Part 1, Beginnings

Hello, my name is Elliot. I lived on a small farm out in the middle of nowhere, the farm was but a small ranch with simple farm animals and such. 4 days prior to that day the King sent men here and we had to shelter them from a storm that was about to hit us. When the men got here they made demands for food, water, and shelter. My Dad gave those things to the men otherwise we would've been put to death for treason. It's a serious crime to defy the Kingsmen. Although we live out in the middle of nowhere, there was a small village nearby where we'd go to get supplies and other things. One of the soldiers told me about bandits in the area and that that's the reason that they were there. To kill the bandits he said. I was scared. I'm only 15 and I don't have much other than a small knife that I carried in case I had to defend myself against an animal or put an animal down. My Dad was once a soldier in the King's army. As far as I knew he was skilled with a blade. He only left the army after Mom died, to raise me. When she died he lost a lot of his spirit and love for the world, but then again he was a soldier. He was trained to deal with his emotions. But it was difficult for him to do so in this case because it was his wife, the love of his life, and my mother. My Dad has always been a good man and will be until he dies. After the soldier told me of the bandits I went to my room and went to bed for the night. 

I woke up in the middle of the night to an absolute ruckus that sounded like it was coming from the kitchen. I rushed out of bed, grabbed my knife from my satchel, and ran to the kitchen. What I saw I almost couldn't comprehend. There were bandits inside the house I'd lived in my whole life, the one place I was supposed to be safe. There were 3 of them, one had just stabbed my dad, another was finishing off 2 soldiers and the last one was approaching me. I panicked and rushed the one walking toward me. I stabbed him in his chest with enough strength to pierce his sternum. That was stupid of me because now I couldn't pull the knife out. I grabbed the sword the man had. It was heavy, heavier than most of the things I'd had to lift in my life. But I couldn't just not defend myself. The one that killed the 2 soldiers charged me and I drove the sword clean through his stomach and gutted him. The last one was angry and in retaliation for me killing his 2 friends, he took his sword and cut my Dad's throat open. I froze in shock. All of the sudden something inside me snapped. I charged the man and stabbed him in his intestines. I pulled the sword out and watched him die slowly. After that, I left the house that I'd called home for so many years. I decided that since my home wasn't safe anymore, it wasn't home. I grabbed my things from my room, only the essentials, my satchel, a small loaf of bread, and a small dagger that my Dad gave me when I was 13. I walked to the front door, opened it, and walked outside. I sat down on the soft luscious grass, I took a deep breath and just felt the nature around me. I'd never left home before. I knew it would be a grueling yet exciting adventure. I got up, dusted myself off, and walked over to the goat pen. I grabbed 2 leads from the barn and put them on 2 separate goats. When I was younger my Dad told stories about dragons and goblins. I always wondered if they were real or not. Seeing as how I'd never left home I didn't know if what he told me was true or not. With the 2 goats in hand I left my home, and not for one second did I ever look back.

After a few days on the road, I ran across a small village roughly 23 miles from my home. When I arrived there I saw there was an inn, a tavern, and a general store. There weren't a whole lot of people in the village, maybe 23 or so. I walked to the general store and went inside. I then looked around for anything that could be of use to me. I had a few gold coins in my satchel that my Dad gave to me as a gift from his army days. I also had some silver that my Mom had given me before she passed. I decided to use the silver to buy the bread because if someone in this town saw the gold coins I was liable to be robbed. I paid for some bread that was on the far side of the store. I stuffed the bread in my satchel and walked over to the door and before I could open the door, an older man that was also in the store stopped me and asked for my name, I responded with "it's Elliot, sir". The man asked me who my father was. I told him the truth and that he had been murdered just a few days ago. The man told me that he was sorry for my loss. I told him not to be sorry. The man told me that he served with my Dad and that they were really good friends. He proceeded to tell me that his name was Elias and that I was named Elliot because of the El part at the beginning of our names. I was kind of bewildered to know that there were people who knew of me. My Dad had friends that he never talked about, but I suppose that might be because we never talked much outside of when he would ask me to work or when we would work together. Elias seemed like a good guy to me. I told him about my mother and he then told me that yet again he was sorry. This time I didn't say "don't be". He knew her too. I could tell that he cared for her. Elias wanted to accompany me on my journey, as payment for a debt he owed to my Dad. I didn't disagree in the slightest. We left the store and left the village just moments after. I wanted to rest at the inn but he said that we best keep it moving. So we did. 

Later that evening we decided to set up a small campsite. After setting it up Elias told me that he wanted to show me something. I followed him to a small tree that was very flexible. Elias pulled some twine from his bag as well as a hatchet. He hit the thin tree 3 times with his hatchet. He used a piece of wood to fashion a longbow and showed me how to do it as well. He pulled some feathers from his bag and went around gathering up sticks. After he had the sticks he grabbed some small rocks from the ground and pulled his knife from its sheath. He began fashioning the rocks into a pointed wide shape. He assembled the feathers, sticks, and rocks into arrows. He taught me how to do it as well. He handed me the bow and taught me how to shoot it. I hit the exact spot on the tree that he told me to. He told me that I was a natural and that if I kept aiming like that, I'd be able to hunt soon. I smiled from the compliment as I hadn't gotten many in my life, especially since Mom passed. He handed me the arrows and a quiver that he had in his bag. We walked over to our campsite and began working on making a small little shelter for the night. Once it was done we went to sleep.

