A day of joy, a day of woe, a day of despair, a day of hope.
By Gary McClellan
[Author’s note: This story is set in my fictional world of Panthelia. Those who may be
familiar with the major characters from the RP I use them in should know that this is a
future story. It has not happened at the time of the RP, but it will. All the characters and
settings are my own creation. Note: before reading this, it might be helpful to read the
overview of the World of Panthelia, to understand some of the people and concepts
involved.]
Nerlana, Queen of the Dragons of the Eyrie was in a pensive mood. It was a day that
should have been full of joy. Her grandson Rhoysmere’s wife Agianna was about to give
birth to their first child, a day of joy if there ever had been one. However, that told only
half the story. Some time before, Nerlana had been granted her death vision, revealing the
nature of her death. If the vision was to be trusted, this very day the Order of the Claw
would strike and she would meet her doom.
Nerlana had thought long and hard about what to do. Prophetic dreams of the golden
dragons were not unheard of, and she had never had one, or heard of one that turned out
to be false. However, there were times that the dragon who recieved them had
misunderstood their import until after the events fortold took place. She hoped that was
true, but she just wasn’t sure. Several days earlier, Nerlana had sent away many of the
dragons on various errands, keeping only a few trusted dragons as guards. In her death
dream, she had seen the Order of the Claw, the Dark Dragons invade the Eyrie and she
hoped that sending away many of the dragons, she might avoid the treachery that she had
seen.
She had not told any of the other dragons about her vision. The only other person who
knew, was one of the Dragon-soulmates, a woman who was able to speak with the
dragons empathically. She was known as the “Wanderer”. Nerlana hadn’t exactly meant
to tell her as well. When she had recieved her dream of what was to come, the images had
been so powerful that they had been transmitted to the Wanderer as well. Thankfully
though, she did not know that the time was at hand, which was well, because Nerlana did
not want to expose her to the risk that was at hand.
Nerlana was snapped out of her reverie by the entrance of two figures into the throne
room. One was a tall, handsome “man” with bright green hair, her grandson Rhoysmere.
He was wearing a broad smile on his face as he walked in. The other was the only other
person Nerlana would have considered sharing her dream with. He wasn’t exactly a man
though. He was an 8 foot tall mound of muscle, the son of the troll chief. Freredre, or
“Fred” to his friends was a sly, humorous troll. However, beneath his facade of good
humor was a very wise and insightful troll, that Nerlana was glad to call a friend. She
knew that she could trust Fred to take care of things in the time to come.
Nerlana forced a bright smile onto her face and said “I take it that the delivery is done.
Did everything to all right?”
“Everything is wonderful!” Rhoysmere answered. Agianna is tired, but in good shape,
and the egg is perfect!” he continued in wonder. Because of the unusual nature of the
dragons, that they shared both dragon and human forms, their way of giving birth was a
strange hybred of the two. They did lay eggs, but they did so very rarely. A typical
female dragon might lay no more than 3-4 eggs throughout the course of her life. Also,
the laying of the eggs was a process that was as long, as difficult and exhausting as a
human giving birth to an infant.
The three of them continued to chat happily for a few moments, and Nerlana almost
forgot about the threats of this day, as they reflected on the wonder of new life. However,
just as Nerlana felt her mood begin to brighten, it happened. She saw 2 large dragons, one
red and one black fly into the Eyrie and settle down at the far end of the throne hall. Even
before Rhoysmere and Fred could get a sense of what was happening, Nerlana was
shifting to her full dragon form and snarling “Berefir, Tararia, what brings you two out of
your slime pit?”
The red dragon just smiled and said “Why, Nerlana, I’m shocked. I thought for sure
you would want us to welcome you on such a happy occasion.” With that, he gestured
with his claw, and the dragons that Nerlana had kept around as guards marched into the
room and began to surround Nerlana, Rhoysmere and Fred.
“Treachery!” Rhoysmere cried out. Even as he stared at the dragons assembled against
them, he saw a flash of bright color, almost gold-looking outside the skylight of the throne
room.
“No, no treachery at all my dear, dear cousin” the red dragon went on. “They simply
know that the time has come for your crone of a grandmother to step down as the leader
of the dragons.” With that, he gestured again, and the guard dragons began to advance on
Rhoysmere.
Without thinking, Rhoysmere eagerly accepted the challenge. Years of pent up
frustrations, knowing that this red dragon had been one of the group that murdered his
father drove him on. He dove into the midst of the guard dragons, trying to bully his way
though so he could get his claws on Berefir. While he was outnumbered 4 to 1, he was
bigger and stronger than any one of them, and his rage added to that, so while he was
taking damage, he was handing out even more as well. However, right in the middle of
the fight, a golden wave of flame sliced between him and the guard dragons.
“Rhoysmere!” Nerlana yelled at him! “Forget about them! You have to take care of
Agianna and the baby! I’ll take care of things here!”.
