BOUND BY FLAMES AND SHADOWS 1st chapter

Chapter 1: Dragons

Wake?

Where am I? What am I? I feel warm, floating in liquid. Muffled sounds penetrate the warmth around me. Reaching out, something hard is holding me in. Something urges me to break out. Cracking sounds surround me, shadows move. A loud sound blasts into me. Reaching out, I push; my claw penetrates the hard shell, and liquid spills out. Pulling my claw back, blinding light hits my eyes. I freeze, stunned by the light, then do it again. Feeling the shell give way, I push it out of the way. Trying to climb out, my entire world shifts, and I fall. Thrown into cold, soft, scratchy pieces of something surrounding and sticking to me. Warmth moves up my body and makes a noise that relaxes me. It is from the thing licking me. Turning my head, I see a black and purple face smiling down at me. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch more movement. Turning to look, I see another face, this one silver in color.

Daeva: “Hello, my little Asani.”

Salem: “Wow, my first daughter. What more could a father want.”

Asani.

Someone else is there; they are green, much smaller than the other two.

Pepo: “Mom, but I don’t want any siblings. Let us eat her. You say dragons taste good, especially young ones. At least I have eliminated all but one, and I would have to agree with you.”

Salem: “PEPO, I WILL HAVE NONE OF THAT! We do not eat other dragons. You disgust me, you have too much of your mother in you.”

50 years later.

Asani.

Investigating the chamber with my brother right next to me. My mother and father stand around a group of eggs my mother just laid. Mother and Father are talking in raised voices, but I cannot make out all the words. Just enough to know it is the same argument they had with my group of eggs, my brother’s group, and every group in between.

Asani: “What are you doing, Pepo? You going to make mother blow up again?”

Pepo: “Be quiet. You annoy me. I wish Mom had allowed me to eat you when you came out of your egg. If it were not for Dad, I would have been able to.”

Asani.

My brother walks right in. Father grabs one egg, turns, and walks out. My mother calls me in.

Daeva: “Asani, it is time for you to learn to eat food as you will catch it. Now, come and watch Pepo. You see, Asani, we female dragons can lay up to 15 eggs every year. Although it is good for the species, the 300 years of drudging work it takes for a young dragon to turn into an adult dragon is too much. There are a lot of pros to not keeping every dragonling. One is easy food for me or my other young dragons. Pepo and I love the taste of young dragons. Your father seems to have a big issue with this.”

Asani

I walk in, confused, and sit next to my mother but across from Pepo. An egg hatches as the baby dragon falls. I see my brother grab it by its tail and slowly lower it into his mouth, and without chewing, he swallows it. The next thing I know, my mother is handing me one. Wanting me to follow what she and Pepo were doing, I take the small dragon and pop its head in my mouth, slurping it up like the long pieces of meat my mom always gave me before. Feeling it weakly thrash in my mouth, a sense of power comes over me. It is like nothing I have ever felt before. I start not being able to think; all I know is it can do nothing. I have all the power over whether it lives or dies a horrible death. The state I find myself in makes me want to do more horrible things to it before feeling it wiggle down my throat. Enjoying myself, the more I do bad things, the bigger the smile it brings to my face. We sit there for hours, finishing off the other 12. My brother and I get 4 each, and my mother eats 6. When we finish and are walking out of the chamber, a feeling of power comes over me, and I feel proud of myself, not used to the feeling I am having.

I enjoyed it!

Salem: “Asani, come here.”

Going to him, he has the egg he left with. I lick my lips at the sight of it.

Salem: “Asani, what did you think of what your mother and brother had you do?”

Asani: “It was great. They taste so good.”

When I say that, I can see a tear form in my dad’s eye as he shakes his head ever so gently. I do not understand how he could be sad for me about something that makes me so happy. It seems to delight my mother too.

Salem: “Asani, a wise being once said, ‘A dragon who stands for what is right cannot ever be wrong. You can be small or big, a white unicorn or a dragon or even a two-legged. The strongest of dragons, unicorns, and two-legged will follow you anywhere, but if you do evil things, you will be repaid in kind. Your actions will be seen for what they are, no matter how well you cover them. You may not understand this now, but give it time.’”

130 years later

Daeva: “PEPO! ASANI! SOLUN! COME HERE! NOW!”

Three little voices giggle, “Yes, mother.”

Daeva (yelling): “Hatchlings, you are worthless! You take your precious time getting here, and look at this mess! I asked you to take care of it an hour ago. Where the heck have you been?”

Solun: “We were preparing a nice romantic dinner for you and Daddy!”

Daeva (in a put-out voice): “Oh, well then, it is close to dinnertime, and I am rather hungry.”

Solun

Escorting my mommy to a dimly lit chamber of the cave. A dark stone slab glistens with moisture droplets. A figure sits at the stone with an eerie glow perfect for the occasion. I grab a bundle of straw and slide it towards my mommy. Running into another section of the cave, I come back with a large, white unicorn. Flinging the unicorn’s body upon the stone slab.

Daeva (yelling): “Dead, I don’t eat dead!”

Asani

A clawed hand swipe sends Solun, my little sister, slamming hard into a rock wall on the other side of the chamber, and she falls in a heap to the floor with a loud thud. Next thing, I have to run due to a green torrent of fire coming from my mother right at me. If it were not for my father stepping in front to block, I very well could have died. My tail gets a full-force blast from it.

Asani (screams in pain)

I turn just in time to see between my father’s legs as Pepo is lifted off the ground and flung backward over my mother’s head. Moments later, I hear the thud of Pepo hitting the wall and falling to the ground. I see my mother start toward Solun. At this point, my father acts and springs, knocking stones from the ceiling as he lands in the middle of Mother’s back, and he rolls her. Mother lands on top of him and turns from Solun to Father with her rage. I see Pepo high-tailing it out of the cave, followed very closely by Solun. Seeing Pepo and Solun running, my mother releases pillars of flame. I see my dad laying down behind them, shielding us three from the flames. Father takes blow after blow, but he never strikes back until he knocks my mother’s foot out from under her, stopping her from chasing us. Suddenly, I feel something pull on my tail.

Mother has the size advantage and strength due to dragon females being larger in almost every way. Mother moves to try to regain footing. She places one foot down, and my father kicks it out from under her. I watch as Father keeps Mother off balance while getting his own footing back; I can’t see everything.

Salem

Sitting, waiting in a dimly lit chamber of the cave. My three children have told me they have something special planned for me and my wife. The youngest leads my wife into the chamber. She sits at the other end of the stone slab. My kids start to bring in food and put it on the stone slab. When my wife sees it, she explodes in anger over it being dead! I had to jump in front of my middle child to prevent her from being burned and killed. As an adult dragon, you are...

Fireproof, and fire has an effect until you reach that golden age of ascension to adulthood. A young dragon is just as likely to be killed by another dragon’s flames as a weak two-legged. The age of ascension is 300 years old for a dragon; that is when our scales harden, and we become fireproof, and the chance of us being killed by fire plummets to almost zero.

Shocked, my wife grabs our youngest by the tail and tosses her against the wall with a loud wet thud of flesh and bone hitting stone. As Pepo runs, she grabs him and throws him over her head to hit the wall. He falls with a limp thud to the ground. My wife moves toward Solun, lying helplessly on the ground. Leaping, I go crashing into her side. Being smaller than her, I must put everything I have into hitting her. I can feel her stagger as I roll myself over her back, and my claws find purchase in her black armored hide. I plant my back feet against her front and back legs and lean back and pull, trying to prevent her from killing another one of our young. She loses her balance, and I push off; she falls to her side. I hit the wall, scrambling to my feet. She gets to her feet and gives a full blast of her fire. I try to roll out of the way. I still take the full force of her fire. I get back on my feet and take another leap just as a black claw knocks me across the face. As we collide, my full bodyweight latches my jaws around her throat, and I blow my own fire. Even though we dragons are fireproof, most dragon fire has small amounts of acid in it. Our scales are not acid-proof, and if we get hit enough with a dragon’s fire, our scales no longer protect us against it. With my jaw locked down on her throat and my fire hitting her, she comes to an abrupt stop, and I can feel her relax again. I release my jaws and unwrap my legs from around her.