The next morning we awoke to the sound of birds and animals making noises in the distance. We crawled out of the shelter and we were both hungry. We didn't go look for food though. Instead, we walked over to one of the goats and he said "cut its throat". I did so and the goat died quickly. I grabbed the lead and I dragged it over to the fire. We gutted the goat and cut it up and cooked it over the fire. We ate more than half the goat and we had to leave the rest of it for the wildlife. I grabbed the other goat's lead and we extinguished the fire. We then left the campsite and headed East. Eventually, we hit a path and started walking that path North. While we were walking that path I asked him "Are dragons real?" He responded with "Yes, your dad actually saved me from one once." I was in shock that they actually exist. I then asked him "if Dad saved you from a DRAGON then how did he die to a bandit?" He responded with "Well, if he died to a bandit, then he probably wasn't trying" "listen to me kid, your father was a dragonslayer, he could've killed all those bandits in moments if he wanted to." I was in shock because I thought to myself that there's no way that my dad wouldn't have gone down trying to protect me from harm especially seeing as how he was a soldier that was trained to fight in situations like that. I thought that he would've gone down protecting me but I suppose I was wrong to believe so. I didn't understand why he just let himself die like that. Was it so I could go on an adventure and meet Elias? No, I just couldn't accept that. I was so upset because of this news that I was distraught. I began losing all my composure. Elias looked at me and said, "It'll be okay kid". I just sat there in disbelief. I pushed my feelings aside and we kept on going down the path until we hit a crossroads. When we hit the crossroads I looked at Elias and asked him which way he wanted to go. He chose the path to the right. As we were walking down the path Elias told me to stop moving so I did. He told me to crouch down and inch closer to him. As I got closer and closer I began seeing a brown thing just a little way down the road. Eventually, I could make out what it was, it was a deer. Elias told me to grab my bow from my back and aim at the deer and draw the bow. As I was drawing it back, I could feel the tension of the string pulling the wood tightly. When the bow was at full draw I aimed right behind the deer's shoulder blade and I missed its lungs only. Instead, I hit its intestines. The deer ran off into the woods. Realizing that it was going to suffer we tracked it down and when we found it, it was lying on the ground releasing loud cries of pain. Elias told me to bend down to it and stab it in the throat. When I bent down I felt bad for making it suffer but I knew that the longer I took to stab it the more it was gonna suffer so I just ended its life as quickly as I could. When I stabbed it I watched as the lights in its eyes faded. I took no joy in making the deer suffer as it did. We set up camp nearby and gutted the deer. We ate the tenderloin of the deer and cut the rest up and bagged it all. We kept the hide and some of the meat. We tore down the camp and kept going along the path till we got to the next town. When we got there I immediately saw that there was an inn, a butcher shop, and a general store for the town. It was a smaller town but still had quite a few people there. We went over to the inn and paid for a room with 2 beds. When we got into the room we both sat down on our respective beds and fell asleep.

A few hours later we woke up in the middle of the night to loud noises and screaming outside. Then we heard it, the chilling roar of a dragon. I knew what it was even though I'd never seen or heard a dragon before but still, I knew. We walked out of the inn and Elias froze up, I did too. The dragon was jet black and had one eye missing with scars all over its body. It was nearly the size of 5 houses. I had no clue why it would attack this small little town in the middle of nowhere. But it did. To my surprise, the dragon looked me directly in the eyes. It was like it was speaking to me. The dragon roared again and I felt chills roll down my spine. I put my hand on my knife even though I knew it wouldn't do anything against the dragon. The dragon stared me down and said "You, you are one of dragon blood." I was puzzled by what the dragon had just said. Me, of dragon blood? There was no way. The dragon looked at me with a look of hatred. I felt an instinct within me unlock that I'd never felt before. I could see the dragon's power building inside its body. The dragon roared "You are of dragon blood boy!" Yet again I couldn't believe what I was hearing. All of a sudden a man in all black armor rode into the town on his horse. He stepped down off his horse and drew his sword. He stood before the dragon and I could see the might of his soul mustering power within his blade. His blade turned black, as did his aura. He lifted his sword above his head and struck the dragon with the full force of his attack. The dragon roared in pain, releasing a horrifying shriek. It was so loud I felt as if my eardrums were gonna burst. The dragon calmed himself and said, "Not only one but two dragon blooded humans in one day?" He then tail swiped the man in black armor, knocking him back 30 feet into a building. The dragon then flew off and released a loud roar from the depths of his throat. I ran to the man in black armor and asked him "Who are you?" He responded, "I… am known as a dragon blood knight, our order slays dragons and we find new apprentices with the dragon blood…." I had more questions "He called me a boy of dragon blood, what does that mean?" 

"He means you have dragon blood coursing through your veins, this is something that you must learn to use, to help people." 

"How am I supposed to help people?" 

"Go to the capital and show the order a sample of your blood."

"Ok, I will."

"Take my sword kid, it'll be of more use to you than it will to me."

I watched as the lights in the man's eyes faded and he passed on. Elias ran over to me and asked "Are you okay Elliot?" I looked at him and said, "I just watched a man die, should I be okay?" Elias said "Not really but we need to get out of here." I said, "Elias, we need to go to the capital." He responded, "Alright, I understand." We walked out of the town together and we began walking toward the capital city.

