Elves were generally honorable people, and Arion was sure Decsio was no exception. Still he continued his journey with some trepidation. An elf that would hire a minotaur seemed a bit shady. Arion did not want to assume anything, but minotaurs were dangerous creatures, beings that elves rarely associated with. He did not think about this for long though. He needed to get to Nogorath and speak with Benathor and find out what his mission was or if he even knew.
Shortly Arion approached a road that ran west, a road leading to Nogorath. He felt that it was now safe enough to travel the road. The area was lightly wooded, enough that he could hide at the first sign of a passerby.
By this time the sun was midday, he had not yet seen a single person, but a deer happened by. At the sight of it Arion realized it had been some time since he last ate. The deer was alone and only walking; an easy target for the experienced ranger. He drew his bow and followed the deer off the path, to the south. As Arion tried to line up his shots, the deer moved behind a tree, or galloped for a moment. After some time, the deer finally stopped to graze. This was Arion's chance. He lined up another shot and fired. The deer heard and began to gallop away. The shot missed, but Arion ran after. Catching up to the deer, he took out his blade. It was no hunting knife, but it would do. Soon the ranger caught up with the deer, and jumped toward it. Missing again, he found himself in a shallow pond. He looked up, and the deer was gone with no trace of where it had gone. Even more surprising was that without realizing it, he had followed the deer into a deep wood.
The pond he stood in was being fed by a large waterfall, and from behind the waterfall, he could hear a girlish giggle. "Hello?" he called. The laughter stopped for a moment, and then continued louder than before. Then from behind the wall of water, a floating blue light came dancing toward him. It danced around his head a few times and began to float back toward the falls. Arion, in a daze, followed after, and as he got closer to the falls saw a cave behind it. When the light passed under, the water spread around it, and when Arion went under, it did the same. Entering the cave he was completely dry, even from his first fall into the pond. The cave was just tall enough for him to stand, and just wide enough for him to stretch out his arms. The walls were sprinkled with brilliant lights in the rocks, greens, reds, pinks, purples, many shades of each. He followed the dancing light further in, and again he heard giggling, all concentrated deep within. After a furlong or so, he came to an opening. The ground dipped slightly and a circle dike held a pool, and in the center was a fountain. Above the ceiling was a perfect sphere, within which many more dancing lights floated. There was a rainbow of colors, each matching one of the colors in the tunnel leading to here, but only one was blue. Several of the lights picked up a goblet that sat above the fountain, dipped it in, filling it with the clear water, and brought it to Arion. He took the goblet in his hand and looked in. The water was perfectly clear. Before he knew it, the giggling lights raised the glass to his mouth, forcing him to drink. The water tasted like no other that he had ever had. It cured him of both thirst and hunger and gave him a renewed vision. He saw things in such a way he could never have imagined. Everything was clear to him; colors were more vivid, in light or pure darkness he could see clearly. All of his senses grew sharper; he could see much further, hear the faintest whisper, feel the footsteps of those that went before him, he could even feel the energy those around him gave off. And now he felt warm and safe, for when he searched the room with his new eyes, he did not see lights, but faeries.
"What is this you have given me?" Arion asked.
"It is Water of the Dragon," a faerie answered in a beautiful, almost inaudible voice.
"You needed it to see and understand us," another added, "and you can also see other magical creatures you would not have otherwise, like sprites, and nymphs."
"You now have the senses of the dragons, you can see as they do, hear as they do, and feel as they do," yet another said.
"Yes," another voice called, "you can feel the presence of anyone you have met, and feel where they have gone."
"Why have you given me this power?"
The blue faerie floated down and hovered before him. He could see her clearly. She was no taller than the distance between his eyes and his mouth, but she was beautiful, with a beauty such that no other creature in the world could match. Her wings fluttered lightly as she hovered before him, "We gave you this power because you wear the necklace. You have the pendant. We must help you find to where this pendant's future lies."
