Salvation

The fog in the forest was thick. As if to shield the tragedy from the world that was about to occur. The trees swayed in agony, and the stars twinkled brightly in warning. For even they wept in despair, for they could not prevent what was destined to happen. A distraught mother ran through the forest with bunched up cloth clutched to her chest, tiny legs swinging from beneath it. Her feet padded the ground, each step bringing her closer to the spot that was salvation in dire times. The growls and shouts behind her were inhuman. The beast has come to kill her child, for she showed signs of great power that will put their existence to death. The beast has a truce with the humans that if they keep their world normal, they would reward them with ultimate freedom. In return, they had to kill all the mythical beings and make sure they stayed banished from the human world. Her child came of age where signs of her witch powers would be shown, no matter how hard the mother tried to hinder them with medicine, the child's powers were too strong, and they were going to be the death of her.

Tree branches reached out in the narrow path as if trying to drag her into their depths. Branches scraped her legs as she wove in and around the trees. Searching for the uprooted tree stump that marked the spot of the teleportation veil, for it will take you to any realm you desire. She held her child's sleeping head closer to her beating chest, wanting for her to stay sleep so she wouldn't have to witness the tragedy that was about to unfold. The beast grew closer, snarling and biting at the air. The mother spotted the tree in her peripheral vision, and took a curve around a stump to buy her more time. She ran to the tree, collapsing at the roots and laid her baby in the curve of the stump and began to chant.

The veil is thin, the veil is borrowed

Help us here he, for we may not see tomorrow

Behind the mother the trees rustled and the wind picked up speed, biting at her cheeks and rustling her hair, the forest was alerting her, letting her know they were close.

Its peril danger were in

Take this one, into your land

And raise her as your kin

Her hands shot up to the sky, her fingers glowing with the source of her power. Her arms circle the air above the child as the stump starts to glow.

The veil is thin, the veil is borrowed

Help us here he, for we may not see tomorrow

The trees swayed violently and the fog suffocated the ground, coating the forest floor. The growls were louder, and she knew it would be only a matter of seconds as she heard their feet pounding to their spot. She gave her child one more look, admiring the curls that fell to her shoulders, her brown skin soaking in the moonlight as her lashes swept her plump cheeks. Tears streamed down her face as she knew this would be the last time she was to see her. She mustered everything she had left, and shouted,

Take this child here he

For the veil is thin,

and time we have no more!

The beast roared in agony as they charged towards the mother, but she didn’t look at them. Her tear filled eyes were on her daughter, her powerful little witch. Blood dripped from her nose as she smiled as the spell was working. The stump shook and around it, silver clear lining started to engulf her child.

“NO!!” The leader of the beast shouted in anger, reaching the child and raising his blade to pierce the childs heart once and for all. Instead it pierced an invisible bubble that exploded and expanded across the whole forest. The force throwing the mother and the beasts back into trees.

The forest went dead silent, the mother panted feeling faint from the impact. Her gaze snapped to the stump and a sigh of relief escaped her lips.

The child was gone.

Her hair was jerked back ruthlessly and a yelp slipped past her lips as a slimy grasp snaked its way around her neck, hoisting her up into the air, she immediately clawed at her neck, fighting to get more air through her passage ways as she was met face to face with the beast..the Onyx. His eyes were on the side of his gray slimy head, bumps and sores oozing out with blood and gooey brown substance. His build was of an aliens, with long limbs and claws that retracted when they want. His breath smelt of blood and vomit as he spoke.

“Which realm did you ssssend her too witch? We both know we will find her and kill your child, we’ve killed children and mothers before, this won’t be an exception.” The Onyx drawled, his tongue flicking with every word.

The mother struggled to talk, her feet dangling and kicking in despair, yet she kept a stern teary eyed face. “ Go…to…hel-"

A blade was stabbed through the woman's heart, and her body turned lifeless as her final gasp left her body.

The Onyx dropped her body to the ground like a ragdoll in disgust. He motioned for his beast to search the area, as he stared at the place the child once was with pure hatred, scanning the ground for any sign of where she may have gone, knowing he will stop at nothing to have her killed.

