The Ancient Elementals Book One: Sky Dragon

Learning

Vega

He hadn’t meant to shock her, not really. The girl, wide eyed and covered in debris from the cave, had stared at him for a moment after he shared his name and goal. He had waited, but just when he was about to continue speaking, in a moment indicative of her frail mortality, she had fainted. He sighed.

Looking down at her face, peaceful as if she was simply asleep, he never would have guessed she was the one who had freed him. Small, basically a child. But the blood that had unlocked the seal was hers, he felt it in fact, making her identity as his savior doubtless. They were connected whether she was up to the task or not.

There was something strange about this connection, he noted. There was an undercurrent of something unusual in her energy source he was now linked to. It was as if part of her soul was in shadow, hiding just out of view and unable to be observed. He tried, but it kept slipping away just as he thought he could pin it down. He shook his head, unwilling to worry about whatever it was. If his human counterpart’s most inner depths were not fully revealed, it did not matter much. He had what he needed to survive.

What mattered now was that he was in the middle of the wilderness of some northern no where land. The last thing he remembered, certainly centuries ago, he had been on the  other side of the veil. Within the realm of the dragon born.

His family had been there. His tribe, their tribes, all of them living in health and harmony...relative harmony. What had happened? He felt as if parts of his memories had been plucked from his head like ripe pieces of fruit, fuzzy areas of uncertainty and blurry shifting colors left in their place. He wanted to go home immediately, desperate to regain clarity and control. Trying to breathe deeply and slowly, he overcame a feeling of panic he felt sure would destroy him if he gave in to it. He was Vega, lord of air, dragon of pure lineage, a great warrior and prince. He would not let himself be beaten by...whatever had happened. Whatever his sister had done, for that was one thing he was certain of. She was the only one capable of something like this.

First, Vega thought, he needed shelter for the night. Already, he could feel the discomforts of his mortal shell itching at him. Fatigue, cold, hunger. This damn flesh prison was almost as bad as the stone one he had been lain in for who knows how long. He tried not to dwell on that too long. Not knowing how long he had been there helped him keep calm.

In his dragon form, he could have easily glided through from one plane of existence to the other, like a fish jumping in and out of water. He had done so many times in the past, and he was relived to feel these memories present and strong within him. Memories of travel, flight, worship from mortals, and glorious returns to his homeland, always returning with gifts and treasures. However, in his human form, he was stuck. 

He glanced down at his new companion again, getting a better look. She was deeply tanned from the sun. Clearly she worked most of her life, if the many criss crossing scars along her arms and various callouses on her hands were any indication. Her long, auburn hair was in a messy plait, almost completely fallen out, a frazzled nest of stray hairs sticking out haphazardly. Her clothes were not fashionable but rather functional, and the colors of the forest. In the eyes of this ancient and royal dragon born, she might as well have been a wild animal. But she would do. 

Vega sighed again. It would be dark in a couple hours, the sun already starting it’s descent over the mountain, and he had no intention of spending his first night of freedom in the woods. Leaning down, he arranged her limp body so she was in a sitting position, head lolling back and eyes closed, and he picked her up with a grunting sound he was glad no one was around to hear, and he put her over his back like a sack. He noted she was light, but not as light as he would have liked under the current circumstances. He began his walk toward the closest house he could see, which was basically a shack. He shuddered, but kept up his march. He felt her human heart beat through his back, and her slow, steady breath in his ear reassured him. He was no longer alone.

——————————-

Alya

She could smell lavender. Or no, like lavender, but not. It was floral, but musky, deeper. A rich scent, it had a familiar feeling like lavender, but instead of calming her she was feeling roused. Invigorated.

She opened her eyes. 

“Ah, there you are.” She awoke looking directly into the greyest pair of eyes she had ever seen. A swirling storm surrounding large, dark circles, uncomfortably close to her own green. She sucked in her breath, inhaling more of his mysterious scent in the process. She tried to yell, but coughed roughly instead. Hacking and spluttering, she could feel her throat was bone dry. The coughing sent splitting pain to her head, and she noticed the insistent throbbing at her temples of a terrible headache. What in the world had happened to her? The last thing she remembered was impossible...a dream, or maybe a nightmare.

The man, avoiding her coughing spree, had brought her an earthenware mug filled with water. She grabbed it from him and downed it in one desperate gulp, water dripping down over her chin and splashing on the floor. He dodged her once more, a look of amusement and slight alarm on his face. 

“Well, I’m glad you’re alive.” The man, Vega, she remembered, stated while backing away from her like she was a curious animal he wasn’t sure he should stand too close to. 

