Dragon Spirit

She drags me inside and starts digging through the dirt floor with her bare hands. After getting a few inches down, she pulls something out of the ground.

“Cassandra, give me your hands.”

I obey and she hands me a small glowing rock.

“What is this?” I ask.

The man breaks through the door as she wraps my hands around the stone. It starts to vibrate in my hand.

“Don’t worry Sandra, you will be okay.”

She smiles at me as the man in the armor lifts his sword.

“NO! Mom!”

Everything goes dark.

I can tell I am not in the same place I was. Just The ground is soft, like a forest floor. Nothing like the cabin I was in just a few moments ago. Could I have been dragged here? I open my eyes.

Where am I. The moon is different. It’s not grey or orange like usual. It is blue and green, and there is a stripe that seems to wrap around it like some kind of ring. I definitely wasn’t dragged here. I sit up and look around hoping for something familiar, something that makes sense, something that could tell me where I am and how I got here. These trees look somewhat normal, they have brown bark and green leaves, but they are huge. Bigger than any tree I have ever seen before. The next thing I see is a small reptile, it looks like a lizard, but it has six legs. Everywhere I look, something is off. This looks like some kind of dream. That’s it, I am dreaming. This isn’t real. I laugh at my own stupidity. I actually thought this was real, but the moon doesn’t change color, trees don’t grow this big, and lizards don’t have six legs. I would wake up in a few moments and be back in the cabin, I was about to die. Or was I already dead? Could this be heaven? I pinch myself in an attempt to wake myself up, nothing. I slap myself really hard, all that did was make my face hurt. As far as I can tell, this is real.

I stare off into the woods. Did all of this really just happen? Some guy showed up out of nowhere and just killed my mom and dad. How could anyone do something like that? We never did anything to him. Was he after something? Was he after…

I look down and realize that I am still holding the rock that mom handed me. I should just throw it away. No, this could be important, it might also have something to do with how I got here. I put it in my pocket and try to forget about it.

I haven’t had anything to drink yet today. I stand up and look around to see if there is any immediately noticeable water sources nearby. All I can see in any direction are the obnoxiously large trees. Maybe I could climb one? No, they are much too high. I guess it can’t hurt to just walk in a random direction, it’s not like I can get any more lost than I already am. I pick a completely random direction and just start walking.

That bush looks exactly like the one I woke up next to. The six-legged lizard I saw earlier is still sitting on the same rock it was before. I just went in one big circle.

“I don’t suppose you know where I could find some water” I ask the little creature. It cocks its head slightly but doesn’t seem to take much interest in my presence. I sit down a couple feet from it. It turns its head in my direction.

“What, you never seen a creature with four limbs before?”

The creature doesn’t react. I reach my hand out to see if it will let me touch it. It dashes into a nearby hole before I get a chance. I may as well try these purple berries, it’s not like I have anything better to do. I pop one in my mouth half expecting it to taste like a wild blueberry. It tasted a little bitter, but it seems edible.

The ripe ones seem to be mostly gone now. It looks like the sun has moved slightly. It was almost directly overhead when I first got here but now it has gotten slightly lower. Now I have something I can follow. I get up and look towards the lizard’s hole hoping to get one last glimpse of him. I see his head poking out a little bit.

“Bye friend, I hope my intrusion wasn’t too unsettling.”

I wave at it as I leave towards the glow of the sun. Keeping my sense of direction is difficult at times with the dense leaves overhead, but there are just enough breaks to keep me going in a single direction. The landscape didn’t change much, but the berry bush and the lizard haven’t shown up again. The thirst is starting to get to me. I would give anything for just a small drink of water. Not that I have anything on me besides the dress and the shoes I am wearing. I continue wandering toward the sun for what feels like forever until I finally came to a clearing. Like an answered prayer a lake glistens before me. I sprint towards it and plunge my face into the water. I drink my fill and give a quick prayer of thanks to my creator. I sit at the water’s edge just thankful to finally have some relief from my thirst. I take some time to look at the strange plants around me.

This placed looks similar to my home in many ways, but everything is bigger. It has flowers, trees, grass and even mushrooms, but they are all oversized and just off in some ways that I couldn’t identify. Then there’s that moon. It’s not just oversized, it’s a completely different color. Blue and green, can it be covered in water and trees just like this place and my home? The strangest thing about it though is that weird stripe that seems to wrap around it.

