Dragon Aster Trilogy

by S. J. Wist

  Cecil lifted the water from the floor and everything else that was hit by it, and sent it back to the walls in small tornadoes. “An Ancient can’t attack a soul unless you’re a direct threat to it.” He brought his face right up to her, as if to sniff out any ill intentions.

  “I really didn’t do anything—I swear.” Sybl gulped as the blue dragon was anything but happy with her. Hopefully she wasn’t a threat by the default of being hopeless.

  “You’re still cleaning this mess up.” Cecil unsomned and his blue mist passed through her and dissipated. He healed his burned face before returning to where he had been sitting a floor up, to supervise.

  Sybl picked up the nearest charred book that had been dried mostly by his power, before opening it to see just how much of its story had been lost. As she flipped through the pages, they proved to be all white and blank. Oh no. I erased them!

  She set it down on top of the closest shelf and picked up another, before finding that it too, was empty. Shit! I’m so dead. I don’t wanna—

  “Stop swearing!”

  Sybl dropped the book with a start, as if it had caught fire all of a sudden. One of psi’s weak spots looked to be panic, and she was nothing short of shaking from it.

  “They’re woven in pluma Thread. You can’t see the story or mend it unless you touch it.”

  Sybl looked closer for any bumps that might indicate it was braille, before setting her hand down in the center of the first page.

  The library vanished as her consciousness was taken in by the book. She rubbed the blur from her eyes to look at the dark-sanded beach before her. The water that rolled in was an equally dark tide. In the horizon over the ocean, glowed a weak light. “Sweet.”

  “Asil, what are you doing here?”

  The voice was deep and large enough to make her bones rattle. Sybl carefully turned around to face the biggest dragon she had ever seen. She gulped, and kept telling herself it was a dream. Then she dared to try and find its eyes.

  It beamed them back down at her in a blue light that its constantly moving, long black fur didn’t conceal. As she looked closer, it became clear it had no wings. Or scales. It could have just as easily been a fluffy wolf-like snake, if it weren’t the size of an instant death for her.

  “Asil?”

  “Um… Who are you?”

  The dragon tilted its head to the side, confused. “Are you well?”

  “I am...great. Where am I?”

  The dragon brought its face closer, till she could feel his gentle, but cold breath. Before she could have her answer, his face was replaced with an annoyed-looking Cecil. She was already out of the book when he sent a sphere of water like a water balloon at her face. “What you do that for?”

  “I said to repair the book, not rewrite it,” he replied upset. Then he snatched it away from her, before taking note that she had somehow mended the burns in it as well. Confused, he grabbed her hand as if she were a thief and looked at the lines on her palm. “So you aren’t completely useless.”

  “Thanks... I think. But I was watching that,” she pleaded and pulled her hand back from him to try and take the book back. “That dragon was just...just huge! He like blocked out the whole sky! Was he real?”

  Cecil re-shelved the repaired book by using his Ancient to climb the shelf. When he looked back to her with his sphere of water, Sybl had already scattered off to gather all the remaining burned ones.

  With a giant stack in her arms, she carefully teetered them back to the closest table, and picked up another to read. When Cecil sighed at what was now stacked-up against him to be a long duration of her presence, Sybl only flashed him a closed-lip smile. Then she opened the next book.

  22: RECITING TEXTS

  “Asil would stare through the Sylvan Aur longer then any of the others, fascinated by the beauty of Earth that she couldn’t touch. Aragmoth continued to grow and feed off of her sadness, until it became so great it nearly killed her. Unable to give Asil life energy as he once did from within him, he created Tenu from the waters of Earth and his blood to heal her. But it was barely enough, and the Great Dragon panicked, not knowing what else he could do to save the last Fay from perishing.

  “So he lashed out his tail against Earth in his frustration, and from what it stirred he took for himself the first beasts of Aster. The cats, the wolves, the bears, the birds and the fish were of the many. But of them one formed in a much different manner, once it was set down on Aster. Nephena, who would later become the Mother of all Chimeras born on Aster.

  “But Aragmoth did not strike her mutated form down, for she carried a child with a soul who would later be born as Solar, a somnus separated of her fiery Ancient, the Phoenix. But his terms were clear if she was to avoid his wrath; birth forth the sleeping souls belonging to the Ancients and Eminor dormant within him, or be destroyed.

  “Thus were born the first somnus after Solar. Nephena’s mates were the first species brought to Aster with her. The first born were True and soulless, others were born as a mixture of a few species, and some were born as somnus, souls separated from their Ancients and Eminor.

  “The deformed somns were dropped into the crater within the Efereal Mountains to be taken back by the Great Dragon. It was the cruel means to a hope that they would return to life as a True or as a somnus, and not a chimera that was considered a corruption.

  “Nephena learned that she existed solely to please Asil, as it was the Caelestis who brought down judgement on her children. She became frustrated and fearful of Aragmoth’s wrath for of all her children, none came close to pleasing the Goddess.

