The Soul Slaver – CHAPTER VII

The group followed the dragon queen across the mountain hall to a metal door which covered the entrance to a tunnel. The queen breathed into the door and it opened with some difficulty at first. On the other side there was a tunnel just like the one they had used before. Straight and with side tunnels disappearing in the dark. They started down the tunnel and Alvaro who was going in his mind through the encounter with the queen asked after some hesitation, “Mmmmm. Excuse me your majesty, but how are you able to move so fast?”

“Your majesty?” Said his dragon brother with his mind, “you should say my lady. It's the proper way.”

“Come on. I just want to talk to her. I can't talk funny like Alberto and she did say it was ok,” Alvaro replied speaking aloud as he knew she could hear him anyway.

“That's correct,” the queen said, “I did say that but don't make fun of it. In reply to your question. I slow time up for myself so to others it looks like I move fast. Most dragons have a certain control over time and space and queen and king dragons even more.”

“Then that means if the Soul Slaver is a king dragon that he also has that ability,” Alvaro said.

“Yes. That's why it's a good idea that I come along,” the queen replied.

Alvaro wasn't happy about that reply. There was something fishy about it but he could put his finger on it. He decided to leave it for now and to think of something that would give them an advantage.

They had nearly reached the end of the tunnel. They could see it ended in the distance with a huge metal door blocking the way, but instead of going to the door, the queen turned right into the last side tunnel and after a while they got to a cave just big enough to hold them. The queen went into the cave first and alone as otherwise she might crush someone without realising it. In the middle of the cave there was a well which was wide enough for the queen to slide into. The boys and Ashram looked down the well when the queen had disappeared down it and saw just blackness and the scraping sound the body of the queen made on her way down.

“How can we go down it?” Alberto asked.

“We could sit on the dragons and they could fly down. It looks big enough,” replied Ashram.

“I don't think we have enough space to fly down it,” Alberto the dragon replied and the rest of the dragons agreed with him.

Alvaro had been looking at the metal structure above the well and got an idea. He closed his eyes pointed his wand to the structure and the beam of light jumped to it, making Alberto and Ashram jump back in surprise. The light from the wand surrounded the structure and seemed to drip down like a huge big drop of water and then it was gone. In it's place there was a platform that could hold two dragons which hang from the metal structure which was now in a much better condition. Alberto the dragon climbed on it one leg at a time and decided it was safe enough so Alberto and Ellen the dragon walked after him. Alberto noticed a panel on one side and when he got closer realised it had buttons. One said UP the other DOWN and a third STOP. He pressed the down one and the whole thing started to go down. Alberto looked up and saw that it was hanging from the metal structure and there was some kind of motor driving it. Alberto looked at his brother and asked, “Where does it get the electricity from?”

“Never mind that. It's run by magic,” replied Alvaro.

The platform lift was very silent and Alberto could still hear the sounds made by the dragon queen in the distance. After what seemed to be ages he heard some splashing. He looked up and was surprised to see just a little dot of light which was the top of the well. They had gone down quite a long distance. Then the well opened up and they were in the middle of a huge cave which was full of water. The dragon queen was flying and looking at them. Her flight was like a snake swimming.

Alberto climbed on his dragon brother and told him to jump into the air which Ellen also did. Once in the air he called Alvaro through the console and told him about the giant cave at the bottom of the well. Then the lift that had carried them down started glowing and disappeared. After a few seconds they heard a “weeeeeee....” getting louder and Alvaro appeared mounted on his dragon brother who opened his wings the moment they shot out of the well and started flying just skimming the water. The other dragons followed suit all having great fun in the process.

“That's the way you should have done it,” the queen told Alberto. “That's why the well is wide.” She then turned and said, “now for the difficult bit,” and she flew closer to one of the walls and dived under the water.

The dragons simply stared. Peter the red dragon said, “she doesn't really expect us to dive and swim under water, does she?”

“I hope not,” Replied Alvaro the dragon.

“It doesn't look that difficult,” said Ellen the dragon looking at the water with some new found interest. “If she can do it so can we.”

“That's right,” replied Alvaro. “ Flying creatures tend to be good swimmers as they have the right aerodynamic shape.”

“I'm just hoping she gone to find a secret mechanism that will open a secret door somewhere,” Alberto the dragon said.

Alberto looked at the dragons and surprised asked, “are you all scared of water?”

“Well. We are fire creatures. We do try to keep away from water. Especially if it's lots of it,” his dragon brother replied. Just then, the water exploded and the dragon queen came out, “what are you all waiting for!?”

“Seems like dragons don't like the water,” Alvaro replied.

The queen looked at him and then at the dragons “You haven't been taught how to fly under water?” The dragon queen asked, “it's a basic skill for all dragon warriors.”

“We are not warriors my Queen,” Alberto the dragon replied. “There hasn't been any wars involving dragons in thousands of years.”

“Yeah. Probably since the king and queen disappeared,” Alvaro said before he realised he was going to be in trouble.

The queen turned to him and hissed, “your impertinence is becoming very annoying young human. Dragon brother or not I may become tired of it. Now all of you follow me and don't lag behind.” The dragon queen turned and dived under the water again.

“Don't worry about it,” Alvaro said, “I have the solution to this problem,” and he pointed his wand to Peter and made a type of diving bell around his head with big windows so that he could see were he was going. The bell acted as a diving mask.

“Ha ha ha ha!” Alberto laughed “You look like a giant fly!”

“Never mind that. Try it. Dive in the water,” Alvaro told Peter while he did the same to the rest of the dragons. The moment they got their diving bells the dragons dived in the water but when it was Ellen turn she decided she wanted to try it without. After all, dragons had done this before.

“Are you going to put one of those funny masks on us as well?” Alberto asked.

“ No. I'll just change the console a bit...” he said while touching it with his wand “.. and we'll have a force shield around us that'll keep the water away.” Saying this, the consoles lit up and the air around them started to shimmer. “Ok. Dive in!” Alvaro shouted and they all dived in the water.

Under the water the dragons had difficulty moving as at first they didn't know what to do, but Alvaro told them to just fly normal and it worked. They saw that Ellen had managed to swim quite well. Better than the rest as the masks did bother them.

They saw a light in the distance and some dragons were already swimming that way. Ellen quickly overtook the rest and was first to get to the light, which was a lit up cave. When the boys arrived they saw that the light came from above the surface of the water and that Ellen was already out. It was another cave, much smaller than the previous one, but they all had plenty of room. The light they had seen came from a huge crystal that was one of the side walls.

“How can that crystal shine?” Asked Alvaro.

“It's the heart of the mountain,” the dragon queen replied. “It goes all the way up to the centre court in the castle. It captures the sun light and brings it to different levels in the castle and all the way down here. It's one of the reasons why the castle was build here.”

The queen turned and slid to a tunnel that went upwards. The rest of the group followed her and started climbing.

“What part of the castle is this my lady?” Asked Ashram.

“It's part of the original monastery of Aqua-Ignis were dragon of old would have to spend time meditating. They started at the top and went down the levels passing tests as they came along. The last was to live in a water environment. When they finished they understood the nature and balance of life,” the dragon queen replied.

“Why was it changed? It seems to me that it was a worth while use for this place,” said Ashram.

