Ruveneska: The Scavenge, Chapter 6: Flight

Shuren crawled out of his tent, still drowsy. Shuren could not even see the sun outside when Thegor woke him up. He quickly folded the blankets and took down the metal supports. He put them in a bag and put them into one of Cirles’s hanging pockets. Shuren gathered his remaining items and also loaded them onto Cirles.

Shuren splashed his face with some water. Fully alert and awake now, Shuren grabbed his jug of Pumleberry Juice and drank the last bit of it. There was no breakfast that morning.

Lloyd and Shuren hopped onto Cirles and took flight, this time, behind Rissam. Shuren held onto to Cirles as the Dragon swerved sideways to keep behind Rissam To his right, the black Dragon, Naran, did the same.

Rissam swapped positions with Naran. Naran’s style of flying was completely different than Rissam. Instead of swerving and turning at the last second, she curved smoothly through the wind. She flew with great style.

When the sun rose and it the sky, Naran switched positions with Cirles. The way that Cirles flew was much like them both, but more fierce. He rocketed through the air cutting any wind that blew against him. His body was narrow and shot through the air, making it difficult for Naran and Rissam to keep up.

“Hey Lloyd,” Shuren said. Lloyd turned his head to talk to Shuren. Naran was now taking the lead, so Lloyd did not have to help Cirles steer. “Tell me about Veryala. I know that you are younger than me, but what was it like after the raid?”

Lloyd thought for a quick moment. “Well, I don’t really have anything to compare it to. It wasn’t that great compared to other villages I’ve been to,” he began.

“Do you anything of it’s history? Before or after it happened?” Shuren asked.

Lloyd nodded. “When I was a young boy, our village had to live in secret. We didn’t trade with any villages for years. We were forced to cultivate our own land and grow our own crops. We usually traded Bascle Wheat for other villages to make flour. Though most of our farming land was burned down.”

Shuren frowned. Though he knew it wasn’t his fault, he could not help but believe it was. “The fire burnt down the entire forest?”

Lloyd shook his head. “No it did not. It only burned a small portion of it. We were able to contain the fire enough for it to die down. Though a few days later, all of the plant life seemed to die. Soon, the entire forest died.

“After the raid, the Gippies thought that they had wiped everyone out, though they were wrong. Five people remained. The four had traveled to Aremac days before the raid. They head news of it while they were away. When they came back, they restarted the village.”

Shuren was wretched from hearing this. “Who was the other person that was left alive?”

“He was declared dead after a few days from the raid. No one ever found him. His name was Neruka.” Lloyd said.

Shuren was struck. Neruka was the name his mother and father called him in his dream. After a few moments, Shuren laughed. Lloyd raised his eyebrows in confusion. Shuren said, “He’s alive.”

“Who?” Lloyd asked, still baffled now from Shuren’s sharp smile. Shuren nodded, but Lloyd did not understand.

“It’s me! I’m Neruka!” Shuren said loudly.

Lloyd laughed. “You are Shuren, not Neruka.” Lloyd said in disbelief.

“Lloyd, remember last year during the festival?” Shuren said as Lloyd nodded. “Rollan helped my enter my dreams. There I met my mother and father, They called me Neruka.” Shuren explained.

“I see, so you’re The Neruka of Veryala.” Lloyd said with realization.

“The Neruka?” Shuren asked.

“We spent years searching the forest for you. It was when we received a message from Rollan, that we knew that you were safe. I was never told why Neruka was important, of course now we all know. Though Rollan didn’t mention that you changed your name to Shuren.”

Shuren shook his head. “I never changed my name. I was raised as Shuren, by my-” Shuren thought of the Gippy nurse who raised him. Rollan said that she was his adoptive mother, but Shuren was afraid to call her ‘mother.’ Shuren continued, “-my nurse. She was with the rebellion and found me. She raised me in secret until she was . . .” Shuren paused again. The nurse, Clare, was killed because of Shuren. Another life taken at his fault.

“Until she was what?” Lloyd asked.

“Murdered,” Shuren said. “She was killed because she tried to do the right thing. She was killed because of me, another life innocently taken because of me.” Shuren looked down with anger.

