Legends of Kepler: The Dragon & The Woman

CHAPTER I: INTRO – LIGHT REFLECTIONS (1)

The flames cornered the entrance of the great fief. Incandescent bursts of fire deplored the citadel. Through the reflection of the bordering lagoons, a tragedy never seen in the South was being perpetuated. The rooftops of the dwellings fell into pieces. The main columns collapsed. An air of despair invaded the interior of the makeshift shelters, where the natives tried to protect themselves in vain. Some of them were hidden in the middle of the underground alleys; others did not run with the same fate, and were forced to flee between the narrow passages of the unfortunate kingdom. Screaming and crying. Ducking their heads. Avoiding being impassively devoured. Women and children were consumed by fragility, and fear seized their innocent hearts, in the presence of the gigantic shadows that had taken over the frightful skies.

A single man was outside the fortress, static, among the bushes. He held his ax with both hands. Floating in a sea of mirage. Contemplating the destructive prelude of the home he had built over the years, with and for love. He was delirious in the cold night, for his mind could not accept what he saw. It was an attack by the same divine creatures who, with their own blood, had once sworn to protect them in the face of every evil.

There were no possibilities of salvation, but even so, the King was going to defend himself. His people were not weak. The catapults of fire launched enormous stones that flew in flames through the cold firmament. These had been located at the top of the Great Wall, along with one hundred and fifty men. The best archers attacked with poisoned arrows, which had been carefully prepared by the Queen. She ordered them to position themselves in the highest lookout points of the kingdom, and in the main towers, they tried to bring down the huge spawns. Thousands of men surrounded the front of the great fortress; likewise, they waited for the imminent fall of the tainted wall to attack the beasts. A robust defense and as always, prepared for battle; but no kingdom could be prepared for an invasion of four hundred dragons.

The sky was covered with reddish smoke, and the men of the land of the brave blared out in pain when the beasts devoured them in their path. Kneeling on their way. But the king´s conviction was greater than their fears. He stood with his people. Guide them throughout the uncertainty. He rose over the crumbling rubbles of the fallen columns, and waved their flag in the heights of his nation, one last time. Rising their hearts with hope. Above all their doubts. Fearlessly, he led the attack. The weakened lines of the militia group stood up once again; transforming into a deadly fire force. Inspired by the unstoppable energy of the king. The brave man, were back on the war.

However, the Queen screamed in helplessness. A trembling agony consumed her from the bowels of the shelter where she was fruitlessly hiding; the most protected place, nevertheless, of the Great Kingdom. She loved her town and acknowledged her people, but she knew well it was only a matter of time before the beasts would eradicate her home, find her, and destroy what remained left of her broken heart.

The King, from the outside, kept sending signals of the attack, and fearlessly commanded the great defense. The place was covered with deadly fire which consumed the abandoned houses, and surrounded lethally his militia group.

“Attack the necks of the beasts! Unsheathe your swords!” said the King.

“Sir, they are tremendously big! We can’t hold on anym–”

“Where is your dignity?!” he demanded. “Raise your faces! I have said to unsheathe your swords! Aim at their heads, and attack the necks of those beasts! It’s too late for cowardice; it’s too late for fear!”

With his ax on his left and his oak sword on the right, he led the defense of his people. From the highest points, the archers managed to bring down some of the beasts. At this point, the catapults of fire had been mostly destroyed by the creatures, as the great wall quickly crumbled.

The kingdom fell, and people fell apart with its broken strongholds; the shattered barriers. Small huts were destroyed, and the air mills crumbled ceaselessly; turning into meaningless dust. The defense was no longer resisting, and the king knew it. He gave an honorable battle, but his strongest points were quickly dismantled. The beasts found the shelters, and the wood that covered the walls of the hidden refugees transformed into fire by the voracious breaths of the creatures. People left in despair, but many of them were trapped on the way. The town started to burn in suffering.

In battle, the King witnessed the end of his best soldiers. His copper ax had been broken, and when he saw his general bending his knees in defeat, he knew the time had come. The King grabbed a new helmet. Took the broken sword of the fallen general with his right hand; threw down his ax, and climbed the stairs of the last stone tower that remained standing.

The beast was looking for the King, and on the way, started to throw bursts of fire that crumbled the bricks of the spiral stairs. The fortress was falling into pieces. The man, however, continued to climb it. Every step he took, could ultimately be his last one. The stairs led him to the top of the tower, where there were no exits. Where there were no escapes. Where the end, was waiting for him. He had no choice, but to face the titanic monstrosity. Slowly, the evil creature ascended over the cold heights of the place; until the dragon stood static in front of the man. Trembling, he took out his new helmet, and showed his face to the dragon. It was the greatest beast of them all. He exposed his immense wings. Showed his sharp teeth. Expanded his giant mouth; displaying the accretion of a gleaming fire from his anticipated roar. The man felt the deepest fear. The dark call, of the death.

