19 Chapter 18 - Minori's Notes II

~I hoped to get a clearer dream in order to properly see what I must do and after a few days sleeping in a cave I took as my refuge after slaughtering a rogul: a large, round bellied beast with long claws and teeth, taking it's meat for future eating and making clothes out of it's fur so I may resemble a kobold, I surely did.

The voice was still unfamiliar as it instructed me to further prepare myself before taking on this task, I needed to create stronger weapons to protect myself which I learned could be done after I used my stone tools to dig out a rock which could be made into weapons through a process called 'smelting' after which I would be given a detailed map to where I was supposed to go to find the four dragon emperors of fire, water, earth and wind then after they were found, the celestial dragon emperors of sun and moon would reveal themselves.

As soon as the dream ended I got up from my resting place and ran to the end of the cave, where I was told by the spirit held the rocks I needed and so I began to dig.

It took almost all of my tools to get the ore out but after continuous digging, I did. The rock was of a blue colour and had a lot of weight, I got on to bulidng a furnace and a template of a sword and shield; I created five stone hammers and began to work, it was strenuous work and I suffered many bruises and burns but after what seemed like hours, I created a broadsword and a shield of good quality.

I looked out to see if the area was free of other species and there were none, so I stepped out to test the sharpness of my sword and to my surprise, it was of an amazing quality being able to slice cleanly through a tree.

I spotted a tauro: an animal usually kept as livestock for beef and leather; I decided to kill it for its leather to make a strap for my shield and a scabbard for my sword. The battle was pretty easy with the aid of my increased physical ability and the quality of my equipment so after I defeated the animal, I dragged it into my cave where I skinned it, made the pieces I needed and with the leftover leather I created a knapsack to limit the number of things I had to carry; at this time night had fallen so I went off to sleep.

The spirit visited me again and gave me a very detailed map to my destination and also gave me information as to which dragon to visit first. I was woken up by that dream in the middle of the night and drew up the map, I decided not to wait any longer so I set out, covered in the darkness to start my path to freedom.

I walked miles, often stopping to look at the map which from the dream led me to what seemed like a volcanic dome, where the fire dragon emperor resided. I arrived in the stony area where the map depicted the location of this dome situated in the west of my position; I walked across the sharp rocks, killing the small beasts that would attack me at intervals and at last I reached the dome which was made out of what seemed like volcanic rocks, it had a river of lava flowing out of the entrance and I saw no way of getting inside.

After thinking it over for a while, I saw that there was no other option but to climb the side of the wall and hope I won't fall. I jumped over puddle of lava that formed at the entrance and hitched onto the wall, I slowly moved on my side looking across to my goal; the heat inside was unbearable and my only motivation was thinking of my clan. I climbed for a long time until I reached a wide open slab of rock surrounded by a lake of lava, I took a deep breath and jumped with all my might towards the slab and luckily, I made it falling down onto the rock.

I was exhausted from the climbing and lay down for a while, the intense heat prevented me from even thinking about falling asleep and I became restless, I got up and shouted out "I'm in search of the fire dragon emperor," the echo bounced around and there was no reaction…until the lake of lava began to bubble. I drew my sword and shield ready to fight to the death, a large dragon rose from out of the liquid which I figured to be who I searched for, the fire dragon emperor who introduced himself as Ashrock.

He was not very polite to me but I paid it no attention, I simply told him of my clan's story and how I needed his and the other dragon's help; he paused for a while until he reluctantly acknowledged my courage and decided to lend his aid to me, he caused a red light to glow from his chest which blinded me momentarily after which I saw an obsidian coloured scale floating towards me, he then explained that I should get a scale like this from the other dragons and I would be able to save my clan with their help; I was enabled to leave when he created a bridge out of his lair and after that I was off once more, in search of the water dragon emperor.

I checked the map to see where I should go next and learned that I must head due north to an ocean where the Dragon resided so I set out. By now it was early morning and I was getting hungry so I had a quick meal of rogul meat and went on again.

The journey to the ocean was surprisingly peaceful as there was no need for me to draw my sword even once and I arrived in no time. The ocean gave off a pleasing breeze that relaxed me, I walked off shore and took a drink of the water which was quite salty but I didn't mind. After I had finished enjoying myself I pulled out the scale of Ashrock that I had placed in my bag and called out, the waves flowed rhythmically and a subtle female voice said, "my my you're a cute one, how may I be of service?" and the water dragon arose from the water, telling me her name was Mizuko.

Once again I told of my suffering and she responded in quite an emotional manner; she instantly agreed to help me and presented me with a sky blue scale of her's and even offered to take me to the next dragon emperor on my list: Earth.

The wind in my face on the ride and the exhilarating experience of actually riding a dragon made me smile for the first time in my entire life. Mizuko and I had a couple laughs on the way to the mountainous island where the Dragon Emperor of earth who I learned was named Daichi lived. We arrived after half an hour and I was seen off with a watery touch to the forehead from Mizuko which healed my injuries, I thanked her and she swam off into the distance.

The island I was left on had almost no flat land, it was of rugged terrain and high mountains so this meant I had to do more climbing. I looked up to the peak and saw what looked like a storm forming, nonetheless I started to climb.

I was completely out of energy when I reached about halfway up, the colour of the mountain seemed to have changed where I stopped; from the bright green colour of the bottom section to where I was which was of a dark brown colour. I slumped down to take a rest before continuing, "What are you doing?" an voice coming from below me interrupted my rest, I has surprised when the voice asked the same question once more. I've become accustomed to the mystical nature of the dragons and took out the two scales, I had no idea what I was doing as I shouted out to the sky, stating my business once more.

The ground beneath my feet rumbled and the storm up above moved towards me, my determination made me overcome my fear and I stood my ground. The head of a dragon lifted up in front of me, giving me wisdom of his status as the earth dragon emperor while the storm which was at a good distance away, revealed itself to be a wyvern, the Dragon emperor of wind.

As I had hoped, they both agreed to help me, giving me the final two scales. The wyvern, named Typhon warned me that a majestic phenomenon would occur soon and that he needed to bring me to a safe place, I agreed and as soon as I did a small, dense tornado formed below my feet and brought me to the wyvern's back, he and I flew off in a gale and I no time at all we reached a desert, getting off his back he wished me luck and told me to unite the scales, with that he flew off.

I did as I was told and held up the scales, they began to shine in a beautiful mixture of colours and rose to the sky, when they stopped… the two moons and the sun moved closer to each other, causing an eclipse to occur. I covered my eyes to avoid being blinded when I heard two voices saying that I had done well, they both introduced themselves as the celestial dragon emperors.

I asked why they had left my race and the demons' to be mistreated and they sincerely apologized, saying that they were not omniscient and has no idea of what was taking place so that was why they all agreed to help me so quickly. Once their explanation was finished, I inquired about how exactly they would help and that was when the four scales shot off on it the sky and the eclipse ceased; I was confused to the point of thinking that all my struggles were for naught but all those thoughts were put aside when an object flew down from the skys and landed a couple yards away from me, the voices of all the Dragon Emperors told me to touch the rock and said that it would give me all the power I need.

I was unsure at first but I thought of my family which must have been going through hell at that moment and regained my will, I ran to the meteorite and placed both my hands on it, a wondrous power flooded my body and tattoos resembling the dragons of sun and moon appeared on my arms, the dragons told me that with this rock and the power I was given, I could save my clan and achieve equality with all the other races.~