Dragon Training (IllusionofWords x Luna Griffith)

[Luna Griffith]

Shanna Lionheart walked through her small town with her sword on her belt, she had just gotten out of training and was pulling her white locks out of the ponytail that kept it out of her face. Unlike your typical town that was plagued by bugs and predators, they were plagued by dragons. Fire breathing dragons that fly over the town destroying the buildings and stealing the life stock. The town fought them every night. Shanna was one of the defenders. Though she didn't know if it was the right thing to do. They weren't like any other animals they protected the town from. They seemed intelligent and organized.

[IllusionofWords]

Yaaranim'loki woke slowly from his long slumber,though he could,for the moment decern not the trouble that caused him to wake.he slowly stretched himself out,then gingerly raised his massive body and waited several long moments till his muscular legs felt steady enough to support his wieght. as the drowsiness and slumbler slipped from his mind, he had a sense of something not right with the world and although he could not pin down the exact reason for the feeling, it was almost like what a parent feels when he is about to discover the misdeeds and behavior of offspring.


Like a lumbering mountain, Yaaranim'loki moved forward slowly as his muscles and joints,after a century or so of slumber cried their displeasure of haveing been roused by causeing him much displeasure and pain. With much effort he finally made his way from his cave and up the passageway that would take him to the entrance. It took him several efforts to break his way thru the ice that had covered the entrance thru the years,but with one last mighty plunged he burst thru, sending great shards of ice like meteors thru the air.

He had almost lost memory of what it felt like to have the warmth of the suns rays upon his scales and he spread his wings as the warmth re- vigorated him. He made his way across the snow and ice covered mountains and settled himself looking over the vastness of the ice covered sea,closeing his eyes he concentrated as best he could from
so short a time of his awakening, and cast his minds eye outward in all directions across the landscape.

After nearly a day of waiting for his visions to return, he was both awed and shocked by how the population of Humankind and nearly tripled, no longer did they wear simple fur and carry clubs,but now they appeared to wear upon their hides clothes of fine weave and carried metal fangs in their hands for the purposes of killing. But whats caused the most pain was that he could sense no other of the ancient ones and decided that once he had fed,he would go out into the world and discover why this was, and to what had happened to his kind while he had been in sleep.

[Luna Griffith]

Shanna looked up when a piece of ice hit her head. She wasn't anyway where ice would hit. She picked up the piece and noticed it wasn't broken naturally. She bit her lip as she tried to figure out who would throw ice at her. She couldn't think of a single person. She was honored amongst her people for a skilled fighter and a good person. No one would want to upset her. So where did the ice come from. She looked toward the snow capped mountain and knew that was where the ice came from.

She left town. She followed the dirt path toward the mountain top. There was a grim look on her face as she investigated the area. So far she only saw animals and knew none of them were strong enough to break the ice. She continued on. She reached the mountain and looked up at the peak. It would take her a while to get there. She sighed as she figured she better get going. She started the climb up. She had to becareful so that she wouldn't fall off the steep incline.

[IllusionofWords]

Yaaranim'loki laid with his wings outstretched as he bathed in the light of the sun,turning to look to the east he could see the smoke of several fires,his nostrils flared as the scent of Human touched his senses. He had thought he had chosen a place high enough up the ice capped mountains that he would be safe from the eyes of Humankind, but the sight of several single plumes of smoke from thier cooking fires told him otherwise.

Yaaranim'loki turned his thoughts back to a more pressing concern which was his sense that something was not well with his kind,it bothered him greatly that he could not sense any of the other ancients, yet the presence of adolesent and younglings overwhelmed him. Knowing that the Humans tended to rush and kill what they feared or lacked understanding of, had the Humans been able to slay the ancients?,it was hard for him to believe it possible,but then again he never expect a village of them to have taken root this close to the last remaining place to which they had been living in
peace away from Humankind.

His eyes once more returned the direction of the smoke plumes, he caught sight of something climbing over one of the many ridges at the base of the mountain and he tilted his massive head sideways in curiousity. Once the form had gotten itself clear and out in the open to his view from his spot high up on the mountain,he was quite astonished to see it was a Human...a female of their kind with a metal fang hanging from her hip. He watched with growing interest as to her possible intent, as she struggled and climbed her ways upwards.

[Luna Griffith]

Shanna had no clue that she was being watched as she climbed up the mountain. She stopped on a steady rock and took a breath in. She brushed her white hair out of her face and looked around. She could easily see the forest and her town where she was standing. She pulled out a ponytail holder and put her hair up, making sure that it would stay out of her face. She looked up the mountain and sighed. She took a deep breath in and began to climb again.

She was mainly there to investigate. She wanted to know where the ice had come from even though it had melted by now. She got her fighting dress dirty as she scrapped against rocks and branches. Her fingers were sore from gripping at the rocks and boulders. Her eyes were trained on the top as a look of determination touch her face. She would get there, even if it took her all day and night.

