During dinner with Cheid, talk turns to the dragon and the few clues Dryden has to unraveling the prophecy, including a painting done by Hitomi's grandma. And Yukari tells the story of "The Dragon Prince and the Stone."
Chapter 26: The Dragon Prince and the Stone
Dinner for friends and family in the private quarters is a treat fro Cheid. Even with new troubles in the world. Food is served and talk is about unimportant topics. Cheid waits till meals end then dismissed the servants.
Cheid: "I wanted to allow some time before we talked. This room is totally private. First I'd like to be introduced to the strangers, Aunt Millerna you seemed unwilling to in front of other."
Millerna: "You're right Cheid, Amano and Yukari are Hitomi's friends, from the Mystic Moon."
Cheid: "The Mystic Moon, then is Hitomi here on Gaea?"
Millerna: "Yes, but she's deep in our world's troubles again. This time we fear it may cost her life."
Cheid: "She may die, or would she be killed? How?"
Dryden: "We believe she was brought to Gaea by Sorceress of Ziabach to use to destroy a Prophecy. They will try to kill her before the triple eclipse to gain power over all the land. But worse to save Gaea she will have to die by the White Dragon, by Van's hand. If I don't finish figuring out the Prophecy we won't know how to save her."
Cheid: "Tell me about it all, Master Monto tells me that sometimes it helps to talk to someone not so close to the problem, in the telling maybe things overlooked may come to light."
Dryden fills Cheid in on the Prophecy while the others add in every once in a while. The only others clues they have are the legend from the Elders at the Cat Folk village and the painting Hitomi has from the Mystic Moon.
Yukari has as always been silent, but at the mention of the painting she speaks.
Yukari: "No one mentioned the painting before, Hitomi's mom must have sent it. It is the one of the Dragon Prince from the story isn't it.?"
Dryden: "There's a story?"
Yukari: "Yeah, Hitomi's grandma use to tell it, that was before she disappeared. It was such a cool story, Hitomi and I use to play we were in the land of the Dragons, Thera Utopia, the hidden valley in the Dragon Forrest."
Dryden: "Where? Thera Utopia was an ancient mythical city here on Gaea. It was told to have existed near Fanilia. Yukari, can you tell us the story?"
Yukari: "There were several versions, the story was simple when we were little, but became more complicated as Hitomi and I got older. The main characters were always the Dragon Prince and the woman from a far away land. The story is kind of sad, I always wanted it to end differently."
Amano: "This is sounding like the legend the elder told us, don't you think Dryden?"
Dryden: "Yukari, tell us the story, please."
Yukari: "I'm not very good at stories, Hitomi was always the story teller, like her grandma, but I'll try."
Yukari closes her eyes as she starts retelling the story, The scene unfolding in her mind as she speaks.
Yukari: "The girl was lonely, she longed for love and adventure. She would stare at her pendant and wish for a brave prince to take her away. One night she lay in her bed in her small room staring at the moon shining brightly in the sky, she wished again for her prince, looking around she imagined herself in a land filled with dragons, like the ones she loved to draw and had decorated her bedroom walls with. She closed her eyes and as she began to drift to sleep, she felt a strange pulling, and there was a bright light, so bright she dared not open her eyes. Then it faded, and she felt herself land on the hard ground. She opened her eyes, but she was not in her room. She was somewhere else, somewhere magical. She felt the magic was good, but she had fear in her heart also. She looked around and saw an old man; he was digging by the base of a tree. He turned to look upon her, his person reminding her of a mole. He smiled a toothy grin at her, 'That's a pretty trinket you wear little lady' he said. 'You don't have long to wait, the one you are met for will arrive shortly.' With that he stood, turned and left.
The woman did as she was told, this wasn't the first time in her life she had been to this place, she could feel it. After a while she heard the sound of voices coming. She stayed still waiting, when they arrived they ware as astonished as she, fro they were men, dragon men. One turned to the others. 'Stay here I will go alone.'
'But my Lord, she is a human!'
'I never said I saw the woman in my dreams, but I will know.' He answers as he starts to approach the woman.
'But a human how can a human be the one.'
'Silence!'
He stands in front of the woman now. 'What are you doing here?'
'I am waiting.' She replied to the tall figure before her.
The voice it was the same, she was the one, the one he was destined for, of that he was sure.
'Do you fear me?' He asks as a kind smile appears on his face.
'No.' The woman's answer is simple and direct.
'Then will you believe me when I tell you I came here today to find my mate. It was foretold to me in a dream.'
She watches him as he speaks the words, not in the least unsure she raises her hand for him to help her up.
'I believe in the power of dreams. Even though I have never seen you before, my heart knows and I believe you.'
They travel to his home, a place called Thera Utopia. It is a beautiful city nestled in the side of the Emerald Mountain, deep in the heart of the Dragon Forrest. His arrival with a human causes unrest among some of the Noble Dragons, among them an older Dragon said to have dark powers. 'You can not take a human as your mate Prince, the line of protectors would be destroyed.'
