Rising of the Dragons' Dawn

By Ally Lei

Disclaimer: I don't own Cardcaptors or the name Avatre.

Whenever the sharp flashes of lightening flashed, eerie shadows of the mountains were produced. The shadows provided cover for evil to scourge the land in search of lives, souls, and power. All evil wants is to conquer; to conquer, rule, then destroy. It wants this because that is its nature, its very essence of life, if you could call what they live a life.

Evil likes to pillage and plunder. To drive deep into the hearts of man and cause them turmoil, grief, hatred, anger, frustration, lust, and many more emotions that would cause man to dive into madness. And while this is happening, the evil creatures feed off their emotions, their actions, and their soul. They grow stronger everyday as a new person turns. Once a human or creature turns it is very hard to turn them back. To make them love and feel again is next to impossible, so the darkness in the land survives much to the despair of those who are affected by it.

However, as a new person is born everyday, a new love is born, a new pure life created, unharmed by the taint of evil. This in turn weakens the evil creatures so much so that they could not advance in destruction as they would have liked. This frustrated the creatures to no end as they wanted to corrupt and rule every living being.

So this in an effect was a balance. Everyday someone turned and everyday a life was created pure of heart.

At least according to the humans.

The Dragon Kin however knew the real truth, the real side of the world no one else ever suspected. There was no 'evil' in the land. Everything, from bad deeds to worse deeds, was tainted and corrupted Power or the lust for the Powers. That was what really drove men to madness in an eggshell.

Men, dragons, and animals alike were all tainted and corrupted with Power from the day they were born but it was only a matter of how they used the Power, that energy to do good, bad, and everything in between. The only thing that the humans had right was that everything was basically on a balance and if ever one side shoved more they would gain more 'ground', more abilities and opportunities. Currently the balance was wobbling back and forth, from one side to the other, and the Dragon Kin didn't like it.

They in fact were trying at this very moment to figure out a way to tip the balance in their favor or at least level it. They had already deployed many ideas but none of them worked. In fact they all seemed to tip the scale in the other direction with them on the low point. Tainted Powers were taking over little by little and the rare Foreseeing Dragons saw that they would take over completely in the next twenty years if something couldn't stop them or at least check them.

The dragon flying through the pounding rains and strong winds hoped that she had found the key or at least a helping hand in the little girl held lightly in her claw. During the long flight, she had time to think and contemplate. Whenever she could fly safely without watching out for dangerous torrents, she thought about why the girl was being called and more importantly who could be that strong enough to not only call the girl but also a fully grown, powerful dragon from that far away. The amount of Power needed for such a call was so mind boggling that she couldn't see any one of her fellow dragons actually attempting the call; which left her with her original thought that the girl-child was being called to quicken and hatch an egg. But that left her with the question of which egg could have that much Power. It had to be one of the 'major' eggs, the eggs that when hatched could grow to the size of a small hill depending on how old they were, and they also could have every Power at their calling.

A small idea came to mind and a small but heartfelt hope began to grow but the female dragon quickly squashed it down. If He was going to be quickened and hatched it could not be by this little human girl; though right about now the dragon bet that anything wound be welcomed to get Him to hatch.

But it could be couldn't it?

She would find out soon enough as she spied the ledge and opening to the Egg Lair. Flapping powerfully she was able to hover for a moment to judge how she was going to land without hurting herself or the girl. And the deer, if they were still alive, which wasn't likely. Making a decision she swooped in low and tossed the deer into the cave, freeing up a claw. Climbing high and circling in she lined herself up with the ledge and then snapped her wing close to her body, relying on the wind to move her to the ledge as she dropped... If anyone was watching they would have thought the mighty beast was going to crash into side of the mountain below the ledge but at the last moment she unfurled her wing and with a half sweep down she was able to push herself up and onto the ledge.

Landing on her back legs was difficult to say the least but this dragon was used to picking up unwary food and then land with it still alive. It was a game to her when she was young and she still practiced the trick occasionally.

Settling down with her front right claw held in the air like she had a sore wound she walked into the cave. Actually it looked like a cave but really it was a tunnel, a long tunnel with traps and tricks along the designed to stop anybody who shouldn't be there form finding the most valuable of all treasure the dragons had. Eggs.

Traversing the tunnel was an easy feat for the dragon because she had been there many times to not only lay eggs (she's laid two nest of four eggs each; something this dragon was proud of) but to also seek the wisdom of the Egg Keeper Avatre. Nothing in the tunnel was unexpected, nothing jumped out at that was mysterious, dangerous, or amazing which she realized she was expecting. Something in her gave way but whether it was relief or disappointment she couldn't tell you.

