Cassandra Pendragon
Sometimes life was just full of surprises. One of those was nestled in between my wings, while her slim fingers were constantly playing with my fur-like scales distractedly. Viyara had transformed into her elven body a little while ago and now I was carrying her through the valley and towards the actual sect. A constant stream of conversation was flowing between her and our companions, who were walking in neat rows on either side of me, their human legs struggling to keep up with my pace, but I didn't really listen. They thought me some subservient species of dragon and were more than happy to ignore me and converse with my mistress. I might not have been entirely innocent when it came to their misconception, since I had neither revealed my voice nor my humanoid form, but most of it was their very own doing. My coat was silver, after all, and hers was golden. Apparently that was more than enough to establish an ironclad hierarchy.
The two men from before had both brought their two strongest disciples to accompany us on the way. The leader of this little paradise was apparently expected to leave her cave any moment now and they were taking us to the towering mountain for an audience. We didn't have to walk far, as soon as we were going to pass the enchantments that protected the valley I'd be able to fly without disturbing the intricate arrays carved into every brick and every timber of the temple at the entrance.
Ever since we had exited the glorified gatehouse the six men had constantly barrage Viyara with questions, even though they had carefully comported themselves with respect, maybe even reverence in the face of a true golden dragoness. Nothing they had said had caught my interest and Viyara was having fun inventing a glowing, heroic past for us, which left me with a few, quiet moments. At first I made sure Ahri was alright, but the only emotions I felt tricking through our tattoos were annoyance, impatience and just a whiff of curiosity. Once she felt my presence I withdrew and left her with a lingering memory of our last kiss. For the next few hours she knew she could reach me again. Back in the underground chamber even our tattoos had been suppressed, once we had been more than a few steps apart.
Next I focused on the forest and the beasts I could feel roaming through the verdant sea of leaves. Unfortunately my memories immediately turned it into a scientific lesson. I had hoped for a sense of wonder, maybe awe, I was walking through an enchanted forest in another realm, filled with majestic magic beasts, after all, but all I got were flashes of information about various plants, mutated, changed or evolved animals and the peculiarities the structure of the subrealm had gifted them with. Bottom line, over centuries seeds and animals had found their way here from Gaya and had adapted to the dense mana all around.
The result was a forest on heavy steroids, surprisingly warm despite the altitude and filled with creatures and plants from every corner of Gaya. Hares had grown horns and wings, butterflies had become carnivorous and skilled in illusion magic, lizards had turned into wyrms, beetles had grown crystalline carapaces, ants had developed a tangible hive mind and the local tribe of wolves had even become powerful enough to develop a society and change into human forms. Those wolfs were the only other intelligent species in the valley and the humans traded with them regularly, exchanging their craftsmanship for wild herbs and unrefined ores. None of the creature came close to the road, though. I always suppressed my aura, but because Viyara had adopted the role of a venerable dragoness she didn't even try and her presence was more than enough to make the most daring cougars think twice before getting even remotely close.
A strange, tickling sensation made my fur bristle when Viyara shifted her weight and leaned towards my head. I had never before been in a place where size had mattered, but now I had realised that my body was about twelve metres long. My tails added round about the same, but my wings were easily larger by several times, even when I didn't flush them with power. There was more than enough space for the dragoness in an elven body at the base of my neck, but she couldn't reach my head without getting up and rising to her tiptoes.
The scents of molten gold and just a whiff of ozone tickled my nose when she emerged from the silver blanket of my fur and finally conjured a dress for herself. It wasn't actual cloth, but the flames didn't singe me and they could prevent unnecessary embarrassment. A cold breeze came down from the mountains in the east, laden with the taste of herbs and medicine, as if it had blown through an alchemist's hut, just as her soft voice reached my ears. To keep our (honour)guard in the dark she preferred to whisper instead of resorting to telepathy.
"What do we do?" I couldn't reply, but she knew my thoughts anyways.
"I need to get on that mountain, or rather inside. Honestly, I don't care how."
"And then we're going to repeat the process for each realm?"