Those words hit Rhoysmere like a cold bucket of water. He got control of his rage,
and began to back down the corrider that led to the room where Agianna was. Nerlana
followed along the corridor, holding as a rear guard. The corrider was small enough that
only one of the treasonous dragons was able to approach her, and whenever they tried
that, they found out just what a bad idea it was.
Soon, the two dragons had managed to get back to Agianna’s room. When Agianna
first saw her husband, she screamed. He had a deep gash over one eye, and his flanks
were scoured with claw marks and burns. However, Rhoysmere grimly went over,
preparing to defend his exhausted wife to the death.
As Nerlana back into the room, she looked back and ordered “Get out of here, I’ll hold
them off as long as I can!”
“No! I will not leave my baby!” Agianna cried.
Nerlana responded “Take it with you Agianna! That egg is our great hope for the
future! This battle is lost. The two of you must take that egg and raise it up. I can see
that this one will be a great leader of dragons, but it must survive this night!”
“But how can I take it? I can’t carry it in my claw?” Agianna responded. Normally, the
great silver dragon was more level headed in a crisis, but between the shock of seeing a
battle burst into her room, and her general exhaustion, she just wasn’t ready for this.
At that point, Fred slipped into the room and said “Troll carry it! Nerlana queen right!
We must protect egg!” The big troll carefully picked up the egg and climbed onto
Agianna’s back. At that, Rhoysmere and Agianna jumped into the air and flew out the
skylight, into the night.
While the two young dragon parents escaped into the night with their egg, Nerlana
continued to keep the red and blue dragons occupied. The red dragon snapped at her, but
Nerlana moving quickly was able to slip the bite and instead whipped her tail into it’s
head. It fell to the ground stunned, and she then turned and let loose with the full force of
her dragon breath onto the blue dragon. It fell to the ground dead. The red was
beginning to stir, so with a fury she had not seen for uncounted ages, she tore into the red
dragon, ripping into its chest with her claws. However, even as she tore out Berefir’s
heart, she remembered that this was how she had died in her death dream. She tried to
turn around to guard against the coming strike, but she could not. If she had not bad
injured centuries ago in the battle with Tartare, she might have managed it, but before she
could turn, a gold dragon, much younger and smaller than Nerlana slipped into the fight
and locked onto her neck, in the very place that Tartare had bitten her. Even before the
young gold unleashed its breath into her neck, she knew she was dying. Yet, as she fell,
she could not help but smile.
At that, the young gold dragon morphed back into his human form, and he was revealed
as a young man, barely more than an adolecent, with flaming golden hair and an arrogent
sneer on his face. He looked at the corpses of the red and blue dragons and said “So,
mother and father did not survive this little fracas. That’s just too bad. Thus begins the
reign of Barakan, the Golden Claw”.
Barakan turned to the body of Nerlana, preparing to tear it apart and throw it’s remains
off the cliff when he stopped short. Above the body of Nerlana was the shimmering,
insubstantial form of a gold dragon. It looked down at him, and just smiled at him. It
then flew off into the night faster than any dragon ever could. At that, the body of
Nerlana dissolved into a gold cloud before his eyes and dissapated into the wind.
[Later]
Agianna and Rhoysmere sat on a cliff, some distance away from the Eyrie. Agianna had
her husbands head in her arms as he cried “Father, grandmother, I’ve failed again”. Even
as Agianna tried to comfort him, she was startled by the appearance of a golden light in
the sky. She pointed it out to Rhoysmere, as they watched in wonder as the light revealed
itself to be a great golden dragon. What shocked them even more was that she had the
form of a human on her back. The human was medium height and looked to have brown
hair.
The spirit of Nerlana spoke “Be comforted my beloved children. Know that I am
always watching you. You have no idea how proud I am of both of you. Know well that
the Order of the Claw has not won the victory this day that they thought they had. Guard
well your child, and raise him with your sense of justice and honesty, for the child will be
the “morning sun”, the one who will bring down the Claw and refresh the Eyrie. Seek the
help of your friends, for you have many, Fred and the Wanderer, the Amazons and others.
They will be a source of strength for the trials ahead of you.”
Nerlana then turned toward the treeline, where Fred stood next to the egg. “Watch
over them well my friend.” and Fred simply nodded in return.
At that the woman on Nerlana’s back spoke up “And know, that your child will not
stand alone in this fight, for one who is like me shall come, and she shall be to you like a
daughter, and to your son as a best friend. In days to come they shall work together, the
Morning Sun and the Hople of the Ages”.
Nerlana then finished, we cannot stay any longer I’m afraid. She extended her wings
and used them to enfold Rhoysmere and Agianna. They felt a gentle warmth coming from
her wings, and she said “Be well, and know I am watching you”
Then Nerlana and the woman faded away into the night.
[2 weeks later]
The spirit of Nerlana watched the egg begin to crack, and she smiled as she saw the
small golden head poke itself out of it’s shell.
She turned to her friend and said “I’m still amazed that we are able to see all of this. I
never imagined we would be able to.”
The smaller woman said “Yes, I know. I have watched over you for ages too, now we
can watch together.”
Nerlana turned to her and asked “Annerra, would you like to go flying”
“Of course”
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