The Sage of Time

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. 120 years of peace had passed as the stars predicted. But with each uncertain night, the thrashing in that strange place beyond the desert’s edge grew louder.



“Under no circumstances can you go there.” The old man lowered his pipe to look down at the young man sitting at the foot of the hearth.



“Ilya?”



He could not hear beyond the rapture of the flames.



“Ilya!”



With a jolt, he was back under his grandfather’s thatched roof. Visions of the horrid monsters faded as the old man’s furrowed brow came into focus.



“I saw them again,” he replied softly, staring beyond the old man’s face.



How could Ilya forget a hundred vigilant eyes staring in all directions? Or the serpentine threat of a tail so swift and fierce it cleaved boulders with one deft swing? The elders called these creatures dragons for lack of a better name. But as time passed and peace prospered, only hushed rumors and whispered tales could describe the two devastators.



“Why do you have to take so much after your mother?” sighed the old man as he looked at his grandson’s emerald eyes. The same persistence, the same gift. The same unrelenting curiosity and insight bestowed upon those blessed by the celestial messenger.



For when Ilya was born, Hermes himself had smiled upon him. It is no surprise that the son of a woman skilled in the art of time had received such attention. She had learned from her mother the secret methods used to capture time and gain the favor of the gods. With each gem, jewel, or stone that she created, she stored the starry essence of the sky. Conversations between planetary gods and celestial spirits that destroy or sustain life were frozen into each piece, granting the wearer boon or bane.



Ilya reached up to touch his emerald earrings as he came back fully to the present moment, a comforting reminder of his mother’s presence.



“Whatever’s happening in that Valley is none of our concern,” his grandfather continued. “But we do have a goat that’s still missing. Can you go find him after we’re done?”



With a sigh, Ilya nodded.



“You’re right, grandpa. I’ll search for him after breakfast.”



The two men finished their meal in silence. As his grandfather got up to clear the table, the young man put on his linen shawl and reached for the door. With a weak smile, he left to search for the missing animal.



He was not worried about finding the goat. Looking towards the horizon, he waited for the right moment. With the wind on his back, he whispered a gentle prayer. “Show me where he is.” As if by a thread, Ilya was pulled to the east where parched brambles and forgotten stones laid baking in the sun. Wind at his feet, each step he took moved him faster than a man running at full stride. Only a few minutes later, he reached the impatient bleating of his lost goat.



Glad to find his friend, Ilya picked him up but decided to walk slowly back home. What he had seen, what he had heard, was nothing like the rumors in the town square. The dragons are not redeemers of the Earth. They are not many, they are not blue. They are not creatures who dig the ground for secrets or keepers of wealth.



Nor did the frustrated king or his baffled advisors know of the way the dragons doubled in size in only two weeks. They did not know of their baleful eyes, their razor tail, their pitch-black scales. Each step he took, Ilya felt his resolve increase. He could not continue living the way of the shepherd and ignore the nightly call of the tempestuous beasts.



As night fell and chores were finished, Ilya made up his mind. He waited until his grandfather began snoring before reciting a silent request: “Friend of thieves and sages, make my presence hidden and light.” Sliding out of bed, he made no sound. Carefully pulling on his boots and coat, he left the hut.



Without knowing exactly how, he knew that going to the Valley of the Dragons was the only way to help. One step at a time, he entrusted his plan to his guardian planets and stars. “Son of Maia, lord of shepherds, lover of secrets, protector of mankind, grant me clear insight and safe passage.”



On that moonless night, Ilya stepped into the desert for the first time.







Ilya’s Big Three:

Libra Sun

Aquarius Moon

Gemini Rising