A DRAGON'S JEWEL: the Ancient Mage and the dark arts

Chapter 7: a Girl's folly and a Dragon's fun

As Alythia's eyes fluttered open, she again found herself in a strange white and empty space.

She sat up and saw the small figure of something white scurry towards her.

As it got closer she was able to make out its form – it looked somewhat like a miniature dragon. The tiny white beast was absolutely beautiful and had a bright blue gem embedded in its chest.

'What is ---' but before she was able to finish her thought the voice of the little dragon interrupted her.

"Child, I came here because you have called for me"

The voice sounded familiar like something Alythia had heard before, perhaps somewhere and sometime long ago.

The dragon looked at her, its eyes shone with amusement.

"We've met many times before but it seems you have forgotten. Now let's leave it at that. Alythia tell me, what is it you seek?"

She let out a tiny gasp the moment the dragon uttered her name.

'The red light' she mouthed while deeply staring into the little creature's eyes.

"But you look so different from before, how was I supposed to recognize you?"

The tiny white beast leaped up onto her shoulder and wrapped its long tail around her neck like a scarf. "Ah, I have many forms; but though my appearance may change, my character does not"

Alythia thought for a moment but still felt perplexed. "People look at appearances though. How am I to see anything other than that?"

There was a long silence before the dragon finally spoke. "You must be different from them. Their eyes are not trained to see what is real and so they only see what is apparent. It must not be so with you – train your eye to look past the appearance towards what lay beyond it"

The dragon jumped down, landing softly on the ground.

It turned to Alythia's hands which were positioned on her lap – one under the other with her palms facing upward.

The dragon placed one of his paws inside hers and she instinctively wrapped her hand around it.

All of a sudden the dragon grew larger and Alythia's hand was no longer wrapped around it but now its claws were encircling her.

As it lifted her up towards its face, she wrapped both arms around a single talon to stabilize herself.

"Keep a firm hold of me" the dragon whispered "That way you will know who I am at all times".

Alythia was utterly mesmerized by the overwhelming tenderness emanating from its ebony eyes.

"But even if you do forget again" the Dragon continued "I shall again remind you. Often times people need to be reminded more than they need to be instructed"

The white beast then began to softly hum a soothing melody. Alythia was sure she had heard the song before but could not remember where.

As she listened to his sweet voice her eyes became quite heavy.

She lay her head down, still encompassed by the dragon's talons, and drifted off to sleep.