The Queen of these lands abandoned her shelter. After all the noise of the imminent destruction, she was petrified at the presence of the sudden silence in which she found herself. She felt that the moment to leave, had arrived.

When she left the shelter, she instantly looked at her surroundings, only to find her kingdom completely on fire. The bodies of the men of the great army were cast about in the corners. Most of the town was dead or exiled. And some still murmured, among the rubble of the fallen pilasters, for loyalty to the Queen.

The woman was pale, motionless; not a single word was spoken by her voice. She looked around, and chaos was immortalized. She turned her gaze to the heavens and got lost among the stars. She longed to rekindle the flame of hope that was hidden within their effulgent existence. They were the same stars that gave her security, strength, and optimism. It represented the presence of the gods that blessed them, although the smoke had made it impossible to clearly see the beautiful stars above.

She felt defeated. She felt alone. She felt empty. The great wall had fallen. The King was supposedly dead. It seemed, she was the only one who managed to survive the catastrophe.

Petrified, she fell on her knees when she saw the oak sword destroyed. She knew her King was dead. With a teary look, and the disaster in front of her eyes, she felt the presence of a huge creature behind her. One of the beasts was approaching, but the Queen had no strength left to fight. No strength to battle. It was the true end, and she had already accepted it. Her vision started to lose color. Her mind went blank, and her senses only managed to process the shuddering sound of the creature’s ever-nearing steps; she was about to be devoured. And the Queen of the South, had no choice but to confront her death.

She ducked her head, turned her body to the final surrender; for she believed her soul must vanish among her people’s ashes. Still overwhelmed, the woman turned, and remained in front of the giant creature’s mouth. Her face was diaphoretic. With the sound of a dark roar, the monstrosity slowly opened its gigantic mouth, which was already positioned near the woman’s head; the sharp teeth were placidly showing. With a tilted head, the woman wanted to open her eyes, but she couldn’t, for the horror of knowing she wouldn’t vanquish death consumed her heart. And, when this thought left her mind, the beast violently closed its mouth, thus devouring the Queen of the humble homeland.

“Mother, Mother!” says a girl. “Mother wake up!”

“Erin?” asks the confused woman.

“How can you sleep here?” asks the girl.

The woman got up, confused and perplexed. She had a strong nightmare, and it wasn’t the first time she was having one. In fact, it had been recurring in recent days. But, as real as she felt the dark dream, she was grateful that it was only that. Another dream.

“Kids, I’ve told you to rest. We really need it.” says the woman.

“Mother, we can’t sleep!” says the girl. “We are bored. I don’t like this place.”

“Well, me neither darling. I can’t sleep either” says the mother.

“Why don’t you tell us your story?” asks the girl.

“My story?”

“Yes, mother!” exclaimed Erin. “The red notebook that you carry with you at nights. You always write in there, and we know it’s a story. And we also know that you have it hidden in that drawer!”

“We all saw you, mother!” says a boy. “I want to hear it, too. We have asked you so many times. Why don’t you want to tell us?”

“Don’t say that, Theo” responds the woman, “Of course I want to tell you! I have been creating this story for the three of you. But it is incomplete, and I don’t think you’ll understand it. I was thinking of telling it to you when you were older. Besides, I don’t know if it has a happy ending.”

“It doesn’t matter mother! Tell us!” exclaims Erin.

“Yes, mother, tell us!” says the other boy. “I am very scared here. You had never brought us to this place before. We don’t know what to do.”

The mother got up from the bed, opened the drawer, and took out her book. She headed for her wooden chair, and behind a dusty split bookcase, opened her red notebook.

“It’s okay kids,” says the convinced woman. “Maybe the time has arrived. Sit down and listen to the story of The Kingdom of the Dragons.

In the Third Age of the Ancient Stone, in times of Tremul I, there were only mystical beings. Creatures that emerged from the prosperous land, and had been formed by Mother Nature with the seven most powerful elements of the fruitful star. In these times, the volcanoes began an intense eruption stage, where the densest and most solid lava fragments emanated. The storms brought the most fleeting lightning, and with them, an impressive radiant energy; which visibly projected the most impetuous light ever seen in Kepler´s history. Sea currents flooded the fertile lands that existed in the area known on ancient times as The Ancestral Epnea. A region at sea level, where nature manifested itself with the first golden vegetation. The flora delighted as an aesthetic show, as it was the first generation of its kind with trees, fruits and flowers of a luminescent gold color. This combination allowed the vegetation to extend through the long meadows and plains of the South, to be the richest area thanks to its profitable diversity. Mother Nature then gathered all these elements, and from the nest of their union, created the Divine Protective Creatures.