An Unseen Battle

Torben breathed heavily, yet controlled. Blood dripped from his hands as two more of the humanoid dragon warriors lay at his feet. He felt more confident than ever, no longer fearing his adversaries when holding his dark blade. He would soon free Jonas and Yerik and become a hero.

Then, cutting through the silence, he heard a loud, obnoxious voice yelling across the room! Ella? Torben dashed to the opening, looking over the enormous cavern. Ella! Ella stood in an opening on the other side of the cavernous room. Torben choked on a breath as he wanted to cry and shout for joy at the same time. He saw a gathering of dragons surrounding Jonas and Yerik, and in typical Ella fashion, she taunted them. He couldn’t wait to show her everything he learned.

Torben thought of any way he could help rescue Jonas and Yerik when an immense roar and a monstrous-looking creature leapt out of the darkness below. The massive beast was covered in horns, with large tusks. Torben jumped back, surprised by the sudden attack of the monstrous beast. He quickly scanned the lower levels, looking for any way to get to Jonas and Yerik as soon as possible. Then, looking further, he saw Enok, then Hjalmar Geir, and Leila! All his friends were there!

Then, with a moment more of observation, it looked like the monster fought against the dragon warriors. It only attacked the dragons and successfully carried the fight while Hjalmar Geir and the others rescued Yerik and Jonas. His friends didn’t seem afraid of the creature. The monster must somehow be on their side.

Torben looked for the most efficient way to get down to his friends. Then he heard a loud clanking noise coming from the corridors behind him. Torben could hear dragons running through the network of tunnels and corridors. It was his only option to join his friends. He clutched the handle of his sword and ran down the corridor.

The clanking noise rang out louder and louder. Then, entering a larger open section that seemed to be a hub connecting to multiple tunnels and corridors, he saw a large, spoked wheel device, and a large dragon creature cranking it. With each turn, a lever to the side clicked into place. It looked like the dragon creature opened a massive gate.

Torben paused. He didn’t understand why the dragon would open a gate, unless—

A trap!

Torben’s focus broke with a hiss from a winged dragon on the other side of the room. Discovering his presence, it shouted some strange words and ran with several of the mutant dragon warriors. The large dragon warrior lifted the wheel with one more crank, then turned to face Torben.

Torben took several steps forward, tightening his grip on the dark blade. This dragon warrior was larger than anything he fought so far with a much thicker scale structure enhancing its menacing appearance. Luckily, the thing didn’t carry a weapon, although its arm's length and long claws diminished any joy from such an observation.

Torben squared up to his opponent. It charged, he dodged and swung his blade. He got a clean hit, but the sword deflected off the thick scales. Again, it lunged at him, and this time he got a good clean hit on its back shoulder, yet still nothing. It turned around, screeching at Torben, and leaped for him, catching Torben off guard and landing several claw marks on his upper shoulder. Torben yelled in pain, lifted his sword high, and brought it crashing down on the creature’s neck. Several scales chopped off like wood, and the force knocked it to the ground, although the attack didn’t wound the creature.

Torben quickly took several steps to re-calculate his approach. He thought about the winged dragon he killed and saw the error of his attack. This time, the battle dragon leaped at him. He parried its claws by slicing down on the creature’s arms, again deflected by the scales, but this time with a quick twist and upward swing, the mutant dragon fell to the floor, lifeless.

Torben looked at the sword. “Where did you come from?”

He now understood the effectiveness of the sword. Reptilian creatures were notoriously difficult to kill. They had built in armor with their scales. A jab with a long, thin blade was the only effective technique. It was rare to fight reptiles in hand-to-hand combat since the only reptiles large enough to merit that kind of warfare were dragons. Then he thought about the hidden spike in the handle.

“This sword was designed to kill dragons.”

Several loud roars caught his attention. He ran to a small window looking out the other side of the room. The window opened to a vast arena, rebuilt in the collapsed city, supported by many columns. Old, dried bones, carcasses, and random weapons littered the ground. The massive underground structure amazed him. Then he saw his friends.

Enok, Ella, Leila, Jonas, Yerik and the Tyrn clustered together at the far end of the arena trying to open a shut gate. The monster with them faced off with an enormous, mutated dragon-like creature.

“I have to open that gate!”

Another roar rang out in the arena. A gigantic creature leaped from its cage, engaging the strange beast that fought for them. Torben then noticed the other closed gates surrounding the arena. He saw another gate opening, releasing smaller creatures. Another gate began to lift.

“And I have to close those!”

Torben stepped back, looking down the hallway. It led to the gate controls above the cages below. He ran to the opposite side of the room and looked out a window to the other side of the gate. A stream of dragons and dragon creatures flowed into the arena like an ooze of scales, teeth, and claws. He turned quickly, looked at the locking mechanism.

