Chapter 1
"Speech"
"Native Dragon Tongue"
Death can be a fickle mistress, for most it marks the end of a journey, a signoff of one's life. This time however, it became the start of something different. Gasping for air, a lone human sat up on a white stony floor, clutching his heart and nearly ripping his clothes apart to check is he was still alive. Dark brown hair covered his eyes as the pace of his heart calmed, steadying again to a semi-heightened state of being. Scanning around his surroundings, the human noticed a few sparse objects resembling bookshelves with books about the size of his forearm inside of their dusted stone shelves. "W-what the..." He began before standing to his feet, though shakily due his cognitive functions returning to his being slowly. Brushing his hair aside, the man took another glance around the room, wiping his eyes every now and then to assure his surroundings were real, noticing neat and ornate architecture around the room. The stone pillar supports seeming to have grand depictions of various fantasy creatures ranging from dragons to sea serpents to pegasus', the list went on. Slightly marveling at the sights, the human stepped closer to the pillars rubbing a hand across one of them. The act caused dust to sprinkle and break away, shining the already silvery-white stone into a more marble white appearance. The new cloud of dust while falling off the stone though caused the human to begin coughing a bit as eons old dust entered his lungs only to be forcefully exhaled again.
Wiping the cloud of dust free from his face, the man was snapped out of his curious stare of the pillar when he heard a soft humming noise, seemingly in an effort to stay calm, come from the distance. Turning his eyes to the source, he saw a small doorway leading out of the room with fair light glow, illuminating the hallway outside. A small struggle of curiosity and fear swirled in the man briefly before the curious nature won out, causing him to advance on the hallway entrance. Each step sent a soft echo across the room, as if he was wearing tap dancing shoes on a wooden floor, causing him to jump a small bit with each step. Slowing his pace in an effort to reduce the noise produced, he reached the hallway. Sticking his head out the door, he looked left and right to find the source of the humming, which at this point turned into an aggravated sigh. The source, a small light source to the left side of the hallway caught the human's attention immediately, causing him to turn in that direction and begin to advance on the owner of the noise. "Where are they...where are they..." A tired elderly voice said in-between hums and grunts, progressively getting louder and louder until the human reached the edge of a archway. Beyond the exposed archway was something the human never thought could even exist, shouldn't even exist, a dragon, one who's scares were a brighter deep sea blue with a sky-blue underbelly and horns was hovering in the air near the top shelves of a wooden bookcase. Mouth slightly agape, the human watched as the dragon quickly returned the book it was searching through back to it's home, before sliding out another and began skimming and scanning the pages for information it sought.
"Who are they...?" The human mumbled to itself, snapping out of the trance and sneaking into the room, taking cover behind one of the cases to get a better look at the dragon. "And what the fuck is a dragon doing reading a book..." Snapping from his thoughts, the saw as another book was shelved and the dragon landed on the ground with a thud, a small sigh escaping its lips and shaking its head back and forth.
"I've looked for what feels like a week, surely once the job was done I could at least find out if those two had survived...surely..." The dragon said again, trailing off as it walked to the center of the room where the source of light illuminated the entire room. Squinting his eyes a bit, the human dove to another bookcase, trying his best to reduce the sound he made as his back tapped the wooden frame lining the case. The bookcase however had other plans. The wood made the tiniest of creaks as the weight of the human was pressed on it, showing it's age off as a warning in the quietest way possible. 'Shit...' Thought the human as he saw the dragon stop dead in its tracks and sniff the air a bit, head turning back to his position which caused the human to flinch back and duck into cover. Heart rate rising, the human panted a small bit as the thuds of paws on the stone floor approached his location. "Is someone there...?" The dragon seemed to ask. "Who ever you are, there is no need to be afraid." Gulping a bit the human crept back to the edge of the bookcase, trying to slip between the wall and the wooden shelving unit, but finding there was no gap to squeeze in. 'Well this is it...if falling off a building didn't do me in surely dragon fire will...'
Rounding the corner of the hiding spot the dragon stopped in its tracks and sniffed the air again, cocking its head some to the side in confusing as it looked towards where the human hid. It wouldn't have noticed anything was amiss but the rising and falling of a kaki colored substance near the corner alerted it to the presence of another living creature. Squinting some due to the darkness of the corner, the dragon noticed the pale skin and mix-matched colors of the body before noticing the features, it looked similar to other two legged animals it has seen in the past but reminded it of a more ape like heritage, though not enough to identify it as one. "You can come out from there, I'm sure it's not the cleanest place to be after all. Just step into the light where I can see you..." The dragon said, in a curious and questioning tone. "I promise I will not harm you." The human panted again, this time though, fear gave way a little to confusion. 'It...it isn't going to burn me on the spot?' He thought looking to the expectant and somewhat worried look of the dragon. 'I guess I don't really have a choice in this. I guess I should be lucky, most stories of people entering the cave of a dragon don't end to well...' Stepping forward slowly, his shoes echoing across the stone floor with each step, the human stepped closer to the light and the dragon, gulping a small bit as the he took note how the dragon was almost 2.5 stories tall alone. As he stepped towards the light, the dragon's expression grew more and more curious before a brief surprised appearance spread across its features.