“An elf's answer I see. That was long ago. The wars of power came after that and that enlighten way of life was left aside. That's dragon reality for you elf.”

“Not any more. As far as I see dragons are balanced caring creatures that moved away from violence, power and greed as a way of life. Otherwise Alberto wouldn't have been able to change the dark dragons to free dragons,” Alvaro replied.

The queen stopped and slowly turned to Alvaro, “if what you say is true, dragons have gone back to the old ways. I'll have to see that to believe it.”

“Quiet!” Alberto shouted. The queen was shocked to realise that she was also included in that order. It was probably the first time any one had told her to be quiet.

Alberto with just two jumps got in front of the group, took his sword out and raised his hand telling them to stop, staring ahead to the darkness in front.

“There's nothing there,” the queen said to Alberto. “I don't see or sense anything.”

“That's the problem,” Alberto answered. “With the crystal light and the halogen lamps it is still very dark.”

Alvaro took one of the hand torches and shone it towards the front of the tunnel but just a bit further than Alberto the light seemed to disappear into a type of dark mist that wriggled all the time.

The queen slowly went past Alberto who thought about stopping her but decided it was better not to. Once she got to the edge of the darkness, part of the mist seemed to become a bit more solid and a dark tendril stretched out of it which started to slowly and gingerly reach towards the queen.

Alberto ran sword raised towards the tendril but before he got there it touched the queen who just stared at it. At that very second a huge roar shook the tunnel making bits of the roof fall down. The tendril disappeared into the black mist and this, in the blink of an eye, pulled back and was gone. Then another roar with what seemed like an earthquake, made bigger chunks of roof and rock fall down.

“Come on! Run! It's trying to bury us here!” Shouted Alberto.

“He's right! Run!” Shouted the queen.

They all ran and half flew the rest of the way. All the time the roar and the quakes got bigger. Suddenly they turned a corner and came out into bright daylight which blinded them, stopping them in their tracks.

When Alberto came out of the tunnel he simply knew that there was great danger coming towards them fast and jumped with all his might to the left. His dragon brother in synchronization with him. He quickly jumped on his dragon brother and took to the air and looked behind to see what had happened.

The dragon queen had moved fast to the right and was throwing what looked like big electric balls towards a big dark area on the other side of the centre court, the dark mist was there, waiting to ambush them. The centre court was simply a big flat area inside the walls of the Ignis fortress and at it's centre a huge crystal column rose into the sky. It was the crystal that captured the light which went all the way down to the heart of the mountain. The court must have fitted about a thousand dragons at one time and was probably made to allow for big dragon gatherings. Their tunnel came up on the south side which meant it was the sunny side. That's why they were blinded by the sun when they came out.

Alberto saw Alvaro and Ashram together running to hide behind a stone that looked like a giant's seat. The free dragons spread out right and left while they shot balls of fire to the dark mist but their shots simply disappeared inside it and didn't seem to have any effect on it.

From above, Alberto could see that the dark mist was only concerned in getting to the queen. It seemed to turn to all the places she would appear before she actually did so. The dragon queen was obviously moving with speed up time as Alberto could see and hear the air banging every time she moved and she simply seemed to disappear and appear somewhere else but the mist was always ready for her. It looked like it would quickly expand to one side which was were the queen would appear and when she did so it would shoot what looked like laser shots from Star Wars. These laser shots would make anything they touched explode and Alberto could see two or three wounds on the queen already.

“Come on! We have to help her!” His dragon brother shouted and moved to one side ready to dive into the battle. Just then Alberto saw a bright ball of heat passing down just next to them. He looked up and saw four dark dragons diving towards him. This time he knew what to do and joined his dragon brother to feel, think and act as one. With his mind Alberto told the free dragons to fly and fight the dark ones but not to kill them. He then told Alvaro and Ashram that the queen needed help and showed Alvaro an image of the lasers shots that waited for the queen every time she appeared somewhere. By now the free dragons where in the air which gave him more freedom as the dark dragons had to attack all the group and not just him. Alberto knew that his ninja skills were not enough to do what he wanted so he asked Alvaro with his mind to change his saddle and in a few seconds, that seem really long, his saddle got fatter and enveloped most of his dragon brother's body and it grew two little wings on the sides.

The free dragons had difficulty fighting the dark dragons even though with Alberto it was five of them, but fighting to the death when you can't kill your enemy is very hard. The dark dragons had noticed this and had become more cocky, getting closer to the free dragons. Alberto saw one coming for him fast and he pretended he hadn't noticed but could see it on the console. Just before the dark dragon had a change to flame them, he turned at ninja speed and threw a metal wire net which opened in mid-air and the dragon just flew into it. The dragon tangled in the net fell to the ground but before it got there Ellen and grabbed him and slowly put it on the ground. In the meantime the other three dragons realised that Alberto was the leader and they all went for him, regardless of what the free dragons did.

Ellen on the ground had gotten a surprise. When she had placed the dark dragon on the ground the mist grew one of the tendrils towards the dark dragon and touched the net which simply dissolved. The dark dragon which was all tangled up was already getting up when Ellen gave him a big mighty bang with her tail on the back of his head and the dragon just dropped unconscious. The dark mist reach it but the dragon just lay on the floor so it was obvious that it couldn't wake it. When Ellen saw this she took to the air to help Alberto and the free dragons.

Alberto saw that Ellen had handled the dark dragon OK so he concentrated on the last three. They had tried to attack but with some quick moves and the help of the free dragons he had managed to avoid direct confrontation. He noticed that the free dragons had one of the dark ones in trouble and he dived to throw one of his nets, but his dragon brother saw the other two dark dragons attacking and moved to one side to avoid their fire balls as they shot them.

“We have to get higher than them!” Alberto the dragon said, “but the higher we get they also do the same.”

“OK. Let's use the new saddle. Get ready to climb!” Alberto shouted and when his dragon brother was in the right position he pressed the console and out of the new side wings the saddle had, two after burners came on and they shot higher, faster than any dragon had ever done. The surprise of the dark dragons was such that Alberto had time to net one of them that fell screaming in fury. Further down Peter and Ellen were waiting for him and grabbed him. The second dragon turned and flew away fast with the two Albertos flying closed behind. Once Alberto tried the after burner again but they over shoot the dark dragon. They quickly turned and went after him again.

“It's time to try another of this saddle's tricks!” Alberto shouted. He then pressed the console again and on the screen a cross-hair sight appeared. Alberto waited until the dot showing the second dark dragon was in the middle of the screen and the press the fire button. Out of the side wings, like a fighter plane's machine guns, lots of Alvaro's sticky bubbles shot out at great speed an some hit the dark dragon which was instantly enveloped, making it fall to the ground. As Ellen and Peter were too far and the other free dragons were still busy with their dark dragon, who was making a big effort try to get away, it was Alberto the dragon who dived and managed to slow down the falling dark dragon before it reached the rocky floor. The moment they left the dragon on the floor they turned and, with after burners at full blast, they flew towards the last dark dragon who had managed to get away from the free dragons and had decided it had enough. He had no chance against Alberto. The bubbles got him before he realised he was being attacked. This time is was the free dragons it had been fighting with that saved it from the fall.

