The Cursed Dragon

by Rachal M. Roberts

  Once again she was left to wonder if she was making all of this up. Maybe she was. If only he would say something to let her know this was really happening to her..... Could she still be at the shopping mall curled up in a ball, alone inside the fantasy world of her mind? It had to be, she knew magic wasn’t real.

  Kalara listened but heard nothing. She was losing her grip on reality; laying on the floor in a coma was most likely the case. She couldn’t call out, she was helpless, an insane human screaming silently at the world, trapped inside her own body, in debilitating darkness.

  Kalara’s eyes opened suddenly. She was now seeing the chair where Ravanan had been sitting but he wasn’t in it. Where was he? Kalara was trying hard to stay sane and not panic. Had she made all this up? Ravanan wasn’t there. She couldn’t move. Maybe all of what she was now seeing was still in her head. Where was he? He should be there. Had the eyes come and taken him away? Maybe she had never really left the mall and was laying there rigid with insanity. She didn’t know what to believe. Had Ravanan ever been sitting there? Was he even real? She couldn’t hear him. If he was real, she didn’t know where he was. He said he wouldn’t leave her so why did he?

  Then she spoke, actually heard her voice cast “COME HERE ANNETTE OF ANARCHELOS VYA!”.

  She didn’t feel any new auras appear but her mind was reassured from the spell at least. Could she even feel auras while being controlled? She wished she knew. Obviously Ravanan was still controlling her and must be near her somewhere even though she couldn’t see him. Kalara was relieved, at least she wasn’t insane and the horrible eyes hadn’t taken him away again.

  Ravanan currently reigned in Kalara’s mind. Though upset by the failed summoning spell, he continued on and did not release her. Ever the opportunist, he had more than one agenda while controlling her and wanted to try everything he could. In all of his long years this was the first time for him to ever control another dragon, it wasn’t unlike a human mind, stronger willed perhaps, but then he had never bothered to really examine what he saw before he ate them. In truth, he felt wrong controlling Kalara even though he had her permission to do so, that perhaps somehow he was violating her, and more so violating an ancient code of millions of years ago. But he wasn’t aware of any such code and he doubted that any dragon would know of it – if it existed at all.

  The longer he maintained the control spell the more it reminded him of exploring new land. A side effect of the spell was that every detailed thought Kalara was thinking, even if she was trying to hide them, would be known to him for as long as the spell was active. Unlike the union spell where he had experienced her memories as if they were his own, this time he was listening to all of her thoughts as they sped along, giving her mind and body instructions.

  He analyzed the amazing processes that she had just worked through as a meticulous psychiatrist would, fully listening but yet detached. He was stunned at how quickly her mind degraded towards insanity, it was absurd – more of Annette’s doing no doubt.

  Kalara’s mind was still muddled and delicate as the day he’d found her. She was full of fear and her emotions easily flared up at anger, fear, doubt, sexuality, or anything else. She had an unnatural worry of being trapped and he knew it was Annette’s fault. Kalara’s most basic awareness was that she was vulnerable and entrapment was her greatest fear. He wondered to himself at what horrible magic Annette must have used against Kalara.

  Ravanan wanted to help and let Kalara know that he had shut her eyes to give him time to hide in case the Mighty Amethyst decided to attack him when she awoke, that way she couldn’t target him first. Ravanan sent his words directly to her mind that he was only protecting himself and assured her that he would not allow her to be trapped again.

  He saw inside her mind that the normal state was an unsteady mix of fear and aimless wandering until she found her past. He saw Kalara’s mental image of herself stranded on top of a precipice, walking around looking for her identity. She was stuck. The precipice was cut off from the world by two deep crevices, one was a calm, cold black while the other was dreadful with a dark tumultuous storm about it – and he knew that Kalara had almost fallen into this one moments ago when he got up to hide. Both were bottomless, both were traps.

  Ravanan mentally joined Kalara on the precipice. He was standing in the center of the tiny platform, fighting the blustery wind that all tall places have, but Kalara was as far away as she could get from the dreadful darkness and standing right on the edge of the larger chasm. It was a chasm so big that it could swallow a mountain, it was incredibly dark. There was simply nothing there and one would fall forever it seemed through an endless cold night.

  Little did he know that Kalara had already visited the dark nothing and that she had carved out a hidden staircase leading down to the abyss so she could go there any time she wanted to. He couldn’t have known about it since she wasn’t actively thinking about the newly-formed darkness in her, all of Kalara’s energy was focused on standing on that tall precipice trying to find her memories. Nor did Ravanan know that he was the one who had pushed her to build the hidden staircase.

  It was odd – Ravanan noted – that Kalara had no fear of falling into the great void, she was favoring it. He had to agree with her that it was much nicer than the other violent chasm.

  After he came to be by her side he could hear haunting whispers of delusions and doubts coming from within the violent crevice. And if he looked just right he could see large iridescent eyes trying to rise out of the darkness and hound Kalara but as soon as they emerged they faded to nothing. It was a horrible darkness indeed. Ravanan hated those eyes ever since the other day when he had acquired Kalara’s version of their shared memory. He glared at the rising eyes, refusing to shiver. They were flat and reminded him of a bird feather.... a peacock feather to be exact, and not the eye of any dragon he had ever seen. Perhaps, he considered, it was a mask that Annette was using to confound Kalara.

