only son, has absolutely no talent in martial art techniques. His mother had paid a price to allow the boy to participate in that training session, so when they find out the boy has zero talent they will be utterly disappointed.
His dragon clan was comparatively a small clan in the Agrueo kingdom, possessing around 5000 members from both the main branch and the side branches. his father was a simple military officer in the clans forces before his death, his mother had also served as a military officer. However after the fathers passing she quit the service and focused on looking after her child permanently. But the boy knew that when he underwent the ceremony of naming in 4 years time his mother would cast him aside, leaving him to fend for himself, whilst she returned to the dragon corps she had once served in.
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Staring up at the night sky the boy thought to himself "The elders and my mother don't love me as I am now at all, they only love the idea of the power I may posses in the future, that was the only thing that had kept me safe in this world, once they realise I'm talentless I'll be cast out, there's no way the clan will waste resources on looking after someone who cannot repay them"
As the boy began to sink into a well of self pity he vehemently blamed the gods for cursing him with such poor ability in martial arts, even the common folks can practice in the basic Earths heavenly flame dance. It was the most common of dances taught to peasants to keep them alive during war and yet somehow, the boy, a scion of the dragon clan couldn't practice in it. How was he supposed to ride the mightiest of dragons above even the highest of clouds and mountains when that required a certain level of skill in martial arts, a level of skill he will never be able to reach.
The stars became more numerous in the voracious void called the sky, and the boy continued to ponder upon his lack of talent and curse his tragic luck.Time continued to flow and the summer nights heat lured the boy to slowly lull into a disturbed sleep.
A rush of hot wind overhead awakened the boy. A moment passed before light exploded forth into being directly behind him. The impact of the explosion tossed the boy a few metres away. His ears ringing, the boy unsteadily got to his feet.
A sight of pure chaos met his eyes. The beautiful marble white village that created such contrast with the black rocky ground was engulfed in a sea of red and scarlet. Titanic amounts of heat were rolling towards him as it was emanated from the village. It was only upon hearing the soul rendering screeches did the child understand that the village was on fire.
The boy collapsed to the ground as if his very soul had been dragged out of his body, leaving an empty carapace. His village was on fire. However this realisation alone did not shock the boy, what petrified the boy so tremendously was the sight in the sky. Framed by the hanging moon a black monster could be seen.
It's wings that were flapping majestically to keep the gargantuan body afloat, seemed as if they could enfold the very world itself, a tail that flicked back and forth dropped down from below the beast, it was comparable to deaths insatiable scythe. The beast slowly reared it's monstrous reptilian head. The only thing the boy could make out from this distance were the cackling embers surrounding the creatures mouth and it's red eyes. Those malicious red eyes glint with a terrifyingly cunning intelligence. As the boy looked into the beasts eyes he felt as though his very soul could be rendered by a glance from this draconian.
The boy had seen dragons before, the clans warriors all valiantly ride upon their backs, however he doubted that there was another dragon in the world that could compare to this divine entity.The noise of the dragon growling viciously snapped the boy back to reality, the growl sounded as if the earth itself was about to crack open. The boy flinched in fright from such a hideous noise, and when he opened his eyes all he saw was a black blur that was rapidly streaking away into the distance. And just like that the beast had left.
The low hanging moon that the creature had been silhouetted by cast a faint light upon the devastated boys tear-streaked face. The only proof of the dragons existence was the sea of flames that the beast had left behind, the boy couldn't bring himself to face this sight.
The agonising screams had stopped a long time ago, the boy was no fool he fully knew what this meant. He knew his clan had just been entirely exterminated by that mysterious dragon in the same amount of time as it took to drink a cup of tea.
The roar of the flames was only getting louder and louder in the boys ears. He himself did not know this but the fire the dragon had exhaled wasn't just ordinary fire, it was Hells flame. Hells flames could burn anything to ashes while it had energy, including rock , which is why the entire rocky plateau of the peak was currently ablaze with those scarlet flames. But even if the boy was aware of this he wouldn't act on it. He had completely surrendered to despair, casting away the will to live.
To lose a family member is a tragic occurrence that can have massive negative effects on a young child, so for a young boy to lose his entire family at such a tender age, one can easily imagine how detrimentally devastated the boy must be.
The flames continued to burn through the rock plateau and had now burned through 15 metres in the centre of the peak where the village once stood. However as the flames began to lick towards the boy a resounding crack could be heard over the roar of the flames. Cracks began to ripple outwards from the centre of the plateau whilst some of the rock in the centre of the peak fell inwards revealing a boundlessly deep hole running through the secondary peak of the mountain.
With a terrifying noise the center of the plateau completely caved in and disappeared into the hole below, the outer ares of the peak began to sag dangerously. Before the flames could reach the youth the outer areas of the peak where the boy was situated suddenly collapsed and fell away.
The youth fell rapidly, rushing downwards into the inky darkness below, the only sound that could be heard was the whistling of the wind. The boy didn't have time to comprehend what was happening and was still in a state of shock whilst being suspended in free fall as he spiralled downwards.Seconds passed and the boy continued falling, upon desperately looking about he saw many pieces of rock that had fallen with him, all kinds of shapes and sizes, some the size of him whilst others were many times larger, a few above, some below him and many to all sides of the boy.
Before long the boy heard splashes from somewhere below him as the pieces of rock that fell foremost landed in what seemed like water, he unconsciously braced for an impact.
The last thing he saw was an enormous plume of water rushing up towards him as the stone below him smashed into the water. He crashed awkwardly into the water with a juddering impact that jarred the entirety of the boys body before his consciousness slowly slipped away.