The two moons were shinning into the sky, as they cast their mixed glow across the land, mixing red and blue in order to create a slightly purple tone into the sky, which cast an gosthly glow over the earth bellow it.
Gale looked at the position of the moons, to check the time that it was. It was in the beggining of the night, and there was still around eight hours until the sun would rise again. In that moment, he felt grateful that he was forced to have these survival classes back into his temple, for he had learned to survive. He and Obe would probably not have made it very far if it wasn't for the knowledge he gained from them.
He just picked up a few more fruits, now carrying a lot of them in his foreleg, and he finally flew back to their small camp.
Well, if that could be called a camp.
It consisted only into a fire made inside a small clearing big enough only to fit them both in there, and with barelly space for them to take flight, forcing them to walk to get in and out. Still, it was the best choice, for they were probably being hunted out since the village.
The place was good because it gave them a good covering, keeping them hidden, at the sqame time that prevented some aereal ambush, so, it was a good choice.
Gale barelly believed that it already made three days since the attack happened. Three days since Obe's temple was attacked and most dragons in there were brutally slain by these strange dragons. Three days since they were forced to run and hide in order to be able to stay aloive and keep all the others safe.
Three days since Obe's father was murdered.
Gale entered into their hidding spot that they had choosen for the night, and he saw the small fire that was made in the center. Near it, was the form of Oberon, curled over herself, looking saddly at the fire. Her face was still stayned by tears as she didn't even raised her head to look at Gale as he walked inside.
The grey colored dragon looked at her, and he walked close. "Hey, look what I got!" He sais, showing off the fruits he got. "The trees in here are great! It seems that it is in the harvest time! I guess we are lucky."
However, the smile that there was on his face weakened when he saw no reaction from Oberon. She only kept staring saddly at the fire, as if she hadn't even heard his voice.
He looked over, and saw the fruits he had separated for her i that same morning, they simply laid there untouched. She was refusing to eat since that day. She was refusing to talk to him, and she wasn't even sleeping. Gale had never saw her like that, and that was leaving him deeply worried.
However, he could understand. He probably would be the same way if what happened to her had happened to him. He could not imagine what would have happened to him and what he would do if he had saw his temple being burned down. If all the ones he knew from the temple, who were also his family, had been mercilessly slain like them. If his own father had died in frotn of his very eyes, by giving his life to save his'.
He could not even imagine what Obe was going through right now. He could not imagine the suffering she was passing, but he knew that she was suffering. Anyone could notice it only by looking at her.
He approached her, and he said gently "Obe, you need to eat." He said, putting a few fruits in front of her. She only looked at it, looking sad and tired, her eyes bloodshot from the crying. She shifted slightly, and Gale could get a glimpse of the bracers, which were still in her ankles.
They were still shinning as much as in the day night she showed him the first time. They were somewhat stained with dirty and mud, that they got from the three days out in the wilderness. They were also stayned by small dropplets of blood, which came from the wounds that Oberon had around the bracers. She had got these wounds by trying to get them off. She had spinned, pulled, bitten and scratched them in attempts to make them come out, but all these attempts proved to be fruitless. Gale had to stop her from trying to take them out when he saw thyat ehr attemps were hurting herself, otherwise, he feared that she might ended up bitting her own paws off just to get the bracers out.
The bracers had got stuck in her arms and they had not moved since that day. It was like the bracers simply didn't wanted to come out. And these bracers were the cause of everything. Because of them the temple was raiden and burned down. The leader of the dragons in armors was searchign for these bracelets specifically. It was totally clear since night one.
Oberon noticed his look at the bracers, and she goraned to herself, and hid them under her wings. These bracelets only served to remember her what she had lost. All the lives that had been lost that day uselessly. These two bracelets were the cause of all her misfortunes. And now she couldn't even taken them off to throw them away and never have to look at them again. Maybe they were cursed...
Gale looked at her, and he sighed. "Obe, you need to eat." He said, gently pushing the fruits to her, and she only looked at it, and turned her head. Gale sighed at this. He knew that it wuld take time, and he knew that pushing her would not help in absolutelly nothing. He really wished that he could do something.
But he couldn't, there was nothing he could do about it. He knew it. He knew that nothing he could say or do would be able to ease her pain inside, no matter hiow much he tried. This time, he simply could not help her. And this pained him very much.
He could only sigh, and said, "Well, I'll leave it here, in case you feel hungry." He said, and looked at the night sky, full of stars, and he added "Obe... At least try to get some sleep, okay? We will need to keep moving by the morning." And with that said, he silently walked away, and put the fire down with a small grey cloud that rained over it.
And then, he laid in the gorund, and he said, "Good night, Obe." And he lowered his head to sleep. All that was left behind now was the silence. A silence that made Obe's feelings feel even heavier.
She only curled over herself to sleep, only letting the feelings of sorrow and giref fill her deep as she reflected all that had happned exactly three days ago. She could still remember the fire. She could still see the scared expressions of the dragons who were held hostage. She could hear the cries and screams of all the dragons who were killed, even if she was not there herself to hear them. She could still see her father.
She could see his blood. She could still see the expression on his face when he died. She could still feel the touch of his paw gently over her face. She could still see the light leaving his eyes.
She shifted in her sleep, tears running down her cheeks as she remembered it. She could still recall it with disturbing clarity, as it had happened exactly as in that same night. She could see it everytimeshe closed her eyes, and she could still recall it with great clarity each time she tried to sleep, what made she wake up crying and panting. That was why she was afraid to go to sleep. She could not affort seeing that all over again. She could not handle it.
So, she was trying not to sleep, however, she had been doing it for some nights now, and this was taking its tool on her. She was feeling so tired and so exasted, and she could simply not hold it for longer.
She tried to stay awake. To stay away from the dreams that would only make her go through all the suffering of that night all over again. To see the fire, the blood, the black eyes of the leader of these dragons, and her father's death. She didn't wanted to go throught all of that again. She just would not handle it. She ws not so strong. She never was as strong as her fatehr and the rest of her cult expected her to be. Even with her abilities, she was not so strong. She didn't thguht she would be able to handle it if she went through all of that again.
She tried to stay awake and away from these dreams. However, the night she had passed fighting sleep had alredy weighted down on her, and she was finding harder and harder to keep her eyes open to keep the sleep away. She grunted a little, to try to shake that feeling of tiredness away, but it was not leaving. After a few minutes, it was becoming very hard to resist the urge to simply let her mind go and fal to the lands of dreams, didn't mattering what was waiting for her in there.
After a while, she finally succumbed to the sleep, and then, her eyelids closed, allowing her body to rest, as her mind drifted to the world of dreams.
The temple was burning all around her. She could hear the cries, the shouts, the screams. Her temple was being destroyed all around her and she could do nothing about it. She tried to blow wind, but her powers were nto working. She didn't understood why, she just couldn't do anything.
She even tried to move and to rush to there to do something, but she found that her forelegs were glued to the ground. She looked at the bracelets in ehr ankles, to see that they looked now mor like anklecuffs, and they were sackled to the ground by heavy shackels, rendering her completelly unable to move and to do anything.
