Wizard of Elements

by Calista Lambrechts

  I had landed flat on the ground. I looked up, just in time to see the tail fly pass by.

  I lay where I was, hands over my head, trying to shield myself from the falling rocks and pebbles hat skidded down the slopes as part of the top of the mountain unravelled itself.

  This whole cave is alive! I thought, absolutely hysterical. I felt like hopping to my feet, running around and waving my arms in a panic.

  It wasn’t long before two massive grey wings unfolded and spread wide open above me, sending shadows slithering across me.

  A gigantic figure rose up in front of me, defining its pride with a loud, bold and horrific roar, so loud that I needed to cover my ears to avoid going deaf. I shut my eyes tightly and gradually opened them when the roaring ceased, frightened of what I might see.

  I took a peek and heard heavy breathing above me.

  I slowly, but cautiously, looked up in front of me with widened eyes and knitted eyebrows. Shock pulsed through my veins. I lost my breath and my heart lurched.

  “D-d-d-d-dragon…” I stuttered, almost pathetically. I couldn’t find my words.

  It was a colossal grey dragon, beautiful, magnificent, glorious absolutely horrifying!

  Good going, Carlaylin. ‘I need a rest,’ you said. ‘Let’s freaking sit down on this strange boulder,’ you said. Well, guess what. Try telling the people at your funeral how you managed to sit on a DRAGON!

  I was rooted to the spot.

  A real life dragon. Oh my goodness, no!

  I took a shaky breath, my words stuck in my throat. I couldn’t believe my own eyes, even if I was staring directly at it. I swear my jaw was touching the ground.

  “What gave you the courage to cross my territory? Who are you?” the dragon asked in a deep and proud voice, a voice that echoed throughout the whole of the barren wasteland that carried little more than sorrow and despair.

  “You s-speak English?” The dragon lowered his head and brought it closer to me. Too close for comfort. His head was literally as big as me, if not far larger.

  “No, I do not. It is you who speak ADULL.” I arched an eyebrow.

  “A-ADULL..?” The beast grunted. I was now "face to eye" with that thing. I trembled with an extreme case of trepidation.

  “The tongue of the dragon – not understandable by any mortal. I can hardly believe that you can understand it yourself.”

  “A-And why is that?”

  I couldn’t stop shuddering. It was a beast I thought only to be legend, but the sight of it proved me wrong big time!

  “Centuries have passed and there was no sign of the Drachem. No sign at all until today. I was starting to think that the Drachem was no more than a legend – a myth – but I see now the truth or do my eyes deceive me yet again?”

  “W-what is a D-Drachem?” The dragon moved closer to me with his head. I backed away until my back hit the solid rock wall.

  “Are you cold?” he asked as curiously, almost like I was permitted to take this whole situation of seeing a dragon for the first time in my entire life lightly. I was careful not to stand too close.

  “N-No…” The dragon gave a slight grunt.

  “Then why do you quaver so?” I took a while before finally answering. Embarrassing admitting it to a dragon, but…

  “I-I’m afraid.” I felt a stronger sense of my confidence returning and I gave a step forward.

  “Y-Yes, I’m afraid and not afraid to say that I’m afraid.”

  “You have courage. Perhaps you ARE the one.”

  What does he mean? ‘You are the one’. What? I’m a, what, Drachem?

  The dragon lifted his head and moved it away to look down at me from above like I was little more than a wretched peasant in comparison to his rule.

  “Do not fret. I will not hurt you,” he assured.

  That got calmed me… not!

  “You seek answers.” I clenched my fists.

  “Yes,” I sighed. “Yes, I do.”

  A cold breeze blew at me and rustled through my hair. I noticed just how cold it was when my arms ran wild with goosebumps. I hugged myself in hope it would fend off the cold. Being so high up wasn’t exactly the most temperature or wind friendly.

  A gust of vapour escaped my lips.

  The dragon blew out a streak of air through his nose and lighted up from the tail upwards on his lower half with a dark purple colour which gave the expression of dark lightning. I looked at him and decided to take a few steps back, the furthest I could, which didn’t exactly take me far since the cave wall blocked my way.

  The dragon gently blew out a stroke of purple lightning fire, the spark setting the ground in front of me on fire. It immediately created some sort of campfire for me to use at my leisure.

  “Sit down and enjoy the warmth.”

  I suspiciously stared at the fire and cautiously moved towards it, rubbing my hands together for more warmth. I really appreciated the dragon trying to help, but one thing kept me wondering: It isn’t in a dragon’s nature to help. Then why does he?

  I sat down close to the fire and stared in awe at the giant dragon that so loomed over me. I decided to thank him. Better be polite than end up as a pile of dust and ash.

  “Uh... thank you.”

  He gave a nod, looking like he appreciated my gratitude. His head came closer and he asked, “What do you question then?”

  I smiled and silently stared into the fire for a while. There was no sound but for the crackling of the fire, the nightly crickets, the whispers of the wind and the dragon’s loud breathing.

  “Where am I? Who are you and what is this Drachem you speak of?”

  Here I go again, going against the whole take-it-calm-and-on-track-with-one-question-at-a-time gimmick of mine.