  He needed to help Kalara cross over the chasms, it was the only way, if he could help her over then maybe her identity and memories would be on the other side waiting for her. Why didn’t he think of this before? Maybe controlling her and being inside her mind was what he needed to do all along – one could hope.

  With the wind whipping his long hair about, Ravanan extended his hand, she grabbed hold, and he pulled Kalara back to the relative safety of the middle of the mental precipice. Ravanan meant to take off and fly her across just as he had in the shopping mall. He took flight but lost her hand and Kalara never left the ground. He returned to her with a quizzical look. How had Kalara done that? And then Ravanan remembered Kalara couldn’t fly.

  Ravanan sent her a strong mental message that he was in total control of her and he would make her fly.

  “Let me fly you across.” he told her.

  He tried to take off again and the same thing happened. It was no use, her feet would not budge from the rock. Sure, he was controlling Kalara and could have really flown her body across the lair but apparently a mental exercise to change a dragon’s mind was not possible.

  In a desperation attempt Ravanan mentally released his human form inside her mind and was now his normal dragon self-towering over her. He hated to grab her with his talons, knowing Kalara was scared of him already – ‘what would that do to her?’ he wondered. So he lowered his head and did something then that all dragons detested, he let the tiny human Kalara climb onto his back. She climbed up and sat between two of his spikes.

  ‘Thankfully, all of this was only mental imagery’, Ravanan consoled himself.

  It was awkward, he would never do this again in a mental state or in real life – he was not a beast to be controlled. He took off and easily crossed the void then landed. But the moment his talons clicked on the ground the new land became the pinnacle again with chasms all around.

  Ravanan was dismayed but Kalara didn’t appear to be surprised at all. Again he took flight, Kalara still clinging to his blue scales and black sp
ines, and again they landed back on the tiny precipice. It was the oddest thing because he was flying straight and saw the goal, but when he got there the land all looked the same, just barren rock until he landed.

  Flying her around wasn’t working and Ravanan had had enough, he reached around and picked her off his back and stood her back on the ground. He looked across the chasm to the expanse beyond – her memories were out there and there had to be a way to them.

  Then he thought of another idea. He would teach Kalara to fly, give her the memory of flight by implanting his own memories in her mind, his best memories of their first mating flight, because during that time both minds are closely linked out of necessity. The boundaries of who was leading whom as they flew through the air were blurred and he could easily make Kalara believe they were her own memories she was seeing – they practically were anyway. Mating while flying was the ancient way, more dramatic than on land and a whole lot more difficult to do, however it was not nearly as sensual as it sounded without the many nerve endings of the frail human body. Regardless of all that though, it was a ritual for those dragons who held true to their kind and never before was Ravanan so glad they had followed tradition when the memory of their bonding flight might recover her lost memories.

  Inside her mind Ravanan told her “I know what I said yesterday hurt you. I’m sorry that I did but you must understand I am hurting too. I remember so much about our lives together, your life, even your precious creme-colored robe that you asked about. Don’t you know I made those fire opals that were on that robe the day we met? You watched me do it.”

  He replayed his memory of when they crossed paths for the first time, they were both hunting in human form and a territory fight ensued. Ravanan survived her frigid aura by using a fire armor that nearly suffocated him. But he lived long enough to spark her interest and cause her to drop the attack.

  Then the young Ravanan kept her interest by taking some quartzite from the lair that he was building; using fire and lightning to break the piece of rock into silica dust, he then fused it together again with water, resin, and his own blood. The end result was a pile of glowing fire opals which continued to glow as he placed them in her open hands.

  Kalara promptly put the beautiful orange-red cabochons in her satchel before flying away from the black ledge. Ravanan immediately took off in pursuit. She was trying hard to outpace him but he was gaining on her and cutting short every impressive move she made. The more she tested him, the more determined he became. He’d nearly grabbed her a couple of times before catching her foot which caused them both to laugh. His grasp was solid, then another, and another up her body, until finally he got her to slow down.

  The memory was vivid, and complete, so much so that the real Kalara could feel the images’ auras, they made her smile at the frivolity of it all.

  Embraced and hovering, a devilish grin spread across the young Kalara’s face as she floated in his arms. Then Ravanan saw her eyes deeply for the first time, they were purple...... he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.... was it even possible? His heart skipped a beat at their beauty and in anticipation at how majestically-hued her scales must be.

  Both dressed as human natives, their backs were bare, Kalara’s hands found Ravanan’s shoulder blades and followed their curves, toying with him as they hung in the air. Her touch awakened his senses all anew. He knew her thoughts and what she would have of him. The enchantress was testing him, wanting him to drop his human form to see how good of a flier he really was.

  The pace of the memory slowed down as they both began to release their human forms (Ravanan wanted her to fully experience what morphing was like).

