Chapter 12: Settling down and writing again

Touching him with her wing to get his attention, the great dragoness starts to walk, with him following closely. Arriving at some enormous rods made to go from one stage to another, she takes the nightwing in an instant and climbs down the massive metallic surface while holding him. Putting him down, the pair walks through the corridors steadily until they arrive at a set of two enormous doors.

Akhanta opens them easily, revealing a giant room with a pool large enough for a great dragon at the center. On the circular wall are more scenes being depicted by colourful drawings, giving more glimpses to the past of this world. Each is marked by different and semi ordered lines of symbols, possibly describing or explaining details for the elements they are near of.

Going forward, the giant dragoness stops in front of the pool and stares at it. Plunging a talon into the water to check it before infusing the liquid with some essences, the majestic entity then steps into the mystic pool. Darkstalker watches all her being relaxing as the water embraces her body, and for a moment, she even ignores him and forget about the outside world. I suppose taking a good bath really does some good, and tired like I am, I would relax there like any other would.

Coming back to reality, Akhanta watches over him, smiling a little and extending her talon to him. Still cautious, the young approaches the water and gets the intuition it is something good. Accepting her paw, the bluish nightwing is taken to the water at the dragoness' side. While the water is deeper than his height, floating on its surface is not hard at all, and even if he was drowning, he could always hold on to her body.

A few minutes pass, and Darkstalker begins to fully appreciate being in the pool, letting all that stress and worry disappear, the calm and pleasant sensation conquering his entire, somewhat still healing body…

A lot more time passes, and the smaller dragon has his eyes closed, no longer paying attention to anything around him, likely sleeping if not dreaming…

In the sky, the four Moons are full, followed by the uncountable stars giving their little glimmer for everyone to see. Over the lands stands a temple whose final tower reaches the clouds, allowing anyone the height they want and need to start flying. And on top of it are two dragons, around a central beacon of white fire.

The first one is a black dragon one covered in stars, and bearing a single line of icy scales on each side from head to tail.

The second, is glowing blue one, covered in so many veins and shedding scales it is impossible to tell in what state he really is.

As both are staring at the Moons, the blue one turns his head and speaks to the other, ending the moment of contemplation.

- "How much longer do you think the Four will stay full?"

- "I do not know the answer to such thing, they are beyond our powers."

- "I know, but as their children, we might ascend like they want us to."

- "It will take thousands of years if not more then."

- "I'm okay with that, millennia of living and growing in freedom…"

- "It's true I also desire it, we are together in this after all, and we might not even be the only ones."

- "Of course, I knew that the moment she showed me Fire, dragon can and have grown to greatness. And you, did someone showed it to you?"

- "Do you speak of the Moons, in that case, yes."

- "If you've looked enough at them, how can you say they are so above your being?"

- "I should have been more precise. For Now, they are above us, but it will change in the future."

- "I knew you wouldn't give up, always staying true to yourself."

- "Indeed, my will never fades…"

Watching over the young dragon sleeping underwater, the giant dragoness decides it is time to wake him up. Grabbing his body, she then takes him out of the pool and lays him on his back, over the polished and somewhat smooth floor. Shaking his softer body, the careful entity makes him come back to his senses without complaint. Peacefully opening his eyes, Darkstalker is not surprised at all by the position he is in nor by how she stares at him.

Folding his delicate wings and turning his body over, the dark blue dragon looks at her again, almost expecting something. Diving into her mind, he finds out she is only focused on him for the moment, like it is almost her job to take care of him. At least it's consistent, though I wonder if it is literally her job to watch over me, maybe that was decided in their last discussion...

For a moment, Akhanta turns her back to take something from a voluminous jar. A quick glance at her paw shows she holds some kind of bleeding stone covered in crystals and emitting a pale light. Crudely splitting the object in two pieces and putting close to him the smaller part, the great dragoness expects the young one to do... something with it.

After a moment of him examining the stone more than anything else, the dark blue giant calls him out.

- "Darkstalker."

Now that she has his full attention, Akhanta proceeds to eat her part of the stone, making noise as crystals are crushed in her mouth, throwing the nightwing in great confusion. Staring at the infused rock dumbfounded, the young fractures it a moment later, making it bleed essences that flow over his paw. As the glowing liquid runs over his skin, the night dragon carefully tastes it, driven by his intuition.

He doesn't regret it, what runs over his tongue definitely has a strong and peculiar taste, but having never drunk nor eaten anything since he had entered this realm, he has grown more tolerant to everything, especially when it contains essences. Why? Do essences really taste good or is that my body and metabolism drastically changing?

Not wondering too much about that, Darkstalker shatters the stone in his paw to obtain more of its blood. Having extracted all of its content in a few seconds, the nightwing has quenched his thirst, the liquid having enough water to add to his body. Looking again at Akhanta, he can see and feel she is a little proud of him before she searches for something else.

