Legend of the Dreviaon
Far below the surface of the elvish world, buried beneath the earth lived a creature called an ‘Dreviaon’, an ancient enemy of the elves. It dwelt forever in hiding, far under the soil where there was no light. It wanted revenge on the elves, sweet, fulfilling revenge for hunting it down and killing most of its kind. Dreviaons were extremely intelligent creatures, they were especially dangerous because they knew elves’ weaknesses, they knew how to lure elves into their lairs only to devour them.
The elves had been terrorized for many years until they eventually came up with a way to keep the Dreviaons and other dangerous predators out of their lands; they had made a tall wire electric fence around the city, it was buried deep in the ground to keep the Dreviaons from digging underneath it, and of course Dreviaons couldn’t climb. So the elves lived without fear, thriving within their walls, completely isolated from the outside world.
Sometimes unexpected things happen. Things that no one can do about. Things we take for granted can easily change. We should not always expect peace. So it is with this story. It all began around late afternoon, around the time when the shadows began to lengthen. Two friends made their way through the public square, crowded with all kinds of people, trying to sell items. They knew most of the people there, and made their way, paying respect to all of their acquaintances.
“Hurry up, Jay.” Kai mouthed silently to his friend, who was taking such a long time just saying ‘hello’ to everyone. This happened everyday after they got out of learning and Kai was quite fed up with it.
Jay finally finished and they walked out of the marketplace and onto the street. Dwellings were scattered here and there, in an orderly fashion and beyond the houses was a beautiful lush green meadow filled with flowers and trees. Children played in it, some chasing each other around trees and others just sitting in the green grass, watching insects with amazement. Miles beyond this happy scene stood the fence, and of course none of the children dared to go near it, they were taught not too, and it was a good thing they were because every now and again one of the wild beasts of the forest would come near, hidden by the bushes and watch the children at play, growling, snarling, and ripping up the earth with its large deadly claws.
Kai and Jay were too old for doing the things that the young elves were. They were both around 16 years old, but they still remembered their dangerous childhood, even though they tried to forget it; back then there was no protection from the menacing creatures that longed to consume the inhabitants.
“Valena should have been here by now.” Jay said, after they had stood there for a while, “I wonder what’s taking her so long.” He never thought about the fact that she had her own friends.
“Wait, what? You never said anything about her!” Kai exclaimed, trying not to look as anxious as he was.
“Dude, she’s my twin sister. I have to let her hang out with us every now and then.” Jay said in reply,
“Well…uh, yes but that doesn't mean…” Kai stopped short when he saw Valena making her way towards them. Her hair was brown and wavy like her brother’s and her eyes were deep blue and seemed to stare right through them.
“Hi Valena!” Jay said, high fiving her, which was his usual way of greeting people, “Took you long enough! You know how long we had to wait here?” he teased,
“About one minute?” she asked, innocently.
“Hmm…no, I’d say about one and a half minutes…” Jay replied, going along with the joke.
Kai stood there, awkward and uncomfortable, avoiding eye-contact with Jay’s sister, whom he was very shy of. He had had a crush on her for years and years but could never find the courage to talk to her and it was often frustrating for him. Kai was lost in thought when Valena waved politely at him, he gave her an embarrassed smile without even thinking about it, and Jay, to Kai’s irritation, didn’t help to make the situation less humiliating, “What’s the matter with you, Kai? You look as red as a ripe tomato.” Jay laughed.
Valena ignored him, Kai oddly enough usually acted like that when she was around, but he scarcely said a word to her so she wasn’t sure if he actually liked her.
“What exactly were you planning on doing?” Valena asked, deciding that it was best to change the subject…if there even was one.
“I don’t know.” Jay muttered, shrugging and looking at his friend, expecting him to think of something.
Valena thought for a minute, “What do you usually do?” she inquired,
“Oh, sometimes we see who can run from here to the fence fastest, other times when we are feeling mischievous we just stare at people…” Jay began, further embarrassing Kai.
Valena interrupted him, shaking her head, “You’re both crazy…I’m certainly not going to do any of those things.” she said, crossing her arms indignantly.
Jay shrugged again, he obviously liked to shrug. “I know.” she said, after a few moments. She grabbed Jay’s hand, “Come with me.”
Kai trailed along behind them, he really wasn’t sure what else to do. It’d be rude to just leave, however he didn’t feel like they were even acknowledging his existence anyway, so maybe they wouldn’t notice. She led them through the forest-like grassland until they got to a section of the meadow that was concealed, almost completely, with trees growing close together forming a wall, all kinds of flowers grew on the ground in beautiful colors and golden afternoon sunlight filtered in through the treetops.
