The Dragon-Born and the Witch

It was very early in the morning when a small child, around the age of two, wandered off into the misty forest while their mother was outside tending to her herbs. The sunlight was just starting to peak through the tops of the trees while the ground was still eerily dark. At the edge of the trees fog was still visible as the sun hadn't yet touched it to disperse it in the first light and warmth of day. The mother was humming to herself a merry little tune as she went about her task. Her intuition began to itch that something was amiss and so looking up she noticed the child was nowhere in sight. It was common for her curious little one to wander off- after all, they were starting to take after their witch mother's own curious tendencies and were quite the independent child. However, she was always very strict to tell them that the forest was forbidden and off-limits for there were strange and mystical qualities about the forest, most of which were unknown. There were also rumors of a myriad of creatures living in it, of which many myths and legends arose among those who lived on their island, just off the coast of the mainland.

As she continued to tend to the garden of herbs a knot of unease began to form and worry began to seed itself in her mind. Despite knowing and assuring herself this was a common occurrence, on this particular day intuition won out and she stopped what she was doing to go look for the child.

Calling out "Sage!" "Sage!" the name echoed into the cool morning air. All was quiet in anticipation of a response, but none came.

Hurrying inside house she frantically called for Sage again, and again there was no response except the eerie silence.

Desperation started to set in as the mother realized her child truly had wandered off too far this time. Half hour later, worry knotting her stomach as she set out for town, only a mile or so away, to find some help in looking.

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Sage toddled along the forest path that had appeared to them as the mist parted to show its existence, curiosity winning out over wanting to stay close and watch what mom was doing in the garden. Their two year old mind knew their mom would be very upset the rule about going into the forest was broken but as a small child consequences weren't really a thing that had yet been fully comprehended.

After ten minutes or so had passed Sage started to get scared and sat down on the ground to cry. Luminescent eyes slowly blinked from the early morning shadows of nearby redwood tree trunks, ancient enough to hide the body of what was lurking behind them. Observing the small crying form on the ground in front of where they hid, it gently asked in a melodic and soft voice, "Are you lost, small fleshling?" Sage, still crying, looked around wide eyed and confused. Again it repeated, "Are you lost?" The two year old nodded and cried even harder.

As the shape with the luminescent eyes emerged from the shadows of trees the crying stopped as they stared wide-eyed at the large dragon, gazing kindly at them.

"Fleshling, you should not be here, but with your own kind. However, once a human has crossed into the land of dragons it is much harder to go back. The mist has a way of keeping humans and dragons separated and it is an ancient magick. But yet here you are, small fleshling, having wandered off in the early morning heavy with mist. What potential do you have that allows you such freedom? Of course, you do not understand what I am telling you for you are much to young. You will miss your mother but we will raise you as our own, since you cannot go back for now. Someday when you are ready is when you may return."

Sage indeed had a very hard time comprehending and understanding why they couldn't go home to mom and cried themselves to sleep. Knowing it would be an easier transition for them the dragon decided to help ease their sorrow by gently blocking the memory of life with humans. When the small one woke up the next day all their sorrows were forgotten and they easily embraced, enthusiastically, this new life.

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Sage was now 8 years old and living among dragons, something that seemed completely normal to them. They were learning so much about what it means to be a part of dragon kind but also about the essence of humans, and how some are more open to magick than others. There were vague memories of living with a human mother among humans but it was very fuzzy. They knew however that their human mom was a witch and about how they'd inherited her magick- it was how they ended up here in the forest among dragons in the first place.

Among where they were now, they were the only human-born there. Interesting changes had occurred over time to their body so far which made them seem a bit more like a dragon.

First was the scales that had begun growing on their arms, legs, and back. The scales had a purple-green hue though they still hadn't fully formed into the hardened scales all the dragons had.

Second was the nubs of horns starting to grow on their forehead, matching that of the dragons now raising them.

Third was the eyes gaining luminescence and looking like the other dragon's eyes did- the color had turned from hazel to a royal purple. So far no sign of a tail but they hadn't given up hopes of one forming just yet.

The result of all these changes was Sage gaining more and more dragon features yet still retaining a human body, for the most part, and they were VERY pleased. Sage wanted to fit in so badly to the rest of the clan as they were often singled out for being different.

Lastly was the fact Sage was now able to also learn how to do the magick of dragons- the mist had changed something in them and allowed Sage to become a hybrid, fondly referred to by their adopted family as becoming dragon-born. There was daily training in how to use this newly acquired power, as well as learning more about and how embrace and tap into their born-with witch capabilities.

All the dragon-lings were very curious about Sage and liked to hang around them any chance they could. Sage was very popular among the dragons and all were fond of this curious being that had wandered into their forest six years ago. Because of this, all of them had grown close and had bonded with one another, and none wanted to see harm fall upon this child-dragon. The forest could be dangerous after all and everyone there took it upon themselves to watch over this curiosity-inclined child.

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It was now 19 years since Sage had wandered off into the forest. Having spent most of their life in the forest among the dragons and learning their ways, their magick, and a myriad of other knowledges, it was time for the ceremony that would officially induct them into the clan of dragons. Sage had reached the point where they all agreed it was long past time to be done and Sage had more than proved they belonged there with the rest of dragon-kind despite being born among humans. Having become half dragon and half human certainly helped, and by this point their arms, legs, back, feet, and top of hands had grown the trademark hard scales- purple and green in their case. Horns like the ones the dragons had now sat on their forehead, albeit smaller since they were much smaller in height than the others. Purple luminous eyes now gazed around and dreaded hair mixed with colorful ribbons and bits of nature hung shoulder length on their head. Skin that still remained had darkened by the sun to a richer and darker hue.

"It's time," a deep melodic voice rang out into the silent circle of beings gathered in the forest clearing.

As one, with Sage in the center, all the beings started quietly humming. Slowly the humming became louder and louder until the very trees vibrated with the melody and the person in the center began to glow with a purple-gold-green white light. Feeling their body glowing and buzzing with all kinds of energy they closed their eyes and let the sound fully wash over and through them. After what seemed like a very long time but was only a few moments they suddenly found themselves outside their body and hovering over what looked like a human in a garden.

Glancing down at their "body" they saw it was transparent and see through and noticed that the human in front of them could not see. However, the woman did look up suddenly as if sensing the ghostly figure hovering in the air at the edge of her garden of herbs. The human woman looked vaguely familiar and it took Sage a long moment to realize this was who had birthed them 21 years ago.

"Sage?!" the woman cried out, though she still could not see them.

"Yes," they replied, and that the woman could hear, but in her head.

She wept. So did Sage.

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TBC