by Dreagen
“All of which is true,” explained BaRone thoughtfully. “But DraGon skeletons were like DyVorians, or actually more like CyTorians—filled with hollow air sacs. This means they don’t hold up as well when exposed to the elements after decay.”
“Not to mention big predators like the TarBoranx would have eaten them, bones and all,” EeNox added.
“Really?” Rex said in surprise as he thought back to all the artistic interpretations he had ever seen of the mythical creatures back on Earth.
“We only really know what they looked like because a body was discovered frozen in ice two hundred and thirty years ago at the base of the mountains of ClyVen,” EeNox said, stepping closer to the jaw and eyeing it curiously.
“Seismic activity in that area has always brought things down from the higher elevations, but that was the first time in recorded history that anyone had found something like that. In fact, it was the first time anyone had actually seen a DraGon in thousands of years. Before that, all we had to go on were vague descriptions, nothing nearly close to being called scientific.” BaRone seemed to drift off. “I still remember the first time I saw that thing. My father had taken me with him north to do some trading. We were passing through a village at the base of the mountain when we heard the news of the discovery. They were keeping the body on ice while they waited for a team dispatched by the science guild. My father pulled some strings, and we were granted access. It was…unlike anything I had ever seen. The size of VayRonx, pale grey skin, four enormous wings, a long thin tail, and the neck of a serpent.”
BaRone’s words seemed to stir something within Rex. His mind began to whirl, as if a memory was trying to push itself to the surface. The description seemed to fit the general image of what he had always seen DraGons depicted as, and he wondered if that was why he was feeling so strange. The idea of something he had always believed to be fantasy actually being real would surely be enough to evoke any number of feelings he was unaccustomed to. Still, he could not shake the notion that it was somehow something more.
“Those blue eyes,” BaRone continued, breaking Rex’s thoughts. “They say if you die in anger, the look of hatred is locked in your eyes until they rot out of your skull. Dead that ancient monster was, but the hatred it felt before its heart stopped beating still burned alive in those cold blue eyes.”
Everyone stood in silence for a moment, when at last Rex spoke up. “Where is it now?”
“The team sent by the capital set up an exhibit around it in the village for study and also as a bit of a tourist attraction for the village,” BaRone said, exhaling loudly as if forcing out the cryptic feeling that came with the memory. “It’s still on display to this day for all to see. Not as big of a draw as it had once been, though. Then again, maybe it’s the look in its eyes that repels people. After all, it’s no secret lost to history that they hated us so much that they were willing to commit genocide on every DyVorian, CyTorian, and SaVarian. Only something that you hate that much could evoke such a look in something. So when people see it, they instinctively know that look of hate…is for them.”
AnaSaya’s skin felt as if it was that of a baby: fresh from the womb, ultra sensitive to the touch. All the colors in her field of vision glided through the air like blood floating through running water. The sounds of the world around her penetrated deep to the very core of her mind, touching every sense and making her feel like she was hovering above the floor. Am I? she thought to herself as she focused all over herself into her lower body, then her legs, then lastly into her bare feet, which suddenly sensed something firm beneath. Closing her eyes, she focused her mind on returning back to the here and now. Taking three deep breaths, she was suddenly back in the room. Pain ran up through her fingers and into her wrists. She looked down and saw her knuckles were white from gripping the edge of the table. A single whimper escaped her lips as a bead of sweat ran down her face. She clenched her eyes tightly and forced her head up before opening them, whereupon a bright lavender pair stared back at, as the mirror reflected her pale and worn face. “Still here.”
Her attention was suddenly grabbed by the sound of voices downstairs. Her ears twitched as if the noise were pinpricks on them. She felt curiosity swell within her. I wonder if it’s them? she thought as she recalled the four people that looked no older than her. Two of them she remembered from a time when she was but a small child. All her life she had lived with her mother in the eastern foothills, with little contact with anyone else except for traders who routinely passed through, and the three occasions she had journeyed to KaNar with her mother. Naturally this meant no friends, or even any real contact with someone else her age.
When her mother had told her they were coming back to KaNar to help her uncle, she had felt guilty for feeling so excited because she knew she was coming to help someone who had been hurt. She could not, however, deny the urge to interact with others of her age, even if she was equally terrified by the prospect. Should I stay up here, or should I go…
Rex sniffed the air as he went rifling through the cupboards. His stomach’s cries for food were now audible to the other three who watched with amusement as the eating machine went on the hunt.
“Looking for something?” EeNox asked jokingly.
“Yeah, food,” Rex answered without halting his search, looking down in one of the lower pantries.
“I think you’ve eaten all the food, Rex,” DiNiya said, covering her mouth in an effort to not giggle out loud.
“Huh?” he replied again without turning.
“She’s saying there’s no more food,” LyCora explained.
Rex stood up and whipped around with such speed that it made the others jump. “What do you mean there’s no more food?”
“Well, like she said, you cleaned us out of what we had,” EeNox explained. “And we lost everything we caught this morning, so…no food.”
Rex looked as if someone had told him he would never walk again. With a sense of defeat, he plopped down in a chair and sulked.
