The Last Hybrid

Ch 3: The Journey

The dreams start per usual, my mother yelling for me to run, I spew fire at the man who killed her and I rush at him with all my fury trying to kill him. As he's stepping on my back, I'm screaming at myself. 'Get the hell up you coward,' I say mentally, 'quit being a weakling and actually do something.' He raises his sword at me, ready to kill me. 'This is what happens when you're weak. Maybe if you had been stronger, you would have been able to save her. To save them all.' My thoughts begin pounding at me like crazy. "What if you could obtain said power," said a mysterious voice. My eyes shoot wider than before, everything is frozen in place. The soldiers aren't moving; I move my head all around to see that no one is moving.

The flames are still tall, people who were running are stopped mid-run, my father at the side rushing to the man that is trying to kill me. "What sort of magic is this?" I say aloud. I see the people are beginning to turn into small flames, until everyone in the village that turned into fire combined together and covered the entire area. The flames engulfed the huts and everything near, without leaving scorch marks or destroying anything and stops at the edge.

"What kind of fire does this? Engulfs a village like this without burning or spreading through to the surrounding area." Some people find it weird, but I find thinking out loud helps me figure things out better. "Give in to your inner flame, become one with the primal fire," it says in a deep booming voice. I thought I was going to burn to a crisp, but to my surprise, I don't feel the flames. I feel calm, I feel a spark of energy starting to course through me. It's a different feeling of power, one that's full of life, but I also feel the dangers that lurk within it. "Only when you learn the true nature of fire itself, will you be able to unlock your true power within." I look up to where I think the voice is, and to my full surprise, floating above me, is the head of a fierce looking dragon.
I can't see its body, but I can see its looming head above me. Its face is long and scaly, with a long jaw and rows of, what's supposed to be, teeth and scales with a darkened color of red to them. "Who- who are you," I asked him calmly. His eyes looked different than the stories said. Supposedly, their eyes reflect the colors of the element they represent. Not this one, his aren't the color of fire, it IS fire. There's no way there are dragons still alive. I can see why people would hunt them, he may be just a head, but his presence is very intimidating and I can feel how powerful he is. Its stronger than anything I've ever known. "Learn the true meaning of the element fire young hybrid without losing yourself to its dark temptations. Only then can you possess the power you truly want. The power.... Of the dragons themselves!" The fire starts to heat up like crazy, smoke goes everywhere and the huts begin to collapse all around. I feel my scales beginning to burn so I run as quickly as I can to get out of the flames.
I try to run but the edge doesn't seem to get any closer, flying upwards doesn't help either. Everything is starting to get brighter and brighter until eventually, I can't see anything. I can hear another voice faintly, it sounds familiar. "Wake up," said the voice. It's like it's right next to me. I'm starting see blots of colors. "Wake up Gargamal." The blots of color start to focus more into shapes, almost looks like... "Wake up son!" I become fully conscious and stare at my dad looking down at me with a big concerned look on his face. "Dad?" I saying rubbing my eyes. "What's going on? Where am I?" I look around and notice that I'm back in my hut. "Never mind that, what the heck happened out there? I was getting worried when the sun was getting low and you hadn't returned yet. I was about to go look for you when all of a sudden, two giant streams of fire appeared from west of the village. I feared something happened to you and flew there as fast as I could. Only to find you passed out, some creatures dead, and a human who was right next to you," he explains. I struggle to remember what had happened before I passed out.
My mind was still stuck on the dragon and what he said, "give in to your inner flame, become one with the primal flame," I said aloud. "What?" said dad confused. "Never mind, who is the human? Where is he?" I'm still trying to remember all that happened before I had that weird dream, but it's all sort of fuzzy. All I can really remember is being trapped in that crystal, performing some move I've never seen before, him saving me from that gordra, then passing out before seeing him. "I'm right here scales for brains," said the human. I turn to my left to see a human that looks nothing like a threat, but gives off a strong sense of power. I can tell he's a powerful person, definitely someone to watch out for.
He's about average height, I'd say about 5'11, his hair is as brown as the finest chocolate in all the four kingdoms, white skin, and a body with little muscle to it. In my opinion, he could use more meat in his gut to build better build muscle mass. "The names Kalamy," he said in a smooth tone."Thanks for saving me," I say as I extend my hand to shake. "Not sure what would of happened if you hadn't-" but I quickly get interrupted. "You would have been dead without me hybrid," he says with harshness to his tone. "Keep the gratitude, I didn't do for you personally. After that powerful move you performed, I knew you'd be perfect for a favor I needed." I lower my hand in annoyance from this human who has as much kindness for others as a lycanthrop has a need to bathe, which they smell like they don't.
My dad leans over to me and whispers, "quite the charmer isn't he?" He stares at us intensely. "What favor is that Kalamy?" "I'll tell you Gargamal, when we get there. Till then, shut your trap and lets get going," he said in a rude way. I didn't care for his attitude at all, it takes a lot of will to not try and knock some manners into his skull. "You ever heard of manners Kalamy, you could be a lot nicer about it. I'm not sure I'd want to help you with this task," I responded. "Help?," he said, "you don't really have a choice hybrid. I know all about your culture and your code of honor dictates that in the event of a life debt, you must honor any and all request made by said person."
