Sand City Part 1

George laid still on the beach, basking in his freedom. He begins to stand up in the hot sand which starts to burn his feet. He turns around to the mainland and sees sand dunes which seem to stretch out past the horizon. He begins his journey into the vast wasteland. George drags his feet through the burning sand. The night begins to fall and the sand starts to become cool. George falls to his knees, then lays down in the cool sand. He looks up at the night sky which is full of stars. Then from out of the sand, besides George, a large serpent rises. Its head is larger than George's whole body, and its body stretches down into the sand. George stumbles as he tries to get up and from the distance a group of knights riding on horses approach.

"Get out of the way!", yells one of them. George begins to run from the serpent. The knight who yelled at him jumps up balancing on the back of his horse. The knight pulls his steel sword out of his sheath. He then jumps up and slices the serpent's head clean off. He lands rolling in the sand. George stops and turns around, "Thank you. Thank you so much. Who are you guys?". The knight stands up and replies, "We are the Gold Knights of Sand City.". The knight takes off his helmet. He has dark skin and blue eyes, "And my name is Sir Jacques of the Sand, but you can call me Jac.". Jac walked over to George and helped him up.

"You want a ride to Sand City? It is dangerous out here in the desert. Haven't seen your face before, who are you?", asked Jac.

"My name is George . . . George Osmund and please can I have a ride back. I am starving. And tired"

"Do you mean Osmund, like the great blacksmith family?", asked one of the other knights.

"Well my dad and grandfather were blacksmiths. But my grandfather was more known for being a dragon slayer."

"Do you mean to tell us your grandfather is Goldton Osmund?", asked Jac.

"Well maybe, I never knew his first name."

Jac got onto his horse and pulled up George, "Your grandfather, your dad, you, Skai, and King Draco of Sand City are the only dragonborn alive."

"Are you saying that I can turn into a dragon?"

"Dragonborn are much stronger than that. They have a naturally strong magical essence. They have the natural ability to use fire magic. Also they have an immunity to fire.", Jac pauses for a second as he looks back at George, "You look pretty tired, you should get some sleep.".

George wakes up in a soft bed in a small room with just enough room for a bed and a small round table. George drags himself out of the bed and looks at the round table, where there is a note written on a small piece of parchment with two silver coins on it. It read, "George met us at the Capital at noon. Also get yourself some breakfast- Jac.". George grabbed the two coins and walked out of the door and the hallway was dim but had candles lined the walls. George looked down the left side of the hallway and a bright light came from the end of the hall. George walked down and when he went to the end there was a room. The room had a desk to the right and a door at front which was made out of thick wood. To the left there was a fireplace which warmed up the room and made it bright.

"Are you leaving us?", said a man sitting behind the desk.

"Yes, but there was no key in my room?"

"Oh. . . I see you were Sir Jac's friend. Right?"

"Yes. Is there a place where I could possibly get some food?"

"Yes, actually right across the street from my establishment."

"Thank you.", said George as he started to open the door, "And where is the Capital?"

"Oh it is not hard to miss, right when you walk out the door if you look to the right you will see the Keep of this castle and that is the capital."

"Thank you so much, I greatly appreciate this. These past two days have probably been the best days of my life."

"But the day is not over yet."

"People who are enslaved to something or someone do not have good days they just have horrible days which become normal.", said George as he opens the door and walks out. The streets are kept fairly clean, and made out of sandstone. George looks to the right as he begins to walk to the Tavern across the street. The Capital stretches up far beyond any of the other buildings. George stands there in awe looking at the towering Keep which holds a flag on top which says Sand City. George opens the door to the tavern which is almost completely empty except for one man sitting at a table and is sleeping.

"How can I help ya?", says the bartender as he sits on a stool behind the bar table.

"Well what can I buy with two silver coins?" asked George as he held them up in his right hand.

"Ah well I could give ya to eggs but you look pretty hungry so I'll give ya two eggs and a piece of bacon.", he pauses as he gets up and puts out his hand, "How does that sound?"

"Amazing! Thank the gods!", George walks up to the bar table and hands the man the two coins.

"I'll be back as quick as a whore. If ya know what I mean? Hahaha.", says the man as he begins to walk back to the kitchen.

George sits down in a barstool, confused, "What does that mean?"

The man looks back through the open kitchen door, "What? How old are you, kid?"

"I think I am 23, but I pretty much stopped counting after my fourth year of being enslaved."

"The name is Godfrey . . . James Godfrey. What's ya name?"

"My name is George Osmund."

"So you're the kid that Jac was talking about. Well let me cook your food."