After a week on the road we ran across another village, this one had only an inn and a few houses, obviously a small town without much money. We walked into the inn and bought a room for the night. We talked about all the things that had been happening to us, about the dragon and the dragon blood knight. We walked out of the inn and into the woods surrounding the village. Elias stopped on the trail and said "If you want to be a dragon blood knight then you will need to train, it will begin here." He drew his sword and said, "Draw your blade Elliot, otherwise you won't last long on the field of battle." I drew my sword in a shy manner and got into a sword-fighting stance. Elias did the same. He taught me how to block and swing my sword properly. He taught me proper form and how to move when holding a sword. Then he grabbed 2 wooden sticks and tossed one to me and we had a duel with the sticks for training. He struck first and I blocked it then again and I blocked that time too. I launched a counterattack and struck him directly in the chest and managed to knock the air out of him. Gasping for air he said, "You win kid." I cheered in celebration. We walked back to the inn and went to sleep for the night.

The next morning we woke up and left the town as we knew wherever we went trouble would most surely follow. As we were leaving we noticed some eyes upon us. We kept moving, so as not to give away that we knew we were being watched. Eventually, once we had walked a way down the path, Elias turned around and shouted "Come out heathens!" 5 armed men came out of the bushes hands on the hilts of their swords. We drew our swords for the battle to come. The men stated, "We are taxmen and we ask you to give us your money or pay the price with your blood." We got into our fighting stances and the taxmen got into theirs. The taxmen charged us and within moments, Elias had cut 3 of them down. I got into an attacking stance, readying my weapon. When the first taxman got to me I struck him down with a quick slash from my blade. When the second one got to me I spun around and cut open his throat with a swift slicing motion. I then sheathed my sword. Elias walked over to me and said "Nice work kid." I looked at him in his eyes and I saw that he was proud of me. It made me happy to know that he was proud of me. We continued down the path toward the capital. 

Another week later we were still walking along the trail. Out of nowhere, bandits came out from the treeline. Elias stood there for a moment and then said "Let me handle them, kid." I said, "Alright, Eli." He drew his sword and bit his hand hard enough to draw blood, letting it drip onto his sword. He began mumbling some incantation and then in the blink of an eye his sword was lit ablaze with a black and red flame, unlike any other flame I'd ever seen. I watched as the 15 bandits approached Elias. He looked around himself, he knew he was surrounded but he stayed calm and collected. When the bandits got close enough, he moved so quickly that I didn't even see his first strike land. The first bandit fell and then a second, a third, a fourth, and a fifth. All of the bandits began dropping like flies as Eli killed them all swiftly with one slash per bandit. The last one began running and Eli chased him down and cut his left arm off, then his right. The bandit dropped to his knees screaming in agony, then Eli cut his head clean off and sheathed his blade. We continued toward the capital yet again after that encounter.

Yet another week had passed and we were nearing the capital. We heard screaming and shouting coming from a nearby village and we sprinted over to help. The village was being raided by bandits. I was surprised to see them this close to the capital. But regardless we needed to help them. We drew our swords and began fighting bandits and helping the villagers. A bandit charged me and I cut him down with a swift slash of my blade. I ran towards a group of bandits and killed them all in a few movements. Elias killed the rest of the bandits in the town and we helped the rest escape from their burning homes and got them to safety. We continued towards the capital yet again.

We arrived in the capital a few days later and immediately were stopped by some Royal Knights. They asked us what our business was in the capital and I said "My business is to train with the order of the dragon blood knights." The Royal knights had a shocked look on their faces and asked me and Eli to come along with them. We followed the knights to an older building bearing the crest of a black dragon and a white dragon along with a grey dragon. In front of the door, there was an altar. One of the knights said, "If you are truly of dragon blood then you may open this door by spilling a drop of your blood in this altar bowl." I grabbed my dagger from my belt and cut a small cut onto my hand. My blood trickled down my hand and into the altar bowl. The door of the building began opening up into a larger passage that looked like it led underground. We walked into the passage and went through it. When we got through the passage we were met with something unexpected. In the blackness of the cave, there was a massive white figure. It spoke, "If you are of dragon blood then you shall undergo a test of my own making."

"But first I must teach you what it means to be a dragon blood knight."

"First I shall tell you of how dragon blood works."

"You have something inside you known as residual dragon blood."

"Depending on how much of it you have in you will decide whether or not you pass my test." 

"I shall cut my flesh and let my blood into this bowl."

He cut his leg open and let his blood drip into the bowl and signaled me to drink it. He then said "Before you drink it, you must understand that most who undergo this test die…. For this is dragon blood." I looked at him and said, "I don't care if it kills me or not, as long as I get strong enough to fight that dragon." I picked up the bowl and began drinking it. Once I was done drinking it, my heart felt like it was being squeezed tightly in a vice. My skin felt like it was on fire. I couldn't help but release a loud scream. After a while, the pain calmed down. I began breathing normally again. The white dragon stated that his name was Rakshal. Rakshal looked at me and said, "You have passed the test, you are now a dragon blood knight apprentice." 

"You will be appointed to Sir Elias." 

