Rising of the Dragons' Dawn

By Ally Lei

Disclaimer: I don't own CardCaptors, their names, or the name Avatre.

Chapter: Prolouge

Rain splattered on the wet earth as thunderous clouds rumbled above. Sounds of droplets drumming the leaves of the trees filled the forest as the force of the rain marginally increased, sending a signal to all animal that they had better take cover. Maybe that was a good thing for the young girl struggling through the underbrush. As animals scrambled to find shelter, she was left alone to trudge through the forest in a daze.

Alone.

She was alone in every sense of that word. Just a couple of days ago her whole family died in the fire that devastated her village. Her friends died as well and as far as she knew she didn't have any of relations still living. The six year girl however didn't get any farther than that thought when the numbness set in, when everything lost focus. That shock, that daze had set her astray. For a day she wondered the country side filled with wheat waiting to be harvested but never to be. She wondered until she felt an unexplainable tug that she was compelled to follow. She didn't try to resist it because the tug gave her a sense that someone wanted her, that someone was waiting to care for her.

It was a good thing she didn't try to resist it either because that tug wouldn't let her go anywhere but to where it called the girl. It would have overridden every sense she had until she was a mindless puppet running to the caller. They had something in mind for her.

So she tracked through farmland, plains, and now forest for a day, going west towards the mountains. Where the dragons were rumored to be. . .

Far away, a form perched on a stone cliff in the mountains. Its great eyes were closed as it concentrated on the little form stumbling through the forest. It knew there was a little girl in that forest because it sensed it. It knew what was going on. The great beast knew that the girl, a young innocent child, was being pulled to the mountains. What she could not figure out was why the girl was being called. She was just a two-legger after all. Her kin had over the centuries discovered that humans believed in the inexplicable belief that everything had to be good and just in the world. Common sense was not prevalent, obviously, among their species because that notion was a ludicrous naïve belief. Nothing was all good and just as they believed but instead tainted by the Powers.

However, the beast's kin had come to grudgingly respect humans because they were willing to fight to their races' death for that same belief. Humans may not be some of the brightest creatures ever to grace Life, but they did have the courage, the determination, and the unwavering love for Justice and Freedom to push back all forces who would wish to conquer them. It was actually those reasons that made humans stumble upon the Powers quite by accident. They weren't powerful enough to go up against one of the beast's ken but many of the lesser and middle creatures of the Powers would hesitate or flat out run away instead of pick a fight with one of their 'Sorcerers', 'Sorceresses', 'Magicians', 'Witches', or whatever they call them.

Which led the beast's thought in a full circle, back to the little girl. She had tipped three times now and the soft Power aura wavered and flickered around her.

After some mental debating and sensing of the girl starved condition, the great beast opened its eyes and rose onto its legs. She unfolded and stretched her great wings and with a mighty downward thrust hurled herself off the cliff and into the pouring rain. If the young child was being called by her kin, the least she could do was help the girl. Even if she didn't completely understand their reasoning.

It wasn't a long flight to the forest but it was miserable. The rain had picked up as well as the wind and if she didn't have the experience of a whole century in traversing storms, she suspected the winds would have buffeted her wings out of control. She thanked her luck that soon she would have the girl and be riding the winds back to her lair with her burden. She only hoped the rain wouldn't pick up.

She soon saw the darkening of forest below her but the girl's presence was still quite a little ways away. She hadn't realized how far or how hard it would be to land to get the girl when she started this journey. She hoped the girl would be in a clearing where she could land instead of crashing through scratching branches. She would rather not have to deal with sore abrasions on her scales or possibly pierced scales. If she recalled correctly her blood would burn human skin for whatever reason (she supposed it was because her kin were just too powerful for the 'poor' humans). If you couldn't already tell this beast and her kin were very vain creatures but also loyal ( in a roundabout way).

Huge multihued eyes (meaning her eyes were the same color, only there were different shades of the color in them) noted the small herd of deer as she passed over a grove. They would do nicely to staunch the girl's hunger. Did she need one of them or maybe she should take one for herself.

The flying beast was so lost in her debate of how many deer she should seize that she flew over the girl before she even realized the six year old was down there. Cursing herself on her absentmindedness, she doubled back and realized that fate was indeed on her side for the girl was on the edge of a small clearing. Actually it couldn't even be termed a clearing but in fact a small grove. It would be a tight fit but she believed that she could land safely. Which she did with a low swoop and a folding of her wings.

The dirty child didn't even look up from the moving ground when the great beast landed with a rustle. Instead she was lost in her unending and mind-numbing daze. Just a couple of minutes ago she had stopped for a moment and wondered briefly where she thought she was going. The consequences of that action took immediate effect and a haze was settled onto her mind to give no more chances of questioning. The girl had to answer her call whether she wanted to or not.

In fact she was so lost in her mind that she nearly bumped into the scaled chest of an unidentifiable beast. Instantly her mind took over and produced the long living emotion of fear. She backed up, nearly stumbling over a rock. That small unbalancing was all it took for the beast to snap out its right claw and for it to gently close around the girl's form. Almost instantly the girl passed out from fear, hunger, and exhaustion. She went limp in the beast's claws but not before she registered what had grabbed her and the last thought on her mind was about dragons.

Specifically about the dragon now carrying the girl in her claw. She actually was grateful that the girl had fainted so she didn't have to deal with the child's squirming.

Riding the wind, she came upon the herd of deer and swooped low to pluck two of them off the ground before they all scattered. She reasoned that the girl might be hungrier than she looked which was saying a lot because the small frame almost resembled the gauntness of extreme malnutrition by her judgment.

As she winged back to her nest, she soon felt the soft tug of a calling and so did the girl for her limbs moved of seemingly their own accord and she threw herself against the great beast claws. Now that she felt the calling spell she knew immediately what was happening. The girl was being called to the Egg Chamber; she was being called to quicken ad hatch an egg. But whatever for the female dragon could not figure out. It was rare that a human, much less a human girl-child, would be called. Usually the only times that happened was when the human had a extraordinary Power and destiny that would benefit the dragons as well as the races of the world.

Lost in her thoughts, the dragon didn't realize that she had slowly adjusted her direction and was now heading for the middle of the mountain chain that divided the land. She tried to turn back to her roost but the call in her heart nearly sent her tumbling in the winds. Slowly she regained her bearings and decided it would be wise to visit her old friend, the Egg Keeper, Avatre. Maybe she could help her with her dilemma.

Mindful of her three passed out passengers (or maybe the deer gave themselves heartattacks) and the storm she found a current that would take her to her desired place. Almost instantly she felt relief as the tug eased and she felt immense satisfaction from the caller as well as from the little girl in her claw. In fact, the little girl radiated so much relief that the dragon's heart clenched in sympathy for the very fate tried girl.

She also supposed it was an immense relief to the girl to actually be rid of the persistant call.

So how was it?

This is just a prologue and thus it is shorter but the following chapters will be longer, I promise.

Also there might be some confusion so I would like to briefly summarize this chapter.

Ok the little girl is Sakura because this is a SxS romance and I think you can guess the caller.

The beast, creature was a dragon and since this fic is high fantasy there will be more of them. In fact this fic will be centered around dragons.

If that's not your cup of tea, I thank you for reading very much but suggest you move on ( though if you are reading this then you also know that the heroine is from a show that has magical wands and cards, lol )

To those of you who do like this story, I thank you for reading and would greatly appreciate it if you review me and tell me what you think.

Thanks again,

Ally Lei