Only those who face the dreaded perils of the sea have a story to tell. Only those who braved the storm can survive. Those who don't live with nothing and are trapped by their own fears.
It was an old Piscian saying, a long one, but old nonetheless.
*** *** ***
Jason awoke, coughing up water over and over again. The light of the forest greeted him as soon as he opened his eyes.
Across the patch of green wild grass, a wateyr blue was splattered, like a touch of shading on painting. Jason immediately recognised the light as Neptune's shadow. He got to his feet, legs trembling.
"What happened?" he asked, rubbing his throbbing temple.
Neptune turned, for he was looking out through the clearing at the golden sun, and said, "I've been banished."
"What!" spat Jason, the memories of that horrible battle flooding back to him. "How could they? You saved them all!" His hands at his sides, Jason clenched them into fists, creasing the gloves of his drenched armour. Suddenly he remembered his sword, and glanced about frantically. He let out his breath in one slow drag as spotted them by the lake, balancing dangerously on a rock.
As he picked it up, another realisation struck him.
"Where's Elfin?" he practically yelled it out. Neptune pointed towards a body lying across some tall grass, flattening it. Again, Jason was utterly relieved. Where would he be without his elf friend?
"So," he started again, "why were you banished?"
At this, Neptune's fists were brought up to his head. He punched both into each other, crying out in pure anguish, "They caught me! I'm a dracomancer!" He then directed another punch into a tree trunk. There was a soft 'crack'.
Jason had heard of dracomancers before on his journeys with his old warrior mentor. They were a rare guild and practiced the arts of summoning dragons by offering an artifact or special item. That was what Jason had seen when they were fighting Gonar; Neptune had offered his Dragon's Torch to summon Leviathan.
"Oh..." muttered Jason, still not understanding.
"You see..." Neptune said in a half-whisper, "in my world such an art is...forbiddened. They're AFRAID!" He roared out the last word, his mystical watery voice shaking the lake's surface. Jason watched as the blue figure sank to his knees, knowing exactly how it felt to be torn from family and home.
Later that day, with Elfin awake, they went into a small clearing that Neptune had discovered during his usual hikes into the forest. They built a fire (it was easy when you had a mage with you) and sat around it. Jason filled Elfin in on the latest happenings.
"So, you're a dracomancer? Interesting..." mused the elf as he stroke his chin. "That was some display of power there."
Laughing, Neptune replied, "I don't even remember it. I've never summoned anything that powerful. Must have been the situation itself that allowed it." His mood seemed to have improved.
A short pause of silence ensued, broken only by the rythmic crackle of the fire.
"So, where are you two heading for after this? And what is the point of your travelling?"
Elfin turned to Jason, and vice versa. At last Elfin sighed, signalling to Jason that the Piscian could be trusted.
"We're going after Griephon. We're gonna rid the world of his evil," answered the dragon slayer. If he thought about it, it would be ironic for a slayer to be with someone who summoned the things he slayed.
Another silence. This time it was longer, and Jason could guess what Neptune wanted.
"Would you like to join us, Neptune?"
The Piscian, whose head had been down, suddenly looked up, and even though he had no visible eyes, his whole face seemed to lighten up. Like an eager child he nodded his agreement, so glad to have found a new family.
That's what they were, a family.
*** *** ***
As the three heroes moved on out of the forest and into the dying beauty of the oubacks' plains, they started to grow more comfortable with each other's company and friendship. They learnt to work as a strong team, defending each other against demons and the like.
Soon, Jason, Elfin and Neptune marched straight into trouble. In a nearby village, a raid was being conducted.
"Damn it! It's Griephon's men!" hissed Jason through gritted teeth. He moved closer to the edge of the cliff to get a better look.
The village was located just below that cliff, its straw huts messily placed all around. It was a wonder why Griephon wanted to raid such a place, for the people were backward, wearing nothing but cloths around their waist and living on nothing but water from the river Constance and raw honey.
"It'd be better if we didn't get seen, Jason!" snapped Elfin, grabbing onto his legs in a vain attempt to pull him back. Jason kicked off his grip.
Standing up, he announced, "That's it, I'm going in!" Neptune laughed, while Elfin merely sighed, fist pounding the sandy cliff in frustration.
Jason ran to the far end of the cliff, got a running start, and jumped off! The wind rushed at his face as his two companions watched, stunned at his actions.
Just as Jason was about to hit rock bottom, he plunged his glowing blade into a crevice of the rock wall, breaking his free-fall and allowing him to stabilize himself. He then kicked off from the wall, pulled out his sword and landed noiselessly on the ground.
A trap. Iron bars shot out from the sand, which flew into Jason's eyes, tempoarily blinding him as he fell on his behind. More iron bars came forth, forming a cage.
"Argh!" shouted Jason, irritated by the sand in his eyes. When he finally got it out, he wished he couldn't see again.
Four armour-clad men surrounded his cage, dangerous spears pointed threateningly at his chest.
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