“Wow, what is this place?” Kai said, feeling a little less fidgety.
Valena sat down on a low tree branch, “It’s my secret place,” she replied, happily, “I come here to relax.”
Jay peered through the small space between two trees and saw the fence a few feet away, “It’s awfully close to the fence, don’t you think?” he said,
It was her turn to shrug, “It’s fine, Jay. Stop worrying.” she replied, carelessly taking her safety for granted, which was her mistake.
Kai glanced through another space, to see what Jay was talking about and beheld a section of the barrier that was ripped off, leaving a large hole in the wiring.
“Is that a hole?” he asked, in disbelief. There shouldn’t have been a hole in the fence, it was a danger to everyone.
Jay looked through, Valena just rolled her eyes.
“Has that always been there?” He asked his sister, “We should tell someone, that needs to be fixed.”
“It’s just a little whole, and yes it’s been there. Remember that large storm we had a couple of weeks ago? That’s when I first noticed it.” she remarked, casually.
“You didn’t tell anyone?” Kai questioned, raising an eyebrow.
“No I did not.” she replied, with an attitude which was usual for her, “Do you know what they would have done if I had told someone? They would have come and ruined this place, just to get to the fence from here you have to chop down a few of these trees.”
“It’s a danger to everyone!” Jay exclaimed, getting annoyed at his sister’s indifference.
“It’s not like anything can fit through that hole, it’s tiny, plus it’s protected with electricity. I doubt anything will come near it.” She declared, “Kai, stop standing on my flowers.”
Kai shifted over, apologizing quietly. Jay rolled his eyes and started walking away, “I’m going to do what’s best for everyone…except your trees and plants, but people’s lives are more important than them.” he muttered angrily.
“Don’t you dare!” she half-shouted, getting more aggravated, if that was even possible, “It’s been there for two weeks and everything has been fine!”
Kai groaned, he was getting a little tired of this arguing; being an only child he didn’t know what it was like to have siblings. He recognized that Jay was right but thought that it was best to not get involved in family squabbles.
“Valena…” Jay sighed in an exasperated way,
“Don’t even try to convince me, it isn’t going to work. Go ahead if you want, you’ll just have to do it without me.” she cut in, turning her back on him.
Kai heard a low growling noise behind him, he whipped around and saw nothing but he knew what it was.
“Guys?” he said,
They kept arguing.
“Could you please stop quarreling for a minute?” Kai implored, loudly.
“Stay out of this.” Valena snapped at him, immediately feeling bad afterwards…it was hard for her to control herself when she was angry. Kai heard another growling noise, this time louder he turned around and saw the tip of a long tail disappear out of sight, it was outside the fence…for now.
“Jay.” He said, “There’s something out there. All your noise must have gotten its attention.”
Jay stopped when he heard his name, he gave Valena a look as if to say, ‘I told you so’. “It’s ok, it can’t fit through that hole.” Valena sneered at her brother.
Kai looked nervous, “We have to tell someone about this broken fence. Valena, you just have to deal with it.” he said, almost not believing that he just said what he had. Valena glared at him, and in the corner of her eye she saw some movement behind him, and thought that maybe they were right.
“Fine,” she sighed, feeling bad about being such a nuisance but she wasn’t about to apologize to her brother; it was partly his fault too.
Suddenly a loud roar sounded right behind them, Kai turned around and saw a giant lizard-like animal growling at them. Its mouth opened to show rows upon rows of needle sharp teeth. Valena screamed, which probably wasn’t the best thing to do; the monster screeched and slammed its huge head against the wire. It immediately shot back, shrieking in pain as it was electrocuted.
The three of them started backing away slowly, the monster stared at them, growling the whole time, once they were out of sight they broke into a sprint. The wire fence rattled behind them and they heard crashing and banging mixed with the creature’s roars. Everyone nearby heard it and started to panic, knowing that something was trying to break in and thinking of all the different possibilities and scenarios.
Jay, Kai and Valena stopped in their tracks and all of them turned their heads in the direction of the noise. They saw one of the trees that was blocking their view fall; the lizard had stuck its long powerful tail through the fence hole and was using it to try and destroy the barrier. Valena was shocked, she knew that it was her fault and she knew that she had to do something about it but what could she do?! By this time all the elves had seen the monster breaking in and panicked, they grabbed their children and retreated into their houses as fast as was physically possible, barring the doors and windows.
