The Dragon's Daughter

Chapter 10

"My dad was the storyteller." I shook my head, which was starting to buzz and vibrate with a thousand unwelcome thoughts. If the cat was a very old creature', what did that make my dad? And I still hadn't processed what it meant about the bracelet. I shook my head again and ran a hand through my hair. One thing at a time. "But I can try and tell you what I remember."

"Yeah, Ok. Some answers are better than none." Jess slowly joined me on the floor, keeping a wary eye on the cat. Good. I wasn't the only one still freaked the frack out.

"Once upon a time, magic was everywhere, surrounding everybody like water surrounds fish...or light surrounds a flame. Nobody thought about where it came from. Magic just was. It was around everything and in everything. Magic connected everything to everything else like a... web. Like the light within you to the light within me, and the light within him to the light within Fryral and back and forth and so on and so on. Light everywhere. My father always got really poetic here and talked about all kinds of stuff, but I'll skip it." I sighed and looked at my audience. They were listening pretty attentively to what I assumed only moments before to be a children's story I hadn't heard in years.

I continued, "Anyway, one day, something happened, something terrible. It happened in an instant. A fraction of a second. Magic, the web of light, connecting all things— shattered. And the whole world went crazy because they were so dependent on that connection, that magic. Nobody knew what to do. Some species were hit hardest. Any dragon flying fell from the sky. Dragons were like bumblebees; they aren't supposed to be aerodynamically capable of flight, so it was magic that let them fly."

"So, then are bees magic?" It was Jess, scrunching up her nose, trying to logic all this out.

I only shrugged since I didn't know as much, "Maaaaybe?"

"Mmmm." She settled back into deep thought, "Continue." she waved me forward.

"Like I was saying, hundreds of dragons fell from the sky and died. The ones that weren't flying couldn't breathe fire anymore either."

"Like dinosaurs, then?" The question came from Hector this time.

"Wha?" I just gawped at him.

"They couldn't fly, couldn't breathe fire. Just big lizards, right?"

"Look. I don't know, man. I'm not a paleontologist or a bug-ologist, or a dragon-ologist. Just let me finish the story."

"Fine. Geez."

We both huffed, but I continued, "Other species didn't do so well either. Dwarves had enhanced sight and sense of direction but, without magic, got lost in their underground mountain homes and mines. Many mine shafts that were reinforced with magic collapsed, killing and cutting off escape for thousands. The elves didn't die right away, but because they were so closely tied into the magic web, it was like they were sensory deprived, like when humans go into those sensory deprivation chamber thingies. The elves felt like they lost gravity, sight, hearing, so much all at once. I mean, of course, they still had all those things. It just wasn't the same. Over time, they kind of went out of their minds. Some walked over cliffs or tried to fly off trees. They forgot to eat or drink. Some wandered into human villages and were cared for by humans. But most died off. Many other magical species died as well because their food sources died off. If part of the food chain, like a magical plant or something that was the primary food source for a creature died, then the creature died. It was an ecological disaster... for years, the world was upside down, until humans were able to tame it without using magic." I sighed and got quiet.

"The end? That's the end?" It was Hector again.

"I've got to agree with Hector, here. Kind of anticlimactic." Jess cut me eyes like I was holding something back.