Ryuu heard a sound coming from the darkness around him. The sound floated through the air and encircled his mind drawing him away from the dark recesses of sleep. The sound of chanting resonated within him. He felt a surge of power and all at once he was aware of his body. He could feel the weight of his flesh on his bones. He could feel the smooth marble under his back the coolness on his skin. The way his clothes felt was completely different from the open freedom and nothingness of when he was asleep.
The chanting was getting louder and more powerful. Ryuu had a strange feeling that he needed to remember something but he wasn't sure what. "BREATHE!" The answer came to him and all at once his back arched off the table and he could feel the air rush into his lungs, bringing him back to life.
"We did it! He's waking up!" Said the voice of a young girl.
Ryuu strained to open his eyes. How long had he been asleep? It seemed like the witch Hecate had just put him to sleep a few hours ago. His muscles were cooperating with his mind and he felt a burning sensation on his arms. His eyes flicked open and for a moment all he could see was flashing lights that were blinding. His head hurt, his whole body hurt and now he was blind. He opened his eyes again and then the lights weren't quite so bright. He then realized that the blinding light was from a candelabra across the room giving the girls just enough light to keep from tripping in the dark crypt where Ryuu had been banished.
The chanting had stopped and Ryuu was sitting up. With great difficulty he opened his eyes and kept them open. That's when he saw the 4 girls sitting around him in a circle drawn on the floor in blood, their blood. None of them seemed to look any older than 18 years old. He looked around the room in the flickering candlelight and noticed how dusty the room looked. A lot of time had passed since he was put to sleep. The bright colored tiles on the floor was now a cracked and faded dirt floor. The crypt had a fairly high ceiling of about 10 feet and was nearly twice that in width. Moss covered the wall in front of him, blocking the mural of his father and mother. A second rounded wall on his right had been brushed clean to reveal the spell to wake him. A pile of dirt and dust lay on the floor below it. The wall behind him was cracked and stained from years of water damage. That's when Ryuu noticed the other slab in the room, the one his twin brother Azhdeha had occupied was empty.
Ryuu slowly looked around him at the women who had awoken him. The first witch was fairly tall, with pale blonde hair, and warm brown eyes. She wore an olive green dress that was cut to show the slightest hint of cleavage. The neck and sleeves of her dress were outlined in gold filigree. Noticing his attention to her she spoke up. "My name is Thea. Thea Hartman. This here is Jade Redfern, "she said pointing to a small girl with white-blonde hair and nearly translucent skin the color of quartz. She had silvery-green eyes. Jade was wearing black leather pants with a flowing white shirt. She crouched next to Thea with a certain grace that was beautiful yet strangely frightening. Ryuu followed Thea's hand as she pointed out the third girl in the circle. This one had long straight black hair that fell below her hips and cool gray eyes. She was wearing a sleek blue jumpsuit that fit her body like a second skin. She was gripping a large blade tightly in her left hand her gaze was one of fear and hatred."This is Keller" she said.
Ryuu didn't know why she was looking at him like that but he had a feeling it had to do with his brother's disappearance. The last girl was a pretty looking girl with black hair and stunning green eyes. She also was carrying a large blade in her right hand. She was wearing black pants and a black sleeveless shirt with a black trench coat covering her and other various weapons hidden underneath. "My name is Rashel." Her greeting was sincere but Ryuu noticed one thing in common with all of the girls, they all looked like they were ready to kill him at a moments notice and he thought they were each more than capable of completing the task in his current state. It would be a few days before his full power was back. He could feel it waking up all over his body.
Ryuu tested his voice as he addressed Thea "why have you woken me?" His voice was quite clear and even a bit forceful. The girls tensed up a bit and shifted into a slightly better attack mode. Thea stepped forward and said "We are from a group Called Circle Daybreak. We are an organization who believes all creatures, witches, vampires, shape shifters humans and any other beings should be allowed to live together in peace. However things are not going so well. The Night World is completely against humans mixing with night world people and are about to start a global war to try and take over the world from the humans. There are 4 wild powers in the world that will depict the outcome of the war, but we have only managed to acquire 3 of them. "Your brother was awakened to disturb the balance by the night world council."
" He tried to kill one of the wild powers and me. He also tried to regain control of the shape shifters and started making them attack humans at random and in broad daylight." Keller said. " I killed him for it and I won't hesitate to do the same to you if you don't cooperate. We don't want to hurt you but we will if you aren't willing to help us."
