Dragonkin
It shouldn't have been possible.
It couldn't even have been allowed.
How could it?
Even for them, this was beyond horrifying.
She had known there was something wrong as soon as she had returned to school.
She knew something had been done to her locker, it wouldn't even be the first time. But this...
She even somewhat expected the disaster inside, but to be shoved in and locked inside said disaster...
From the moment she had been tossed inside, there hadn't been any room for 'I knew there was something wrong' or 'I should have expected it'.
There was no room for thought of any kind, everything was squashed under pain-panic-hate-despair.
Taylor Hebert screamed, only to immediately gag and fail to suppress the urge to vomit as the smells overwhelmed her, to trash wildly when she felt 'them' crawling on her legs, over the open cuts caused by her savage flailing, skittering over the metal doors of her coffin, buzzing too close.
It couldn't be real, but even that last hope found no way to survive inside of Taylor's mind.
The blood on used tampons gave a sharp tang to the air, while the rancid scent of her vomit meshed with a vengeance with the strangling flavour of stale shit and acidic piss. All that happened in the dar, the thin beam of light that managed to climb its way inside the locker from the edges of its door was just enough to give her tearing eyes awareness that something was moving over her. No, not something, several somethings, skittering, climbing, biting, burrowing, tearing, stinging, hurting.
Disgust quickly left the way free for Panic to rise, Fear and Rage both surging forth, the second building after the first as the walls felt
In the smell of vomit and toxic waste, of despair and panic and not-enough-room-can't-breath-help-die-I-wanna-die that completely encompassed the girl, Taylor broke, and her being opened to something... beyond.
Vast, amidst the star, moving impossibly in a fractal nightmare of twin raising spirals, there was something beyond the realm of human thought, beyond the scope of mortal understanding. But even in that moment of impossible and blessed detachment from reality, that impossibly brief sliver of time, the body of Taylor Hebert failed, her heart stilling over the overload from her panicked vegetative nervous system, her mind blanking out over the convulsions shaking her body, her muscles spasming out of any form of control and limit, she distractedly felt her teeth biting on empty air so strongly that her molars cracked, but by then, Taylor Hebert was dead.
As she died, [ENTITY] retreated the [Queen Administrator] that it was about to load into the cracking being of the [Potential-Host], and if it could have, it would have felt dissatisfaction with the loss of [Potential-host]. As [Entity] abandoned any attempt to complete the releasing of [Queen Administrator], and the equivalent of its attention crumbled away from the [Potential Host - Deceased], something else walked in Taylor Hebert through the open connection left behind.
Taylor Hebert didn't realize that she was dying, how could she? And yet she was aware that something was about to end. The primordial state of [SURVIVE] her mind was into didn't realize anything beyond the metal coffin that was related to the something which was about to end.
No living being truly understands the concept of death, of the end, of no-more. It can't, because the very definition at the base of every living being is to be and to refuse the not-being. Oh, humans have come to realize it in their thoughts, some even think that they accept death once it comes, but it's only a lie built and perpetrated to reassure both themselves and the ones around them.
For the same reason people can't hold breath long enough to die, the [Primal Mind] at the core of the human being doesn't accept death. The human body will always choose life over death. Cells burning resources to live just a little longer, unconsciously gulping when water is poured in your mouth.
Before she could die, however, something else appeared within her mind, while her body jolted awake, awash with an energy that was not her own, and as her tongue returned to its normal dimensions and the worst of the damage was halted, she felt herself being dragged away.
Taylor blinked blearily, looking around in order to discern where she was.
Apparently, she was seated on a carpet of lush green grass atop of a small hill, from where she could see the surrounding grasslands under the terse sky. The air was almost sizzling on her lips as she breathed, while an almost kind breeze caressed her back. Her eyes trailed slowly ver the calm lake that she could spot glinting under the sunshine in the distance before she finally realized that there was someone else on the hill with her.
The man was seated cross-legged in front of her, clad in a pair of beige pants and a wide silken shirt that let Taylor spy the lithe yet strong frame beneath the cloth. The man looked... young, for lack of a better term, as if in his twenties, and he had brown curly hair that barely reached his temples before curving back, tucked behind the pointy ears that framed his wide yet angular face.
Yet despite the strangeness of that particular detail, it was his eyes that captured immediately Taylor's attention: they were of a kind brown, but accompanied with the general posture of the man and placid expression that gave the feeling of being deep pools that had observed much more than she could understand. They spoke of winters and summers alike, of generations scurried in front of them as an afterthought, of secrets and power and Life.
Before Taylor could get startled by the stranger, he spoke.
"Eka aí fricai." the words resonated across the air with a clean ringing tone, as if they were made by the whisper of the wind and the gentle swaying of the grass. She heard the words in her mind, and she immediately felt that they were nothing but the truth: I am a friend.
Despite the strangeness of the situation, she didn't feel particularly antsy or scared, even if she was right in being confused, after all, the truth in the man' words was undeniable.
"My name," he spoke again in that... magnificent... pure and honest tongue, while Taylor's mind was shown the meaning behind the words: "is Eragon, and I see your heart, Taylor Hebert."
Taylor's jaw dropped down at that... how did he...?