I spend quite a bit of time just looking at the sky, trying to distract myself from the horror I experienced earlier today. I am jerked from my thoughts when I hear a rustling noise behind me, followed by a horrifying growl. I jump to my feet and turn around to see a creature that looks much less friendly than my six-legged friend.

All I can do is stand in shock as it stares directly into my eyes. It slowly takes a few steps towards me before releasing an ear-splitting screech. I stagger backwards into the lake and trip over something below the surfaces. I fall backwards into the water and the creature crawls towards me. I scream and throw my arms over my face. This is how I die. Cowering in the mud. The creature stops as a shadow passes between us. I look up and see another creature larger than the first one as it lands between us. The two monsters start staring each other down. I cover my ears as the larger one roars at the smaller one. The smaller one stands its ground and screeches back. The big one roars again, but this time fire shoots from its mouth. I can feel the heat from here. The smaller creature surrenders and skitters back into the trees. The new monster turns towards me. Did this thing save me or was it just defending its next meal?

What are you?

Did it just speak to me? No, there were no words. That was more like a thought. I am imagining things now.

The creature continues to observe me. I have never seen anything like you before. Where did you come from?

I am not the one thinking these thoughts. Is this thing actually trying to communicate with me?

“I’m a… I mean my…” I trip over my words.

Did the Wyvern scare you? It’s okay if you need to take some time to recover.

Is it referring to that thing that it just scared off? Is it not aware that it is several times larger than me and can spit fire? I am more scared of you!

Oh, I’m sorry, I was just trying to help. You didn’t look prepared to take on a Wyvern.

I didn’t say anything.

You are actually speaking very loudly, I heard you screaming from over the clouds. That’s the only reason I knew you were here.

“Can you… hear my thoughts?”

It looks confused. Of course I can, is that not how you normally communicate?

“Well no, I usually just talk with words.”

This is really weird.

Are you referring to those sounds your making? I have seen other animals communicate with sound, but you are certainly the first thing I have encountered that can communicate by speaking and making noise.

“Are you telling me that the words I am saying don’t make sense to you?”

I don’t know what they mean, but I can hear them, you seem to be speaking as you make these noises.

This is weird.

This is certainly unusual.

“I didn’t say…” Oh yeah.

You know, you haven’t even told me who or what you are yet. Care to tell me your name?

“Oh yeah, my name is Cassandra.”

It stares at me expressionless.

“What did you say?” it asks.

“Cassandra, it’s my name.”

What’s your name?

“It’s Cassandra.”

It stares at me motionless. I don’t understand.

What does this thing not understand?

“CA-SSAN-DRAA!”

It takes a step back.

Making louder noises isn’t going to make me understand you. I can hear you just fine but you are not speaking clearly.

“Fine, if my ‘speaking’ isn’t good enough for me, why don’t you start with your name.”

Okay, my name is Aurora.

“That’s a pretty name. So what are you anyway?”

Are you telling me you’ve never seen a dragon before?

“You’re acting like you have never seen a person before.”

I haven’t, you must be from very far away.

“I must be, I don’t even know where I am.”

Well how did you get here?

“I… don’t know.”

I put my hands in my pocket and feel the stone. It reminds me of mom and dad.

Aurora looks up. Okay… how do you go someplace and not know how you got there?

“Well, I backed out, and when I woke up I was in the middle of the woods. I don’t know how it happened though.”

It could have something to do with the thing in my pocket, but I don’t want to talk about it

Aurora stands silently.

“I suppose it could … never mind, it’s not important”

I take my hand out of my pocket and cross my arms. I wish I could forget that thing was there.

Okay, if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. Why don’t you come back with me?

“I would like to, but I don’t think I can walk much further today.”

I don’t know why, but walking here makes me tired a little bit faster than it did back home.

Aurora circles around me. You look light enough to carry, here, jump on my back.

She crouches down.

Is this a good idea?

Don’t worry, I’ll take it slow. Trust me, you will enjoy this.

I grab the base of her wing and pull myself up onto her back. I’m shaking.

Hold on little one.

I grab the base of each of her wings. I can feel her muscles tense up. She spreads out her wings and throws herself into the air.

“AAAAAAH!”

