The Dragons Regress

Chapter One

I.

There weren't always dragons in the valley, nor Nogards, Polaris, or Playgons. One night a thirteen-year-old, pimple-faced boy, forced to run for his life, changed the valley and the world forever.

The morning found Jonah hidden under a pier on the waterfront as the school bell rang. He learned in school his books were better company than the bullies who taunted him with the names Pimpface and Bumps.

The humiliation and pain of a thousand jabs by word and fists still bruised his mind, heart, and body. The clamor of the workman on the docks above and the decayed stench left by the falling tide became a comparable symphony of comfort versus the torture he endured.

Late in the day, as the sun descended, a Blackjack flag appeared on the horizon near the tiny hamlet by the sea. A fair wind meant the pirate ship would arrive and dock in less than an hour.

Bells from the church spire clanked in alarm, and the sleepy town sprang into panic mode. Two years had passed since the licensed pirates were last seen, and the villagers had hoped they had been sunk by a victim in their attempts at plunder.

Jonah ignored the commotion and continued to read his new collection of poems, The World Upside Down by Jane Taylor, as the sunlight failed. The Star poem was his favorite. The easy rhymes brought him comfort, though he didn't understand why.

"Jonah," his mother yelled from overhead, "Jonah Charles Branson are you deaf?"

"Mother?" he said. Irritated, he closed the book and climbed over a wall onto the street.

"The bells, the warning bells. Don't you hear them?" she said, "We've talked about this a thousand times. The pirates have returned and you must follow the plan. I will not lose another to those animals like we lost your father," she said.

The pirates were privateers by a royal marquee and the document gave them the legal right to impress anyone thirteen years or older into His Majesty's service if caught.

Families built secret rooms to hide their sons and daughters, disguised them as younger than the legal age, or fought. His mother, from experience, knew most were discovered because the town drunks would spill their guts for free ale. The parents who fought, died.

His mother’s plan to save Jonah included a rock-hidden beach, three miles north. For years, his mother had spawned tales of ghosts and haunts about the rocks to dissuade curiosity. On Halloween, variations on the ghosts of Rock Beach were the most shared that frightened adults and children alike.

"The one thing sailors hate, once ashore, is the sight of the ocean," she said, "second, they are the most superstitious animals in the world, you will be safe at Rock Beach."

It would be his hideout and haven until the pirate ship sailed away.

Jonah and his mother ran to their cottage at the edge of town as the ship drew closer. Once home, Jonah retrieved his getaway bag, hugged his mom, and slipped out the back door. He found the footpath in the dark and headed up the hill behind the seaside community.

II.

Winded, he paused two-thirds up the high hill, looked down upon the Bay Village, and wondered if he would ever come home again. Would he ever be with his mother again?

Chaos, like a pandemic, danced through the streets as the pirates docked. Screams of horror erupted from below as the scourge of sociopaths invaded the once quiet hamlet.

Old Mr. Jones was struck down in the front of his store when he shielded his son, George. Near the church, Emily Payne, a classmate, fought a sea scoundrel until he punched her in the face and threw her onto his shoulder.

The church gleamed as flames climbed the steeple like a giant's torch against the night sky. A sulfuric stench of evil pierced his nostrils, and he gasped and covered his nose with his hand.

The familiar tentacles of hate reached into his mind, and he pushed them away. The hamlet, his home, had become an unbearable hell to witness, so he turned away. Blinded by tears and in fear, he ran.

With uncharacteristic stealth, Jonah avoided the shadowed movement of others as they scrambled to hide on the hill. The Stanley twins, the worst of the playground bullies ran on a lower parallel path and soon learned the role of a victim as they were caught by two pirates.

He distanced himself as their cries scattered through the wind. Jonah's school tormentors were pummeled and screamed as their pain shattered the once ethereal night. The young bullies became beggars of the mercy they had failed to grant others.

"Please, don't. Noooooo," echoed across the scape as he slipped over the hill, into the darkness, and made his escape.

Afraid, Jonah whistled his favorite song as he arrived to his destination, The Star, to overcome his fear. The tune calmed him, and he stopped to remember his mother's instructions. The hidden passage to the beach appeared in the dark like the mouth of a monster ready to swallow him whole.