****

It was time for his shift to parole the veil. Him and a few select dragons were assigned this role after the attack by the Onyx on their home, Quintavia. Zuryrth dreaded this time every waking day. For it reminds him of when he could not save and protect his own family from the attack. A time he has to relive again and again the moment he touches down in that forest. Tears burned at the edge of his eyes as he tried to shake the screams from his head. The pleading for mercy, the stench of his family’s blood coating his home walls as if they painted them red. As his black scaled wings glided along the winds, he stretched them out, feeling the similar tension in them every time he got closer to the forest. His scales were different shades of black, some say it represents how cold he turned after the tragic incident. He leaned to the left, gliding his way to his usual spot. Down below he spotted his fellow companions, Ren and Oculus, at their posts already. His wings slid closer to his side as he dove down into the opening.

WHOOSH

An invisible force knocked him back from his dive and left him spiraling in the air, his wings flapping around to try to gain steadiness. The veil. He thought, his veins turned cold. That means something or someone came through, and was now in the realm of the dragons.

He gained his momentum quickly and dove down deeper into where the veil was pierced, his companions doing so as well as they shook off being thrown into the stones. Coming closer, he saw the trees bent and broken with their roots uprooted, the green grass underneath the wrap burnt to a black crisp. He smelt it before his paws were close to touching the tip of the grass blades.

A witch.

He felt a stir of wind as his companions landed next to him, wings being tucked tightly to their sides as they examined the anomaly. By the sniff of their snouts, they knew what it was too.

“Why is the scent of a witch on a bunch of ragged fabrics and who sent it here? Each realm knows the rules of not piercing the veils unless it’s dire.” said Oculus. He was a younger dragon with red and orange scales that glisten like fire under the sun. He was newly added to the parole because of the killing of many of our older dragons. He was wise for his age and was in the frontline alongside me when it came down to the war.

Ren, the youngest dragon, walked closer to it and leaned his head to the cloth to nudge it. He was the youngest of them all and was therefore naive in different situations. His scales were as blue as the oceans waters. It moved before his nose could touch it. On alert, Zuryrth muscles tensed and he stepped back, his wings at the ready for attack as he bared his teeth, a growl escaping through them.

Everything was still.

Until it moved again, this time little legs poked from the bottom of the rags, and next little hands popped from the sides gripping the rags, and lastly a head of curly brown hair popped up from the top.

None of the dragons moved a muscle, as they were shocked to see a tiny human being had somehow broken into their realm. Oculus was the first to move, his paws softly padding the grass with each step closer he got to it. He stopped a foot away from it, examining its movements. Zuryrth watched the tiny human from afar. He watched as she twist and turned her way out the rags, crawling out of them at last. She sat upright, her balled fist kneading her eyes as if she just awoken from a deep slumber and we awakened her. Finally, her eyes opened and she slowly scanned the 3 of us, eyes widening at the sight of 10 feet tall burly dragons in front of her. She didn’t make a sound.

“What..do we do with it?” asked Ren, for his eyes were just as wide as the child as he examined her.

“We take her to the council. We tell them what happened here and how we spotted her on the edges of our realm.” Zuryrth stated finally. As the older dragon of this parole, it was his duty to come up with any plan of actions, if anything were to occur. “They will know what to do with this situation and how to handle it. Take her to the dome.”

Ren and Oculus nodded, Oculus collected the silent staring child gently in his paws, scooping her up and covering her body from the winds of his takeoff. He pushed off the ground, and darted into the sky.

Zuryrth saw Ren watching him, wings at the ready for takeoff but angled down as if he decided against it.

“If theres something you need to say Ren get it off your chest now. If not, you should be heading to the dome as well. You were a witness in this matter.” Zuryrth knew why Ren stayed behind, he much rather avoid any talk about the past.

“I know, it was just, you were keeping your distance and seeing that thing in rags and all..are you okay?” Rens voice was laced with sympathy. Something Zuryrth loathed to hear. Pain stings his heart, and his chest got tight with each breath he took. Now was not the time nor place for such things.

