Chapter Sixteen: A Promise made by Death
Sakura sat on the grassy hills above her gentle river, its crystal waters flowing past small silvery fish darted here and there. Below her was a group of children playing in the river, splashing and swimming. She sighed and walked away, she was no longer welcome here. To other spirits and humans, she was dead.
Though she had managed to escape death and come back, other spirits still ran away from her in fear. Thinking that she was a spirit raised into life by the Evil One to do his bidding, a milky opal pendent hung on her neck. Her father had given it to her when she died; its sister pendent lay in a river frozen by her offspring. Well it couldn't hurt to spend some time in my river. She thought to herself. Smiling she walked back to her river, silently she stepped in. The current welcomed her as changed into her dragon form. The wind blew blissfully; everything was perfect though it wouldn't last.
She swam along, making sure everything was perfect. She growled when a child threw an aluminum can into her river. Pulling the water around her she created a strong wave that pushed the can back onto the shore. "Mommy, daddy, look the river put my can back on the ground!" the little child screamed.
His parents smiled, "Maybe you did something to anger the river spirit and that's why he put your can back on the ground."
Sakura growled beneath the waves. It's she you baka humans! Sighing, she swam to the shore to watch the children. Her silvery scales flashed in the sunlight, her golden eyes small suns. She swam near the shore thinking; her cherry-pink mane glistened in the river. A child spotted her.
"Mommy I see a dragon." The child shouted. Snorting she swam back towards the center of the river, she didn't want anyone to know that she was there. The opal started to glow and flash a milky light, growling she thought to herself. Take me where I am needed. A milky light surrounded her as she was teleported to the entrance of the palace of the Dragon King. The guards stopped her when she tried to pass.
She changed into her human form and shouted, "Let me through! It's urgent! The king must know Chihiro is in great danger!"
"Oh really, then how do we know that you aren't planning to kill her. We know that you're dead, dragon." One of the guards looked at her.
"I am Sakura, daughter of the first Dragon of Nature and Chihiro's ancestor! I wouldn't dare kill one of my own decedents!"
"The first dragon of nature didn't have any children and even if he did how do we know that you aren't impersonating her."
Sakura's golden eyes flashed angrily, the opal that lay on her chest started to flash angrily. Silvery fumes surrounded it, and Sakura shouted, "The opal that you see before you was given by my father to me when I died! His powers lie in it, as do some of my powers! Take it if you need proof!" She handed her pendent to the guard. There was a greedy flash in his eyes as she handed it to him.
"I need to further verify that this really is from the first Dragon of Nature, this should only take a few minutes." He said.
"If you don't return the opal to me, you will face the consequences. I will warn you, the opal is as powerful as its sister that lies in the frozen river. It is as powerful as the Emerald of Dragons and Ruby of Phoenixes combined if not more powerful. There are dangers in taking such powers for greedy purposes." The guard nodded and left, his treasure in his hand. Carefully he yanked the opal off of the gold necklace and replaced it with a normal opal. His treasure started to flash, he shouted blinded by the light. It continued to flash and he found that he could not move his foolishness had led to his fate.
He knew that within minutes he would die, he quickly replaced the normal opal with the pendent opal. Multi-colored mists swirled around the opal, the dragon wasn't lying. He handed it back to her and allowed her to pass. She thanked him before putting it back on and changing into a dragon. She flew away towards the palace; shouts alerted her to a battle that was taking place. She quickly found the source of the screams; a dark dragon was attacking Chihiro and Hikari. With a single swift move, Hikari quickly dodged the dragon's attack and hit him with her tail. Distracting him, while Chihiro sent a stream of swirling icy water and blazing fire towards the dragon, he screamed in pain when it hit him in the chest.
