Part VI. Draic Kin
When she picked up the spear again the voice that had been calling to her became
clear in her mind.
"Daughter!"
"Mother, is that you?"
"Only a piece of your Mother's essence, captured by the curse of this spear. It
greatly hastened her death. I see in your mind that you witnessed her passing."
"Yes. Is it true that you can help the new White Mother to mature?"
"True, my daughter." Was there a little chuckle in her voice at this?
"Do you know where to find my baby sister? We need to help her grow so that she
can tilt the odds away from Chaos in the War of the Balance."
"Sister? You have no sister. The Mother laid only one egg in recent years, when
she had a strong premonition of her own passing, so that there would be one to
carry on."
"But I do have a sister! I watched her hatch myself!"
"I see it in your mind. But you did not know? Your Mother called you to Shift back
in time. You saved your own egg and witnessed your own hatching!"
"No!! Really? Then the Mother who is to grow up, is... me?"
"Yes, my daughter."
"The baby dragon who hatched called me sister. I heard her in my mind."
"It is a friendly greeting from one Mother to another. In this, case from a Mother
to her older self."
"The Mother promised to watch over and protect me. How could she when she
was... gone? And she said she was sorry not to see her children grow up."
"It was her spirit in you she meant, leading you to wise and courageous choices.
The Mother spirit is passed on from one generation to the next when the old
Mother dies. The other children are your elder brothers Cortez the Red and
McAllen the Green. The Draic Kin of Earth are all one family. Blue is the Father,
White the Mother, and you three are their children."
"How did I get to Stark?"
"Your Mother sensed you were a Shifter with a destiny in both worlds. Soon after
your hatching her spirit urged you to Shift to Stark. Cortez the Red helped you take
the form of a human infant and arranged for your adoption. Soon the memory of
your heritage was as a forgotten dream to you."
"One more thing. The Parech said the Draic Kin are immortal, that nothing can
kill them but something like the Spear?"
"Not truly immortal, though to humans it may seem so. After a few of what
humans call eons, even Draic Kin pass away. That is why we need the capacity to
have eggs."
"I'll live for... eons?"
"I see sadness in your heart, daughter. Why?"
"It's just that Charlie..."
"You have formed an attachment for a mortal man. It will be a sad thing for you to
see him age and die while you go on."
"You're damn right it will! This is worse than when I thought I would be the
Guardian. Then I knew my friends would die of old age and I'd never see them
again, but this way I'll be here watching them go!"
The words of an old ballad came to April's mind. "Dragons live forever, but not so
little boys..." Tears came to her eyes, but she blinked them back. There was no
time for regrets over what couldn't be helped.
"All right, let's do this. There's a War of the Balance to be fought. What do I need
to do?"
"First let us get out of this accursed place. Then I can show you how to assume
your true form."
With the Spear to light the way April retraced the way outside. A soft rain had
begun and grass and flowers were beginning to grow. "The curse must be lifting,"
thought April.
"Now you must have the courage to be who you are," said her Mother's essence.
"Be who I am? Who am I?"
"You know deep within - a Draic Kin, the White Mother. You have power and you
must own it. Do not regret who you are or you will block your power."
April forced her mind to concentrate, to stop thinking about Charlie and focus. "I
am April Ryan and I am a Draic Kin. I AM a Draic Kin. I am a DRAIC KIN!" She
held tight to the to spear and there was a surge of energy throughout her whole
being. In a brilliant flash of light her form changed to a blazingly white winged
Draic Kin. She spread her wings and ascended, twirled in the air, and let out a burst
of electric plasma like a white flame. This was power! This was joy!
Like a streak she flew north, electricity flashing around her, the spear still clutched
in her claw. In no time she was in the sky above the city of Marcuria.
Her voice was loud and strong. "This city is under my protection! Leave Marcuria
alone! Flee back to Tyren or face the wrath of the Mother!" Diving and flaming,
she terrorized the attackers. They ran like rabbits. They streamed out of the city,
dropping everything they had looted. Tyren and Shifter agents alike panicked and
fled from her. April laughed in triumph.
