by LJ Davies
"Yep, see you at training!" Ember added, following the red dragon.
Risha gave them a farewell too, while her brother and I swooped towards their home. Part of me still expected an enthusiastic response from Boltock, but it seemed his over-the-top excitement had been exhausted and now all he could muster was a mumbled goodbye.
"That was fun," Risha said as we landed outside their nest, looking back at me as we entered through the doorway.
"I'm so hungry I could eat a griffin," Boltock groaned, looking at his sister. "You gonna get some food?"
She gave him a disapproving look, but he rolled onto his back, pressed both forepaws to his stomach and forced his green eyes wide as he begged.
"Please."
"I'll get something," his sister sighed, rolling her eyes
"I'm not hungry," I interrupted.
Risha paused.
"Are you sure?" she replied, a slightly worried look in her eyes.
"Positive, just not really feeling it. Thanks for showing me that place, it was great," I improvised with a forced smile.
"Well, like we said, you earned it for what you did today." Boltock nodded his agreement.
"Thanks, but I think I'll be getting to sleep now," I added, making a move towards my nest.
If it would allow me, sleep was the only escape I had from the tyranny of my troubled mind. I flew into the upper chamber, moving over to the window, peering out over the peaceful city. Its calming atmosphere almost identical to the previous night. My attention was drawn to another platform across the way, where two other dragons were playing.
They were much smaller than me and, I assumed, much younger. One was red and the other light blue. The young pair play-fought with each other, rolling and jumping around whilst making pretend sounds, much like I'd seen children doing back home.
Watching them made me realise that as much as I believed this place was wonderful, and although I looked like a dragon, I was still very different.
I'm still just a stranger in my own scales.
The doubting part of my mind opened with all its destructive force.
Why would whoever I belonged to just leave me in the forest, unable to fend for myself? If Tarwin hadn't come along and found me, I... I'd have been dead before I even hatched. My race didn’t come to protect me, they left me. I owe Tarwin my life and what am I doing to help her?
The two young dragons stopped playing, their heads shooting up in response to what I assumed was a call from their mother. They swiftly hurried inside and out of sight, though my eyes continued to stare blindly at the spot they'd occupied. Completely lost in thought, it was only when I heard sounds coming from below that I snapped back to reality. Risha and Boltock were talking while eating dinner, but ignoring their conversation I backed away from the window.
They had quickly become my friends and I certainly didn't blame them, but I couldn't let them delay me any longer, not while Tarwin was out there. Even after all I'd been told I refused to accept what the Elders had said. She'd saved me all those winters ago and now it was my job to do the same. I lowered myself onto the bedding, lay my head on the soft material and closed my eyes as a warm tear slowly ran across my wounded cheek.
*
I found myself creeping through an inky gloom lingering between towering trees. The trunks like dead pillars suspending a dark, suffocating canopy. The confining blackness was rich with fear as if dread oozed from every surface. Despite my trepidation I kept pushing forward through an eerie mist, until a gap appeared ahead and I found myself stepping out into a clearing, a large, open area surrounded by trees. Tall grass covered the ground and a fallen log lay beside a pool.
Impossible, I can't be back here!
I pressed a forepaw deep into what looked like cold, damp soil; though it appeared real it felt like reality had been sucked from it, leaving only an empty husk.
I was in the clearing from which Tarwin and I hunted; however, the freedom I associated with it was trapped under the blanket of fog. As its intoxicating embrace pulled me from reality, a blast of wind swept through the clearing, splitting the mist apart and revealing the bright light of a full moon. Its illuminated shape loomed over the forest like a silent guardian in the starless sky and despite its glow, the darkness persisted like an incurable plague.
Suddenly a loud thud sent a shock through the ground, echoing painfully in my ears. I turned, my head still resonating with the noise, when the horror I saw almost forced me to my knees. It stood perfectly still, glaring at me with its piercing, yellow eyes. The wyvern’s repulsive smell was unmistakable, so strong that I had to force myself not to gag.
The beast clambered forward on its clumsy wings, holding something in its jaw. I stood my ground, meeting its sinister glare with my own. I wanted to lash out, pin it down like I had Thunder and demand to know what it had done with Tarwin. Before I had the chance, the beast dropped something before me with a wet thud. All the while it peered down its toothed maw at me, dripping a filthy concoction of blood and saliva.
Unable to hold my gaze, I lowered my eyes, and time seemed to stop. Lying on the ground in front of me was a dismembered, mauled corpse doused in blood.
*
"No, please, no!" I screamed, shaking back to reality and shooting up from the blankets with a gasp.
My heart raced as the gruesome image lingered in my mind a moment longer, as if to torture me.
No, it’s not real! I told myself in a futile attempt to calm down. It can't be real!
My eyes darted frantically around the room desperately seeking a distraction, finding nothing other than smooth stone walls.
It's just a dream, it isn't real. I repeatedly told myself, only to question. How can I say that, how can I be sure?
Shaking more than a sapling in a storm, I stood up and looked out through the opening. It was the dead of night, the kind of dark hour where the shadows really did rule everything. There were no signs of life beyond the window – the only sounds came from the constant gushing of distant water and the only light from the moss or brazier flames.
