Daybreak - Dragon Embarks! [Hayate, Dragon]

“I bear the strain of these chains, so that when set free, I will never debase the worth of having wings unfurled”

The sun rose from its recurring slumber, light pouring through the worn embrasure of the great corone library, located within the capital Radasanth. The stream spilled out, filling the libraries reference section, finding its resting place upon Erik’s pale cheek and besieging his eyelids, playing a game of tug of war. He had once again passed out reading over old encyclopedias containing information about the magical arts and how to utilise them. It was time to wake up.

As he fought for consciousness he took notice of that same familiar feeling, a comfortable thin down blanket placed over his shoulders while he had slept, keeping him with warmth over the night. “Good morning, isn’t the sunshine wonderful this morning?” a voice Erik was all too accustomed to had spoken. It was his caretaker Alred, a tall elven man with long golden hair and green eyes that also took care over the books found within the great libraries stone walls. Erik focused his posture straight before stretching, allowing his bones to pop loudly while yawning and replying in a miffed tone “Yeah, I suppose.”

“So I presume that have you decided then.” They both exchanged a glance in recognition of the milestone that had been in development over the past year. “It’s about that time now isn’t it.” The truth was that they both weren’t looking forward to departing from each other, but knew that it was inevitable at some stage. Only on two occasions his father had come to see him, his 10th birthday, and his 20th birthday. On his 20th birthday he had received a warning not to disappoint his mother, along with a dragon egg. He was not entirely sure what to make of the encounter, feeling a cocktail of emotions he couldn’t explain. But curiosity and a chance to discover his purpose trumped all.

The two briefly discussed travel arrangements before sharing an eventual embrace. “Remember, Stonevale can be a dangerous place. Having Ddraig with you will make you a target. You will have to quickly learn how to protect yourself.” From behind a bookshelf came a cooing creature clad in black scale no bigger than a kitten, responding to the sound of its name. The baby dragon dug its tiny claws into Erik’s pant leg and crawled its way up to his shoulder before curling around his neck and resting in place. Alred continued “I will escort you to the harbour and you’ll be on your own after that.”

“Thank you, Alred. You have done more for me over the past twenty one years than I could ever hope to repay. I will forever be indebted to you.” Alred scoffed at his statement before patting him on the back. “Enough of that, it's time to leave.”

After a moment of packing some books and necessities into a tanned leather knapsack they were both on their way. Alred was well known by the people of the city and so it made passage less arduous than they had to be due to the traffic restrictions. The destination was stone vale, located in the isle of Scara Brae. It wasn’t long before the two had arrived at the docks and it was time to depart. “I guess this is goodbye, Erik Von Dragon.” Erik forced a smile.“It is time to say goodbye, but I think goodbyes are sad and I’d much rather say hello. Hello to a new adventure, and farewell to a friend.”

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Adventures are filled with trials.

“Hey get back here you kidnapper!” It wasn’t a single day into his journey and he already happened himself into trouble. Erik went chasing after a man in a black cloak who had snatched his baby dragon right from off his shoulders. “You’ll pay for this!” Erik shook his fists in anger as he followed him through the streets of stonevale on a wild goose chase. It seemed as though they were headed towards a rocky overpass he could only assume was to lead to the mines in which he had heard about from Alred. “That bastard…” Erik muttered to himself. Civilians paid their gaze towards the spectacle that had unfolded, in broad daylight no less! “Another victim…” A man sighed. “This madness needs to end.” An old lady rejoined. Ddraig could be heard squealing in the distance as the thief slid down a rocky bluff into the mines below.

A sinking feeling washed over Erik, as the thought that he’d never see his scaly friend again occurred to him now that the thief had entered the mines. For all he knew the cavernous area could be a labyrinth leading into dangers he was nowhere near prepared for. Erik was already faced with a fork in the road and a decision to make, and he felt that it was way too dangerous to go into the mines alone, he needed help.

"Psst, hey you." Came a voice.

Erik turned his head to the source, eyes meeting with a larger than average fellow equipped with mining gear. Erik proceeded towards the man and pointed to his chest before looking around him for others. "Who, me?"

