Orion slept for hours and hours, but was sad when he woke up in the same place with a blue tail replacing his legs. “I guess I’m not dreaming.” Just as he was about to nod off again, he heard something cry. He opened up his clamshell and heard it again. His senses told him that it was the diamond scale dragon, but it sounded like it was in pain or in trouble. Misty came over to see him. “Orion.”
“What’s going on?” He demanded.
“The white and black diamond dragons are fighting again, but our protector sounds like she’s in trouble.”
He swam up, “Come on, we gotta help her.”
Misty swam after him, “Orion, wait! Slow down.” He rushed to follow the noise, knowing that his destiny was somehow wrapped into this rivalry. ‘If only I had read the rest of the legend,’ he thought, ‘maybe after this ordeal, I can go back to see how the legend ends.’
Misty tried again to stop him, “Orion, believe me. I’ve tried to stop the fight, we all have. It’s too dangerous for you. I don’t want you to get hurt.” She tried to hold him back.
“Thanks for the concern, but destiny calls, Misty. I have to.”
The crying came from a dark cave to the east. Orion called the dragon by the name that he had realized to be right, “Oceana, are you all right?”
As he entered the cave, the dragon’s call seemed happy and something inside Orion lit up the cave. The dark dragon screeched in fear of the light. In its confusion, Orion said its name, “Dragoonas!”
Dragoonas stared at him with its piercing eyes that were red with anger. It was long and slender like Oceana, but had a sleek, shiny dark coat of uneven scales. It stopped and smiled angrily at him, rushed past and brushed its bladed tail past Orion’s chest.
He gasped and coughed. The side of the blade only had been in contact with his flesh for a few seconds, but it hurt like nothing he had felt before. There was an ancient evil about it that started eating away at his soul.
Misty swam rapidly to the cave, as she saw wounded Orion swim slowly out of it, “Orion, are you all right?”
He coughed in pain. He saw his cold blood surround the water around him. His good spirit was damaged, as his eyes grew black as he shivered.
Everything about him turned dark except for his skin, which turned pale white. Darkness seeped into his heart, but it was isolated in one place by Oceana’s internal light. She purred and lightly wrapped her slender tail around Orion’s wound in order to heal him. Orion felt the sensation of pure goodness in Oceana’s touch. He then realized in the midst of the fogginess of his mind that the sounds she made were the whale noises he’s been hearing all this time. He felt safe and was healing slowly with the contact of her luminous sparkly white scales. All of the darkness but a smidgen in his heart was forced out through his eyes. His tail and hair regained its normal color, but much to Misty’s shock, his eyes blinked to reveal no color but an extremely light blue.
His wound had yet to heal and matters were only made worse when Oceana flew away in fright as two other mermaids approached them. They were Misty’s sisters, Marion and Melody. “Misty, you saved our lives from that naughty dragon.”
She started to sob over Orion, “No, Orion saved us.” She cried, “But now he’s seriously hurt.” Misty was the second youngest of nine sisters, so her older sisters comforted her as they took Orion to the Palace. Melody gasped, “C’mon, let’s get him to the Palace right away.”
The royal King and Queen Neptune and Gemini ruled the ruins, successfully, until fairly recently. King Neptune was growing old and desperately wanted one of his nine daughters to marry and take over under Gemini’s supervision, as he had only six years left; no king that has descended from Poseidon has ever lived past the age of 595.
He knew that Gemini had a dark secret so he wanted one of his daughters; whoever was the first to marry, to rule the ruins. Despite his love for her, he knew that if Gemini was left in charge of the kingdom, something terrible would happen that would destroy every last being that lived there.
Marina, Melissa, Melanie, Marion, Melody, Marissa, May, Misty and Nutmeg each had their own special ability, all of which would have a purpose in their lives. A few select powers included Marina, the oldest, being wise beyond her years. Marissa was very compassionate, able to make anyone feel better emotionally. Melanie had the power of healing while Melissa and Misty tried their fins at aquatic chemistry, although neither one of them were really that good at it.
The sisters knew that they had to take Orion to Melanie to see what she could do for him. They called to her, but Melissa overheard, opening her room’s door. “Hey, what’s going on?”
“We need to see Melanie right away. We have someone with a dragon-based injury here.”
