Bound With The Water Dragon

History of the Universe

There was a reason. He could feel it racing through his veins, ready to burst out into his mind. The answer revealed into an even greater epiphany but Ejder shook him off. 

“At the very least, you could just tell me if I’m magical or not,” Morgan huffed as his Ejder continued to fly him around the maze of a glacier they were in.

“You’re not…” Ejder answered. “You’re about as agile as a beached whale,” he sighed as Ejder controlled him through a series of slots throughout the ice cavern. 

Morgan’s spirits started to deflate in response. It was hard to care about why they were here now. As beautiful as it was, his heart wasn’t in it now. 

“Your bloodline though,” Ejder murmured. 

Morgan’s entire being froze. 

“I shouldn’t…”

“Ejder…” Morgan nearly complained. “You have to tell me now.”

The cooler air within the tunnels began to shift, hurling them forward into a big open space. Ejder set Morgan down carefully, to which Morgan stood proudly. He looked around at the snow blasted room warily.

“It would have taken you months to get back here on your own,” Ejder supplied. 

From where he stood, sheets of ice reached towards him. The tips like daggers, thin and dangerous. Layers sat underneath them, each just as threatening as the last. 

“What is this place?” Morgan asked, ignoring Ejder’s tone. 

His soft breath was about all he could hear besides the lack of grips on his fins against the ice. Morgan frowned at that. His thoughts raced back to how Liia and the others must have perceived him. He was just some weird kid, just like in school, being coddled by the nice girl. Except in his life on land, he didn’t have the girl…

“For as long as the north and south poles have been in alignment with each other, this place was a haven for all Earthbound creatures.”

“Earthbound? You mean aliens from other planets?” Morgan gasped. 

Ejder’s tone seemed to drop to a warning, “You can’t tell your kind if you ever go back…”

“Oh, I am fully aware. No sooner would I be wrapped up and sent to some loony bin,” Morgan began, only to be interrupted for clarification. “It’s a hospital for the mentally unwell. Bringing up aliens that are otherworldly is the fastest way to be taken away.”

It seemed to placate him enough. Morgan could feel himself connecting deeply to Ejder who extended his memories to Morgan. There his mind sparkled with a bright light and panned away from it immediately after. A sea of stars surged past him before he found their location within it. There the image receded until planets he’d never seen before came into view. 

“Long ago these aliens you speak of migrated like the animals here on Earth do depending on the seasons. Maidens of the deep, Liia’s ancestors used to maintain the stars with their magic. Their songs would call the others from neighboring planets to letting them know their path was lit and it was safe to travel. Those that did would go for light years to get to their respective planets for reproduction or even just to wait while their storms would pass before returning to their rightful place,” Ejder explained. “But as time went on, Liia’s ancestors didn’t take their own precautions. Their magic was fading.”

“Why? Does magic just do that?”

“Not exactly. Any wielding being has the power to hold their magic. The problem is where the source lies. In most cases, it’s within the young.” 

“So, what? They just stopped believing and it stopped working?’ Morgan questioned.”

“No,” he sighed as if explaining was causing him pain. “They stopped reproducing for generations. Their duties were already more important than self care or procreation, therefore they set the pace of the end of their civilization.”

Morgan’s frown deepened. His speech broke apart before he could get a word out. 

“Is Liia the last of her kind then?” Morgan forced out. 

He could feel how uncomfortable Ejder was now. It was telling. More so than his own thoughts.    

“No,” Ejder pushed out as if it was painful. 

Something wasn’t right about how he was avoiding the rest of their conversation. 

“It’s just what then? Why won’t you tell me?” Morgan pressed. 

“I’ve already given more than I should have.”

“I knew it!” 

Morgan could feel Ejder’s concern building as he continued to push him. 

“You’ve basically told me enough to get me nowhere as it is, Ejder. It’s hard to say if I’ll ever go back or even live through your erratic flight paths to even usher a word on to anyone else, so I don’t know why you feel the need to pump the brakes now. Especially while I feel your presence grow…” Morgan murmured then. 

Another moment passes and he can feel himself start to shiver. 

“Look, if you’re not going to tell me, can you at least find me something warmer to wear while we’re here?”

His secondary question went into the void as Ejder continued with their present conversation, leaving him to shiver once more.

“Liia’s not the last of her kind,” Ejder finally admitted. “You’re a terrible liar by the way. Shivering? For me to continue or bail?” he huffed.

“It worked though…”

 Morgan felt his smile spread, agreeing with Ejder then.

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“Is Liia…”

“She’s a mermaid, not a maiden of the deep.”

“What’s the difference?” Morgan frowned at the fact that they were considered two separate things. 

“Her ancestors, who are not fish people, were beautiful serpents. Their fins lit up with their bodies which helped brighten the stars along with their spells. Their spells were whispered, as I recall. It really was a marvel to see as I’m told.” Ejder sighed wistfully as if he was imagining their greatness. As the moment passed he began again.  “As the millennia went on, the Maidens of the Deep didn’t procreate. They only dimmed and the elders of other civilizations noticed. They came together and decided that there needed to be a resting place to allow the travelers to stop during their migration. Keeping the stars bright enough for each species was a larger than life job and as you can imagine, getting lost in the darkness of the universe was damaging.”

“What do you mean? They got lost?” Morgan questioned. “I’m not sure what you’re saying, Ejder.”

“More than that,” Ejder paused. “There’s enough we don’t know about the universe, Morgan. But what we do know is that there are predators everywhere.”

“Like what? I thought there was nothing in space. As in no possible way to sustain life…”

“Magic prevails in empty places. It’s why off world migrations were successful. Magic is powerful there. It can stretch beyond rational reach and affect more within its radius,” Ejder paused again then brought Morgan’s attention back to the icy explosion before them. “This is your great grandfather’s magic.”

“Mine?” Morgan trailed, unable to ask the question, only to be ignored by Ejder.  

“It’s why he was sought after during his time on earth.”

“He left? Is he alive now? Where did he go? Can I see him?”

Morgan could sense Ejder’s unease, as if he didn’t really want to go into it. 

“We’re derailing from…”

“On earth, humans are lucky if they even spend time with their grandparents,” Morgan interrupted. “If my great grandfather is alive, it would mean everything to me to meet him. I’ll keep this place a secret. Everything. All of it. You don’t have to worry about me compromising this place and these creatures for self satisfaction…”

It seemed to be enough to pry the rest out of Ejder but it felt like a great cost, as if it should never have been shared. 

“You won’t find him here, though,” Ejder admitted. “He left. No one knows where he is. I can’t even feel him.”

“Are you like him? Are we…”

“Family? No. Not exactly. Your bloodline is intertwined with the loch ness, who is actually an interstellar being who took its shape from other known creatures within the lake. He has a physical form where I’m a water dragon.”

“Is that why you’re inside me? Is this spell what did it?” Morgan asked tentatively. 

“No, this was out of anger. This planet infuriated Akir. It wasn’t giving to his natural gift and watched as humans would lay waste to it’s waters. In essence, he was poisoned by it and is said to have never been able to leave. We don’t know for sure where he is, but sightings several hundred years old suggest he’s the monster of the lake.” 

It was a lot to take in. 

“You’re telling me he’s possibly still here on earth?”

“I can’t sense him, therefore, I don’t know.”

“But you found me,” Morgan challenged. “By what? By chance?”

“By accident!” Ejder shouted, commanding Morgan to stop in his tone alone. “It was by accident,” he huffed. 

“What?” Morgan frowned. 

“It doesn’t matter,” Ejder began. 

“No, it does matter. Did you cause my dredge to leave? Did you scare them off?” Morgan pushed. 

The idea that a mythical event could have scared them off to leave him for dead boiled under his skin. At the very least Ejder could have told him! 

“When I found you, Morgan, you were unconscious at the bottom of the ocean. Finding you, by accident, saved your life!” 

“And what now? What are you saving now? What are we even doing? Why are you still with me if we're back in your haven?” Morgan spat, pacing around as if a living being was before him. 

“You asked for your relevance and I gave it to you. You’re welcome,” Ejder muttered. 

Morgan pressed his lips together and put his hands on his hips in frustration. He wanted so badly to yell at the dragon within him, but Ejder was right. He seeked validation for why he was even there and he got at least some of it. 

“Look,” Morgan began. “Thank you for this,” he sighed. “I would have never known…but it doesn’t tell me why I’m connected to you or how to get you back to your body.”

He could feel the rush within him ease as Ejder considered Morgan’s concerns. 

“You’d get me back to my body?” he asked carefully

“Yeah… I mean, we can’t be bound like this forever,” he said casually.

Ejder seemed to consider it, asking what he wanted in return. 

“Keep in mind, our magic isn’t the kind that grants wishes. We cast spells to aid all to do with the water element. For example, Arik was known for using ice daggers to cut through fishing nets. Mine is usually used for currents to change clarity.”

“I’m fine with information. The more you can tell me about Arik and what you can feel in my bloodline, the better.”

Ejder seemed to accept it, then pressed on with his knowledge of the universe and what connection earth had to their lives. 

“It served as a stopping point,” he said. “It fed them, gave them shelter and saw them off the planet through a gateway similar to the one we used to get you here.”

“Was that an interstellar one? Could you have shot us to space?”

“No, Morgan, that one is deep within the planet. It’s constantly open, unlike the one we had to force open,” he replied. 

“You mean, we’re constantly open to the universe and all the evils you mentioned before?” Morgan gaped. “We have to turn that off!”

Ejder agreed. 

“It’s too powerful though. It’s why I cast a spell instead of going to it to perform the task myself. It’s how I wound up split from my body, Morgan.” 

He frowned at that, deeply concerned about what they would be up against if they went alone. He considered asking Grant and Bryson to join him on this adventure when he felt Ejder reject the idea. 

“If it’s something you want to see through, we need more than us to get there,” Morgan said standing his ground.