The Ancient Elementals Book One: Sky Dragon

Secrets and Symbols

In the forest at the base of Mount Orin, there was a small wooden house. Alya had lived here her whole life, and she knew the area like the back of her hand. She had searched the land for medicinal herbs and flowers since she could walk, and she knew what time of day was best to hunt for any. When her parents had first gotten sick, she had been in a frenzy. Desperate to find some new medicine, she had searched farther into the mountain than ever before. But she had only succeeded in getting lost, sprained her ankle, and worried her parents. After that, she had simply stayed by their side, making them as comfortable as possible. Their fever had raged. Nausea made eating or drinking near impossible. Their bodies had sores all over. Alya had never felt so powerless. 

Toward the end, when they knew their time was limited to hours and not days, she simply read to them. The books they had spent their lives collecting, historical and current day medicinal texts, rare and legendary plants described inside, alongside the most common and useful. She had come across one passage that never left her mind.

In Orin vast, an ancient hold, trapped in stone doth tempest lie,

Release the elemental curse, for healing water, fire, and sky.

It was in a book with a title in an old language, Alya had never seen it before. But someone had translated that passage and a few others. She could see many sketches that looked like large animals throughout the book. Strange beasts with wings, long necks, four legs...a fantasy book it seemed. Wyverns or dragons perhaps. But Alya never understood why this book was kept along with the others. It must have some meaning related to medicine that she couldn’t uncover. But she suspected that passage was the key. If she could find the hidden place in the mountain, perhaps there grew a plant with the secret to healing even the most deadly diseases. It had been her mission since her parents died. Now, time was of the essence. 

She grabbed her herb collection satchel and strapped it to her back with leather buckles crossed over her chest. You drop your entire nights collection once, you learn to secure. Her nice dress replaced with dark green trousers and a long sleeved shirt, rips and tears on the arm a testament to all the journeys it had gone on with her. Her hiking boots tied up to mid calf, and she was ready to go. No longer a respectable merchant, she was once more the wild girl of the forest. 

The winding road leading from Alya’s house was rugged, but well tended. The grasses and weeds gave way to a clear path, winding around trees, boulders as tall as herself, and then suddenly, the path ended. The forest pushed up right to the path, wildness bursting from the ground. Alya had once tried to clear and maintain a path farther past this border into the forest. She had hacked, pulled, cleared away weeds and grasses daily. Her hands had been covered with red welts and scratches, but she was determined. She continued for months, but the path somehow kept eluding her. One area she would have finally maintained, then two more would suddenly be overwhelmed with growth. 

“You don’t understand, Alya. This forest isn’t to be tamed.” Her father had chided her, but let her try anyways. Said it was good for her to exercise. Now, she no longer tried to fight the border the forest seemed to allow. She accepted, and the forest seemed to reward her. She flew through the trees at a run, feeling the dips and turns before they even happened. It felt like a dance. But she didn’t have time to dally, and she continued in the direction she knew would lead to the entrance of the cave. 

The cave was unnamed, as no one bothered to come up this far usually, but in her mind Alya referred to it as ‘hers.’ It had been her special place for thought, relaxation, and discovery. Her secret hideout, too deep and far into the forest for anyone other than her parents to even want to try. The gaping maw of the mountain overlooked the mountain and valley below. She often sat, staring out at the world and imagining all the lives happening in the distance. But not now.

Heading into the cave, it immediately felt cooler. The shadows extended out like a greeting, and she was soon enveloped in darkness. But then, just ahead, a gentle glow. Luminescent moss grew deep in the cave, just enough to see by. It dimly revealed the floor giving way to water, and Alya breathed in the refreshing smell. It wasn’t deep, just about waist high on Alya, and took up the entire rear portion of the cave. Alya and her parents used to come and collect the moss here, as well as the algae and sparse growth that blossomed on the surface of the water. But only just recently, thanks to the larger growth of moss this season, Alya had stumbled upon something she had never noticed before. In the deepest section of the little pool of water, now visible in the brighter glow, was a mark carved into the stone wall. 

The mark was the same symbol on the cover of the book in an unknown language. She had visited several times since she discovered it, but found nothing. Now was a perfect time to investigate further, as she truly believed it held some secret worthy of finding.

“Now, ancient rune. Carved on the wall of a cave hidden within a mysterious forest. If that isn’t an invitation, I don’t know what is.” Alya often spoke to herself these days. But it was ok, she thought she made excellent company. 

