Beginning Anew

Dawn wandered the vast, barren wasteland that was most of Irenias. Long had it been this way, but she remembered when it was lush and green and still sparkled with life. She remembered the way it was when she was but a hatchling: her parents there to watch over and protect her and show her the ways of this world.

All of that was gone now. The continent had been ruined in a catastrophe that she had been too young to understand, but what she did know was that it claimed far too much. The beautiful, rolling hills and verdant grass. The humans’ possession of the land, for it had forced most of them to migrate to the east in search of a more habitable area. And her parent’s lives, along with her entire thunder. Whether they be green, yellow or red, all had been extinguished, much as a candle in the wind.

Dawn did not know if many dragons other than her had survived the catastrophe. But what it meant was that life held little for her now. Some humans still remained on the continent, in the city they called Faesgate. It was a beautiful city, all shiny and silvery. It was slowly bringing life back to the surrounding area as well, something she was glad for.

But the humans did not take too kindly to her, for they feared her. After all, they were little and only had twigs for limbs, while she was mighty, a sixty-foot long dragon with limbs like tree trunks and teeth and claws like daggers. What the humans did not realize was that Dawn was scared of them as well. Sure, she had her flame breath, something she was grateful for, and she could fly. But the humans in Faesgate were different from the humans of her hatchling years. These humans had strange abilities, and they could summon fire and fly, too.

But there was little to worry about at the moment. Faesgate was a good distance to the north, in the middle of the circle that formed the bottom of Irenias. In her flights, Dawn had figured that the continent was long and skinny at the top, but bulged into a great round shape near the bottom. Dawn was at the very bottom of this circle, near the sea, and more importantly, the caves where she had been raised.

Dawn had been away from the caves hunting but had found nothing. Typical. Ever since the strange things in the east had appeared, hunting had grown harder, for they were hungry as well. No matter. Dawn had eaten a few days ago, and it should be enough to last her a bit more. Dawn stretched her wings, basking in the fading sunlight for a moment. The heat always helped. Then, she flapped them hard, once, twice, and she was off.

No matter how bleak life kept turning out, flying was one of Dawn’s continual joys. To know that you are able to go anywhere, anytime and have a spectacular view while doing it was exhilarating. She pitied anyone who could not experience flight, for it truly was incredible.

She was not far from her hatchery, situated in a series of caves in the cliffside by the ocean, worn from the constant beating of the water. She arrived in short time due to her speed in flight and carefully lowered into the opening, careful not to strike the stone on either side. She successfully made it, folded her bejeweled wings to her sides and settled in.

Dawn had made a few changes to the cave but mostly kept it the same as when her parents were alive. This was out of both respect and nostalgia, no matter how bittersweet it may be. The cave was spacious, enough for several full-grown dragons, of course. Over in the back left corner was a hollow where her mother had birthed her egg and nursed it until Dawn hatched. The dusky purple fragments of the shell still remained, in fact, and Dawn looked at them, remembering a time when she was still so small, a time when the world had seemed so large.

A fire pit lay in the back right corner, currently unlit. This was where the dragons would have slept, to keep themselves warm at night, fighting the cool ocean breeze. Dawn shot a quick spurt of fire at it, and it blazed to life, casting a warm, flickering glow around the cold, hard stone.

Finally, there was the mirror. She had made it herself, heating the sand near the caves to such a degree that it fused together. It wasn’t pretty or well made, but it got the job done. She paused as she walked by it, looking at herself. She had scales of dusky purple, much like her egg’s color. They were not the most shiny or brilliant but had a strange sort of beauty all the same. She opened her wings and looked at them too, the scales continuing and taking on a slightly different hue, though still purple. Finally, she stared herself in her eyes, her yellow-orange eyes. Those were her most striking feature and what had convinced her parents to name her Dawn, for truly, she did look like one.

“Dawn? Are you back yet?” a scratchy, gravely voice called out. Dawn turned into a tunnel and emerged into the sleeping den, where she found her brother. His name was Lucas. Her elder by a few hundred years, Lucas was forest-green, and was all that remained of her old life. Unbidden, the memories came flashing back.

