The Convergence

“There weren’t always dragons in The Valley. Hell, I reckon there weren’t dragons anywhere in California, or on Earth for that matter before The Convergence.”

“Yeah, well now they’re here now and your lil history lesson ain’t helping our mission.”

“Ignore em, Uncle Benny. Keep going, I'm listening.” Aisha loved hearing the stories. They helped pass the time on boring training assignments like these.

Aisha, Uncle Benny, and Niles were tasked with the ever exciting duty of reconnaissance. Survey the perimeter, note the movement of local fauna, report any activity of foreign factions.

Boring!

Aisha found it excruciatingly uninteresting, but at her rank she couldn’t turn down the assignment. She was sure both Benny and Niles did too, but here they were babysitting her as her father had ordered. Each of the three was stationed atop a different once luxurious home in what was still known as the California Valley. She’d been there, uncomfortably seated on the roof tiles, her back leaned against a brick chimney for what seemed like an eternity. The sound of Uncle Benny’s husky voice blaring through her earpiece was the only thing keeping her awake. Every so often she would adjust positions and survey the area through the scope of her rifle. Trees, trees, and surprisingly more trees. She had heard that suburbia had been much different before the convergence, less trees and more people; She couldn’t picture it.

“The event we now all fondly refer to as The Convergence merged our previously mundane little world with others. Multiple worlds, all vastly different, now forced to share one sphere. As you can imagine the creatures and critters from those worlds didn’t like that too much. Wars and all kinds of chaos ensued.” Benny continued.

Aisha knew all this for the most part, though she had never known a world other than this one. Uncle Benny hadn’t grown up in the old world either. He learned the stories from his father, and enjoyed handing them down to the younger generations. Grandfather had known a bit of the old world. He was twenty — only three years older than Aisha was now — when the worlds collided. He’d fought in those wars and experienced life before and after the convergence. The Before always sounded so idyllic.

“The Dwarves, Orcs, and Humans from the other worlds were surprisingly cooperative enough once we shared our technology. They even taught us how to use the magic of their worlds. The Elves and Fae Folk, not so much. The Others even less so.” Benny finished.

“Then maybe you should stop blabbering on the coms while we’re so close to Elven territory. I don’t think those long ears are just for show. And as much as I dislike em, I’d hate to spark another conflict. No point in fighting if we ain’t getting paid for it. ” Niles complained.

She hated to admit it, but Niles was right. Everyone hated when Niles was right. He was a grouch, but that took nothing away from his skill as a mercenary. Benny on the other hand was always well intentioned, but somewhat careless. The contrast between her two instructors was enough to give her whiplash.

“We got movement. Southwest.” Benny interrupted.

A moment later she was laid flat on her belly, rifle pointed, honey colored eyes locked in that direction; more dull green. The colossal flora ran all throughout The Valley. The collision of worlds had brought them here along with their inhabitants. They grew in uneven spurts, bursting through concrete streets and well plastered walls. Sprouting from below, and spreading throughout what was once a well off neighborhood. In The Before these homes would have belonged to a moderately wealthy family, and now they belonged only to the wild.

A flicker of rust tinted red — a hint of the aforementioned movement —caught her eye. She refocused, trained her weapon where she saw the act. There was movement, flight. The beat of widespread membraned wings came into view and became clearer as it approached. A large scaled head appeared, and a massive body behind it. A bipedal monstrous mass of wings, fangs and talons barreled through the foliage.

“All this talk of dragons, and you’ve summoned one!” Niles’ voice rang far too loudly in her ear.

“No, it’s not coming this way. It’s chasing something.” Aisha retorted.

Something far below and barely ahead of the beast demanded her attention. There was a small figure, well cloaked in the colors of the forest, fleeing from the creature. It was easy to miss with the hulking beast drawing your attention. The barrel of her gun traced along the path of the smaller figure.

“It’s a kid.” She muttered to no one in particular.

“An elf kid. You can see its ears a mile away.” Niles replied with obvious disdain. “Leave it.”

“Benny, are you hearing this?!”

“He has a point. We don’t get involved in Elf affairs.”

“It is a child!” She roared in return.

The smooth metal barrel of her rifle rose, aiming again at the dragon in the distance. Her calloused finger pulled the trigger. The noise of the shot filled the quiet suburb. The bullet was well intentioned, but did nothing against the iron walled scales. From what she could tell the creature hadn’t even registered that it’d been shot. Another bullet followed, and another. This was accomplishing nothing. She needed to get closer, find a better position. She rose, slinging the rifle strap across her shoulder.

“Aisha what the hell are you doing!” Benny yelled. Now even he was apprehensive.

“I’m just gonna distract it so the kid gets away. No worries.”

“Aisha, don’t!”

“Just tell my dad I disobeyed orders again!”

“I don’t think that excuse will work if you’re dead!”

Benny’s objections grew quieter as she plucked the communication device from her ear. She was helping the child, Elf or not. Roof tiles clanked beneath her black combat boots as she moved towards the roof’s edge. She leapt. One moment on the roof and the next in the air, the winds propelling her forward. Not quite flying, not quite gliding, and hopefully not falling yet.

Wind dashing; a magic technique learned, not mastered, and acquired through her family’s elemental lineage. As Benny mentioned The Convergence had been good for some inhabitants of The Before. It had awakened latent magical potential in some humans, the Cyprain family were among them. Most members from her father’s side of the family awakened to some magical elemental affinity by the time they hit puberty. Raging hormones and magical powers went so well together she remembered her mother would joke during Aisha’s blossom into womanhood.

She hit the next rooftop with a hard clash and roll. The one after was a softer landing and a further roll. The following one she at least landed on her feet. Perhaps she was getting better at this as she traversed towards her goal of the suburb’s limits. The thought slipped from beneath her as did her footing on the next landing. Heat and pain filled her face as she met the slate tiles. The slant of the building sent her tumbling downward. Fudge, fudge, fudge! Frantically she reached out hoping to grab hold of something, anything. Her desire was greeted by grime and filth as her fingers landed in the gutters. Years of gunk wriggled its way in between her fingers as she attempted to lift herself. An unwelcome snap followed her ascent and weight fell from her shoulders. The harsh tumble had broken the buckle of her rifle strap. The weapon fell several stories below into the unkempt lawn. Too far to retrieve and there was no time.

What now Cyprian? Think! Get the kid, and duck off into a house to hide?

It was a plan, not necessarily a good one. With the winds at her back once more she closed the distance between herself where she needed to be. The dragon and its prey had been running just outside the line of houses in the thick trees, the child never daring to cross the perimeter and the creature always close behind in pursuit. Aisha took that final leap from building to the wilds below. Now she was between the child and the dragon, amidst the unfamiliar and invasive flora. Only the elf child paused at her arrival. She could see now the pale white, and roundness of the child’s face. The little girl was a plumb and precious thing. Very much the opposite of Aisha who was tall, tanned, and sleek. The child held something in her arms, coarse and oval shaped.

Was this kid holding a dragon egg? No wonder the winged menace was pursuing her.

The girl locked eyes with Aisha for only a second and then continued her fleet-footed running, and the beast still pursued above. Aisha needed to stop it, or at least distract it. Overzealous hands reached for her rifle, already forgetting the weight of it was no longer at her back.

Oh fudge.

The small one did not wait for her, probably a wise move. Longer legs and runner’s frame made this little issue for Aisha however. She followed along as the elf girl nimbly ducked, and dodged through the forest. It was easy now to see why she had evaded the dragon so long. She could move easily through the underbrush and between the lumbering trees meanwhile the dragon was forced back by the mighty wooden guardians. Forced to maneuver around while airborne and hindered from landing. A city girl like Aisha was fortunate to have her as a guide. Alone she would have surely tripped over foliage, or smacked face first into a tree.

The little one was moving towards a destination. She did not seem to be randomly fleeing, and soon enough they came to a clearing. It was another suburb, one far more ravaged by the merger of worlds. Remnants of housing remained, but this area belonged fully to the wildlife. The child paused, her head swaying in search of something. The beast lingered over the forest looking for them, a brief moment of respite.

“What the heck are you doing with a dragon egg, kid?” Aisha questioned.

“It is to save my people.” The child responded. Her voice was soft and sweet. It was almost precious enough to forgive the insanity of stealing a dragon egg.

It became apparent the child sought a hiding place. She ducked into a crawl space created by pieces of rubble from a partially collapsed house. A space much too small to share. Aisha looked around for a hiding place of her own, but to no avail. The dragon was in the clearing now. With no more trees hindering its path it could land, and properly hunt for its lost spawn. Aisha was in its sight. The beast lunged forward, sharp fangs attempting to end her. The wind was again at her back, propelling her forward into a sloppy roll beneath the creature. She came out on the other side unscathed.

Never run forward into danger. The advice her father had given came to mind. A little too late for that dad.

A hasty dive prevented her from being impaled by a spiked tail that swung as the creature itself turned to find her. Everything about the dragon was built for domination: deadly talons on its two feet, plated scales that endured most anything natural, and a spiked tail that could be wielded as a weapon. It was an apex predator if there ever was one. She’d heard stories of these beasts swooping down to gorge on elephants and rhino on another continent. The beast examined her with its coal colored eyes. She didn’t have what it wanted, and its attention turned elsewhere. Its nostrils went towards the air, sniffing for its stolen child; the scent of its own brood unmistakable to its heightened senses. The lumbering beast moved expectedly in the direction of the hidden one.

No, no, no! Not the kid!

What could she do? Body moved before the mind. Fingers found something, anything, to toss at the creature; a stone, or brick, it didn’t matter. She hurled the object and it landed with a lame impact against the armored scales. Another found its way into her palm and it too was flung with a protector’s strength and will. Again nothing. Could she not even distract the beast? Her boot stomped against the ground in a bout of frustration. It was then she felt it; a familiar spark.

Electricity; it had been her only other magical affinity, but she could not summon it on command. She’d tried for years to no avail. It was something that burst out of her when she was upset, or particularly riled up. It brewed inside her now. Channel it, let it build, and unleash. The process from her father, learned, repeated, and typically unsuccessful. She couldn’t fail here. Hairs stood on edge. She could feel the energy surging through her body, crescendoing to a climax. She lashed out, and a mighty bolt of lightning hurled through the air. The undisciplined magic burned through the dragon’s right side wing with ease. A grand injury, and yet not nearly enough to slay the beast.

Its roar of pain reverberated in her bones. She wanted the creature’s attention and now she had it. Malice and pain twisted in its face. It now sought vengeance. The once proud warrior of the sky lunged at her attempting to take flight again, but met the ground clumsily. This bought only a moment more of survival. She knew even in its wounded state the creature was enough to end her if she couldn’t find the strength to summon another bolt. She felt the spark within herself building again. She harnessed the power. It gradually rose, and she lashed out again, — and nothing. No righteous bolt of fury to save her. The dragon was upon her now. Mere moments from ending her life.

A sound, not dragon nor human rose in the air. Blinding light filled the sky, and within seconds the beast’s roars of pain followed. Spears of energy rained down on the beast piercing its scales seemingly effortlessly. Its body fell before Aisha, the life in its eyes nor quite gone yet, its body unable to press on. She frantically searched for the origin of the attacks that felled the beast, and what she saw was perhaps more frightening than the dragon itself. Elves. They were on rooftops, in the crevices of ruined houses, and camouflaged against the natural green setting.

She was surrounded.