Chapter 1
#1 of Tainted by Fire
Chapter 1
Imagine a seven-foot tall man. Now add deep red scales in place of his skin. Make him muscular. Shape his head to match that of a dragon's. Give him horns in place of hair, talons on his fingers and toes instead of nails. Finally, give him two large wings on his back, and a tail. That is I. My name is Drache, and I am a dragon.
Being a dragon is no longer as easy as it once was. In this world, there are many races, like myself, that walk the land. Some look like cats, some look like birds, some even look like fish. They are built just like humans in the way of anatomy, but can do things humans cannot. Take me for example. I am built just like most human males, but with a few exceptions. Two of these being my wings and tail, among other things, and I can do things humans cannot.
Like breathe fire.
That is right I can breathe fire. I can also breathe ice. I can wield my huge blade, Faust, as well.
Faust is a gigantic zweihander-type sword. It is a six by one-and-a-half foot rectangle of dark steel. In its hilt lies a large, dark ruby. Down the flat side of the blade, there are six large red ruins of power. These runes are in the ancient Dragon Script. It weighs in at about two hundred thirty-eight pounds and is known thought-out the world as one of the most unstable swords ever forged.
The reason for this is, when I forged it, I did not say the spell right. Because of this, the weapon became flawed with dark energy from an evil spirit. I knew when I forged a sword that this may happen, but I took the chance anyway, thinking I could control the forces I was using. I was obviously very wrong. When Faust was tainted, I tried everything to destroy it. I discovered, through this process, that because of the magic I used on it, the sword was invincible. Therefore, I decided I would keep it with me and try to purify it over the years.
However, what makes the sword truly awesome is the power it holds in its runes. If I call up my will and channel it though the runes in the sword, I can create a field of magic energy around the blade. By applying more of my will to this raw energy, I can mold it into such a powerful blast that I can blow away a mountain. Nevertheless, this power has a downside as well. The more I use this power, the more likely it is that I will lose control of the power in the sword and destroy all life within the blast range. Anything that happened to survive the blast suffers mutations and magical poison, turning into horrible monsters that only know how to kill.
Now let us get back to our world. There are two kinds of animals in our world. There are the four-legged kinds, which we hunt for food, and the two-legged kinds. These two-legged animals are known as anthropomorphic animals. That is what I am. I am an anthropomorphic dragon. If you have not already figured it out, there are no humans in our world. In your world, anthropomorphic creatures are just in stories and comics. In our world, it is the exact opposite. In our world, humans are the stuff of "fairytales". In your world, dragons are made fun of. Their image is warped and played with until they barely resemble dragons at all.
This makes most of the dragons is this world very angry. Then, using a very powerful and massive amount of dark magic that has been forbidden for a few hundred years now, they open a wormhole between the worlds. What they do not know is that when they cross the barrier between the worlds, they lose they're form. Their bodies devolve, becoming four-legged once more and lose the power of speech and grow in size. They then look like the dragons you see in your stories and games and whatnot. Then, there brain rewires itself, becoming primal and savage. They will then attack the humans that they think did this to them, hunting them down and killing them in a way that is just as brutal and as savage as the brand new mind.
For some reason, the humans fear us. They then send out dragon slaying parties. The dragon(s) in question are then hunted down and slain, usually in their sleep, because humans are cowards. If they happen to have found a mate and had eggs, the eggs are smashed as well. Some in the human world love dragons and do what they can to save the eggs and raise a dragon of their own. Unfortunately, this angers the hunters who worked so hard to slay that dragon's parents, who then hunt down the newly born hatchling and kill it. This then angers the other dragons in the world, and before you know it, you have a war on your hands.
Dragons in their four-legged form are brutal killers. They use all their weapons. Teeth, tail, claws, wings, fire, horns, and strength. Moreover, they use them all well. Dragons are also amazing hunters. One dragon, adult or otherwise, can take one hundred head of cattle before it tires. So, if a hundred dragons go to war, that is ten thousand deaths. If they are hyped up on adrenalin, they can destroy up to three times that before they tire. Therefore, we in this world made a society to try to keep the other world as secret as possible and to stop any more creatures from escaping and causing a war. This way, humans continue to live and we get to keep a good reputation.
Anyway, back to my world. Let us start with my home. I built my home out of trees I cut down from the forest around it. It is a mid-sized log cabin, made mainly of pine and fir trees. It is 400 square feet, which is all I need. In addition, the great thing is, if I ever need more room, I just cut a hole in the wall and build another room because I am amazing like that. By now, you are probably thinking, "well that's great, but what about keeping it warm?" Well, the spaces between the logs in the wall have been sealed with a mud, clay and sand mixture, which, when I have a fire going, keep the house warm. This clays and, and mud mix is covered with strips of bark cut from the logs I cut out for a door and windows. This bark protects it and keeps it from getting wet and disintegrating.
As for the fireplace, I cannot have a fireplace built into the wooden wall and think that I will still have a house after lighting my first fire. Therefore, I built in a three-inch layer of solid granite around the box of the fireplace and up the chimney. Then, even when I have a hot fire going, he wood around the fireplace never ignites. It may singe a bit, but will not ignite.
Now, you are probably wondering what I built my home on. Well, I purchase a square mile of forest from the king, cut down a few trees and built a home. I mined iron, for nails, and granite, for furnaces, from the mountains my forest is on. Therefore, now that you know about the land around my cabin, I want to tell you about my favorite part of my house, the forge. Yes, I am a blacksmith. I forged Faust there; I have made many weapons for others as well. Unfortunately, it was an enemy army. They placed an order for a sword. Nothing to fancy, normal requests like increased durability, never dull, a cool little vapor trail when you swing it, colored metal, stuff like that. What I did not know is that when I made the sword, they took it to a mage, who then copied the magic in it, and replicated it in around one thousand other blades. That gave them an upper hand in the battle the then won later that month. Oh well, after you pay for the weapon, it is no longer my problem. No matter how much damage it causes, how many lives the wielder takes, or how much it cost to take him down.
Let us now move on to magic. Everything can use magic. But what is it? What is the mystery that is magic? Humans, in years past, though it evil and burned those who channeled it. They feared it; they hated it, and according to reports, still hate it, calling it ‘evil'.
But what is it? Why must you humans hate all that is different? Do not think we have not seen your petty wars. You humans war so often, it seems that it is the only thing that you, as a group, can think of to pass the time. You are all so obsessed with expanding, owning, taking over and destroying that you cannot see the damage you reap upon your world.
However, I am once again getting off topic. Magic is everything. There is magic is every atom and particle of matter in any existence. It's what God used to create the universe. It's what makes the stars twinkle and babies laugh. It's what makes life worth living.
You humans are lucky you learned to tap into it so early. Every life created takes a massive amount of magic, and you humans multiply so damn fast, you're using to much. You can't channel a large amount of magic, because there isn't of the stuff to channel.
You humans...with all your warring and killing, can't you just get along?