by Rain Oxford
* * *
I found Merlin unconscious on the dining room floor, surrounded by Mason and his sisters. “I can’t heal him,” Mason said. “I can’t figure out what’s wrong.”
“Nothing; he’s having a vision.” I knelt next to him and patted his side. “Mason, have your brothers bring your mirror down here. Girls, gather the rest of the Sjau. Tell them we’re leaving at any moment.”
“Why is it turning red outside?” Mist’s mother asked, her daughter in her arms.
“The black star is here. I’m going to grab my staff from my room. Stay back from Merlin, because he might wake up in a frenzy.” I ran to my room, grabbed my staff, and left my wand. By the time I returned to the dining room, everyone except for Magnus and Mason’s twin sister was gathered around Merlin and Mason’s mirror. The table had been pushed against the wall.
“Where is Magnus?” Livia asked.
“Masy’s getting him.”
I touched Merlin’s head with my right hand and the mirror with my left. Energy rushed through me into the mirror, which showed a strange cave. The walls and floor were made of flat gray stone, but there were cracks in the floor with lava flowing through it. In the middle of the cave was the egg. One of the cracks in the floor ran under the egg. It was just like the crystal showed me.
“Asa, hand Mist to Houda. Houda, hand Ryker to Asa.”
“Why?” Mist’s mother asked.
“Because only the Sjau are going.”
“Does that mean Merlin is staying behind?” Mason asked.
At that moment, Merlin roused, growling automatically because he was surrounded. I didn’t let go of him or the mirror because I wanted to keep that image in place. As long as I did, Mason’s family could transport us there.
“The black star is here,” Merlin said.
“We know. There’s a hole opening up in the sky.”
“We have no time to spare.”
“Rita, open a portal to there,” I said. She got to work on that.
“Merlin, maybe you should stay here,” I said.
Merlin sat, not looking upset. “Are you worried that Baltezore will make me attack you again?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you really want me to stay here?”
“No.”
“Then I will go. Baltezore is my enemy as much as Ilvera is yours.”
“Fine. Merlin will go with us, but no one else who isn’t Sjau.”
“Why?” Evelyn asked. “Doesn’t it make more sense for everyone to go?”
“The more people who go with them, the more likely someone will get hurt,” Rita said. “If your husband was killed, would you be able to fight?”
“No.”
“Then let him stay here and take strength in the knowledge that he’s safe. The portal is ready.”
“You had better be right about this,” Sven said.
“If I’m not, I hope you don’t leave enough left of me for my mother to get her hands on.” I stepped through the mirror and was hit by a wave of heat. The only light came from the thin cracks in the rock floor. “Is it safe to stand here?”
“For a short time, possibly,” Merlin said. “We are inside a volcano.”
That was when I saw the egg, lying on the floor just like in the vision. I wanted to grab it and run, but that would have ruined our plan. The other Sjau followed me. Mason and Houda coughed from the hot air. Once the Sjau were through, I expected the portal to close. Instead, Thaddeus stepped through.
“Go back!” I told him. “This isn’t the plan!”
“I have my own plan, Ayden. You’re going to be helpless and, like it or not, I’m your older brother. I’m going to do what I can to help.”
“Well… thank you.” The portal closed.
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t be a wizard. It’s not a big deal.”
Our father wasn’t even willing to be there, so it was a big deal to me.
“Let’s do this,” Gideon said.
“I guess no one is going to stop us, then,” I said loudly, creeping towards the egg.
Merlin growled. “There is a ward around it.”
I nodded. “Jeb, can you break the ward around the egg?”
“Easily.” He adjusted one of his dozens of rings, raised his right hand towards the egg, and clenched his fist. Gold light shot out and struck the ward, but it did no damage. Jeb lowered his fist, his face drained of color. “It’s too strong. I wasn’t expecting that.”
“I told you; we’re dealing with a stronger enemy than any of us have ever faced before.”
