Sacred Moon: Book 2

by Alejandro Marrero

  “I’m a bit hungry myself and smell of dirt, flowers, and leaves. I think my order will be bath first. Then food,” added Kendra.

  “Well, I’ve got a treat for all of you then,” I said, then vanished away all the dirt, grime, blood, sweat, and filth from all of our companions with a wave of my hands. I learned that bit of magick from Donovan, who used it often. I was rewarded with moans and sighs of appreciation from everyone.

  “That’s right, Hubbykins! You got the magic touch! Now we can prioritize food first,” said Donovan excitedly. To which we all cheered. Our nerves started to settle, and we felt good. Turned out, we worked well as a team. Every day a step closer to our goal to free the enslaved and restore Lunaria.

  “You know what would make this moment better?” asked Quicksilver, which made us all look at him immediately inquisitively. I hadn’t the slightest clue. Food and victory sounded good enough.

  “He wants Death By Hugs!” squealed Kendra, our always intuitive friend.

  “See, Leilah. Death By Hugs is totally a thing now,” Donovan exclaimed, while we all got together and hugged Quicksilver. He rewarded us by covering us completely with sparkly Unicorn dust to our glittery excitement.

  We all sat down in a circle to catch our breath and smile. We embraced our respective partners and leaned back in the now flower-covered field of Kendra’s nature magic. We had done it. We had defeated Lilith’s invaders from the Emerald Realm. Saving the Esmeraldian people. Looking around at the beautiful friends by my side. I thought to myself, how did I ever survive the eons without them. My heart was full.

  “Um, friends? What is that huge shadowy thing heading our direction?” asked Donovan. To which we all turned to see. I sent my awareness out and could make out the form of an incredibly large Shadow Dragonkin heading our direction.

  “It’s a Shadow Dragon in a definitely sour mood,” replied Azrael. He stated the apparent, much to our collective dismay.

  “Nucking Futs!” Donovan cursed.

  Chapter 18

  Donovan

  Holy Nucking Futs! Dragons are real. Legit flipping real! Also, it’s not lost on me that it’s heading our direction and getting bigger by the minute. I remember reading about astral projection in a book years ago that talked about what to do if you ever faced a dragon in the astral realm. It was said in the metaphysical book that a dragon only respects someone with a sword. Well, what do you know? I have a sword. Plenty of us had swords. Maybe that huge and I mean ‘bigger than my house kind of huge’ dragon would pause if we had our swords out. It’s probably a couple miles out now, and I’ve overthought this whole thing while it approaches quickly. It was actually magnificent, to say the least. Still, it didn't appear like it would reach us for an hour or a bit before that length of time.

  “Alright, everyone, here’s what we’re going to do. A huge dark dragon is heading right for us. Let’s all just remain seated. Azrael, Leilah, Abbadon, put your swords flat near you and remain seated casually. Leona, Kendra, QuickSilver do the same with your weapons sheathed and to your sides. Remain seated though, and for all intents and purposes, let’s appear armed but not alarmed. Casual in a sense. All of us create a shield around us. As above, so below. Not a privacy shield but one that prevents all harm. Use your magicks and weave them together with our own personal touches but keep it transparent and allow sound to come through,” I asked of everyone that was now staring at me like I was crazy. What can I say, maybe they were right. Maybe I am indeed the kind of crazy the world needs. Or maybe brilliant? I don’t know. My thoughts think of it like this. If you have people in an offensive position, holding out weapons, standing at the ready. Then you’re basically inviting a conflict. Why provoke a dragon? You wouldn’t poke a bear.

  `Despite my admittedly odd request, my loyal friends did what I asked of them. By now, they knew I loved to just wing it. Ha, a pun. Is that a pun? You know cause we have wings? Blah, my damn G.E.D. I think it’s a pun, funny or not. Either way, I’m going to own that cheese.

  `My friends looked at me with concern as clear as day in their eyes. Okay, maybe not the best time for humor. However, where people see a deadly, dark, and shadowy dragon, I see an opportunity. What can I say? I loved dinosaurs as a kid. With my awareness expanded into the distance towards the dragon for a closeup Kodak moment, I was pleased. The dragon looks like an uber fancy Tyrannosaurus Rex with wings and yes, bigger arms. Albeit much larger in stature than any bone displays at the museums I’ve been to. Didn’t matter, though. The point is we’re about to meet a dragon, and that just got moved predominantly on to my bucket list.

