Adner

Battle Fourth Sun-Cycle

The sun-cycle shifted to arriving-dark as we laid out the plan. When the sun fell behind the mountain at dark-cycle, the smallest of the Spirit Dragons headed out to scout. They were to stay close and hidden. The two were only to venture a few sapling-lengths downriver. If they observed any signs of the two-legged beasts, they were to return with haste. If the scouts discovered none, they were to locate a place to camouflage themselves and wait. When the two-legged beasts appeared, the twins were to hurry back.

Upon their return, the clan would gather at the site of the ambush. When the battle began, all planning we had done vanished. That dark-cycle, the entire clan’s minds were on survival and revenge. No matter the words spoken, it would be about revenge in the end. An excessive amount of horror had been witnessed for it to be anything else.

Our clan watched these savages mutilate our loved ones, torture our young, and steal what was never theirs to possess. Our clan knew they were the ones to pay the price for the two-legged beasts’ theft.

The ones who called themselves wizards enslaved our kin. Their death was the only thing that would free us.

The sun arose with no sign of the twins or the enemy. I became concerned about the ones I sent. Were the twins captured or were we incorrect about the direction in which our enemy would be approaching? The two-legged beasts were hunters.

The Fire Dragons left a large visible trail. Were they following that, or would they use the river?

From the cycles of talking with Winark, I knew their only choice to keep pace with us was the river, but my mind had doubts. These two-legged beasts differed from the others we had dealt with. They were crueler and more cunning. No remorse ran through them.

The inability to perceive others as living, breathing creatures who feel pain and deserve to live just as much as they do is an imbalance within their kind.

How had our lives come to this? Us or them. Dragonkind was not the only one in this mindset; nature demanded this of my kind. Their elimination was necessary not just for dragonkind but for all species. The ones those monsters would refuse to coexist with and slaughter.

Seemia must have seen or sensed darkness coming from me, for she came to where I sat alone, watching the river.

“Brother, what is it?” she asked me.

“This is not what we are about. We do not spill blood.”

“Yes, we do when we must. This sun-cycle we must, and when this cycle is finished, we will spill no more,” she told me.

“Yes, I know, and I realize the necessity of it. I spoke to Oisin. I know better than any what must happen, but I still dislike it. Winark is certain of it all. He is certain from which direction the two-legged beasts will arrive. He is certain we will win. He is certain a glorious land awaits us. Did I tell you he could smell it?”

“No, you did not,” she said, sitting next to me.

“That is how we found the doorway, by his nose,” I said with a chuckle. “I do not understand how he can be so certain.”

“He may not be,” she whispered. “Winark is a leader, and he cannot let his kin know he has doubts. He needs them to follow him.”

“I am not, so why do they follow me?” I asked.

“Because they believe in you.”

I glanced at her. She had always been there supporting me through a position no male Spirit Dragon had ever held. Seemia was our leader; she was the Clan Mother. We could not leave without her.

“Adner, do not do that. What will be, will be. We know what we must do. We will figure out the rest.”

Seemia placed her forehead on mine and hummed. The vibration traveled from her to me. A calmness filled me until the sound of a distressed Spirit Dragon tore us apart.

I had sent not the youngest Spirit Dragons but the smallest of our kin. They were twins who were early in this ecosphere and had a hard beginning. Their mother had been young, too young. She had appeared at our colony from afar, and we had known little of the clan she had escaped. She was malnourished and ill used by her mate. Our healers were surprised she survived the laying in her condition. Afterward, my mother spoke to her.

“We had little food. Only males are permitted to eat their fill. We have few females. I was given to my mate while I was still a youngling. They would have killed my newlings for being males. I could not let it happen,” the frail Spirit Mother said.

She had spoken of two but only had one clutched to her.

The bloodthirst only comes for males. It seeks those who bring death and pursue power. The thirst is all-consuming and destroys every male it touches. Death pools at his feet and harm lies in his wake. The bloodthirst can spread and take more Spirit Dragon males. Those it takes become flightless savages.

“This is why males should never lead,” my Spirit Mother said. “We must deal with the tainted clan. We cannot allow such treatment of females and newlings to continue.”

