“Viera was my wife and Queen at the time, yes,” he said. “And she had, and still has I suppose, every right to be angry.”
“Because your relationship with my mother was an affair?” she asked.
“Because it was an affair,” he said. “And because it was with a human – a race she viciously despises and refuses to believe in any future of reconciliation with.”
“Why not?” Kelly asked. “I mean, I understand why she would hate the human race, but as I understand it most dragons are hoping to make peace with them.”
“You see,” he said, “Viera’s entire family was slaughtered by human hunters in the past. And she herself was terribly wounded – slashed in the stomach, an injury that rendered her unable to bear children.”
“Oh god!” sighed Kelly.
“She was forced to live centuries as an orphan, and for even more without children.”
“And your affair with a human,” she said, “must have felt like the worst betrayal imaginable.”
“Precisely.”
“It’s a terrible thing, all of it.”
Kelly went silent for a few minutes, unable to bear the gruesome story Damien had just told her. Starting to tear up again, she found Damien taking squeezing her hand between his palms and saying, “But my darling, you must know that I do not at all regret having you.”
She laughed, wiping away her tears.
“Well, I’m sure that’s not a very popular opinion.”
“But Kelly, does all of this not tell you something else?” he asked, his face again switching to a more serious look.
“Tell me what?” she asked.
“Your mother was a human, and I am a dragon,” he said. “Now, what do you think that makes you?”
“Wait, you’re not saying – “
“That is precisely what I am saying.”
“I’m…half human, half dragon?” she asked, her eyes wide and her jaw dropped.
“You’re a hybrid, Kelly,” he said in excitement.
“But, that can’t be true,” she said getting up and walking about the room. “I’m not like any of the others, I am as human as it gets. You’ve seen it!”
“Do you remember what you said to Crown back in the city?” he asked, hoping she would understand.
“I said…” she tried to remember. “I said something, something that I didn’t understand. I don’t even know why or how I said it.”
“You said ignis. You said ego sum factorem ignis.”
“I don’t know what that means,” she said in utter frustration.
“It means fire. It means I am the fire maker.”
“But I don’t understand. How can I speak in a language that I’ve never learned?”
“The point, Kelly, is that you did learn it,” said Damien, trying to get her to understand. “This is the language you grew up with. Your real name was ignis. And you were called the Fire Maker because you had the gift being able to breathe fire whilst being human.
Kelly, you are the human dragon.”
“But how can I not remember all of this?” she asked.
“Well…” he said, “When Viera found out, she was furious. She cast a spell on you, and erased any memory you had of your childhood.”
“What happened to my mother?” she asked fearfully.
“She was,” he tried to answer, “She was…she was murdered.”
Damien then burst into tears, covering his face with one hand. Kelly watched him cry for her mother, and realized that he was truly in love with her. She then guessed how her mother might have died.
“Was it Viera?” she asked, hoping the answer was No.
“It was, yes. She burned her alive,” he replied, feeling a heavy cloud of grief, anger, and sorrow hover above his heart. “I never forgave her.”
Kelly stood by a window, trying to breathe, trying to make sense of everything. She covered her mouth and collapsed into tears. Then a wave of anger came over her.
“Then how could you bring me here?!” she shouted. “To be killed? To be burned alive like my mother? What do you want from me?”
“I want you to save us, Kelly!” he shouted back, his eyes full of tears. “We all want you to save us! You are the only hope we’ve got!”
“What can I possibly do? I am an abomination, a tragic mistake, an evil work, a curse, a foul disgrace!”
“Kelly! Listen to me!” his voice full of rage. “You are living proof that we can coexist. That we are not radically different! That humans and dragons can love each other!”
Kelly looked at Damien, seeing the pain in his eyes, the sorrow in his heart, the desperate hope for change, for peace. He looked at her, his face drenched in tears and said, almost whispering, “Help us. Help your other half.”
“Yes, but I don’t know what I could possibly do?”
“We’ll think of that when the time comes,” he said. “But you must first be willing, you must be ready to fight this battle with us.”
“What if I fail?”
“Then at least you will have given me the privilege of seeing my one and only daughter again.”
“What would my mother have done?” she said, not realizing she was thinking out loud.
“She would have followed her heart.”
Chapter 4
Kelly walked out of her father’s royal chamber, confused, bewildered, and somewhat frightened by what just happened, and more so from what lies ahead. As she walked out – she must have been in there for hours, she thought, the sun is already down – she found Crown still sitting on a bench nearby, waiting for her in his human from.
“Mr. Crown!” she said. “You’re still here?’
“Where else would I go?” he replied, smiling at her.
He suddenly realized that she wasn’t feeling well, and then, that she had been crying. Her eyes were glossy and bright red, and her face as white as snow yet her cheeks crimson red. He ran towards her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and giving her a long and warm embrace.
