The Half-Blood Calamity

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. At least that is what my mother tells me. When she was a little girl she used to play in the river there. Mother says that there were movies, and fireworks, and the most amazing foods with spices, fruits, and delectable sauces. There were cars fueled by water. And people would play sports or create art simply for the fun of it! How they had time for fun still astounds me. Mother likes to tell me that the people of the city were dream-chasers; and that her home used to be the technology capital of the world.

I like it when she tells me about the better days. It’s nice to think that once upon a time, people could enjoy such wonders. But that was a long time ago. Nobody has lived in the Valley since the disastrous earthquake that devoured most of the city and released the monstrous dragons. At that time, if the earthquake hadn’t killed you, then you were likely going to die by being devoured by one of these fiery flying serpents. Few escaped to the desolate, cold plateaus above the Valley. No one knows why, but the dragons have left the survivors alone up here.

My name is Seren. I was born in a wood cabin with only one room. My father was already dead before I was born. He had been lost in the last search party that had gone for help when the world never came searching for us. No search parties have been sent since. They always went missing.

My mother doesn’t have any pictures of my father, so I don’t know what he looks like. Though my mother says for being a girl, I look an awfully lot like him. I have his raven black hair, skin leathered tan by the sun, and his blue eyes that shine like star garnets.

I’ve never seen a star garnet. I made the comment once to one of our older neighbors that I had eyes like star garnets. She had laughed at me. “Star garnets are red or violet! Why, your eyes are blue as sapphires if you want to compare them to a gemstone.” She continued to laugh as she walked away.

I felt my face turn hot. I had never seen a sapphire either. So how was I supposed to know which gem was the bluer of the two? I was much more inclined to believe my mother over this old woman.

“Never mind her,” I heard a familiar voice. I had turned to see my friend, Aster, standing behind me. We had been born the same night. Birthday twins, but certainly not twins in appearance. She was taller than me, and she had bright golden hair the color of our grain. A smattering of freckles dotted her nose and cheeks. Her rich brown eyes smiled at me. “At least your eyes are not the color of mud,” she said to me.

I violently shook my head. “Your eyes are like warm earth! Rich for flowers to grow in and for bees to make honey. Rich like gold buried within! I simply love your eyes.”

Aster stared at me. “But you’ve never even seen gold!”

“No, but I’ve heard the stories. And I see the gold of our grain and sun. And they make me think of you!”

Though Aster and I are good friends, we have little time for each other. She is often tasked with weaving cloth, and I am tasked with watching the sheep from which the cloth is made.

I despise watching the sheep. Their empty stares aggravate me, and I feel so confined, trapped, to whatever field they graze.

How many times have I asked to be allowed to join the others that scavenge the cliffs of the Valley? And how many times has my mother told me no?

“I lost your father! I refuse to lose you too!” She tells me again and again. The only indulgence my mother allows me is to practice fighting with my staff.

Many of the other girls prefer the bow and arrow, but I get annoyed by chasing after arrows. My instructor says it’s because I prefer the wind around me rather than leaving me. And I think he is right. I love the feel of my staff as it spins around me, the force never leaving my hands as I chase off coyotes and wolves who try to prey upon our small flock.

But in this mundane world of survival, perhaps what I find the most pleasure in is the night sky. I cannot explain it, but somehow I feel like the stars know me and that we can talk. Sometimes I will wake up, and I swear I can hear the stars whispering.

They tell me that I’m not alone: that something or someone is coming. Sometimes I hear them talking to each other. I don’t always understand what they are saying, but I get a feeling in my chest. It feels warm. I wonder if I would feel more of this warm feeling if the earthquake that had released dragons had never happened.

My thoughts wander back to my surroundings. I’m at home with my mother. The wood walls of our one room are hidden in flickering shadows the fire from the hearth casts. Mother sits at a crooked chair fashioned out of large tree branches. She is husking a few ears of corn. The cobs are thin, and the kernels are half-shriveled up. We rely on rain for water on top of this plateau, and the rain has not been good to us this year.

“Do you miss Father?” I ask her. I immediately regret it, and wonder why I had asked her such a stupid question.

My mother looks up from her task. I can see the sadness in the dark circles under her eyes, so I am surprised when she smiles in understanding. “It’s OK Seren. It doesn’t hurt me to talk about him. If anything, it makes me happy to hear that you are thinking about him.” She goes back to husking.

I smile relieved, but feel annoyed at the tears threatening to spill from my eyes. I hold my chin up high to keep them at bay.

“What did you like about Father?”

I see my mother’s hands falter. She stares straight ahead like she has been transported back in time. “Everything,” she finally states breathlessly. She looks back at me. “Your father was the most caring, charismatic, intelligent person I have ever met in my life. He made me feel so alive… like I had been sleeping until I met him. When I was around him I wanted to be a better person. And he showed me that I could do whatever I set my mind out to do. He… And….” She flounders for words. “I would get so lost in his deep, beautiful blue eyes….”

Suddenly she is at my feet crying. Her hand is caressing my cheek as she stares up into my own blue eyes. “Seren. Darling. I can’t lose you. Please. I would have no reason for living if I lost you too!” She collapses into my lap, her warm tears soaking through my dusty trousers.

“Mother I’m not going anywhere,” I rub her back trying to console her. “Nothing is going to happen to me. Nothing ever happens in this place.”

And so it was for the next few weeks. Nothing happened except me watching sheep, going to bed hungry every night, and watching my village slowly waste away.

It is night now and my turn to watch the sheep. I sit shivering and rubbing my arms trying to keep warm. The air seems colder than usual for an early autumn night.

“You know,” I say out loud. “It’s rather miserable here. It would be nice to know that there is some purpose to my life other than watching sheep.”

I gasp as a series of 10 or more stars shoot across the sky. They fall in the direction of the Valley. The stars are talking to me again.

“You want me to scavenge?” I ask the sky.

A brisk breeze picks up and clouds on the east horizon begin to drift away revealing a bright, cold moon in the distance. Its light shines on the Valley below. The meaning becomes clear to me.

“No,” I whisper. “You couldn’t possibly want me to go there. Dragons live there! They would eat me whole in one bite!”

One more star shoots across the sky. It’s the biggest shooting star I have ever seen. And it’s blue. I watch as it begins to descend into the Valley. The cliffs once engulfed in night, now light up blue as the star falls lower and lower. I hear a gentle rumble in the distance as I hear it collide with earth.

“This is ridiculous,” I mutter. “Absolutely absurd! I suppose you all want me dead?”

The stars say nothing. They simply twinkle in the luminous night sky above me. My gaze turns to the moon hovering over the Valley to the east. I can feel my heart tugging out of my chest towards it, but my mind stays firmly planted.

I fold my arms stubbornly. I couldn’t abandon my mother like this. I am all she has left of Father. Her parents are dead. My father’s family is dead. She has nobody left but me.

That is when I drift off to sleep and begin to dream.

I am in the air sitting upon a magnificently bright red dragon. My midnight black hair has turned fiery-red matching the scales of the dragon I ride. I sport blue armor that glows iridescently. Beside me is a man in a metal flying machine. It looks like a starship? It’s about the same size as the dragon which is at least 30 times the size of me. I can’t see the face of the man, but he is shooting green lasers ahead of us. I look to where he is shooting and gasp.

I see my friend, Aster. Her golden hair radiates light like the sun. And her eyes shine gold too. She is riding some sort of beast, but I cannot tell what it is. There is so much gold light that radiates from the beast I cannot make out its shape.

I yell at the man beside me to stop shooting, but he doesn’t listen. I urge the dragon I ride upon forward towards the spaceship. Fire spills from my dragon’s mouth, but the flames simply run around the spaceship like warm bathwater.

Desperate to save Aster, I pull the dragon between the starship and my friend, landing myself into a field of green lasers! As lasers tear through me, I scream in pain.

Suddenly, I wake up with a start. I find all the sheep are sound asleep. It is still night. Even the sky above me seems to be asleep, the stars and moon now hidden by clouds.

Such an odd dream. I try to shake off the dark feeling that clings to my chest. It felt like Aster had been the enemy though she had done me no harm. Why would I have such a dream? She has never been anything but a friend to me.

I roll onto my side trying to get comfortable with the hard ground. Maybe it was a guilty conscience for wanting to leave everything behind? I did love my mother, my friends, and the people here. For the most part, they were kind despite our daily hardships. But I kept having this feeling that I needed to go. And that if I didn’t, there would be dire consequences.

“Seren,” I hear my name.

I instantly sit up and look all around. There is nobody.

“Seren.”

I look up. There in the sky shines one solemn blue star.

“It’s time.”

“Time for what?” I ask.

“Time to protect your loved ones.”

I scowl, perplexed. “From what?”

There is no answer.

“From what? Please tell me.” I get up on my knees and raise my hand up to the sky beckoning an answer.

“Follow the star to the east. If you do not, your people will perish.”

I feel something lodge in the back of my throat. My mother will be beside herself if I leave, but I cannot go on living knowing that I can save the village and my mother from certain death. We are dying. I do not question the calling, but I do question the how. “I don’t know how to get into the Valley. And how will I stay safe from dragons?”

A blue ribbon of light begins to shimmer before me. The direction of the light leads towards the east.

“Follow the light. No harm shall befall you should you stick to the path. But know this young one, if you should stray from the path, I cannot guarantee your safety. Now go, before the sun arises, and the lightened path disappears from your view.”

I grab my staff and my small woven bag of personal belongings. I begin to follow the glowing blue light. It leads me away from the fields, the barren grounds, and small village- the only places I know- it is only then that I hesitate.

“I love you Mother. I’m not abandoning you. I am doing this for us.”

Suddenly a thought flashes into my mind. My mother once told me that Father finally convinced her to let him go when he told her that he was doing it for them.

I quickly shove the thought away. This is different. The stars are telling me I must do this. Nobody had been leading my father when he tried to save us.

I go ahead and descend into the Valley.

I follow a pathway along the rocks. The sparse trees become more frequent and thicker the farther I venture into the Valley. For hours I follow the blue light. My pace quickens. Surely the first light of dawn will break over the horizon soon, and then I would be left lost and vulnerable in the Valley.

I hear a yelp to the left. I stop dead in my tracks. I can make something out in the shadows from the blue glow. I get down on my hands and knees and under the brush I can make out some sort of dog. I think it’s a puppy? I can see its big floppy ears and big paws in relation to the rest of its small little body. I can tell its back paw must have caught between some rocks and wood. It whimpers in the dark.

“Where is your mama?” I ask softly. The pup cocks its head towards the sound of my voice. It whimpers some more.

I try to reach out to the puppy. My right arm strains forward with my left foot anchored by the string of light. Despite my stretching, I cannot reach it. I will have to leave the light.

I pause. I will jeopardize my own life if I make this choice. But I cannot simply just leave this puppy alone to die! Perhaps something did happen to its mother? I had to make a decision quickly. I was short on time enough as it was.

Without another thought I leave the lit path and scramble through the rocks. Branches catch my cheeks and tear at them. It stings, but my focus is on the poor shivering thing before me.

“Now darling, it is all OK. Let me just help with your paw there.” I slide a rock up and forward releasing its paw. “Now there you go.”

I expected the pup to run away once free, so how pleasantly surprised I was when it buries its head into my lap instead. “Oh you sweet little thing,” I whisper as I lovingly grab at the folds of loose skin around the back of its neck. I begin to pet it. “I best be off now. I am in bit of a hurry. Good luck to you little one.”

I pull myself back onto my feet, and as I begin to back up through the brush, I hear an odd growl behind me. My joints stiffen. I had forgotten I had dropped my staff on the ground as I had freed the puppy. I wasn’t sure whether to lunge for my staff or what to do

Before I have a chance to devise a plan, the puppy before me begins to glow blue. The light grows bigger and bigger. The pup disappears, and before me stands a dog as large as a horse. It leaps by me and attacks whatever creature stands behind me.

I whirl around. I cannot see features clearly because of the darkness, but in the faint light of the blue glowing ribbon, I can see the massive dog is biting some sort of plant looking creature. It has multiple tentacles. Its head looks like some mutant flower. The beast screeches as the dog bites off one of its arms. It crawls back into the night.

I grab my staff and rush as quickly as I can back to the blue ribbon. It seems to greet me with a warm pulsation as my body once again becomes enveloped by light. I look back to the left again and see the dog. It has become a puppy once more. It looks at me with its head slightly cocked.

“Thank you,” I say. “It appears we helped each other tonight, but I really must get going now.” I wave and hurry forward.

It doesn’t take me long to notice that the puppy is trailing me. I’m happy for the company. It hadn’t turned out so bad after all not following a star’s advice. I had left the blue light, and nothing of notable consequence had happened.

As I continue on, I begin to notice strangely shaped buildings. They are gray like the color of stone. Plants sprout through them as though the crumbling buildings are nothing more than earth. More and more of these curious buildings begin to appear. The blue ribbon of light continues to lead me on through them. In the distant shadows, I can tell there is an eerie river of darkness from which no light comes forth. I try to avoid looking at this absence of light, it is quite disturbing to see such blackness.

Eventually the light leads me straight to a splintered door of a half-collapsed house. The white paint has peeled revealing the natural wood beneath. I glance behind me. The puppy has caught up to me. It stands at the bottom of the steps wagging its tail.

“You have been a wonderful companion this short journey. I am so grateful that we ran into each other. You made it so much less lonely.” My mind wanders to my mother who doesn’t know yet that I have left her. I push the thoughts aside. “I don’t know what awaits inside, but I think I ought to go in alone.”

The pup stops wagging its tail, but makes no effort to come nearer. I take a deep breath before opening the creaky door.

I don’t know exactly what I expected once I entered this forlorn looking house, but I certainly do not expect to see columns and columns of books. White lights shine down from the ceiling. The blue string of light becomes translucent and I can barely make it out as it leads me on through the maze of books. I follow steadily on until I stop dead in my tracks. The blue light has ended and I can see clearly what I have been led to.

Before me sits a white little puff ball of floof. It’s white in color and cannot be taller than 3 feet in height. It sits in a chair like a human, its two hind legs crossed at the knees. It wears a red cape pinned by a giant red jewel. A matching red cap with a purple feather adorns its head. And two black eyes gleam up at me. My feeble mind tries to find something familiar to compare the creature to. It somewhat reminds me of a humanoid, fat cat.

“A poof!” I shout. I raise my staff ready to defend myself if need be. My mother had told me about poofs that had appeared the same time as the dragons.

The poof’s mouth downturns at the corners. “What an offensive name. We are not poofs. I would have thought humans could be a little more creative than that.”

“Then what are you? Why are you here?”

The poof uncrosses its legs and leans forward in its chair. It closes its eyes as though it were trying to compose itself. “Normally I would not give in to such demands. After all, my race is much superior to yours. Well, half of your race anyway, you are a mixed breed after all.”

I feel my brows knit together. “A. Mixed. Breed?”

“Well, yes. Your mother, human. Your father, a Calamity. We don’t speak much of his kind if it can be helped. Here we are to save yet another world because of him. And if the humans had simply left the world like we had asked, fewer of them would be dead right now.”

“Wait,” I hold up my hand to my head as though I am trying to stop a migraine from occurring. “Are you suggesting that my father is not human?”

“Of course. You think it normal for humans to converse with stars? With the celestial beings of the universe? You couldn’t possibly be fully human!”

A single breath escapes my lips, as I search for the words. “Sometimes I thought that perhaps I made it up.”

“Yet you made your way here based on imagined voices.” The poof looks smug.

“How do you know all of this anyway? Perhaps you made up the voices I heard from the stars?”

There is a long pregnant pause. “I would be lying if I didn’t use the stars to get you here. I used magic again and again to persuade you to come down, yet you never would.”

A prickling of anger crawls up my chest. “Do you mean all those times I longed to leave the village were of your doing and not my own desires?”

“Well, perhaps? Though I think it hard to take full credit. I would want to leave that dank little vill-“

I slam my staff on the ground. “Silence poof!”

“You dare interrupt me?” The poof leaps to his feet. “And for the last time, I’m not a poof! I’m an Algol! I am a star demon so you had best watch your tone with me!”

“Yet, somehow I feel like you fear me more. You call my father a Calamity that you must save the world from, and you ask for my help though I am nothing but a girl.”

I watch the Algol. Its mouth pulls into a straight line, and I can tell it is trying to hide its expression. “Who said anything about asking for your help? Perhaps I want to sacrifice you?”

“You want something from me,” I answer confidently. “If you were to sacrifice me you wouldn’t have put up with me calling you a poof.”

At first, I think I see the Algol’s eye glower in anger, but then it smiles. “Very well. You are intelligent after all. I was afraid your human side would make you quite dull.” It sits down and reaches for a cup beside it from which it starts to drink from delicately.

Warily I raise my staff higher. His ease unnerves me.

“I will not harm you. You have no need for that staff really. Certainly, not when you are about to command the dragons of this Valley?”

This does not comfort me. If anything, I feel more on edge. “And why would I have command of dragons? Do you flatter your victims into a false sense of security before you drag them to their death?”

