Power Pears

Humanity a beloved creation of the gods, once befriended and protected by the superior magical race of dragons. Until the day someone ate a spoiled forbidden fruit. Myths have it wrong, you see they say the first humans ate a forbidden fruit plucking it from the trees. However that’s only half true, the fruit was fallen and easier to reach expecting it to have the same taste Adam ingested the fermenting apple, gaining the influence of negative thoughts. Apples were the fruit of wisdom, knowledge and creativity, yet when they spoiled the thoughts would run cynic.

That’s when hunting began, the human men turned on dragons; Dragons are a proud race above all others. So this betrayal ran deep, they began destroying and raging wars against the humans and the elder dragons began using their higher magics to entrap humans outside of their domains, an unsurpassable rift formed between the races. Yet certain villages turned their back on their own kin and supported the dragons, growing among them subserviently. Those kin were granted the grace of a different fruit, one raised by the fae; the first pears gave stronger bodies and magic to a stronger human. They called the human a Ryder and with generations certain protector dragon spirits that survived the ages dwelled within the strongest turning them into pseudo-dragonic kin, called Dragon Knights, those dragon spirits dwelled alongside the bodies’ original soul and was bound to a different soul as well. Their soulmate, the key to their great power being unleashed, the Ryder.

An evil organization was born, the cynics against magic. Those who hated the powers of those who stood above humanity, of any who were impure. Supremacists were prominent and secret societies were born along with the caste systems. As time drifted past, the brutality worsened. Slowly this group gained a name ‘The Brotherhood’ and they aimed for the extinction of all impure races and half -bloods. Their food of choice was no longer cider apples, they fed on the blood of their foes, their tears and misery. Those who could not consume the emotional and physical carnage consumed only the finest, evil never starves while the ‘good’ never have full bellies.

‘Dravean’ was a village that was wiped off the maps recently, it gains no acknowledgement. A remnant of a draconic worship spot, heirs whom sang praises to the guardian dragons who guided the world, a village of strong Ryder blood and one of few to survive. The population was only a couple hundred, everyone was related in some way over the ages, and when the village fell there were only five children able to escape. The blessed ones who bathed in the juices of magic, from the day they were born pears were their most consumed food; perhaps that fact coupled with their heritage made them unique. Those five children were very special. They were treated like royalty in a village with no true leader, they wanted for nothing and had no restraints.

Lily a girl named for the beautiful flower, born with a head of blonde hair and metallic irises. Jen a rugged girl, a child born with teeth and an attitude; no one could hold her if she didn’t want to be held. The boy was gentle, Collin was sensitive, he cried at the drop of a hat and startled easily. Then the twin girls were a surprise, one born as pale as a sheet while the other was tanned they were inseparable, said to have come out holding hands to their mother’s misfortune. Zoey and Reba, they were the youngest of the cousins and the most prone to incident. Reba was flirtatious as she grew, while her sister was withdrawn and conservative in every manner. The five children studied every subject, a traveling merchant would bring them things that other humans would know. Each child excelled at different aspects, Lily was graceful and powerful; anything physical or mental was her forte, cold and decisive she didn’t hesitate. Collin was whimsical, artistic and could pick up languages and arts as if they were flowing in his veins. Science and Jen were the most stunning pair, she could understand medicines, poisons and repellants and create them before she turned five. Reba was a natural at creating maps and reading the land, she could perceive depths of canyons and caverns even without entering. Zoey was the one who appreciated maths, numbers were like words to her; no equation was too complicated. The children were a bit odd, but their attributes made sense when they showed their magicks, powers that had no way to manifest. Lily was able to turn the irons from the air or grounds into her tools. Collin could call the waters at his whim, which made things interesting when he cried it rained and often. Jen was able to poison or purify foods or people. Zoey could control the light and Reba the shadows answered.

Their merchant sold information about those strange children to make a profit, and the village fell a week later, those children vanished. Separated and each hoped the others were safe, as different as they were. They were family, and they were closest to one another, closer than anyone would comprehend. Ryders were unlike the Knights who held the draconic spirits, the Ryders; Either they were the best companions or the worst rivals on the planet. Well if they survived the hunt.

Generations were hunted into oblivion, yet the youngest, the least informed and the strongest survived even in solitude. Separated each found a niche to survive in always hoping to find their family.

