High up on the northern cliffsides of the island of Mardoc, a middle aged man with a thick curly black beard sat upon a rock, packing his pipe while staring off to the southwest. The clouds over the endless oceans on the horizon were gathering and starting to flash and rumble during this peaceful sunset. The only other sounds besides the distant rumblings were that of crashing waves into the cliffside far below.

A storm was brewing. . .

"Barbadd!" Came the voice of a kid, who was climbing the hillside up to the cliffs. The kid was panting, out of breath.

"Melethan! You've found me!" Barbadd gave the kid a warm smile as he lit his pipe. "Does your father know you've come up here?"

"Yeah, Im done with my chores for the day." The kid, Melethan, said between breaths. "What are you doing up here, Barbadd? I thought you had the tavern to open up. I went there to see if you had any errands to run but they said you had gone up to the cliffs."

"More errands?" Barbadd chuckled. "A boy like you should be off having fun in the evenings."

"But I like doing chores for you at the tavern!" Melethan protested. "Its not like working on the farm for dad, I HATE that work!"

"Well to tell you the truth lad," Barbadd said and then paused to point the end of his pipe in the direction of the storm clouds. "That on the horizon is what's got me skipping work for a little while. The rest of the town can just wait for their refreshments."

Melethan looked out across the south west and saw the gathering of clouds, much darker than the rest of the blue skies. He could see the lightning flashing within it. "Wow, looks like a real big storm!"

"Could be a bad one." Barbadd said. "I remember one year before you were born we had one last six days! It nearly wiped out the entire island!"

"Do you think this one will get that bad?" Melethan asked, the voice of concern.

Barbadd patted the boy's shoulder in an effort of reassurance. "Oh even if it does get that bad, we will be fine. Ill just keep the tavern open and the whole town can come stay at my place until it blows over."

For a moment the two of them just sat there and watched the horizon quietly. There was an electicity in the air along with a slight breeze. Both of them could sense it... This was no ordinary little storm. This indeed WAS a big one.

Finally after a few moments Melethan spoke. For a kid soon to become a man his words still haunted Barbadd as that of an innocent child unknowingly laying down prophecy.

"The storm is bringing something to us."

"Oh?" Barbadd asked.

Melethan just nodded, sure of himself. "Yes. I think the storm is bringing us Salvation."

Barbadd looked at the boy, unsure of what to make of what he had said. "Where did you learn a big word like that m'boy?"

"From you of course!" Melethan playfully pushed Barbadd. "From all your pirate stories, you always use big words!"

"Right." Barbadd agreed. "Well Mel, I think its best we get on back to town soon. You'd better find your father and tell him to batton down the hatches, I reckon its going to pour tonight."

"Good idea!" Melethan agreed. "Ill see you at the tavern in a little while."

Melethan was already off back down the path which led to the village. Barbadd called after him with a warning, "And stay out of trouble boy! No pick pocketing!"

"I promise I quit!" Mel yelled back at him without turning around.

* * *

Far off the shoreline of the Island of Mardoc, under the cover of pitch black night, a lone ship violently rocked back and forth in the storm of the century. Its captain was a short madman by the name of Brack. He gripped the helm and shouted orders to his crew through the pouring rain and thunder. He was also laughing and shaking his fist at the sky occasionally saying things like 'Is that all you got!?' and 'You gotta try a lot harder than that to sink me!'

Below deck, Some of the crew were injured or seasick. Others were trying to bucket out the water that was starting to accumulate at the botttom. In the very back in the darkness of the hull, the ship's stowaway sat. His name was Guldivine, and he was on the run from his homeland. The Captain was taking him from the Kingdom of Darkwood where he was once a powerful figure, but then turned into the most public of enemies. Their destination was a cluster of island cities called 'The Trade'. A place for Guldivine to start over, far away from the ever reaching arms of his homeland.

None of the past really mattered now, Guldivine thought to himself as the ship tossed again and more crew members lost their balance and slammed into its side. If they were not to survive this storm, nothing else much would matter.

