The Dracones

I wake up to Alienis growling at something. “Go away,” he warns, snorting smoke at our visitors.

“I need to talk to her,” Trayvon angrily shouts at him.

“And I need to treat her,” Freiah adds calmly. “She’s very hurt Alienis.”

“No, she’s not.” Alienis blows more smoke at Trayvon; his smugness easily heard in his tone.

“What do you mean?” Trayvon demands, his voice going cold.

“What?” Freiah questions, her voice sounding as if she’s questioning herself.

“You wouldn’t teach her, so she taught herself.” Alienis purrs a little as I stroke his belly, letting him know that I’m awake.

“What do you mean?” Trayvon repeats.

“Observation is a strong point I carry,” I say as I step out from behind Alienis. Freiah gasps while Trayvon looks staggered. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to shower.” I push past both of them, leaving them in disbelief. What’s next on the plan I have no idea. Either way, I stink, and I need to shower.

As I’m getting out of the shower, I hear someone screaming my name. I quickly pull on my clothes just as the door opens. Freiah’s eyes are wide, and she’s covered in sweat. “Kit, it’s Trayvon.”

I groan. “What has he done now?” In response, she grabs my hand and rushes me out the door.

“How did you heal yourself?” She demands as she pulls me.

“Instinct I guess.” I huff as she drags me along. “What is going on with Trayvon?”

“I don’t know. We were talking about you healing and then he suddenly passed out. So did Gracial.”

“Are they dead?” I demand; my cold tone giving warning of my body getting ready for a fight. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so rude to the Dracones Gods. Eh, I could have been a little less mean; but strongarming them was my best bet. Plus, I really don’t like them right now.

We reach the bottom of the caverns to find Alienis nudging Gracial. She’s still breathing so I’m less worried. Trayvon is on the ground, his eyes darting back and forth under his eyelids. I kneel down and touch him. I get a flash of him talking to the Dracones Gods and they look very upset. I didn’t make a great first impression.

I stand up. “It appears the Dracones Gods have called a meeting.”

Freiah looks at me with wide eyes. “What did you say to them?”

Sheepishly, I rub the back of my head. “I may have called them profiteers.”

She groans. “Is that all?

“Not exactly. I also called them conniving moronic ghouls…in that order.”

I’ve never seen such anger on her face. “What would possess you to say those things?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. I was hurt, tired, and angry. I’m also severely pissed off at the way Trayvon, and those nimrods, are acting as if my life is theirs to barter with. I’m also upset at the way Trayvon has been treating me. I’ll be leaving first thing in the morning.”

“What?” She cries, hurt growing on her face.

“Freiah, I have almost died more times than I can count for this community and that man. The only one that seems to acknowledge that, or even care, is you, Freiah. I’m not welcome here. I’m basically thought of as a long-term visitor. I’m heading out to figure out how to be a Dracones; since, clearly, the man who is supposed to be my partner, doesn’t think of me enough to be one.”

Freiah grabs my arm as I begin to walk away. “You’re not Kit.”

“Clearly I am.” I pull my arm back. “He’ll be fine. Just keep him warm.”

“Do something!” Freiah yells at Alienis as I climb the stairs. He just snorts and lays down. Alienis believes I’m right in this. There is no point in staying with a “partner” who would rather use me for his own selfish gain. I’ve been severely abused in this partnership, and I’m not standing for it any longer. Alienis will be coming with me in the morning; so he’s not as worried about me if I were leaving alone. He’s fed up with the way Trayvon has been treating me as well.

I go back into my room and pack while I think of the next step. Trayvon, or anyone, for that matter, is not giving me any answers. No one, besides Freiah, will even give me a basic history as to what I’m to be doing; or even a summary as to what I can do. I learned to heal myself, and I intend to find out what I can do myself. If I cannot get an understanding of what a Dracones is here, I’ll do it myself by going to the source.

I fell asleep that night with difficulty, but I did manage. When I sleep, I toss and turn while I’m assaulted with images of Modain killing me. If he does destroy me, I at least want to have the right to know why. Why were they so desperate to go to a dark spirit in order to defeat him?

Right before the sun comes up the next day, I go and retrieve Miny. She’s gotten used to being picked up by Alienis, so I’ll bring her along. I’ll be able to ride her on the ground and get away if the Adversantem attack and have Alienis distracted.