She gasped as she saw Orion’s expression, “You can put him on my bed; I’ll go get her.”
Sadly, injuries have been common ever since Neptune grew to be 580 years old, a year of many catastrophic events. Since then, he had been unable to fight in the war between the dragons. Many of the warriors have already fallen so the waters have been unsafe for quite some time; the Palace was the last safe haven in the whole kingdom since Oceana’s magic protected it.
Orion’s condition worsened as they waited. Misty held his hand until it grew cold and limp. His tail grew pale, which was a bad sign. He gasped with a hypnotized look on his face, unable to blink. Melanie rushed in with the rest of the sisters. “What’s his status?” She gasped at the sight of him. “We need to hurry or we could lose him. What’s his name?”
“Orion.” Misty sobbed.
Marion held her close to comfort her. She hushed her little sister, “Don’t worry, we’ll save him with everything we have.”
Marina gasped, “There is a legend about him.” Being the wisest of the sisters, Marina spent most of her time in the library, researching legends from over the ages. A few that have taken her interest just happened to be the legends of Orion and Jonaseriah, as well as the evil forces associated with them. She tried to find out a way to bring down the evil dragon, but she was never successful in finding anything on its weakness. She suddenly wondered, “but what is he doing here?”
Misty sighed, “He was drowning so I saved his life.” The sisters turned to her one by one.
Melissa moaned, putting a hand to her head, “Oh Misty, you didn’t. How many times do we have to tell you?”
“I couldn’t help it. I didn’t want him to die and I knew him in a past life. If he agrees, we can rule the sea together when Daddy can no longer.” Orion, pale as ever, shook his head and turned away.
Melissa said sarcastically, but truthfully, “Somehow, I don’t think he agrees with you.”
Orion groaned in extreme pain since he felt like he was losing his grip on everything, most of all his grip on life and reality. Misty grabbed hold of his hand again and felt his pulse dropping. “Hurry Melanie, you can’t let him die, you have to save him.” Misty begged her sister.
She touched his forehead, rubbing her hand over it consecutively. She tried talking to him softly, encouraging him to hang in there even if he was unable to hear her. Two minutes passed, but nothing changed. “What’s wrong with him?” Misty sobbed.
Melanie noticed the glitter on the wound, “We need my dragon scale pillow, it’s the only way to save him.” Marissa quickly grabbed it and helped put it on the wound. With the touch of the pillow, Orion gasped, screamed and got knocked out. As he lay still, his tail flailed as the light inside of him grew brighter.
There, he lay idle as he was regaining himself, waking up out of his trance. Before waking up, his voice (in a powerful way) spoke aloud through their minds, “OCEANA AND DRAGOONAS WILL FIGHT UNTIL ONE DESTROYS THE OTHER. THE CHOSEN ONES OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS WILL ASSIST EACH IN THE BATTLE AND WILL TAKE OVER IF EITHER DRAGON IS TO FALL. THE VICTOR WILL DESTROY THE OTHERS IN HIS TRIUMPH, BUT IN DARKNESS’S VICTORY OVER LIGHT, THE DARKNESS WILL…”
Without finishing, Orion shot wake and breathed heavily. He put a hand to his rapidly beating heart. “What happened?” He shook in fear.
“Are you all right?” Melanie asked as she put her hands on his shoulders to help him relax.
After taking a few moments to breathe, Orion remembered something. “Where, where is she?” He got up, his eyes growing wider with concern. “Where’s Oceana?” He checked out his wound, “She, she tried to save my life.” He touched it, noticing that it was healed.
Marina questioned him, “Please explain, Orion.”
He thought back to what he remembered before he lost his awareness, remembering the sensation of meeting Oceana for the first time. “She wrapped her tail around me to heal my wound, but she was scared away by...” He looked at Marion and Melody, “You and you.”
“We’re sorry. If we stayed put, you wouldn’t have almost died from the black dragon’s touch.” They grabbed each of his hands, begging for forgiveness.
“Died, again?” He floated backwards, “I almost died twice in one day?” He swam away, “I need to be alone.”
“Orion, wait.” Misty called him, but he just kept on swimming.
She wanted to go after him, but Marissa stopped her, “Let him go, Misty. He’s been through a lot and needs to be alone right now.”
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