Arion looked down at the silver pendant he still wore, "So you know what it is for."
"No," she replied.
"Then do you know why I have been hunted down for this?"
"Again I am sorry, but we do not know, but we do know who does. You do not remember, but you have met him. We can help you remember it, but only small pieces, our powers cannot return the entirety of your memories."
"Show me," Arion insisted. The words had barely left his lips when they all quickly flew to the ceiling and spun in a circle. Slowly the circle made its way down to Arion and he was soon encased in a brilliant cylinder made of lights of all different colors. There was a blue dot that passed around and it soon made its way level with Arion, and it quickly jumped from the pattern at him, right to his head.
Next Arion found himself in what looked to be a throne room. Guards lined the walls of the long room. Down the center there was a red carpet that led to large and beautifully decorated chair, where there sat an elegantly garmented elf. Before this man there knelt another elf, which he soon discovered was himself. It was a dream version of himself.
He heard the dream say, "It will be done, my lord Tasya." He then rose and began to walk out, but after a couple of steps, he stopped and turned, "And Tesino, thank you for this assignment." The dream version of himself had left the room, but the real one looked back to Tasya, and from behind the lord, another man appeared who was well armed in shining armor and looked almost as elegant as the king.
At that moment Arion was taken back into reality. The vortex that had surrounded him was gone, but the blue faerie still floated before him. "I saw a man. He was called 'lord Tasya,' who is this man?"
The faerie twirled and said, "He is your king, king of all the elves." At that moment the cave vanished, and only the blue faerie and Arion remained. The forest that was there had now completely disappeared, and Arion was back on the road. "The capital is to the north over the mountains, but you, I know, will first go west to see Benathor. Go there, but you will not find what you are looking for." She twirled again, "I will accompany you. Only you will be able to see or hear me, and those whom you allow to drink of the dragon water." The fairy pointed to a flask which had appeared on Arion's belt, and smiled. "A sip from that will also fill you for an entire day. You may call me Lucidia."
Arion continued on his way taking the road west, to where he hoped was Nogorath. His new found companion fluttered about him, dancing and twirling as she giggled and sang. He looked to the sky and saw that the sun was midday. He thought for a moment and asked, "No time has passed? How long had you faeries had control over me?" Lucidia did not answer him; she only continued to twirl about singing her song.
The song was beautiful, it made Arion feel warm and safe. A feeling that he could not remember when he had last felt, but he knew it was long ago. He let the music absorb into him, and it unlocked something deep within him. He was taken away; his body continued to walk the path, but his mind was somewhere else, somewhere far away. Or was it long ago? He could see clearly before him a female elf in a dark room, lit dimly by a fire far away. The woman held an elven baby and she sang the very same song as the faerie. There she was, in this dream, the blue faerie; she was dancing around the child as he looked to his mother. The faerie twirled about sprinkling a sparkling dust over the child. The faerie flew to the child's ear and whispered something; she then flew up over the mother and noticed the fire had grown much stronger. Frightened, the faerie flew about in a panic and whispered something to the mother, but she did not move, did not even miss a beat as if she knew already what was to happen. The mother, still singing, lay her baby down and turned to the fire. Seeing the baby, the faerie flew down to him, said something in a strange language and a blue aura surrounded the elf child. The fire grew stronger and larger, and was now almost to the mother. Suddenly the faerie was thrown to the ground and an elven soldier picked the baby up. After the faerie hit the ground, she did not move and her light was very faint, almost extinguished. The soldier shouted something, pointing toward the mother, and shortly several more elven soldiers appeared and stood before him. The mother had now turned away from the fire. From behind her came a great roar, and arose a tremendous earth dragon, far larger than that of any other that had ever lived. The belly of this creature was covered in a great mail of mythril, which left no area exposed. It belched a great surge of fire over the woman toward the soldiers. The man carrying the baby again shouted something and reached forward a free hand and created a barrier of water before his men. The fire was extinguished and the water evaporated. The steam filled the area, the dragon could not see through it, but the elves had no trouble. Two of the soldiers ran to the dragon, climbed on its back and began to remove the mail it wore. The dragon bucked and struggled about to remove the elves from its back, to no avail. The mail was soon off, and the soft stomach exposed, there were however many jewels that covered this beast, but still room enough to strike. With several well aimed arrows they pierced the dragon's flesh and hit in the most vital of spots. The huge beast fell to the ground and soon died. The soldier with the baby turned and began to walk away. As he turned, his cloak moved so that his neck was exposed, showing a tattoo of a gryphon circled in strange branches. The remaining soldiers proceeded to kill the mother, and with her last breath she finished her song.