  Could just lounging around, unarmed, while an enormous dragon approached swiftly and clearly on a mission be scary? Heck yeah! Irrelevant though. Why? Because holy nucking futs, this shizz doesn’t happen to ordinary people! I’m totally going to meet a dragon. I’m confident in our shielding, and well, we just battled an army on an empty stomach for hours. I want to remain seated with my friends for a bit and continue enjoying the moment of or soon to be interrupted peace. Might I also add it was an army of thousands, and this was one phenomenally large dragon? How in the world does something so massive fly? We needed a quick siesta.

  “You can’t seriously just want to sit down and ignore the giant Dragonkin heading in our direction. Is this some kind of joke?” Leilah snarked. I understood. She was probably hungry too. I could let it slide. We all get hangry.

  “That’s absolutely what we’re going to do. We’re shielded. All is good. We’ve just beaten back an army of invaders, and if we all remember Kendra’s divination for a moment. We’d recall that if this is indeed the Dragon from the Shadowrealm. We know it’s not tethered to Lillith,” I replied nonchalantly. Honestly, I wasn’t worried. I was excited. In my head, I was simply utilizing my crazy, dinosaur-loving brain. Rawr.

  “I trust Donovan on this. This Dragon may, from rumors, appear to be aligned with Lillith, but it’s not tethered. I also sense its emotions are projecting grief and loss. Those emotions are more predominant than anger. I think some good will come from this. If not, we can always battle the dragon. I, for one, though, don’t mind watching how Donovan is going to let this all play out. It’s time for some popcorn. Things might be interesting like usual,” affirmed Kendra.

  “Does anyone have any food in their void-bags?” I asked, genuinely curious and in need to satiate my belly.

  “I have some dragonfruit, peaches, pears, figs, and before you ask, also some rice pudding,” QuickSilver said to my delight and rescue. Seriously love that guy. If you ever meet a unicorn, be their friend. Sure they fart glitter everywhere when you hug them, but it’s so worth it. He started to rummage around in his equivalent of a void-bag and brought out a large blanket and spread it down in between all of us. We all took a corner and smoothed it out. He then reached into his bag and passed us all bowls.

  “I have some fruits, cheeses, and loaves of bread too,” Leona added as she started to also add things to the menu. She took out some plates from her never-ending Mary Poppins bag.

  “I have some utensils too. We can use them to slice the bread, cheese, fruits, and eat our food with,” Abbadon, my super, special, sexy, stud of a star-coursed one, said while passing them around to us. Seriously he’s so fly and totally my guy. Ha! That rhymed!

  My ever-thoughtful friends. Meanwhile, I basically carried gemstones, herbs, and apparently everything but food. You’d think I’d know better, considering I had a void-murse that totally was a messenger bag. Well, next time we’re in the city, I’ll make sure to pack some edibles for our dalliances around the realms.

  “Are we seriously having a picnic right now?” Leilah asked, as her attention remains focused on the incoming dragon.

  “Duh. We’re all hungry. It’s not just my stomach growling. Plus, I know you and Azrael must have missed breakfast like Abbadon and me this morning. So please stop pretending you’re not hungry either. You need to eat. You’re having a snickers moment right now. For reals. Just
act casual. Eat some food. You’ll need the stamina for later when we’re back in the western spire of Emerald city for Az anyways,” I remarked while filling my plate with the equally divided shares of everyone’s food. Glancing up, Leilah was pressing her lips into a thin line and flushing pink fiercely at the innuendo.

  “Azrael, his name is Azrael!” Leilah decided to enlighten us with the obvious. She sounded like Sebastien, the crab from a movie I love. It’s cute how she resists the nickname.

  “Donavon is right. The shielding we placed will hold, and we might as well enjoy some sustenance,” Azrael said while passing her a plate. He then tucked a loose lock of hair behind Leilah’s ear, and she resigned to her star-courses one affection, the pinch on her brow smoothing out as she looked adoringly at Az. I’m totally going to make his nickname a thing. Just wait and see. Either way, I’m glad Leilah’s found her mate. By the looks of it, he’s the perfect balance for her occasional crabbiness.

