Autsehgio had never looked so good! I reveled in the knowledge I was back home as I flew into the ice-laden heights. The roaring of dragons greeted me, and I returned the greeting roar whole-heartedly.
I swirled around the icy spires, and then landed upon one, letting my claws sink into the hard ice. Steam rose as my hot scales made contact with the cold water, it felt good. I sat there for what seemed an eternity, just staring out upon my own home. I could see a pair of nesting dragons on a spire nearby, and a few down was another pair. My heart leaped when I saw that pair… the female was my sister, Reatie! I roared a greeting to her.
Reatie looked up, her gray hide sparkling dully, as was its nature. At first, she didn't recognize me, and then she roared a greeting back, making a motion with her head to come land on the ledge next to her nest. I flew over, anxious to see any of my siblings.
"Hello, Pyre!" Reatie exclaimed, and we bumped heads. "It's been so long since I last saw you!"
"And so long since I've seen you!" I said, sitting back. "You've laid eggs already?"
"Twelve." Reatie said proudly, puffing up the scales on her chest.
"And to a jewel hide dragon, too. There should be an even amount of females and males, I believe."
"That's great." I said, and then cocked my head. "Have you heard of any of our other siblings?"
"Freygon was killed by a Manticore, and Travail was badly injured. I was the only one that escaped that battle in one piece." Reatie said, lowering her head. "And two other siblings were killed that I know about, Vallejo and Artis."
"Tanga was killed by a flock of Griffins." I said sadly. "After she was wounded by a sand demon. But Grainger found his own cave, Amherst, and so did I, called Dare. At least, it's in the land of Dare."
"I had a cave in Cove Hope for awhile." Reatie told me. "Before I met T, then I went to his cave, Desdromaxius."
"Your mate's name is T?" I asked, slightly in confusion. "Yes." Reatie said, her eyes sparkling in amusement. "His parents were Alpha, and Bit, and his brothers were S, V, K, C, B, and Q. His sisters were A, E, I, O, and U."
"A large clutch." I noted. "And very convenient names."
Then, I realized she was joking. "No, no, he only had three brothers and two sisters, and his parents were Aureate the gold and Cerise the red."
Her eyes were sparkling in amusement, and she was shaking with laughter even as we spoke.
"You're tricky, you know that?" I demanded.
"Not tricky, just smart." Reatie said innocently.
"More like precocious." A new dragon said, landing on the ledge directly next to me. "I'm T. And you are..?"
"Pyre, dragon of Dare." I introduced myself. "Reatie's sister."
"Ah, nice to meet you, Pyre." T said, a bit coldly.
"T…" Reatie said, interrupting the staring contest we had just gotten into,
"Why don't you sit on the eggs, and I'll take Pyre around Autsehgio?" She suggested. "There has been a lot that has changed…"
"Okay, sure." T agreed, a bit warily.
Reatie got off of the nest, and T stood in her place. Reatie stretched her wings, and then launched off of the spire. I followed her closely. I realized with a certain amount of despair that Reatie was still bigger then me. All dragons I had met have been bigger then I have. She soared downwards, I followed.
We dodged out among spires, some new, some old with age. Around newly built caves, a very few of them containing growing dragon families. I pulled even with Reatie. "What's with the lack of dragon families?" I asked.
"Old traditions breaking up." Reatie said. "More families staying in the caves. Or, at least I hope that's why…"
I did too; it was not a good thought that not many dragon families were being born. When I was a cub, I remembered at least fifteen families in Autsehgio, now there were five, not counting my sister's eggs. The clutches were getting smaller, too. Soon there would only be two or three eggs per clutch.
But why the sudden drop in the dragon population? That was a mystery I would have to find out.
"It's been nearly 400 years since I was here!" I called over to Reatie. "How long have you been here?" I asked.
"A month." Reatie called back. "At least. It's so hard to keep track of time sometimes…"
"I know what you mean." I said, nodding my head in agreement.
Reatie gave me a long look, almost like she was confused. Then, she landed in the mouth of a cave set into a spire, and walked slowly inside. I followed, unsure of what she was up to. Reatie never seemed to be a crafty type herself, always quite quiet and reserved.
About halfway to the mouth of the cave, I recognized the scent of the dragoness who was within. Reatie let me past her. There was Ryath. She looked the same to me, only brighter, brilliant golds and a bit of silver on her horns. I almost froze in awe at the sight of the only dragoness I had truly loved, but went forward instead.
"Pyre!" Ryath exclaimed, and we bumped heads. "I thought Bavray had killed you..."
"No, it takes more then an old blue dragon to take me down." I said, joking, though I really wanted to break down in tears of joy... Ryath!
Reatie had unobtrusively disappeared, preferring not to get in our way. I didn't see her for awhile after that, not until the awful news came.
"Where have you been all this time, Ryath?" I asked her, as we left the small cave.