The miner scoffed "Listen, you'd be best leaving those mines well enough alone. Whatever thems thieves take don't come back out, capiche?" Erik shook his head and scowled. "No way, im getting my dragon back." The miners ears perked. "A dragon you say? Well it'll be even more not coming back out than before, capiche?" Erik grimaced "There's got to be a way. I mean doesn't this town have security for these kinds of things?" The miner bursted out laughing. "You're funny kid. Listen, there may be one hope, and it sure as hell ain't the guards." The miner leaned in closer before whispering. "Look for a man who sounds of sudden wind. No one's seen him around in ages but he's the only one around this part obliging enough for a job like that." Erik nodded in response and immediately ran off. There's no time to lose.

Erik spent the rest of the day running around town, asking the townsfolk about a man who sounded of sudden wind. Of course, no one had either heard of the man or was just keeping their mouth shut. It was almost as if this person didn't exist at all. "How frustrating..." Erik muttered. "I bet that guy just wanted to get rid of me. He must have been in on it too. I'm such an idiot." Erik sat down at a nearby bench as the sun began to set, his head resting in his hands. "A man who sounds of sudden wind. That sounds so stupid who would have even believed something like that apart from me?"

Four months had passed since the war of Radasanth and less time than that since Hayate escaped from his incarceration at Fort Dour. Every day was a struggle as he tried to blend back into Coronian society but even with the aid of the Brotherhood’s vast array of connections and underground networks the Shinobi couldn’t find peace. His name was known far and wide now, his face instantly recognizable, his past exposed to the world like an open book. Yet through the hardships and all the turmoil, he stayed in Corone despite knowing it wasn’t safe for him anymore.

“One… three… seven…” he said softly to himself as he watched a handful of Rangers crest into view from the rooftop of a neighboring building.the Shinobi made himself as small as possible as about ten men dressed in heavy leathers and armed with Concordia longbows entered the Stonevale Marketplace like an entourage of hound dogs. He cursed himself knowing that he would never be free from these bloodhounds as long as he stayed in Corone. Though Hayate never imagined he would see the sharp jawline of Captain Donnel all the way out here. Donnel, whom had been appointed by Sebatian himself to recover the Shinobi, was a tall blonde headed Concordian Elf with a rough attitude. On more than one occasion the Captain had crossed blades with Hayate and even gotten the advantage pressing the boy soldier to retreat.

The shinobi clung tightly to the edge of the roof as he watched his pursuers navigate the crowd. He held his every breath waiting in anticipation that one of them would turn their head his direction and the chase would be on once more. But luckily for him this never happened and eventually all ten Rangers disappeared into separate streets and finally out of the marketplace altogether. Hayate breathed a sigh of relief as he stood up and debated what his next course of action would be. The smart man would get out of town quickly and quietly, but Hayate was far from a smart man.

As the sun began to crest over the city skyline casting a great shadow over the streets below Hayate heard a familiar sound. The faint call of an owl hooting four times, stopping, then sounding again another four times. Instantly his eyes darted from roof to roof until he saw her, Grell, crouched not forty yards away from him a little down the line of rooftops. Her bald head was the only way Hayate recognized her in the faint light but seeing that cuball filled him with a warmness he hadn’t felt in a while.

“It’s been a long time Grell,” he said as he walked in her direction. “About four months I’d say.” With a smile the young lass stood and greeted her sensei.

“I never thought I’d see you around these parts again, how the hell did you-...” she was cut short.

“Another time,...” his voice was sharp. “But I am happy to see you.” In truth he never thought he would see the girl’s young face again, but sure enough the Thaynes had a different idea in mind. “How are things here? Has Delirious or his gang picked back up? Are the others okay?”

The two of them conversed for a while until Grell remembered something important. She wasn’t sure but whispers from the streets mentioned a scholarly type prowling around asking for him. Apparently he had run into some trouble with one of the lowlifes in town and is searching for the Winds for help. While Hayate was in no position to be making a scene or participating in anything more than a simple assignment he had a vow to uphold in Stonevale, and cleaning up the streets one thug at a time was his specialty. For the next hour or so he and Grell traversed the city under the cover of night searching for the man until they finally spotted him near the city center resting on a bench.

“That’s the man,” she said pointing to the boy below. “Bet you won’t have any problems this time of night but you know how to call us.” And with those parting words she vanished, dropping off the side of the building and disappearing from sight.

“Thank you, my dear.”