  “You ask many questions, but I accept in answering them for you, Drachem.” I nodded and looked up to him. It wasn’t my fault I was just exceptionally curious to know. It’s not every day you get to drink tea and have a conversation with a dragon… Okay, minus the tea.

  “Firstly: You are in the dimension of the non-living. A place where lost souls are trapped for all eternity, mourning for all mistakes they have made, for never seeing any form of light but the moon again. Mourning for not having another chance, mourning with envy as they watch the living proceeding their existence, in which seems like ghostly figures to us and we as ghostly figures to them.”

  Now I know where ghosts come from.

  “We call this place the Realm of the Void. A realm that is not noticeable by any living mortal.” My mind dwelled on the thought of those ghostly figures I saw earlier. I looked down to the dark wasteland below us and shook my head sadly.

  “No... no, no, then why am I here? What happened to me? Does this mean I’m dead? Trapped in this pitiful wasteland forever more?” My tone was highly squeaky, filled with panic. My tears lay shallow beneath my eyes.

  “No…” I whispered depressingly, letting my forehead rest on the palms of my hands. I took another shaky breath.

  No! I’m not going to cry. Keep yourself together. It’s not that bad being dead, is it? The last thing I want is to let a dragon see me crying.

  “No, do not worry. You are not dead, but simply too close. So close that you undergone a near-death experience. One where your mind mistakes you to be departed and brings you here to the Realm of the Void.”

  “So I’m not dead?” I laughed cheerfully and gave a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness.”

  “Do not take this lightly!” the dragon warned. “You are nothing but a soul at the moment. Your body lies with a fading heartbeat somewhere nearby. If you do not return soon you will be dead, permanently, doomed to dwell through this realm in this form for all eternity. A body cannot go long without its soul.”

  My eyes widened and I didn’t say a word. No doubt that my next choice of action will be to return to my body before it’s too late.

  “And for that I shall answer your questions with
haste. I will not let another Drachem fall dead before finishing their destiny. It has happened one too many times.”

  “Really? What happened?”

  “I will give such explanations some other time perhaps.”

  Typical … keep me wondering, would you?

  “What? When I’m lucky enough to have a near-death experience again?” I knitted my eyebrows.

  “When the time is right.” I sighed.

  “Oh bother,” I mumbled. The dragon did nothing but stare angrily at me and baring his large sharp fangs to warn me that I should watch my words.

  “This is not a joke!” he bellowed. I quickly nodded with absolute comprehension.

  I’m too young to be incinerated!

  I slightly leaned backwards as he brought his head closer to face me again. He tried to ignore the discussion we just had and blinked the foolishness away as though it never happened.

  “Secondly: I am Tarauntis, Dragon of Death. You see, there are many dragons that roam the lands of Ysellian, but there are only five main dragons, by which four of them represent the four elements: Earth, water, fire and air. Then the sixth represents the point to where everyone and everything moves in life. Death. And that is where I come in. I am here to see to the lost souls and kill these I have been assigned to kill.”

  I gulped. If that’s true, what does that mean for me then?

  I tried to think about that for a while. There was one question that popped into my head that I was dying to ask.

  “Life.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Life. What about life? If there is death, shouldn’t there be life too?”

  That seemed to get Tarauntis furious. He flared his nostrils, bared his sharp teeth once more and blew some boiling hot air out of his nostrils, causing smoke to rise up into the dark sky.

  “We do not speak of him in my realm!” I spread my hands out in front of me to block any unsuspected fire attacks. Tarauntis seemed to calm down a bit after a moment, recollecting himself, and the flaming colour on his neck slowly vanished. He then let out what I could call a loud and deep sigh.

  “The Dragon of Life has vanished a long time ago. Gone, erased from history. In the olden days the people would’ve stood in lines that stretched out for miles to be cured by him. It is said that he could even heal the dead and bring them back to life if a certain period of time hasn’t passed yet. But one day he disappeared without a trace. No evidence could be found to determine where he has gone. He was considered to be the king of all dragons, but not anymore. I used to take orders from him. But now he is gone, leaving the dragon brethren leaderless for as long as I can remember. And that is saying a lot since I am hundreds of thousands of years old. That is why we do not talk about him. What once were six main dragons are now five.”

  “Hundreds of thousands of years old? But that’s-”

  “Relatively young.” The statement broke my brain.

  Let’s leave it at that shall we?

  I dropped my gaze to the ground, a sudden touch of regret hitting me.

  “I am truly sorry for asking.”

  “No, you have the right to know, Drachem.”

  “Hmm... what is a Drachem? You still owe me that answer.”

  “The Drachem is someone born under the sign of the dragon, something that hasn’t happened for centuries. There are seven signs. The sign of the Warrior, the Magician, the Archer, the Thief, the Royal, the Machinist and then there is yours... the Dragon. Those signs decide what the person that is born under it’s talent and destiny will be.”

  “What does that mean for the person born under the sign of the dragon?” I leaned closer, just itching to know the answer.