All she could do now was to watch around her, seeing the temple burning, seeing the dragons in armors laugh and let out warcries as they raided and destroyed her temple.
She was horrified. She wanted to do something, but she couldn't. There was nothing she could do. She lowered her hed, and started top cry and to sob, as she could do nothing, and was completelly powerless over this whole thing. The cries and the sound of fire filling the air around her, and only adding to her desperation.
She cried hard, tears flowing continuously from her eyes and falling to the ground. She just wanted it to end! She wanted to shut out and to every to stop!
Then, all of sudden, there was silence.
The cries and the sound of the fire had ceased, as well as any sound. For a moment, it seemed that even the wind had stopped to blow. Exitantly, Oberon raised her head, and she looked around. The world around her seemed to have frozen. Dragons, fire, and all the rest ws paralized in mid-air, not moving a single inch, as if someone had stopped time itself.
She blinked confused, as she looked around, tryign to make sense of this. During this, she saw one single figure moving, and it was walking in her direction. She gasped, and looked at the figure that approached her. That figure seemed to be enveloped into some kind of light, and it did not allowed her to see the exact features, but she could say it was a dragoness, definitelly a dragoness.
The dragoness come untilo she was near her, and stood right in front of her. For a long moment, neither of them said a single word. Oberon was looking the dragoness up and down, trying to make sense of any feature that could help her have a clue of the identity of that dragoness that was sitting in frotn of her.
She found nothing that would give her a clear idea, however, she felt somethign strange. It wasa feeling of familiarity, as if she already knew that dragoness. As if she was a friend that she had logn time ago and had forgotten. Oberon could not explain this feeling, but it was there, and it was somewhat unsettling.
But, thinking again, it was not much more than the fact that the whole world was literally standing still as she and the dragoness seemed to be almost making an staring contest.
After a while, Oberon decided to finally talk, and she said, "Hmmm, hi?"
The dragoness answered, "Hello, Oberon Strongclaw."
The voice was very kind, and yet, it was filled with some short of strange energy, that inspired both awe and calmness at the same time. However, Oberon still jumped slightly when she heard her voice, for she had not actually expected an answer.
The dragoness seemed to notice her fear, and she said, "Don't be scared." With a very gentle tone, yet, a voice full of power behind it. "I'm not here to hurt you."
For some reason, Oberon felt like she could trust that misterious dragoness. She just felt it, and somehow, it was exactly what she was doing. She felt much more relaxed, but this only lasted until she looked around one more time, and saw the destruction that ws all around her.
"My temple..." She started, but the dragoness seemed to already know what she was going to say.
"There is nothing to be done."
"We hafe to save them!" Oberon said, looking around. "The time has stopped, right? We can use this and help them! Take them all to safety."
The dragoness looked at her. Oberon could not make out her eyes, however, she knew that the dragoness was looking straight at her. It was a sensation inside of her. She could just feel the look of the dragoness over her.
"It has already happpened." The dragoness said, as the scenary around them satrted to vanish. "We cannot change the past. We can't change what happened. I'm sorry."
She semeed to be genuinelly sad when she said that, as Oberon could notice, and the temple on fire around them have vanished completelly. Now they were standing in the middle of a white void.
Oberon looked down, and saw that the shackles in her arms were no longer shackles, they were the bracelets. The same that had caused all of this mess.
"I can't belive all of that was because of these." Oberon said, more to herself than to the dragoness. "They can't be that valuable."
"They are." Said the dragoness, still enveloped by strong white light, and she said, "It is not because of their value in gold or jewels, but because of what they can do."
"Huh?" Oberon said, looking at the dragoness. "W-what do you know about this? Who are you?" She asked her, now wanting some answers. The dragoness looked at her, and she said. "Young child. Do you mind if I tell you a story?"
Oberon didn't got why there was this sudden change, she wanted to tell her that she had no time for stories, nd that she wanted answers. The dragoness seemed to read her mind, because she immediatelly said, "I'll give you all the answers that you need, if you listen to my story."
Oberon looked at her for a few seconds, and after a while she decided to go with the flow. Closing her eyes and giving a defeated sigh, Oberon simply nodded her head, signalling that she was accepting.
"What kind of story is that?" Oberon asked, and the dragoness said, "It is one story that gives birth to many other stories."
"It is one story that is related to the past, before your own story could began. It is one story that might tell you many things, and give you many answers. Both the ones you seek right now, and others that you didn't knew that you needed. It is one story that you might be the frist dragoness to know the true version."
Oberon looked at her as she developed it. Oberon was having a very strange feeling, that was awfully familiar to her, as it was everythign about that mysterious dragoness.
"What story?" She asked, and she gave one step closer. "Who are you?"
As soon as she made that question, the light started to subdue, and for the first time, she was allowed to have a good look into the dragoness that was right before her.
She had a slender body, and a very magnificent look and pose. She was covered from head to tow into jewels, all of them having in them one or more precious stones, all of them of different colors, all which seemed to be worth more money than it should be possible to have in the world. She had a ten long horns crowning her head, and her tailblade was shaped like a lance. She was beautiful, and her eyes were of a pure gold color, and they seemed to shine on their own. However, the most striking feature, was the regal purple that was the color of all the scales of her body.
Oberon's eyes widened, when she seemed to realize just who was standing in front of her. All of the appearence of her that was shown, now allowed her to easilly recognize that dragoness. From all the paintings, and statues and all the vittrals from her temple.
The purple dragoness smiled at Oberon, and she said, "My name is Draconia, and this is the story of how I became the goddess of dragon kind."
Before Oberon was able to form any kind of word or to even articulate a coeherent thought at what was happening in fornt o fher in that same moment, the world around her started to change.
Blinding white light flowed all the ambient around her, and the world itself spun as if she was inside a hurricane.
It lasted only less than a minute, though, for soon, the light was subsiding, as shapes started to form into the world around her. Soon, Oberon herself felt like she was beign dragged inside the world, as if she was becoming only a part of it, and only an espectator, as the lights itself seemed to bent to form something.
It was inside a great construction, in it, along the hallway, walked a lonely young purple dragoness. She had a slender body and her head was adorned by ten long and slender horns, curving backwards as if they were really a crown. She had a neutral expression and her golden eyes were focused on the path ahead of her as she walked forward.
The hallway in which she was had a long, metal wall in one side, while the other was a long wall of panel glasses forming windows, which gave vision to a magnificent city, all constructed into iron and glass, all and each bulding raising magnificent from the ground against the purple colored sky, illuminated by a big, white sun.
The young dragoness looked to the side very briefly, to look at the city in which she lived. She would have stopped to take a good look at the brightness and the beauty that the city was in this beautiful day, with barelly no clouds and their sun shining. But she knew that she didn't had time. She had to be in class soon, otherwise she woudl be in trouble.
She looked forward to the hallway she was in and she started going faster, almost running in her way, before she finally arrived in a big metal door. She stopped in front of it, and in a few seconds, one artificial voice said, "Please, identification."
"Draconia Agmalias." Said the young purple dragoness without one second of hesitation. "Coming for the particular classes with Mr. Karunian."