“Gather all the dark dragons here outside the fortress.” He told the free dragons while he landed next to the fallen last dragon. He climbed down and walked with his dragon brother next to the fallen dragon.

“The dragons you have fought are your brothers. That's why they didn't hurt you. Look at them. You know in your heart that we are not your enemies. You know that the soul slaver tricked you.”

The dark dragon looked at Alberto and the other dragons and said.

“I don't have any brothers! The King of Old holds the truth and you are our enemies!”

“But look around you. This dragons were also under the control of the King of Old and now are free again. Like you were when you used to enjoy your life.”

Then Peter the dragon, who had just arrived with Ellen and the dark dragon who was also bubbled walked closer.

“Hello Asif. Remember me?”

“You know him?” Alberto asked.

“Yes. You see that scar on his back leg? I did that accidentally when we were little.”

“You know me. We've always been friends. Just look in your heart and you'll find the truth.” Peter told Asif. Then the dark started changing to a metallic green and soon after they had a bright green dragon surrounded in a plastic bubble looking around as if he had seen them for the first time.

“Please let me go. I won't fight you.”

Alberto walked back to the console and found an option to dissolve the bubble. A shot of light jumped from the console to the fallen dragon and the bubble dissipated. Asif stood and opened his wings looking at them.

“Thank you dragon brother. Would be OK if I join your flight of dragons?”

“Of course. You are more than welcomed.” Alberto replied and all the dragons present open their wings and roared in unison to welcome their new brother. This process was repeated more or less the same way with the other three dark dragons. They did have problems getting the one in the centre court as the moment they got close laser shots would come out of the dark mist but while from a distance two free dragons pretended to attack the mist, Ellen and Peter in a daring rescue flight got the dragon and brought it to where Alberto was. After the dark dragons were rescued from the dark side they all took to the air and flew towards the fortress just in time to see in the distance Alvaro and Ashram fly with their dragons into a cave in one of the corner tower mountains. When Alberto got there he heard Alvaro talking about three heads being better than one.

Earlier, when Alvaro came out of the tunnel behind Ashram he was also blinded by the sun and would have been hurt by the dark mist if it hadn't been attacking the dragon queen, and Ashram, who was more used to looking at the sun, hadn't pull him to one side behind a big stone structure. Alvaro saw the free dragons coming out of the tunnel as if the light didn't bother them, running and jumping to the left and right shooting balls of fire towards the dark mist. He couldn't see the queen dragon and hoped she was using her faster than sight speed to attack the mist. Alvaro got off his dragon brother and peeked to see if he could spot the queen, but something like a laser blast hit the stone just in front of him and threw him on the floor with some cuts and bruises. He quickly got up and healed himself using magic. Just then he heard Alberto telling him in his mind about how the queen wasn't doing very well and an image of those laser blasts he had experienced. Just then all the free dragons took to the air and went to help Alberto who was being attacked by dark dragons.

Alvaro knew that with his imagination and the help of his dragon brother and the magic he had received he could fight anyone. He had to defend the queen but first he had to find her and to get to were she was. In this world, the advantage he had was the knowledge of technology and lots and lots of fantasy and science fiction movies and books. He climbed on his dragon brother and programmed the console using his magic to create a cloaking field around himself and Ashram. They could see each other on the consoles, but to the naked eye they had disappeared. They moved out from behind the stone structure and ran towards the sound of explosions. While on the way, Alberto started speaking to him about a plan to capture the dark dragons without hurting them and asked him to change his saddle sending him an idea of what he wanted. Just then, Alvaro saw the queen and realised they were in much bigger trouble than he had imagined. She had retreated behind one of the stone structures that were all around the centre court and, even though she was throwing electricity balls towards the dark mist, she was quite hurt and bleeding in many places. She turned towards them and was about to throw an electricity ball when Alvaro remembered that she couldn't see them but her senses told her there was something there, and probably thought it was a trick from the dark mist.

“Wait!! It's us!” Alvaro shouted.

“Show yourselves!” The queen shouted back.

Alvaro switched off the cloaking field when they were out of reach from the mist. The queen shot the mist from both sides of the stone structure but the lasers were waiting for her.

“I've never seen anything like it. If it is my cousin the king I don't know what he has sent to attack us. It always knows where I'm going to attack and it's waiting for me. Speeding up time doesn't make any difference.

“It's all very well your majesty, but before we go into discussing tactics I'm going to heal you.” Said Alvaro and did the healing spell he had done with Alberto the dragon.

“Thank you Alvaro. You are an annoying but surprising young dragon brother. Now back to the fight.”

“Wait!” Said Alvaro. He had remembered that Alberto had asked for a change in his saddle. Alvaro pointed his wand to the air, concentrated on his brother and sent the magic to do it's work hoping it would get there.

“Allow me to use some protecting spell on you my queen.”Alvaro told the queen.

“I already have my own protective spells.” The queen replied.

“Yes, but those don't protect you against laser blasts.” He replied creating a necklace that acted as a cloaking field which also acted as force shield around the queen.

“I don't think you can shoot while you have that on. It's only so that you can move around without being seen.”

“Well if it is what you had before it will sense it any way, but I think it will just give me enough seconds for a good attack.” Saying this the queen was gone head first into the mist which wasn't waiting for her so it was a good sign.

Alvaro and Ashram turned their cloaking shields on around themselves and the dragons, and ran towards the mist. Through the corner of his eye Alvaro saw Ellen hitting a dark dragon. Just before they got to the mist they felt a huge explosion and saw the queen flying on top of them out of the mist with the cloaking shield necklace burning and landed with a big crash behind them followed by a barrage of laser blasts which, as they were in the way, hit their cloaking shields and didn't hurt the queen. Then the mist seemed to reach out and the moment it touched the cloaking shield the console short-circuited and they were left unprotected. Instantly the dragons flew into the air but were hit by some of the lasers. As before when they got away from the dark mist, it seemed to ignore them but to look for the queen who was gone. Alvaro looked around but didn't see the queen. The air around them was empty. Alberto wasn't anywhere to be seen the same as the free or dark dragons. Just then Ashram spotted the queen on one of the huge towers of the fortress. She was going inside one of the caves that acted as windows. Alvaro quickly fixed the consoles and reactivated them. He then healed the wounds that the dragons had received and flew towards the high tower entrance where they had seen the queen. From below laser shots would come in their general direction but would miss them by a long way. Once they got to the entrance they saw that it lead to a big cave inside the mountain tower from were other connecting tunnels left. The queen was laying in the middle with gashing wounds all over and had difficulty breathing. Alvaro wand in hand ran towards her and did an Episkeu Maximus spell which quickly worked and healed the dragon queen.

“Thank you dragon brother. I owe you my life.”

“It's nothing my.....” Alvaro managed to say but a got a push from his dragon brother who shook his head. In reply Alvaro mouthed “What now?”

“When a dragon Queen or King thanks you and tell you that he or she owes you their lives it's great honour but for the queen or king it's one of the hardest things to do as they tie themselves to whoever they do the pledge to.” The queen replied to Alvaro. “Because we tend to be bad tempered it's better not to talk about things that makes us uncomfortable. That's what your dragon brother is trying to tell you.”

“You don't have to owe me anything. I don't care what tradition dictates. We are a team here and we help each other.” Alvaro replied.