I looked at Elias with a shocked look. He looked at Rakshal and said, "Alright, Master." I then asked "Wait… You're a dragon blood knight?" Elias looked at me and said "Yes." I said, "Oh so I guess I'm your apprentice now." I looked at Rakshal and he said "You smell of another dragon, kid, like my brother."

"Wait, who's your brother?"

"The black dragon who I'm guessing you ran into."

"Wait... that was your brother?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"I'm going to kill him."

"I understand boy, but you must understand, he is known as the King of Dragons."

"He is the strongest dragon in these lands other than me." 

"If you're so strong, then why don't you kill him yourself."

"I am bound to this city by my duties."

"But what if he were to come here?"

"I would most likely fall in battle."

"He wouldn't come alone, he'd bring his army and I'd perish."

"That's why I've made this order of knights."

"You have the potential to surpass even the strength of me."

"Really, I do?"

"Yes, child."

"I promise to train my hardest."

"Sir Elias will train you, now go train."

Me and Elias left the cave and went to the army's training grounds. Elias taught me how to use some of my new power. How to get a grip on it and how to use it. After a few hours, we decided to go back to the cave. There was another part of the cave with furnishings that we went to and then we went to sleep for the night.

The next morning we awoke and the other knights and apprentices were also in the cave. It was almost all guys. But there was 1 girl. I went over to her and asked her what her name was. She said, "It's Evelyn, what's yours?" I responded with "It's Elliot." She looked at me and smiled in a way that made me smile too. I felt my heart pound because of the way she looked at me. At that moment I looked away, attempting to avoid feelings. She also shied away from looking at me. We went about our business and trained for a bit. The knights got together and split us up into groups. Of course, I got paired with her. The training we were doing was hand-to-hand combat. We got into our stances and began sparring. She grabbed me by my arm and flipped me over onto my back to where she was on top of me. We locked eyes, and the same feeling as before rushed through my veins. She averted her eyes again in a nervous manner. She got up and I said, "Congratulations Evelyn, you beat me." She nervously said "hehe…. Yeah…" She was shy and looked at me in a cutesy way that I didn't expect. We straightened up and continued training for the rest of the day. Later that night I walked over to her and asked her "Wanna talk?" She said "Yeah." I began "So where are you from?"

"Oh, a small village, named Acera, it was burned down by a dragon that told me I have dragon blood in me."

"I'm from a small farmhouse out in the middle of nowhere." 

"How did you get here," I asked

"A man approached me shortly after the dragon left the village and told me to come along with him and I did."

"Oh, a dragon was destroying a village I was staying in and a knight rode up and hit it but he ultimately got killed in the process, the knight told me to come here, to the capital and we came here."

She looked at me and we locked eyes, this time I felt warm inside. I felt good. Her eyes were an endless purple void that I got lost in. She began slowly scooting closer toward me. I started moving closer to her. I began feeling all of my surroundings and taking them all in. The light and crackling of the campfire, the moonlight shining down upon us from the hole in the ceiling of the cave, all the other people in the cave sleeping, and finally Evelyn's body and my own moving closer together. We kissed and I felt as if I'd just touched a star, my heart sped up to a speed I thought impossible. I felt complete. We pull away and stare into each other's eyes. We kissed again and again, unable to stop. Out of nowhere Eli woke up and stared at us. He studied us closely, looking at how close we were. He figured out that we had been kissing. As comrades, we weren't supposed to do that but we did it anyway. Eli just walked over to us and whispered "Don't get caught doing this, otherwise there could be severe repercussions." Then he went back to sleep. We continued kissing, then we went to our respective beds and slept for the night.

The next morning Rakshal requested my presence. I went to his chamber of the cave and he said "Listen, child, in a year's time, my brother will come here and attempt to destroy the capital, we will make our final stand at that time, I will most certainly die, you must train your hardest to beat my brother, now go tell the others of the times to come." I ran to the others and told them everything that Rakshal told me. Evelyn had a scared look on her face so I walked over to her and whispered "Don't worry, I'll protect you" in her ear. She then smiled and looked at me, blushing. It was nice to see the comfort on her face. But for the time being, I had to focus. Another apprentice asked me "How does Rakshal know he's going to die?" I responded with "He didn't specify that." Even the knights were surprised to hear this news and had shocked looks on their faces. Elias was the only one that didn't look shocked. Everyone but me, Elias, and Evelyn dispersed away from the campfire. Elias said, "You're probably wondering why I don't look shocked, the answer is, it's because I already knew this was gonna happen, I'm Rakshal's strongest knight currently, he told me everything days ago." He then said, "Rakshal has the ability to see his own future, as well as those that are close to him." He also said, "Rakshal will die on the day his brother invades the capital, as his visions have never been wrong." I asked, "What are we to do after he dies?" Eli responded, "You and your comrades continue training until you are strong enough to defeat Rakshal's brother." I said, "I won't let you down, Eli."

