Phoenix Dragons

Rammi sat back from the edge of the rocky overhang just inside the mouth of the cave. The rain was still catching him slightly but if he sat back any further he wouldn’t be able to see the fluxing events happening in the town below. Every epoch since his retirement, Rammi ventured to the top of the rocky mountain to watch.

Low black clouds swirled erratically as bolts of lightning struck and thunder roared with the rhythmical precision of a marching band. The ground released an earthy smell as the rain hit the hot dirt and evaporated into steam which lingered amongst the trees in the dense forest just outside of town.

The smell drew Rammi back to the evening eons ago when he had been fluxed back to House Altan. At the time, he was unaware he was a Dragon Blood and found the event somewhat traumatizing.

Even for a flux event the air was uncharacteristically thick. Unusual flashes of red, blue, black, brown, orange, purple, yellow and green, sporadically zipped across the dark night sky. It was more typical to see the Northern Lights during sharding not fluxing, but Rammi thought little of it.

The flickering streetlights of the town below had finally given up their fight, leaving everything in darkness. The rain was falling quite heavily now making it even harder for Rammi to make out what was happening. If it weren’t for the bolts of lightning temporarily illuminating the night’s sky, he would not be able to see anything at all.

He heard screams coming from the high school oval which drew his attention in that general direction. He could vaguely make out a mass of people scattering in every direction as bolt after bolt of lightning whipped violently at the oval and its occupants. A young man dressed in football practice gear received a direct hit from a lightning bolt and vanished before Rammi’s eyes. The girls standing close by screamed louder. Only a black patch of grass remained.

Welcome Dragon Blood. Rammi mumbled under his breath. I should just sit closer to the practice fields. They always flux a lot of jocks. Must be the Dragon Blood that brings out their athleticism, competitiveness and sharp mind. He smiled as if he had just received a complement.

Rammi turned his attention to a ruckus at the top of the bleachers. Bolts of lightning struck ferociously at three lads trying to run through the obstacle of chairs, missing them narrowly. Finally, a lightning bolt directly hit the tall lad in the middle, and he disappeared, the two lads standing next to him disappeared also.

Three with one bolt. Wouldn’t be surprised if a Normie or two were caught up in that flux.

Rammi’s attention snapped away from the bleachers to a commotion on the edge of the forest closest to town. A young couple scurried along the dark bitumen road that divided the high school grounds from the forest. The man had something tucked dangling under his arm. It wasn’t until the couple inched closer that Rammi could see the man was carrying a toddler by the waist.

Strange shadows roughly shaped like a human were following closely behind the couple. The shadows were not running but flowing along the ground in one smooth continuous action. The couple kept turning their heads back to see if their assailants were still close behind them.

The man grabbed the woman’s arm and jerked her towards an opening in the forest’s thick brush. They stumbled along the narrow forest track barely noticing the scratches they were accumulating from the overgrown brush along the way.

The shadows were still following closely behind the couple but not close enough to see the man stow the toddler in an old burnt-out tree stump. The toddler remained calm and quiet as the shadows passed him by. It was as if the tiny child knew his life depended on him remaining hidden.

A flash of blue caught the corner of Rammi’s eye, and he turned his head to a different section of the forest. His senses heightened as he saw a blue dragon fly down and land in the dense brush.

What is a dragon doing in this world during fluxing?

Shortly after, Rammi saw an orange, then a purple dragon land on the edge of a clearing in the middle of the forest just a bit further into the forest from where the blue dragon had landed. A few moments later a green, yellow, black, brown and red dragon landed in quick succession.

Why are there dragons from each house landing in the forest during fluxing? This is highly unusual. Dragons normally wait for fluxing to finish, then re-enter for the sharding. Rammi paused in thought. It would explain the Northern Lights activity.

Rammi could tell by the crest on each Dragons’ tunic that they were Alphas.

Why have so many high-ranking Dragons from each house gathered in a dark forest during fluxing?

Rammi had never seen such a sight. The Dragon houses have been at war with each other for eons of eons.

Rammi’s attention was drawn back to the man who was shouting at the woman to hurry. The couple continued to run erratically through the forest. It was clear they had no real plan other than to put distance between themselves and their assailants. The couple turned and ran in a more direct line towards Rammi’s vantage point, that’s when he realized the shadows following them were the Chaggrin.

What are the Chaggrin doing in this world? They never leave Pedahzur.