I knew I should have listened to my instincts. Staying here isn’t the smart move.
Now I knew what I had to do. I swiftly glided down into the main chamber, careful to be as quiet as possible.
Am I just going to leave without even saying goodbye? What if the Elders really do call for me again? What's Risha going to do if I'm not here?
I banished the thoughts. They're not my family, Tarwin is.
I couldn't rely on the Elders, especially after they'd told me to leave her. I had to see this through, I had to find her.
I quickly moved to the opening, brushing past the curtain as it waved gently in the breeze. Moving to the edge of the balcony, I gazed out over the peaceful city.
I really wish this could be my home.
I glanced back through the curtain. The chamber lay still, bathed in the majestic blue light. The warmth of the fire had faded and the last few embers fizzled out.
I have to go, stop dragging it out and leave already!
I was caught teetering on the edge of what now felt like an abyss into the unknown. Ignoring what was behind me, I leapt from the stone perch and silently flew into the night.
I soon found an air current leading toward the cliff's edge and the city swiftly fell away behind me. Its warm hospitality drained, replaced by the cold grip of the true night sky. The air path started to rise as the ceiling above began to run out, turning sharply, taking me up against the cliff face's outer-most edge. The upper rock face was at least three times the size of that below the city and no makeshift air currents controlled my flight up here.
For the first time in days the welcoming sight of a billion stars greeted me. From this angle the vertical rock could almost be mistaken for the ground, crossed by several waterfalls running like vertical rivers.
It felt like I'd been flying for ages before the cliff finally broke and turned sharply to form the surface. My flight was almo
st vertical and when I broke into the open air it felt like I could fly up forever into the starlight.
Eyes on the prize, Blaze. No time to get lost in fantasy.
Having finally breached the cliff top, I was swift to look around and get a feel for the environment that surrounded Dardien.
Jagged rocks covered the edge, rising slightly as if pushing back to avoid slipping into the depths. Moonlight bathed the surrounding area as the lunar body hung low like a king among the stars. The silhouettes of distant mountains framed the almost perfectly flat plains, while rolling hills outlined the horizon on the opposite side, rising smoothly like waves upon an ocean.
Although dark, the moonlight generously revealed an endless sea of swaying grass covering the shallow hills and valleys. Darker patches broke through the broad expanse, where trees huddled together as if for warmth. The only other features to disrupt the grassy domain were the rivers, snaking their way back from the edge of the giant cliff and gradually disappearing into the horizon.
The dragon city lay within what was now clearly a huge rupture in the ground, a long split running like a great wound through the world, providing a perfect defence against anything wishing to attack. In fact, the only evidence that the city even existed was the faintest light creeping out from the base of the cliff.
At the far side of the canyon lay the skeletal remains of a ruined city, ribbons of moonlit rivers flowing through the remnants of reservoirs and canals. The shattered husks of stone towers and fallen bridges stretched back for miles, blossoming out from domed temples and mighty cathedrals.
The abandoned buildings closest to me stopped on the cliff's edge, with a great many platforms jutting out like the one at the Elder Temple. I'd never seen structures quite like them; they could almost have been human, but they were built from stone, not wood, and on a far larger scale than anything I'd witnessed.
As the gentle air currents swept me round, I noticed something even more unusual. At the edge of the opposite cliff lay a smaller, isolated structure. Differing from its opposite peers, it appeared to be older and more dilapidated. I could see a thin dirt road leading out over the plains and disappearing into the distance. A small stone wall topped with a rusty iron mesh surrounded it, a broken gate allowing entry.
It clearly wasn't built by dragons, and while it was similar, I still struggled to convince myself it looked like any human building. I landed in what seemed to be some sort of ancient graveyard at the rear of the ruin.
Several worn, stone tablets stood around me, engraved with faded words and gnawing lichen. The building’s dilapidated structure stood defiant of the elements and time. Its worn grey surface was cracked, broken and covered by green moss. At its base, an overgrown thicket of bushes and saplings fought for space, stems of ivy mocking their struggle as they crawled unchallenged up the ruined wall. I moved to the opposite side, to where the walls were crumbling and the roof had collapsed.
A tower dominated the cliff-side end, looming over the breach in the roof. A series of rotting bannisters crossed the jagged cavity like the ribs of an open corpse, black, broken and dripping wet. The tower itself was in no better condition, many of the blocks that once supported its skyward reach lay crumbling below it.
I continued along the side of the building, peering through cracks in the shattered glass to see the mouldy interior. Eventually I reached the front where a pair of rotting doors fought to hold out the elements within a crumbling archway. Opposite, the road led off into the distance, a route to another new world of mystery.
What am I doing? I asked myself.
This wasn't a dream from which I could just wake and forget. This was different – I couldn't just forget, Tarwin needed me. Amongst all the horrific visions I'd had, there was something else, dreams that somehow felt more important: the mysterious visions I had of that crystal. The vision of my eyes glowing white hot.
"Where do you think you're going?"