"Find the chalk marks on the rock and follow them," she had said, "you will be lost if you don't."

He found the white marks, stepped into the passage, and erased each as he navigated the narrow path. The rhythmic crash of waves resonated off the rock walls before he emerged in the sandy alcove into an untouched world of sand and sea.

Jonah, exhausted in mind and body, nestled against a rock between two dunes, still shocked at the day's events. He stared into the purple expanse before him as the last of the sun's red bursts disappeared into the ocean.

Darkness enveloped the beach until the spark of the first Star twinkled in the sky. Jonah held his breath and his heart pounded ever harder in his chest.

Fear grew like a fungus that he would be discovered. A salty droplet welled from his eyes and rolled down his face and burned his cheek. Would his mother be safe? Her last words sounded in his mind.

"Have courage, son, trust the stars when you are afraid," she said.

He whistled The Star tune again, and the singular star in the sky twinkled brighter, as did his mind. Courage flooded his heart, and he sang.

Twinkle, twinkle little Star, How I wonder what you are!

Up Above the world so high. Like a diamond in the sky.

When the blazing sun is gone, When she nothing shines upon.

Then you show your little light. Twinkle, twinkle all the night .

**

When the blazing sun is gone, When she nothing shines upon.

Then you show your little light. Twinkle, twinkle all the night.

Then the traveler in the dark, Thanks you for your little spark.

How could he see where to go, If you did not twinkle so!

***

In the dark blue sky you keep, Often through my curtains peep.

For you never shut your eye, till the sun is in the sky.

As your bright and tiny spark, Lights the traveler in the dark.

Though I know not what you are, Twinkle, Twinkle, little star.

(The Star, from The World Upside Down, Jane Taylor, 1806)

A full moon rose and reflected the sun's orange fire across the ocean. Waves in jagged lines rolled forward under the domed deep blue sky and did battle with the sands of the beach in organized chaos.

Salt-laden mist soothed his lungs while the steady breeze blended fine granules of sand into his hair and burned the bumps on his face. The Star blazed ever brighter and pulsed into his soul, and he fell into a deep sleep.

III.

Jonah half awoke to a wild creature who loomed a doors height over him. She had short satin white fur with luminescent black stripes that shifted on her muscular body. Her face and body appeared that of a white tiger, an eagle, a beast, an angel, or all the above.

Her jade cat eyes were emotionless and dilated full, set in the face of a feline hunter of the night. Arched wings cloaked her back, aflame like blue-orange fire, and shimmered against the night sky like a kaleidoscope.

The white feathers blazed with energy but were not consumed. A brilliant orange medallion hung from a golden chain and lay across her chest. Fully awake, Jonah scooted away from her toward the rocks.

"Do not be afraid, Jonah, we have waited for this night for centuries. You are the innocent, a boy, who has been chosen by The Star," she said.

Her voice growled, and its power strummed his chest.

"Who are you?" he said, "What are you?" He pinched a pimple on his face, anxious.

"What do you want?" as he scooted closer to the rock.

"I am a Nogard," She said, "I am half of a whole, I am chaos, the feminine, the warrior of balance, and I have been alone in this world for centuries but no more."

He was mesmerized by the shifting stripes and fiery wings and believed it to be a dream or a nightmare. Yet, he did not fear her.

"Close your eyes, Jonah," she said.

She floated a few inches above the beach and her wings pulsed white sand onto his greasy face, neck, and arms.

"Now, do not touch your face, open your eyes, and come," she said.

Compelled by a mixture of fear and wonder, he obeyed and followed her to the surf.

"Go into the womb of the world and let the sea rinse the poison from your skin," she said.

The grit of sand and salt ground at this skin. He waded into the surf to seek relief, and the waves crashed against his body. A pure white top wave rose and swept over him, and its churning foam pulled him into its grip and buried him. The Star song whistled in his head, and the voice of his mother repeated,

"Trust the stars when you are afraid."

The ocean current whipped him around, and a new voice spoke.

"Little one, you have wished tonight, and I am here to be your light. Trust the Nogard," a bright feminine voice said.

The power of the current gently lifted and deposited him onto the beachhead, cleansed, and with the perfect skin of a newborn.

