by Max Andren
14
We returned to the estate because I felt terrible for leaving Dreah alone to deal with the vision of my parents’ death and my birth. Hell, I could hardly process it and I was older than she was. I flew back the same way I’d left, though not as haphazardly and not as if the hounds of hell were chasing me.
When I was near the estate, I decided to go sit on the edge of the dragon fountain that Dreah and I loved so much. As I shifted on the lawn near the fountain, I saw that Dreah had the same idea.
“You’re pretty smart,” I said.
The moonlight cast shadows across the yard, but illuminated her pale skin until it was glowing with a soft luminescence. She gave me a knowing smile, as I sat down next to her.
“I’m sorry I left so abruptly, sis. It’s inexcusable that you had to deal with the aftermath of your vision by yourself.”
“Charani, stop. I know you still think of me as a little girl and in some ways, I still am. But I’m not and haven’t been for a long while. Life forced me to mature. It is what it is, and I can’t do anything about it. That vision was difficult to see and feel, but…”
“I know and I’m so sorry,” I interrupted her, “for leaving you. It was unconscionable.”
I felt terrible. We had a close relationship, like two sisters or a mother and daughter. When she looked younger, it was more of the mother-daughter type relationship. But now that she was an adult, we had transitioned to more of a sister relationship. Either way, we loved one another fiercely and without reserve.
Dreah sighed, sounding exasperated, then said, “You didn’t let me finish. That vision was difficult to see and to feel, without a doubt. But it was excruciating to know what that vision meant to you. I’m so sorry that you had to watch your parents die. I know exactly what that pain feels like and how deep it cuts. I would have spared you its bite, if I could have.”
She reached out to hold my hand, offering comfort.
“It’s a relief to know that I wasn’t given away and discarded like trash—unloved and unwanted. Kristóf and Júlia had loved and wanted their child yet, neither one of them would get to watch her grow and mature.”
“Watch you grow, Charani. That baby was you, Mia!”
I couldn’t speak, so I nodded to concede her point. Mia was what I had named one of the voices inside my head, the others had mostly belonged to the collective.
“Mia had been my friend, though of course, now I realize Mia was actually me—or a splintered fraction of me.”
Hanley had wanted to steal my essence with a reaping ceremony, but had failed. His botched attempt had resulted in a small portion of my soul or essence becoming trapped within Hulbetto’s Amulet of the Dead.
“Though we are one and the same, Mia developed her own personality and identity separate from mine. For years, she had the ancient collective for company and they influenced who she’d become—who I would become.”
That small, fragmented portion had developed her own personality and identity separate from mine—and as such, Mia had been born, though trapped within the amulet for years. Mia had the collective for company and education and this had molded who she’d become and ultimately, who I would become.
“The vast amount of knowledge at your disposal must be incredible.”
“They are rather quiet these days.”
“I have to tell you, I love your given name, Mia, it suits you.”
“I love it, too, and must have subconsciously known it was my real name, but it’s also confusing. Who am I? Sarah, Mia, or Charani?”
It wasn’t really a question to be answered, so I looked away to scan the grounds. There were a lot of shadows, but nothing ominous. A strange feeling had come over me just then—a prickly sensation I’d felt on numerous occasions.
I wondered, an omen for bad things to come?
“Charani, there’s something we need to talk about,” Dreah said with obvious trepidation.
“You know you can tell me anything, right?”
“I do. There was more to that vision earlier. I’d already seen the whole thing and so I knew where to stop it.”
“Oh?” Now it was my turn to answer with trepidation.
“There are some things you need to know. Unbelievable things that will affect the entire dragon race.”
She was hesitant to tell me, but I could see she was determined to do so anyway.
“Some of the things that have to do with Sterling. I’ll wait to see if he tells you himself. But, Charani, your father Kristóf…he was…well, he was a Druid.”
“What! How can that be? I don’t understand.”
“Well, I don’t profess to understand either, but I’ll tell you what I know from the vision. Kristóf was a Druid and Júlia was a Phoenix Dragon, but they were most definitely mated. I think there’s more to this, or I sensed as much from the vision. Do you think that if you were in the dreaming, you could connect with the collective better? I mean they are still with you in essence, literally in essence!”
She smiled at her joke and I did too. But I wondered if I could. Occasionally, one of the voices of the collective would tell me something, but mostly we were fully integrated with no separation between us. There was no warring for control over my mind or my soul. I was the only one in charge and the only consciousness inhabiting my body and mind.
“I’d be willing to try. The dreaming has been quiet, not that I’m complaining. I do find a few voices in there, but mostly just my demons.”
I didn’t have to explain because Dreah understood the impact of those demons all too well. She had her own that loved to haunt her in the dreaming. Sometimes, I wish I didn’t have to sleep and therefore dream. But no matter how hard I tried to stay awake to avoid them, fatigue always won out.