Lloyd sighed, “Shuren you can’t choose your destiny, but you can shape your fate. You were destined to become the Ruven, but it’s up to you what happens next. It is up to you where fate will take you.”

Shuren looked up, not with anger, but with determination. “You’re right. I was bound to become the Ruven, and now I have to choose what to do with the power. I’m going to stop it all. Everything. After me, there will be no more Ruven, no one will have to suffer because of something that they can’t control. Most of all, no more innocent lives lost.”

Lloyd smiled. “It will be my fate to help you save this world.”

Shuren and Lloyd noticed that they were loosing altitude. Cirles who had been following Naran, was landing. The three Dragons landed in another field during the afternoon. It was then when Shuren began to feel hungry. They had not eaten all day, and they began the day before dawn.

They only unpacked some food and wood. Shuren list a fire and Lloyd began preparing lunch.

Rollan handed Shuren some bread. “Can you cut this bread for Lloyd?” Rollan asked.

“Sure,” Shuren said as he pulled out a knife.

Rollan shook his head, “Not with a knife, practice your powers.” Rollan took a loaf and showed him. He held out his flat hand and waved it across the bread. It cut cleanly in half.
Shuren understood. He laid his hand flat in the air in front of the bread. Shuren released his energy in the form of a knife. He made it sharp and dense. Shuren waved his energy across the bread, making a cut, but it wasn’t level. He sighed with disappointment. He handed the already cut bread to Lloyd.

Lloyd placed some of his seasoned thinly sliced meat on the frying pan under the fire. The meat sizzled on contact. Lloyd flipped the meat after a few minutes and let it sit. He grabbed the bag of cheese from his sack and neatly placed them on the meat. It melted fairly quickly. He took the cooked meat and cheese and placed each one on bread. He then handed the sandwiches to everyone.

Shuren walked away from the camp for a little while after eating. He found a pile of big rocks nearby. He grabbed a few of them and set them before him. Shuren shot a wave of energy, piercing the rock. He sent enough to fill the rock and diffused it. It was hard for him to tell whether or not it was even inside. He forced the rock up, but instead, only half of it rose. He threw the rock away and tried again. This time, he lifted most of the rock, but the bottom stayed on the ground.

Shuren sat and thought. His main problem was that he could not tell where the rock was empty and what wasn’t. Then, Shuren had an idea. He filled the rock with energy, but this time, rotated the energy inside the rock, to see if there were any uneven ridges. Shuren felt a few, and then filled them up. He slowly lifted the rock, this time, as a whole. Shuren smiled, he finally got it. He stood, and kept the rock in control. He walked and made it follow. Then, Shuren pulled it a little too hard in one area, and half of it broke off and fell.

Shuren practiced controlling it for the next hour. His progress went well. Shuren could manage another few steps each try. When the hour was over, Shuren was able to lift it the entire way back to camp and back. Rollan saw this progress. Though after every trip, Shuren needed to take a rest. He needed to sit and regain his energy.

“Shuren it’s time to leave,” Blayger said as he approached Shuren.

Shuren dropped the rock that he was controlling. He stood up. “Okay, I’m done.”

“What kind of training is this?” asked Blayger as they walked back to the camp.

Shuren was surprised by the sudden curiosity. Blayger didn’t seem like the commutative type. Shuren did not know Blayger that well at all. “It’s training that Rollan is having me do. Apparently, it’s Ruven training.”

“I can tell, I don’t know anyone else who can levitate a rock.” Blayger said with humor. This gesture of sarcasm really surprised Shuren, Blayger did not seem like the sarcastic type either.

“Ha, that’s true, besides Rollan,” Shuren said.

“Ah yes, Rollan was once the Ruven. I remember meeting him when I was a child, he was about your age.” Blayger explained. Blayger must have been a lot older than he looked. He did have a gruff face that almost reminded Shuren of Blurton.

“Rollan went over to the mountain before?” Shuren asked. He never really thought about that.

“Of course, he came to receive training from the Lord Zelzor.” Blayger said.