The queen gave Alvaro a long look and sighed. “You are very different to any other human I have ever met, More annoying than an elf but a heart as big as a dragon's. From now on you will be called Alvaro Dragon Heart between my people.”

Alvaro the dragon lowered his head and reached towards Alvaro. “Now we are more than dragon brothers, we are officially part of the same species.” He said nudging him with his nose and smiling.

Alvaro, for the first time, thought that the queen wasn't too bad.

“Considering that we are a team I should tell you what I saw on my attack.”

“Yes please. Three heads are better than one.”

“I think that it's a lot more than three!” Alberto shouted while flying inside the cave. “There's four more dragons on our side. Look!”

Alvaro, Ashram and the dragons, including the queen walked outside and looked up. High in the sky, away from the laser blasts there were nine dragons flying in circles.

“You have the voice of the Old Kings inside of you Alberto.” The dragon queen said. “I'm glad you are with us. Now hear what I saw in the battle.”

Alberto who was still looking at the larger group of free dragons suddenly saw them freeze in the sky but without falling. He was going to warn the other but the queen told him.

“I've speeded up our time that way we'll have time to talk. That's way it looks like they are not moving.”

Then the queen told them about how when she reached inside the mist after some distance it parted and she saw her cousin looking much older in the centre of the mist. He had a device around his neck which was what shot the light arrows (laser blasts). When she uncloaked right next to him he was already getting ready to fight as he had sensed her. He moved to one side to avoid one of her electric balls and she got him on the tip of a wing, but then the dark mist simply grabbed her and threw her out while the device shot her all the time and the dark mist seemed to suck her life energy.

After a moment's silence Alvaro said. “Well, so the dark mist is a type of weapon worn by the Soul Slaver.”

“More important than that. We now know he can be hurt. Could be the reason why he's such a bad shot now.” Ashram said.

“According to the image the queen just showed us, the Soul Slaver is wearing a type of saddle or dragon vest which has laser cannons and produces the mist. I get the feeling he's using a type of intelligent cloak shield and real lasers.” Alvaro told them.

“But those things don't exist in this reality,” Ashram told him.

“So he brought them from another one.” The queen replied. “Although I can not imagine how he's controlling them. The mist seems to have a life of it's own.”

Alvaro sat on the floor and thought hard while the others discussed different possibilities of what the mist could be. After some time Alvaro, who was looking down while he thought, saw a tiny dark mote on the floor which when he looked hard, seemed to move a little. He stood and from his saddle got the tricorder which he pointed to the dark speck. The others seeing this stopped talking and got closer.

“Don't get any closer!” Alvaro warned them looking at the little screen on the tricorder. “It could still be alive.”

“What is it? Some type of insect?” Asked Alberto.

“I thought so at first.” Said Alvaro stepping away from the dark mote. “Look at this.” He said to Alberto who got closer to the tricorder and gasped.

“It's a little machine with wings!”

“Yes. It's a nanobot.” Answered Alvaro.

“A nano what?” Asked Ashram.

“A very small robot. Mmmm. A very small machine that can think for itself according to the parameters of it's programming,” Alvaro answered.

“OK. Let's leave it at a very small machine.”

“How can such a small and...” The queen flamed the spot were the nanobot was and carried on saying “... weak thing have beaten me in a fight?”

Annoyed Alvaro answered “It would have been better if you hadn't destroyed it, but to answer your question, it's because they all work together.”

“Can they be destroyed?” Asked Ashram.

A smile appeared on Alvaro's face as he answered. “Yes. I think they can. Come on let's try something.”

Straight away the dragons starting moving again high in the air. Alberto noticing this said, “look! It hasn't been more than half a second in real time.”

Alvaro was working on the console that Alberto the dragon was wearing and once he finished he told Alberto to fly towards the mist but to wait until they got close to it and then to fire the new gun on it. Alberto looked at the console and it had a new button with the word “EMP” on it.

“What's emp?” Alberto asked saying the word rather than spelling it.

“Electro Magnetic Pulse. It will fry any circuit close to it. It should take care of the nanobots and maybe even the lasers.”

Alvaro placed cloaking shields around all of them and Alberto told the free dragons to get ready to help in case they got into trouble. Once the cloaking shields went on Alberto looked around and said.

“Why does everything look red?”

“I've tried to filter all electromagnetic radiation, except for the lower light frequency, that way the pulse won't get past.” Alvaro answered.

“What?” Alberto and Ashram asked.

“I'm trying to keep the EMP out. That way it won't harm us.” Alvaro answered.

“Why didn't you say that before!” Alberto shouted while they dived towards the Soul Slaver.

Alberto could see the others on the flight console so he knew when they were ready. He then dived towards the mist and pressed the EMP button and two small popping sounds came from his saddle wings one after the other as two little rockets shot out. When the first reached the mist it didn't explode or anything but Alberto's console fuzzed for a second and the dark mist simply fell to the ground. The second little rocket carried on and crashed next to the Soul Slaver who now just looked like an old looking dragon, but before that Alberto's console fuzzed again.

The old dragon was too surprised looking around to the fallen mist to noticed the huge queen appearing next to him and shooting him a blue ball of electricity. When the ball got to him he was gone and appeared next to the queen, making a huge cut on her side with his tail. The queen screamed and slashed her tail to hit him but he was gone. Appearing on the other side ready to hit her again but Alvaro and Ashram appeared and their dragons shot balls of fire towards him making him jump out the way. Then Alberto saw that Alvaro and Ashram were falling from the air with their dragons. As they reached the ground, the Soul Slaver walked towards them, grabbed them both with his claws and threw them on the floor away from their dragons. Alberto couldn't believe that the dragons didn't do anything, including the queen which was hurt but not enough to stop her. The Soul Slaver walked towards Ashram and Alvaro and said, “you can't beat me! Not even with technology. I have been training for thousands of years in all types of dragon fighting techniques and I have injected myself with nano technology that enhances my psychic control over any dragon that I choose. Your weak EMP didn't hurt the ones inside my body!”

Alberto then realised that the Soul Slaver hadn't seen him. Just then he felt Alvaro's presence and a voice that said “Get ready. Work it out for yourself.” He looked at Alvaro but Alvaro was being crushed by the old dragon king, the slaver of souls. Alberto flew with his dragon to save his brother but then, just on top of the Soul Slaver he saw a flash of light and himself mounted on Alberto the dragon appeared shooting bubble balls like mad. Most of which hit the Soul Slaver and the old king in seconds looked like a giant used chewing gum.

Alberto couldn't believe his eyes as the other Alberto turned towards him and pointed to the console. He looked at it to see a message that said 'Press here to travel 30 seconds to the past'. He then knew what his brother had meant and what had to be done so he pressed the after burners, got to the top of the group with the Soul Slaver on the ground and the other Alberto talking to Alvaro, dived and pressed the button.
Alberto and his dragon brother traveled back in time and appeared on top of the Soul Slaver who was just about to crush Alvaro. He fired sticky bubbles until the old dragon was fully covered. He then remembeed something and looked towards where he had been and pointed to the console. He then flew down towards his brother.

Alberto landed and ran towards Alvaro.

“Are you OK?” He asked.

“A bit bruised but OK. Thanks!” Alvaro replied. “I'm ever so glad you got the idea and I wasn't sure if the changes to your console had worked.”