“Although, I hope you will recover quicker now that you’re...home? Is this your home?” He looked around, seeming not to believe that anyone could call a place like this “home.”

“Who the hell...no, what the hell are you?” Alya asked him, the anger in her voice evident. Vega was unbothered.

“I told you. I’m the air dragon. I apologize if that isn’t clear enough, although I’m not sure how. I am the Great Lord Vega, Elemental Dragon Born. Will of the Wind, Tyrant of the Typhoon, Herald of Hurricanes...further alliteration based titles. Humans like that sort of thing, don’t they? Repetitive sounds. Funny creatures, your lot. I always tried to just stick to “Lord Vega” but our worshipers always came up with far more creative and poetic titles.” His eyes lost focus for a moment, lost in a memory that brought a smile to his face. He chuckled.

Alya stared at him as if he had sprouted horns and began to eat his own feet. Which would have been less confusing than his little speech, she thought. 

“Dragon. You said something like that before. And I told you, dragons are the stuff of fairy tales. Children’s stories.”

Vega rolled his eyes and huffed like a frustrated parent dealing with a naughty child. “My dear girl, perhaps here in this...mountain shack, you are not privy to higher goings on. But I can assure you, dragon born are more than the stock of fairy tales, and in fact we are significant players in your history, politics, and entire world.” 

Alya was stunned silent a moment by how haughty this insane person could sound. He truly spoke like some princeling. She wanted to trip him as he paced the room spouting his lecture, but wasn’t sure she could stand without getting nauseous. Which was another thing.

“Why do I feel so terrible? Did you feed me something after I passed out?” She narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but she didn’t taste any obvious traces of poison on her tongue. Nevertheless, she glared at him. He probably deserved it.

“Please. Like I told you before, we are connected. I may have taken too much of your energy to manipulate the mountain winds earlier. I apologize, it won’t happen again.”

Alya massaged the back of her neck. Nothing he said made sense, so she thought it best to ignore him. What she really needed was him out of her house. He was standing a few feet away from her prone position on her bed. He didn’t seem to have any obvious weaponry. He was gabbing on and on, distracted, so now was fine. 

She wanted to look groggy, and she wobbled to her feet as if she could barely stand. It wasn’t far from the truth, but she exaggerated her movements, slower and weaker than she needed to be.

“We are connected, eh?” She muttered, rolling her neck and making a show of stretching painfully as she took a step from her bed toward him. “I’ll show you connected.” With a lunging step, she was at Vega’s throat. She held her dagger at his Adam’s apple and grabbed his elbow, pulling it toward herself while pushing his other arm around. She meant to have him turned around with his arm behind his back. With a quick escort she could get him outside and then out of her hair. She wasn’t quick enough for his reaction though.

He dodged back away from her dagger just as she arrived at his neck and, using her own momentum against her, twisted her arm around. Now, instead of holding the dagger to his throat, she held it to her own. She cursed, and tried not to swallow. The dagger was on her skin, cool and sharp.

“I don’t think you want to do whatever you think you’re doing.” His voice was ice cold behind her, his previous light hearted tone replaced by something much darker. She shivered. But she was damned if she was going to let this stranger boss her around in her own home.

“Oh, really? And why is that? Because you’re some great lord or something, and you can sprout wings and fly back to dragon land? Be my guest! Just get out!” She struggled against him as she spat out her words, but he was stronger than he looked. His lean frame was all taut muscle and apparently, trained muscle at that. She considered smashing her head back into his chin, perhaps knocking a tooth or two loose out of his shiny smile. But he would probably dodge it too. He broke her vicious stream of thoughts and spoke, his voice soft but firm. 

“Without me, Alya of the woods, you will die. If you kill me, you are dead. If you leave me for too long, you are dead. Nothing will free you from this fate except listening, and helping me.” She stopped struggling, finally still. He released her, slowly stepping back. Alya turned, looking up into his stormy gaze once more. He had his hands raised in a surrender position, and he raised his eyebrows as if to ask, “Well? What now?”

“You’re not just some insane person from the mountain, are you.” It was a question, but she said it like a statement. He nodded.

“You saw my power. You saw where I was trapped. Do you really think for a moment that I am a normal mortal man?” He had used many voices so far. Haughty and playful, suddenly switching to cold and deadly. Now, his voice seemed to take on a new tone, one she couldn’t quite understand the feeling behind. But Alya knew what he said was true. Everything about him was impossible. But she had seen it, with her own eyes. So either he was insane, or she was. However, she knew the truth in her heart. Something had been forged between them the minute she joined her blood to the symbol in the cave. 

