The Father of Dragons

I gasped loudly, and squinted against the bright light of day as my eyes snapped open. Huh? I wondered, my groggy mind struggling to function. Where am I? What happened?

I took a few moments to get my bearings, my memory slowly returning. That’s right, Rill! Is she okay? Did…whatever I did…work? I cast a fervent glance around me, but wherever I was, it seemed I was a far cry from the cave where I had fallen asleep.

I was in some kind of forest, the trees and foliage so dense that I could see nothing beyond a few yards in any direction. Looking up, I sighed at the sight of the purple aurora that coated the sky beyond the thick canopy, a scene that appeared both fantastical and utterly alien in nature. The light around me was indeed bright, but try as I might I could locate no sun in that sky, only three half-eclipsed moons and a swath of starry night which cut between them.

“Well,” I said aloud, my voice carrying with a strangely hollow echo, “I guess I won’t find any answers standing around here.” I regarded the way forward, a dirt path that cut through the surrounding vegetation as if indicating that I was supposed to follow it. There was no telling where it might lead, but it seemed that, at least for now, it was my only option. As I set off, I was surprised to find that I was wearing sneakers, blue jeans, and a white t-shirt.

These are remnants of Earth, not Terith, I thought, studying my oddly translucent limbs. These clothes, the sky…This has to be some sort of dream. I spun as I heard movement in the brush behind me, but when I looked, there was nothing there. The air was eerily silent and still, almost funerary in nature, and the entire place made me uneasy.

I continued to follow the path for some time, noting absolutely no noticeable change in the scenery whatsoever. Once, a tiny creature flitted past, resembling a bizarre combination of a hummingbird with a dragon’s sinuous body. But it was gone as fast as it had appeared, and I was once again left to wander, alone.

Eventually, I came to what appeared to be the end of the road. It simply stopped in front of a tree stump, upon which sat a figure that made my heart rise into my throat, a skeletal being gripping a tall black scythe and cloaked in a sand-colored cloth. No matter how I looked at it, this was undoubtedly the manifestation of death. As I cautiously approached, I realized that it was not cloth that it wore at all, but instead actual sand which sifted and flowed endlessly atop its pale white bones.

No way…did I die? Again? I was hurt, sure, but I didn’t think my own injuries were that serious!

Its hollow face slowly lifted as it noticed my presence, features indiscernible within the shadows which wreathed it beneath its sandy cowl. I swallowed hard as it silently studied me, two tiny pinpoints of white light, like distant stars in the night sky, sparkling faintly within that darkness. With a deep, masculine voice that struck me like a taut chord, it intoned, “Your time has not yet come, ill-born son of Exziel.”

As it held up a hand towards me, a roar from somewhere far away shook the air, and various hoots and chirps could be heard as the trees groaned in response. The skeletal figure paused, tilting its head slightly before pointing off to the side, where there was now a trail which had not been there before. It continued, “Go, meet, and return to the living. Do not stray from the path.”

Then it was gone as if it had never been, along with the stump upon which it had sat. I shook my head as I realized I was now standing upon the new path, despite not having taken a step. I do not like this place, I decided, but this is the only way forward. And if death itself gives you a warning, I suppose you should heed it.

I continued deeper into the woods, before coming upon a hollow of sorts, an empty sphere shaped by the bowed-out trunks of the surrounding trees. In the center of this space stood a tall, broad-shouldered man who appeared to be human, wearing long, flowing robes of silver so pure it was as though he were wearing a mirror itself, reflecting an iridescent radiance. His brownish-red hair hung loose to his knees, and he stood with a regal and relaxed elegance. His face initially appeared stern, until he saw me and smiled broadly.

When he spoke, his voice was fair, but crystal-clear, belying a power hidden beneath the surface. “Ah, you’ve come! I was beginning to worry that the incarnation of death and rebirth had ignored my call, and sent you back to the land of the living.”

Keeping one eye on him, I glanced around the area, finding no other ways out, or in, with even the way I had come having disappeared. So that thing really was Death, then. Well, I suppose I should take some solace in the fact that I’m not actually dead yet. But, where exactly am I?

Turning back to the figure in front of me, I asked cautiously, “So that loud roar earlier, that was you?” The man merely nodded, and I added, “Would you mind telling me where we are right now?”

He looked forlornly to the canopy above, and said in a distant tone, “This is the boundary between life and death, the limbic nexus where those with eternal souls await rebirth. Or, occasionally, lose both their minds and themselves amidst the chaotic nature of this place. Despite having a mortal’s soul, your tie to this place is strong; likely because you aren’t from this world.”

I felt my face grow slack, surprised by his words. “Who are you? How do you know that?”

He chuckled before returning his gaze upon me, and it was now that I looked into his golden eyes for the first time. The unmistakable, slitted eyes of a dragon. “I am called Exziel, although many call me by my title, the Father of Dragons.”

Death called me the ill-born son of Exziel. Now it makes sense. I gasped and stumbled as a wave of dizziness hit me out of nowhere, and brought my hand up to my head. I pulled it away slowly, staring as my arm began to grow transparent, and the man frowned.

“You shouldn’t be here, not yet. Death may have agreed to my request to meet you, but your connection to this place is weakening. You will likely awaken soon.” He sighed, once again gazing off into the distance. “And this isn’t a place that mortals can visit freely, not without talent and much dedicated training. It is unlikely we will be able to meet again anytime soon. I’ve wanted to speak to you since the moment you awoke in this world, foreigner. We have so much to discuss, but it seems fate has chosen to make our time together brief.”

