Chp.0 : Prologue.
Warning: This story contains depictions of violence and mental health struggles that may be upsetting to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.
Over a century ago.
The world below him burned.
Settled on the highest ledge, Dragon Rider Mazus Lynch surveyed the carnage below him. His fingers, either broken, bruised or sprained, clenched tight onto the hand-holds of his saddle as a high pitched roar sounded somewhere in the burning forest below.
His attention shifted as his dragon settled her weight. Rocks trickled under the ledge and his dragon snorted, her sharp eyes scanning the skies for threats.
His body ached from the days of fighting. His skin was slurried with muck and blood. He would have felt guilty about the deaths at his hands, but what was one live in the pursuit of true freedom?
Ishkar shifted her weight again, perturbed. Her large chest heaved and with a long breath, she expelled a cloud of freezing air. The icy cold was familiar on his skin and he welcomed it's comfort.
Mazus didn't want to admit it, but he was losing. Badly.
Ishkar's suddenly emitted a low, gravelly snarl. A dragon emerged before him from the smoke, his navy wings treading the air.
Basset. Of course.
He was the only one Mazus would consider his mortal enemy. Once classmates, they were now at the opposing ends of a civil war that was tearing the country apart.
Mazus didn't want to call that bastard by his first name even if it was the last thing he did.
"Lynch," Basset called.
Basset's beast snapped the air, challenging Ishkar's frayed temper.
"Surrender now and end this carnage," Basset motioned with a sweeping hand to the devastation below.
Ahead the Valaxian academy was in ruin; a large hungry fire rose into the air, sending a thick plume of smoke upwards. The fire had caught onto the trees of the forest, and even from up on the ledge, Mazus could hear the screams of those caught in the blaze.
"And why should I do that?" He replied coldly.
Basset face twisted into a sneer, "You have slaughtered hundreds of civilians and taken the lives of young Riders and their dragons. "
Mazus smiled at him. He felt little guilt about killing the young Rider's in nest, many of whom didn't know how to properly wield a blade. Their blood ran through the Egg Hollow, staining the before innocent ground with the blood of dragons and Riders. If any dragon hatched there now, they would grow mad with the scent that would never leave the earth.
"I have done what is necessary. The world of Rider's has become corrupt. You refuse to listen to my ideas, so I must bring them in by force. "
Just as he said that, a high cry of pain reached his ears. Mazus' eyes snapped towards the burning battle field and something clenched his heart tight.
It doesn't matter.
Even if he died today, his wife and son were safe from these scum.
Suddenly Ishkar's temper snapped and the white dragon leapt from the ledge, spreading her wide wings out. Basset roared in fury and his dragon echoed the sound. Blinding dark blue flames shot at Mazus, but his dragon retaliated with ice white fire. Both dragons fought to press their fires further towards the enemy, but they didn't succeed.
"You killed my daughter. "Basset screamed over the noise.
Mazus' jaw clenched, and he met Basset's furious eyes. "You say that like I'm the only villain here. Have you forgotten what you've done? What we have all done?"
Basset's dragon ducked, angling his sharp claw towards Ice's stomach. They clawed at each other mid air but Mazus made an instant and fatal mistake. Never take your eyes off your opponent.
A knife suddenly lodged in the bottom of his throat and he felt the pain slice throughout his entire body. His easy grin cut off with gurgle; blood spilling out and ruining the brilliant white of his dragon's scales; time halted as he felt his heart giving its final few beats. Seconds passed and Mazus' body sagged and fell to the side, tumbling down to the burning forest below.
His dragon sensed the departure of her Rider, a painful heart wrenching feeling that informed her that her best companion, the man she spent thirty long wonderful years with, was gone.
Basset's dragon didn't have a chance. With the fury of a grief ridden beast, Ishkar unleashed a torrent of ice and fire which drove itself, like an arrow, into the other dragon's chest.
The dragon screeched in terror as his body stiffened, ice invading his veins and halting his heart. Basset roared again, but this time in grief as he felt his dragon's life force slip from his mind.
He lobbed his sword at Ishkar, and struck her solidly in the chest. With Basset's dragon's last bit of strength, he forced his Rider onto the ledge Mazus stood minutes before. Basset watched as his dragon's eyes met him one more time before his entire body froze and tumbled out of the air.