Torben knew what he had to do.

He ran to the wheel device, kicking the lever loose. The spoked wheel in the center spun rapidly as the gate came crashing down with several screeching howls coming from below. He turned to run down the hallway, when he saw the wheel move. They tried to lift the gate below. Torben scoped the area. He found some debris and a long thick wooden plank that he dragged into the spokes, locking the gate from manual lifting. Torben could hear the fighting, the screeching roars and yells coming from the arena. He couldn’t rest.

Exhausted, Torben ran down the long hallway, dislodging the locking mechanism to drop the gates. One gate closed. Then the next. Then, entering a third location, he saw one of the humanoid dragon warriors there waiting for him. Torben attacked without hesitation. Several swipes, and near misses, and he took down another enemy. He kicked the lever, closing the large gate, and moved into the next room. A smaller dragon warrior waited for him. Torben had no doubts in his mind he could take it out with no problem.

Then, stepping into the room, he heard a slight shuffle and a strange noise. He turned to swing at the shadow, but as he did, he felt a strange force flow through his body, throwing him off. The follow through of his sword swing still connected to a creature, although it lacked the proper inertia to immobilize his foe. A winged dragon let out a hiss of pain, stumbling out of the shadows.

Torben jumped to his feet, trying to understand the odd sensation that temporarily paralyzed him.

-WHACK!-

Torben took a hit from the other smaller battle dragon. The hit caught him off-guard, throwing him to the ground, knocking his sword loose. The dark blade skid across the ground. Torben kicked the dragon warrior off him and ran to retrieve his sword. His leg gave out, again feeling the strange sensation of paralysis. The dragon warrior leaped over him, kicking his sword farther away. Time slowed as he watched his sword, his only friend in the darkness, slide along the floor and through a slit opening in the masonry at the base of the wall.

His dark blade was gone.

Torben rolled over, facing the two dragons. They growled at him. If he couldn’t stop these two dragons, they would seal the fate of his friends. In that moment, the hate, fear and anger flooded his mind. He hated everything about the valley, the cruelty of his fate, the cruelty of these dragons. As the dragon hissed at him, he felt like it laughed at him, reminding him of all the people that thought he was a joke. All those times he felt he has failed. All the lack of talent everyone pointed out came culminating in that moment.

His anger morphed into ferocity.

The warrior dragon scarcely took a step toward Torben when the creature met a fury of fists, kicks, punches, pinning it to the ground knocking it unconscious. Torben looked directly at the wounded dragon in the corner and ran straight for it. The wounded winged dragon winced back from the approach, lifted its one good hand and called out several strange words. Torben’s body slowed, partially paralyzed by a strange force. It felt like a horrible nightmare as his body could barely move even though his mind and heart told it to move faster.

Torben pushed against the force. He yelled out in pain and pushed harder and harder, making gradual progress. The working parts of his legs and arms dug into the ground, pushing with all his might. The coughing, bleeding dragon grew weaker. Torben pushed to his feet, leveraging the force to lift him up. He grit his teeth, grimacing tighter and tighter, then suddenly broke free.

Without a thought, he jumped on the dragon, wrapping his arms around the creature’s neck, fighting off the flailing claws and snapping teeth. With his bare hands, he wrestled the dragon, punching, holding, and grasping to avoid the dangerous claws. The dragon fought back ferociously. The dragon rolled on top of Torben, fighting to land a bite or swipe with its claws. Torben did all he could to keep the dragon at bay with his arms as he worked his legs underneath it, and in a swift kicking motion, threw the dragon tumbling into the spokes of the giant wheel.

With a quick roll, he kicked the locking mechanism, and the spoked wheel spun rapidly, lifting the dragon up by one of its wings and crashing it down on the other side, crushing its wing and neck.

Torben lay on the ground, exhausted, bleeding, and in pain.

“Don’t give up, keep going, keep going.”

Torben thought for a moment of the lost dark blade when he realized he still had a backup sword with him. He couldn’t waste time. He needed to get the gate open to save his friends. That’s all that mattered. He had to act fast before more dragons came after him and undo the work he did.

Torben jumped up and ran down the long curving hallway tunnel, passing through several of the smaller rooms, ensuring the gates remained closed. Then, climbing a staircase, he realized the last cell had been built for an enormous beast. He could feel the vibrations of the creature stamping the ground, hoping for release.

Torben kept running. His lungs burned. His anger and adrenaline fueled him. He made it to a small room with the large, spoked wheel. This was it! He could hear his friends below. He was only moments away from reuniting with his friends. The excitement of such a reunion gave him the spark of energy he desperately needed.

