The Cursed Dragon

by Rachal M. Roberts

  The story of Acama’s Calling intrigued Kalara although she had no recollection of it; it was just like everything else, it meant nothing to her. Just like hearing about someone else’s life that you don’t even know, their story doesn’t matter because it doesn’t affect you. But there was something about that name, Acama. In the recesses of her mind, it was there, Acama was very important – it just wasn’t the dragon Ravanan was talking about. Her mind knew that name well enough to dream about it and that one fact was monumental to Kalara. It was the first time she remembered something even if it was only in a dream, and she would cherish it like a life preserver, as something tangible she could hang onto.

  Kalara crinkled her forehead in thought, trying hard to gather up the memory. “In the dream I’m always lost in a cloud of ash and smoke. Then I hear a hurting voice warning me to stay lost but it calls me Acama. It doesn’t make any sense and doesn’t go with what you just said.”

  Ravanan paused for a long moment to look into her violet eyes. He then said “There is more that I didn’t say. The name Acama has another meaning and maybe you are ready to know since you dreamed about it. At Acama’s Calling we were all appalled by his bizarre death. Every dragon there understood the importance of global communication but no one wanted to kill themselves to make it happen. In order to be unified against humans, dragonkind needed to stay connected – not with a government but with a forum. And since the idea was to keep the majority of us from having to be summoned again, the responsibility fell to the minority.

  “You are one of only four amethyst dragons in the world. Each of you were given and accepted the title of Acama before leaving Vya Matros that day. The amethysts don’t rule over any dragon, but you do answer to us all until death. It is your duty to be available to the dragons who live near you; to hear them and then relay their words to the other amethyst dragons who will tell the rest of dragonkind. You serve Kynasteryx and Anarchelos. Kadd of Kynasteryx Diamid left his lair and took a new one in Nikhadelos. The glass dragoness known as Morada of Kadyx Polaren covers Kadyx and Nikhadelos Ravyx and lastly Tristan the Malefic Amethyst, who is the only purple dragon with a cool aura, covers his frozen home land of Viptryx and also took on Sharoviptryx.

  Ravanan had outlined the continents of the world using electrical sparks hung like tiny fireworks in the air, pointing to the lands as he named them.

  “The amethysts bind all dragons together and the four of you crafted a spell to do just that, giving you the power to summon the dragons you serve and the other Acamas as well. There are some who question what you did and wonder how it works, but only you four know.”

  Kalara’s heart filled with self-worth to discover that she had a title and a job.... that she was needed, maybe not by humans, but by dragons. Even though she had no familiarity with the role and still didn’t feel like she was a dragon, she wanted it.

  “Now see?” she smiled at him, “Was it so hard to tell me something about myself? It helps me. I don’t understand why you are so intent on keeping my past a secret from me.”

  Ravanan looked ruggedly at her “Kalara, I want you to get better and this is a start, but it doesn’t change things. Even if you were told everything about yourself, it wouldn’t matter. Some things you must discover on your own. You have no understanding of your previous life and you haven’t begun to truly embrace the role of Acama. How would you even fulfill the title right now?”

  He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Look Kalara, it is important you don’t try anything that may arouse the other Acamas. According to Dragon Law they will kill you for your condition. We can fix this and find your memories before mistakes are made.”

  Kalara stood up, so did Ravanan. She knew he was right she just didn’t want to admit it. It was one thing to recall a lone fact but quite another to be the dragon he spoke of. Even though she knew now she was an Acama, a purple dragon, she couldn’t do what was required of her. She couldn’t even leave his protective blue mist without taking damage.

  “Alright. I’ll let it go for now. But I’m not giving up.” She said with determination. “Hearing the title Acama in my dreams is something from my past – I know this now. Just because I’m lost with no memories doesn’t mean I’m not an Acama – I’ve got the violet eyes to prove it. Even if I have to start from the beginning again, I’ll get it all back. You did say I’ve been unknowingly using magic all along to stay in human form, and my awareness of magic is returning to me. I can already feel your aura when I’m close to you, see?”