“They did!" Alberto replied. "You know, it's really weird to see yourself.”

The queen had reached them by then and Alvaro was going to heal her but she stopped him.

“Not now young healer. I will carry this wound as a reminder of what the greed for power can do.” She said. “I see you had the idea of time travel. This, with the quick thinking and braveness of your little brother, have saved us all today.” She then turned to her cousin the old king and Soul Slaver and asked “Why? Why have you gone to so much trouble to take over the land if the land was yours when you imprison me so long ago?”

Even though the old king couldn't move they heard the reply in their minds.

“It was because of the prophecy you said just before we imprisoned you in stone. I knew it could happen any time so I tricked the Oracle of the South to tell me that the dragon brothers came from a technological reality and I spent a long time jumping from universe to universe looking for one like this but for dragons. It took me a long time to come back.”

“You always were a fool. It was because you did so that they came here,” the queen told him.

“You lie! As always, you lie!” Shouted the old king.

“My queen,” Alvaro said, “I'm ready to kill the nanobots inside his body.”

“Fine. Please do so.”

Alvaro pointed a modified version of the tricorder at the old king, who was still enveloped in the sticky bubbles, and pressed a button.

“Nooo!” They heard him scream.

“He won't be able to control anyone now,” Alvaro said.

After that, Alvaro took the constraining bubble away and, even though the old king tried to get away, he was easily controlled by the queen and the free dragons.

The dragon brothers and Ashram were then surrounded by the free dragons who opened their wings and sang a beautiful melodic song in thanks for their freedom. The boys stayed one more day in the fortress hearing stories of old before they got ready to go back to the town of Middleway. The next day Sandipani the Sage, also known as Sandipani the Dragon Queen, and all the dragons were gathered at the centre court in a circle around the dragon brothers and Ashram.

“Alvaro Dragon Heart and Alberto Slaver Slayer, the new champions of the Ignis Fortress. I and my subjects thank you for our freedom. You will always be welcomed here as so will you Ashram Elf Prince of the North.” The dragon queen said and all the dragons raised their head and roared making the earth tremble. "It is the time of a new beginning!" The dragon queen shouted above the roar. Alberto went on one knee as Ashram did and so did Alvaro after some hesitation. All the dragons went quiet, opened their wings and shot tongues of fire into the air. The boys and Ashram were surrounded by multicoloured dragons and fire and were touched by the beauty of it.

When the ceremony was over an idea that was nagging Alvaro took form. He walked closer to the queen and said, “my queen. Don't forget that these dragons are free dragons and they will only be your subjects if they choose to do so.”

The eyes of the queen fired up but she controlled herself when she replied, “my impertinent young hero. I'm sure they will choose to do so. But if not, they are free to go anywhere they want.”

"Thank you my queen," Alvaro replied.

He then walked to his dragon brother, Ashram and Alberto and said to the rest,“we will go now. Who will come with us?”

Straight away Ellen and Peter said “I will!”

The queen turned to them and then to Alvaro and said nothing. Then the dragon brothers, Ashram, who mounted Peter, and Ellen flew away from the giant Ignis Fortress which once again was the home of dragons.

The Battle Of The Mountains - CHAPTER V

Alberto thought that the mountains looked big from a far but being right next to them was impressive. They looked like a solid wall of towers higher than the clouds and he felt very small.

“I know the felling,” Alberto the dragon told him. “I always feel that way when I fly near them.”

Alberto could feel the tension coming from the rest of the group. He felt safe riding his dragon brother but reason told him that they were flying into a fight and he was only an eight year old boy. He knew he didn't want to fight anyone no matter how cool it was being a ninja who had a dragon brother. This was real. Someone could really get hurt.

“I'm glad you feel that way,” his dragon brother told him. “You are going to make a fine dragon rider. It has been known in the past that when some humans discover they have a dragon brother, they become power crazy and usually end up hurting others.”

“What happens to them after that?” Asked Alberto.

“They end up being exiled to other universes. Some fight until one of the brothers dies and in some cases the dragon refuses to participate and they break up the brotherhood.”

They were surrounded by high peaks and it was getting colder. Alvaro shouted at Alberto to switch on his flight console. It wasn't difficult as it had a green button with the word “On” on it. When the console came on, it showed a little yellow dragon in the middle, a blue one next to it, and five white dragons flying around them.

“I can't tell which one is Ashram!” Alberto shouted to his brother.

“There's no need to shout,” Alvaro's voice said from the console, “we can talk through this.”

“Thanks,” said Alberto. “How can I tell which one is Ashram?” He asked.

“There's that green dragon in front and Ashram is in front of him. Just click with your finger on the image that is on the same place on the console and say his name.”

Alberto touched the little white dragon that corresponded to were he could see Ashram and said “Ashram”. The word 'Ashram' appeared on top of the image and it became a brighter white.

“The graphics are not very good are they?” Alberto asked his brother.

“It's not a Xbox. It's supposed to give you information on what's around you in a easy to understand way.”

Alberto was wandering how his brother had thought about all these details when he hear the console beeping and five red dots appeared in front and higher than them on the screen.

Alvaro looked at the red dots and shouted to Ashram, “five bogeys at twelve o'clock above us! They are still far!” He knew this because they were still little dots on the console and not little dragons.

“By the Great Tree of the South! What are you talking about!” Replied Ashram.

“Sorry! Five dragons in front and above us coming fast!” Replied Alvaro.

“Ok. Next time don't talk funny like that. We have to understand each other!” Shouted Ashram.

“Yes please!” Agreed Alberto. “No fighter pilot stuff that only you can understand.”

Alvaro slid his finger on the console and the picture zoomed out. Now he could see a bigger area around them and the mountains that looked a bit 3D. He saw on the right an area were they could fly higher without being spotted by the other dragons.

“Let's go over there to the right! We'll have time to fly higher without being seen!” He shouted to Ashram.

Ashram gave him thumbs up and all the dragons flew to a space between the mountains on their right. Then Alvaro realised that Ashram had no saddle or console.

“Ashram! Hold on! I'll put a saddle on your dragon!” He shouted while he pointed his wand towards the elf.

“Don't worry about...” Ashram said but by then the beam of light had jumped across the air and for a second it surrounded him. Next thing he knew, Ashram was sitting on a saddle looking at the console with a surprised look on his face.

“What's this?” Alvaro heard him say through the console.

“It's the flight console and communications device,” answered Alvaro. He saw Ashram turning around and again gave him the thumbs up while he heard him say on the console “Great idea!”

“Slide your finger to the right to zoom in and to the left to zoom out,” Alvaro instructed.

He heard Ashram say “Zoom...? Ahh. This is very good. I was wandering how you knew about the dragons. The beeping is a bit annoying though."

“The closer the beeps, the closer the dragons.” Alvaro said.

“Excellent idea. You have to tell me about this things when we have a little time.”

By then they had reached a small valley surrounded by high mountain walls and were flying in circles and gaining altitude fast.

“Come on! Faster! We have to be above them quick!” Alvaro told them. He knew from playing flight simulators that it was the best option in a dog fight.

Alberto who had also played fighter simulators was looking at the screen with a feeling something could be improved. Then he got it.