She and Lucas had been on a flight over the sea, laughing at the fish and birds below them, seeing how puny they were compared to the great dragons, for Lucas was ten feet longer than Dawn. Dawn loved the small, silvery fish the most though, seeing them group together to form such a large-looking being.

That was when they heard the crack. Lucas turned back to the mainland first, gasping and covering Dawn with his wing. She struggled to get out from under it but was blasted by a massive shockwave that nearly threw her out of the air and into the depths below. A blast of heat followed, almost more than she could bear – and then nothing.

Lucas removed his wing and said, “Follow me!” before racing back. All Dawn could do was look, though. The continent, which had been covered with life and greenery, was ruined. It had been flattened by some enormous surge of power, and all she could see was the orange-brown dirt.

Snapping out of it, she had flown back, frantically searching the caves, calling for her parents. Nothing met her but silence.

“Dawn! Come here!” Lucas’s voice bellowed. Dawn hurriedly flew out of the caves and north, toward the human settlements… or what was left of them.

They had all been wiped out, and no humans remained in this area. But what concerned her most was the green body huddled over two others, white and purple. Dawn flew over as fast as she could, but Lucas’s eyes said everything she needed to know.

Dawn let out a wail and released a tall spurt of fire into the sky, mourning her parents’ death. What could have possibly caused such a thing to happen?

“Dawn? Dawn?” Lucas said, bringing her back to the present.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I said, did you find anything?”

“Not this time. We can hold out a bit longer. I’m afraid the Westlings will force me to hunt further north, towards Faesgate, though.”

“What will we do about them?”

“I’m not sure.”

“We could try and take them on, you know. We are dragons, after all,” he said with a rumbling chuckle.

“Are you out of your mind? There are so many of them, and only two of us. We’d be slaughtered.”

“True.”

“I’ll think about it.” Dawn turned away and walked back through the arch. Going to the cave entrance, she flew out a bit to the left, to a cave that was smaller, but perfect for sitting and thinking. Flaying in, she did just that.

She sat there for some time, overlooking the ocean and watching the birds snap up the fish, even seeing what the humans called a shark at one point, its massive (for a fish) body gliding along effortlessly in the water, much as she would fly in the air.

She was looking at the shark when she heard it. An unmistakable roar, not of anguish this time but pain. Lucas.

Dawn struggled to unfold her wings to get out of the cave, but managed to do so and raced to the main caves. Arriving, her worst fears were confirmed.

Humans swarmed around the top of the caves, Lucas flying about above them. The humans all had spears and pikes, but soon found that throwing them was pointless. Then, they resorted to magic.

Dawn saw one speaking quickly, a fireball forming in front of him. She showed no hesitation as she blasted the man with her own fire, incinerating him instantly.

This movement alerted the rest of the hunters to Dawn’s presence, though, and some began focusing their efforts on her. Bolts of lightning, fire and water rushed past her, but she narrowly dodged each one. She fired back when she could, though she wasn’t doing too much damage.

She turned to see how Lucas was doing and was dismayed when she saw him caught in some sort of invisible web, like a fly trapped by a spider. He thrashed and raged, but to no avail. Dawn sent torrents of fire towards the people performing the magic, turning them to ashes, but it was too late.

Lucas had been dragged to the ground, and right before she had killed them, one of the humans had thrust a spear into Lucas’s armpit, straight into his heart. He struggled a bit more, shock in his eyes, but soon fell still, his body falling to the earth with a crash.

Dawn could only stare in horror at the fallen body of her brother, lying there like her parents before him. She felt those invisible tendrils snaking around her, but she let out an ear-splitting roar and a huge stream of fire, keeping it going for several minutes, doing her best to extinguish the lives of all present. They had to pay for this.

Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t keep up the constant fire stream. She knew that once she ended it, the humans would be able to concentrate long enough to restrain her, and she could begin to feel it even now. She cast one look back at her brother, crumpled, and ended the fire.

