askdragonlordseto

[askdragonlordseto]

Are we allowed to send in asks?

Yes, yes you are

[askdragonlordseto]

Seto and Tyler are now open for asks

[askdragonlordseto]

A Strange Beginning

The mountainside was quiet. There was a soft breeze in the wind that rustled the multitude of colourful leaves, almost making the sky dance in a warm glow of orange, red, yellow and purple. Birds chirped between the branches of the trees and across the narrow dirt path that snakes between the trees, a large brown and white spotted deer trotted by calmly.

It wasn’t what Tyler had expected at all.

When Tyler had heard this was the Alpenglow mountains, the fabled home of seven dragons and their master, he was expecting ash raining from the skies, the trees burnt to black skeletons and rivers of lava snaking the mountainside. Not a peaceful nature paradise like this. The townsfolk that lived at the bottom of these mountains had claimed the mountains were a death trap.

Hundreds of brave warriors had climbed the mountains in hopes of slaying the lord of dragons or even just one of his pets. Of all that had climbed, none had returned. He remembered as he left the town passing the large tree that signalled the start of the forest being littered with carved names of those that had gone missing. Tyler prayed he would not be added to that collection.

Everyone knew the story of the Lord of Dragons. Seto Levis had been a student of the Rekriest magic school. He’d been the most promising student under the teaching of his father, the owner of the school. But stories told he had gone on to practice darker magic and when confronted, he fled. He’d turned seven of his closest friends into wild, ferocious dragons and burned down the school before leaving to the mountains. He was said to be insane, ruthless, someone you wanted to avoid like the plague if you knew what was good for you.

And now he was climbing up to hopefully strike a deal with this madman. Tyler had been told he wasn’t the brightest, and he was certain that this was his stupidest idea yet. But when an army of soldiers is threatening to break down the walls of your kingdom and conquer it for themselves, sometimes you need a stupid idea.

Rounding the dirt path, Tyler stopped to stare in awe. In this serene landscape, the centre of the mountain itself had caved into a large valley, wherein the centre lay a large dark blue lake. Sitting on top of that lake, however, was a large castle. It’s foundations clearly lay deep beneath the water and it appeared to be abandoned, but Tyler knew better.

The castle walls had moss and algae clinging to the stone bricks with large open holes higher in the walls that looked to have been broken down and were crumbling away. He noticed a large dome in the centre roof of the castle that was broken in by something large and Tyler couldn’t ignore the blackened blast marks on the openings in the walls. There was a large set of iron gates where he’d expect the entrance doors to be, the gates looked as though they had been fused together with iron bars and sheets with fire to fuse it all together. The doors had sharp pieces of metal sticking out of it and definitely looked like anyone was thrown into it, they would not be getting off alive. A surefire way to say ‘go away’. Tattered purple banners hung loosely on the outside walls, but Tyler suspected they didn’t belong to Seto but the castle’s previous owners whoever they may be. Tyler hoped Seto didn’t kill them, but he wasn’t about to put it past the dragon lord.

Approaching the castle slowly, he couldn’t help but gaze up at it. Again, for as large and terrifying as it all looked, he was expecting to hear roaring and see fire blazing out the windows. If it weren’t for the blast marks and missing people, he’d be half convinced that the lord of dragons was just a story.

At first, there didn’t seem to be any way to reach the castle aside from swimming, which was something he definitely didn’t want to try with his swimming skills; but when he approached the edge of the lake, he noticed them. A pathway of stones just under the water he could walk on. He hated the water, but it was better than swimming. Taking slow steps, he placed one foot on the path to test its depth. The water completely engulfed his foot, but he felt the stone. He felt slightly more confident now to continue on and proceeded on slowly.

He tried his best to be quiet and prevent himself from making a splash, holding his cloak around him to keep it from trailing in the water. When he heard a splash upon the lake, he nearly had a heart attack, turning to look and see what made the noise but all he could see and feel were the ripples as if something large had fallen into the water. He decided to move faster to get out of the lake.

He sighed with relief when reaching the stone walls of the castle. It took a while, but he managed to find a low window and push himself inside, grunting as he managed to fall through and hit the stone ground with a wince. When he had his bearings again, he took in his surroundings.

He appeared to be in an abandoned study room. There was no dust on the ground, so he assumed many people used this window as an entry point. The old wooden desk on the wall next to him was a deep brown and looked to be half rotted away from water damage. An old grey feather quill sat in an empty inkpot on the desk with spider webs tagging it to the wall. With such an easy breach in the castle, Tyler would’ve cast metal on the window as well to keep out intruders if he was Seto. But if he had dragons, he supposed he wouldn’t be too fused about security.