“That thing is called a child, or what we refer to as kin. Besides, there are more important matters at hand than what I feel. You do well with remembering that.” He didn’t stay to hear anymore of his attempts at sympathy. He darted into the sky, his wings unraveling and batting against the winds. There was once a time where he wasn’t cold to those around him, a time where he was just as free spirited as the next dragon. Those times were gone the moment he lost his other halves, with their last breath, they took any amount of happiness he had, with them.

***

The dome was a round stone structure. The top was open for dragons to easily drop in, whereas the floor was a mixture of grass and marble. The sides of the dome had statues of dragons as tall as 20 feet. Next to paneled long windows, the sun shining on them creating rainbow glares dancing along the grass. The eldest dragons were at the top of the stone stairs, the rest of the council beside them, each sitting on a lower level than the ones before them. They all sat tall, eyes peering at the child who Oculus placed in the middle of the dome, and fell back in line with the rest of us.

Zuryrth stepped forward. His eyes didn’t dare touch the child , but instead stayed locked on the elders as he spoke.

“Greetings my elders, we have come to you today to present to you what we came across in the forest. While paroling, we felt the power of our veil being broken into. Upon investigation, we came across this witch..child. We don’t know who sent her here nor their reason for doing so regarding our strict rules of traveling within realms. We have come upon you to ask what matters we should take with this peculiar occurrence.``

The council shared looks between themselves and amongst the child. It was quiet. One of the main elders spoke.

“We know.”

Zuryrth furrowed his scale brows. Questioning the elders' calmness about this situation.

“I do not understan-”

“We know. We know of this witch child. As you all know, we have the power to see outside our veils, yet do not have the full power to prevent everything from coming in. We saw the situation of this child before you. Her mother was slaughtered at the hands of the Onyx while trying to send her here. They are out to kill her, simply for having the power to destroy them within her little body that she knows nothing of.” Zuryrth finally laid eyes on the child as the elder walked down the stone stairs, examining the toddler who sat exceptionally still, only rocking back and forth as to soothe herself. The toddler watched the dragon approach her, no fear in the eyes of the child at all as the elder circled her. How peculiar.

The elder continued, “She is to be guarded and safekept away from any harm. She is the key to our salvation as we know it. Her demise means our demise.”

The elder dragons eyes caught sight of something on the child, and quickly darted to meet Zuryrth. “You will be her protector.”

Zuryrth stumbled back in protest. Heart pounding faster at the newfound responsibility. Heat filled his veins as the screams from that night came back. His only duty was to parole the veil. His only duty was to report any strange happenings to the council. His only duty didn’t involve taking care of a child.

“I can’t do that.”

“Oh but you must.”

Zuryrth felt the room spinning, his breath started to hitch. The screams echoed in his ears.

“No, I'm sorry my elder, but I can not.”

Flashes of blood clouded his mind, his family's lifeless bodies on the floor of his home.

“Don’t worry, you're cut out to be her protector, you're one of the best protecto-”

“But IM NOT!” A stern shout of protest erupted from Zuryrth. The council froze and snapped their eyes to him. Silence fell upon the room as Zuryrth continued, his anger and dismay seeping through with each word.

“What makes you think I am capable of caring for a child when I could not even care for my own family? I couldn’t save them! They died because of me! You want to put the faith of this child in my care when I couldn’t even protect my own kin?” His voice broke off at the end.

The elder came face to face with a distraught Zuryrth, understanding his pain.

“We know what you went through. We all lost a great deal that day, but don’t let this pain block you from completing the duties this council has appointed you of.” The elder leaned in and whispered, “She is the answer to all of our troubles, she is the key.” The elder leaned back and fluently moved across the floor back to the top of the stairs.

Zuryrth reluctantly withdrew his gaze from the elder to glance down at the child, who he found was staring right back, a tear sliding down her puffed cheeks as if she understood his hurt, her eyes holding sorrow no child's eyes should hold. Maybe they did have something in common, they understood each other's grief, for they were both alone.