There was a few seconds, as the small red dot on top of the door emitted a stream of red light, which passed by the purple dragoness from her head to her feet. Draconia remained perfectly immobile as she was scanned, and after a while, the door said, "Identity confirmed. You are late. Mr. Karunian is waiting for you."
Draconia rooled her eyes, and she soon walked inside.
After another quick hallway, she found herself in the middle of yet another room. This one resembeld very much a dojo, with a floor covered into some short of substance that was used to mimic soft grass. There were several targets placed around the place, and the walls... actually, it seemed that there were no walls, once the place seemed to be an large, open field, with the purple sky above and with the white sun shining down at them, as the grass-like floor seemed to expand forever.
In there, there was a single adult dragon, who looked at Draconia. This dragon was a very imposing figure. Like the young dragoness, he was purple in color, but his scales had a stronger and darlker shade of purple, with a few white streaks over his paws and on the side of his neck. His horns were long and heavy, and he had seven of them on his head. His tailblade was shaped like the edge of a sword, and it looked like could be a very deadly weapon during a battle. Even if this dragon was scary, in many aspects, the expression on his face was far from it. His expression was serene and calm, and his shappire-colored eyes seemed to be welcoming and very shooting as they looked at the purple dragoness.
Draconia looked back at the dragon, and she bowed slightly, "Sorry for the lateness. I had troubles to get here." She said, and the older dragon, her teacher, simply said, "Yeah, I imagined."
He smiled at her, a calm and welcoming smile that made her all the more calm about it. He winked at her, and he said, "Well, since i was taking a meditative nap, I guess it don't have trouble, right?"
Draconia smiled back at him, and the older dragon cleared his throat, and he said, "Well, lets start now, shall we?" And with that he gestured to the targets. Draconia nodded, with a quick "yessir" and she soon was ready.
She breathed deeply as she looked at the targets in front of her, and soon, she opened her mouth, and a stream of flames flew from her mouth, coming from inside of her, and it hit the target deadly in the center, making it explode in flames, and soon, it vanished.
Draconia turned to the other targets, and she repeated the process. However, this time, one bolt of pure lightning flew from her mouht, hitting thetarget right in the center. The target trembled and soon it vanished, explosing into dots of data and energy.
Draconia turned to the next targets, and she repeated it three more times. In the first, she let out a ball of pure spinning wind, which hit the target , making it fly away and dematerialize into the air. In the second, she shoot several shards of stone, like a machine gun, and they all hit the target, making it be completelly pulverized as it vanished. Finally, in the thirdy target, she shoot a stream of very focused water, like a geiser, which would create a very damagin attack to any other target, making it be destroyed only by the sheer power of the stream, as water hitting any target.
However, the water seemed to hit something before it could hit the target, as if there was a invisible barrier around said target.
"Huh?" Draconia looked surprised at the target, and she looked at her teacher, who only smirked back at her. She took only a moment to realize that she had to figure it out somehow.
So, she looked at the target. At first glance, it seemed that tere was nothing out of the ordinary about it. Draconia took a deep breath, and let go a wave of ice icicles over the target. Once again, the icicles hit something that seemed to be a barrier, as all of them broke into pieces right beofre they had hit the target square on.
Draconis snalred slightly, and she breathed a turrent of flames, and they had the same effect, as if the fire had hit a barrier in the middle of the way. The target still rested there, peacefully, as if nothign was happening around it.
Draconia looked intently at the target. There was a barrier around it, and there was no doubt. Liquids, solids, and even energy seemed to be blocked out by the barrier. However, the barrier had to have a weak spot. It just there had to have a way of getting through it. Well, it would be easier if the barrier was not invisible...
Wait.
There is it!
It is invisible! This means that it can't be perceived by normal sight. It can't be perceived because light did not bounced back in it and came back. The barrier didn't blocked light!
Draconia smirked to herself, as she had just figured out the solution to this riddle. She took a long breath, and soon, some white shine started to form into her mouth, and she opened it, and a coeherent stream of the purest light jumped out of her mouth, and flew right in direction to the target.
As the young dragoness predicted, the beam of light passed straight and hit the target right in the center, opening a hole in it, as if there was never a barrier around it. The beam of light continued its path past the target, dissapreaing in the distance, when Draconia finally stopped.
The target now had a hole on its center, and it soon dematerialized into dots of data and energy, just like the others. Draconia stood there, with her chest puffed out in pride, as she looked at her teacher. The older purple dragon looked at her, and smiled, saying, "Well done."
This was enough to make the young dragoness' ego swell a little more, and she had her head high in a sigh of pride. Her teacher could only chuckle at himsef, and he said, "So, lets continue with the training now, shall we?"
"Yessir!" Said the young dragoness as she looked at her teacher, and soon, he looked up, and spoke, "Training session 0225h6889, starting now!"
The room itself than started to change, until they were in the middle of a vulcanic ambientation, and soon, createres emerged from the ground. They seemed begins made out of magma and rock. Draconia smirked, as she took the first line, as the creatures started to advance against her. Her teacher only stood into the background, watching intently as his studdent started to train.
Hours passed, and the vulcaninc terrain was won, as well as the ones that cmae after, which varied from a swamp enviroment to a enviromnet of sky, and even an enviroment of near total darkness. Finally, they had finished the training into a great forest, and pieces of destroyed wood from the plant creatures that had appeared to fight laid destroyed all around Draconia.
Soon, all these pieces started to vanish, as the voice said, "Training complete." And soon, the ambient all around her started to vanish, and soon, she found hersefl in the place that she really was, a wide room with white walls all aroudn, with blue circuit like lights into all the walls, floor and ceilling.
Draconia smiled at herself for havign completed all of the challenges that had came in her way, like she did everytime. She looked back, and she saw her teacher, walking to her with a smile on his face, and he said, "You only get better and better each day, Draconia."
"Thank you, Mr. Karunian." She said, and the older dragon chuckled, "I already told you many times, young girl, you might call me Ominon."
She nodded, but the older dragon was alsmot sure that it had enetered by one earhole and came out by the other. The young purple dragoness was too used to treat others formally to allow herself to call her teacher by his first name. It didn 't mattered if they had been meeting each other for a few years now, and that they had gotten really close, to the point of she sayign that he was one of her best friends, she still kept all the formalities.
The older dragon looked down at her, and he said, "You still amaze me as how quickly you are developing. If I myself was as skilled as you when I was your age." He said, and he let out a sigh, and he looked down at her. "That thing you did last is new, isn't it?"
She smiled, and she said, "Yes, it is, I was able to form condensation by combining the water and wind, and the crete electricity inside the condensation to create an eletrical storm over the area!" She was very proud as she said it. And her teacher chuckled with her too "I'm glad to see that you are still training on your own, like I suggested you to do."
"Yes, and I'm still improving!" She said it rather happily. "At this rate I'll quickly be the best!"
The older dragon looked at her for a few seconds, and he seemed about to say something, but it seemed that he had second-guessed it, and now he was looking away, in silence. However, draconia noticed that he had suddenly adopted another kind of look on his features. He almost looked... guilty?
"Mr. Karunian?" She asked, and the older dragon seemed not to notice, as if he was thinking on somethign far to absorbing to give her proper attention. She looked at him, and she said, "Ailary?"
