Places to Chat
Dragon's Blood~
Chatterbox: Inkwell
Dragon's Blood~
Dragon's Blood~
Just a fantasy story I wrote that I want to share. Feel free to give me feedback!
And without further ado, here is the start:
A glistening vial of thick, dark red liquid rested in my hand, a thin label on it reading Dragon’s Blood. This was the very thing that was keeping the world alive, as it was the only known cure to dracosis, a deadly disease that had been formed by an alchemist by accident and had escaped to the rest of the world. Luckily, dragon’s blood was plentiful—or at least, it once was.
“Saige! Are you done placing the vials on the cart? We’re going off to the market soon,” my father yelled.
I nodded and quickly set down the vial and began pushing the cart towards the door. For three days a week my father and I went out onto the market to sell the blood as a cure. It was our only way of making an income to support our family: my father, my younger sister Aria, and me.
My father walked over to the cart and scanned the vials with slight disdain. “That’s all we managed to get? Twenty-five vials? That will barely give us food to eat, let alone payment.”
“The Lux Ignes could only find a young dragonet,” I explained, shaking my head. The Lux Ignes were a small group of knights who went out to slay dragons to collect blood and distribute it to market sellers in exchange for payment.
My father heaved a big sigh and said, “Fine, that will have to do for now. Better than last time, at least. Last time, the Lux Ignes couldn’t even find a single scale. What a disgrace! Much too humiliating to show my face at the market that time, without a single vial.”
I nodded and put my hand on the slightly rusted handle of the door, which was made of stripped spruce. I swung it open, taking care not to hit the cart, then pulled the cart behind me and onto the stone path. I followed the stone path, my father close behind me, and walked for a while before seeing the familiar color, bustle and scents of the market ahead. I pulled the cart up to our market stall—made of dark oak and a slightly tattered white tarp with stripes of red tacked on top for shade. My father went behind the stall while I began setting the vials onto the counter to sell.
“Alaric!” A voice exclaimed. I turned my head around to see a portly man in a brown tunic waving a hand at my father.
My father glanced up at the man and greeted him. “Ah, how great to see you, Orvyn! I haven’t seen you at all last week!”
“I’ve been away, out for adventure, as some might say,” Orvyn said, smiling.
“Do tell me,” my father said. He turned to me and said, “Saige, watch over the stall while I take a leave for a bit, will you?”
I nodded, biting my bottom lip. “Of course, Father.” This happened every time we came. Whenever someone came by who my father knew, which seemed to be everyone, he would take this excuse to leave. At this point, I had pretty much perfected selling these vials by myself. I had no need of help.
My father ruffled my short dark brown hair, before leaving, gesturing to Orvyn. Together, the two of them disappeared into the bustle of the market.
submitted by Moon Wolf, age lunars, A Celestial Sky
(October 6, 2024 - 9:19 pm)
(October 6, 2024 - 9:19 pm)
“Seeing that the tracks are fresh,” Aldous mused. “Means that the dragon likely heard us coming and flew to safety before we could hunt them down.”
Part of me felt relieved that we didn’t have to encounter a dragon, but another part of me felt worried. What if we couldn’t find another sign of a dragon at all? I pictured my father’s furious expression if he found out we couldn’t even find a whiff of a dragon. And Aria…
“So now what do we do?” Eira asked.
“I believe the best course of action would be to find a resting place to replenish ourselves and find another route on the map commonly found with dragons to take,” Cyprian stated. He glanced over at Aldous for agreement.
“You speak well, Sir Cyprian,” Aldous responded. “I agree with this course of action.”
“Thank you, Sir Aldous,” Cyprian replied, dipping his head.
“Perhaps the shade underneath those two oak trees will do,” Gervaise suggested, pointing to two large oak trees that seemed to tower above everything.
“That seems to be a good place, Ser Gervaise,” Aldous said. He gestured for everyone to follow him as he led the way beneath the oak trees.
The group sat down on a couple of large stones that were found near the oak trees. Aldous, Cyprian, and Celestina gathered together as they began discussing the best route to take. Meanwhile, Gervaise and Conleth gestured for Eira and I to gather around them.
“If I’m to be honest, I thought dragons were plentiful,” Eira said. “I thought we’d find one immediately once we started. And I didn’t think that dragons would flee if they heard us at all. All the stories say that the dragons would fight back fiercely and stand their ground.”
Gervaise shook their head slowly. “Alas, that is not the case. Dragons are, in fact, decreasing in number fast. It has been taking us whole days to even find a sign of a dragon. Those footprints could be the only sign we have all day.”
“The truth is that dragons are becoming rarer and rarer each day…they may become extinct quite soon,” Conleth added. “Their numbers are decreasing faster than the rates of dracosis cases are rising. Now, dragons are fleeing whenever they hear the slightest sign of us knights, and humans in general. Otherwise, they know that they will not survive.”
“Then how have you found dragon’s blood the days prior?” I asked.
