Small Talk while Training
Short story I made last year to accompany some art I commissioned.
Author's Note:
For most readers, this story concerns two OCs from my Spyro fanfiction “Aimless". Please bear with me since there will be multiple references to the story and you may not understand the finer details behind what's going on, but I'm sure you can put two and two together if you read it. I'm just putting it here on SF since I don't know where else to put this, and I might as well have people enjoy it. :P
For followers of “Aimless", this is set during the 1st year in the timestamp. There will obviously be references to events in both written and planned chapters, one of which is the fact that Serenya has not yet been officially introduced in the main story as of June 2019, and still remains nameless as of the most recent chapter in April 2020. The spoilers are pretty minor in the grand scheme of things, but still… you have been warned.
(The two paragraphs indented below are relevant for Aimless readers.)
Timestamp key: "D" for days, "W" for weeks, "M" for months, "Y" for years, "EM" for early morning, "LM" for late morning, "EA" for early afternoon, "LA" for late afternoon, "EE" for early evening, "LN" for late night, and "AD" for all day. Note that the Realms follows the sexagesimal system for keeping time, just like Earth. (In other words, 60 seconds per minute and 60 minutes per hour.)
Snip category key: There are four categories of snips. "Settling In", "City Life", "Beyond the Wall", and "The Journey Home". All four represent parallel storylines that take place within Aimless, and other than "Settling In", each snip category has at least two subtypes. Those subtypes aren't listed due to potential spoilers.
Enjoy!
City Life -- Threads of Gold
Small Talk While Training
“I haven't even gone to bed yet and I already can't wait to get home from work tomorrow."
- Anonymous
[1Y / LN]
Joshua concentrated on the fireball in front of him. Sweat trickled down his temples. His back was wet. A blazing heat prickled his body, as though the underground tunnels of Warfang Temple were immersed in the blue sun of the Dragon Realms rather than the naturally luminescent crystals and their dim, white glow. Not once did his eyes leave the orange sphere. At his whim, slowly -- but surely -- the fire moved to the left. Then it moved to the right, and spun around, moving up and down as though manipulated by a master Firebender from Avatar: the Last Airbender... or a common Fire Dragon, like the burgundy dragoness watching him from his right.
"You know, Joshua," she said, "Watching you do this never gets old."
Joshua's green eyes shifted to the side and looked straight into her gaze. They were a lighter shade of green, and they sparkled in amazement. "You've seen this many times, though. I'm just practicing."
"I know!" The dragoness gushed. Her earflaps jumped up from excitement. "But, Ancestors, it's so surreal! You have a different Element from me, yet you're manipulating Fire. It's amazing no matter how many times I see it."
Joshua chuckled. It's been more than a year since he, a gamer who had a complacent life back on Earth, inexplicably woke up in this world with no clue on how or why it happened. The Dragon Realms -- the world of the favorite video game of his childhood: The Legend of Spyro. Life in this place had been a very sobering experience for Joshua from Day 1, since it turned out to be a lot much more complicated in real life than the lore he'd memorized for years. He ran what he knew of Warfang's calendar in his head and, translating one year on this planet to the conventions of 21st century Earth, computed to a little more than 3 years back home.
Before he could focus on the result of his calculations, the hot and sweltering sensation inundating his body wavered slightly. The fireball shrunk, a huge chunk of it vanishing into the air and leaving behind a tiny orb the size of a ping pong ball. It would've scattered entirely if Joshua hadn't focused on it again and allowed the heat to wash over him. Goddammit, splitting his attention like this was hard. But he needed it. He needed the training. "You're giving me too much credit, Serenya! I've gone a very, very long way from my first month here. Besides, I can't produce fire on my own. I --
Serenya skipped from right to left and, presaged by the brief orange glow shining in her maw, gathered another orb of fire and spat it at the one above Joshua's right hand. The gamer felt the heat gathering in Serenya's mouth within his own, as if he was producing the flame himself. It joined the fireball already swirling in the air. It grew, blanketing the dim corridors of the Temple in a brighter orange. "Need to get it from someone else, I know!" she trilled. Hearing her laugh brought a smile to his face. "But that's why I'm here!"
Joshua glanced at her for a brief second before returning his gaze -- his focus -- on the bigger fireball before him. He noted the flowers sticking out of the bag slung around her neck. "Did you go outside again?"
"Huh?"
"I can see the flowers in your bag. Did you visit Autumn Plains today?"