Sakura smiled, they were doing well against the dragon. Hikari's claws swiped at the dragon's throat leaving five large bloody furrows. His face contorted in pain, he lashed out with his tail sending both Hikari and Chihiro plummeting down to the earth. Grunting, Sakura surged forward and shoved the dark dragon towards the ground. Her golden eyes flashing angrily and her opal pendent glowing with a pale silver light, she challenged the dark dragon with a deafening roar. Snarling, the dark dragon rose and flew towards it.
The dark dragon's ruby eyes were immediately attracted to the opal pendent. You're the daughter of the first Dragon of Nature are you not? He hissed angrily at her.
Yes I am I see that you have figured it out. Sakura looked at him angrily, her opal pendent glowing ever brightly. Her sharp fangs illuminated by the clear sunlight streaming through the fluffy clouds. She carefully watched the dark dragon, especially its tail which seemed to be snaking towards her. Sakura shifted to her left to avoid his attack.
Your opal pendent alerted me to who you are. Though you must know where the other opal pendent is located, tell me and your descendent and her friend will be spared.
Spared? I think not! No, I will not tell you even if I did know where it happened to be. His face formed a wretched snarl as he dived towards Sakura. Quickly she soared into the clear blue skies, and whipped the dark dragon with her tail. The dark dragon looked at her and bit her tail. She screamed in the pain caused by it and watched in horror as blood and essence started to trickle down the fangs of the dragon. Thinking quickly she bit the dragon's throat and clawed at his chest.
The dark dragon winced in the pain caused, but would not let go of Sakura's tail. Her eyes flashing dangerously, she used magic to summon ice which was thrown at the dragon. Howling, he let go of her now bloody tail. The heavy ice fell down to the earth, carry the dragon with it and splintered at the bottom into thousands of tiny ice slivers though the dragon remained trapped in the icy prison, unable to free itself from the crystal cave. Its fiery red eyes searched for an escape and venomously flashed when it spotted Sakura flying towards her. She was laughing, her fangs glistening in the sunlight. A dark red liquid dripping from it, he knew it to be blood his own.
The dark red liquid formed a pool, mixing with the ice water that had melted. The more times it mixed with the ice water, the lighter it turned. Soon it was a lovely shade of cherry-pink, the shade of Sakura's mane. Her eyes flashed intelligently, as she summoned water aiming it expertly at the ice. Using the water to carry the icy cave, she threw it into the distance. Pleased with her work she flew towards Hikari and Chihiro who had been watching her.
She glanced behind them at Sora, who was watching her carefully in case she decided to attack. Together they changed back into their human forms at the same time. Sakura watched as Hikari gasped, she knew that she recognized her. "Hello Hikari," Sakura greeted her. "I am pleased to see that we finally have the chance to meet in person."
Hikari bowed before her, "As am I Sakura."
Her golden eyes meet Chihiro's and she smiled, "Hello Chihiro, I am also glad to meet you. I know of your position in this war so you need not tell me. Be warned though the Evil One has many ways of finding you and taking your powers. Choose your friends wisely, not all are what they say they are."
Chihiro nodded, "Um how do you know me?"
Sakura smiled, "I have ways of finding out, and I happen to know much about you. Just so you know I am Sakura, though I am sure your friend could tell you how I am related to you."
Hikari faced Chihiro, "She's the daughter of the Dragon of Nature and she's your ancestor."
"You're the daughter of the Dragon of Nature?"
Sakura sadly nodded, "Yes, I am or at least was."
Hikari became confused, "Was?"
Sakura nodded, "Our father, who didn't want us to be found out and used against him, killed us. He used his powers to summon the strongest fire possible and made each of us walk through it. We died while walking through the fire, but before we walked through he gave us each an opal pendent that would protect our spirits from the evils that we would face in death. He also made us promise to protect our offspring when they are in danger. It is that promise that brings me here today."
"Oh I see; then I suppose you are here to protect me, though um do you return to 'death' if you fulfill your promise?" Chihiro wondered.