Shuren realized that he never knew who Rollan’s master was. It made sense that Zelzor taught Rollan.

They quickly reached the campsite where everything was already packed. The Dragons stood together, fully rested and ready to fly. Shuren walked up to Rollan to tell him about his breakthrough in training.

“Rollan, I can lift the rock completely now. Though I get exhausted after a trip,” Shuren said with excitement.

Rollan smiled. “That’s excellent. Next time that we land and rest, I will explain to you the next part of your training.”

Shuren mounted on top of Cirles behind Lloyd. Cirles took sudden flight, almost causing Shuren to loose his balance. Cirles flew ahead, taking the lead. Naran and Rissam flew close behind. Cirles took a sharp right turn and began heading south.

Shuren went into deep thought about his training. It was possible to life certain objects by filling them up with energy and control the energy. Then just simply lift the energy. He had to pierce the object with energy first, so it would be hard to control another person without stabbing them. He would only do it if it were necessary.

“If it were possible to control a rock with my energy,” Shuren thought, “then it must be possible to control another person. Or even myself! I could make myself fly!” Shuren theorized that of he used his own energy to control himself, that he would be able to make him fly. Though there was a problem, Shuren wouldn’t be able to load himself with energy without piercing his body. That was a problem.

After minutes of thought, Shuren came up with a solution. “I just don’t release the energy! That way it will stay inside, and I can still control it. Also, since the energy will be inside of me, then I will be able to tell what parts of my body is uneven.”

Shuren couldn’t believe of the possibility. Him, flying! Shuren had a deep urge to test this out. Though fear of detaching his limbs frequently flashed inside of his mind, he did not want fear to stop him doing something.

He wondered about Rollan. Shuren wasn’t sure if Rollan has ever flown before. Has Rollan even though of this? He hasn’t seen Rollan fly before. Shuren was eager to ask.

Lloyd rested his head on Cirles’s neck, nearly falling asleep. Cirles’s neck was reducing the wind to a light breeze. It must have been a few hours since they began flying again. The sun was already beginning to set. Lloyd and Shuren said nothing the entire trip.

Shuren studied the land below them as they rocketed through the air. Boulders seemed like pebbles, and lakes appeared as ponds. Staring at the quickly passing landscape nearly made Shuren dizzy. He shook his head and looked straight forward. The rushing wind blew away his nausea.

Just as the sun was about to reach the top of the horizon. Rollan signaled everyone to land. They set foot on a field, there were a few trees and a few rocky hills nearby. Rollan got off of Naran and walked t over to them. He had only his bags. “Shuren you will get off here me, get your stuff.”

Shuren hopped off of Cirles and grabbed his bags. He waited for everyone else to get, off, though his hearing was not clear. “You just want me to come?” Shuren asked.

Rollan nodded. Shuren wondered exactly why Rollan wanted to be alone with him. “Why just me?”

“This is where we will go into the next step of your training. It is highly dangerous, and I do not want anyone to be injured.” Shuren shrugged his shoulders and walked off. Rollan turned to Lloyd. “Come back for us in the morning, as soon as the sun is visible.”

“Yes sir,” Lloyd said. “See you guys tomorrow, and be careful.” He patted his Dragon’s neck and Cirles flew off, Naran and Rissam behind them. Shuren waved goodbye.

Shuren and Rollan turned and walked the other. They dropped there bags and grabbed only there weapons. As they walked back to their training destination, Rollan explained what was to happen.

“This is the next part of your training,” Rollan began as Shuren listened quietly. “It is a very dangerous and reckless technique, so you absolutely must make sure that no ally is around when you do it. If you choose to act against this warning, not only the enemy, but also your allies will be severely hurt, with a high possibility of death.”

Shuren was disturbed by this technique. Why must he learn it if it dangers his friends? He wants to save them, not hurt them. “So what is it and why is it so dangerous?”

“It is the ability to force energy from your very weapon. Once it has left your blade, you can not control it, it is a wild force that causes destruction.” Rollan explained.

Shuren asked, “What is the point of shooting it from my weapon? Can’t I just shoot energy from myself?”