Still, the world burned below.
---
"Sir!"
Basset looked up as his second in command rushed towards him, with a cheerful expression on his face. Basset stopped shuffling along the snow and stared at his friend, sickened by his happiness.
Shaw's cheeks were red and raw from the snow; large bruises dotted the visible skin and his clothes were covered in gore. He easily towered over Basset, but he didn't present the same persona and aura as Basset.
"I couldn't find you in the fray." Shaw stopped beside him, immediately guarding Basset's unprotected back.
"I thought you were dead." Shaw's head turned towards him for a second before looking back towards the burning trees. "I think the demons are retreating and I don't know why."
Basset didn't answer him; he just kept his arms slack at his sides and stared blankly at the trees. Shaw's face turned up as a dragon swooped down, her stomach brushing along the treetops. Shaw watched her with narrowed green eyes before his smile broadened.
"They are retreating." Shaw grinned. "Mazus must be furious. "
Basset flinched and shook his head. "Lynch is dead." His voice was rough and sore; it had taken him a long time to assemble himself and stop screaming his grief into the wind.
Basset turned towards a surprised Shaw. "I killed him myself."
Shaw grasped his shoulder and spun him around. "You've got revenge for your daughter. "Shaw grinned. "There is no reason to look so serious anymore."
Basset stared at his friend; Shaw had been his best friend since they both became Riders at the tender age of sixteen. Shaw had been the best man at his wedding, and he had been Shaw's best man. Shaw had been there to comfort him when his daughter was killed, but Shaw couldn't help him now.
Basset squared his jaw and looked away. "Gather the men. Meet me at the gates of the school in twenty minutes."
Shaw nodded his head and disappeared into the trees. A few minutes later, Basset spotted Shaw's dragon swooping down to pick him up. A lump clogged Basset's throat, and he gritted his teeth furiously to stop himself from crying. He needed a purpose to distract him from the loss of his life partner.
Lynch.
Basset made his way to the broken walls of one of the many academies in Valaxia. He could see the man coming out of the trees as Shaw had ordered them to. Many of them were older Riders since a lot of the younger, inexperienced Riders were slaughtered in Egg's Hollow only two days ago.
Basset shuddered in horror at the memory; all those young, baby faced Riders who had been slaughtered. The Hollow was cleared immediately of any dragon eggs there and taken to a safer location. A hatchling growing up in a place like that wouldn't be healthy.
The soldier's dragons settled around the edges of the group with smug looks on their faces. The fire had been contained once the demons had left, and heavy white smoke rose up into the sky.
Basset stood on a large piece of rubble and faced his men. They stared up at him with expectant expressions - eager to know what their Commander had to say.
"Mazus is dead." Basset roared to them.
The men cheered and Basset grinned, but there was no joy in it.
"I stuck a knife in him myself. The death of Mazus Lynch will mark the end of a horrific war. No part of Valaxia has remained untouched by the horror of murder, torture and Mazus' ace of cards, the demons. For it was a Rider, who had swore to protect the Valaxian people from the evil of demons, that unleashed them into ever town and village."
Basset stopped for a second, looking down at the faces of his men. "Every one of us has lost someone in this war." He found Shaw in the crowd who gave him a fierce smile. "I myself lost my dear daughter and just today, my dragon was killed in the battle between Mazus and myself. "
A murmur ran through the crowd, and Shaw's face dropped in horror. Basset's voice turned even darker and his hate crossed over his face for a brief second.
"And even though Mazus Lynch is dead, we will not let him get away with this. We will hunt down his wife and his son and kill them, making sure that the Lynch blood-line is ended here and now." Basset's voice was lower, but deadly and full of promise.
"The Lynch family are evil and dangerous. They must die."
The Rider's cheered loudly, and Basset grinned despite the life-shattering grief squeezing his lungs tight.
Lynch would pay.
An extract from 'Inside the mind of evil ' Author unknown.
------
The memory of the war never left Valaxia. The name Lynch was a curse and the Lynch line was hunted to near extinction. A century passed and in the mist of a dragons' nest filled with shattered eggs and blood-stained earth, a forgotten survivor hatched.
His Rider. A direct descendant of Mazus Lynch.