Not a Hero

Part 1: The Forest

In the school of Riverpeak High, students were simple and similar to one another. Looking towards their future and working in the present, they leave behind their past selves to write their own perfectly controlled story. However, one of these students was torn between his past and future, what he needed and what he wanted. Strong, genius, popular. None of these words could describe Oliver who was already a senior at Riverpeak but was unskilled in most fields. Being a master of none, all he felt he could do was immerse himself in realms of fiction and games. However, he was still mediocre even his favorite hobbies and pastimes. Oliver had realized his lack of skill a long time ago, but it was too late. A young adult like him had nothing if they didn’t try to prepare for a future. Distressed and practically swimming in dread over what lies ahead, he wished for a second chance, a new life. Maybe then, he could make things better for himself. He got his wish during class near the end of the school year.
Sitting at his table he wished as hard as he could, and the floor began to shake vigorously. After a minute or two of non-stop shaking, things calmed down. The school was still standing, and groups of students and teachers left their classrooms to evacuate. Oliver could hear his fellow classmates joking around and smiled along with them as they routinely made their way outside. To their amazement, the nearby suburban area and the homes they once saw everyday disappeared and were replaced by a vast sea of grassy hills blowing in the wind like living emerald sand dunes. Oliver couldn’t believe his eyes. Something amazing happened to him for once. He rubbed his eyes to see if he was dreaming, but he wasn’t. He was glad he wasn’t Even if it was a dream, he didn’t want to ever wake up.
As groups of students and staff looked outward in awe, they could see the stretch to the east as far as the eye could see. The school sat on the edge of a plains with a dense forest of thick trees to the west. To the north, they could see a mountain shrouded in pure white mist. To the south was a bright red volcano glowing with lava. Naturally curious, students stepped off the crumbling concrete set in the middle of the landscape and came closer to the mysterious forest. Teachers and staff made attempts to keep them in the school and maintain order, insisting that it’s better to stay put. Regardless, waves of students marched into the shade of the forest, including Oliver. When Oliver found himself walking with the masses, he sought out his friends and managed to find them. Like many others, they were confused and anxious. His friend Kyle was sitting at the base of a tree crying with their friend Jen trying to comfort him.
“Come on. Everything’ll be okay.” said Jen, the big sister of Oliver’s circle.
“No, it won’t.” cried Kyle. “I can tell what happened. We’re all suddenly transported to this place out of nowhere. All I can guess is that I’ll never see them again.” Oliver quietly inserted himself into the scene and felt responsible for his friend’s sorrow. “It’s all gone too….” Kyle continued his lament. “My life. My family. All gone.
“Don’t say that.” said Jen. “I’m sure we’ll all go back soon.”
“How can you say that? It’s just like the movies isn’t it? We’re all going to be stuck here.”
Their teacher, Mr. Raynor, waved nearby students over and they turned to listen. He said to them, “I have news from the staff. They say that phones and internet aren’t working. Geography teachers are also saying that they don’t know where we are. We need you to come back into the school so we can take roll and hopefully we can go and try to look for help. So please go back to your classrooms.”
Students marched back into the school, which was dark from a loss of power. Some groups lagged behind, but a majority followed suit. Oliver went along with the others, orbiting his friends while Jen held Kyle up, keeping him from collapsing. Then a miracle happened.
“Wait! Stop! Someone’s making a run for it!” shouted one student looking back to the trees.
People looked back and saw one of their usually timid classmates sprinting into the forest. Seconds later, another student ran in, and two more followed, with some running in to drag them all back. Oliver felt a rush in his chest. He thought about breaking for the treeline and began to sweat. He knew this was his chance to escape it all. After dropping his bag on the ground, Oliver ran as fast as he could into the unknown. A couple of his more athletic classmates tried to stop him and chased after, but he was so determined that he was able to outrun them and retreat into the forest. Running further and further into the thick woods, the noise of the students grew more faint with each step. After he ran for what seemed forever, he was exhausted, and Oliver leaned at the base of a slanted tree to catch his breath.
