Dragon Guide

Chapter 2: My Children

Rivia

As the blood threatens to spill, I make a last-minute decision and freeze the injury, sealing everything in behind the cauterized skin. I look again at the whelp in my arms and mentally note that he will be called Armin, The Warrior. I sigh deeply, things have already gone astray and I need to get back on track. The real challenge begins now. I must start the taming process right away. I cannot allow them to build a habit of rebellion this early. There will be time enough for that when they are fledglings, but not now. I set Armin back on the ground. When I see that he seems to be doing fine on his own, I take my eyes off him. I cannot show him too much attention at the moment. If not, others will become territorial if they feel neglected. I make my way back to the middle of the room as I am bombarded by streams of flames from all directions.

When I lay down again on the table, each of my ten whelps encircles me in flames, the force of the collision redirects the flames to swirl upwards into a vortex. Their bright red-orange flames illuminate the chamber and as I add my flames to it, the colour of the flames changes to blue and lavender. As I look at the fire, I am in awe, and a tear runs down the corner of my eyes. I feel the overwhelming emotions crashing down on me, all their emotions are hitting me one after the other. I feel love, protectiveness, possessiveness, belonging, irritation, curiosity, worry, and something I cannot place my finger on because I've never felt it before. I am curious to know who it is coming from and when I look in the direction that I sense it from, I see that it is Armin, he is the nearest to my head on the right.

His bright blue eyes watched me carefully, never leaving me. I find that I cannot take my eyes off him and then I felt it! All but one of my children slowly began to fill with rage! Oh no! I forcefully tear my eyes from Armin and throw all my strength into the fiery vortex. I push outwards a net of calmness that takes hold of all my children. I am now their mother and they are now possessive of me.

I remind myself not to be careless again. I've never made such novice mistakes before in all my two hundred and twenty-five years. I was even known as a prodigy among my kind and the dragon race. My abilities are rare, even among my kind. In fact, there has never been any known record of it before in history. I am able to manipulate emotions and I can also control and emit the natural elements according to my will. I am also able to change the natural composition of my body to any substance, from pure elements such as pure gold or copper to things more complex like water or air. It has taken me all my life until now to be able to reach this level and yet I have much further to go. There have been others who have somewhat similar gifts to mine but none as complex and powerful. Those rare few that have the gift are destined for this life, such is their destiny.

As I regain order over the whelps I prepare to feed them so that we may immediately begin the taming. I take my hand and cast my mana web out and shower them with a feeling of calm and contentment. As the net settles over them, one by one they all lay down. Slowly, I retrieve the tray of meat and move forward to the beautiful-opal-colored dragon nearest to me. Kneeling before him, I placed my hand on his head, drawing my nails slowly and firmly along the scales of his jaw, asking him to open his mouth. He stands up on all fours and when his jaw opens a bit, I take my hand and start to push the meat into the small space he provided between his teeth, pushing further back, little by little.

When he opens his mouth wide enough, I rest my hand on his tongue. I sense curiosity and I feel the muscles in his mouth tense and relax over and over. I know that he wants to close his teeth tightly around my hand but he fights the urge. I look him straight in the eyes and rise over him, keeping my hand lodged in his mouth. I set my sight on him and let my amethyst eyes do the talking as I emit a feeling of dominance around my aura. He whimpers and opens his mouth wider, granting my hand better access. Little red lines appeared on my hand from where his teeth had scratched against my skin, but the membrane did not break open. Finally, I set the meat onto his tongue and closed his jaws around it slowly. I stand up and step back, nodding my head once as I stood slightly to place a hand covered in flames over his muzzle.

I speak to him in an ancient tongue passed down through dragon's blood, and say to him,

"You are mine, and I am yours."

"My name is Rivia, and I am your mother."

I look at his scales, and they are a warm fire opal color they rustle under my gentle touch. His eyes glow like bourbon, dilating, and rotating in their orbs. Glowing brown orbs watch me, they are ever so inviting with a hint of mischief in them. I know your name! "Arros, The Joy of the Heart” I smile brightly as my heart leaps in joy and it aches painfully against my chest. My emotions are affected by my children's moods. Arros is overjoyed by the gift that I've given him. He approves of his name and I also agree, a name fitting for my fire opal dragon. I lay my hand atop his head and gently scratch his jaw and neck, a low purr escapes him and his body vibrates deep in his chest and runs along my fingertips. He lays back down on the ground, content with himself, and settles in to watch the rest.

Little low rumbles and growls burst from the others and I know that they are eager for a gift of their own. I repeat the same action for each of my whelps as I make my way to them all. The next is a beauty with white scales shimmering like irridecent pearls and eyes as blue as Armin's. They are identical and beautiful. I gift her the name, Andromeda, The Goddess and she joyously accepts.

Next is an onyx-colored whelp with eyes as red as rubies. She is restless and so I gift her the name Raven, The Restless. At the end of the ceremony, I had named a total of six males and four female whelps. I fed them thoroughly and laid them to rest on the table. When they wake again from this sleep, a total of two weeks would have passed and they would have grown another six inches.

As I leave the chamber, I seal the entrance once more, securing the whelps inside. I begin to make my way into the main area of the cavern to rejoin Nova and Gram. Without warning, I feel the exhaustion weighing down on me like a boulder. With the last of my strength barely keeping me on my feet, I make my way forward, holding onto the wall for support. My legs feel so heavy that I am dragging them to move forward. Just as I am about to fall, Nova catches me around the waist, supporting my weight. Gram comes over wordlessly lifting me into his arms. With the last of my strength, I take the scroll from Nova's now outstretched hands. She looks at me with clear grey eyes and I see pity in them. I sigh, knowing full well the reason why she gives me that look.

Taking a deep breath, I hum the incantation, pushing the last reserves of my mana into the scroll.

"Memories of old, visions of new, tears from hearts torn apart, breath from my life, and blood from my kin show yourself. Make it clear, my children I seek and their legacy I wish to keep for now and through the endless years to come." with those final words, my world sinks into blackness.