Arion was pulled back to his body walking the road west, Lucidia's song ended in sync with the woman in his dream. He looked to the faerie, who had stopped twirling and fluttering about, and asked, "You knew me as a baby?" She did not answer, her light only grew darker. "You were there when they took me, and when my mother died," he commanded. "Why did you not tell me?" he demanded more firmly.
"The memories are your own," she said quietly, "you needed to remember them yourself." She fluttered over to him, and landed on his shoulder. "I always loved you and your mother, and while you grew I watched over you."
"That is why you are helping me now," Arion said as he began to find a place for this memory. "What did you sprinkle on me, and what did you say to me?" he inquired smiling for the first time that he could remember.
The faerie's light grew much brighter, brighter than it ever had, "Have you never wondered why you are so agile?" She giggled as she flew away from the path and into a patch of trees. Arion followed and easily climbed and jumped about the trees, having no trouble keeping with Lucidia as she fluttered about. "You can move like the faeries, it was my first gift to you." She led him further into the forest; they swiftly flew through the forest, laughing the whole way. Suddenly the trees ended and they found a clearing. In the middle of the clearing was a town. "This is Nogorath," Lucidia said.
Arion stepped from the forest and looked at the village before him. There was not much to see, a small community with houses and buildings made of the surrounding woods. The clearing must have been much smaller at one time, only expanded to make room for the town. There did not seem to be any reason for the town to be here, at least none that Arion could see. He could not see any water sources near by, no mines, not even any farms. Could this community live off of hunting alone? That did not seem probable, though it was not that large, there seemed to be too many people to just hunt. Sure that he would find out, Arion began to walk to the village.
"Arion," Lucidia said as she flew in front of him, stopping him, "are you sure you want to stop here? I really think we should just go, head to Tolathorn and finish this."
He did not listen, Arion simply walked around her and continued on his way, "Noira told me to come here; there must be something here for me." He turned and looked back to the faerie, "There may something here, a clue to who I am."
"What if it is a trap?" Lucidia asked fluttering back to him, "I can see your feelings; you are worried that is going to happen. That he has set you up again."
"I do not know that he set me up, or he may have just been followed. Still, even if it is a trap, I need to see what is here. Benathor might be someone trying to kill me, but he may be a friend. Either way I have to know."
Lucidia did not protest any longer, she again began to flutter about and giggle. "Let us go then, we will figure this out together. I do not know much about Benathor, just that he is a retired soldier of the elven army. He moved here shortly after the night your mother died and he was instructed to take care of you." She laughed as she flew to the town. Arion had to run to keep up.
Soon they reached the gates of the city where two guards stood watch, both elves that wore the symbol of the gryphon. "Nogorath is off limits to outsiders. The house of Malion has ordered martial law. If you have a problem, take it up with the head of the house, Tesino."
"I must speak with Benathor, you must let me pass," Arion persisted.
"Now why would he wish to speak to a runt like you?" The guard retorted drawing his sword, a sword that matched Arion's perfectly, "Now leave, before I am forced to make a mess."
Arion quickly drew his sword, "I must speak with him."
The guard stepped back as he looked at the sword, "How did you get that sword? Who are you?"
"I am Arion, now let me pass," he insisted.
"Arion," both guards said as they bowed. "I am sorry sir, I did not recognize you," the first said. "Please allow me to escort you to him." He sheathed his sword and turned to the wall, "Open the gate," he called. The large wooden doors opened and he led Arion in. Lucidia floated in behind them, and since no one could see her, she stuck out her tongue to guard still at the wall. She laughed as she stuck her butt out at the guard and proceeded in. Arion had turned just then, and laughed with her.
"What is it, sir?" the guard asked. Arion did not answer, he just laughed as they continued to walk.
In the center of the town, there was one building made of stone, a beautiful white stone. The building was large enough to fit the whole population of the town in it. It was obviously a building for protection, well fortified with only small windows and only one entrance that could be seen. There were two towers, the one with no roof seemed to be a spot for archers, and the other, a little higher with a thin window, seemed to be a look out. As they approached the stronghold, Arion got a strange feeling. It was unsettling, but he tried to shake it off.
When they reached the stone building, the guards did not hesitate and opened the gate. The inside was very plainly decorated; this building had no frills of any kind, and was clearly used for defense and nothing else. There was one problem; there were only a total of a dozen guards that Arion could see. Including the ones at the door, and the main gate, that made a total of sixteen for the whole village. With a stronghold like this in town, this place must be of some importance, but then why were there so few soldiers? Inside his uneasy feeling grew stronger, but he had no more time to think on this, for a lavishly dressed man rose from a large stone chair and approached him.
"My lord Benathor, I give you Arion," the guard announced bowing, and proceeded to exit the hall.
"My dear Arion, you have arrived," the man said. He was an elf, aged even by their standards. The man's red cloak dragged on the ground behind him, but still raised high behind his head. He raised his arms and embraced Arion, who embraced him back as not to arouse suspicion. "I have been expecting you; I began to feel you were not coming at all. It is hard to believe it has been almost forty-nine years since we met. I wonder, do you remember?" He paused for a moment. "Of course you would not, you could not, you were but a child. Come let us retire from here, and adjourn to my room." Benathor led him to a small room off the hall. He smiled to Arion and pulled down a torch on the wall, and another door opened. It led to a circular stair case. They climbed the stairs for some time, before entering into a larger room. It was the high tower; from there Arion could see the whole village, even beyond the forest which encased it. To the north he saw a great mountain range, and to the south in the far distance he could barely see it, a fortified wall that stretched across the horizon. "The Shatar call it the Nucrar," Benathor informed, noticing Arion looking to the wall. "It was constructed after the war. You were one of the lucky ones that did not have to fight them. Though I suppose what you fought was worse. The Shatar can be so barbaric. You know I can still remember when they were no different from the humans to the north, but then they learned magic. That is when everything turned for the worse, we could no longer control them, and when their power rivaled ours…" he stared into the distance for a moment. "Oh I am sorry, I did not mean to digress, that is ancient history anyway."
Arion had not even noticed Benathor had stopped; he was lost in thought himself. What could he have meant by worse? What did I do before my memories were lost? He looked to Lucidia with a puzzled look. She knew exactly what he meant, but all she could do was shrug her shoulders.
"Arion, I suppose you would like to know why I have asked you here," he said still looking intently to the south. "I was hoping you could tell me what that medallion does."
Arion looked to Benathor, slightly worried. "To be honest, I am not sure," Arion responded.
Lucidia fluttered to his ear and whispered, "I told you we should not have come here, he is going to try to take it from you."
"Well then," Benathor said, "perhaps I could have a look at it, maybe I can find what it does." He reached for the pendant, but Arion pulled away and turned to Lucidia for help, but there was not much she could do. "Come now, I know it was a gift from your mother, but I promise to give it straight back." Benathor looked at him, and could see him stare into nothing, "What are you looking at?"
Arion jerked back suddenly, "Nothing, I was just reflecting…"
"Of course, it was very tragic what happened to your mother, but I am sure it the experience has helped you in your work. Your job was not an easy one, but you were the best at it." Benathor removed his cloak and continued, "Knowing your mother was killed by one must have made it almost fun to kill those beasts." Beasts, Arion thought, why would an elf call elves beasts? He turned to Benathor and saw something that horrified him. "Dragons," Benathor said, "such horrible creatures. Thanks, mostly to you, they are all but extinct. Though Tesino would like to take the credit for his house, Malion the dragon slayers."
Arion could now see that Benathor's neck had a tattoo of a gryphon on it. "You were there that night, the night my mother died. It was no dragon that killed her; it was you and your men."
"What?" Benathor protested, pretending to be shocked, "You know it was a dragon that killed her, I saved you from it. I was almost too late. My men slew the dragon that killed her and tried to kill you."
"No more lies," Arion was furious. He drew his sword and put it to Benathor's neck, on the tattoo. "I would remember those marks anywhere."
"Alright," Benathor said, "we did kill her, she was a traitor, serving a dragon. They wanted us off this continent as much as the humans or the Shatar. She was a criminal. You should have been killed along with her, but I could see the potential you had, and I was right. You became one of the greatest warriors this army has ever seen. I cared for you, trained you, took you in as a son, and this is how you intend to repay me?" Arion did not listen; he only pressed the sword harder to his neck. "Fine, but remember, I trained you." Benathor jumped back and drew a sword of his own, he readied to strike Arion, but in the blink of an eye, Arion moved. He was now behind Benathor, a thin stream of blood on his blade. A moment later Benathor's head fell from his shoulders. Not only had he removed the head of Benathor, but also the head of the gryphon on his tattoo. When he died, Arion's uneasy feeling disappeared.
Arion fell to the floor crying. "No, that could not have been me, Lucidia! He was mistaken, right? I did not kill dragons, did I?"
"I do not know," her light had yet again dimmed. "I knew that the house of Malion was mainly used to hunt dragons, and there was one that was particularly gifted. I tried to convince myself it was not you, but I knew deep down that it was."
"Please, Lucidia, tell me what you know."
"I do not know much, but I will tell you." Very wearily, she floated to him, and landed on his shoulder. "Many years ago, long before you were born, your mother found me. I had been separated from my flight, and was being chased by a faun. Just as he was about to catch me, that is when your mother found me," she smiled as she spoke and her light grew bright again. Lifting off his shoulder, she fluttered about, dancing about the air. As she danced, blue sparkles danced about with her; they began to take shape, and became what she said. Arion could see his mother as she snuck up behind the faun. "She simply picked up that perverted little animal and threw him aside like he was nothing." As she said that, the sparkles followed suit with what she said, his mother threw the faun into a nearby tree. The faun struggled to its feet and limped off. Lucidia and Arion both laughed. "I was huddled on the ground, scared half to death, and she picked me up. She smiled at me, such a beautiful smile. I looked at her and was instantly filled with joy; I flew around saying 'Thank you, thank you, thank you.' 'You are most welcome, little faerie.' That amazed me most of all, she could both see and understand me."
"That is right, when I met you, you were just a light, and I only heard giggles."
"Yes," Lucidia continued, "that is all most people ever hear or see without some of our magic over them, like that drink you have. I knew then, that she was to be my human companion. Each faerie has one person that they share a deep bond with, something more powerful than any magic. Most never find theirs, but I was one of the lucky ones. I learned that she was a dragon's favorite and not just any dragon, but a favorite to Zeon the Father. He was father to the dragons; he was the oldest and strongest." Arion could see the dragon, the same one from his dream.
"Your mother," Lucidia continued, "was one of many favorites, but she soon became the most adored. She was the most beautiful, the kindest, and sang most beautifully. I loved her, and soon so did Zeon. Your mother was the only elf favorite of Zeon's, so soon the human favorites aged and died, but your mother stayed young and beautiful. Zeon never had any more favorites, and your mother was the only one left. Zeon did welcome me, so it was just the three of us, for many years, centuries even. Until one day I woke in the cave by myself, but I could feel exactly where your mother had gone; she was at the top of Mt. Shena. I flew to find her, and there I saw her with a man, an elf. They were making love and my heart sank; had I been replaced?"
Lucidia's light grew dim, "I returned to the cave and waited for her return. It was not long before she came back, but she did not come alone, she was with Zeon. I asked what had happened; she told me that Zeon loved her so much that he turned himself into an elf so they could love each other. Zeon would stay in his true dragon form for the majority of the time, but occasionally would turn into his elf form and they would always be alone for that time. I soon accepted this, and I learned that she did not love me any less. We soon had wonderful news, she was with child. That child was you, Arion." Her light again grew strong as she fluttered before him. "You are the son of the father of the dragons."
Arion was not sure what to think, he was glad to know who his father was, but that meant that all his life he had killed his family. "That drink I gave you normally only grants the drinker the ability to see us, but in you, it awoke your hidden talents given to you by your father. There are yet some to be retrieved, but for that you must go back to Mt. Shena on a particular day, your fiftieth birthday. That is in two days."
"Why me?" Arion knew that there was no answer, but he did not want this life. He wished his life was simple; he wished he could be a farmer in the middle of nowhere and never have to worry about dragons or wars or anything but plants. He wanted to leave, he wanted forget everything he had learned. Maybe losing his memory was a gift, a way for him to start over. He could just pretend that all he learned was a fable, the story of someone else. He could run away and live by himself and for himself. No he could not do that; he could not abandon the memory of his mother, and maybe if he could find a way to destroy the house of Malion, his brethren, the dragons, would forgive him. Suddenly a name materialized in his mind "My mother, Esonia." Lucidia only smiled and fluttered more freely about. "Do you know who was with Benathor that day?" Arion asked after a long silence.
"No," Lucidia answered, "all I know is that they were part of the house of Malion, when the house was first started. It happened a year to the day on your first birthday. The day you were given that pendent, the day I granted you my powers."
"Let us go to Tolathorn, I must speak with King Tasya, and I hope he can unravel what is happening." Arion rose from the ground and wiped his sword clean. "And before we leave, I must ask, when we approached the stronghold, I felt something, I am not sure what, but it was almost sickening. When I killed Benathor, the feeling disappeared. Was that because of the drink you gave me?"
"Yes, you have the dragon's ability to sense a person's presence, as long as you have met that person. You saw him in your dream, so your body could recognize him."
Just then he got another feeling; this time it was warmer, more welcoming, but had a sense of urgency to it. He then turned to leave and saw out of the tower to the town below. There were many fires about and there in the sky, a green dragon flew about. "It is Gexion. He has found me here, we have to leave now." He rushed the stairs, leaving the man who had started him on this path, a path he did not want to follow.
"Alright, let us finish this, and by your birthday, you can start a new life," Lucidia said fluttering about, her light shown bright again in hopes that she might have a new companion in Arion.
Arion descended the circular stair case, and as he approached the bottom he crossed two guards. "We must speak with Benathor," one insisted, "The town is being attacked."
"He is upstairs," Arion answered bluntly. The guards passed him and ran up the stairs. "They will be back soon; we have to hurry before they realize what I have done." As he entered the main hall, he saw that most of the town's people had made their way inside, blocking the main gates, the only way out. He thought for a moment and then exclaimed, "There is another way. I have been here before, there is another way out. It is a tunnel that goes under the mountains and leads strait to Tolathorn." He suddenly dashed back to the rear of the hall and behind the stone chair. Lucidia followed, but where he stood, she could see nothing, just the wall. Just as Benathor had done before Arion pulled on a nearby torch and a door opened from the wall. "Come, follow me."
Arion rushed through the door in time to hear the guards return from the tower and shout, "Find Arion, kill him." It was too late. Both Arion and Lucidia were through the door, which had closed behind them.