She flew down to the cliff side to see how Brian Westhouse was doing. Her
laughter died when she saw he had made his last stand. He lay dead on his porch,
his gun in one hand and his flask in the other. Around him lay about twenty Tyren
he had taken with him.
"Goodbye, Brian. I'll miss you. I'm sorry I wasn't ready sooner."
Next she flew over to the Minstrum Enclave. It didn't look any better. She could
see Minstrum Yerin, the old librarian, fallen at one of the apertures of the Enclave.
He had been shot with a blaster, but from the blackened corpses of the Tyren
littering the area it seemed he had gotten off a good number of fireballs first.
She flew around the Enclave calling "You can come out now, it's safe!" But there
were no signs of life. She sobbed. War was real and it was ugly. She flew back over
the city, looking for survivors.
Suddenly there was a black flash, a crackling, and the Chaos Vortex appeared in
her path, a roiling mass of black energy and smoke. She'd destroyed it! How could
it be here? At the same moment, parts of the city of Newport began to flash in and
out of reality, replacing parts of Marcuria. The worlds were being forced together.
Something had gone horribly wrong with the Guardian!
The Vortex came at her. With a cry of rage she flamed and clawed at it. Here was
something she could fight to avenge the deaths of Brian Westhouse, Minstrum
Yerin, and Vestrum Tobias! Its touch was agonizing, like liquid fire. She beat it
back for a moment, but it seemed unharmed. In fact, it seemed to feed on her rage.
She thought a moment.
"It's hard to remember you're the emotional half of Gordon Halloway. Fighting
you won't help put you back where you belong, with him."
April had been to the Tower of Balance before and she now felt confident that she
could Shift there. She would find out what was wrong and deal with the problem at
its source. This was the most difficult Shift she had ever attempted. Something
was opposing her entrance to the Tower. It was like walking through walls of force,
each harder than the last. If it were not for her new power and confidence she
would have been lost between worlds. But she persevered and broke through to the
Tower, once again in human form.
When she picked up the spear again the voice that had been calling to her became
clear in her mind.
"Daughter!"
"Mother, is that you?"
"Only a piece of your Mother's essence, captured by the curse of this spear. It
greatly hastened her death. I see in your mind that you witnessed her passing."
"Yes. Is it true that you can help the new White Mother to mature?"
"True, my daughter." Was there a little chuckle in her voice at this?
"Do you know where to find my baby sister? We need to help her grow so that she
can tilt the odds away from Chaos in the War of the Balance."
"Sister? You have no sister. The Mother laid only one egg in recent years, when
she had a strong premonition of her own passing, so that there would be one to
carry on."
"But I do have a sister! I watched her hatch myself!"
"I see it in your mind. But you did not know? Your Mother called you to Shift back
in time. You saved your own egg and witnessed your own hatching!"
"No!! Really? Then the Mother who is to grow up, is... me?"
"Yes, my daughter."
"The baby dragon who hatched called me sister. I heard her in my mind."
"It is a friendly greeting from one Mother to another. In this, case from a Mother
to her older self."
"The Mother promised to watch over and protect me. How could she when she
was... gone? And she said she was sorry not to see her children grow up."
"It was her spirit in you she meant, leading you to wise and courageous choices.
The Mother spirit is passed on from one generation to the next when the old
Mother dies. The other children are your elder brothers Cortez the Red and
McAllen the Green. The Draic Kin of Earth are all one family. Blue is the Father,
White the Mother, and you three are their children."
"How did I get to Stark?"
"Your Mother sensed you were a Shifter with a destiny in both worlds. Soon after
your hatching her spirit urged you to Shift to Stark. Cortez the Red helped you take
the form of a human infant and arranged for your adoption. Soon the memory of
your heritage was as a forgotten dream to you."
"One more thing. The Parech said the Draic Kin are immortal, that nothing can
kill them but something like the Spear?"
"Not truly immortal, though to humans it may seem so. After a few of what
humans call eons, even Draic Kin pass away. That is why we need the capacity to
have eggs."