George sat in the chair waiting for his food. A couple minutes later Godfrey brought out George's eggs and bacon. George eats the eggs quickly and enjoys the bacon slowly.

"This is like the best meal I have had in a while. Thank you!"George begins to cry.

"Don't make this old man cry, George.", says Godfrey as he takes George's fork and plate, "I am sure our paths will cross again but for now Goodbye."

"I wish to see you again, Godfrey.", says George as he begins to walk out of the tavern.

Godfrey walks over to the sleeping drunk man at one of the tables, "Get up Lloyd, you can't sleep here all day."

The man gets up and rubs his eyes, "Is there anything I missed?"

"Well not really but that kid that Jac talked about last night was really interesting. I think he is the piece we are missing."

"For the war?"

"Yes I think that he is the piece of the army that we need to beat the Elves from the Western Continent."

"But they already have a great army and they are meeting with the Black Knights soon.", said Lloyd as he goes behind the bar and grabs a bottle, "So it still looks bad for us."

"Yeah but at least we will have a better fighting chance."

"Well what was the boy's name so I could train in magic. If he truly has the potential that Jac thinks he has then with just a little bit of training he should be strong enough to tip the scales in our favor."

"His name is quite interesting, I didn't think there was another one alive.", says Godfrey as he begins to wipe down the table Lloyd was sitting at, "His name is George Osmund."

Lloyd drops the bottle and he stumbles but holds onto the bar table. Godfrey stops wiping down the table and walks over to Lloyd, "I know I was shocked when I heard that last name, but not that shock, Hahaha."

"No it isn't that . . . it is just my past."Lloyd quickly gets cut off when there was a knock on the door.

Godfrey goes over and opens the door, "Ah it is just the newspaper. That ya paperboy." . In the bright light of the morning sun you could see that Godfrey didn't have a left and had a scar under his left eye. His right eye was orange and his hair was black, the tips of his hair were gray and he had a light skin tone.

"No problem Godfrey, it is my job anyway. This newspaper is the most interesting in a while."

"See tommorra.", Godfrey says as he grabs a newspaper, turns around, and shuts the door. Godfrey looks at the title and reads it out loud, "Kai Escapes Jail and Slaughters Sisters of Night.".

"Shit! Now they have Kai too.", says Lloyd as he lays his head on the bar table.

"But we will still fight to the death to save King Draco and Skai."

"You know that they are not after either of them but the shard of the power orb that is in the kingdom, right?"

"I know, I wish that damn thing was never made.Well at least humans gained their freedom from using that orb.", said Godfrey as he walked behind the bar and opened up a hatch on the floor, "I am guessing that you will keep care of the tavern, while I am gone.". Godfrey disappeared down into a dark basement and then put his right hand out and an orange light came from his hand. The light was so bright that the dark basement was full of orange light. From a right turn up ahead a man approached.

"Sir Godfrey, God of Flame. How have you been?", said a deep voice from a man about the same size as Godfrey.

"King Draco of Country Sannder. I am doing well. How are ya?"

"Quite the formalities Godfrey, there are no guards with me this time."

"Well that is good, that means we can just talk like friends."

"Actually, Godfrey I can't speak long but I have something to tell you. The Black Knights have already joined with the Elves, but they are just trying to figure out how much money they will get paid."

"So the Elves will give them one of the seven legendary blades that they have been after, right?" Godfrey says as he hands King Draco a bottle of wine.

"Ah my favorite thank you, and yes they will get one of the blades. You got this morning's newspaper, correct?"

"Yes, I have, why?"

"Well then you have heard that Kai broke out of prison. Well he is living somewhere in Sand City acting as a spy for the Elves.", the King pauses as he examines the wine bottle.

"Well get on with it.", quickly spouts Godfrey.

"Do you happen to have this tunnel all the way done?"

"Actually yes I do."

"Well it is impossible for us to win, but I must fight for my country. I think that you should start the evacuation now and collect a small team of trusted warriors to lead the evacuation."

"Why don't ya want us to stay behind with ya?"

"Because this country is going to fall and there is a much bigger plan for us ahead.", King Draco takes out a scroll from his back pocket, "Here are all the details. I believe this is the last time you and I will see each other. Godfrey, these past fifteen years have been amazing.", King Draco pauses as he hugs Godfrey and hugs him, "Love you and see you on the other side.".

"See ya around, but I am not gonna die yet I've still got my own goal to pursue.", they both let go of each other and Godfrey grabs the scroll. Godfrey starts walking away as he says, "I still need to be strong enough to kill the one evil of this world, Goldton Osmund.".