DiNiya walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry,” she said reassuringly. “We can go to the tavern later and get you something to eat.” Rex perked up slightly.
EeNox smiled as he took a seat across from them and played with a lock of his fur. “So what do we think of the new little lavender-eyed cutie who just rolled into town?”
“You mean AnaSaya?” DiNiya asked.
“I do indeed.”
“Honestly, I don’t really remember much about her. She always hid in her room when she came with VyKia. She seems nice enough, though—I mean, maybe a little strange, but who are we to judge? She saved TarFor.”
“Oh, I’m not judging her. I just get the feeling that she doesn’t have a lot of what we would call people skills.”
“She’s different,” Rex said in a tone that implied he was making sure EeNox knew not to insinuate anything negative by it. “What’s wrong with that?”
“Easy now,” EeNox said, holding up his hands with a grin. “I’m just saying this may be her first time really spending any time around lots of people since she was little. She may be feeling a little nervous or even scared.”
Rex found it easy to put himself in her place, for despite having discovered a world that he regarded as paradise, he had felt very much like a fish out of water, an outsider. Story of my life. It was a feeling he still had not fully shaken and wondered if he ever would. “If she really is that unsure of what to make of us, then she’s probably listening to us right now, trying to decide if she should come downstairs or hide in her room.”
“You really think so?” DiNiya asked.
“I do.”
“Well, you turned out to be brave enough to give us a chance,” she said with a smile.
“Apparently, she is too,” LyCora said from down at the end of the table where she sat with her legs crossed.
The other three looked at her then turned around to see AnaSaya standing on the landing of the stairs, watching
them with nervous curiosity.
Rex, DiNiya, and EeNox glanced at one another, unsure of how long she had been standing there, and not really trusting LyCora to have told them right away.
“Hello, AnaSaya,” DiNiya said, smiling, trying to seem as non-threatening as she could. “Um…do you remember me?”
The young blond girl nodded as she forced herself to smile back despite feeling anxious. “Yes, you are DiNiya…right?” DiNiya’s smile broadened. “Daughter of BaRone.”
“That’s right.”
“And you are EeNox, her brother.”
“Spot on,” he said, giving her a wink that made her lightly blush and recoil back. She then turned her gaze down to the end of the table and said, “You must be LyCora, daughter of VoRenna.”
“Correct,” LyCora replied simply.
“My mother has told me much about you and yours. She says you are very powerful for one so young.”
“I’m flattered,” LyCora replied dryly before seeing that her lack of enthusiasm was causing the other girl to look slightly uneasy. Feeling satisfied that she had made it clear that she was not looking for a friend, she decided to let her off the hook. “It’s nice to meet you, too,” she added with a brief smile.
A feeling of relief wafted over AnaSaya as she turned her gaze back towards the front of the room and regarded the other boy, the one with red eyes like DiNiya but which glowed bright red. She looked at him as if trying to put something together. He sat with his side to her, glancing at her slightly but mostly down at the table. He was a little bigger than the others, with shoulders that seemed too broad for a boy his age. His neck was held rigid and in place, while his eyes were set further back in his skull, with a pronounced brow that gave him a permanent scowl. His skin was light tan and his fur gleamed of silver. She had no idea why, but she felt more nervous around him than she did the others. Perhaps it’s because he always looks angry? she thought, mustering the courage to continue.
Damn it, why the hell is she doing the dramatic pause on me? Rex thought as his teeth gritted together behind closed lips.
“You are Rex…the lost one,” she said finally.
“It’s just Rex,” he replied, rubbing the back of his head from a slight ache that briefly came and went. “And what do you mean by ‘lost one’?”
“It’s what I’ve heard everyone call you because you were lost in a faraway land.”
Rex thought for a moment, then nodded, deciding it was about as accurate as any way he could have explained it. “So you’re a healer?”
“Like you need to ask after that amazing display of power we saw this morning,” EeNox said enthusiastically.
“Hey, I’m still new to all of this, remember?”
“We were all new to what happened earlier,” DiNiya said thoughtfully.
“Fair enough.”
“Please,” AnaSaya said in a soft voice. “It was nothing praiseworthy, I assure you. I didn’t do anything that I’m sure someone of LyCora’s power could not have done on their own.” She looked at the girl at the far end of the table, hoping to have earned some standing in her good graces.
“Of course,” LyCora said with sarcasm that she figured would be obvious to everyone except AnaSaya. You’ll have to do better than that, sweetheart.
“I don’t know about that,” EeNox said, crossing his arms. “LyCora was trying but didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. At best all she really ended up being able to do was keep TarFor alive until you got here, AnaSaya.”
“Oh…I see,” AnaSaya replied, looking at her toes, which she curled as she always did when she was nervous.
DiNiya, seeing how uncomfortable she was with all the attention she was getting, stepped in. “Regardless of who did what and how much, we are all very grateful to you. Now I imagine you must be hungry after such a long trip. We were all about to go to the local tavern for a bite to eat.” Rex immediately perked up. “Would you like to join us?”
“I would love to,” AnaSaya replied, happy that she had been accepted or at the very least not rejected.
“Well, then, shall we get going?”