I almost jumped out of my scales as a familiar voice broke the silence.
Risha fixed me with a stern glare, slowly walking towards me as I spun to face her.
How'd she manage to sneak up on me? No one's ever been able to do that!
She was unbelievably quiet, even with the squelching mud beneath her paws. Her eyes were just as stern as Pyro's back in training, and I lowered my gaze, shamefully avoiding them.
"I have to find her, she'd do the same for me," I admitted, scuffing a forepaw at the mud.
"That human? Blaze, is... Is that really a good idea, you have no idea where she is and the Elders need to talk to you?" she responded bluntly.
Detecting more sympathy than anger in her voice, I raised my head, trying very hard to hold back my frustration.
"That ‘human’, as you call her, has done more for me than anyone here ever has," I stated, my voice a little firmer than I'd have liked.
She took a step back, her wings fidgeting as she glanced towards the edge of the cliff beyond the ruins. Then she finally sighed and declared sternly.
"Well, if you're going then I’m coming with you."
My first step forward froze mid-swing. At first, I didn't believe her, but as her words sunk in, I realised there was no deception in them. A pang of joy washed over me, but I quickly pushed the feeling aside.
"You can't, what about Boltock?"
"He'll be fine until I come back. He's old enough to look after himself now," she replied, before adding with a smirk. "Less can be said for you. There's worse things than trees to bump into out there."
She had me stumped. I knew nothing of the world. She, on the other paw, was roughly my age, owned a nest and was free to act as an adult.
Really, you're going to try and turn her down? You'll be eaten alive out there without help! That was the first reasonable thing my guilty mind had offered all day.
Meanwhile, Risha strode past me, a look on her face that almost challenged me to come up with a way to talk her out of her decision.
"If it's so dangerous out there, how do you know you’ll come back?" I finally asked.
Unbelievably, I'd gone from not trusting, to standing up for her, and now wanting to keep her safe like I would Tarwin.
"I guess we'll cross that bridge if we get to it," she replied primly.
"I'll hold you to that," I retorted.
I can fight monsters and cut through a dragon’s scales, but I can't discourage her from joining me? I was lost for words. She really is like the dragoness version of Tarwin!
"Now that’s settled we should be off," she prompted, spreading her wings. "Because unless we want to explain where we're going to a Dardien patrol, I suggest we reach the edge of the plains by sunrise."
For a moment she seemed more determined than I was.
"Not to mention, where exactly is it you were planning on heading?" she asked, glancing left, then right.
"North," I replied, as I walked up beside her, remembering what the Elders had told me in their story.
"Well, you better keep up," she retorted, launching herself into the air with a firm beat of her sapphire wings.
I took one last glance at the derelict building. This is it; I'm leaving and I've no idea what's ahead. What if I don't come back?
My mind closed off the thought. I have to do this, for Tarwin.
I turned away, giving myself no more time to reconsider or hesitate. I ran along the muddy pathway and with a mighty flap of my wings forced myself up into the air.
Part II
Unknown Reality
Chapter 6
Midnight Plain
It really did feel good to be out in the open again. The world sailed by beneath me like a grassy ocean, its dominance broken only by randomly scattered bastions of thick vegetation and the long rows of trees edging the winding rivers.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Risha, and while I tried to concentrate on flying, I was unable to stop my attention from wandering to her. I'd never flown like this with another dragon, it was amaz
ing to watch her elegant wing beats powering her fluent and graceful movement through the sky.
Seems all that easy flying back in the city hasn't dampened her skills either.
"They call them the Midnight Plains because of nights like this," she announced, noticing I was watching.
My eyes quickly darted away. By the spirits, I need to stop gawking!
She giggled, turning her head towards the glow of the moon. True, I'd never seen such a beautiful night; it was a fitting name. The moon was sublime, majestically slipping beneath the shallow curve of the horizon, while I looked in the opposite direction to see a dark, opaque skyline. The setting moon was reflected by a bright orange glow slowly creeping up into the sky to obscure the ancient light of the stars.
Night continued to slowly wilt away, the day’s new light piercing the black band at the edge of the world. Finally, the sun’s appearance marked the arrival of the new dawn, its penetrating light transforming the landscape below into a green, sunlit sheet.
The plains looked completely different in the morning haze; the grass glistened with a soft, dewy sheen. The once dark patches of vegetation became clear and the rivers' reflections turned from silver to gold.
I turned my attention back to flying, catching sight of Risha descending.
"Where are you going?" I questioned, coming to a hover.
"Want to see something exciting?" she replied.
With curiosity driving me on, I followed. We descended until we were gliding just above the seemingly endless sea of grass, rising and falling over the smooth hills. Her eyes scrutinised the green ocean, and it was only when she looked forward that I noticed we were rapidly approaching a cluster of trees.
She showed no sign of slowing, I trusted she knew what she was doing, when at the final moment, she pulled up sharply. I immediately mimicked her, barely missing the edge of the canopy. Upon clearing the trees she stopped and hovered in mid-air as I came up to join her.
"What are you doing?" I asked again.
She looked at me, her eyes beaming with excitement.
"Wait for it."