"I'll live for... eons?"
"I see sadness in your heart, daughter. Why?"
"It's just that Charlie..."
"You have formed an attachment for a mortal man. It will be a sad thing for you to
see him age and die while you go on."
"You're damn right it will! This is worse than when I thought I would be the
Guardian. Then I knew my friends would die of old age and I'd never see them
again, but this way I'll be here watching them go!"
The words of an old ballad came to April's mind. "Dragons live forever, but not so
little boys..." Tears came to her eyes, but she blinked them back. There was no
time for regrets over what couldn't be helped.
"All right, let's do this. There's a War of the Balance to be fought. What do I need
to do?"
"First let us get out of this accursed place. Then I can show you how to assume
your true form."
With the Spear to light the way April retraced the way outside. A soft rain had
begun and grass and flowers were beginning to grow. "The curse must be lifting,"
thought April.
"Now you must have the courage to be who you are," said her Mother's essence.
"Be who I am? Who am I?"
"You know deep within - a Draic Kin, the White Mother. You have power and you
must own it. Do not regret who you are or you will block your power."
April forced her mind to concentrate, to stop thinking about Charlie and focus. "I
am April Ryan and I am a Draic Kin. I AM a Draic Kin. I am a DRAIC KIN!" She
held tight to the to spear and there was a surge of energy throughout her whole
being. In a brilliant flash of light her form changed to a blazingly white winged
Draic Kin. She spread her wings and ascended, twirled in the air, and let out a burst
of electric plasma like a white flame. This was power! This was joy!
Like a streak she flew north, electricity flashing around her, the spear still clutched
in her claw. In no time she was in the sky above the city of Marcuria.
Her voice was loud and strong. "This city is under my protection! Leave Marcuria
alone! Flee back to Tyren or face the wrath of the Mother!" Diving and flaming,
she terrorized the attackers. They ran like rabbits. They streamed out of the city,
dropping everything they had looted. Tyren and Shifter agents alike panicked and
fled from her. April laughed in triumph.
She flew down to the cliff side to see how Brian Westhouse was doing. Her
laughter died when she saw he had made his last stand. He lay dead on his porch,
his gun in one hand and his flask in the other. Around him lay about twenty Tyren
he had taken with him.
"Goodbye, Brian. I'll miss you. I'm sorry I wasn't ready sooner."
Next she flew over to the Minstrum Enclave. It didn't look any better. She could
see Minstrum Yerin, the old librarian, fallen at one of the apertures of the Enclave.
He had been shot with a blaster, but from the blackened corpses of the Tyren
littering the area it seemed he had gotten off a good number of fireballs first.
She flew around the Enclave calling "You can come out now, it's safe!" But there
were no signs of life. She sobbed. War was real and it was ugly. She flew back over
the city, looking for survivors.
Suddenly there was a black flash, a crackling, and the Chaos Vortex appeared in
her path, a roiling mass of black energy and smoke. She'd destroyed it! How could
it be here? At the same moment, parts of the city of Newport began to flash in and
out of reality, replacing parts of Marcuria. The worlds were being forced together.
Something had gone horribly wrong with the Guardian!
The Vortex came at her. With a cry of rage she flamed and clawed at it. Here was
something she could fight to avenge the deaths of Brian Westhouse, Minstrum
Yerin, and Vestrum Tobias! Its touch was agonizing, like liquid fire. She beat it
back for a moment, but it seemed unharmed. In fact, it seemed to feed on her rage.
She thought a moment.
"It's hard to remember you're the emotional half of Gordon Halloway. Fighting
you won't help put you back where you belong, with him."
April had been to the Tower of Balance before and she now felt confident that she
could Shift there. She would find out what was wrong and deal with the problem at
its source. This was the most difficult Shift she had ever attempted. Something
was opposing her entrance to the Tower. It was like walking through walls of force,
each harder than the last. If it were not for her new power and confidence she
would have been lost between worlds. But she persevered and broke through to the
Tower, once again in human form.