When we arrived at Fallscales, the dragon let us down on the floor while it carefully looked around in all directions, making sure nothing was being plotted behind his back. Anna went to get the Fallscales and Fallwings people to chat with the dragon while also reassuring them there was nothing to be feared... Yet. I, Jeffrey, Beech just waited for them in the meantime.
"This... Is the killer of our families..."
"It really has decided to put an end on this with an agreement?"
"Of course not, look at it... You can't trust a creature that tortured your city for ages. I repeat, ages. It can't just have a sudden change of heart"
All that whispering about the dragon made the creature enrage and even huff a dark gray smoke, as though it was preparing to breathe fire... This was probably going for the worse if they kept whispering that loud...
"See? You can't trust it"
"Can you just shut up? It's better to stay quiet until you start to discuss the matters, okay?", I interrupted two. The other people whispering around, however, did not stop... I was forced to pick up the shield I was given and then use my sword on it to make a loud noise and shut everyone up.
"Please, just stay quiet until the right moment, okay?", I shouted. The people, a little bit scared and even intimidated, nodded and stopped talking with each other for the time being.
After a few long minutes of very tense silence, Anna returned, confirming that everyone from Fallscales and Fallwings was there... Looking over, you could say for sure they couldn't possibly pose a threat to the dragon, they were way too few numbers. Even with the addition of the Fallwings people, they were still a very small and limited group, they might not even have combat experience.
"So, we're all gathered here... When do you want to burn us down alive all at once?", the elder of the Fallwings, that seemed to be way younger than the elder of the Fallscales, said. The dragon groaned in anger a little and seemed like it wanted to attack him.
"I could, but I am here to offer an opportunity to cease this meaningless suffering I have been causing to you..."
"Eh? I don't trust you. I bet you just gonna ask for food and then you're going to resume attacking us!", one of the men of the Fallscales shouted.
"If I was really going to do that, I would have killed you right now, just like your friend from Fallwings suggested... Then I would enter house by house to search for food", the dragon said and looked angrily at the face of the man who said that.
"Just do it, then! Just like you ruined our lives!", the man said, glaring back at the dragon with absolutely no fear... I wonder if he's either too brave or too foolish, this is not time for an argument.
"I think I will", the dragon answered the request and prepared to breathe fire, the orange light coming from his mouth. I was about to shout something to stop him, but instead, the voice of Anna took over the situation.
"Damn, can you all just stop throwing hate? It's offering a treat to make us both happy!", she said.
"But we can't trust him after everything he did. Might as well kill us here and now, if this will end with us dead anyway", the man answered back at Anna.
"I could say the same after what you did to my family!", the dragon shouted and even stood up higher, intimidating the man. But he didn't back off.
"You attacked us first! What did you want? For us to just leave you there and let you kill more people?"
"I attacked first?! Now that's funny. If I recall correctly, your ancestors, the so-called 'Ancient Warriors' killed my family the moment they stepped inside Fallscales to fight us. Why do you think your mountains are called this way? Because they expelled, killed, or enslaved my family here!"
"Impossible! Fallscales was empty when the Ancient Warriors walked in... You were the ones who attacked them and forced them to fight back! They killed dragons to protect our people! Stop changing the way history was written!", another man shouted and with that, all the men started screaming against the dragon. Angered, the dragon smokes and the orange light started to grow stronger, thicker... The fire was soon coming to burn this whole place to ashes if nothing was done...
"Wait, people!", Anna shouted to intervene again, before the disaster happened. "I... I have... This diary I got from the inside the Upmyths... It was with the remainings of an Ancient Warrior inside the Upmyths..."
"What? Anna, you're crazy! Just shut up and let the men take care of these matters", a few people shouted. Upon hearing that, I picked up the diary from Anna's hand and threw it at the face of one of the men who said that to her, in anger.
"Why don't you read it yourself before claiming that anyone is crazy?!", I shouted to it. He didn't give it a glance, just looked at me angrily.
"Who do you think you are? I am a man, you have no authority to-"
"I have. I am Dagger Everblade, a knightess that once served the Coventry Kingdom. Just read it already!", I interrupted him before he could finish that stupid line he was about to say.
He looked at me with very serious frustration and a bit of surprise, but then his eyes fell on the diary... He seemed to slowly realize what we were saying just by looking at the cover... Not letting too much suspense, since not even I read the diary before, the man started to read it out loud... Everything the dragon stated was there, Fallscales was one of the lairs of the dragons before.
"If this is legitimate... Then... Are you saying our whole history is wrong?", he asked. Anna looked at him and shook her head.
"It's not wrong, just incomplete. We were always told about our history after the Ancient Warriors conquered Fallscales, but never before it... And this just proves it", she said. He, at first, didn't accept... But then sighed... He couldn't possibly deny that the diary was a fake, the texture of the paper and its conditions made it impossible to write without tearing the old paper, the words there could only have been written long ago.
"Look... You both hold grudge against each other and with reason. The dragon killed your families and tortured you, but you killed its family too... Both destroyed each other, both can't trust each other... But it's time to let the past in the past and rebuild a new path... You don't need to hate the dragon, nor the dragon needs to hate you", I said to them with a speech. I wonder from where the inspiration to say that things came, but I said it, and they all looked at each other... As if considering their options...
"How about... Since we don't trust each other, we do an exchange? You offer us protection and we provide you food...", one of the men, who didn't speak until now, said.
It took some time... But one by one, the people of the place started to accept that there's no better solution for the situation. And so... Eventually... They finally agreed with each other and... I guess you could say that the Triplet Peaks were now living better times, but only time would show the fruits of this.
I hope I receive news of the situation here sooner or later, but for now... It's time to resume my journey, to the highest mountain ever known, the Skytouch mountain...
I wonder if some of you are confused, so I am going to explain timewise what happened at the Triplet Peaks.
The Triplet Peaks, at first, were the nests of the dragons... The mountains provided great shelter for any living beings that decide to live inside its caves... The so-called Ancient Warriors were an army of soldiers wishing to become one of the greatest kingdoms of the world and to conquer one of the Triplet Peaks was a double-win for them - First, they would show their power, second, they would have a place to establish their new kingdom. After they conquered and named the mountain Fallscales, their kingdom lived its golden times that lasted until the dragons decided to seek revenge, destroying the kingdom domains and putting them into deep crisis... Enraged, the kingdom soldiers departed to teach the dragons a lesson, and Fallwings was conquered. Upmyths was the next target... But their campaign against dragons has costed many lives, they didn't have the strength to fight the Upmyths dragons, though they still killed many, leaving the last dragon known alive only...
This survivor dragon decided it would continue what its friends and family were doing, make the kingdom pay, and the debt had just increased drastically with this war. Roasting houses, burning stocks... The dragon forced the kingdom into a deeper crisis, becoming isolated from the world after everyone decided it was not safe to travel through the Triplet Peaks... Later, unable to stay whole, the Kingdom fell and became two independent cities, Fallscales and Fallwings.