25CyberDeletion: This is my first Dragon Knights fic. I wrote the original story for my English class… *hides behind a flame-resistant shield* so expect everybody to be really out of character.
Thatz: "Really out of character" is an understatement.
Rath: *nods in agreement with Thatz* For crying out loud, in this one part -
Rune: THATZ! Don't be rude OR give away the story! *attempts to whack Thatz and Rath with his sword*
Thatz: *blocks Rune's sword* You're such a suck-up.
Rath: *dodges Rune's sword* Rune, you just like it because it's in your POV.
CD: ^_^" Hey Readers, let me sum up my warnings: It's not as good as it could be (I had to write it really quick), the characters are all OOC, and this has been separated into chapters because the original was longer than any person would want to read at one time. Somebody needs to say the disclaimer.
Thatz: Why can't you do it?
CD: I'm the authoress, therefore I don't have to. Rath, say the disclaimer.
Rath: Can I fight a demon if I say it?
CD: Um… sure.
Rath: OK! *reads a script* CyberDeletion doesn't own Dragon Knights, although that would be 'so-o-o-o-o-o-o sugoi'. She would also like to thank "Snowblomgren1" for the idea for this fic. The flute and the book and stuff belongs to CD, though.
CD: *bows* Arigato, Snowblomgren1!
Rune: Aren't you forgetting something?
CD: Huh? Oh yeah! This story takes place in the first book, after the whole thing with Memphis Castle (Isn't that chapter called "Knights In White Satin"?) but before the Dragon Knights find Cesia working as a fortune-teller ("That's The Way The Fortune Cookie Crumbles").
Thatz: Oh yeah, and she's gonna put up chapters every so often… about a chapter a week.
Rath: This is just the first chapter. Even though the first draft is already done, ideas for making this story better are great! *goes off to look for demons*
Rune: Please R&R… flames are NOT appreciated.
*ß ^à *
The Legend of the Skilled Dreamer's Flute
Page 127 of Myths and Legends of Dusis and Beyond
Long ago, in a forgotten land foreign to us all, there lived a wealthy elf with a special talent for creating beautiful things, especially those to do with music. He played the music he had written on golden harps, silver pianos, and violins decorated with sapphire, also made by him. The favorite instrument of the elf and the most beautiful sounding also happened to be the simplest and least pleasing to the eye. It was a simple wooden flute with only a few elegant carvings, most of which had begun to fade. It was different from every other instrument because it could find and pick out songs that struck the deepest chord in a person: their life force.
You see, in that place and age, it was believed that each individual had their own secret and entirely unique song, and that song acted like that person's life. If the person died, the song belonging to that person would die as well, and could never be played as well as it could have been. The wooden flute found these songs and played them at their best. There was a problem, though. A "Life Force Song" could only be properly played once. Being like a life that can only be lived once, the song could be played that same number of times, and if it were, the person it belonged to would die.
Many evil people and creatures wanted the power of the instrument for themselves and sought after it. In order to keep it from killing anybody, the elf sealed the flute in an impressive-looking case with a spell that could only be broken by a descendant of his. The evil ones attacked the elf and fatally wounded him at his mansion. Just before he died, the elf cast a spell that cursed the mansion and forced the attackers to stay there forever as guardians and condemned anyone else who wished to steal his instruments to the same fate, if the demons didn't get to them first. A descendant and any companions with him were immune to this curse.
Nobody has ever gone to take the treasures of the elf and come back. Legend says that someday, the spells and curses will be lifted and the danger will be present once more when the music is played again. But, of course, you don't believe in legends, do you?
"Are you sure we're going the right way?" I ask, looking skeptically around at the dense foliage surrounding us. We three Dragon Knights have been walking for hours and the little patches of sky I can see tell me that the distance to the nearest town will be traveled amid a downpour if we don't get there soon. I knew we shouldn't have taken that so-called 'shortcut' Thatz had insisted on.
"Well, actually, this isn't really a way…" starts Thatz. "If we could only use the Dragon Eyes, we could probably figure out the way to the nearest town quicker than we could with my map."
"Don't get me started, Thatz. We don't know how to use them and they're not ours to use in the first place," I say. The Dragon Eyes are said to be able to grant their owners wishes. We have only seen them used once, and we're not sure how that happened.
"Fine then, I didn't really care about using them in the first place. I'll just use my map..." Thatz looks at a cheap map he had bought at the last town we had stopped at. "… which says that we should be there already."
"Also remember that your map said that the demon passage we went through didn't exist," I say irritably. With that map, we'll never get back to Draqueen. I don't want to spend the rest of my life wandering around with the severed head of the enemy that we were sent to retrieve.
"Who's complaining? That was fun!" says Rath, and continues whistling happily as he had been doing ever since he defeated around thirty-seven demons back at the passage.
I ignore Rath's comment. "It's going to rain soon and I don't want to be stuck in the middle of it!"
"Gee, Rune, most people would think that the Dragon Knight of Water wouldn't mind a few raindrops," says Thatz. That thief can be very annoying sometimes.
