Chapter 1-Past and Future
The harsh, heated air of the desert plains greeted two dragons as they trudged through the blazing conditions without a word between them. It had been days since their arrival at this barren place in search of something that had been called "an oddly shaped object that bears the mark of otherworldly involvement in our lives" that now drew the two into this heated environment.
Perhaps we should turn back? A black dragoness named Narssia suggested as she struggled to keep up with the male beside her.
Perhaps but would it be correct after what we have gone through, I doubt. The golden dragon beside Narssia named Raxmon growled in annoyance at her lost in interest of their target.
A fierce gust of grainy wind blew straight into them and the two closed their eyes automatically to prevent possible eye irritation from the sand. For miles sand twisted and swirled around them as the two continued to move even with their eyes closed, their thought of finding the odd object luring them into continuing on their dangerous path.
I believe we should rethink heading back Raxmon. There seems to be nothing out here but sand and more sand, Narssia sighed as she shook her head after getting another blast of grainy wind thrown in her direction by the ever-changing winds of the harsh desert that took up nearly a third of their land.
Raxmon snorted and growled fiercely at the thought of turning around and leaving now. They had been through too much now to just turn around and go back without knowing what the object is. Besides, should they go back, he might never get to see Narssia again and his secret feelings for her would be lost.
No. We go on and find this object. Is it not our chance to impress the older dragons who have all failed to accomplish this? Would they not say that we, as the newest offsprings of our race, are too weak-minded and lacking of skills to even complete this task? This is our chance to show them Narssia, our chance to make things right! Raxmon commented as pride filled his usually soft voice and gave it new strength that helped convince Narssia to even continue on.
Shoving her own secret feelings for him to the back of her mind for the time being, Narssia surged ahead and broke free of the grainy windstorm that had enveloped them for the past few minutes. Raxmon steadily followed suite and the two continued to trust the leaders of their kind as to where the object was at. Said to be buried in a deep underground room, the object was more precious then all of their gems or even the swords of their riders who were said to be as strong as they were at birth even after years of practice. Only those with mastery over their element and extreme mental control were allowed a rider and thus all new dragon hatchlings had hoped to be picked as choices for a future rider for centuries now by doing any task assigned to them by the older dragons that had taken to training the new hatchlings to do what they had done.
We should be close, Narssia muttered as she struck a solid object with her left foreleg, the blackened scaled paw hurting as she drew it back and lifted it up to lick at it.
It seems that we already are close, Raxmon chuckled as he stopped and lowered his head to sniff the sandy grains above where Narssia struck her foreleg on something.
Holding a coming hiss from escaping for that comment, Narssia simply nodded and licked at her injured foreleg, hoping to soothe the pain and make it tolerable for her to manage. Raxmon lifted his head after confirming the object was there and gave the sand before him a quick swipe with a paw to reveal a single glistering red ruby laid in the sand before them.
A ruby? We came all this way for a ruby! Narssia roared, snapping angrily at the air before her as she placed her foreleg back onto the ground and put weight onto it.
Perhaps there is more to it. Certainly our teachers would have better sense than to send us out here for nothing, would they? Raxmon suggested as he glanced at her briefly before returning his sight to the gem before them.
Narssia snarled and twisted her head away, her yellow irises deeply clouded with raging emotions. Their teachers were supposed to be trustworthy and now that might not even be true. So much for dragons who decide to appoint their young future generation with mindless tasks like this.
We should attempt to move it. Help me out here Narssia, please. Raxmon's growl rippled out to her and broke her silent thoughts, resulting in a hiss from her.
Narssia sighed and brought her head back around to lean forward and push with all her strength and with Raxmon helping her to move the ruby that they had found. Shoving against the stone cold surface of the gem, the two young dragons soon ran out of strength and discovered that they had not moved the stone even an inch. Both hissed in anger and bared their teeth. It should have moved and yet it did not. Certainly this was a trick for the older dragons must have known that they did not even have control over their elements yet although they had discovered them in various circumstances.
It is no use. It will not budge one inch despite us using all of our strength. I believe this is impossible to move with strength alone, what do you think Narssia? Raxmon sighed as he leaned back and relaxed his tense back, questioning his partner for her own thoughts on the situation.
I believe you are correct. We must try another . . .
Narssia stopped suddenly as the ruby that they had tried so hard to move glowed fiercely and nearly blinded them. Taking a step back, both dragons blinked in shock as the gem shone brightly and lifted itself out of the sand. Even the wind quelled itself as the ruby floated silently and continued to shine brightly with an amber light that started to frighten the two young dragons as the minutes passed and the stone did nothing but just glisten as if struck by fire. Narssia panicked and tried to turn and flee but before she could move, the ruby exploded and let its shattered shards circle the two dragons and trap them into a red crystal as sand and wind swirled violently around them, the two becoming preserved in the crystal to only be awakened in another time period. Of course none of this time period would know where they were or even where they ended up, they would just think the two got lost and died while searching for the 'object'.
Time swirled around the two imprisoned dragons as the crystal traveled through time, being lead almost to the call of a lonely female dragon and her rider who strived to rid the land of tyranny. This meeting of the past and present just might have been the most shocking realization to both young dragons for everything that they once knew was soon to be replaced by that of a time connected strangely with that of their own.