[IllusionofWords]

Yaaranim'loki watched with growing fascination as the female of humans continued to climb up,he found himself admiring her determination and tenacity to complete the task she had begun,but then why was she so intent to climb his mountain to begin with?,surely none knew of his slumbering lair to be upon this mountain, for the most part this area was nothing but barren ice and blowing winds,so why was she so intent on climbing up?.

He kept his focus upon her,though the determination was strong, the body did not seem to be of the same resolve and he could sense her tiring and the aching of her muscles as she slipped and scraped herself now and again along the jagged rocks, he thought she'd be lucky to have any covering left on her body at all by the time she gained the summit and agian his mind asked the question of itself, why was she so intent at reaching the top?.

[Luna Griffith]

Shanna stopped at the half way mark. She was exhausted. She panted as she looked around. She could see beyond her town. She saw smoke outside of her town and her eyes grew wide. They were camp fires. Her town could be in trouble and yet she had decided to climb a mountain. She couldn't warn her people from all the way up here. She sighed and turned away. She looked up the mountain, trying to gauge how much further she had to climb before reaching the summit.

She was covered in dirt and scratches. It wasn't the worst she had been through. She often got more wounds during training. She looked at the sun's position and tried to figure out how much time she would have until it was dark. She looked up the mountain again, looking for ledges. She could probably climb up to get a ledge that was a bit higher on the mountain. She rubbed her sore arms and legs. She took a sip of water from her waterskin before starting the climb again.

[IllusionofWords]

Yaaranim'lokis interest began to wane as his hunger grew more intense, and as patiencant as he was, he had little need of a pesky human female poking around in his lair while he was away searching for a meal. He back his large form from the edge and tested his wings by slowly flapping them up and down at first, then increasingly moreso once he could feel the strength returning.


He moved to the otherside of his mountain were the updrafts were much stronger,spread his wings and leaped. The exhilaration of flying once more after a century of slumber was intense and he relished the feel of the air currents rushing over his massive body as he swooped and whirled about in the air. He;d almost forgotten the reason for his flight and with the glareing of the sun of the white icecaps of the surrounding mountaintops as a backdrop masking his silverwhitish body,he was near impossible to see as he tucked his wings swooped down below the female humans ascent,then with a dip of a wing he turned in the air and with only three flaps of his wings gained postion above her.


His sharp eyes picked up her form as he dropped from the mists,and like the eagles that swoop in and snatch fish from the water, he flared his wings and lowered upon her and grasped her with the talons of his right rear leg,but unlike the eagles, he did not tighten his talons to rip into her flesh,only holding tightly enough so she would not slip from him.

He agian dipped a wing and spun midair,heading for the village,whether or not that was the place she had come from,he was not certain,but it was aplace where others of her kind were and as good place as any to return her so long as she was off his mountain. Once above the village he flared his wings and dropped rapidly from the sky, slowing only enough to release her on the ground then make good his escape before the humans of the village could react to his dropping in on them.

[Luna Griffith]

Shanna gasped as she was plucked off the mountain. Fear hit her as she felt the sharp talons hold her. She knew that they could easily rip into her flesh and kill her but for some odd reason they did not. She looked at the talon and swallowed as she recognized the scales. She was being held by a dragon. She felt herself move through the air and felt like it was going to take her to it's lair where it would eat her. Despite the need to scream, she could not. She looked down and saw the world speed by and yet she did not feel sick.

She looked up at the dragon as it soared through the air and calmed down slightly. How could she not, he looked so magnificent as it flew through the clouds. Each stroke of his wings were full of power and grace. He was built for the skies or was the skies built for him. She couldn't tell but it was beautiful all the same. She closed her eyes and nervously let go of the talons that held her. She spread out her arms and it felt the strong winds blow around them.

She opened her eyes when she felt her feet hit the ground. She looked at the mighty dragon once more. "Uh...thank you. By any chance were you the one that sent ice flying from the mountain?" She asked the powerful creature. Townspeople started to gather. Many of them had their swords drawn and bows ready to fire. She looked around quickly. "You got to get out of here. They'll kill you."

[IllusionofWords]

Yaarnim'loki flapped his wings hard,the downdrift toppleing the humans bearing their metal fangs at him, as he rose higher and higher, the euphoric feeling of flying once more rushed over him paramount to that of sexual release and he whirled and spun about in the sky as before,only this time,without the worries of a female human encrouching on his lair,he was able to do so with as much energy as he had when he was a youngling so many centuries before.Yaaranim'loki spread his wings and held them outward,as massive as he was,the higher air currents held him near motionless,he focus his mind and called out in his thoughts so that all of Dragonkind could hear.

" I AM YAARANIM'LOKI...ELDEST OF THE ANCIENT... AND BY MY AGE ALONE WORTHY OF RESPECT...THOSE THAT WOULD DARE TO CHALLENGE ME COME FORTH !!!!!....AND I SHALL TEACH YOU A LESSON YE SHALL NOT SOON FORGET ".