“Ready to go?” I ask Alienis when he lands next to us. In his response, he nuzzles me. His eyes are sad, but he’s ready. “I know,” I say as I pet his muzzle. “I’m not getting anywhere being treated like dirt. If we want to beat Modain, I need to find some answers.” Or meet my death. Whichever.

As I climb onto Alienis’s back, I hear someone shouting. I recognize the voice, and I’m in no mood to listen. “Go,” I tell Alienis. With a roar, Alienis takes off. I know where I’m heading, but I doubt Trayvon does. If I want to solve the mystery of Modain, I have to start where he begins. For that, I’m going off the legends I have learned from my time studying, and some stories I was told by Freiah. There is one thing that they never mention but has something in common with common knowledge. The farthest part of the south, the darker and more lifeless it is. That is where I’m going to search for my answers.

We make it to the end of the south after five days of almost nonstop flight. We had little run-ins with the Adversantem; since I’ve severely damaged them with my latest attack on them. Modain is still in recovery from what I hear. Mikal has survived Trayvon’s attack, but he’s too weak to heal, and there aren’t any dragon souls for him to use; so he has to heal the old-fashioned way. The poor man.

Alienis lands in a dead wood. It’s on the edge of a black sea. There is no life here and I sense evil. I’ve never felt this much malevolent energy before, and it’s putting me on edge. I instruct Alienis to take Miny to where he can no longer sense this darkness. I’ll call for him when I need him.

“Careful youngling. Even the Adversantem will not venture here.” He nudges me then takes off with a bored Miny in tow.

Well, that’s reassuring. On the bright side, they won’t bug me here. I start walking, black smog covering my feet with each step. I tread carefully, so as not to trip over any hidden roots. I have a feeling that if I fall into that mist, I won’t be waking up.

I’m two hours in and the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up. According to Freiah, the original Dracones made a deal with a dark spirit. Modain caved to the Dracones Gods and offered a trade. The Gods likely agreed since they’d rather deal with a dragon than an immortal spirit. Only Modain didn’t fully succeed due to the spirit’s newfound immortality. The spirit is trapped inside him and that is likely a major key factor in why that dragon is insane and still alive.

I have no idea what I’m searching for, but something tells me this forest can get a lot darker and creepier. I’m not scared of spirits. They’re useless unless you give them power. The only problem is some of them are very good at getting it from you. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to do something like this. I’ve had to go to the realm of the dead to bring Ivan back once. That wasn’t fun and it was downright scarring.

Once night falls I can feel death. I can feel the cold metallic essence of it. There is fear in the air and wolves anguished calls fill the air. There is no wildlife, it’s a trick to spark fear. Evil spirits feed off fear. That is what I’m hunting so I refuse to make them stronger. That would be suicide. I finally see a bright screened light thirty meters ahead of me. I hear the calls of the dead. The trapped spirits of dragons that are here thanks to Modain. How he can do this to his own kind is well beyond me. There are moans and cries worse than I have ever heard. I have the power to help them, I just have no idea how. Maybe I should have brought the jerk.

“Leave!” A voice yells to me once I near the light. I refuse to flinch and keep moving. A voice has no power if I give it no heart. That’s a lie but it helps me move forward.

“Leave now!” The ominous voice yells again. I don’t acknowledge it, I keep moving. I’m getting to the bottom of where this all started. My guess is, in order to achieve his power-which is stronger than any dragon I have ever felt-he made a deal that started here. Deals are usually what end up killing you.

“What are you doing?” The voice yells again. “Turn back.”

I get to the screen, and I see faces pressing against it; groaning and moaning, begging to be released. There are little green balls in there, captured, and tormented dragons.

“I want to speak with the Dracones of my past. Whom caused my presence and gave us so much.” I demand as I look at the screen.

“Leave!” A voice yells.

“In my experience, when someone tells you to leave, it’s because of the power they possess. What about me scares you?” I demand. I’m forcing myself to remain calm, though I can feel my adrenaline trying to force itself to register. I refuse to. If I do I’m dead. The spiritual world does not accept confidence other than their own.

“It’s what you will do that scares me.”

“I demand you to give me what I want!” There is so much authority in my voice, that even I want to punch my pompous ass.

Two blue lights shoot in front of me. Two men, with long hair and soulless eyes appear before me. They bear the Dracones markings on their chest and are slightly taller than me. I stand shocked at the one before me. He’s the male version of me. “What do you need?”

I shake my head before speaking. “I want to know about the spirit you made the deal with.”