Leaving the room, Tyler carefully shut the door behind him and looked around the stone corridor. Torches lined the walls with orange flames that cast himself and the walls in an eerie orange glow. He had no weapons since he wanted to give the look of not wanting to harm Seto or the dragons. Standing alone in this corridor, however, made him think that was yet another stupid idea of his. Regardless, he pressed onwards.

The rooms in this floor seemed to mostly be abandoned, study rooms, bedrooms, a kitchen, servants quarters, all here and all looking abandoned Seto must’ve not cared at all about this level if it weren’t for the torches he’d assumed the castle was completely abandoned. Finding a set of stairs, he continued up and noticed how much cleaner and more organised this floor was. No cobwebs, clean floors. It definitely seemed like someone lived here. He didn’t want to startle Seto or piss him off so decided to make his presence known now if it wasn’t already.

“Hello? Uh, is anybody here? I’m not here to hurt you!” he called out, his voice echoing down the hallway. “My name’s Tyler! I need your help!”

He kept walking, calling out for someone to answer him, yet was met with silence. He peered into one room, seeing a bedroom with a bed reduced to splinters and stuffing. Something large clearly had been in here but wasn't here now. Maybe Seto wasn’t here? Maybe he took his dragons for a walk? Did dragons even take walks?

His thoughts were shattered; however, when he heard a low growl behind him and felt hot breath on his neck. He tried to keep his composure and turned slowly to look behind him.

He was now face to face with a large dragon. Red scales ran along its long body with wings folded along its back that had a black leathery membrane. Black horns protruded from its head that was at least as big as half of Tyler with its stomach a matching black, yet the scales looked just as strong as on the back. It’s gold eyes stared down at Tyler with an unreadable expression, but one this was clear. It was not happy to see him.

Tyler slowly raised his hands to show he wasn’t armed “Uh… N-Nice dragon.” Tyler spoke in a soft, shaky voice “Nice giant scary dragon. I’m not gonna hurt you so please please please don’t hurt me.”

The dragon growled again. Its mouth opening to reveal large sharp teeth. Light began to build up at the back of the dragon’s throat and Tyler took that as his cue.

He bolted as orange fire erupted from the dragon’s mouth with a roar, melting through the door before the dragon closed its mouth to quench the flames, turning to Tyler with a snarl and giving chase.

Tyler sprinted through the hallways, the dragon hot on his heels. He could feel it’s hot breath on his heels and hear it’s large clawed feet stomping after him with a roar. He thought he could hear himself screaming as well but was too pumped on adrenaline to remember. If Seto didn't know he was here, he definitely did now.

Seeing a set of large wooden doors, he pushed through them to keep running but once the doors opened, he felt the force of the dragon slam into him, sending him sprawling to the ground with a cry. He tried to get up but had the wind knocked out of him when the dragon’s clawed paw slammed down on his back, pinning him down. He felt dizzy from the impact and lack of air and couldn’t fight back as the dragon opened its mouth again. Fire building up to launch out-

“Mitch! That’s enough!” A boy’s voice suddenly yelled.

The dragon hesitated and growled at Tyler, lowering its head to instead snap him up with a_

“Mitch! Off! Now!”

‘Mitch’ growled again in frustration and got off the prince, giving Tyler room to breathe again. He sat up and gasped for air, panting as his lungs burned and his body smelled of smoke now. He turned his head to the sound of the voice.

Standing a good few meters away from him, a boy donned in a cloak made of many various dragon scales of different colours stood. His hood was lowered to show fluffy brown hair that hung low around his face. His grey robes were lined with purple and the left side of his pale face was decorated in a black decoration of tattoos. The markings of a sorcerer. His hand was stroking the snout of ‘Mitch’ who appeared to have calmed down at his touch. This must’ve been Seto, the lord of dragons.

Seto pet ‘Mitch’s’ nose and sighed “Go get the others, I'll be ok.”

Mitch snorted and after giving Tyler another glare, spread his wings and took off into the sky through the broken dommed ceiling with a roar.

Tyler watched the dragon disappear overhead and breathed a sigh of relief “Thank you! By the gods, I thought I was a-”

“Don’t thank me.” Seto cut Tyler off, his hazel eyes glaring at Tyler with a look that reminded him of how Mitch had glared at him “You can still just as easily be food for my friends when they get back. So, who are you, and why shouldn’t I kill you now for trespassing?”