“We should separate,” he told the rest. “The three dragons with raiders should attack first and the free dragons should act as a backup in case we can't handle them.”

“More military skills,” Ashram said. “Where do boys as young as you get all this knowledge?”

“TV and computer games,” answered Alberto.

“You mentioned that TV thing before. It must be a very aggressive and violent place if you get that type of know-how from it,” said Ashram.

“My mum would agree with you,” Answered Alberto, “but it's only entertainment. It's not real.”

Alberto saw the look on Ashram's face and he knew Ashram had realised that TV was no military training and now he wasn't happy about taking the boys to a dragon fight.

"Hold on! If TV is not real then we should turn back like Merlin said. You can't go into battle without some sort of training." Ashram told them.

"It's true," Alvaro answered "but we are dragon brothers. That means that we have the knowledge and skills of our dragon brothers. I can feel it in my bones."

"It's true." Alberto agreed. "I can also feel it."

"Those skills plus what we have learnt on our world makes us warriors to be reckoned with." Alvaro said and their dragons agreed.

Ashram seeing the four of them united and in agreement decided to carry on although keeping a close eye on them.

By then they had reach the correct height above the other dragons which already look like little dragons on their screens, which meant they were close.

“If we fly over that peak we'll be right on top of them!” Alvaro said and the three of them flew towards the peak and over it. Alberto saw the dragons below and they dived towards the dark dragons in silence. In his head he heard Alvaro the dragon telling the four free dragons to wait higher up and to only attack if they called them.

Alberto reached forward with his mind towards the dark dragons to see if he could feel anything left from the original dragon but the dragons felt this and realised they were being attack. They tried to separate but it was too late, the brothers and Ashram were on top of them.

Alvaro pointed his wand at the largest of the dark dragons and when a second later the light from his wand dissipated, the dragon was enveloped in a type of sticky plastic which meant that it couldn't move its wings and fell towards the abyss.

At the same time Ashram had shot one of his arrows to a smaller dragon. The arrow seem to overshoot and miss the head of the dragon, but right in front of it, the arrow exploded into green powder. The dragon flew right into the small cloud of powder and was blinded by it. After a few seconds flying blind it crashed on the side of the mountain and fell bouncing off the edges and rocks on the mountainside.

Alberto got out three ninja stars and threw them towards the dragon that was right below him. The stars got the dragon behind the head but rather than hurting it, it just made it mad. Just before the Albertos got to it, it turned upside down and waited for them with its legs and claws up towards them. Alberto the dragon open his wings wide to slow down and threw a ball of fire towards the waiting dragon but just missed him. The dragon who was now falling backwards got ready to flame them and opened its mouth. Alberto who had seen this coming threw a ninja star to the dragon's open mouth with an unexpected result. There seem to be a huge electric short-circuit and electric blue sparks came out of the dark dragon's mouth. The dragon turned the right way up and tried to fly but couldn't and just fell as if it had been stunned. Just then Alberto felt a violent jerk and saw one of the other black dragons digging it's claws on the side of his dragon brother. The pain shot through his own side and he screamed in pain and fear. He looked to his side but there was no injuries there. He was feeling his dragon brother's pain. He felt anger at the other dragon and looked for it just in time to see it falling surrounded by one of Alvaro's sticky bubble things. Ashram was further away protecting him from the fifth dragon who ran away when he saw the four free dragons flying towards them.

“Let him go!” Shouted Alvaro, “we have to help Alberto's dragon!”

“There! There's a space between the mountain. Looks like a cave.” Shouted Ashram.

Alberto knew he had to concentrate giving love to his dragon so that he could glide to the cave below them. They crash landed in the cave which thankfully was big enough. Alberto quickly got off to have a look at the wound. They were deep cuts and his dragon brother was bleeding. Just then Alvaro and Ashram arrived.

“Quick! Get some cloth on the wounds to stop the bleeding!” Ashram shouted.

Alberto took his cloth belt off and tried to stop the gush of blood coming out of his dragon brother with it. Alvaro also helped with his shirt and the bleeding slowed down.

“I wish I had my medicine herbs,” said Ashram.

“We could cauterise the wound with some fire,” Alvaro the dragon suggested.

Then Alvaro said, “what have I been thinking of?” Looking angry he stood back and said “Episkeu Maximus!” while pointing the wand at the dragon. A huge bright light surrounded the hurt dragon and then it seemed to go into the wound and disappear.

Only then Alberto realised that the pain that had been on his side all along was now gone. His dragon brother raised his head, looked at him, then looked at the place were the wound had been, and then around the cave.

“What happened? Were are the dark dragons?”

Alberto who was too surprised to say anything ran towards him and hugged him. “I was so scared,” he told his dragon brother. “I though you were going to die. Alvaro made you better with some magic.”

“Thank you,” the dragon says to Alvaro. “I'm glad you know healing magic.”

“Yes Alvaro. That was good magic you did then. Did you also learn that on your TV?” asked Ashram.

“Actually I'm not sure were I got the spell from. Maybe from a film.”

“Remember that the spells are simply a way to focus. It's the intention behind the one that counts. You did very well,” Ashram told him.

“Help!” They all heard in their heads. “My sister needs help!”

“Who said that?” Asked Alvaro.

“I think it's one of the free dragons. Were are they by the way?” Asked Alberto.

“They are gathered below around one of the dark dragons,” replied Ashram, who had walked outside of the cave to the edge of the precipice and was looking down.

Alberto the dragon stood up and said, “let's go! I'm OK now. They need our help.” He then lowered his head to let Alberto climb on him.

Alvaro and Ashram ran towards their dragons, climbed on them and the dragons walked to the opening of the cave.

Alvaro, Alberto and Ashram all jumped off the edge and flew into the precipice on their dragons. The fall the dark dragon had taken had been great and Alberto felt that they were going to be too late.

“Alvaro please get ready to cure it. Look most of the black is gone!” Alberto told his brother, but when they arrive he could already see the energy sipping into the ground and a wisp of bright red light flying around one of the free dragons and then flying up to the clouds. A great sadness fell on Alberto. He knew what had happened. “She's dead,” he told the rest of the group.
It was the dragon blinded by Ashram's arrow.

Once on the ground Alberto slid off his dragon brother and walked towards a dark red dragon who was lying next to the body of the dead female dragon.

“You are her brother aren't you?” He asks.

The dragon turns towards him and says, “yes. She's my sister. I didn't recognise her all dark like that and we fought her. This is so unfair.”

Alberto could feel the pain in the dragons heart like if it was his own. He sat next to them and began to cry quietly. This death, plus seeing his dragon get hurt, was just too much for him.

“This is what we have to stop,” Ashram told him while he sat next to Alberto, putting his arm around him. “You are too young to be here fighting like this but without the dragons birth brothers we are lost.”

“It's true,” the red free dragon told him. “We can't allow the soul slaver to take any more of us. The old dragon king inside you will make us free and happy again. I know it.”

Alberto looked at his human brother, then at his dragon brother and felt the love, pride and respect coming from them. He realised that, even though a boy, he had to stand up and become a warrior like in the stories his dad told them. He now knew that all of them together could and would defeat whatever it was that was causing so much pain. This was not a game any more. It was real life.

