Dragons

No one said anything for a long while, letting the silence of the unknown sink in. I wish I knew what had happened to Merlin, or Edgar and Alati for that matter, but most of all my mind still raced with thoughts of Aurelius. As the darkness crawled up my arms, leaving them so cold that it felt like dry ice was being spread across them, thoughts of Aurelius kept me oddly hopeful. I know I saw his body buried underneath all of that debris, but if all of my magic could not free him, maybe heavy rock couldn't either, keeping him safe and preserved. Still, even if his body is still intact I noticed no signs of life. Yet I cannot shake the feeling that he's out there somewhere, somehow.

I laid my back against the wall, looking up at the black void that hid the ceiling, and let out a deep sigh.

"Do not be afraid." My father said from his dark corner. "If your brother is anything like the son I once knew, he's alive. Plus Nequior would never kill someone as powerful as Merlin. At the very least he would be chained as you and I are. Nequior feeds on our powers, and Merlin feed him for years no doubt."

"What will happen to you if we don't escape?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from shaking, afraid I already knew the answer.

"We will become like the Nequam." He said, plain and simple.

"So... the Nequam..."

"They use to be people... like us."

I felt a sickness in my stomach like I had eaten a giant rock. I had killed my own people without even knowing. It was no wonder our people chose to become a people of silence after the things they had seen.

We said nothing else to each other. What would we even say? We were faced with our fate: death. So much for my great destiny, a story that would matter. I grew angry, this whole thing was filled with so much hype, and all for nothing. I stood up, frustrated that I had nothing to take my anger out on, and began to tug at my chains. I knew it was useless but it was a kind of stress relief.

Nequior was soon in the prison room once again, a lit lantern casting a long shadow across the wall. "What are you doing?" He hissed.

I stopped, confused by his question. Then I heard the sound of rumblings. I felt a smile spread on my face as I saw for the first time fear in the eyes of our demon captor. "Well, I'm not doing anything."

He scowled at me just before the roof of our clay-dome cracked across the ceiling, shedding light into the darkness. The roof quickly withered away in pieces, revealing several dragons digging their way into our prison where both my parents and I were still chained to the wall.

Nequior

He let out a loud, hubristic laugh that bounced off the walls causing it to be seemingly amplified as he laid a long lanky hand across his slender belly. His mouth seemed to reach from one side of his face all the way to the other, practically cutting it in half, and was filled with lots of small pointed teeth that overlapped one another when he finally finished laughing and gave us a toothy grin.

I launched forward, trying to get at him, but was instantly snapped back by the chins. "Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" I was seething, moving forward as far as possible, regardless of the pain caused by the chains digging into my wrists.

The creature seemed to frown at me, long arms drooping to his sides. Calmly he walked over to me, and proceeded to hold the lamp up next to my face, his serpentine eyes giving me an execrable look. "Now don't tell me you didn't hear bedtime stories about me?" He reached his free hand up to my face, letting his long, sharp fingers glide slowly down my face. "Or did mommy and daddy fail as parents?"

I scowled and turned my head, trying my best to bite a chunk out of his onyx limb.

He jerked his hand back, only to let it snap back, slapping me so hard I flew back against the wall. "How dare you!" He hissed.

"Leave her alone Nequior!" My mother pleaded in an urgent, depleted voice.

Nequior loomed above me, and then bent down to be more at my level, twitching his head back and forth. "You really are a pathetic species." He scowled at me, his warm breath lapping against my face. "It won't be long until your parents become like my other little pets, and when they do..." he said, leaning in close to my ears. "I'm going to enjoy watching them rip you limb from limb." He stood back up and held the lantern up to his face. "Good night my pretty little captives." And with that he blew out the light and silence and darkness fell.

