by David Angelo
“Anyway,” Chok said, “I don’t think it’s really fair of you, Kyu, to be talkin’ ’bout my secrets when you have ones of your own.”
“We all have secrets,” Kyu replied defiantly. “What’s so unusual about it?”
“I know that,” Chok said, rolling his eyes. “But you have a little secret of your own, which is like my secret in that it hurts you, yet you don’t want no one to find out.”
“If you’re going where I think you’re going with this,” Kyu said, “then you better stop while you have a chance.”
“What’s the name of that village?” Chok continued.
“Shut up,” Kyu hissed. Fin could tell that Chok was walking on sensitive turf.
“Oh, I remember,” Chok said. “Nab Isle. That’s the name.”
“I told you, shut up.”
“You always go there when we’re on leave, and you never tell us why. Personally, I don’t see why you get so snippy about it when I ask you. I mean, is there something there that you like, a lover perhaps?”
“What part of ‘shut up’ do you not understand?”
Kyu picked up a rock and chucked it at Chok’s horse. The stallion reared and knocked Chok off, and Kyu got up and ran for him. But before Kyu could tear her former lover to shreds, Fin sprang to his feet and got in between them.
“Guys,” Fin said, holding his hands up to keep them at bay. “Calm down. Let’s not get carried away.”
“If you ever mention Nab Isle to me again,” Kyu growled, shaking her fist at Chok, “I swear, I will gut you!”
Chok narrowed his eyes at his ex and slowly pulled himself to his feet.
“You’re lucky chivalry ain’t dead in these parts,” Chok said. “’Cuz if it was, you’d be the first to find out.” Chok remounted his horse. “See y’all for supper,” he said before clicking his tongue and coaxing his horse forward. He disappeared through the trees, and his horse faded away into the blackness of the dead oak.
“I’m sorry you had to see that, Fin,” Kyu said. “Training’s over for today.” Fin could sense tears in her voice as she talked. Kyu walked away and disappeared through the flap of a nearby tent. Alone with the gliders, Fin looked around him and sighed.
“What am I getting myself into?” he asked. Not only was this team undermanned and undergunned, but they also hated each other. As it was, they had not a shred of hope to bring Edon back together. Depressed, Fin finished his water and departed back to his tent, just as a snowflake landed on the tip of his nose.
20
ONE SNOWFLAKE TURNED INTO two, then three, until the sky opened up and a mighty blizzard moved in. Frigid winds and snow lashed at the southwest with a ferocity that was rarely seen, even in the dead of winter. Not even the immaculate grasses of the Fist of the Elder could withstand the impact, and by the end of the week, the campsite was awash in a sea of white. Blizzards were nothing new to Fin, who had experienced several such events during his lifetime. However, every time such a storm hit, Fin had always had a warm house with a thick thatched roof over his head. Now, however, Fin was stuck in a tent, which did nothing to keep out the chill. At night, he would shiver himself to sleep while trying to hold on as powerful gusts threatened to carry his little tent away. Every so often he would wake up in a state of disarray, feeling as though the wind were trying to pound him to a pulp. But once his mind woke up and his nerves calmed down, Fin would try to remind himself that these abodes were made for such an event. How else had Rocklier’s tent, filled to the breaking point with a collection of artifacts that would put a museum to shame, managed to stand intact all this time? Still, this fact did nothing to help Fin sleep, since it is notoriously difficult to get any shuteye when one feels Mother Nature’s wrath brewing just outside.
It was in these times of sleeplessness that Fin would question why he was here. Two weeks had passed, and his training was going nowhere. It was as if he’d hit an invisible wall in his training, which prevented him from going any farther. He felt trapped in a repetitive cycle of shallow achievement and monumental disappointment. Fin could almost feel the ire of his teammates, watching him as he flailed like a rag doll during his mock duels, bombed every question during his history assessments, and missed every archery target with each pull of the bow. To top it all off, everyone seemed to hate each other, and the mood was only getting worse. Arguments broke out daily, grudges were forged, and potential brawls needed to be quelled. Perhaps the weather was just getting on everyone’s nerves, or maybe, Fin feared, this team really was an incompetent mess who had no hope of changing the world.
What am I doing here? Fin thought. Why was he relearning the same sword techniques time and time again but to no avail? Why did it seem like everything about his training seemed to be going at a snail’s pace? Would the members of the resistance ever be able to put their emotions behind them and focus on the mission at hand? How could they ever bring Edon back from the brink when they themselves were flawed beyond measure?
These thoughts, and many others, danced around Fin’s head as he was trying to sleep one particularly rough evening. The snow had turned into rain, which froze upon hitting the ground and left behind a field of ice in its wake. As Fin counted each icy drip on the fabric over his head, homesickness crept in. It had been so long since he last saw the pub and his adopted family, and he missed them all greatly. But it was Scarlet whom he missed the most. Fin thought of her so often in these first weeks, and at times he could have sworn that he heard her voice, calling out to him from somewhere beyond. He would turn, expecting to see her standing nearby, only to find that it was the wind, or his lack of sleep getting to him. At night Fin would suffer a recurring dream in which Scarlet came into his tent at night, sat next to him on the cot, and whispered sweet things into his ear. But when Fin tried to respond, the vestige of his love would vanish before his eyes and leave him alone in the cold darkness.
Tonight was one of those occasions when the familiar image of Scarlet parted the flaps of Fin’s tent, strode up to his bedside, and sat on the edge of his cot. This time, however, Scarlet’s apparition pulled the blanket over her, wrapped an arm around Fin’s waist, and pulled herself close. Fin could feel her breath on his neck, her arms on his skin, her weight tugging on the other end of the blanket. With his spines changing to red, Fin rolled over to face Scarlet, who looked at him through a pair of teary eyes, like two glass marbles in the dark.
“Come back, Fin,” Scarlet whispered. “I want you.”
“I want you too,” Fin replied. But before he could continue, Scarlet vanished into thin air, and Fin was alone once more.
Enraged, Fin savagely punched his pillow, feeling like he was just the butt of a sick, twisted joke.
“Why do you want to screw with me, Blizzard?” he hissed, his faced buried in his pillow, his every nerve quivering. “Why? Just answer me. Why?”
As if by command, the wind started to pick up outside, stronger and faster than before. Fin looked up; the walls of his tent flexed and appeared to lift under the force of the gale as the wind increased by the second. Fear gripped Fin as he heard the sound of the ropes straining and the fibers cracking with each gust. Suddenly, Fin felt the urge to get up and look outside, a voice in the back of his mind telling him that if he did not, he would miss a once-in-a-lifetime event. Fin had no idea what was waiting for him or whether to trust this inner voice of his. Yet, with his curiosity burning, Fin bravely kicked the covers off, crept toward the tent flap, and poked his head into the night air.
The first thing Fin saw was the moon, glowing white in the night sky. The frosty surface of the campsite twinkled in its wake like a sea of sugar crystals. Before he could get too hypnotized by the allure, a massive shadow, darker than the darkest of nights and faster than the fastest of steeds, flew before it. The crack of a sonic boom shook the ground and nearly knocked Fin off-kilter. Before the shadow flew away into the distance, Fin thought he could make out the span of two large, bat-like wings, a head, and a long, wind
ing tail.
Like that of a winged dragon.
The shadow flapped its large wings twice and slowly descended toward the ground, landing somewhere just beyond the tree line. When it disappeared the wind dissipated, and everything became dead still. Fin expected the resistance to come out and investigate, but the camp remained lifeless. Whatever this was, Fin knew it was for his eyes only.
Through the trees around where the shadow landed, a shimmering white light began to glow. It appeared to frolic through the woods with the grace and splendor of a wild animal, its glow reflecting off the ice-covered bark of the trees. Fin was so entranced by the object, whatever it was, he hardly noticed that it was coming toward the campsite. As it got closer, Fin could make out the head, legs, and tail of a fully grown wolf in the white blob of light, and what appeared to be two bright-blue eyes. The wolf stopped near the edge of the trees, its head darting back and forth until it spotted Fin. The blue eyes locked onto Fin’s, sending a sudden chill throughout his body. The wolf approached Fin, its head low and its shoulders hunched. It stopped next to the campfire’s remains, where it sat down and continued to look at Fin.
“Why do I screw with you?” The voice sounded like Blizzard’s, the same commanding yet compassionate female tone.
“Elder?” Fin asked. “Is that…was that…” Fin pointed to the sky, the image of the shadow engraved in his mind.
“Yes,” Blizzard said, the wolf’s lips not moving a bit. “That is what I really look like. But I never reveal my true form to mortals, not even to prophets. Which is why, for this small occasion, I come to you in this form.”
Fin nodded slowly, unable to find the right words for a proper response. “So…” Fin started. “I take it you’re responding to my inquiry?”
“Isn’t that what I asked?” Blizzard replied. “Tell me what grieves you, Fin, and I’ll give you an antidote for your suffering. Please, do come here and sit down. Don’t be shy, for though I might appear to you as a wolf, I shall not bite you.”
Fin’s feet made loud crunching noises on the frozen snow as he approached the banked campfire. He took a seat next to Blizzard, who repositioned herself so that she was sitting directly in front of him.
“What can I say?” Fin said. “This resistance is doomed. We don’t work as a team, everyone seems to want to stab each other in the back, we’re disorganized—”
“And you’re not coming along with your training very well, right?”
Fin solemnly nodded.
“You do understand that no Edonion is perfect,” Blizzard said. “Even I make mistakes from time to time. It would be grand if everyone were perfect, but that is not the case in this realm that we call reality.”
“I understand that,” Fin replied. “It’s just that, you know, we’re just too imperfect. Our problems outweigh our good qualities, so much so that we’re almost bound to fail when a challenge arises.”
“Hmm…” Blizzard thought, tilting her wolf head. “You appear to be letting your doubts about you and your teammates’ ability to succeed weigh you down. While it’s true that the members of this little resistance have issues, some of them serious, you must have faith that they will overcome their afflictions and that you will be an answer to their prayers.”
“How?” Fin asked.
“There is a reason why you are in this position,” Blizzard replied. “You could’ve joined any of the other small-scale resistance groups that dot the countryside. But the reason why you’re in this resistance, if my reasoning is correct, is because your presence will instill a sense of hope into your teammates. This will allow them to confront their demons and move on. While I don’t know how this will happen, I would assume that by this time next year, any issues your team has at this moment shall be dealt with. Trust me, this resistance needs you, almost as much as you need it.”
Fin did not know what to make of this claim, but it comforted him nonetheless. For some strange reason, he felt no need to inquire further. Fin could feel the layers of doubt melt away, his fear dissipate, and his confidence beginning to rise.
“Also, don’t feel anxious about your training,” Blizzard continued. “For reasons I have yet to fathom, you have been singled out, by the soul of the Dragon Storm, to unify Edon once and for all. It knows that you have hidden abilities, skills, that not even you yourself know of. They are not gifts from the divine. They are not inherited from some angelic being. They were yours from the beginning, seeds planted inside you from the moment you took your first breath. And if you remain dedicated and strong, the soul will help you unlock and hone these abilities, for your advantage and the advantage of Edon.
“And during this journey that mortals call life, keep in mind that no matter how strong or wise you become, you will never stop learning. Don’t think that just because Rocklier and Wahsmit are accomplished and experienced warriors that they’ve reached the peak of what they can learn. They are students, like yourself, and will continue to learn until the day they die. Therefore, when you feel inadequate because of your lack of experience, remember that you and everyone else on Edon will continue to learn and adapt, until I call you to live in the Upper Realm, where all dragons dwell after they die.”
“Thanks a lot, Blizzard,” Fin said. He reached over and patted Blizzard behind her ears. Her fur was softer and warmer than anything Fin had felt before, like the fibers of a cloud. “I’m sure you know how much that means to me.”
“I do,” Blizzard replied, reacting to Fin’s petting by nudging his hand. “But there is one other thing that bothers you.”