Asani (screams and flips around): “Sulon, quit!”

Sulon: “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Asani: “You leave, I am staying.”

Asani

My younger sister was born 50 years after I was born and 100 years after my older brother. My older brother and I both did not want her. However, my father did not take well to our suggestion on how to get rid of her. I admire my father, but there is something about him I can’t quite put my claws on. He seems to be able to hold his own against a bigger, more powerful dragon. That should not be able to happen. One of these days, maybe I will understand how he does it, and I will have that power for myself. To clarify one thing, it is not that my mother holds back. I have seen him on many occasions fight off a bigger dragon than himself to save where we live. The swamps are prime real estate for a dragon. As I recall, here is a prime example of my father facing a much bigger dragon than himself.

100 years earlier

Sulon

Hearing my Daddy call me, I turn to fly back to the cave over the patchwork canopy of the trees. I am within human eyesight of the cave when I hear my dad scream.

Salem: “Sulon, dive into the trees!”

Without question, I dive for the trees. Entering the tops of the trees, I hear a loud shriek behind me. I am barely able to make it to the cover of the trees before an intense red light lights up the cloudy sky. I turn just in time to see another dragon coming in to take our home from us. It is a very large blue dragon named Velour. She has come here before and was run off by my mom without much issue. This is not good because my mom is a much larger and stronger dragon than my father, and my mother is not here. Myself, I am much too young to be much help.

I can see through the trees my dad takes to the air to confront Velour. Being a young dragon, I can fly through the trees of the swamp, which my dad and mom cannot. They are just too big, whereas I can weave in and out of them. This is one of many reasons dragons like the Unenchanted Swamp. The Amorites Forest has trees, but its trees are not as close together as the Unenchanted Swamp’s trees are. A full-grown dragon can still fly through the Amorites Forest trees.

I can see my dad release a myriad of flames. Velour matches my dad’s with her own. When the two pillars of flames meet, an explosion happens. I get knocked to the ground from the shockwave. I can see my dad get blown back, and Velour just keeps going toward my dad, who is falling out of control. I can see a smile spread across Velour’s face. I can hear her call my dad.

Velour: “Without your wife, you stand no chance against me. By the way, I will enjoy eating your young.”

I keep watching my father tumble through the air as Velour dives after him. She gets right on top of him, and I can see she open her maw.

Sulon (screams): “DADDY, NO!”

I watch in horror as I see Velour lock her mouth around my unconscious dad’s gaping mouth. A red light escapes the two dragons' interlocked jaws. Just like that, I have no dad, and now I am on the menu. I lay there in shock, watching as a body falls from the sky. I turn away as it gets closer to the ground. I hear the loud thwack as it hits the ground. I can feel the water splatter my body from the impact that his body made. If I looked, I could see his dead form from where I lie, but I can’t bear to do so.

Asani

I hear a loud roar come from the front of the cave. I run to the front of the cave just in time to see a giant dragon bearing down on my young sister and to see my father take off. It does not take me long to put together what the roaring was about. The other dragon is a vaguely familiar sight. I do not know this dragon so much from seeing her a lot but from my mother and father talking about her. She is one of the few dragons that makes my mom seem like she is good. Her name is Velour. She is one of many dragons from the desert beyond the mountains.

I can see Velour and my father release fire, and when the two flames hit, the resulting explosion sends me flying back into the cave. I hit my horned head hard on the stone floor, and things go dark.

Salum

I step out of the cave and yell for Sulon to come home.

“Sulon come home!”