The females raised armies in those dark beats because they had to. If the tainted clan had sustained, the sorrowful lives of the females and the slaughter of male newlings would have continued. The females in our colony departed in the darkfall. When they returned, a few arrived hurt, and in their wake came a small stream of females who appeared no better than the twins’ mother. There were fewer newlings, and one of them was the other twin. They became part of our clan. None of them ever returned to full health, and when the two-legged beasts came, they were the first to fall. Except for the twins.

What flew to the mountain was a single twin.

“I…” Solthar’s voice cracked as he dropped to the ground at my feet, “I am sorry. We did not do well. Velmorr and I did as you said. We headed downstream, and there was no sign of them. We flew high on a steep mountainside. My brother did not think we could be seen there. A large rock was there, hiding us from their approach.” He let out a sob. “They came from above. They appeared over the mountain. We were not looking that way. By the time we spotted them, it was too late. They had us. They grabbed my brother’s wings and my tail. I bit the one who had my brother, and he let go, but Velmorr did not flee. He attacked the monster who held me. The two-legged beast released me, and we both turned to leave, but there was a wizard with them. He sent a gust of wind at us. It sliced through my brother’s wings. He told me to go to warn you. I saw a floating vessel as I left. They know we are here.” The twin sobbed, then in a heartbreaking wail, he cried, “I left him!”

He collapsed into my sister as I took flight, leaving the twin I condemned to the darkmare he would relive for the rest of his life. I embarked for Red Rock to inform Winark. The time for battle had arrived.

“Only one twin came back?” he asked.

“The two-legged beasts must have been scouting. They came up behind the twins,” I explained.

“Upon my soul energy, my claw and tooth will end them before this cycle is done,” Winark roared.

“They know we are near, so our surprise may not be much of one.”

“That does not matter. Let us get ready.”

Winark called his kin to war and then released a call. It traveled down to the valley and beyond. The war cry rolled along the river, and I hoped it put what had become our prey on edge. They did not know what awaited them. They thought we were preparing to run. We would run no more.

The Fire Dragons headed for the river with their pouches full, and the only ones left upon the mountain were the young, elderly, and wounded dragons. The majority of the Spirit Dragons, males included, took flight. Even Solthar, who had lost so much, followed the others. They would give their all to stop the ones who were coming. Most of the males were rushing to their deaths. All Spirit Dragons know males cannot kill without risk of the bloodthirst—the same horror that befell the twins’ clan. We all understood males were not created for war, and the bloodthirst meant they would have to be slaughtered by their kin.

We gathered along the riverside, high in the surrounding mountains as we had planned. The Winged Dragons froze the river just after the bend. Dragonkind took their places and waited.

Winark

The sound of two-legged beasts pushing their floating vessel up the river reached us. It was far too soon for several of us. I heard dragons shifting, and a few murmured. I glanced around, commanding silence with my gaze. They obeyed.

The two-legged beasts were fighting the current; several of the wizards were using their wands to push them along the river. Others watched the shore and the sky. A roar ripped through the stagnant air. Strapped to a pole fixed to the floating vessel, the twin we thought lost hung face down. Water lapped up, drowning his muzzle with every rise.

His roar was a warning to us, but it made the two-legged beasts more vigilant. They slowed the vessel. The ice did no damage, but our pursuers were not paying attention and ran aground on the ice. At the moment the vessel struck, the echo of large rocks tumbling down the mountain rolled through the gorge. The boulders came to a thunderous halt in the riverbed. The two-leggeds looked back, realizing they were outmaneuvered.

The thieves poured out of their useless vessel. They knew the attack was coming. A few took steps toward the twin they captured and thought they could use him. They did not understand. We had sworn death to us all before we let them walk away.

I bellowed out the war cry to start the attack, and I was the one who dispatched most of our clan to die as mid-sun shone into the gorge. No one hesitated when the moment came. The ones without wings sprinted to the river. The ones with them filled the sky. We came upon the two-legged beasts as one clan, ready to die together.