The creature had made a wide enough hole for its lean body to slip through without touching the wire, it roared angrily and its eyes fell upon the three elves standing there. They knew they were all done for when it rushed towards them, crushing beneath its claws bushes and some of the small trees. A gunshot was heard, and the elves nearly crashed into another elf, with long black hair in his hand he held a weapon. His clothes indicated that he was a hunter, basically someone who went outside the fence and hunted the Dreviaons and other animals; they also sometimes guarded the borders of the elvish world.
“Run, kids,” he told them, firing another shot close to the animal. He meant to just scare it away, he didn’t want to hurt it needlessly.
The lizard didn’t back down, it charged towards the elf threatening it with its long claws. The hunter backed up and continued firing at it but it didn’t help, the monster jumped into the air and landed in front of them, lowering its head close to the ground and growling. The elf pointed the weapon at the animal’s head, threateningly, he looked the beast straight in the eye.
Valena, Kai and Jay ran a short distance and hid behind one of the buildings, watching to make sure that the hunter didn’t have any trouble.
“This is all my fault.” Valena groaned,
Jay nodded vigorously but stopped when Kai elbowed him. Valena felt more and more guilty the longer she stood there and did nothing about her mistake. The sounds of gunshots and enraged growling continued as more and more of the special hunters/protectors emerged from all over the city. They worked together to try and drive the creature off of their borders but all of the noise was bringing in more lizards…it seemed that all was lost.
Finally, Valena couldn’t stand it anymore, without any warning she dashed around the corner of the house and onto open ground, Jay and Kai were shocked, they bolted after her. Valena made her way down the street, she was running as fast as she possibly could, the hunters were astonished when they saw her, they shouted at her to stop and turn back but she ignored their warnings keeping her eyes on the monsters that were basically overrunning the city.
“Valena!!!” Jay called after her, but she didn’t listen to him.
Valena didn’t want anyone to follow her, she grabbed a gun that was on the ground, it had been knocked out of the hand of one of the hunters. She jumped through the hole in the fence hoping against hope that someone would have to sense to block the lizards out if they tried to get back in. Jay and Kai ran after her, without hesitation they ran over the border, not sure what to do, she seemed like she was doing fine, being a very good shot because of her unusually excellent vision. She took down several lizards as did the hunters on top of their roof and on tall tree branches to see them.
Others began to chop down trees and get ready to close up the entrance, trying to figure out a way to let in the elves outside without letting in the beasts as well. The creatures began to circle them, blocking off any escape, there were about 10 of them in all. Jay seized Valena’s arm and started pulling her back to safety, knowing that she probably wouldn’t listen to reason. But as they were making their way back a lizard darted in front of them, snapping at their heads and stomping on the ground. Jay thought they were done for when it came at them, with its claws out. It missed them with its claws by a couple of inches; the ground shook and trembled when it landed, and suddenly it caved it. They fell down, down, down until finally they hit the water so hard that it hurt. Valena opened her mouth to scream but her lungs filled with water, she swam up to the surface and burst out of it, coughing and choking as she made her way to the bank of the underground spring with Kai and Jay following after her.
“This must be one of their tunnels,” said Kai, his voice echoing down the long burrow.
Valena got up shakily, “Then we need to get out,” she whispered, quivering as she looked up at the hole above them, the lizards had already started gathering around it, staring at them through gold flecked eyes.
Jay looked down the tunnel, not sure how they were going to get out, it was dangerous enough where they were, but going down an Dreviaon's tunnel was far more bold! Kai strained his eyes, hoping to see the end of the tunnel, suddenly he saw a light, judging from its size it must have been a way out!
“Look, down there. Do you think that is the end of the barrow?” he said to Jay,
Jay sighed with relief, “Yes that must be it, we can go along the bank until we reach it, but we have to be quiet, or else we might wake up whatever lives in this tunnel.” he said, warningly.
The monsters watching them began to growl softly as they started off towards what they thought was an exit. Jay searched the ground for something he could use as a torch, but the shore was so wet that he doubted he would find anything. Eventually he saw a large stick up against the dirt wall. He found two dry rocks and tried to light it but it was no use, he had no idea how people light fires with two rocks. Kai and Valena didn’t know either, so they decided that their only option was to brave the darkness without illumination.
