Heart of Darkness Book Two: Goddess of Dragons

Chapter Two: A Goddess Emerges

Serena jumps up from her throne and runs to the window. Radin looks at her, "What is it, Serena?" She replies quickly, "Somethings not right," she looks out the window and gasps, "Astra." She quickly spreads her wings and takes flight, headed towards the Island Tower and the massive dragon flying above it.

As Serena approaches, she sees Ralane cowering on the roof trying to find somewhere to hide. Serena lands next to her, "Jade are you okay," she asks her eyes glues onto the dragon hovering above.

Ralane nods, "Yes, Serena I think that's Astra." She says shakily.

Serena is quiet for a second then says, "Yes that is Astra, the powers I have kept dormant for so long have finally broken through, she's changing into her dragon form for the first time."

Serena watches as Astra, the massive Sapphire dragon, with silver eyes, large scaly wings, and fierce gaze is watching her and Ralane.

Ralane is too scared to speak, a million thoughts going through her mind. Serena looks at her for a moment and says, "It will be okay just stay calm, I'll get her back to normal."

Before Ralane can respond they heard Astra let out a roar, she begins to head dive into them looking to make Jade her snack. Serena raises her hand and mutters something quietly to herself, then sends a blast of pure power at Astra. It impacts Astra on her scaled chest and the pain stops her from continuing her attack, she backs away looking confused for a moment. Serena looks at her and gently says, "It's okay Astra, you're going to be okay, just calm down."

Astra regains control of herself and stares down at the small figures of her mother and best friend, she lets out a quiet noise trying to speak. Tears begin streaming from her silver eyes, and her mother flies up to her slowly. Serena reaches out her hand and gently places it on Astra's scaly cheek, "It’s alright little stargazer, I'm right here."

Astra watches as her mother begins to blur out of focus, and then everything goes black.

Astra lets out a quiet moan and hears Ralane, "Look she's waking up." Slowly Astra opens her eyes and looks up at her mother who is holding her head in her lap. "Mom," she says quietly her voice hoarse.

"Yes, little stargazer it's okay, I'm right here." Serena gently brushes Astra's hair away from her face and gives her a gentle smile.

Astra takes in a deep breath and sits up with a jolt as the memories of what happened come back to her, her eyes fill with tears as she looks at Jade.

"Ralane, Ralane I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..." she says crying and trying to get the words out. Ralane nuzzles her cheek and says quietly, "It's okay, you didn't hurt me."

Astra looks at her mom, her body gently shaking from her sobs, "What happened to me? I don't understand mom."

Serena looks at her and gives her a hug holding her close, "Come on, first we will go home and then I will explain it all to you."

Astra stops crying and wipes her tears away, then follows her mother from the shore to the night castle.

Serena goes into the throne room with Astra following quietly behind her, she sits on her throne and then pats the throne next to hers. Astra sits down and looks at her mom, fear and worry clouding her eyes.

"You don't need to be afraid Astra, there is nothing wrong with you."

Serena looks at her, and gently continues, "Long before you were born your grandmother left this world, she died. Before she died though, she gave me a necklace containing her immortality and her powers as the Goddess of Dragons. For many years I had the powers of the Dragon Goddess, but when you were born you inherited them from me. All the members of our family are Gods and Goddesses, you know this."

Astra looked confused for a minute, "What…what does that even mean?"

Serena lets out a light laugh, "Astra, in a family of Gods and Goddesses did you think that you wouldn't have powers of your own. You are a Goddess, today you have emerged as the Goddess of Dragons."

Astra looked at her mother for a moment, her mind processing what her mother was telling her. "So wait, does that mean I'm immortal?"

Serena nodded, "Of course, you are, you always have been. But there is more."

Astra let out a heavy sigh, "What more could there be?"

Serena looks at Astra for a moment and then gets up and walks to the window, she looks out and then looks back to Astra, "Well, when you were an infant your Grandfather gave you a very important, gift, he gave you half of his power."

Astra shakes her head, "What, why would he do that?"

Serena frowns for a moment and looks out the window in thought, she doesn't respond right away and so Astra speaks up.

"Mom, why?"

Serena lets out a sigh and then walks back to her throne and sits down, she gently grabs Astra's hand and looks at her full of doubt, "I don't know Astra, I've asked him many times over the years, and no matter how many times I ask him he refuses to give me a real answer. The answer I usually get is, 'Trust me she will need them,' which does nothing but make me worry more."

