Progenitor
by Nee339
Summary: After the end of Galbatorix, what will the future be like for dragons?
Tags: Eragon, Saphira, Murtagh, and Thorn.
Warnings: Sex, Violence, Incest, and Suicide.
Last Updated: November 5, 2010
Chapter Two: Understanding the Dragon God
For the first time in three years, Eragon woke lucid. He felt no pain or anxiety by Saphira's absence from his mind. He did not feel any sense of danger nor did he feel any urgent need to be doing something. Instead, he was content to float in the supreme nothingness around him; knowing whatever would be would be.
"You are fulfilled, as you should be," said a soothing voice in the darkness and Eragon knew that it belonged to the great Dragon God.
Eragon, feeling no threat from the unseen entity, answered it pleasantly. He said, "Yes, I am content."
"You have ever been faithful to me, Eragon."
Affirmatively, Eragon nodded in response to the Dragon God's statement; all the while, thinking about how nice it was to finally be speaking with the one he had prayed to so often, during his life. He decided to add further weight to his silent concurrence of the God's assertion, so he said, "Yes, I have been faithful."
"You also have felt my power before. How did you enjoy your new body, Eragon?"
Eragon suspected that the Dragon God already knew how he would answer, but he replied anyway. He said, "I enjoyed the body very much. I was very fast and strong. It was very helpful to me to have such a body. Thank you for that gift. I treasured it while I had it."
"Yes, you did," the Dragon God agreed. The God coalesced his essence from the darkness and focused it into a single point. Where before there only was unending nothingness, now there was a beautiful dragon. There wasn't any gender identifying details upon the body the Dragon God had assumed, only that it was everything the mortal dragons tried so desperately to become.
The Dragon God had a long beautiful neck, a long dexterous tail, four powerful and agile legs, two large and graceful wings, and thousands of iridescent scales that were forever shifting amongst the spectrum of visible colors, including colors Eragon had never perceived before when he had been alive. Oh, how beautiful the Dragon God was and so graceful, too.
"Perfect," Eragon murmured in appreciation of the splendor of his God. How he wished to touch and stroke such beauty.
"Yes, I am perfect. You may touch me, Eragon. You have earned the privilege."
Eragon flowed towards the iridescent dragon, twining his soul around the marvelous creation. He touched and he stroked the perfect body. He worshiped the God and the God let him have his moment of wonder, at ease to be amongst one of his devout followers.
When the soul of Eragon was able to perceive more than the magnificence of the God's grandeur, the God said, "Witness, Eragon, all that has been lost to the world of men."
As Eragon stroked the Dragon God, images played inside his mind. He became privy to the deep secrets of the proud race of an ancient people that had lived and thrived in the air, upon the land, and even in the water. He watched the perfect time of peace for the dragons, long before the time of dwarves. He learned of the stressful time of interference when the elves arrived, who where later followed by humans and the ra'zac. He felt the fear and desperation, as generations of eggs were lost to the ever-brutal realities of men. He tasted the twisted magic of those who would warp his mind, forcing it to accept a mental leash labeled 'rider.' He experienced the soul crushing betrayal, as eggs were smashed and as thousands of mates fell from the sky, mutilated and destroyed by powers that could not be matched without the intervention of the Dragon God.
Eragon witnessed the tragic history of the dragon race until there was only one female left. He recognized Saphira's sparkling blue splendor and his spirit warmed at the sight of his old friend and he relived the heartbreak of the start of the incestuous mating cycle. Where once proud sky guardians had flown and flourished, now, there only remained weakness and decay.
Then there was the end – the last egg and the last intact male. Eragon beheld the tragedy as the group met their end against the bone shattering ground. The fully formed body of a dragon infant had been expelled from its protective shell and it lay broken and dead twenty yards away from the immense and unmoving body of the red male. Two human corpses were also amongst the wreckage and Eragon felt sorrow when he recognized the body of his brother, impaled upon one of the red's ivory spikes. Eragon's old body had been thrown to the rocks after the impact, and Eragon counted five bloody smears from where he had bounced before coming to rest a few yards away from the tiny, dead, green male.
"How sad," Eragon commented mournfully, still touching the Dragon God.
"You are a witness to what was, Eragon, and what will never be again. Time moves forward and only forward. It will never to be revisited, never be re-experienced, and my dragons are lost to that world –forever. Now they dwell in my garden, protected and treasured, as they were not when they were alive on the earth."
The God and Eragon were quiet for a time. Although empathetic to the fate of the dragons, Eragon could not help but revel in the feeling of the life-giving power that the Dragon God's body constantly released.
"So much power," Eragon whispered.
"Yes, I am powerful."
Remembering one of his many pleas to the Dragon God, when he had been alive, Eragon asked, "Can you not make more dragons and slip them into the world where they would do the most good for their race?"
"Yes, I have that power; however, I will not unmake existence for the continuance of a race that has long lost its ability to hear me."