  QuickSilver passed around some goblets, and Leona conjured up some refreshing cold water to fill them all. There we go, team. Here we are surrounded by a beautiful and enormous patch of Kendra-invoked flowers, eating our food, and having a picnic with the beautiful sounds of Green Mount Lake’s quickly flowing waterfalls in the background. It was nice. Finally, some food, I thought to myself as I began to dig into my plate with gusto.

  “Wow. Thank you very much, everyone! These foods are delicious!” I managed to say in between the ravishing chewing of my food.

  “It’s definitely delicious. The scenery is nice too. Though I wouldn’t complain if we had mimosas too after the days we left Silver Leaf City,” Kendra, always the fun one, pointed out. Gosh, it’s been so long since we had a drink.

  “Yeah. We totally need to have some brunch at the local Esmeraldian tavern or restaurants or whatever the equivalent they have here before we go,” I chimed in right before the ground shook, which almost knocked my goblet over and had me turn my attention to the source of the commotion. Luckily I caught the goblet just in time and was well fed. Or I’d be full of sassy words at the rudeness. Spill the tea but never anything in a goblet.

  I looked up while I continued to put the remaining perfectly sweet baked pear slices in my mouth. Seriously these void-bags even kept everything in stasis once it was placed in our pocket dimensioned infinity-bags. Hey, that’s a cool name. Infinity-bags. Hmm… I’d make that a thing, but I kind of had a list going already of things that shall become things. So, let us not add to it just yet.

  Well, we now had a new presence. The eagle…er. The dragon has landed. Whatever, it doesn’t matter. Oh, she was magnificent. Her body was the size of a school bus. Her four legs were as big and thick as an oak tree. Her snout was long and had two pointy teeth that stuck out, pointing up from each side of her reptilian snout. Her eyes were daisy yellow and slit like a cat. I observed her further in silence as I continued to chew.

  This dragon’s scales were like black iridescent opals. Her scales shimmered in different degrees. Similar to sparkly rainbow obsidian but with indigo swirls. The dragon’s wings were massive, no doubt, necessary to support her weight as she flew.

  The Dragon’s also had a tail that was twice the length of her glorious body. It was also full of small spikes that began on her back. She had two white horns protruding back and upwards from the base of her skull. The horns were as long as I was tall. At least It seemed that way. She seemed to emit a hazy mist of shadows and auric swirls of purple, grey, and red. The dragon held herself high and regally while sitting on her hind legs gazing at us intently with a curious expression. Her tail was swishing back and forth. Awe, she wags her tail like a puppy! Oh my god. This dragon was so amazing! Also, totally effing real!

  I finished a quick bite of bread, had a swallow of water, and couldn’t help myself, so I said, “Wow! You’re beautiful!” I totally meant it too. This seemed to snap her out of her fierce and regal pose for a moment. She blinked twice and looked me straight in my golden eyes.

  “What? You’re the first Dragonkin I’ve seen, and you’re majestic, shiny, and fabulous. I’m candidly honest. Don’t make it weird. Am I making it weird? Nah. Don’t answer that. Pretty sure I make things weird by default. Are you hungry? I’m sure we can grab you some food if you want,” I offered, making a show of looking around to inventory what foods we had left. I’m sure if we didn’t have any, we’d find a way to procure some.

  “You’re the defender of the realms, liberator of Angels, and light-wielder, Donovan?” the pretty dragon asked out loud in a smooth, sensuous, and feminine voice that didn’t sound reptilian at all. You’d never know she was all fangs and a forked tongue. Well, you see there? That proves my point we can’t just assume everything. Sometimes things are not like the movies. Assumptions of a negative nature were never reasonable.

  “Donovan works just fine. No need for honorifics or formalities. They’re too long to always say verbatim. Way too grandiose. Honestly, it’s becoming more and more of a mouthful everywhere I go. I’m not a fan of them, really,” I answered. Then asked, “What’s your name?”

  I was looking up at her, wondering which side-eye to look at and almost blurred my vision from being cross-eyed. I probably looked like I was trying not to toot. Maybe, she picked up on my dilemma and turned her face to look at me clearly with her gigantic right eye.

  “You, Donovan, are not what I was expecting. Most assuredly, I was not expecting a god-ascendant. Especially one who was sharing meals with Angels, another god-ascendant, and a few godlings. As I reached your assembled kin. My name is Rhea. I, too, don’t welcome honorifics and all their pompousness and titles even though I had them at one point.

