Olethros

The silence rings loud

Leva, the last dragon standing, finally collapses in exhaustion.

They look around at the burning remains of the Misty Forest. Once a lush and dense forest now charred and stained with blood.

Nothing is left unscathed by the touch of war, the land burned, mostly uninhabitable until the earth can recoup what has been lost.

After 150 long years of raging war, the people and fauna that once called this forest home have been displaced and forced to look for hope in new lands.

Leva moves to get up but falls back gasping for air as bone deep pain engulfs their right side.

There’s no honor to be celebrated for winning this war. Victory has never felt this empty. Surviving has never felt more like dying.

Leva manages to muster up enough strength to lift themselves up. Breath haggard from the pain, they slowly start to stagger forward heading to a hidden cave nearby.

Pain embedded in every step as they make their way. Deep growls of frustration begin to build in their chest. The injuries keep them at a slow crawling pace. Their front claws gripping the earth for purchase as the world gets fuzzy around them.

They spot the cave easily enough without as much trees and brush to hide it from view as it once did.

Finally all the frustration of long sorrowful nights and blood drenched days builds to a climax.

A shattering roar fills the air filled with angst and despair.

The force of the roar causes their body to seize in pain.

“ARGH” they grunt.

Taking a deep breath They calm down and wait for the pain to slightly subside.

Now a little more focused, a sharp and whiny cry can be heard from the back of the cave.

Leva is on edge unaware and cautious of what creature is making the noise. They stumble closer to the cave.

Once they enter the mouth of the cave the light peeking past their figure shows a bundle of fabrics layed out near the very back of the cave, hidden in the shadows.

Slowly they come closer to the wailing creature. It’s wrapped in what looks like torn silk sheets, nothing that would be useful in the frigid woods.

Ieva brings up a glistening black talon to pull the sheet to get a better look. Once it's moved enough a chubby face comes into view, big bright watery brown eyes locks gazes with Leva’s. Terror is recognizable in the little one’s eyes.

Well a giant injured dragon standing above you is probably a scary sight so it’s a justified reaction. The wailing only getting more hysterical by the moment.

Fearing the poor child may choke or drown in their own tears. Leva summons magic into their core and focuses on taking a new shape mimicking a human's form.

Excruciating pain raiders everywhere and Ieva’s eyes cloud over in unconsciousness.

time skip. -

They come back to the echoing screams of the human child now violently rocking back and forth. Leva looks down at their now human hands. Now that they changed forms they lift themselves carefully off the ground and shakily make their way to the small creature.

Slowly they reach out to cress the child’s cheek. Stunned by the sudden gesture the little one chokes on a sob but freezes in place.

Taking that as an opportunity leva tries to communicate with the child.

Having been decades since the last time they spoke a human language. The dragon struggles to speak. “Where come from little one?” is gruffly thrown from their lips. The child does not respond but blinks frozen more in uncertainty than terror now.

It’s getting darker outside the light being cast in is dimming by the minute.

A gust of chilling air floats in and causes the child to shiver. They are still wrapped in a too light layer of silk, clearly doing nothing against the cooling temperatures.

Without second thought Leva grabs the child and tucks the frail body into their arms.

(Dragons are known to be furnaces no matter the weather).

At first the child starts crying again having been jostled out of their stuper. Though they are easily quelled into soft hiccups as Leva gently sways the child side to side.

Every move pulls on the still bleeding wounds from the earlier battle. But Leva bears the pain in hopes of soothing the child to sleep so they can tend to their wounds later.

After 30 or so minutes the hiccups subside into a haggard even breaths, signaling the child had fallen asleep.

Leva tries to put the child down but quickly decides that is not an option as the child quickly stirs at the movement.

Ieva begrudgingly accepts their fate and rests against the cave wall in the farthest part of the shadows and begins summoning their magic into their core.

Weirdly the wounds are only partially healed after a few hours of channeling. Their magic has healed much worse, this has never happened before.

Suddenly a warm tugging feeling is thrumming in their core. This is also new, after living over 5000 years new is, especially in these circumstances, not always great.

The tugging feeling gets stronger and the once resting child is now shaking uncontrollably, but weirdly enough the child is visibly still asleep. Then seemingly out of nowhere blue iridescent light envelopes the frail body in their arms.

The child is lifted by a great force into the air, the light shines brighter by the moment. The child is now near the top of the cave roof spinning slowly surrounded by beautiful dancing iridescent lights.

Obviously this is the work of magic but this is the first time leva has seen this happen. (And they have seen a lot over 5000 years).

Leva, afraid the child will get hurt if this continues, tries to reach for the child but is limited in their human form. Trying to change forms, they notice it’s harder to gather their magic than it had been before. And after a few minutes nothing happens.

They can’t change back to their original form?! Dread fills them as they try and try again to no avail.

Frustrated, they have to give up for now and find a way to reach the child. There’s a ledge on the wall about 3 feet from where the child is suspended in air. Maybe they can climb to it and make a jump for it?

Leva makes their way to the wall and begins to climb to the ledge. Not quite used to climbing with human limbs, it's more challenging than they thought it would be.