The ones who called themselves wizards stepped forward and lifted their wands of stolen magic and turned our kin against us. We fought against the blistering cold gale. The small, slender Spirit Dragons abandoned their wings. They maneuvered under it and wove through the trees. The Fire Dragons were larger and wider and flattened the smaller trees as they drove down the mountain.

The wizards drove fire from their torches up the mountains. They could not make fire but could manipulate it with magic. The flames set trees ablaze. The Fire Dragons were undeterred, but the Spirit Dragons were forced to change their course once more until water came flying from the north. The water bombs burst high on the mountains and the cascading water washed out the fires. The Water Dragons chose not to abandon the war for the destiny of dragonkind.

When the water reached the shoreline, the wizards raised their wands and hurled their magic flying at it. A crackling spread through the air as water froze. The dragons were instructed to focus on the ones carrying wands. A Winged Dragon fell upon a two-legged beast with his back turned. The wizard was helping to stop the rushing water. He grabbed the two-legged beast. The Winged Dragon shook the wizard until his bones gave way and the wand flew into the awaiting paws of a Spirit Dragon who raced off with it.

Another wizard turned on the Winged Dragon and sliced the dragon’s belly open with a swing of his wand. More dragons poured into the river and engaged our mortal enemy. The river grew dark with the color of death.

Most of the dragons who left were gripping wands in their teeth and some in their paws. They raced toward the Spirit Dragons, who stayed on the white-capped mountain. Destroying the wands was the next goal, but the task lay in Adner’s paws.

Adner

I watched from above as the others in the clan fought. What I needed to do was important, but it was still hard to wait. When the first dragon came, it was one of my kin. He dropped the wand and turned back to help the clan without a word.

I stared at the hateful thing that had filled so many of my dreams. The foul object did nothing to heal or bring light into the ecosphere, only death and destruction. I did not desire to touch it, but had no choice.

I laid my paws on the ugly green stone and, through my touch, I saw the theft of the one enslaved. The one inside was the mate of the Water Mother, who came so close to losing her newling. The Water Dragons do not form clans in the same manner other dragonkinds do. They are one giant clan who live their lives freely throughout the many bodies of water on the ecosphere. They stay connected with their minds, which is how we knew we had located the last five.

The couple fled the two-legged beasts pursuing them in their underwater home. With the stolen magic, the enemy was no longer bound to the surface. The couple had been heading for a group of Water Dragons who waited nearby, but the male realized they would not reach them if he did not distract their enemy.

“Swim fast, I will be right behind you,” he told her.

They both knew he was not speaking true. She had a newling inside her, and she swam hard. The male Water Dragon turned on the invaders. With the magic they possessed, he was only able to slow them for a few beats. The dragon’s fins with their barbs and his muzzle filled with teeth were detached before he could get close to the enemy, and he sank to the sea floor where they followed. The Water Dragon wiggled like the snakes on land, leading the two-legged beasts away from his mate and newling. It had been a brief struggle before they overtook him. His ears could still hear his heartbeat and his eyes could still see his blood floating away from him. They plunged a green and red stone into the magic, which was encircled by the bone casing. The Water Dragon felt his bone casing collapse. He screamed as pain saturated his body and soul energy. Inside the wand, the pain endured, and the scream continued to ring—without a mouth to shape it.

I released the wand, and my own screams filled my ears. My body shook from the horror I witnessed. How could creatures condemn a living soul to that?

Someone supported me when the wand fell from my paws.

“What is it?” Seemia asked me.

“They are in there, and they keep their last moments of pain with them,” I cried.

The horror I was forced to observe but not understand never abandoned me. Death was too kind for the foul monstrosities who came for us. They should suffer as our kind had. I believe that still. On that mountaintop, I reflected on what my mother had done and viewed it through fresh eyes. I understood why she did what she did.

“We have to destroy them, everyone, even if it costs all our lives,” I told her and lifted myself from her. “We need the Shadow wands. They must be released now.”

I picked up a large white stone. I lifted it as high as my paws and toes could rise and brought it down on the hellish thing. The white stone crumbled.

“More are coming,” Seemia said.

