Band of Dragons Chapter One: The Fallen God

By Fir3dragon0113

Ren and Maero were walking up the mountainside trading road, the occasional traveling merchant staring at the strange draconic duo, who eventually made it to a grassy cliffside as the sun was setting, casting scarlet rays across the clouds, staining them with a deep crimson red and fiery orange. Ren stared in awe at the stunning sunset as the wind blew his long flame colored hair a bit. “Ren! You there?” Maero yelled, waving a massive hand in front of his face and breaking his focus on the sunset. “Y-yea! Just that sunset was stunning, all those reds and yellows painting the clouds!” Ren exclaimed with enthusiasm as Maero put down the massive pack he was carrying on his back and lying down in the soft grass. Ren started to take off his plated armor, leaving his clothes on underneath. He took his katana out of his belt, lying it next to his armor as he walked over to Maero with strange but subtle clanking noises coming from his limbs.

“What's that clinking noise? Maero asked with a confused look, Ren grinning and reached one hand to his forearm. Maero then saw Ren pull off some very heavy looking training weights, and Ren clenched his fist together, making them click together into a hollow cylinder. Ren then grabbed his katana and unsheathed it, inserting and twisting the handle and tube together with a several clicking noises, and a loud one signifying to Ren that it was locked together.

Maero was quite curious about the training weight and asked Ren how much it weighed, Ren replying nonchalantly with “Fifty pounds.” as he pulled another one off his left leg. “And how often do you wear them?” Maero asked with curiosity. Ren replied nonchalantly again “pretty much all the time, unless I go all out!” as the last of the four weights were off him.

Maero remembered even after he had fully trained his body to what he thought was its highest potential, he didn't think to put on the 20 pound training weights he had again… meanwhile Ren was wearing 200 extra pounds on his body pretty much 24/7. He was even wearing those in the duel with him, and he was insanely fast during that… he could only imagine how fast he was without them on him!

Ren had just attached the last training weight to his improvised shaft, forming a spear with his sword and weights. Suddenly, something crashed into the ground a few feet in front of Ren, sending the massive dragon flying back a few feet and landing on his back. Ren sat back up, squinting his piercing red and orange eyes through the dirt and dust that had been flung into the air. Ren spotted a strange obsidian black obelisk with strange and intricate white etchings all over it. Ren then stood up, pointing his spear at the obelisk. The duo then felt a surge of otherworldly magic, and a ominous swirling black void opened up, and a black and white dragon roared angrily as he was knocked out of the swirling black portal.

“I WILL GET MY DIVINITY BACK!!! YOU HEAR ME?? I WILL!!!” he roared in rage as the void sucked in the obelisk, making the dragon cry out “NO!!!” as the portal shut, leaving a crater and strange muscular dragon behind. Ren was still poised in a defensive stance, his speartip pointing at the dragon. “WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?” Ren roared menacingly to which the dragon stood up and roared back “YOU DARE SPEAK TO A GOD LIKE THAT!?”. Maero then remembered reading a book about Gods and other divine powers, and remembered seeing an illustration of a black and white dragon in it, and this dragon looked identical to the illustration. “The dragon of the Abyssal black, Void.” Maero remembered the title of the page saying…

He then tried to call out to Ren to warn the temperamental dragon, when he saw his apprentice disappear in an instant, before suddenly appearing behind Void, who turned with a look of shock on his face at Ren, who swung the 200 pound spear with blinding speed as the god had barely any time to react, summoning his weapon as he ducked and rolled. Maero watched on, unable to do anything as he watched his apprentice take on a literal god with ease. He must be weakened or stripped of some power right!? Or is Ren just that strong?” Maero thought as Ren was effortlessly backing Void into a corner, barely able to deflect the relentless flurry of rapid slashes and jabs with his scythe coming from Ren, their blades clashing with one another.

“I SUBMIT!” Void roared as Ren was about to thrust his spear into his windpipe, Ren stopping his speartip just an inch away, the fiery look in his eyes fading away as he pulled the spear away, still keeping a defensive stance with the setting crimson sun behind him, illuminating his long, flame colored hair waving in the wind. “Who are you?” Ren asked with a stern voice to the black and white dragon, who replied “My name is Void, and I am… well, was the god of the void… I was cast aside and stripped of godhood it seems, but I seem to have a fraction of power still…”.

Ren raised an eyebrow before lowering his spear and looking back at Maero, who had his jaw dropped in awe, seeing Ren's insane speed and reflexes stunned him. He gave a good look at Ren's spear as he walked over to Maero he noticed the intricate etchings on the blade of his katana and guard. As a blacksmith himself, he had to inquire to Ren who made them. Maero asked to hold the spear to look at the ironwork, Ren handing Maero the spear, who was startled by the sheer weight of the spear, but remembered Ren made the metal shaft out of his four training weights, which each weighed 50 pounds. “Who made your weights and sword Ren? They're so well done! As a master smith myself, I gotta give them my praise!”

Maero looked back at Ren to hand him back his spear, and noticed he was blushing. “I made them, along with my armor… Thank you for the compliments…” Ren said as he took his spear back. “Now what shall we do with Mr. High and mighty there?” Maero asked, looking at Void, who was looking exhausted from the Battle. “Hmmm… I was thinking of forming a band of adventurers to travel the world! What do you say to joining us on our adventure? We may find something on our travels to send you back to godhood!” Ren said, reaching a hand out to Void, who took it and stood up. “Fine mortal, let's do that.” Void said grumpily. “Don't forget, you're mortal now too, don't get cocky!” Maero said with a glare, making Ren chuckle and Void grumble.

“Let's set up camp and get to know each other over a nice campfire along with a good meal!” Ren said, walking over to the large pack Maero was carrying and pulled out sleeping bags and some other essentials. Maero followed behind Ren, Void grumbled and trailed behind the two, his stomach growling at him.

What awaits the trio in their next adventure…?

The first part of many that will feature the following friends of mine!

Ren the samurai:   Fir3dragon0113
Burū the ice mage:   galacta4
Void the reaper:   Dracogamer-1456
Maero the barbarian:   Microshill
Ryusui the spearman:   DrakinHydra
Kal the beast tamer:   Kalidragon
Puzzle the ranger:   Puzzle_maniac
Pyros the brute:   ConsciousAfterDark
Blaze the demon lord:   blazeyboi

I'm truly excited to see where this goes, and how much I improve my writing!

PS: The training weight spear is heavily inspired by a scene from the sixth episode of the INCREDIBLE Netflix series, Blue Eye Samurai! It's so rare when Netflix comes out with a series as good as THIS MASTERPIECE, and when they do it's a series worth watching, and this show is one of them! Be warned, it is bloody. They also have already announced a season two!