"Since you're the Dragon Knight of Earth, does that mean you wouldn't mind being buried alive under a few tons of dirt?" I retort.
"Hey! Thatz actually used a map right! I can see a town from here!" says Rath, and runs ahead to see if he was right.
"Wait up!" yells Thatz as he and I follow hopefully after.
Sure enough, the three of us are soon sitting at a combination inn and restaurant. (Thatz had found it an ingenious idea to combine the two, so that was the first place we headed.) I look out a nearby window as I take a sip of my drink. The dark clouds make it look more like night than mid-afternoon.
"That's gonna be a lot of rain," says a voice behind me. I turn to see a young woman also looking out the window. "They say it's going to be a flood. That it'll be the most amount of rain we've had in…" She thinks for a moment. "… Somewhere around fifty years. At least, that's what everybody says."
"Does it rain much around here?" I ask.
"Every so often. It seems pretty normal to me. Of course, people around here tend to exaggerate and tell stories. By the way, I'm Mai."
"I'm Rune. What kind of stories do the people around here tell?"
"Oh, rumors spread faster than a wildfire here. The people around here also like all sorts of stories and tales. Most of it's not true."
"Most of it?" This might be interesting.
"Pretty much all of 'em are fake except for the ones about the Manor."
"What's the Manor?" The way she said it, it sounded highly dangerous and transcendental. I'd better keep this from Rath and Thatz or they'll be all over it.
"That guy over there can tell the story better than I can; looks like your friends are listening to him right now," she says, gesturing towards an old man who had gained the rapt attention of Rath and Thatz.
"… And the treasures are still there, guarded by demons and the cursed ghosts of the people who tried to steal it before," says the old man, just finishing his tale as I walk over.
Thatz, who has for a fact gone into a demon's belly to get treasure, stands up. "Thanks for telling us about it," he says to the old man. Then he turns to Rath and me and smiles. "Guess where we're going next!"
"We are not going to that Manor, we are going to go to Draqueen as soon as this storm blows over!" I say.
"Come on, Rune! It's just one little detour! That place has demons, and the Dragon Lord told us to go fight demons, remember?" says Rath.
I threaten Rath with my sword. "The Dragon Lord also said to get back soon! Taking more than a month to get back is not getting back soon!"
"Chill! Since it's been so long already, what difference will a little trip to a manor make?" Acting as if that ended the argument, they both grab me by my arms and drag me out of the building in the direction of what I guess is the Manor. I really dislike them sometimes.
When we're sufficiently away from the town, far enough that I might as well go to the Manor, they finally stopped dragging me.
"Great. Weren't you listening to the last thing that man said? We'll all probably get turned into ghosts or something. For the record, none of this is my fault." I glare at them as we all continue walking. Apparently, getting turned into ghosts and having to spend forever in a manor doesn't bother them.
I stare up at the Manor when we reach it. I have a very bad feeling about this place… I'm not going to tell them that, though. They'll start making fun of me. "That's really big," I say, for lack of anything else.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious," mutters Thatz, trying to pick the lock on a door.
"Maybe the demons inside will be really big!" says Rath. He has his sword ready, probably hoping to fight some demons as soon as we step inside. Typical.
"I was just trying to point out that it doesn't look like it will be easy to find treasure in a place like this because it's so big," I say, ignoring Rath as usual.
Thatz, who is evidently ignoring both Rath and me, discards whatever tool he had been using to try and open the door. "I can't get the door to open, dang it!" He leans against the offending entrance and tries to think of another way in.
This is very annoying. "You dragged me almost all the way here and now you can't get that door open?" As soon as I had said the word "open", the door swung open as if it was obeying a command, making Thatz fall over. All three of us are surprised.
"How'd you do that?" asks Thatz, sounding a bit angry. I guess I hurt his ego.
"Maybe you unlocked the door and didn't realize it, and so when you leaned against the door it pushed it open…" I say. I doubt it, though. It doesn't take a genius to know if a door's unlocked. We haven't gone inside and this place is starting to creep me out.
"Who cares? It's open!" says Rath, running inside to see if there are any demons that he can beat up. Thatz gets up and (not without giving me a suspicious glare first) looks around the room to see if there are any expensive things he could take from there. I hesitate and my bad feeling sends my mind racing; What if we all become cursed and are forced to spend eternity in this place? What if demons kill us? This place is so big, what if we somehow manage to get lost?
I reprimand myself for thinking like that. We're just going to go in, Rath will slay a few demons, Thatz will take some treasure, they'll both get in trouble and I'll get dragged into the middle of it. Just like usual. I step across the threshold of the Manor.
*ß ^à *
CD: What did you think of the first part?
Rath: Love it?
Thatz: Hate it?
Rune: Couldn't care less?
CD: Please review! I'd really like it if you put more than "It was good" or "Why did you think you could write", though. Reasons are good. Once again, suggestions are greatly appreciated! Better titles are good too. Please don't flame me! *hides behind the flame-resistant shield*