Imprisonment

I woke up cold and sore. Everything around me was dark and fuzzy, and movement was limited. Shaking my head a few times my eyes began to adjust. The room was full of dark shadows cast by a dim lantern that hang on the wall across from me. I looked down, thinking I should be able to at least see what was next to me due to the hue that I had previously, when I noticed how dim it was. Any light I may have had previously had been dimmed greatly. Then I noticed a strange and painful sensation coming from my wrists where heavy metal chains were clamped on my wrists. The chains on my wrists were short, keeping my hands from reaching the ground and suspended about my shoulders.

Trying to move the chain away from the part of my wrist that felt like it was burning off, I nudged at my left hand with my head, and was able to nudge it slightly away from its previous spot. There was no physical wound that one may normally associate with tight chains, but instead there was a darkness that had begun to spread from the cuff of the chain. I jumped up, trying to pull away at the chains, but they kept me from getting any more than a foot from the wall. Standing up I could reach the cuff with my other hand, so I frantically tried to pull at it or conjure up some kind of magic to break free, but the more I tried the weaker I felt. With my energy quickly being depleted, I back up against the wall and slid back down to the cold hard ground.

After a while I seemed to feel nothing at all, as if I could not care less whether or not I ever got free. Maybe this was part of the chain's affect, but I didn't see the point in dwelling on it. The ceiling above seemed to be made of clay, rounding up towards the far side of the room where a mixture of clay and metal bars lined from wall to ceiling not ten feet from where I sat. Leaning my head back against the clay wall I glanced to the right, where nothing but dark shadows and cobwebs loomed, and to my right I first thought it was the same thing, but something wasn't quite right. I rubbed my eyes and tried to focus in on what I thought was some kind of light, when two figures seemed to emerge from the dark. Purple eyes peered at me, and two glowing hearts dimly lit from the far corner.

I gasped and jumped up once again. "Who are you?" I asked.

The two sets of eyes peered at one another, then back to me. They both stood up, worn tattered clothes hanging off of the dark figures, their hearts barely shinning through them. I glanced down and noticed my own heart illuminated through my dress.

Glancing back up at the two I noticed they also wore chains on their hands, but it was barely noticeable with the color of their skin matching the dark color of the iron shackles. One could easily mistake the chains as always being a part of them.

"What is your name?" One asked, in a deep and hoarse voice.

I felt my heart beat swiftly in my chest. "Fia." I said.

The two turned to one another quickly, then back towards me, their eyes seeming brighter than before. "We are your parents." The other responded in a kind, warm voice.

My heart leapt in my throat. I had finally found my parents, and I had so many questions I didn't know where to start. I opened my mouth to speak when there was a sudden cold chill and the light of the lamp blew out.

Without that light I couldn't focus on much of anything, but there was almost instantaneously another light, only this one held by a tall, gangly creature with a huge, distorted grin on its face.

"Oh look, a family reunion." It said, looking at the three of us slowly, his voice eerily soft and deep. "What a shame big brother couldn't be here." He let out a loud, hubristic laugh that bounced off the walls causing it to be seemingly amplified as he laid a long lanky hand across his slender belly.

Flicker

The fog now hung in the air like a continuous stretch of gray cloud that encompassed the whole planet. We followed Alati in mostly silence. Since we would all weigh too much for Alati to carry at once, Merlin and I followed on foot while Edgar rode Alati with his head held high. Sometimes I feel Edgar gets a big head from all of the knowledge he feels he has aquired. If he was anymore egocentric I would have thought him to be royalty instead of the farmer he said he was before he was a rabbit.

Merlin glanced at me, then over to Edgar, then back to me again. "You know... I hear humans have this odd idea that if you carry around a rabbit's foot it would bring you good luck." He said.

"Oh, you know, I have heard that." I responded. "All though I think that only works if you cut it off the rabbit."

Merlin and I then turned and looked at Edgar, whose ears had turned towards us as we spoke.

"You don't say!" Merlin exclaimed. "I have always pondered if it would work or not..."

This time Edgar looked back at us, glaring quite unhappily. "Yeah, uh-huh, laugh it up, but who gets to ride the griffin? Oh, that's right, not you two!"