“So by some accident, I am now...magically bound to you.” Alya swallowed her anger, feeling the fear bubble up to take it’s place. 

“But why? And how...As far as I saw, you can literally control the wind. The WIND. Which is impossible, but apparently not. But then, you’re implying, someone else is not only as powerful as you, but hated you enough to trap you in a rock for hundreds of years. And you are alive somehow.” Alya needed to sit down, and she basically collapsed on the nearest wooden chair, resting her elbow on the table and her cheek on her hand, and waited for his response. 

Vega sighed and closed his eyes briefly, before opening them again. He seemed almost tired, but she wasn’t sure if dragon men could feel exhaustion like her. 

“Something...terrible has happened. My own memory is not complete on the subject, and to be frank, while I have some guesses, I don’t know exactly what happened either. What I do know is that I was trapped in stone, as you said, with no access to air. No air at all.” 

His face went pale and he stopped speaking, looking away from her face and frowning deeply. Alya wondered at this statement. If he was trapped with no air, how had he survived? Perhaps magical beings like him didn’t need to breathe. But then, his face now told a story. Even if he could survive it, it didn’t seem like it would have been a pleasant experience. Rage was in his eyes, but he was also...haunted. He was a dragon of air...perhaps without air, he had no access to his powers. Or other horrible side effects. Alya mulled this over, but knew that she couldn’t be sure. None of this followed a logic that she was used to. Her medicines were replicated by following recipes, careful scientific steps followed each time to gain expected results. This...was all out of order, and felt as far away from science as could be conceived. 

 Vega, having regained some composure while she silently thought, went on. “So...someone extremely powerful had to be behind it. And someone with a deep hatred for me. On top of that,” he began pacing, seeming to not only explain it to Alya, but also thinking aloud to himself, “It would be someone who had the most to gain from my...absence.”

Alya thought about what he had said before she passed out. “Your sister, you said. The land dragon?”

Vega nodded. “Most likely, yes. Out of our siblings, she was always very skilled. Not only that, she was ambitious. And without me there, no doubt she could retake the throne for her tribe.”

“Tribe?” Alya wondered aloud. 

Vega looked at her, as if remembering she was there for the first time. He had been speaking, but perhaps not thinking of who he was speaking to. 

“Yes...I can tell you more about them. But for now, you need to rest.”

Alya was surprised. Did this being from another world actually care that she was exhausted, barely keeping her eyes open? 

“If you are too tired, we won’t be able to set off early tomorrow.” He rubbed his hands together, nodding to himself. 

“Set off? Where will we go?” Alya asked nervously. Would he ask her to go to some dragon kingdom? 

“The capital. We are nearby the Royal Capital, yes? I can’t say I’ve been this far north in my travels before, but when I walked you down the mountain I saw the Kings Road going south. That will be our first goal. And like I said, you will come with me or die. Not that I want you to, die that is. It’s how the blood pact works.” He shrugged. 

Alya had pushed this thought out of her mind, but he reminded her with such nonchalance she almost choked. “What do you mean, exactly? Why would I die?”

Vega looked at her, thinking, then seemed to decide. “Your energy will allow me to traverse this mortal realm. Without my dragon form, you are the only way I can survive. And you will in turn continue living as if...attached by a string, to me. If the string becomes too taut, and snaps...there goes your life force.” He held his hands up, as if saying “what can I say?” And turned toward the door. 

“Enough questions for one night. I will collect supplies for our journey. I hadn’t wanted to spend more time in that forest, but needs must. You, sleep.” Alya wanted to protest, wondering where he would get supplies, or why he didn’t need to sleep also. But he was already out the door, marching into the darkness of the forest nearby. 

She slumped back in her bed, fully dressed and dirty from the day. Her mind was racing. Her heart pounding. She should have been more worried. Scared. Doubtful. A million other things could have been running through her mind. But looking around her empty house, all she felt was a growing sense of something she hadn’t felt in so long. She had been alone in this house for three years, living in the shadow of her parents death. Missing them. Crying herself to sleep in the beginning, but then falling into a sort of numb repetition. Day in, day out, make it through. Surviving, but not living. But she had made it. Toughened herself up over and over again.

Now, at the arrival of something so fantastically unreal, she felt like a light was being switched back on inside of her. Something she had hidden and thought gone forever. 

She felt hope for something more than survival in her future. Adventure.

“I’m probably an idiot.” She half spoke, half yawned to herself, drifting off to sleep.