Songs of Calcasë

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. Hundreds of years ago they receded into the mystic mountains, retreating from humankind. Into dust they went, abandoning any hope that bestowed itself upon the crumbling mind of men. Dragons, the wise ones, the sacred- were thought never to be seen again. Until now, when she came.

The heavens blackened with their presence. Screeches and flashes of ignited fire erupted from the hills. The dragons flew down from the night sky, producing a shimmering spiral of firey motion. They encircled a beacon of white light that laid on the ground, shaping into a snowy globe. In symmetry, Luso, the Moon of prophecy radiated above with her equally white glow. The moon coming into cycle upon the land of Calcasë for the first time in over a century. More dragons appeared until they filled the land, dancing around the ethereal globe in the valley. Their shadows moved swiftly in the darkness, from young newborns swiveling like snakes to cave-sized elders who erupted their massive fire into the air. A unity of dragons all across the land had never been together at once, until now. A gathering of most importance. Hours passed as they raged in the valley, protecting and celebrating this mysterious white glowing entity between them that began to grow ever so slowly.

Into the deepest time of night, a movement on the outskirts of the valley cast an ominous presence. Dressed in a weighted coat that hung down to his feet, a crippled man limped a step forward into view of the spectacle before him. His dark eyes pierced with twisted glee while the reflection of embers danced in his irises. A pull in the corner of his lips created a rapacious grin as he breathed in deeply, lifting his attention above. Watching the glow of Luso in the sky, the man's eyebrows creased inward, his eyes turning to disdain. A moment passed as his attention turned to the far-out horizon, sighting an ebony orb move up into the sky with sinister speed. His grin pulled to a smile revealing jagged broken teeth as he watched a second Moon make its way near Luso. "Malum," he quietly uttered with respect. The callus energy of the most forbidding Moon in the cycle, Malum, began submerging into the Luso's illuminating rays. The two moons overlapped, darkness swallowing half of the light, creating a duality of foretelling above.

A deep huff of air startled the man as a tall and elegant woman approached behind him. Her eyes were sharp as daggers as she paced forward entranced by the view before them. The crippled man cowered at her presence and went down on his knees towards her. She ignored him as she asked, "Are you watching Embus?" The woman reached to her shoulder, spreading out her fingers. A slithering shadow touched the woman's fingertips and rubbed its scaly head against them. Two yellow eyes opened from the shadow's head, its long nails clasping into the woman's shoulders drawing blood as they pierced past her cloak into the skin. She did not wince but smiled with a long inhale as she and Embus rubbed heads together for a moment before both looking above. Embus's yellow eyes watched both of the Moon's above and then down below to the wild dance of the dragons. A clucking of its tongue delivered a message to his partnered human. The woman listened intently to him responding, "Yes. A time of true revelation is upon us."

Both the creature and the woman simultaneously locked eyes on the glowing orb in the Valley. A loud hiss came from the reptilian animal and a puff of repulsion from the woman. They stood breathing heavily, almost possessed, staring off into the far distance.

Suddenly a streak of lightning crackled out of the two Moon's glow and down into the center of the valley, striking the land with a powerful snap. A fire erupted from the swaying grass and spread quickly in a circle encompassing the dragons. The crippled man fell back in fright while the ground burst into flame. The woman gasped and stepped forward as Embus slithered around her torso, his yellow eyes widening at the circle of fire. The dragons roared and glided faster, their energy of enchantment filling the air.

"What is it, my lord?" The man down on his knees howled in shock, attempting to stand. "Is it truly among us? The prophe-"

"Silence." She snapped with her hand out to the man beside her. Embus wrapped over her outward hand and hissed vehemently at the man. He cowered in alarm on the cold soil.

A loud outbreak came from the dragons, and they all halted. Some while mid-flight and others on the ground facing the white orb. Their howl began to riddle the air as they wailed out with ferocity a magnificent blazing fire that merged together up into the sky. The orb in between them began to expand at an alarming rate until it, too, burst into the sky. A luminescent shine struck into the heavens, ancestral fire dancing around it. After minutes, the fire and glow broke, and pitch blackness consumed the valley.

The three on the outskirts, the creature, the woman, and the man looked intently at the sight. Then the same orb glowed in the distance shaping itself into a small, compact oval. Crack. The oval split, revealing itself to be a brilliant shining egg.

