Solomon's Challenge Book 1: Zerek the King

Chapter 4: Pain in General

"So tell me about yourself. I never did get a name." Vania said, as she happily trotted down a beautiful path that was surrounded by vibrant green trees, and flowers.

"My names Solomon Draekon, but I go by Sol. I'm the last descendant of the water dragon family." Sol explained, knowing that he could trust the girl. He tried to get a better read on her. She was tall, maybe, 5'5? Her red hair was vibrant, straight and long. She was very thin, but Sol could tell she was also very strong. She was also extremely energetic, but very serious at times. He could tell she would be a handful.

"That's cool. As you know, I'm Vania. I've never really known my last name, or even my family, I was just raised by the local village!" Vania chimed, not seeming to realize how sad what she was saying was.

"Speaking of, where is this village you keep speaking of, we've been walking for hours!" Sol wined.

"It's only about 20 minutes away! Hey, who's that guy up there?" Vania asked, pointing towards a giant man that appeared to be ordering somebody around.

"HURRY UP, WE DON'T HAVE ALL DAY YOU LAZY SLOBS!" The man shouted. He was huge, and could easily have been 100 pounds in muscle alone.

"Let's go check things out" Sol suggested, happy to see Vania eagerly nod in agreement. The closer they got, the more they could hear the stomping of thousands of people. Once they finally reached the man, they could see the volcano, swarming with dirty, muddy workers who had been searching for something.

"What's going on?" Vania asked loudly, catching the attention of the man ordering everybody around.

"Who the hell are you?" The man asked in a rude, dark voice.

"My name is Vania and I-

"I am Sol Draekon, descendant of the dragon family. What are you and your men doing here?" Sol demanded, not realizing how little authority his title actually held, or how silly he sounded.

"Draekon you say? Well 'en I guess it's my duty to kill you, so my master can get his full power." The giant man said. Before Sol had time to understand what he had just heard, a giant fist the size of his head slammed him onto the ground. Vania jumped up and kicked the man, sending him back. Sol got back up onto his feet.

"Quite a kick you got there las, but you won't 'ave legs at all when I'm through wi'cha" The giant said as he grabbed a hold of Vania's leg, and slammed her to the ground. Sol tried to hit him with a jump slash from his sword, but was swatted out of the air. The man walked over, and put his foot on Sol's chest.

"How does 'is feel, dragon boy?" The man asked, then he shoved his foot down, cracking Sol's ribs.
Vania stood up once again. Although Sol could barely see her, because it hurt to turn his head, he could sense great anger and power coming from Vania.

"That was my new friend!" Vania screamed, then she kicked the man so hard, that he slammed into a tree, felling it. Vania held the mans head down with her foot.

"Who are you?" She demanded.

"I am Jackal, General of this section of the Zerek army!" Jackal declared.

Vania slammed her heel down into Jackal's face, which split open, revealing a demon inside. Once Jackal had fully transformed into a demon, he floated through Vania, and elbowed her in the back of the head, slamming her into what was left of the tree. He returned to Sol, who was hardly breathing from the pain in his ribs.

"Ready to die dragon boy?" Jackal cackled.

Suddenly, the same pulse from Sol's fight with Asopus came to him, and he slipped out from under Jackal. He turned around and shot Jackal in the back of the neck with a big water blast, sending him face-first into the ground.

"Hurting me is one thing, as I am a dragon descendant and you were sent to fight me, but hurting somebody innocent like her is crossing the line!" Sol yelled, as he jump slashed the general. Sol expected him to dissolve, but instead, he became an even darker black color.

"Now, you DIE" The demon shrieked as loud as he could, then he shot a giant dark blast bigger than anything Sol had ever seen. Sol tried to block it with his sword, thinking that it could help somehow, but quickly got shot down the road and into the ground.

But somehow, Sol was completely fine.

Could his sword have absorbed the blast? No, it couldn't have! that's impossible! right? Sol didn't have any time to dwell on it, so he ran up the road right back into the action. He jumped up, and hit the general with all of his might, but nothing happened. Suddenly Vania shot back up, angrier than ever.

"I'M BACK! LET'S KILL HIM SOL!!!" Vania screamed, charging at the demon. Sol got ready to strike, and did another full force blow just as Vania finally reached the general. After getting hit by the massive blow from both sides, the demon general started dissolving.

"Whoo! That was fun, hey Sol?" Vania asked, suddenly as chipper as ever.

"Well, we almost died, so... Not really." Sol responded, a little surprised at the girls mood swing.

"Well, I thought it was fun. Would've helped if I had my sword though." Vania said excitedly.

"Wait, you had a sword?" Sol asked as the two continued down the road.

"Yeah, it was really sharp and tough too, but I lost it when those two demons overpowered me." Vania explained.

"Huh. I wish I would have seen it. I could have gotten it back..." Sol told her, feeling bad.

"No problem. You're going to the volcano right? That's where the demons keep all of the things they steal! We can just get it back then! We can get the villagers all of their stuff back too!" Vania said.

"Well, that's our plan then! We'll climb the volcano, clear out the demons, and get every bodies stuff back. Look, there's the village now!" Sol exclaimed.

Up ahead, there was a large village that seemed to be thriving with activity, but it also seemed to be in a state of mourning. Sol decided he would try to figure out what was wrong, and add that to his list of reasons to beat the demons.