"Ahhh, no, Vara and I flew to Fracture Hills. She needed the flight, and, I, needed to replace the flowers in my room." Serenya trotted ahead and leaned over, showing them off. Joshua didn't recognize them, but if he had been a seasoned florist he would have recognized the bunch to contain alien species of chrysanthemum, hydrangea, and peony.
"They look nice."
She beamed. "Thank you. Humans don't think much of flowers, do they?"
"Oh no, no, no! You got it wrong. Humans actually -- Eep!" The fireball quavered, and it would've spelled an end to this particular iteration had Joshua lost control. He heaved a sigh of relief before continuing. "Humans actually like flowers. Back home, I have a few friends who can talk to you all about them and what each flower signifies, at least in our society."
"And you don't?"
"...Yeah, sorry. Not really my thing."
She frowned a little. "Aww..."
"So, Fracture Hills, huh? I heard the place was beautiful."
"It is."
It was somewhat amusing to him how one of the more photogenic locations in Warfang shared the same name as one of the many worlds in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage. He really should go there, one of these days. If only he could fly too...
As though reading his thoughts, Serenya said, "Let's go there sometime! I know Kilat would like it. Blink, too, I guess. That mole has issues, and I'm worried for him." Joshua suppressed a laugh. He knew a lot of other Moles would've gone nuts over that one line, especially for someone who didn't share their fanaticism for dragonkind.
"Uhm, I can't fly though."
Her lime-green eyes scanned him, top to bottom. Joshua might have felt her scrutinizing gaze on him if he wasn't so focused on maintaining his control over the fireball. "You don't look that heavy. I think I can carry you."
"Oh really!" Joshua remarked. He did not expect Serenya to make the offer. Dragons were a proud species, but not to the point of caprice. Back when he was still a nerd happily living his ignorant life reading stories on the Internet, sentient dragons in most fiction generally looked down on those who permitted anyone to ride them on their backs. It was self-deprecation, akin to proclaiming oneself as equal to a common mount. In the Dragon Realms though, there was some leeway because people here saw it as a form of closeness, or more. The mere fact Serenya went forward with this on her own spoke volumes. "You'd do that? For me? Seriously?"
"Of course I would! Spring of Fortune, Joshua, don't you know how kind you are?" Kind, she said. He wasn't kind. People just took advantage of him, multiple times. That's all there was to it. But, he held his words back. Joshua didn't want to burst her bubble. "There's sooooo much you've done for me! I know it's not much, but I think someone like you deserves something more than just an apprentice's room after the way everyone's been treating you since the Incident last year."
The gamer smiled at her. "Thanks for the offer, Serenya, but, you know Kilat and Blink can't fly either."
"Hmm, we'll take flight when we get there. I'm sure we can figure something out for them. So are you up for this?"
"Sure. We'll go over with everyone about it and set up the schedule." Joshua gave the dragoness a gentle punch on the shoulder. "Good idea, by the way. We've never gone outside the Temple as a whole group."
"I knooow! You're really missing out! Fracture Hills is one of the most beautiful districts here, second only to Dragon Shores!"
"Hmph, that's not my fault!" He scowled. He pushed the bad memories back into the dark corners of his head. The gamer couldn't afford getting distracted by those now. "I've been stuck in the Temple ever since I got here, remember? Plus, a lot of people still hate me for the Incident. Didn't Vara tell you about that time we went out to get furniture in Blowout?"
Serenya stopped walking. Her form drooped. "Ah, that's, t-that's right. I'm sorry... I completely forgot."
Joshua sighed. He reached out with his free hand. He took her ear with his thumb and index fingers, pinched it, and rubbed a couple times. She tilted her head towards him as if on reflex. "Serenya, it's alright. Don't worry about it."
Serenya pulled her head away. She sat on her haunches and whined. "No it's nooooot! What kind of friend am I if I can't even remember stuff like this? I'm sorry, when I was talking to you, it, i-it felt so natural that I just forgot you actually weren't, uhm, you know..."
"That I'm not actually a dragon? That I never lived here?"
"YES!"
"Let it go. It's not something worth torturing yourself for."
"Oh... o-okay..."
Joshua walked over to Serenya, took her foreleg, and tugged it. The burgundy scales were smooth to the touch, but noticeably warmer than Kilat's. He chalked it up to her alignment with Fire. "Now come on," he urged, locking eyes with her. "Let's go. We're almost at the stairs."
The dragoness did not turn away from him in any way. Neither did she resist him, allowing the human to pull her body on all fours. She yawned. "Yeah, I know. It's late."
"...Hey, I haven't seen Vara at all for the past week," Joshua said, once they started walking again. "How is she? Is she okay?"
"Not really."