"I know you won't kid"

Eli walked out of the cave. I looked at Evelyn and said, "I promise, you don't have to worry, I'll protect you." She looked back at me and said "I know you will Elliot." We stared deep into each other's eyes again. We began moving closer again. The closer we got, the more warmth I could feel coming off of her body. We kissed and I wrapped my arms around her, she did the same to me. She sank into my arms as if they were a fluffed pillow. I told her "Everything will be alright." She sat there in my embrace for several minutes before sitting back up. Then she kissed me again. When she pulled away I saw the blush on her face and it made me want her even more. I almost couldn't resist the urge to touch her body after seeing her blushing like that. Luckily I was able to constrain myself from doing anything. The rest of the group walked in and we separated from each other. We kept staring at each other, looking deep into one another's eyes. The rest of the group began training and we joined in. The emotion temporarily faded. After we trained for a few hours, the day turned to night and everyone else went to sleep. Me and Evelyn were the only 2 awake. I snuck over to her cot and asked her "Hey, do you wanna maybe sneak out for the night?" She looked at me and said, "Yes, but we have to be careful not to get caught." 

"I know, I don't think Rakshal would mind if we snuck out just for one night though."

"Okay Elliot, but we have to go, now." She got up from her cot and we walked over to the exit and walked out. I said, "That was easier than expected." She then said, "Yeah, it was." She looked at me with that look, the one that gives me shivers. We walked out into the main plaza of the capital. It wasn't busy, as it was night and most people were sleeping. She moved close to me and said "I know of this little place here, it's a tower that we could climb and get a good view of the city." I said "Yes." She grabbed my arm and wrapped both of her arms around it. She led me to the tower she spoke of, it wasn't too tall, but still, it was tall. She let go of my arm and we began climbing the side of the tower. There were little cliff holds just big enough for you to climb on. About halfway up the tower I almost slipped and she panicked and said "Don't you ever fucking scare me like that again." 

"Okay, I won't scare you again, I'm sorry." I said, my heart still racing from what had just transpired. We got to the top and walked over to the ledge. We sat down, our feet dangling from the ledge. She said, "It's quite the view." She scooted closer to me and took my arm. She leaned her head over onto my shoulder and I leaned mine on top of her head. "Yeah, I agree." We sat there taking in the ambiance of the night sky and the lights of the city below us. I lifted my head and so did she. We stared deeply into one another's eyes. Her face began moving closer to mine, our lips locking together. I felt complete, just as I did the last time. But this time it was better, I somehow felt more complete. She pulled away and we got up. I pulled her tightly into my arms and kissed her passionately. I looked right into her beautiful purple eyes, getting lost in them yet again. I then said, "I've never felt this way about anyone before, I don't understand why I feel this way, I just met you but I think I'm falling in love with you." She blushed and just kissed me, I didn't need to hear her say anything back, her kiss held all the words that she wanted to say. I placed my hands on her hips and pulled her even closer to my body. We locked eyes and I could tell she was holding back lust. I was too. We both lied down and then kissed. Each time we kissed it felt just as good and magical as the first time. We continued kissing and before we knew it, the sun was coming over the horizon. We climbed back down the tower and rushed back to the cave. When we got there everyone was still asleep. Everyone but one. Rakshal was awake and caught us as we entered the cave. Why did it have to be him? He looked at us and said, "Young love, such a beautiful thing, there is one thing you two must understand about loving a comrade, firstly, you may very well lose the other on the field of battle, secondly, love is a fragile thing, you must not let your job get in the way of what you feel for each other." We both looked at Rakshal and said "We understand sir." He then said, "Now go on in before your comrades wake up and suspect something." We walked inside and kissed before heading to our beds.

Everyone began waking up from their slumber and we all began training. The knights told us to get with the same partner we had last time and we did. Me and Evelyn partnered up again and we were told to grab wooden training swords from the rack. Once we had our swords it was time to spar. I signaled her to strike first and when she did I blocked it and counterattacked. I hit her once in the side, hard enough to bring her to her knees. I leaned down to her and whispered "I'm sorry." She looked at me and smiled then said "Don't worry, next time, I'll beat you." I then lent her my hand and helped her up from the ground. We went again. She gripped her sword tight and got into a sword stance that I'd never seen before. I struck first and she blocked it and disarmed me in a single movement, she then struck me in the chest hard enough for me to wince in pain and drop my sword. She took my hand gently and helped me up. It took a few minutes for my breathing to calm down, as she knocked the air clean out of me with that strike. She was strong, stronger than I expected. At that moment I wanted to kiss her so badly but I couldn't, too many of our comrades around for us to kiss. After the second sparring match was over the knights began teaching us more about our powers and how to use them. Elias taught me how to use blood magic, he taught me a beginner one that would allow me to make my blade sharper using my blood. He also taught me a fire incantation that summoned a small fireball in my hand that I could throw at things. He also taught me how to release a small flame from a focused point on my hand to light things. That day I was the only one who was able to use the things we were taught about our powers. Later that night after everyone went to bed, I walked to Evelyn's cot and kissed her on her forehead. She woke up and I pulled away. Her cute blushing made me wanna kiss her again. Suddenly she pulled me down by my tunic and kissed me. This time she pulled my body on top of hers. We sat there in that moment for what felt like hours. I could feel all the things around me. Her body heat, the moonlight, the overall ambiance of the cave itself, and lastly her lips touching mine. I began pulling away but she just pulled me back in. She wouldn't let me. But in truth I didn't want to pull away from her lips, instead, I wanted to stay in that moment until the end of time, the end of…. Everything. Our lips being locked together like that was the most perfect thing I'd ever felt. My heartbeat began getting faster yet I felt so calm. Inside I felt a burning passion but it was more like calm waves washing over me in a perfect way. Suddenly she rolled us both off of her cot to where she was on top of me. She leaned down and our lips locked together again. I grabbed her hips and she began kissing me with even more passion. I felt like every nerve in my whole body was gonna explode. She pulled away and we both laughed a little. She rolled off me and over to my side. She then put her head on my chest and timidly said "I think I'm falling in love with you too." I then said, "I know." I had a question to ask so I asked "My whole life I'd lived on a farm till just a month ago so, what's the name of these lands." She responded, "The name of these lands is Archania." I looked at her and said, "Thank you, Evie." She looked at me flustered and said "No one has called me that since my parents died…" 

"I'm sorry if I brought up bad memories."