A shiver ran down Rammi’s spine. Seeing the Chaggrin in this world gave him an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach. He knew he needed to get down closer to the events unfolding. He descended the mountain as fast as he could. Sticks and leaves crunched beneath his feet as he ran. The storm was intensifying.

A bolt of lightning struck at his heels almost at the same time a deafening clap of thunder broke over his head. The wet fallen branches and loose rocks slowed him down as he weaved left and right trying to dodge them. It was no use. It was going to take too long to get to the clearing if he were to continue running in his human form.

Running at full tilt, Rammi stretched his arms forward until they were pouncing on the ground in front of him. He could feel the strength in his hind legs as they propelled him forward. He landed lightly on his front legs first, then brought his back legs forward and used the power of his back legs to propel himself forward with force and speed.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Alpha Thanh stretched his hind legs out and landed so delicately on the forest floor that not even the leaves rustled beneath his talons. He had decided to use the element of surprise so strategically landed some distance from the clearing where House Sorrel would gather before executing their plan. He stealthily made his way through the brush towards the clearing.

Thanh’s Chaggrin contact had let it slip during their last tavern gathering that House Sorrel were planning to abduct a toddler during the next flux. After some gentle coaxing and several more hogsheads of mead, the contact revealed the toddler was no normal toddler but the Prophecy of Pedahzur. House Mazarine were not going to allow any of the other houses to control the prophecy so, he as Chief Alpha decided to personally step in and make sure this didn’t happen.

As he weaved his way quietly through the brush, something caught his eye. A dull glow of purple, green, yellow, black, brown, red, orange and blue light danced just over the top of a burnt-out stump. Quite an unusual sight for the middle of a dark forest. Thanh didn’t really have time to stop and investigate but the scales tingling on the back of his neck, told him to do otherwise.

He carefully inched closer to the burnt-out stump and cautiously looked down into its hollow. He was surprised to see a toddler sitting there quietly looking back up at him. Thanh saw an amber flame flicker in the toddler’s eyes and knew immediately that he was looking at the Prophecy of Pedahzur.

“My, my, my what do we have here.” Thanh leant over and picked up the toddler. “Well, it appears House Sorrell’s abduction plan isn’t going so well.” Thanh scoffed. He tucked the toddler under his wing and continued to walk cautiously towards the clearing.

He noticed a flash of orange through the bushes and held his breath in an attempt not to give his position away.

“Give it up Thanh, I can smell you. Besides, I can see your blue tail trying to hide in the bushes.” Kirros walked towards the bush where Thanh was trying to conceal his beast of a body.

“Nice of you to finally turn up Alpha Kirros.” Thanh stepped forward into the clearing.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you here Alpha Thanh.” Kirros noticed the toddler tucked away in Thanh’s wing. “Nor was I expecting you to be in possession of the toddler.”

“No, I imagine not Alpha Kirros. Did you really think, you could just quietly come down here, abduct the Prophecy of Pedahzur and shoot off without a challenge?”

“What are you talking about? I’m not here to abduct the toddler. I’ve come to stop house Iroatu from abducting him but now I see my information was a little off.” Kirros puffed his chest out as he stepped up to Thanh.

“Give it up you larp. My Chaggrin contact….” Before, Thanh could finish his sentence, a purple Dragon landed in behind the two Dragons standing toe to toe.

“Evening Larps. Looks like, I got here just in time for the action.” Thanh and Kirros turned to see Alpha Calfuray from House Kovidar standing behind them. A green, yellow, black, brown and red dragon all landed in the clearing in quick succession. The Dragons gathered in an impromptu circle, eyeing each other suspiciously as they each assessed the situation before them.

“Well, well, well, it seems we have the whole gang back together again.” Kirros finally broke the silence. “So, it seems, I was not the only one my Chaggrin contact informed about House Iroatu’s intention of abducting the toddler tonight?” Kirros stepped forward, puffing his chest out at the green dragon. “I must admit, planning a stunt like this during the chaos of fluxing was very crafty indeed, Alpha Luntian.” Kirros was now standing toe to toe with the green dragon.

“What are you talking about Alpha Kirros? I’m here to stop Alpha Branwen from abducting the child for House Licarayen.” Luntian looked past Kirros and pointed to the black dragon.

“Hang on. I’m only here to stop Alpha Terava from House Solbrun……”

“Wait, I’m here to stop Alpha Roth from House Altan.” The brown dragon stepped forward.

