Chapter 3: Makings of a hero

Huff huff

Panting heavily while running from a large flying lizard chasing her.

A sack of vegetables within the embrace of her arms were a burden but she would not give them up.

She hadn't had anything decent to eat recently so it was a dead end on both paths.

If she had to choose, she would rather die from being eaten than not eating.

In her prime state, the wyvern's head would've been blown off long ago.

But the lack of food limited her power.

Even with the sour fatigue engulfing her legs and hunger scratching on the walls of her stomach, she forced herself.

There was an alleyway nearby, she needed to reach there.

The ground suddenly shook and caused her to trip.

She fell to the ground, a few scratches to her palms from when she suppressed the impact using her hands.

'It's a shame, I was so close to eating'

She thought while accepting her fate.

Kuaaaaaa!

The wyvern screamed as someone latched on to it after dealing a blow.

They crashed into another street.

She thanked her stars and retreated into the alleyway.

***

Ravien ate the breakfast left on the table alone that morning.

There was bloodshot in his eyes, a result from weeping last night.

He ate the food with a tasteless expression.

Ravien felt numb, his hard efforts only got him a scolding from the most important person in his life.

But otherwise he still wasn't completely defeated.

'I just need to get a hang of it' --- he determined.

Yesterday was his first time performing air acrobatics, so it was natural that he wouldn't feel comfortable moving the way he did.

He felt a little motivation pump through his heart.

The vigor in his spirit gave him life again, even the food tasted good now.

Ravien got ready to leave for work.

The part-time he did at the blacksmiths not only funded his ambition but also allowed him to borrow the facilities for his craft.

The fire wielding ability was sought out for in these workshops as it gave convenience when working.

Although you needed practice, it would be more quicker to heat metal with magic.

The success rate of crafting is also higher as the heat can be controlled more precisely.

Thus, fire magic improved the overall efficiency of blacksmiths.

One of the reasons why he got so good with his fire control, it was because of his blacksmithing job.

This job killed 3 birds with one stone.

On his way, he overheard kids muttering.

"Hey did you hear? Captain Mason's son managed to bring down a wyvern yesterday!"

Ravien's ears perked up, a smile drawn on his face.

"I did, they say he almost died trying to save a girl from that wyvern."

"So cool... What was his name again?"

"Russell erm... maybe Rascorn? "

"It's Ravien you brats!"

Ravien interjected himself into the conversation, lightly smacking the heads of the boys.

"Haha we knew, we saw you walking down the street and wanted to tease you a bit"

Carl and Stuart lived in the same neighborhood and played with Russell a few times before.

"It your fault for not coming to play us, we rarely see you now"

"Yeah! it's only natural we would forget your name"

Ravien started working 4 months ago, so that gave him less time to play with them.

"Sorry, I've been busy working on your new toys you see"

"Really? I can't wait to see it!"

The 2 boys said at the same time.

As he continued walking another thought dawn on him.

'Who was that girl? Was she fine? She looked kind of pretty.'

Ravien was at the age of puberty and was a perfectly healthy boy, he was already thinking about getting a girlfriend.

'I hope she's cool' --- he envisioned how she would be if they met.

***

On an anvil layed an iron chest piece.

A generous amount of scratches etched into the piece, it probably saved the wearer more than a dozen times.

With a hand over the armour Ravien channeled heat into the piece, painting the plate a bright red.

Clang, Clang!

He hammered with wide swings, allowing the weight of the hammer to smash the iron.

Tweaking the course of every swing to beat out the abnormalities.

He dunked the piece into water, it bubbled and steam erupted from water.

Once the cooling process was over, he took it out of the water , the chest piece was good as new.

Haah.....

Russell sighed.

His skill in metal working was due to his talent for fire.

Why couldn't it have been wind instead? --- he lamented.

"Beautifully done as usual, at an expert speed even"

A bearded man came to praised Ravien's work.

The man gave off the vibe of a tough veteran, he wore an apron that wrapped his protruding belly and a pair of cargo pants with a greasy shirt, 2 sleeves of an ink dragons coiled his muscular arms.

This viking like person was Ravien's teacher, master blacksmith Hundrel.