“Well, I am flattered,” Baltezore said, appearing between us and the egg. Again, something about his gold eyes bothered me quite a lot.
“Enough to give us the egg?” I asked, only half serious.
He laughed. “Not quite. You were foolish to come here.”
“We had no choice. We have to stop the black star.”
“I would love to destroy you and your little friends like the roaches you are to me, but I have more important matters. I have an egg to hatch. Fear not, there is someone else who can teach you not to stick your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
My mother appeared, and Thaddeus shuddered, no doubt fighting the urge to hide behind someone. Baltezore was easily the stronger opponent, but my mother was more vicious. “You have been a constant headache since you were born,” Ilvera said to me. “I’m glad to finally be done with you.”
“And you are a terrible mother. Even for a sorceress, you’re awful.”
“Are you trying to make me kill you before I can take your power? I won’t be riled that easily.”
“No, Mother, I’m merely saying that if you had kicked me out to be raised by rabbits, I would have been better off.”
“What he means is that we hate you,” Thaddeus said.
I flinched. Whether I agreed or not, I couldn’t bring myself to be that harsh.
“I would have killed you the moment Ayden was born if your father hadn’t begged for your life,” she said to Thaddeus. “You were only born so that I could get a Sjau son. Your brothers were at least useful to me. You were just a whiny mouth I had to feed. I would have been thrilled if your brothers killed you.”
Thaddeus’s expression was hard, but his body was subtly trembling. Thaddeus was always in the background, following Zeustrum and Bevras around. Thus, he avoided a lot of the worst of Mother’s tyranny.
She then addressed me. “And you… I should have smothered you the instant you were born blond. I thought I could fix you, but you were just too weak. I could have killed you and used my sister to get magic from the Sjau. I wish I had.”
“Oh, you wish, you should have, you could have… I’m tired of your talk. I’m glad I wasn’t the son you always wanted. You know where I would be if I were? I’d be dead, because you are nothing but a user. You hate everyone who isn’t useful to you.” I took off my robe and tossed it to the ground. “I’ll relieve you of your shame, and myself of mine. I relinquish the Dracre name. I don’t want to be your son any more than you want to be my mother. From here on, I have no mother.”
It felt wrong to be without my robe, but the anger on her face was enough encouragement to stick to my decision.
She raised her wand and black magic shot into me. Like lightning, it shot from me into Livia, from Livia into Mason, and so on until every Sjau was connected by a web of magic. The pain blinded me and turned my legs to jelly. Several of the Sjau whimpered and Mist screamed.
It was over for a while before I had the strength to lift my head. My eyes burned when I opened them and everything was blurry, but I could make out Merlin standing guard between Ilvera and me.
I reached for him and he held still. The ground seemed to disappear as I struggled to my feet. “I can’t see. Everything is blurry.”
“It is possible that your magic naturally corrected your vision from the time you were born. I suppose mages are the reason I have met no one on Caldaca who wore corrective lenses.”
“Wore what?”
“Never mind, young sorcerer.”
“That was anticlimactic,” Baltezore griped. “I was looking forward to their screams and blood gushing from their orifices. Oh well.”
Someone grabbed my arm and I jumped, nearly crashing into Merlin. “What’s wrong?” Thaddeus asked.
Realizing it was him, I didn’t push him away when he took my arm again. “I can’t see. Are the others okay?”
“Mist, Blue, and Kalyn are unconscious, but it looks like everyone is just tired.” He pressed my staff into my hand.
“What’s she doing?”
“She’s… basking in the power, I think. She isn’t moving. Maybe I should try to kill her.”
“No. What’s going on with the egg?”
“We’re still waiting for her to hatch,” Baltezore said with delight.
“And then what?”
“And then you die.”
“That’s about what I expected. In that case, will you at least clear up some things? Nothing has made any sense since I learned about the egg. Cennuth said you had dragon blood? What does your galaxy stone do? Why aren’t there any female dragons? Why is the world coming to an end?” I was shrieking by the end of it, so I gasped. The hot air made my nose and throat burn, but not as badly as the rest of my body from having my magic ripped out.
“I suppose I can pass the time by satisfying your curiosity. I rather enjoy the story myself.”
“Oh, if it’s a story, then never mind.”
“You don’t like history?” he asked, sounding insulted.
“I love history, but I’m not a good listener. I learn by seeing and reading.”
“That works for me. I can show you.”
“I can’t see anything. When Ilvera stripped my magic, it---”
“Yes, yes, don’t be so boring.”
Merlin made a sound of protest right before a ball of cold struck my chest and spread. It took away my pain in its path and when it reached my eyes, my vision cleared. “Thank you,” I said automatically. I pulled away from Thaddeus. “He healed my vision.”
The other Sjau were trying to pull themselves together, except for the three who were unconscious. As Thad had said, Ilvera was standing to the side with her eyes closed, as if she were soaking in the magic and gaining control of it. Even with the pain masked by Baltezore, I felt like I hadn’t slept in a month, so I figured the other Sjau were dealing with the same agony.
Baltezore was unconcerned. “Many thousands of years ago, there were twin worlds, Rothelmril and Raksel.” He waved his hand at the wall behind him and I gawked with awe.
Dark shadows formed on the wall against a light I couldn’t see to show what I guessed were the two worlds he described. A larger shadow appeared to the far right, which was probably a sun.
“These worlds were far superior to Caldaca, for every single person had magic. However, each person only had a single ability.”
The worlds disappeared, replaced by numerous shadow people. Some of these shadow people changed into animals, some conjured monsters, some grew things, some destroyed others, and some transformed objects. There were so many forms that it was impossible to figure out what any of it meant.
By this point, cracks were forming in the egg’s shell. I wished I could warn the baby dragon to stay in her shell, where she was safe, but I didn’t want to draw any attention to her.
“Even inanimate objects had magic.”
The people faded and were reshaped into mountains, rivers, and rocks. I couldn’t imagine what powers rocks had.
“Dragons and people battled for control. Many dragons regularly killed people and people retaliated by hunting them, but there were some dragons who felt like the worlds had enough power to share peacefully.”
He showed dragons and people in battle and it made me feel sick, especially when several nests appeared. I saw people attacking adult dragons who tried desperately to protect their infants. Shadow people sliced up baby dragons and used their skins as coats and made their talons into weapons.
I threw up.
“The most powerful, ancient dragon of Raksel lived peacefully with his mate of over five thousand years, Gadiel.”
The shadows formed into two dragons, who nuzzled each other sweetly.
“Dragon love never fades, and I will get to why in a minute. Gadiel was killed, so her mate decided to steal magic from Raksel in order to bring her back to life.”
It showed one of the dragons finding the other dead and this time, Thaddeus threw up. I wanted to tell Baltezore to stop, but I couldn’t get the words out. Shadow Gadiel had been beheaded. The surviving shadow dragon was shown in battle scenes with people.”
“Other dragons felt like this broke their laws, however, so they tried to stop him.”
The battle scenes now included other dragons.
“They tried to stop him from killing people when they were doing the same thing?” I asked.
“They tried to stop him from resurrecting his mate because they were intimidated by his power. Nevertheless, some dragons sided with him, and thus, a war between dragons broke out. This is the real war on magic.”
The shadows depicted trees burning down, oceans drying up, animals and people dropping dead in waves, and rain that melted buildings.
“This nearly destroyed everything and the magic became so volatile that it would have blown a hole through reality itself. Another dragon, one of the most ancient dragons of all time, absorbed its excess magic and travelled to Caldaca.”
I saw a shadow dragon flying through space, radiating magic.
“The magic was so strong that it flowed from him, but it wasn’t lethal so long as he contained it. This was the white star and gave almost everyone magic. He then buried himself deep in the world, still providing the magic for everyone.”
