I sat up with a groan, running my hand through my hair. I turned my head to gaze at the time table on the wall across from my bed pad and sighed, disheartened as I saw the time.
5:06 a.m.
I rubbed the heel of my hand against my eyes and sighed before I dragged myself from my bed. As I stepped into the bathhouse I listened intently for any other guardians, hearing no voices, no breathing and no other heartbeats I made my way to the mineral pool and let my robe fall before stepping into the hot, bubbling water. This had become part of a morning routine I followed because the feeling of hot water on my skin soothed me, and I needed the soothing warmth to replace the cold chill I got as I recalled the dream.
A storm had come... on a dark night. The wind had been fierce, lightening wild... and the rain well in torrents. I remember a woman...a guardian... she had found an egg during the storm... taken it into her keeping...
A sharp pain in my head pulled me from my thoughts. This often happened when I tried to hard to remember. But something was so familiar about the woman... I wanted... no, I needed to remember.
The night was darker than many that had passed in a long time; unseasonably chilly too. There were shadows at every turn, blackened silk amongst the trees that seemed to tremble or sway with a dancing, murderous intent. The wind blew mercilessly, howling with unadulterated screams. The clouds gathered above, shrouding all things good, all things considered light in the world in a deep, paralyzing blanket of impermeable darkness.
The moon was unseen that night, but not due to cloaking of the black clouds, no, but because there was none to see. On the night of the new moon the sky was black as ever, no twinkling stars, no silver, celestial body to spread cool light upon any below who might have courage enough to brave the late October's eve.
Suddenly through the sky a bolt of grand proportions with widespread electricity sparked, silver webs branching out like fingers to tenderly embrace the night sky. Water filled clouds dark with night became illuminated as blue neon lights laced with tendrils of shocking violet raked across the palate of black nothingness.
The forest scene below illuminated just briefly, then, a deep, foreboding sound rolled across that stormy sky, like the growl of a beast, it warned against something still to come…
Slowly, one drop after another the clouds began to weep, their entire beings falling from their wispy bonds, thundering down on the world below... like oceans, it fell in waves, crashing to the ground in a wet cacophony of sound.
The scent of fresh rain mingling with wet earth rose to embrace the woods surrounding a small clearing. Trees that had once delicately swayed bowed now before the gale force winds. The rain fell in torrents, slamming downward, splattering the rocks covered in pine nettles from the trees that littered the deep, mountainous landscape.
Small streams began to form, trickling weakly in direction of the wind, moving into what soon became a babbling brook as it started to flow at a downwards angle. Below, all things natural were still, becoming completely motionless save for the trees that still shivered with the weight of the falling rain.
Suddenly, movement catches the eye, little more than a shadow... The rustle of feathers, the rapid beat of flapping wings as a small sparrow, startled from it's sleep, fled in terror. The whistle of rushing wind as gust after gust blew against the breaks in the trees was shrill and haunting.
The Panting of labored breath and the pounding of a frantic heart was mute in the thundering downpour of the rain. A pause in the night as a soft whisper masked by the wind grew quiet.
Lightening flashed and a figure was illuminated... She was knelt over a small clutch of eggs, cold as stone, and long abandoned. All but one of the eggs were broken.
Long golden hair, almost down to her knees... bright violet eyes... pale skin... around her neck hung a fine, braided cord woven around a single purple scale. She looked happy, at ease, but as her expression changed... what was it that stood out?
My knees buckled and I swayed in disbelief as the image in my mind froze. The woman looked distraught, tears streaming down her face, and her violet eyes were a deep ocean blue.
I pushed the thoughts away and shook my head, trying to clear it.
It couldn't be possible, could it?
All too soon I vacated the bathhouse, driven out by the sounds of other guardians rousing from their slumber. I moved through the halls of the dojo styled home and slipped back into my room to change. Once I was comfortably dressed I tied back my hair and left the estate to wander. Something was pulling at my heart, and though my mind was blank, my feet had a destination and had already chosen the path.
Is that... thunder? Such a deep, carrying rumble... The frequencies are strange... I don't know what it... wait.. I.. I understand it... there are... words... It's the...
My thoughts stopped abruptly as I realized the old shrine was coming into view. I saw a deep violet figure and flecks of gold in the dim light of the early morning and saw a small, feminine figure shaking it's head and withdrawing from the creature. Bright gold eyes burned intensely as the dragon spoke within. He was angry, but some part of him was pleading.
I remember the stories my grandfather told me of this place. He said that the shrine was built for a woman, a guardian who had rediscovered the dragons. She had come to our town when it was still a village, bearing a beautiful stone. It was a dragon egg. She had convinced the guardians to take the dragons under their wings again, and she proved they were not the dim, naive beasts once thought to be. But something had happened to her, and she became cold and distant in her growing years, and soon husks were found of dragons who had been left to whither, neglected for too long.
Such a sad story. My grandfather told it to me many times when I was a child. I had seen a number of dragons come to the shrine over the years.Whenever I asked him why the dragon stayed there, he would simply answer;
He is waiting for his guardian.
I never made much of it, until the dreams started haunting me. I never knew much about the woman, but I knew she had a gift. After the dreams started. I began to realize she and I had a little bit in common. I had been left in the care of my grandfather as a child, I had never known my father, only that he was a mighty guardian and a warrior, and my mother... well, she left when I was three because she didn't have time for a child. I had never held this against her, but I often was left to wonder...
You there. You have the same Gift as...
He paused and the look in his eyes was wistful, maybe even bitter.
You may approach me, and I will see if you are worthy to be my guardian! the sudden force in his voice made me jump and my eyes flew to his, changing from the normal grey to a startled pink.
Usually I had my hair down, my bangs are very long and generally keep anyone from seeing my eyes... I didn't exactly want the entire world to know I was a living mood stone, nor did I want them to know what mood I was in. Between our normal guardian abilities, increased senses, for one, being able to hear and smell another's reaction to a situation is one thing, but seeing it so blatantly, openly displayed is another.
As I stared into the burning, golden gaze of the dragon I felt myself moving and noted he was coming closer. No, not him.. me. I was getting closer to him. As I stood before him I arched back to look up, it wasn't just that the dragon was necessarily enormous, which he probably was, it was also that I was a very stout four foot ten inches.
Why couldn't I have had a normal gift? Like Weather, or maybe something useful?
Seeing him there, staring at me with those intense eyes, I felt a change in me.
There was almost a sort of desperation in his eyes... like he was begging me to prove myself... to be the one. Despite his arrogance, he was looking for a guardian, someone that would take care of him the way the first guardian should have.
I reached out to him, I didn't know why, but I did. One of my hands touched his cheek, the other his neck and gently I brought his forehead to mine. His scales were warm and his mane was soft like silk. The pulse in his neck was strong beneath my hand and it seemed as though his heart was beating in time with mine.
My eyes widened as color after color passed through them, a hungry, lonely purple, an impatient, unhappy orange, and an angry, burning red. There were so many emotions raging inside of him. Finally the last to come was a deep, morose blue that leaked into a faint rose color, expressing a bleak hope.
He had been alone so long, waiting, hoping that the one person he was bound to would return, and now they had left him for good, as I stood before him, I felt an understanding. The woman in my dream, when she had become distraught, it hadn't been her emotions, it had been the emotions of the little dragon inside the egg. He had known his family was gone, and he was alone. To know that, even so young... I felt a pull towards him as I felt an eagerness to assuage the pain in his heart. I knew the woman in my dreams, the woman with my gift. I was not the only child my mother had abandoned. He might have been large, but he was a growing dragon who needed knowledge and wisdom.
As far as guardians go, I was young still, new to the world, barely more than a mortal in the measure of years, and my ability had been limited to my emotions, and my eyes... but now I understood it's purpose.
As a guardian I could bestow Favors upon a dragon, keep them from ever wanting...
And that's exactly what I did.
I closed my eyes and breathed deep, reaching inside myself for the well of calm I often found when meditating, and I brought forth the feeling of well being and easiness and I whispered,
Forsooth, I bestow upon you Peace and Acceptance. May you never know this dark loneliness so long as I am with you. I may be young still, and my wisdom and knowledge might be limited, but that means together we can grow, learn and share. I'm not like her, and I never will be. I will not abandon you.
When my eyes opened they were a brighter silver, and my long, neat, crimson red hair became longer still, shaggy and wild. I had revealed my real self and stopped hiding in accepting my true power and potential, and as I stood before him, hoping that I had given him what he needed, patiently I waited for his response...
He closed his golden eyes and I felt his acceptance in my heart, in the very core of my being. He was accepting me as his Guardian, and together, we would grow to learn and teach those next to come.
Grimm.
The single word was a deep rumble in his chest and it reverberated through me, I heard it in my ears and in my mind and it imprinted on me, in me.
Angelyx. came my whispered response. I reached up with long, nimble fingers and I stroked one of his ears.
A broken rumble that sounded almost like laughter came forth from the dragon and I looked at him quizzically. Saved, by an Angel. came his ironic response, a flash of bright green passing through my eyes, mirth.
We have much to learn about each other, Grimm... let's go. This shrine... it is in memory of a woman that no longer exists, let it fade away as she has, and become just that, a memory.
Together we parted, and we didn't look back. That was the last either of us saw of the shrine that once worshiped my mother. We traveled his world and I told him of mine. I experienced exploration for the first time in my life, and choosing not to return, I went with him and together we found a cave and there we stayed while we discussed creatures, dragons, plants, the stars. We discovered, learned and taught each other and waited for the day to come when we would take on another soul in need of a guardian... and strangely, that too came about on one stormy, cold, dark night.
5:06 a.m.
I rubbed the heel of my hand against my eyes and sighed before I dragged myself from my bed. As I stepped into the bathhouse I listened intently for any other guardians, hearing no voices, no breathing and no other heartbeats I made my way to the mineral pool and let my robe fall before stepping into the hot, bubbling water. This had become part of a morning routine I followed because the feeling of hot water on my skin soothed me, and I needed the soothing warmth to replace the cold chill I got as I recalled the dream.
A storm had come... on a dark night. The wind had been fierce, lightening wild... and the rain well in torrents. I remember a woman...a guardian... she had found an egg during the storm... taken it into her keeping...
A sharp pain in my head pulled me from my thoughts. This often happened when I tried to hard to remember. But something was so familiar about the woman... I wanted... no, I needed to remember.
The night was darker than many that had passed in a long time; unseasonably chilly too. There were shadows at every turn, blackened silk amongst the trees that seemed to tremble or sway with a dancing, murderous intent. The wind blew mercilessly, howling with unadulterated screams. The clouds gathered above, shrouding all things good, all things considered light in the world in a deep, paralyzing blanket of impermeable darkness.
The moon was unseen that night, but not due to cloaking of the black clouds, no, but because there was none to see. On the night of the new moon the sky was black as ever, no twinkling stars, no silver, celestial body to spread cool light upon any below who might have courage enough to brave the late October's eve.
Suddenly through the sky a bolt of grand proportions with widespread electricity sparked, silver webs branching out like fingers to tenderly embrace the night sky. Water filled clouds dark with night became illuminated as blue neon lights laced with tendrils of shocking violet raked across the palate of black nothingness.
The forest scene below illuminated just briefly, then, a deep, foreboding sound rolled across that stormy sky, like the growl of a beast, it warned against something still to come…
Slowly, one drop after another the clouds began to weep, their entire beings falling from their wispy bonds, thundering down on the world below... like oceans, it fell in waves, crashing to the ground in a wet cacophony of sound.