The humans yelled and began to perform their spells, but Dawn shook off their threads, flying away as fast as she could.

She knew she was not safe now. The humans would likely be able to track her. She needed to go somewhere unthinkable. Somewhere the humans would not dare follow. Somewhere she would not normally go.

The West. It was far too dangerous for the humans, and it was rumored to be cursed. That would explain the Westlings. They were certainly not natural.

The West it was, then. Dawn changed course and began flying toward the setting sun.

Dawn could hear the humans behind her, but their voices steadily grew quieter, until she could hear nothing at all. She wondered why the humans did not try to follow, realizing they must have exhausted themselves in the fight.

The further she flew, the stranger the land got. It was night now, but that didn’t make the terrain any less odd. Huge spikes of rock jutted into the air in weird shapes, some triangles, rectangles or even circles. Chunks of the land hovered high in the air, craters gouged out below. Waterfalls flowed up in places, which would be strange even without the defiance of gravity. The West seemed to have much more water.

As she was flying past a forest choked with thorns, she heard a sound. It was faint, but it almost sounded like… a child? Dawn turned toward it and the forest, for that was where it was coming from.

Indeed, she saw the disturbance. Squinting, she saw a small speck of a human on the edge of the wood, but other things were coming its way. She saw a huge wolf, several times larger than normal. There was also a strangely blocky thing made of stone. Dawn didn’t know who this child was, but a motherly instinct suddenly overwhelmed her, and she knew she had to protect it.

Just before the wolf and creature reached the child, Dawn landed in front of it with a roar. The two backed away for a second, before the wolf charged, jumping on Dawn. It tried to bite her; it was no use. She shook it off and sent a quick blast of fire its way, torching the wolf and sending it running.

The blocky thing stood a ways away, scooping chunks of the ground and hurling them at Dawn. One was about to hit the toddler, but Dawn dived in the way, taking the hit. She winced in pain but charged at the being. It tried to protect itself, but it was too slow. Dawn rose up on her hind legs, flapping her wings to balance herself, before slamming down on the rock thing with her full force, shattering it.

Panting, Dawn turned back to the woods. The toddler was still crying, a pitiful wailing. She walked over to it, but that just seemed to scare it more.

“How do we deal with this?” Dawn wondered. Suddenly, the baby stopped crying, instead looking at Dawn with large, watery green eyes. The exact same shade as Lucas’s scales.

Dawn recoiled in pain for a second, then looked back. The toddler was a girl, with black hair. Dawn did not know much about human children, but this one looked rather small. She began to cry again, but Dawn said, “Hey. There’s no need to make a fuss. I just saved you, you know.” The dragon’s voice seemed to calm the child down. Dawn wondered if it was the femininity of it.

Now the question remained of what to do with this child. On the one hand, it was a toddler, and to leave it behind would be a sin with no equal. On the other hand, this was a child of the same people who had just murdered her brother, and effectively murdered her connection to her past. Perhaps she could just bring the child to Faesgate and hope for the best.

As Dawn looked at the girl, though, something struck her. How had the little one gotten out here? She certainly hadn’t walked this far out into the West, so what could explain her presence?

Dawn suddenly realized that the child must have been abandoned. Even more reason to hate most of the humans. As Dane looked at her, though, she spoke.

“Dragon!” the girl said.

“Yes, I am a dragon. My name is Dawn.”

“Dawn!” The girl giggled.

“And what of you? Do you have a name?”

“No. Da says they’re for big folk.”

“No name, huh? Well, that won’t do.”

Dawn pondered. What would be a suitable name for this child? She was certainly a mixed bag. Dawn thought about it for a while, and then she was struck with inspiration.

“Phoenix. Your name is Phoenix.” Phoenix laughed once more, and Dawn smiled. It was a wonderful laugh. It was a wonderful name, as well. For much like a phoenix, this girl represented a new beginning, both for herself and for Dawn.

“Phoenix?”

