The Dragon Speaker Yuki

Before I continue, I suppose a little information would help you understand. Suiko had a few dragons she could use if we ever went to war— – and it was due to my friend and her alliance with the dragons. Not only was Yuki gifted with dragon speech, but she was also blessed with the gift of premonition.

Like my story, the tale of the dragons is a tragic one. I only got to see one in my lifetime, and she was Yuki’s spirit sister. I remember that day like one remembers a vivid dream for a long time after they wake. The dragon’s magic had put me in a haze, but by sheer will power I stayed awake. The mere presence of a dragon could render most individual’s unconscious for days. She had been gold, brilliant and painful to look at when the sun hit her, with sea green spikes down her backside from her head to the tip of her tail. She had been warm to touch.

Because I find it interesting, I will share with you how dragon speakers existed. I also want to honor my old friend by sharing a bit of her story. Those who had the gift of dragon speech were able to exist because they were born with the blessing of the dragons.

This is where a dragon shares their energy with a child as they are born, and only a few hundred people around the globe received such a high honor. More specifically , still-born children whom the dragons deemed worth saving and whose spirit still lingered around the mother or its corpse.

This was a delicate process and had to be done within minutes of birth. When the dragon gives the child it's life-force to bring their child’s body back to life, they both become bound by spirit— and often relate to each other as siblings.

But it was not just the strength of one dragon that the child inherited, – but also the universal strength of all. Dragons all shared a singular energy amongst them, and it came from all things. With that energy, they could use the magic of the earth, fire, sky, or water.

It is with this magic that the child is blessed with, and it is that magic that Yuki received her premonitions. It is with this magic that all magic flowed between the hearts of dragons and their human companions, giving each a bond and incomparable strength, love, and wisdom to the smallest child that the eldest of elders would envy. It is why there was only one great war between dragons— – and it ended in eternal peace among the dragons themselves.

I often wished I had been a dragon speaker, instead of an assassin. I was so envious of beautiful Yuki, but I loved her with all my heart. It seemed as if she were an older sister to me, and she kept me grounded as if I were her own younger sister. Her spirit was as strong as a dragon itself, but her heart and touch were as soft as the petals of a sakura flower.

It was unfortunate that as time went on, dragons died off more and more. The more they had died, the more Yuki’s energy withered away, because the universal strength of the dragons was dissipating. Humans had gotten the idea that the heart of the dragon, if ingested, could give them magic of the dragon, or eternal youth. This was not exactly wrong, but only the treasured dragon speakers had that right — and they did not need to kill a dragon for such gifts.

Yuki was eighty-seven when I first met her, but she looked no older than a young teenager, the way a young girl looks at the age of fourteen. As time went on, I looked older than her, and she remained my friend throughout my years...