What happened next was both a display of pure athleticism and acrobatics as with a single leap Hayate propelled himself up and over the edge of the building, twisting his body as he spiraled downward before landing with a soft thud behind the scholar. A rogue breeze cascaded in from the north carrying with it a trove of leaves. “It’s come to my attention that your in search of the wind?” He whispered in the scholars ear breaking the silence.

“If there’s only one thing I hate more than quotes, It’s irony.”

Just like that, Erik felt the sound of sudden wind brushing against his ear accompanied by a delicate leaf slapping him in the nose. He turned his head back so fast he nearly have himself whiplash. With a startled jump and look of surprise Erik stood and exhaled sharply. His eyes squinted as he examined the man that stood before him. The short man wore all black, his face covered with scars and his hand, no his entire arm, appeared to be made from some strange metal, most likely titanium based on the colour. The darkness of his hair and the blue in his eyes almost matched his own. This did appear to be someone with much experience.

“By that entrance I can only assume you’re the person I’m looking for. I need your help. It’s my first day here and someone stole my baby dragon from right off my shoulders! I don’t have much in the ways of payment right now but I promise to repay you in the future, and I’ll even let you pet my dragon when we get her back.” The truth was Erik really didn’t have much on him at all and would have to offer a promise he wasn’t sure he could keep.

The sun had almost set completely now, darkness quietly sweeping over the town of stonevale as the shinobi like figure accepted his request for aide. “Let’s go then” The man declared. “Show me where they took it.” Erik nodded, it was going to be an interesting ride from here for sure.

The two began to quickly sneak through the town, though he wasn’t sure why they were trying to hide from the common folk and guards. Perhaps there was more to this town than he realised at first, how deep did this ring of thieves go? They passed the back entrance of the town, out to the rock strewn mining areas, a rather uncomfortable way for a man with no shoes. A gentle breeze rolled past, ruffling Erik’s linen top and pants. “It’s just up ahead, that opening in the cave, there” Erik whispered as he pointed towards the mouth of the cave which held his familiar captive. “I’ll follow your lead from here, I didn’t follow the thief in so i'm not sure which way he went.”

Luckily it seemed the miners here worked nights too, and the mouth of the cave was lit by torches and probably would be lit the whole way through, convenient. The cave smelled of sulfur and sodium and the sound of iron striking against stone could be heard echoing through the whole way out.

The two hugged the edge of the cave, shrouded by darkness as they peered in. “Hey.. don’t you think it’s weird a thief would be running into a mine filled with people working for the government? What’s going on here…” By the sound of the striking it didn’t sound like there were too many people working, and there did appear to be a darker trail leading off into a closed off section of the mine. Perhaps that would be their best bet for the time being. The two exchanged a knowing look with each other. “After you.”

As the Shinobi inched forward toward the sliver of a passageway he noted that Erik had a good head on his shoulders. While these mines were owned by the Assembly and its resources were principal in the restoration of the country, the men working this vast network all work privately for the Hedged Foundation. Those sneaky bastards have had their hand in the pockets of everyone who came to town for the last few years and he wouldn’t put it past them to have taken up petty theft as well. The boy soldier hugged as he crouched and shimmied through the narrow opening before signaling his newfound companion to follow suit.
The air was stagnant, thick with dust and soot, choking the pair of them as the two pressed forward in the darkness. Without a word Hayate tore two equal strips from his cloak, offering one to Erik and fastening the other around his mouth as a mask.

“You’ve come to town at a strange time you know,” he said, breaking the silence. “Since the explosion of Lorinus and the assault on the capital most folks have been leavening, not coming. I’m sure you’ve noticed the mass exodus from the country, there isn’t enough to go around right now.”

“That’s not a good reason to steal my-...” Hayate put his hand up hushing Erik before he could finish.

Ahead there was another small opening only barely visible by a faint glow coming from the other side. The two of them had walked for over half an hour by this point and Hayate figures they to be about a kilometer under the earth and about at the end of this particular corridor. Assuming it had been blocked off for the lack of mineral found in this direction, The Foundation wouldn’t have allocated anymore time or materials to continue without results. But why would there be light all the way down here if the tunnel was supposed to be abandoned.