She hoped today she might find more runes, more clues to help unravel the riddle in the book. She took her trousers off and put them in her satchel on her back, rolled up her sleeves, and waded over toward the wall. Her fingers felt the rough carving, tracing it slowly. She ran her hands across the entire back wall, feeling every inch that she could reach, although it was a good few feet taller so she couldn’t get the top. She tried again, this time using moss in her hands to closely inspect the wall with more light. Nothing new. There really seemed to be only one carving. It was a swirling pattern, like a small circle twisting in on itself, with small letters written in a circle around it.

“Dammit.” She huffed. The echo that came back to her was morose.

“Dammit, dammit, dammit,” she spoke out louder, pacing in the pool and staring at the letters until her eyes burned with the effort. Not for the first time, she wished she could read these letters.

Maybe if she could, she would be able to save someone from the disease that took her family. This ancient book with hidden clues used to invigorate her. Now it infuriated her. She was angry at her ignorance, angry that her parents never explained it, angry at them for dying. 

“Blast your carving, curse the stupid book, and to hell with all these symbols!” Her anger at the futility and her failure overcame her. She raised her fist, and brought it smashing into the offending carving. 

“Ugh!” She growled in surprise as she felt a sharp part of the rock prick her hand. She saw a long red line, and hissed in pain. “Of course. Stupid wall. Stupid carving...stupid me.” No crying now, she thought. Start that kind of thing and you can’t stop. In her opinion, it was best to just not.

She held her head up, angrily fighting back the tears threatening to form. She knew the tears were springing from more than just the stinging wound, and this made her even more frustrated. What kind of weakling cries at the slightest sign of struggle?

Suddenly, there was a deep, ominous rumbling. Her head shot up and around like a panicked bird, looking for signs of a rockslide. This was no rock slide though, as she felt the shaking beneath her, not from above, where rocks sometimes fell and tumbled down the mountain side. The ground beneath her shuddered and moaned as if the mountain was waking up from a long slumber and stretching like a lazy cat. Alya cried out, instinctively shifting her balance to stay upright, and she braced herself. Was this an earthquake? Or was the mountain itself coming to life? 

With an ear shattering groan, the wall Alya was leaning on for support moved away from her. She fell forward awkwardly, a surprised yelp squeaked out before she could try to stay up. The water in the pool was draining away beneath her feet, rushing into the open cavern revealed behind the moving slab. Alya was on hands and knees, clinging to a notch in the stone with all her might. She looked up and was faced with a dark, gaping tunnel, and before she could attempt to retreat away, the wall crumbled into pieces and she fell with the debris. Tumbling in the pitch black, she covered her head with her arms, but she was still struck hard across her neck and shoulders, back and legs, rolling like a sack with the rest of the rubble.

Was this how she died? Trapped and alone, buried beneath this unsympathetic stone giant? 

Her doomed line of thought was interrupted when, as abrupt as it had started, her fall stopped. Laying in a ball on the rough, cold stone, the shattering noises were replaced with a silence deeper than anything she had ever heard. Not a bird, not a trickle of water, nothing. 

Alya tentatively unfurled from her position and tried looking around. It was pitch black, no matter how she strained her eyes, she received no new information. She limped a step forward, noting the throbbing pain in her right ankle. If she had light, time, and patience, she would sit down and wrap it right away. But she shuffled forward, hoping she was going in a useful direction. But there. Something. There was an area ahead that was dark, but her eyes detected a slight difference. A lighter darkness. As she moved toward it, it increased. Was she near some tunnel that led out? Her heart beat faster with hope.  There were plenty of unexplored parts of the mountain, so it wouldn’t be that unusual to find a new cave entrance. 

But it wasn’t an exit. Her eyes continued to adjust and take in the light, the source not sunlight nor any kind of luminescence she knew. At least, she wasn’t sure if rocks could possess light, but this one did. And it was getting brighter. Alya looked up. She noticed the area she was in now was much larger than the cave or the tunnel she fell down. The cavernous ceiling arched up well above her. Where there should have been stalactites, there was only a smooth surface. Perhaps someone had carved it intentionally, but she wasn’t sure how it had stayed this way. She felt like she was in a stone bubble. What kind of person had been here? In all her explorations of the mountain and forest, nothing had been like this. And at the same time, she felt compelled closer. Nothing had been like this, so she felt her excitement grow. At the center of this unnaturally round room, the glowing rock seemed to beckon to her. 