Nothing happened in the tunnel but something extraordinary did happen at the mouth of the cave where Avatre resided. Just as she was about to step up and say the password that would allow her to pass through unharmed, she was frozen to her stance. Stationed to the floor, unmoving, she couldn't even twitch a muscle or cast a counter spell because whoever did this blocked her mind. She hoped the spell didn't stop the girl from breathing. Oh, Stars, she hoped the girl didn't die, not now, not when she was so close to finding out what was going on. There was also a little niggling hope that they could finally restore the Dragon Monarchy.

She felt herself examined from her Power to her physical form, nothing was missed by dragons. Possibly five powerful dragons were in the cave. Briefly she thought it was most likely very crowded in the cave with five dragons, about to be six dragons and one girl-child, but that thought disappeared as the Stationary spell was removed and she was allowed to pass through without saying the password.

Inside she was met with feelings of high anxiety and distressed stances. Obviously something was going on. Unconsciously she held the claw holding the girl closer to her body in protection. Already she cared for this girl even though she didn't know why. She felt compelled to protect this fragile being from anything that would cause her harm. Briefly, she felt, once again, the small surge of hope as she recognized the characteristic of old. She ruthlessly squashed it down. Something like that was not going to happen. He would have awoken by now if it was.

The cave was large in the standards of dragons, able to fit ten dragons comfortably in the room. Small globes of light circled throughout the room, lighting the dark chamber. The lights passed by the other dragons in the cave, showing bright flashes of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, all standing side by side in order like a giant lizard rainbow. Each color was magnificent.

Avatre was standing to the right of her and the dragon admired her coloring as she had done in the past. The Egg Keeper had scales of a deep purple fading down into a bright pink like the dawn of the morning; compared to the dragon's own all dark blue hide, Avatre looked like she was a queen . Avatre stood for 'dawn' and the dawn for a dragon symbolized new beginnings and new beginnings in turn stood for new lives, hence the Keeper of the Eggs. Out of eggs came baby dragons with new lives. This position was a very significant for it meant that you could not under any circumstances mate and you had to care and protect the eggs with your very life if danger arose. If something were to happen that you could not control, you were to use your life force to transport all of the eggs to a designated safe place. Particularly one egg.

The dragon carrying the girl bowed (bent her front legs and lowered her head a bit) to the Egg Keeper as was customary and then to the other six dragons in the cave (she had miscounted, and it really was crowded in the cave) as she realized they were the six Great Elders of the six clans. She recognized her own clan's Elder with glowing pale blue scales as she bowed to him. Her clan consisted of mostly blue colored dragons, from a light blue bordering on white to a deep blue color that looked black. The same went with the other clans. They were separated into the seven colors of the rainbow and the Elder held the highest position in their clan.

But then there were the odd colorings like Avatre's whom had both purple and pink. These coloring were rare but when they did happen they usually had great Power and depending on how they used that Power, they were usually given high and important duties of the Dragon Order. Avatre was Elder of this clan but she did not have the highest position possible for the clan. Instead that position was held by the Dragon's Emperor or Prince depending on the case.

This gave her another little thrill as she thought about it. Adopting a casual but respective stance she gently touched minds with every dragon in the room with careful guarding on her inner thoughts and feeling.

"So sorry to disturb your meeting but I come as a deliverer to a call." She mind spoke to them. She let them feel the regret but she also put in urgency so that they knew she bore important news.

"Quite alright Celia. This actually wasn't an important meeting but merely a contemplation meeting." Avatre's soft voice but steeled voice (Celia supposed it cam with the job over time) resonated through her mind silently asking why Celia was there but not willing to probe Celia's mind.

"May I ask why this was a 'contemplation meeting'?"

"You may and since it is a reasonable question I will answer to the best of my ability. The eggs are restless. Since they are not part of this world they are more sensitive to things we are oblivious to. We think it is because something is about to happen. Something big but what we do not know." Her Elder answered her in a tone that suggested great excitement and Celia couldn't really blame him. After all, He might decide to hatch soon.

"What about the Prince, is he restless?" Celia questioned.

"No, he is calm. So calm, in fact, that I get the feeling that everything is going his way. He feels as though he could stay contented for eternity for whatever reason which isn't unusual but it is almost as though he is immensely satisfied by something, which is unusual." Answered Avatre in her soft voice but this time Celia got the impression that she was confused.

"Also, for the past two days we have been feeling a calling spell from both of the Egg Chambers but whenever we go near the Chambers we can't feel the spell to locate the source. It was almost as if the eggs were pooling their Powers together to create a very very powerful calling spell. Do you possibly have an answer to these unexpected and tremendous events?" said Heart's Flame, Elder of the Red Dragon Clan. He was a deep maroon red with age but still magnificent to look at. He obviously suspected why Celia was there, but didn't know what she had brought to be 'delivered'.