“Then why is magic dying?”
“Because the ancient dragon is dying.”
“This is confusing. What is his name?”
“He is too ancient for a name. Some have called him Falkyr, the king of dragons, but most just call him the Ancient One.”
“What about the other dragon? Gadiel’s mate.”
“I am getting to him. Unfortunately, with the departure of Falkyr, the war did not favor the broken-hearted dragon. Once a master of his race, he was reduced to a victim of fate. In effort to regain the advantage, he fooled the allied dragons into giving up their magic to him. He used that power to inflict a curse.”
Several dozen dragons in the shadows surrounded a single dragon. I felt sick again when those dragons dispersed and were absorbed into the center dragon.
“He knew that Falkyr would eventually be destroyed by the magic he consumed. His powers of prophesy were legendary even among dragons, and he knew that the power could be passed to another, stronger dragon. Unless this power was passed on, it would destroy Caldaca and form a tear in the universe itself upon Falkyr’s death. He also knew that the power had to be passed from male to female.”
“Why?” I’d asked the question unintentionally. I didn’t want to interrupt, but curiosity got the better of me.
“That is an act of nature,” Merlin said. “Whereas magic is often passed down from father to son and mother to daughter, destiny is naturally passed from male to female and female to male.”
Although I’d never heard that before and wanted to know more, I nodded to Baltezore to continue, because I didn’t know how long the old wizard would be willing to explain.
“Because he knew that the power had to be passed to a female and that no female was strong enough to control Falkyr’s magic, he cursed his own race so that no female dragon would hatch.”
“So there could be eggs with female dragons, they just couldn’t hatch?”
“All eggs are neutral. It is only when the egg is ready to hatch does it choose to be male or female. Dragons are immortal, so reproduction was pretty much obsolete. Eggs were only created when dragons were hunted. Thus, the dr
agon species was superior in adapting.”
The shadows didn’t show this, which made sense, as it was difficult to show the gender of an egg. However, I wanted to get back to the story and shadow illusion. Although I didn’t say as much, Baltezore must have realized he was losing me.
“The other dragons, who thought they were superior, cast judgment on him. They punished him in the most shameful way possible; they stripped him of his immortality and magnificent form. They made him a mortal man, much the opposite of Merlin’s curse to turn wronged wizards into the superior form of a dragon.”
The scene behind him of a dragon being transformed into a man seemed painful.
“Wait, a dragon can be turned into a person?”
“Not naturally. Are you going to interrupt through the entire story? If you do, this is going to take a long time.”
“I’m sorry. It’s interesting. If I don’t ask questions, it’s because I’m not listening… or I’d be asking things like why the lava is different colors. Is it because of the heat of the melted rock, or the type of rock, or the---”
“Focus,” Merlin insisted.
“Oh, right. Sorry. Please continue.”
Instead, Baltezore frowned at Merlin. “Is this what you have to put up with every day?”
Merlin nodded solemnly.
“Hey, don’t talk about me, finish the story!”
“Shut up and let him talk, then,” Thad said.
“Shut up and let me let him talk!” I snapped back.
“Both of you shut up before I vomit all over you,” Sven said, pale as a ghost. He was sitting, as were the others who were conscious. Mason, Gideon, and Livia were trying to wake Mist, Blue, and Kalyn.
“Ayden, ask him the dragon’s name,” Merlin said.
I’d already asked that, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask again. “What was the dragon’s name?” Instead of answering, Baltezore grinned, and my heart sank into my stomach. “It’s Baltezore, isn’t it? You’re a dragon.”
“That I am.”
“Why do you have a galaxy stone?”
He held out his hand and his staff appeared in it. “Do you know what a galaxy stone is?” I shook my head. “It’s a dragon’s heart. Dragons have two hearts, and they can each live without one. It is common practice between dragons who love each other to cut out one of their hearts and trade with their mate.”
