Invasion

Chapter Two

24 Years Later...

“Where are we?” Tala asked.

“We are almost to Dragon Meadow, we are about a mile out.” She looked around and realized that she had never been over in this area before. It was midday. Sun shone through the dead trees. As we rode on less and less of the sun shone through. All around us there were dead trees and it seemed as if all life were drained. 

“Why are we going there?”

“Because it is the fastest way to get the Enchanted Forest.”

“But that is the most dangerous area known to every species, even the cruelest and most cunning don’t bother going in that direction. They know it is a death sentence, there is no sense in going this way because we will end up dead. What makes you think that we will live going through there?”

“To be honest I don’t know if we will survive but we need to go through Dragon Meadow otherwise it could take years before we get to Starryvale and we just dont have that kind of time. “

“Than, you better not do anything stupid while we are passing through. I really don’t want my last memories to be of you doing the dumbest thing possible and me dying because of it. Just because you are immortal, that doesn’t mean that I am. I have made it this far on my own and that is only because I know who not to piss off and let me tell you, going into dragon territory you are bound to piss off a lot of dragons. “

“You don’t know that I will piss off anyone. Besides dragons living in this lifetime are a myth. They may have been around before I was born but not anymore. Villagers would tell their young that just to make sure no one would go into the forest. We should have nothing to worry about.” I told her because as far as I know they were extinct. I mean if they were really around, you would see one wouldn’t you? It would be hard to imagine that dragons roamed around and yet they haven’t been seen. 

“Well, I suppose we will see, I don’t see myself getting out of this one.” She replied.

“Not a chance.” 

The sky grew darker and darker the closer and closer we approached the clearing. We were a few yards away and the sky was pitch black. The horses were getting a little restless, but we managed to calm them down even though we were on our toes as well. As we rode into the clearing we saw the most magnificent thing ever. The sun literally hurt my eyes from the transition from darkness to light. The sun shone in even the darkest of crevasses. I was shocked when my eyes adjusted. There actually were dragons. Everywhere. Sleeping.

The dragons looked very elegant and yet dangerous. We had to be quiet in order not to wake them. There literally had to be over one hundred dragons in this meadow. They were so beautiful, each one had one of three colors: blue, red or black. All of them were a single color, all but one. The dragon in the middle of the meadow and also looked to be the largest of them all. The dragon in the middle was all black except for spikes on his spine, the belly, and wings; those were red. Every single dragon were scaly and leather-like. The dragon in the middle looked vicious and also peaceful. To me, he kind of looked sad, as if something was missing from him. 

“Than! What are you doing?” I looked back and realized that I was halfway to the dragon that was in the middle of the meadow. It was as if I was being drawn to the dragon. I had climbed over boulders and past other dragons to get to this point. The grass is up to my knees in some places, but otherwise flattened due to the dragons. Just then I heard a twig snap. “Than look out!”

The dragon that was once in the middle of the meadow was right behind me and I could tell because I heard a loud huff. I slowly turned around to see big gray eyes staring at me. We stared at each other for the longest time before it spoke to me. Telepathically.

“What are you doing here? No humans are supposed to be able to come through the barrier.”

“We are sorry, we mean you no harm. We are just passing through. My name is Than and that is Tala.”

“I’m Nox, and how are you able to understand me? You aren’t supposed to. Only the truly gifted can hear a dragon telepathically and in order to have a telepathic connection, we must have a link, a companionship with each other.”

“What is that supposed to mean? How would we be connected?”

“A connection occurs when an elemental is born. Every dragon has one true companion. And it looks to me that you are that person.”

“What? What all does that really mean? I never knew that I could have a connection with a dragon. Let alone that dragons were still real. I thought they were extinct. How does this connection really work? Am I supposed to go a special quest with you or something?”

“The connection itself just means that we have a psychic link, the connection however can grow. We could eventually work towards being whole. As of now we are two separate individuals connected by magic and destiny. Eventually we could use each other’s abilities as if we were one. If I am correct, you are an elemental, which means you obviously can control the elements. I however have different abilities. I can heal beings, breathe fire, I have advanced strength, magic resistance and natural weaponry as in my exterior acts as its own natural shield. Together if we work on it, we could be the greatest team of warriors known in existence.”

“I kind of like the sound of that. But where do we go from here? It would be a little noticeable for a dragon to be traveling with us.”

“Well I can follow behind you. I also have the ability to be invisible when I choose. I can also choose who can see me.”

“Okay, that helps, but how are we supposed to train?”

“We can train whenever we want to set up camp. We can train everyday for one hour at dawn and one hour before dusk. If you are worried about anyone seeing us, they can’t. When I put up the invisibility shield around me, I can choose how big I want the barrier and who can be covered.”

“Alright! That sounds fantastic, I just have one more question, can Tala hear us talking?”

“Yes, she is hearing this conversation because I am letting her hear, I have the choice to let people hear my conversations with you.”

I looked to see where Tala was and I saw that she was standing only a couple feet away. She looked nervous yet intrigued. I turned to her.

“Do you have any questions? Are you fine with everything?” I asked.

“It is all new to me but I’m completely fine with it. The more we have on our side the better. Also the more powerful the better too. I’m just curious, do I have to worry about you killing me?” She responded to Nox half smiling but I could tell she was serious.

“Any friend of Than’s is a friend of mine.”

“Okay, great then I guess then we should get going.”

“We can leave in just a couple of minutes, I just have to let my flight know. I am their leader so I will have to let my commander know that he is in charge while I am gone. “ He turned around almost whipping us around by his tail but thankfully it missed. Tala and I returned to the horses and carriage to wait for Nox. On our way back Tala nudged me and joked.

“Well look who is getting stronger?” She laughed and I joined in with her. We sat there talking for what seemed like only fifteen minutes in actuality been an hour before Nox had come back. We had talked mostly about how now we have a dragon at our disposal and how totally badass that is.

“Are you ready?” Nox asked as he approached the carriage.

“Yeah.” I responded to Nox and we were on our way.