Of Dreams and Dragons

by Karpov Kinrade

  The air cools and the orange and purple sky of my Sanctuary grows darker. It is not because time has passed. It is because I am at my end.

  “Very well,” says Pike, voice cold and quiet. “I will take you to the Dream that Cannot be Dreamt. I will take you to my Sanctuary. But you will have to speak to Kara alone. She has accepted her fate. Only you may be able to convince her otherwise.” He holds up his hand, and the center of his palm begins to wither away. The sky blackens, crumpling like paper, burning away, and ash falls from the sky. The grass turns yellow, then black, then gray. The silver tree catches fire and leaves nothing but a charred corpse. The stone graves turn to dust in the wind. All fades away.

  And I enter the Dream that Cannot be Dreamt.

  Pike is gone, and I stand alone in his dream. In this quiet and lifeless place where the world is gray and the sky pitch black. Where there are no stars and no moons, and yet somehow there is light.

  This is nothing like the infinite dream of Adragasa. This place is small, tiny even, just an island covered in ash floating in a sea of darkness.

  This world must be much like the one the Outcast walked, after everything burned away around her.

  Except, I am not alone.

  A shadow stands at the edge of the island before a beam of white light that shoots up so high into the sky you cannot see its end. The Pyre of Souls.

  I walk forward, feeling the soft ash beneath my feet as I approach the dark figure. She stands facing the light, her back to me, wearing nothing but a white dress. Her long black hair falls down her back. Her body is small, delicate, but there is strength there as well.

  Tears pour down my cheeks. A sob escapes me. My entire body shakes and my legs crumple beneath me and I fall onto my knees. I had given up on this moment, given up on any chance of seeing my little girl again. She is not little anymore, however. She has grown. And how I wish I could have seen her grow. How I wish I could have been there to watch her learn and become all she could be.

  My voice is a broken thing. “Kara?”

  She turns.

  And I see a face I know better than any other. The face I have called friend. The face I have loved.

  “Raven?”

  Forty-Eight

  Raven

  My body breaks as I realize the truth. “You were with me the whole time…” I murmur. Ever since I arrived at Dragoncliff, she was by my side. And I did not recognize her. I did not see her. The similarities I dismissed as coincidence, if I even gave them any thought. But now I see so clearly. The dark eyes that would look up at me as I held her close to my chest. The smile that would warm my day as I told her favorite stories. My little girl. Kara. Raven. They are one in the same.

  She speaks softly, and I hear her voice like never before, the voice I wished to hear for years as I imagined what Kara would sound like as she grew older. It is beautiful and gentle and strong all at once. It is the soft whisper of the wind. The warm caress of the sun. It is the patient, distant hum of the storm.

  “Before we give ourselves to the light, we are all permitted one Gift,” she says. “My Gift was you.” Her lips curl in a half-smile. “When I learned you had arrived at Dragoncliff, I asked to spend my last few years with you. I wanted to know you. Your voice. Your eyes. Your soul.” She blinks, eyes glossy. “At first, I hated you. For letting me go. For ending your search. I know you had no choice, but I hated you all the same. But…” her voice brightens. “Then I got to know you. Your kindness. Your strength. The way you cared for those you loved. The way you cared for me. You never let me be small. Instead you let me be everything. Sad and spiteful and angry and happy and mean and friendly, and you cared for me all the same. You taught me what it meant to be a friend, to be a family. And I could hate you no longer. I love you, Sky.” Her voice breaks. “I love you.”

  With her last words, something changes inside her, and tears stream down her cheeks, and I can see they are of both sorrow and joy.

  I find the strength within my limbs once more, and I run toward her, and I grab her in a hug and I hold her close like I will never let go.

  She hugs me back, laughing through her tears.

  I kiss her cheek. Her head. I clutch her hair in my hand. “How?” I ask. “How could you be… When I arrived at Dragoncliff, you should still have been a small child.”

  She wipes her eyes, calming her sobs. “I traveled to Nirandel before you. And though I cannot remember this, Pike told me he carried me between multiple worlds as a child, and so I aged faster than you for a time. I think I am older than Kyle now.” We both chuckle. “So many times I wanted to tell you who I was… but I didn’t want you to lose me twice. But now, I am glad you know. I am glad we have this moment.

  I pull away to see her face. “What do you prefer now, Kara or Raven?”

  “Raven,” she says quickly. Then softly she adds. “But it would be nice… to hear you call me Kara one last time.”

  I hug her once more and whisper in her ear. “I love you, Kara. I am so sorry I let you go. I am so sorry I failed you.”

  She pulls away this time. “It’s okay,” she says. “You made these last few years worth living.” Then, she lets go of me and steps back toward the light. “It is time. I must go. Do not mourn me, for I will be in the world beyond. I will see Bix there, and I will tell him this story. I think he will be most happy to hear it.”

  I grab her by the shoulders, startling her. “No, Raven. The sacrifice will not work. That is why I am here.”

  She shakes her head. “I have to try. If I don’t, you and Zev and Landon and Mabel and Kaden and Phoenix will die. I will not watch you die.” Her body trembles.

  I hold her tighter and look upon her face one last time. I memorize the lines there, the twist of her lip, the curve of her jaw, the arc of her nose, the shape of her eyes. “There is another way. Goodbye, Kara.” Then I push her to the side and dash forward into the light.

  Forty-Nine

  Kara

  She grabs me from behind and pulls me back and throws me into the ash. Her face is full of rage. “I will not watch you die!”

  “There is no other way,” I plead. “I am the only one who can relight the Wall.”

  “No,” she says, and I fear she is about to jump into the light, but instead she walks forward, past me, into the center of the dream. She falls to her knees and sticks her hands into the ground and she screams and the very earth and sky begin to shake. “I am in your dream,” she roars. “I am in your Sanctuary. If I tear apart this world, I will tear apart your body. So come. Come and face me, Son of Nir. I am Raven of the Dragoneyes clan. I am Kara. And I am your slave no longer.”

  Fifty

  Son Of Nir

  A roar fills the sky. I have heard its kind before, from Adragasa, but this is even louder and more powerful. And then he is there. Above us.

  Majestic and terrible in his form.

  The Son of Nir.

  Dark blue scales shimmer in the black sky. Sapphire wings thunder through the air. A tail, longer than the span of this ashen island, swipes across the land. This is a creature too marvelous and dangerous for this world. A creature unmatched. A titan amongst giants. The largest dragon I have ever seen, and the son of a god.

  His roar is a thousand roars. His voice is a thousand voices. “This is my domain, child,” he growls. “And you will fulfill your duty, willingly or not.”

  Raven yells again, shaking the dream once more, and the great dragon recoils. Whatever she is doing, she is hurting his Sanctuary, hurting him. And something shifts, the barrier Pike had up to keep my friends away weakens, and as the air shimmers, they begin to appear. Zev. Landon. Mabel. Enzo. Phoenix. Kaden.

  They are here. We are together once more.

  For a moment, they are confused, but when they see the mighty dragon above, they understand. They transmute their Spirit armor and, without exchanging any words, the nine of us form a circle and prepare for battle.

  The dragon opens its massive jaws and fi
res down blue flame. We scatter to avoid the blast as the inferno strikes down beside me, the heat melting my silver armor even from a distance. I leap backwards, out of harm’s way, and take flight with my wings toward Pike. But even as I glide toward the massive dragon, another figure emerges from the blue blaze. A man, his skin pale and thin, his body covered in red stone, leaps from the fire, his ragged black cloak drifting behind him, as he swings a scythe through the air. It is Pike. His human form. Somehow, he is in two places at once. And then I remember, this is his Sanctuary. He can do things here that are impossible in the real world.

  The human Pike dashes forward, and he is even faster than I remember. When he cuts through my friends, the sound of his scythe tearing through flesh is barely audible. It is such a quiet, simple thing. And yet it turns the air red. It brings my friends to their knees.

  First, Pike strikes at Landon. He cuts through his Achilles tendons, as he once did to me, and sends my friend falling to the ground. Before Landon has even hit the ash, Pike is upon Mabel. With two swings, he cuts off both her arms, then glides toward Enzo and slashes him across the waist. Next, he cuts off Phoenix’s hands, then Zev’s feet. But when he tries to strike at Raven, a sword clashes against his scythe.

  Kaden blocks Pike’s advance, just as he did for me three years ago. He seems the only one fast enough to fight the Son of Nir.

  Even I, a High Dragon, am too far away and too slow to help. I need dragonstone, but this a Sanctuary; there will be no dragonstone here. So as Pike twists to strike at Kaden from the side, I do the only thing I can think of, and beckon my Spirit to appear between them.

  Umi heeds my call and materializes in front of Pike, biting down on his shoulder. For once, Pike cannot evade an attack, because there was no way for him to see it coming, and my silver dragon tears into his collarbone. Pike tries to pull away, but my Spirit has him pinned, Umi’s jaw a vice around his arm. Kaden seizes the advantage, and drives his sword into Pike’s gut. Once. Twice. Three times.

  He’s about to strike at Pike’s head when a massive tale swings past them, hitting Kaden in the side and sending him flying. Pike tosses his scythe into his free hand and cuts down on Umi’s neck, and my Spirit has no choice but to let go of his shoulder and pull back. Pike smiles, the black blood oozing from his shoulder and stomach doing little stop him as he leaps across the island to strike at Kaden while he is down.

  I beckon Umi toward the Ashlord. Usually, I would be too slow, but Pike has a lot of distance to cover, and he moves slower due to his injuries, and Umi reaches Kaden first, blocking the scythe midair with his claws.

  Pike growls, with both of his bodies at once, and another beam of blue flame strikes down at me from above, but Pike’s dragon form isn’t as fast as his human one, and I fly out of the way. I realize then, we are targeting the wrong enemy. “Kaden. Raven. Focus on the dragon!”

  They nod and transmute to become airborne. Zev, gritting his teeth, body shaking, follows them too. His feet have not yet regenerated, but he doesn’t need them to fly. I don’t know how he can focus through the pain, but he does, and the four us strike at the mighty dragon above.

  We can’t use talismans here, because it’s a Sanctuary, so we must make do with our beckoning and transmuting. Raven cuts at the colossal serpent’s feet with her sickle. Kaden transforms into Darkflame, body growing black scales and red wings, but his dragon is only a quarter the size of Pike’s. I beckon Umi to his side, and together they battle the Son of Nir.

  One dragon that of darkness.

  One dragon that of light.

  They swirl around the sky, using their superior agility to tear into the larger dragon’s flesh. He tries to incinerate them with his fire, but they glide behind his head, managing to stay behind him as he thrashes about with tooth and claw. He is too slow. They are too fast.

  Umi and Darkflame tear him apart.

  They bite down on major arteries. Cut through his wings. And when once, long ago, Kaden and Umi stood as enemies, they now stand as allies. Their Spirits entwined.

  And even the mighty Son of Nir cannot defeat them. With wings full of holes, he begins to fall. And then small Zev, who was never great at slaying dragons, charges through the sky and tears into the great dragon’s eye. He rips it out. Then cuts into the brain.

  And the titan dragon dies.

  What remains of Pike, the hollow man below, trembles at the sight. He sits in a pool of his own black blood, staring with frantic eyes as his Sanctuary begins to fade away. As the black sky turns brighter. As the wind starts to blow the ash away.

  “I will not let the light fade,” he whispers. And then he jumps and skeletal wings sprout from his back. Before any of us can react, he grabs Raven by the waist and dives down. Toward the Pyre of Souls.

  Kaden is the only one fast enough to catch them, but he is too far away, high above in the gray sky. I beckon Umi toward Pike, summoning my Spirit out of thin air, but Pike twists out of the way each time, anticipating my attacks. Raven strikes at his back with her sickle, but he is unfazed by the blows, as if he feels no pain. She cuts off his wings, but it does not matter, because now they are only falling. She tries to cut off his arms, but he bites down on her hand, breaking it, and she screams. Soon they will be at the Pyre.