“I’m here to stop Alpha Xanthos from House Yrevner.” The red dragon protested.

“Wait, I’m here to stop Alpha Calfuray.” The yellow dragon challenged.

“Hang on, hang on. I’m here to stop Alpha Thanh and he’s the only one holding a child.” Calfuray pointed to the toddler under Thanh’s wing.

Thanh stepped forward in protest but before he could get a sentence out Roth lunged at Terava, sending him toppling to the ground.

A melee broke out between all eight dragons. The yelling was so loud, and the wrestling was so fierce it was difficult to make out who was attacking whom. Thanh crouched down over the toddler to protect him from the flying wings, tails and talons.

“Hey.” Alpha Xanthos roared in an incredibly high pitched tone. The pitch was so high it almost burst the other Dragons’ ear drums as they fell to the ground holding their heads in agony. “Enough. This isn’t making any sense. We’re all here to save the child from being abducted and we’re all suspects. How is this even possible?”

“Medea, my Chaggrin informant.” Every dragon started to say almost in unison. They stopped abruptly and looked at each other.

“It appears, we all have the same informant, and he is telling us all a different thing.” Luntian spoke up.

“Why would he do that?” Thanh stood up from his protective stance.

“Look at us. We are all at each other’s throats over rumors.” Branwen became the voice of reason.

“I don’t get why they would lie to us about a toddler being abducted.” Terava added.

Suddenly, a young couple burst into the clearing and stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of the thunder of Dragons. Their attention darted from Dragon to Dragon as they tried to make sense of the situation.

“Give me my child.” The nervous man stepped towards Thanh but then suddenly stopped when he realized he was standing before a great beast. Thanh held the toddler out towards the man but before the child could be exchanged, dark shadows flowed through the opening in the clearing and circled around behind the dragons. Thanh pulled the toddler back protectively under his wing.

The Dragons looked at each other with puzzled looks as they realized that the Chaggrin had joined their little meeting.”

“Well. What do we have here?” A dark skinny figure stepped forward into the middle of the circle of dragons that had formed around Thanh and the couple.

“Orpheus. It’s unusual to see such a high ranking Chaggrin this side of town. In fact, I didn’t think your folk ever left Pedahzur. I mean, I didn’t think it was possible for your kind to re-enter the earth’s atmosphere.” Terava stepped forward to join the others in the middle.

“And yet. Here we are.” Orpheus slowly spread his arms out to either side.

“None of this is making any sense. Why are you here? Why are there so many Chaggrin Guards here? How are you even here?” You could hear the confusion in Roth’s voice as he spoke. “Why are we all here?” Roth looked around at all the other Dragons.

“Yes, it’s all getting a bit awkward to say the least. It seems Medea has done a good job convincing you all that another house was going to abduct the Prophecy of Pedahzur. A little too good.” Orpheus turned to face Medea. “You weren’t supposed to scare them into taking matters into their own hands.” Orpheus struck Medea across the face with the back of his hand.

“Sorry Ser. I did explain to them we would handle it. They weren’t meant ….” Medea stepped forward to try and explain his position but before he could finish his sentence Orpheus sliced Medea’s head off with his scythe. The Chaggrin informant fell into a heap on the floor, then started to liquify. The mercury like liquid congealed for a moment then seeped into the ground slowly disappearing until there was no sign that anything had ever been there.

“Sloppy, Medea. Very sloppy.” Orpheus spoke to the ground. He turned to face the couple. “I guess you knew this day would come.”

“You leave my child alone.” The man stepped forward into Orpheus’s face. Two Chaggrin Guards immediately grabbed the man under the arms dragged him backwards and restrained him.

“The child.” Orpheus turned to Thanh who was still protecting the toddler in his wing.

“Don’t touch him.” The woman was immediately restrained by another two Chaggrin Guards before she had a chance to do anything.

The gathering had barely noticed the weather amongst the commotion. Dark black clouds were swirling wildly above their heads. They formed a small tunnel and an orange bolt of lightning shot out the opening. It struck the man, his body jolted violently as he was sucked up the tunnel, leaving nothing but a burnt spot on the forest floor where he had been standing.

The woman screamed trying to jerk herself out of the hold of the two Chaggrin Guards. The dark clouds reformed, a blue bolt of lightning shot out and struck the woman. She disappeared.

“Oh, how sad. They’re fluxing into different houses.” Orpheus grinned. “That’s going to prove rather awkward when they find out they’re arch enemies.” He turned to Thanh and held out his hand. “The child.” His voice was deep and authoritative. Thanh instinctively pulled away.

A couple of Chaggrin Guards restrained Thanh who was still clinging tightly to the toddler. Orpheus stepped forward with his arms stretched out towards the child, but Terava stepped in between them hindering Orpheus.

“You want us all, to believe that a different house is abducting the child so you can keep him for yourself meanwhile we’re all at each others throats about it.” Terava made a circular motion with his wing pointing to the other Dragons gathered.

“Well, what do we have here. A Solbrun big brain. Pretty clever but not quite.” Orpheus tapped Terava between his eyes with his scythe. “The child is for the Jatse.” Some of the other Chaggrin gasped at Orpheus’s boldness.

“Relax, it’s not like they are going to live to tell the story. Right, we need to do some cleaning.” Orpheus thumped his scythe on the ground three times quickly. Small cracks spread from the bottom of the scythe towards Terava. Black veins shot up from the cracks and dragged Terava down through the ground. He shredded into tiny pieces, like he was being pulled through a sieve.

Thanh’s memory flashed back to when he saw the multi-colored flashing lights dancing just above the burnt-out black stump where he found the toddler. They weren’t random colors. They were colors of every house. Suddenly it all made sense.

“This child is the only one who can piece the Stone of Pedahzur back together.” Thanh said to Orpheus.

“Well, look at this another big brain. Correct and whoever controls the child, controls the Stone of Pedahzur. Now give me that child.” Orpheus lunged at Thanh.

“Run Thanh.” Xanthos screeched in his high-pitched roar causing both the Chaggrin and the Dragons to fall to the ground in agony. Thanh quickly struggled to his feet and ran as fast as he could into the dense shrub. Calfuray jumped up and tackled a Chaggrin that was in hot pursuit. They tumbled and wrestled blocking the other Chaggrins, allowing Thanh to make a clean get away down a narrow forest track.

Thanh could hear the screeches of pain from both the Chaggrins and the Dragons as they battled to the death. He did not stop to look back, he knew saving the toddler was far more important than helping his fellow Dragons. He ran until he could run no further and then pushed himself some more. The sound of his talons thudding on the forest floor were muffled by the loud thunderclaps above. He stepped forward and felt an immense pain shoot up his leg, he lurched forward and fell.

Thanh looked down to see his talon caught in a bear trap. He pulled at the trap and started dragging it with him, but it was no use, it was slowing him down too much. He hid himself in some thick brush to catch his breath and assess the damage. There was no way he was going to be able to bring the toddler to safety now.

A white flash caught his eye.

“Dog.” The Dragon called Rammi out from the bushes. Rammi didn’t move. “Come on Dog, I know you’re there. I’ve seen the little white flashes, as you run from bush to bush, trying to hide while watching what’s going on. I can tell you’re one of ours. You may be a retired Samoyed Ser, but you never lose that smell.” Rammi emerged from the bushes. “Take the child. Get him to safety.” The Dragon held the toddler out for Rammi to take.

Orpheus appeared around the corner. “Take the child.” The Dragon shook the toddler at Rammi this time.

Rammi lifted his front feet off the ground and stood upright morphing into his Normie form. He took the toddler from the Dragon. The Dragon nodded without saying a word and immediately turned to face the oncoming threat.

Orpheus opened his mouth and a snake of green mist slithered out towards the Dragon. Thanh grabbed Orpheus by the throat and drew him in closer deeply breathing in the mist as if he were participating in a ritual. Thanh looked Orpheus directly in the eyes and smirked as he lifted his scepter high. A bolt of lightning struck the scepter so ferociously it sparked and jolted violently in Thanh’s talon. It took all his energy to maintain a grip. A wave of electricity buzzed down the scepter through Thanh and into Orpheus. Both the Dragon and the Chaggrin immediately turned to ash.

Rammi bent down and scooped a handful of the ashes up and spoke to them. Thank you my friend you have made a great sacrifice today. Rammi knew that a Dragon could only flux once and if he were to flux again it would cause instant death.

Rammi then looked at the toddler on his hip and smiled. “How am I going to explain this to my wife?” The toddler smiled back at Rammi lifting his arms to reveal a red Piedmontite amulet he had been holding in his hand the whole time.

“Steady on young fella. Best, I don’t touch that little beauty.” Rammi swiftly left the forest and its secrets behind.