"I believe I might have a key, Elder. Just a few hours ago I sensed a human girl-child not but a couple of dragon's lengths from my lair. She was heading straight for the mountains, towards the middle, as though she knew exactly were to go. I also felt a calling spell and assumed someone was calling her. I took pity on the girl and went to help her for she was malnutritioned and cold from the rain." Here she paused to see if she did the right thing. She was confirmed on her belief with nods from many of the Elders. Some, though, didn't seem particularly thrilled with her rescue she noted.

"I had picked up two deer, intending to feed and warm her at my lair. Oh, and those deer are at the tunnels entrance, out of the rain. Anyway as I was heading towards my nest when I realized I wasn't flying to my nest, I was flying here! I, of course, tried to alter my course but when I tried something stabbed into my mind and I was forced to continue flying here. Only once I willingly flew here under my own power did the pain recede and I got the sense that the caller was pleased with the development. Almost, as you said Avatre, as if the caller was immensely satisfied." Celia explained.

"And where is this girl-child now?" Asked Avatre

"Right here, in my claw. When the caller stabbed my mind, she jerked and threw herself at my claw. I think she knocked herself unconscious." Celia extended her leg and set it on the ground in front of her with the talons just touching the floor. Wings shifted a bit throughout the room, displaying everyone's excitement and nervousness and Avatre couldn't really blame them. If what they were discussing before really was going to happen, they were going to be the first ones to see their Prince's Consort (though she bet that they were disappointed that it wasn't going to be a Queen., the human that was called to hatch him, to be his lifetime friend, and eventually his mate.

Humming reverberated about the room as the elderly dragons looked on.

Celia slowly opened her claw slowly, being careful of the girl's head so it didn't hit the stone floor hard. Once her claw was fully opened, she drew back her leg and stood on it naturally. Silence spread throughout the room as not a single dragon shifted or even blinked as they stood in awe of the little girl.

The girl looked about six years old and scrawny; they could see her ribs through her drenched rags. Her hair was brown color that would no doubt dry a lighter color, and her skin was tan with many gashes and scrapes inflicted upon her through her trek to the mountains. All in all quite plain and skinny, there was nothing magnificent about her, nothing overall amazing about her looks. But each dragon felt compelled to just stare in complete awe as if she was the most magnificent being in the world.

Not a few hopes were raised throughout the room as they looked upon her. Avatre was the first gain her senses and she looked amusedly at the Elders. Each dragon was in the stance of surprise, the closest Expression Stance (since dragons can't really move their facial features that much they adopt 'stances', each expression, emotion, or feeling can be transmitted to other dragons by selecting the appropriate pose) to awe. Doubts were eradicated as hopes were raised and she realized that things would begin to change really soon for all of them if the Prince was indeed going to hatch.

Turning back to Celia, who was looking down on the girl with pride and joy as if the girl was her own dragonet, she realized that Celia's color was a dull dark blue showing how hungry and tired she was. Calling attention of the Dragon Council, who stared at her dazedly she noted amusedly, she connected minds once again.

"Celia you are very tired from your long flight. Take those deer you brought and eat them yourselves, you need it. Then rest in one of the open chambers. Stay overnight and when you are rested you may return to your nest and mate."

Celia looked at her appreciatively and Avatre got the feeling of intense thanks. Before she went though she looked down on the girl again and promised:

"I will come at your call and protect you, little one. May you not need me but I will answer."

The child, as though sensing the thought, smiled briefly. Celia backed out and turned down the tunnel.

Back in the cave, Avatre stretched her neck out to peer into the girl's face, to find some hint at who she was and how much Power the child possessed.

Her hot breath must have awoken the girl for she stirred and opened her eyes.

She looked up at the beast's head and did the only thing a reasonably sane child would do.

She screamed.

So how was it?

I know this is going slow but is it good so far? Please tell me!

Oh, some of you might be a bit thrown off by the 'Prince's Consort', and 'Prince's Queen' comment made by Avatre.

See a Prince's Queen is a dragon and a Prince's Consort is a human. They both have the same duties and respect but they have different names.

Ok some of you might be confused but can you guess who the girl is? What about the Prince? The caller?

I received a review asking me if I have ever read Eragon by Christopher Paolini. And I would just like to say that I have. Eldest, the sequel to Eragon comes out August 30th. I also recommend Mercedes Lackey's Joust, Alta, and Sanctuary. Jane Yolen's Dragon's Blood, Heart's Blood, and A Sending of Dragons were not bad but I personally felt it could have been better. Anne McCaffery's Pern series is pretty good but my favorite is Dragonflight. Elizabeth Kerner's Song in the Silence is okay. Dragonspell was pretty good but I can't remember the author. There are a lot more I can't think of but if you have any recommendations please tell me.