They both look at me and stiffen. They look at each other and then back at me. “His name is Necro.” They answer then the male version of me takes over. “He assured us he would help defeat Modain, but he needed an edge to beat him. We foolishly and desperately believed him. He killed us when he took our immortality. Necro was nearly true to his word, but he wasn’t prepared for how strong Modain truly was. To save himself, he welded with Modain’s spirit. He didn’t realize that doing so would nearly kill Modain and in direct correlation himself. If it weren’t for the Dracones Gods they both would have died. However, so would the Dracones line since there is no longer an evil dragon to fight. The cycle would be broken, and their purpose would end.”

The other one takes over. “Necro is the subdued personality inside Modain. If he is freed then Modain’s madness ends. However, Modain’s strength returns.”

“He’s already figured out a way around that.” I toss my hair and fold my arms. “The other half of my little duo offered himself to the Dracones Gods. His blood returns his strength. Due to this, my soul frees him. Since I will not pledge loyalty to the Dracones Gods, or be used to unleash pure evil into this world, I need to kill Necro and Modain. Now, what needs to be done to destroy Necro?”

Male me answers, “Attaching himself to Modain the way Necro had, forfeited his immortality. Once extracted from Modain, Necro dies.”

Doable I guess. “Done,” I say.

He touches my arm, bringing a cold shiver through me. “You must not free Modain. His power is stronger than you know.”

“If Mikal lives, then this doesn’t matter in the long run.”

“He can feed off the trapped spirits of the past at his full strength.”

I look at the screen. Trapped spirits of the past. This does appear to be their gate since an awful lot of them look to be trapped. “I can fix that.” I hold up my hand, the Dracones symbol already lighting up.

“What are you doing?” They both demand.

I shrug. “Just following my instincts.”

“Dracones don’t have instincts like this.” The male version of me says quickly.

“I guess we’ll find out.”

“You touch that, and you die.” They warn.

“It’s a good thing I’m not touching it then.” I hold my hand at the edge of it. “There is something familiar about one of you though.” I hint.

“Uh yeah.” He coughs.

“That’s it.” the other one yells. “You’re going to let your…really great granddaughter do this?”

I look at him. “Excuse me?”

The other one looks at me. “We visited the Northern Districts before this happened. Morvota had a little too much to drink and met a woman. He got her pregnant and the bastard ran out on her. It looks like karma is finally kicking you in the pants centuries later, Morvota.”

“Shut up Slayer!” He hisses.

I roll my eyes. “Why am I always cleaning up after my family?” I look straight ahead. It now makes sense how I’m so advanced in being a Dracones. I’m related to the original. Truth is, I have no idea what I’m doing. I can’t touch it, or I meet death. I don’t think Death will let me live if I relieve it of some of its tortured souls. Especially the strong ones.

Eh, I’ve got to die sometime. Making enemies seems to be a specialty of mine, so I doubt that will stop in the afterlife. I take a deep breath and was about to lean in when Morvota touches my hand. “Let me clean up my own mess.”

Still touching me he touches the screen. Slayer copies Morvota. The Dracones symbols on all of us light up. Green lights shoot out from the screen, causing screams to sound around me. Dark spirits are losing their power. I can hear that by the anguished cries surrounding me; which means…

Realization hits me just then. “Oh no.” Slayer and Morvota turn to me and smile. They nod as they vanish. Apparently, this act redeemed them and screwed me over. “Alienis!” I scream in my mind and out loud as I start running, following the path I had come.

Alienis meets me at the edge of the barren wasteland. I climb on his back as quickly as I can. “Morningswood! Go!”

“Gracial!” I yell in my head, connecting with her. She’s mad at me, but she’s willing to listen. “Gracial I made a huge mistake. Please get Trayvon to prepare for war. I’ll be there as soon as I can, but this is all my fault. I freed Modain.”

“What!” She roars inside my head, making me wince and bow my head in shame. “How?”

“I freed the trapped dragon spirits of the past, as well as the original Dracones Set. I didn’t think it would cause the dark spirits to lose their strength. Modain can now defeat Necro and attack us at his full strength, madness-free.”

“You will explain more when you get here. I’ll get us prepared.”

“I will tell you everything, just hurry please.” I touch Alienis, willing him to go faster. What have I done? Why didn’t they tell me that this would drain Necro as well, and he’d lose his hold on Modain? Why are all Dracones self-serving bastards? Maybe that’s what it means to be a Dracones.