"You're going to get yourself killed!" Rex said, his voice seemed to be filled with actual worry. His concern might have been fake for all that Tau knew, but she still wanted to stick it to him. Of course she understood the gravity of her situation, but she also understood the gravity of the alternative. It was either fly home on the back of this dragon, or accept being a civilian on the other side of a war she was supposed to be fighting in. Maybe she really would rather die than accept that she was out of this war for good, or maybe was simply afraid of being afraid. She shrugged of that thought, what's bravery if not the fear of fear? She couldn't help but admit, part of her motive was definitely a desire to stick it to that dog named green haired asshole who doubted her.
She did her best to muster a confident swagger as she walked slowly up towards the dragon. From far away she could see the dragon only for its beauty, its rainbow lit wings and the black trance of its scales, but like most things in life, it was a far scarier picture up close. Its scales were like an overlapping patchwork of bent razorblades contorted over a muscular body, tipped with talons at the end of its feet. It opened its mouth as she approached, its teeth were sharp and long, a faded ivory color that looked stained slightly red from decades of consuming raw meat. It's eyes seemed as beautiful and multicolored as the wings, but distance clouded them with grey. From what she could see however, they looked to Tau as if they saw her more as prey than as a potential friend.
Before making it 4 feet from the dragon, it reared its head up into the air and looked down on her, making a low pitched shrieking sound that sounded like it belonged more in some factory in Drona than out in the wilds of Atheria. As its head was raised into the air it mouth widened even more, the throat between its jaws looked like a dark black void. Tau found the darkness comforting, because it was better than the alternative, that alternative being a burning torrent of fire. It was as at this point that Tau began to question the wisdom of her decision. Before she may have thought the worst case scenario was that the Dragon would simply fly off, but now Staring into its gaping jaw, bracing for the moment where it would ignite yellow and orange, and where her body would turn black and charred under the wrath of its flames, she knew the worst case scenario was not a fun one.
But she stepped forward anyway, because fear never had ever done her any good. Being brave was the only thing Tau had ever known, the only way she knew how to fight for herself. The rainbow beast ahead of her finally seemed to lower its guard a bit, closing its jaws and bending its head to the side, as if trying to get a better look at the girl brave enough to stand before it. Tau was about to seize the opportunity to move a step closer, before she heard the light shriek of another dragon near her, she turned her head to see Xaren, staring down a dragon that was clearly showing no interest. The boy extended his hand but the dragon just seemed to be having none of it, clawing its way backwards and screeching. The Dragon didn't just seem uninterested as it backed away from the boy, it almost seemed afraid, no, terrified of him. As if he was diseased, like something to be avoided at all costs.
Tau very quickly thanked God and her Stars, whoever had made sure she wasn't as unlucky as him, and then returned to the task at hand. She stepped closer to the dragon, who seemed more curious than anything. Now she was close enough to see the detail on the Dragon's shimmering wings. They were like a wave of rainbow, all the colors in the universe flowing down through the dragon's wing. But that was nothing compared to the dragon's eyes. As the dragon became less defensive it lowered its head towards hers, she was now in distance of touching the creature, but she was stunned, her body locked into place as she gazed into a hole so deep an unending, a portal to something else. The colors of the dragon's eyes seemed to be an infinite explosion of every shade imaginable. She swore that she could see colors that had never before existed in her mind, colors she could not put to name. The ebony black scales that covered its black body only appeared to add contrast to the tsunami of color that lied within. She thought about how nothing in the world could ever compare to what she was seeing, how no God nor any Man could ever put into words what she felt in that moment. The Dragon spoke to her, something within it, that thing inside, the place where Color and Darkness battled, a place she knew within herself all too well. In that moment she felt incomplete, she knew something was missing from her, and missing from the dragon as well.
