wil
Wil
In the Wake of Dragons
Cowering in the shadow of winged beasts,
hiding what life remained, waiting.
Finally, the day came that the terror ended.
This day, gifted to the world by the tired mage Sollaind,
marks the beginning of a new age.
"There was another deer today, Ulrion. Maybe you and I could hunt it, have more than boiled water for dinner," Dylin was, above all else, hungry. He and his brother, Ulrion, lived in the rubbled remains of what was the town Haslington. Before the fire rained down from the sky, it was a town of two hundred. Now, it was a town of two.hiding what life remained, waiting.
Finally, the day came that the terror ended.
This day, gifted to the world by the tired mage Sollaind,
marks the beginning of a new age.
Ulrion looked up at the dark, smoky sky. There hadn't been daylight in years. Since the beginning of Creraskun's siege of the world, the sun was but a hidden background to the rest of the sky. Only within the last two moons did the echos of shrill dragon screeching stop traveling through the air. A quick glimmer of sunlight peeked through an otherwise stagnant, gray sky. Ulrion wanted to smile at this light, or at his younger brother's optimism of finding better food. He wanted to, but could not.
"You know that hunting doesn't go well when you have no tools, brother," Ulrion reminded him. Ulrion was nineteen years of age, and he felt that his seven additional years over his brother warranted his role of confident guidance towards realism and survival, "Every time we have tried to hunt something, it has run away before we could get close. We have chased deer, rabbits, birds, snakes....it always ends the same. We come back to our hole, hungrier than we were when we left, and we pick off supplies left down here."
Dylin looked around the room. The brothers were lucky to have found a sub-floor supply room in one of their neighbor's homes, which was stocked with food and clothing. The neighbor, an old man named Brall, would have been pleased to know that his survival supply outlived him. Dylin did not understand how his brother was satisfied with their depleted supplies, "I know neither of us are good at hunting. If I had my bow and arrow back, we would have been eating steak again by now," Dylin's miniature bow and arrow were lost in the fire that engulfed his entire town, along with everything else that the brothers owned.
"There's no cows around Haslington, Dylin." Ulrion said snidely, "You can't have steak if there are no cows."
"Still, though," Dylin continued, "We have knives. Why couldn't we go into the forest and..."
"The Burned Forest," Ulrion interrupted.
Ulrion had named the forest to more accurately describe it, as it truly was no longer a forest. Most of the trees were stained black from the dragon fire that destroyed Haslington. Luckily, some living trees and beings remained further into the wood. The outer regions of the forest, however, were entirely scorched and lifeless. Ulrion insisted that it be called the Burned Forest. Dylin remembered what Ulrion had said the first day he suggested they search for food in the wood, after the attack that destroyed their town: "There's not much left of the world for history books now, Dylin. We have to start naming and claiming things again otherwise the world will just be ash forever."
"Fine," Dylin replied, "Why couldn't we go into the Burned Forest and try to set traps, sneak up on something, find something dead already..."
Ulrion rolled his eyes, "Do you have any idea why you saw a deer today for the first time in weeks? Or why when we have gone to that worthless forest, we have found no living things apart from one single soul at a time? Those creatures cower away from us just like we do when a beast flies overhead. They are fighting for life, just like we are."
Dylin considered his brother's perspective. Of all of the things they lost to the dragon fire, they were lucky to have kept each other. Dylin wondered how many families were destroyed during the Destruction of the world, or how many boys were lucky enough to have kept their brothers.
Dylin joked, "At least there isn't anyone trying to hunt us like we have tried to hunt the poor creatures of Burned Forest," Dylin's stomach growled after he spoke.
Ulrion heard the growl and remembered that his brother depended on him. He stood up, leaning up against the broken wall of the house they chose to inhabit. It was the most stable structure left to choose from, and had more roof than any other building left in Haslington; there was a small corner of ceiling, supported by the only two full walls, that somehow escaped the fire until the rain that extinguished it. Dylin and Ulrion lived in below this corner of cover.
"I'm going to go fetch some more water, Dylin," he said as he picked up a pale and walked towards the broken wall that contained a hole where a door used to be, "Stay here. If you need me, come toward the river. Try to get some more tidying done before I come back; maybe you can finally get that wood stacked up outside?"
Dylin sighed, "Fine," He followed his brother 'outside' (though 'inside' was just as much outside, but it felt comforting to pretend). Dylin watched as his brother turned a corner to walk towards the river and disappeared out of sight behind the rubble of what used to be a courthouse.
Dylin began collecting wood from around the house and stacking it along the front wall. The brothers' idea was to collect wood for fire when the cold comes, which Ulrion expected to happen in a few more moons. Exact time keeping was impossible since the end of the world, but the brothers agreed that they had at least two moons left before first frost based on the cooling weather and changing foliage. Whatever green had survived the dragon fire, now changed to orange and red regardless. Dylin thought this to be a cruel joke, that nature would change the only remaining green to the firey colors that haunted him.
After dragging a few pieces of lumber around the house, Dylin stood up to catch his breathe and turned back to look at the Burned Forest. What an ugly thing, he started to think, but he found his thoughts cut off short by the surprise of what looked like a figure running away from the forest and towards where he stood.
The figure was far enough away that he wasn't yet worried. He squinted to try to get a better look. He thought he saw long hair flowing, but this figure was not wearing what he considered to be women's clothing. It was definitely an adult. He turned to look towards the river to see if his brother was returning. There was no sign of him. Dylin turned back to the figure, who was still running closer to Dylin with every step.
Then, Dylin saw what this figure was running from. With a graceful yet ominous whoosh, the head, then wings, then body, and lastly tail of a magnificent black dragon peeked out of the edge of the Burned Forest. Dylin had never seen a grounded dragon. It was moving slowly, as if it was injured, but it was still obviously pursuing the running figure.
First, Dylin heard the chuffs of the dragon, and heard the stomps as it crawled out of the forest. Then, Dylin heard the running figure, with the high-pitched voice of a lady, yelling as she ran closer, "......please......need to hide.....we need to hide, quickly.....please.....hide or run..."
Dylin turned back to check if his brother had returned yet, and there was still no sign of him. He turned back to look at the woman, who was only about 200 paces away. I could go to the sub-floor and hide, he thought, or I can wait and take her with me. Dylin knew he didn't have much time to make his choice, as the black dragon crawled quickly behind the running woman.
Anne Boolean
Last edited:
