Dragon Aster Trilogy

by S. J. Wist

  She stood dumbstruck for a moment, as he looked to be feeling for the right Threads to somn with her. The uncertainty in his touch might have suggested that she was a broken toy that he couldn’t quite figure out.

  “The chimeras are attempting to expand their lands again. We will need to step up our efforts against them,” Damek said.

  Cirrus looked at Damek as the both of them looked to decide something by psi, before focusing simultaneously back on her.

  Damek broke into a laugh that sent a chill down Sybl’s spine. In the realm of death, it seemed that not only the deer spirits were the ones walking on the edge of complete madness.

  “Do you not trust me?” Cirrus asked, diverting her attention back to him.

  Sybl felt her dark blue eyes glow against her control. His face was next to hers before she knew it, and his warm breath brushed over her ear. His body heat made her heart melt to the point it might not start again if he let go of her.

  “I won’t hurt you.” He walked around her and placed his hand on her back, before somning into his dragon form and trying to scoop her up between his claws. But her fear continued to prevent him from touching her, and his Ancient simply phased through her like a ghost.

  Sybl stepped back, as the memory of him trying to pull her back through the Rift to Aster flashed through her mind. It was then that the mass of fire struck them both.

  Cirrus tried again, this time using only the back of one of his fingers to touch her, but again, he passed right through.

  Sybl looked at Damek as his expression changed, likely having not foreseen her reaction to Cirrus.

  “This looked so much easier when Simera somned with Serena. What am I missing?” Cirrus asked, looking back at Damek. He unsomned, then looked her over, before stopping his eyes on the Mei glyph on her arm. Strangely enough, it was not a Mei, but the opposite Aliyr mark that was usually given to the male. “Maybe I need to turn into a female,” he joked, and carefully picked up her wrist. It didn’t take him long to realize the glyph led to a phelan somnus.

  “Looks like we won’t be able to have her so easily,” Damek said.

  Sybl pulled her arm away from Cirrus, then looked back to the woods where the eyes she felt earlier appeared from behind the trees.

  “Is that where you would rather be, Asil? Amongst the chimera monsters?” Damek asked, sounding incredulous.

  “You’re one to talk about appearances,” Sybl retorted.

  “So be it.” Damek lifted his sword to the height of his neck, and took aim at the angry spirits in the trees. “If you believe that these monsters would serve you better, then I will have to prove you wrong.”

  Sybl shielded her eyes as Cirrus somned back into his dragon form with an angry rush of wind. Then he set himself between her and the chimeras. She looked to where the stag from earlier appeared, as a circle of leaves flew around him like a tornado.

  “Do you wish to leave, my Lady Caelestis?” the deer asked, unbothered by the fact that two dragons were in the path of its answer.

  Sybl looked at Cirrus as the white dragon bared his teeth to say otherwise. “Can I take him back with me?” she asked the stag.

  The deer expanded in size until its antlers towered over Cirrus.

  Cirrus stepped back, having never seen a chimera expand to match him in size. “What is this?”

  “This is what happens when a corrupt creature steals a soul larger than itself.” Damek lowered his sword and somned into his dragon form. He stretched out his dark brown wings, and let out a threatening cry at the stag. His battered form alone, that exposed his muscle tissue and bones in some places, was already enough to scare anything to death that was not already dead.

  The stag met his attack with its antlers that expanded and caught the dragon in dozens of spear-like points. Then the chimera tossed him back to the frozen pond as if Damek were merely an illusion of the weight he had taken to.

  Before Sybl could get out of the way, the stag hastily stepped over her. It caught Cirrus in a similar fashion, but brought him down with more force that shook the ground like an earthquake. Then he kicked him into the Rift that Cirrus’ blood had created.

  The white dragon cried out as it tried to escape the pull of the Rift, and Sybl couldn’t stop herself from running to him and grabbing his claws. A gentle nudge from the stag’s nose sent her falling away from the realm of death, right behind her dragon.

  5: LEVEL OF HELL

  Sybl woke from the nightmare to something tickling her nose. She lifted up the blanket that covered her and let her blurry vision come into focus. Before she could figure out where she was or what was going on, someone walked over to her and grabbed her hair. They pulled her head back to the point it felt like her neck would snap. She looked then to the small panel the griffin somnus ran over her.

  “This isn’t her.”

  “How long are we going to have to look for this stupid Caelestis?” another black-armored soldier whined, before the three of them left the docks.

  Sybl sat up straight, stunned stupid for a moment. She was alive if she felt pain again. She looked at the Awl next to her as she rubbed the sore roots to her brown, wavy hair. The Awl resembled Damek way to much for her liking. His light brown hair settled in wisps on his shoulders, and his eyes held the same green. She wasn’t sure whether to thank him or take off running for her life while her luck held out.

  “That is a rather effective disguise you have,” he said.