Is this real? The wind is moving faster than I have ever felt it! I didn’t know moving this fast was even possible! The air hurts my eyes. I can feel myself being pulled through the air faster every time Aurora flaps her huge wings. Everything slows to a near stop almost as quickly as it started. I open my eyes. All I can see is the sky and Aurora’s back. I peek over the edge. I can see the top of the trees!

I told you it would be fun.

“This is awesome! Is this how you normally get around?”

Of course. I was born with these wings. I can’t imagine what it must be like to have to get everywhere just by walking.

If only I had wings like hers. Nothing else has ever been so exhilarating. The air flows through my hair and fingers as I lift my arms in the air. If only it could stay like this forever.

You haven’t seen anything yet. Hold on.

I grab her wings just in time as she folds her wings and drops.

“Ack!”

The ground is moving towards us really fast. We’re going too fast! Aurora flares her wings just in time. My arms almost pop out or their sockets as she pulls up. She is twisting and turning in unpredictable patterns.

“Aurora! Slow down!”

Where is she? Oh crap, I’m falling.

“Aurora!”

Where is she? I was holding her wings as hard as I could. The trees are getting bigger. I’m going to die! I feel large taloned fingers wrap around my arms and stop my descent uncomfortably quick.

I told you to hold on.

I open my mouth to yell at her, but instead I laugh. I should be upset but I can’t stop laughing.

Are you all right?

“That was awesome!”

You almost died.

Aurora descends slowly and drops my when she is close to the ground. I can’t stop shaking. I have never felt this awake before.

Are you okay?

“I-yeah, I-I’m okay. Thanks for catching me.”

Let’s try this again, I promise I won’t be as risky this time.

She crouches down again. I jump onto her back.

“Alright! Let’s go!”

I feel her muscles tense again before she launches into the air, the launch is a little bit slower this time but still exciting. I look over her shoulder at the ground zooming by beneath us. Trees lakes, cliffs, they all seemed so small from up hear. If I looked closely, I could see small animals moving between the trees. Are they small or just far away?

Alright, we’re here.

Looking up I noticed that the sun was noticeably lower in the sky. How long had we been flying? There were mountains up ahead. They remind me of the mountains I lived in. Or rather the ones I used to live in. I suddenly feel a lot lighter. Aurora is descending. As we get closer to the ground I notice just how fast we were moving. She pulls up just before hitting the ground and comes to a complete stop before falling the last couple of feet. Her feet make a loud thump on the ground despite her seemingly light landing. There is a cave up ahead, it looks like that’s where we’re headed.

“Is that where you live?”

Yes it…

Aurora!

I don’t know how I can tell, but that wasn’t Aurora.

Nice try Eclipse, I’m not gonna get scared that easily. I could hear you breathing from a mile away.

I look where Aurora is looking and see another creature, similar to her, but slightly bigger and more muscular. It also has a small spike on its chin.

How was your… what is on your back?

It seems surprised.

Oh, she hasn’t told me her name yet.

“I have told you my name, you just can’t get it for some reason.”

The new dragon looks at me, it looks surprised, at least as surprised as a dragon’s face can get.

It speaks?

Yes SHE does.

Aurora turns her head back to me.

This is my brother Eclipse. Eclipse this is, well like I said I don’t know her name yet.

Eclipse looks at me.

Why won’t you tell her your name?

“I tried, but she can’t get it. My name is Cassandra.”

What?

“Never mind”

Having this conversation again would be pointless.

What do you think it is Aurora?

I don’t know, I’ve never seen one of her kind. I think we should ask Jade.

Good idea, he should know.

Aurora carries me into the cave. It is lighted by glowing rocks and luminescent plants.

“Who’s Jade?” I ask Aurora.

He is my father, also the dragon prince.

“He’s the prince? So who is the king?”

We don’t use that word when referring to worldly leaders. Aurora tells me. Such noble titles are reserved for our creator.

I wonder if the creator they speak of is the same creator my parents taught me about.

Eclipse is following behind us. To call someone a king would give them a level of authority that no dragon is wise enough to bear. By taking a humbler title, he is reminded that he cannot rule unquestioned.

“That’s interesting, so if your father is the leader, doesn’t that make you a princess?”

Aurora continues walking silently for a few moments. I squint as sunlight pours over my face through a hole in the ceiling. I briefly spot the tail of another dragon.

Not really. We never chose our users through blood. In the past we chose our leaders through combat. The strongest one among our kind was elected leader, but that eventually proved to be… problematic.