  Kalara walked up to him hoping to feel his aura but there was no change in the air. She stepped even closer and took his hand in hers which felt like any other normal hand with no special heat. Tears filled her eyes as she released Ravanan’s hand and backed away. “But I know I felt it.... back at the mall, I felt a warmth coming from you.”

  Ravanan noticed her shoulders slump with disappointment and reached out to comfort her, but stopped himself short. Instead he simply suggested, “Perhaps you can only detect it when you’re relaxed.”

  Kalara didn’t want to hear that, not from him. She hadn’t known him long enough to speak of such personal things. Avoiding the topic she went on, “OK, fine. There is something else. I know I stayed in the air when I jumped in the mall, I was able to fly.” She tried jumping up again.... and then came back down. Her failure burned into frustration and anger. “But I did do it! You saw me. You even somehow knew I would be able to. You were the one who told me to do it, you promised me I’d stay there.”

  “I knew you wouldn’t, so I held you there.” Ravanan hated to tell her the hard truth. “I had been watching you for a while before you even noticed me. I knew you weren’t hunting humans, you were studying them, searching. I also knew you didn’t or couldn’t sense me which was strange. I watched you more until I was sure you weren’t accessing your magic, only then did I reveal myself to you. I had to tell your body to fly. Then right about the time you began to sense my aura was when I knew you had a chance at recovery, when your magical awareness began anew.”

  Kalara came undone at hearing Ravanan’s confession. It was never her doing the flying but him! “So you HAVE been making me do and feel things. I knew it! You’ve been controlling me this whole time!”

  If Ravanan was without empathy her ashes would be blowing away. He shouted at her “Will you stop it with the accusations?!”

  Ravanan’s aura flashed bright with millions of tiny blue static sparks for only a heartbeat. “You haven’t begun to experience the manipulation of a dragon! If manipulation were a mountain, you’d be so far away from it you’d wonder if the gray haze on the horizon was a summit or a cloud!

  “I controlled you only when I needed you to do something I knew you couldn’t do. But I’m not compelling you to think things. The thoughts in your head are yours. What you are suggesting is I’m the one who can’t control my magic, that it runs rampant and I’m maliciously unleashing my intentions on you.” he paused for a breath, “Kalara, I want to help you – not hurt you. Can’t you see that? I’ve looked for you for months. I left Black Blade Lair unattended for you! And when I finally found you and saw your plight, I chose to help. I don’t even recognize you anymore. Why would I bother manipulating you when I know your memory will return shortly and nullify any mind control? Influencing you would be pointless. I’ve not been controlling you. Your mind is free and you are free to leave my lair, just don’t expect to live beyond this room.....You are right, you don’t know me,” he said coldly.

  Kalara quickly changed her attitude. “No, no I want your help and I don’t want to die. There is no one else to ask, please. My memories are the only thing I want, they are all I have in this world, I need to find them. I’m sorry, I was wrong about you. This is all my fault, I can’t even have a normal conversation without messing it up. I can’t do anything right. I can’t even use magic, it may be real but it’s not in me.”

  Ravanan didn’t listen to her words, instead he breathed
in her honest sadness “Kalara, listen to me. Don’t go down this path. You have been using magic, you just haven’t noticed or been sure about it. Magic is inherent and involuntary in dragons; it has been inside you all along and it is there now. It was your mind that vacated your body, not your magic. Allow me to show you the gradual difference you’ve developed. See instantly how the absence of all magic feels.”

  “Do you really think I’ll feel anything?” She was skeptical.

  “I do.”

  “Alright then, let’s try it.”

  The wizard wasted no time “I’m going to begin by casting a spell called Anti Blood on you. This spell prevents the aura from leaving a dragon’s veins and blocks the dragon from casting new spells. Your aura will not be able to help you, you won’t have one. I’ll then cast Magic Immunity on you so you can be sure I’m not affecting you in any way. The third and final spell of Anti Blood will be on myself as an extra assurance to you. Other than the barrier mist surrounding us, no magic – or myself – will be able to mess with your mind; and there is absolutely no way I’ll drop the mist so don’t ask it of me.