"Why?"
"Uhm..." Serenya shifted her gaze at the ceiling for a few seconds. It was one of her "tells". The dragoness did this every time she was thinking what to say or jogging her memory for something she had long filed away. Joshua thought it was cute. "Well, it's her mother."
"Again?" he said, surprised. "What did she do this time --
A small jet of fire suddenly streamed out the fireball, like a miniature solar flare. It shrunk, again. "Ah, f*ck me!" He ogled the fiery sphere once more. This time Joshua willed his Element into existence. A white cloud sprung from his forearm, snaking around it until a tendril of the Unknown Element floated above and around the fireball. The gamer visualized putting a bit of himself into the fireball and leaving that tiny fragment in it. It was somewhat painful. He compared it to tugging his hair until it broke away from the scalp and throwing it into a live fire. In real life, one end of the tendril went inside the orb and a tiny piece broke off from the main body. The fireball grew, slightly. "Argh, this stupid shaping exercise..."
"She heard about that little racket we caused over in Roughneck Market."
"When I made a fool of myself?"
"...pfft, yeah."
Joshua poked Serenya's scales. "Hey, I saw that! Don't laugh at me!"
"Sorry, sorry. It's still fresh in my mind."
"Anyway, what happened? Why would Vara's mom be upset with her?"
"Because she was friends with 'the evil ape' and never told her about it," Serenya replied, deadpan. "And she wasn't just upset, Joshua. She was breathing hellfire. From what I've heard, Vara would've lost one of her legs if her father didn't stop it."
"Jesus Christ! That's, that is f*cked, up."
The realization that someone nearly lost a leg for merely being friends with him chilled Joshua's mood, and a pang of sadness gnawed at the human. His control over Serenya's fire fell apart instantly. "Oh shit! The fireball!" It flashed orange and, before Joshua could muster the focus to make an attempt at stabilizing the orb, it was gone. Faded away into the air, as it should have been.
"Da da da... goddammit. That was NOT supposed to happen." Joshua grumbled. The human mind wasn't made for multitasking like this. If it was, he would've been able to handle something like this easily, and without bleeding from his nose or ears. He turned to Serenya, unable to get his first real friend in Warfang out of his head. "Vara's going to be okay, is she?"
"Yeah. That's why I took her with me to Fracture Hills. It's not much, but it helped her, I think. Just a little." She avoided his gaze as she spoke, eyes moving to her left, towards the floor. "I hope..."
Joshua's first reaction was to lunge forward and hug Serenya. She fell on her haunches, but did not even attempt to push him away. "It's okay," he consoled her. "You did what you could. Really, everything's all up to her now. If she knew we're both worried over her like this, she'd --
"Smack us both in the head." Joshua and Serenya inadvertently said the same thing, in unison. Human and dragon paused for a few moments before laughing out loud in the hallways. Thank God all the dragons that could've heard them were already asleep, and from his experience, they were typically heavy sleepers.
Joshua gave his friend a pat on the head. "You're kind too, you know." Too kind, he thought. Kinder than him. A person like that was rare, even back on Earth. "Please don't change, Serenya. I like you this way." God knew the Dragon Realms needed people like her. This place was f*cked up beyond reckoning. No sane person from Earth would even want to live in this shithole. It's too barbaric. Life in Warfang would actually be a lot simpler, a lot more bearable, if just a few more people had her friendly, considerate disposition.
"Thanks, Joshua," she said, no longer dwelling on Vara's situation. "I doubt I'm gonna turn moody and brooding anytime soon though." Serenya got on her feet. "So are you starting over? We still have another five minutes' walk and I have plenty of mana to spare."
"Hell yeah! Five minutes is plenty of time. I need all the training I can get."
"Your Element is annoying. I know it's amazing, but every time I watch you try to control it, I feel grateful my instincts are enough for mine."
"Tell me about it! My life here proooobably would've been a lot better if that applied to me too. Now, hit me with that fireball."
"As you wish."
Joshua concentrated on the fireball as soon as it escaped Serenya's mouth. He extended his sense of self onto it and held it in place. He intensified his focus. Sweat trickled down his temples. His back was wet. A blazing heat prickled his body, as though the underground tunnels of Warfang Temple were immersed in the blue sun of the Dragon Realms rather than the naturally luminescent crystals and their dim, white glow. Not once did his eyes leave the orange sphere. At his whim, slowly -- but surely -- the fire moved to the left. Then it moved to the right, and spun around, moving up and down as though manipulated by a master.
"You know, Joshua," Serenya said, "Watching you do this never gets old."