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Eternal

Crawling from Hell, Falling From Grace

In the morning, the entire camp was already up just as I rolled out of bed. As soon as my feet touched the floor, Gerard was yelling at my door for me to get up. I had to get an early start to the Dragontooth Cliffs if I wanted to get there before the bad weather was to set in.

“Come on, Toltek!” He yelled. I grumbled and grabbed my cloak and sword. It was my own set of belongings.

Opening the door of the extra room in the main hall, I ran past the table to get outside. Opening the door, a burst of cold wind spattered my face. Brushing stray pieces of hair away from my face, I started towards the stables. Gerard caught up with me.

“I thought you’d never wake up!” He laughed. I rolled my eyes.

“Well, I’m up now and ready to get going.” I smiled. Gerard nodded as we pushed past Ray and Bob.

“Are you excited for your assignment, redskin?” Matty asked. I nodded, pausing for a moment.

“What’s a redskin?” I questioned. Lee smirked.

“A possible recruit or a new member. We call ‘em redskins because when they’re going through training and their first actually raids, they tend to…bleed a lot. It stains their skin for a week at least, leaving them really red.” Lee snickered. I gulped. Um, good to know that I was going to have to survive a lot of pain to be
one of the Witchers…

“Well, I guess I’ll get Lullaby, then.” I decided to switch the subject. Mikey held out his hand to stop me. Rian tossed a bag at me. I caught it and check inside. It had few provisions in it, plus rope and some knives.

“Woah, woah, woah! You’re going to ride Phoose, Toltek.” Matty grinned. I paled, feeling my knees shake and knock together in the cold wind.

“Phoose? Your vicious horse?” I whispered. Matty nodded. Mesmer rolled his eyes.

“Come on, Matty! Last time a freshblood rode Phoose out to the Cliffs, he didn’t even make it past Windmont Lake! Phoose trampled him.” Jordan complained. Matty just raised an eyebrow.

“Fine, I’ll let him choose. Do you want to ride Phoose or not?” Matty groaned. I looked over his shoulder to Lullaby, and then to a stormy grey-white horse a few stalls down. He had killing in his eyes.

I’m pretty sure that was Phoose.

“I’ll ride Phoose.” I stood up taller, looking Matty straight in the eye. If I could ride Phoose, make it to the caves, and then survive the trip back, then I would be able to prove that I really can be a Witcher.

I mean besides, I’ve gotten plenty of experience with the horses, at least riding them enough when I’m looking for Jynx.

“Come on, I’ll get him saddled up.” Matty chuckled darkly. I gulped and slung the back over my shoulder, putting my arms through the strings.

Ten minutes later, the sun had disappeared behind a ceiling of grey clouds. Phoose was whinnying loudly as I walked towards him. His dark eyes looked dangerous as Matty handed me the reigns. The horse snorted and attempted to bite me. I jumped back, the horse looking at me with what I could only imagine was a smirk. Lullaby neighed loudly from the stalls.

“Are you ready, kid?” Frank asked me. I nodded, pushing myself up into the saddle.

“Just check it out and come back. We should be seeing you in in two days at the most.” Zack said. Ee cooed on his shoulder. The falcon bobbed its head towards me.

“Careful with Phoose. He likes to go fast.” Matty chuckled, patting his horse’s neck. The horse gently bumped his shoulder.

I had a few second thoughts about this…

“See you soon, Brightstar!” The others yelled at me as I gently kicked Phoose’s sides. He shoot off like a meteor and rocketed out of the open gates. Pretty soon, we were shooting down the path. I fumbled, barely a second, and nearly got thrown off. Regaining my balance, I let my mind think back to the lessons that Jynx taught me about horses.

“Well, what if a horse goes berserk?” I asked her with a cheeky grin. I was sitting upon Bruma and she was riding Indigo, a bay horse. She rolled her eyes at my question, although I was kind of being serious.

“Just lean forward, choke up on the reigns, bring them close to the horse’s neck and squeeze the saddle with your knees.” Jynx demonstrated. Indigo snorted as her head was pulled back.

“Should it stop the horse?”

“Not always, but it will keep you from falling off.”