Merlin and I smiled as Edgar scoffed and turned back forward. There was not much discussion after that. We knew full and well now that any questions me and my brother had would not be answered by our fluffy companion. Our only hope was to find our parents and hope that they had held out this long. After a short while we found ourselves climbing a steep hill where the stone bellow us began to appear more maroon colored as opposed to the dark blackness of it before. Just before we reached the peak of the hill, Alati stopped and proceeded to lower herself to the ground. Edgar hopped off and he, Merlin, and I peered over the top of the hill.

Over the hill was a steep valley filled with scattered bones and dark monsters fighting over bones, or just not moving at all. And, just behind all of that, sat a small dome built into the ground, looking like it might be made of clay.

"Not very impressive." Merlin commented.

"So... what do we do now? Waltz right on in?" I asked.

"No." Edgar said pointedly. "You will do no such thing, to do that is suicide!"

"Well then what do we do?" I asked, growing frustrated.

Edgar looked back to the dome, ears drooping. "I fear we may just have to do something drastic." Edgar sighed. "As a matter a fact, waltzing right in there could be our only option, but not without a distraction first." Edgar looked to Alati, then back to Merlin and I. "We will distract the monsters, since Alati can fly we should have a pretty good advantage. Once you see your opening you run for the entrance, and do not stop for anything." Edgar lay his paw on my hand. "Do you hear me? I can't distract them and keep on eye on you, so you have to careful. If anything were to happen to you..."

"We'll be fine,  Edgar. After all, we are destined for this stuff, right?" I said.

Edgar nodded. "Yes, of course." Edgar hopped back onto Alati. "We shall see you once you have succeeded in finding your parents." And with that they were off, swooping in and out of the valley.

Merlin grasped my hand. "Are you ready, sister?"

I nodded. "Yes, brother. Let's find our parents."

It didn't take long for all of the creatures to be on Alati's tail, excited by the prospect of a fresh meal. Once Alati had led them all to the left of the dome we raced down swiftly, covering ground quickly with the momentum from going downhill. Once inside, things began to grow dark, but with our new bodies, everything about three feet from us was lit up by our flickering glow. We raced down one make-shift hallway, and turned to go down another corridor which seemed to reach down into the ground, but as we turned to make our way several creatures reached out from the dark. I tried to fight them off, but before I knew what was going on my arms and legs were being grasped, and all in what seemed like a brief moment I was jerked away and tossed into something wet, leaving me gasping briefly before even my own glow flickered out.

Alati

We buried Jasper's body in the nearby crevice, covering him with nearby stones, and said our goodbyes. Edgar seemed to take it the hardest out of all of us. I suppose when you use to have the ability to speak with and care for animals it's hard to be unable to help them. There was no talk among us for a while, just sitting and mourning.

After a while I felt I could not keep silent any longer. I turned to Merlin who sat with his gaze firmly focused on the ground.

"I found him." I said.

Merlin and Edgar's attention instantly turned towards me.

I took a deep breath. "He was in this temple, covered by some shield. I tried to save him but the temple was destroyed and I barely got out of there alive. I failed."

"What?" Edgar exclaimed. "That is not possible!"

I looked at Edgar, eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean that's not possible?"

Edgar's eyes grew wide, as if he had accidentally shared something he wasn't supposed to. He shook his head. "Nothing, nothing, nothing." He began to try to hop away, only to be caught up by Merlin.

"That's it, rabbit. What do you know?" Merlin stared pointedly at Edgar, holding him up by his jacket.

Edgar's ears drooped. "Do not call me rabbit! I have lived much longer than you." He crossed his arms, but he was obviously deflated. "Time travel is a tricky business." He said, as if that explained all of our questions.

"And?" Merlin asked.

Edgar merely shook his head. "Your parents must be alive. We find them, we find our answers."

Merlin let go of Edgar, letting fall the short distance to the ground. "A lot of help you are. Why would our parents be alive, huh? I am sick of your cryptic messages and not telling us things we deserve to know!"

The griffin let our a hissing cry in Merlin's face, then moved its head down to nudge at Edgar.

Merlin shook his head, letting out an exasperated sigh.

I laid a hand on Merlin's arm. "They kept our parents alive last time, remember? Maybe they need them to survive. Yelling at the one person who can actually help will only divide us and make us easier to destroy."

Merlin looked at me sadly. "I am sorry. I know I am guilty of taking my feelings out on others." He looked down at Edgar, who was now being licked by the griffin disapprovingly. "Can you forgive me, Edgar?"

Edgar nodded, pushing away at the griffin. "I do not blame you for being angry, we have all lost just about everything but each other, it's hard." Edgar looked at the griffin, almost as if they were to have an eye-staring contest. "Alati knows where they may be keeping your family."

"Alati?" My brother and I echoed.

"Yes, that is the griffin's name. Now, if you all are ready to go, let us be on our way."

Nequam

After the temple was far from our sights, we began to fly lower to the ground; as the day went on the fog grew higher, so as to block out any light that attempted to shine onto the land. There was no indication of life that either one of us could make out, and only the occasional dip of land told us that we were still traveling across the sphere of rock.

Suddenly I felt the griffin shifting beneath me; swinging its body to the side while letting out an exasperated cry. Then, before us was a giant creature one may call a dragon, but looking into its eyes one would notice it was more snake-like and more suited to slithering on its belly than gliding through the air like a dragon. It let out a hiss that echoed through my ears, pointed teeth and red eyes welcoming me to the evil that had manifested on my home land.

The griffin tumbled away from the monster, but it left just as swiftly as it appeared. That was when I noticed Jasper racing across bellow with two of the creatures I had seen at the mountain not far behind him, and a couple yards behind the monsters was Merlin and Edgar.

I just about yelled, feeling relieved to see my brother alive, when the snake-like dragon swept bellow, appearing once more, tackling right into Jasper.

"Jasper!" I cried. "We have to go down there, we have to save him!" I cried, nearly hitting the griffin's head with all my might in my desperation.

The griffin made a low cry, but still made no movement towards my friends. It didn't take the monsters long to catch up to the dragon and Jasper. The moment Jasper was thrown off his feet the two creatures leapt onto the dragon, and, ganging up on one another, began to destroy each other. Merlin and Edgar were then on the scene, but kept their distance, letting evil destroy evil. The air was full of the scent of blood and the sound of high pitch screams and hissing. Eventually the dragon had been taken down and left soaking in its blood. Slowly the two creatures turned again to Jasper, who lay on his side, breathing harshly. The griffin once again let out a cry, but it was louder this time and shook its whole body. In less then a second we were on top of the monsters, and just as we neared the ground I jumped off the griffin as it carried off one of the monsters, tossing it into a nearby crevice.

I landed on top of the second, grabbing onto the spines that grew from its back and head. It thrashed upwards, but in my anger I was not about to let go. "It's all your fault." I spat, my hands lighting on fire. "You destroyed everything!" My whole body burst into flames, and the creature bellow me writhed in pain, its shrill cry nearly knocking me blind. I released my grip, sliding to the rock bellow, and watched as a hole seemed to burn all the way through the monster, leaving it motionless beside me.

Merlin was quickly next to me, helping me to sit up. "I don't know where you have been..." he said. "but wherever it was, you seemed to have found your reason." I looked down at my hands, and they seemed to be made of the same kind of light my brother was now made of, only just under the surface it was like my body was made of a kind of fire that flowed freely throughout my whole essence, thankfully leaving my dress unharmed by its heat, what was still intact of it anyway.

I was about to tell Merlin and Edgar all about what had happened when I noticed Edgar was not by us, but rather next to Jasper. I got up quickly and rushed over to them, seeing how Jasper's breathing was still labored, and he had many cuts leaking a bright red onto his gray coloring. It wasn't so bad, until I saw the way one of his legs bended differently than the other in a way no leg should ever bend. I sat down and lifted his head onto my lap, brushing his mane from his face. "Oh, Jasper...."

