The Mark of Ayra

The light from the rising sun flickered through the trees onto the iridescent scales of Sheirok, an elder dragon of the Thunder of Groenveld. He treaded stealthily following the cries of a creature in the center of the wood. A scent grazed his nostrils, sweet yet putrid, repulsive yet intriguing. He was surprised to find a small figure with alabaster skin. Its cheeks wet with tears, sitting near the base of a grandmother tree. It had been a long time since he had seen a human, even longer since he had seen a child.

He approached tenderly, as it was common for humans to be frightened by him, but the child did not seem afraid. The little boy-- in fact--stopped crying. They were now face to face. With each of the dragon's inhalations, the blond hair on head of the child would rise, and fall upon exhale. The boy giggled. Sheirok wondered why he remained unafraid. In that moment, the sunlight pierced through the wood and shone upon the eyes of the child revealing a cloud of pale powder blue. The boy was blind. He was relying on his other tiny senses and through them could see that there was nothing to fear. He raised his small hands up to feel the presence in front of him. His soft fingers moved through the crevices of this massive reptile and began to grip at Sheirok's nostrils in attempt to climb. Sheirok laid himself down to make it easier for the child and once he was in a stable position, he stood up, and they began to wander together through the forest.

Deep in Haroghin Forest resided a powerful seer. A shapeshifting sorceress named Ionah whom all beings of the land would seek council.

Perhaps she would know the child's origins or where he belonged, how he came to be lost in the wood.

By nightfall they had found her.

Flames of a fire dance in the distance. They are close.

Several hundred yards away a voice exclaims, "Stand back! Do not draw any closer."

From the fire an image emerges: the dragon with a small child on its back.

"Em en Sheirok. Em erehn sheik, eth kinahk." "I am Sheirok. I come here, in peace."

"I humbly ask, who is this child, from where did he come?"

"You may come closer now," she said. "But you know what harm can come to you should you try to hurt me."

"I mean no harm. Please tell me how I can help this child."

"I need a scale in exchange for my help."

Sheirok lays down, the fire illuminating the sleeping child. Ionah pets the dragon's skin and a scale sloughs off into her hand and shimmers like a token. She places the scale in a small pouch and it clinks as it enters.

She looks curiously at the little boy. She walks back over to the fire, lifts a small ceramic bowl filled with powder and thrusts a large pinch of it into the flames.

It sparks and the fire grows wilder. A shining image emerges again showing the face of the child and his powder blue eyes.

The image fades with the wind and another comes in of a woman, cloaked in a cape crying, running away from a village, and later into the forest holding her child close to her chest.

She puts the child down by the grandmother tree and tells him, "I am so sorry," and flees.

The image shifts back to the face of the child and his powder blue eyes, but now a mark begins to reveal in the center of his forehead. Her eyes widen in fury and fright.

"Why did you bring this child to me?!" She yelled.

"I knew not where to take him. I prayed you would have the answer."

"This child is being sought by the king and his men. He bears the mark of Ayra which holds extreme power. Whatever he dreams, whatever he conceives in thought can come to pass. Though this mark has potential of great good, it also holds the power of great destruction. Under the wrong influence, this child could bring about immense devastation. Since the child is blind, the power he holds is volatile, as he has no connection to this vital sense to inform what he can create."

"Can you help him? Teach him?"

Ionah is overwhelmed at the thought of sudden responsibility of caring for this small child.

She grabs a different vessel of powder and casts it into the fire.

She sees herself and the child as a young boy, showing him how to harness his gift and to be able to "see" without seeing.

To cultivate a relationship with and be able to hear and communicate with the natural world. To translate what he perceives with his other senses into images, and through this magic, be able to create a world of bounty, in love and harmony.

The fire crackles and shifts to show another image, of the shadow side of what could be taught to this child--utilizing and controlling his gifts for her own gain of power.

She closes her eyes, as she hears first faint whispers to a crescendo of voices taunting her to make the latter choice.

She tries to find her way back to the more peaceful outcome but it's as if the spirits slap it out of her mind to bring her into the depths of her darkness.

"Can you help him?"

She shakes herself of all she is seeing and takes a deep breath. She walks over to the sleeping child and looks at his porcelain skin. He moves slightly as she touches his face. She closes her eyes again to search her heart for the answer. A peace washes over her.

"Yes. I will care for him. But I need your help too. To protect us. To protect him... from me."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't bear the mark, but I have the same power he holds. If I am to guide him, I must be held in light so not to lead him astray.

I need you to hold me in light. I give you this--"

She pulls an orb of red light from her belly. "This is my darkness. My power to overtake the kingdom and everything in it. My power to destroy. Hold me in the light Sheirok."

She collapses the light into a small vessel and offers it to him like an adornment around his neck. She grabs an animal fur and swaddles the child in it, holding him sweetly as she would her own.

"Thank you," he said. "Summon me as you need."

The dragon continued on into the night, finding his way out of the forest and to the ocean by daybreak.

By the cliffside lay a cave, big enough for a dragon to coil within. Sheirok shook his head to remove Ionah's power piece. He moved a rock and put the vessel behind it for safe keeping.

He circled around the cave twice before laying comfortably down to sleep. After the long and eventful day with the child and the seer, rest was much welcomed. He drifted off wondering how long before he would see them next. Only time will tell.