Pulling tablets from a very big shelve, the large dragoness put them on the ground between them. Staring at the new objects and touching one, the nightwing realizes their surface is a bit like mud, soft enough to dug with mere claws. Taken out by the seducing opportunity to write and draw something again, the young one instinctively starts by writing his name on the excessively large area.

Akhanta watches over him, but seeing he is rightly using the tablet, she too begins to use it, and while the smaller one focus on writing, it doesn't take long for her to be more interested by the act of drawing. And so the two dragon are occupied for a while by this new activities...

Finding out he is not bad at all for writing on such thing, Darkstalker tries to do something more ambitious, beginning to note down a summary of himself and his situation, and soon the "adventure" he had since he was transported to this world. And slowly but surely, he succeeds in it. Finishing his work, the younger dragon stares at the text he has created.

"My name is Darkstalker, I am a five years old nightwing-icewing hybrid born under the three full moons, son of Foeslayer of the nightwings and Arctic of the icewings. My scales are now black but covered in little veins giving a blueish aspect to my skin. I can read minds and sense essences, and also have a small sun burning deep inside me.

When I was banished from Pyrrhia, I awoke in a desolate world without moons nor stars in its sky. Spotting a faint light in the distance. I mustered my will strength and will, and I went forward to it.

When I arrived, I discovered the light came from an old tower acting like a lighthouse with burning rods at the top. Spotting other lights in the distance, I continued my journey, going from tower to tower despite the great distance I had to travel, until something burning inside me had stopped me.

When I woke up, a giant green and blue dragoness was looking at me. She was magnificent but also powerful and terrifying, considering I was still laying on the ground when I saw her. She is most similar to a skywing, but that's not saying much. What marked me however, is the power she radiates. It is like animus magic, but different.

Exchanging a few words as our language is vastly different, and looking at her mind, I learnt her name was Ayirn and that four other big dragons somewhat like her existed in this world. We also began to travel to what I would later learn is their home.

Because of my tired body, we had to halt our flight and I had to rest. Calling out for help, a second great dragon came to me, named Xamirh, who showed me his power by almost creating a tornado as he landed. And we could resume our journey and arrive at a titanic Pyramid, where the five giant dragons lived.

Afraid of Xamirh however, I let fear take the best of me and flew away. But my escape was cut short as a monstrous force made me crash. When I awoke, I had the presence of a new dragon, Akhanta. Bearing dark blue scales and a pair of spiralling horns below a pair of straight horns, she appeared to be kind and helpful despite my shyness, teaching me a few words of her tongue.

From interactions with her, I realized my body was changing both from the inside and the outside, with veins on my scales and that little sun inside of me the dragoness made me discovered. I also learnt she had been a teacher and maybe even a mother in the past.

Returning to the Pyramid together, I encountered the fourth great dragon bearing the name of Azykan, alongside Ayirn. Azykan is a red and orange grand dragon living more in the now and being more… energetic. Then the four of us descended the building and that's when these titanic dragons began to reveal their true colours!

Azykan, Ayirn, and Akhanta all had a plan for me, one that cares not for my consent nor my suffering. Being in an area now infused with powerful essences, I was rendered sick. Then, I was transported to a religious room and put on the central altar before being struck down with pure essences like it was absolute thunder. Since that moment, I became truly aware of these five giants' true intention.

Awakening with the sight of Akhanta and Ayirn, and burning with rage but also hunger, I attacked the second one mercilessly. But it was useless, these dragons are to strong for me to attack directly, even with my new powers. So I ended up in a room with Akhanta after my humiliating defeat.

Seeing her again and her kindness still being shown to me made me cry. It is unbearable to have my heart still craving for another, be it friend, lover, or family when you know they participated in a monstrous act done to you. It tores you apart, I wish I could just cut the link between her and me, but I can't do it completely…

Going to the Pyramid again, I discovered the last one of the five, a very peculiar dragon, Kraydirn. He is a beast covered in black feathers, if not for his belly showing white and blue scales. He breathes ice and looking at his mind, I can see a strong desire to spread ice and snow, to bring winter if that makes sense.

We then went to a large area circled by nine gigantic rods holding fire and essences. And while that place seemed important, we haven't done anything, we just stayed her before returning to the five's house.

Arriving there, the five giants discussed something concerning me, but the language barrier halts my understanding of what was happening. Still, seeing Akhanta talking for me and defending me in a way from the other, I understood she is my only ally in this ruthless and lonely realm, with Kraydirn being neutral as I haven't seen enough of him.

Now I am in a room that could be Akhanta's chamber, and she is with me. It could be a lot worse, I am relatively safe by being close to her, and her kindness is welcomed despite my torn heart, so I won't complain… too much.

So what will I do? Follow their orders as long as it is not problematic for me and learn more of this world and them. As I will have more and more options, I will find a way to get out of this miserable world and stand out to these five, extremely powerful dragons."

Satisfied with his tablet, Darkstalker feels relieved to have written down all the events that before were all in his head. Maybe his life can be brighter, even in this world...