Xar and the Dragon’s Stone

Dragonia was the best place to live. At least that is what everyone thought. It was the only place where humans and dragons lived together happily. It was a huge metropolis, where there were no problems for anyone. The dragons made all the work, that couldn’t be solved by the people like repairing tall buildings while the people did what the dragons couldn't do. It stayed that way for many years until one day, a plague struck Dragonia. The dragons that made such a unique place possible fell ill. No one knew what made them ill but without them, Dragonia started to fall apart. The only things keeping it up were a few fortunate dragons that had somehow avoided the plague.

One of these fortunate few was Dark’n, Xar’s dragon. Everyone thought that the illness would come and go, but Xar thought that something else was happening. Even though no one knew, the Dragon Keepers were hiding a secret. The Dragon Keepers were a group of 7 people that few knew about and no one knew what they did. Some even think that the 7 don’t know each other. All they knew was that they they had a secret duty that they took very seriously. Their secret duty was to protect the Dragon’s Stone, the only thing that kept the dragons alive and well.

Without it the dragons would get sick, and they wouldn’t get better until the stone is returned. Their “secret” was that this stone had gone missing and all they had seen was a shadowy, hooded figure leaving the room with a small bag in his hands. They knew someone would find out eventually, but they were trying to keep it a secret for as long as possible. The first person that started to get suspicious was Xar. Xar was flying around the city on Dark’n, but when they were flying around the edge of the island they saw something anomalous on the cliffside. In the middle of the cliff, there seemed to be a small room carved into the cliff. He was going to go inside it when he noticed that there was a small window, in which he was able to see that a person in an orange robe was walking towards the window. Afraid to be seen, Xar and Dark’n flew to an outcrop in the cliff and waited.
They saw the robed person walk outside, look around and go back inside. Xar and Dark’n decided to go closer, little by little, being very cautious to not get seen by the robed person, to get more information.

Eventually, they found a small outcrop of stone near the open window at an angle where they couldn’t be seen, but they could hear what the robed person was saying. That is when they found out that it wasn’t a robed person, but a whole group of them. They could hear at least 7 voices in the room, so they guessed that there was at least 7 of them in there. Then they heard their conversation: “He took the stone.” “How could he?” “We need to get it back.” “Where did he go?” “He went to the Dragonic temple.” “Well let’s go then!”. Xar and Dark’n couldn’t tell who said what, nor who “He” was or what “The stone” was but, he thought it had some relationship with the plague. However, he knew what the Dragonic temple was and where to find it so, they decided they would go there. Suddenly, they saw all 7 robed characters dressed in different colors walking away and then flying away on identical dragons dressed in armor the same color as their master’s robe.

Xar and Dark’n flew off into the night, towards the Dragonic temple, hoping to get there before the robed people. Xar was very careful since he knew that there was a certain enchantment on the temple that would make all dragons in it’s range unable to fly for as long a they were near the temple. Xar knew that this enchantment was to prevent anyone from just flying to the top room, the treasure chamber but, he knew that it was extremely dangerous to underestimate the power of the enchantment. Instead of risking to go any closer, Xar and Dark’n landed on a nearby field, because they had decided that they would walk the rest of the way. There was no need to risk going any closer. After a few minutes of walking, Xar and Dark’n arrived at the temple.
It was more magnificent then they had ever imagined. However they knew that there was no time for sightseeing, so they walked into the temple. They soon found themselves inside a large, circular room. Xar was very cautious, because he knew that this temple was made to have lots of traps, even though he knew that these were many centuries old and probably didn’t work anymore. Suddenly Xar heard a peculiar sound, coming from a small tunnel in one of the walls. Then he noticed it wasn’t a sound, it was a voice! It was saying: “Xar, you have made it very far. But all journeys must come to an end, and your’s ends NOW!”