Alvaro, remembering a film he saw, surrounded the body of the dead dragon with rocks and then he turned them into crystal, making the body indestructible. For a while and in silence they looked at the transparent tomb.

“It's time to finish this!” Said Alvaro. “Let's go and kick some soul slaver butt!”

The Lost Dragons - CHAPTER IV

After they left the city Alvaro the dragon said that they had to stop at the village of Mountainfoot to meet their guide.
“They are not very original with their names, are they? Said Alberto.
“A lot of the town and city names back home also had similar beginnings.” Answered his brother. “It's just being practical.”
They kept getting closer to the mountains and Alberto still felt the dense presence coming from it. Now, however, he got the feeling that it knew about them but he didn't tell his brother, although he did tell his dragon brother who said that it was best was not to think about it as doing so would probably attract it even more.
After a while flying over green fields they saw a column of smoke in the distance. Alberto suddenly felt some fear coming from below and saw a line of people, some walking, some on carts and some on horse back. A few where looking at them and were very scared.
“It's the people from the village,” said Alberto the dragon. “They are going to the city were they'll be safer until this is over.”
When they got near the village they saw a lot of burned houses and felt much sadness coming from the valley around it. They circled down and when they got closer they noticed that some people were running to hide and some had bows and arrows ready for them.
“Don't make any sudden movements or anything that might look aggressive,” Alvaro the dragon told everyone. Just then, they saw a man running towards the archers and talking to them. They lowered the bows but didn't look comfortable about it.
When they got down and the boys slid off the dragons, there was a general murmur from the crowd of people and some pointed at them. Alberto could feel a drastic mood swing from fear to relief and even happiness. The man they had seen before came walking towards them.
“Look at his ears!” Said Alberto.
“Wow! He's an elf!” Answered his brother.
“He looks like Legolas, but with black hair.” Alberto answered.
It was true. The elf was much more elegant and stylish than most of the other men they had seen. He approached them with a self security that bordered on aggressiveness, but he had a big smile on his face and this gave him a strange look.
“Hello there!” He said. “The brothers from the old legends have arrived.”
The boys looked at each other wondering what that meant as they hadn't heard anything about a legend.
“My name is Ashram. I'm a mystic warrior on my life pilgrimage from the Northern Continent. How long have you been here?” He asked.
“We just got here, about half a day ago.” Answered Alberto.
“What? But that means that you don't know anything about this place,” he said moving his arms so as to show everything around them.
“Well, we have our dragon brothers,” said Alberto, “and we are supposed to meet a guide.”
“Mmmmm. I think that would be me,” answered Ashram. “Come, lets walk to the village.”
They started walking and when they got closer to the rest of the people some of them looked really surprised.
“Ashram! They are just children!” Shouted one of them.
“Yes! But they are the right children!” Ashram shouted back. Some cheered and others clapped when they heard this. Some children appeared between the legs of the adults. A boy with long red hair smiled at the boys.
They got past the horses and then Alvaro noted that they weren't horses but some type of lizard about the size of a horse. “Did you see that?” Asked Alvaro to his brother. “Yes.” Answered Alberto. “And look at the ones pulling the carts. They are also big geckos or some other type of lizard.” Alberto looked at his brother and asked “Have you seen any birds?”
“Actually now that you mention it, no I haven't.”
“What are birds?” Asked Ashram.
“Little flying creatures that like to live near trees.”
“Oh those. Yes we have them but they don't come out of the forest.”
Closer to the village the boys noticed that some of the houses were still smoldering. Some had obviously been destroyed by explosions as their pieces were spread around. There were only a few that didn't have some type of damage.
“How many people did they hurt?” Alvaro asked Ashram.
“In the houses that exploded they killed all the family. In the others most people managed to escape the fire, but then they grabbed some... It was awful. I have never seen dragons doing this and for no reason that we can understand.”
Alberto now understood Merlin's sadness and his dragon brother shame.
“I can see now why the people were scared of us before,” said Alvaro. “Did they know we were coming?” He asked.
“In order to give them some hope, I told them about an old elf legend that fits very well with the two of you. The legend talks of two human brothers of great power that had dragon brothers here and came from the Western desert. The combination of all their skills gave them more power than all the wizards and witches from the two continents.” Looking at them he added, “who knows. Maybe it's more than a legend.”

The group crossed the village and gathered on a clearing on the other side. Here Ashram explained that he was not from this land but, as his life pilgrimage took him to this land, he had to learn all about its people. All of the people, including the dragons . He knew the mountains quite well by now and that's why Merlin had asked him to be their guide. Alvaro asked why the local people couldn't do it, but it turned out that they didn't like the mountains so they avoided them. Too much trouble they said.

“We have to cross the forest at the foot of the mountains and then go higher. It's better if you don't fly as you could be seen by the other dragons and I would have difficulty keeping up with you.” He said smiling.

They started walking towards a forest they could see in the distance. When they got nearer, the boys noticed that Ashram was following a path that led led into the forest.

At the beginning the forest had trees of all sizes but then they became bigger and bigger. The boys couldn't believe the size of some of them. "It looks like Elwynn Forest." Said Alvaro.
"I know." Said Alberto, "Dad said that in the olden days there were trees like this on Earth but we cut them all down."
"Look!" Said Alvaro, "a bird!"
Alberto looked and noticed that it was a strange bird. When they got closer they realised that some looked like baby dragons, others like bats and others like flying squirrels. Alvaro asked Ashram what they were. "Those are the birds you mentioned before," he said. "Aren't they?" He asked when he saw their expressions.
"No they are not." Answered Alberto, "our birds have feathers, they sing and they are what's left of the dinosaurs."
"What's a dinosaur?" Asked Ashram.
"A type of lizard but with hot blood that lived a long time ago in our side of the universe." Answered Alvaro.
"A lizard with warm blood? Were they dragons?" Asked Alberto the dragon.
"Mmmm. I don't think so," Alvaro looked thoughtful and added, "maybe what happened here is that the dinosaurs never became extinct. I'll have to ask Merlin about that."

After a while the path became narrower and narrower and the dragons had to go into single file.
Alvaro who had seen lots of adventure films said, “I don't like this. We could get ambushed.”
“Ah, military skills. How did you get those?” asked Ashram.
“Just watching TV.” Answered Alvaro “And you don't need to be a military expert to see that.”
“You are correct of course. We do have to watch for danger further into the forest. It's not a big forest so we should be Ok.”
When they had been walking for over an hour in the forest, Alberto was going to complain that for a forest that wasn't big they were taking a long time to cross it, but just then he felt denser presences getting closer. “I think that ambush Alvaro mentioned is going to happen soon,” he said.
“Yes,” said his dragon brother, “I can feel them also.”
Ashram took his sword out and told the boys to be ready to fly. They boys climbed their dragons and carried on riding on their backs. “Should we turn back?” Asked Alberto.
“No there's a small clearing just ahead. We'll be better off there.”
They got to the clearing and saw about six dragons flying in circles. They could also hear a rumbling all through the forest. The rumbling got louder and louder and they could hear some trees falling down.
“Sounds like T-Rex from Jurassic Park,” said Alvaro, but instead of dinosaurs they saw movement all around them in the trees and five dragons appeared at the edge of the clearing. Then pushing a young tree out of the way a bigger one appeared. They were all black and stood staring and ready to charge.

