Avigiri's Revelation

Avigri

As I flew above the forest trees, I heard a strange sound coming from beneath them. I coasted down from above the tree line and broke through the blanket of leaves to be greeted by the source of the sounds I now realized were cries. Now I was face to face with a lone, bare naped child. Her tiny cries seemed to plead with everything around her. So, I pitied her and decided to watch over her for the rest of the day. The scent of fear quickly filled my nostrils as I watched her squirm away from me inch by inch. After a second of her attempting to crawl out from my shadow, I finally spoke to her. "You need not be afraid of me." The words crackled out of my jowls like sparks from a hearth. I forgot how hard it is to speak in the other tongues that I almost overlooked how much she had jolted so far back with her injury.

"Y..y..y..ou c..c..can speak?!" Her voice trembled, trying to get upright so she could run away.

I guessed that my size was what had scared her, so I said "Yes, I can. I can also do more than talk. What about you?" as I spun a simple spell and shrunk down to be more the size of a dire wolf. Her eyes became as vast as the night sky when she saw me shrink my form. "Do you wish to learn how to do this?" I said as I cocked my head to the right side.

"Y..yes," She said, looking up at my head.

"Very well, I'll instruct you on how to use magic." I lightly touched her leg as I weaved a short spell of reconstruction, and upon closer inspection, it had spiraled up her; what's the human word for it, ah femur. She then stared at her left leg for a minute, questioning what had just happened to the pain. "I believe you should be able to stand now."

"A..are you sure?" she said.

"Yes, the spell I just wove should have rebuilt the tissue in your leg." the words coming out a little smoother now than the first words I had uttered. "It's been a long time since I spoke to one of the human race, is my speech up to par?"

"It, it is pretty good. I think." the words came out clearer and with more confidence than when she first responded to me.

"Thank you, little one," I said as I looked around to gauge if this area was a safe spot to be in, "I think it's best we relocate ourselves. This clearing reeks of stalkers." I signaled for her to try and climb on my back so we could fly away and get to a cave, at least. Grunting as she tried to climb onto my shoulder and push herself up, she slipped down my scales as I caught her by the ankle. As I nuzzled her to my haunches, the sharp noise of branches breaking jolted her slightly, but she hugged my neck tighter. My lithe form turned and curled back slightly to display my crest and fangs to whatever was coming through the bushes and past the tree line for the clearing. With a subtle weaving of a spell, I pull sight through the bush and start to see a snout coated in blood, but it carries a small horn that starts to curl back towards the creature's forehead. This was not a stalker. It was more draconic in design, but something was off about it. "Hold it, beast. If you can speak, I encourage you to do it now." The creature paused for a second from my voice and shifted slightly to the left. It meant repositioning itself to disappear from my spell and look for a spot to pounce. Leaving no chance for the beast to disappear and come back, I turned my head slowly and exhaled a breath of dense cold magic, staving off the creature's movement, or so I hoped at least. Looking around quickly, I found no evidence of the beast getting stuck in the blast.

"Is, Is it safe now?" She

"It might be, but to be safe, we should move to a different area." I start moving away from the ice, but I suddenly feel eyes upon us again. <It is really persistent.> I thought. The child seemed to tug harder at my scales and let out a short cry.

"D..d..do you see it still?" She curled closer and smaller into the nook between my neck and shoulders. Shaking my head no, I swiftly moved up one of the spikes of ice from the breath and unfurled my wings. Soaring off into the sky, I scoured the canopy of trees and the small mountains of ice. In my endless search, I had consistently found nothing, no sight or trace of it anywhere. All the while wondering what the creature could have been and why it was so intent on me. After about a half hour of flight, we approached one of my old caverns of an old hoard. "Is.. is it gone?"

"From what I can tell, it did not follow us, but in the morning, we will move again," I said as I tried to tuck her into a corner of the cavern. "Before anything else, may you tell me your name little one?" I added.

"I don't have one," She said, "From what I was told we don't get one until we are 12 cycles old."

"For us dragons we are named when we hatch, so I shall bestow a name on you." I said. I paused for a minute trying to think about what type of name would suit her. "Avigiri, it is a name that means inquisitiveness in my tongue."

Bereavement

As the years began to roll by slowly, the little girl I found had transitioned from the cowering babe to a grown, strong; I believe the humans call them teenagers. I started to instruct her on how to utilize the mana of the world. Building the foundation to control magic is reasonably easy for the other dragons and me, but for this human, it would break her body down.

"Do remember last week's instruction Avigiri, the body of a mortal being can easily be destroyed by playing with the tempestuous power of magic."

Her eyes roll ever so slightly as she says, "Of course, father, I know the risk of magic, and you have told me about the dangers for the last six months." She tried to move her hands to subtly weave a persuasive word to get me not to keep reminding her about the dangers of magic.

Letting her attempt this convincing word against me, I said, "Alright, I won't keep reinforcing the dangers, but just inform me of any pains or injuries you sustain in your studies." The magic faded from her hands as she looked back at me with a slight smirk. A forgotten part of my heart twinges with pride; Avigiri and her growth into being a mage, but also, a part of my mind pulls a memory from a couple of hundred years ago. <The humans never deserved magic; why teach one to use it again?> the old thought popped into my mind once more as I saw the glint of excitement in Avigiri's eyes again. They remind me of the last time and that it went poorly with that human.

"You've been staring for a couple of minutes. Are you okay?" She said, staring back into my eyes.

"Yes, I am okay." In the coming years, Avigiri and I delved further into her magical studies, and I found many opportunities to encourage her to attempt to point the spells against me. As I helped her further her studies of magic, I delved deeper into my own. <Each time you go into these studies, something terrible happens> My doubt rang into my skull as I tried to pull a freshly weaved a spell around in the room of my hoard cavern. Sparks of green and pink light alight the area around me as this dangerous spell; even though Avigiri was currently practicing her version of a matter manipulation spell, she paused and looked over at what I was doing. As that happened, I felt the magic slip and then the feeling of a pair of eyes again, similar to the surface from fifteen years ago. "Avigiri, go and hide. There is something I must tend to."

Rebirth

In a burning cavern, I look around to see my father's dull, flexible scales; with that, I can remember that either a spell went poorly for him or myself. But it could also have been an attack. I want to remember what happened in the last day or two. After another second of looking around, I found other shards of scales. This set a deep maroon noticeably denser than father's scales. It must have been an attack, then. <Hopefully, father got out okay.> I thought as I walked around the battle-torn cave to look for clues on what happened to father and the intruder. Lilac flame is still burning from what would have been the battle. Passing by the library, or at least what was left of the grand library father had, I found more scales and areas of abrupt destruction. Seeing some parts of the rumors of battle, I found myself hoping for the remnants of my father's survival, wishing my spell would have worked for him and not me. As I think of that, the words escape my mouth "Father! Are you still here? If you are here, please respond."

The wind rushed into the corridor I was in, as the bloody scene was portrayed more accurately than I would wish to have seen. Long dried and crusted blood sank into the crevices of the entrance to our home, shards of scales flung throughout the room, and the scent of fruit on the wind. I am here, my child, words I feel on the kiss of the wind on my cheek as I move through the rubble and lilac flames of what was once my home for fifteen years. In all my time with my father, magic was the most exciting thing that the two of us bonded over, and now it was the one thing that separated him and me.