“We did indeed find a small weak dragonet who had been about to die, likely abandoned by their mother who knew there was no hope,” Gervaise responded. “But as for other times, we have had to dig through our own sources and storage in order to find the blood. It is highly difficult to find fresh dragon’s blood nowadays.”
“But dracosis is still raging through cities and kingdoms alike,” Eira said. “Yet if dragon’s blood runs out, then that means…”
“We are doomed as well,” Conleth finished, nodding. His expression was surprisingly calm as he said this, like he had thought of this before and had now come to accept it.
“Then what do we do?” Eira asked. Her face was contorted with worry, seeming to match the flood of thoughts racing through my mind. Would that be the end of humanity? Are we to just sit here and wait until it comes? Is there anything possible that we could do to stop the disease if dragons run out? Is there any chance of saving the dragons before it’s too late?
“That is to be determined,” Gervaise replied. “For now, the answer is: nothing.”
(November 12, 2024 - 8:26 pm)
this is really good! I really like Eira and Saige's relationship. They seem fun. i also think the premise is really interesting (if kind of sad :( poor dragons). And I like how urgent the problem is. I'm also curious how you got the names if you want to answer, because a few are unfamiliar to me, and I spend... a slightly ridiculous amount of time researching names. anyway, i can't wait until the next part!
(November 12, 2024 - 9:54 pm)
thank you so much!! yep poor dragons :( (it's kind of like how we're treating the earth's resources today) As for names, I just searched up medieval names and found meanings that I liked or fit the character. It is pretty hard to come up with names, especially fantasy names that you don't want to sound generic~
(November 12, 2024 - 11:33 pm)
about the names - that makes sense, that sort of search usually brings up more interesting stuff. i was just interested because a certain one of the names really doesn't come up very often so i figured you must be really into that sort of thing :) and just saying again that this is really good, because it is :D
(November 13, 2024 - 5:56 pm)
Just then, Aldous walked up to them. I immediately stood up and dipped my head a little as I said nervously, “Sir Aldous, do we…have a route?”
“We do,” Aldous answered. He gestured to Celestina to explain.
“We have decided to take the route around these oak trees and away from Lacus Lake, by the caves and near the Silva Forest,” Celestina said, dragging her finger along the trail on the map in her hand.
“Unless anyone objects, we shall head over now,” Aldous said. When no one spoke up, he started leading.
He took a route exactly as Celestina had said, and we followed behind him in somewhat of a line. We continued walking for a long time, all the way until the sun reached its zenith.
“Any sign of a dragon?” Eira wondered aloud.
“Remember what I said earlier about how dragons are getting rarer?” Conleth said. “It’s not like before, when we could find about ten dragons or more in a single expedition.”
“Then…forgive me if I’m being blunt, but what’s the point of wandering in search of dragons if there aren’t any?” I asked. This question had been plaguing my mind for a while.
No one answered for a long time. Then finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Celestina spoke up. It was almost a whisper as she said, “We continue searching for at least the slightest sign…of hope. Hope for…both the dragons and humanity.”
* * *
Dragons. Once they had seemed so plentiful in my mind, but now…really, there was none left. That was evident as we walked along the route, trying to search for even the slightest sign of a dragon. In fact, it really did feel like those footprints would be our only sign of a dragon the whole day. Lunch, some rye bread and cheese, was eaten in mostly silence, with me starting to dread the inevitable confrontation I’d have to have with my father when I came back from the expedition.
And Aria…she was a wonderful younger sister: thoughtful, innocent, and lively. I couldn’t imagine life without her. But I knew that dracosis acted quickly, and if we didn’t have blood by the time we got back…her fate would be the same as my mother’s.
I sighed. I knew that we had to continue searching for the slightest chance of finding dragon’s blood, but…by now, hope seemed like a lost cause. The afternoon went on, with the sun becoming slightly lower with each passing second.
“Any sign of a dragon?” I called, even though I knew the answer.
“We thought we found a dragon scale,” Conleth replied. My hopes began to rise, until he added, “But it was only a folium leaf.”
“Do you happen to have any vials of dragon’s blood leftover from earlier expeditions?” I asked hopefully.
“Unfortunately, we used up our stores a week ago,” Cyprian replied, shaking his head. “It is a wonder that the price of dragon’s blood has been staying as low as it is.”
“It’s like no one realizes just how scarce dragon’s blood is getting,” Eira mused. “We take it for granted now. It’s as much a staple in a home as a typical cough syrup now.”
“And the truth is that no one is realizing how scarce it is,” Gervaise sighed. “Such as the time the great famine came and the nobles and upper class had no idea what was happening beneath and kept wheat the same price as it was before.”
Suddenly, Eira gasped. Everyone looked at her, then darted their gazes to see if there was a dragon anywhere. None.
“Sorry,” Eira apologized. “I just had an idea. If we happen to find a dragon, instead of killing it, what if we tried…to preserve it?”
(November 18, 2024 - 12:41 am)