Book of Ogmin'ni

The Illness.

  Cyprus

A hushed crowd stood beneath one of the overlooking towers of King Godric's castle as they awaited the news of his sudden illness. My brother, Sirion, was behind me gripping at my sleeve. He had always been worried about our king, though I'm not too sure why; it was most likely due to what might happen to our city of Viernesse. We haven't had a new king in decades; Sirion has only known about king Godric his whole life, while king Godric has been our ruler for the past 47 years. Of course, he has been around longer than I have too, but I haven't been worried about the consequences of who may become the new king. In our world of Idrilan, the king's son or daughter aren't the ones who become our next ruler; it is whomever the king decides is worthy enough to rule our land. Someone whom he trusts with his whole life, and our king decided that his taste tester would be our next king. His name is Claude Abbot, and before he started working for Godric, he was his closest friend that our king considered a brother. Though I always thought it was silly how scared Sirion was if Claude had become our next king, he always had seemed to be right about his intuition. It had turned out that Godric's beloved friend had a more sinister plan.

   "People of Viernesse," Claude yelled from the tower, "Our king Godric... doesn't have much time. Our royal Matriarchy of Medicine have told us that King Godric has what can only be called Nature's Judgement." The once hushed group of citizens had become loud, scared, and confused as to what this Nature's Judgement was. Claude raised his hands to calm down the crowd. "Our Matriarchy has told me that this can only happen if someone has hexed another person, and that once the hex takes effect, that person only has a week to live. The only known cure to treat this unfortunate spell is to collect one tooth of the dreaded Dhamyok, Ogmi of Purgatory." After hearing those last words, Sirion had buried his face on the side of my shirt, trying not to cry. He looked up to me and asked quietly, "How can someone face something so sinister? After all the stories that my friends told me at school, I wouldn't even think someone could come close enough to a regular dragon without getting..." He became quiet, not finishing his sentence.

   Dragons –in the stories, at least- are known to be fearless killing machines that are independent hunters that have no known form of hierarchy. In Idrilan, there are different ranks to what dragons can be. The higher-ranked beings are called Ogmi, meaning ruler or master in the dragon language of Ogmin'ni. There is no one true Ogmi, as there are different elements and abilities that can be mastered. They gain this Ogmi status by reciting a very special and ancient passage in a book they call the Equilibrium of Ulbym. The dragons that complete this difficult passage move on to become Ogmi. The ones that do not are sent to the Burning Nexus; the dragon purgatory. If the Ogmi of Purgatory, Dhamyok, deems the failed dragon as forgiven for their failure they are sent to the almighty Sothyphet, Ogmi of the stars. Those failed Ogmi must recite the same passage again without flaw. If they fail, they are banished to the Burning Nexus. The dragons that are not deemed forgiven shall be a slave to Dhamyok in the Burning Nexus for eternity.

   All of this knowledge is shared in the public schools of Viernesse, but only in one class. Though it is an essential class, not many people are present. It covers the complete history of dragons on Idrilan, including the theory of their Ogmin'ni language. Not a lot of research has been done on the ancient language, as the language isn't actually written down; it is passed down from dragons onto humans. Only people that have gained total trust from a wild dragon may gain that knowledge of Ogmin'ni.

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   As the townspeople looked over at each other, not knowing what to say or think, Claude had yelled that the person that can save King Godric will be announced later in the day. After that, he had disappeared back into the tall tower, most likely to go back and check on the king. Sirion looked up at me, confused. "We need to know now! What's going on in the castle? Is King Godric really cursed?" I didn't know what to tell him, as I was confused myself. I didn't know what to believe; we have never heard of a king fallen under a hex in our village. Is it really true? I thought to myself. I looked down at Sirion, feeling as anxious as ever. I couldn't do anything but think about the future of Viernesse. I squeezed his hand, "Let's go find out... We must go before the crowd thins out; that way the guards won't notice us sneaking in." He looked up at me, and nodded his head in agreement.