Curiosity, the trait that had so defined his character while alive, ignited within Eragon's soul, and he asked, "Did they just stop listening?"
"Yes."
"Even Glaedr?"
"Especially giant golden Glaedr. I wanted him to be Saphira's first coupling. I wanted him to be with Saphira through her first clutch. Instead, he listened to the elves and to his rider, only to die without contributing to the future. Because of a perceived impropriety of an ancient male mating with a yearling female, it caused his long life to become ultimately useless to his kind. Instead he enriched the lives of thousands of elves, but he spared nothing for his kin."
"Yes, I thought so as well – many times," said Eragon, as he continued to twist and twine his soul around the perfect dragon body.
"I know you have. I have heard your thoughts and your prayers throughout your entire life. I have always heard my people and their cries for help. I have never been deaf to their suffering. No, they grew deaf to me."
"You should force them to listen to you. You are their God and it is your right to demand their attention."
"Yes, it is my right; however, if I were to demand their compliance, they would no longer be my children upon the earth, they would instead become my slaves, arbitrators of my will upon the world. They would not love me, as is right, but fear me, as is wrong."
Eragon's soul flickered with indecision and he finally stopped stroking the Dragon God's body. He said, "I am sorry. I do not know how to help you. Please forgive me."
The Dragon God turned his head to regard the distraught soul and said, "There is nothing to forgive, for you have never angered or denied me. Always you have carried on with me in your thoughts. You cared for my children, even when they turned against you. You tried to be their father, their teacher, in a world that grew increasingly critical against them. You sought help for them, you fought for them, and you sacrificed for them. My children, during your lifetime, had declined too much to be appreciative of your labors. Despite the end of my children, your efforts have earned you a boon. What will you have of me?"
Eragon was certain that the Dragon God already knew what he would request, but still, the God allowed him the semblance of making his own decision. Eragon pondered his options. He could request to forever be in the presence of the God and, should that be his true request, Eragon knew it would be granted. He could also ask for another life amongst the peoples of the earth, with a chance to have a normal family of his own, or he could ask for eternal peace. He could even ask to know all of the secrets of the universe and the knowledge would be given to him.
How wonderful the Dragon God was to offer him this gift. Of all the possibilities available, Eragon knew that his heart still lay with the original problem he had left behind during his previous life. His soul unwound from his God and floated before the God's opalescent eyes.
He said, "I would ask for a way to save the dragons. I spent most of my life trying to save them, but without the addition of Glaedr, the green, and Shruikan to the bloodline, I failed. Saphira did not deserve to die as she had, nor did she deserve to see the line of her descendents wither through the generations. I would ask for her happiness, for healthy hatchlings, and for a future for dragons."
"You believe that dragons deserve a second chance upon the earth."
"Yes, I do."
"You would prefer that Saphira have a second chance as well."
"Yes."
"Therefore, you are asking me to alter events of the world so that dragons will flourish."
"Yes."
The Dragon God shook his head at the selflessness of the idea, and he said, "You do not truly understand what you ask for. For something to live, something else must die. Always, this cycle rotates and must be protected. You ask for dragons, I say who will protect the world's population of deer and other pray animals? Who will ensure their continued survival against an ambush predator that swoops down from the sky? Everything with flesh on its body is food to a dragon. What will happen when one of my children eats one of the elves or humans of the world? Once again, there will be slaughter amongst the thinking races and all will return to where we are right now. Such a venture is useless, unless my children learn restraint."
"Restraint can be learned. Dragons are smart and, with proper guidance, have shown restraint."
"You are thinking of Saphira and Thorn when you talk of dragons and restraint; however, those two were riders' dragons, not wild dragons. They were leashed to their partner through a mind bond since their hatching. There was immense influence on their mental development as a consequence of that bond. They were more like their human partners than they ever were like true, wild dragons."
"Their hatchlings were wild," Eragon pointed out.
The Dragon God nodded that yes, Eragon was correct in his assertion about the hatchlings' wildness, before saying, "And did they show restraint?"
Eragon could not lie to the Dragon God. The God knew all of his thoughts and feelings. Their conversation was merely for his own understanding of the events that had shaped his life. Nothing discussed in this realm of nothingness was for the Dragon God's benefit. Everything was for the Eragon, so that he might accept the outcome of his life.
Finally, Eragon conceded the point and said, "No. The hatchlings were always motivated by their immediate needs and desires. As they grew into adults, their motives changed from immediate personal survival to mating. I tried to coach them through partner selection, and I tried to keep track of the young from each pairing, but they purposefully flew away from me to hatch their eggs. They made it impossible for my involvement, and since there was never another alternative for mates, they refused to stop the incest even after there were five or seven generations separating family lines. Their needs and their convenience seemed to always trump their common sense."
"Yes, I know. With no authority figure to enforce proper breeding habits, my children became sick, and deformed. Thorn and Saphira could not hold the proper influence upon their young because they were always more committed to their riders and the world's problems than they ever were to their own race.