Jonah stood; his body renewed. The constant burning of his face was gone. The weight of oppression from a bullied life was gone. The sense of being alone was gone. The desire to understand more exploded in his mind.

The cool night air rolled across the sands, and Jonah shivered as the water evaporated from his clothes and body. A bonfire burned near the rock, and the Nogard sat near with a strange creature beside her. Hesitant, he stopped.

The small purple-blue slick-skinned beast was shaped like a ball with oversized white eyes and four appendages that functioned as arms or legs with three fingers each.

Hypnotic black dots in the center of its eyes dilated and retracted like the beats of a heart. A thin horizontal line formed its mouth below two indentions for a nose. The creature bounced on the sand, anxious to attack. Jonah took a step back in fear.

"Do not be afraid, he's harmless," she said, "he's anxious to play."

"Play?" he said, "What is he?"

"He is a Playgon and loves to play, laugh, and have fun," she said, "The world has forgotten how to play, he hasn't. His name is Bart, and he has kept me company all these years."

At the sound of his name, Bart flipped into cartwheels where he stood and flipped two hands onto two hands. His face rotated one hundred and eighty degrees so he never appeared upside down. Jonah laughed, and Bart parroted him like the echo of a canyon and doubled the sound.

“Two things, Playgons can imitate any sound perfectly and they never forget anything,” the Nogard said.

Bart retracted his four arms, bounced across the sand, and rolled to a stop at Jonah's feet.

"What is he doing?" Jonah said and grinned.

"He wants to play with you," she said, "kick him, it's his favorite game. He thinks he's flying when you sail him high into the air. I haven't been in the mood to play lately."

Hesitant, Jonah with minimal effort, kicked the Playgon, and the creature rolled a few feet. Bart sprung up, held his arms up in contempt, and melodramatically marched back to Jonah and retracted into a ball again. The Nogard laughed.

"Kick him harder, Jonah. You won't hurt him," she said.

Jonah stepped forward and kicked the Playgon with all his might. Bart sailed into the air, and the ocean breeze lifted him high into the night sky. The round creature bounced off the face of one rock to another and landed on the beach by the fire. Jonah laughed, and Bart laughed, then multiplied the laughter until it seemed twenty people were laughing.

"Enough, Bart, you can play later; we have much work to do," the Nogard laughed and her wings turned sky blue.

Bart's upper arms folded in rebellion, and the black dots for eyes dropped to the bottom of his giant whites in a pout. He trudged to the fire and rolled his eyes round and round.

"Everyone sit," she said.

Jonah sat on a rock across from the Nogard, who stared into the flames. Hungry, he retrieved the bread and cheese from the bag his mother had prepared. Bart rolled up against him, uncrossed his arms, and twiddled his fingers.

The Nogard lifted her head to Jonah and cast a smile instead of a stare one would expect a wild animal to cast before partaking of a captured prey. Her eyes softened into a maternal smile like his mother's. Her wings, once aflame, glowed a pastel pink.

“While you eat, I will tell you a story and you must listen,” she said, “and please don’t feed Bart, nor myself. Your food is not on our diet.”

Bart threw his hands up in disgust and moved away from Jonah.

"To Journey, one must be clean, innocent, and be one with The Star. You are now clean and you must trust the Star," she said.

"Journey? What journey? I am hiding from pirates and will return home to my mother," he said.

"In the beginning, the world lived in balance like odd and even numbers, male and female, reception and penetration, brightness and darkness, soft and hard, flexible and rigid, weak and strong, straight and crooked. On Earth, this balance is lost and the world is in chaos much like your village. The world will soon collapse at the whims of The Polaris, the weapon of the Black Nova. The Star will implode, become a black hole, and be absorbed into the Nova's universe."

Jonah's hand went to his face to pinch a nonexistent bump.

"Thousands of years ago, The Star split the Earth into two realms, an upper and a lower, to provide safety for his warriors between the battles with the Polaris. The Black Nova hates the light and, therefore, The Star. The Polaris is one and also many. It spawns the cold and evil darkness of the universe the Nova feeds upon. The darkness seeks destruction and war, hate and not love, death and not life, on this Earth. The cancerous shadow consumes all light with its presence of hate, pierces nostrils with its vile stench, and bends human minds to insanity. The evil, like black ice, surrounds and freezes the core of your soul."