"Here and there, but mostly here," Ryath said, "At Autsehgio." She clarified. "Watching over dragonlets while their parents were gone. It's been a dull life, I assure you, yet..." She stopped, and looked over at me. I was curious about why she did not finish her sentence, but did not ask about it. "How about you, Pyre?"
"I've been in the same old cave ever since..." You left, I thought, and paused.
We sat there in an uncomfortable silence, as old lovers might do after not having seen each other for years, and not heard from each other either. I did not know how to continue this conversation, and Ryath apparently did not, either.
"Ryath, I..." I began, at the same time Ryath said, "Pyre, you..."
I shook my head, as Ryath growled nervously. "You go ahead."
"Pyre, it's been a long time since I last saw you." Ryath said. "And I still love you dearly. But..."
There was a sudden roar from outside, and T was suddenly at the mouth of the cave, his jeweled hide catching the sunlight and making it painful to look at him. "Pyre, Ryath! A dragon has been killed!"
I followed T out of the cave, and Ryath came soon after, though not as quickly as I had. She had apparently not been too worried about the dragon that had been killed. "Who..." I demanded to T as we flew desperately along.
"I do not yet know." T admitted. "The wyvern just came in with the message." The spires suddenly rocked with roars of mourning, and the name was heard too... Grainger. I almost stopped flying, I was so surprised, and heartbroken. "Not Grainger! That can't be true."
"It is." Ryath said. She seemed rather disquieted about all this, and not just because she knew Grainger was my brother.
"I have to go to Amherst..." I said. "Pyre..." Ryath began, but it was too late. I flew at top speed towards Amherst, over the azure waters, and straight to Amherst. I did not see anything right at the island's beach, but froze when I reached the cave...
There was a sign of a terrible battle at the mouth of the cave of Amherst. I gasped when I saw the damage. Even the hard black-stone of the cave was crumbling. And Grainger was dead. I shook my head, growling silently. So many of my brothers and sisters had died… almost all killed by humans!
A deep feeling of hatred welled up in my chest, turning my vision blood red. I shook it off. I had no reason to fight anything… nothing to fight. And I had not even been there for my brother, did not fight alongside him. I roared, almost as though I was in pain, for it did feel like a huge roc was ripping my heart out with its cruel beak. My brother, my sister, both dead. I could not live with that thought. And who had done this? Humans! Humans! I hated humans, all the pain, all the suffering they had caused me. I roared again, this time in anger.
With a powerful thrust of my wings, I rose into the air. "My brother! You killed my brother!" I roared to the winds. "And because of you my sister is dead!" I turned viciously in midair, executing the mourning dance so high up the air was thin. I stopped flapping my wings, and began gliding downwards. "I swear upon the shell of my parents that I will kill all humans that come into my cave! I will kill all the humans I can!" I dove towards the waters below, the sparkling waters, which I had cherished so long ago. Now they looked stained with blood, with my brother's blood, with the blood of all the dragons that had ever been killed by humans.
I dove into the water at top speed, the different density of the water and air not even slowing me down. And at top speed, I hit the rock headfirst. Swirling lights and blackness enveloped me, and I sunk through the water, stunned. I tried to roar, but found no air to gasp in for any noise at all. I began to black out, and finally slipped into unconsciousness. I entered a world of shining lights and flying dragons; all of them appeared to be on the hunt, searching for some neo-buffaloes or other herd animals. For a few minutes, I wished to go with them, until I saw the ebony Griffins standing between the cave and I. Their claws kneaded the rocks like bread and their tails whipped like serpents strangling a mouse. I backed up, also recognizing Bantan and the Oraci, all of them waiting for me. I back flapped as quickly as possible, trying to get away from the beings, which I hated and feared the most.
Suddenly, I inhaled, and got a nose-full of water, I started, and the dream dispersed. I found myself floating on the bottom of the ocean, my cracked horn still lying next to the rock. I found myself drowning, and rose quickly with bursts of energy to escape a slow death. As my head burst surface, I tried to make sense of the dream. All the things I had ever hated were there, from the Griffins to the evil Oraci. I had run from them instead of fought them, though it had been only a dream. I feared Griffins, now, they were powerful and dangerous, almost worse then another dragon could be. And behind them, there had been a dark shape, which I had almost not seen. It had been a dragon, but was it Bavray? It did not look like Bavray, for it had three heads. I worried about that as I sat on the beach, catching my breath, and then I remembered Ryath.
Since there was nothing I could do at Amherst, I flew back to Autsehgio, my vow still fresh on my mind. I had to avenge my brother, no matter what the cost. Grainger was too close to me, almost closer then Tanga. I would always miss Tanga more, because I could have prevented her death, but still, Grainger had been my little brother.