“He told you everything, didn’t he?” he said in a sorrowful tone, knowing how painful it all must have been, and certainly still is, for her.
“He did, yes,” she said, sniffing and wiping her tears. “I still can’t believe it.”
“I wanted to tell you earlier, I really did,” he said. “But I realized it was probably best coming from him.”
“I suppose it was, yes.”
“You’ll get used to it as you go, you know.”
“Will I ever really?” she said in a somewhat ironic tone.
Crown was saddened by her pain. He didn’t realize how much her pain affected him. Watching her cover her eyes with her hands, he cheeks and torso pressed against his chest, he felt a sudden wave of affection. He felt at peace. He felt close to her. He then looked down at her face and said, “Tell you what.”
“What?” she asked.
“How about I show you a much happier side to all this?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean,” he said, with a bright smile of enthusiasm, “Let me show you around the valley. Let me introduce you to our cultures, our traditions, our food, our values.”
“Do you mean it?”
“Of course, I mean it!” he said. “I would be delighted. It is, after all, your second home, is it not?”
“I suppose so.”
“Go upstairs, have something to eat and get some rest,” he said. “Then meet me here in a couple of hours. How does that sound?”
“That sounds lovely,” she said, looking straight into his eyes and forgetting for a moment about all her worries, fears, and anxieties.
She went upstairs to her room, locked the door and threw herself on the bed. She started thinking about her life back in New York – her friends, her job, her grandmother. She realized that she only had dull memories from her past. She left for New York looking for something exciting. She wanted to stand at the top of the Empire State Building and howl at the world below in passionate
release. She’s always had a fire within her – a fire that yearned to burn with love, with lust, with excitement, with adventure. She was also exceptionally kind hearted, seeing only the beauty in things, even when it’s not there. Looking back at her several attempts in the past to move away from the tedium of day to day life, she realized that she never found what she was looking for – perhaps until now. For a moment, she felt the true blessing of having a purpose. She felt that this is what she was meant to do, and that this is where she was meant to be. In the midst of all this, she found herself remembering Mr. Crown. She remembered his eyes, and his smile. She remembered him with such strong detail, and then with no detail at all as if he was a passing shadow in a childhood dream.
Who was he? She thought. Why do I remember him? Or more accurately, why is that he makes me feel things that are very, very familiar.
Lost in her thoughts, she suddenly fell fast asleep. She dreamt of Crown, seeing him standing before her in bright colors, with an avalanche of flames burning behind him. She was happy.
After about an hour, she was woken up by a strong knock on the door. It was the miniature dragon with a tray of human food, a beautiful evening gown, and a note from Mr. Crown reminding her of their meeting.
“Oh dear! What time is it?” she cried.
“No worries, My Lady,” assured her the miniature dragon. “You’ve only slept for an hour. Mr. Crown is waiting for you downstairs when you’re ready.”
She took the tray, the gown and the note, and began to take small, quick bites from her food as she got ready. Taking the gown out of its bag, she was astonished. It was, she believed, one of the strangest things she’d ever seen. Yet, it was also the most beautiful – it was made from materials she was not familiar with, similar to silk but still not quite. It had fiery colors, so strong it almost glowed, radiating heat onto her skin, onto the room. It was as if it was truly made of fire, of real flames. But it never stung. She was bewildered. She took off her nightgown, and put on the fiery one before her. As she put it on, it stuck to her skin and ignited in her an unprecedented feeling of power. She almost felt like a princess, like a true daughter of a dragon, like the one and only heiress of the Valley of the Dragons.
Mr. Crown was sitting downstairs, dressed in eccentric clothes, yet equally glorious. He looked at the clock above, and then to the floor.
“I’m sorry,” she suddenly said, “I didn’t mean to keep you waiting. I fell asleep, that’s all.”
He looked upward, and saw her standing at the top of the stairwell. She shone, radiating heat throughout the castle. Her skin was glowing, her hair livelier than ever, transcending all human qualities. It was as if she was indeed made of fire.
“My dear god,” he said in astonishment. “My princess.”
He then found himself kneeling to the ground. Servants walking about the castle, catching a glimpse of Kelly, also froze as if struck by lightning. They all knelt, saying, “Long live our princess.”
Instead of feeling uncomfortable, she felt right at home. She felt in harmony with everything happening around her. Walking down the stairwell, she extended her hand to Mr. Crown who was still kneeling and staring humbly to the ground.
“I don’t suppose you’ll stay down there forever,” Kelly said in a humorous tone. “Aren’t you going to show me around?”
“I would be honored,” he said, standing up and taking her hand. “Absolutely honored.”