"Like sulfur?" Jonah said.

"Yes, partly," she said.

"Despite the Black Nova, a balance was maintained by two equal forces until men, corrupted by the Polaris, exterminated the Odd warriors of The Star.

The servant creatures were created to protect the Water, Air, Fire, and Earth and legends call them Dragons. Evil men hunted and killed them for self-glory and sport. How hard is it to destroy the creations meant to serve you?

The Dragons and Nogards by being opposites kept a perfect balance for all things. The Star created both and the two halves interlocked like two pieces of a puzzle for all things to remain in harmony.

After the human onslaught, only two remained and escaped to the lower realm because the female was laden with many eggs to protect.

The Black Nova eclipsed The Star and blinded its guiding light on the darkest night the Earth has ever experienced. The Polaris sealed the passage to the Lower earth and trapped the Dragons there. They have not been in the Upper Realm since, and the Earth will soon wither into nothing."

"Dragons aren't real." said Jonah, "Are they?"

"Yes," she said, "they are as real as I am."

Bart stretched his four arms on the sand and fell asleep. He purred like a kitten when he exhaled.

"You have been chosen as the unseen one, as one still in innocence, not a boy, not yet a man, to be the Journeyman of the Light to return Dragons to the Upper Realm. The Star will blind the Polaris, light the path, and reopen the gateway. Your mission is to seek out Ayanga the Dragon for his return to the Upper realm and rejoin with the Nogards to save her beloved Earth."

"I don't know what to do. I'm just a kid," he said, "Do you have a book I can study?"

"No, Jonah, I am your book, and I will train you tomorrow on what you should learn. Now sleep, time is short, and you will need to be ready," she said.

"You know my name, what is yours?" he said.

She stood; her wings opened to their entire expanse of twelve feet across and hovered over the sand half eagle and half tigress.

"I am Yinga, the Nogard Queen of the earth, I am darkness to light, I am even to odd, I am the receiver to the giver, and a Star warrior," she roared and raised her head to the night sky.

A million dimmer stars around The Star twinkled in symphonic harmony, and their waves of light pulsed like a dance from outward to center and back. The unified light show transformed Jonah's mind, and he sensed a depth of love and peace unknown to him.

"I am worried about my mother," he said, "how can I leave her?"

"Do not worry, for my sister protects her," Yinga said, "Come, look into my eyes and check for yourself."

Yinga knelt to the ground, and Jonah moved closer. He stared into her hypnotic jade eyes, became dizzy, and almost fell.

Through her eyes and her sister’s eyes, the flower garden in the backyard appeared to his right and the back window of his home before him.

The Nogard sister moved closer, and Jonah viewed his mother in the chair by the fire with her hands over her face.

"Mother," Jonah said, and his mother dropped her hands and looked to the window.

Yinga pushed Jonah away and said, "Enough; she is safe and under the protection of the Nogards. Now lay down and sleep. Soon, you will meet your first Dragon, Ayanga, and lead him to the upper world to restore balance.

Jonah curled on the sand by the fire. The cyclic crash of the waves, the warmth of the fire, and the soothing breeze overcame the terrors of the day, and he slept as Yinga stood guard.

IV.

Late in the night, as the moon descended, a black galactic mass gathered in the heavens and swirled to encircle the Star like the fingers of death they were.

Yinga sensed the imminent attack as a black thread of a Polaris snaked across the sand toward them. With wings afire, she kicked the Playgon into Jonah.

“Awake, a Polaris has come,” she said, “sing your song Jonah, gather your bag and stand ready.”

Yinga took flight and encircled the camp with blinding speed that raised a circular wall of sand that rotated to protect them.

“Sing Jonah, louder,” she said.

The Star beamed a burst of light to the center of the circle and the ground swirled. The hole spun until a bottomless vortex opened on the beach at Jonah’s feet. Yinga landed on all four paws in front of Jonah.

“Jonah, there is no time. Your journey must start now. Find Ayanga the dragon and lead him back here. The sands will part when you command it, and you must bring the lost ones back to this world. I can explain no more.

Remember this word to return, ‘Hairu’ while you stand on the sacred rock so the portal will reopen,” she said, “Repeat it.”

