Furry Art Pile

Chapter 4- Dragon Training

Andrew stirred in his bed, but did not wake. When he finally did, the sun had already risen in the sky. He jumped out of bed and ran to the table. His parents were already eating.

“Nice of you to join us.” Said Emily

“Sorry, I got home late last night.” Replied Andrew.

‘You had better hurry and get to the mines.” Said Ryan, “Or you will be late.” Andrew rushed through his eggs and ham, grabbed his pickaxe, and dashed out the door. As he ran he was aware that he was running much faster then he usually did, the trees became green blurs and he almost felt as if he could leap into the sky. When he stopped, he was near a stream. He took a drink and looked at his reflection in the water. He blinked a few times and looked again.

His face looked relatively the same, but his eyes had become a bit narrower and his pupils looked like a cat’s; his ears were much longer and pointed. Andrew blinked again and his reflection looked normal. He felt his ears and they were normal as well. He stood up and thought about the night before. Had it really happened, or did he just have some odd dream?

When he got to the mines he checked in with the head digger, picked-up his bag, and went back to mining. He swung the pickaxe into the cave walls for hours, filling the sack with ores. Once again he found a surprisingly large amount of kabasir ore rather quickly. He turned it over to the head digger, collected his pay, and began his walk home. He stopped by the same stream he had seen the strange reflection that morning. He looked again and his face had changed. Also, his legs had changed to resemble those of a large reptile,

“A dragon.” Thought Andrew. He blinked a few times, but his body did not change back. Not know knowing what to do, he sat down on a rock and stared at his legs. They looked incredibly strong, he stood up and jumped, to his amazement, he rose about fifteen feet in the air. Landing on a branch, he looked at the ground, the tree was to big around to climb down, so Andrew jumped, he landed on the ground and once again was surprised not to feel some shock wave go through his legs, it felt as if he had once dropped a foot. He went back to the stream and looked at his reflection, it was normal again, and his legs had changed back, although his pants looked stretched and were now torn near the bottom where his enlarged legs had ripped them. He arrived home shortly after his parents had begun supper.

“I am going for a walk in the forest, and I’ll be back soon.” Said Andrew after he had finished eating. His parents made no objection. Andrew left the house and walked in the direction he thought Maxarious’ camp was. He saw a light and followed it, and he soon found himself on the edge of a camp. Maxarious was playing the strange instrument.

“So,” Maxarious began without turning around, “now do you believe me?”

“I will admit strange things have happened today, but I still think you’re crazy.”

“Believe what you want for now, you are in danger and I don’t know when your enemy will strike, they could even be here now.” He got up and handed a sword to Andrew, “Do you know how to use this?”

“Before my father injured his leg, I was being trained to use a sword, as was every other boy on this island who did not want to learn how to mine but to be a guard for some merchant. I was forced to stop practicing and began swinging a pickaxe instead.”

“Try to hit me.” Said Maxarious. He picked up his walking stick and held it in front of himself. Andrew, not wanting to hurt the elderly man, brought the sword down with a slower motion than should have been used. The blade hit the staff and Maxarious shoved Andrew back three yards.

“I let you do that.” Grunted Andrew

“Of course you did.” Replied Maxarious.

For the next few weeks, Andrew working in the mines and in the evenings went into the woods and practiced sword fighting with Maxarious, no matter how many times he tried, Andrew could never land a true blow on him. Andrew was especially mad after Maxarious let Andrew pick which weapon Maxarious could use. Andrew was beaten with a wooden spoon Maxarious ate his meals with. After the fist week, Andrew had forgotten that Maxarious insisted the he was a dragon. Andrew’s parents hardly ever questioned him on his long “walks” in the forest, but when they did he always gave the same answer,

“I just like the peace of it all.” Which was as far from the truth as one could get, for Maxarious hardly left anytime for peace. The weeks dragged into months and soon the island of Tuntoria had shifted into autumn. Maxarious seemed to love sitting in the forest while the leaved showered him with yellow, orange, and red. There were even day when he would make Andrew simply sit in a quite spot in the woods and have him listen to the trees. One day when Andrew arrived at the camp, Maxarious said to him,

“You are nearly an hour late.”