Edgar sat beside me, shaking his head. "Nothing can be done for him."

I simply nodded, tired of trying to use my magic when it never helped anyone. "I'm sorry."

Jasper's eyes glanced towards me. "Do not be sorry. I lived a life no ordinary horse would ever know; a life of magic and prophecy, even if it was short."

"You deserved a longer life." I said.

Jasper was quiet, his heavy breathes filling the silence. "It is not the length of the life that makes it important, but the stories you share with others."

"Your story is one of greatest. I cannot say that there are many horses who face dragon's on other planets."

"It's not my story that I speak of." Jasper whispered. "It's yours."

"What does that mean?" I asked, but there was no response. The breathing had stopped and there was nothing but silence.

Suddenly there was a loud thump, and over by the crevice in the ground another black beast lay in a heap on the ground, and the griffin appeared from the giant crack, landing proudly next to its victim.

Standing up slowly, letting Jasper's head rest gently against the stone, I proceeded to walk over to the creature. I was furious and sick of all the death and despair this piece of rock for a planet provided. Clenching and unclenching my fists I stood in front of the monster that lay cast on its side. Its eyes flew open, a sickly yellow with red pupils peering into my soul. It let out a dark, bellowing laugh, even when it seemed to be unable to move at all.

"Oh, how wonderful." It said, its voice sounding like a thousand whispers at once. "The princess has arrived." It laughed once more, its mouth not opening in the slightest.

"Who are you?" I asked pointedly.

"We? We are the Nequam." It said. "And who are you?"

"I am Fia, and this is my story." I spat, and just like before a fiery whole burned through the hideous creature.

The Man Under the Shield

I gasped, stepping back, heart racing. Glancing back I saw the griffin was looking down the steps, its head taking up the whole entry way. I glanced back to where the man lain and the effulgent light cast a pink hue about the room. Timidly I stepped towards the man and peered inside to see the salubrious, sleeping face of Aurelius.

"Aurelius?" I whispered, reaching towards the shield. Reaching not even two inches above the shield, the energy spiked out, striking my hand, feeling like a thousand little daggers digging into my hand. "Ah!" I pulled my hand back, staring at the unmoving man before me. His hair seemed nicely combed, and his face was clean, but there, in the middle of his shirt, was the great blood stain left by a sword.

I tried everything I could think of to destroy the shield, but no matter how hard I tried the shield would not budge. As a last reserve I even tried to light the thing on fire, desperate to save the love I thought I had lost. The griffin let out a shriek as I nearly lost all feeling in my hands from beating on the shield. Looking back I saw the griffin had shoved one of its legs into the stairwell and was scratching at the stairs.

I walked back up the stairs, but the griffin was not less frantic. "Calm down, I'm coming." Once I got close enough it grabbed onto me with its beak and tossed me out of the room. I had been so distracted that I had not realized the occasional shaking of the temple, or the crashing of pillars. The griffin frantically motioned to its back with its head, signaling for me to get on. I glanced back at the stairwell, and the griffin grabbed me once more, throwing me onto its back, and took off just as the roof began to crash down. Once into the air I noticed several darkly colored dragons crashing into the temple and breathing fire against it, completely obliterating it.

"I'm sorry Aurelius." I whispered, wiping away my tears with what was left of my frayed sleeve. The griffin glanced back at me, its eyes sad, and let out a low sound of sorrow. "That's okay, you tried." I said, brushing my fingers through its feathers. "You did all you knew how." I leaned my head down, resting against the griffin's neck, and stared at the passing mist against the black ground and gray sky. Everything seemed to have lost its color here, I could only hope I still had a brother and rabbit roaming around here somewhere. "Will you help me find my family?" I asked, feeling drained of all energy, and lacking what little hope I had had before. The griffin gave a nod and let out a loud screech and flew faster across the dead land.