Manipulating the light around him, Heirule sat upon the destruction of the town he was born in. It was sad that so many had lost their lives and homes. It was sad, but from afar, he could see a camp fire from afar were those still alive stayed for safety. He lifted himself up off the rubble under him and sighed before heading down the path back out of the town. As he did, he somehow felt an urge to learn how to wield the power of Lumenshaping.
He wanted to create a dragon made of light. He had seen another paladin do it once when battling away a wyvern of massive proportions. The hard light dragon had not only been created by the paladin, but he was able to make it move, manipulating it in a way that a realistic dragon might.
Heirule knew he had the same power within him, he just needed to push his limits and learn. He moved off the road and onto the grass for more space and then kneeled down onto his knees. He would relax, concentrate and focus on the completion of this technique, no other distractions will be allowed. He placed his hands together as if he were praying. He took a deep breath and felt as his light began to move and whip around slowly in front of him like it normally did when he began his hard light training.
A slight smirk ran across he face as he then began to prepare to manipulate it like never before. It was an advanced version of lumenshaping - this would be much large and harder to control. He couldn't wait to see it in action in battle once he learned it. He separated his hands and opened his eyes to watch the light move in different directions under his command like a snake charmer. It was good practice, but it was time for bigger things as he placed his hands back together.
He waited and waited but nothing happened, as if he had done something wrong. He was a bit annoyed, but he soon shrugged it off and began to focus again. He waited for about thirty seconds when he realized what was really going on. It was like working with dough as he began to shape the light around him into that of a golden mass beginning with the nose and large teeth. It looked like a dragon stuck in a golden prison as it slowly rose and faked a growled like a horrible beast before splattering back into the ground. This scared the hell out of Heirule himself causing him to fall back on his butt. His eyes were wide open as if he had messed with some type of taboo.
He relaxed and took a breath before getting back up. The light already dispersed for he let go of his control on the light out of fear of whatever it was he summoned. He sighed and placed his hands together and shook off the fear he felt so he could get this out of the way. It would be a slow and troublesome process as usual but he was will to pull through. It was nearing night time, and the moon soon crept out from the horizon and into the night sky. It was a full moon.
The full moon that shined behind him gave him at least a little light to work with and would hopefully help out. He then slowly separated his hands and spread them wide apart. He slowly moved is hands in a dancelike motion. The light he bent to his will just mimicked him like a mirror in front of him.
He started to channel the luxium through his body, feeling a slight pulse in his hand as the light under around him was disturbed. He then closed his eyes and pictured the dragon that had destroyed his home. It was interesting how as he got deeper into thought about the dragon, the more it came to life before him.
He opened his eyes to see the same weird sight before him. It was a large head of a dragon, limping as if it had no legs and dragging itself forward across the grass. It left a bright trail behind it, and Heirule realized this wasn't how it was suppose to work. He tried to move the creation along with his luxiomancy but he lost control and the dragon's head melted back into a puddle of hardlight. The large light then came back closer to Heirule as he pulled it back to him.
He focused on meditating and being able to manipulate his light using lumenshaping technique. He lifted his light up slowly began to create odd projectiles and ropes that whipped in the air like large insects or snakes. He then focused on melting the light together and forming a much thicker shaped creature, one that would be the base for the dragon. He felt this would be the way for him to learn how to make more complex creations. The light slowly melted together and shaped a long body, possibly about fifteen feet long.
He then focused on shaping the outside of the dragon, the scales slowly rising to the surface, and the large spike projectiles along its back. He pictured this one large dragon he remembered his father speaking about, an elder dragon with large spikes, sharp teeth, and a fire that would melt any iron that it faced. The mages that faced him were no normal humans. They gave their lives to kill it and protect the town he cared for so.
He now began to shape the dragons head, a slightly squared face with a large nose. Under the nose was its gaping mouth with large teeth about six inches long and razor sharp that would surely end any opponent that tried to defend himself from it. It was nearly complete when he realized how much it took out of him to create the body of the large dragon. He let go of his control on the light and watched it all fall into a bright puddle before even that dissipated into the night air.
He still had metaphor to work with, but it did take a lot of energy out of him just to use lumen crafting at this point. He figured that what he would need to do is create the dragon quickly to bring life to it and send it flying forward to its target. He lay on the ground for a few minutes before picking himself back up and crossing his legs. He then began to focus once again.
The light from the moon coalesced in front of him and started stretching out fifteen feet again like a large bright snake. He held his dance for little bit before stretching his arms apart and bringing life back to the light to be able to mimic being alive. The back of the hardlight cylinder was slightly thinner then the rest into a tail like shape and the front slowly shaping into a face. The surface of the light began to grow scales.
The lights were slowly morphing into the dragon, the face shaping in that square shape once again and shaping the large nose of the beast above the large gaping mouth that slowly dripped large razor sharp teeth inside. Large spikes began to grow on the back of the snake like dragon. At the sides of the large dragon were four large legs that slowly began to shape under the large body. They were muscular and had large spikes and scales along their sides. The dragon was almost complete but he wanted to create one final thing.
From the back of the dragon, he would create large dragon wings. This would set him apart from other people who used this technique for they were not creative enough or interested to make it look like the real deal. He slowly stretched the light on top out to begin the skeletal structure of the wings, but he realized it was too much for him so he let it go and watched his entire creation fall into a deep puddle of bright goo that moved quickly back towards Heirule. He started lumen crafting once again and grabbed hold of the light.