Hearing his first name seemed to make to older dragon return to reality, and he looked down at the young dragoness, who was looking up at him with worried eyes. "It is something wrong?" She asked him, and the older dragon looked down at her for a few moments, as if he was wondering what answer he should give to her.
After a while, he smiled, and said, "Nothing at all, young one. I was just distracted."
His expression said that it was all okay, so Draconia only nodded, accepting the answer her teacher was giving to her. Soon after, he said, "Well, I think this is our training for today. You betterget going, your parents aren't going to be very satisfied if you get late."
"Oh, right!" said the young Draconia, and she said, "See you tomorrow." And she quickly went to the door, and walked outside, leaving the older dragon alone in the room.
As the doors closed, the older dragon dropped his smile, and he lowered his head, looking at the ground. Even with all they had told him, even with all the excuses they had gave to him and all the facts they had exposed to him. One part of him lknew perfectly well that what they were doing with that poor girl was wrong...
By his side, was Oberon, who was watching him.
Till now, she had been watching only as a passive onlooker. As if she was a oniscient presence all around the place, looking at everything, feeling everything and, untill a certain point, knowing everything. She had even knew what the young purple dragonss and the older purple dragon were thinking.
And she was barelly even understanding.
What was that? What was the meaning of this? What was that place? Who was that older dragon?
Oberon was not sure of what she was seeing and what did it meant. She had just saw something that she could only describe as magic, as it was show into that room that changed. However, the rest was a total riddle to her.
For all she had been taught, Draconia was the ancient and first goddess. She was the creator of dragon kind, and as so, she was taught that Draconia had existed before all the other things.
Right now, however, it seemed that somethign else had existed before Draconia. Not only that, but also, it seemed that Draconia had already been younger at some point, something that did not exactly fit into the commom description of gods, since they all were already powerful. This was reinforced by this strange "training". As if she had to acquire power, just like any mortal would. And also, there was the fact that Draconia showed abilities that were, in a way, very similar to her's.
And there was that older dragon. Who was he? He was another god? A god that had existed before Draconia? If he was, then why Oberon never even heard about him before? Surely, the god who was responsible for helping Draconia becoming powerful should have been mentioned in some vertent of the religion. Maybe he was so ancient that he was long forgotten?
The more Oberon thought about the things that were being show to her, the less she seemed to understand. What was that palce they were in? It was the realm of the gods? It was a celestial place? What was the meaning of all of that? And what it had to do with the what had happened to her?
As on clue, a voice suddenly answered.
"Yes, I admit it is hard to understand."
She quickly turned her head to look at Draconia, who was right on her side. The goddess of dragons had a very serene expression as she looked at her, and soon, her vision turned to the purple dragon who stood in there, and her eyes melted in the purest sorrow.
"His name was Ailary Karunian." She said, as if she could feel the question forming into Oberon's mind before she was even able to make something coeherent from it. "He was my teacher when I was really young, many eons ago, and he was also my dearest friend."
Oberon looked at him, who seemed to have froze in time, along witht he ambient around him, just like in the fire, and she looked at Draconia. She realized that Draconia had said that he was her teacher and friend. In the past, as if he was not anymore.
"What happened?" She asked, and then, Draconia looked at her. In her eeys, she saw sorrow and grief, and after a few seconds, Draconia answered to her, her voice full of sadness.
"He died long ago." She looked at the ground as she said it. "He sacrificed himself to save me."
This had send shivers up Oberon's spine. The way Draconia talked it was if it was almsot physically painful to her. Oberon looked back at the purple dragon, taking a very good look at his features. After a while, she turned back at the purple goddess, and she asked, careful not to make the purple dragoness even sadder than she alredy was. "H-he was a god too?"
Draconia let out a heavy sigh, and she looked at Oberon, and she said, "No, he was a mortal. Just like I was at that time."
These words made Oberon mind stop as she processed what she had just heard.
She... she had heard it right?
Draconia was... a mortal?
That... That just...just didn't made sense... That went exactly against all she had always been taught into the most basic of the religion. Draconia was a goddess, and she ahd always been, who had come from above in order to create life into the earth in the form of the dragons. Creatures that she had made to her image and resemblance.
Knowing that the great purple goddess had once been mortal...
This information not only made her question many of what had been taught to her, but also, brought to her mind a whole new wave of questions, questions that no one would have probably even wondered to make.
Draconia only looked at the other purple dragoness as she saw the confusion spread through her features. She knew that the young one would have a hard time dealing with this, Draconia simply stood there for a few moments, as she let what she had just said sink into her mind enough so she would be able to continue with the young one keeping track of what she was saying.
"I'm sure it is a lot to take." The goddess said once Oberon seemed to have becoming more aware of her surroundings, and the younger purple dragoness looked at her, and she mumbled. "W-what... who... how..."
Draconia soon said, "Sorry, I guess I went to forward. I should have explained better." She apologized, and soon, she was speaking, "Well, the first thing you should know, is that I was born a long time ago, as a mortal, just like you."
Oberon looked straight at her as she was driking on the explanation that the goddess of dragons was offering to her. "Your legends all agreed that I came from far beyond this world, and, in a way, they are right." She explained, as the world around decomposed in light, and she started to explain.
"I was born far away from the world you call your home." She explained, as suddenly, Oberon found herself surrounded by stars and galaxies, as she seemed to be floating in the void, alongside Draconia, who was giving all this explanation to her.
"I was born... here!" She said, pointing at one single globe that floated across the vastitude of the void. One small planet that floated among all the stars, and was relativelly close to a star that very much resembled the sun in her world, which was pure white in color.
"This is my homeworld, the place I have grew up into." Draconia continued to explain, making sure that Oberon was following all the explanation that she was offering to her. "My people still call it Ardalias. Sometimes I look at it, to see how thoings are still going in there."
Oberon nodded, and she took special interest when Draconia talked "her people". She wanted to ask about it, and once again, as if she could read her mind, the goddess started to explain.
"I'm part of a race that developed in there far longer than you can imagine, child. We called ourselves Sautarians." She said to the young dragoness. "Our more striking features were the presence of the six limbs in our bodies, quite uncommon for big creatures with an internal squeleton. Also, we were easilly recognizable for our whole race had, for the colors of our scales, different sahdes and variations or purple."
A whole world full of purple dragons... Dragons just like Draconia... Like her...
Oberon munched this information, as she looked at that small ball of earth and water that was the place draconia had originally came from. She imagined what would be like living in a world like that, where everyone was just like you in color.
Then, one thought came over Oberon's mind.
"Hmmm, Miss Draconia?" She asked as respectfully as it was possible, and the older purple dragoness looked at her, and the younger dragoness looked at her. "During your... training, I heard you comment that you were going to be the best." She said slowly and carefully, knowing that it was smart not to anger the goddess of her kind. "Does this menas that... other people... from your kind... can also do these things?"
Draconia looked at her with smart eyes, evaluating her, and Oberon felt somehow exposed, as if her very soul and mind were being examined by these watchful eyes. After a while, she seeemed to decide that Oberon was worth knowing, for she continued, "Among our kind, there is an even more distinguish feature that made us famous."