“Your weapon magnifies the energy’s strength. Also, during a battle, it is easier to do magic without a weapon, leaving you unarmed. Though with this, your magic is from your weapon.” Rollan described.

Shuren was now aware of the advantages and disadvantages. “So how is it done?”

They stopped walking and both faced a tree. There reached the area that they landed at before. Rollan unwrapped his silver staff. “The last lesson was teaching you how to build up energy inside of an object. This lesson is to release it with full force.” Rollan gestured Shuren to step away. Shuren continued to walk back until there was a good fifty yards of distance. “Watch closely!” Rollan shouted from the distance.

Rollan took a stance with his staff. His was slightly crouched with his left foot in front of him. His right hand held the center of the staff and his left grasped the bottom. For a few moments, Rollan did nothing but breathe. Then he slowly lifted the staff in the air and swirled it in a circular motion. After momentum was built, he pivoted his left foot and the right side of his body came forward. He rapidly swung the staff and held his position afterwards.

Within seconds, the tree that he was facing was cleanly sliced in half. The top half fell over on to the floor, causing the ground to shake. Shuren was astonished. He could not believe that he had the power to do that.

Shuren ran up to Rollan. “That was amazing! How did you do that?” Shuren asked.

“Instead of releasing the energy from your hand, just transfer it into your weapon. Then, let it gather at the blade, when you swing, release it.” Rollan said.

“I think I’m ready to try it.” Shuren said.

Rollan walked away to the place Shuren was before. Shuren took the same stance that Rollan was in. He took his reverse-blade scimitar in the same position as Rollan’s staff. Shuren took a deep breath. He built up his energy into his hands. There was a weird sensation as his energy entered the sword. It was almost as if the weapon was a limb on his body. Shuren focused. He moved the energy into the blade. Shuren swung the weapon just as Rollan did. As the blade was in front of him, he let the energy go. The feeling of the sensation left him just as the energy did. Shuren could no longer feel control over the energy. He could not see it either. Though within seconds, another tree was cut down, though it was a lot higher than Shuren expected.

In the distance from behind, Shuren heard clapping, it was Rollan. He walked up to Shuren with a grin. “What is it Rollan?”

“You did it on your first try,” Rollan explained. “It took me days to figure that move out. Your are a very quick learner in deed.”

Shuren returned with a smile but he was not satisfied yet. “I need to practice aiming though. I went ten feet higher then where I was aiming. It’s hard because I can’t see where it’s going.”

Rollan had a bright face. “Then make it visible,” Rollan said. “Just as you release, cast a spell with that energy, try Ferina on a rock, so it will not catch fire.”

The flaming red skies of earlier were now replaced with a clear breezy night. The half moon shimmered in the sky, slightly enough to see.

They both marched over to a nearby boulder. Rollan stayed back and watched from another long distance. Shuren took the same stance. He gathered his energy into his scimitar. Just as he swung, he mumbled, “Ferina!” A long wave of blue flame, that lit up the sky, shot from the blade of his sword. “Blue!” Shuren shouted to his astonishment. Never before did he cast a blue flame. The wave of inferno darted through the air, and amazingly sliced though the boulder, though it ended shortly after the other side. This time, exactly where Shuren aimed. He had done it, in two tries! A sudden exhaustion overcame Shuren. He plumped his body onto the ground, breathing heavily.

“Nice job Shuren, nice job indeed,” Rollan said with great pleasure. “Since your weapon multiplied the strength of your magic, it came out as a hotter flame.” Rollan explained. “If you were to cast Aniref, ice would come out instead of water. If you used Dinwoa, it would be slicing winds. All magic is enhanced with it.”

Shuren was excited to hear this. He was confident in himself now, more than ever. He stood up beside Rollan. Weary and hungry, he mumbled, “Let’s go eat and rest.” Rollan laughed.
They walked back to where they had left there items. Shuren set up there tents while Rollan made their dinner.

Rollan lit a ball of fire in his hand. With his other hand, he carefully levitated the meat over it. After a few minutes of cooking, he flipped the meat over to let the other side sizzle.