He took a breath and relaxed, not wanting to let go. He felt like he was hanging off a cliff for dear life. He held it though and soon got control over it letting the light slowly stretch back out into the length before. Now he understood why he had failed earlier. If he could make it simple and stretch it out longer, it could be much larger than normal. The light grew into a large cylinder lying on the ground with the tail and face ready.
It took less time now to shape the scales and large spiked projectiles on its back. He then made the face as quick as possible forming a square face and dragon shaped snout. The mouth gaping under it held large and razor-sharp teeth that would slice any opponents flesh easily. He took a breath and closed his eyes as the dragon slowly grew arms under its body. Large massive arms to hold up the large body growing scales and spiked projectiles. He then focused on the back of the large dragon. "Have to do it this time..."
He slowly shaped the skeletal bones of two large wings. The bones stretched out and slowly dripped the bright light to web the bones and create the wings. Two sharp projectiles at the end of each wing to make it look real. The tail had finally grew all of the scales and spikes it needed and the dragon was finally complete. Heirule slowly opened his eyes for he was tired and weak from doing this so much, but he was pleased to see he was successful in his attempt. He smiled and let go of the dragon letting it fall to the ground.
The light slowly dissipated as he fell to the ground the same looking into the sky. One cloud in the sky surrounded by a bunch of stars, so odd it was so alone, similar to how he felt at the moment. He slowly moved his arms behind his head to rest upon on the grass with was nice under his back. He was calm here, but he felt he should make camp here. He lifted himself up and looked over to the bag he carried, so small he seemed to forget about it. He pulled out one of the few things he could fit inside which happened to be a sleeping bag. He set it and went to sleep out in the grass.
The heat of the sun woke Heirule up from his restful sleep. It was soothing sleeping on the grass were it was soft, but still warmed by the sleeping bag he was cocooned inside. He lifted himself up and stretched, first thing on his mind was training. It was odd, he would usually sleep the day away, but he was really in the mood for training it was a good thing. He opened the bag and lifted himself off the ground quickly folding it to its smallest size and placing it in his bag. He then moved over a few feet and got back to his training.
He sat down on the ground as he started to meditate. His luxium then began to gather the light around him into his palm and stretched it before him. He only worked with this much because he knew better than to work with too much at one time. It was much faster to form the scaled body, the sharp projectiles and teeth, and the face, but he still took a little long to form the arms and wings.
It was entertaining to watch light form when the sun was out because he could see every detail about it. His energy reserves were full so holding this wouldn't be so much of a problem for him. Sometimes he thought that working in the sun was more efficient than working at night, but he had never put that theory to the test. He finally webbed the wings and the final touches were complete. He then moved his hands slowly, trying to make sure he could hold the dragons shape as he began to command the dragon.
It were as if the dragon came to life as its eyes lunged forward but before it could make a good distance, it fell apart and needed to be mended. It was worth the effort just to watch though, and Heirule could only imagine what the warriors in the stories his father read him about were thinking about real dragons when he only had an imitation. He realized that though the legs and wings were impressive, they did drain a lot of energy.
He then began to pull the dragons body. The dragon slowly lifted one foot it was very slow as if it were trapped in glue that immobilized his joints. The dragon slowly pushed forward, half of its body out of the light on the ground before falling apart. It fell apart in chunks quickly forming back into Heirule's bright light. He sighed and let go of the light for a small break.
He looked behind him at what was now a ruin, the town he grew up in until he turned nine. It was a disappointment, and he had no idea if his parents were still alive during this time. If this had been an aelven settlement, it would have never been allowed to get destroyed so easily. It was a nice day besides the destruction behind him though. He turned back to his work with a determined look set on his face.
He was about to try again, but he could hear footsteps, but he already knew exactly who it was and for that he closed his eyes and sighed.
"So you decided to catch up huh," Heirule spoke up to the person who decided to grace him with his wonderful presence. A new face, not to Heirule, but one he had just recently met. It seemed people from his past were following him all over the place, but this time it was a girl. Her name was Mai, this strange girl who seemed to follow Heirule ever since he visited the ruined town. That was all he knew, her name, but whenever he would speak to her, she would stay silent as a rock.
"Mai, you want to see this new technique I'm working on?" She just stared at him with her hands in her pockets. She some rags with shoes that had holes in them, and a red cloth that covered her torso and wrapped around the back, and her hair was brown, and her skin a tan color. Her goldish eyes, similar to Heirule's, twinkled in the sun as she nodded to Heirule.
Now that he had an audience, he couldn't hold back. As if from the pits of hell, a large dragon head began to form followed by the rest of its body. The girl did not speak, but the excitement could be seen on her face as she began to clap for Heirule's achievement. It still needed practice but it was nice to get some type of applause. He moved his arms and the dragon moved in unison. He gave a roar, and the dragon's jaws opened wide and shook with fury. Then, it started to fade into nothingness.
Heirule scratched the back of his head and then sat down beside Mai. She pushed his shoulder as a friendly gesture and Heirule turned and acknowledged with a smile. "I was wondering where you went Mai," Heirule said, taking his tone to a more serious one. The girl looked down at the grass, obviously thinking. But she didn't say anything. She merely sat next to him, looking out at the forest. It wouldn't be long before they reached the desert, and then… well, she would think about that when they got there.
Last edited: