Chapter 7

The world was engulfed in war and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Some dragon of legend I turned out to be. It was ironic: All this time I had to keep encouraging Artha because he doubted his potential to be the Dragon Booster, and here I was the one who couldn't fulfill my part of the prophecy to prevent the war. I had failed.

I couldn't help but wonder if I had missed an opportunity somewhere along the line. There must have been something I could have done to prevent things from getting to this point.

Should I perhaps have killed Word before things came to this? There had been several opportunities along the way where it would have been easy. And all those people and dragons wouldn't be suffering and dying right now. Should I have taken his life when I had the chance in order to save all the others? But the idea of murdering someone like that for any reason and the thought of human blood on my claws was something that was repugnant to me. Or was that to have been my burden to bear? Was there no other answer? Was this now my fault for not having acted in the past?

The thoughts of despair and self-doubt continued to swirl in my head. How could I have let this happen? Didn't the prophecy say I was supposed to be the one to prevent the war? Then how could the war be happening? Was the prophecy wrong? Or maybe I wasn't the one the prophecy spoke of. Maybe I'm not the dragon of legend afterall. The sadness and doubt was almost overwhelming. If only I had more time...

Time.

Time... Hmmmm, time...

Time?

Time! I jerked my head up and my eyes went wide as the thought occurred to me.

Yes, that's it! Time was the answer! Even though I knew no one could see me, I couldn't help but smile when the solution dawned on me.

This reality was no more set in stone than the previous one. If Word could travel back in time and alter the past, then so could I! If I could find Word's time machine and go back and prevent what he did, then this reality will never have occurred and the war would never have started. I didn't have to stop this war because I could prevent the war by changing the past so that it never starts! If I could do that, then none of the people or dragons down there would have died.

A wave of relief washed over me as if a great weight had been lifted off my back. The prophecy might be right afterall. Maybe this was the path destiny had laid out for me.

OK, so there were a few details to work out. First, I didn't know where Word's time machine was. Second, I didn't know how it worked. And third, I didn't know where to go in time or what to change. Well then, first things first. I couldn't do anything until I found the time machine. So I had to solve that problem first and hope the rest fell into place after that.

The only place I could think to look was Word Paynn's citadel. That seemed the most likely place where he would keep it. Time was short though, so I took off at a fast gallop. The realization that I had still a chance to set things right gave me the fortitude and renewed strength I needed to go on. I felt a strong sense of determination and purpose now, and this showed in my eyes. Maybe I was the dragon of legend fulfilling his destiny according to prophecy or maybe I wasn't. But either way, I was going to try my best. I couldn't let Connor down and I couldn't stand by while all those dragons and humans suffered so much in a war that wasn't meant to be.

It took me close to an hour to get into the vicinity of Word's citadel. I knew I was on the right track before I even got close. I saw only a few at first, then more as I got closer: Wraith dragons.