Dragonfire Prologue

Prologue

*Author's Note: For those of you who have read the beginning of this already I'm sorry, but I am editing the whole story again in the hopes of having it up the snuff and better than before. Now bear with me, this is my first attempt at fantasy and I get a bit long with details, but I try to set a scene and bring a picture to mind. And unfortunately this story starts off a bit slow. After chapter four I think it picks up nicely and chapter seven it takes off. Well I hope you guys will enjoy and as many other people haves asked on this site, please leave comments and/or reviews. They are not only helpful, but leave a warm fuzzy feeling that the writer's work isn't only for their pleasure but being enjoyed or at least read by someone else:)

History; is exactly what it reads, 'his story' nothing more than a hodgepodge of different tales woven together in a blanket where not all the edges meet or seem to overlap. But I don't want to bore you with a lecture about a class in school so let's get right to the story Dragonfire.

From the title, one can get a pretty good idea of what's to come; giant, fire breathing lizards, which spread death on the wing. Yes, dragons show up in this book, but they are not the main characters to this tale alone; not by a long shot. Fairies, pixies, talking trees and yes even humans take center stage. All revolving around two special kids from this world, whisked away in the middle of the Great Depression to a world that seems just as doomed and foreboding. A world where the balance of nature has been horribly disrupted and yes, evil is trying to take over; like it always does.

But I'm getting ahead of myself here… Three people will work together unexpectedly to become the heroes to right the wrongs of this world; a pair of human children, whom I shall mention later; and a fairy. Yes, there is a fairy involved with this story; but don't sell her short; because she packs some serious punch and is not someone to be messed with, being the next in line to rule over only all of Nature.

You see, long in the past; before this human duo and this princess; was her grandmother who shall remain nameless for the time being; who saw a thousand years ago that the world was falling to shambles. She had been vested along with three other beings with great power to keep the peace over the whole continent. Well one of the four got a little power hungry and ousted the other three away. The Hero of Darkness, corrupted by his lust for power, drove away the Warrior of Fire, the Sorceress of Water and the Queen of Nature while he remained and threw the continent in a state of chaos and discord.

To stop the situation for spiraling out of control, the three heroes went off in search of the dragons, reputed to be the most powerful creatures in all of creation. Unfortunately, the dragon race had been persecuted by the mortals for hundreds of years and their numbers thinned out as the poor creatures' fear grew. So when the three came across some of the last dragons; the enraged reptiles erupted into violent fury; some desired to have the three sent away, others wanted them charbroiled; but one listened to their plea; one with an affinity to the human race. He listened to their woes, and took it to heart, but before he would act, he took the young warrior to his den and held him to see if his heart were true and pure. It was another matter entirely for the elder dragon's son; who despised humans and all like them for a variety of reasons. But soon the young man won over the wyrmling and together they banned against the darkness; the humans and dragons standing together as one behind them. The battle between the forces of good and evil waged and good would win; but at a cost.

What was that cost has been lost to the tide of time.

But now the evil has returned, but why; and how can a pair of human children and a little fairy have any hope of defeating this rising evil? Read on, if you dare; for the pages following this are littered with unforeseen, bitter misfortunes and situations that border the realm of death. Humanity is tested in this harrowing tale, until the lines of destiny converge and the tale fashioned on the lips of generations comes into play. Greed, Lust for power and Darkness will test these youths and the other characters in this tale, will they all pass and survive, or will they fall to these vices and succumb to the darkness themselves?

The dark of night remained, enshrouding her room like a cloak. A fairy sits, the destined ruler in line for the throne in a richly decorated chair; covered with various engravings which covered the regal seat; one can see fairies in flight, flowers open and closed, the sun and moon in half alignment were etched into the backing on the chair all happening around a depiction of a crown being bestowed to a young pixie. She sat there, her head held low, eyes closed, slowly and lightly breathing, in and out, as if waiting for something. A lone candle stood in front of her, on a nightstand, its reflection dancing in a mirror rimmed with gold.

The silence, the calm… is broken, panic erupts, and the room shakes, as the mirror comes off the wall and shatters on the floor. Horns bellow into the night as the fairy sharply raises her head and her golden-brown eyes gleam with anticipation, the candles' warm glow becomes extinguished. She knew it was time. She quickly fluttered up, with her thin film-like wings, reached out for a dark veil; which lay on her bed, tied it around her neck, and let the cloak fall down to her side. She quietly opened the heavy oak door of her room and allowed the blaring of trumpets to enter as they echoed in the stairwell. She rockets down the flight of stairs. As she flew by, the candles illuminating the walls had their flames licked out by her beating wings.

A grand hall opened in front of her as she looked about. Several of the windows of the room were smashed in, by what she could not tell. Glass shards were scattered across the floor, fires wreaked havoc as they danced on the ceiling. Ashy cinders fell to the floor, smoldering away, adding a heavy, smoky haze to the spacious room. Fairies, little animals, chipmunks and squirrels ran in all directions in the smoke, in a state of panic, carrying little thimbles full of water, futilely attempting to put out the flames. The princess looked around in search of something and her face turned to a look of horror upon gazing out at the back of the hall. Her father's throne lay there on its side, shattered into pieces, his staff lying under the ruin. She flew through the throngs of pixies, being pushed and shoved. She accidently knocked into a servant and the pot of water he was carrying flew out of his hands and its contents spilled right onto him. She pulled her hood even more over her face, to hide it from view as he looked up at her, "Hey lassie, you watch where ye goin'!" he barked at her, fuming as he flew off again. She grinned on the inside as her heart soared, even her personal servants did not know that it was her underneath that dark cloak. And with that, her chances of escaping grew ever better.

She flew toward a pile of glass and looked at the shattered remains of the window. In the cluttered mess she found two things of interest. She found a cracked monocle; which as she brought close to her heart and clutched it tight, she shed a single tear. The second was a piece of glass, which wouldn't have even attracted her attention, were it not for a small hint of crimson, a single drop of blood. She picked it up and looked at it inquisitively, lightly touching the freshly lost blood with her finger, she brought the glass up to look at it in more detail, when she saw the moon shining through it. She looked up at the blown open window, placed the fragment down, and flew right out of the hall through the opening, with jagged edges of glass still sticking out from the window frame; and out into the sky she went.

A pattering of red blood splattered across the gravel road and into the trees. With the full moon rising above her, she rocketed into the forest. The fleeing fairy looked back, behind her in hesitation, as she gazed out at her home; all that she had ever known, but she knew that she had to leave, for the sake of her father and for her own life. Her castle, enshrouded by massive trees stood with flames belching out from the open windows as the screams of her subjects rang clear as bells, forcing her to cringe. The castle burned in the erupting flames like as if thrown into the Pits of Hell. She looked out in front of her, and saw the towering trees that marked the edge of the forest, whose limbs reached high into the sky, their branches swayed wildly in the wind, as if writhing in pain. The light of the guiding moon weakened as it turned red and became covered by an ever thickening sea of clouds. She raced into the trees, and her shape soon lost its color, becoming a silhouette, which then blended into the darkness, the last of the royal line. This is where her story and that of Materia begins.