Reaching the lighted space between the dragon and the bookcase the human looked up at the dragon and managed to chuff a small bit. "So I guess you had your fill of knights considering how I wasn't roasted on the spot?" The human made a small chuckle to himself in amusement before noticing the now disgusted look upon the dragon. A sheepish expression crossed the human's face as the dragon spoke.
"I don't...I don't quite understand what you mean creature..." The dragon said. "What are these 'knights' you presume I have consumed?"
"Wait what?" The human said surprised. "You know, how my species always depicts you guys. 'Run and hide your women and gold for the great dragon approaches to pillage us all!' None of that ever ring a bell?" The human asked with a brow raised. The question snorted and shook his head.
"I have not heard of such tales creature, though I do feel sorry if any dragons attacked your home. I never knew we had creatures like you in the dragon realms before." The dragon replied, causing the human to stop dead in his thoughts.
"What do you mean 'Dragon Realms'? If anything I expected this to be some sort of heaven or hell situation with you being like the 'judge of one's sins'. I mean why else is this place basically a white void with random dusty rooms and books?" The human asked. Now it was the dragon's turn to look confused.
"That's not my job, I'm just the chronicler of the realms. The record keeper of events in the past and seer of those to come. Or so that's how the legends were told to me when I was a fledgling." The dragon said trailing off. "Surely if you know about dragons then you should know we aren't any 'grand judges' like you described."
"Well where I'm from dragons don't and never have existed." The human retorted. "Sure stories exist, but those were meant to keep kids in like back in like the medieval ages I thinks...not the best on history after all." The dragon's eyes went wide as it seemed to be lost in thought. It sputtered a few things and seemed to be deep in thought for a solid 12 minutes. "Um..hello? Ground control to major Tom here..." The human said waving his hand up towards the blue dragon. The dragon snapped out of it's trance only due to the confusion of the sentence just said, looking down to the human.
"I apologize creature..." The dragon began before being cut off.
"I have a name you know? It's Trent...no offense but being called creature is kind of demeaning, dragon." Trent said to the dragon who coughed a bit.
"...Trent...I see what you mean on how it can be demeaning a small bit. My name is Ignitus for your information, former fire guardian of the Dragon Realms. As I was saying, I have just never met someone who has not at least met a real dragon once. To hear of someone who hasn't fills me with sorrow for the well being of my species." The now named Ignitus said, coughing a small bit. "Though I may ask, how is it that you arrived here at the White Isle? As far as I'm aware only dragons can be summoned here."
"Well that's the thing. I don't know. Last thing I remember was falling to my death before waking up just down the hall. Got to say, you really need to hire house keeping or something cause that place back there is a mess." The dragon chuckled somewhat.
"I've only been Chronicler for a week, two at the most. I doubt my predecessor, in his old age, would've had any help considering this is basically the world between life and death..." Ignitus said causing the human to cough surprised.
"Wait, 'between life and death?' What the fuck does that even mean. That's basically going up to a dude and saying, 'He's not dead dead, just mostly dead. There's a difference.'" The human replied earning a small glare from the dragon for the use of his language.
"Well, to simply put it, the Chronicler is meant to give warnings of the future to other dragons of prophecies to be fulfilled or disasters that are about to befall the world." Ignitus replied. "I also do not appreciate your language Trent. I may be old and used to them, but there is no need for such obscenities." Trent sighed a small bit and rolled his eyes.
"Yeah yeah whatever." Trent replied waving his hand dismissively. "So who was it you were looking for anyways, I could hear your grunts from down the hall." At this Ignitus sighed and raised a paw up to rub his temples.
"An...old friend of mine. He recently got into some trouble and I have not been able to locate him. I fear for his safety." Ignitus answered with a small bit of guilt in his voice.
"Oh...I see. Why can't you just go look for him yourself? After all you are a dragon, surely it would be of no consequence to just fly to them." At this Ignitus chuckled.
"That's the thing, I cannot due to my...condition. My job dictates I remain here at all times to keep the balance of this place." The dragon replied.
"Well then why not 'vision quest' someone here to get it done? I mean you said you converse with the living." Trent said throwing his hands up somewhat, proposing a seemingly obvious idea.
