SAGA #1: ROCKANA OF GROUND

Chapter I

“The Silver Dragon”

SinChina. It is a land of monsters and magic. Death and Destruction. Myths and Legends. Villains and murderers. Unfortunately, I, John Gloth, am stuck in the middle of it…

A black dragon was standing over me. Who was on its back? It was none other than Saint Minoc, one of the three legendary Ronanas. The only people in SinChina that had dragons were the three Ronanas who were evil sorcerers that ruled SinChina. They were searching for the 12 legendary crystal balls, which were said to have power beyond belief. They thought that with the crystal balls they could cause mass destruction and control everything that goes on in SinChina. The only problem was that each crystal ball represented an element and that each crystal ball was guarded by a monster that controlled that element. So far the Ronanas had found the locations of most of the crystal balls but they had not found any.

Saint Minoc wore a long black robe. The robe covered most of his body except for his face. His face was pale. It looked like it had just seen a ghost, and his long, black, shard-like black hair could have pierced my heart if it got close enough.

“Never get in my way again”, Saint Minoc demanded, in his hollow voice, “Then again… You won’t have the chance to.”

I had walked onto this road because I had seen a silver stone that might be worth some money. Dark Road was a road that only Ronanas walked. It stretched from this side of our small, round planet, to the other side. I was surprise that the Ronana came so close to the Frinches, the town where I live.

The Ronanas were strict with trespassers who crossed their property. If they saw someone else on their road they would most likely kill them or torture them until they learned their lesson. I didn’t think that a Ronana would come walking by right when I went out to pick up a stone…

“Drone”, Saint Minoc said, looking at the dragon. That single word was obviously a signal to kill because the next thing I saw was fire. I quickly picked up the silver stone that I had saw earlier and held it up as a shield.

Once the fire hit the stone it basically split in half. The fire didn’t even touch me. Once the fire stopped I ran off the road and jumped in the bushes, hoping that he didn’t see.

As the smoke cleared he scanned the area, looking for me. “Where did he go?” he said out loud. Was he expecting an answer?

Soon he told his dragon to continue walking and once he was gone I started the long walk to my house, in the Frinches.

The Frinches is a colony of farms. Everyone who owns a farm lives there. Everyone there makes money by selling meat at nearby cities and towns. I lived there with my foster father, Garn.

Garn found me when I was a baby. He heard me crying while he was taking a stroll in the nearby forest, Cyclonious’ Forest. He picked me up and cared for me as if I was his son.

When he found me there was a note lying by my side. It was in a language that only the Master Ronana, Blade, could read.

Soon, I arrived at my house. I saw Garn sitting on his favorite leather chair. He was holding a dagger that he had made. Besides being a farmer, Garn was also a blacksmith; he would make weapons for anyone who paid the right price.

“Garn!” I said, once I saw him. He looked up and said, “Where have you been?” I ignored his question and continued talking, “I found this rock near Dark Road. Do you know how much I can sell it for?”

Garn reached out and took the large, oval-like stone away from me. I felt a feeling of hate come over me. I felt like I needed the stone and it could not be taken away from me. I was compelled to take it back but did not.

I had no idea where that feeling had come from but continued to watch Garn examine it. “Well… It is silver so it must be worth something…” he said, then he picked up one of his blacksmith tools and tapped the stone twice. “Strange…” he mumbled. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “It’s hollow”, he responded, shocked, “Its light too. I find that even stranger. How can silver be as light as a feather?”

“Is it an egg?” I asked. He stared at it for a moment then said, “Possibly, but I doubt it. Have you ever seen an egg this big? It’s almost a foot long!”

“But come to think of it… I think it looks like a dragon egg… Where did you find this, again?” he asked, already furious. I avoided the question and said, “Don’t we have a book about dragon eggs?”

“Yes”, Garn said, “It’s over on the book shelf. It’s called ‘The Silver Dragon’. That’s the only book on dragons we have.”

I walked over to the book shelf and started looking for the book. “It’s not here”, I said, still looking. “It’s in a different language, the same language as the note from your mother.”

I continued looking for the book until I felt something hit my shoulder. It was a book. The book bounced off my shoulder and hit the ground with a thump.

I sat down and examined the book. It was silver with some weird markings and a picture of a dragon on it. I opened the book and kept turning the pages until I found a picture of a dragon egg. The picture looked exactly like the stone that I had.

“Any help?” he asked. The sudden voice startled me and I jumped to my feet. I quickly slid the book into its proper place.

“No”, I lied. What would Garn do if he knew I had a dragon egg? He would probably kill it, seeing as the only people that had dragons in all of SinChina were the Ronanas and that they probably wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I think Brock has that book too”, Garn said, “His version is translated.” “Ok. Thanks. Maybe I’ll go look at Brock’s later… See if it says anything that I should know…”

“Oh, and before I forget, I translated another word of that note today”, Garn said. “What note?” I asked. “The one your mother left at your side. Only the master Ronana, Blade, can read it but I managed to translate some of it…” Garn said.

He handed me a piece of paper. I read it.

Dear Garn,

Please take care of John.

You can raise him better than I.

He is meant for great things that-

“That’s it?” I asked, “That’s all that you’ve been able to translate in the last fifteen years?” “Yes”, he said, “And you’re lucky to get that much. It’s only because I grew up so close to Blade’s Mansion that I am able to translate that much.”

“Yeah, your right… Sorry”, I said, then took the gleaming, silver egg from him. I walked to my room and put the stone on the shelf next to my bed.

I sat down on my bed and thought about my situation. I was the only one in SinChina, besides the Ronana, who had a dragon. More importantly, I was the only one in SinChina who had a silver dragon.

Now I had to wonder how it had survived… Sitting in the middle of Dark Road for who knows how long. Wouldn’t it get cold and die? Was it already dead? Or had the fire from Saint Minoc’s dragon, Drone, warmed it up?

I looked over at the egg just in time to see it roll off the shelf. I sprung from the bed, desperately trying to catch it before it hit the floor and broke. Once it hit my hands I felt my skin start to melt. “Ouch!” I yelled, dropping the egg.

When the egg hit the floor I heard a loud cracking noise. It rolled to my feet then made the same cracking noise. Then the egg made, what sounded like a cry. It made the cracking noise one more time as I saw a crack in the egg. Something inside the egg was pushing!

It only took seconds before the egg was completely cracked open, and sitting on the floor of my bed room, was a silver dragon.