There came a sound from outside the ship that stopped everyone in their tracks. It wasnt the booming sound of thunder, the crashing of the water against the sides, or any of the other normal torrent they had been listening to for hours. Instead the sound was more of a screaching... an unnatural wail through the sky.

Guldivine stood up and grabbed his scimitar sword. He shuffled through the hull and up the steps and into a world of complete chaos. The fellow crewmates were tumbling in all directions, trying to hold onto anything they could for dear life. Rain was coming down in heavy sheets and the Captain looked as if he hadnt moved from his position since the storm started. A flash of lightning revealed a towering wall of water bearing down on them. The Captain was steering directly into it. It felt like they were going to flip over but at the last second, crested the top and came crashing back down overtop of it.

The screech came again, ear shattering and cutting through the storm sounds like a knife. This time it sounded much closer, lower in the sky. An extended dance of lightning in the clouds also revealed a very large dark shape moving through them... if just for a second. Guldivine swore he spotted a long tail whipping back and forth.

"Guldivine! Get back below deck right now!" Captain Brack shouted him. "I cant get my payment if you find yourself overboard! Now get back below deck!"

The screech happened again. Even louder this time. Both of them turned their heads towards the sky, hoping for a better look, but saw nothing.

Guldivne crawled his way up the steps and to the helm where Captain Brack was positioned. "You are in danger!" Guldivine yelled with a very worried look about him. His eyes kept flashing to the sky and back.

"Haha! Im the best Captain of these seas, I will see us through! But its too dangerous out here! Go back inside Guldivine, I have no use for you!

The screech happened once more.

"THAT is what I am worried about!" Guldivine exained.

"That sound!? Bah! Its just the howling of the wind!" The Captain assured him but the Captain's eyes said a different story. They said a story of genuine fear.

The torrential downpour suddenly stopped. It was if the entire ship had just stepped under an umbrella. It was still pouring all around them. A few seconds later the rain came back.

"What the hell was-" Captain Brack started to ask, but Guldivine cut him off.

"Hold onto something!" Guldivine shouted.

On cue, the stern of the ship was tilted downward violently. Tow massive sets of talons gripped the wood and splitered it like twigs. A towering dark shadow loomed before them, its shape visible now. It held out two magnificant outstretched wings, larger than the ship's own sails. Its head glowed with firey orange eyes. It cocked its head up towards the sky with an impressive display of power.

The darkness burst into light. The creature opened it's mouth and sent out an inferno of flames up into the stormclouds. With the flames came an ear shattering roar. The storm responded with its own impressive display of lightning, arching of the horns of the creature. Then as its breath ran out and the world plunged back into darkness, the thunder boomed.

"DRAGON!" Guldivine shouted. Some of the other crew members started to yell out the warning in response!

"DRAGON!"

"DRAGON ATTACKING!"

The ship was suddenly let go and the stern came back up. Everyone was jostled and stumbled back up into balance. Guldivine was still on his feet, Hands gripped tightly around his sword.

Captain Brack looked at Guldivine soberly. "How in the hells did a dragon of all demons show up!?"

"Thats not important now, Captain, but we cannot outrun it! Turn the ship full starboard now!"

"What?" The captain asked.

"Just do it! NOW!"

The captain cranked the wheel hard and the ship started to veer against the waves. A second later, a line of fire came shooting down from the sky, just narrowly missing the ship.

"Portside! NOW!" Guldivine shouted.

The Captain turned the wheel in the opposite direction and the ship veered back on itself. Another line of fire came across them, again out of alignment, but this time the flames brushed the side of the ship. The dragon roar sounded frustrated. Then the dragon latched onto the main mast and cracked it in half, sending it down onto the ship. The cloth sails collided with the smouldering side of the ship and quickly ignited, lighting up the entire ship.