"No, you didn't, you actually brought up the good ones."

"Oh, okay."

"Please call me Evie more often."

"I will."

"Good." She put her head back on my chest and fell asleep. She stayed like that for several hours, so long that I fell asleep myself. 

When we awoke our comrades were also awake. They made fun of us for being together. When they did and Evie and I just laughed along. We didn't have to hide it anymore. We could kiss at any point in the day, whenever we wanted. Anytime the others made fun of us we just kissed and owned the fact that we were together. We both knew that the next year would be hard, but as long as we had each other we knew we'd be just fine. 

6 months later, we had a lot more training and we were about to have our first field mission. Before we headed out Evie walked up to me and grabbed my hand and held it in hers. She stepped closer to me and kissed me. She pulled away and I put my hand on her face, swiping her hair back behind her ear. She looked at me and blushed, our eyes locked. I pulled her close and whispered, "I love you, Evie."

"I love you too Elliot." We kissed. We then had to go before Rakshal. He told us what our mission was. The objective of the mission was to go out into the world and get rid of a large group of bandits that had been terrorizing a town and extorting them for food. The mission was only for us apprentices, that mission would mark the next step in our becoming of dragon blood knights. We set off on our mission knowing that the coming weeks would be rough. 

On the road out of the capital, we were being given a warm send-off by the townsfolk. We had our horses and rode off down the road, heading south toward the town. Me and Evie rode the same horse as she didn't know how to ride and I learned back on the farm. She sat just behind me, her arms wrapped around me with her face buried in my back from the anxiety of riding a horse for the first time. The horse was a brown mare with plenty of riding experience, so it wasn't too bad for her. The supplies we had for the trip were just the essentials. Camping equipment and cloaks for camouflage. Eventually, she lifted her head up from my back and took in the scenery. The luscious green fields as far as the eye can see, the deer trotting across them, the birds flying around. The land was beautiful but that could turn around in an instant. We kept riding, as we got closer to the town we saw several large abandoned camps. At one of the campsites, we stopped and got off our horses. At that campsite, we made a chilling discovery….. We found the bodies of several women. All had been mutilated in ways that I didn't think possible. There was one child among them, also female. I dropped to my knees upon finding the child and yelled "I'm gonna kill every last fucking one of them!" Evie dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around me then said "It's okay El." She then kissed my cheek. That calmed me down enough for me to begin thinking straight. I sank into her arms, feeling the warmth and comfort. After a few minutes, she released her arms and we got up. Once we were up she hugged me again and then pulled away. I said, "We have a job to do, Evie." We got back on our horses and got back on the road to the town. "What a disgusting thing to do to someone" I said

"El, I saw a lot of that back in the city I was born in."

"I'm sorry you had to see it again Evie." We continued towards the town, seeing even more campsites. We arrived in the town. The people had horrified looks on their faces. We walked into the town square and I announced "We are here to help, we have been sent by the king to rid this town of its bandit problems." One of the townsfolk walked up to me and said "If you get rid of them we'll pay handsomely."

"We aren't asking you for your money, just your allowance of our help."

"We humbly accept your help, sir. I'm the man in charge of the town, we've been in need of help for several weeks now, we are grateful for all you can do for us."

"My name is Elliot of the dragon blood order."

"I see, then we are in good hands."

"Aye sir, you are." Said one of the others in the group, his name was Jon. We were led to the inn where we were told about all the stuff the bandits have done. I felt my anger rising again, Evie must've felt it rising too because she grabbed my hand and held it close to her chest. Her doing that calmed me down yet again. After everything was explained to us we stayed the night at the inn free of charge. Me and Evie got our own room. As we walked into the room I noticed that there was only one bed. We laid down on it and snuggled up close to each other. We kissed and went to sleep for the night.