We don’t do that anymore. Eclipse tells me. Now we elect leaders through other methods. Our father was elected prince because of his wisdom and humility.

But I bet that he would still be the prince even if we did di things the old fashioned way.

I can “hear” some more telepathic speaking in the distance. I try to follow what is being said but I can only make out one word. Amethyst.

It’s time to get off little one. Aurora tells me.

I slide off the side. The edge of my dress catches on one of her scales and rips slightly.

We round a corner and there are two dragons sitting next to each other in a large chamber. There is a tree in the middle of the room growing behind them. There was a beam of light shining through another hole in the ceiling surrounding the tree. One dragon has vibrant green scales and is larger than both Aurora and Eclipse. The second one is about the same size as Eclipse. Its scales are purple.

Father? Aurora speaks.

The green dragon turns its head.

Aurora and Eclipse bow. I should probably do the same.

Aurora. I assume that the green dragon is speaking.

How was your crusade?

It went well father, but there is a different matter I wish to discuss with you. I found a strange creature, and I was hoping you would know what she is.

Our world is full of strange creatures daughter, what makes this one so special?

It can speak.

So it is another dragon?

No, she doesn’t look anything like a dragon. Look she is standing here next to me.

All of the dragons  turn their head to face me.

“Um, hello.”

I wave slowly.

The green dragon gets up and approaches me.

I am Jade the Dragon Prince. You seem to already be acquainted with my children, Aurora and Eclipse. Over there is my wife, Amethyst. What is your name creature?

“My name is…”

I realize that he wouldn’t understand my name any better than the other two did, but I am starting to see a pattern in the names here. Aurora, Eclipse, Jade, Amethyst. All these words had some kind of meaning outside of just a name. Cassandra isn’t a word that is connected to a thought. Maybe that is why they can’t understand me. If that was the case, maybe they would understand my last name.

“Spirit,” I say. “My name is Spirit.”

Aurora spends most of the day introducing me to her friends. They all understand me when I refer to myself as Spirit, I will get used to calling myself that soon enough. These creatures are amazing. Each dragon has brightly colored scales, and no two seem to bear exactly the same shade. The ability to breath fire is something I didn’t think any living creature had, although I do remember my mom telling stories about such creatures, but I didn’t think they were real. The most impressive thing about them is the ability to fly. I have seen birds do it plenty of times before, but I have never seen such a large creature be able to not only lift itself off the ground, but carry me with it. Every time Aurora looks like she was about to take flight, even for just a second, I ask her to carry me. She seems happy to do it at the moment, but I imagine it will get old quickly.

Aurora is caught up talking to one of her friends. I can’t seem to hear what they are talking about. Guess I could explore by myself for a while. Wonder what else might be in here. There is a strange looking tree underneath one of the holes in the ceiling. I should get a closer look.

Getting closer to the tree I notice that it has a number of brightly colored fruits on it. They are shaped kind of like pears, wider, flatter and bigger. They also have red stripes running down the sides. I haven’t had much to eat today, wonder if these are any good. I pick one off of the tree and take a small bite. It’s not bad. I continue eating until there is nothing left but a core. I grab another one and do the same thing. The more I eat the better they taste. Why do these things make me feel so happy?

Spirit! Where did you go?

Is that Aurora calling me?

I respond “Iiiim… overrr herrrrer”

Spirit you shouldn’t wander … what are you doing?

She looks at the ground where three of the fruit cores are laying, then looks at the half eaten one in my hand.

“Wellll, I was hungryyy, so I tried some of these fruuits” Why can’t I talk properly?

Spirit! How many did you eat?!

“Uh, well there are one, two, it looks like four over theer, then there’s one here.”

Don’t you know what those are?

I look at the fruit in my hand “They are good, that’s what they were.”

She swats the half-eaten fruit out of my hand.

“Hey!” I shout at her, “I was eating”

You’re not supposed to be eating more than one of those at a time! Some one your size shouldn’t even finish one. Those fruits intoxicate you.

“Toxic what?” I am confused.

Inoxicate!

“Oh, I don’t know what that means.­­­”

Come with me, you aren’t going to be feeling well in the morning.

I get up and follow her as best I can. It is difficult to walk straight. Aurora leads me to a room in the cave that contains a patch covered in moss and short grass. A whole in the ceiling allows this area to be illuminated by a soft light. It looks almost like a makeshift bed. She lays down on it almost as a response to my remark.