**

Time passed from that one eventful day. Zuryrth ended up bringing her to his home, and came to the conclusion to only protect her because it was his sworn duty and not to grow an attachment to the child. Unfortunately, the latter was inevitable as the days went on. The days were filled with relearning how to care for someone other than himself, whether that had to deal with finding edible foods the child was able to digest, to finding the child coddled up on his tail, tracing the black scales with her small hand as she fell asleep. In the middle of the night screams because the child could not sleep, to taking her on night flights to put her to rest. The many days where the child would have a temper and many things would start to fly and crash into the cave walls. Zuryrth had to learn how to deal with it all to the point where it became routine to not have to worry about anything else but for this little girl. Not knowing during this time, his care for her was growing stronger by the day.

Until one dreadful night, the routine was broken, the veil was pierced, and the same screams he was oh too familiar with, erupted from the lands outside of his cave.

*

Pure agony screams and shouts erupted from outside his walls. Zuryrth jolted up as Oculus flew into his home, eyes widen with terror, body teared with scars.

“ The veil is broken, they know she's here! They're killing us by the numbers down there, you need to get her out now!” He said in a frenzy as he took off and flew into the war zone. The area where fire engulfed the forest and bodies of Onyx and dragon alike sprawled across the grounds. The air was ripe with the stench of blood.

Not again, he was not letting this happen again. His vision blurred with the memories of the slaughtering of his wife, of his kin. He would not fail the only duty..the only kin he cared for, again.

“Hand.”

He whipped around to the voice he heard speak for the first time. His vision cleared as he laid eyes on her. She was here, she wasn’t gone yet. She was in the middle of the floor, wooden toy in hand, she held out her psalm to the dragon as if beckoning for him to place his within it. Her eyes steady on his. She said again, “Hand.”

Zuryrth laid his paw in her small hand, and as he did so, everything faded to black. He was no longer in his cave. He was in the forest again. The forest where they found her for the first time. Only, he could see himself, in the distance behind Oculus and Ren. He was in her memories.

He watched from her point of view of the many times they shared together. All the times where she would cry and would look to him for comfort to find him reluctantly opening up to her over time. To the time where he stayed up countless nights because she couldn’t control her temper and the power that was released because of it. To him rocking her to sleep on his tail and her feeling safe for the first time in a while. He could feel all of her emotions. All of the emotions she felt when she knew she would never see her mom again, to feeling alone in a new place where it seemed no one wanted her, to feeling accepted when he finally let her touch his wings, for she loved how she could hang on them, to feeling like she finally found a home with him, and had unconditional love for the dragon who took her in.

His paw was released and he was brought back into the cave, to see her smiling up at him. That is when it hit him. He was going to fight. He was no longer going to hide in the shadows and do nothing out of fear. He was going to protect this kin of his with everything he has. It felt like a weight was finally lifted off of him after all these years of regret and hurt. He had the chance to change the fate of the one he cared for. He had a chance to give her life, a life that he couldn’t protect for his kin before, but he will be damned if that were to happen again.

No more hiding.

The child smiled wider, and raised her psalm in the direction of the corner of his weapons. The weapons lifted and made there way over to the awaiting hands of the dragons.

No more running.

He strapped the weapons onto his body, releasing his claws from his paw. The shield around the cave would shelter her from any harm.

“Come out, come out dragon. I bet you’ll remember me.”

He smelled the stench of the Onyx down below his cave before he heard them. Especially the main one. The one he wanted.

Zuryrth smiled back at the child. She awakened the beast within him. The beast that wasn’t there until she came along that one day. She was the key to his salvation, to their salvation. With this newfound strength, the Onyx stood no chance.

He stalked to the end of the cave, looking down below at the grim smiles of the Onyx. He felt a fire rumble from his belly, the heat traveling up to his throat as his eyes glowed red. The Onyx smile faltered, his tongue hissing out in protest. The smile was now on the dragon's face as the fire trailed up past his throat and built into a ball of heat as he breathed the hellest of fires down below, wings spread, claws out, and dived into the war.

It’s time to fight.