Draconia looked at her as she explained, "We all have our own source of internal power, a short of 'magic', so to speak." She looked at oberon as she kept explaining, the younger purple dragoness had her eyes glued on her as she explained. "Some of us, the gifted ones, or the ones who worked harder for it, are able to awaken this internal force, or what we call Ark'tamuh, and manifest it as some special display of power, generating energy, events or even matter from our bodies, most of it manifesting as aspects of the nature powers and elements."
"Like my wind abilities." Oberon thought to herself, and she only nodded at the older and much more imposing dragoness, who continued. "It is not uncommon for these abilities to be awaken or unlocked by someone of our kind, and them, these young gifted ones have to start to train with theiur abilities, in order to learn how to use and to control them."
"So, all the ones of your kind can do all that you did?" Oberon asked, beign extremelly careful to remain respectful. However, she regreted having asked it, for in that moment, for a single second, she could see over draconia's face more sorrow than she thought it was possible to exist. If it had lasted one single moment more, she would have fallen to her feet, crying, begging forgiveness for making she feel that emotion, and trying to confort her the best way she could.
Luckyli for her, it lasted only a single moment, for Draconia soon took a deep breath, and resumed her usual behavior that she had showed until now. "Usually, the ones who awaken the Ark'tamuh manifest only a very specific form of it, resulting in each one holding a different form of it. For someone to be able to hold two different kinds of it, is something that is extremelly rare, and more than that was never reported in all of our history... Until I was born."
There were a few minutes of silence, and Oberon remained silent, as it she imagined was the wisest thing to do at that moment, in respect for Draconia. However, she could not avoid to notice the look that the goddess had in her face, which was one that gave her the feeling that she was deeply moved by whatever it was. It was as if this matter was a rather delicate one, and it seemed that Draconia actually was not very found on talking about it.
"M-miss Draconia." She said, granting the older dragoness to look at her. "I-I see you are not very confortable talking about this." She said, slowly and carefully, not wanting to say anythign that would upset Draconia. "Y-you don't need to tell me this if you don't want..."
Draconia looked at her, and she said, very calmly "I need, young one." She looked at her as she spoke that, "And also, I want. You passed by to much, and you deserve to know all of that." She took a deep breath,and she said seriously "You need and deserve to know the whole story."
Oberon looked at her, and saw that Draconia was really fixated into telling her all of that. Of course, Oberon was not the one who was going to tell the goddess who created the dragons otherwise. She only nodded, as if in acknowledge. She still wasn't sure if it was all a dream or if it was something bigger. Whatever she was experiencing in that moment, she decided that it was time to simply go with the flow.
After a while, Draconia continued. "I was able, since a very young age, to control the energy inside me, and access the Ark'tamuh in a way that it would normally take a lot of years to accomplish. Though I clearly lacked the technique or the experience to use it, I could access a great amount of power by using it, and that, by itself was truly remarkable."
The ambient around them changed again, and soon, they were into the middle of pure white, with a few "windows" around them, showing off a younger version of the dragoness she had just seen in the vision. And she was very young, and she breathed a big fireball from her mouth.
"I was remarkable at that time, both by the young age in which I awakaned my gifts, but also by the great potential I showed at them. So, it was no surprise that I was immediatelly signed to start the formal training. Sure, that was when things started to get more interesting. To everyone."
The other windows all showed more images. Young Draconia surrounded by many other purple dragons just like her. Young draconia in a line of several toher dragons as a older and very bulky purple dragon looked down at them, as a general looking and checking at his army. Young Draconia repeating the process of breathing fireballs over nad over against several different targets. And there were many other images flashing through the windows.
One of them stood apart. It was an image of Draconia taking deep breaths, and then, she opened her mouht, and shoot forward what seemed to be crystals. Oberon looked at that window in particular, and so did Draconia, and the purple goddess continued. "Everybody was surprised when they saw that I could access more than one for of Ark'tamuh. They quickly labbeled me as a duo-user, and so, I started receiving very special attentions during the classes." Draconia smiled to herself, as if she was finding funny looking through these memories. However, she had not finished her explanation yet.
"However, as my training went own, the surprises didn't stopped there."
As she said it, the windows flashed more images. Draconia breathing a blue mist that freezed a target at touch. Draconia creating a green glowing ball that was connected to her mouth by a long gree strand. Draconia breathing a great stream of water. Draconia letting out something from her mouth that remembered a cloud. Draconia making eletricity sparkle over her body. Draconia enveloping herself into what seemed to be shrounds of shadow all over her body. Draconia creating a ball of pure light from her mouth. Draconia breathing a long, spiked ram of metal.
"Overtime, my abilities only developed more, and it was clear from the begining that I was not like the other ones. That I was mnot like the regular users of the Ark'tamuh. That I was... special, as many had said." Draconia said to Oberon, who looked at the older dragoness.
"For what it seemed, I had a very particular, never seem before, actually, way of controlling my Ark'tamuh in order to achieve many different results." She spoke, looking at Oberon, "In just a few words, I could use every possible for of it, be it energy, matter or element. If it was possible to make it through the Ark'tamuh, then I could do it, all I needed was the main knowledge of how to access this specific form and I would be able to do it."
Oberon could only look at her in awe, and she said, "Amazing!" She never imagined that it was possible! Sure, she had her abilitikes of controlling the wind for quite a while now, and she found it to be just the most amazing thing that had ever happened to her. Now, knowing that, for the purple dragons, the race from which originated the very own creator of her kind, it was rather normal, and that Draconia herself was a prodigy in the middle of this, it was just astounting!
Even if it was all juts a dream, and it was only a fruit of her confuse mind trying to make sense out of all that was happening, it was something remarkable! Oberon couldn't even think about any kind of word that could possibly describe the feeling she was having from somethign so amazing as it was. The very own concept of it was just somethign beyond her imagination, and that was somethign trully and utterly amazing!
She looked at Draconia, and the purple goddess sighed, and she continued "Sure, I was the target of all the attention from almost anyone, from researchers trying to understand my strange affinity with my abilities to great and famous teachers, who all wanted to help me." As she said that, the windows around showed many other purple dragons, of all kinds and shapes, all of them talking to a young Draconia.
"It must have been trully amazing." Oberon said, but once again, she regretted having said that, for that same shadow came again over the goddess features. She let out a long breath, and she continued, "In the start it was. However, soon I realized that it was not as good as it seemed."
She sounded relly sad when she said that, "After that, all of my previous friends left me. I didn't understood why in the time, but now I know that most of them were jelaous of my abilities or scared of me." And the windows showed images of other young dragons walking away from Draconia, or getting away as she came near, or talking things about her in the distance. In all of them, there was a young Draconia looking sad.
Oberon felt sad for the poor dragoness, for a moment, forgetting that she was a powerful and nigh-onipotent goddess. She seemed just a child who was sad for not having friends, like many others.
"I enjoyed having attention, and to be so complimented by all the adults, but the price was that gthe other young ones walked away from me." She said saddly, and she let out a heavy sigh. "However, it wasn't as bad as what came in the following years."