  “The Mother of all Chimeras stumbled on Asil singing one night. She listened quietly to the Caelestis’ song of how the Fay wished to be at peace with the entity who had nearly killed her. The entity that would be later called a Sentry, existed in the light Keol on Earth. But there was no way to reach out to him.

  “It was the perfect chance for Nephena to prove her chimera children worthy of mercy. So the Mother sent out the strongest and the most powerful of her chimeras to Earth through the Sylvan Aur. Only one returned and not with what she had asked for. Her first winged-colt, Livry, had returned with a single bone that once belonged to Daath.

  “Nephena didn’t recognize the bone and was outraged by his actions, and hurled him across the Casus Beli fields with such a fury that it carved a Canyon into it. Then she threw the bone into the ocean waters that flooded it, so that the Great Dragon could drown it in the nothingness it was to her.

  “But Tenu, the Sea Serpent, found the bone and in her and Asil’s accidental play, they fashioned it back to life. The creature helped heal itself into shape, and thus Daath returned to life, not in the form of a demon, but as a creature of light.

  “Tenu saw him as a threat and begged Asil to destroy him, but it was too late as she had already become too attached to the winged spirit. But more importantly, she was now happy. So the Serpent acted fast and flooded the Great Plains, and drowned one of Nephena’s children, Xires, then stripped the cat’s form from him.

  “She used it to hide Daath’s spirit energy in so that no one would ever know that he was once a demon from Earth. Thus he became the first Iynx and converted Sentry on Aster. He also took the new name given to him by Asil, Damek.

  “Damek picked the most powerful of the beasts to be her new Nightmare Eaters and protect her from despair—the wolves—after his strongest General, Reol. So became the phelan somnus.

  “But the once-beautiful wolves were now a terrifying sight to Asil, and she feared them. Damek did not wish to hurt her. So he searched across Aster for Gei, a cat-like demon who had survived the attack of the Dragon Moon on the first Aster. He was his most trusted advisor, as one of his former Generals.

  “Gei knew that what Asil feared, her brother did not. So it was decided that Reol set out deep into Aragmoth to find her soultwin who slept in a cold stasis of death. He returned with him, and Damek fought with his phelan until he found the strongest o
ne who could serve as Erebus’ body. The phelan’s soul was sacrificed, and Erebus’ soul was then placed within the somn.

  “Erebus’ Fay soul made the phelan’s body magnificent with power, and immediately after drawing his first breath, he sought out his sister.

  “Asil did not scare from her soultwin in Erebus’ new form of a phelan, and Damek was now redeemed for having frightened her.

  “Damek repaired Asil’s festra, which was the bone he was brought back to life by. Once again it held the Threaded names of all the Eminor loyal to him and he gave it to her.

  “Damek began to train Asil on how to wield the festra in warfare, as he took Erebus on like a reborn son. He taught him how to wield a blade and many other weapons. The balance of good and evil on Aster had been restored for a time.

  “Asil continued to extinguish the souls of the Outcasts, but as she did, they became enslaved to her weapon alongside the names of the Eminor. Once their blood touched the weapon, they were defenseless. Nephena grew more and more violent from Asil’s actions against her, until she refused to hand over any more of her children which started the Last War.

  “The force of the Feharin Army came down on the Torian Continent like a storm of blades and teeth, cutting her children into death and Nephena became desperate to find a way to win. But the Eminor were merciless, blood-hungry killers. Her chimera children had not so much as a chance.

  “So Nephena searched deep within Aragmoth’s life energy and memories, determined to find a creature that could compete with them. To her unknowing, she found the dark, shattered essence of the sacrificed phelan. It had begun to take shape next to Aragmoth’s heart.

  “The amount of estus energy in the serpent-like creature was like no other, but it would be the shattered soul it had begun to grow within its blue eyes that would inspire her to use it to set as a trap for the Caelestis.

  “Asil became immediately obsessed with the creature at first sight, with its eyes like of Earth’s blue skies and the body of a fur-coated serpent. She took it as her own. Her Moon, who looked and reminded her so much of the Keol of Light whose essence still pulsed on Earth. But Moon was not able to fly through anything other than the fiery winds of the burning Keol that separated their realms.

  “Damek could see the dragon was as dangerous to them as their Outcast enemies, but Asil refused to listen to him. She was determined to fashion the dragon into a soul of good and light as she had for him, unknowing that it was Damek’s love for his daughter that kept the Iynx from becoming the darkness he truly was within.

  “Years later, when Moon’s frail soul fell in love with Asil, he begged her to mend it so that he could be with her in a Sylvan body. But she refused him, as she didn’t feel he was ready. Moon became outraged from her denying him, and he struck down Asil with his rage. But the Caelestis was defenseless in her absolute trust for him, and it was enough to kill her.

  “Moon pulled Asil’s body into himself, refusing to believe that she was dead. Her soul remained with him, despite what he had done, only without a living body. He would be the first to somn with another, and in doing so, his soul was healed by the Fay, only to leave him with the full grief and understanding to what he had done to the one he loved most. For there was no way to bring her back as she once was.

  “Damek unleashed his rage for his daughter’s death on Nephena, who he killed with Asil’s festra. He left it pierced in her body as he sat in silent tears until they covered the floor of Toria. The Chimera gave birth to her last child in death, a kyrie that bore the festra as its horn. Sial fled before Damek could capture him. Within his horn, he took the names of the Feharin Army and ended the Last War.

  “Moon stood in his new human-like form in defiance to the fate the Sylvan Council had concluded the Caelestis had met. None of the populous that she had worked so hard to protect wanted her back. The fighting was over. There was no more need for a Caelestis of War.

  “When Moon called the Council out as heathens, Solar unleashed her Phoenix after him. They battled for three days in the Keol until his win was certain, and the serpent of fire retreated through the Sylvan Aur. Moon pursued it, before realizing too late that the creature’s fire had burned all the Threads that protected them from the sun of Earth. It pierced through Aragmoth, leaving Moon’s estus body to the mercy of the Rift. Then the sunlight reached the atmosphere over the Sylvan City, before descending on it as a rain of fire and decimation.

  “The sun’s radiation against the Threads would be what caused what we call the Third Continent to be turned into a desert wasteland.

  “Aragmoth closed his eyes from the pain of the blast, covering the world in winter for a year. Then the ice started to crack and give way, as the two remaining Aurs slowly began to rise and fall again. The one Continent was split into three, as the ice tore apart the ground plates of Aster. Between them, the Eternal Waters would burn in estus and aeri energy sparks from the Great Dragon’s wounds, that never healed fully. Without the equilibrium effect of the Sylvan Aur, one side of Aster became that of dark energy while the other became that of light.

  “At the end of the Cold Era, the phelan controlled the Atrum while the dragons that Nephena birthed before her death continued to grow. When the dragon descendants of Moon and Tenu emerged from the unfrozen waters, the brothers and sisters came together in the skies to take Toria from the chimeras. They would drive them off to the Chimera Mountains, where eventually the survivors left the Torian Continent entirely.”

  Sybl took her hand off the book’s page, and the voice ended with her own. Her brain felt nothing short of melted from the overload. To her surprise, Cecil listened intently while resting his chin on his hand before her, elevated by a small stack of books.

  He sat up straight again and took the last Text she had been reading, before setting it aside on his own stack of chosen ones.

  “Did I get any of that right?”

  “You are rather good at reciting the Texts.”

  “If Nephena had birthed dragons, wouldn’t that have made Moon a traitor?”

  “Moon had two mates in his lifetime: Nephena and Tenu. The first dragons were born to Tenu and lived in the Eternal Waters, where the ones who were born to Nephena were hidden under Toria as she intended to raise them to be weapons for war. He was an Eminor up until the end of the Last War, and before that, he was only learning of loyalty and traitors and such from Asil. Because of such, Nephena sometimes stole him away. That created the Line of Solar, as Solar took the first dragoon born, Svarog. He was also the first to be born with the natural gift of a blacksmith.”

  “Which would have been her brother?”

  “Half brother, yes.”

  “So the Line of Moon are all those born between Moon and Tenu?”

  “Yes, and as such we’re usually Healers and Novaists, as our Line did mix with the mer and their talents of voice and Healing.”

  “But not all of you, cause Loki and Fevre are fire dragons.”

  “Loki’s mother was Crystal, who is of the Line of Solar, but his father is Estar, who was a descendant of Moon. Yri took Estar for herself as well, which is why Kayla is Loki’s and Lintrance’s half sister. Fevre is Yri’s half-brother by the father they share, and Estar is half-brother to him by the mermaid mother they share. After the mermaid had seen the threat in Yri, she kept Estar and his twin, my mother Trista, in Mer City for some years.”

  “Then he would have to be older than eighty-four...”

  “And still a liar,” Cecil noted aloud. “Might want to stay away from him, as he’s too much like his brother when it comes to females. Untamed.”

  “If he’s Yri’s brother, why is he working like a slave in the forge?”

  “Because Yri will never drop a grudge once she has one against you. Long ago, Solar got into a rather rough fight with Svarog and to escape her wrath, he retreated to the Eternal Waters. In an act of revenge, he took a mermaid for himself. But the child born from her wasn’t a mer, but a dragoon.”
/>   “Fevre?”

  “Yep. It’s a long story, but it would turn out that his mermaid-mother was a descendant of Moon and the last piece to the Line that his older sister has been trying to bury since to keep her position.” But Cecil didn’t get any more of a discussion of the histories with her, as he looked with his sphere of water to where she had passed out on top of the mound of books on the table.

  He decided to let her rest and dimmed the aeri light from the walls of the library. He picked up his stack of new-feeling books, and for whatever ever reason, being real or imaginary, they felt lighter.

  When Cecil sensed her psi fall into her Dreams, he couldn’t help but stop as he remembered how Rose’s had once held him still when she slept. Whether this girl was the reincarnation of Asil or not, she was still from Earth where his Bond was now. But he knew that Earth was much bigger than Aster, and the chances of them ever crossing paths were next to impossible. So he continued upstairs back to his resting spot.