You can sleep with me Spirit. Until you get a room of your own I think this is the best place for you.

I stumble onto the patch and collapse right next to her. The ground here is surprisingly soft, and Aurora seems to be emitting a comforting warmth that I hadn’t noticed until now. I thought all reptiles where cold blooded. I roll on my back, and through the whole in the ceiling I witness this worlds night sky for the first time. These stars don’t form any recognizable shape. I could name almost every constellation in the sky back home, but this sky is unfamiliar to me. Despite the lack of a moon, the sky is surprisingly bright. I close my eyes.

Good night sister.­

What is this light in my face? I open my eyes slightly. Is the sun up? Did the night even happen?

Good morning. How are you feeling?

“Everything hurts. Why is the sun so bright?” She wasn’t kidding when she said that I wouldn’t be feeling well in the morning, what was in those fruits that I ate?

It’s the sun girl, it’s always been like that. Here let me help you up.

            She pushes me up with one of her front feet and proceeds to lay down, indicating that she wants me to get on her back. I can barely see anything with the sun burning my eyes out, but Auroras back is a pretty hard target to miss. I stumble onto her and climb up onto her back. She stands up and walks out from under the hole. Thank the maker this cave is blocking the sun. She carries out of the cave a few minutes later, but the light seems more bearable now. We approach a gently flowing river and she lays down, signaling m to get off.

You need to bathe.

I hadn’t thought about doing that since I got here but she was probably right. I undo the shoulder straps to my dress and start to take it off. I hear aurora move violently behind me. I turn around to see what is wrong. She looks surprised, or at least as surprised as a dragon can look.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

Did you just molt?

            “What?”

You just started tearing off your skin. That’s not something a lot of creatures can do.

            None of these creatures where clothes. I guess it makes sense that she wouldn’t understand what she was seeing. I put the straps back in their previous position.

“Oh, this isn’t my skin. It’s a dress. It’s kind of like… a fake second skin. It helps keep me warm.”

That’s interesting, I have never seen anything else wear a fake skin before. Do you find it cold here?

            “Well no, actually it is a little bit on the warmer side.”

Then why is it still on you? If you are too warm then shouldn’t you have taken it off?

            “Well no, I can’t just walk around naked.”

Why not?

            “Because.” I’ve never thought about it before. “I don’t know actually.”

I try to come up with a way to explain this.

“I do need to take this off when I bathe though.”

I undo the straps again and take off my dress before walking into the water. Aurora is observing my clothes while I wash off. This water feels very nice. The cool of the water is refreshing the warm sun.

I hear a masculine voice approaching from behind Aurora.

Hey sister, how is your little friend doing? I here she had a little bit too much fruit last night.

            I see Eclipse approaching the river I was in.

“Don’t look! I’m not wearing my clothes.”

You’re not what? Eclipse asks.

He looks at me briefly and then looks at the ground where my clothes are.

What happened to your skin?

            Did he not hear me? “Turn around!”

But why?

            “Stop looking at me!”

Okay, okay.

            He turns around and I get out of the water and put my dress back on. I realize that my dress needs to be cleaned too.

“Okay, now you can look.”

Both Eclipse and Aurora look at me. They look confused.

Spirit, Aurora asks, What are you freaking out about?

            “You should have told him that I was bathing.”

Why?

            “Because I wasn’t wearing clothes obviously.”

Wait a second, this probably makes no sense to them.

“I don’t mind if you watch me since you’re a girl, but your brother can’t look at me unless I have a covering on.”

I don’t understand, says Eclipse, Why is it so important that you remain covered when I’m around?

            “It’s just,”

This all seems a little bit silly all of a sudden. Why do I care about this? I asked mom once I had to wear clothes, she said that that was just the way it is. Clothes don’t make that much sense to begin with, it makes even less sense since these dragons aren’t even human. I never minded if a rabbit happened to pass by during my bath, why did I care so much about Eclipse walking in on me?

“It’s just part of my culture, a boy can’t look at me unless I have clothes on. I can’t explain why this is, it’s just always been this way.”

Aurora is the first one to speak. Well, that doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I will make sure my brother doesn’t come near you unless you have your fake skin on.

            I wonder what else I will be forced to explain in the near future, also wear can I get a sewing kit?