The Dragon Knight; The Secrets of the Desert

The Secrets of the Desert (Prologue)

    A grin appeared on his lips as the green light became brighter and brighter. The magic was slowly filling the room and he absorbed it all. He needed this kind of power, this kind of magic to do what he needed to do. This was the power needed to shape the shadows. But only shape them. It was powerful magic that danced through the room but it was incomplete.

    Seelan had made sure to keep the energy contained, unlike the last time. It had been a foolish mistake, a mistake he had only made because he had been impatient and hadn’t read through all the parchments. The energy had gotten out of the room and tipped off the Mages and Dragon Knights. They had been prepared when his army got to them. That wouldn’t happen again. No one would know he was coming. No one even knew he was walking again, free from his timeless prison. It had been clear people had forgotten him over the years, over the centuries. A good thing in Seelan’s opinion.

    And yet, the girl had sensed it! How was that even possible?

    Well, he knew how it was possible. It didn’t seem fair to him how the Gods and Goddesses, and of course those damned Elements, were helping their little hero to stop him. He had always thought they weren’t supposed to interfere with whatever humans did. Of course he stopped believing that the moment they froze him in time.

    The green light became brighter and brighter and he knew that soon he would have to close his eyes so it wouldn’t blind him. So he did. The light kept getting brighter and brighter through his eyelids, so bright he wanted to raise a hand to cover his eyes even more but he didn’t. He didn’t move from his spot.

    After the light reached its apogee, everything went dark again. Seelan opened his eyes and gave himself a moment to get used to the sudden darkness. When he was used to it he looked around. There was nothing but darkness and shadows. He smiled to himself and raised both his hands. He moved them through the air as if he wanted to catch something. And he did.

    Opening his hands, he was pleased to find the shadows had gathered in his palms. Using his newly regained magic, he willed the shadows to change, to become bigger and bigger before shaping them into something no one would ever want to look at directly. Pleased at first with what he had created, even though it was only a lifeless shell, something made him rethink his creation.

    He had created an army of these things thousands of years ago. They couldn’t be killed by swords or lances but it had never discouraged the soldiers that had to fight them though. The Dragon Knights hadn’t been as scared as they should have been when these creatures managed to get on their dragons. But he couldn’t recreate his army now. Not yet. It would call attention to him and what he was doing. So what could he do? The grin stretched a little wider and became more of an evil smirk. As he concentrated on the hideous creature made out of shadows before him it started to grow. It grew and grew until it was twice as tall as Seelan. And he had always been on the tall side of average.

    If this didn’t discourage the soldiers from fighting then he didn’t know what would. Of course there were always those dutiful and patriotic soldiers who executed their orders regardless off the army ahead. But the solution to that problem was simple; death.

    He watched the assembled shadows in front of him and was satisfied with the results. But he couldn’t leave this place like it was now. To his regret. In one big sweeping motion, one he had often seen when merchants got mad for a wrong deal and wiped their desk clean of everything on its surface, the shadows disappeared. They were absorbed into the stone walls of the circular room before the crackling sound of a fire in the big pit before him returned. It cast a light orange glow around the room just enough to see.

    With one last look in the pit, where the magic flames began to grow again, he turned on his heels and marched out of the room. He descended the many steps to the ground floor. Nighug and Fylkir were waiting for him there. It had been quite a long trip and Air was clearly working against him. Both deserved to rest for a while; Nidhug because he had had the winds against him the entire flight and yet managed to get them there as fast as he could and Fylkir because Seelan knew that the little creature preferred to have earth under his feet instead of a dragon's scales.