As weakened as I was from nearly drowning, it took me three days to fly at top speed to Autsehgio, and I was tired when I arrived. Reatie had apparently been waiting for me, because T was on the nest and she was sitting on a nearby spire. At first I was worried more dragons had died, because the look on her face seemed to say that, but there was no mourning roars in the distance. I landed next to her, and she spoke.
"Ryath left, Pyre." Reatie said quietly. "Just an hour before you came here."
"What? Why?" I demanded. "Which way did she go?"
"She doesn't want you to follow her." Reatie said. "Besides, you could never catch up with her now."
That could be true, for a golden dragon flew about ten times faster then any other dragon, but that was not the point. "Which way, Reatie?" I said again.
"She said she would return to Dare someday." Reatie told me evasively. "She didn't say when. Just that you should be there, waiting for her."
"Which WAY, Reatie?" I demanded again.
"East." My gray sister said her wing weakly pointing in that direction.
I launched off of the rocks, ignoring Reatie's cries not to follow her. I had to, Ryath was my love. The only dragoness who had not been of my blood that loved me as well. I couldn't let that get away from me! I flew east as fast as my wings would carry me. My muscles were already strained, my bones already throbbed. I knew I couldn't fly much more, or at least a part of me knew it. Somehow, I kept my weary wings moving, and my tired mind awake. As I flew, all thoughts of my brother and sister were gone, I could think only of making my wings rise and fall. Anything else took too much energy.
I had long before thought dragons were the most powerful of beasts. I suppose that might be true. We definitely are the most dangerous, especially the fire-breathing flyers, and most of us are extremely intelligent and have senses of humor. We can do almost anything for any period of time, and can take a whole lot of beating without giving up. But there, a mile above the terrain flashing past me, I gave up. I just stopped flapping. It felt so nice just to let my wings rest, let my entire body rest. And I couldn't catch Ryath, anyway. She was gone from my life... forever?
The fall and the crash didn't kill me, of course. I wouldn't be talking to you now if it had. But the fact that Ryath, my beautiful Ryath, was gone from my life, for who knows how long, nearly ripped my heart out. This felt worse then at Amherst, it was a different kind of pain. A much different kind of pain.
I laid there, admist a field of grass and dandelions, for almost a week. I had given up. I no longer cared. Dragons could live forever, but just then, I planned on only living another five days.
That was until the Unicorns arrived. They came trotting up from all directions, in shades of purple, blues, greens, and others. They did not seem afraid, nor threatening, no, they were just approaching. A large orange one spoke then, with a green mane and black horn and hooves. "Pyre, Dragon of Dare, stand up." I lifted my head. "How do you know who I am?" I asked weakly.
"You are from this land, Pyre." The Unicorn said regally. Of course... he was the Herd Stallion, but different then Hightail, Hightail must have died or been driven off. After all, many months had passed. "You are in Dare."
"That's impossible." I said, rising my head to look around. "I was flying east..."
"Apparently not." The Herd Stallion said, his voice without humor, his stature without any apparent care. He couldn't afford to care, in this case. "Your cave is not too far away."
I lifted myself heavily to my feet, ignoring the roars of pain in all of my muscles. Sure enough, there was the smoking heights of Dare, my cave. My home! I was suddenly filled with strength, and for no wonder. My home... I could go home, and there I could wait for Ryath.
I spread my wings. "I shall see you again, Herd Stallion." I said. "Hopefully under better circumstances." I flew away, the breeze of my wings ruffling the Unicorn's manes, but they did not move until I landed in the mouth of my cave. I saw all this... and I knew, the Unicorns cared. After all, I was an asset to them, protecting them from other dragons and large carnivores, and not attacking them at all.
But still, I thought it was more then that, which they cared for Pyre the Dragon, as the Dragon.
"That is true, Pyre." Said a voice in front of me. "For you they care."
I turned, surprised, thinking first it was Ryath, but it was not, though it was a dragon. A large bronze dragoness. "Tanga?" I said aloud, my red scales becoming a shade paler.
"Aye, brother." Tanga replied, and there was Grainger too. What was this, a dream?
"No dream, Pyre." Grainger said. "Call it more of a... calling. We need to tell you of something."
"Tell me what? Anything!" I said quickly, afraid to move afraid they would fade away like they had before.
"You have given up too quickly on humans. In the far future, you shall meet four humans, who will become your allies, maybe even your friends." Tanga said. "They will be with Mystic Weapons and Mystic Armor."
I could not believe what they were saying: I had to help humans? They had caused me so much...
"Pain?" Grainger continued for me. "All that will someday pass. But until then, you must hear and know, Pyre, your destiny lies with human folk, and your heart shall lay with a dragoness."
They disappeared, and I stood there, frozen. Was what I had seen just real? I did not know... but it had looked so real. No scent, no shadows, but it had looked and sounded like my brother and sister... What could it be? What could it be?
