Circle of the Elder Flame

There weren't always dragons in the Valley; the coven of witches that summoned them all burned to ash so not much can be known, but they have made it their home. No one is quite sure why they brought the dragons, and there aren’t any elders around to ask. Those that didn’t die in the fiery breath of the dragons abandoned magic and fled; something the elders did right was making it so the dragons could never leave Dustdenn. I don’t know what the name of the town used to be; I have known it as Dustdenn since I could talk. It used to be a beautiful valley, once green and shrouded by redwoods and sequoias, now nearly barren and black. The mountains that surrounded the valley are snowy and almost impassible, except by a narrow winding road. I’m one of the only practicing witches left in the coven, or at least the most talented. My mother told and taught me as much as she could before she died. Her name was Celeste and she was a great witch, but my magical prowess surpasses hers that’s one of the reasons she thought I could be the one to send the dragons away. She gave me the name of one of the greatest elders in our coven, Melusina, hoping it would imbue me with the power of the elder, and I guess it did. I’m practically by myself just researching and scouring old books for clues on why or how they summoned the dragons, but today I found something interesting, the name of the coven, of my coven, is Circle of the Elder Flame. Seems kind of silly to me since all the elders died in a circle of fire. Tonight I’m going to attempt to hike through the mountains and find the alter where the summoning took place in hopes of finding some clues that can help me achieve the goals my mother set for me.

The dragons don’t make an appearance much these days with most of the people gone there isn’t anyone to terrorize and the treasures were looted long ago, except the Wands and jewelry my mother managed to cloak. These are the only tools she could leave me with when she died. You can hear them roaring and see blasts of flames streak across the sky sometimes you can even catch them circling the mountains. I should be terrified hiking up this mountain in the dead of night, but I'm not, I have some death spells I created and I’m ready to see if they could take down a dragon. I don’t just plan on sending the dragons away so they can do this to another town, I plan to wipe them out. From all the records I’ve been able to uncover even at twenty-two, I am the most powerful witch to be born in the Circle of the Elder Flame in centuries if anyone can do this, it must be me. I don’t know my way up the mountain, my mother always forbade me from getting close to it, but the further I go the closer I get to this glowing light and the smell of burned trees. The whole valley is black now, but you can’t see it from the town because of all the clouds. I wish the books I found would’ve given more clues to where the altar is located, all I know is it’s, or it was surrounded by a circle of trees. This is gonna be impossible with everything in sight being scorched. The wind began to howl and a gravelly angry voice spoke out among the glowing darkness “who are you?” I turned as quickly as I could, but there was nothing there just the pitch-black night with a faint glow from the embers that surrounded the area. I slowly backed away while drawing my wand to my side, my voice trembled as I muttered the words “who’s there?” Just then blustery winds picked up and embers swirled around me, still blinded by the darkness I ran as fast as I could till I found a crevice and squeezed my way through. Luxus summa I whispered and the entire cave lit up with the flick of my wand.

The room glittered with gold and silver, and trinkets and gems littered the cave floor in heaps. I knew immediately I had stumbled upon a dragon’s hoard. I stepped carefully around the piles of treasure, doing my best to stay quiet, but my curiosity got the best of me when I saw this staff with a glowing purple gem on the top. It looked so familiar, perhaps I’d come across it in my research or seen it in a picture, but I felt a strong connection like if I touched it then a flood of memories would come to me. As badly as I wanted to leave this place I knew I had to have that staff, something was pulling me towards it, and it was a feeling I couldn’t ignore. I hurried my pace towards the mound where it lay, but before I could make it a dragon came sliding down the piles of treasure, I began to become buried by gold and trinkets, and just as the treasure came up to my neck in a hissy whisper the dragon spoke “stay away from my treasure” though it sounded like a soft-spoken female the cave shook as the voice rang out. Astounded, I just stared, I didn’t struggle to free myself from the gold that was up to my chin, I had never read anything about dragons being able to talk. “You can talk!” I managed to murmur “the dragon's eyes bore into me, the stare so fixed, my skin felt as though it were burning. “What do you want with Melusina’s staff?” it hissed. Puzzled for a moment unsure of how it knew my name, but the words just spewed out without control “but I’m Melusina, how do you know my name?” I could see the dragon grow angry as it let out a low growl. “Do not try to lie to me! Tell me what you want with her staff! I am the Neirma, the gifted, and I was given the honor of protecting all that is hers! No one shall have it except Melusina!”