  “There was nothing to hide,” Sybl replied, and scratched the stained bandages on her arms. Her aeri energy slowly returned to heal her. The Awl likely knew who she was by her energy alone, but her point had been for the dead-like state she was only moments before. Sybl’s hand touched something soft next to where she sat, and she picked up a long, brown feather that could have only belonged to a pluma. “Why did you hide me?”

  “Why not? It is far better to be in favor of the caels nowadays, then the lawlessness of the heathens who would assert their imperfect will over us all.”

  She handed him back his feather, and it vanished into thin air and under his human-like illusion that hid his true demon appearance. “Who are you?”

  “I am Delare.” He walked past her and to some boxes, before picking out one and lifting it onto the same large crate she sat on. He pulled out a new purple cloak, and a white mask that looked like a unicorn. “I do not wish to be rude, but I must ask you to leave. You will draw more attention here than myself and my companion can handle.”

  Sybl briefly glanced at the older griffin somnus who he had called a companion, before taking the cloak and draping it around her. Then she looked at the mask. “Do you have a recommendation as to where I should go?”

  “There is a tavern east of here, near the center of the Harbor. A phelan somnus named Urio owns it, and he is sympathetic to humans. He will certainly help you.”

  “I would advise you stay off the main streets, girl,” the griffin somnus added. “It’s not safe to be an unbranded slave.”

  Sybl got off the crate. “Thank you,” she replied, even though she really wanted to kick him. After putting the unicorn mask over her face, she started in the direction Delare had indicated.

  It didn’t take long after that for Sybl to get lost, as the Victorian-age buildings, burning coal and estus light of the Atrum’s Aur made it hard to breathe and move in. Everything seemed to have its own estus fog, even the pollution. Whether it was the burning coal or estus energy that assaulted her eyes the most, it was impossible to tell. The somnus who passed her seemed unbothered by the miseries that surrounded them constantly. If anything, they looked to thrive in it all.

  She looked up at the dark brick buildings around her, unsure if this was Aster, Earth, or some place torn between. Loki’s castle was the only complex architecture she had seen on the Torian Continent, aside from Toria that she had seen only out of memories and dreams to this point. Maybe she awoke to an Aster hundreds of years in the future, where an industrial age h
ad taken over most of it.

  Sybl wanted nothing more than to see Cirrus again, and to have him fly her away from this dreaded place. He had been pushed from the realm of death with her, but all of her thoughts to him went unanswered by his psi. Either he couldn’t come back from the dead, or he had truly forgotten her. All she knew for sure was that the monstrous creature that had attacked them on Earth burned like hell, and had possibly destroyed more than she could get back.

  A small voice caught her attention, and she figured that at her rate, it couldn’t hurt to start asking some kids for help. She found the source of the singing on the sill of an open window in an alleyway. It was a little girl, and as she sang, she swung her legs up and down. From her black hair and red eyes, Sybl guessed she was a female phelan somnus.

  “You have a strange energy,” the ayame said, looking down at her.

  Sybl didn’t have a reply to counter with. “Can you help me?”

  “Are you an Awl or just dressed up like one?”

  Sybl took off her mask.

  “Ew, a human!”

  “Shh!” Sybl hissed back.

  “What do you want? Where is your owner?” the ayame asked harshly.

  “I just need to find Urio’s bar.”

  “Unless you have some gold, I can’t help you.”

  Sybl touched her neck, trying to remember where she saw her silver chain and golden fairy last. Not that she would trade her only lead to finding Cirrus for anything. She would have to try lying. “My owner is Urio. He will pay you for my return.”

  The ayame started laughing at her. “You are a really bad liar. He doesn’t enslave his humans or own any of them. Nice try though.”

  A small child crashed into Sybl, taking her out of her thoughts. She looked down in annoyance at the small boy who didn’t seem to have a valid reason for the collision. He quickly apologized, then took off.

  Sybl shook her head at the lousy mugger, as she didn’t have anything in her pockets. She didn’t so much as have a sense of direction to steal. As she looked to the now-empty window, giving up seemed easier than continuing to try and find anything.

  Sybl sat down in the alleyway and started to rip off the bloodied bandages from her body. She pressed the ones with some white left to her forehead that was drenched in sweat from all her walking. She had to figure out how to escape this level of Hell; a labyrinth with a single tavern lost amongst the dozens in the bustling Harbor. Then she could figure out what she would do next.

  6: UNICORN

  Urio’s tavern was crowded as usual, being set in the center of the Harbor, but the number of humans present was enough to unnerve Hain. He put his leather sheath that held his sword down on the table where his old friend sat. “You know I love our date nights and all, but is there some reason you have so many more humans in your tavern?”

  “A human’s psi can scream a hefty distance. If the Falls decides to try and snipe us out while we’re here, then it won’t go unnoticed,” Urio replied, looking from the window to his friend.

  “Half of these aren’t customers, but starving, abandoned slaves.”

  “Did you not learn any charity from the High Priest all these days?”