  “It gives you the advantage of speaking to and understanding dragons – to speak ADULL. It also gives you the advantage of withstanding YOFNEG – dragon breath. Where it would normally rip a mortal to shreds, it will spare you, and only you. There is something else I need to tell you. Something urgent, but-”

  Tarauntis stopped and closed his eyes tightly. He opened them after a moment of absolute silence.

  “The sun is about to rise in the Realm of the Living. You have to get back to your body. We can discuss the responsibilities, advantages and threats of a Drachem later. Come.”

  “Come?” He lowered his head down by my side. I stood.

  “Climb on. I will take you to your body. HURRY!”

  This was absolutely new to me since I had never ridden a dragon before, never in my entire life. Yet again, who has?

  “I-”

  Tarauntis decided to cut me short.

  “Get on or you will be trapped here for all eternity!”

  It almost looked like he was more worried about the matter than I was. I sighed and carefully climbed onto his neck with caution and with absolutely no choice at the matter. I put my hands on both his black-grey horns and held on tightly to keep myself from falling off.

  At least I can now say that I have flown a dragon once before, but sadly got a heart attack right after the ride! This is something no person should ever be able to experience at all.

  HELP!

  CHAPTER 20

  FIRE-CRAZED

  CARLAYLIN

  TARAUNTIS GOT READY AND STARTED flapping his giant grey wings. A great force of wind caused forced up against me on both sides. I tightened my grip on his two horns to prevent myself from being blown off before the ride even started.

  He slowly rose up into the air. I yelped as we rose up higher and higher into the nightly sky, struggling to keep my balance. Heights were never my friend.

  I bit my lip and closed my eyes tightly.

  “Hold on tight,” Tarauntis warned.

  “What do you think I’m trying to do?!”

  Panicked, I knitted my eyebrows and mouthed the word ‘help’. I tried the do-not-look-down-or-else-you-might-faint-and-fall-to-your-death tactic, but I couldn’t help it. I just needed to look down when I thought about it, something I kind of regretted at that moment.

  “Try not to fall off, Drachem,” Tarauntis said as he got ready to fly forward at full speed. I gulped and hugged his one horn tightly. He then burst forward towards the direction I woke up in. I screamed with panic and felt as the force of the icy wind tried to pry me off Tarauntis’ horns, loosening my grip. I tried my best to hold on, but the wind was too strong. I lost my grip and almost got blown off, but, acting fast, I grabbed a hold on his neck.

  Slowly, I tried climbing back onto my ‘seat’ against the will of the dynamic winds. I quickly grasped his horns again when I got relevantly near them. My one hand grasped the right horn and the other one grasped the other on the left. I screamed as he took a dive towards the ground.

  I was pretty sure he was falling. This might have been the most fun thing that had ever happened to me if I forgot all about my fear of heights and the fact that we were plummeting down toward the earth at full speed and to our inevitable death.

  Dragons are extremely powerful creatures. For all I knew, this might not even have been at his fullest speed. He acted fast and pulled up just before hitting the ruined trees.

  I looked at my surroundings as he smoothly soared through the sky, the roller coaster ride over for the time being.

  My eyes widened at the superlative scenery. It wasn’t that bad after all. I looked at the giant white glowing moon to my right. It was truly spectacular to see it so close, but still… not normal. The first smile I had in a long time spread across my face.

  “I sense that you are enjoying this?”

  “Truly. It must be amazing to experience this every day!”

  “Yes, it is. It is truly magnificent.”

  “To be able to soar through the skies...” I looked down to the ground far below me. I saw as we slowly approached a scenery with lots of pine trees that still kept their leaves. All looked completely frozen from up here, almost like looking at a picture – a painting. Like an ocean of greenery perh
aps? The realm I was in was still completely dark, with only the moon to lighten up the mood. A thin layer of mist might have blanketed the forest down below us, but up here, in the sky, it was amazingly clear. The scenery down there reminded me of a ghost town I once had passed through to get to Thorodan when I was still very young.

  “Well... after lift-off that is.” I gave a chuckle.

  Tarauntis gave a pleased grunt, but there was still something that didn’t make sense.

  “Why didn’t you kill or eat me when you got the chance? Why help me? Isn’t it in your nature to kill any ‘intruder’ to your territory?”

  “Yes, it is, but I sensed something different about you and we dragons have very keen senses that never betray or deceive us. I sensed something in you that stopped my urge to immediately slaughter you, something which caused my curiosity to ask you who you are at first. Hearing you speak ADULL, I knew better than to expose of you. I once vowed to help and protect the Drachem the best I could. And I’m still not keen on breaking that promise, trust me.”

  This is crazy. I’m being protected from death by the Dragon of Death. That’s reassuring.

  The dragon soared silently, but gently, through the sky, flapping his wings every once in a while. I looked around me. I took the moment in to savour it. I knew for a fact that it was something that wasn’t about to happen anytime soon again. Not at all. It’s almost sad knowing that… The wind blew into my face and it felt as though I was actually the one flying. Although it did let my insides twist to pretzels, I enjoyed it.

  I wished for this moment to never come to an end. I got the courage to let go of his horns and spread my arms out to feel the gentle push of the wind. I closed my eyes and let the feeling sink in. Somehow it almost felt… nostalgic.

  This is the probably the greatest experience of my entire life!