Oberon perked her head as she looked at Draconia, and she said, "In our world, we have already faced many threats, some having come from our own world, and some having come from others." As she said that, the windows flashed images of several of the purple dragons wearing very strange armors, and with some equipment in their paws that maybe could be weapons, but Oberon was not able to recognize. These dragons were probably an army, and they were doing several jobs, from helping dragons in natural disasters to figthing criminals. They were also shown into images of them fighting other creatures, different from all of Oberon had ever saw, all of them using armors and some short of weapons that Oberon also didn't recognized. They were all fighting each other.
"We faced several threats that came from other worlds, some neighbor to ours, others too far away." Draconia epxlained, and she said, "And, due to the great threat that these begins represented to us, and to all that we constructed, the users of the Ark'tamuh were more wanted than ever. They were the main enforcement from our army, and the best of the users were requiered to join."
Draconia remained silent, as so did Oberon, as she had a sinking feeling that she knew what would be her next words. "I was the most powerful user of the Ark'tamuh that has ever appeared into our world." She said it, and Oberon knew immediatelly that she too, had been forced to enter into their army.
"I was just a litlte older than a teenager when I was convoked to serve." She said, recalling the memory from so long ago. "This was during a time that we were attacked by a powerful threat, coming from a world beyond our worlds. They were called Theganians, and they wanted to take over our world, and many others."
As she said that, the windows showed images of creatures attacking the purple dragons. These creatures walked over two legs, and they had two pairs of arms into their torsos, as well as long tails ending into mean-looking spikes. They had long muzzles and their bodies were covered into feathers, and they were wearing bodily armors and using weapons which (of course) Oberon once agsain didn't recognized.
"They were very superior in armaments, and they had a great number." Draconia said, and Oberon listened very carefully, having got completelly caught up with the story. "However, we had something that they didn't had: the Ark'tamuh. And we used it against them."
The windows showed images of the purple dragons using their elemental abilites against the invaders, and even showed them having some sucess into fightitng and even pushing them back.
"They were still strong, though." Draconia continued, "And it seemed that we didn't had hope..."
Oberon looked at her for a few moments, and then, she said, "Until... you appeared?"
Draconia looked at her, and this time, she smiled, and she said, "I had to protect my people, and to make sure that everyone was okay." The windows all now showed images of Draconia, dressed in armor, using all her abilities to find these strange invaders.
She was shown fighting groups of them single handed, and using all shorts of elemental atttacks and techniques in order to defeat all of them, one by one, or several at the same time. She was marvelous, juts like an heroine from the old tales of magic and adventure, only that it was much more grandious.
Oberon was totally marveled at these images that flashed to her in the several floating windows in the middle of white, and Draconia said, "It was a very though battle against these invaders. However, in the end, with the power of the Ark'tamuh, and the unity of our people, we were able to finally defeat them, and made them retreat back to where they had come from." Draconia allowed herself to smile one more time. "In the end, we had won."
Oberon looked admired at Draconia, in a way she had never looked before. This she had just saw and heard, was beyond all the histories that she had ever heard in her life. It was the story of the battle of the great goddess against the evil forces that tried to take over everything.
That was simply amazing!
"Wow, you were a heroine!" Oberon said, and Draconia looked at her, and smiled lightly.
"Yeah, I was." She said, "For a time, I was cheerized by everyone. I was a great war heroine, and at a very young age. It seemed that everyone had me for their role model, and I became one of the most prized citizens of our world."
After a few moments, he smile faded, though, "However, it was not bound to last."
Oberon looked at her, as she continued, "A few months later, I was once again convoked, and this time, I was under a very rash training routine. I didn't understood why of that, once the war had ended, and there were no immediate threats to our world."
"After a while, I finally starfted to understand that there was something strange about it." She said, as the windows flashed more images, to illustrate what she had just said. "But, it was only when Ailary came to me again, that I discovered the whole truth."
"Your old teacher?" Oberon asked, and Draconia nodded. "He came to me into a night, and I have never saw him like that. He looked as if he had been woke up for several days, and it also seemed that he had been crying."
"I was confused to see him at a time like that and in such a state, however, he immediatelly told me that he couldn't do it anymore, and couldn't let them do it to me."
Oberon looked at the purple dragoness, as she continued.
"Ailary told me that they were training me to horne my abilities with the Ark'tamuh. Not because they wanted to help me, but because they wanted to use it to military purposes." She said it with a resentful tone in her voice. "They were trying to turn me into a weapon."
Oberon could not hold back a gasp and the shock in her face when she heard that.
They tried to turn her abilities into a weapon?
Draconia noticed the look in her face, and she continued, "Though my abilites were used in battle, it was only for the defense of my world and my people, and always to fight enemies who attacked us. However, some military leaders from our world wanted to maike other uses of my particular abilities, as a weapon to achieve domination of other worlds." She had a look of pure scool on her face "They wanted to turn me into a thing that theu would use to attack and subdue innocent people, who never did anything to our kind or to anyone else. They wanted to use me only as a source of power, and they have been planing that since the day my abilities showed."
"They passed the years honing my abilities and seeing the true extence of them, trying to figure out just how much power I've got, and how they could use it. The event of the great war, it was only the chance that they needed to test my abilities into a true combat, and for them, I was sucessful beyond their previous expectations, and they wanted to move to the next step: to teach me how to be a merciless killer who only followed orders, and turn me into the perfect conquer weapon."
Oberon only heard it atonished, Draconia looked at her expression, and she said, "I'm pretty sure I had the same look in my face when Ailary told me that. I coulodn't believe at first, but in the end, I saw the truth in his words. He told me also that he had taken part on it, that he had knew the reason behind all of my training, and he allowed it. However, he had regretted all of it, and he had decided that he simply couldn't let them do this to me anymore. That was why he was telling me all of that, and was why he was going to help me escape."
Draconia let her head hang, as she looked at the pure-white ground of nothingness beneath her. She took a deep breath,a nd she continued "Of course, that would mean going to far away, to where they would never find me again, and I would have to let behind my world, my home, my family, all I had ever knew. But, after all that he had just told me, and knowing their true intention behind all they ever did, I didn't even needed to think twice before making my decision. I'd rather die than let them use me as some weapon to hurt innocent."
"So, that same night, we sneaked way, in direction to a place where we kept our vehicles. Special things we used to travel from one world to the other. And we planned to go into one that would allow me to escape and go to a place where they would enver find me."
"At a point, we proceeded without troubles, however, things got complicated real fast." She said, seeming very serious, after all, she was telling something that was deadly serious. "At some point, someone notuced that I had sneaked out from the place I should be sleeping at, and the alarm was given. Soon, they were searching for me everywhere. We knew that we had little time."
"We rushed to the main port, where we could get a transport to take me away from the world, and sent me to a safe place. We had to avoid the other guards from the place, and we had even to fight some of them in the process. We were sucessful, and we were able to make it to the ships, and we managed to find one that had all the capacity to take me far, where they would not find me and try to use my abilities again."
Oberon remained silent, and looked at the goddess, whose expression was becoming darker and darker as she explianed, and Oberon had a feeling that this didn't had exactly a happy ending.
