Chapter 6
Jason concentrated on the first portal-ish shape he could think of, a pentagram, he envisioned the portal glowing and he saw himself step through the portal, then, everything was a gold blur! The world seemed to spin and he felt as if the ground had been grabbed at one end and yanked out from under his feet like a carpet! Then everything settled and his vision cleared with just a gold haze around the edge of his vision.
"I don't feel different" Jason said, almost in disappointment
"no, but you certainly look different. Look into this pool"
Jason looked in the pool and jumped when he saw the face that greeted him on the surface of the glassy water. It was feline, a tiger, no! A lion, he had become a lion. Well, he now knew what his deamana form looked like, a sky blue lion with darker blue on his paws and a white mane with white upper leg and upper arm fur. And he still had his golden eyes. Now Jason turned his mind to more pressing matters, like where he was going to live, yes, that was why he came here in the first place, he was thinking that he could maybe build one of those old style Japanese houses, with the wood and the paper screen doors, he closed his eyes and pictured the pagoda he and Marie had visited one weekend to visit a relative, the house even had a Shinto gateway in front of it, while he was envisioning this his han…paw, paw not hand, was growing cold and moving about, when Jason opened his eyes to see what was causing the cold he was visualising the Shinto gateway and was just in time to see a blast of ice stream from his right paw to put the finishing touches on a ice version of the Shinto gateway he had remembered, he turned and saw the ice pagoda, as he had remembered his relative's pagoda, right down to the yin-yang above the main doorway.
Jason was stunned, had he done that? Without noticing? That was not necessarily true, he had noticed the cold of his paw, but not noticed he was building a home from ice. He walked up to the main doorway and pulled sideways. The door slid open to reveal…
"nothing?"
The inside was bare, why? And then the realisation hit him, he had only visualised the outside of the house, not the inside. He closed his eyes and visualized a Japanese bed by the wall with a small table next to it, a wardrobe, a cooking range and a bathroom, he felt strangely week and saw a sudden burst of gold around his vision, felt the world get yanked out from under his feet again and when the world stopped spinning, he found himself in a wooden Japanese pagoda, with hands not paws and hair not a mane. Then he remembered Ruth, how was Ruth going to fit into here? The main doors! Open them widely enough and it might just let Ruth in
"Note to self" he said "enlarge main door and make sleeping quarters for Ruth
"Jason?" said a voice in Jason's mind "can I come in? it's freezing out here"
"Yes, sorry my friend I was thinking"
"Well next time could you think and let me in at the same time?"
Jason had to laugh, it was just Ruth's tone of voice, enquiring yet ordering at the same time and those two tones don't mix well. Jason opened the doors as far as they would go so Ruth only had to duck to get in.
"It's warmer in here than outside'' commented Ruth, then directly to Jason he said "where will I sleep?"
"Don't worry Ruth, I'll sort something out"
Jason gathered his bedclothes off his bed and made a comfy area on the floor for Ruth to sleep on while he spent the night under the things in the wardrobe he had thoughtfully added. Halfway through the night Jason got a strange urge to change into his Deamana form, he complied and sat down next to the table. A massive shard of spirit energy appeared on the table
"This is for you Jason, forge a spirit weapon for it will become a physical weapon" Sethneth's voice echoed around his head and Jason knew what to
do
Jason formed a hammer and tongues from ice and went to work. He hammered relentlessly on the piece of spirit energy, somehow not making a sound, he let the energy talk to him, let it tell him how to form it, where to hit it, where to twist it, where to strengthen it until, at last, he was finished. With the final pound of the hammer the spirit weapon told him it's name, Janto, the Dragon fang blade. Jason picked up the sword in both hands, it felt alive and it's life flowed into Jason, charging him with power. Jason picked up the scabbard that Janto had instructed him to make and slid Janto in with a metallic 'SHHHHHIIINNNKKK!' sound
Then Jason saw the gold at the edge of his vision brighten and prepared himself for what came next.
"Well, it's not as violent any more and I am recovering faster so that's a good sign" Jason said to himself to reassure himself that it was getting better. Jason looked around and saw Janto where he had put it before he was un-fused with his spirit self. He drew Janto with an ominous metallic ringing, he felt some power in the blade but not the rush of life energy he had felt last night when Janto had been created
That day he was summoned by J'ram, the ruler of the dragon worshiper's settlement, which had grown from a town to a venerable city but people preferred calling it The Dragon Village, it made them sound more important than the city of dragon worshiping slaves, and was rider to Orth who was mate of Ramoth, Major queen dragon.
"You wished to see me sir" Jason said, Janto's hilt protruding from behind his shoulder as he had the scabbard attached diagonally across his back by a sword belt he had been given as an intonation present.
"yes" said J'ram in a flat drawl "I heard that you Impressed that dangerous dragon, what was his name? oh doesn't matter, from Mnementh and Pridith's clutch, an inferior clutch to Ramoth's clutches don't you agree?"
"I wouldn't know sir, I haven't seen any clutches hatch yet sir and sir? His name, my dragon's I mean, it's Ruth" answered Jason, wrong answer as it turned out
"HOW DARE YOU!!" yelled J'ram "NOT AGREE THAT RAMOTH'S CLUTCHES ARE NOT THE BEST! WHY THAT WHITE RUNT OF YOURS, HIS MOTHER WAS OF RAMOTHS CLUTCH, A RUNT AS WELL" and with that he dived at Jason but Jason had had training in Judo and turned J'ram's punch into a Hippon-si-a-nagi throw deflecting Jason's attacker's momentum from forwards to down in a matter of mili-seconds, J'ram was stunned for a second but caught Jason's wrist and slammed his arm around into a cobra clutch
"NOW, SAY THAT RAMOTH'S CLUTCHES ARE THE BEST!"
"And if I don't?"
J'ram brought Jason's arm up near to breaking point
"NOW SAY IT! SAY IT SO ALL CAN HEAR!"
"Ramoth's clutches are the best"
"LOUDER"
"Ramoth's clutches are the best"
"LOUDER!!" J'ram brought Jason's arm up closer to breaking point, one more centimetre and his left arm would snap like a dry twig
"RAMOTH'S CLUTCHES ARE THE BEST"
"AGAIN!"
"RAMOTH'S CLUTCHES ARE THE BEST"
"AGAIN!!"
"RAMOTH'S CLUTCHES ARE THE BEST!!"
"there, that wasn't to difficult now was it?" asked J'ram, letting go of Jason's arm but grabbing hold of Janto's hilt drawing it
"No…sir"
"Now you don't need this heavy blade do you? Let me take care of it, yes?"
"NO, you shall not touch my blade"
J'ram kicked him in the stomach
"I've never seen a blade like this one, so neither will Jar'eneth and all unusual weapons are to be brought to Jar'eneth complete with owner, come on, you get to ride Orth with me, a great honour"
"I have my own dragon sir"
"That wasn't an offer, that was an order" hissed J'ram
as they passed Ramoth her eyes were a lavender of pity and worry when they were on Jason and a fiery red when on J'ram