A Dragon's Promise

Chapter 1: A King’s Downfall

The light, though forceful beat against my eyelids to be met with no answer. My heavy skin offered no entrance to the sun's rays, persuasive though they were. I patiently rested and dreamed those wakeful dreams one often lulls into before sleep. Humans pay no mind to this state, but for I, a Dragon, it was here where I could truly rest.

I opened my eyes heavily, sharply meeting the sun’s gaze with pinpoint focus, and then I blinked once, twice and the Sun’s sharp gaze, now a soft and flattened shade of green, ah, that’s better, I thought.

It was at that moment that I often wondered how lucky I am to take for granted a mindless bodily function while other beings suffer in such conditions. The owl sees in black and white, the snake sees only heat and movements, and the mole sees nothing at all. None however bear as much interest to me as the human creature. The human creature somehow manages to see the sunlight as a mix of all three. They feel its heat but seek the shade, they bask from its rays but are ignorant of its power, or they stay away from it, replacing its magnificence for a lesser sense. I stare into the sun all the while pondering the peculiarness of humans, our soul-kin. I was a younger Dragon then. Only 88 years of age, Soul-bonded to the Sangvar bloodline as my sires before me, and theirs before them. I gazed down upon the courtyard from the edge of the canopy above it, and below I saw the garden embellished with rows of nature’s finest fauna. Dressed, pruned, and polished neatly into rows of perfectly colour coded plants, roses. Columbine. Asters. Thistle. Daffodil. All neatly arranged, and perfectly unnatural.

How human-like a quality to want to tame even the plants, I mused. How odd that they should see themselves the keepers of this earth but not once understand its true nature.

From the edge of my awareness, I feel the familiar footsteps of performance and pride enter the courtyard, and soon after I spot the King’s strides, with another, younger trailing behind him. Both were adorned with trinkets and polished much like the garish flowers before them.

“...You see son, this duty is not unique to you…”

I could hear them mid-conversation but as soon as I had closed my eyes and dove back into my lulled state.

For it was here that we dragons could see and hear what Human beings often missed. In my mind’s eye, I could see further beyond any words, I can bear witness to intention to feeling, to the whispers of the heart. In a Dragon’s mind, we see it all, we feel and know beyond knowing, as if dancing to the unsung melodies beneath a song.

“...Yes, we prize something in this life, be it power, love, possessions but none are more prized than honour and birthright my boy…” the King continued.

He recounted the story proudly and gently on the surface, but beneath the song I could see that he was doing his best to recreate the speech his grandfather gave him. He worried about his delivery and feared he was not reaching his son in the same way that he was reached as a young prince. I could feel the father's mood begin to spiral so loudly that his thoughts were as clear as mine.

Is he paying attention? Does he care? Am I a good father? How do I balance being a father and a king? I wish he’d stand up straight, if he’s not a good king what will they say about me? I MUST ENSURE OUR LINE REMAINS GREAT. I care for my son but he needs to do better, He’s only 10 and 1, he’s fine I was bigger at his age.

This twine of thoughts continued to swirl into a self eating snake creature of worry and disappointment. Which eventually formed into a scowl on the face of the King.

At once the Young Prince, skeletal in frame and wilted from the weight of his over-sized, embellished cloak, stood upright to address his father.

“Yes, Honour is the most important thing in the world and WhenI’mbigI’mgonnaslaythebadguys, Sagvars are the best, you’ll see I’m gonna be the best when-”

The king raised his hand to still his eagerness.

The boy’s dreams were swiftly thrust aside.

Where I felt elation and passion rising from within the boy suddenly came to a dampening shame, downbeat fear, and a little anger.

Why did he stop me? What did I do? Doesn’t he want me to say this? It’s all for our family, I want to be a good king like him, do I look stupid, is my face red, father says only maidens have red faces. I’m standing up straight. He didn’t EVEN HEAR WHAT I WAS GOING TO- Why? Why Stop?

The King’s hand remained outstretched, and in a flash, I sensed frustration melt into amusement and saw his scrunch turn into a smirk.

“Son, to be battle ready is a worthy quality…”

The Prince’s shame flickered into an identically spirited smirk.

“But we are more than our bloodclass, or our duties to our our land, or the reigning of the small folk.”

“Look there on the garden velarium, you see Lysandor, peacefully sleeping?”.

In voluntarily my tail flickered at the mention of human name, other beings found this a silly tradition of the humans but I rather enjoyed this one.

“Look at Lysandor, he is the most powerful beast in the world, his breath can burn cities, his wings can blow entire armadas back to shore, and his skin is as impenetrable as any starsteel the world has seen.”

Wonderment spread across the boy’s face once more as I felt his father’s words come to life in his eyes. I saw myself now burning through a city, bringing boats to bay with one breath of my wing. I then saw in his eye a blacksmith collecting pieces of burned metal that had fallen from the sky, then toil and forge them into a sword, only for that same sword to melt the very moment it met with my scales.

My tail danced with amusement, I’d never burned a city (At least not in this lifetime) nor had I dismissed entire fleets, and my skin might have been stronger than sky steel, but I’ve never felt the need to test it. How peculiar our little Sangvars were, to imagine me so god-like and by association, they too thought themselves divine.

My tail continued to sway.

“Look he’s happy!”.

It’s always refreshing to be understood, but as newly incarnated Souls the Human Children were always closest to a Dragon’s view of the world than their elders. Interesting how it fades.

“Yes, it seems he likes you son! A perfect match too as one day your Soul-tie will balance this land”

Ah, yes the sou-tie ceremony, where a Dragon and a human’s Soul sip from the same flame and become kin. We have been bonding this bloodclass for a millennia.

The boy continued.

