Tbou: Hopebreaker

Chapter Three

Festival of Soul

William's Perspective

I stared at the sky as dragons of all shapes and sizes flew toward the open mountain. Roars echoed throughout the sky. My back shivered at my father's words. We can go to the festival. We can see the dragons.

The Festival of Souls.

A festival for Omara, a testament to her. She allows the Dragon Riders and the Order of Drake to exist, fueling the power of all riders. She is the reason we can stand against the Blight.

Despite wanting to join the Order, I wasn't so crazy about the religion itself. Heck, even Barren wasn't either, and he is the Knight Commander of the Order itself and of the kingdom, serving next to the King, who surprisingly wasn't a rider.

"When can we go?" I turned around to await my father's answer. I couldn't help but see Lord Dimmal holding his head up with his hand. He furrowed his brows as if he were in pain. "Lord Dimmal? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just a minor headache." Lord Dimmal waves me off.

Letting go of his head, he approaches his dragon and mounts it. "I have my duties to tend to. I hope you both enjoy the festival."

A lightning spark goes off in the streets, and thunder echoes throughout the sky despite thunder clouds now anywhere. But people throughout the city cheer loudly. We see a dragon fly over us, and a trail of lightning follows behind it.

Seeing that dragon made me excited. I can't wait to see more.

Chuckling to myself as Lord Dimmal's dragon climbed back up the building, pulling some of the bricks out as it raised its wings to take off. The wind barrels down at us from the dragon's mighty wings as it joins the rest of the dragons flying toward the mountain.

Before I could turn, my father pulled me into his arms. "Come. Let's go get our money from Cryken. Can't be part of the festival without money."

I chuckled loudly as I tagged along with him, excited to finally attend the festival. My father never allowed me to go with my friends.

Walking down the city blocks, spotting people of all life varieties walked along and past us. The street is filled with beasts pulling carriages or people riding them. Street lights are lit as the sun starts to go down, turning clouds into a very bright orange color instead of their usual grey. The streets and sidewalks were filled with cobblestone, trimmed and cut to a fine block, neatly organized. There are apparent signs of weeds growing between the blocks and signs of weathering and mud staining the cobblestone roads and walkways.

The buildings, too, were changing. Since we were near the guild and closer to the gate, the buildings were designed mainly out of brick. A form of protection in case the guards must establish a new base or defendable position.

Now, the buildings had signs of wood, brick, and stone. Mainly using stone as the foundation for the house, most of the walls had only brick lined with wood above them. The trims of each building are lined in fascinating patterns using wood, which is sometimes used as support pillars, depending on the building. Tile rooftops were everywhere, designed to be a diagonal slant on the buildings, mostly chipped due to all the dragons. Many of the towers, which were more often than not everywhere, were explicitly made out of brick and stone used for the dragons. Plenty of rooftops could hold up the dragon's weight, but there was the tower where the buildings couldn't. Dragon towers, we called them.

I spotted a few people wearing cloaks and wands, walking farther down the street. Noticing a few suitcases following behind them, floating in the air.

I was in awe; imagine how useful that must be. I wished I had that so I didn't have to push a damn carriage.