In the morning we woke up and got dressed. We left the room and our comrades were already waiting for us. Jon said "Good morning guys." Me and Evie both said, "Oh hey guys." Simultaneously. We walked out of the inn and headed out of the town toward the wooded area to the east. We were going there because that's the direction the bandits kept riding off in, according to the townsfolk. We arrived at the wooded area on our horses. Evie didn't like the woods so she kept her face buried in my back. We found horse tracks and we followed them. Out of nowhere, an arrow flew from the trees and into my horse. As the horse began toppling over I flipped my right leg to the other side of the horse then grabbed Evie and threw her off the horse. When the horse hit the ground my back did too, knocking the air out of me. I gasped for air. Still gasping for air I began to get up. Bandits charged from the trees and I began hearing the clashing of swords. When I finally caught my breath, one of them charged me. I dodged his first attack then his second. I grabbed my dagger from my boot and then lied in wait for him to give me an opening, as soon as he did I stabbed him right through his neck. I pulled to get the knife out but it was stuck. I instead grabbed my sword from its sheath, revealing the long sleek black blade, used by the knight that saved me. I ran to Evie. I picked her up and more bandits charged us. She drew her sword and struck one of them down. When 2 of them got close to me, I slashed one of their throats open and then dodged the second one's attack. He kept wildly swinging his ax at me but I dodged every time. As soon as I got an opening, I struck him in the stomach with my blade. He dropped to the ground then, in one swift motion I cleaved his head from his shoulders. Even more bandits surrounded us, I panicked, not out of fear of losing my own life, but out of fear of losing Evie. I calmed down and cut my hand open. I began chanting the same incantation Eli used in front of me months earlier. My blood dripped onto my blade, engulfing it in a black and red flame. I yelled, "Get down!" All of my comrades sprawled to the floor as I swung my sword 360 degrees in a circle. The flame consumed each of the bandits, killing them all with a single swing. There was nothing left of their bodies but ash. I didn't realize it until after the fight but one of my comrades was hit by an arrow, his name was Rory. We ran over to him as he lay on the ground. The damage was more than I initially thought. He was choking on his own blood. He had been hit in his lung. Evie began crying, realizing that he was going to die. He tried to speak but all that came out were low growls and wheezing. He coughed up more blood and it got on my tunic. I'd seen a lot of things up to that point but watching him in so much agony was painful. I looked at him, mercy in my eyes, and grabbed his dagger from his belt. I gently pushed the blade through his neck, killing him. I had to watch as the lights in his eyes faded. It hurt to finish him like that. Me and Jon picked up his body and carried it to a suitable location. We grabbed the shovels from our horses and began digging a hole to bury him. We had killed some of the bandits, but at what cost? The cost of a fellow apprentice's life. It wasn't worth it in my eyes, but we had more work to do. We had to rid the village of all of the bandits, not just the 15 we had killed. As far as we knew there were still 80 or so more bandits. After burying Rory we got back on our horses, me and Evie took Rory's horse. Evie got on the horse and wrapped her arms around me then buried her face into my back again. She then began sobbing. We rode back to the village. We walked into the inn, there was an awkward silence amongst us. Me and Evie walked to our room and sat on the bed. She moved close to me and hugged me. Tears began rolling from her eyes again. But this time it wasn't just sadness from losing a comrade, it was happiness that we both survived as well. She moved her face up to mine and our lips locked together. She put her hand on my chest. She pushed me on my back and laid her head on my chest. 

"I love you, Evie."

"I love you too El."

She drifted off into sleep, her head still on my chest. I watched her sleep for a bit, she looked so peaceful. I watched her till I, too, drifted off into sleep. 

The next morning we awoke in a better mood than the previous day. She kissed me on the cheek, then I did the same to her. She looked at me with those eyes of hers that look like beautiful purple galaxies, then her lips touched mine, still, it feels just as good as the first time we kissed. We pulled away and got up. I walked over to the door, grabbed the hand, and pulled it open. We walked out of the inn to find our fellow apprentices were already out there. There were 12 of us left after the incident that had occurred the day before, 12 of us that would have to fight nearly 100 bandits. Luckily the bandits always split up into small groups of 15 or so. It was still a lot of work but it was doable. We began readying the horses for the day. We had to search for more bandits, but this time, we were ready. As I was putting some supplies on my horse, Evie pushed me up against the horse and kissed me then wrapped her arms around me, her lips still to mine. We stood there for 20 seconds in each other's embrace. We both let go and got on the horse. There was no space between our bodies on the horse. We rode out of the town and into the forest. Fog surrounded us but we kept pushing forward. We saw a reddish-orangish light off in the distance, and we approached it. As we got closer we heard chatting and laughing around it, it was then we knew it was a camp. We stopped and got off our horses. As we stepped down off the horse, Evie said "For Rory."

"For Rory," I said back. I signaled the others to rally on me. When everyone was around me I said "We blitz the camp and kill them all. They like to split up into raiding parties of about 15 men or so. Let's use this to our advantage." Everyone looked at me and nodded their heads, signaling that they understood me. We charged the camp. One of them noticed and yelled, "We're being charged!" I was angry, too angry to stop charging. One of them charged at us as well. When he got close I slashed his side open, then Evie cut his head off. The rest got up from where they had been sitting and before some of them could get up, I was already on top of them. I cut one of them down, then a second and a third. My comrades dropped 4 of them. 3 surrounded me, then charged. Evie cut one of their heads off and threw her dagger into another. The last one got to me and I dodged his sword, then stabbed him clean through. 2 more surrounded Jon and he killed them both with ease. The last 2 surrendered. I walked up to them and tied them up with rope that they had been using to roast a pig over the campfire. After tying them up, I pulled my bow from my horse and shot an arrow into each of their bellies, right in the intestines, so they'd die slowly. We got back on our horses and rode deeper into the forest. There were still like 4 or 5 more groups of bandits. As we rode deeper into the forest we came across a troll. I was shocked, as I didn't know what it was. When we saw it, I asked "Evie, what is that thing?"

"It's a troll, El." 