Noon pierced through the canopy and lit the roots and dirt of the forest with a warm stream of radiance. Oliver took in the ambience and contemplated the weight of his actions. He could still go back to the school, but he would certainly be scolded and was always afraid of that. In the distance, center of his field of vision, grass in an open clearing waved to him. A warm wind touched Oliver’s face and blew his hair back. Oliver peered closer at the clearing and noticed a blade catch fire, followed by another and another until a whole patch of grass had been engulfed. Then, a thundering roar echoed through the trees. Branches cracked at the sheer force of it. Oliver covered his ears to shield himself from the noise. After it ended, Oliver ran into the clearing to see where the roar came from. He was definitely scared, but he had dreamed about this moment for years. As he came closer, the wind grew stronger and the fires blew out, leaving smoking ashes behind. As the treeline thinned out, the whole picture was clear. In the center, a colossal dragon spread its wings surrounded by four figures.
A man wearing a black cloak shouted out, “Wyllow! Go!”, and a woman carrying a bow pulled it back and fired an arrow above the dragon. The arrow burst open, releasing a hail of stones that pelted the dragon’s wings and back.
Then the man loudly yelled, “Thorin!” and an armored knight wielding a heavy maul in two hands ran to face the dragon. With one mighty blow to the head of the beast, the dragon staggered back and Oliver could now see a person that was hiding in the dragon’s shadow.
It was one of his classmates. The student tried to scuttle back under the great green dragon, but the shrouded man yelled, “Zandar!”, and the last figure bolted forth from a flanking position. Equipped with black leather armor, the figure looked like a black stripe speeding across the grass, and the student was picked up and dropped off behind the group in seconds.
The armored knight called to the cloaked man yelling, “Do it! Vylocke!” The man in the black cloak held out his hands and a bolt of lightning struck out, blasting the dragon right in its chest.
The dragon’s neck slumped down, and its legs collapsed. In the wake of their victory, the group of people came together, happy with their victory. However, the student from before stood back up and ran to the dragon, spreading his arms wide across its emerald scales. Though no one could clearly see it, he was whimpering and crying. As the student wept over the dragon, Oliver recognized him. He was another quiet student like Oliver named Casey who had even less friends than Oliver but had better grades.
When the group of fighters finally noticed Casey was crying, the man in the black cloak came up to him and asked, “Hey. What’s wrong kid? Dragon’s dead so you’re safe now. Don’t you get it?”
Casey pushed him away and kept crying until the supposed corpse rose up from its unconscious state. Quickly, the dragon beat its wings, pushing down all the fighters with a gust of wind. The green dragon bent its neck down and Casey took hold, climbing onto its back. With one epic movement, the massive green dragon leapt up into the air taking towards the sky. Not long after, the massive wings of the dragon disappeared over the edge of the treeline. Oliver finally felt safe enough to walk out to meet this group of obvious adventurers. He stopped halfway to consider any consequences, but the adventurers saw him and the knight waved him over. “That boy….” said the knight. “He was dressed strangely. You are too. Do you know him?”
Oliver stuttered but managed to speak out. “I…. yes. I know him.”
“Then are you able to explain why he just left with the dragon?” asked the man in the black cloak.
“Wait, um…. What just happened?”, Oliver hastily asked, even though he had an idea exactly knew what happened. “Was that magic?”
“Look kid. You must not be from around here. Am I correct?” asked the hooded leader, and Oliver nodded.
“Then, allow me to introduce the Dark Raiders. Wyllow, Thorin, and Zandar. I am the leader of this troupe, Vylocke. We don’t really need to know the issue with your friend, but we’ll be sure to get him back to you when we’re done. Let’s head out Raiders! Dragon’s probably ran up his tree so let’s get barking.”
“Wait!” exclaimed Oliver. “Can I come with you guys?”
Vylocke looked back at Oliver. “You'll die.” he said.
“You must be crazy to think we would ever let you come with us.” said Wyllow. “Do you have any idea what we’re up against?” Oliver shook his head. “How about a whole village of elven brutes who worship that dragon like a cult? Do you know anything about that?” The high school student shook his head again. “Come on guys. Let’s just leave the tourist.”
