Twin Dragons' Destiny

Prologue-1

Prologue

Centuries before:

Aikaterina sat beside the river of gold, her fingers caressing the growing symbiots that would one day form a living companion for a dragon warrior. She drew strength from them, knowing that the essence of her blood would keep the dragons of Valdier safe for many centuries to come.

The Valdier considered her a ‘Goddess,’ but she wasn’t. Her species were wanderers, having no true home but the universe. They lived off of the energy around them. It was the essence of life to them, and without it, they would perish.

In reality, her species was probably more dependent on the Valdier than the dragon-shifting race were on them. After all, when she had first come to this world, it had been to die. The courage and spirit of the Valdier had given her new life, and in return, she had given them a touch of her essence – the living gold symbiots. In time, she had found others of her kind who were weak and dying like she had been, and she’d brought them here to heal.

A smile curved her lips when she saw Arosa and Arilla frolicking in the stream. Although the twins were thousands of years old, she still thought of them as infants. They reminded her of newborn stars. She had witnessed the creation of many celestial bodies and still found a star’s birth fascinating to observe. She had found Arosa and Arilla out in the cosmos, centuries ago, barely clinging to life.

Arilla looked up with a frown and slowly moved her hand as she tested the air. Confusion turned the young Goddess’s eyes a darker gold. Arilla looked at her and tilted her head.

“What is it that I feel, Aikaterina?” she asked.

Aikaterina looked up, feeling the disturbance as well. She closed her eyes and focused on the stream of energy flowing through the river. A great sadness filled her as she received a vision of the death of a rare set of twin dragons, the first to be born. She felt the intense pain of their symbiots as they watched the men and dragons die. They would need her now. The symbiots could not survive out there without their dragons.

Bowing her head, she allowed the wave of grief to pierce her. She called to the orphaned symbiots. Rising to her feet, she opened a portal for them to return to her. Behind them, she could see the smoke-filled remains of a village and hear the wails of grief. Two identical dragons lay dead amid the c*****e.

She looked from them to the two young boys pressed against the side of one of the huts. Their words would forever haunt her, because deep down, she knew this was because of her interference. She was the one who had gifted the twins to the village for protection. She did so not long after she brought Arilla and Arosa to this world with her.

“Do you think…?” the young boy named Calo whispered, staring at the smoldering remains of the green and white dragon.

“No. You heard him. We will die in battle, like warriors, before we let this happen to us. We will do the honorable thing before we hurt another,” his twin brother, Cree, answered, his mouth tight with determination.

“We will die in battle,” Calo agreed, watching as their father’s symbiot healed him. “Or we will take each other’s life before we hurt another.”

The symbiots of Brogan and Barrack, the original twin dragons, fell weakly through the portal, unseen by the mortals in the village. Aikaterina caressed them, trying to give them comfort. The form she had taken shimmered and partially faded in response to the utter grief the symbiots shared with her.

This was a new feeling to her, one of excruciating pain and anguish. The constant search for hope only to have it ripped away time and time again – and the suffocating loneliness of knowing they would never feel the tender touch of their mate’s hand. She had never understood the loneliness that the men and their dragons felt until now.

“What is it, Aikaterina?” Arosa asked, floating over to her. “What is wrong with them?”

“Are they ill?” Arilla asked in concern.

Aikaterina gave the symbiots the command to return to the river. She was shocked when they resisted. They would surely perish if they did not return. She could already see their color fading until they were almost translucent. She gave the order again, this time a little more firmly. The creatures turned away from her, but they still did not return to the river. She watched with a puzzled expression as they retreated to a dark corner of the cavern and curled up around each other.

“The men given to them have died,” Aikaterina murmured.

“Couldn’t you have saved them like you saved us?” Arilla asked.

Aikaterina could understand how Arilla felt. It was a difficult thing to understand and accept why the species that gave them life and made their world so interesting should have to die.

“I fear that they have perished because of something I did,” Aikaterina confessed, turning and floating over to the two symbiots.

She gently stroked them, giving them a large amount of her essence. They tried to resist, but she refused to let them fade away. Instead, she encouraged them to share with her everything they had experienced while with Brogan and Barrack. The more they showed her, the more certain she was that she was the one responsible for the devastation.

Eventually, she did the only thing she could to alleviate their distress; she sent them into a deep sleep. Floating upward, she crossed the magnificent cavern to the platform where she had created a portal to the universe.

“Can we go with you, Aikaterina?” Arosa asked with a hopeful look.

“Not this time, Arosa. This journey I must make alone,” Aikaterina answered as she stepped through the opening.