Master of the Mind

Chapter 15: Sand, Snow, and Metal

'What are you?'

The mental voice drifted through Eldawin's consciousness like shifting sand. He barely registered it wasn't his own. He felt as though he were floating on a cloud, but instead of looking down over a landscape what he saw were thousands of specks of minds. Small consciousnesses of all sorts. A school of cod shooting through the depths of the ocean chased by a speeding seal. A flock of birds hopping over shards of wrecked broken metal. An observer, stalking forward as it looked upon the unconscious form of a sky-blue dragon. Eldawin's mind overflowed with information until the point he could barely comprehend it all.

A smooth, cool touch to his snout brought him out of his stupor, focusing his mind again to his own body as he slowly became more self-aware. The first thing he noticed was his body felt as though he had just been battered and flung through a storm. Every limb was near unresponsive, and all he felt was an astounding urge to just fall back to sleep. The second thing he noticed was that his mind was clear. Immaculate even. Every thought he had, every image he conjured, every memory, was detailed and precise, to the point that every image he had ever seen was as detailed as the time he first saw it.

Again, the cool snout touched him, causing him to rumble softly, annoyed at being woken up. As he began to grow aware of the rest of his body he suddenly realised how cold he was. It was as though he was sleeping surrounded by ice dragons. The tip of his tail tingled in unresponsiveness. He couldn't quite feel the end of his snout, and his wings felt outstretched and buried in ice.

"Sediment!" a feminine voice next to him cried out in Drakin, "You may want to come see this!"

He groaned, his train of thought being broken by the voice. There was something strange about the way his body felt. His wings? Why did he feel his wings? The pain of them being sliced from his body was too seared into his mind to forget. So why did he feel their familiar weight on his back, stretched out and cold?

The dragon's eyes snapped open as the realisation hit him. His wings were back! In a rush of excitement, he pushed himself to his feet, flaring them outwards, and nearly falling backward in the process. A yelp of surprise echoed near him. His body was not nearly as responsive as he was used to, and his head swam as the blood rushed to his head. Another groan escaped him, and he swayed, the entire world spinning.

"Woah, Woah!" a body pressed up against his, keeping him from toppling back over.

As the spinning began to calm down, the mind drake focused his eyesight, and his mind, and was finally able to look around him. The first thing he noticed was the slightly smaller dragon that had stepped backward from his side and was looking at him curiously. The dragon was female, maybe a couple of years younger than him. Pale yellow scales wound up from her paws, covering her stomach, chest, and neck. Similar to the scales of a light dragon. But she was obviously not a light dragon, as lathering her back was some sort of silver shell. The metal enveloped her entire upper half, her wings, tail, and the upper half of her neck and head. Inquisitive yellow eyes stared at him, and an interesting mind studied him.

"Are you okay?" she asked him, a slight wariness in her voice, as well as a burning desire to understand what he was.

"Y... yeah," Eldawin grunted back, studying her in return, his mind gently reaching out to hers in an attempt to understand what she was.

"Diara! Are you..." another dragon entered their field of vision, and both turned to look at him.

This dragon was an earth dragon, several years older than Eldawin, and a fair bit larger. His scales were a dark forest green, and a couple of scars ran across his side. A strange aura shrouded the drake as well, one that gained Eldawin's attention immediately. It wasn't the aura of a dragon of equilibrium, of that much he was sure. But it was somewhat familiar, and it was quite definitely powerful.