The Dark Raiders walked in the direction of the dragon, and Oliver walked back to River peak with his head hanging. He would return having accomplished nothing and abandoning Casey at the claws of a dragon. The Dark Raiders were leaving, and Oliver began to consider dying. If it was noble, losing your life wouldn’t be that bad. Oliver ran back to catch up with the Dark Raiders, but they sprinted away the moment they heard him coming. Oliver tried his best, but couldn’t catch up until finally, the adventurers were out of sight. Having given up the chase, Oliver furiously beat on the trunk of a tree. He kicked up some dirt and raved for a few minutes before the search party found him.
Oliver heard Jen’s voice first. “Oliver!” It was followed by Mr. Raynor yelling, “There he is!” Soon, Oliver was sitting on a root surrounded by Jen, Kyle, and Mr. Raynor. “Oliver! What the heck! Why’d you run away like that?” scolded Jen.
“She’s right, Oliver. You can’t just expect to be able to run from it all. We have to find the other students and go back to the school. “ explained Mr. Raynor.
Oliver scratched his head and said, “About that…. Casey, got taken by a dragon.”
Kyle was shocked and asked, “Did you say dragon?”
“Yeah, a dragon took him to some elves. There were some guys after the dragon, but I don’t think they care about saving Casey at all.”
“Then what do we do?” asked Jen.
Mr. Raynor responded with, “We could go find these elves and ask them to give back Casey? Does that seem possible?”
“I don’t think so. Those adventurers said the elves were brutes.” said Oliver.
“We don’t know that.” said Mr. Raynor. “I’m sure they’ll understand. Do you know where they are?”
"The dragon went that way.” Oliver pointed further westward, and the four of them proceeded to walk in that direction.
The journey to meet the elves was long and arduous. The group walked for about an hour, and Oliver stubbed his toe on a rock. As they hopped across stones to cross a shallow river, a massive shadow came over the forest. When they looked up Kyle said, “That is a big tree.”
They marveled at the giant tree that made the forest look like grass. From the bottom, the tree seemed taller than a skyscraper with a lush green canopy. “We’re not in Riverpeak anymore.” added Jen. Oliver chuckled a little bit.
The elven village around the base of the tree was sprawling with lively elves wearing scraps of cloth and intricate body paint designs. Elven children ran around with delight, and their parents worked on various crafts and cooking. Oliver led his friends and approached the edge of the village.
An elven guard complete with pointed ears and bow dropped from a tree branch and ordered, “Halt! Strangers are not welcome in this village. Leave now or face the consequences.”
Mr. Raynor, being the adult took the lead and replied, “Hello. One of us was taken by…. Dragon?” He looked back at Oliver who nodded. “Yes! He was taken by your dragon, and we wish to get him back.”
“The dragon you say? Come with me to meet Elder Ygg. Let us see if he finds you worthy of ascending Drasil.”
Elven villagers watched suspiciously as the guard led Oliver and his friends through to meet Ygg the Elder. They were brought before an old wrinkled elf man sitting on a stump in front of a dwindling bonfire. Elder Ygg said, “You four shed light on who you are and what you have come for.”
“I’m a teacher and these are my students, Oliver, Jen, and Kyle. You see, another student was taken by your dragon and we need him back.”
Jen said, “Please sir. We need to save him. He’s our friend.”
“Save him from what exactly? The green dragon is a guardian, not a monster as wicked adventurers would have you believe.”
Oliver thought about Vylocke and them. He asked, “You mean adventurers like the Dark Raiders are bad? I thought they were supposed to be good.”
“The Dark Raiders are thugs. We asked them to purge elven tombs of defilers, but when we returned to pay our respects, the Dark Raiders pillaged the tombs themselves!”
Oliver said, “I think they’re going after the dragon! Did they come through here?”
Ygg’s eyes grew wide. “No, they are not allowed in our territory. It would be foolish to ask us for permission to ascend the great tree.”
“Look! There they are! On the trunk of Drasil!” shouted one of the guards. The rough surface of the massive tree gave the Dark Raiders plenty of footholds and ledges to grab on. Wyllow’s climbing skills put her at the top with all of the hooks and rope, and she was followed by the other three raiders. Elven archers fired arrows, but the adventurers were out of their range. The arrows fell down and struck the side of the tree.
“They are too far! Ceasefire!” said Elder Ygg, and the archers stopped.
“Then how will we stop them?” asked the head guard.