Why did he have to save me, even my dad knew he was right. I can see it on his face as he's looking at me. "Let's leave Gargamal, take what you need. Traveling light will help us move quicker." I roll my eyes at the fact that I have to help this jerk, why did it have to be him. "Son, take these. They will help you on your journey." My dad hands me a bag of supplies, which consists of some meats and spices, a couple of potions, and some veggies. He then hands me some armor and sword that was imbued with hybrid scales. Our scales help add a layer of toughness by absorbing sunlight and store it over a long period of time. In doing so, the scales become much more tough and durable and give us our red like coloring.
A long time ago, we found a way to take our scales and imbued them into our metals to further increases its power and durability. The trickiest part is trying to sharpen it with our scales being so tough, but when it is, it cuts through almost anything. "Dad, you know I hate using those. I prefer the natural way of things," I say as I spread fire all over my fists. "Just be safe son, don't make me come out there and drag you home in shame." When we give each other a hug, Kalamy makes a sound out of disgust. "If you two are finish with your mussy-ness, we need to get going. If you're not going to take the armor or sword, then I will." He reaches for it but my father grabs his wrist and gives him a look. "Fine," he says as he pulls his wrist back. "You want to get killed quicker, do it after we're done."
We venture out of the village and start heading out on this quest. The sooner it's over, the sooner I can be far away from this guy. As we walk, my mind can't help but wonder back to my dream. My mind envisions the dragons head floating above me, the words he said start to repeat in my head. 'Become one with the primal flame,' I wanted to ask dad about it but this guy had to leave this moment. For the past 5 days since we left the village, we travelled through different terrains of jungles and swamps and did our best to avoid others. It didn't always work out like that, we had a few confrontations from various tribes either robbing us or trying to turn me in for reward money.
Through it all, I'd been trying to get to know this human and why he needs me to do this with him. He's not the best conversationalist. Up until this point, he's barely said 3 sentences to me. "Are you finally going to tell me what we're going to do or where we are going Kalamy, or am I supposed to follow blindly?" He sighs with annoyance at my question. "I swear, if you ask me that question one more time, I'll-" but gets interrupted by nearby noises. "Shut it and get down," he says in a whispered tone. We duck down under some bushes and listen to the surrounding noises.
We decide to scan around from the bushes when we hear lots of footsteps. What we see is a convoy of royal guards, walking next to different carts of food, potions, spices, clothing, and assortments of bronze, silver, and gold pieces. The guards are walking near the carts while, what looks like minotaurs, are pulling the carts of different goods. I was surprised to see such mighty looking creatures, though made me feel uneasy seeing them chained to the very carts they are pulling like slaves. I hate to see them get whipped for not moving to the pace the guards set. Judging from the dark red colors and symbols of a bloody fist they're wearing, they seem to belong to the Vescarian kingdom. "We need to free those minotaurs," I told Kalamy. "Forget them, they aren't part of the mission Gargamal. If they didn't want to be used like this, they shouldn't have been captured," he responded.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing from this guy. 'If they didn't want to be used like this, they shouldn't have been captured' I mocked in my head. That made my blood boil badly. I grab him by the back of his neck and throw him backwards, away from the convoy, and gave him a piece of my mind. "How dare you say that about them! It's not their fault they were captured and force to work like this. It's disgusting how you don't care about helping others. Or maybe your just too weak to be able to help, that's why you had me come with you to this quest," I said in a fit of anger.
I can tell that what I did pissed him off, judging by the look on his face. "I'll let that slip just this one-time hybrid, but the next time you grab me like that-" he then proceeds to get into my face, "I will take you down. Don't forget who you owe a life debt to." I almost wanted to break my code of honor and just leave this mean guy alone. He then proceeds to say, "we have a mission to complete and they aren't a part of it. Now let's see if they're gone yet." He heads back to the hiding spot to scope out the convoy, I stay behind dwelling on my anger. How could a person be so disrespectful towards other like that? "Convoys gone lizard, let's get a move on." I gave a deep growl to him for calling me a lizard. If you wanted to strike a nerve with any dragon hybrid, calling them lizard is the quickest way. "I'm not a lizard, fleshling." I really hope this favor ends soon, otherwise he'll end up in an unfortunate "accident".
"Where we're going is the same place the convoy came from. By the looks of it, they got what they wanted and left." I thought about all the items they had and tried to figure out where they came from, until it hit me. "We're going to a town? You do know I can't be seen right? Someone might turn me in and you'll be killed," I told him. "Calm your scales Gargamal. I'll be attending to business inside; you'll be outside the walls waiting till I get back. Plus, it's not too big a town. Minimal guards, I need information from some people in there." I can't really argue much; I have to follow him. "Well then by all means," I make a half bow to him, "after you your highness," I say sarcastically. Then something happened I thought would never happen, he smirked. Then we went on our way to the town.