"I am sorry. I would not have been a rider if I had known that it caused such problems."
Amusement suffused the Dragon God's voice as he said, "You, Eragon, were not a detriment to the dragon race. Your existence did not hurt the survival of dragons."
"If not me, then what?"
Pity shown in the God's expression for the fate of his children, and sadness saturated his tone as he explained, "It was my children's pride in themselves and in their own great strength that finally hurt them. They could not hear me when I spoke warnings against a young rider and his desire for another dragon. My children could not hear me and therefore, could not heed me, when I spoke of violence upon the horizon. No, Eragon, my children were very active in perpetuating their own doom."
"So this is truly the end for dragons? Is there no way that I can change their destiny?"
"Oh, Eragon, there is always a way; however, do you truly wish to pay the toll for such a path."
"What would be the sacrifice?"
"The sacrifice will be your dreams of a stable family unit. There will be no one female or male companion for you if you travel towards this destiny."
"But will the dragons survive?"
"Yes, the dragons will survive."
"And Saphira?"
"She will live, but she will no longer be tied to you. She will be tied to the dragon-rider of her choice, as has always been the destiny for her."
"What will happen to me?" Eragon finally asked, feeling that there was a trick within the God's explanation that he was not readily seeing.
"If you choose this course as your boon, you can not return to your previous life as you were. You will no longer be Eragon, the dragon-rider. You will become my representative to my children. Your body will be used to grow the dragon race and your heart and mind will belong to me, in order to hear me and to spread my words amongst my children."
"That does not seem so much a sacrifice. I would be happy to be your priest upon the earth."
"Eragon, ever faithful and loyal."
"How will my body grow more dragons? Will I become a dragon too, in order to fulfill your will?"
"Such a creation I made; so smart and intuitive. – Yes, Eragon, you will become one of my children, but you will never completely belong to them. Your body will be different, your color will be different, and your mind will be different."
"How so?" Eragon asked curiously.
"Your body will neither be female or male, it will be both, and it will be neither. It will be a body of special design where my will can be worked through you. Through your essence, I will determine the paternity of each new hatchling. Young from your body will never be full-blooded siblings as the offspring from other mating pairs. Through this, I will integrate new genetics into the gene pool, so that never again, will my children be forced into the incestuous cycle of old. If brother must mate sister, the two will only be half related, and the hatchlings of such a union will be born healthy and whole."
"I am sorry, but I do not think I understand."
"Eragon, your new body will have the capability of fertilizing eggs and laying eggs. You are my only true disciple and, with this difference, you can and will play female to an un-partnered male, just as you will play male to an un-partnered female. Your mission, in this life I will give you, is to produce and to teach the young dragons the ways of the world. Your difference and your immediate involvement in many of their existences will ensure that they will listen to you and, through you, to me. Together, we will teach our children restraint and how to live amongst men."
"Yes. I choose this. I choose this option."
"My sweet Eragon, of course you would. Relax now; there will be no pain. Only life."
"Yes."
Power swirled around Eragon, and he felt his soul compressed into a body. His body was folded and twisted upon itself, to the point that Eragon could not adequately determine which way was up. After a while, his confinement grew uncomfortable and Eragon stretched. He felt resistance to his stretching and Eragon wiggled, searching for that ever-elusive comfortable position. However, everyway he positioned himself, he felt his body ache. The imprisonment of his body pressed him on all sides. He could not move his hips, and his knees were always in the way of his nose. His horns constantly poked the flesh of his arms and even sometimes poked his tail. His sense of discomfort grew until he could no longer take it.
Bracing his hind feet against the hard floor, he pushed. He pushed and he wiggled and he readjusted to push again. When he was tired, he rested; but always, he was compelled to push and claw and batter at his confinement. He never gave up and his efforts obtained results.
There was a cracking throughout his dark world. He paid it no mind, too desperate for more space. The crack groaned and spread and, finally, the confining wall gave way to the force of his shoving and Eragon's tiny horned head fell into the world.
Eragon peeped in surprise to have his world of darkness suddenly give way to light and color. The smells overwhelmed him and, for a moment, he missed the constancy and captivity of his egg; however, now with an opening, his body kept expanding and refused to be folded so tightly ever again. With his first breath of the outside world, his longs inflated and the cracking of his egg-world told him that his safe haven would not last much longer.
Using his shoulders, Eragon forced the opening wider and wider, until he could pull his forelegs out of his shell. He used his paws to claw the ground and heave him the rest of the way out of his egg. His tail lashed wildly behind him, smashing the rest of his egg into glittering shards. His wrinkled and delicate wings immediately extended towards the warm sun and he was grateful for the space to finally stretch.
Author's Note: I know, another Eragon becomes a dragon story; however, I plan to make my idea more original. Please let me know what you think. I value your opinions, because a lot of the times, your questions or comments help me determine the holes in my story, or mistakes that I have made. Thank you for reading.