Ygg beckoned Oliver and said to him, “Someone must ascend Drasil to stop the Raiders. Your friend will be with the dragon in his nest on the branches of Drasil. Listen human. Elves are only allowed in the tree once in their whole lives to try to find the dragon and ask a question. None of the adults can go anymore, but you can. We will give you permission to enter the tree and ask the dragon to return your friend, but in return you must stop these people from slaying our guardian. Do you accept?”
From his earliest days as a fan of fantasy, he awaited this moment. Was he up to the task? The Dark Raiders were skilled at their profession, but Oliver was confident in his knowledge of fantasy. Did he have companions to help him? Kyle, Jen, and Mr. Raynor seemed willing to help Casey, and they were certainly more capable than him. Did he even have a plan to stop them? No, but he did feel a spark light in his very being. Oliver had a will to save the day, and that will was the key to being a hero. He understood what he was brought here to do. It was time for him to rescue the dragon in distress.
“It can’t be helped, Kyle. We’ll probably have to help catch those guys.” said Jen to her worrisome friend.
“She’s right. The elves can’t go inside the tree, so it’s up to us.” said Oliver.
Kyle became frustrated by all that surrounded him. None of it seemed to make any sense to him. All he knew was that there was danger. He looked to Oliver and said, “No, it’s up to you. I didn’t promise anything to the elder so you can get killed without me.”
Jen put her hand on his shoulder and said, “Come on. We have to go get Casey. We need all the help we can get, but I don’t think Mr. Rayor can convince the elves to come with us so we need you.”
Kyle looked over and saw Mr. Raynor being denied his request for help. “Okay, I’ll go.”
Mr. Raynor and Elder Ygg walked back to the students. Elder Ygg said to them, “We are sorry, but we cannot come with you inside Drasil. However, we do have some things to help you.” Ygg held up a bag that klinked as it swayed.
“Inside are three bottles of syrup from Drasil’s sap boiled for two days. If you drink the whole bottle, any animals or monsters inside Drasil will protect you."
"There's only three so we should probably save these for now." said Jen.
"I apologize we cannot prepare anymore right now, but we also offer this.” Ygg handed the bag to Jen and an elven guard gave him a small box. He opened it, revealing a pure white feather. “This is the Feather of Binding. Ancient prophecy said that this would be given to a hero to assist them in a time of great need. You who would save our guardian, should take it for your journey. Touch it to the skin of the Raiders, and they will be rendered helpless. We would have offered bows, but violence is forbidden inside Drasil. This is all we can offer. Please enter Drasil now, and save our guardian.” Ygg pointed to a door-sized hole naturally occurring in the side of the tree. Oliver took the feather and the four of them went into the dark hole.
Conveniently, the first couple hundred feet up could be climbed through a long tunnel that spiraled up the trunk. It wouldn’t be long before they would encounter the wicked adventurers. It was a couple hours of anxious walking inside the tunnel before the group entered a shapeless room. A black void was the view given, and the group fell blind. “What the heck?” asked Oliver. “Where? What is this?”
“Careful. We better watch our steps.” added Mr. Raynor.
“Just wait a second, and our eyes will adjust. Then we can see where to go.” said Kyle to his friends. Then, a crumbling sound came from below the group’s feet. The soft wood broke and a light came out.
The group was surprised and all gasped. “What is that!?” cried Jen as a giant worm broke through, glowing bright green. The worm moved slowly as it wriggled its way into the tunnel. Its grace was almost alien-like in appearance leaving the group speechless as the rest of it slowly climbed up. The worm crawled along the floor and the light it gave allowed the group to see. When the worm’s head stretched up, the group looked to see and caught sight of a hole in the ceiling.
“There!” shouted Oliver. “We need to go up so let’s go up.”
“How are we supposed to reach that?” Kyle asked, noting to himself that the hole was more than ten feet above their heads. Oliver looked around, but the worm’s light could not reach. Just then, a tuft of fur sprouted on the worm’s head. More hair popped out of the worm, and it reached up at the hole. Instinctively, Oliver grasped a handful of fur. He held on tightly as the worm moved upward with ease.
