Dragons of Serenia: Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The forest of creeping darkness

"So where are we headed?" asked Geoffrey, his hands behind his head as he walked with Wispy across a land filled with grass and a variety of plant life.

"Oh, were heading for the town of Aquver. It's a town entirely consisting of water dragons" said Wispy.

"What do you plan to do there?" asked Geoffrey.

"Well my mission is to basically go to every town in the world and help the people that need help!" exclaimed Wispy, proud of what she does.

"That's it?" asked Geoffrey.

"Hey, it's not as easy as it sounds!"

"Doubt it…."

"Well I'll have you know that ever since the war with the shadow dragons broke out the favors that the town residents have been asking of me has been getting more and more dangerous."

"Shadow dragons? You mean that group I pretty much destroyed back in Lunaveil?"

"Yes….but what's with this "I"? If I remembered correctly you were having some trouble taking all of them on by yourself" said Wispy as she smirked.

"Yeah, you're probably right" said Geoffrey as he smiled.

"Ha ha ha ha, I guess I would have won that battle when I first met you huh?"

"Don't get your hopes up."

"Huh, but I was winning wasn't I?

"I would have beaten you with the same tricks I used against the Black Shadow militia."

"Tricks?"

"Repelling enemy magical attacks back at them and combining my fire magic with your wind attack to create a fire tornado."

"But how would those….wait was that what you were trying to do last minute!?"

"Yep, if Masky didn't stop me you would have probably used your wind breath, I would have repelled it with a magic barrier around my hand, and ignited the wind storm to turn it into a fiery death trap….glad that didn't happen huh?" said Geoffrey smiling. Wispy imagined herself burning to a crisp.

"Ye-yeah…." said Wispy nervously. "Anyway we need to travel through the Lunalit forest up ahead." A large forest with many trees appeared further ahead.

"Can't you just fly us over the forest?" asked Geoffrey.

"I could….but there's someone I haven't seen a long time in the forest"

"*Sigh* Alright lead on, it's not like we were in a hurry in the first place."

The duo traveled inside the forest. The trees blocked most of the sunlight so most of the forest was in a slight shade of darkness. The earth was very rich, perfect for growing plants and so many flowers bloomed around the two.

"It's pretty nice here" said Geoffrey.

"Yes, but don't let your guard down" said Wispy.

"Why is that?"

"The kingdom of darkness, the home of the shadow dragons, doesn't just use dragons for war. They sometimes take control of the living creatures inhabiting the places they want to conquer so they can cause chaos without even putting themselves in danger"

"Wow, they are a bunch of cowards then."

"Ha ha ha, yeah you could say that. But they are still powerful as you saw firsthand. This forest is filled with wildlife tainted by their manipulation. My friend really hates them for that; she has to fight off the very creatures that she was sworn to protect every day."

"Wouldn't blame her for that" said Geoffrey as red eyes stared down above him. The darkness hid their identity but he could guess that those were the manipulated creatures Wispy was talking about.

"Anyway were at my friend's domain" said Wispy as Geoffrey and her entered into an area rich in sunlight. It was a very large cultivated landscape filled with many edible plants. There were also many deep holes to be seen around the area as well.

"Wow, your friend really has a great way to live" said Geoffrey, impressed. "Although, what's with these holes in the ground?" Geoffrey looked intently at one of the holes when all of a sudden; a giant serpent came out from the hole and roared at Geoffrey as slime dripped from his mouth. His body was half submerged in the hole but the top portion of his body looked a lot like a dragon.

"Filthy human, leave this place now or be devoured by the great earth serpent Azachi!" spoke the serpent.

"If you do, I'll burn your organs out and have them for lunch" replied Geoffrey.

"You're not scared of me human!? Why I should kill you-"

"Stop Azachi, he's with a friend of mine" said a distant female voice.

"Yes, humble guardian" said the serpent as he went back down into his hole. Geoffrey looked in the direction of the voice to find a green scaled dragon standing before him. She had an orange, hair like mane across her neck and orange markings all across her body. Her wings were a magnificent spectacle as colorful dots decorated them and changed color like a mood ring to fit her emotions. She also seemed to be just about as old as Wispy.

"Good to see you Madi!" exclaimed Wispy.

"And you too Wispy!" exclaimed the green scaled dragon in response.

"It has to be at least a year since I last you"

"Oh no, I don't think it has been that long, come now." The two of them laughed.

"Well, this is an awkward moment for me" thought Geoffrey.

"Oh yes, this is my companion Geoffrey!" said Wispy as she introduced Geoffrey.

"…hello" said Geoffrey since the mood was awkwardly too happy for his tastes.

"He may seem shy to you but he's actually kind of stubborn and arrogant but don't let that get you down since he's still fun to be around!" said Wispy.

"I can't tell if that was a compliment or an insult…" thought Geoffrey. Madi laughed at Wispy's comment.

"Well why don't you two come inside my cave! I was just about to have lunch but there's always enough for guests!" exclaimed Madi as she led Geoffrey and Wispy inside her nearby cave. The cave was filled with many plants. Every since of the cave had plant life growing somewhere; it didn't seem like there was a stone to be found.

"I was enjoying my fruit salad when the two of you showed up but I'll make two more" said Madi as she looked around her cave garden for ingredients.

"That sounds great! How about you Geoffrey?" asked Wispy.

"I relatively don't care" said Geoffrey. "Anyway what was with that serpent outside just now?"

"Oh I'm sorry that's Azachi the earth serpent king, I'm sorry he attacked you" said Madi.

"Its fine, I would have cut him in half if he did" said Geoffrey.

"Uh…okay" said Madi.

"He's usually like this, sorry" said Wispy.