When I see her, I wait for a few minutes, and I can see her flying over the tree. I was just about to turn to go back into the cave when I saw something behind her. It was not long until I saw a glint of blue at that moment, I screamed for her to fly into the trees. I can see her dive into them. I take off and head for the intruder. I know who it is too. She is one of the few dragons that is bigger than Daeva. I get in range releasing my fire. I wait for the two flames to meet and right before they do I fold my wings in and let myself start to free fall.  BOOM! I get pushed backward and I can see Velour chasing me. I can hear her taunts. I let my mouth hang open. To make it look like I got knocked unconscious. I can see Velour get closer and I see her opening her maw. I shut my eyes and I feel her close her maw around my open mouth interlock our teeth. I can feel the seal close as I can no longer breathe though my mouth. At that moment I release fire. The fire travels up my throat and out my mouth into hers and meets her fire in the middle of her throat.  The result of this is she lost her head. And her body fell limp to the ground, and I pull out of my free fall as her head fell away from me.

Sulon

Lay there sulking tears streaming down my face. Trying to stay, quit knowing She was looking for me. Trying and failing to surprise the intense streams of emotions I was feeling didn’t move. The sound flapping of Velour’s wings over the top of the trees filled my hearing holes as she looked for me. I lay there fear coursing through my body as I tried to stay still. I did not want her to find me. Clinching my jaws shut as if that would help me not make a noise. All types of emotions swirling in me. The feel of the waterfall of tears falling down my cheeks is a never-ending reminder that I can’t scream out. The flapping of death above me; looking for me. Wanting to devour me. Covering my hearing holes with my clawed hands to drown out the sound. I squeezed my eye even tighter. My jaws are beginning to ache. I can hear her voice calling for me. I just want to let out a scream. My mind is racing to many things going through it. I feel my heart beating faster than it ever has. 

Feeling the vibration in the ground behind me. They get stronger as she approaches me, must wait a little longer. Feeling another step with my ear holes plugged. A high pitch snap fills the air of other tree and feel the vibration of it falling to the ground. I feel the cool water slap agist my body. Slowly I get my legs under my fire building in my gut. Time seems to slow another step tree crack and falls water splash another foot fall.

spring aiming for her throat and release all my fire as I clamp my jaws around her throat and dig my claws into whatever I could find to hold on too. My eye shut tight waiting for death to strike back. Tears still going down my face. I could feel her stumble backwards.

I so badly wanted to scream for help, from my sister and brother. I could not release my jaws to do Off. I was dead. I start to thrash my head back and forth, trying to tear her throat out. I can feel my teeth start to move ever so slightly, and I put more into it.

Hearing her voice; not understanding what she is saying. My body slowly loses strength. My fire went out a long time ago. My jaws are burning and losing grip, my mind tells them not to open. She gets one of my clawed hands out. I can feel her just pull me off. My other clawed hand is removed. My jaws give out, my mind screams in rage, my whole body falling limp into the cool water.

Holding my eyes shut, not wanting to see the end, my hearing must be messed up. I don't hear gloating. Instead...

Salem: “IT IS OK, SULON! CALM DOWN! YOU ARE SAFE!”

Sulon

Feeling a gentle touch. The well of emotions reaches a point where I can't hold it back. My brain is overloaded. I let out a roar as my eyes open, and I see my daddy standing over me, blood dripping down his neck and shoulders. I launch myself back at him in a loving embrace, overcome with emotions I cannot control any longer.

150 years later

Daeva: “ASANI! Come here!”

Asani: “Yes, Mother. Oh, and Father.”

Daeva: “Seeing as your brother and sister both wish you went with them, ran off five years ago, we're going to be gone for a while. Take care of yourself.”

Salem (whispering to Asani): “Left you some food in our normal hiding spots.”

Daeva: “Quiet, you will make her weak!”

Salem: “See you later.”

Asani: “Bye, Father. I will miss you! See you, Mother.”

2 weeks later

Asani: “Mother? Where? Where's Father?”

Daeva (happily): “Dead! It’s only me and you! Don’t worry; I will make sure you grow to be a strong dragon like me!”

Asani

Rushing out of the chamber quickly. Mother laughs at me, calling me weak. Feeling the air rush by as she tries to slap me.