As more men ran out onto the deck, the dragon made another pass, this time picking up two of the men and carrying them off into the stormy night. Their screams were muffled into silence by everything else around them.

"We have to try to fight it!" The Captain ordered. "Men, Arm yourselves!" The captain himself, took an axe off a nearby wall. The other men grabbed harpoons and staves. Some of them had Scimitars like Guldivines.

Then the Dragon set down right in the middle of the ship this time. The ship cracked apart in the middle, water was rushing in now. Surely they were going to sink from this.

The Captain led the charge and went for the dragon's feet with his axe. He leaped off the upper deck and came down at tge dragon in one full swing over his head. The axe embetted itself right into the dragon's ankle. It let out a half hurt half angry cry and used its tail to whip Captain Brack away. He slammed into a wooden railing and collapsed. Guldivine charged next, along with the rest of the men. He took his sword and plunged it right into the dragon's ankle where Barbadd had left his axe. To Guldivine's surprise, it was in deeper than he thought and he could not lift the sword back out. Hot slippery dark blood was oozing all over his hands. The dragon let out another cry and then flapped its wings and lifted off the ship.

For a moment the scene calmed itself. Guldivine looked over to Captain Brack, who was coming to his knees rubbing a massive wound on his head. The other surviving men were all fearfully watching the skies, but all seemed quiet.

Then a fireball flew out of the sky, more massive than the other infernos they had seen. It was heading straight to their ship like a meteor.

"JUMP!" Guldivine cried out.

Guldivine dove into the water and immediately struggled. It was freezing, and he was turned around. He found the surface and grabbed a breath of air, then he was tumbling below the water. Other debries kept raining down onto him He came up a second time for air, and then was forced back down. Then finally his arms wrapped around something solid... something floating.

Atop the water was a section of the deck of the ship, floating in the water like a raft. Guldivine pawed at it and found a decent grip. Well enough to try and look back for the ship. It was nowhere to be found anymore, presumably sunken. A scene of firey destruction was quickly being erased by the ocean troph of waves and rain.

The action seemed to have died off. He heard other crewmates, somewhere in the water screaming for help. He wondered if one of them was the Captain. Now it was just the rain and thunder, and the waves aimlessly carrying Guldivine on.

As the last fire of debris died out, The world was plunged into darkness once more for Guldivine. He was exhaused, soaked, cold, and floating aimlessly through the storm. He used his last strength to tilt his head up to try to see something, anything out in the darkness.

Out on the horizon Guldivine saw feint lights. Lights in the darkness. From a considerable distance, he heard the feint roar of the dragon. Then his strength failed him and he collapsed into his dreams.

***

On the same evening that Melethan and his father Edwin were holed up in their farmhouse from the big storm, and the same evening where Guldivine found himself floating on a raft in darkness, Another vessel had entered the storm. It was a smaller boat, far off from Guldivine's ship, but inevitably headed in the same direction. . . The Island of Mardoc.

"We shall be there soon." Ohan said to his passenger.

"Good." The mysterious passenger said, keeping his robed hood up, and staring out a small window and the darkness.

"And my payment?" Ohan asked.

"You'll have your money when I step foot on the docks." The passenger said.

"Then thats it." Ohan reminded the passenger. "I am the hell out of here and you are on your own. I dont want to spend another second here than I have to, you understand?"

"That's the arrangement, Ohan." The passenger agreed.

"I dont see why you wish to come here at all. No one ever leaves this place. This island is cursed!" Ohan warned.

"You wouldn't understand my motivations, Ohan. But you shouldn't worry about them. You have done well to bring me here, and I assure you it was the right thing to do." The passenger said.

"But they say that a..."

"A dragon lives here?" The passenger finished Ohan's thought. "Yes I know."

Ohan dared not to continue the conversation. Ge was beginning to feel very supsersicious. He peered over the passenger's shoulders and shovered at the sight.

The passenger was holding a small magical ball of flames in his hand. He was studying it... staring into its abyss. . . Mesmerized by the fire.