"However, we were ambusehd by a group that was designed specifically to deal with sittuations like that." Draconia continued "We were quickly ambushed, and they didn't wanted to let us go. I was about to use my abilities to defeat them, but they used one of our artifacts to supress my abilities."
"For a moment, I thought it as all lost, but Ailary proved that he was a faithful friend. He stood there for me, and he told me to go into the ship, and that soon he would be there with me so we could escape together. He said he would buy me time, and he did."
Draconia let out a heavy sigh. "I watched as he faced them, and I knew that I didn't had time. I entered in one of the ships, and made all i had to do to get it ready, so we would be in it, moving away from our world, to a place where they would never find me."
"Only when I looked to the outside, I saw that Ailary was having troubles to fight them. Though he was amazinggly skilled with the Ark'tamuh, he was not able to fight all of them for too long. I was about to go outsdie to help him, when he screamed to me, telling me to go now, before they would get me."
She looked sad as she said it, "Only in that moment I understood. He didn't planned to met me inside the ship so we could be together. He planned to sacrifice himself in order to allow me a chance of escaping."
"I refused, of course, and I planned to go out anyway and to help him. However, I didn't had the chance. In that moment, he was deadly struck by two attacks..." Draconia stopped, and she shivered at the painful memory "I can still see the blood... I can hear his cries of pain..."
Oberon looked at her, and she remembered the memory of how her father died. She felt a wave of empathy for her, for Draconia, like her, knew how it was to lose someone dear. At least, it was what seemed. After a few moments, the purple goddess continued.
"I was froze, and I barelly reacted as the guards started coming at me, until Ailary knocked them away with his abilities, and he screamed at me, telling me to escape... He told me that if I didn't, and if I was captured again, his sacrifice would have been for nothing."
"I knew that his wounds were serious, and I knew that there was nothing that could be done. I knew that if I went out, I would be captured, and who woudl know what would be my destiny... But, I wasn't worried about me. Still, I knew that Ailary had done all of that for me, to help me escape, and I knew that there was going to be no excuse if I made all of that effort, all of that sacrifice be in vain by letting myself be captured."
There was silence, and after a few moments, Oberon said, "So, you escaped."
Draconia looked down, and she continued. "Ailary kept fighting them, his wounds getting worse, and I had to escape. I activated the ship, and I started to move away from there. I looked down one last time, and I could see Ailary looking up at the ship. He was smiling, and was waving at me. The moment after, he was dropping to the ground. That was the lst time I saw his smile."
She looked down as she remained silent, and after a while she let out a joyless chuckle, as she looked at Oberon. "You probably think I am a coward, right?" She asked her "The great Draconia, the mother of all dragons, running away with her tail between her legs... I bet that some people would find it funny."
Oberon looked at her, and she said, "I would enver think it!"
"Why not?" Draconia asked, "I think so myself..."
"You escaped to prevent them from using your abilities to hurt innocent!" Oberon said to the goddess "You escaped to not end up only as a tool or a weapon in their claws! To be able to live free and to take your life in your own paws! You escaped to honor his sacrifice! The sacrifice he made for you!"
Draconia looked at Oberon, and the younger purple dragoness continued, "There is absolutelly nothing wrong with that! I might not have known him, but I think that he would be happy for you to have escaped and been able to make it. He trully seemed to care about you, and by what you just told me, he was happy that you were going to be okay."
Oberon finished it offering a smile to the goddess, and after a few moments, Draconia returned it. "Oberon, you are kind and gentle, and you are understanding." She said, "Nowadays, it is hard to find people like you, and believe me, I have searched for a long time."
She blushed as she heard it, and Draconia could only chuckle in answer. The purple goddess recomposed herself, and she continued with her story. "Soon after, I left into th ship, moving away from my world, moving across the space, in search for somewhere I could be free."
"I knew that they could not find me, so I had to go to a place where they didn't knew yet, into a world that was so far that it was unknown to all of us. I had to search for sometime, but I managed ot find that place. And it was in the world that now, you and all dragons call your home."
One of the windows stood apart, and showed one strange shaped object landing in the middle of a grass field, and landing with a lound humming noise. After a few moments, it slided open, and an adult mortal Draconia stepped out of it, looking around herself, and taking deep breaths of the air of that new world.
"This world was very similar to mine, and it had all the conditions that allowed me to survive, and to live in here." Draconia explaine,d as the windows showed images of her adapting to the life in the new world. Finding food, and water, and making a home to herself into a cave, and overall, she seemed that she was living fairly in her new life.
"I even was able to make some friendships with the natives of this world, a group of slightly evolved creatures that livesd in tribes around this world." She said, and the images showed Draconia interacting with some tribes of ancient creatures, some which resembled primitive cheetas with long fangs in their mouths. "The first contacts were hard, but they ended up warming to me, and so, I became their friend."
Draconia smiled as she recalled that, and she said, "I became a protector to them, and they quickly started to have a degree of respect for me, and also, during the time I was here, I had contact with the peculiar energies that painted this world."
Oberon looked at her, and she said, "I kept training with the contorl of my abilities, and I was able to further them even more with the magic that flowed in this world, and soon, in just a few years in this world, I had achieved a level of power that I couldn't in a whole life of training back in my homeland. And yet, I had a great contact with the magic in here, learning rituals, and, in particular, I learned the magic that was naturally infused into the crystals and gemstones."
As she said that, the windows flashed images of Draconia training and honning her abilities, and also, showed her doing some short of experiments with several different gemstones, as if she was testing their properties.
"I was able to live very well here. However, I still missed my home, and having others of my kind around." She admitted with certain sadness "Overtime, this sadness became a hanging anguish into my heart, to the point that I wondered juist what was going to happen as time passed by. There was a point that I fetl so lonely that I didn't even had will to keep moving and to live."
She looked up as this, as if she was looking far into the stars. "There was a point that I almost gave up. Until I discovered the potential that the crystals trully had."
She sighed deeply. "I knew that doing this would be risky, and that, if i did, I would be breaking several laws that always were knew by my kind and by nature itself. However, I knew that I needed to do it. I juts didn't wanted to be alone anymore."
Oberon looked at her, waiting to know what was that she did. And Draconia soon answered to her. "With the knowledge of magic that I learned, and about the power of the gems, I made something that no one ever done before: I used the power of the Ark'tamuh to create life."
Oberon' eyes widened as she looked at the goddess. Draconia sighed, and she said, "Using the raw power from my Ark'tamuh, and combined it with the power of the gems, I was able to generate new life starting from them. Turning each different gem into one egg."
The windows showed images of Draconia enchanting gems of several different colors, and making they all shine brighter, as if each one had a star inside of them.
"And eventually, as any egg, they hatched. They were my children, the first generation of dragons."
And the windows showed images of the gems breaking as eggs, and each one giving birth to a dragon, each one of different color, matching the gemstone from which the small dragonling had been born.
Oberon looked in complete awe, as she was witnessing the birht of the first dragons that Draconia has ever created. "These young creatures, my children, who I loved with all my heart, were the first ones that became of th race known as dragons. Each one enhireted my abilities, and each one had a different for of magic, from fire to earth. Overtime they grew, and they had their own children, and they started to populate this world with their kind."