Astra continues looking at her mother, "Astra, we have had peace for a long time, you have never known anything but peace, but peace does not last forever. Something is coming and when it does we will need all our strength to stop it. Your grandfather was the most powerful being in existence, no one and nothing could harm him," Serena looks away and continues, "but when he gave you half the powers, he also gave you his immortality. He can be killed, and whoever has the power to do that will have the ability to inherit the rest of his powers."

Astra looks at her mom, her eyes filled with intensity, "I won't let that happen, I can keep him safe, he gave me his powers for a reason, and I won't let them go to waste."

Serena looks at her daughter and smiles, "Well if that's the case then you need to learn how to control your powers. You have already been training on how to use a sword, now we have to do Goddess training."

Astra lets out a laugh and hugs her mom. Serena hugs her back and then looks at her seriously, "But before we start, we should let your father know what's going on."

Astra looks down, "Is he going to be mad at me?"

Serena gives her a strange look, "Why would he be mad at you?"

Astra looks at her mom, "Because I almost killed my best friend. I don't want him to be disappointed in me."

Serena looks at Astra lovingly, "Astra, what happened is not your fault, and you have done nothing wrong."

Astra nods and looks away, "Are you sure?" Serena looks at her with a serious face, "We love you; I doubt there is anything you can do to disappoint us." Astra's eyes fill with tears, and she looks at her mom with a smile. Her mother gently kisses her cheek and then stands up. She closes her eyes and quietly whispers, "Reaperiam." Then sits back down on her throne.

A few moments later the ground begins to rumble, the throne room floor starts to split open, flames coming up, Reaperiam rises out of the flames, along with Whipper, his closest minion. The ground closes beneath him with another rumble.

"Took you long enough Reapy, thought I was going to die of old age waiting for you," Serena says with a smile.

He walks over to her without saying a word, grabs her hand pulls her out of her chair and passionately kisses her, when they move apart, he says, "And this seems to be the only way to shut you up." They both start laughing as Astra says behind them, "Oh gee get a room."

They all start laughing and then Reaperiam sits on Serena's throne pulling her onto his lap.

Radin walks into the throne room with Jade following, when he sees Whipper, he lets out a low growl. "You couldn't have left the handbag at home Reaperiam?" Reaperiam lets out a chuckle. Whipper smacks Radin on the nose, and almost gets his hand bitten off before grinning and running behind the throne.

"i***t," Radin growls.

"Now, now Radin, be nice, no biting guests," Serena says with a teasing scold.

"I don't remember him being invited." Radin retorts.

"He is as welcome here as Reaperiam is, you know that." She says smiling. "Anyway, Astra hug your father, and then leave us for a bit, I need to speak with him alone."

Serena gets up and walks to the window and looks out. Astra stands and gives her father a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek then leaves the throne room. Astra leaves the castle and goes for a walk. She can hear swords ringing near the water, so she heads in that direction.

As she approaches the figures sparring, she recognizes the older man, but not the younger male.

As she gets closer the older man looks up and bows greeting her, "Princess, what a surprise to see you out here this time of night." General Adakis says.

Astra smiles, "I needed some fresh air, it's been a long night for me."

General Adakis nods, "Princess Astra, allow me to introduce my son Dagon." Astra looks at him for the first time and as soon as her emerald eyes meet his dark brown eyes she knows, this is fate.

"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Astra." She says with a smile.

He bows, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Princess Astra."

"You can call me Astra," she says, "General do you mind if I watch you for a bit."

"Of course not, my lady, you are always welcome to watch." He turns back to Dagon and they both get back into sparring position. Astra sits a few feet away on the sand, her blue skirt flared onto the sand.

She watches as they spar, father and son, Dagon was good, but his father was better. Dagon is swift and moves elegantly, she can see he has been taught well. She watches as his father moves quicker and uses more strength.

Dagon does a backflip out of the way; he gracefully lands in a defensive position and continues the fight. After a while, his father is finally able to disarm him. Then he proceeds to tell him what he did wrong.

Astra stands up and approaches, "May I join you? I've only sparred with my mother and I'm curious as to test my skill on someone else."

General Adakis nods, "Of course Princess." He gestures for her to join them. She smiles at him, "You first General."

She removes her jacket and ties up her long brownish black hair in a blue ribbon. She takes a deep breath and pulls out her specially made sword from her mother. The silver handle curved to fit her hand just right. She hands her jacket to Dagon, with a smile she says, "Hold this for me."

She gets into her stance and waits for him to charge her.

Adakis moves swiftly towards her his sword held midway, he strikes at an angle, and she deflects it with ease. Their swords continue to clash as she dances around him, ever so lightly on her feet. A few moments later she does a hard spin around him grabbing his arm and twisting it behind his back and shoving him to his knees.