"It can't be," the woman shook in disbelief, setting her sight onto the iridescent egg. Fear trickled into the reptile's limbs as he climbed anxiously around her shoulders. She looked around, perturbed and littered with thoughts. She grabbed her right finger pulling off a purple sparkling ring, and with a pop, she broke the crystal into two. Scattered starlight spots swam from the ring and out in front of her. She stepped into the starlight dust and shape-shifted into the wind, entirely disappearing from sight with her partnered animal. The man blinked in confusion searching for her around until he saw before him the egg in the valley lift and evaporate from the air.

Screeches cried out from the dragons as they all frantically sought for the egg. The ground shook with their movement, creating a thunderous commotion that destroyed all presence of happiness and hope. The small dragons wept as the elders blazed their ferocious fires from their snouts. Both moons above began to move out of the cycle while the sky was left still and empty.

As time passed, the dragons were again only a myth of sight from that day. A story that was passed from village to village was believed to be another fable. Though, somewhere deep in the barren lands of Calcasë stood a tower that protruded from the soil like a twisted dagger. In this tower lay a secret, one that was hidden from all that lived.

Fourteen years went by since the day of the two moons. Deep in the halls of the tower echoed haunting screams on top of vigorous yelling of men. The cries of terror shook the dust off the walls, piercing through the air. Hours passed with the same unrest until it came to a halt. Silence uneasily swam through the hallways.

"It's done." A man dressed in dark clothes stood with unease as an earthly brown owl stood perched on his shoulder. The owl stared straight forward blinking calmly, one eye bright and round, the other sunken with a deep scar and blood-spattered pupil. The man's eyes stared along with his owl, equally as bright and deeply scarred.

"Dresna, Lord?" The cripple stood alone alongside the man and his owl. Age revealing itself as a heavy blade, his disabled body showing signs of decay. Half of his face sludging into the other creating a demented aurora. Deep in his eyes was a feeling of sorrow that broke even the happiest of men.

An eerie silence befalls upon them as sweat starts to trickle down the cripple man's brow.

"Her light is fading." A familiar voice comes from the shadows as Dresna, the same woman from the night of two moons, stands up and walks towards both of the men. A blood-red cloak draped on her body, her hands adorned with crystal rings and ornate symbols. She smiles and gestures with her slim hand while the long and shadowy figure of her creature, Embus wraps around her arm like a snake. Its scaly tail gently caresses her arm and falls back behind her hiding completely from sight.

A long and dim hallway with torches, illuminating the stone path, echoed with the footsteps of the two men and Dresna. The slime on the wall glistened in the reflection of the fire lights. After minutes of walking down winding staircases and a myriad of dungeon doors, they began to hear a muffled whimpering before them as they approached a tall barred door. Reaching the heavy-set chamber door, Dresna places her hand over the heart of its wood. Closing her eyes she begins to mutter, red rays seeping from her hands, unlocking the door. Pushing it open, they all enter into the vast, dim chamber.

"Open the window." Dresna looks to the crippled man as he begins to hobble to the window, pulling off a long frosted drape down to the ground.

Instantly a howl of painful cries surges from the center of the chamber as light shines itself into the room. On the cold devoid ground lies a whimpering creature tied with hefty iron chains into the deep stone beneath the foundation.

She is beautiful, with the stature of a noble Griffin, grace of an ancient Phoenix, and the sharpness of a Falcon. Her body is dressed in pure white, with a dancing glow to its color. Her long feathered wings extend marvelously across the floor, only to come to a halt. Her wings clipped, died in her own blood. Wet spots of crimson red splattered on the stone floor around her. Breathing with shallow puffs, she whimpers in pain. The breath out the nare of her beak emits colors of symphonic movement, magical and iridescent as it glides outwards. The energy then travels around her body and to the tips of her cut wings, staying there and resting. The sunlight from the window burns into her golden, ember eyes.

Her wonder is undeniable, mysterious, and untold- hidden from the world. The life in her eyes slowly begins to fade away into the darkness, as deep depression and grief consume her soul. The beautiful dancing breath becomes more shallow and dim as time passes while she continues to lay, both of her feet chained to the chilling floor.

Breaking the grim moan of weeping, the man and his owl twist their heads in wonderment. "There's no creature like her. I've always wondered in the proph"-

"There is no prophecy without the other half." Dresna spat with sharpness, her eyes snapping towards the man with haste. "As long as she's perishing. As long as her pain continues and her pair never finds her."

They all stood silently. Still, upon the dark dungeon with the young bird at their feet, slowly being eaten by the darkness. The light was struggling within her while the magical essence swimming around her, trying to hold onto life.

Before this only did the universe know that at the very moment that this divine creature had hatched, across the vast lands of Calcasë there was the birth of a young boy. A boy whose heart already longed and desired to find his missing half. One who had the courage and might of the dragons to never stop looking.