When Shuren was finished setting up there tents, he watched how well Rollan used his powers. Not only did Rollan have a great power, he had a great mind to use the powers with. Using his own magic to cook food was a great convenience.

Rollan passed the cook meat over to Shuren. Shuren had no plate. Rollan told him to levitate it to practice control. Shuren did so, he created a stiff flat surface for it to lay on. Shuren saw Rollan blow Dinwoa on it to cool down, Shuren did the same thing. Then they ate they meat, not actually touching the meat with there hands once.

Shuren and Rollan sat around a fire and talked. Now about the war, not about magic or training, but for the first time, they just talked.

“I wish I knew my parents more,” Shuren said.

“I know how you feel Shuren. My parents were murdered when I was a child. Though I’m sure you’ve had a much tougher life than I did.” Rollan said with sympathy. “I didn’t grow up being hated in a village.”

“I think that I’m finally over that now. It was Bastian who coordinated everything,” Shuren said with a clenched fist. He took a deep breathe and calmed. “Now I can’t wait to go back to Hogony and see everyone again, Cotoz, Lorica and Blurton.”

“That’s good Shuren. Enjoy things while you can,” Rollan said positively. He stood up and headed towards his tent. “Get some rest Shuren, goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Shuren said back. He stood up and walked into his own tent. He lied down and closed his eyes. Before he knew it, he was asleep.

The way that Shuren woke up the next was highly familiar. He woke up to an earsplitting roar. The shrill sound was from above. He looked up, there he saw a golden-red scaled fire-breathing Dragon, Cirles. For some odd reason, there was no tent over his head. All of his equipment had been already packed, including the tent.

The morning was hot and the Sun was nearing noon. Shuren slept a lot longer than he had planned. The night before got him so exhausted from using so much of is own energy. Though now he felt full of it.

Shuren yawned and rubbed his eyes. Rollan was already mounted on Naran and everything was already loaded again this time. Cirles landed and Lloyd handed Shuren some toasted bread. Shuren ate hurriedly. He took a swig of water and sat behind Lloyd on top of Cirles.

“So what was the training like?” Lloyd asked as Rissam took the lead in flying. Cirles curved his body to make a turn, then it closely followed Rissam along with Naran.

“It was easy,” Shuren answered truthfully. “But, it’s very dangerous and exhausting.”

“Your training was easy? That’s very hard to believe.” Lloyd said almost with humor.

“It could only do it twice before I was exhausted, but I think it was because I used it recklessly. I still have to work on conserving energy while doing it.” Shuren said. Lloyd lifted his head as he understood. “So what did you all do last night?”

“We sparred,” Lloyd said, “on our Dragons.”

Shuren was awed. “Wow that sounds remarkable, I wish I could have been there to have seen it.”

“Ha, it was crazy, no one was hurt though.” Lloyd said with laughter.

Shuren and Lloyd said nothing to each other afterwards. Shuren, who was still half asleep, wanted nothing more than to land and take another rest, where he could nap. He could not sleep sitting up against nothing. He tried the best that he could to stay awake.

Rissam jolted across the sky, flying unusually fast, though it was nothing that Cirles and Naran couldn’t keep up with. They flapped their wings for more momentum and soared downward to pick up speed. After going down a good distance, they swooped back up into the air at their original altitude.

Thegor signaled Rissam to go slower. Karoline nearly fell of when they swooped up. Karoline, felt uncomfortable riding on a Dragon, especially behind Thegor. They barely knew each other. She could not help but get Shuren off of her mind. The last real thing that he said to her made her freeze.

After nearly two hours of flying, Naran took the lead. Rollan wanted to make sure that they did not land in Dragornia. Instead he wanted them to fly directly above it. He wanted to know if they had been visited by the Ingles yet. Within the hour, they would be approaching it.

Shuren was now, more sleepy than ever. The cool breeze from flying was too relaxing. His eyes were getting heavy, he was struggling to keep them up.

Rollan signaled Lloyd and Thegor to fly beside him. Rissam gained a little bit of speed and flew steadily on Naran’s right. Cirles lunged forward onto Naran’s left.