"And make sure that's enough to keep the plant from growing even further. The magic I unleashed when I fought Gabriel has filled the seed, but its roots are burrowing through the realms. They're tearing Gaya apart and small chunks…"
"Travelled through and arrived on Earth where they started to sprout. What about the Source, then?"
"Ahri thinks it's the very first root, the one the tree needs to survive. She reckons the connection was already implanted when Amazeroth forged the seed, but we won't know until we get to the Source. If everything works out… we might prevent the entire catastrophe all together. The manifestations on Earth should stop and, aside from what's already gone and the realm I've burned, the rest should, in theory, become stable until we reawaken the tree."
"How did you even figure it out?"
"I didn't. Ahri did. I thought everything was a consequence of our own actions. Then Mephisto told us that Amazeroth already knew what's happening and it made her think… When we first met him, Auguros told us that Gaya's very own spirit acted through him when he petitioned Amazeroth for help to create the seed Greta grew from. It took them ages. Back then it was just a hunch, but when we found the cave you almost died in… let's hope she's right. We can't know for sure until the realms and Earth stabilise. If they do… I might finally have an idea where this entire nightmare might be headed. Once the actual tree grows properly I think we'll have a haven and with a boatload of luck even the tools to save my family. Viyara… maybe it's just a dream, a baseless hope, but I still feel like… that tree, once grown… I know that things once broken can hardly ever be restored, but maybe it can do for us what it will hopefully do for this world. Bring a new balance." I felt her hands dig through my thick, silky mane before she tried to hug my neck. Unfortunately her arms didn't reach all the way. My words had ignite a strange, flickering spark in her mind that grew with every heartbeat, but I couldn't quite say what it was.
"Is this where our lives finally turn around," she whispered shakily. In her agitation she blew embers as hot as the sun against my scaly coat. Hope, hope and relief had taken hold of her, but unfortunately I couldn't quite share her optimism.
"Maybe," I admitted hesitantly. "If, and that's a big if, it plays out like I hope, there'll still be a long road ahead of us. But at least it's a goal. And we'll have time. We have to make sure we can get there, though. Which means you'll either have to persuade them to let me have a look around, or you have to distract them for a while. Shouldn't be too hard, should it, mistress? For now, let's play along. They're going to take us inside their sect, anyways." As if on cue I felt Viyara's attention diverge to the conversation at the back of her mind she had almost forgotten. By now the dragoness had picked enough details from the humans linked to her to get a grasp of the language and this time around I listened in. Filtered through her thoughts the conversation was quite easy to follow.
"Venerable One," the oldest of them, most likely the grandfather of the girl, began as the group stopped. One of the robed men walked up close to me until I could smell him over the wild taste of the valley. To my surprise his scent was quite similar, unbound and sharp, but in contrast to the forest it didn't remind me of poisonous thorns, but an unsheathed, shimmering sword. His fingers wove and loosened knots on the tip of his snow white beard nervously as he continued: "from here we can fly to the entrance of our main halls." That he didn't accompany every word with a bow was as much tribute as he dared pay to his pride. Maybe we could still have some fun here. "Would Venerable One prefer to fly on her steed or should we send for an artefact to carry her? Whatever Venerable One prefers, this old servant will obey."
"What do you say, my noble steed? Can you still carry me after our fall from heaven?"
"I think I'll manage." My eyes roamed over the group and my snout split into a wolfish grin when I imagined their reaction to what I really was. I honestly didn't mind, but I still found it amusing that this form commanded less… attention in a way than my kitsune face. Maybe it was because the differences between something as alien as a golden dragoness and a serpentine, eight tailed fox didn't registered, but I had still expected my wings to command a bit more respect. Then again, my teeth were as large as them and Viyara's were even larger. Having scintillating torrents of power flow from your back might just have been a tad less important.
My gaze lingered on the girl at the end of the group. She seemed lost, even though she had been the first to talk to us. "Ask her if she wants to join you. I don't mind and I don't think she can keep up. I intend to have a little fun with our escort."
"Are you picking up strays again?"
"She has a family. I just want to make sure they don't forget that she was the only one who didn't fear us. Plus, if she's as weird as you said, she just might have the answers we need."
"What makes you say that?"