They had walked for a while and the light at the end of the tunnel was getting bigger. Pointy stalactites hung down from the ceiling, ignoring the fact that it was a monster’s home, it was rather pretty. The only light they had was the small beams of sunlight piercing the top of the cave where the ground was thin, and in other places there were small holes. Kai saw that the winding tunnel turned sharply further ahead, he thought that that must have been the end of the tunnel because the light was even brighter the closer they got to it.
“That must be the end!” Jay said, even though he wasn’t fully convinced of it. There didn’t seem to be any fresh air flow, down in the stuffy place they were in, which didn’t make sense.
Valena was the first to turn the corner, and what she saw astounded her: it was like a whole section of the tunnel filled with jewels and riches of all kinds. The ‘light’ that they thought was the end of the tunnel was just sunlight reflecting off of the shiny, spotless jewels and making it brighter. Dreviaons often had liars full of treasure, they were very greedy animals, even though they could not do anything with their valuables. They all stood there, dumbfounded for a few moments before a far off growl brought their dangerous situation back to mind.
“Look at all this treasure!” Valena exclaimed, a little too loudly. Behind them, lurking in the shadows two large eyelids flashed open, watching them and waiting.
“Shhh,” Jay warned her, putting a finger to his lips.
“Oh great, we reached the treasure.” Kai said, sarcastically, “Did you know when Dreviaons are not out hunting they are in here----guarding their treasure?”
The beauty and worth of treasures, unimaginable, was not worth more than their lives, in Kai’s opinion, at least. Valena and Jay didn’t really pay any attention to him, they were too busy admiring all the precious gems. Kai sighed, riches were going to be the death of them.
“I really think that we should be focused on finding a way out.” he said, being the only smart one.
“We will,” Valena said in reply, “After we get some of this treasure. Just a few of these jewels would be enough to pay for all the damage that we caused!”
Kai suddenly felt uneasy, and he didn’t know why. He felt like something was watching him.
“Just grab a few and then we can leave. Right?” he replied, getting even more nervous.
Jay stuffed a few in his pockets and waited for Valena to finish, which was going to take a long time because every time she started walking back to them something else caught her eye. A low growl was heard directly behind Kai and Jay. They both whirled around to see a Dreviaon rearing up in front of them: it was huge, far bigger than any of the other animals that they had encountered, and it was hungry, unfortunately for them.
It launched itself towards them, they retreated into the cave, having no other choice. They ran as fast as they possibly could but the monster was gaining on them, crushing beneath its weight some of the treasures. Suddenly they reached a dead end, there was nothing but a dirt wall and no way over or under it. They pressed themselves against the wall. Valena had an idea, she drew the precious stones out of her pocket and flung to the far corner of the lair. Now Dreviaon’s may hate elves but their greed passed up their hatred. The monster dashed to the corner to retrieve its diamonds. The elves made a break for it, running as fast as their legs would carry them. They had barely made it out of the cave when the Dreviaon realized that they were fleeing.
The heavy stomping of the Dreviaon shook the tunnel and threatened to make the razor sharp stalactites fall down on them. Eventually they made it back to the spot where the tunnel caved it, all the lizards were gone by now, they had given up trying to get them. Jay pulled some rope that he had on his belt and swung an end that had a small hook attached to it over the edge. He tugged on it to make sure it was secure and started climbing up, with Kai and Valena behind him. The Dreviaon charged at them, roaring and growing for all it was worth.
“Hurry!” Jay shouted, once he had gotten to the top. He extended a hand to Valena, who was following after him. She grabbed it and he heaved her up onto land, which was momentarily safe from other predators. Kai climbed as fast as he could but climbing up a rope was very hard to do.
The Dreviaon was practically a few feet away from Kai, Jay made a split-second decision and seized the rope, he yanked and pulled until Kai was able to make it to the surface, with barely enough time before the monster ate him whole. He picked himself up and ran with Valena and Jay back to the fence surrounding the city, by now there were people gathered in front of the gates, astounded that they actually survived. The hole in the fence was closed up by now but they were able to get in with the help of some of the other elves. Everyone else was pretty angry with them for all the trouble they caused but most were glad that they were still alive. They all grew up to be hunters just like the ones that saved them when they were young, Kai got over his fear of Valena and eventually the two got married, and Jay…well he was just fine, he learned not to argue so much with his sister and that when it comes to squabbles with your sister, well it was just better to let her win. Valena had lost the treasures that she had gotten, but Jay still had his and he used them in the best way: to fix everything that had been damaged. The End.