Thousands of miles from where her journey began, Jen found a botanical garden that was long abandoned. She repaired it over the years, drifting through towns and villages, selling simple medicines, perfumes and such to earn enough to sustain things she couldn’t grow herself. Becoming an expert in toxins, medicines and botany. She had a bed of flowers which she slept on, they concealed her natural scent with their own, and in her home the greenhouse she had a selection of pear trees hidden from outside eyes, and lovely plants that concealed their deathly natures, foxgloves, aconitum, man-eating flowers, Oleander, lily of the valley and various others found their homes scattered through her gardens. The toxins had no influence on her, and yet they were a great defense against mindless hunters, there were cute little trinkets scattered through the garden that would tell friendly eyes what was safe, while seem like clutter to unfriendly ones.

Climbing to the top of one such tree Jen closed her eyes, singing a song to herself, a lullaby that she would sing to Zoey when she wouldn’t calm down after Reba was foolish. The melody carried and the flowers seemed to perk in the darkened glass box, a rustling sound caused her eyes to open and shift to the ground as she sang to pretend she was unaware of a visitor.

Curious excited footfalls fell and the sounds got louder, closer to her tree. Slowly the song came to an end, and the draconic words ended. When she finished she heard clapping and she actually fell from the tree into a pile of flowers below, looking exasperated at the intruder “Who… are you?” After all, could an enemy be clueless enough to applaud their target? In retrospect, perhaps she should have expected nothing less, after all when you’re facing off against an empire as an individual they could send a child and no one would bat an eye. The luxury of the rich and powerful, no one said anything besides yes.

Sitting up with petals scattered in her hair she stared at the approaching figure; it seemed male. Around her age, the faint lights allowed her to see. Earlier in the day Jen had visited a village and was nearly attacked by a venomous snake, although the bite wouldn’t have killed her, it really was inconvenient to be injured, and no one enjoyed being hurt. She had treated her savior to a meal, he had looked like a vagabond beggar, so it was a fitting grace. Or, so she expected. However that vagabond was now standing unabashed stroking the petals of the most lethal and some of the most beautiful flowers in the greenhouse, showing no adverse reactions. Frowning she asked again more loudly, prepared to draw a weapon or leave her longest residence. In the shed at the side there was a motorbike, and Jen never left her belonging bag out of her reach; she had run for too many years, she would never leave behind the traces of her memories. The trinkets that may one day lead her to her family.

Despite her due diligence, this person was no beggar and he was unaffected by poisons. Her heart was palpitating, yet she felt an allure. Somehow she knew this person was no threat, so she stepped forward, he looked up and gave a wide smile and dove at Jen hugging her tightly knocking her back into the flowers she just rose from. Petals exploded in every direction under the weight of two teenagers, and then a warm feeling overcame Jen. Her body felt as if it were burning and acids were in her blood, her eyes squeezed shut and she whined under his weight. The whole greenhouse filled with gaseous clouds for some reason, killing some of the more sensitive plants instantly, while a piercing pain shot through Jen’s forearm. Thinking she sliced it on rocks she glanced down.

A tattoo was forming on her arm, what seemed like a dragon of eastern lore, like a serpent was sprawled out on her arm. Then a voice appeared in her mind and she froze, the boy was babbling about knowing something and that she was the one and he was so glad to have finally found her. The voice in her head was older, calmer and speaking draconic fluently unlike the dialect her and her ancestors had. Jen was paralyzed, not from the gases or the plants, but from sheer confusion. They say when a brain overloads it shuts down, and now Jen would wholeheartedly agree with that statement, there was too much information for her to process. For some reason like in the legends from her village, when a Knight and a Ryder meet they share an inexplicable bond.

The legends called the Ryders a race that would unlock a Knight’s power, it would cause a detectable explosion that would prove their strength, when the fire Knight and Ryder met the heat could be so intense that it could cause them to perish, if the Ryder died the Knight would follow, but if the Knight died the Ryder could survive alone. A lonely fate for the tamer of the dragon, and once the Ryder made contact with the Knight the dragon could contact the Ryder through telepathy, they could speak or even go into a mindscape and escape reality; though that would leave the Ryder’s body susceptible and under the mercy of the knight’s protection.

If the voice that Jen heard was indeed a dragon, it was the first known dragon in a century to be heard of. Even the blessing of the dragons on her village vanished and they were unable to stay concealed thus their inevitable destruction, yet the old voice and the feeling of reuniting with a relative brought tears to her eyes, perhaps the poison powers granted to her by the pears was worth it after all. While she thought it was funny the skies were crying as if she were Collin she closed her eyes again, settling into the hug and listening to the tale of one human and one dragon catching her up on world and war affairs. They had many stories to share between themselves. Time wasn’t necessarily on their side either.