"These dragons soon were worshiping me. For them, I was 'the Great Mother'. The one who created their kind, the goddess of them. Overtime, with the faith they put in me, I felt that my power grew, until the point that, from a mere mortal, I was able to ascent to immortality, and I became a goddess, as you all know me now."
Oberon just didn't knew what to say. That waht she just learned was astounting, and it had not ended yet, for Draconia continued. "Some of my children, the ones who also were worshipped, became gods too, and they turned into the Elder Gods, as you call us nowadays."
Oberon nodded, and after a few moments Draconia continued. "The rest of the dragons, though still had the potential of the Ark'tamuh, use dit less and less, until it started to dissapear, and only appear into certain individuals form time to time, until it became only matter of legend, as well as the purple dragons."
As Draconia finished, Oberon looked utterly amazed at her, and Draconia looked at the young dragoness, and she said, "However, things were still far from perfect."
Oberon looked at her as she continued, "One of my children, a young dragon named Soul, was different from the rest. He was arrogant due to the power of the Ark'tamuh that we possessed, and the status that we had as gods. Though tmost of us wanted to let the mortals live their lives as they wanted, Soul was convinced that we should rule over them absolute, and that our powers granted us the right to rule over them as we pleased."
Oberon remained silent. She had already heard about Soul, the fallen one. The one who betrayed the other Elder Gods by trying to destroy them and take all the power over the world to himself. He was a black stain in the story of the legends of dragon kind. A remembering that even the dragons, beings which were powerful and righteous by their own nature, were not above corruption, and could very well be lure and seduced by the wickedness, and become a danger to the world itself. Oberon used to have nightmares with the stories that they told her about the evil deeds of Soul, the fallen god.
"We tried to reason with him." Draconia continued, looking sad, "We tried to talk him out of that madness, and to make him see that the mortals had the right to live as they pleased. We tried to tell him that we had the responsibility to care for the mortals, and to look for them. However, we soon realized that Soul was beyond reasoning."
"He had gone so deep into his arrogance and in his ambition of having power, that not even we could reach him anymore and make him see reason. He started to c reate chaos and havoc in the world, in order to make his own powers grow by feeding in the dark energies that were born from it. We tried to stop him, but he soon proved to be powerful. We had to all work together in order to defeat him, and yet, some of us didn't made it in the end."
Draconia looked desperatelly sad when she spoke, "I lost some of my children in that fight." A single tear rooled down her face, and Oberon felt an urge to go to her and envelop her in a hug to confort her.
"After it was over, we had the matter of what to do with Soul. He might have created chaos, destruction and suffering all among the mortals. He might have tried to destroy all of us. He might be a monster beyond all forgiveness... But he was still one of my children. I didn't wanted him to die, no mattered how horrible were the things that he had done."
Draconia let out a heavy sigh, as it was clear that it was still bottering her very much, after all these eons. "Instead of killing him, I have chosen to banish and improson him, through a ritual that only a purple dragoness could create. Through this, Soul would be forever banished, and he could no longer harm the world... At least, it was what I thought."
Draconia sighed heavilly, "Maybe I should have listened to the others and killed him, for even now, he still creates havoc in the world. His influence is clear in all that happens in this world. The proof of it, is what happpened to your temple."
"What?" Oberon said, and Draconia looked at her, "It was Soul who prepared the attack to your home. He made it so he could get these." She said, pointing at the bracers in Oberon's arms, "These bracers you wear now, are the very same artifacts I used to imprison Soul, so long ago. Now, however, he is about to escape and create more chaos, and you have to stop him."
Oberon didn't knew what to say. She needed to fight a GOD? Was Draconia serious? How could se do it!?
"I know you are scared." Draconia said, once again, giving the impression that she could feel Oberon's thoughts. "However, do not fear. You shall not face him alone. You will have the help of your friend, and of many others, who you will find among your way."
"The power of the Ark'tamuh did not dissapeared completelly from dragons, instead, it focused in each one of you, remaining dormant, and waking into certain individuals. The bracers you have will help you locate the holders of these powers, and together you may be able to defeat Soul."
"However, you might be careful, because Soul knows that these ones exist, and he will try to find them and destroy them before you are able to help them. You all need to be together in order to defeat him, and he will do the possible and the impossible to prevent it form ever happening."
As she said that, a small light materialized in her claw, and it soon cleared away, to reveal the most beautiful flower that Oberon had ever saw in her life. It was all purple with golden colors in the center and in the edge of the petals. Dracnia smiled softly, and she said, "This is a flower native of my homeland. It is called 'Gift of Life'. It growns in the harser environments, and it is said that each one of its petals has enough power to sustain someone for a whole day. In our culture, it was taken as a symbol of life, and how it may win over all the adversities and go on even in the harder times."
She appraoched Oberon, and gently held Oberon's paw, and put the flower in her grasp. "This is a symbol that life shall prevail in the end, and even among the darkest of times, there is still hope for the future. Remember that always, and don't let the despair take your heart. Trust in the inner light inside of you, and you will be fine."
She smiled at Oberon, who looked at her. She then said, "Now you must go back. And remember: no matter how catastrophic a sittuation may seems, there will always be hope, if you kindle your inner light."
She let go of Oberon's paw, and walked away slowly, "Now you must go... Wake up now, Oberon... Wake up!"
Oberon's eyes snapped open, as she found herself back in that same clearing where she had slept at night.
She raised her head and looked around, seeing Gale already up, and with some more fruits in his paws.
"Ah, finally awake?" Said Gale, and he placed the fruits down, "You were umbling somethign in your sleep, were you having a dream?"
A dream...
"Y-yes..." Oberon said, "I-it was a little strange."
Gale looked at her, and he said, "Well, maybe you can tell me while we eat. And seriously, we are not moving from here until you eat some- where did you go tthis flower?"
The question caught oberon off guard, and she followed Gale's gaze, and she saw just what he saw, and her eye widened in a shocked atonishment.
Resting in her paw, with her claws wrapped around it, was one single flower. One purple one with golden button and the edges of the petals.
It... it was...
"I never saw a flower like that." Said Gale, once he had gotten closer to take a better look. "Wow, it is really beautiful, where did you found it?"
However, Oberon did not answered, as she only kept looking at the flower in her claws, her eyes widen, and her face still atonished, as if that flower was something from out of the world.
"Obe?" He asked, and after a while, she said, "Gift of life..."
"What?"
She slowly got up, her legs slightly shaken, as she held the flower in her claws, and looked straight at it, as the meaning of that sank into her mind.
It was not only a dream... That flower was the proof.
It was the proof that what happened to her was much more than just a dream! And that mean that she had really been with... And they really talked about... And she had told her that...
Oberon breathed deeply as she assimilated the truth of what had happened to her, and the true meaning behind all of that.
"Obe?"
Gale's voice called her back to the realit,y and she looked at her friend, who was looking worried at her, "Is everything okay?"
She looked back at the flower, and the whole dream flashed over her mind, specially the last warning that Draconia herself had gave to her. She took a deep breath, and she looked at Gale, and she said, "Hand me these fruits, I need to eat."
And right after, she added, "Also, I need to tell you one thing..."