Memoirs of a Dragon

Onyx’s Realization

Exhilarated that the silence between them was finally broken, Onyx answered a little more exuberantly than was necessary; “Well, there is at least one representative of each of the unified Immortals, though each species usually come in groups of ten members each. As it was proclaimed at the dawn of our time, those magical creatures that enter the Stone Circle are shielded so that they cannot use their magic against anyone inside the Circle.

“There will be one of each of the different classes of flying dragons, there will also be Wyverns.” Seeing Topaziah’s confusion, Onyx slowed down and went on to explain, “You know the seven classes of flying dragons: the Emerald or Forest Dragons, the Amber or Desert Dragons, the Onyx or Stone Dragons, the Ruby or Fire Dragons, the Spectrolight or Freshwater Dragons, the Jade or Sea Dragons, and of course the Topaz or Snow Cap Dragons.

“My older brother and I take after our father, Sardon; he is an Onyx Dragon. Our grandfather, Nephrite, didn’t approve of our parents’ courtship. He felt that his daughter would be better matched with another Emerald Dragon. He never allowed our father any of the rights a Dragon would normally receive upon becoming part of a female’s family. Eventually though, he warmed up to our father, but not until after our mother told him that she would move away with us to the home of our father, to the Stone Dragons’ farthest colony and never return, if he didn’t start treating Sardon and their sons with the same respect shown any other member of the colony.”

“I would love to meet the rest of your family, especially your parents; they sound wonderful,” said Topaziah truthfully.

“My Father and older brother will probably be joining us, though my mother will most likely be staying behind with Citrine, because Citrine is too young yet to Star Jump.

“Anyway, back to your earlier question; a Wyvern is a creature with two wings and two legs that in appearance resembles a Flying Dragon, but instead of front legs, the Wyvern has claws on its wings, and has a sharp tail tipped with a poison spear which it uses to hunt.

“It will be your unfortunate pleasure to meet Basilisks, but luckily for you there will be only two of them. The Basilisks have no legs; they resemble gigantic serpents, slithering about on the ground. With a red-scaled body and a crowned head, the basilisk is a strange sight. The basilisk's poison fangs are deadly and with their gaze alone, they turn living creatures into stone. The only way to destroy a Basilisk is to trick it into looking at its own reflection, thus turning itself into stone.

“There are, however, three things that are immune to the Basilisk gaze; the rooster, whose crow sends basilisks slithering away, the cunning weasel, and rue, which is a plant that nullifies the Basilisk’s breath, and is often eaten by the weasels to heal themselves. The Basilisk is the king of all serpents.

“There will be at least one Cockatrice there. It is very similar to the Basilisk and prefers to be alone but at the same time have its nose in everyone’s business. The two are so similar; in fact, the Cockatrice is the result of the metamorphosis the Basilisk underwent in the Middle-Ages. The Cockatrice has bird-like legs, feathered wings, and wattles. It still has the scaled body and tail, however. The Cockatrice is the child of a rooster and it is hatched by a toad or serpent.

“There will be the two different types of Drakes there. Drakes are small, having legs and no wings. The two are Fire-Drakes, which breathe fire and are reddish in color, and Ice-Drakes which breathe snow and are the palest of blue in color.”

“I had seen an Ice-Drake once, but I had no idea there were so many different types of immortals,” said Topaziah, shocked.

“Oh, there are many more than that! There will be many different unicorns, among them there will be the Karkadann; it closely resembles the Oryx, only bigger, as large as a rhinoceros and with a tail like a lion’s. Each of its feet has two or even three hooves, and instead of the white horn, it has a black spiral one.

“There is the Kirin, another unicorn. It resembles a stag, but has the body of a musk deer and swishes around an ox tail. The easiest way to distinguish it from all other unicorns is by the spots on its back. Also, its belly is multi-colored red, yellow, blue, white, and black.

“The Monoceros has a straight horn which is tightly twisted into a sharp point. It has large ears, big brown eyes, a horse-like tail, and stands about three and a half feet at the shoulders.

“The unicorn from the Northern part of Europe differs only slightly. Its coat is much shaggier, especially near the hocks. They are larger than the Monocero, and they have blue eyes, and have longer, more flowing manes and tails. There is another Unicorn that loves to travel in groups or herds. It resembles a white horse with a straight white horn that is tightly twisted into a sharp point.

“There are Aughisky, an Irish water-horse. There are Roane; they look like a seal but are incredibly magical. Let’s see here, what else? Oh there will be Water Leapers; they are tailed, winged, toad like creatures, which are not magical, just wise.

“There will most definitely be Brownies, they are hob-goblins. They are hairy, rough, short & scruffy. Brownies use their powers to steal the essence of food and leave only the image of a meal. They come into mortals’ houses where they help tidy up around the house at night. They do, however, ask for a small fee in return and always take a small ration of good quality food.

“Centaurs are a hybrid. They have the upper torso of a two legged mortal and the legs and hind quarters of a horse.

“Dryads can move their spirit from tree to tree; they can be playful or helpful, depending on their mood. Although they favor willow trees, any tree will do. There are around one thousand Dryads in this forest.

“There will be masses of Dwarves. There will most likely be ten of each of the three types: Black, Brown and White, all named after the color of their hair and beards. All of the Dwarves’ colonies prefer to live in underground caves. Black Dwarves are solitary and gloomy and have flat glossy black hair and beards. Brown Dwarves are mischievous and more likely to interact with the two legged mortals. White Dwarves are the ones most widely spread; they are comfortable above ground, but tend to return underground at sunrise.

“Gnomes are very similar to dwarves. In fact the only way to tell them apart is that gnomes are seen most of the time with red pointed hats.

“There will be Griffins; the griffin is a creature with a lion's body attached to the head, wings, and claws of an eagle.

“There will also be Ikean, Elves, Fairies and Pixies, as well as a few Mermaids, Mermen, and the like. I think I have named them all, but I may have missed one or two.”

Topaziah felt overwhelmed again; those were just what they were called, not their names or anything about their customs or beliefs. She felt certain that with so many different types of magical creatures present, there would probably be at least one who wouldn’t approve of her rejoining their magical community. She didn’t know if she could handle going back to live among the Isolation of the Ikean, not after all she had seen and experienced.

Her mouth felt suddenly dry. When she bent her head to take a drink from the river, she found that her throat was closed, and she sputtered and choked on the water.

“Are you all right?” asked Onyx, concerned.

“Yes,” she said, unconvincingly, as she continued to choke. Onyx could tell that something was bothering Topaziah and he longed to comfort her. “I think I would like to rest now,” she said. They had been walking up the river bank continuously as Onyx described the different Immortals, and Topaziah had begun to feel the strain in her muscles from wrestling to climb the cliff the night before. She wanted to be fresh and ready for the flight to the Stone Circle she would soon be taking.

“I will take you to a quiet part of the forest where you can rest until it is time for us to go,” said Onyx, and they flew away from the river, through the forest until they came to a clearing filled with tall grass and wild flowers. “This is the nesting meadow,” explained Onyx, as Topaziah and he landed in the center of the clearing. “It is protected by the combined power of the Unicorns, Dryads, Elves and Dragons so that only immortals may enter it. When there are no creatures nesting here it makes a perfect sanctuary for the weary.” The perfume of lavender, chamomile, sage, cowslip, and other sweet smelling herbs filled the air with a drowsy lullaby of smells. Topaziah lay down on the thick carpet of grass, knowing that with the smell of the flowers filling the air and the soothing Dryad songs on the breeze, it wouldn’t be long before she would be sleeping soundly.

Onyx felt nervous and did not look at Topaziah as he asked her, “Shall I come back and wake you when it is time for us to go, or if you want me to, I could stay and watch over you?” but there was no response; Topaziah was already in a deep sleep.

Onyx tried to pry his eyes away from the sleeping Topaziah, but his heart wouldn’t let him. He lay down a few feet away and watched her sleep. Soon Topaziah’s slow rhythmic breathing and the Dryads songs worked their magic upon Onyx for he too, fell into a deep sleep and visions haunted his dreams. Visions of a Dragon unification ceremony; it was the largest and most beautiful, Onyx, had ever seen. The Dryads worked their magic on the plants, the forest’s trees and fern were bright green with new growth. Trilliums and iris were in bloom lending splashes of color. Among those attending, were all of the different Dragon colonies, both the flying and the flightless, which was odd in itself, but there were also Snow and Forest Ikean, Griffons and Unicorns in attendance. It was obvious to Onyx that this was a union of tremendous importance. As he made his way through the crowd, he saw an ancient two legged mortal standing close to the front of those gathered; he was supported by a twisted staff, and a beautiful girl stood at his shoulder, her long flowing curls were the same color as the trees in the forest. The mortal smiled and raised his staff in his right hand, and as he brought it swiftly down there was a collective intake of breath as the spirits of innumerable Topaz Dragons materialized. At that instant Onyx knew who the ceremony was for, Topaziah was about to take on her other half. Onyx turned to see the Dragon pair about to be united forever. The sun was setting behind them and Onyx could not make the couple out clearly. Onyx stepped forward, but the next thing he knew, his father was awakening him, and the sun was already low in the sky.