“Again you insult me child. I have done nothing to you to earn such disrespect.”

“Lies!” I scream, slamming my staff on the ground. “You brought the earthquake upon us! My mother said so! You brought the dragons upon us! My mother, my people… they lost everything because of you!”

“That is hardly fair.” The Algol finishes sipping its drink before placing back its cup on the table beside it. “It was a necessary sacrifice to save your world.”

“And why would you want to save my world?”

The Algol taps its furry finger against its chin as though it were in thought. “I feel as though I will regret telling you this, but we have failed in other worlds, so perhaps I should try ‘honesty’ this time.”

“Other worlds? What other worlds?”

The Algol sighs. “Child, do you want me to tell you or not?” I clamp my mouth shut in response. “Very well. I will tell you truthfully why I want to save your world, though it goes against my better judgment.”

He pauses again. I think he’s still deciding if he will tell me or not.

“Saving your world has nothing to do with charity. I am a demon after all. It is for self-serving purposes. Your father is one of few Calamities. And thank goodness their numbers are few, otherwise, we Algol would have no chance against them.”

He leans towards me. “Calamities destroy worlds. And every time they do, they grow stronger. This is a problem for Star Demons and Celestial Stars alike. We live in balance. Algols cause mischief. Celestials bestow their benevolence. It is a balance well established among the cosmos. Calamities upset this balance. And they do it very cheekily. Do you know what they do?” It asks angrily.

I shrug. “Of course not.”

“Of course not,” the Algol repeats with a chilly tone. “The Calamity makes a mockery of our balance. It will go to a world and help conceive two children: Gemini Twins. One symbolizes light, Celestials, and the other darkness, Algols. And the Twins will clash like that world has never seen before and destroy it in the process. The Gemini Twins usually perish along with their world.

“In the past we have tried to stop these Twins. We have tried to destroy them. We have tried to bend their will. We have tried everything. Nothing worked until we tried a strategy that did prove a different outcome than any other.

“The Celestials got to the Twins when they were younger. Tried to influence them for the better. Tried to teach them benevolence. The Celestial twin took to their teaching quite well. The Devil twin, not so much. He couldn’t fight his nature. In the end, that world was destroyed like every other, but the Devil twin did survive. And that is something that has never happened before.”

I stared at the Algol. I was scared to ask, but I knew there was no point in prolonging the inevitable answer. “Are you saying I am a Gemini Twin?”

The Algol slowly nodded its head, its eyes never leaving my own.

“Who is the other twin? And which twin am I?” I ask hesitantly.

“You already know who your twin is. A sister born the same night to a different mother. Aster is your twin. As for your last question: I am a star demon tasked with changing the outcome of your future. Which twin do you think you are?”

I swallow. My throat suddenly feels very dry.

“But I don’t feel like I’m a devil. I’ve always been good to my mother. I’ve been kind to others, and I love the people in my village.” My brain begins to wander. “Are you saying that Aster and I are meant to destroy each other and the world?” I shake my head. “This is all absurd. I must be dreaming.”

“Your true nature will become evident soon. You will not be able to fight it. I am not here to change your nature, but to enhance it.”

“But I don’t want to be mischievous. Or a devil for that matter.”

“Oh?” says the Algol slyly. I see its teeth glint in the light as it smiles. “You will be much more than that. But I cannot divulge too much at this time; otherwise, you will try to fight me, try to fight your true nature, and become weak in the process. We have a plan. We will make you far superior, far stronger than your twin. We will provide you dragons to reign over, magic to master, and allies from worlds beyond. Aster will be no match for you. And when you conquer her easily, the world will be safe. The people you love, safe. And isn’t that all that matters?”

“And if I refuse?”

The Algol shrugs, the toothy grin never leaving its face. “Then your mother shall die.”

I shake my head. “You are asking me to end Aster’s life? To save my mother’s? And how do you expect me to make such a choice?”

“Aw, child. I think your human mind is limiting your understanding. You have no choice regarding the destruction of Aster’s life. Your very existence demands her destruction. The only choice that you have left is whether or not you will save this planet. You can choose to take my help and become a Dragon Lord; or you can choose not to, and let your mother die in the battle along with your twin sister.”

I do not cower as the star demon approaches me. “One last question,” I say. “Why did you have to destroy this city?”

“Because that is our way,” The Algol cackles. “And soon you shall learn… your way.”