So I did as she had once told me. I choked up on the reigns, pulling them tight against the horse’s neck. Phoose snorted harder than he had been as he followed a path that he was one. I hoped it was towards the cliffs.

Leaning up, I steeled my nerves and squeezed the saddle hard with knees, leaning forwards a bit. This did seem to help. I didn’t feel as if I was going to fall off. Phoose had his head bent over, but I jerked it back up with the reigns.

The forest became a blur of dying colors in the newborn winter as we continued in our forwards motion. It became a battle of wills-who could survive the longest. I knew that horses only had a certain limit before they tired. I also had a limit. I had long past that limit, but must remain strong. My legs were weakening, but I kept on holding on.

It might have been minutes. It might’ve been hours, but eventually, Phoose stopped. Phoose stopped and I plopped back down in the seat. The horse was breathing hard. I was matching his labored pants.

“Come on, Phoose. Not too much more to go to the Cliffs.” I patted his neck. The horse snorted loudly and started to walk. His footfalls were light in the forest. We were catching our breath as a bird flew low overhead. I ducked down.

I could’ve sworn that it was Ee.

We were in a strange part of the forest, but I heard waves ahead of us. The cliffs had to be close by.

It was noon by the time we had picked our way through the forest to the edge of the land. It was the Ghost Sea and we stood atop the Dragontooth Cliffs. Phoose halted right before the edge. I wanted to get a good look down, but feared to get off of Phoose. Who knows if that horse will push me off the edge?

It was a rightful fear that I had.

“Okay, Phoose. It’s getting cold. I’m hungry. You’re hungry. We both just want to get this over with and get back to the warm camp.” I muttered to the beast. For a moment, I could’ve sworn the horse bobbed his head. Maybe I was just imagining things…

Phoose snorted what I took to be another agreement as I climbed off of his saddle. The grey horse stood still, eyeing me the entire time.

“I need to get down to the cliffs. You just want to get to camp. Let’s work together, just for a day, to get this over with, okay? We made it this far.” I stared him straight in the eye.

Was I talking to a horse? Yes. Was I crazy? Possibly. Did the horse understand me? Most definitely.

The intelligent beast gave me the death glare but didn’t attempt to trample me or push me off the cliff. I took that as a good sign. I reached into my bag to see if the boys had packed anything warmer. All I saw was rope, an apple, some jerky, and a couple of knives. I took out the apple and Phoose perked up.

“See? We can work together for a little while and then I’ll be out of your mane.” I laughed as Phoose walked towards me. I smiled a little and let him viciously bite the apple out of my hand. Thankfully, I didn’t have any fingers missing when I checked. He crunched on the apple gratefully as I walked to the edge.

Looking down, I saw a straight plummet a thousand feet down to the roaring waves. Ice was forming further out on the sea but near the cliffs, the waves were always a constant threat. The sea had worn down the cliff to a completely flat wall except for one sharp jut out from the wall. It looked like a curved dragon’s tooth. No wonder for the name!

But if I fell, it was to either impale myself on the large jutting spike, or drown in the waves.

I grabbed a hold of the tree branch connected to a large tree overlooking the sea. Roots crawled out of the dirt, sticking out over the edge by about a foot. Backing up, I stood on solid ground once again, not feeling as dizzy. Taking out the rope, I tied a large loop around the base of the tree. I tested it by throwing all my weight against it, but it didn’t budge. When I was done, I tied the other end of the large rope to my waist.

I had a wonderful idea.

The natural steps that the Final Horizons boys were all talking about were just to the left of me. They were nearly a straight drop down on each one. I would be a fool not to try to have some sort of safety with me.

“Okay, Phoose. I’ll be up soon.” I said, patting his neck. He snorted and stood by the tree, as if he was interesting in watching the rope. Taking the loop in my right hand, I started towards the natural steps. Each rock had been carved out by something, but I didn’t know what. It looked like a jagged staircase that wound out of sight. Each step was small. I carefully picked my way down the first couple of steps before nearly slipping. The rocks were icy with mist. Looking out over the icy sea, a darker mass of clouds was rolling in.

I had to get in and get out before that came my way. I only had a couple of hours.