"I was a weird child myself. We stumble across the most interesting places… which reminds me. The unicorn on Earth. Did anybody go looking for her?"
"Unbelievable as it seems, yes. Your band of merry witches split up. Half of them accompanied Jane back to England to get rid of her ancestor, the other half is out looking for your animal friend." That'd do for now. And once the tree had stopped growing, the manifestations on Earth should vanish or at least cease to reappear. With a little luck Jane's forefather wouldn't return once put to rest. "Are you sure she's the same mare who kept you company on Boseiju," the dragoness added, her voice brimming with curiosity. I had never really shared much about my early years, when I still hadn't known who I was, but apparently the topic piqued her interest.
"Almost. We'll know soon enough." A chilly wind ruffled my minuscule scales and I could smell distant clouds, gathering somewhere beyond the peaks. My attention darted back to the old man who stiffened imperceptibly as he listened to Viyara's request. His expression hardened, but he didn't dare object. With a curt gesture and a grunted order he commanded the girl to join him. Her soft boots made barely a sound on the paved road when she walked up hesitantly, but her eyes went wide and her face ashen. I snorted. For the life of me I couldn't tell what had their beards in a twist this time around. Not until I felt Viyara tremble against my neck with suppressed mirth:
"It's us. Apparently some dragons are rumoured to feast on virgins and they fear you want her as… sustenance."
"But they're still handing her over? One impressive family they are."
"Come on, that's not fair. What do you expect them to do?" I sighed.
"I thought they mistook you for a benevolent ancestor from heaven?"
"I am benevolent," she complained. "But there might be a difference between admiring a dragon and being asked to approach it. I know you can't related, but getting close to something that can swallow you in one bite takes quite a bit of courage." I could relate. Boy, could I relate.
On a whim I decided to cut the act short and took a single step towards the girl. The stones groaned under my weight when my shadow swallowed her small figure. She began to tremble, closed her eyes and lowered her head, her hands crossed above her heart. The salty smell of unshed tears welled up, but I still took the time to study her.
I couldn't pinpoint her age, late teens, maybe early twenties, but since she steadfastly refused to look up I couldn't be sure. All I saw was a tuft of pinned up, naturally pink hair, which was a whole lot more pleasing to the eye than the artificial colour Mary, one of the witches, had smeared into her tresses, and slim shoulders under a heavy, blue robe accentuated with white. If I had craned my neck I would have been able to peek past her lowered head and down her front, but I was mindful enough of my supposed dignity to not act like a peeping Tom. Only the jade needle she had used to hold up her hair truly stood out to me from my vantage point. The artefact was brimming with mana and while most of its enchantments were related to one defensive formation or the other, a thin, almost invisible thread of energy darted off into the distance. Someone else was watching over her and, judging from the minuscule fluctuation I felt, whoever it was had been listening in, probably since the very beginning.
I huffed and a few sparks of silver shot from my nostrils, before they danced around her for a single heartbeat and soared away on the tails of a stiff mountain breeze, laden with the scent of ginseng and turmeric. The shimmering motes of light were enough to capture her attention and she inadvertently followed their path with her eyes until she met my gaze. The bright sun made her eyes glow and the mesmerising gems of pink and blue widened even further when she stared up at me. Her mouth worked without ever producing a sound and I saw a faint tremor shoot up from her feet. My canines appeared when my silver lips spread in a predatory smile, but before she could do more than take single, quivering step back I had already dropped to the ground and lowered my head.
"Get on," I whispered, my voice quiet enough to keep her peers oblivious. "I won't eat you, nor will I allow any harm to befall you while you're on my back. I'm not even a dragon." For the moment I could only see her lower half, but her shaking knees were more than enough to gauge the effect of my efforts. "Do you actually believe distance would make a difference, if I wanted to hurt you," I added dryly. I felt her, more than I saw, square her shoulders and the tremors subsided.
"No," she breathed equally quietly, "but why me?"
I chuckled deep in my throat, before I realised how wrong it had sounded. The consequences were immediate as well. Her heartbeat sped up and the scent of sweat wafted up like steam. "Put the reins on your imagination," I hissed exasperatedly. "I want to know where we are and I think you see more than adults. Don't flatter yourself too much."