“Alaric,” said Vaeludar.
The Unicorns and Alaric turned towards Vaeludar.
Vaeludar grabbed the head again and walked to hug Alaric tightly, and Alaric hugged back.
“That was one crazy, reckless stunt you pulled back there,” said Vaeludar. “You could have gotten yourself killed by the Minotaur. You were lucky to have survived its attack.”
“And you’ve crashed into a horse,” laughed Alaric.
They both released each other.
“You should have seen yourself,” said Alaric. “You were fighting hard against the Minotaur.”
“I was the eye of this village, wasn’t I?” asked Vaeludar.
“The entire village saw you battling against the beast. How you managed to save my brothers while you risked your life for theirs. You have a tremendous amount of strength. I’d say you have the strength of a thousand men.”
“Or the might of a hundred thousand men. And did you see how the beast tried to stab me with his weapon and his horn? None of them pierced my skin.”
“I saw with my own eyes,” answered Alaric, excited. “No skin could have been that strong against any sharp weapon. Its weapon was considered to be one of the sharpest weapons on this island. Sharp enough to cut a thousand trees in one slash.”
Vaeludar turned and saw the Dragon King staring at the Minotaur’s severed head. The Dragon King turned his head towards Vaeludar. “Never before have I seen such raw power,” exclaimed the Dragon King. “Nor have I seen such a young individual use such power without proper training.”
As he saw the Dragon King looking at the beaten enemy, Vaeludar looked at the cloth. Vaeludar picked it up and shook it twice. He saw it was a map of the island he lived on: Shimabellia.
In different sections, there were three X’s; one was on the north-western corner, symbolizing a castle symbol called Lost Castle, a second on the central part near the sea, with a name of Secret Laboratory, and the last on the southeastern corner called Siren’s Cover.
“A map of Shimabellia?” said Vaeludar. “This doesn’t look like anything important.” In one hard swipe of his hand, Vaeludar tossed the cloth back into the Greenwood Forest, hoping that was the last he would see of the worthless thing.
“Your name is Vaeludar, wasn’t it?” said the Dragon King, while looking at the head of the Minotaur on the ground.
Vaeludar walked closer to have his feet close to the head of the Minotaur that he blown from the large beast’s body.
“It is not a common thing for someone to fight a full grown monster and live to tell the tale. Your dragon strength and your unbreakable skin was what saved your life.”
“It does seem being a hybrid had its advantages. It seems my dragon side had kicked in when I first laid my eyes on the Minotaur. In fact, I’m going to keep its head as a souvenir, my first battle in my hybrid life. After all, I managed to beat it with great brute force and speed.” Vaeludar lifted up his hand and sent out a gush of wind into his hand. The weapon of the Minotaur flew into Vaeludar’s whirl winding hand. Vaeludar lowered the spear-axe to see the bent end. “I also wonder what else my skin is capable of.”
The spear of the Minotaur’s weapon was bent very easily like a piece of paper. He placed his arm and tried to cut off the skin with the axe. Instead, the axe bent as easily as did the spear-end when the Minotaur tried to stab Vaeludar. Eventually, Vaeludar used his bare hands to tear every sharp edge of the spear-axe, and he didn’t receive a bloody cut from dulling the blade, although he did feel his skin bending against the sharp blades.
After dulling and bending every square inch of the Minotaur’s long weapon, Vaeludar held the spear with his two hands. “Apparently, my skin is stronger than manmade armor and firm as dragon scales. I guess being a cross-specimen of human and dragon wasn’t half as bad as I thought it was.” Vaeludar smiled as he held the spear from his dead opponent in his own hands. He had two souvenirs to keep: the head and the spear.
“This is the first time a hybrid had held his own against a large, strong brute and dulled one of the sharpest blades that wasn’t able to penetrate through the skin of a human-dragon hybrid. This should call for a celebration.”
“What are we waiting for?” asked a man’s voice. Geraldus was walking to Vaeludar holding the spear and the head. “Let’s have a feast for this wonderful being, the one who killed one of the most ruthless beasts on this island.”
A CELIBRATION FOR A HYBRID
E
veryone almost immediately started to prep for a feast. The peasants started to move wooden round tables to the field where Vaeludar and the Minotaur fought. The knights moved their horses and removed their armor then went to help the peasants with the preparations. The Griffins placed tall sticks in the ground while the Dragons lit the tops with their dragon fire. The Unicorns raised a flag on a single pole, featuring Vaeludar killing the Minotaur, on some buildings. Geraldus supervised to make sure everything was properly set for the feast happening in the evening.
The prepping was taking all day to set up. The tables were heavy, and the silverware was small enough to carry but if slipped, they would disappear beneath the feet of walking people. While people were setting up for a great feast being held for the hybrid that saved them, there was some reconstruction happening. The one house Vaeludar smashed into