“I was stuck at home.” Replied Andrew.

“Yes,” said Maxarious, “A mother can be a bother sometime, but when you own body is morphing in your sleep can also cause one to be late.” Andre stared at him in disbelief.

“Did you know this would happen to me?” he asked.

“Yes,” Replied Maxarious, “I knew it would begin as soon as you fainted during our first meeting. Sit down I am going to tell you everything I can, and you must promise me that you will take it all very seriously. What I have been teaching you is not for my own amusement, you will have to employ the skills I have shown you and much more if you are to survive more then a few more months.” Andrew sat down and listened.

“You have hear about dragons in stories as well as from random traders.” Began Maxarious, “They speak of giant beasts that can breath fire and control the world. That much is true for most of us. There are some of us who can only breath fire and are strong. I am one of the four Elemental Dragons. I can control earth.” With that he stretched his hand over the ground and mad a motion like he was lifting something, a mound of rock rose from the ground and shaped itself into a large armchair, the grass had formed a soft seat Which Maxarious seated himself on, a second chair formed and Andrew sat down.

“As I was saying,” continued Maxarious, “there are three other elements in this world, fire, water, and air. They will be joining us shortly. There are other types of dragons called miniatures, Lesser Draogns, and Wild Dragons. I don’t have time to tell you about all of them, but keep this with you at all times.” Maxarious handed Andrew a book the size of his hand. “This book contains information about all dragon types in this world as well as the races that have inhabited it over the centuries. Everything in that book is pure fact. There are also descriptions every place in Reptillia as well as its creatures.”

Maxarious talked for hours about dragons as well as creatures called Dracians, Angelians, Turtorians, and Lizardians. He then began telling Andrew what abilities he had as a dragon.

“Dragons can morph into any of the races to ever walk on Reptillia. Myself included, the figure you see sitting before you is not my true for, I cannot show you now as to avoid detection. You should also know that most dragons only turn into a dragon when there is no other alternative. Looking like a dragon makes one stand out, where as in or other forms we can mingle in a crowd and avoid our enemies. Our enemy, Excaldedar, has managed to come-up with a way to track us when we are in our dragon forms. The device is not very accurate however, and usually leads the user to a point within a hundred yards of the dragon. Each of the forms has special abilities that the others do not. For example,”

“Wait.” Interrupted Andrew, “Why can’t this Excaldedar detect us when we change into other races?”

‘I see you now believe all this by the fact that you said we; and to answer your question, it is because morphing into a dragon takes more power than to morph into one of the races. The device he has detects the large amount of power released. Moving on, you are of special interest to our enemy, which is why I came here in the first place. You have control over the mineral called kabasir. I know it is used allover the island but I have to get because of its price. Kabasir is expensive because it takes so long to refine and there is only about a third left after it is refined. Lon ago the dragon mined it, could refine it in seconds, and shape it into beautiful suits of amour as well as swords and shields. Dragons are the only creatures with the physical strength and knowledge to make kabasir into elaborate shapes. Do you know how rocks form?” asked Maxarious.

“Know they form from temperatures in the earth as wells as over time.” Answered Andrew.

“Kabasir forms differently.” said Maxarious, “Kabasir grows like a plant, straight out of the rock. There is a cavern below this island where the crystals grow everywhere, the very walls are made of pure Kabasir, I sealed the cave long ago so no one would use its powers for evil again.”

“When you say kabasir has powers, do you mean that kabasir is alive?” asked Andrew

“No.” answered Maxarious, “Kabasir can channel a dragon’s power but is not alive. Kabasir does have special properties however, when it comes in contact with other minerals like iron and steel, it makes the object much lighter.” Maxarious paused to let this all sink in. “With proper training, you will be able to make kabasir grow with incredible speed, even create it out of thin air. For now however, we will just work on you lifting it without touching it. Lets begin.