“Come on!” Oliver called out as he was being carried away. The other three took hold of more fur and the worm was able to carry them all out of the darkness into a new upper chamber before burrowing into the ceiling. The next cave wasn’t as dark as the first. The group could finally see light far off in one direction, so they went that way. Emerging from the wood, the group was stunned to see the magnificence of the forest below from the branch of Drasil. It was nearly sunset, and golden rays of light blanketed the land. A flock of birds flew by and wind blew on every leaf and branch visible, creating an ocean of glittering green life out of rugged wilderness.
“Wow.” said Mr. Raynor. “You don’t even see this kind of stuff on field trips.”
Jen looked over the edge of the giant branch. “This is beautiful. Why don’t we have one of these back home?”
“Because this shouldn’t exist. It’s impossible.” said Kyle.
While the group stood in awe over the glorious vista, a blob of goo came out of nowhere and stuck itself over Oliver’s head. They all turned back in time to see him pulled up by the sticky string. Once he reached the other branch, the other three were terrified to see a massive spider creature attached to the string with a face resembling a sickening combination of man and rat. The spider creature hissed at the humans before wrapping Oliver up in more slimy silk. Then, the spider leapt upwards to another branch above and again until it disappeared from sight.
Oliver struggled as hard as he could. He couldn’t break free and he could feel a jerk every time the spider jumped. How could he let this happen? He was the hero wasn’t he? This kind of thing never happened to them. Then again, they were usually far stronger than him and could see these kinds of things coming. Oliver couldn’t open his eyes. Something in the slippery goo of the web was weakening him. He could tell because his muscles were going numb. It was hard to breath, but the cocoon broke a little bit around his face giving him air. He stopped struggling, thinking he didn’t want to seem alive to the monsters. Oliver was forced to wait in this state for some time until something nudged him. Was it the spider? He was nudged again. It could also be his friends! Oliver did his best to move and shake, to show life, but then he felt something sharp pierce the cocoon. The student flailed around more violently to ward off the spider’s fangs. Then more appendages took hold of his wrappings trying to hold him in place while the fangs dug deeper. Oliver now struggled for his life. With all his strength, he jerked to the side and twisted his body, breaking the spider’s fangs! Oliver was relieved and the outside forced ceased its attack. Oliver was nearly out of breath when the spider pierced the cocoon again! Olived didn’t have the strength to fight anymore. He succumbed to the monster’s will and waited to be liquified from the inside out by the spider’s digestive fluids. However, the cocoon burst open! Oliver could now see his friends. He could also hear them talking.
“Get him out of there!” shouted Mr. Raynor. Kyle and Jen pulled Oliver from his slimy prison. Oliver looked back at the cocoon and saw two sharp sticks stuck inside where he thought the spider tried to bite him.
“Glad we got here before the spider got hungry.” said Kyle.
“We’re so happy to see you!” exclaimed Jen. “Look! We saved the dragon!” Oliver was still numb and looked with his peripheral vision. It was Casey next to the dragon with the Dark Raiders tied up next to him. On his hip, a sword rested neatly in a brilliant white scabbard which golden light seemed to flow from. The dragon allowed everyone to climb aboard his back, and the fly back to the school was jolly and refreshing to everyone except Oliver. While the night wind was cooling to the others, Oliver was freezing as he was still wet with slime.
“So, how did it happen?” Oliver asked anybody who would listen. Jen answered him saying,
“It was amazing! We drank the sap to get past the spider monsters. It was sweetest thing I've ever eaten. That was when we found the dragon’s nest. We found out that Casey was the whole reason we’re here!”
“You don’t say.” said Oliver.
“Yeah! Apparently, he’s supposed to save this world from evil, but a mistake took the whole school school instead of just him.”
“How did you guys stop the Dark Raiders?”
“That was the best part! You had the feather so we didn’t really have a plan, but the dragon gave Casey an ancient hero’s sword. When the Dark Raiders got to the nest, the dragon couldn’t fight them off, but Casey stepped in and beat all of them on his own!”
“Where are we going now?”
“Where else? We’re going back to school. We were never supposed to be here anyway so the dragon’s sending us all home. Casey has to stay though. The dragon says he’s the true king of this land. Isn’t it great?”
“Yeah…. Good for him….” Oliver said to himself. So here he was, sitting on the back of someone else’s dragon, covered in slime, on his way back to a life he didn’t like in the first place. He knew and thought to himself, “I guess I’m not a hero….”