“I’ll try now, there are hours to go before dawn. Maybe one of the ancient dragons that had been trapped in the amulet can help us to understand what is going on.”
“Yes! Be sure to ask them about Druids and Dragons mating. I think this is something that needs to be explored.”
I agreed to find out and we walked back to the house together. I hugged her at the top of the steps and we made our way to our rooms.
I rinsed off in a hot shower and then snuggled under the covers. I thought about all the times I had connected with the collective—but before I’d known what they were and what they represented.
Now I actively sought them out as sleep pulled me under. I needed answers and they would be the ones to give them to me. Or so I had thought, but nothing was ever simple, especially while sleeping and floating within the dreaming.
15
I knew I was dreaming and yet, I was actively manipulating the dreamscape within my mind. I wanted to find one of the ancient dragons that had gifted me with his essence. I needed his knowledge of our ancient dragon history. I needed to know whatever he could tell me about druids and dragons mating.
Some nights when I entered the dreaming, I was pulled directly onto a mission by the voices that found me there. For a change, I created what I wanted, so that I could seek out what I needed.
Tonight my dreaming was beautiful—other times, when my demons lashed out, not so much.
I’d brought my musical shield in with me, hoping to keep the demons at bay. Tonight it was transparent and loosely woven, that way the collective could still reach me through my defensive shield.
Before I’d learned the art of creating my own musical shield for protection, the voices within the dreaming and their pain would force me to shift to shadow. I would follow their unique pain pathway to wherever they were located, usually too late to save them, like poor Ralph and Dreah’s mother.
I had virtually no control over shifting this way and quickly realized the inherent danger of not being in control. I was thankful Cipriano had taught me how to protect myself. Now I always brought protection in with me, though sometimes my shield didn’t work.
When Cipriano visited me within my asylum hell, I thought my dark companio
n was a figment of my imagination, but he’d been real. He’d saved my life with the colorful stories of his life and his homeland.
My homeland—Scotland.
I wanted to walk along the shore of the deep loch where he’d lived and played as a young boy with his brothers. Where the surface of the water perfectly reflected the blue skies above and the majestic mountains surrounding.
Cipriano created magnificent adventures from his memories of home to divert my attention away from my pain and my desire to fade. He showed me our beautiful homeland and in the process gave me the gift of freedom, if only in my mind.
Through his dragon-eyes and form, we’d traveled over craggy hills and deep glens, his wings stirring the wild grass and purple heather below. We scaled the face of Ben Nevis, a snow capped mountain within the Grampians, and located within the Highlands. We saw wild sheep and goats practically hanging off the steep rocky sides.
I fell in love with Scotland during my dungeon hell. In my heart, it represented freedom and called to my aching soul. It still did. Despite the heartache associated with my homeland, including the loss of Cipriano’s brothers, Jakoi and Aiden, his parents and my parents, and my abduction, I thought it was beautiful.
The land wasn’t to blame for the sins of man and drampire.
When I entered the dreaming, I went to Scotland to dream and to find answers, I hoped.
I sat on a rock formation that edged the loch and waited. I opened my mind and for good measure—my heart, hoping the collective would hear my pleas and come to chat with me.
I waited and waited, until finally I had to concede defeat. I was disappointed to say the least, but perhaps I couldn’t force an encounter and it had to happen more naturally. Deciding to relax and slip into a normal dreaming, I left Scotland and headed to the home within my mind and pictured the estate.
I could feel morning approach but was reluctant to wake and felt safe to slide deeper into sleep. So, I’d inadvertently dropped my guard and that’s when it all started. I didn’t recognize the insidious attack for what it was...
War!
“Where are you, Soul Seeker? You promised to save her. She came to you. She screamed for you!”
“Dreah? Dreah, where are you honey? I’m here, tell me where you are!”
“She begged for your help, but you ignored her pleas. You heard her, but you didn’t listen. Why? Why did you let her mother die? It’s all your fault!”
At the center of an immense room was a large rock that looked like a flat cairn. The rock was discolored and deeply stained with the blood of my ancestors, a testament to the atrocities my dragon brethren had suffered.
I was in Hulbetto’s warehouse again, reliving the night I found Dreah and her mother—an all too frequent occurrence. The glyph between my shoulders ached and my nose stung with the noxious, stinging scent I’d come to associate with dark magic.
I could feel the echo of pain and suffering. Dreah and her mother, lay immobilized on the rock, but I could no longer feel her mother.
I was too late! I was always too late.
She was littered with more glyphs than I’d ever seen and she’d been brutally eviscerated. The rock bore yet another dragon death. Dreah had several glyphs carved into her delicate skin and each one glowed with dark magic.
She wasn’t speaking and her gaze was fixed and staring up at the ceiling. I rushed to her side.
She was dead.
I grabbed Dreah and pulled her into my arms—dropping to my knees. I was an utter failure as a soul seeker. Would I ever be in time?