"Again it's not as simple as you think. Most dragons have to be open mined to hear the words of the Chronicler and due to...circumstances unforeseen...I cannot reach out to those I once could." Ignitus replied with a tired sigh. Humming a small bit in thought. "Though there is a chance...however slim..."
"No, no, no, no way I know where this is going..." Trent said up to the dragon, raising a finger up to meet his scaly underbelly. "I'm not gonna be some 'emissary' to the living world for you just so you can see if your friend doesn't have a small scratch that needs a band-aid...I'd rather just move on to the afterlife or something..."
"And why would you even think I was going to force you..." Ignutus began with a cocked brow. "As you said you know nothing of our world I wouldn't want to send you into it unprepared..." The dragon then hummed in thought. "Though if you did do me this favor...I could make you able to start fresh with a new life and form. You said yourself that you were 'falling to your death.'" Trent rubbed his head.
"Why would I even want a second chance? I didn't even deserve the first one to begin with." Trent said with a neutral tone that shook the dragon a small bit. "Before you ask, cause I've seen that look before, no I'm not willing to talk about it. Go...chronicler it or something...I don't know."
"But this can be a new start for you...away from that, weight you seem to carry." Ignitus replied with a cocked brow and an amused chuckle. "And I never heard of my job referred to as that before." A small chuckle escaped Trent's lips as well before he turned to look back at the dragon in front of him, sighing.
"You aren't gonna just thrust some super ancient bullshit about being the 'chosen one' on me after I do it right? Do I have your word that once I find this friend of yours I can go and live as I please?" Trent said looking up at the dragon in a serious manner. Ignitus, picking up the hint nodded a small bit.
"Yes, though I cannot just simply send you off without some...changes..." Ignitus said.
"What do you mean? Skill to white here or something, bluey?" Trent said in a small effort to lighten the mood that was laced with confusion. Ignitus huffed and rolled his eyes.
"To answer your whelping like comment no that is not it. Simply put, your species has never been documented in the Realms before, but it shares to many similarities to enemies I and my kin have fought fiercely in the past. Therefore I would rather send you in a more...familiar state." Ignitus said while walking to the pool of light in the center of the room, gesturing Trent to follow with his tail. Trent followed a bit behind, still confused a small bit, but didn't say anything until they reached the light which appeared as pool of glowing liquid. Ignitus then put a paw on the back of Trent's jacket and looked to the human again. Trent, having felt the weight of the appendage looked back up to Ignitus and raised a brow. "This is the pool of visions, or at least my more pure version of it. It is used by me to pull dragons from the living realm to hear, and back."
"So I guess this is the way I leave then? Just taking a guess." Trent said which earned a nod from the elder dragon.
"Yes quite so Trent, though I must ask before you enter. Are you sure you want to partake of this task?" Ignitus said in a serious manner to which Trent shrugged.
"It beats pushing up daisies in heaven or burning to death and back in hell. Plus you promised me a second chance at life so why not?" Trent said in reply about to take a step into the pool before looking back up at Ignitus. "Hey by the way, who is this friend of yours?" Ignitus chuckled some and set his paw back in-front of himself.
"His name is Spyro, a purple dragon with orange highlights. It won't be hard to miss him." Ignitus said to which Trent chuckled.
"Oh so just look for the one that sticks out like a sore thumb...or um in this case...paw?" Trent replied which earned a nodding chuckle from Ignitus.
"Yes I'm sure you could put it that way." Ignitus replied.
"Well ok. I'll find this purple guy and make sure he's ok for you. Just hold up you're end of the bargain alright..." Trent said to which Ignitus just answered with a nod. Trent turned back to the pool and sighed. "Well...nothing ventured...nothing gained..." He said before jumping into the pool.
"Until we meet again...Young Dragon..." Ignitus said with a smile as he watched the first and only human he ever seen before plunge into the opaque waters of the pool. Behind him a yellow glow shone out as a new book was added to the shelves of one of the cases. It was bound in a leather strap and had ornate fixtures of claws and other signs of combat on its spine. The cover held a species of dragon Ignitus had never seen before. It was sleek and nearly as tall as himself. Dark grey scales adorned it's body, nearing a black finish, off-white fur like substance was flowing down from its head to it's tail where the spines of a dragon would normally be. Its horns were curved inward towards the center of it's head as long fae like ears sprouted from bellow them. With wings spread with and the moon behind this dragon, it made the most distancing feature stand out among all the rest, blood red pupils. Getting over his initial shock of the dragon's appearance, Ignitus grabbed the book and flipped it open, begging to read the contents silently to himself. 'I wonder how this one will read.' He though.
Chapter End