Prologue
Flamidar stumbled through the massive doorway, falling face-first onto the rocky floor ahead. He slowly stood, wiped his sweaty brow, and gazed up at his master, who was not at all pleased with him being late. The Master was heavily clothed, wrapped in an eerie black cloak that had some tears in it, revealing pale grayish flesh beneath. He sat in a terrifying throne made from petrified black and silver wood. Part of the room gleamed silver from the small bit of moonlight that shone from a hole in the ceiling almost directly above Flamidar.
“I summoned you over an hour ago,” The Master said in a toneless voice.
Flamidar felt his mouth flapping uselessly as he tried to think of an excuse, but the terrifying humanoid ahead simply held up a bony hand, silencing him. Shaking with fright, the tardy human looked to his right and saw the faint outlines of his two companions. He looked to his left and thought he saw a pile of skeletons, but either his mind was playing tricks on him, or they had been moved. Or maybe they moved entirely on their own accord….
“For three years and six months now you have been in my debt,” The Master said, standing up and pacing the floor on a slightly-raised platform made from who knows what. “And now I would like to finally use your offer of eternal service.”
Flamidar bowed feebly to his master. He remembered all too well the night that The Master had spared his son’s life, though it was unknown to Flamidar why he was in danger in the first place. He knew nothing about his master, except that he was a devilishly evil man in many ways, and that was the first time he had actually seen him in person.
“W-what do y-you want me to d-do…m-my lord,” Flamidar choked out, fear very evident in his eyes.
The master stared at him carefully before replying, “You and the others need to do something for me. I believe that in a decade or so, a new dragon rider will appear, and no doubt he will be a threat to our existence. I want you to-”
“But the dragon riders restore balance to the world!”
Flamidar regretted it as soon as he said it. The master turned sharply to him and hissed, saying something inaudible by Flamidar’s ears, and a growl erupted from his left. It was a terrifying growl, and the human felt tears rush to his eyes as he prepared to beg for his life.
Too late.
The Master said something else, a sort of crazy incantation in an even worse hiss, and Flamidar gasped as his body was racked with pain and he crumpled to the ground. He wasn’t dead, but he was for sure immobilized and he was constantly feeling pain in every single nerve in his body.
The Master slowly strode towards him until his shadowy form completely blocked all moonlight from view, and said, “The riders are a danger to all of us. Either the last one of them dies, or everyone dies.”
Flamidar felt himself being released from the terribly awful and torturous spell, and he gasped for air, not realizing how much he longed for a painless breath in those few seconds. He gazed up at The Master who seemed even more terrifying than before, with a grey nose sticking out ever so slightly from the hood of his cloak. Red eyes shone from the hood even more prominently, sending terrified chills down Flamidar’s spine. The Master bent down and picked him up by a fist-full of his ragged shirt.
“Find and kill the rider, or bring him to me, or else you die,” The Master said, dropping him onto the floor again and turning back to his throne.
“What if I run away so you can’t find me?” Flamidar choked out, hoping he wouldn’t be pushing it.
The Master turned to him, his eyes shining brighter than ever before, but he finished the slow walk to his throne and sat down. The two of them exchanged stares, and Flamidar began to shake with fright.
“Good point,” The Master said quietly.
Flamidar felt very slightly relieved, but his little victory was short-lived. With another incantation uttered in an inaudible hiss, Flamidar was thrown backwards until his back hit the wall behind him, at least a dozen feet away. His spine cracked painfully, but even worse was the strange new presence he felt in the back of his head.
“Don’t,” The Master said warningly.
Flamidar gaped at him and said, “B-but w-what did you-”
“If you don’t find and kill the rider in 11 years, or in the very least bring him to me, the slow poison I just discovered inside of you will kill you.”
“Discovered? Poison?” Flamidar choked out .
All he got in reply was an evil chuckle from the Master and his other two, more willing servants. Flamidar slowly began to back out the doors again.
“You won’t be disappointed,” he said in a horrified voice.
“I better not be,” The Master said.
Flamidar turned to run and regretted it when he turned again to take a final look at his master. He gasped in evident terror as the stage that the Master was on was revealed.
Beneath the petrified wood, that seemed to be made of death itself, were hundreds, if not thousands of human skulls.
~
Argos sat in a cave at the top of a mountain, his rider sitting on a boulder beside him. He was concerned about the glazed look in his eyes; it had never been like that for so long.
“What’s the matter?” Argos asked his rider in a concerned tone through their mental bond.
The rider sighed and his eyes returned to normal as he said, “His strength is growing.”
“Does he know about your existence yet?” Argos asked, slapping his tail on the rocky ground beneath him in impatience. He didn’t have to ask to know who he was talking about.
“Not yet, we are still safe,” his rider replied. “But now he knows about the new rider; the one that will be revealed in a decade that I told you about.”
Argos roared as he felt something happen to him, as if he was suddenly struck by something that began to sap his strength. He felt the same thing happen to his rider, and desperately wanted to cry out in fear, but he knew that he had to stay strong. He had to stay strong for his rider and the rest of the world.
“It’s beginning,” was all his rider said.
“What is?”
His rider turned and patted his rough scales with a leathery hand before replying aloud, “Our legacy. Our only hope is the rider, if we even manage to live long enough to talk to him. The battle between life and death is beginning as well. Only the fates know whether the forces will end their struggle and return to their state of balance.”
Argos looked at the ground in despair. He always knew that one day the struggle that could be the end of the riders would come; he had just hoped that it wouldn’t be in his time. But he knew his job and what was going on. He also knew that the weakness was affecting him less than his rider, so the duty would be his to find the new rider.
“Go,” his rider urged; the weakness evident in his voice. “Go and find the rider. Without him, the world will fall around us. And without you, the rider cannot find his destiny. Don’t let Inferno Legacy die.”
Argos growled in confirmation. He took one last look at the frail old rider, before leaping from his perch and spreading his fantastic blue wings in flight. He let out a pathetic, pleading roar, begging someone to help, as he soared into the unknown.