“Really?” Fin asked. “I can’t think of anything else.”
“What were you dreaming about before I arrived?” Blizzard asked.
Fin pulled his hand away as he recalled the painful encounter with Scarlet’s specter a few minutes before.
“Don’t be shy to admit it,” Blizzard said. “I know you miss your love, Scarlet. Everyone in the camp knows, for they can tell by being around you, yet they choose not to let you know. It’s something that pains you, drains you of confidence, and inspires most of your doubts and fear. But it’s something that you must manage, because there will be times when you will need to leave Scarlet’s company. However, there is also something positive from the distress you feel as a result of Scarlet’s absence.”
“I don’t think I understand,” Fin said.
“It shows that you care for her,” Blizzard said, “and that you have not lost what makes you an Edonion. Love is what sets you and your species apart from more primitive beasts, like your enemies in parliament and those that pollute the minds of your fellow Cullidons. They have no compassion for their fellow dragons and know only lust, power, and greed. As a result the love you share with Scarlet will become a critical weapon against your adversaries, a tool in your journey toward the Dragon Storm. And who knows? Perhaps the soul intends to use that passion you and Scarlet feel to provide Edon with something that will outlive the two of you.”
“You’re not talking about children, are you?” Fin asked, the frills on his head standing on end.
“Perhaps,” Blizzard said, “but we’ll know the answer soon enough.”
“How soon?” Fin asked nervously. At this point in his life, the thought of becoming a father was almost as terrifying as getting arrested again. Parenthood was something he and Scarlet never discussed and tried to avoid as much as possible. Blizzard took note of this change in emotion and stood up.
“You mustn’t concern yourself over what fate has in store for you,” Blizzard replied. “In the meantime, just remember that your blood shall go far in this realm.”
“What does that mean?” Fin asked.
“You’ll see,” Blizzard replied. “Now that I’ve cleared that up, it’s time for me to leave.”
Blizzard turned and headed back into the forest.
“Wait,” Fin called.
Blizzard stopped and turned her head. “Yes?”
Fin had a plethora of questions on the ti
p of his tongue, but one stood out from the rest.
“What’s going to happen after the Dragon Storm?” he asked. “After Edon is united and this war is over. Where will I be? Where will Scarlet be? What will our lives look like when everything is said and done?”
“That is for me to know and for you to find out. Until next time, rest. You’ve got a long road ahead of you.”
Before Fin could ask further, the white wolf departed for the trees. Fin followed her through the veil of branches until she finally disappeared into the blackness of the dead oak. Shortly after, Fin heard the sound of large wings flapping and beheld the sight of a large, dragon-shaped shadow launching up and into the starry sky. As Fin watched Blizzard soar past the moon and into the emptiness of space, he pondered what he had been told. He had the feeling that only after everything came to pass would he truly know what Blizzard was trying to tell him. Nevertheless, Fin was content with himself for the first time in a long time. With the rain and wind gone for the evening, Fin departed for his tent and quietly found the will to sleep.
Fin never told anyone about his encounter with the Elder on that fateful night. Yet when he woke up the next morning and went about his daily training routine, there was something markedly different about him, as if something in the night had rapidly changed his demeanor. Everything seemed to go a little more smoothly that day, and the next day, and the one after that. As the months wore on, Fin started to look more and more like the Faranchie prophets of yore, someone who could wield a weapon like the best of champions while retaining a level of intellect that was unmatched by his peers. Was this some sort of miracle, or did Fin have it in him the entire time?
Winter ended, and the thaw of spring gave way to the earliest signs of summer heat. By the time his training was drawing to a close, Fin had forged a powerful alliance with his teammates, a feat he’d considered unbelievable until now. Disagreements were few and far between, and bitter words had all but disappeared from the lips of the members. Perhaps Fin gave off a sense of hope, which affected all who came into contact with him. Maybe the members just got tired of the constant bickering and disunity. Or perhaps there was an excitement for the future, an eagerness to see what was to come, wafting through the camp, strengthening them for what lay ahead.
