War

Aiden slowly opened his eyes, looking at the wooden ceiling above him.

“That was one hell of a dream.” He rubbed his head and started to get up.

“Oww!”

“Why does my body hurt so much?”

“Careful!” He heard someone say, “You are still recovering.” It was a girl, probably about his age, who had red hair.

“So, it wasn’t a dream.” He said as he laid back down. “How long was I out, and who are you?”

“I am Sandra. As for how long you were out, it’s been almost a full day.”

“I see,” Aiden said, looking around. He noticed he was wearing new clothes. Probably for the best. “Where am I?”

“I don’t even know exactly where this place is. This is where the last of the unbrainwashed hide when we aren’t in the city to check up on things.”

“Unbrainwashed? He was going to ask what that meant before he remembered something.

“Vel!” He shot up, ignoring the pain. “Where is she?”

“Settle down, Veltheryn is fine.”

“Take me to her.” Aiden began to get up from the bed.

“I can see there will be no stopping you.” She offered him a cane, but he shook his head. “This way then.”

Sandra let him through the door and down many hallways. There were many doors along the way, though he didn’t really care what was behind them at this moment.

“We have to keep the dragons in another area cause of their size,” Sandra said as she opened two large doors. There were about ten dragons in this big room. They all stopped what they were doing when they heard the doors open.

“That must be him.”

“The part dragon boy.”

“He must be on his way to see Veltheryn.”

Aiden heard the dragons talking about him.

“The dragon infirmary is over here.” Sandra pointed.

Aiden ran, more like hobbled, to another big door, pushing it open.

“Vel!” Aiden hobbled some more over to where Vel was lying down. Her head popped up when she heard him.

“Aiden? Thank goodness you are ok. They said you were unconscious.”

“I’m fine,” he said, putting his hand on her leg that had been broken. “The real question is, how are you?”

“It will take me a while to heal; the spear missed anything vital, and the healers did what they could for my leg.”

“I’ll just heal you.”

“No, wait.”  Vel tried to stop him.

Aiden didn’t listen; he wanted to heal her as fast as possible. But before anything happened, he felt like he was struck by lightning again. His body froze up and started to fall, but Vel caught him with her tail..

“What happened?” Aiden asked with a pained expression.

“Well, my dear boy,” An old man said who had been in the room that Aiden didn’t notice before. “You have dragon fatigue.”

“I tried to stop him, Orren,” Vel said.

“What’s dragon fatigue?” Aiden asked as he was slowly able to move again.

“From what Veltheryn told me, you tapped into your dragon side for the first time. Your body will take some time getting used to that. Until then, you won’t be able to use any magic.” Orren explained.

“Well that’s just fantastic.” Aiden leaned against Vel. “And just how long will that take?”

“Honestly, we don’t know. You are the first hybrid in over eight hundred years.”

“How is that possible? I’m not even from here.”

“Yes, Veltheryn has told us about you. Coming through a blue and gold portal.” The old man sat down. “Before I explain and what I think happened, you should sit down and let your body rest while you listen.”

Sandra brought over a chair and placed it next to Vel. Aiden sat down, still feeling a little tingly and now feeling the pain of rushing here.

“We don’t know the full details on what happened.” Orren sighed, “Information has been passed down for hundreds of years, and some of it was lost. What we do know is the war that started all this was 863 years ago.”

“What caused the war?” Aiden asked.

“Long before the war started, humans and dragons lived in peace. There were nobles on both sides, both having a say in what happened in this world. At some point, the noble dragons gained the ability to shape-shift into humans.”

“I can see where this is going,” Aiden said.

“Precisely, humans and dragons started having children with each other while the dragon was in human form. The only real difference was that if a female dragon was pregnant, she couldn’t turn back into a dragon until she gave birth. Whether the child was born from a human or a dragon, the result was the same in the end. Half human, half dragon hybrid. The child always had a human form, but with the ability to tap into their dragon half. Just like you did.”

“And this caused problems?” Aiden asked.

“From what records we have, it was fine for a few hundred years. Around the time the war started, that’s when information was scarce. We can only really guess on this, but it seems like the human king around that time didn’t want hybrids.”

“How would a normal human fight off dragons, let alone hybrids?” Aiden was confused.

“To be honest, we don’t know either. We have information that he found ancient magic.”

“So, what about me? Why am I part dragon when I’m from another world?”

“Well, as I was talking to Veltheryn, I came up with a theory. Some records show that a group of hybrids tried to leave this world, and it was thought they were all killed before leaving. But what if one made it?”

“A hybrid came to my world over eight hundred years ago? But wouldn’t they and their descendants have magic?”

“I’m guessing your world does not have magic or dragons.”

“That would be correct.”

“My theory is that those abilities became dormant as the years progressed. You being in this world, and possibly being near a dragon, made your dragon cells awaken. Even your sword is a part of you. All hybrids have a weapon.”

“This is a lot to take in.” Aiden leaned back in the chair.

“How did you get here? Veltheryn said you came out of a blue and gold portal in the sky, but what happened on your side?”

“I was leaving work when an earthquake hit, and it made me fall from a high place. The portal must have opened right before I hit the ground. Next thing I know, I wake up to Vel being attacked.” Aiden thought for a moment, “So, how did Vel and I get here?”

“I’ll answer that.” Sandra said, “My team and I were watching, we were on top of the city wall. When the battle was over, we brought you here.”

“Sandra is our strongest fighter; that’s why she was watching over you as you were unconscious, just in case. We have never dealt with a hybrid before.” Orren said.

“Ok, so wait, Sandra said something about unbrainwashed. What is that?”

“Ah, right,” Orren started, “This is one of the reasons we don’t have much information. Soon after the hybrids were all gone, the king used magic and made the entire world think that dragons were evil and needed to be tamed.”

“But how? And why aren’t you affected?”

“We don’t know how. As for us, we can only guess that we are the descendants of nobles or who have high resistance to mind control magic. They hunted down anyone who didn’t believe dragons to be evil.”

“I see.” Aiden stood up and went over to Vel again, putting his hand on her.

“Wait, young man.” Orren tried to stop him.

Aiden focused; he felt it, it was back. His hand started to glow blue, then spread around Vel. Vel closed her eyes, and warmth spread through her.

“Amazing.” Both Orren and Sandra said at the same time.

“So,” Aiden continued to heal Vel as he began to ask a question, “What happened to Vel’s parents?”