"Yes, I will join my siblings in the other world, the world of death. You go there after you die, though you can be called upon and return back to the Spirit World or the Human World if you are needed." Chihiro nodded, and watched nervously as Rin and Zeniba approached them. Sora followed closely behind.
"Oh, hi Sora we were just talking to Sakura." Hikari told her.
"I know who she is baka, hello Sakura. It was nice of you to come here though I assure you, you are not needed there are plenty of people willing to protect Chihiro." Sora said.
"Oh really then where were those people when Chihiro and Hikari were weakened by the dark dragon. Oh sure you were there, but you seemed quite afraid to approach, much less attack, the dark dragon." Sakura politely countered.
"I was going to transform into my dragon form and defend Chihiro and Hikari, if you hadn't barged in and defended them."
"You didn't appear to be transforming, you were edging away from the fight. Anyway this conversation bores me; I think that I will leave soon."
"Please stay Sakura; I was hoping to discuss some important matters with you." Sakura turned around to see the Dragon King walking towards her.
She bowed politely, "I will then milord."
"Okay then its settled I will arrange a room for you to stay in for the time being."
Still bowing Sakura replied, "Thank you milord." She stopped bowing, and left with Chihiro and Hikari. Sora grimaced and left in the direction of the palace gardens. A ruby bird watched as it soared in the sky; a tiny grin appeared on its face as it swooped down and landed on Sakura's shoulder. It stared at her with its beady red eyes.
Sakura grinned, "Go back little phoenix, you are not needed here." Chirping loudly it flew back into the air, Chihiro stared at it in wonder she had never seen a phoenix before. Its glorious ruby and gold feathers seemed to mirror the brilliance of the sun in every which way. Its eyes glistened with the wisdom of many years. There was a faint scent of smoke about it, and the wind blew merrily as the bird leapt into its outstretched arms.
Sakura could sense the wonder that Chihiro felt, it was rare to see a phoenix in the palace she supposed it carried an important message for the king, or perhaps it had come to see Chihiro. They were creatures of great wisdom and hardly dared leave their cities unless they were in great danger. There were a few instances where the phoenixes would help the dragons in one of their many wars, but they were generally peaceful creatures.
Sakura walked into her assigned room, and looked outside the window. The phoenix was flying merrily in the air, asking Sakura to join him in his wondrous flight. Below him was Sora, sitting in the garden crying. Sakura frowned and changed into a dragon before flying outside to join the phoenix, who was now swooping towards Sora.
He warbled twice to get Sora's attention. She petted it when she saw the beautiful bird. Sakura landed next to the phoenix who was sitting above Sora picking at some of the flowers. She changed back into her human form and gently picked up the phoenix. "What's bothering you young one?" She asked. "What is it that troubles you?"
Sora's emerald eyes glanced into her golden ones sadly, "I am only telling you because something about you makes me trust you. Many things trouble me, but the thing that troubles me most is my parents don't appreciate me anymore."
"Of course they appreciate you Sora, what parent wouldn't appreciate their child." Sakura assured her. "I am sure that your parents are quite proud of your achievements."
"That's the problem I don't have any achievements, I haven't done anything special like Haku or Hikari. That's probably why my parents abandoned her in the first place, they thought that she wouldn't amount to much but she has. The only thing I have done right is happening to be my parent's first daughter. That's probably why they haven't abandoned me yet."
"I am sure your parents would have abandoned you even if you were their first daughter if they thought that you weren't special. I am sure that there is something that you are good at, something that made your parents want to keep you the day that you were born."
"Well I guess you're right, I guess that I am special in some way. Thanks Sakura, I feel a lot better now."
"You're welcome."
"Um Sakura, could you stay with me for a moment? I don't want to go inside right now, but I don't want to spend time in the garden alone. It gets kind of lonely and I don't have any friends."
"Of course Sora, I'll be your friend." Sora instantly smiled and the two friends walked through the garden, admiring the flowers and the sweet scents they created. The phoenix followed closely behind, chirping happily and occasionally singing.