Hesitantly the Shinobi as if the shadows himself skilled towards the mouth of the opening, peering over his left shoulder to try and catch a glimpse of what may be beyond. With only a very small fraction of his face showing he leaned in to see a number of torches hanging from either side of a large hollowed our room about fifteen meters in every direction. Throughout a number of barrels and crates littered the floor and among them sacks packed to the brim with assorted goods and other valuables. Hayate was shocked to see such a stockpile and ushered his friend to take a look for himself. While he was alert and ready for anything there wasn’t a sign of anyone slurring around in the room.

“What do you make of this?” The boy soldier asked the scholar.

“Anger is one letter short from danger” - Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)


Erik looked around the dimly lit cave with labored breath through the cloth taken earlier from his companion. He examined the contents and storage containment's themselves, it was hard to judge exactly what they were trying to accomplish with all the varying materials gathered so far as they could be used for a variety of products and items. He scratched his head as he thought momentarily and looked back at the soldier by his side. “Well, the sulfur could be used for black gunpowder and acid… the sodium can be used in the exchange of heat.. The iron could be anything. Perhaps some kind of mechanical contraption with explosive properties. Those barrels are also quite common for boat transport, so whatever it is, it's going overseas. We also can’t rule out the possibility that these common products could be a front for something bigger, they did steal my dragon afterall.”

The gravel shifted beneath Erik’s feet as he shuffled his way further ahead, the path they were on lead to what appeared to be a main hallway of sorts that broke into multiple mining branches. Erik could overhear two miners talking, so he stepped closer to get an ear into their conversation. “How long do ya reckon until they come for the next shipment?” A stout miner spoke. “Probably not for another three days.” The slender miner replied. “Hmm three days, that means my dragon is definitely still here.” Erik whispered to himself.

“That long huh.” The stout miner continued “It might get dangerous, stealing that dragon earlier definitely caught some attention.” “Nah. The owner was just some snobby kid. Probably wouldn’t even know what to do with the thing.” The slender retorted. “So where did you put it?” “Obviously with the rest of the illegal crap in the 7th level.”

Erik had now heard all he needed to proceed. With a strangely unfamiliar anger, Erik stood from his stealthy crouching and charged the two, having now found the one responsible from the dragon napping. With his large heavy steps however, it wasn’t a surprise that they heard him coming. The stout was slow to react. Erik threw his fist, carrying his whole body weight through and hit the slender miner straight in the jaw. “This is what you get!” The crack of bone could be heard as the miners jaw dislocated before shattering and carried the force of the swing through by being tossed head first into the dirt. In response the stout miner swung his pick directly at Erik’s back, luckily hitting the scales on his spine. The force however was still enough to flatten Erik onto the ground next to his opposing counterpart, eating a mouth full of gravel and dirt and knocking him out of his angered state.

Second time lucky for Erik, he had brought a friend, allowing his hide to be saved before the stout miner had a chance to bring down the pick a second time on him. Erik opened his eyes slowly with some effort before unpleasantly spitting out a mouth full of dirt and picking himself up. He stretched his back and turned his gaze down towards the man who had allegedly stolen his Dragon. “Did I do that?” Erik turned his head towards his companion as he pointed to the now unconscious and severely injured body. “I really wasn’t thinking, now how am I supposed to find my girl with this guy unconscious like this.” Erik rubbed the back of his neck and took notice of his surroundings wondering if anyone had heard the brawl that had occurred. Two empty barrels conveniently appeared in his peripheral before giving his companion another knowing look.

With the two unconscious bodies now stuffed inside barrels they could comfortably continue searching the labyrinth before them without worrying about other people coming across the bodies. “Onto the seventh level, wind man. We’ve got a baby to rescue.”

Quickly and without a moment's warning Hayate stood chest to chest with Erik, staring up to him with an angry glare, ready to sock him right in the jaw. “And what if those two never report back to the others!” His voice was that of a viper as he hissed in dissatisfaction. “What do you think they will do when two lookouts go missing, lollygag around?” He was angry, but couldn’t deny their total effectiveness as a team so far. The Shinobi took a step back, exhaling a stale soot filled breath, before turning towards the direction of the descending corridor. “If you want any hope of seeing your friend again drop the whole upset older brother act and think like his life depends on it!” In his heart Hayate only wished to teach the scholar a lesson he had learned the hard way long ago.