“Hm?”

“Do you want to go somewhere?”

“Yeah! I’ve only been to the city and here.”

Dawn held open her claw, and Phoenix settled in, for Dawn did not trust the toddler on her back. Making sure to hold onto her at just the right firmness, Dawn took off.

Dawn circled for a moment, trying to decide where to go. The caves were obviously compromised, so she couldn’t go back there. Looking around, her gaze settled on the forest. An idea popped into her head, and she flew over it.

Indeed, much as she had predicted, there was a clearing large enough for both of them to comfortably live in among all the trees and thorns, and it looked to be only accessible by air, dramatically reducing the odds of being found. Dawn swooped toward it and settled in. Looking around, Dawn saw that it was indeed walled in by thorns. Good.

Dawn released Phoenix, and she rushed around the new area, exploring everything.

The girl was getting near the edge, though, so Dawn pulled her back, chiding, “Don’t touch the thorns. They’ll hurt.” Phoenix obeyed for a while but soon ran back to the edge. Dawn pulled her back, berating her again. Phoenix hung her head in shame, and Dawn was sure it had worked this time.

That was, until she saw that Phoenix was nearing the thorns again. This time, she let it happen. She heard a shriek, and more crying. Dawn saw that Phoenix had indeed pricked her finger on a thorn, and a few drops of blood had been spilt.

Dawn pulled her away again, and said, “See? I told you, and you didn’t listen. Actions have consequences, you know.” Phoenix whimpered but didn’t say anything. Dawn was pleased to note that Phoenix did not experiment with the thorns any more.

It was now very dark, and Dawn was tired.

“Phoenix! It’s time to sleep,” she called. The girl came running over. Dawn lied down, but not before preparing a bed of leaves for the girl to lie upon. When she closed her eyes, though, she felt a touch on her wing. Looking out, she saw Phoenix pushing on it.

Dawn was a bit confused at first, but then understood. She lifted her wing, and Phoenix clambered under it. Soon, Dawn could hear snoring. Dawn smiled a contented smile. Perhaps this wouldn’t be so bad.

Dawn woke up, lifting her wing to find Phoenix conscious as well. Phoenix looked at Dawn and said, “Good morning.”

“Well, aren’t you polite.” Dawn got up and looked around. The clearing was very bare, she thought. It needed more.

Dawn flew out of the clearing for a bit, returning shortly with the wolf. Phoenix screamed when she saw it, but Dawn said, “It can’t hurt you, dear. It’s been taken care of.” Dawn carefully skinned the massive wolf, a difficult task for a dragon. She managed to finish, though, and then brought down four tree tops.

She poked these into the ground near a small stream near the edge of the clearing, and hung the pelt over these four pegs, forming a crude shelter. She cut off one section of the pelt, though, large enough to serve as a blanket for Phoenix.

Next, she set about arranging a group of rocks in a large circle, then placed the skinned wolf on it.

“Phoenix, you may be named after a firebird, but I would stay away for this.”

Phoenix obeyed, and Dawn let out a stream of fire toward the meat, controlling the intensity to cook it properly. It took a little bit, but soon the wolf was done. Dawn used her claw to carve away a small piece for Phoenix, before taking a much larger piece for herself.

Phoenix looked at it for a bit, before picking it up and practically shoving it into her mouth.

“Slow down there,” Dawn cautioned. She focused on eating her own haunch, relishing the new meal. She could have gone longer without food, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t been hungry.

Phoenix seemed to greatly enjoy her meal, and Dawn wondered if she had ever had meat before. A life without meat for Dawn was literally unliveable. The meal was soon finished, and the rest of the day was spent playing with Phoenix and learning about her.

When Dawn asked why Phoenix had been at the edge of the forest, the toddler told her that her Da had taken her there, but that he had soon left, confirming Dawn’s suspicions. Dawn also learned that Phoenix had turned three the day before yesterday, and Dawn couldn’t help but wonder if that had something to do with her abandonment.