She must be talking about the Elder Melusina! I thought to myself. I saw sadness in its eyes before it blinked. “So your name is Neirma, well I’m not lying my name happens to be Melusina. I’m sorry I tried to take her staff I didn’t realize you were protecting it. It seems like Melusina meant something to you.” Her state softened as she lowered her head and offered me to grab on to the spikes on her face and she lifted me from the mound of treasure. “Melusina brought me and the others here long ago. She died, but she promised she would return one day and asked me to protect her things. She had spoken to us many times before bringing us to this world. I’m sorry I couldn’t stop the others.” Nerima looked as though she could cry and turned her gaze away from me. “Wait, can you please tell me what happened that day? You see I was named after Melusina, my mother said she was one of the most powerful elders and hoped by naming me after her I could gain some of her power. It happened so long ago that no one knows the story. I can tell it’s hard for you to talk about, but please.” I sorrowfully begged her as tears filled my eyes. She looked at me with a caring expression and sighed. “Sit down, this could take a while.” She turned to a corner and blew small flames that then lit a small pile of wood, she ushered me towards the fire with her nose “thank you, it was quite cold in here,” I said as I sat in the now warm, glowing corner.”

Nerima sat with her head down for a moment but eventually spoke her hissy whispers once frightening now somewhat comforting. Us dragons met Melusina on her travels across realms, we had seen many humans before but something was different about her. She didn’t approach us with fear instead she was kind. You see our home was barren and bleak. There weren’t any humans and the people that had lived there once were poor and had no treasure to offer, and we had killed them all. Melusina said she wanted to bring us to her home, that if we protected the coven and its people then we could be paid in treasure. At that point, I didn’t want to kill anyone I loved Melusina and I wanted to protect her and the coven. I would be happy with payments and offerings, I didn’t feel the need to steal anymore. This is why when all the dragons agreed to Melusinas offer, the other dragons didn’t tell me the rest of their plan. They were greedy and didn’t want to work to earn treasure, they wanted to take it. They’d grown tired of our home and knew the coven would have more than the previous humans ever did. Melusina kept her word and a portal was opened to your world I was one of the first to make it through. Seeing Melusina and all the elders chanting I looked towards the town where the coven stayed it was so beautiful, I was imagining a comfortable happy life here, but in a split second my world shattered the others rushed through the portal and began burning everything in sight. You see, they decided they weren't going to protect anyone and work for the treasure instead they would kill everyone and take it. I rushed to protect Melusina, but she had already been engulfed in flames. I managed to rush her away from the others, and she eventually said with her dying breath to go to this cave and leave her body on the patch of grass and set it alight, that if I could do this her ashes would imbue her magic back to the coven and she would one day be reborn. I did as she instructed and though you look nothing like her I can’t help but replay her last words in my mind and think that maybe you are Melusina reborn.

“You performed an ad terram? That must be where my power comes from!” I shouted in amazement “ad terram?” she asked puzzled. You burned her body on the ceremonial ground that is in this cave and her ashes returned her magic to the earth and it was then imbued into me when I was born, probably because of the rituals my mother performed and my namesake. Nerima hung her head and said “so you are not the same Melusina you don’t have any of her memories” I’m sorry Nerima, I can’t imagine how you must feel after waiting for her all this time, I said reaching out to attempt to comfort her. After some silence sitting at the fire, Neirma said I should get some rest; and I could tell she wanted to be alone, so I attempted to fall asleep and I managed because I awoke the next day to the light pouring into the crack of the cave. Nerima was already waiting for me I looked down and saw silk robes, the staff with the glowing purple gem, and an amulet with a matching stone in the middle. You don’t have to give these to me Neirma I know what these signify for you I said while sitting up. “Please take them. I know she's not coming back the way I thought she was, and you need them more than I do. Perhaps this is what she had meant when she said she would return one day.” Nerima said, looking away. I couldn't help, but stare at the pile of Melusinas possessions; I had never seen robes that fine or clean; the purple gem was so close I swear I could hear a sound from it as though it were pulsating, and the closer I got the louder and brighter it became til I reached out and touched it and everything went bright white then pitch black.