  “Oh, like the kid has something to teach me. That’s funny. And I never want to have to look at another human again after all I’ve been through,” Hain grumbled back, and rested his head on his sheath.

  “You’re just exhausted.” Urio set his hand on the glass of beer before Hain could lift it off of the table. “Go upstairs and get some sleep while Kas rests, you’re no use to me half-conscious. The alcohol will still be here when you get back.”

  “The world is being murdered, starved, on the brink of an all-out war and ready to be set on fire, and you want me to sleep?” He swatted Urio’s hand off of his cup of momentary salvation.

  “When the caels don’t want you to see the future anymore, they can blind you out. What is this Aeger, if not a blindness created by the gods?”

  “You’re good at seeing the future, but nowhere close to what I’ve seen.”

  “A few other ayame have seen what you have as well, before the blackout as of late. The Vision of the Awls being burned in Atrum City.” Urio sat up straighter.

  “Well, as long as Vanir is alive, he won’t burn the ones who make his tyranny easier. That and my kind are the only ones who can take on the dragons, effectively keeping them off of our side of the world. The Falls are taking more of our hospitality than we offered, and eventually they will bite off more than they can chew. Until then, I need another beer.” Hain lifted his arm to summon a server. He was surprised when Feryl came over to the table with another glass.

  “Sad how this once-famous Pack of Runners is now serving beer and waiting tables, while our former Boss remains our best drunkard. Good to see that you at least hung onto preaching how life sucks.” Feryl tucked his black and white-streaked hair behind his ear.

  “I’m proud of you, Feryl,” Hain mocked, as he took a sip of his beer. “Urio actually found something you can do without screwing up.”

  “Ha ha. Enjoy your beer, Boss. The next one I won’t guarantee what I put in it.” Feryl left then to attend to other customers.

  Hain only shook his head. He had been poisoned before, and it was interesting in the least.

  Urio laughed, as he remembered the rogues taking off terrified at the sight of Hain’s true form that he concealed with his human-weave of Thread. Unless he was unconscious.

  “Bunch of dumbasses those guys were. After all the trouble they went through to kidnap me, only to take off and leave me tied up to die.”

  “Three days.” Urio chuckled. “It took me and Feryl three days to find you in that gutter of a hole they dragged you into.”

  “Yeah, I remember,” Hain replied. “I can’t believe they thought I was still a Custos who they could ransom off. Kas would sooner pay them to kill me.”

  “The kid doesn’t hate you, since you’re still useful. We were much the same to you once, and you dropped us when we became useless.”

  “I didn’t drop you guys. But it’s just not the same as before,” Hain objected.

  “You mean without Kira holding us all together.”

  “Yea…” Hain sighed.

  “Well, the Sanctus has lots of Callers now. Including the ones from Jasper’s town. Is it true a single kyrie made a mess of the town of Berion?”

  “They say it was Kas’ pet kyrie, because whatever did it didn’t leave any trace of its memory behind to blame otherwise. But an Aeger kyrie can’t flatten a town with Thread, or even a stampede of its kind.”

  “Who do you think did it?” Urio asked.

  “Kas and Sybl were attacked in the Keol by Daath.”

  “Daath?” Urio replied, choking his own drink back up. “As in the Eminor of Damek?”

  “Yea, that one. Only it didn’t look to have its soul with him. But Daath would have that kind of power. Jasper isn’t a pup, and neither is his ayame.”

  “Where is it now?”

  “I don’t know. Sybl was the last one to see it, and now…”

  “Poor girl.” Urio sighed. “Well, don’t give up hope yet. If she is the reincarnated Caelestis, then I doubt Aragmoth’s Keol would kill her.”

  Hain looked out the window, not so sure. A white unicorn stared back at him. He immediately let go of his empty glass, until it clicked into his foggy head that it was just another masked somnus. “You win this one.” He hastily picked up his sword, and pushed his chair back with his legs as he got up. “Let me know if Hell surfaces before I wake up. Better yet, don’t.”

  Urio chuckled as he watched Hain walk through the chairs and patrons, before heading upstairs. He looked out the window and pushed his long white ponytail to his back, trying to see what Hain did. But only the colorfully dressed crowd attending the Lunar Festival continuously passed by, in a steady stream of thirsty customers.

  7: SYLVAN TOWER

  The masked ball that was held in the S
ylvan Tower danced like a synchronized rainbow of color. Kas watched it for a while, then looked around to find himself oddly in a Vision of the past, when he was still Erebus.

  He wore all black to further illustrate that he never approved of Solar’s extravagant parties. But it never stopped her from adding him to her rounds of false pleasantries.

  “It’s a shame your sister is so consumed by her warfare, that she won’t so much as appear to sing for the Festival.” Solar touched her red curls to make sure they were still perfect, as she stopped on the step he sat on.

  Erebus looked up at Solar for a moment, before looking back across the main hall.