“Hairu,” Jonah said, and Bart repeated it in Jonah’s voice, “Hairu.”

Jonah trembled with fear and stared at the dark tunnel into the earth that spun before him. A wild shriek pounded his ears as one side of the sand wall turned black and bent inward from the Polaris attacks.

“What do I do?” he said.

“Fill your pockets and bag with sand, now,” she said, “It holds power in the lower realm.”

“There is no time to explain,” she said, and lifted the bright orange medallion from her neck and placed it around his as he filled his pockets.

“You will need this, or Ayanga will slay you,” she said.

Bart jumped on Jonah’s back, wrapped all four arms around him, and Yinga pushed them both into the vortex.

V.

Jonah fell what seemed like a few feet and landed on a Citroen blue sand beach by the ocean.

The soft yellow sky, white clouds, and the earth were flat. Far off distances appeared like a tunnel from small to big and the ground nor sky curved. The lower realm appeared geometrical and exact.

White topped waves on a transparent green surf rolled in straight lines to the beach while others crossed them to create perfect angles. Rocks, like the upper realm, hid the beach but were all squared. Multi-colored sea shells on the beachhead were a multitude of artful rectangles, triangles, and squares.

White sand from the upper realm had stuck to his feet and interacted with the blue sand, and his feet tingled as hundreds of glitter-like stars spread up his legs, torso, and head.

Far away, an object appeared in the sky and grew more prominent as it approached. The alien beast of the air arrived overhead and circled. Afraid, Jonah whistled The Star, but no light or comfort came, and he knew they were on their own.

Jagged reptilian silver horns protruded from the blue snake-shaped head that linked to steel-like armor that alternated in yellow, white, and red rings down its long neck. The Dragon's reflective scaled blue body and polished gold belly were the size of a small schooner. Mighty legs, shaped like those of an eagle, displayed the sharp silver talons of a predator on the hunt. The Dragon's head turned with blood fire eyes and glared at them. The giant cat-like eyes radiated heat that reddened the new skin on Jonah's face.

Amid shock and awe, Jonah froze where he stood. Bart gurgled in alarm, flipped hands over hands, and bumped Jonah’s leg to encourage him to run.

The Dragon landed on the blue sand between them and the rock path. Escape became impossible. Jonah had never seen nor imagined a more magnificent creature in his life. Neither had he been more fearful.

"What human dares to encroach this realm after so much evil has been perpetuated on us?" The Dragon roared in a voice that shook the ground.

"Human, you are not welcome here. I smelled your intrusive presence miles away. It’s the scent of betrayal, lies, and murder. Leave now or prepare to die," he said.

The Dragon inhaled, and an egg-sized hot white glow expanded in its golden body to the size of a boulder. A ray of hot plasma shot from his mouth and struck the square granite rock beside Jonah. A drop of the liquid fire ricocheted off of the rock and set his shirt afire. The granite mass melted into the sand.

"Leave," The Dragon said, as another round of hot plasma generated in his belly.

"I am Ayanga, once the king of the upper realm, I am the light to her darkness, I am odd to her even, I am the giver to the receiver, the half of a whole, and a warrior of The Star. Now, I am the Dragon keeper of the lower realm, and you must leave human.

A dozen more Dragons of various shapes, sizes, and colors arrived and landed on the beach a distance away. Jonah’s body shone with a thousand tiny stars. He ripped his smoking shirt off, threw it on the sand, and jumped up, angry and bold.

"Ayanga? You’re not the dragon I was told about. You're a bully. I know the type. Go ahead and kill us. I'm sick of being everyone and everything's punching bag," he said.

"Do it, and the whole world will die, and then The Star."

Jonah dropped to his knees on the blue sand beach and cried. Bart echoed his whimpers and oversized tears fell from his white orbs onto the sand.

"I'm sorry, Yinga. I'm sorry Mother," Jonah said, "I failed."

"I failed," Bart echoed.

The Dragon's fiery red eyes stared at Jonah’s chest and stepped toward him until his snout was only feet away. Curls of smoke still exited his nostrils. The plasma energy that grew in his belly faded. His eyes opened wider with a new awareness and his eyes turned from red to sky blue.

"Why do you possess this orange medallion?" Ayanga said and backed away.

"Yinga?”