Mindshard (ON HOLD)

Chapter 7: The Drax

     Thoroughly entranced by this point, though a creature from myth and legend was relating the story, Vaughn nodded intently as she hung on Crux’s every word.  Seeing he had the human’s undivided attention, Crux let a satisfied curl of smoke ease from each nostril, his fire belly burning with a slow fire in this time of ease.  It was too long a time since he had such an attentive audience and he didn’t want to waste a single word.

  “According to the archives of my people, life began on Earth with the Maker’s first touch, a divine infusion of life energy into the fertile soils and water.  Flora and fauna exploded into being shortly thereafter, a veritable cyclone of motion and activity that swiftly spread through the oceans and over the land.  From this explosion came the first great beasts my people called pirvosht strani, the first ones, and vlichni sarna, giant reptiles.  The vlichni sarna ruled the world for millions of years, both land and sea, before the Maker’s use for them ended.  Once again he stretched forth his hand and touched the world, sending the giants to their doom.”

     Crux paused for a moment there, thoughtfully considering his next words.

  “Though the Maker took them from us, we owe much to the vlichni sarna.  Their bodies returned much life to the ground and from their bones did the Maker weave the new creatures he wished to populate his world, including the dragons.  From a race of intelligent reptiles spared the Maker’s cleansing we arose, gifted with flight and abilities to distinguish us from other creatures.  And, of course, the greatest of the Maker’s gifts to his newest children was the magic.”

     Vaughn felt her lips mouth the word ‘magic’ before she could stop them.  Catching sight of the motion with his eagle-eyed vision, Crux paused again to chuckle.

  “Yes, magic.  The Sidhe invented the term ‘extraspacial abilities’ to conveniently lend a scientific name in these modern times to something they once revered and embraced, but we dragons have always known it by its true nature.”  Crux’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

  “The universe is filled with energy.  Some we understand, can measure and see.  Others we can sense in other ways, and others yet remain beyond our ken, only known to the Maker himself.  Part of this flux of power is the energies that can be commanded, warped and woven to influence reality itself.  Your people called it ‘mana’, a term we adopted only after thousands of years of using it, before your people became known to us.  Only those gifted with the will and the ability to command mana, can cast magic, weaving mana in such a manner that it changes the world around us.”

     A broad gesture with a taloned fore claw took in the city surrounding the park and the draconic retreat Ixim called a nest.

  “The Sidhe once had the gift almost as greatly as we did, using magic in their daily lives without question.  But, while the gift remains strongly with my people, it waned in them as their reliance on technology grew.  Soon it will leave them altogether, and no longer will they have the ability to change their world by force of will and magic.  It was our strength in magic that allowed us to survive through the second quickening and grow to the great beings you now see.  It gave us intelligence and determination, power and society.  It was as we began expanding that society, culture and civilization over the land of our birth that we discovered the Sidhe.

     Rising from a mammal that survived the cleansing, much as your people eventually did, by power of the Maker’s new quickening, the Sidhe races were at first as diverse as grains of sand.  There were no Halinor, Juresil or Teserin as yet.  No, first came the Progenitors, the multitudinous races that eventually would become the Sidhe.”

     Crux smiled thinly as he recalled the time, the history in its entirety passed to him by those lore masters that came before him.

  “The Progenitors were a vicious people, warlike in a way a civilized creature would find hard to understand, battling against each other as they both struggled to dominate and find civilization.  During that struggle, many of the original races were lost, destroyed or absorbed by their conquerors.  In the end, only the strongest survived, the unending fighting a true test of capability and survivability.  Out of those fires, forged hard as steel came the original seven races of the Sidhe: the Havisar, the Suranin, the Lentese, the Bathet, the A’Daek, the Tahnim and the Vorisch.  Between them they held sway over the former lands of the Progenitors, their enemies defeated and destroyed, or absorbed into their midst.”