Bound With The Water Dragon

Just A Vessel

Despite hearing Ejder introduce himself, Morgan couldn’t believe what he was hearing, let alone seeing. He had to be dead… unconscious somewhere at the bottom of the ocean waiting to die. 

“What did I say?” Ejder warned.

Morgan could feel the slight slip in their connection. It made his body drop out of the air just enough to instill fear back into him.

“Wait! Wait!” he hollered in response. “It’s just. Really? This is real?”

“I swear your species is stupid,” Ejder snapped back. 

Morgan frowned at that. Not believing the dragon in his head did not make him stupid. 

For that though, he fell. 

“What’s your problem anyway?” 

“You don’t listen.”

“I listen,” Morgan started, only to stop himself. “Have you ever heard of disbelief?”

When Ejder didn’t answer he continued. 

“You know when something outstanding happens and it's so vivid, like today, that you just can’t wrap your head around it? Does that not apply here?”

The mood inside of him shifted strangely as if Ejder could react with his own emotions. When his brow deepened within his thoughts, Morgan realized the dragon could. It wasn’t an illusion or death knocking at his door. It was real. All of it. 

Morgan then cleared his throat, then asked, “Are you invisible or something? Are you floating around me? Or are you…”

“Your being is my vessel. Temporarily.”

“Your vessel? Like you’re inside me?”

“Don’t make it sound wrong,” he huffed. “Like I said. It’s only temporary.”

“Is that why we’re here?” Morgan frowned as he eased himself off of his knees. 

He looked around through the layers of ice and snow around them. Everywhere he turned there was more. It was stunning but also overwhelming.

“Where are we anyway?”

“Will you believe me if I tell you?”

“Honestly, it would be hard not to given the fact that we’re standing in this amazing ice cavern.”

He could sense Ejder mulling over his decision before he spoke. It was weird. His scalp practically crawled at the feel of their connection. 

“Calving Glacier,” he paused, no doubt waiting for Morgan to weigh his disbelief. When there wasn’t one, he added, “Antarctica.”

Morgan opened his mouth only to close it. There really was no way for him to know that, but it seemed obvious to be someplace cold for such a fantastic view. He forced himself not to respond even though he wanted to. It seemed that the dragon within him was getting tired of his questioning tendencies so instead he asked, “Why don’t I feel cold?”

He can feel an answer trickling through his system. One he’s not sure he can take. 

“It’s because of you. Isn’t it?” he asks instead. “You’re doing some kind of magic or something, like you did flying me around this maze.” 

Only, there’s no answer they settle on. There’s less now from Ejder as others notice their arrival. It’s as if the dragon’s vanished from his mind too but Morgan’s inability to feel the cold never leaves. 

“Uh,” he manages to say instead of hello as creatures crowd in the distance. “I’m Morgan.”

His eyes darted around the ice cavern. It’s hard to tell what could be there, what could be close to him. The blues surrounding him are bright and bold in most of the ice. It’s so thick, he thinks, that there would be no way to tell if someone or something was creeping up on him. As Morgan studies where he is, his eyes travel up the great walls. All the way up to where they scrape the sky. Never in his life did he think he’d ever be so lucky to see such a natural marvel. It’s grandeur carried on for miles, far past the group approaching him. Far enough back into the shadows of itself, all of which called to him. 

Morgan swallowed down his fear then. There were secrets out there. Secrets he knew in his heart that would be worth more to him and his family than a handful of gold could ever provide. 

“Is this why I’m here?” he whispers to Ejder, just low enough for him to hear. 

“Morgan?” a new, softer voice startles him to look up at her.

He frowns at first, not expecting her. He expected Ejder. He expected an explanation. Morgan’s eyes landed on the girl’s before him though, lacking the patience for his abductor. It felt as though a transfer of energy had surged through him in retaliation, but nothing was revealed. Ejder still hid from him. 

Before he could answer her, he automatically took in the size of her eyes first. They were wide, almost hopeful, but it couldn’t have been for him. He was a nobody. He wasn’t like… them, the great creatures beyond her. 

He wanted to study them, but she stayed centered before him. Her eyes sparkled despite their deep, stormy blue color of her irises. They pulled him in. Before he knew it, she was centering him too. It felt strange. His body calmed along with his nerves. It gave him the chance to find the words, the message he really needed to find.

“Yes. I’m Morgan,” he swallowed as his eyes began to travel over her soft features. 

Her skin was pale, almost transparent if not for the light reflecting through her. What should be her hair, he thought at least, looked like fine, soft purple fins that seemed to light up at the ends of them.  A larger one started at the top of her brow and fanned out delicately down the back of her head, Morgan noticed as she turned back to the group. 

His eyes traveled down her body, taking in a detailed pattern of fins and scales that made up the top of her form. It continued all the way down her body to her blue tail until his eyes met her luminous tail fin. 

“And you are?” he forces himself to ask as their eyes meet once more. 

“I’m new here, too,” she smiles. “Oh you mean my name?”

Her chuckle is sweet and melodically fills the cavern. 

“I’m Liia Mae,” she smiles as she speaks to him. 

“Hi…” Morgan trails ever so slightly. “Wait, you’re new too?”

“I am. There are several that have been collected recently that we’ll be grouping up with,” she said. 

“What do you mean, grouping up with?” 

“Oh, I’m not sure actually. I figured we would be told when we had everyone,” she said, her eyes still wide and hopeful as she spoke. 

“Do you know anything about this?” Morgan muttered to Ejder, only to be ignored once more. 

Liia frowned at him, confused with his behavior. 

“I just said…”

“No, ah… I mean, never mind. It’s fine. Do you know who’s in charge of this at all? I’d like to know why I’ve been added to this corral.”

Liia Mae turned then toward the crowd.

“Do you see them? Just beyond the kelpies, hiding behind the shadows?” she asks quietly as if he shouldn’t know. 

“Yeah? I think so.” 

“Really look. If you’re here, you’ll be able to find your reasons just beyond the darkness.”

“Is that where you found yours?” Morgan asked, unsure of whether or not he should proceed. 

“Morgan,” she sighed his name. “Do you not really see me? There’s no surprise to me as to why I’m here. This is a magical place filled with magical beings. It’s where myth and legend reside, especially in times of need.”

“Times of need?” he questioned. 

“I may not be old enough to remember them first hand, Calving Glacier has housed all mythical sea creatures from cataclysmic events. Every single one that this world has been through, we’ve all been guided here for.” 

“Oh,” he replied, trying to decipher the weight of why he was called to this place and what might be happening now. 

He considered the fact that Ejder wasn’t involving him in this as a means for protection. Whatever it was though, he felt the need to find out for himself what was going on. If he really was human, what could he possibly bring to a bunch of mythical beings? What kind of hope could he establish for them if he was nothing more than a boy with the soul of a dragon using him as a vessel?