Her hand extended, blazing a path of its own, a path that was fearless. Her heart was pounding so fast it didn't seem like they were separate beats, just a river of thumping so close and indiscriminate as to feel like the roll of a drum. She wondered now, if her eyes were like its. If it saw in her what she could see in it. She thought about what she saw, but her body, no her soul, dreamed only of what she could feel. The dragon's head lowered to meet her hand, as if it too desired to know the wondrous possibility that lie within their connection. The creature's posture seemed to lose all its defensiveness as it resigned itself to feeling the grace of her touch. Then in a miraculous instant too quick to see and yet too slow to count, they met. When her hand found the black scales of the dragons temple, her senses were invaded by a wave of beauty. Her mind saw a flash of color so spectacular it could barely comprehend what it was seeing, but they heard only two words. Two words so loud and yet seemingly with no source, two words that she could not decipher the origin of. She couldn't tell if the words came from her own consciousness, from the Dragon's roaring spirit, or from some beautiful merger of the two. Despite the ambiguity of their beginnings, the words rang clear in her mind.
Dream Wing
"Your name." She smiled, moving her hand softly across the jagged edges of the Dragons Scales. She spoke it to herself, "Dream Wing." Time seemed to blur and pass without reason as she was drawn deeper into the moment. She wanted nothing more than to take off with the dragon, she felt as though the world could be theirs. She realized, everything. Her father, her lack of a father, what she did, her joining the airforce, the war, her getting shot down, her being rescued, all of that had led to this moment. The dragon had been waiting there this whole time. Even when she was younger, when she had the audacity and defiance to brave her stepfathers fire for but a glimpse of freedom, Dream Wing was there, waiting for her. Fate had brought them together. She felt drawn back to the sky, like she knew that's where they belonged.
"I can't believe it." The trance broke as she turned around to see Xaren standing there, tears welling up in his eyes, "I can't... I-, you never even trained, you, you can't even use magic, and I-" he turned around, seeming to want to shield his despair. Tau couldn't even imagine how much it hurt him, to see some random girl he'd rescued from a burning plane succeed where he failed.
"Xaren." Tau said, in a remorseful tone. She agreed that it was unfair, that she had found something magical that was so obviously lost on the boy, "Xaren please I-"
His fists clenched as electricity bristled from the bottom of his hands then up through his arm. The lightning then faded as the boy turned slowly back around. He had tears streaming down his face and an obviously fake smile, "I think you're super cool. Don't let me take this away from you. Have fun, Dragon Rider." He put emphasis on those last two words, like they meant something to him.
He turned around again and headed back towards another dragon. Tau felt guilt seize at her soul as she watched the boy's somber walk away from his dream. He looked as broken as broken gets, his spirit shattered at her feet. She hated the feeling, this boy she only knew for a few days had grown to feel like a brother to her. It hurt to seem him so wounded.
Tau shook her head, and returned her gaze to the Dragon upon who's wings she'd soar home. She felt it, that pull to the sky, a feeling she'd known all her life. A feeling she'd known when she watched the planes buzz above her school the potato fields of home, that total sense of awe she'd experienced when watching the Gliding seeds of the aelor vines on the farm, that inescapable attraction to the unending blue of the sky that tugged at her very soul since the day she arrived on that farm and all she could do was look up. She naturally reached up and grabbed onto a dull point on the creatures scales with one hand and using her leg to push up from the creatures foot, she heaved herself up sideways onto the Dragon's back. Her body was sideways on the dragon but she reached her arm around the dragons neck and swung her legs over so that they were both sitting opposite each other, with the dragons scales between them. It was like riding a horse, except she was closer to the Dragon's neck than how most people ride horse. And she quickly remembered she'd never ridden a horse in her life, so a Dragon was going to be one heck of an undertaking. She looked to her left and right to see the other dragonriders had also found their mounts, most of them were riding further up on the backs of their dragons than she was, and they mostly had saddles too. Tau didn't think a saddle was necessary, the scales on its back were significantly less jagged than on the rest of its body. She ran her fingers along the dragon's neck, and leaned forward towards the dragon's head, "How about we ditch this place?" she asked smiling, "I've actually got a destination in mind."
Awkwardly, the dragon did not go anywhere. As much as Tau's soul seemed to scream out for the sky, the Dragon wouldn't budge. She became quite embarrassed. It occurred to her at this point that she didn't exactly know how to ride a dragon. She kind of figured it would be intuitive, like flying a plane or shooting a gun, but apparently things weren't that simple, especially without a saddle. She tried slamming her feet into the dragons scales like a Jockey does on a horse, but it seemed in Vain. The Dragon just wouldn't budge. She looked back and forth trying to see if she could learn anything on how to pilot a dragon from her fellow dragon riders, but to her surprise a lot of them seemed to be having the same problems she was. She scooted forward, holding onto the dragon's neck and trying to get a better view of its head. She hoped that maybe if she could see into Dream Wing's eyes once more she could see what the problem was.
But the dragon's eyes no longer gazed back at her, specifically they seemed to look to the horizon, right into the blazing red sun. Naturally she looked there too. Within the the sun appeared a dull black silhouette. At first she thought it was a cloud, but as she stared longer and it grew larger, she saw it for what it was, a Dragon. She compulsively muttered, "what the fuck is-"
Her words were interrupted by an ear splitting shriek as her own dragon threw its head back and released a violent roar. It was a warning call, and the Dragon seemed terrified. The other dragons were screaming similarly and many of them began throwing themselves off the cliff to fly away.. Tau's ego was very quickly brought back down to earth as she tried in vain to use her 5 minutes of experience bonded with a dragon to calm Dream Wing down. "Shhhh, It's okay. It's Okay." The approaching Dragon became larger and larger to the point where it was near blotting out the sun. This beast was massive, not near the size of the Dragon she saw over Atherios, but still larger than any other dragon at the festival. "Shhh. Shhh." She ran her hand across Dream Wing's scaled face, but she could barely even hide her own fear. "It's okay, it's okay." She looked back from her Dragon's face towards the approaching doom, it was close enough that she could make out blood red scales, and eyes darker than the coldest void of the night. She muttered the words, more to herself than anything, "It's okay, It's Okay." More than anything she just wanted to fly away, and the dragon complied.
In one swift and fluid motion Dream Wing turned its neck violently, pushed off the ground with its legs, and brought its unfurled wings backward. Tau felt her body come loose from the dragon, gravity unable to hold her down against its scaled back. The powerful wings of the dragon launched Dreaming Wing forwards without her, and the laws of physics which state that every action has its reaction sent her flying back. She was in the air for several seconds, propelled by the dragons jump, before impacting hard into the grass mere feet from the cliffs edge. She tumbled and slid before coming to rest lying against the grass. Her vision, blurred from the pain of several broken ribs, gazed out and saw Dream Wing, her dragon, her hope of escape, flying desperately away from the field, flying away without her. In that instant, Tau wondered honestly to herself, why do the things I love always leave me behind?
Her train of thought was interrupted as she felt the ground next to her shake, and then after that, a violent and pained shriek pierced the air. Her neck craned painfully back towards the screeching and what she saw horrified her, A massive blood Red Dragon with opal eyes, crushing another dragon's neck between its jaws as it pinned it down with talons the size of a steel beam. The smaller Dragon was screeching, trying desperately with its front claws to drag itself out of the dragon's violent grip, it's head thrashed wildly spilling blood out between the teeth of the larger dragon as it tried to escape. Tau didn't want to wait to see how the dragon's struggle would end, she pulled herself up off the ground, clutching painfully at her side , and tried to walk away as fast as she could. Every movement felt like she was lifting the weight of the world, and every gasp of air was absolute torture as her lungs strained to expand against her shattered ribs. She trudged away desperately, The sounds of screeching behind her slowly turning into gurgled screams.
Not even making it a few feet, she heard a disgustingly thick cracking noise, and the gurgled screams behind her went to silence, their sound replaced by the eerie and disgusting gnawing of flesh as the larger Dragon devoured its prey. Then over the gnawing sound she heard a shout, "HELP!"
The chewing stopped, and Tau turned around to see a boy trapped beneath the corpse of the dead dragon. He was pulling as hard as he could on his foot that pinned beneath the dragon. She recognized it instantly as Xaren, crying hopelessly as he pulled with all his might against his pinned foot. The dragon at that point was staring down at the pitiful boy trying to escape the doom of its Jaws. Xaren looked up from his foot to see the Dragon and froze, he started mumbling something to himself as the dragon opened its mouth and pulled its gargantuan body over the corpse of the Dragon towards Xaren.
Tau didn't even consider if the boy was human or hybrid when she turned to the Dragon and shouted "Hey You Stupid Bastard!" Unfortunately the dragon didn't turn its head till Tau, with a lot of pain, managed to chuck a rock at its head. It bounced off like a pebble, "Take a look you scaled scum. You won't be the first Dragon I've ever killed, but I can make you the last if you'd like!"
The sound of talons scraping across the ground towards Tau was infinitely more immediate to her than the image of a Blood Red Dragon marching inexorably in her direction. Her body was broken and she didn't even have a gun. She scanned her surroundings for some kind of cover and found it, a large rock only 5 feet away. She ran towards it, ignoring the horrible pain in her ribs as adrenaline drives her to the rock as quick as she can. She turned back to the dragon as she ran, it's mouth wide open, the deep black void down its throat sparked into an orange glow. Tau dove for the rock, being sure to land on her shoulder and not her chest, she tucked in her feet as dragon fire spilled outwards in all directions, incinerating anything outside the boulders direction. The heat was brutal. She felt her skin burn from the surrounding flames. Against the pain in her chest, she pulled in her legs as close as she could, balling herself up with her back against the rock. She was shaking as the heat surrounded her body and she could do nothing else but close her eyes and pretend she was somewhere else.
Eventually the roaring sound of fire softened around her, and the blinding orange surrounding her faded. She crawled out from behind the rock, and wondered why no one was helping her. She realized then that all the other dragon riders likely flew off when their dragons got spooked, and everyone else there was just a civilian. The sound of claws scraping against stone as it ripped up the boulder where Tau had been previously hiding. Tau could hear the monster marching towards her, the world seemed to shake with every step.
Tau pushed herself harder, hand gripping her side, the taste of blood thick in her mouth. She trudged as fast as she could before the weakness in her legs was to much for her to overcome and she tumbled to the ground. She looked back towards the red hulking beast that walked towards her. For this moment Tau realized I'm okay. She thought about how she'd already been living on borrowed time, for all she knew she was going to die over Atherios, these extra days she'd had were something she'd never trade away. The dragons claws stepped next to her head and she could feel it breathing down on her. She closed her eyes and threw up her arms, just make it quick she thought, I don't want to feel myself burning.
A bolt of lightning struck the dragon on its left side. Tau opened her eyes to see Xaren standing there with electricity bristling up his hand, "I'm not going to let you kill my friend!" Tau wanted to say no, but she was too weak. The Dragon lifted its talons up from next to Tau's head and turned to face the boy. Xaren shouted down the dragon, "I'm not afraid of you!"
"Xaren no!" Tau could hear Brandon shout from somewhere she couldn't see.
Xaren continued as the Dragon strode up to him, blood dripping from its mouth, menace in its stride.
"I'm not afraid!" The lightning slipped from his fingers, "I was afraid of you, but someone I love taught me that people do change. That our hatred and our fear isn't set in stone. Maybe you did kill all those people and dragons at the festival two years ago, maybe you have been killing dragons for decades, but you can change! You will change!" The Dragon didn't stop walking towards Xaren, but Xaren wouldn't stop talking either. He looked back to Tau and smiled, "We're all monsters until we decide not be."
The Dragon moved with every intention of devouring the small child, when Xaren reached out his short arm as far as he could and touched the nose of the Dragon. The Dragon froze in its stride. Xarenc closed his eyes and in a whisper louder then thunder he said the name "Dawn". A smile broke across his face, "Let's go touch the sky." He walked over to the Dragon's side and pulled himself up the onto the its Back, using its jagged scales as hand and footholds. He got himself situated on the Dragon's back. The dragon by now, seemed much calmer, it was acting almost entirely different, and it looked to Tau like both it and Xaren wanted desperately to fly away.
The ground shook as another Dragon Rider landed on the ground, Tau looked to see that it was Rex, then the ground shook again and utter monster of a Dragon easily twice the size of Dawn landed next to him. Tau recognized this for what it was, the Dragon from Atherios. The one who killed Sparrow 4, Tau realized that he must be the leader of the Dragon Rider's council, he's the one who started this war. In that moment Tau very much regretted not bringing her handgun with her, she knew she could have ended the war with one bullet if she'd only had the chance. Then she remembered what Rex had said about people reading minds and so she cleared her thoughts.
The Red Dragon no longer seemed quite as imposing. Instead it was fearful, as it backed slowly away from the two Dragon Riders. The violent figure of the Blood Red Dragon contrasted with the small golden haired boy that sat atop it. The Dragon Rider atop the monster Dragon spoke first. He was an elf with bright silver hair, "I'd recommend you step off that Dragon, child. It's been causing trouble here for quite a long time, you'd do well to let us put it down."
Xaren replied in Elven, "Dracoyaren entu ep Alra" Tau didn't understand what it meant.
Rex replied this time, gesturing to the elf next to him "Apheron is very aware of the law. But you must also remember the last verse of the law, 'Dracoryaren entu Alra xe comeron'. Yes a Dragon is absolved of its past transgressions when it is bound to a rider, but that rider is also now bound to the dragon in spirit and the law. If the Dragon kills again, you'll be just as guilty."
"He won't kill again. I promise." Then he turned to the elf, "Only the enemies of Liberty should fear our fire."
The Elf smiled, "Well then, so long as the boy understands the gravity of his responsibilities than I am of no right to hold him any longer. The sky is yours, Dracoyaren."
With a smile wider than the Eastern Ocean, Xaren turned his dragon around and they lept off the cliff together. Flying off into a sky painted orange and red. Tau then collapsed to the ground, but it wasn't long before Brandon was over top her, glowing orange hands extended. Tau felt a warmth in her chest as her ribs slowly slipped back into place, "Thank you so much for saving my son. I would have helped but, I'm no soldier."
She looked over to the dead Dragon that had pinned the boy, and then back to Brandon. "It's fine. He's a good kid, I'm glad things are working out for him."
Brandon shook his head, "No, I was wrong about you. You're not the monster I thought you were." his hands stopped glowing, and he stood up. With extended hand Tau was pulled back standing, the pain in her chest was gone. Brandon looked out onto the Horizon, "When I saw your plane fall from the sky, I wanted to leave you. Xaren ran up and started pulling you out of the wreckage. I realize now that it was fate that brought that plane down." He smiled at her, "Our home is your home."
Tau was blindsided by a hug from the side, it was Xara. She had tears in her eyes, "I was so scared. Thank you, Thank you so much." She pulled away and was smiling, "Please, stay with us. Life is good here and Gods' willing it'll stay that way. You're like the older sister that Xaren never had, you've been quite the help around the house, and we always need more people with your kind of go get 'em attitude out here."
"I don't know."
Brandon smiled, "You don't have to decide right now. I'm just saying we're making the offer." He threw his arms up and stretched, "Now, Xaren's probably going to want to meet us back at the house so I say we get over there before he gets done."
Tau laughed, "I wish my Dragon hadn't left me behind, then we could fly back to the house."
Xara smirked at Tau, "Exercise is good for you! Don't they teach you that in Zytria?"
"Not quite." Tau replied.
Brandon Giggled, "I'm from Zytria and I can tell you I still hate these hikes. They're killer on the knees," he saw that Xara's face was a little stern, "Uh, but they're beautiful, and I get to go on them with you so all is well."
Tau paused in her stride. She was surprised to see Rex and the Elven Dragon rider had dismounted their dragons and were speaking to each other. Rex seemed pretty heated. She tried her best to eavesdrop.
"How many times do I have to tell you that I want to no part in your war!" Rex was being loud enough to draw some amount of attention to himself, but most of the people had already dispersed.
"That's not what I mean." The Elf replied quietly, "I have a mission that's more your speed."
"I am not today, not tomorrow, not ever, ever, going to kill for your mistake."
"It's a rescue mission." Rex's eyes widened, and the Elf looked deadly serious, "The Zytrians weren't bluffing. They went through with it."
Tau jumped in surprise when she heard Xara calling, "Tau! We have to make it back before Xaren does. I want to cook something nice for him. A congratulations dinner if you will."
"For sure." Tau replied, catching up with them.
[I'm wondering if I should rewrite this last part so that Arty saves Tau first, and then Tau saves Arty rather than the other way around. It's just kind of hard to write Tau as a convincing racist.]