"The Mind Arts are a small part of what we can do, and far from the most impressive." Eragon smiled at her awed expression, "I'd like to teach you, if you are willing."
I don't think triggers work this way... Taylor frowned, squashing the hope of herself becoming a cape before it could crumble on its own and leave her emptier than before. Suddenly, she was made aware of the presence in her mind, an identity that immediately identified itself as 'Eragon', that felt like a bottomless pit of hopes, dreams and power that she wasn't equipped to understand.
"Currently, you're under the care of healers, after the debacle of the Locker, I've saved you and shielded you from the worst of the pain, but I can't do too much from here, my actions may have already attracted the wrong kind of attention."
The words shook across Taylor's mind, and suddenly she was trapped once more, in the dark, eaten alive by bugs, while everyone ignored her and refused to help, because... her breathing started to accelerate suddenly as her heart hammered in her chest, and her eyes started to dart around herself without finding anything to stabilize her spiralling thoughts...
With a twitch of will, the panic and fear was dispersed from her mind, like mist under the harsh glare of the sun: "Have no fear little one, you're safe."
"Is this..."
"You already know the answer to that question." Eragon smiled at the irritated frown that appeared on Taylor's face when she realized that the man had been reading her... mind?
This is real. She realized, But it's not a normal trigger... Telepathy isn't possible...
"Why..." Taylor stuttered out, Why me?
"Because I see your heart, Taylor, and you are... edoc'sil, unconquerable, and you'll need to remain so in order to triumph."
"Triumph...?" she repeated.
"You dreamed of being a Hero." Eragon charged the last word with all of the expectations that Taylor had for the title, briefly sharing with her mind flashes of images that were gone too fast for her to follow, but that nonetheless left behind a warm feeling of pride-kindness-hope that she couldn't deny.
"Many would misuse what I'll teach you, Taylor, you'll need to analyze yourself and your actions closely, since I won't be there to correct you if you stray: doubt the reasons behind your actions, but once you know in your heart of hearts what is the correct path, don't be swayed." Images of swords clashing and words too heavy to be spoken out loud, capable of moving the very earth flashed in her mind, accompanied by the feeling of sheer importance that had to be ascribed behind each of the decisions that had led to those confrontations.
A blue giant dragon came sweeping down from the cloudless sky, spreading a vast shadow over the grasslands before it landed near the hill. The shoulder of the dragon reached the same height were Taylor was seated, and the creature's sinuous neck seemed to slither across the air in order to bring the magnificent head close to the human girl.
The titanic creature was larger than the hill Taylor was seated upon, and magnificent was a term that fell ridiculously short to describe it. Its scales and eyes were the color of sapphires, of an intense blue that refracted the light. The radiating blue tone of her scales almost blinded Taylor, who quickly diverted her attention over to the talons and spikes on its neck, back, and tail. The dragon had two serrated fangs that jutted out of its upper jaw onto its bottom lip slightly, while it had white, sharp, knife-like, meat-shearing claws that dug uncaringly in the soft ground.
She. Taylor immediately corrected herself as the dragon's mind whispered against hers: it was vast, just as Eragon's mind had felt like a bottomless pool, the dragon's consciousness was wide and titanic like the cloudless sky itself, and it brought with it cool confidence and sheer faith in Taylor.
The confused amalgamation of feelings managed to bring tears to the girl' eyes, as she started to realize what she would eventually be able to do, and the amount of trust she was being gifted with simply in virtue of being Taylor, weak, alone and sad, so sad Taylor.
"WHY!?" the shout was torn from her throat before Taylor could acknowledge it, and it left her raw, and coughing in pain.
"Because my world cannot be allowed to be devoured, and so I'm isolating it, closing off the ways that would allow the Enemy access. But it would be remiss of me to not offer hope to all the worlds."
But why? Why Why Why...
None of that. Saphira's mind washed over her self-despising thoughts, reprimanding her briefly before letting her witness once more the flashes of feelings-images-ideas that were related to the girl in the dragon's mind.
As Saphira's muzzle touched the centre of her palm, a sharp stab of pain coursed like lightning in her body, making her size up as she felt liquid fire stream in her veins, while her mind blossomed and reached on its own to Saphira and Eragon's.
My gift, little one, so that you can do what you must.
And once more came Eragon's voice: "I gift you my memories freely, and I apologize for their weight. With knowledge, will come perspective and power, don't let it break you. Remain Edoc'sil, remain true to the little Taylor Hebert, who would never take the easy way out. Don't forget the wrongs that the world rained upon yourself, but don't carry them as burdens, because of all the other worlds now will rest on your shoulders. "
May the sun shine behind you and the wind carry you lightly upon its winds, little one.
"When you awaken, step forward, and keep your head up, because you carry within you the last blessing of Eragon, Shadeslayer, and Eldest of the Riders..."
... and of Saphira Brightscales, Allmother, and Mightiest of the dragons.
With another twist of a thought half-whispered, the world unfurled in front of Taylor's eyes, and with a lurching feeling that left her dizzy, centuries of memories sarted to trickle in her mind, starting with a boy finding a mysterious blue stone...
Thoughts? Hopes? Let me know!