  And my little girl, my Raven, my Kara, will die for nothing.

  I understand then why the Outcast did what she did. Why she gave her life for Raven. She knew Raven was Kara. It is what she was trying to tell me before she died. And now, I know what I must do. And I know it will work. Because it must work. Because I have dedicated my life to Raven, to Kara, and I will not fail her again.

  I draw the sword at my side.

  And I blink.

  I appear between Raven and Pike, tearing them apart. The Son of Nir howls and digs his nails into my daughter, and so I slice upwards with my sword and cut off his arms. Then I twist us around, lift up both my legs, and kick Pike in the chest. He flies forward. Into the Pyre of Souls.

  And he burns.

  Fifty-One

  The Cycle Ends

  The Pyre of Souls glows bright and the man within screams and writhes as his body burns to ash. The Dream that Cannot be Dreamt fades away.

  And we fall back into our bodies within the Palace of Storms.

  Behind us, the Wall of Light flashes in the distance, burning so brightly we can see it from Al’Kalesh. Then the light explodes outward, covering all of Nirandel.

  I feel it as it happens.

  The mass death of all the dragons.

  Their souls burning out, their bodies turning to ash.

  I fall to my knees as a cry of pain is torn from my lungs.

  I hear Adragasa's cry in my mind, in my heart and soul, as she watches her children die around her, before succumbing to the light herself.

  She is the last to die.

  With her, the age of light ends.

  And a new age begins.

  Fifty-Two

  Two Worlds

  The Ashwraith rising succeeds, and the people who once hid underground for millennium become the rulers of Nirandel.

  Illian takes the throne and enacts new laws and regulations as the city of Al’Kalesh is rebuilt after what becomes known as The Ascension.

  Any man, woman, or child, who does not wish to be ruled by the Ashwraiths is given nine months to leave for a land once mysterious and dangerous, and thus the exodus to the Ashlands begins.

  Hundreds of people pass the through the gates of the Wall of Light, which burns brighter than ever, and head toward the city of Na’Razim. There Naoki and Makoto help them settle in amongst the Worshipers of the Wall and begin a new society. Naoki works with cheers and smiles, but I heard they wept for days after Adragasa and her children burned at the center of the city.

  I too wept in the quiet of night. For after my time at Na’Razim I began to see dragons as more than monsters. They were beautiful, majestic, intelligent creatures deserving of so much more than they ever received. And so
metimes, secretly, I wish that the Wall of Light had faded away and that somehow we had found a way to live together in peace.

  After the Ascension, the Dragoneyes Squadron transports the body of one of their own, the man called Bix, to the north and buries him at the base of the Frozen Mountains as his people sing the song of his deeds and call him Agrala: hero, in their tongue.

  They bury one more body as well. The one called Outcast by some, Red Queen by others.

  And then, once they have mourned and said their goodbyes, they too travel for the Ashlands.

  I sit on a cart pulled by two Boxen, beside Massani and Etu and their children. We ran into them on the way south, and they offered us a ride amongst their caravan. Raven sits with the children, telling them the story of she and I slayed the Son of Nir. They gasp, and ooo, and aw, and after the tale is finished, they teach her how to play a game of symbols. There is a joy in Raven that was not there before the Ascension, and I am glad she has found a new kind of happiness.

  I pet Ashpaw, who sits on my lap, purring. He was safe at Dragoneyes Manor during the Sundering, and now rides with us along with the Keeper and his protege, little Appleseed.

  Zev, Landon, Mabel, and Enzo sit in the other carts. Phoenix stayed behind in Al’Kalesh to aid Illian and her new regime. She had, after all, known about the Ashwraiths for many years. I am not surprised she wishes to see them thrive. Illian named her a general, and from I understand, she leads forces to quell any uprising committed to the old Emperor.

  Kaden stayed behind as well. For he is the son of Illian, the first born Ashwraith, and their prince.