“You seem to know a lot about me,” I said cautiously. He seems friendly enough for now, but I’m still not sure what he wants. And if he’s claiming that I can only meet him here at the boundary between life and death, what does that make him?

He winked, seemingly amused at my hesitancy. “I may have chosen to meet you in the guise of a man, but I am the Father of Dragons, after all.” Seeing my perplexed expression, he mused, “I forget that you are not yet acquainted with the myths and legends of this world. Perhaps it would make more sense to you if I used a term you are more familiar with, and called myself the god of dragons instead?”

“You’re…a god?” I gasped, my mind working to wrap itself around this newfound revelation, “Then, are you related to the goddess, Mariah, who brought me into this world?” And does that mean there are more godlike beings besides the two of them?

“I suppose we are…were…once comrades, in a sense, despite her always focusing her affections on another.” He chortled, replying patiently. There was the slightest hint of melancholy in his tone, and he seemed to realize it as he cleared his throat and added, “Well, I don’t suppose that girl explained anything to you before dragging you into this mess?”

I shook my head and replied, “Frankly, no. I didn’t even have any say in the matter. But she mentioned something about this world being doomed, and hoped that I might find a way to save it…I’ve been wondering what she meant by that. I’m not sure I’m the right guy.”

Exziel stared at me for a moment, his expression blank and unreadable. At length, he said, “Sometimes others see in us things we cannot see for ourselves. And that girl has always had a knack for recognizing the inherent qualities of others. I’m not sure why she decided to drag you, specifically, into the cycle of rebirth in this world, but I’m sure she had her reasons.”

He paused, and I followed his idle gaze to my arm, which was becoming more transparent by the second. He sighed, and continued, “We don’t have much time, but I believe you are owed an explanation. I will summarize things as best I can in the short time we have been given. Listen closely. From the moment this world was borne from the chaotic schism, and the first now-forgotten creatures crawled out of the primordial soup, the only law they knew was survival of the fittest. The denizens of this plane fought and quarreled in a never-ending struggle, and common ground could never be reached. Gods rose, and gods fell, entire species birthed and gone extinct within the blink of an eye.

“But that all changed when, one day, a dark star fell from the heavens. His name was Caius, and his arrival left a scar upon this world. Everything he touched withered away, and even the monstrous gods that ruled over Terith were powerless to stop him. In his wake followed a horde of demons seeking to destroy everything in their path, to hunt down every creature that lived and breathed and snuff out the light of this world.

“Shortly afterwards, three more shining stars descended; the one you know as Mariah, along with her friends, Ellaea and Celeste. They fell into a world that had known nothing but war since its inception, an alien place filled with monsters and gods, one that was in no way hospitable to them. And yet they fought to save us from that dark star which had obliterated countless worlds before coming to our own, and they crafted the races of men, elves, and dwarves respectively to aid them. And it all culminated in one, final battle.”

I listened, enraptured by his tale, as my body faded even further. Now, my form was barely visible against the backdrop of greenery, and Exziel’s eyes regained their former light of cognizance as he took notice of how little time I had left. “Suffice it to say that we failed. The dragon, the alicorn, the phoenix, and the fox; myself and the other three Noble Beasts were all that remained of the monster gods, and we had allied ourselves with those goddesses and their two-legged creations. The world was torn asunder in the battle, and millions perished on both sides. We sacrificed our physical bodies to seal away portions of Caius’ strength, and trusted those three to deliver the final blow. But even with the majority of his powers stripped away, Caius was a threat unlike any other, and the fight dragged on for days. In the end, our efforts turned out to be a thousand-year stopgap at best. Those three gave everything they had in that fight, and they still lost. Mariah realized that there was no one left in Terith who could defeat Caius, and with the very last of her strength she cast her spirit out to seek help from beyond. That is when she found you.”

It was a lot to take in, all at once. Too much, in fact. Goddesses from another world, races that lived alongside humanity…were they still around? Andras had never mentioned them, but if humanity still existed, surely they did as well? I had questions, but there was no longer any time to ask them. I reeled as another wave of vertigo crashed into me, and the world around me blurred.

Seeing that our time was almost up, Exziel hurried to finish his tale, “Our only consolation is that, in that final battle, Caius was gravely injured. A millennium might have passed, but he is still out there somewhere, hiding while he regains his strength! It’s only a matter of time until he breaks the seals we gave our lives to create and reclaims his full power, and when that happens…this world, no, every world, will fall to entropy and perish! Until we can meet again, you need to survive, Leolyn! This world may be a violent one, but it is our world, and it is still a world worth saving. Mariah believed that until her dying day, and so do I!”

I struggled to respond, but my body no longer had any essence, and my voice was silent as the world around me began to fade to black, my link to this place finally deteriorating. In a fervent tone, Exziel cried out, “The Domain! Go there, and find the temple of the Fox! The priestesses will help you return to this place. Remember, Leolyn, the Domain!"

The Domain, I echoed as my consciousness faded, the word tickling the back of my mind, as though I had heard it somewhere before, but right then, I could not recall it. I thought Exziel said something else too, but even his voice no longer met my ears as I fell back into a senseless slumber.