Bringing the wands was worthless if I could not destroy them. The dragons were laying them beside the others under the tree we called home. We tried many types of rocks of assorted sizes that were on the mountaintop. None made a mark.

I sat under our home, thinking of something else to try. Numerous wands were laid before me. They circled the tree, and the Shadows shrieked their pain.

The tulp tree thought of a plan. Its branches shook and the flower petals covered the ground, but none touched the wands. As we observed, the branches struck the ground. Petals filled the surrounding air. When they came to rest, we saw large thorns, possessed by the tree, pierced through each wand. We watched as cracks started to form in the stone. In unison, the wands splintered, and the energy trapped inside shot forward and roared, at last released.

The energy rose into the sky and grew bright. It made seven different spheres of light. All but one rushed toward distant mountains and descended into them. The Shadow Dragon’s energy hovered above us, swirling with the pigment that once concealed them in storms and dark places. The ground under our feet and the surrounding mountains shook and then lay still. I looked at my sister.

“The wells are being filled,” I told her.

“Where are they going?” Seemia asked.

The Shadows sped toward the clash below.

“Revenge,” I said.

The sound of breaking wood disrupted the stillness. We looked at our home and knew it was dying. She leaned far over the mountainside, and as we watched, her roots became brittle, and they broke. She fell into the forest below, taking white rock with her. We cried for her sacrifice.

Before the great tulp tree came to rest, a sound rose, and we gazed at the river. We saw dust rising from the trees. I was less surprised than the others by the allies who appeared from the trees. What had hunted us was now our ally. The two-legged beasts had hurt their home, and they refused to stand for it. Large herd beasts were with them, ones with large spoon-like antlers and large hooves that broke bones. Others were covered in long reddish fur and had long noses.

The two-legged beasts had our magic, but we outnumbered them now. Oisin said we would not fight alone. With our home gone, we had to find another way to destroy the wands. When I stared at the mountains below, I thought of something.

“We need one of the Winged Dragons to meet me at the lava pool, and the wands here have to be taken there,” I said, turning to Seemia.

“I will go get one of them that is still on their mountain. Our clan will take the wands. They affect you too badly,” she said, stepping into her leadership role.

The ones who carried the wands followed me and arrived at the mountain to find the pool different. The lava pool was larger and in a different shape from earlier.

“When did this happen?” I asked.

“When the shaking happened,” the Fire Mother told me.

“Yours has changed as well.” She pointed to our mountain.

As I turned, I said, “I know our tree has fallen.”

“No, more than that.”

When I glanced up, I saw a small cave opening, and below it was the Spirit Dragon symbol.

“The outline of the lava pool matches the symbol for Fire Dragon.”

I glanced at the red rock mountain expecting to see the Winged Dragon symbol, but it was not there. Created from water was the Water Dragon symbol.

I saw that Seemia and one of the Winged Dragons were coming. She pointed at another mountain, and they both veered off. They disappeared for a moment, then they continued coming to us.

“There is a stream of water coming up through the red stone on the mountain and that one,” she said, pointing to the place they stopped, “has a steady stream of cool air coming from its top.”

“We know where the energy wells are, and which mountain holds what energy.”

There was one mountain alone in the group.

“We need you,” I said, speaking to the Winged Dragon who was too injured to join the battle below, “to freeze the stone, and then we will submerge them into the lava. With good fortune, this will crack them. I do not want any additional trees to be sacrificed, even if they are willing.”

She did as I asked, and once frozen, we threw them into the lava. I started to believe I had been mistaken about it working when a crack emitted from the lava. A bubble emerged from the molten rock and with it a ball of energy.

This one was different. It had an odd shade to it, golden bronze. It hung before us for an instant, then sailed to the mountain that none of the other energy gifted and sank. Seemia looked at me.

“It worked. Let us get them done.”

As the remaining collected wands were destroyed and the energy released, it floated to five of the mountains, the Water Dragon, Spirit Dragon, and three peaks where no dragon resided. The ground shook once more. It was not just the surrounding mountains. The peaks and valleys beyond shook as well.

“Keep going. I must see what is happening.”

