Dragons of the Elements: Ascension (Dragon of Legend Approved Fan-Fiction)

Chapter Four

Chapter 4: Loss

The draglin snuggled with Donovan's hands for a minute or so before the perfect moment was shattered as a large shadow of a dragon appeared overhead. "Donovan!" He heard his sister screaming. "Mom! Donovan! Where are you!"

Gently lifting it up, Donovan began to hold the recently hatched draglin as if it were a baby. Cradling the draglin in his arms, he raced off through the woods to find his home.

Dodging through the trees, Donovan felt the draglin stirring in his arms, as they would only if danger seems imminent. He ignored the obvious warning, and ran further from the spot where the egg was hatched and closer to where his home should be.

Donovan took one final step, out of the denseness of the forest, to see his old home, ruined. Flames had torn through the wooden walls and the ceiling. Everything that survived was blackened and covered in ash. Donovan let his eyes wander over where his house used to be, soaking in every horrific detail with tears streaming down his cheeks.

His eyes landed on the only thing to survive the fire, a shining, one handed long-sword. It seemed perfectly fashioned, with a green hilt and a white gem incrusted in the counterweight.

The draglin, unable to contain himself, leapt out of Donovan's arms and crawled towards the sword. He laid one paw on the counterweight, and a blinding red light overtook Donovan's vision.

Blinded, and afraid the fire returned, Donovan dove forward to cover the draglin from whatever caused the light. The draglin squirmed under him, for he did not like being squished. Finding an opening, the draglin scurried out from under Donovan into the area on his right side.

Feeling the creature under him wrench itself free, the boy slowly rose to his knees, for if the draglin felt there was no danger than why should he? Blinking several times, Donovan's vision cleared to reveal, before his eyes, a changed sword.

"What... What is this? This isn't grandfather's sword!" he exclaimed. Screeching with pleasure, the draglin nudged Donovan's right arm, directing his hand towards the new sword.

Donovan glared at first the sword, then the draglin, then back to the sword. The draglin still nudging him, he studied the sword. It was no longer a longsword, it was a jagged-edged, black bladed sword with a blinding red hilt. The guard seemed to be wing-like in shape, and a skull appeared on the bottom above the counterweight. It seems the only thing to remain similar to the previous sword was a pure white crystal in the counterweight.

Finally listening to the draglin's annoying whining and nudges, Donovan reached for the sword. Grasping it with his right hand, he pulled it to his chest, while still kneeling, and ran his left pointer over the blade. Drawing blood almost immediately, he knew he had discovered a priceless weapon. One he had never seen anything like before.

Rising from his knees, he took a few practice swings and twirled it around, clearly as someone with very little training would do. The draglin let out a snort of what seemed to be laughter. "What are you laughing at, huh?" He said clearly to the hatchling.

Fluttering his wings in reply, the draglin looked up in time to see a slime green dragon descending next to him. Landing carefully, Slither let off his rider, upon which Mary strode over to Donovan.

"Are you okay?" she asked before even taking a few paces.

"Yeah I'm fi-" Donovan began to say.

"Don't EVER play with fire in the forest again. See what you did?"

"What? Me?! I was asleep!" Donovan retorted.

"Sure you were." Mary snorted, glaring at Donovan as if he were a criminal. "And now mom is missing. Do you have anything to say to redeem yourself?"

Seeing the time right, the draglin shimmied forward and began to rub against Donovan's leg, as only a cat would.

"And what is it we have here? A cute little baby dragon?" Mary cooed as she reached a hand towards the draglin.

"It's name is Vitality," Donovan decided quickly, as the draglin snapped at Mary's approaching hand. "And he appears to not like you."

"Slither wants to know what's up with his colors." Mary declared.

"Colors? Don't dragons only have one color?" he replied.

"Uhh, duhh. That's why I'm asking."

Looking at Vitality closely for the first time, he noticed that he was not just a fire red, he was a bright yellow. The yellow seemed to swirl and dance among his scales, creating imponderable patterns unseen by any before him.

"Umm... I don't know."

"WHAT'S THAT IN YOUR HAND?" Mary screamed, pointing at the deadly sword.

"It's... A sword." he replied quickly.

"No dung, really?" Mary said making a fist.

"Yeah. Really." Donovan replied, tightening his grip on the sword in response.

"Who'd you steal it from?"

"Nobody! Vitality touched the stone in Gramps' sword and it became... This."

"Give me it." Mary demanded.

The draglin immediately became ferocious, his yellow eyes became a blood red, and he let out a puff of flame towards Mary.

Ducking, Mary yelled "You have a fire-breathing DRAGLIN?" she said rhetorically.

"I guess?" Donovan said, more of a question than a statement.

"I'm so telling mom."

"Mom... MOM!" Donovan yelled, realization hitting him. He had not seen his mother since before the fire, she must have been home! He quickly dove into the ashes of his house, brushing aside ash and destroyed pieces of walls and furniture. Finally, his hand grasped a fleshy object.

Fearing the worst, Donovan brushed aside the pile of dirt ad ash coberin the object. He closed his eyes, afraid to look at what was beneath him. He heard Mary begin to sob in the background. He cracked open one eye, looking at the sky. Slowly, the other. His head began to feel heavy, and his stomach churned in fear. Unable to hold his head up any longer, he peered downwards, into the cold, dead eyes of his mother's face.

<Note: An image of the sword Donovan acquired is attached. The third sword is his, just put a white stone instead of the small red one.>