The two of them spoke less than a sentence to each other as the moved vigilantly further into the maze of tunnels. Surprisingly this once abandoned shaft had quickly turned into a spalling network that Hayate could only assume stretched under the entire city. Every once in a while the two of them would encounter a few souls here and there mining and transporting the raw ores back and forth. They all wore the insignia of the Foundation, which seemed to be branded on everything not bolted down, and were more or less using it as a front for their more shady actions. A previous assumption now confined to be fact.

Before long the boys found themselves at the end of a long narrow passage that opened up into another larger storage room. By now Hayate and Erik has made it to what they thought should be the fifth level of the mine, but in all honesty by now the only thing they knew for sure was that getting back to the surface would just as hard as anything. In the center of the room was a moderately sized ballast fixed over a large pit with a winch attached to the center. A pulley system of sorts for moving cargo between levels, a strange site to see so far underground. Hayate motioned to Erik to follow closely as the two moved between cover getting closer to the pulley.

“Do you suppose we could use this!” Hayate asked tapping his titanium fingers on the thick ballets. “I bet it could hold us?” Erik took a moment to look over the device before the two of them froze at the sound of approaching footsteps and echoing voices. Coming from the same direction as they entered from were a handful of armed men unlike the Foundation workers from earlier. The shinobi gritted his teeth as he clung low to the floor using a crate as cover, hoping that Erik has found someplace to hide. From the looks of them these guys must have been some hired help to guard the thieves treasure trove, and boy did they all look like they could do it too.

Finally after a moment of stressful silence the group had moved on and the boys both stood from their binding spots. They looked at each other with relief knowing that if they were spotted an all out brawl would have broken out. While Erik may have heard rumor of Hayate’s ability in such confined spaces like this network of tunnels he wouldn’t be able to channel his magic freely. A fact not lost to the boy soldier as he anticipates a tough time ahead.

“Now then, how about getting this device working?”

Erik examined the pulley system for a moment guessing that it wouldn’t be too hard to figure out. It seemed to work off of weights using the person's body weight to pull the cart down while a counter weight kept them from speeding down and would pull the cart back up after the people had gotten out. On second thought, it probably wasn’t even designed for people, instead of being used to transport large amounts of product to different floors. There must be another way up and down but this was their best bet for now. “Hmm I think if we got in it’d take us down for sure. It doesn’t seem to require anything special to get going, let's get in.”

As the two eased their combined weight into the cart its wheels began to creek, slowly picking up speed until Erik sat his full weight onto the cart, causing it to rapidly pick up in pace. “Uh oh”. Within a few moments they were speeding down into the darker floors below. With a raised voice Erik irked out “I just realised I didn’t think of how to make this thing stop.” As the cart went lower through the tunnel he took notice of indentations in wooden posts signifying the floor that the tunnel had led to. They were nearing their destination, and now they had to figure out how to slow the cart down.

“Hayate, reckon you could use that titanium arm to grab onto the rope above us? If you create some drag the cart should begin to slow. I’ll see if I can make some friction on the tracks.” Erik thought for a moment, thinking what he could conjure up to help slow the cart down, he was still practicing a lot of his magical abilities so he wasn’t able to make anything too extravagant yet. “Yes.. I think this should do.” Erik muttered as his rubbed his hands together before mumbling some words. Magical runes appeared between his palms before he spread them apart, causing a block of pine tar soap to appear between them. The great thing about this kind of soap was that it was made from a naturally sticky substance that was also highly flammable. Erik reached the block of soap over to the wheels of the cart that had no become quite hot from the drag and pressed the block of soap against it. The temperature of the soap increased until parts of it began to melt into the wheels, allowing the pine tree resin to coat itself around the wheels and create friction due to its sticky nature.

Erik did this for both the back wheels before applying it to the front as well. The fiction on the tracks as well as the drag created by Hayate holding onto the rope with his titanium hand allowed the cart to slow down enough to a point they could safely abandon the cart without injury. “Our stop is just up ahead. We’ll jump out on the count of three. One, two, three!” With a forward roll out onto the dirt beside them and an audible thud, they were now safely at their destination.

Before them was a stone pathway leading to an iron door. It seemed the entire tunnel network on this floor had been turned into a safe-house for their goods. Erik dusted himself off before turning to his companion "What do you think Hayate. It might get messy from here if there's a whole bunch of them waiting inside. Better yet is we might not have a clear way out." Erik kept his voice low as to not attract any unwanted attention."