“She is beautiful,” said Sardon to his son.

“What? I…I hadn’t noticed,” Onyx lied.

“Come now my son. Don’t deny it; you talked much in your sleep. You asked her permission to join your soul with hers,” the large black dragon laughed kindly remembering back to when he was young and had first met Onyx’s mother.

“Can she truly be my other half? She is so beautiful… What do I do if she dose not feel the same pull towards me that I feel towards her? I only just met her, why is this feeling so strong?”

“Sometimes, it only takes a glance to know, you are meant to spend the rest of your life with that someone. Your heart’s other half calls out to you and you are pulled towards her and it takes a great deal of strength to be apart from your other half once you find her. I first saw your mother when I was close to your age we were at the old Stone Circle and although I knew that my place was with the other Onyx Dragons I could not help myself and fidgeted to the point of distraction I could not concentrate on the Counsel meeting I just wanted to melt into her emerald green eyes and drown myself in their depths. When it came time to vote on whatever we were supposed to be voting on, I panicked, I had not been paying any attention! In the end I voted the same way she had and hoped that she had been listening to the proceedings and had made the right decision. As the Council was adjourned I was afraid that I might not see her again and raced out after her she had turned around to wait for me, I did not see that she had stopped in my haste and ended up colliding with her in front of the great entrance pillars. We ended up rolling tail over head knocking over an elder or two in the process. I felt so foolish and wanted to hide my colony looked down on me with disapproval, especially your grandfather Obsidian. It was unfortunate that your mother’s father was also a witness to my colision with his daughter and his disapproval was clear in the scowl on his brow and the snarle on his lips. I was blundering my way through apologies when you mother started to laugh, at the time I could not imagine a more beautiful sound. I stood there for a moment more unable to think of what to say that would turn my moment of foolishness to my advantage, and then you mother smiled at me placing her cheek to mine she whispered I knew you were meant to be mine and then she did something that put a look on her father’s face that suggested that he would love nothing more than to tear me apart and feed the pieces to a Harpy, and made my heart stop… She placed a front paw tenderly under my chin and kissed me on the cheek.” Sardon smiled and sighed at the memory.

Onyx looked over at Topaziah and wanted nothing more than to lay down beside her and know without a doubt that she would be by his side forever and that he would never have to stop looking at her as long as he lived. He looked back at his father and asked, “So were you and mom together from then on?” secretly praying that it was that simple and he could stay forever with Topaziah.

“No,” answered Sardon, with a shake of head and a smile. “We were separated for nearly ten years by her father, while he did everything he could to prevent the Unification of our souls, until your grandmother stepped in and pointed out how miserable he was making your mother and only grudgingly did he allow our Union. But once we were together again it was as though we were never apart, and that is how it was with your mother and me,” said Sardon, smiling down at his son. “Come, we’ll wake Topaziah; the sun is nearly set and Apatina will be waiting.”

By the time the three Dragons flew back to the colony, the seven other Emerald Dragons that were flying to the Stone Circle were waiting, some with stores of meat and fruit strapped to their bellies. Of the ten, Topaziah and Onyx were the smallest. “We are already running behind; I am sorry Topaziah, but introductions will have to wait until we get to the Stone Circle,” said Apatina. Topaziah looked around at her nine companions; she had been introduced to four of them already: Apatina, Sardon, Essence and Onyx, and she wondered about the ones that she hadn’t been introduced to. There was a dark, almost black, male Dragon on Sardon’s right, which she guessed was Onyx’s older brother. He was larger than Onyx, and was almost as black, but he had an emerald green stripe that ran down the center of his back. As to whom the other four were, she had no clue. There were three emerald females in varying sizes and a massive male who was quite a bit bigger than everyone there, including Apatina.

As the ten travelers flew higher into the night sky, Topaziah was surprised to find that she had no trouble keeping up with even the largest and swiftest of her Dragon companions. As they flew steadily west, chasing the setting sun, Topaziah was comforted to find Onyx ever at her side, smiling every time he noticed her gaze.