“You have come to a forbidden place and you will pay for it.” A voice boomed in their heads. “We will have the two legged imps as food and the dragons as slaves.” It added.

Just then, with no warning, Alberto the dragon jumped towards the nearest dark dragon while Alberto the boy swung something over his head. Just before they got to the dragon, which by this time had noticed the attack and was running towards them too, Alberto let go of the object. A black net flew through the air and tangled the dark dragon's front legs and head making it fall face first. Before the dragon had even hit the floor Alberto had turned and gone to the one on the right which had jumped at them with open wings. Again something flew out from Alberto, a string with two balls on each side spinning across from each other. The string wrapped itself around a front leg and a wing, making the dragon fall towards the right and crashing on the ground. All this happened in just a matter of seconds.

When Ashram saw Alberto attack, he ran across the clearing towards the big dark dragon who had spoken to them. “By the Elves of the Northern Continent and their Princess you can not win!” He shouted.
The large dark dragon, who had been watching Alberto's attack, turned towards Ashram and got ready to spit fire out and vaporise the elf. By this time the other three dragons had come into the clearing. One ran towards Alberto and the other two towards Alvaro.

Alvaro, who was still thinking that his brother had gone nuts attacking like that all by himself, saw the two dragons approaching fast. He didn't know what to do and then something popped into his head and he shouted “Impedimenta!” and the two dragons fell on the floor one on top of the other, frozen to the spot. By this time the third dragon was also on the floor with a net around it.

The big dark dragon saw all this and it threw a ball of fire towards Ashram, who jumped to one side. The dragon was expecting this so it simply grabbed Ashram and pinned him down on the floor while it shouted to the frozen dark dragons, “get up you fools! That's a simple magic spell!" It then turned to the ones Alberto had attacked, "use your fire to burn the nets and ropes!” It shouted.The fallen dragons carried out the orders. The trapped ones burning the ropes and nets with their breath and the two that had fallen because of the impediment curse, said "Patorius Permissum" and stood up.

“That's enough games!” Shouted the large dark dragon. “Stop right now or I'll crush him.”
Alberto looked at Ashram and stopped. Alvaro who hadn't moved was looking around and thinking hard.
“Get off your dragons and come here!” It then ordered.
Just then, Alvaro had an idea. He grabbed his staff, looked at the forest and whispered strange words to it. A huge oak tree that was next to the large dark dragon moved faster than anyone could think and grabbed it using its branches like a giant hand. Everyone was surprised as the leader of the dark dragons was lifted up in the air letting go of Ashram, who ran to get out of the way. The large dark dragon was going to throw a fire ball to the tree but the tree just banged it on the floor knocking him out before it had the chance to. The other smaller dark dragons saw this and were scared. They had never seen a tree move, never mind attack one of them. They all turned and ran or tried to fly. The problem was that whatever they did, they got close to a tree who grabbed them and pushed them to the floor with their branches and roots would come up from the ground muzzling them thus stopping them from breathing fire.
The fight was over but Alvaro saw that the oak was still banging the big dragon on the floor time and time again. He lifted his wand and looked at the oak. The tree seemed to turn towards Alvaro, stopped and let go of the dragon. Then it went back to its place and looked like it had never moved.
“WoW!” Shouted Alvaro.
“Wow!” Shouted Alberto, Ashram and the dragons brothers.
“I mean I got the idea from Internet game WoW. It's a skill the druids have in that game.”
“I hope I never have to fight one of those druids,” said Ashram.
“Don't worry,” answered Alberto. “It's just a computer game. They don't really exist.”
“Yeah. Just like dragons,” answered his brother.
Alberto looked nervously towards the forest realising his brother was right. He then pointed at the large dark dragon and shouted “Look!”.
Alvaro and Ashram got ready to fight again, but the dragon was still on the floor were the tree had left it.
“Can't you see it?” Asked Alberto. “There's a type of energy coming from the dragon and flowing to the ground and the trees!”.
Ashram looked at him and asked, “you can see that? I have heard of it. When someone dies his life force goes back to nature and his spirit goes into the higher dimensions. I'm not able to see it. Your life perception is truly great.” He then turned to Alvaro and asked “Why did the tree kill that one and not the others?”
“He had hurt many of his family in the past. He was well known in the forest. The other dark dragons are new here so the forest has nothing against them.”
“Hey! Those dragons are not totally dark! Look, light seems to appear from them sometimes,” Alberto said. He then realised that the others couldn't see that. He slid down his dragon and walked to the nearest trapped dragon.
“Be careful!” Shouted Ashram.
“Don't worry,” said Alvaro “The forest still has them.”
Alberto walked next to the dragon's head and asked,“what's your name?” The dragon looked at him and growled. “Just ignore the anger. I know you can hear me. What's your name then?” The dragon looked longer at him and seemed to relax. “That's it!” Shouted Alberto. “My name is Alberto. That over there is my dragon birth brother and the other boy is my human brother riding his dragon brother. The elf over there is Ashram. He's from the North.”

The others then noticed that the dragon Alberto was talking to wasn't dark any more but was turning red. “I'm Peter,” he said. “I'm also supposed to have a brother somewhere.” And by saying this he turned completely red and the roots holding him started to release him and returned to the ground. He stood up, opened his wings and said, “thank you dragon soul. You have the voice of an old dragon king. You reach deep within our hearts and soul and we can hear you. Before, after I got caught I could only feel hate. Everyone was terribly bad and had to be attacked. I'm very sorry for what I did.”
Ashram was amazed. In just a few minuted he had seen stuff from legends. He saw Alberto walk to each one of the trapped dragons and talk about different things. All of them first listened and then reacted to Alberto's voice changing to their original colours. After a while there were five very thankful dragons.
“One thing before you go,” said Alberto “You must help the villagers rebuild their village. The one you destroyed.” The dragons were more than happy to do so, but asked if they could go to the mountains with them first as there were more dragons trapped in darkness there whom they wanted to help. Then Alvaro remembered that there had been dragons flying above them and he looked for them but they were not there. “They've gone back and told the soul slaver about you.” One of the free dragons said.
“Who's the soul slaver?” Asked Alberto.
“It's a being that we have never seen but no dragons can resist its orders. We simply feel hate for everything and that's why we attack when we are ordered to,” said a yellow dragon.
“Well, we'll see how he stands against free dragons an elven prince and the Dragon Birth Brothers!” Shouted Ashram.
They took to the air now that they knew what to expect and had help.
“Did you know he was a prince?” asked Alberto.
“I had no idea,” answered his brother and they flew towards the high mountains. Ashram on top of the yellow dragon.

"My great grand father had the honour of having a dragon birth brother." Ashram told them. "His dragon was yellow and now, even though he's not my birth brother I'm also riding a yellow dragon. This day will not be forgotten." He told the boys. Then he added. "Merlin told me to look after you, but we did not expect you to have the military skills from your TV. I think we can carry on and confront what the dark dragons throw at us."

"Military skills from our TV? What's he talking about" Alberto asked his brother.

"He thinks it's some type of military school or something like that," Alvaro replied. "Better leave the explanations for later. Otherwise he'll send us back."

The boys and their dragon birth brothers followed Ashram higher into the air thinking that this adventure was a million times better than any TV program.