My footing was sure but cautious as I counted each step. With every few feet, I let some more rope drop from my hand. I looked up to see it dangling over the edge. The tree branches were still right over me.

I turned around part of the cliff to see my destination. The cave was barely twenty feet down, but the steps grew steeper. I got down, sitting on one step and sliding down to reach the next. I did this for about ten steps until I got to the mouth of the cave. The dragon tooth spike was another hundred feet down.

I was still eight hundred feet above the broiling waves.

When I got to the cave, I stopped. There was a dank, dark smell about it. Only then did I realize that I had no light. I silently cursed myself a thousand times over for not having any light source with me.

Looking in my bag, I used the sun’s rays to illuminate what I had. No, no weapons. The sunlight reached into the cave about fifty feet before turning pitch black. With a sigh, I stumbled inside.

This really was a suicide mission.

I kept on going, eventually untying the rope from my waist and letting it dangle over the cave’s mouth. The tree was directly overhead and let it sit there in the wind.

I walked until I reached the edge of the light. I stared into the darkness. A dragon could be sitting right there and I wouldn’t even know it.

But something pushed me forward.

I kept on going, just walking straight. After a few feet, I could’ve sworn I saw a tiny light. No, that had to be a sun spot from the left over visions of light. I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face.

But I kept on going forward until the light grew bigger. When I got next to it, I saw that it was a lamp.

And I was in a hallway.

Something very big had carved out this hallway.

It sloped downwards very gently. Drawing my sword, I pushed forwards, gradually slinking down to where more lights stung my eyes. I saw that there was a very, very large opening to what appeared to be a very, very large room.

Something made me shake hard. I swallowed my fear. I didn’t have to kill the dragon. Just get in and get out. That was all.

But was there a dragon?

I was in the dark hallways with three lights that cast small shadows, just on the doorway to the large room. I peered inside. It appeared that no one was home. Large tapestries hung from the walls like great banners announcing a royal resident. A large fireplace with a gate on it that looked like it could be cooking a couple of whole cows on it. There was a finely woven rug that took up much of the floor space. The gate on the fireplace let the heat out but kept stray sparks in.

But that was only the first level of the room.

I saw grand steps lead up to a higher balcony area. There were grand treasures stored in magnificent display cases. A fine bed of cushions looked large enough for me to hide in and no one would ever find me. There magnificent paintings that hung on the walls, depicting scenes of fierce battles and mighty warriors, but one caught my eyes.

It was a banner. A beautiful, beautiful banner. The biggest of them all. Painted on it was a great dragon, dark and looming. Her eyes held all the danger of an angry giant, but her posture held regale stature. At her side was another black dragon chick. The chick looked playful, but up towards its mother. I assumed the dragon in the middle was its mother.

To be honest, before this all began, I never even really believed dragons still existed. Sure, there was lore sung by drunken bastards, but I had my sneaking doubts.

I kept staring at the giant painting with the logs crackling in the background. It took hold of my conscious and unwillingly made me step into the large room. I took step after step towards the painting, feeling tears prick my eyes.

“Beautiful.” I whispered over and over.

Paak, fos nev do kril joor. Shame, what a waste of a brave mortal.” A soothing voice whispered from behind me. The color drained out of my face. I trembled, nearly dropping my sword. I felt my legs go weak at the very sound of the voice. It held beauty and power, but dripped with poison and danger.

I turned around, slowly coming face to face with the creature torn out of my worst nightmare. Two glowing blue eyes were blinking down at me. My jaw dropped ten feet to the floor.

I was staring right into the eyes of a great, black, dragon.

And she didn’t look to pleased.

Notes

OOO....OOO

What. Just. Happen!!??!??!?!?

Looks like Toltek's run into a very large problem!!

What will happen? Will this be the end of our brave hero? Keep reading to find out!

Comments

I really need this story to update I love it so much!

@VixenMotionless
Aw thank you very much! I hope you enjoy the next few chapters! :)

I can't wait to read the rest of this. I don't think a fanfic has ever captured my attention as much as this one has! :D

-Vixen Motionless

@Broken Dancer
You're welcome :)

@Chaos'sWolf
Yay that makes me super happy :) thank you!