The scent of fresh rain mingling with wet earth rose to embrace the woods surrounding a small clearing. Trees that had once delicately swayed bowed now before the gale force winds. The rain fell in torrents, slamming downward, splattering the rocks covered in pine nettles from the trees that littered the deep, mountainous landscape.
Small streams began to form, trickling weakly in direction of the wind, moving into what soon became a babbling brook as it started to flow at a downwards angle. Below, all things natural were still, becoming completely motionless save for the trees that still shivered with the weight of the falling rain.
Suddenly, movement catches the eye, little more than a shadow... The rustle of feathers, the rapid beat of flapping wings as a small sparrow, startled from it's sleep, fled in terror. The whistle of rushing wind as gust after gust blew against the breaks in the trees was shrill and haunting.
The Panting of labored breath and the pounding of a frantic heart was mute in the thundering downpour of the rain. A pause in the night as a soft whisper masked by the wind grew quiet.
Lightening flashed and a figure was illuminated... She was knelt over a small clutch of eggs, cold as stone, and long abandoned. All but one of the eggs were broken.
Long golden hair, almost down to her knees... bright violet eyes... pale skin... around her neck hung a fine, braided cord woven around a single purple scale. She looked happy, at ease, but as her expression changed... what was it that stood out?
My knees buckled and I swayed in disbelief as the image in my mind froze. The woman looked distraught, tears streaming down her face, and her violet eyes were a deep ocean blue.
I pushed the thoughts away and shook my head, trying to clear it.
It couldn't be possible, could it?
All too soon I vacated the bathhouse, driven out by the sounds of other guardians rousing from their slumber. I moved through the halls of the dojo styled home and slipped back into my room to change. Once I was comfortably dressed I tied back my hair and left the estate to wander. Something was pulling at my heart, and though my mind was blank, my feet had a destination and had already chosen the path.
Is that... thunder? Such a deep, carrying rumble... The frequencies are strange... I don't know what it... wait.. I.. I understand it... there are... words... It's the...
My thoughts stopped abruptly as I realized the old shrine was coming into view. I saw a deep violet figure and flecks of gold in the dim light of the early morning and saw a small, feminine figure shaking it's head and withdrawing from the creature. Bright gold eyes burned intensely as the dragon spoke within. He was angry, but some part of him was pleading.
I remember the stories my grandfather told me of this place. He said that the shrine was built for a woman, a guardian who had rediscovered the dragons. She had come to our town when it was still a village, bearing a beautiful stone. It was a dragon egg. She had convinced the guardians to take the dragons under their wings again, and she proved they were not the dim, naive beasts once thought to be. But something had happened to her, and she became cold and distant in her growing years, and soon husks were found of dragons who had been left to whither, neglected for too long.
Such a sad story. My grandfather told it to me many times when I was a child. I had seen a number of dragons come to the shrine over the years.Whenever I asked him why the dragon stayed there, he would simply answer;
He is waiting for his guardian.
I never made much of it, until the dreams started haunting me. I never knew much about the woman, but I knew she had a gift. After the dreams started. I began to realize she and I had a little bit in common. I had been left in the care of my grandfather as a child, I had never known my father, only that he was a mighty guardian and a warrior, and my mother... well, she left when I was three because she didn't have time for a child. I had never held this against her, but I often was left to wonder...
You there. You have the same Gift as...
He paused and the look in his eyes was wistful, maybe even bitter.
You may approach me, and I will see if you are worthy to be my guardian! the sudden force in his voice made me jump and my eyes flew to his, changing from the normal grey to a startled pink.
Usually I had my hair down, my bangs are very long and generally keep anyone from seeing my eyes... I didn't exactly want the entire world to know I was a living mood stone, nor did I want them to know what mood I was in. Between our normal guardian abilities, increased senses, for one, being able to hear and smell another's reaction to a situation is one thing, but seeing it so blatantly, openly displayed is another.