I wanted to die with Dreah in this moment. I wanted to escape the never-ending struggle. The constant strife and misery. I wanted to make a difference and find the souls that were suffering and deliver them from hell.
My efforts were worthless. I was worthless!
Despair gripped my heart in a brutal vise. I could feel what little hope I had accumulated exsanguinate from my dying soul—one painful drop at a time. I had failed to protect Dreah, failed to save her mother.
Tears slid freely down my face. I wept for this little girl and all that she would miss. I wept for her dreams—never to be realized.
I pulled her limp body tighter against my chest and screamed as loud as I could, “Why!” Not caring who heard my rare outburst.
“Why?” I sobbed softly, my eyes shut tight. Tears escaping to anoint her neck.
“I’m so sorry little one…” I whispered, my voice raspy and small, “so sorry.”
With my eyes shut, I didn’t see that my aura had surrounded her in the white light of healing. She was alive and I didn’t realize it until I heard her weakly within my mind.
“Do not save me,” Dreah whispered.
What? No…no that’s not right! It didn’t happen that way.
I gathered my dragon essence and prepared it for her.
“Drink, little one,” I frantically implored, “drink of my essence and be Renascent!”
“No! I refuse your gift! I will not drink. I will not be Renascent. Do not save me! I won’t live as a freak!”
“Dreah? What…what do you mean? Drink and be reborn, I beg of you.”
I knew this was a dream, but doubted my sanity and my motives. She wanted to be reborn, didn’t she? Did I make that up? Had I fabricated her wishes to be reborn?
What have I done?
16
The nightmare continued and was worse than imaginable…
Dreah opened her solemn amber eyes to look up at me. I would die to protect her.
“I hate you,” Dreah told me.
No! Why is it all so different. This isn’t right.
I arched my back as I was hit with a burning pain that sliced across my back from left to right in a ripping arc that felt like fire.
“I see you made it in time, well…” Hulbetto said, trailing off with the unsaid implication hanging in the air between us.
He had taken me unawares. Where were all those wonderful dragon senses when I had needed them?
Hulbetto’s eyes were glowing green and his smile was evil incarnate. I curled around Dreah, even though this time, she didn’t want me or my essence.
Hulbetto licked my blood from where it dripped off the Sword of Dramascus—from Aiden. I refused to answer Hulbetto or cry out. The pain was excruciating, that much was the same.
“My Lady,” a voice whispered through my mind, “I cannot control his strikes, no matter my wishes.”
I tried to focus on the words, but it was difficult through the haze of pain. Focus, Charani. Focus!
“But I would have forced the killing blow if I could have!” Aiden said in anger.
“Aiden?”
“Aye. You need to die. Don’t fight Hulbetto, just die. The clans don’t want you. They don’t want to be united!”
He faded away and said no more. I was left with a lingering sense of desolation, but like the real events, I would tether his soul to mine and snatch a remnant before he could disappear.
Hulbetto looked the same and evil still emanated from him and his magic-enriched aura remained muddy, yet it was different. There was a tinge of color, but before I could assess the difference, his apprentice came into view—Damascus arrow notched and ready to fly.
I stared straight into Hulbetto’s soul-less eyes and stood unflinching, despite the bone-deep laceration.
Dreah moved away from me instead of towards me. I looked at her, but she looked at Hulbetto. I shook my head confused.
“Did you know that Hulbetto was an anagram for butthole?” I taunted.
His eyes narrowed on me and he struck out, clipping my upper arm and back. He was still pissed at my anagram reference.
I was bleeding from multiple strike points.
My dragon would be so little compared to him, but I shifted anyway to escape his next blow. The current created by his sword lifted my hair just as I turned to dragon.
Ha! I was a proper-sized dragon this time because I knew what I was doing now. Phoenix or not
, I knew how to reach that well of power and tapped into it so that I was big this time and not so small.
An arrow whizzed by my ear. I barrel rolled to my left to miss having my head skewered. Maybe I should have stayed small.
The apprentice; I forgot about the apprentice again!
I pulled my wings in tight and arrowed myself towards him, diverting his course away from Dreah. I pushed at her mind to run out the door, but she didn’t move an inch.
The apprentice let fly another arrow.
I changed direction and went straight for Hulbetto. He saw me coming and readied his sword to strike out at me.
I had my ears attuned to the twang of the bowstring releasing.
The arrow that should have buried itself into Hulbetto’s shoulder like before, found its home in mine! I was a bigger target this time and didn’t move fast enough or shift to shadow in time.
Weakness, along with my bigger size, added weight to my movements, as did the Damascus steel arrow. The paralysis instituted by the Damascus, steadily crept over my body and forced me to shift.
Hulbetto and Dreah, along with the apprentice stood over my naked body and I knew what was coming.
The killing blow.