  “These spells are high level and therefore short lived thankfully. After several heartbeats the magical build-up of the blood will burst through the spell and break it. It is also important the spells are cast in the correct order, if you are immune to magic then I can’t cast Anti Blood on you. If I cast Anti Blood on myself first, I’ll be unable to cast it on you. Be prepared, it will feel odd to you when I cast Anti Blood.”

  Seeing that she was still willing, he approached Kalara and cast “ANTI BLOOD” on her followed quickly by “MAGIC IMMUNITY.” Then Ravanan hesitated, reluctant to become defenseless, even for a few heartbeats. He would rather cut his own arm off. But he was confident in his spell casting and told himself, ‘it’s only for a little while and she can’t even remember how to use magic’, he steeled himself to the task of isolating himself from magic by casting “APPLY ANTI BLOOD.” Though not required, he took the extra care to use the word ‘apply’ on the front of the spell, going over and above what was needed to make doubly sure he had targeted himself then he walked away, tired and weakened from the high level spells.

  Kalara’s heart skipped a beat. Pain associated with lack of air grabbed hold of her. She gasped and her hand instinctively went to her chest that was quickly rising with shallow breaths. The pain felt like a bad hiccup caught on the up-swing. Around her, the lair was too quiet and the air was stagnant, her senses were numb and turning gray with death. She was out of sync with the world and her fingertips started to chill, she was one step behind time. She reminded herself Ravanan said it would feel weird; so by a mighty effort of willpower she forced herself to look beyond her distorted perception and the cold void her heart had become and test herself. Kalara jumped to fly but returned to the ground – she wasn’t surprised. She tried hard to feel Ravanan’s aura. She tried to pull him close but again nothing happened. Maybe she was too far away. She walked to within an arm’s reach of Ravanan and tried to summon him but he did not take a step. The chilly subterranean air was around her, no warmth could be felt, even though Ravanan was right there watching her quietly, tensed and silent. He was closer to her now than he was at the mall when she had felt his aura, but now she felt nothing – absolutely nothing, magic was not in her.

  She reached up, gently closed Ravanan’s eyes, and then shut her own. All the frustration and tears she had shed over the past months seemed to settle on her shoulders making one great weight. She felt nothing but heaviness. She wanted to feel his muscular shoulders, wished he would hold her and take away her hurt. Surely he would reach out and save her. She couldn’t use magic and she never would. Nothing had changed in her except for the sluggish and empty feelings she had. She continued to stand there with her eyes closed, in physical pain, and alone. She was amiss in the hollowness of the cold void and saddened by the absence she felt. She wished it would all be over – one way or another. All was hopeless.

  Lost in her utter sadness, Kalara didn’t know exactly how many heartbeats it would take, maybe too many and she would die of loneliness. But then a warmth overtook her ribcage that flowed like rum down her throat; it was invigorating.

  At once, with lightning speed Ravanan took her up in his strong arms, holding her. Surprised and relieved, Kalara relaxed into his chest, reveling in the vividness of life. She was alive again, her warm magical blood was part of her, making her whole - she was a dragon. Then she smiled grandly at the thought she had just used magic. She felt her unspoken command that time, felt the magical message get sent out the instant it happened, just like turning on a light switch. She understood it now, feeling her magical blood carrying out her mind’s orders. It was the same as telling your legs to walk; it just happens when you think about it. It’s not complicated. This whole time she had been concentrating too hard when she didn’t need to be. She was making mountains out of molehills! Kalara was jubilant at her discovery and wanted to try it again. Temptation filled her mind and she wondered what his kiss would feel like. The message sent, he obediently and without question heightened their embrace and covered her lips with his.