"Oh" it was a large creature with rough gray skin and an ugly face. When it saw us, it looked at us for a moment then charged us. Jon charged it too and when he got close, he jumped off his horse and pierced the troll right through its eye with his sword. I watched in awe at his skill. "Good job!" I yelled. He looked at me and said "Thanks." Evie too was amazed by what he'd done. She rubbed her face against my back as if she were a cat. Jon got back on his horse and we continued our journey deeper into the forest. Out of nowhere, I began having a feeling of dread. We went deeper and deeper into the forest. The deeper we got, the worse the feeling got. I was hoping there would just be more bandits, but then, there it was, right in front of us. An amethyst-colored dragon. It had purple eyes with blood-red slits in the middle. It looked at us and growled "I am the dragon Noktere, of the Void. Sister of Rakshal, the Traitor, and Rakveray, King of Dragons." I now knew the name of the black dragon who killed that knight. More importantly however, there was a dragon in front of me, about half the size of her brothers but still, a dragon. "Ahh, you must be that boy Veray spoke of, the one who was saved by that pesky knight that wounded him. I'll make up for what that knight did, by killing you." Evie gripped my arm in fear. This time, I didn't freeze before a dragon, instead, I grabbed Evie and threw her off the horse then jumped off. I stood before the dragon, completely calm. The others got off their horses and did the same. Evie got up off the ground and stood there calm just like the rest of us. All of us had an encounter with a dragon previously so this was easier. I cut my hand yet again and chanted the incantation, my sword lit ablaze with that black and red flame that had saved my life before. The others used flame incants to light their blades on fire but they were only normal flames, all but Evie's, hers was a purple and white flame. We all charged the Noktere, when my sword connected with her scales, it ripped through them exposing her flesh. Evie saw it and struck the same spot, the others did the same. Jon missed the spot and his blade bounced off Noktere's scales, it was at that moment that she bit his top half off and ate it. I was shocked for a moment but I regained my composure and charged her again, hitting the same spot. Yet again the others did the same. Evie charged and struck that spot with her full force, tearing the dragon's flesh even more. Noktere released a loud roar, almost as loud as the one her brother released back in the village. This time the roar didn't affect me as much. I felt as if I'd heard it so many times that it didn't matter to me. The dragon fell down, roaring in pain, over and over. We all charged her, my attack hitting first, exposing even more flesh. The others hit the same spot, completely immobilizing the dragon. I walked over to her and said "You, Noktere, of the Void are going to die by my hand, for opposing the kingdom." I lifted my sword above my head, remembering the knight that had saved me, as well as the inner power that all dragon blooded have, The Dragon Slayer's Blade, the power to turn your blade black, channeling all your power into a single strike. My blade turned jet black. I swung my sword downward, beheading Noktere. All of my comrades cheered, including Evie. I was the only one that was already advanced enough to use The Dragon Slayer's Blade. After 30 seconds of cheering, everything went silent as we remembered that Jon had been killed. We grabbed the shovels from the horses yet again and dug a hole for his burial, in silence. But this victory showed that we were more than capable fighters. We dropped what was left of his body in the hole and filled it back up. After doing so I said, "My fellow comrades, this is a huge victory for us, don't let Jon's sacrifice be in vain." That lifted the mood a little. Evie walked over to me and hugged me, trapping me in that same warm embrace that I had come to love. I wrapped my arms around her and whispered "Thank you for this." She didn't say anything, as I had already gotten her message and she knew it. We both let go and got on our horses. We had to pull Jon's horse by its lead. We rode back to the town and celebrated inside the inn. Afterward me and Evie walked to our room and sat on the bed. She kissed me and put her hand on my chest, pushing my back down onto the bed. She put her head on my chest and put one of her legs in between mine, then passed out after the long day we had just been through. I, too, dozed off. 

We stayed in the town for the next 2 weeks fending off bandits and tracking them down. After all the bandits were dead we decided to head back to the capital.

We all got on our horses and began riding for the capital. After a few hours, we reached the capital. When we got to the city, we stabled our horses and walked to the cave. We walked inside the cave and over to Rakshal. I stated "Our mission is complete sir. Here's the report." I handed him a document of everything we did and encountered on the mission. He read it and said "Ah, I see. So my sister is dead and you all were the ones to kill her."

"Yes sir." I said 

"This concludes your mission, now all of you are officially knights of the dragon blood order. Your graduation has come sooner than I thought. Normally, after a year of training, I'd send you out on a mission to kill a dragon. I wasn't expecting my sister to be something you encountered on your mission. What of the 2 that are missing?"

"They….. Perished on the battlefield sir, Rory was killed by an arrow from a bandit, Jon was bitten in half by Noktere."

"Hmm, that is troubling, Jon was a fine apprentice, Rory wasn't the best but still, he was good." Rakshal stated

"Aye sir, I agree."

"Go to the other room while I assess the options that lie before us."

"Yes sir, we will." We all walked out of Rakshal's room and into the main area of the cave where all our cots were. I then said "Listen up guys, we only have 5 more months to train before Rakveray invades the capital. But I know that we can do it. We will get strong enough, we will be strong enough to fight him." Knowing that the next 5 months would be hard and troubling I grabbed onto Evie's hand and pulled her in then kissed her. We stood there knowing everything would get better and worse at the same time, knowing that as long as we had each other, everything would be perfectly fine...…..