"What's the use being good with fire and steel? All I want is wind. "

Ravien downplayed his worth, his dissatisfaction for the hand he's been dealt made apparent.

"You know wind is important to a skyblade and all but there's something even more important..."

"What's more important?"

"Bravery, it takes bravery to act as a skyblade that's why not every wind user can be one. "

"Bravery won't let me fly..."

"But it did though, you experienced it yesterday afterall"

It was a dumb thing to believe in, even with his suit and strong natural wind he could barely kill a wyvern.

Ravien was doubting himself once again.

"All I did was glide, I wouldn't last a full fight."

"What if I told you that your fire could help you?"

"What do you mean?"

Ravien's eyes widened like saucers.

"There was one actually, someone who tamed the skies with fire instead of wind. They actually were the first skyblades..."

Skyblades are a necessity for any walking fortress, in this world gunpowder based weapons existed but they were ineffective against wyverns.

Wyverns were fast and had thick scales, even if they land the shot bullets would just bounce off .

Skyblades could wield strong magic attacks and could dance toe to toe in the sky with the flying lizards.

But what most don't know is that the first Skyblades weren't wind users.

According to Hundrel, the first air fighters were actually using fire spells to fly.

This was not known by many because Ascarian history acknowledged the invention of skyblades only when wind users starting picking up the profession.

The reason was simple, wind spells allowed higher mobility and mana efficiency compared to fire spells.

Fire users couldn't last long in the sky with the high mana consumption, thus why they didn't qualify as 'true skyblades'.

"The original skyblade, his name was Kreig Howitzer "

When the wyverns first attacked civilians and soldiers alike hid like rats, it was only after the implementation of small mounted canons did they show some resistance.

But that too failed miserably, soon cities fell and wyverns dominated the territory.

Past Ascarians were forced to a nocturnal life as the shadow of night brought peace.

Wyverns only hunted with the sun up, by sunset they would be on their way to their nests.

'Men were born to live with the sun' --- that was Krieg's thought on the matter.

He was born before the shift to night life, so it was natural that he missed the light.

Wyverns have robbed from the people many things: Food, lives, peace of mind, light as well as hope.

"Krieg had enough, one morning he picked up his broadsword deciding that he would attest the hierarchy of the food chain."

That day it was the first time a door opened to daylight in years.

Krieg was bathed in the sun's beam.

The light was warm and that warmth ignited a spark in him.

His hatred for wyverns was the fuel and with a breath of mana brought combustion.

Krieg marked the wyverns in the sky, there were at least 13--- 'the more the merrier he thought'

Today he would flip the predator and prey positions.

He exploded into flames, the explosion launched him like a flaming missile.

"They say he killed 8 that day, all in one strike!"

Hundrel exclaimed with the vigor.

"No way that's real, even 3 year skyblades could only kill 4 by themselves at most. Krieg never even had training before and he killed 8 with one strike?"

It was too amazing to sound true, more of a legend or story told to kids.

Ravien was mature enough to think for himself and was not naive.

"How'd he even get to the wyverns if he can't ride the wind"

"Krieg's feet were always seen with a bursts of fire, maybe that had to do with his flight."

"...and his attacks were said to be very heavy and hot"

Krieg's attacks were more explosive and powerful , staying true to its elemental characteristics.

"Still not buying it, anyways I'm done with my quota so I'm going home early today"

Ravien didn't notice the smile on his face as he was leaving the premise.

The story may be too outrageous to believe but it did give some ideas to Ravien, right now he was itching to try them out.

***

On the front part of the city is an abandoned construction site.

It has been left there untouched because the city management has not yet decided what to do with it.

This was Ravien's secret base.

Ravien vaults over a high wall that separates the street with the site.

Thud.

He lands on the ground with ease, his movement perfected over alot of repetition.

As Ravien got up, his head bumped into a basket.

After straightening his back and legs, his gaze met with another's.

It was a girl, she stared at the ground like she saw a ghost.

Ravien looked down at the floor.

Carrots scattered and mushy tomatoes splat on the ground.

"Ah I'm sorry..."

SMACK!

A red handprint appeared across his face.

Now that he looked closer, this girl was the one from before...

'So pretty' --- he thought.