Kelly and Crown walked hand in hand outside the castle. They pass by wonderful sights – vast forests, huge mountains, eccentric flowers and trees, strange creatures and insects, some of the most beautiful she’d ever seen. It was nighttime, and the moon was large and full, the sky proud and live with restless stars. It was something straight out of a fairytale. It almost felt like a dream, one that she hoped to live through forever.
The dragons had different cultures and traditions, strange rituals and unfamiliar practices. One thing Kelly quickly noted was that they lived by the principle of modesty. They were amongst the humblest creatures she’d ever met. There was no competition, no hatred and no envy. They thrived on harmony rather than rivalry. They believed in peace and never in war. Throughout the centuries, never has any one dragon killed another. Death, for them, is both a horrid yet spiritual affair. They believed in the passing of souls, and in the continuation of one’s existence into infinitely different forms.
“When a dragon dies,” Crown explained as they walked through the village, “it never really perishes. It goes on living – in the sky, in the stars, in the sun and in the wind.”
“It’s a rather beautiful way of looking at things,” she said.
“It’s real,” he said. “When my mother died, the strangest thing happened for at least fifty years afterwards.”
“What happened?” she asked curiously.
“Every night, a white dove would sit on my window at precisely the same time my mother used to put me to bed as a child.”
“How old were you when she died?”
“I was quite young,” he said. “I could barely say anything besides the word ‘mother’.”
“I’m very sorry,” she said, holding his arm tightly. “And your father?”
“I never knew my father,” Crown said. “He died in one of the major battles with humans.”
“Oh, dear.”
“It’s strange really,” he continued. “He was the highest ranking general in the army, yet he had one principle completely opposite to what you would think.”
“What principle was that?” she asked curiously.
“He refused, under any circumstances, to take the life of a human.”
“I don’t understand,” Kelly said. “Then how is it he was in the army? How did dragons defend themselves?”
“He believed in deterrence, and not in murder,” he said. “At worst, he would severely injure a human in self-defense, but refused to take its life.”
“That’s perhaps the noblest thing I’ve ever heard,” she said.
“Well, not everyone saw it that way.”
“I can imagine,” Kelly said.
“And eventually, it led to his death. He was killed.”
“I see,” she said. “Is that why you’re so tolerant of humans?”
“Well,” he said sighing, “for a long time I was very angry. Angrier than you can imagine.”
“It’s only natural, I think.”
“But then I felt that my father wouldn’t have wanted that for me. He would have wanted me to understand that anger and hatred would never be the solution.”
“I know it’s silly,” she said smiling, “but I’m glad you realized that. I don’t think you would be standing here with me if you hadn’t.”
“That’s probably true. But I am very thankful that I did.”
They found themselves standing alone under the stars, in quiet part of the village. Everyone had left and it was very late. Crown was looking intensely into her eyes, observing her lips, her lashes, her crimson cheeks. Her eyes were shimmering, glowing. They found themselves slowly leaning towards one another, looking passionately at each other’s mouths, each of them breathing heavily through slightly parted lips. And just when their lips were about to touch, a loud horn echoed throughout the hills, startling Kelly. They both suddenly withdrew into their distant positions, and smiled awkwardly at each other, their faces blood red from the fleeting yet infinitely heated moment.
“Oh god,” she cried. “What was what?”
The horn blew again, this time even louder.
“Don’t be frightened,” he said. “It’s the twilight ritual.”
“The what?”
“It’s a ritual practiced every night at dawn,” he explained. “It’s a spiritual tradition, mainly to remember our loved ones, those who’ve passed away and the future souls that are to be born in the future. But now it represents something else, and serves a much greater purpose.”
“What purpose is that?”
“It’s
a ritual that is meant to help us remember our past, to hold fast to our memories, to our history.”
“Do you mean the history between humans and dragons?”
“Precisely,” he said.
“It’s a rather gloomy one, though,” she said. “Wouldn’t you agree?”
“It’s not the most cheerful one,” he replied. “But it’s also reminder of why and how we are here. Without remembering our past, we could never hope to move to a better future.”
“I’m not sure I understand,” Kelly said in confusion.
“What I mean is,” he said, “your father made sure this ritual be practiced every night so that the dragon population doesn’t fall into believing that this is how it always was and always will be. It is a reminder that dragons once lived a thriving life, and how we live now must change.”
“I see,” she said nodding. “I think it’s rather clever of him.”
“Shall we?” he said, offering his arm. “I think it is essential that you attend. Your father would also love to see you there.”
“I think I must attend, yes.”
They walked further into the village, only to see the entire population standing around a large bonfire. They were standing in a large circle, their shoulders closely touching. From the crowd emerged Damien, in his kingly dragon form. Kelly and Crown made their way between the crowds, standing at the front row so that Kelly can observe it all. Damien caught a glimpse of the couple, smiling in pride.
Love of A Dragon (Exalted Dragons Book 1) Page 4