As I stared into the burning, golden gaze of the dragon I felt myself moving and noted he was coming closer. No, not him.. me. I was getting closer to him. As I stood before him I arched back to look up, it wasn't just that the dragon was necessarily enormous, which he probably was, it was also that I was a very stout four foot ten inches.
Why couldn't I have had a normal gift? Like Weather, or maybe something useful?
Seeing him there, staring at me with those intense eyes, I felt a change in me.
There was almost a sort of desperation in his eyes... like he was begging me to prove myself... to be the one. Despite his arrogance, he was looking for a guardian, someone that would take care of him the way the first guardian should have.
I reached out to him, I didn't know why, but I did. One of my hands touched his cheek, the other his neck and gently I brought his forehead to mine. His scales were warm and his mane was soft like silk. The pulse in his neck was strong beneath my hand and it seemed as though his heart was beating in time with mine.
My eyes widened as color after color passed through them, a hungry, lonely purple, an impatient, unhappy orange, and an angry, burning red. There were so many emotions raging inside of him. Finally the last to come was a deep, morose blue that leaked into a faint rose color, expressing a bleak hope.
He had been alone so long, waiting, hoping that the one person he was bound to would return, and now they had left him for good, as I stood before him, I felt an understanding. The woman in my dream, when she had become distraught, it hadn't been her emotions, it had been the emotions of the little dragon inside the egg. He had known his family was gone, and he was alone. To know that, even so young... I felt a pull towards him as I felt an eagerness to assuage the pain in his heart. I knew the woman in my dreams, the woman with my gift. I was not the only child my mother had abandoned. He might have been large, but he was a growing dragon who needed knowledge and wisdom.
As far as guardians go, I was young still, new to the world, barely more than a mortal in the measure of years, and my ability had been limited to my emotions, and my eyes... but now I understood it's purpose.
As a guardian I could bestow Favors upon a dragon, keep them from ever wanting...
And that's exactly what I did.
I closed my eyes and breathed deep, reaching inside myself for the well of calm I often found when meditating, and I brought forth the feeling of well being and easiness and I whispered,
Forsooth, I bestow upon you Peace and Acceptance. May you never know this dark loneliness so long as I am with you. I may be young still, and my wisdom and knowledge might be limited, but that means together we can grow, learn and share. I'm not like her, and I never will be. I will not abandon you.
When my eyes opened they were a brighter silver, and my long, neat, crimson red hair became longer still, shaggy and wild. I had revealed my real self and stopped hiding in accepting my true power and potential, and as I stood before him, hoping that I had given him what he needed, patiently I waited for his response...
He closed his golden eyes and I felt his acceptance in my heart, in the very core of my being. He was accepting me as his Guardian, and together, we would grow to learn and teach those next to come.
Grimm.
The single word was a deep rumble in his chest and it reverberated through me, I heard it in my ears and in my mind and it imprinted on me, in me.
Angelyx. came my whispered response. I reached up with long, nimble fingers and I stroked one of his ears.
A broken rumble that sounded almost like laughter came forth from the dragon and I looked at him quizzically. Saved, by an Angel. came his ironic response, a flash of bright green passing through my eyes, mirth.
We have much to learn about each other, Grimm... let's go. This shrine... it is in memory of a woman that no longer exists, let it fade away as she has, and become just that, a memory.
Together we parted, and we didn't look back. That was the last either of us saw of the shrine that once worshiped my mother. We traveled his world and I told him of mine. I experienced exploration for the first time in my life, and choosing not to return, I went with him and together we found a cave and there we stayed while we discussed creatures, dragons, plants, the stars. We discovered, learned and taught each other and waited for the day to come when we would take on another soul in need of a guardian... and strangely, that too came about on one stormy, cold, dark night.