  The kiss continued since Kalara kept thinking about it. She wanted it to be passionate and the blue wizard obeyed. The kiss was everything she’d hoped it would be, somehow he knew exactly how to please her.

  There was just one thing bothering Kalara, if her control over him was complete he was only a puppet and it was eerily unsatisfying to her. She had to let him go; it wasn’t right and she didn’t want it. Just when she was about to release him from his servitude of endlessly kissing her Kalara felt another subtle warmth come over her but this time it was not hers and she felt it recklessly unleash into Black Blade Lair, rough and untamed, it was so intense it was palpable and it was all around her.

  Ravanan’s aura had returned to him and the blue wizard was no longer under her control. But the normally reserved wizard had let his guard down with the spell and the virile male beneath the sapphire robes intensified the kiss rather than ending it; turning the wizard’s pleasing caress into a titillating clutch Kalara had to match with a passion all her own. Raw desire overtook them as they kissed; forming heat waves that shimmered in the air. She couldn’t keep her hands off him, he felt as good as he looked, from the back of his neck to his arms, then waist and further down, he was hard everywhere. Inside Ravanan’s powerful embrace, Kalara let him take more and more of her as he savagely pressed her body into his. She felt weak at the knees and faint.

  He started to bring her legs up around him and push her robe up but then he paused; it was so abrupt Kalara lost her balance and leaned on him for support in a most unintentionally provocative way.

  Unable to resist the opportunity, Ravanan seized hold of her once more and stole an extremely close kiss. The desire within him was unruly and lashing about like a monster, biting her ears and neck, wanting more of her, rubbing the back of her legs, his hands running higher, feeling her every curve and the hotness between her thighs. His honed muscles fiercely held her tight, there could be no escape even if she’d tried to get away; he was rigid and built with all the physical power of the massive dragon base form condensed into his small human shell. He could have easily crushed her body had he wanted to, but what he wanted was to press her body onto him so hard that they would fuse into one flesh.

  It had almost gone too far for him to stop, he wanted Kalara so bad. Then, with his last thread of resolve he gave her a final deep kiss and grudgingly stood her back on her feet.

  The Azure Wizard reined himself in. Ravanan tore his mouth from hers and began urgently kissing her hair instead, forcing himself to concentrate on its softness as he ruggedly kept her close. He had to stop the heated romance but it was proving difficult for him to do so when her warm flesh was so close and poorly covered by her robe. He was breathing heavily with desire, fighting it and trying to cool down.

  Kalara reluctantly accepted his retreat and when they
finally released each other, they were unable to look each other in the eyes for an uncomfortably long while.

  Finally, Ravanan broke the silence. The blue wizard had fully returned, no longer the primal, loose man who had been kissing her. “You may be mad I walked away during that spell, but you were wondering if I was controlling you; so I put some distance between us.”

  Kalara was thankful he kept it cold. “You were right, I did want to be alone, I just had no idea the grief and pain I’d feel because of it. But from that loneliness I found my magic. I can recognize it now! I felt it the instant you took me.....”

  Embarrassment killing her joy, Kalara rerouted her thoughts. “I hope you’re not mad at me for what I just did to you. It just kind of happened. I was lonely and then when the spell lifted, my blood jumped at the chance to serve me. I should have stopped it then. It was wrong to continue forcing......”

  She stopped at that point, her mind caught what she’d just said and leaped to a realization. He’d had no access to magic to defend against her commands and she had forced him, she wanted him and forced him to kiss her. Without his magic he couldn’t have been influencing her to desire him, it was from her. Her true desire was him and she hated herself for admitting it to his face and was embarrassed for demonstrating it just now.

  Secondly she realized all along she has been defenseless because of her amnesia and unsure about magic. He could have had her anytime he wanted, forcing her just as she had forced him. She wouldn’t have had a choice but to follow his dark wishes. But he hadn’t forced her to lie with him. He was noble, and every feeling she’d had was coming from herself. Then Kalara noticed Ravanan was politely waiting for her to finish her sentence.