“Yea and I’ll be the strongest Sangvar-King there’s ever been, can you tell them a bit of the story where they found us because we were special”

Now the human version of history was always something my brethren and I understood to be comically skewed.

“Yes, 1000 years ago they found our oldest ancestor after a long battle defending our Terra, and the first Dragon bonded to him. Our family have been Soul-tied to the Dragon class ever since.”

Now, this was an interesting take on a story I know to be older than the mountains. We Know this tale in all it’s depth, which is to say that it only just skims the truths of that day. We find that human language can often be a clumsy vessel for connection. Take for instance that fact that we do not even call ourselves ‘Dragons’, our true name is “Ryoasi” but even that is a weak attempt to translate “Dragon” knowledge into your language.

That first Dragon was my father, but no my father is not 1000 years old, he is simply reborn, I know his soul now resides in the host body of my first cousin now. There are many details often left un-recorded by humans.

My lineage can be traced in the physical yes, but we ‘Dragons’ know no hierarchy, our soul passes from one dragon form to the next, in an endless cycle, what you call life and death we see as rest and renewal. We are born, we live and we die, and then we are born again, with a new life with new eyes, new hearts new wings, and a new youthful discovery for life, but what remains is the coring wisdom and the connection to the aether. Yes, I was a young Dragon, and for me, that just meant I had fresh souls to meet.

Though they are right about one thing. My Soul family did bond with the Sangvars that day, for we knew that the heroic warrior was destined to see power carelessly bestowed unto him. We, The Royoasi, do not pass judgement. However, we know that the great swells of power were not to be doled out so lightly. It was that day that my father chose to eternally link our kind to theirs, with the duty of caring for and balancing the chaos that the humans inflict through their question for power. This isn’t to say it hasn’t gone wrong once or twice in the past. We are not perfect, but we have a perfect order to eternally maintain.

“Yes father, I WAS MADE FOR THIS, I’m in the Best bloodclass on this earth!, ICANTWAIT-”

This time it was I who shook the boy into silence. At once I alighted into position with a spark down my spine that forcefully alerted my wings into position. I toyed with the idea of trying to blow them back just to see if wah the boy was thinking might be true. I raised my wings to their fully accomplished breadth and knew that I had succeeded only by the look on the young prince's face, the King though in silent awe, feigned an expression of expectance, even boredom.

Boredom is it? Can he commit to it?

With that final thought, I belted the air from around me with weight and precision, aiming at the king and all the garish fauna. No sooner had I done this did I see the boy and King both instantly fall back, and cling to the ground with their knees, whilst every flower in sight ripped back away from their beds and froze in place as if trying to escape their pageantry.

There, that’s better. I thought.

The sight of the courtyard grew smaller and smaller are I sculpted the air around me into a bed above the clouds. I was met with silence, Cloud pillars, and a dusky sun. This time choosing not to flatten the sun’s rays I flew towards it in search of a hunt.

Chapter 2: A Dragon’s Promise

I continue to fly above the clouds for sometime before dipping through the canopy in view of the terra. The land was rich green and still alive in the dying days of summer.

As I scour the earth, I spot a familiar rustle in the brush and swoop down to the ground and land rumble the earth as I land. It’s time to claim my hunt. I stare at the same spot I noticed the rustle. It’s a boar, tusks ready and eyes readying themselves for fear. Before

I begin I dig my claws in tho the earth once more. This time scribing the runes for “Thanks” onto the ground a ritual I never ate without completing. Upon the final inscription, I Pulled open my jaw and clicked my throat stones together and felt the heat rise and burn into a cannon of fire. I stared at the boar until the black of his eyes matched that of his skin, and thanked this being for sustenance before wishing his soul safe passage back into the aether. The ritual of the hunt was complete.

Yes, this was a pleasing hunt.

In that moment it was as if a Dagger pierced my ears. I was torn into extreme panic and desperation. What was this? Another Animal? No, it’s too large to be an animal. This was the cry of a human.

At once I pushed the air beneath me in search of the source of this feeling.

Where. Is. This. COMING. FROM?!

I soared through the air and ransacked the landscape for signs of life, and as if by a sickening twist of fate I saw death.

In the rapids of the river below I witnessed the body of a human male decimate itself amongst the rocks before cascading down a waterfall. A wave of despair and ultimate abnegation for survival swelled inside me. So much so that I could no longer stay airborne.

Suddenly grounded I Felt the sharp clawing pierce my ears once more. If there was a sound I wouldn’t be able to hear it above the strength of this feeling. Again I searched and devoured the landscape with my dragonsight, and there on a small rope bridge I saw, an infant.

A small infant clinging for dear life, far up the stream. So far I knew the infant’s grip would fail before could reach them. Years of inner mindwork had taught me to quiet my thoughts exactly for this moment. I knew exactly what I must do.

At once I leaped towards the rope bridge, landing ground before the rungs and came close enough to see the infant's face. It was a small girl. No older than 4. And unable to recognise salvation, I knew it was my only chance to make myself apparent to her. I fixed my gaze on hers, and it was there that moment that she first saw me. It was my only chance and without hesitation. I Focussed on her gaze, her hazel eyes now fixated on mine. I began to feel the flow from within, the river rapids raged beneath us both, and yet we both remained calm and fixated on eachothers gaze. Gradually as if time had slowed for us both, I saw my inner being lift from my vessel and form a tight golden chain in the air, starting from my chest and rising up and then down again to meet the childs gaze. As if by natural instinct, she reached for the chain and walked across the bridge half-strewn in the air. Even stepping on rungs that were missing. This child walked across the air and with a swift and serene motion, climbed onto my back.

At once feeling my safety we both stilled with tranquility and I ascended into the sky, finding the security of the clouds once again. She was protected, and I had broken my promise, and soul-tied with an unclassed human-being.