Gripping her still bleeding hand, she approached. Alya sucked in her breath as she finally saw it. The same symbol that had been carved in the cave. Carved deep, a perfect section of rock removed around it acting as a relief to frame it. Now, she was directly above it. She reached her hand to it, her fingers shaking. Lightly, she traced the symbol. Swirling around and around to the center, her other hand feeling the letters surrounding it as if she could read with her palm. What did this mean? The passage in her book had mentioned something hidden in the mountain. The symbol on the book, the cave, and now here. It was like a trail of breadcrumbs she had followed. Her heart sped up even more.

She moved around the rock now, searching it closely. Was there an opening? Perhaps something hidden inside? She couldn’t imagine what plant or herb could be here. Maybe it was something else that could have healing abilities. After all, the rock itself was glowing. Alya briefly considered that the rock itself could have medicinal qualities. Maybe she could scrape off a sample, grind it up and mix it with her usual ingredients, experimenting to see the results. She used her nail to scrape against it, a bit of dust came off and she licked it. Just seemed like regular stone to her, but it was still glowing so who knew? If she could get out of here, she could figure it out. Not only help heal the Lady Amina, but also...become wealthier than ever anticipated. The thought of this warmed her insides. She took a deep breath, imagining the things she could do if this discovery led to a new, powerful medicine that could make her rich while healing hundreds...thousands of people. But she was getting ahead of herself. 

“I need to calm down.” She whispered to the emptiness. She picked her hands up off the symbol where she had rested them as she thought. A small stain of blood had been left from her injured hand, and she rubbed at it with her thumb like trying to get a food stain off a child’s cheek. Great. Her first (potential) medical discovery and she got blood on it. Typical, she rolled her eyes at herself. 

Craaaaack.

She stopped rubbing at the stone and yanked her hand away. Where her blood touched the symbol, a narrow c***k had split open like thin ice breaking over water. A lightning bolt shape slowly spread, and Alya’s concern grew.

Before she could investigate further, a violent sound shot through the stone and the narrow c***k completely spread from one end to the other. The top part of the stone ripped apart as if being torn in half and Alya stumbled back, falling on her rear and using her hands to scramble back further. 

The light of the rock began to get so bright, Alya had to close her eyes, throwing her arms across her face to protect herself, the sun itself seeming to burst forth from the cracking facade. She stumbled blindly away from the rock as far as she could before she fell once more, ducking around a boulder for shelter. It was good she did, because just as she was out of range, the entire rock burst open with such force, she would have surely been killed by the flying shards expelled from the explosion. Alya bit her lip to keep from screaming, and she tasted metal. 

Dust from the expelled rock filled the room, and in the silence it began to settle. The light was still bright, but no longer impossible to bear. Alya slowly peered around the side of the rock she was hiding behind. There, where the large stone slab had lain glowing, there now stood a tall figure. It looked like a man, but Alya couldn’t understand what she saw. This man was now the source of light in the room, and that wasn’t even the strangest thing about him.

Thick, dark hair fell past his shoulders across a startlingly beautiful face. Alya had never seen anyone like him. Almond shaped eyes pierced out, his gaze slowly taking in the havoc his entrance had caused. He had a straight, almost delicate nose placed between high cheek bones. He looked like an some royal out of legend. He brushed debris off his shoulders and chest, and Alya could see he was wearing some strange kind of armor. It was a dark, emerald green, the chain mail so delicate and intricately woven that it moved like his own skin, covering his chest but leaving his arms bare. His trousers seemed like similar material, but again, it moved as if a part of him and she had never seen such flexible armor. The warriors she had seen always wore very large, clunky metals compared to these. 

Suddenly, his eyes seemed to settle. He stared straight at where she was, and she held her breath. 

“Who called me?” His voice rang through the room like a bell, deep and echoing. Alya felt like she was going to be sick.

Slowly, she returned her head fully behind her rock, and began to scoot away from the room. This was not happening. She had inhaled something. Or the rock she licked was a hallucinogen. She was going insane under a mountain and she needed to get out. Before she had moved to her knees, he was there in front of her. Close up he was even more shocking looking. His glowing body, foreign clothes, those eyes piercing through her, and his full mouth...smirking. What the hell was going on?