--------------------------------------------------------------- > You Continued From (Ride the Dragons 竜) --------------------------------------------------------------- > Return to the Beginning ---------------------------------------------------------------
A little spoiler for now about a different path that can be taken at some point in time.....
~ Grasping Lazarus' hand Ion smiled after hearing the words the dragon said to him, he may have lost the fight but he gained the respect of the dragon in his defeat, proving his worth and determination in their eyes, passing the final trial, "you know... if I... if we didn't... have to go through all those... trials, I would have... beaten you" Ion said, breathing heavy after every few words, "oh, you think so? Well you might have, but again maybe not, I guess we will never know but if you failed when I gave you the opportunity at the shrine down bellow, you wouldn't be worthy of setting foot on our grounds" Lazarus replied, "so do you feel better?" "Kind of" Ion answered, "but I want a rematch sometime, a fair one!" Ion continued as Lazarus laughed, "anytime you feel like, but not right now, we have some ground to cover and not much time by the looks of it" Lazarus said lookin gout at the sunset, "so how much farther do we got to go?" Ion asked as Lazarus smiled, "oh not too far, especially when we can get you there faster" he said as he knelt down, the other two dragons doing the same thing, "now hop on board, we will take to the skies!" Ion and Flint smiled in delight at the prospect of taking flight with the dragons, while Zephyr hesitated a bit due to his fear of heights, "come on now Zephyr, there is no other way" Ion said as he boarded Lazarus' back, "oh... ok..." Zephyr responded timidly as he got onto the back of the dragon waiting nearby. "So are you ready?" Lazarus asked as Ion made a big smile and nodded, a large gush of wind swept through as the dragons carrying their foxy passengers shot up into the air, the rush was wild as both Ion and Flint yelled in excitement as Zephyr covered his eyes and hung on for dear life, "look out there, bet you have never seen your city from this high up" Lazars called out as he pointed behind him, "yes, it is beautiful" Ion responded as he gazed back at his home in the distance, getting further away as time passed, "man I wish I had wings like you Ryū's..." Ion started to say, 'Tatsu's" Lazarus interjected, "er... what?" Ion asked, "Tatsu, it is what we dragons are called" Lazarus replied, "oh, we have always referred you as Ryū's in the city" Ion continued, "I know, Ryū is the word you kitsu's have coined to describe our kind but we like to refer to ourselves as Tatsu, just giving you some dragon culture background since we are going to be going deep into our lands" Lazarus responded, "ok then, I wish i had wings like you Tatsu's!" Ion said with a smile as Lazarus laughed. "I wish my mom could see me up here, riding the winds as she did the seas" Ion started saying as he looked up at the sky, "I am sure you can tell her all about it when you get back home" Lazarus said but Ion shook his head, "she's gone, almost a year ago, the boat she was piloting drifted into some rocks off the cannel due to strong currents, despite efforts we could not find anyone who was on the boat, all were lost..." Ion continued in a sadden tone, "sorry for your loss, I didn't know" Lazarus said, "it's ok, I have accepted the fact that she is gone and who know maybe she is looking down and seeing me ride the winds from the beyond, at least that is what I like to believe" Ion responded making a small smile. Then suddenly a large gust of wind came down from the mountain ranges as Ion and Flint held a bit tighter onto their dragons but Zephjyr with his one hand covering his eyes, lost his balance and started falling towards the ground, not thinking, Flint jumped into the air to go after his friend as the two dragons carrying them darked into action, one grabbing Zephyr by his foot as he was suspended upside down in the air, his face in a slight fright as he held on tight to his scythe, the other grabbing a hold of Flint under his arms, carrying him with his feet dangling, "Man that was bold of you, boy you are a fearless one!" the dragon said as Flint laughed, "well when you are someone who can die at any moment, you learn to live life to it's fullest" Flint responded which made the dragon give a curious look as they continued across the sky. "I think we should hurry to the village... your friend looks like he needs some solid ground" Lazarus said as Ion laughed holding onto his newsboy cap in the wind, Flint still peering down at the lands below in delight, as Zephyr continued to be in sight distress. The dragons quickly scaled the mountain with the foxes in tow, as a village hidden just below the summit came into view, the dragons descended to the terrain just outside as the three fox boys returned to solid footing, gazing upon the amazingness of what stood before them. ~
------------------------- > Enter the Village -------------------------