Once they have finally reached the ledge they prepare to make the leap and grab the child, hoping to land with as little damage as possible since they are still not fully healed.

Almost like the magic could read their mind, the child suddenly is drifting towards them at a hurried pace, before suddenly the child stops and plummets towards the ground all in a matter of seconds.

Without thinking Leva jumps to catch the child before they make contact with the ground. The impact caused the air to seize up in their lungs and all the pain that was healed previously to be undone.

The pain is excruciating but they manage to pick their head up and check on the child in their arms. No noticeable injuries can be seen but they can’t be too sure till the child is awake.

In no hurry to move, Leva lays in the same spot waiting for the pain to subside so they check the official damage to both their bodies.

Next Morning -

Leva is startled awake, not to sure when they passed out in the first place. Light is streaming in now from the entrance of the cave and the small body that was once tucked into theirs is no longer near.

Fear strikes them as they frantically look around the roof of the cave dreading a repeat of last night. Slowly sitting up Leva notices out of the corner of their eye the child is sitting close to the opening of the cave seemingly basking in the morning rays.

Getting a better look now with the help of the light. The child is covered in runes and markings they did not see the night before.

Still exhausted but strangely no longer in pain the dragon weakly mumbles in draconian “ I’m starting to think you're not very human are you?… great job as always Leva! you always find yourself in one predicament or another.” Sarcasm dripping out of every word.

“Thankfully this time I think I can handle it. I may have to find Gine later; they should probably know what is going on.”

Leva thinks as they lay back down not too worried. Glancing up , the child is being kept occupied by dancing butterflies.

Great, nothing to be concerned with!

But that would be too easy wouldn’t it?

In an instant the peace is shattered and raised to alertness when a strong presence heads their way at an alarming speed.

Leva flings themselves up and scoops the child off the ground and puts them back in the pile of dirty silk toward the back of the cave and hopefully out of sight to whoever is rudely coming to intrude.

The next moment there is nothing. Almost like the presence suddenly vanished.

Leva sighs out in irritation knowing only a few beings that can hide their presence on a whim. And only two that would be able to find them so easily. But only one would be brave (stupid) enough actually come and find them.

Igarus

I guess you can say they are the human equivalent of siblings having come from the same brood. But family is not always the ones you're born with and dragons are lonesome creatures preferring to stay isolated more often than not.

Now the real question is what does Igarus want? It’s been over 1000 years since they last saw each other and it wasn’t on too friendly terms either.

Mentally preparing for a fight Leva exits the cave looking around the trees surrounding them. Searching for familiar red and black scales but nothing seems to be out of place so far.

Then a giant shadow engulfs the human form from behind. Leva turns and has to angle their head up as high as they can to see the towering body of igarus standing before them.

A boisterous laugh rings out as the huge dragon gazes down at the smaller being in front of them.

“What have you done to yourself, Leva? Why are you in such an inferior form? Oh how the mighty have fallen!” The laugh shakes the earth and leva has to fight to keep straight, not used to being in such a small form.

“Oh shut it! what I choose to do and how I choose to present myself has nothing to do with bumbling muscle brain ofe as yourself!”

The laughter is cut short with an equally earth shattering growl.

“Watch yourself you forget I’m no longer the young bumbling dragon I used to be! Unlike you I’ve gone out and made a name for myself!” Igarus growls out.

“Oh yes the igarus the dragon war lord! Who shall lead his kind into a new era! And dragons will take their rightful place as the rulers of the lands!! …Right?”

Leva twirls about as if indifferent to the conversation “And how has that gone so far? Hasn’t your army abandoned you after the massacre you caused 500 years ago? Or has it gotten better after the humans killed your mate or when they stole your children for magical experimentation!? Yes,you have made quite the name for yourself I’ll say!”

Years of buried anger that rushes to the surface as blood filled memories pass through their head,

Silence is all that is met at the end of the long winded rant.

Leva breathing hard, looks up at the previously boisterous dragon. Ready to continue only to see tears hanging on for dear life in Igarus’s eyes.

“I did not come to fight” His voice wreaked wrapped in sorrow

“I came to warn you that the council has been made aware of your presence and the last of the prophecy has been found.” The dragon moves to sit on a large rock nearby.

“The great elemental being will be born again and it will end in either harmony or great disaster but nobody knows where they are or what to look for.”

“And as you are also part of the prophecy they are not going to stop until they find you. We may not be on the best of terms but I wish you no harm!” He chokes out.

“I have seen the cruelness of the world! Hell I had my hand in it! But I have learned there is no rebirth in destruction. Only more pain and suffering.” “I have renounced my ways and I know that nothing changes but know I will always love you as my kin.” The usually gruff and reassured tone now trembling in restraint.

“That is all”

Leva hangs their head in thought processing everything they just heard.

Hands quizer with guilt as they turn to apologize but just as quick as he came the large dragon disappeared nowhere to be seen.

“He’s gotten good at that” Leva whispers.

Slowly they make their way back to the cave unsure of how things will go from now on but one thing is for sure they need to get moving before someone else finds them.