"…well anyway the salads are done!" exclaimed Madi. The three of the ate their food in the cave garden. Wispy and Madi talked about random things that Geoffrey relatively didn't care about so after he finished eating he laid down to rest. His rest didn't last for long however since a earthquake woke him from his nap.

"What's going on!?" shouted Geoffrey.

"I don't know but we need to get outside quickly!" exclaimed Madi. The three of them rushed through plants as fast as they could until they finally reached the exit of Madi's cave. The few holes made by Azachi had somehow turned to trenches and many wolves with black fur surrounded their escape. When Geoffrey looked closer at the wolves he noticed the black on their fur dripped off them like a syrup making Geoffrey realize that these wolves must have been corrupted by some kind of foul substance. The wolves glared at him with glowing red eyes as they looked ready to pounce on him any chance they got. A variety of black birds also flew in with their trade mark red eyes.

"No, even more got corrupted" said Madi.

"I don't think they're the only ones that we should be worrying about" said Geoffrey.

"What do you mean?" asked Madi. As she said this a male dragon came swooping down to great them. He was fairly small but his blue scales glowed with a dark aura to them.

"Very observant of you Geoffrey, I should applaud you for your victory against that militia I sent over to Lunaveil" said the dark blue dragon.

"How do you know my name?" asked Geoffrey with a stern tone.

"Oh, you don't know yet. Ha ha ha ha! Well it seems this will be a little more interesting then that fight with that weak serpent" said the dark blue dragon.

"What did you do with Azachi!?" exclaimed Madi.

"Nothing much, I just had his servants take him down and then capture him for my lord to do experiments on" said the dark blue dragon.

"Lord? You mean the dark dragon king?" asked Wispy.

"No, I work directly for Nevareth! His will is mine to execute! I will design the perfect world in his image!" the dark blue dragon responded.
"So you work for Nevareth huh? Well then…" said Geoffrey as he drew his sword. "I guess you won't mind telling me where he is while I slash you to pieces."

"Heh heh….all in good time Geoffrey, it is what my lord has planned anyway" said the dark blue dragon.

"Huh?" said Geoffrey.

"I'll leave you with the residents of the corrupted forest to entertain you. I hope you won't be disappointed" said the dark blue dragon as he started to take flight.

"Come back here coward!" shouted Wispy as the dark blue dragon flew higher into the sky.

"Oh, and you better hurry. I hear some terrible misfortune has happened in Aquver. Muhahahahaha!" laughed the dark blue dragon as he flew away. The corrupted creatures inched forward closer and closer.

"Hey Geoffrey do you think you can summon a meteor to take them out?" asked Wispy.

"Uh, I'm not that powerful you know" said Geoffrey looking at Wispy. As Wispy and Geoffrey tried a figure out a way to fight all the creatures standing before them Madi's anger was at it's peak.

"I'LL KILL HIM!!!" screamed Madi as she dug her claws into the earth and summoned all of the earth around her. She warped the earth into a tidal wave of rock and stone and pushed it at all of the corrupted creatures in front of her. The creatures screamed their deaths as the massive wave of earth enveloped their bodies until there was nothing left. Geoffrey watched the entire event in horror. "Whew, I feel better!" said Madi who suddenly changed her mood from anger to cheerful.

"Wh-what was that?" asked Geoffrey.

"What was what?" asked Madi innocently.

"Uh, that…well big destructive earth wave."

"Huh, oh yeah that, I just needed to get rid of some steam."

"I can see that."

"Ha ha ha, yeah, Madi can be scarier then Masky sometimes but she is more fun to be around" said Wispy.

"Um, yeah, remind me never to get her mad" said Geoffrey.

"Oh I'm sure you'll be fine….unless you step on her tail…" said Wispy.

"Uh…ye-yeah…." said Geoffrey.

"Hey what are you guys talking about we have to get to Aquver fast!" exclaimed Madi.

"Right!" exclaimed Wispy as Geoffrey followed slowly behind. While the group headed toward the other forest entrance they came across more corrupted creatures. Madi managed to take down large creatures like corrupted tigers and members of the serpent clan with her powerful earth attacks. Wispy handled most of the aerial enemies while Geoffrey took on the others with his powerful spells.

"So you're a mystic knight?" asked Madi.

"Yeah" said Geoffrey as he took his sword out of a corrupted wolf.

"Wow, that's awesome! I never seen powers like yours before!" exclaimed Madi.

"Yeah, I guess they are being cool" said Geoffrey smiling.

"Oh, it seems you too are starting to get friendly" said Wispy smiling. "We're almost there by the way." The mood quickly became serious as the thoughts of what may have happened to the town of Aquver raced through their minds. As they exited the forest they saw smoke rising from the damaged buildings across.

"Oh no!" cried Wispy as she and her companions ran into town. The sight was terrible, dragons laid dead, others sick or exhausted, the mothers cared for their young while any young and healthy dragon helped tried to rebuild what they could. But the worst sight of all was the sight of the dried up lake, the pride and joy of the village.

"No, the water rune was taken" said Madi.

"If only I didn't take time to gather supplies, I may have gotten here sooner" said Wispy sadly.

"Was this the work of that dragon we saw earlier? Maybe, I wouldn't put it against him to resort to these actions if he is really a warrior for Nevareth" thought Geoffrey as weakened water dragons gathered around Madi and Wispy for aid. Other surviving residents stared at Geoffrey with fear; the thoughts of when he first arrived in this world came back to him. But this time he didn't have any hatred toward these dragons, but rather hatred toward the one who did this horrible crime. The memories of when he met the dark blue dragon came back to him.

"There are too many unanswered questions surrounding that dragon. He seemed too very familiar to me, he even knew my name. Who is he?" thought Geoffrey.