Twilight Shadows

Chapter 34

I find myself awake, sweating and panting in the warm, light animal fur. The sun was already beginning to set, casting long shadows from the window.

Nightmare was already alert, tilting her head now and then at me, staring from the window.

"Good morning..." I stretched. "Oops. I meant good... night? Good evening? I don't even know..." Nightmare snorted as if laughing. "I had... another vision, Nightmare. With Noah." Nightmare stared at me innocently, as if making fun of me. I groaned.

"Nightmare..." I warned. Nightmare stuck her tongue out. "Noah established an empathy link. Every time I'm unconscious, I know what he's doing. Before I woke up, something Evil descended upon us - um, Noah."

Nightmare looked alert, startled. She growled, a low rumble in her throat. I sighed.

"I don't know if he's alright. There's more Evil lurking around... And I've a feeling that it's neither the Twilights nor the Shadows." I said. "There's something out there... Something dangerous and deadly, biding its time, waiting to strike."

I stood up from the sitting position I was in, and walked out of the room, Nightmare quickly bounding towards the entrance to the hut.

"C'mon girl, we'd better get out of here." I patted her, and she took to the sky, going towards a nicely decorated hut that resembled the chief's. "Oh, right... the Dragon."

Adoni waved up at me from the porch, smiling. I nudged Nightmare, and she tilted her direction, going into a steep dive towards Adoni. We landed right beside him, and I got off.

"Good evening, Adoni." I greeted him. "I'm ready to heal the Guardian Elder Dragon."

"Alrighty, then." Adoni grinned. "Follow me, we're going to take quite a long walk to the Dragon's nest. Hopefully we can find out what's going on..."

~💖~  

"Well, then, here we are!" Adoni announced. We were in front of a huge pit, with a little pond at the bottom with rocks as the walls, moss and plants growing all over it. Laying in the green, fresh grass was a huge dragon, ten times bigger than Nightmare.

"Whoa..." I gasped in awe. "This dragon... It-It's huge!" I could tell that the tribe had honored the Dragon, decorating its neck and tail in wreaths and paints. There was also a little temple-like structure which I guessed was where they would sacrifice food for him.

"Indeed it is. It carries our very presence with him, with every breath he takes, every move he makes. He is our Keeper, our Elder, our Guardian... He, is our Dragon." Adoni spread his arms and free-fell to the Dragon. I was stunned.

Adoni landed in the water, swimming towards the poisoned Dragon quickly, fiercely. Without any hesitation, I dived into the pit too, landing in the water like Adoni. Nightmare dived too, catching herself with her wings at the last moment.

I quickly swam over to Adoni, who was already tending to the wounded Dragon. Except, the injury wasn't on the outside; it was on the inside. It was the first time I saw the Dragon up close. Its scales were a dark black, lined with purple. Its eyes were closed, breathing slowly. This dragon, I noticed, had four wings instead of two. Its wings were silver, sharp as steel and could cut through anything.

"Hang on in there..." I whispered as I approached the dragon slowly. It lifted its head a little, and opened its eyes. They were a fierce, strong crimson red dotted with gold, filled with intelligence and kindness.

"Our Dragon possesses all the elements a dragon could ever have. He's quite a thing... special, rare... We call these dragons Alphas." Adoni explained. "And no one has ever healed an Alpha, except for the Healer. The nymph." Adoni said in a hushed tone.

"But... But there is no nymph. No... Healer." I said in confusion. "So... your dragon can't be healed?"

"Well, we have you here." Adoni said, his eyes full of wonder. "Only someone very powerful could have healed those trees. Those trees were sacred... And whoever poisoned them shall pay. No one is allowed to touch them but us." Adoni seethed.

A tingling sensation filled my body. I took a step closer to the dragon. It breathed heavily. I tenderly placed a hand on the dragon, on its snout. I placed my right hand on top of my left, and concentrated hard.

I thought about healing, cures, anything that might help me. I thought about breathing life into a creature. I thought about health. Medicine. Nature. Nymph. A light began radiating from my body. I thought back to the third verse of the prophecy.

Find the light within thyself... Pure, silver light engulfed me, and silver flames tipped with blue danced around me. All at once, the mystical aura flooded into the Dragon, and the Dragon stood up. I dropped my hands. The Dragon breathed in the silver, healed.

I looked down at my hands in amazement. A warm silver glow seemed to get brighter beneath my skin. Suddenly, the Dragon emitted a huge ear-aching roar that echoed around our surroundings.

The black and purple scales cracked, breaking away. Gold scales replaced them, tipped with red. The silver quad-wings were replaced with huge, royal gold coloured ones. Suddenly, a memory long lost came flooding back to me...

~💖~  

My mother and I, crouched behind a rock. A huge storm loomed overhead. Lighting struck, illuminating the scene. A dragon, chained to a rock, standing on top of a bunch of human skulls, radiating purple aura. It seethed in anger.

"Honey, remember... When I say go, we have to cut that chain and set the dragon free. I have an old friend of mine's who will like this..." My mother whispered.

Suddenly, the man who was watching the dragon left. Dravin, was it? Changing into a black hawk, he took to the air and left.

"Now," My mother urged. "Go!" We leaped from our hiding spot, my mother holding an ax that shone even in the pouring rain. She held it over her head, reaching the chain. I quickly scrambled onto the back of the dragon. My mother brought down the ax, and with a sharp metallic noise, the chain broke free. The dragon roared.

My mother quickly climbed towards the dragon, then sitting behind me.

I urged the dragon to quickly take off to the sky. I could feel the strong, intense power radiating from this dragon. I turned my head back to the pile of skulls. I could see a galloping figure enter the scene, howling in fury. It quickly turned tail and disappeared.

"We did it, mama!" I cried happily. I looked to be around seven or eight. My mother smiled kindly. 

"No wonder why the Shadows wanted this dragon to destroy everything. The Shadows wanted revenge..." My mother said. "On the Twilights."

With a flick of her hand, a glowing beam of light traveled from her hand to my forehead, the white light erasing the memory, and I fell unconscious.

~💖~  

She erased my memory multiple times, I seethed in anger. Why would she do that? To "protect me?" Protect me from what?

I snapped out of my thoughts when Adoni started praising me and bowing, treating me like a princess. I rolled my eyes.

"Adoni, you can get up now... It's no big deal..." I said calmly, but inside, I was laughing; and thinking about how I could've restored a Dragon, much less an Alpha Dragon to full health.

Suddenly, something unexpected happened. The Dragon turned his attention towards me, and with a fiery blast at the ground near my feet, the golden flames began to circle me, encasing me in fire. The fire was so pure, I could see my reflection.

My reflection... My light. The light within myself.

The Dragon's voice echoed in my head. Your light within yourself is pure, bright. You are a Healer. The Healer.