Heroes of Dreamland, Book 5: Nintendo World: The Fate of All Worlds (OLD)

The Tale of Sir Dragato

Dragato's POV:

Breathe in and out. In and out. Control the fear. Do not let it control you. With the Star Power's aid, you are stronger than your fear.

After mentally repeating these mantras that my father taught me, I open my eyes and draw my sword. I think these few sentences immediately before I must go into battle, every time. Maybe I am a Star Warrior, maybe I am courageous, but that doesn't mean that I don't feel fear. Anyone in their right mind would be terrified by the monstrosities that Nightmare sends after us all.

Falspar, Nonsurat, and I have been sent to a smaller planet to help fend off some of the monsters that have been sent here and get the innocents off of the surface. Per Meta Knight's orders before he was taken, we are trying to move as much of the Galaxy as possible to Planet Popstar, or Nintendo World, whichever you wish to call it.

Hardly anyone knows of my past. They probably don't even realize that they don't know it. I'm soft-spoken much of the time, easily unnoticed unless I wish to be seen or heard. Instead of speaking, I oftentimes just listen and observe, gathering information that I can use in the protection of the Galaxy. Honestly, I think that Sir Arthur is the only one who knows most of my past, the only one who realizes that I am not shy, but really a strategist.

I was born on Star World like any other Star Warrior, in Reverence Province, a very mountainous area. My family lived in a large wooden cabin a few miles from the nearest village, which was known as Crystal Lake Town. My family was of the Heritage clan, and therefore, I learned many, many legends and stories that were passed down from the Ancients. Tales of heroism, tragedy, comedy, cowardice, love, peace, war, all sorts of stories. I have never enjoyed reading, but I have always loved storytelling and hearing stories. In my opinion, a book can never compare to hearing a story spoken aloud. In a book, a story is just dead words on dead paper. But out loud, a story is real, alive, breathing, powerful.

Our cabin was right next to a giant lake named Crystal Lake, that was always crystal-clear except at sunset and sunrise. At those times, it instead looked like orange juice. There was actually an old legend that claimed it indeed turned into orange juice at those times, and that once upon a time, a magical species of giant bird came and drank from its juicy waters: a Dynablade. Since then, I have learned that there really was once a Dynablade that lived in that area, but that she was destroyed during the First Star Warriors' War. But the legend says that the Dynablade had always been very fond of a young Star Warrior boy, who would ride her around the mountain peaks. The two of them shared many grand adventures, but the boy grew up to become a soldier and passed away in battle. Sad, the majestic bird flew to another planet, but legend said that she would one day return to find another child much like the first. My young, adventurous self loved to hang around the lake in the early mornings and evenings, in the hopes that the Dynablade would come and carry me off to adventure. Of course, nothing like that ever actually happened.

The youngest of five children, and younger than the fourth by six years, I quickly grew to be a bit of a quiet loner. I had friends at school, of course, but at home, I mostly just kept to myself and my parents.

Quite small for my age until I hit my teens, I also quickly discovered that one of my favorite things to do was find unusual places to hide, and listen to and watch whatever was going on just outside of my hiding place. My siblings quickly grew to dislike my somehow always knowing when they had done something wrong, and always telling on them. Now, I smile a bit as I remember the time my eldest brother broke a vase that belonged to my mother and actually managed to very elaborately cover it up, only to have me tell Mother what he had done.

I eventually grew out of being a tattletale about the time I turned eleven. That was not long before everything changed, forever. But to return to my early childhood: