Her Heart or His Desire

The Yeti and the Lair

(Keegan P.O.V.)

Our walk was in silence, but even in silence his presence told me he was relieved to see me doing well.

There was no moon tonight, so the darkness felt all consuming even with the stars shining with brilliance. We walked for nearly an hour with me staying as close to him as possible. Despite the pitch black, the yeti seemed to have been emitting a soft glow that allowed me to see him. When he finally stopped, it was so abrupt that I nearly ran right into him. He held his hand up to an invisible barrier and passed through it with ease.

My heart pounded as I neared it. I had a feeling walking through this barrier was going to lead me home.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and took two big steps forward.

The air around me made a significant drop in temperature. When I opened my eyes, snow was pouring down and the horizon was barely visible through the white flurry of snow.

I followed the glow of the yeti to a set of large white wooden double doors. They were ornate, trimmed out in gold and silver details that made up an elaborate scene of silver and blue-colored dragons playing in the snowy mountain tops.

He pushed open the massive doors with ease and stepped aside so that I could enter.

White and black marbled flooring with grey and blue pillars lined the large room. With so much marbling, gold and silver details, it was borderline gaudy, but I realized this was definitely my taste. Alcoves and snitches between the pillars had shelves lined with old weathered books, wooden and stone figurines and scrolls that looked centuries old.

I fought the impulse to rummage through each of the shelves and dive into all that history. I walked further down the hall and as I got closer to the end of the room my heart began to race and constrict with anxiety and excitement all at the same time. I was finally acknowledging I was ready for my past to fully reveal itself.

Halfway to the end of the room, I stopped in my tracks. A large mural of people of varying ages, sizes and ethnicities stood side by side with their dragons behind them. They were all silver dragons, but their silver and blue coloration varied for each dragon.

In the middle of the group was a couple whose presence seemed important. They physically looked like they were no older than their mid-thirties but their eyes gleamed with centuries of wisdom. Their dragons were also larger and shined a brighter silver than the rest. At their feet sat a young boy with a wide, carefree smile with a small light blue dragon, no bigger than an iguana perched on his shoulder. My heart leaped suddenly and just as quickly began to ache.

I looked at the Yeti and it looked like his heart was aching as well, and nodded, confirming my suspicions that this was a family portrait. I took a few more steps forward, my eyes never leaving my parents until I dropped to my knees, the weight of sorrow and grief too much to bare.

Tears had begun to flow freely as my chest constricted tighter with each breath I took. Everything in that portrait was foreign to me, including myself.

I looked down at my hands. The young boy's hands were long gone and now forever a man. Moments that were meant to be sacred between a child and their parents were stolen not just from me, but from them too.

I could feel my anger rising. I stared down at my fists as I balled them tighter, nails digging into the palms of my hands. Small drops of crimson pooled up from under my nails and dropped to the tile on the floor beneath me.

When the first drop of blood hit the floor, the ground began to lightly shake.

I looked down at the floor and saw it start to glow and lower.

'Welcome home...' a gruff voice whispered as I continued to travel lower.

A shiver ran up my spine with excitement when I realized it was my dragon speaking to me.

Once the floor stopped moving, I stood up and explored the new room. It wasn't as vast as the room above. It was dimly lit with the glow of blue flames from torches that were hung on the walls every few feet. Clear vases lined one shelf after another. Each had a name and date engraved on it indicating that these vases contained the spiritual essence of ancestors within them.

In another section of the cavern there was an elaborate chest with "The Future" inscribed on the front in Latin. Inside, there were oval crystal spheres the size of a large watermelon. Shadows and light swirled within the crystal eggs. I let out a sigh, relieved that some of my lineage was safely incubating and would be for several more years.

I suddenly felt my attention being pulled towards the opposite side of the room. Wedged between a set of loose stones was a piece of worn and brittle fabric. Taking care not to take down the whole wall, I slowly pulled the delicate fabric out of the crevice in the wall. Wrapped with the utmost care was a vial the size of playing cards with a blue, silver and white crystal on top.

I opened the vial and the liquid inside turned into a small plume of smoke. Startled, I dropped the vial, shattering any resemblance to the vial it once was. As the smoke encompassed me, memories that had been lost came rushing forward. My first shift as a dragon, my first flight. The awe I felt the first time I saw the power in my parents' ice breath and the love they had for our hoard. I began remembering my relationships with aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters and just as quickly as I remembered them, my heart began to ache with pain and rage when I finally remembered the night they were all slain and the monster behind it all.

I left the little cave beneath the main hall and stormed outside into the storm.

My soul was being flooded by eras of love, pain, anger and grief and I needed an outlet. I began ripping off the layers of clothes and carelessly tossing them aside.

I dropped to my knees and the cold fire I felt building up finally started to consume me.

My hands began to melt away and shifted to large claws. With a single sharp nail, I sliced an opening down my back, making it easier for my wings to come forth. My back legs shredded their hair and skin and began building up thick muscle and scales. The burning intensified and soon I found myself scratching off the last layers of my human form. Beautiful white scales with a silver and blue opal sheen revealed themselves as layer after layer of scales emerged.

I looked at the sky and went after the little sliver of moon I could see through the snow clouds. With a quick jump and a thrust of my wings I was flying. It was second nature and, for the first time in a very long time, I felt whole again. I looked down and saw what was left of my home and felt that fire burn within my chest once again. I looked at the moon and blew a blaze of blue flame and made a blood vow. I remembered everything and that meant that I also remembered Kazimir, the red dragon that slaughtered my family. He would die by my hands and if I had to die in the process, then so be it.