He tried turning the large crank to open the gate, finding it far heavier than he expected. He couldn’t lift it by himself. Then the gate wheel moved on its own. Startled at first, he recognized they lifted it from below. He grabbed the wheel and gave it his all. The gate lifted! Although it was still too heavy and came back down.

Torben looked at the wheel. Something didn’t make sense. He looked over at the locking mechanism, discovering it out of place. He jumped over, pushed it back in place, and ran back to the wheel. The gate moved again. This time, he watched as the locking mechanism pushed out of place by the lifting wheel and stayed that way.

He ran over to the lever, moving it back and forth. He could tell it was broken or something was missing. It didn’t matter how much force they put on that gate, unless they were strong enough to lift and hold it in place while they ran through, they would not get out.

Torben’s mind raced. He reached out, pushing the locking mechanisms in place, and clenched it. His friends below lifted the gate, and this time–CLICK–the gate stayed in place. It didn’t go back down. That was it! He just had to hold the locking mechanism in place and his friends could escape. They lifted it again. He felt the pressure against the locking mechanisms, and pushed firmly so it CLICKED again. It worked! His friends would escape. Once they were through, he could get their attention and find a way to join them. Torben held the locking device tightly as it slowly CLICKED with each new lift.

Then Torben heard a strange noise, a sliding scratching noise. Limping out of the darkness came the smaller battle dragon he knocked unconscious. It looked injured and now carried a large wooden plank. It growled at Torben, lifted the plank in the air, and ran towards him.

           Torben’s stomach dropped. He couldn’t let go of the lever. If the gate dropped, it would crush his friends. The creature ran full force at him, swinging. Torben dodged, and tried to land a kick, but had limited reach. The dragon came back, swinging its club again. Torben turned his back to the creature to take any hits on his shoulders or torso.

He couldn’t let go of the lever.

Torben tried to keep the lever in place while trying to pull his backup sword, although the tight sheath and securing straps were too tight. With only mere seconds to fiddle with the leather lashings, he had to use his arm to defend against a significant hit while the other arm held the locking mechanism. He gave up trying to pull his sword, striking with a few wild kicks, finding a brief reprieve from the beating, but only moments before the creature would return for an attack. Torben did the best he could to protect his head with one arm while holding the lever in place. He continued to feel it click.

He could not let go of that lever, no matter what.

Each hit hurt more and more. The mutant battle dragon, though small, held nothing back. Torben would not let go. He took the hits again and again. With every hit, his hatred and anger grew. He refused to let his friends down. He had to hold the lever and take the abuse, defending the best he could with his one free arm. His muscles ached, his head throbbed, his arm and shoulder stung from the constant hitting. He wasn’t sure how much he could take, when suddenly he felt a rapid lifting of the gate that nearly threw him down on the ground, but he pushed back all the harder on the lever to ensure the gate stayed open.

Did they escape? Torben couldn’t hear. He couldn't think while the battle dragon attacked him. Fueled with anger, Torben let out a quick high kick. Since the dragon creature thought it had the upper hand, it didn’t think to dodge. Torben’s foot hit squarely against the dragon’s chest, sending it across the room. He held still, listening for any signs of his friends.

Then he heard it. Voices. This time they came from the other side of the room, from outside of the arena. The ringing in Torben’s ears drowned out the growling, the screeches, and battle cries in the arena. Closing his eyes and hoping with all his soul he made the right choice, he let go.

The gate came crashing down. Several muted shrieks of dragons could be heard. Torben ran up to the exterior wall on the opposite side of the arena and put his ear up to the stonework. He could hear muffled voices. It worked! He saved his friends!

Torben didn’t want to celebrate.

With cold hateful eyes, he turned to the dragon warrior, coming back to its senses. Torben picked up the club he was beaten with and charged full force, unleashing all the energy his arms and legs could carry.
A loud noise rang out, sending rumbling vibrations through the stonework. Torben let go of his grasp around the dead dragon’s neck and leaped to the window, looking over the arena. He could see several of the very large dragon-like creatures ramming the gate with a massive battering ram.

Torben stared at the many dragon-like creatures. He hated them; he hated them for hurting his friends; he hated them for hurting him. All of his thoughts and emotions wanted to punish every dragon in the arena and make them suffer for what they had done. He knew exactly what to do.

Torben ran back to the large room above the enormous cage, grabbed the spoked wheel, and pulled with all his might. Fueled with rage, anger and adrenaline, he pulled the wheel one click at a time until the gate opened enough for the monstrosity below to push its way under the gate. Then erupting from the arena came the loudest roar he had ever heard silencing the screeching dragons and dragon warriors. Torben stepped up to the arena overlook to see an enormous turtle-like creature covered in armored horns twice the size of any other massive dragon creature. He saw the fear on their faces as the dragons and battle dragons scattered for escape, and pandemonium erupted.

The only creature that would chase his friends would be Torben.