Ryuu considered for a moment before he spoke again. "So let me get this straight, my brother was awoken to help the night world take over the world and he was killed for it. I have been woken to help you fight the same war only against the night world and if I don't help you ,you will kill me too. How can I know if I can trust you? Whats in it for me besides slavery or death?"
Thea looked uncertain, this wasn't going as she had planned. Dragons were said to be powerful and smart but this guy was almost too smart. "It isn't slavery. We are fighting for equality. For the right to live together in harmony. We brought a witch, a vampire, a shape-shifter and a human along to wake you up so we could show you that WE can live together in peace. The awakening spell was drawn with all of our blood. The spell only works if all parties are willing to sacrifice that much of themselves." Ryuu knew this much to be true. He was chained down and watched as the Witch Hecate wrote the spell on the wall who knows how long ago.
"How long have I been asleep?" he said. Thea looked around at the other girls before she quietly said "thirty thousand years. Give or take a few centuries."
"What?!" Ryuu stood for the first time. The four women made ready to pounce on him. Instead of attacking Ryuu rubbed a hand though his messy black hair brushing over his 6 horns. That was the only difference between him and his brother. Ryuu was more powerful because he had been born first by two hours. His mother had died during childbirth and his father blamed his brother for her death. He treated Azhdeha unfairly since birth and Ryuu believed that was the reason for his dark and evil ways. Ryuu always tried to take up for his brother but it had been hard. Azhdeha had made life difficult for them both. When their father was killed he had asked Ryuu to kill his brother and rid the world of his evil. Ryuu couldn't do it. Not to his brother, But when the Witch Hecate came to him and said that she needed to put all the dragons to sleep or the world would destroy itself, Ryuu knew that he had to help. Ryuu convinced his brother to come into the crypt where they were both forced onto the marble slabs and put to sleep.
During the last few minutes of consciousness he could remember Azhdeha cursing and making threats of annihilating all the witches starting with her as soon as he was free. Because he helped her Hecate had told him that when the time came she would awaken him to help her free all of their people. That time was now. He just didn't realize it would be thirty thousand years for him to be awakened. He paced between the marble slabs for a few minutes before he stopped and looked at the girls. "I will help you, on one condition." "condition? What condition?" Rashel asked "When this fight is over, regardless of the outcome, I don't want to be put back to sleep. I can't be put back to sleep. I have missed so much of this world and I won't miss any more of it. If you don't accept my condition then you might as well kill me right now because that is the only way I will help you."
"That won't be a problem, equality is what we are fighting for, your right to live in harmony is just as important as ours. You have my word of the witches that you shall be allowed to live in peace after you help us." Thea said.
"You have my word of the vampires" Jade said.
"And mine of the humans" piped in Rashel
"I would be honored on behalf of the shape shifters to have a dragon with us again in this new age of prosperity." Keller said.
"I guess that is that then. I am Ryuu and behalf of the race of Dragons, I accept your challenge in preserving this world for equality of all sentient beings. I am but one of many of my kind who would be glad to help."
"I am afraid that's not possible Ryuu." Thea said "Circle Daybreak said we could only wake one dragon into this war. Any more than that and we would have no way of stopping you should you decide to reclaim the world in the name of the Dragons again."
"I understand. I suppose it is for the best. I learned the hard way that I can only speak for myself. I know the others would help but could not guarantee what would happen after the fighting was done." Ryuu said. "It will take several days for me to regain my full power."
"Well are you hungry? We could get something to eat before we take you to Circle Daybreak." Rashell said.
Ryuu scoffed "I haven't eaten anything in about thirty thousand years, I am starving. Where can I get a salad?"
All four girls snapped their gaze at Ryuu in disbelief. "A salad?" Jade asked
"It was a joke. "Ryuu said " I could eat an entire heard of buffalo at this point though."
How about we stop at a buffet and make them regret their all-you-can-eat sign. I know one run by Night world people not far from here." Keller said.
"What's a buffet?" Ryuu asked. Thea and Jade each grabbed one of Ryuus arms to help him out of the crypt into the dark moonless night. "We have A LOT to talk about and fill you in on." Thea said "A buffet is one of the easiest ." The girls laughed as all five of them started for the limo.