  “Thank you for offering to break food with me, but I have no need at present. Nor do I imagine you’d want to see a Dragonkin eat,” Rhea informed us with a toothy, possibly menacing smile or grin. Hard to tell when it’s your first time meeting a legendary creature of this magnitude. She probably eats horses or whales or something huge. Or maybe she’s vegetarian and eats entire trees. I have no clue.

  I stood up, slowly leaving my sword on the ground. Truthfully I barely used it since it reminded me every time of how deadly it would be to even a god. Mainly for the dark purposes, it was forged for by the ArchAngels and the danger it posed to my friends. I’m totally going to throw this sword in lava or destroy it once our quests are done. That’s the hope, at least. When I reached my full height, which was basically as tall as Rhea's taloned feet, I bowed.

  “Well, it’s a pleasure meeting you, Rhea! Come on, everyone. Introduce yourselves to this beautiful Dragonkin,” I asked of my companions who, in turn, tidied up and got up to introduce themselves in similar fashions.

  “I’m Kendra, you are indeed a beautiful Dragonkin and the first one I’ve seen. I wish you well. A divine wish of yours will be granted soon,” said Kendra, our resident nature goddess with the divination prowess of a magick-wielding seer.

  Oh, man! Sounds like major queso! Kendra needs to spill the beans and not be vague. Totally want to know what that wish was. Maybe we can help? If it’s an altruistic wish, then I don’t see why not. If her wish was to eat the Emeraldians or us, not so much. I’m nobody’s bacon. Mmm…bacon. The candy of meats. Though, lately, I’ve been pretty much vegetarian as it seems the familiar cuisine of the paranormal being’s realms we’ve visited.

  It looked like Rhea was taken aback by Kendra’s words but simply nodded her head in acknowledgment. Her gaze then fixed on Leona, who held Kendra’s hand protectively and bowed as well. “I am Leona, from the Isle of Mu,” she said plainly. I thought she’d go and at least mention the Silver Leaf Fae, but it looks like I wasn’t the only one without the need for honorifics or long titles.

  “I’m Leilah, of Prakuta,” my B.F.F. Introduced herself and bowed. I keep forgetting Leilah’s from Prakuta. We’re totally going to need to have a pow-wow about her world system. I’ve always wanted to know if there was life on other planets. Or, in this case, world system
s, especially after seeing her home realm on a mural, in the belly of the Silver Leaf City citadel. At least with food, she was kinder or more respectful. I think, as a general rule of thumb, we should always assume positive intent. It’s an excellent way to go through life. Also more comfortable when you're not hangry!

  “I’m QuickSilver of Lunaria, your grace,” my glitter sparkling silver-surfing friend said to my surprise. Wait up! Your grace? Doesn’t that mean she’s royalty? I don’t know. We were visiting other realms. Discovering new beings, and well, we’re not in Tampa anymore, so who knows. Maybe it’s because she’s a Dragonkin. I wouldn’t know. Either way, it made a bit of barely perceivable wisps of smoke trail out Rhea’s nostrils as they flared a bit. Hmm…Totally putting a pin on that for later. Sounds like QuickSilver has things to share. Also seemed to me that she wasn’t expecting the formality.

  “I am Abbadon, we’ve not met before. However, it’s a pleasure to meet you. You’re a beautiful being,” he said. Truly flattery doesn’t always work, but it can’t hurt, especially if it’s true. Though I preferred him to aim those compliments to me, his hubbykins, but the current circumstances merited it.

  “I am Azrael, star-coursed one of Leilah, your majesty Queen Rhea of Draconious. I’m familiar with your reputation as a benevolent ruler. Forgive my forwardness, your majesty, but why are you not with your King? We had heard from Draconious yesterday, and the Golden King is agitated and mourning your disappearance. As are your subjects,” he enlightened us.

  Well, looky here. It appears Rhea is no ordinary dragon. Maybe that’s why she isn’t fond of honorifics and titles. Maybe there’s some awful juju happening over there in Draconious.

  At hearing Azrael’s words, Rhea appeared incensed and agitated. Her tail stopped moving, and she flared her nostrils and bent her front haunches to glare menacingly at Az. Smoke was now definitely coming out of her nostrils in fumes.