Phoenix was a very active girl, and loved running all over the clearing. She was speedy for such a little person. Her vocabulary was surprisingly robust too, at least for a three-year old. Phoenix soon discovered that she could climb, and without warning was clambering all over Dawn. Dawn laughed, but let her continue.

Day one came and went, and soon it was night again. Dawn waited to see if Phoenix wanted to sleep under the wolf skin, but she still preferred to sleep under Dawn’s wing, which she could understand.

Phoenix quickly fell asleep once more, and Dawn began thinking. She had a child. She had despaired of ever having one earlier, because the only dragon left was her brother, and, well… She didn’t want to think of it. But now that she had Phoenix, everything was different. She knew that she had to do everything in her power to make sure this child grew up well, with a parent, something Dawn barely got. Sighing deeply, Dawn fell asleep.

Seven Years Later

“Dawn. Dawn! Wake up!”

“Hm?” Dawn said sleepily. She turned and looked at Phoenix, long black hair flowing in a ponytail over her shoulder. “What is it?”

“Have you forgotten what day it is?”

“Urinday?”

“No, you silly galoot. It’s my tenth birthday!” Dawn stood up and stretched.

“Oh, yes! Yes, it is. Happy birthday, Phoenix. You know, I got you something.”

“Ooh! What?”

“Well, if I tell you, it will ruin the surprise. Who’s the silly one now, hm?”

“Just show it to me, please.”

“All right, just a second.” Dawn flew out of the clearing, then returned carrying something small in one of her claws. “Close your eyes.” Phoenix did so. Dawn opened her claw. “Okay, open them!” Phoenix did, and gasped.

The gift was a bow, seemingly made of silver. It had a strange sheen to it, and seemed to sparkle.

“Where did you get this?” Phoenix asked, taking it.

“I found it near Faesgate.” Phoenix seemed to hold it even closer, knowing it was from the same place as her.

“How will I use it though? It’s metal!”

“Try it.”

Phoenix looked doubtful but picked up the quiver of arrows next to it and nocked one. She had never fired a bow before, but she knew how. She drew back the string and was amazed to find it worked. The metal seemed to flow into position. She aimed at a tree, and though she missed by a mile, she was still incredibly happy.

“Thank you so much, Dawn!”

“I knew you would like it. Now, I’ll let you do your target practice.” Phoenix hurriedly nocked another hour, and Dawn turned to go to the eating rock.

Some time had passed, and Dawn was lost in thought again, and close to dozing off. Phoenix had been practicing with her bow for a while, and seemed to be getting good. Right as Dawn was about to sleep, however, she heard Phoenix scream.

Bolting around, Dawn saw that a Dire Wolf, as Phoenix had dubbed them, had entered the clearing. And it had its eyes on Phoenix.

Dawn couldn’t use her fire, for fear of cooking Phoenix, but she was too far to do anything else. She ran as fast as she could to the other end of the clearing, but she feared that she would be too late.

Indeed, her fears seemed confirmed, as the Dire Wolf charged Phoenix, jumping into the air to pounce. But Phoenix did nothing but raise her hand, in a sudden, strange moment of calm. Just as the wolf was about to shred her, a ball of strange, crackling fire erupted from her outstretched hand, erasing the wolf, but for a pile of ash that slowly fell to the ground. Magic.

“Phoenix! Are you alright?”

“I think so.”

“How did you do that?”

“I don’t know. It just felt… right.”

“That did not look like my fire.”

“No, it didn’t.

The two looked at each other, relief in their faces. They stood there a few seconds more, then Phoenix ran to Dawn, clinging to her massive leg.

“Thank you, Mom.”

“What for?”

“For being there for me, when no one else was.” Dawn realized something then. That was the first time Phoenix had called her mom. The thought warmed her heart, and she let out a purr.

“What?” Phoenix asked.

“Oh, nothing. Now, let’s see if we can experiment with that fire of yours,” Dawn said. She put a tree over the spot where the wolf had gotten in, then the two went to the center of the clearing, side by side.