Taking to my wings, I rose above the skyline so I could see around us. Winark joined me.

Winark

As the battle raged and the removal of the wands continued, the clash began to change. At first, the two-legged beasts wanted us alive. They wanted to harvest us as they had done the others. A dead dragon was not useful, but once they started losing wands, death came to my kin and clan. I witnessed the young and elderly cut into pieces just by the sheer will of the ones who called themselves wizards. The ones not holding the magic weapons hid behind the ones who did. Our blood sprayed the ground and sky. Their reach seemed endless.

Suddenly Shadows dashed around us, releasing their shrieks. Wands fell to the riverbed as the two-legged perceived things we could not. Dragons retrieved wands and sped them away. The Shadows faded into light, and their cries dwindled. They fled the battle and settled in a distant mountain.

How many wands did we rip from the battlefield before the next change happened? Why did it happen at all? I do not know. The water below began to dance in its banks, and I saw the two-legged and dragons alike stagger. I glanced behind me as I raised a two-legged beast in my claws and I ripped him in two. The allies Adner had spoken of burst from the mountain as a horde.

Both pack beast clans we battled with came from the mountains with countless others and pounced on our enemy. The ones on land were not alone. From the sky came hunt-lings, some of whom had sun-cycle lives and others with dark-cycles. They dived into the battle below, and following them were insects of all sorts. None of the new arrivals touched a dragon. Alas, for the two-legged beasts, they were not as fortunate. Arrows joined the new allies as the peaceful two-legged slipped through the pass below and made sure none escaped.

More two-legged beasts’ blood than dragons’ flowed down the river then. The sound of rock rubbing on rock made me look downriver, and the stones we pushed into the river were being moved. More of our enemy had arrived.

The battle was far from ended. I could only hope that with the additional allies, it would be sufficient.

Amid the battle, the earth shook unlike earlier. I looked up to find that Adner was overhead, and I pulled myself from my kin and kind. I had to witness what happened in that instance. When I reached him, he did not say a word. He stared out into the vastness of the surrounding land.

Then he pointed to a mountain in the distance. It took me a few beats to see what he had spotted. The mountain was shifting. It rose as if a giant were waking from a long slumber.

“What?” I stammered when he gestured to another and then one to the far northeast. The one that was the farthest lifted its majestic head. Dirt fell from it in clumps, forming a face that we could recognize. It shook itself, and more dirt fell to the ground.  

“They are Earth Dragons,” Adner called out.

We have no Earth Dragons, I thought, as one of the closer dragons pulled its enormous foot out of the ground.

The one to the northeast released a war cry, and the planet itself shook from it. Sounds of wings made us turn as feathered sky-lings flew out of the mountaintop to the left of the Fire Dragon peak. From the Fire Dragon Mountain came flying insects, who were able to brighten sun-cycles. The Spirit Dragon Mountain birthed four-winged insects. All of them headed for the battle. The new Water Dragons had found their way there and were shooting water bombs.

The Dragon Mountains were on their way. I had to warn the clan and our allies that something monstrous was coming to finish the battle. I dived with Adner at my side, and we cried the warning as the initial Dragon Mountain stepped on the rounded peak that was in its way. Clumps of earth fell from the sky as dragon and ally scrambled. The largest and the farthest stepped over the mountains as the dragon worked its way to the battlefield. The two-legged beasts glimpsed what was coming, and they raised what wands they had left.

They tried slashing at the newest dragons, but discovered they were not made of scales and muscle. All they accomplished was having more dirt fall on them. The clumps that fell from the dragon rolled and slammed into the two-legged beasts.

They pulled the water from the stream, almost emptying the riverbed, and sent it hurtling at the dragon, who was almost upon them. The water hit the Dragon Mountain and sprayed outward at first, but eventually bore into the dragon and seemed to slow him. One of the other wizards focused his slicing on one of the dragon’s legs and severed it. The Dragon Mountain collapsed. His enormous body landed hard on the river side of the mountain.

The wizards scanned the northeast and realized the largest of the dragons was upon them. His roar of anger at what they had done shook the ecosphere again. He lifted his massive foot and smashed it onto the closest group of two-legged beasts, who had been racing for the gorge until they saw him coming. Their cries were cut short, far too short as far as I was concerned. These two-legged beasts had a considerable price to pay.

The root, stone and soil dragon lying on the mountain sang out as a third Dragon Mountain started coming up the river from the other direction, munching on whatever the Earth Dragon could with his rock teeth. The one who lost his leg started moving down the mountain, and after watching for a bit, we were able to figure out that the trees were pushing him along.

“He is talking to the trees,” Adner said, amazement and joy filled his voice. Something I had never heard come from him.

The trees pushed the dragon into the river. He slid across what was left of the ice. His mouth open, he scooped up the enemy.

The wizards sent water, fire, and wind. They sliced and poked at the Dragon Mountains. Nothing stopped them.

When the last two-legged beast begged for his life on his knees, saying he never bared a wand, the largest of the Dragon Mountains stared at him and spoke.

“But you are the remaining one with the wisdom that is required to die this sun-cycle.” The earthy declaration rang out with the sound of truth and necessity.

As the two-legged beast continued to beg, a Dragon Mountain walked up behind him and bit down with rocky teeth.

The largest of the Dragon Mountains raised his head and looked about.

“COME FORTH,” the mountain boomed.

I searched for the one he spoke to. When I found him, Adner’s hand touched me. I glared at him, for I wanted to tear the traitor apart.

“They will do what needs to be done,” Adner whispered.

In the center of the blood-soaked river was a dragon similar to the Spirit Dragons in body. The similarity ended there. His scales were dingy gray. The white they once held faded the sun-cycle they connected to a plane the Spirit Dragons refused to. They long ago had the ability to fly, but it was taken from them. Only remnants of wings hung useless on their backs.

Milky eyes that appeared sightless—but held sight—stared at the massive dragon before him. The Aethereal Dragon stood alone in the river, emaciated and trembling with fear.

“Confess the true of what your kin did to your kind.” It was not a request.

“We gave the two-legged beasts all they needed, the knowledge, the locations, the sightlessness of dragons.”

Adner’s paw tightened, I do not know if it was to anchor me or him.

“You are the last?” the mountain asked.

“I am. They killed the others,” he spoke low, but our keen ears picked up every word.

“Why were you left alive?”

“I was the one who went to them.”

“You all saw the images, you all made the choice,” the dragon lowered his enormous face.

“My clan wanted to hide our home from them; they feared them. I was willing to give them every last dragon to save myself,” the Aethereal Dragon confessed, drowning in tears. I was certain then, as I still am, that he wept for himself, not for his deeds. He knew at last he would pay for his betrayal.

The Aethereal Dragons’ visions were unlike the Spirit Dragons’. They were flashes of images that came in disorder. Received from a plane far different, and darker than the one the Spirit Dragons connect to. The clan had to arrange them in what they hoped was the proper order. By ill fortune of dragonkind, they decided the group of images they received foretold the end of all dragons at the hands of the two-legged. They had been wrong.

The Aethereal Dragons bore the end of dragonkind. They went to the two-legged, and showed them the stone to use for their wands. The youngling Water Dragon was located by them in a vision. They helped them find the lone Lightning Dragon and blocked the Spirit Dragons from seeing.

The sound of thunderous hooves arrived at the riverbank. Standing there was not the creature I had encountered in the valley. He was too large; his fur too dark. His eyes flashed with a rage no being could hold without insanity.

“Your punishment is here,” the Dragon Mountain stated.

The herd beast charged at the small dragon, head lowered and wings spread. His deadly crown of antlers struck the small dragon before he could beg. A gurgling cry erupted from him as the herd beast raised him, stuck among his many spikes. Blood slid along the bony summit, and the herd beast bellowed with the fury of nature. The call received an answer from around us. Trees swayed as the ground heaved.

The Aethereal Dragon lifted his gaze to us as if asking for mercy. We had none to give.

The herd beast raced into the forest, and we could hear weak pleas as they went.

The Dragon Mountains never glanced at us. They turned back to their resting places. The one missing his leg had help from the trees. They lay and became mountains again. Except for the hole where the one’s leg had been, you never would have known they moved.