“What, we’re going now?” EeNox asked as he leaned back in his chair.
“Of course,” Rex said, standing up abruptly and yanking the other boy out of his chair, pulling him effortlessly towards the door. “The poor girl is starving!”
Fifteen minutes later, they reached the enormous doors of the tavern and walked in behind two BorTons discussing a conversation they had earlier with LyVera, which they both seemed proud of. They had practically sprinted there just to keep up with Rex, who at this point was blindly following his nose and stomach.
“Here we are,” DiNiya said, looking around to see if anyone else they knew was there too.
“Wow,” AnaSaya exclaimed.
“Trust me, I know,” said Rex with a thoughtful nod.
“It’s just I’ve never seen so many people in one pl—well, actually ever!”
“But you’ve been here before,” LyCora reminded her.
“True…but I didn’t really leave my room much,” AnaSaya replied, feeling somewhat awkward.
“It’s still a sight to behold,” Rex said.
“Seriously, what is it with you two?” EeNox said with a bewildered look. “We live way out in the sticks! You want to see a lot of people, go to Bloodstone, or better yet, the capital. Now those are big cities!”
“Well, when you consider where they’re from, it’s understandable,” DiNiya said.
“Hey, speak for yourselves,” Rex retorted. “There were three hundred thousand people in the city I came from.”
“Three hundred thousand?” EeNox repeated. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“I live under a hill,” AnaSaya blurted out in an attempt to be a part of the conversation.
The other three stopped and looked at her in awkward silence.
“Uh, yeah…anyway, let’s go see what they have to eat, okay?” DiNiya said as she led the highly embarrassed girl towards the back.
EeNox leaned in to Rex and asked, “So what do we think? The whole marching to the beat of a different drum thing is cute…right?”
“People just feared and loathed me when I did it,” Rex said thoughtfully before hurrying after the two girls.
EeNox shrugged his shoulders and looked back at LyCora. “Don’t suppose you have a positive opinion to contribute to any of this.”
“What do you mean?” she replied. “At least she has an excuse for being dense. Unlike some people in our little motley crew,” she added with a sly smile and a little jab to his side before walking off herself, leaving him standing by himself.
“Pssst,” came a voice off to his left. EeNox turned to see NyRo rear back on his haunches and say “ladies man” while pointing at him with both paws. Rolling his eyes, EeNox stormed off.
AnaSaya stood wide-eyed in front of the enormous table filled with food.
“So what are you in the mood for?” DiNiya asked.
“I don’t even know what most of this is,” AnaSaya replied as she tilted her head to the side to look all the way down to the far end of the table. “It just keeps going!”
“You don’t eat like this at home?” EeNox asked as he joined them.
“Mother likes to keep things simple. She says we eat to survive and the rest of our time needs to be spent training.”
“Wow, it sounds like a very strict life,” DiNiya said, suddenly realizing just how good she had it.
“Oh, please, don’t get the wrong impression. I am extremely fortunate to have the life that I do; it’s just that…well, I don’t get to do many of the things that people would consider ‘normal.’”
“Well, then, think of this as a vacation and stuff your face,” EeNox said as he began to fill his plate.
AnaSaya looked at DiNiya and asked, “Is it really all right? I don’t want to look gluttonous.”
DiNiya looked behind AnaSaya, who in turn followed her line of sigh
t to where Rex was holding an entire meter-long fish with both hands while unapologetically eating his way through it. “What?” he said when he noticed the two pairs of eyes staring at him, food cascading from his mouth as he spoke.
DiNiya smiled and looked back to AnaSaya. “You’ll be fine.”
A smile so broad spread across the girl’s face that the corners of her mouth parted, and DiNiya watched as she began running up and down the length of the table sampling the assortment of foods. She looked to her right and saw her brother and LyCora arguing over something as usual, then back to her left where Rex had plopped down on the ground and was halfway through the giant fish as AnaSaya ran past him back and forth, trying to get a taste of everything. DiNiya laughed at the sight as she suddenly realized she was happy, actually truly happy, for the first time in a long time. I wonder if it’s all right to feel this way, in light of everything that has happened?
She was preparing to walk over to Rex and suggest he perhaps take his feast to a table when she suddenly felt a strange pull coming from behind. She turned back around and was somewhat startled to see KyGahl staring at her from across the room. She became weak in the knees but did not fall; instead, she found her legs moving towards him. Everything around her seemed to be in slow motion and sounded distant, as if it was all happening somewhere else. For a moment she thought she heard a barely audible whisper call her name. She glided silently through the crowd on what felt like air before suddenly being broken out of her trance by a pair of golden eyes that seemed to come out of nowhere. “KyGahl,” she said, blinking in surprise.
The low hood once again concealed his eyes and a gentle voice said, “Hello, DiNiya, I wanted to catch you.”
“Huh…wha…what?” she replied breathlessly as she snapped out of her trance.
“I wanted to come see you and the others in person sooner after what happened in the forest, but was unable to because of my work.”
DiNiya smiled as she exhaled loudly. “No need to apologize. It’s not like any of us expected the whole world to come to a grinding halt because of it.”
