The Tenth Dragon: Death Of A Youngling

Chapter 15: Dark Dragon In The Light

“Do you think I forget the pain that these women put me through?  Do you think it goes away as the time passes.  No!  This pain keeps me up at night and reminds me that my darkest fears are real and possible.  No, I will never forget what they have done to me, but I will not let it be what controls me either.  I will use it to become stronger and rise above the hatred in my heart.  The pain is my strength and will push me to become a better man then they think I could be.  When I stand over Azrael’s dead body, and I set the world free, it won’t be for them, it will be for me.  It will prove that I am every bit the source of light this world needs that I see myself.  And if you don’t believe me, then get the hell out of my way.  No one will hold me back, not even my own twin.”

Jesse let go of Nicholas and stood up, their eyes still fixed on each other.  The sun was setting in the distance and gave him a heavenly glow.  Nicholas was slightly in awe at the look of his twin in this light; he looked almost godly.

“That’s all I need to hear.  I’m with you twin, till the last drop of my blood hits the floor.  You have my loyalty,” said Nicholas getting to his feet.

He extended his hand and smiled playfully.  Jesse couldn’t help but smile too as he took his twins hand.  There was a spark of Aura between them, but neither of them paid any attention to it.  They were united and that was all they cared about.

Jesse and Nicholas entered the room containing the Tree of Life.  Apollyon was standing in front of the tree, his shield placed in the ground in front of him.  He looked up at the twins and lifted it from the ground.  Quietly he stepped to the side and took a seat on the far side of the room.  Nicholas stopped just a few feet away as Jesse stepped up to the tree.  He honestly hadn’t thought about what he was going to do.  He had never done anything like this before and didn’t know where to start.

“By touching the Tree of Life, you will be connected to the world itself.  Use it’s roots as a looking glass to see everything that it offers,” said Apollyon.

“So you do speak English?  What a surprise,” said Jesse.

He took a seat next to the tree and set his back against the trunk.  Instantly he could feel the Aura flowing through the tree into the earth through the roots beneath him.  He gathered some strength into his hands and plunged them into the ground.  His fingers wrapped around the roots and connected him to the flowing aura.

He closed his eyes and concentrated on the Aura and took it into his body.  It flowed through one arm, around his body, then out through the other one.  He had turned himself into one of the roots.  Concentrating harder he followed the flow of Aura deep into the earth’s core, then up to the air.  He could feel every living creature, everything feeding off this Aura.  It was like being connected to everything at once.  Opening his eyes, he saw a glowing image of the earth floating in the center of the room.  It looked different than he remembered, there were only three continents instead of seven.

“Shifting plates did this shortly after Azrael locked in the humans.  We think its the earth trying to revert back to her birth form, to restart,” said Nicholas.

“We?”

Jesse voice emanated from around the room, shocking himself.  He wasn’t sure how it had happened but somehow he had become one with the room.

“Exodus and I as well as a few other key players in this game.  Don’t worry, you’ll meet them soon enough.  Now I need you to concentrate on finding the other Dragon Gems.”

“Right.”

Jesse followed the Aura around the world again, looking for any large clusters of Gaia’s.  It was very difficult as the two Aura’s were almost exactly alike.  The only difference Jesse could tell was a slight color difference.  Gaia’s was light green, where as the earth’s was more blue green.    However they flowed through the same paths, forming a double helix flow.  Jesse wondered if he followed Gaia’s flow, could he trace it back to the source.