Suddenly, out of the shadowy tunnel jumped a warrior in dark black armor, going right for Xar! Xar quickly dodged the attack and jumped back. The dark warrior took out a sword and started to charge towards Xar! Xar knew that he was unarmed, and he knew that he could only dodge a few more times until he got hit, but he decided to dodge as long as he could. He had dodged the charge, but he knew that he couldn’t keep this quick dodging up for much longer. Suddenly, the dark warrior noticed that Dark’n, Xar’s dragon was in the room and he said: “Can’t leave anymore!” and he started to charge with his sword straight at Dark’n! Without thinking about it, Xar grabbed a broken brick from the floor and threw it as hard as he could at the dark warrior. There was a loud KLANG as a large piece of the dark warrior’s armor fell off, revealing the warrior’s weak spot. Before the warrior could turn around to see what had happened, Xar had charged at the warrior and had kicked him in his weak spot as hard as he could. Holding himself in pain, he fell onto the floor and said: “You may have won this battle, but the war is far from over…” Xar had no idea what he had meant, but he soon noticed that the warrior had left the room and he had “accidentally” dropped something on his exit. Xar picked up the mysterious object. It was rectangular, about 5 centimeters thick and it had a small antenna on the top of it.

On the top part of it, written in bright red letters, the word Translator. Xar had had and used a translator before, back when Dragonia prospered and people from different continents came to visit. However, this one was different...

Xar noticed that the translator said “Dragon” in the place where it usually said which language it would translate to and from. Xar was very confused, and he remembered who had dropped it, so Xar decided that it would be a better idea to store it in his bag. However, when he tried to put it away, he accidentally pressed the small, red button on the front of the translator. He heard a small, high-pitched sound coming from the translator, which he immediately recognised as the calibrating sound. A couple seconds later, the sound stopped. Suddenly, out of the translator came:”Xar, can you hear me?” Xar didn’t know who or what the translator was translating was translating from, but he was very suspicious about the small device. He was going to try to respond to what he had heard, but then he noticed that a small door opened in the back of the room, and he couldn’t stop wondering if the warrior had been a decoy in the temple, or just another person that wanted something that was inside the temple. He also worried that, if that gate worked, the traps probably worked too. Xar and Dark’n continued walking around the temple, being very careful to not step on or push anything that could potentially be a trap, until Xar heard the translator again: “Xar, can you hear me?”. This time Xar decided to respond to the unknown speaker: “Yes, I can.”. Then he heard the unknown speaker again: “Good.”. Xar immediately responded: “Who are you?”. The speaker responded: “I am Dark’n, your dragon, Xar.”. Xar jumped back in fear. “The translator said “Dragon” on the back because it  translated dragon language! But how? Dragons don’t have a language? Or do they…….” Xar thought to himself. “Let’s continue.” said Dark’n. Xar and Dark’n walked through corridors, up stairs and through tunnels until they found themselves in a large, open room. They were at the top of the temple.

Xar quickly noticed that there was a small stone on a pedestal in the middle of the room. Xar was walking towards the pedestal when suddenly, as soon as Xar had stepped out of the tunnel that led to the room, the platform he was on started to tilt! He thought that he was doomed until, the platform stopped tilting. He noticed that the platform had tilted very, very little, so he assumed that the trap was broken. However, as soon as he stepped off the platform, the platform went back to it’s original position, probably to lock the people or creatures trapped inside. Around the middle of the room, Xar noticed that there was a small part of the floor was made of metal bars, not stone bricks. Through the bars, Xar could see a small, empty room encased into the floor. “That’s where I’d be if the trap worked.” thought Xar. “Come on, Dark’n.” said Xar. Suddenly, when Dark’n stepped onto the tilt platform, it fully tilted and he fell into the trap! That is when Xar noticed that it wasn’t a tilt platform, it was a weighted one! “Get the stone…Leave me…” said Dark’n. “No Dark’n I can’t!” said Xar. Xar grabbed a brick and broke the bars and said:”Come on Dark’n.”. Dark’n tried to come out, but he didn’t fit into the hole. Xar extended the hole and Dark’n came out. Xar quickly grabbed the stone and started to run out of the room. Dark’n was very careful to not step on the weighted platform. The whole temple started to shake. Xar and Dark’n ran and ran until they saw the exit. However, Xar dropped the translator while he was running. Xar was going to go back for it when Dark’n picked him up and carried him outside the temple, while it fell apart behind them. They ran until they were sure that they were outside the enchantment’s range and then they flew back to Dragonia. They searched for the cliffside room and when they found it, they flew right in. They found a small pedestal in the room, just like the one in the temple. Xar put the stone in and left. Dark’n carried Xar around Dragonia and then they both landed and they walked back home.

The next morning, Xar woke up to see all the dragons better. Xar and Dark’n were very happy. They had done it. They had saved Dragonia.

David Cuevas
5th Grade
www.lomashill.com
Image by Pixabay