"Do you submit, General?" She asks with a grin. He nods her sword is at his throat.

She lets him up and takes a step back, she looks at Dagon, "Care to have a go?"

He lets out a quiet laugh, "After seeing that no, I'm good. You are a very skilled Princess. I've never seen anyone beat my father before."

Astra blushes, "Thank you Dagon, that's sweet of you to say. I'm pretty sure your dad was going easy on me and not using as much strength with me as he did with you. Or my mother for that matter." She walks in front of the General, "Next time General don't hold back, my mother doesn’t, and you know how strong she is."

General Adakis looks a bit shocked, "Your mother doesn't go easy on you?"

She laughs, "Of course not, my mother always tells me, 'Astra the enemy isn't going to go easy on you so neither am I, the best way to learn is to pretend you are fighting the enemy, only then will you fight your hardest and give it your all.' I believe she is right; I fight harder and endure longer when I think that way.

Dagon and Adakis both nod in agreement and smile at her.

Astra laughs and the three of them talk for a while...

Meanwhile.......

In the throne room, Serena and Reaperiam are talking. Serena sits next to Reaperiam holding his hand, she looks at him lovingly. "We need to speak dearest, about Astra."

Reaperiam picks up her hand and kisses it gently. "What do we need to discuss?" Serena sighs, "Do you remember how when Astra was a child, I forced her powers to go dormant until she could handle them?

"Of course, love, it was necessary at the time." He tucks a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Her powers have emerged, she changed into a dragon today and almost ate Ralane. She has very little control over them. So, starting tomorrow, I'm going to start training her. I wish you could stay here while I do. I've missed you; it's been lonely here without you."

Reaperiam gently pulls her onto his lap, "Oh Serena you know I'd stay forever if I could, but you know the rules. I know it’s hard right now for all of us but, there will come a time when we will be able to be together forever. Just be patient, besides you aren't completely alone my darling you have Astra."

Serena nods, "She always misses you when you leave Reapy. It's hard on all of us, I just wish it didn't have to be this way." Reaperiam holds her close and kisses her tenderly.

He looks into her eyes, "Serena we both knew it was going to be this way. I care more about how I spend my time with you both than how long we have." Serena smiles, she loves her God of Death and is completely content being only his. She hoped that Astra would find love and happiness as she had.

"Reaperiam," Serena said gently, "Our daughter is more powerful than we originally thought."

Reaperiam nods, "So I see, I wonder why she changed shape I've never heard of that before."

"My mother was never able to change into a dragon; I'll have to ask my father about it. I have a feeling if she loses her temper it will happen again."

Reaperiam looks at Serena and grins, "When you lose your temper, you're a nightmare to deal with, you lose all sense of boundaries. Our daughter inherited that trait from you."

She rolls her eyes and retorts, "Oh yes, and when you get upset your just the perfect example of calm."

They both laugh and kiss each other again. "My precious Goddess of Darkness, I love you."

"I love you to my dearest God of Death."

He holds her close and she leans her head on his chest. Serena closes her blacks eyes and lets out a gentle sigh as Reaperiam runs his fingers through her red and black hair.

"Do you think our stargazer will know happiness and love as we have with each other?" He smiles and kisses the top of her pale forehead, "Of course she will my darling, she still has some growing to do. After all, she is only a teenager." He chuckles lightly, "And already she gets into so much trouble."

Serena nods, "Yes she does, it reminds me so much of the trouble Radin and I used to get into. She is a lot like me and yet she has so much of you in her, you always were more compassionate and caring than I ever was and you're the god of death, you used to be a hardass, you've gotten soft my dear what happened?"

Reaperiam laughs and gently whispers in her ear, "Well I fell in love with this dark evil goddess, she broke me, then she had my child and my heart went soft."

They both laugh, Serena stands up and walks to the window, she looks out and sees Astra sparring with General Adakis. She turns to Reaperiam and gives him a seductive look, "Well love, it looks like our daughter is preoccupied. I think we should go spend some real alone time together." Reaperiam grins, he jumps up, swiftly crosses the room and picks her up carrying her into the bedroom. They make hot, passionate love and lay there for a while before returning to the throne room......

Astra gets tired and says her farewells to General Adakis and Dagon, she heads home and goes into the throne room. After having dinner with her family, she heads to her room. She takes a long hot shower, gets into her blue silk pajamas and then goes to bed with Ralane laying at her feet fast asleep. As she sleeps, she dreams of Dagon and she wonders if she will love him as much as her parents love each other.......

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