  The young Ravanan mirrored her morph with his wing bones emerging and pushing past her fingers. His back was strong, hers was too under his hands, and together they shed their delicate human skin. Time was slow, each stage of the morph was distinct. Each bump on their spines became spikes, their wing bones widened and powerfully extended as their torsos did also. Soon his arms did not encircle her. Emerging in front of him was an amethyst dragoness of pure beauty. He was stunned that there was such a thing as a purple dragon and Kalara took that chance to kick away from him, flying once again and breaking the mental connection.

  They were both now back to their true forms and he could not allow her to get away, ever. He could sense her come-hither-if-you-can-aura, and it intrigued him to obey. He was covered with her pheromones, smelling them, enticing him, he knew she was young, alone, and would soon be his, and besides, she had chosen to keep his fire opals.

  He pumped his wings as hard as he could. That Mighty Amethyst dragoness would not best him. She was giving him a good flight though and putting him through all the moves. All he now lacked was a small distance, the temptation to cast a spell and skip the lag entered his mind – but no, he refused to cheat, not on this, not on such a grand and spectacular dragoness. He would win her fairly and with pure raw strength, magic would somehow cheapen his victory. No, he wouldn’t use it unless she did first. He pumped harder and focused on her purple wings, trying to predict her path. She was using the updrafts, soaring and rolling, enjoying the pursuit.

  He gave her time, watching her, learning her. Finally seeing his chance, Ravanan pumped his powerful wing muscles harder and faster than ever and closed in on his prize. With a viper’s quickness he grappled her, using his larger weight to take her down. Now they were falling, falling so fast it took his breath away (even down to the pain in his hurting chest, Ravanan planted his remembered feelings deep inside Kalara’s fragile mind).

  The purple dragoness wasn’t helping him fly and he wouldn’t let go of her. As close as their bodies were, they were still very separate dragons in flight. The ground was getting closer, the tree canopy no longer looked like smooth green velvet. This was the final test. Would she agree to join him? It had to be now or it was over.

  With her next breath the young Kalara opened her thoughts to him and they curved off the fall together. Her mind was racing with the daredevil fall, she had enjoyed every heartbeat of it.

  Flying fast over the jungle with Kalara under him, Ravanan captured her neck, entwining it with his and taking control of her path. The rhythm of her purple wings was synced up with his as their minds worked together to fly. The rush of air against them was exhilarating and Ravanan knew that Kalara could feel it in his memory.

  In that moment he gave Kalara the feeling of flight, the most basic of gifts, it was something that even hatchlings were capable of, but not her, not until now. Ravanan wanted to give her the full experience of flying, the physics of every wing-beat was important. He did not fast-forward through a single turn, wanting her to know how the muscles felt as they flexed and worked with the wind. In every detail Ravanan etched it to her brain cells, ensuring she would absolutely not forget this important memory of their lives together.

  Minds melded, wings beating and bodies turning the same way in the air, flying together they started to head back, it would be a long and hard flight back to Black Blade Lair, their lair.

  Ravanan was thoroughly enjoying himself as all memories are full of emotion and salted with embellishment. This was the closest he had felt to Kalara in a while. It was hard to stop the memory replay but he forced himself to, fearing to continue on with such a powerful moment of their love – the memory of which would undoubtedly cause him to lose the control spell connection.

  He was sure he had been successful in the memory transplant from the rapid firing of Kalara’s neurons. The historic notion of flying was so strongly embedded in Kalara’s mind that he could even feel the phantom muscular spasms of her body in flight.

  Still controlling her, Ravanan was sure any time now the old Kalara would return to him. He was ready for it.

  “So do you understand now why your loss is so hard for me?” He asked her from inside her mind. “You’ve got to feel that Kalara, I can sense that you do feel it, those feelings were so strong that even your subconscious mind s
till remembers them.”

  “Now,” Ravanan instructed Kalara as he once again mentally stood with her on the narrow piece of land, “You will fly beside me over these chasms to get your past back.”

  He held out his hand and she took it.

  They took off together, making progress over the darkness below them. Kalara was doing fine. They came to the other side, the vast expanse of barren rock that promised her memories and hovered there.

  Ravanan said “This is it Kalara. All you have to do is land, just step down. Your identity is here.”

  She stepped down. The moment she did they were once again on the narrow pinnacle.

  Surrounded by the dark chasms, Ravanan was at a loss. He was glad Kalara couldn’t see his body because a few tears escaped from his human eyes. In frustration, he mentally grabbed her hand again and they took off flying straight up, leaving the whole scene behind.

  Though the attempt failed Ravanan still held hope for Kalara.

  “Don’t focus on what didn’t happen.” he said to her. “Just relax as you have been doing.”

  He collected his thoughts about him. There had to be a reason that his spells were not successful, he only needed to find it. He reaffirmed his control over her by walking her in a circle and feeling relieved when she did.

  Not deterred, Ravanan addressed another of his agendas, finding his gold. He knew somewhere in her muddled mind must be a road map to Annette. Looking in her recent memories, he realized he hadn’t had Kalara show him where Jenniffer took her to stay. He did that now by instructing Kalara to think about it and go in every room. He saw very clearly the small apartment that Kalara had been living in. It was made with cheap human-made materials that easily fell apart, not lasting more than a few decades, nothing like the strong rock of Black Blade lair.