Many agree with the older dragon, but the Prince refuses to listen.
'The prophets have shown me what must be. To turn my back on them is to destroy us all for certain. Although I do not yet know her I am certain that I love her."
He sighs as if trying to explain life to a child. They must be made to understand the importance of what he is doing. 'We will mate in the way of the ancestors as has always been, by Dragon Fire.'
To take this woman as mate is treason enough, but by ancient ritual, is an abomination, I will have no part in this!' The elder dragon hisses in rage. He turns his back on the Prince and leaves the room.
Another Noble Dragon approached his Prince, gently clasping his longtime friend on the shoulder. 'Lord, you must take heed. You anger on of much power. We know he has been gathering supporters and plans to move on the throne.'
The Prince sight again, 'I know, but the future holds a greater danger not just for us, but for the world. I will mate with her, for I already love her and our child will either save us or destroy us.'"
Yukari pauses, there is so much silence in the room, that she doesn't want to continue.
Dryden: " This isn't the kind of story all parents tell children on the Mystic Moon is it?"
Yukari: "No, I told you there were many versions of this story. Hitomi told me that as she got older the story got more detailed, and by the time she was thirteen, the story i as I am telling it now. It's hard to explain, Hitomi's grandmother was different from other grandmas. She was mysterious somehow, as if her heart was in a different time. I know it sounds lame, I told you it was hard to explain."
Amano: "It's OK Yukari, I never met her but I remember some of the kids talking, everyone wanted to have a grandma like Hitomi's. Please go on with the story."
Yukari: "The dragon Prince married the woman there in Thera Utopia. They drank the special drink that bonded them together as husband and wife. They were happy; she was in love with the Prince and was to have his child. The happiness wasn't to last for long though. As she neared the time to give birth, the older Noble Dragon made his move to take the throne.
There was a terrible war in which many dragon men were killed on both sides. Then on the night the woman had her child, a small dragon girl with beautiful green eyes, the Noble made his final move to kill the Prince, his family and to take the throne. The Prince took his wife and new daughter to the resting place of the stone for their safety, but the Noble and his followers broke thru and the battle was lost for the Prince. The Noble plunged a sword into the Prince himself, roaring in triumph. Then as the Prince lay dieing, the Noble drew on the dark powers, powers which he had learn to control, to cast an evil curse on the human woman and her child. He would turn them both into dragon beasts, half dragon and half animal. He would keep them for his royal pets, as a sign of his great power. The Noble Dragon made one mistake though, he cast his unholy spell in the shrine of the stone. The resting place of the stone was a holy place, with it's own power. The stone glowed in its pedestal when the Noble released his foul curse, protecting the woman, child and dieing Prince. The power in the shrine threw the curse back at the Noble Dragon and his followers turning them all into dragon beasts of different kinds.
The woman kneeled by her dieing by her dying husband; tears are in her eyes, for her there would never be any other. Her husband, her Prince, looks into her beautiful face one last time, 'Don't cry my love, for death is only the beginning, when it is time my spirit will return for you, no matter where you are, and wee will again be together.'
The woman bent down and kissed her husband tenderly on the lips one last time. She had known this moment would come, as it had in the dreams they shared together at night since the bonding. She also knew what to do, she must take her daughter from here to someplace safe. The dragon men left unchanged by the curse where few, but each came forward to pledge his or her life to the child. They and their decedents would guard the stone now, and all become its protectors in the place of the child, its true protector.
The woman approached the stone and holding her child, she placed her hand on the stone. It glowed, giving her some of its power. She touched her hand to her child and released some of that power, then took a hold of the stone on the pendant, which she wore. A bright light engulfed them both and they disappeared, taken upwards in a column of white light"
Yukari takes a deep breath
Yukari: " Well that's pretty much it."
Dryden: "It's so similar to the legend, except the legend doesn't mention a pendant. It did say that the curse is how the dragons were created here on Gaea, and that the last of the Dragon men or Dragon mere as the legend calls them died out a long time ago. And the stone was an energist, the heart of the first dragon created at the same time Gaea was."
Millerna: "How would a woman from the Mystic Moon know a story like that unless, could she have been the one?"
Dryden: "If the legend is true this happened in ancient times. Maybe Hitomi and her grandmother are decedents of the Dragon's child. Her grandmother did have the pendant, and maybe there is some sort of genetic memory in it that was transferred to Hitomi's grandmothers consciences mind. This could explain so much, Yukari; I believe fate guides us today you have just played an important part in that fate. I thank you. Hitomi must know this story by heart, I wonder why she never told us about it?"
Allen: "Knowing and accepting are two different things, she may not be ready to accept."
~~
All Dryden's work and the only answers that are revealing themselves are first from a little dragonet, and know for children's stories from the Mystic Moon. Time is running out.
Next chapter Van and Hitomi reunite with Merle and Nathen. How will Van react to what has happened to his lifelong friend? And Van thinks to have discovered the heart of light. Chapter 27 coming soon: The Heart of Light. Please Read and Review.
Fanilia