The war was over. Newfound allies were allies no longer. They disappeared into the forest, returning to their lives. We were prey and predator again. The tiny dragons who arrived when the mountains called had not retreated completely, but they had returned to their mountains. The Winged Dragons, who were on the red rock mountain, had moved to the one I was informed belonged to us.

My mate met us there and guided us to what she had found, a hollow pillar. Etched on the stone pillar was the symbol of the Winged Dragon.

A breeze drifted from it, similar to our breath. It was cool and gentle. The sky-lings that emerged from the chimney roosted in the trees. I had never seen sky-lings resembling these. They were tiny, no bigger than the claw of a newling. They were the color of the snow and sky, and their eyes matched ours, ice blue.

“Are they a new Winged Dragon?” I asked Adner.

“I believe so. Oisin said others were here to watch over the portal that was prepared for us and our wells.”

“So, the insects we noticed came out of the other mountains?”

“They will be Fire Dragons and Spirit Dragons.”

“Those mountains, what dragonkind were they?” Narown asked.

“One we have not seen yet. One who will be a part of our clan one season in the future.”

“A new dragonkind?” I asked him.

“Yes, my sister has dreamed of them, and we just saw the start of them. We created a new energy when we used your kind’s freezing breath and the Fire Dragon’s lava to break open the wands. They settled into the fifth mountain.”

I wanted to explore the fifth mountain, so I took flight. Adner came with me. I hoped to discover something that suggested what the future held. When we reached the mountain, the first thing we noticed was the guardian tree, as I thought of them.

“I have never seen one so large and elegant,” Adner said as we looked upon it.

“If we leave, how will they ever know of us?” I asked him.

“They will know,” is all he said regarding it. “We must finish our job. We must finish the gathering and breaking of the wands. Then we can be done with this ecosphere, which has brought us nothing but pain.”

“And the new ones stay?” I asked.

“Yes, they are tiny and will blend in with the environment. They will live hidden lives.”

I looked around me, thinking of the little sky-lings.

“You have trusted me so far. Do not stop now; we are so close.”

We departed for the river, affirming that every wand was gathered. I had thought I would rejoice at the sight that lay there. I did not. Scattered across the river were two-legged beasts’ bodies, broken and torn open. Old ones and younglings lay amid them. How could they have brought younglings? I saw in their small paws were weapons they were meant to kill as the others had. Their mates were among them, newlings to this ecosphere in one paw and weapons in the other. Other mates were heavy with newlings. It did not seem to matter to them. They sacrificed them to greed and fear. Among them were our dead, most opened from top to bottom, their entrails in the water slowly being washed away.

“We must gather our dead,” Adner said.

The sound of music drifted from behind us, and we turned. The colonists who had helped us were coming. They grabbed the two-legged beasts and pulled them from the dragon bodies, which were too large for them to move. The Chief moved from fallen dragon to fallen dragon and touched each as he chanted in a language I still did not understand.

“He is wishing them a fair voyage to the keeper of their light,” Adner told me. “They are cursing the ones they are moving, to walk in the underworld. Except the children, they did not know better.”

“What do they mean by underworld?” I asked, watching the peaceful two-leggeds I still considered untrustworthy.

“I am not sure, I assume they think evil beings go somewhere to be punished for their deeds,” Adner said.

“We are energy after we die, though.”

“They do not know that.”

I gave them the room they needed to do their work, for our fallen deserved the blessing after giving everything they had.

When they were done, we collected our dead and took them to their mountain so that their kin could put them to rest in their way.

Adner moved to the vessel on which the strapped twin hung. He tugged on the bindings, attempting to free the one he felt he had condemned to death. The other twin was on their mountain. He had fought fiercely alongside my kin but ended up gravely injured.

I placed my paw over his.

“Will his brother live?” I asked as I ripped the dragon free of his bonds.

“Yes,” Adner said as he caught him. “If the bloodthirst does not take him.”

As the small dragon lay in his grasp, Adner’s face changed.

“Winark, he is alive.”