“Soon we will be approaching Dragornia,” Rollan said loudly. The wind was chattering and it was difficult for them to hear. “We must make sure that we do not land there. I heard news from a man in Nesret that they had been invaded by the Ingles.”

“Okay, so we just fly right over them then?” Thegor asked.

Rollan nodded, “Low enough for us to see them, but not to the point where they can attack or may see us.”

“I see, we want to find out if they really have been recruited by Garland’s army.” Lloyd realized.

“Then what if they have been?” Karoline asked with a serious tone, “do we help the town or do we flee?”

“Dragornia is a large town, if they really have recruited them, then they must have brought a substantial amount to do it with. There would be innocent lives lost.” Rollan justified.

“And what if it hasn’t been? Do we stop by and restock our items? We do need some medicine.” Blayger alleged.

“I suppose we could make a quick stop if that was the scenario.” Rollan said with consideration. Shuren, who was more than half asleep, understood nothing of this. The others, concerned with their flight plan, did not notice Shuren’s drowsiness at all.

They soon went back to their original formation, Cirles was in the lead as Rissam and Naran followed. Rollan instructed Lloyd what to do when they reached the town. When they were close enough, Cirles would fly lower until they could clearly see a tree’s leaves. Then they would continue to fly over Dragornia. If they saw any Ingles, then they had to fly straight up into the air and eastward. They had to make sure that they did not get hit with any arrows. Lloyd has his archery gear ready, incase there was an attack, he could take out any archers.

Far off at the vanishing point of their vision, they saw a large gray wall. It was the Walls of Dragornia. Rollan gave Lloyd the signal. Cirles curved downward until Lloyd could see the leaves on a tree. They were a good fifty feet from the ground. They leveled out and flew straight wards, but slower.

The wall became bigger until they could see the rest of the wall that surrounded the town. Inside were lots of buildings of different natures. There was a mix of log cabins, brick buildings and in the center was one large tower that stuck out of the town. The tower was almost like a lighthouse. It was a cylinder with one rooftop where a group of Ingles stood. It was elevated just enough to see past the walls.

Shuren could not tell what was happening. His mind was blank, and his eyes were shut. His body rocked back and forth as Cirles flew slowly. He was now asleep.

Cirles approached flew over the Walls of Dragornia. Rollan looked down to search for any Ingles.. There was a large group of Ingles gathered in the town square. Rollan gritted his teeth and quietly signaled Lloyd to fly.

Before Lloyd could give a signal, an arrow soared just past his fast. He turned around to see a barrage of arrows come towards him. “GO!” He shouted to Cirles. Lloyd buckled his feet onto the side of his Dragons. He reached in his quiver and armed his bow. Cirles circled the air for a bit to shake off the arrows. This was enough of a distraction for Rissam and Naran to fly out of harm’s way.

Lloyd studied the ground below to see where the arrows were flying from. Another arrow came close to his face, causing him to realize that they were coming from the tower directly beneath them. Lloyd shot one randomly. Just when the air was clear, Cirles flew straight up into the air.

Shuren’s body swayed backward. His limp body fell directly off of Cirles’s back and into the air. Lloyd turned around to find that Shuren was no longer behind him. “Shuren!” Lloyd shouted. “Cirles, cites ‘unda megato!”

Shuren jolted awake to find that he was no longer sitting, but falling head first. “Ah!” Shuren screamed. He saw the tower underneath him, and a flock of arrows flying straight towards him. Shuren waved his arms and forced them all in a different direction.

Shuren was still freefalling and seconds away from being splattered. “I need to think fast! I need to . . . Fly!” Shuren thought with wind rushing into is face. He thought back to his theory to fly the other day. He had never tried it yet. The thought of detaching his limbs scared him, though he did not want to be splattered.

Shuren gathered energy throughout his body. He then scattered it to all of his limbs. Shuren closed his eyes to concentrate. “Don’t release it, just control it,” Shuren thought to himself. Shuren halted the energy from falling in his body. He felt a painful tug-like feeling on his body as the wind stopped rushing. He opened his eyes to see that he was no longer falling. He hung upside down in mid-air. Shuren was flying!